Absolute Sword Sense - Chapter 40

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 40: Appointment Ceremony (2)

──────

The brigade leaders were so dumbfounded that they could not speak for a moment.

The unspoken rule of the Appointment Ceremony was to distribute talent evenly among them.

Yet Evil Heaven was trying to swallow up the top twenty-seven, leaving out only the bottom ten, with just a few words.

- Hahahahaha! That's exactly what one would expect from that completely insane old man.

The SoDam Sword burst out laughing.

'Ha!'

Even I had expected him to take only four or five at most.

That was if the candidates were divided up fairly.

But Evil Heaven had boldly chosen twenty-seven.

It was completely like him.

The problem was that, though those brigade leaders feared Evil Heaven himself, other Venerable Ones and the Seven Blood Stars stood behind them.

“Venerable One.”

Knowing this, Gu SangWoong, the Tyrannical Blood Brigade Leader, stepped in to mediate.

“The brigade leaders attending this Appointment Ceremony are here as representatives of the other Venerable Ones and the Seven Blood Stars. If you take all the top talents, it would be unfair to the others...”

“What exactly is unfair about it?”

As if he had an iron face, Evil Heaven answered without the slightest concern.

Gu SangWoong hesitated with an awkward expression.

Evil Heaven was being so openly unreasonable that Gu SangWoong could not find anything to say.

Swish!

A few of the brigade leaders who had been watching, trusting Gu SangWoong to mediate, finally stepped forward.

They were brigade leaders serving under Venerable Ones like Evil Heaven.

“Venerable One. I am Hak JeongGyeom, Brigade Leader of the Justice-Breaking Brigade, serving Second Venerable Seo GalMa.”

The brigade leader serving the Second Venerable One spoke on behalf of the others.

Mentioning the Venerable One he served, rather than merely his own position, was meant to make his backing clear.

“So?”

Evil Heaven answered indifferently, as though he did not care.

After hesitating for a moment, Brigade Leader Hak JeongGyeom looked around at the other brigade leaders. Perhaps encouraged by them, he cautiously continued.

“Venerable One. Forgive me for saying this, but the Appointment Ceremony is where the various high-ranking officials send us as their representatives to select talent. Until now, we have fairly discussed matters and distributed the talent evenly. If you monopolize so many candidates, Venerable Seo GalMa, along with the other Venerable Ones and Blood Stars, may take offense.”

“That is right, Venerable One.”

“Please reconsider.”

The brigade leaders all spoke up in agreement.

In other words, no matter how much of a Venerable One he was, they too were here as representatives of high-ranking officials.

They were directly warning him that if he tried to monopolize everything, the people behind them would not look kindly on it.

- Oh, they're coming on strong.

'Their achievements are on the line too.'

If they failed to secure any talented people, they would be reprimanded by their superiors.

That was why they were being so forceful.

They had even invoked their backers. What would Evil Heaven say in response?

“Hmph! So what do you expect me to do?”

“Pardon?”

“If they take offense, should I yield to them? Ha! If they don't like it, go report me. Whoever wants something should come personally. What are you all yammering about?”

It did not work at all.

When he instead grew angry, the brigade leaders were flustered.

“Do you think I would fear those insignificant fools behind you? Ridiculous.”

“Insignificant? Venerable One, how could you...”

“Shut your mouth.”

“Pardon?”

“You said your name was Hak JeongGyeom? Argue like that one more time, and I will tear your mouth apart.”

'!?'

With his massive, thick hand, Evil Heaven made a rough gesture as though tearing open someone's mouth.

Brigade Leader Hak JeongGyeom turned pale and could not say another word.

Evil Heaven could truly do as he pleased.

- Incredible.

I agreed with the SoDam Sword.

Honestly, I had thought that even Evil Heaven would have to take a step back if the other Venerable Ones became involved.

But that was not the case at all.

Instead, he forcefully crushed them beneath his presence.

If he had been a more reasonable person, the brigade leaders would have pressed harder. But his reputation for being as willful as his epithet, Bizarre Oddity, was strong.

Thanks to that, no one could bring themselves to speak.

- Only that insane old man could pull this off.

'...You're right.'

Seeing this, I felt I understood what it meant to possess power.

How much pride in one's own strength would it take to act like that?

“Does anyone else have something to say?”

“.........”

The brigade leaders could no longer protest.

If they pressed the matter further, Evil Heaven might really tear their mouths apart.

He certainly seemed capable of it.

“Then discuss the remaining ten among yourselves, and as for the high-rank warrior candidates...”

“Venerable One.”

Just as everyone fell silent, someone stepped forward.

Walking through the Cadets toward the wooden board was Han BaekHa, the Blood-Hand Witch.

After watching the situation unfold, she had finally intervened.

“You have taken too many, Venerable One.”

The brigade leaders, who had been cowed by Evil Heaven's presence, brightened at her appearance.

Han BaekHa was the only person here who could raise an objection to Evil Heaven.

“So now you're stepping in as well?”

“Venerable One, I believe the number of people you selected is excessive.”

“Excessive? What is excessive about it?”

