Solo Swordmaster - Chapter 25

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

Chapter 25: One Question

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A single instant was all it took.

Before the missile struck the luncheon hall, Rimon sensed the attack with his sharp instincts, grabbed President Han Jeong-guk, and escaped just as a violent explosion erupted in pursuit.

It had been a narrow escape. One step later, and they would have been caught in the blast.

But once they had escaped safely, Rimon flung the Han Jeong-guk he had gone to such trouble to save far away.

At the same time, he pivoted on one foot, spinning like a top as he swung his sword.

Ratatatatat!

What was torn to shreds amid the sword shadows embroidering the air like fluttering petals was a swarm of tiny butterflies made entirely of crystal.

Rimon’s sword, mercilessly cutting apart butterflies as beautiful as works of art, seemed utterly cruel.

But it was nothing compared to the changes that occurred where the crystal butterfly fragments fell.

Kraang, kraaash!

Marble slabs turning into transparent crystal.

Quartz pillars rising from cracks in the earth.

Even blades of grass transformed into crystal shards.

Like the hand of King Midas, said to have turned anything it touched into gold, the curse transformed everything it brushed against into crystal. It was truly a nightmare.

Beautiful as it might have appeared, its true nature was a cruel curse that twisted and destroyed the essence of all things.

The thought of what would happen if it touched a living person was horrifying enough.

Yet even while facing a swarm of butterflies more than sufficient to turn thousands of people into lumps of crystal in an instant, Rimon did not retreat a single step.

He simply stood in place and swung his sword, cutting down each butterfly that flew at him.

He was just so fast that, to everyone else, it looked as though the crystal butterflies approaching Rimon were exploding on their own.

It was a clash between a storm and a tidal wave.

A storm of blades that cut down anything approaching.

A tidal wave of curses that transformed anything into transparent stone.

It was a hellish sight, a whirlpool of disaster and calamity powerful enough to destroy an entire army.

Yet the clash ended surprisingly quickly.

No matter how many butterflies there were, they were swept away and crushed by the storm.

The tens of thousands of crystal butterflies had no choice but to melt away before a curtain of blades cutting down thousands every second.

“Fuck, even dogs aren’t disturbed while they’re eating...”

The person responsible for landing tens of thousands of perfectly accurate slashes in just over ten seconds without a single mistake, Rimon muttered with a bored expression, as though this was nothing at all.

Then he turned his head slightly.

In the direction opposite the crystal butterflies.

He coldly addressed the man who had appeared behind President Han Jeong-guk, who was rolling across the ground. He stood with his hands behind his back, his hair slicked back and rimless glasses on his face.

“A Monarch like you is ambushing people like a coward?”

“It was meant as a greeting. I did not expect you to consider it an ambush.”

“If you greet people twice, you’ll kill them, you bastard.”

Despite his words, Rimon sounded indifferent.

That attack had merely been a courtesy intended to take Han Jeong-guk from his hands.

He knew that the man had not truly intended to ambush him.

Of course, using a curse that could slaughter thousands as a greeting was not something a sane person would do, but this man had the right to do so.

He was Lee Cheon-gi, the Infinite Monarch.

One of the ten absolute beings ruling this Iron Age.

“Mr. Lee Cheon-gi! You have finally arrived.”

“It seems you have been through quite an ordeal.”

“Ha ha, I would not call it an ordeal. I simply endured because I trusted you would come to save me.”

For a moment, Han Jeong-guk had been too dazed to do anything but roll across the floor after being suddenly moved and thrown.

But once he recovered, he welcomed Lee Cheon-gi with a broad smile.

For him, the savior he had long awaited, the one who would rescue him from the vicious traitor Rimon, had finally appeared.

But Rimon merely looked at Han Jeong-guk as though he were pathetic.

“President, do you realize that guy just tried to kill you along with me?”

“Hah, what nonsense are you talking about? There’s no way Mr. Lee Cheon-gi would do such a thing...”

Han Jeong-guk scoffed and turned to Lee Cheon-gi, only to trail off.

For some reason, the man he expected to agree with him was looking at him coldly.

“...Mr. Lee Cheon-gi?”

Why would he not deny Rimon’s words?

As Han Jeong-guk looked at him with anxious eyes, Lee Cheon-gi calmly spoke.

“Is it not much easier to fight a hostage-taker without a hostage than one using a hostage as a shield?”

“So you tried to get rid of the hostage first? He’s the president, you know?”

“A president can simply be elected anew. There are plenty of people to fill that vacancy.”

“Then why did you keep him alive?”

“You kept him alive, not me.”

“...!”

All color drained from Han Jeong-guk’s face.

From the missile that had flown at them to the crystal butterflies’ attack, he finally realized that he had escaped all those attacks not because of Lee Cheon-gi’s consideration.

What if Rimon had escaped while leaving him behind?

Or what if Rimon had not thrown him far away before the crystal butterflies descended?

By now, he would not have been a president, but a charred remnant of one or a presidential statue.

“Mr. Lee Cheon-gi, you...!”

“My apologies, but I am rather busy at the moment.”

Han Jeong-guk, who had been about to shout in rage after realizing he had nearly died, shut his mouth again.

Lee Cheon-gi had kept his eyes fixed on Rimon, as though Han Jeong-guk meant nothing to him.

When Lee Cheon-gi glanced back at him, a chilling shiver ran down his spine.

“Could you please excuse yourself for a moment?”

It sounded like a polite request.

But Han Jeong-guk knew.

It was not a request, but an order.

