Chapter 47 - How to Face the World (1)

1

There, where a king and his subject remained, the one who spoke was neither of them.

-Strictly speaking, it was an “Emperor,” neither king nor subject, who solemnly opened his mouth...

“... Sword Emperor, do you have to be the ‘Sword Emperor’ even at a moment like this?”

The man certainly had a knack for ruining the mood. He writhed in agony, twisting himself like a pretzel.

-Yeah... I do. Look, I don’t want to either... Honestly, I’d love nothing more than to get as far away from you two as possible and pretend I don’t know you, but ugh, I’m the only one here who can say this.

“Oh, what do you want to say?”

-What the hell are you two doing?

I wondered what he was talking about, but apparently that was what the Sword Emperor had wanted to say.

“What do you mean, what are we doing? As you can see...”

-Right, you killed the Demon King, huh? Then brought her back with your skill. Even gave her a name... Oh, damn it, what kind of name is Hungry Ghost for a girl? If you were going with a hungry mouth, why not Anglerfish? You could call her Angie. Wouldn’t that sound cuter every time you called her?

“Now you’re even picking a fight over the name?”

-No, forget the name. What comes after that... Why are you two suddenly doing this master-and-servant thing?

The Sword Emperor looked Hungry Ghost and me over as though we were the strangest creatures under the sun.

-It’s not like you two have some kind of bond... No, fine! Let’s say you do, Zombie. Like you said, she’s the prey you caught, right? ‘You’re my slave, I got you~ under my skin.’ Sure, maybe you’ve earned the right to pull something like that old pop song from your world.

“You listen to pop songs too, Sword Emperor?”

-One of old Markus’s hobbies is... No, never mind. So I can understand you doing that, but I can’t for the life of me understand why she’s going, ‘Yes, my lord.’

And that was how I learned one of the Sword Star’s hobbies.

A hobby I would rather have remained ignorant of, if possible... But that wasn’t important.

Hmm.

“So you don’t understand why Hungry Ghost says she’ll serve me as her lord?”

-Yep. Zombie? Let me objectively list everything you did to her, one by one.

I nodded.

-You blocked her path and pulled a ‘Hehehe, you’re not going anywhere,’ right?

“That’s how it started.”

-You erased everything she’d built up, piece by piece, right? Then you even wrecked her mentally by hitting her with cold, hard facts.

“That’s how it developed.”

-Then you went and cut her head off. Whew. And the crowning touch was dragging her back into the world with Rebirth of a Hundred Ghosts or whatever, even while she resisted and said she didn’t want to come out.

“That’s how it ended.”

The Sword Emperor clicked his tongue.

-Man, you really are a heartless bastard. Are all the arteries in your heart made of vipers?

“There might be a few cobras mixed in. You left it out for some reason, but I also broke her sword because someone told me to ‘show someone who isn’t even a swordsman the ending they deserve.’”

-That was necessary, and it had to be done. Hungry Ghost herself must be deeply grateful in her heart. If any spark of a desire to be a swordsman remains there, that is.

The Sword Emperor spoke solemnly.

I’d thought this ghost was only good at being an asshole. Turns out his bullshit was first-rate too.

-Anyway, I’d think she ought to be pouring all her hatred and anger out on you. Why the hell is she flat on her face with her head hanging down, going, ‘Give me your command’? Was the calamity that swallowed an entire world actually the greatest masochist of all time?

“Wooow...”

The Sword Emperor had said he wanted to get away from us, but I was the one who took a step away from him.

Honestly, the things that gorilla came up with...

“Sword Emperor... The reason Hungry Ghost agreed to obey me without hesitation is...”

-The reason is?

“Because she knows.”

I glanced at Hungry Ghost.

“Something you’ll know soon too.”

Sobs drifted through the acacia-lined path.

“Hhk... Ah... Hh...”

Hungry Ghost was crying. Tears of bitterness and sorrow. A heartrending scream gathered into droplets and fell, one after another.

Yes. Hungry Ghost knew very well.

[Searching for the Demon King’s presence on floor 20.]

She knew what would happen now.

[Unable to locate.]

