Chapter 107: In Search of the Holy Sword (1)

Knights clad in pure white armor stood before me.

No, it would be more accurate to say the armor had once been pure white.

Scratched and stained with blood, the armor bore the horrific scars of a terrible battlefield.

The knights surrounded me.

Each of them held their own weapon.

I couldn’t see their faces, as if they were veiled in black soot.

I couldn’t read their expressions.

They didn’t say a word.

Though I couldn’t see where their eyes were fixed, I could feel all of them watching me.

I knew who they were.

The corners of my mouth quirked up instinctively.

Did they want to resent me now?

They died because of me.

In a way, they could have lived peaceful lives.

But they didn’t choose that.

They followed my ideals.

Of course, the ideal I dreamed of was eventually reached.

Even if that bastard, the Immortal Demon King, went on a rampage afterward.

Did they want to blame me for sacrificing their lives for a hollow ideal?

I waited.

I waited to hear what these dead men—my Guild, or rather, those who used to be my Order of Knights—wanted to say.

They stared at me with damaged eyes.

They whispered with torn vocal cords.

They burned the final sparks of their extinguished lives.

The gloomy whisper that started with one became two, then three.

The whispers of the dead flowed naturally, centering around me.

I woke up.

Looking out the window, it was dawn.

I opened the refrigerator and drank some water.

Gulp, gulp. The cold water sliding down my throat cleared my head.

4:00 AM.

It was too early to go back to sleep.

I changed into my running gear and headed out.

Running while breathing in the cold dawn air warmed my body perfectly.

As I went for my running at dawn, I organized the thoughts flickering in my mind.

‘You have already done enough.’

‘Guilt.’

‘Regret.’

‘You don’t need to hold onto them.’

Voices that remained unchanged, then and now.

Even with bodies rotted in death, they spoke with consistency.

‘Just live your life as our commander.’

I heard a low, somber chuckle.

Only then could I see the knights’ faces clearly.

They were smiling with peaceful expressions.

By being with the Hero, they were happy to have graced a page of history.

People who should have died as criminals or nobodies on some nameless battlefield.

They said it was an honor to die as warriors, as the Hero’s knights.

“Damn it.”

A curse escaped my lips.

When I returned from my workout, Karin was awake.

“What are you doing up at this hour?”

“Hmm, just because? No, actually, the Elf’s Scent is still lingering, so I’m having restless dreams. Ugh, I cleaned so much, but it’s still not gone.”

Karin spoke while pretending to pinch her nose.

She really, truly hated Elves.

No, to be precise, she hated Lia.

For Karin, who usually got along with people quickly, this was quite unexpected.

I didn’t notice any particularly unpleasant smell.

But it seemed different for Karin.

After returning from school, Karin had sniffed around where Lia had been and cleaned everything.

It was as if she had been watching through a CCTV.

‘Wait, did she install a hidden camera somewhere without me knowing?’

I looked around, but nothing seemed suspicious.

“Do you want breakfast? Or are you going to sleep a bit more before school?”

Karin thought for a moment at my question.

Then, she gave the answer I expected.

“I’ll eat.”

Right, it wouldn’t be Karin if she turned down food.

I made Kimchi stew.

Smelling the savory aroma, Karin started fidgeting with excitement as if she were a native Korean.

“I heard the Seven Kingdoms are all gone.”

At my words, Karin replied indifferently, her chin resting in her hands at the table.

“Is that so?”

It was the story of her own world, yet she didn’t seem very curious.

“It seems like a few cities under the Goddess’s Protection are still operating. Your Territory would have been in danger if it hadn’t come here.”

I took a bite of fluffy white rice topped with a piece of crispy seaweed. Then, drinking the oil of the spicy meat broth blended with the sourness of the Kimchi, I felt my insides settle.

“Coach, your Kimchi stew is the best.”

“Has there ever been a time when something wasn’t the best for you?”

Because she had such a great appetite, she said bread was the best, Ramen was the best, and Kimchi was the best.

There probably wasn’t anything she didn’t find delicious.

She even ate her own cooking with gusto.

“I need to eat this delicious Kimchi stew every day. Right? For Koreans, Kimchi stew for breakfast is the golden rule.”

‘Did she always like Kimchi stew this much?’

‘Does she actually think of herself as Korean?’

