WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 40: Call You to Account
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For a moment, Rimon regarded Li Qing-yu strangely as she spoke as though he were some sort of savior.
Then he opened his mouth with a dubious expression.
“Even if you put it that way, I’m the one who was swept along by the tide of the times and became a traitor.”
“But you are not yet the enemy of the entire world.”
Humanity's last Sword Master.
The most troublesome existence if the Constellations truly had some hidden purpose in contracting with Players and giving them power.
If Lee Cheon-gi's actions had resulted from the Constellations’ intervention, they would not stop here.
They would move other Monarchs and nations too, trying to turn Rimon into the enemy of the world.
“That’s why I said I was lucky.”
“...You mean the timing?”
“Yes.”
Li Qing-yu nodded without hesitation.
She continued in a calm voice.
“If people had remembered the Sword Duke’s reputation for just a little longer, I would never even have had a chance to meet you.”
What if Rimon had not fallen as he had now?
The Black Dragon Clan would eventually have lost its majority shareholding and been forced to halt the World Peace Plan.
On top of that, instead of being wary of the Constellations, Li Qing-yu would have been sold off to take responsibility for her clan's downfall.
“On the other hand, if people had forgotten the Sword Duke’s reputation too quickly, our Seven Dragons Society would have fought you first.”
What if Rimon had fallen too quickly?
Instead of Li Qing-yu, assassins from the Seven Dragons Society might have come looking for him.
In the current Seven Dragons Society, Li Qing-yu was its only princess wary of the Constellations. The others would have taken the lead in turning Rimon into the enemy of the world, if only because of their old grudge.
Had they fought an all-out war, more than half the Seven Dragons Society would have been wiped out. Rimon, too, would have lost at least an arm and become a fugitive.
The Constellations alone would have reaped the benefits.
“So it could only be good fortune that I was able to meet the Sword Duke at the right time.”
Whatever pleased her so much, Li Qing-yu smiled brightly.
Looking at that innocent smile, Rimon spoke sharply.
“I’d say I suffered misfortune because you came at the right time.”
Even if the Constellations had intervened, meeting Li Qing-yu had undeniably been what made Lee Cheon-gi decide to actively eliminate Rimon.
In that sense, Li Qing-yu's visit itself had brought him calamity.
Rimon said it with open sarcasm.
Yet she did not waver.
She merely nodded quietly.
“Yes, it is regrettable.”
Rimon's eyebrow twitched.
Her voice sounded sincerely regretful.
Yet though there was sorrow in her clear, obsidian-like eyes, there was not the slightest trace of self-reproach.
“Do you dislike my answer?”
As if she had read his mind, Li Qing-yu asked quietly.
Rimon answered in a low voice.
“Do you think I’d like it?”
“No. I imagine you’re offended.”
Li Qing-yu readily admitted it.
Then she lowered her gaze slightly to the sword held against her neck and continued.
“Especially if you think I am someone from whom you must collect a blood debt.”
“...”
Rimon did not bother answering.
The fact that he had kept his sword aimed at her even while they spoke answered for him.
Seeing his cold face, Li Qing-yu closed her eyes.
After drawing a short breath, she opened them again.
At that moment, everything changed.
* * *
“Sword Duke (劍公).”
Her voice was calm and low.
What it held instead of cheerfulness was reverence.
A call so respectful that merely hearing it carried weight.
“You are the last Sword Master, the guardian deity who has protected this world through your will alone. A merciless judge, a just and absolute being.”
It was as if both her smile and youthful freshness had vanished.
Only the solemnity of an adult remained in her composed expression.
Her unwavering demeanor only added to the elegance of her beautiful face.
“I, Li Qing-yu, descendant of the Awe-Inspiring Black Dragon Divine Lord (威黑龍神君), know this is presumptuous, yet I dare ask you.”
The girl who had been smiling sweetly only moments before was gone.
Before him stood a superhuman whom no absolute being should take lightly, one of the shadowy powers that had held the world in its hand and toyed with it.
One of the seven masters of the Seven Dragons Society.
A noble being who carried the pure blood of dragons.
The Black Dragon Princess (黑龍公主).
Her demeanor, face, and voice.
Above all, her eyes, so clear they were like mirrors reflecting Rimon, told him that was who she was.
Facing Rimon, Li Qing-yu asked:
“Was it wrong for me to protect world peace by preventing wars all this time?”
The World Peace Plan.
An absurd conspiracy to bring about Rimon's downfall by preserving peace and robbing him of opportunities to distinguish himself.
To the person it targeted, it was naturally unforgivable.
But could preserving peace itself be called wrong?
“Was it a crime to deceive the world and make Monarchs into absolute beings in order to maintain peace?”
The plan had artificially caused a Dungeon bubble, raised the status of Players, and earned funds.
Strictly speaking in legal terms, its crimes carried more than a thousand years in prison.
But should they be punished as criminals for that?
For not letting the global economy collapse?
“Was it an unforgivable mistake to be wary of the Constellations and prepare for them?”
A suspicion based on insufficient grounds and vague conviction, practically no different from a conspiracy theory.
To those who worshipped the Constellations, it might have been the gravest insult.
But was it truly a mistake?
To be wary of unknown beings who had suddenly appeared and offered favors?
“Was I wrong to believe the only way to stop the Constellations was for the Seven Dragons Society and the Sword Duke to join hands, and to come find you?”
The battle with the Infinite Monarch had begun because Li Qing-yu came to Rimon.
Should she be held responsible for it?
For suspecting the Constellations, staking everything on preserving peace, becoming isolated even within her own clan, and coming to Rimon as her last hope?
“Please answer me, Sword Duke.”
Rimon only listened to her questions.
He remained silent, sword aimed at her.