Hungry Ghost’s shoulders twitched in a spasm.

[Confirming the Demon King’s absence.]

WHOOOOSH!

Droplets of light rose all around us. They welled up from the road and flowed from the acacia trees. The twentieth-floor stage was a small world to begin with, and it was soon engulfed in light.

[History Revision.]

Then it expanded.

[Revising the floor 20 stage.]

The village beyond the road. Buildings that had burned away took shape once more. Wheat fields sprang up. An orchard appeared. A paradise filled with children’s laughter, where people were beautiful because of it, settled into place.

The world had regressed to before Hungry Ghost was drenched in filthy water.

To just before the Demon King of Autumn Rain was born.

“Ahh...”

But Hungry Ghost greeted that paradise’s resurrection with a hideously contorted face.

Because she would know.

What else was about to happen.

“No... Please. No...”

Hungry Ghost moaned, trembling violently. But it was no use.

What had to happen simply began to happen.

“Ah...”

Hungry Ghost stared into the distance with her tear-soaked face. Something was approaching the entrance to the acacia-lined path, in the direction opposite the village.

CLANK! CLATTER!

With every step they took, armor and helmets rang harshly. Above them fluttered flags painted in all manner of colors.

“Please...”

Countless military banners.

The sounds of army boots, hooves, and beating wings.

“The village will burn again... It’s going to burn...”

To burn paradise to the ground, a coalition army dispatched from all corners of the world had now entered the acacia-lined path.

“No, please... Hh, ahh...”

Hungry Ghost sank down onto the road and curled in on herself.

I stood directly where her bowed head and lowered fingertips pointed.

“My lord...”

As the Sword Emperor had said, to Hungry Ghost I must have been a mortal enemy she could chew to pieces and still find no satisfaction.

Bowing deeply to someone like me must have filled her with enough bitterness and resentment to burst her heart.

“My... lord...!”

But she did it.

She had to.

“I won’t bear a grudge... I won’t seek revenge...”

Hungry Ghost had no choice but to accept becoming my subordinate and take me as her lord.

When a powerless person had something they had to protect, they became a hungry ghost, able to chew up and swallow any humiliation.

“I’ll do anything you command. I’ll obey... I’ll become your maid, your slave... I don’t care what happens to me, so please.”

The person prostrated herself and begged.

“Please, my paradise...”

“Yes.”

I...

“I will.”

I didn’t say much.

I took a step.

Drawn by that step, the Sword Emperor followed. Until a moment ago, he’d been teasing Hungry Ghost and me with a ridiculous expression. Now his face was graver than a towering mountain.

-I see. So that’s what this was.

“Yes. That’s what this is.”

STEP.

-A subject has a duty to follow their sovereign.

“And a lord has a responsibility to protect his own people.”

STEP.

-Sorry for the sarcasm.

“You lost our bet too, didn’t you? You’d better think about paying up.”

I walked past the person under my protection and stood in front of her.

I drew a breath, infused my voice with aura, and shouted.

“All forces, halt!”

Acacia petals scattered as though an invisible giant had swung its fist.

The beating of wyvern wings and the rattling of armor ceased. Hoofbeats and the clanking of spears and swords stopped.

I stood on the lone path through the acacias.

Nothing but petals lay between the army and me.

2

Petals made no sound as they drifted. So when they covered the world, it seemed the world simply melted into sleep.

But petals that left their branches would eventually fall to the ground.

The commander of the Aegim Empire stepped forward, fully clad in sea-colored armor, a sun emblem engraved on his breastplate.

I knew who he was.

“I am General Sarbas Aegim! Who dares bar our path?”

And of course, he didn’t know who I was.

Hmm.

“Well...”

I’d fought hundreds of monsters and thousands of zombies. I’d met Hungry Ghost’s gaze head-on when she was the Demon King at her peak.

There probably wasn’t anyone who’d experienced as much murderous hostility as I had.

Even so, I had to take a moment to steady my breathing.

I gripped my sword’s hilt.

“What business do you people have in a backwater like this?”

“It is His Majesty the Emperor’s will!”

General Sarbas Aegim answered in a booming voice.