“Only you can make Kimchi stew like this, Coach.”

Emphasizing her point again, Karin picked up her pace.

Karin went to school, and I headed to the Guild.

As soon as I arrived, I went to see the Demon King.

Dressed in a clean suit with a pompadour perm, he looked like a young, famous businessman.

He looked much better than when he used to walk around with horns.

Was he satisfied with it too?

“What brings you here so early in the morning?”

“Just for a cup of tea. Are you listening, Olivier?”

“Sigh… Do you think I’m your personal vending machine?”

Olivier snapped back with a prickly expression.

Despite her attitude, the tea she brewed was excellent.

I came up to the Union Chief’s office because I craved that taste occasionally.

I took a seat on the luxury sofa without the owner’s permission.

Im Jaejoon, the owner of the sofa, sat across from me.

Soon, the warmly brewed tea arrived.

To think the Former Demon King and the former Hero were sitting across from each other, sipping tea.

Just as I was about to take a sip, I saw Olivier’s eyes filled with a strange sense of ecstasy.

Seeing her panting like that made me sigh instinctively.

She never gets tired of this.

I set down the teacup I was about to drink and swapped it with the Demon King’s.

In that instant, I saw Olivier’s pupils shake violently.

Mmm, as expected, a luxurious smoothness rolled sweet and savory over my tongue.

This is the taste.

The Demon King also took a sip, despite Olivier’s stuttering attempts to stop him.

Immediately, his brow furrowed deeply as he glared at Olivier.

The Demon King pushed his tea to the corner.

The sinner Olivier retreated to bring fresh tea.

I guess she won’t be playing those kinds of pranks for a while.

Still, I wondered what on earth she had put in it.

“How is it?”

“The taste?”

“The tea you just drank.”

“Ah, it’s always a rich flavor.”

Liar. I saw his face turn into a grimace as if he had chewed on something foul.

Look at him protecting his right hand.

“Then why not keep drinking it? Why swap?”

“The tea went cold.”

Steam was clearly rising from it.

Seriously, they were surprisingly clumsy for members of the former Demon King’s Army.

“So, what’s the real reason?”

As expected of the Demon King, he was quick-witted.

“I’m going to take some time off.”

“For how long?”

“I don’t know, maybe one week?”

That should be enough.

“The Holy Sword?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry, I’m not planning to attack you.”

At my words, the corner of the Demon King’s mouth twitched upward before settling back down.

“The Holy Sword hurts like hell. I can still feel the stinging sensation.”

The Demon King’s nonchalant remark made me laugh in spite of myself.

“That world is as good as finished. Just find the Holy Sword and nothing else.”

“Of course.”

Who does he think he’s talking to?

“Demon Kings and holiness don’t mix well. The Holy Sword is extremely effective against Demon Kings. Especially if a Hero uses it—it’s a planet-shattering weapon.”

Planet-shattering was a bit of an exaggeration.

Regardless, I could wipe out an entire army by myself.

It wasn’t a bluff.

The Demon King himself had experienced it.

“Good timing, then.”

“For what?”

Im Jaejoon leaned back, interlacing his fingers over his crossed legs.

“A subordinate of the Immortal has come seeking me out.”

“The Immortal?”

That guy really poked his nose in everywhere. For someone who dragged dead people around as soldiers, he was incredibly active.

“He told me he’d give me a seat if I sent him a gift.”

“You should have given it to him.”

At my words, Im Jaejoon smiled, revealing his white teeth.

“I’m a businessman, after all. It seemed like the cost would outweigh the profit, so I couldn’t give it to him.”

It was obvious what the new Demon King would request of the old one.

“But haven’t you considered this?”

“Considered what?”

“The thought that I might let go while you’re off retrieving the Holy Sword.”

A somewhat random comment from the Demon King.

“Am I so threatening that you have to check like that?”

To think the great Demon King would feel threatened by a new one.

“I don’t have an army moving at my command right now.”

“But you have me.”

The most troublesome enemies on the Continent had joined hands.

“That is quite a relief.”

The Demon King was a man of duplicity.

He had done despicable things to win and had been strict to prove his worth as a supreme ruler.

We had moved with elaborate strategies and fought with everything we had.

As a result, he became the loser, and I became the winner.

However, I didn’t think of myself as the winner.

The war ended in just one year.