“Did you not say, even at the Venerable Star Council, that maintaining a power base was troublesome? You declared that you would act independently. Yet if you suddenly select this many people, the distribution cannot be fair...”

“Well said.”

“Pardon?”

“I intend to build my power base this time.”

'!!!'

At Evil Heaven's words, the brigade leaders' eyes widened in shock.

The same was true for Han BaekHa, the Blood-Hand Witch.

Her eyes wavered, as though even she was greatly startled by the implications of what he had said.

- He's going to build a power base?

'Yes.'

Before my regression, Evil Heaven had acted alone until the very end.

Despite being a Venerable One, he was the only person who had never built a power base.

Yet the man who had endured alone all this time had publicly declared, before brigade leaders from every faction, that he would build one.

- Is that really so shocking?

'...It could shake up the Blood Cult's balance of power.'

Until now, the ten high-ranking officials other than Evil Heaven had remained in balance.

But with Evil Heaven, a Venerable One, building a power base, that balance could change.

I turned toward the front of the Main Hall.

'As expected.'

Baek Ryeon Ha also looked startled.

The sleeping dragon, Evil Heaven, had risen.

Since she was aiming for the position of lord, it must have come as an even greater shock to her.

From now on, she would try even harder to persuade Evil Heaven.

- That sounds exhausting.

'Not really.'

I thought this was an opportunity instead.

If she became more desperate, the other side would soon do the same.

- The other side? That thousand-year-old fox-like girl?

'Yes.'

Evil Heaven, who had no power base, had declared that he would build one. Word of this would quickly reach the leaders of the factions.

If that happened, even the red-eyed woman, who had been so relaxed until now, would make a move.

- You mean she will try to persuade that old man too?

'That's right.'

Neither Evil Heaven nor I knew the balance of power.

But if the red-eyed woman moved because of this, the specific balance of power on both sides would be revealed.

- So we can weigh them against each other?

The SoDam Sword really was clever.

- You only realized that now?

I could almost see the sword puffing out its chest.

Rather than blindly taking one side, it was better to weigh both sides for now.

That way, I could gain what I could from each side and establish a standard for deciding which side would benefit me later.

- I don't know what you and SoDam are talking about, Un Hwi.

- Then just stay quiet.

- Hmm.

The Southern Heavenly Steel Sword truly could not match the SoDam Sword in an argument.

Then Han BaekHa, who had been standing there in surprise, spoke.

“So you intend to build a power base, Venerable One... There have certainly been many surprising things today.”

“What is so surprising about it? In any case, there is no longer any reason to complain about fairness or excess, is there?”

“That is...”

“I was going to select every one of them because I don't have even a single member under me. I yielded only to save your faces.”

So this was his idea of yielding.

I wondered what kind of reaction he would have gotten if he had declared that he would take all of them.

Han BaekHa stared at Evil Heaven for a moment, then clasped her hands in a fist-and-palm salute.

“...Understood.”

When even their sole hope stepped back, the brigade leaders' expressions rapidly darkened.

However, they no longer had any grounds to argue.

If Evil Heaven truly built a power base as he had declared, Blood Cult warriors would naturally have to be assigned under him.

In the end, they had no choice but to divide the remaining ten among themselves.

The ones left behind had inferior aptitude from the start, so there was no need to fight over them.

“JwaBaek.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Look after the kids.”

“Yes!”

At Evil Heaven's command, Song JwaBaek eagerly called over the mid-rank warrior candidates who had been waiting.

He seemed happy that Evil Heaven had assigned the task to him instead of me.

What a strange thing to be pleased about.

“All right, everyone, line up over here!”

The ones whose assignments had been decided so suddenly lined up before Song JwaBaek in five rows, looking as though they had no idea what was happening.

The sight was rather amusing.

Behind each brigade leader stood only one person.

Once the selection of the mid-rank warrior candidates was complete, Evil Heaven urged Gu SangWoong on.

“Get on with it.”

“...Understood.”

I did not know why Gu SangWoong looked so disappointed.

The brigade leaders were the ones who should have been disappointed.

Perhaps he had been hoping to see a different outcome.

“Then we will proceed with the Appointment Ceremony for the high-rank warrior candidates. The six who passed as high-rank warrior candidates, step forward.”

“Yes, sir!”

At Gu SangWoong's call, six people rose from among the Cadets.

The brigade leaders' eyes changed as they looked at them.

They had been forced to surrender the mid-rank warrior candidates, but these people had the right to choose for themselves. The brigade leaders clearly intended not to lose them.

When the Cadets stood before the brigade leaders, Gu SangWoong spoke.

“Before applications begin, each brigade leader, please briefly explain your advantages so the candidates may choose their posts.”

That was right. It had proceeded this way before my regression as well.

After hearing them, the high-rank warrior candidates chose which faction to join.

Ultimately, it depended on the brigade leaders' speaking skills.

At that moment, Evil Heaven's sound telepathy reached my ear.

[Come over here.]

He suddenly called for me.

He seemed perfectly capable of handling this himself too, so why was he calling me?

Since he had called, I went to the wooden board.

As I approached, Evil Heaven looked down at me and sent sound telepathy.

[We must bring every one of them over.]