Chapter 8 :

 

Episode 8. You Don't Know.

 

"No need to see me off, right?"

 

"Yeah. Then take care. The door's broken, so it doesn't close properly. Make sure you pull it shut tight when you leave."

 

After politely bidding farewell to Limon, who merely waved without even looking back, and leaving the house,

 

Li Qingyu silently walked onward.

 

Because Limon's house was located in such a remote alley, the surroundings were not merely desolate but downright eerie.

 

Yet she did not hesitate in the slightest.

 

As if she were strolling through a garden,

 

she naturally made her way out of the dark, labyrinthine maze of alleys.

 

"Was it really necessary for you to go this far?"

 

It was at that moment that a subdued voice rang out.

 

Who knew how long he had been there?

 

Li Qingyu stopped when she saw the masked man in black martial attire kneeling in the darkness.

 

"I told you not to follow me, Chao."

 

"Yes. That is why I waited here."

 

"You know that isn't what I meant."

 

"......"

 

Chao lowered his head even further.

 

After hesitating for quite some time, he finally bit his lip and continued.

 

"However, I simply cannot understand this matter."

 

At any other time, Chao would never have behaved so presumptuously.

 

His role was strictly to guard and attend Li Qingyu. He possessed neither the authority nor the wisdom to interfere with her actions.

 

But this time, he simply couldn't hold himself back.

 

The masked man called Chao remained silent.

 

Whether he agreed or denied it, either answer would amount to lying to Li Qingyu.

 

Of course, remaining silent could also be considered disrespectful.

 

Li Qingyu did not bother pressing him on that point.

 

She merely asked with a sigh.

 

"Why him, of all people?"

 

"Was it really that unexpected that I proposed to him?"

 

"It goes far beyond unexpected. The clan elders alone would never allow it."

 

"Do you dislike my decision?"

 

"How could I dare criticize Your Highness's actions, but......"

 

The elders would froth at the mouth merely at the thought of taking someone who wasn't even a member of the Seven Dragons Association as the princess's consort.

 

And if that person was Limon Asphelder?

 

They might very well come charging over with swords in hand the moment they heard the news.

 

The grudge between the Seven Dragons Association and Limon ran that deep and heavy.

 

"Even so, they wouldn't get angry and tell you to throw away a jewel, would they?"

 

"Wouldn't they?"

 

"......"

 

Only then did Chao understand Li Qingyu's metaphor about the jewel.

 

But he still couldn't accept it.

 

Yet Li Qingyu did not agree with what seemed like such an obvious truth.

 

Instead, a faint smile appeared on her lips.

 

Having served her for so long, Chao understood the meaning behind that smile and could not hide his unease.

 

Li Qingyu calmly asked the flustered Chao,

 

"......Wouldn't calling someone discarded by a mere man like that a jewel be far too generous?"

 

"Chao. If one of your family members picked up a jewel abandoned on the street, what would you do?"

 

"I would thoroughly investigate it, and if there were no issues with the item, I would offer it to Your Highness."

 

"That wasn't quite what I meant."

 

It was at that moment.

 

Li Qingyu's expression became subtly strange.

 

As though she had just heard an utterly absurd joke.

 

She stared at Chao with an indescribable expression before suddenly asking,

 

Should she call him inflexible?

 

Loyal?

 

Or perhaps simply both?

 

Faced with Chao's immediate answer, Li Qingyu looked troubled.

 

"Chao, you're twenty-seven, aren't you?"

 

"Yes."

 

"As expected of someone born in the Iron Age."

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"I'm not blaming you, Chao. You're simply part of a generation that sees the past as nothing more than the past."

 

Eyes far too dark for a young girl.

 

Li Qingyu smiled softly at Chao, who looked puzzled by her cryptic words.

 

"What a Sword Master truly is."

 

"Not just you. Many people probably think the same way. That the power of a Sword Master no longer means anything."

 

Even most of those born near the end of the Heroes Age probably thought that way.

 

Decades had already passed since the age changed.

 

Constellations and Players had long since become mainstream, while everything that came before had faded into the past.

 

Leaving Chao frozen stiff as if he had witnessed something incomprehensible,

 

Li Qingyu slowly raised her head.

 

Then, gazing at the full moon hanging in the night sky, she continued in a quiet voice.

 

"That's why you can use the word 'mere' when talking about him."

 

Chao flinched.

 

It wasn't merely because he couldn't understand the words of the princess he revered.

 

It was because he had seen the murky, swamp-deep gleam within her jewel-like eyes.

 

"If you knew what a Sword Master truly was, you wouldn't make such an absurd assumption."

 

"An assumption......?"

 

"The assumption that Sword Masters lost their glory and fell into decline because the Iron Age began and Players appeared."

 

"......Are you saying that's wrong?"

 

"It's not entirely wrong. Players are certainly one of the reasons."

 

"But Chao, you don't know."

 

Players are extraordinary beings.

 

Not only can they wield mysterious abilities without undergoing much training, they can also obtain all kinds of materials from dungeons.

 

"If Sword Masters had simply been able to enter dungeons, they wouldn't have declined like this."

 

In that regard, just as Li Qingyu had pointed out, the inability to enter dungeons alone was enough reason for Sword Masters to be disregarded.

 

Players brought countless benefits.