The reason lay in the Demon King’s death.

People praised the Hero’s achievements and laughed at the Demon King’s folly.

But I knew.

I knew the reason this guy didn’t avoid a confrontation with me.

The more the humans clashed with the Demon King’s Army, the more human casualties spiked.

But it was the same for the Demon King’s Army.

Especially with me running wild, several legions had been annihilated.

To protect his subordinates, he had fought me directly.

He could have won if he used his full force through a war of attrition, but he cherished his subordinates terribly.

If he had coldly repeated a war of attrition, the war wouldn’t have ended so quickly.

Above all, he had even given orders on what the Demon Race should do after his death.

Just as the Demon King predicted, once the troublesome enemy known as the Demon King’s Army disappeared, the Seven Kingdoms began to cannibalize each other.

Thanks to that, the Demon King’s Army lived peacefully in the territories they had occupied.

The Seven Kingdoms were too busy keeping each other in check to continue the subjugation of the Demon King’s Army.

I could trust a man like that.

He probably felt the same way.

That was why, though we were enemies, we didn’t point blades at each other’s throats even when we met in this world.

We were enemies, yet the only ones who truly understood each other.

“The Demon King used to curse and be so jealous because the Hero’s hair was so thick.”

“…!”

At Olivier’s sudden remark, the Demon King winced.

I guess he had been worried about it, even if he didn’t say anything.

Is the reason he gave up being a Demon King actually because of his hair?

“The Immortal. Necromancy is inherently tricky, but the more people die—whether they are allies or enemies—the more the Immortal’s army grows.”

That was why the Undead were fearsome.

Especially since Demon Kings were overflowing with Magic Power, handling subordinates was no problem.

Wait, why was he starting the conversation again so nonchalantly?

“Specifically, the Innate Barrier of the Holy Sword Laevateinn has a very poor compatibility with an Undead army.”

Im Jaejoon continued calmly.

“You must be a terrifying existence to the Immortal. Well, not to me, of course.”

“Is that so, senior Demon King who was kicked out first?”

“He will likely try to stop you by any means necessary.”

I expected that. That was why I came to see you.

To tell you to guard the door properly.

“If the man of the house goes out to earn money, the lady of the house should take care of the housekeeping.”

“Where do you get off using such a filthy metaphor?”

“It’s a metaphor for the division of labor. And I only have Mrs. Omija.”

This guy liked motherly figures despite having such a handsome face.

Anyway.

“I’m off, then.”

“Sure. I’ve already taken care of the Immortal’s subordinates who crossed over.”

He was fast.

Even though I hadn’t asked.

Holy Sword. As long as it was in my hand, the Immortal Demon King wouldn’t even dare to cross over.

In other words, my power would be the means to protect peace and a constraint.

Something that could protect what was mine.

After finishing my conversation with Im Jaejoon, I sought out my colleagues in Team 3.

They were training on their own today.

I didn’t need to push them anymore.

Jeon-guk, No-rae, and Ja-rang had also recently undergone Awakening in a Dungeon.

They would recover their strength quickly. If so, I wouldn’t have to worry about this side for a while.

“I’m going to take a vacation.”

“A vacation…?”

Kim Inho asked back in surprise.

“Everyone, take care. Don’t skip training. Just keep doing what you’ve been doing while I’m gone. You’re all doing great.”

At my words, the team members looked quite surprised.

“Even if you miss me, try to bear with it. I’ll head out early to prepare for my vacation. Let me know if anything happens.”

“Miss you? You’ve worked hard, so you should rest.”

“Ehey, Team Leader, don’t you trust us?”

Kim Inho and Kim Taeyang spoke in unison.

Hearing them ask if I trusted them made me feel like I shouldn’t trust them.

“Well then, everyone keep at it. See you later.”

“Yes, have a good rest!”

I said goodbye to the team members and went outside. Then, I waited for a moment.

How many minutes had passed?

“Yahoo! It feels like I’m the one going on vacation! This freedom! Hah!”

Kim Taeyang’s voice was the first I heard.

Immediately, the joyful voices of everyone being thrilled to death followed.

So, I opened the door.

In that instant, Kim Inho spotted me first and froze.

“…”

Kim Taeyang carefully took off the party hat he was wearing.

I decided to stay for a bit of Sparring before I left.