“Raaah!” A whole unit’s worth of soldiers waved their spears in response. Instead of more petals falling in the forest, birds fled with a flutter of wings.

“We have heard that a witch here has incited the good people of the continent! There are even monsters who foolishly succumbed to her wiles and cast themselves into the pit of evil. How could we stand idly by?”

“So?”

“We shall purify them with holy fire!”

Without a word, I looked at the blue dots on my ‘minimap.’

“Nor is this His Majesty’s will alone!”

There wasn’t just one blue dot. Hundreds, thousands. One side of the map was filled with them. And that wasn’t the end; the blue tide continued streaming toward us.

I knew who they were.

“His Holiness the Pope has decreed that we punish the heretic who dares falsely call herself a Saintess!”

The temple’s paladins, whom I’d saved on floor thirteen.

“The lord of the forest has charged us with this task. May all spirits bless our path!”

The forest’s elves, whom I’d saved on floor fourteen.

“The jewels bestowed by the wise sovereign of the mermaids affirm our judgment!”

The waterfall’s mages, whom I’d saved on floor fifteen.

“To honor their pledge, the dragon cavalry have marched from the primordial volcano!”

The volcano’s warriors, whom I’d saved on floor sixteen.

“The merchants of the League of Free Cities, the riders of the plains, and the soldiers of every vassal state have all agreed to join us!”

The armed merchant companies of floor seventeen, the nomadic peoples of floor eighteen, and the soldiers of floor nineteen’s small nations and even smaller domains.

“The whole world stands with us in our punishment!”

Floors eleven through nineteen.

The places I’d trodden, climbed, and saved.

The leading figures of those stages had gathered in groups ranging from dozens to hundreds, waving their own banners.

“...”

I knew every one of them, and not one of them knew me.

Just like Sarbas Aegim.

“I ask you once more!”

Sarbas Aegim shouted.

“Who are you, who obstruct our mission?”

I looked at my quest window.

+

[Hero of the Frozen World]

Difficulty: Unknown

Quest Objective: You have made your decision. You will not tolerate even a single victim.

To expect no compensation from those you save is called justice. To expect no recognition from those you save is called devotion. One who devotes themselves to justice is called a Hero.

O Hero!

The humans of the continent will not know your justice. They will not recognize your devotion. Yet justice remains justice, and devotion remains devotion. Will you choose to remain a Hero even in a frozen world?

Now only your choice remains.

+

Of course, I’d already made my choice.

“General Sarbas Aegim.”

Sarbas Aegim flinched.

I pointed at him and spoke with insolent nonchalance.

“You said you came here on the emperor’s orders?”

“Y-you? You wretch, addressing an imperial general carrying out His Majesty’s orders like that...”

“Ha, you’re a funny man. Making up quite a story, aren’t you? Who knows the emperor’s current condition better than you? And you’re babbling about imperial orders?”

“H-how do you...”

Well, because I’d glimpsed your trauma when I died to steal your skill.

I also knew very well that it was intensifying the power struggle among the princes.

Hadn’t rumors been circulating among the imperial capital’s citizens when I saved floor twelve?

Instead of answering that way, I simply fixed Sarbas Aegim with a stern glare. At the head of the coalition, he hurriedly looked over the rulers accompanying him.

What I’d just said exposed a shameful secret of the imperial family, but his dismay didn’t last long. Only the dragon cavalry commander, the paladin commander, and the nomadic chieftain frowned. The others cast their eyes aside as though they hadn’t heard.

The general of this world’s mightiest nation cleared his throat and glared.

“... How dare you speak such treasonous words! Did the witch who lives ahead send you?”

“Treasonous words? Ha! You’re trying to depose the already appointed crown prince and put the third prince in his place, and you have the nerve to talk about treason?”

Sarbas Aegim was thrown off balance again. This time, his shock was greater than before, enough to shatter his composure.

I kept speaking to the general with the same insolent air.

“You there. You shouldn’t live like that. Do you know how much kindness His Majesty has shown you? Do you? A good-for-nothing who was destined to spend his whole life weaving nets at a harbor somehow ends up with the title of imperial uncle and even becomes a general, all thanks to His Majesty, and now you’ve gone completely mad for power...”