 

Sword Masters knew nothing but fighting.

 

The more the two were compared, the more inevitable it became that people would treat Sword Masters poorly.

 

"But the greatest reason of all is that we live in an age of peace."

 

"Without even realizing how foolish that way of thinking is."

 

Even so, Li Qingyu could state it with certainty.

 

That wasn't the true reason Sword Masters had fallen into decline.

 

"After the Iron Age began, the world became prosperous, and people became intoxicated by the wealth and progress brought by dungeons. They forgot about war."

 

Indeed, after dungeons appeared, although minor international disputes still occurred, wars and incidents where blood was washed away with blood had almost completely disappeared.

 

Even the Seven Dragons Association, once among those most eager to overturn the world, had stepped into the light and joined the new era.

 

That was how great the benefits of dungeons were.

 

Great enough to make people intoxicated by those benefits and forget the past.

 

A peaceful age meant Sword Masters were unnecessary?

 

From Li Qingyu's perspective, that was no different from arguing that the military should be abolished because war would never happen.

 

Without preparing at all for what would happen if that unlikely situation actually occurred.

 

Only people so soaked in peace that flowers bloomed inside their heads could think that way.

 

Of course, it wasn't as though they had no countermeasure at all.

 

"But we have the Monarchs instead, don't we?"

 

"The Monarchs...... Yes, they too are people who have reached the limits of humanity."

 

The Ten Monarchs who had reached level 100.

 

Their strength existed on an entirely different level from that of ordinary Players.

 

Each one possessed enough power to determine the rise and fall of an entire nation.

 

Because there were ten such Monarchs, people had turned their backs on the relics of the old age known as Sword Masters.

 

If both were Superhumans anyway, then naturally people preferred those who could provide tremendous wealth and prosperity over obsolete warriors who knew nothing except how to swing swords.

 

"But soon, they'll understand."

 

"But can they truly replace the Sword Duke?"

 

"......The Monarchs are Superhumans."

 

Chao answered with those two sentences.

 

His implication was simple.

 

No matter how strong a Sword Master might be, surely they could not be as powerful as the Monarchs.

 

For Chao, who had witnessed the terrifying power of a Monarch once before, it was only natural to think so.

 

"That's why I said it. You don't know what a Sword Master truly is."

 

Why Sword Masters could not enter dungeons.

 

Why fewer than thirteen Sword Masters had been born over nearly a thousand years.

 

Why the Seven Dragons Association, which had fought Limon for centuries, still called him the Sword Duke with reverence.

 

Why she had personally come to seek Limon out despite the danger at a time like this.

 

Why, even after falling so far, Limon still remained determined to serve as the final shield protecting the world.

 

Just how absurd it was to compare a Monarch to a Sword Master.

 

And who their true enemy was—the one they should truly be wary of.

 

Very few people knew the answers.

 

But soon, many would come to know them.

 

No.

 

They would have no choice but to know.

 

As though she had already anticipated that answer,

 

Li Qingyu gave a bitter smile.

 

Then she quietly added,

 

"An awl hidden in a pocket will inevitably pierce through, and the waves behind the Yangtze can never push the heavens away."

 

That was why Li Qingyu had come here.

 

Given her complicated position even within the Seven Dragons Association, the only way for her to escape her predicament was to win Limon's heart.

 

And now was the only time when that was possible.

 

Meanwhile, Limon rose from the sofa and scratched the back of his head.

 

"Ah, fuck. I'm bored to death."

 

"......Just what kind of existence is a Sword Master for you to say something like that?"

 

Chao still couldn't understand.

 

He couldn't understand why Li Qingyu was so certain.

 

And so, hearing Chao ask with a complicated expression, she turned around.

 

Then, thinking of the alley she had just walked through and Limon's house at its end, she quietly opened her mouth.

 

"A Sword Master is......"

 

It had already been several days since Limon met Li Qingyu.

 

Since then, all Limon had done was binge-watch dramas, watch the news, and read comics.

 

In short, he had spent the entire time lounging around at home.

 

It couldn't be helped.

 

If he had friends, he might have gone to visit them, but most of the people Limon could call friends had been buried in graves long ago.

 

As for going shopping or taking a trip, he had no money.

 

Games?

 

Those were the very definition of boring.

 

With a Sword Master's dynamic vision and reaction speed controlling the game, every game simply became a repetitive task where victory was guaranteed.

 

"Yaaawn."

 

"Should I go see that bastard Seo Yong-chan?"

 

After yawning wide enough to split his mouth open,

 

Limon turned off the TV he had been watching for the past ten hours.

 

He had been suspended for assault, yet he was talking about going to see the victim.

 

If Kang Jeong-su heard him, he would probably be horrified enough to grab onto Limon's trouser leg and refuse to let go.

 

Of course, whether Kang Jeong-su cried or not,

 

Limon had no intention of caring.

 

What mattered first was finding out whether that bull-headed thing would appear again if he met Seo Yong-chan,

 

and how it would react to him.

 

If Kang Jeong-su ended up developing gastritis from stress in the process, that was a minor issue.

 

'Ah, should I just make Jeong-su do it instead? If I tell him I'll personally go find Seo Yong-chan and shake everything out of him unless he investigates the guy for me, that might work.'

 

Limon was lost in thought over that when—