The Sword Emperor, the first Sword Master who opened the Heroes Age by slaying the Seven Dragons, once said:
Whether a grueling task finally succeeds.
Whether you narrowly escape the brink of death.
Whether you stain your blade with filthy blood.
Whether your clothes are splattered with crimson.
Or whether you fail at something.
“After all that,” he would say, “it’s only natural to crave a drink.”
Bluntly put, it meant he craved a drink every single day.
However, that was a perspective rooted in the modern era.
In the Bronze Age, alcohol was a precious commodity reserved only as tribute for the Dragons.
Humans were strictly forbidden from even touching it.
Limon, who had seen a criminal beheaded for sneaking a sip and a physician lose his wrists for using spirits as a disinfectant, knew the true meaning behind the Sword Emperor’s words.
He wasn’t just expressing a love for booze.
It was a wish that a world would eventually come where humans could enjoy a drink in peace, without needing a reason.
Of course, that didn’t mean the Sword Emperor actually disliked drinking.
“Was it around here?”
In that regard, Limon’s actions were slightly at odds with the Sword Emperor’s wish.
Immediately after leaving the Infinity Guild, he had bought some soju and come to this place.
This wasn’t a spot one visited without a reason, nor was it a place to drink in peace.
Nevertheless, it was a place he felt compelled to visit.
In the deserted, empty lot, Limon slowly surveyed his surroundings.
“It’s gotten quite clean.”
It was a strange sentiment.
The lot was neglected, devoid of buildings or even small roadside trees.
To anyone else, it would look desolate rather than clean.
But Limon spoke those words because he knew what the site had looked like originally.
“The bodies are one thing, but I didn’t expect them to clear away all those building ruins in just a few days.”
A building that had collapsed into nothing but rubble.
Dust that had swept everywhere in the aftermath of explosions.
The wretched corpses of the 200 attackers he had slaughtered.
The crimson blood that had formed small streams.
Thinking back to the bloodbath that had stained this lot just a few days ago, Limon chuckled.
This was the former site of Haecheong Mulsan Co., Ltd., the headquarters of the Liberation Brigade.
It was here that Limon had cut down over 200 attackers, including Kang Jeong-su, who had appeared to kill him.
Even though it had only been a few days, the sight of the area without a single piece of debris was impressive.
However, while Limon was impressed, he wasn’t surprised.
Ever since the Iron Age began, it had become common for Players to transform cities or alter landscapes overnight.
“Well, I suppose it’s better than leaving it filthy.”
Letting out a short laugh, Limon sat down on the bare ground and poured the soju he brought into paper cups.
One for himself, and another on the opposite side.
It was a cup for a guest who wasn’t there.
A cup that no one would drink.
Yet, Limon knew that even if there was no one to drink it, there was someone to receive it.
“Sorry for keeping you waiting so long, Na-kyung.”
Limon spoke softly at the spot where he had laid down Yuna Gyeong’s body a few days prior.
“I ended up wandering around in circles, so it took some time.”
Limon chuckled.
At first, he thought he only needed to hunt down Lee Cheon-gi.
But while chasing the real mastermind, he had discovered an unexpected conspiracy by the Seven Dragons Society and ultimately ended up dealing with a Constellation.
Even for someone as long-lived as Limon, it had been a remarkably eventful period.
“Anyway, with this, your blood debt has been paid.”
One thing was certain: Limon no longer had a reason to swing his sword for Yuna Gyeong’s revenge.
Park Hyun-gun, who had orchestrated the plot, paid with his life.
The snake behind Park Hyun-gun had been completely annihilated.
Li Qingwei, the hidden culprit, had been proven innocent.
Even Lee Cheon-gi, who had been used, took his own share of responsibility.
If he were to look for other targets for revenge?
Aside from the Constellations, whose level of involvement remained unclear, there were politicians and bureaucrats like President Han Jeong-guk, who had either ignored the situation or secretly colluded.
But Limon had no intention of collecting a blood debt from them.
It wasn’t because he feared chaos; it was because they weren’t worth cutting.
Unless they had taken the lead from the start, hunting down every insect that scurried like a cockroach would turn his quest into revenge for the sake of revenge, regardless of the blood debt.
More than anything, Limon knew that even without his intervention, they would eventually pay the price they deserved.
Whether they would be the only ones to pay that price remained to be seen… but that was no longer his concern.
He had already retired from being a hero, and all his ties to this country had been severed.
“I’ll also take responsibility for the children you valued more than your own life, at least until they become adults.”
The only remaining ties were the children at the orphanage.
But since they were orphans who had been abandoned just to get to Limon, they too had nothing else to bind them.
That was why Limon could say with certainty that she didn’t need to worry about the children.
“So, don’t linger around here for no reason. Just go in peace.”
Limon knew this was ultimately just for his own comfort.
No matter what he rambled about here, nothing would change.
Yuna Gyeong was already dead.
Whether he took revenge or held a memorial service, she wouldn’t come back to life, nor would her journey to the afterlife become any easier.
But that was precisely why Limon had to visit this place.
Just as revenge was ultimately for the living, this was a ritual for himself.
It was a necessary step to wash away the lingering bitterness in his heart.
Just as a sword that isn’t wiped of blood will rust, unnecessary grudges only become poison.