If he refused, Lee Cheon-gi would find another way to remove him.

Lee Cheon-gi’s eyes, as though looking at a fly buzzing by his ear, told him that much.

“...Th-then I will leave the rest to you, Mr. Lee Cheon-gi.”

His face flushed with humiliation, but Han Jeong-guk ultimately turned around and fled in a panic.

Watching him disappear as quickly as a bullet, worthy of a high-level Player, Rimon spoke calmly.

“Aren’t you being a little too harsh on a country’s president?”

“That is rather odd coming from someone who took that president hostage.”

“Why would a traitor care about something like that?”

“The same goes for me.”

Whether Han Jeong-guk held a grudge over this or not, nothing would change anyway.

Watching Lee Cheon-gi speak so calmly, Rimon nodded.

“Yeah, I suppose.”

A president was only a president.

He did not have the standing to dare question Lee Cheon-gi.

There was that much of a gap between someone who ruled a country only for their set term and Lee Cheon-gi, an absolute being of this age.

A Monarch was someone who could change a president by tomorrow with a single word.

Yet the very person who had summoned him, Rimon showed not the slightest intimidation as he faced Lee Cheon-gi.

He merely adjusted his grip on his sword and bluntly asked,

“No need for a long talk, right?”

“That is regrettable. There is much I would like to hear from you, humanity’s guardian deity.”

“Don’t spout bullshit you don’t mean, bastard. Empty flattery like that does nothing for me.”

“No, I mean it.”

Lee Cheon-gi shook his head slightly at Rimon, who grinned despite his answer.

Then, with a cold expression, he said,

“Above all, I would very much like to hear about the Black Dragon Princess.”

“Huh? Why are you asking me about that?”

Rimon blinked as though this had come out of nowhere.

“There is no need to play dumb. I know you have already made contact with the Black Dragon Princess.”

“Oh, yeah?”

Perhaps because his scheme had been easily seen through, Rimon made a sullen expression and asked something he had been wondering about.

“Why are you so interested in the Black Dragon Clan’s princess? No matter how much I think about it, I can’t figure it out.”

“You have no need to know why.”

“Bastard, is that something you should say after demanding that I tell you about her?”

“That is a separate matter.”

Hmph. Well, look at this.

Lee Cheon-gi’s stance was so firm that it seemed even a blade could not pierce it, and Rimon found it more interesting instead.

He narrowed his eyes for a moment.

Then Rimon curled up the corner of his mouth and spoke.

“Hey, how about this?”

“How about what?”

“We trade one question each. In return, I won’t ask why you’re after the Black Dragon Clan’s princess.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah. There was something I wanted to confirm before we settle this anyway.”

Lee Cheon-gi fell silent for a moment as he watched Rimon grin.

But he did not deliberate for long.

It was an overwhelmingly favorable deal for him, and the skill Lie Detection told him that Rimon was not lying.

“Very well. You may ask first.”

“Fine, then I’ll ask just one thing.”

Lee Cheon-gi had given him the first chance to ask, perhaps as a concession.

Rimon looked pleased.

Then, in an instant, an icy voice cut through the air.

Ssssss.

“Was it your decision to force Na-gyeong to do that?”

The smile from just moments ago seemed like an illusion.

Rimon was staring directly at him with eyes that had turned black, and Lee Cheon-gi quietly asked in return,

“Who is Na-gyeong?”

“You’ve never heard that name? She was on my team.”

“I cannot be expected to know the name of every single member of your team.”

As though judging whether that was true, Rimon stared at Lee Cheon-gi for a moment.

Even amid the black radiance of Rimon’s eyes, which could see through Constellations, one of Lee Cheon-gi’s eyes merely appeared to contain a stained-glass mirror instead of a pupil.

The rest of him looked exactly as usual.

So Rimon asked again.

“Then I’ll change the question. Who did you order to take care of me?”

“I entrusted it to Manager Park.”

“What exactly is that bastard’s name?”

“Manager Park’s name...”

Lee Cheon-gi reached into his coat.

After taking out several business cards and flipping through them, he selected one and said,

“It says Park Hyeon-gun.”

“Yeah, that’s enough.”

Rimon no longer doubted Lee Cheon-gi’s words.

Lee Cheon-gi did not even know that Rimon had only one teammate, so there was no way he could know anything about Yoo Na-gyeong.

More than anything, the business card told him all he needed to know.

A man who did not even care about the name of his own close aide would never investigate Rimon’s relationships, take hostages, and use Yoo Na-gyeong.

If it were Lee Cheon-gi, rather than arrange such a bothersome plan, he would have come to deal with Rimon himself, as he had now.

That was the way of an absolute being.

“Then it is my turn.”

“Go on. What do you want to ask?”

“Where is the Black Dragon Princess right now?”

“I don’t know.”

“...”

Perhaps he had not expected such an answer.

Rimon snickered as Lee Cheon-gi fell silent.

“Hey, think about it. I’ve been holding a hostage here this whole time. How would I know where she is right now? It’s not like I put a tracking device on her.”

“Then I will change my question. The last time you...”

“Uh, no.”

“...What did you say?”

“You cannot change your question.”

They had only agreed to exchange one question each.

They had not agreed to change questions midway through and ask several things, had they?

Lee Cheon-gi objected in a low voice as Rimon casually argued his point.

“But I answered your changed question.”

“Yeah, thanks for the gift.”

“So you are saying there will be no return gift?”

“If you expect something in return, it’s not a gift, right?”

“...Indeed, you are not wrong.”