My tone was carefully calculated to provoke him.

Finally losing his cool, the general exploded.

“Grr... Now I understand. You’re from the Amber Palace! You mean to sway opinion here, where the world has gathered with one purpose! If you too are an imperial citizen, you must know that His Highness the Third Prince alone has the makings of a true ruler...”

“You fool!”

I pounced on that moment of anger as though I’d been waiting for it.

Then I changed my tone, pressing my attack on the flinching Sarbas Aegim.

“The Amber Palace! Ha! Do I look like a mere lackey of the deposed empress? Perhaps it’s because you used to weave nets, but your eyes are no better than knotholes! You dull-witted, stupid creature!”

“Th-then who sent...”

“You asked who I am?”

I raised my sword and boldly shouted.

“Look and see for yourself!”

Sarbas Aegim’s flustered eyes filled with astonishment.

“Do you see?”

Yes.

“Even those knothole eyes of yours should be able to see this much, Sarbas Aegim!”

I had raised [Lefanta Aegim’s Holy Guardian Sword]!

+

[Lefanta Aegim’s Holy Guardian Sword]

Rarity: Legendary

Description: ‘Whoever claims the holy sword shall claim the continent.’ Thus speaks the legend of the founder’s holy sword. It is said that the goddess bestowed it upon the founder who built the Aegim Empire. ‘Whoever claims the continent shall be claimed by fate.’

The founder named a successor and departed. Did he take his own life? Did he fall to treason? In an age when legend and history had not yet parted ways, his whereabouts became unknown, and the holy sword vanished as well. Only a single line of prophecy remained as a guidepost.

‘On the day fate arrives, the one who claims the holy sword shall arrive as well.’

The owner of the Holy Guardian Sword receives the absolute support and trust of those from the Aegim Empire.

+

I shouted boldly.

“The heir sent by the great founding emperor, Lefanta Aegim, stands before you!”

Sarbas Aegim trembled from head to toe.

That trembling spread to the mounted knights bearing the Aegim Empire’s emblem, then to the soldiers. Until every member of the imperial force was trembling, I stared them down with an eagle’s eyes.

“Sarbas Aegim!”

“Y-yes...”

“I am well aware of the turmoil in the imperial family, and I have seen the depraved crown prince’s evil deeds! I also know that you sided with the third prince solely out of pure loyalty to the empire! When I called you mad for power a moment ago, it was only to test your character! Do you resent me for it?”

Sarbas Aegim’s eyes, previously filled with shock, now reddened with emotion.

“R-resent you? You have recognized... my loyalty... Yet this fool failed to control his temper. How can I atone for such a sin... Ah, heir of the founding emperor...”

“Come now! If you bear no resentment, and have no hesitation in addressing me so, why do you still look down on me from your horse?”

“I-I beg your pardon...!”

Sarbas Aegim hurriedly dismounted. He tumbled. Scrambling to his feet, he dropped to his knees without even brushing the petals and mud from his armor.

“You watch over the rising sun! You protect all that dwells between sea and land! O Aegim Empire, may you shine forever!”

The imperial general cried out fervently.

“This humble descendant greets the heir of the founding emperor...!”

That too spread in an instant.

“We greet you!” The knights bearing the Aegim Empire’s emblem dismounted. “We greet you!” The soldiers knelt as one. “We greet you!” Some flung themselves flat on the ground in a bow.

“We greet the heir of the founding emperor!”

The world’s coalition army had gathered to subjugate the witch.

And the mightiest of its eight factions had knelt before me.

-Wow.

The Sword Emperor was genuinely impressed.

-Kim Zombie... I thought you were only good at being an asshole and spouting bullshit, but you’ve got a real knack for lying too.

‘You only just figured that out?’

Just as when I’d faced the Tower’s six pillars, no matter how powerful my opponents were or how many of them I faced, there were only two courses of action I could take.

Fight them, or persuade them.

But just as there were many ways to fight...

‘There’s more than one way to persuade someone too.’

Now then.

It was time to deceive the world I’d saved.