As if demanding the answer he had delayed giving, Li Qing-yu offered her final question.
“Am I someone from whom the Sword Duke must collect a blood debt?”
“...”
He did not answer.
No, he could not answer.
That was the heart of it all.
He merely looked at Li Qing-yu in silence.
It was why Rimon, who never hesitated when he swung his sword, had not yet cut her down.
But Li Qing-yu no longer pressed him.
Instead, she looked at Rimon with tranquil eyes before speaking.
“You swore upon your sword, Sword Duke. That as long as I did not turn against you, you would never abandon me.”
Twitch.
At that moment, the sword that had been aimed at Li Qing-yu's neck trembled for the first time.
Its tip, which had not moved as though fixed in place, shook.
Of course, it was an exceedingly slight tremor.
Less than a millimeter, one an ordinary person would not have noticed even if they had seen it, and it stopped in the blink of an eye.
But Li Qing-yu could feel it.
Through the sensation of the blade against her skin, through psionics that transcended perception.
More than anything, she could sense the first ripple of disturbance in Rimon's heart, which had been surprised but had not wavered even after learning of the Seven Dragons Society's conspiracy.
“I will not make the convenient excuse that all of this happened before that oath.”
It was a convenient excuse.
A justification that could make Rimon lower his sword immediately.
But Li Qing-yu did not beg for her life with such a stopgap measure.
She simply reached out slowly.
“If the Sword Duke believes even one thing I have done was wrong...”
Slide.
She grasped the blade held against her neck.
Her fingers were so slender that they looked as though they would be cut through in an instant if Rimon moved his sword even slightly.
Yet Li Qing-yu did not care.
Instead, she naturally supported the sword and kissed its tip.
Drip.
Was it because the blade was so sharp?
Or because of that faint tremor?
A drop of blood fell from her lightly cut lip.
Only after the crimson blood had moistened her lips did Li Qing-yu pull away from the sword tip.
Then she drew the sword toward herself, fixed its point where it could easily pierce her heart, and smiled quietly.
“Cut me down.”
With a beautiful, pure smile, like a maiden offering herself as a sacrifice to a dragon, Li Qing-yu finished speaking.
“If that is your will, I will gladly accept it.”
* * *
Like a living statue, Rimon kept his sword aimed at Li Qing-yu for a long while.
She was not afraid even with his sword before her. She was smiling at him.
Finally, he asked in a low voice.
“Are you insane, or are you an idiot?”
“Which do I look like?”
“At least I know you’re not sane.”
Rimon shook his head.
It was absurd enough that she had exposed the Seven Dragons Society's conspiracy after only a little questioning.
As if that were not enough, she was now offering her heart to his blade, willing to atone with her life if plotting the conspiracy was a crime.
In many ways, it was behavior that could only be called insane.
“...Though it is also clear that you are not an idiot.”
“You flatter me.”
“That was not a compliment.”
What kind of mind did she have to take his words as praise?
Li Qing-yu blushed and looked shy.
Rimon let out a small sigh as he looked at her.
“It was a lament.”
It would be easy to cut off Li Qing-yu's head.
Even as the Black Dragon Clan's princess, she could neither evade nor block his sword in this state.
But Rimon could not cut her down.
He could not give a proper answer to any of Li Qing-yu's questions.
Was preserving peace wrong?
Was supporting the economy a crime?
Was being wary of the Constellations a sin?
If I call that a crime, then I would be a criminal first.
Rimon had done much to protect the world, enough to be called the Guardian Deity of Humanity.
What he had learned through that experience was that it was better to save the world by any means necessary than to let it perish fairly and justly.
Of course, the end did not justify every means.
But by Rimon's standards, what the Seven Dragons Society had done was sufficiently justifiable.
Being wary of the Constellations was not foresight. It was simply common sense.
For the same reason, he could not blame Li Qing-yu for coming to propose marriage to him in order to check the Constellations.
If her concerns proved true and the Constellations could control Players and harm the world, neither the Seven Dragons Society nor Rimon would be able to stop them.
Rimon might be able to cut down Constellations, but he had no way to fight the entire world.
The Seven Dragons Society might possess all the wealth in the world, but it had no means of defeating the Constellations.
In that sense, Li Qing-yu's decision to wait for Rimon's downfall so she could join hands with him had also been the right means.
If he had not fallen as he had now, Rimon would never have joined hands with the Seven Dragons Society.
He had, in fact, rejected her proposal once.
Nor could I blame her for coming to find me only after selling off nearly half her clan's shares.
They had already lost 49.9 percent of their shares.
If they lost just another 0.1 percent?
The Black Dragon Clan might be torn apart altogether.
Could he condemn a girl who came to him only after being driven into such a corner?
Rimon might have been reckless enough to be called a mad dog, but he was not that kind of son of a bitch.
And as long as he could not declare Li Qing-yu's actions a crime, he could not collect a blood debt over this.
To demand a blood debt from someone who had committed no crime would be nothing more than murder.
Did any of that matter?
Sure. He could ignore it all.
He could kill Li Qing-yu here and destroy the Seven Dragons Society to vent his anger.
The global economy would collapse, penniless Players would run wild with the Constellations behind them, and peace would vanish completely.
But heroes were born from chaos.
If Rimon fought the Constellations amid that chaos and displayed overwhelming power, he could once again become an absolute being and return as humanity's hero.
Yet Rimon could not do that.
He knew far too well what lay at the end of such a life.
It was why the Age of Heroes, which had produced the most heroes, had also become the most horrific age in history.
It was also why, among the thirteen Sword Masters who had reached the realm of ageless immortality, he had inevitably become the last Sword Master.
So he could quit being a hero, but he could not abandon being human.
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