“Here, have a drink.”
*Splash.*
“I’m the boss, so I’ll have two.”
*Gulp, gulp.*
“Are you asking why I’m not giving any to Jeong-su? Who cares about that traitor? Let him wait for his own funeral rites later.”
What scattered with the alcohol was longing.
An emotion some called memories and others called sadness.
Reflecting one last time on what would eventually fade and become a mere memory, Limon continued to pour.
Sometimes he joked to himself.
Sometimes he bragged about the process of his revenge.
And sometimes, he silently watched the moon in the sky.
It was in the middle of this solitary drinking session that a voice spoke.
“May I also offer a drink to the deceased?”
A girl in an Eastern-style dress had appeared behind him at some point.
Limon didn’t even bother to turn around to look at Li Qingwei.
He spoke curtly while holding his paper cup.
“You didn’t even know Na-kyung.”
His words carried a sharp warning: if this was just a formal gesture to get on his good side, she should stop.
But Li Qingwei didn’t back down.
She simply answered calmly.
“Even if I never met her, if she was someone the Sword Lord cherished, I cannot say she is a stranger to me.”
She spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world—that since a husband and wife are one, Limon’s acquaintances were her own.
Limon remained silent for a moment, perhaps at a loss for words at her archaic sentiment, or perhaps because he sensed her sincerity.
Eventually, he chuckled and nodded.
“Do whatever you want. She wasn’t the type to turn down a drink from someone else anyway.”
“Thank you for your permission.”
As if she had been waiting for those words, Li Qingwei smiled brightly and sat down beside Limon.
She took a bottle and a glass out of a box she had prepared, filled the glass, and poured it out respectfully with both hands.
Limon watched her curiously, noting how strangely practiced she looked.
However, the moment he saw the bottle she had set down beside her, his expression became bizarre.
“Isn’t that Macallan? And a vintage 1988 at that?”
“That is correct.”
“If my memory serves me right, the price of that is—”
“Pardon?”
“…No, never mind.”
Limon shook his head, having briefly hallucinated a pile of cash being dumped on the ground as he mentally calculated the cost of the single glass she had just poured.
‘Talking about money with her is a fool’s errand.’
Even a rich man who goes bankrupt lasts three generations.
No matter how much the Black Dragon Clan had fallen from its peak, or even if they had lost nearly half of their controlling shares, the only ones who could compare their wealth to Li Qingwei’s would be the other princesses of the Seven Dragons Society or a few Monarchs.
The wealth of the Seven Dragon Group, a corporation that held all the world’s riches, was just that immense.
“Na-kyung, you’re enjoying a luxury in death that you never had in life.”
She had lived poorly despite being a high-level Player, donating her entire salary, only to drink such expensive liquor to her heart’s content after she died.
Life truly was unpredictable.
As Limon tilted his cup with a smirk, Li Qingwei suddenly spoke.
“I am told that the body of the one named Yuna Gyeong was, unfortunately, already cremated.”
“I figured.”
Limon nodded calmly.
Over 200 high-level Players had died here.
If that became public knowledge, not only would the nation’s prestige plummet, but the ruling party would face severe accountability.
To cover up that fact, most of the bodies that disappeared from this site were likely cremated.
Without a body, a death could not be proven.
Limon didn’t particularly blame them for it.
Since Yuna Gyeong was an orphan, there would have been no one to visit even if he had made a grave for her.
However, even he was forced to pause at Li Qingwei’s next words.
“That is why I bought the land in this vicinity under the name of the Leviathan Hotel.”
“…You bought this place?”
“Yes. So that a grave can be built for her here.”
She spoke calmly, asking if it wasn’t only natural to build a tomb where someone drew their last breath if there was no body to bury.
After staring at her for a moment, Limon turned his gaze forward again.
“Forget it. If you built a grave for her in a place like this, Na-kyung wouldn’t be happy. She’d cry about what a waste of money it was.”
“Ah… she was a very frugal person.”
“Frugal? No, she just had the spirit of a pauper.”
Limon chuckled as he saw Li Qingwei nodding with an impressed look.
He added another thought as if a good idea had just occurred to him.
“If you really want to do something, build a playground.”
“A playground?”
“Yeah. Na-kyung loved playing with kids. She’d prefer a place where children can come and play rather than some tomb.”
“A place where children can come and play…?”
Li Qingwei looked troubled, as if she had been presented with a difficult riddle.
Looking at her, Limon couldn’t help but think to himself.
‘She’s an unpredictable princess.’
She wouldn’t even bat an eye if a blade was held to her throat, and she could coolly reveal global conspiracies.
On the other hand, she would tilt her head at a simple joke or even take it literally.
She seemed cunning yet innocent, shrewd yet honest.
Soft and deadly like a viper in a greenhouse, yet sharp and beautiful like an orchid in a snowfield—she was a mass of contradictions.
Was this strange imbalance because she was the Black Dragon Princess?
Or was there another reason?
After observing his future bride and greatest rival with curious eyes, Limon suddenly asked a question.
“By the way, when are we getting married?”
It was a question any prospective groom would naturally be curious about.
Yet, in a sense, it was an entirely un-groom-like question.
Li Qingwei smiled as she answered.
“I do not know either.”