WeTried Translations

Translator: Yasi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Precious Demon King

Chapter 39: Knight of the Arbiter

When Ryu Jai appeared, the crowd parted to make way for her. People gradually backed away from her aura until only Kim Junyong and Lee Mina remained, standing awkwardly in the open.

Who is that?

Does he know Ryu Jai?

A hunter from South Korea?

Those gathered in the convention hall looked over Kim Junyong and Lee Mina with interest as they faced Ryu Jai.

It was obvious to everyone that a fight was about to break out.

In Belhaim, a circular stage naturally formed whenever a duel occurred. Since all the hunters here were returnees, they were familiar with that tradition.

Before anyone realized it, the center of the convention hall had transformed into a massive dueling ring formed by the crowd. The crowd's anticipation and excitement only spurred the duel on further.

Ryu Jai, the person in question, smiled brightly as she looked at Kim Junyong.

"Just as I thought."

It was a familiar energy. From Kim Junyong, she sensed Belhaim's blessing. He had indeed conquered an A-rank demon and dungeon. Divine power was like a miracle, because it made that possible.

The Chosen Seven. She could feel in this man the divine blessing that had been granted only to her and her comrades.

"Without a doubt, a Guardian."

Ryu Jai's gaze was peculiar. It was a mix of satisfaction, pride, anticipation, and perhaps affection?

"Well-trained. Hahh, and that face..."

She smiled and looked Kim Junyong over from every angle.

Pretty good-looking.

But above all, she was most pleased that he was a Guardian, a chosen warrior of Belhaim. That strange sense of kinship heightened her interest.

He would be perfect as my sixth boyfriend.

No, meeting this man had made her curiosity and desire for conquest boil over to the point that she wouldn't mind getting rid of a few of her other boyfriends.

"What's with you?"

Kim Junyong was startled. Ryu Jai's eyes were faintly glazed. And what were those turbulent emotions?

An intense mix of possessiveness, longing, even lust...

"Are you crazy?"

"Hehe, I often give people the wrong impression."

"Weren't you here to assassinate me?"

"Why would I kill you?"

Genuine puzzlement and composure. She was telling the truth.

"Didn't Daesan send you?"

"Hm? Hahaha."

Ryu Jai laughed brightly.

"Their business is none of my concern. I don't harm comrades."

Kinship, familiarity, goodwill, camaraderie.

No, when had they even met? Why show this much trust on a first meeting?

Without asking or probing, she recognized him as an ally. It was absurd. Well, if one had to find a reason...

< ...Measuring Belhaim's divinity... >

He could feel the scale resonating with Ryu Jai's divine power. It was steadily deepening.

Before long, a faint blush appeared on her face.

"I came here because of the sword the woman with you was carrying."

"Reminox?"

"Yes. You know it. As expected..."

It was genuine. The Demon King's sword, which should have been in Belhaim, had appeared on Earth–although clearly, it was a crisis.

"Someone like you, my peer, wouldn't handle a demon sword carelessly."

Trust, belief.

That unwavering feeling left Kim Junyong unusually flustered.

She's completely defenseless.

Wouldn't she be the type of pushover who, when receiving a phone scam call, would immediately hand over her bank account information?

"Hahh, let's move somewhere else to talk."

Her eyes were half-lidded, and the blush on her face was deep. It was the face of someone spellbound by something, though surely not by Kim Junyong.

"Scale, do something about her."

She was hopelessly unprepared.

Whoosh.

The scale appeared before Kim Junyong's eyes.

"Huh!"

Ryu Jai's eyes widened to their limits.

This presence. This aura.

"Ah."

She forced her knees to lock rather than bend.

Bigger than me. Maybe even more than Logan...

Just how much favor had he received from Belhaim? Divine power was this strong!

No, this wasn't just about strength.

A different league entirely!

It was as if she were facing Goddess Belhaim herself...

< Bel's Scale resonates with the warrior of Belhaim. >

"Ah."

Ryu Jai lowered her posture as if crumbling. The irresistible difference in their existence eventually forced her to her knees.

Goddess. This was the presence of a being akin to the Goddess.

"Hmm."

Kim Junyong shook his head from side to side as he watched her shrink like a mouse before a snake.

"This is..."

That God Earth. No wonder he had been so startled by the relic's existence.

It represented the "authority" of the god. Perhaps it was only natural for warriors granted power by the god to worship before the Arbiter of the Scale who possessed the god's relic.

That damn Goddess. She gave me something like this?

The Earth-bound ticket she had given him seemed to hold even greater secrets and potential than he had thought.

"Stand."

"...H-How."

Seeing her trembling all over, he let out a sigh.

"Hmm, what to do with her?"

He still had to give that God Earth three more divine orbs.

She wasn't an assassin hired by Daesan, but she had come to him on her own. If they hadn't crossed paths, he would have just tossed her to the East Asia dungeon response team. But of all things, they met like this.

Should he kill her and take the divine orb?

< The warrior who must follow the Goddess's command has wandered, unable to hear the divine voice. >

< Bel's Scale hope you will evaluate and judge their past deeds, and grant them one chance. >

At the scale's unusually polite words, unlike its usual tone, Kim Junyong nodded.

"Fine. I'll judge."

< The Arbiter of the Scale evaluates the deeds of the Warrior of the Goddess. >

Flash.

"Heuuek!"

A fierce golden beam struck Ryu Jai. Wrapped in the pillar of light, she trembled in agony.

Ugh.

The shock was so great she couldn't even think of wanting to die.

< Causing family discord, infidelity, revenge relationships... >

The scale tilted sharply toward the chaos pan, and the dragon engraved on it writhed and breathed fire. Ryu Jai blazed in that golden flame.

Ah.

Why had she lived so decadently? Even with divine power, she had only coveted authority.

Tears of regret and repentance streamed down her face.

Flash.

< ...Slaying demons, hunting servants of evil, rescuing citizens, saving cities... >

The clinking of the orbs in the chaos pan ceased, and now dozens of white orbs poured into the order pan.

Flash!

The number of white orbs far exceeded that of the black orbs. The scale quickly tilted toward the order pan.

Ahhh.

As all her pain vanished, she shuddered at the warmth enveloping her body.

This was divine forgiveness, healing, comfort, and salvation.

< The Goddess's warrior had briefly wandered from the path, unable to hear the divine voice, but had not fallen to corruption. Bel's Scale request that an opportunity be given to the one who has lost their way. >

A request from the scale. Kim Junyong stroked his chin.

"Me? How?"

Since she was on Earth, of course she couldn't hear the divine voice.

< You may appoint them as a Knight of the Arbiter. >

Would you look at that? The head office went under and abandoned an employee, and now they were asking a subcontractor's boss to hire them?

Was there any need? If he just killed her cleanly here, he would gain a divine orb.

"..."

He looked at her–floating in midair, softly wrapped in a golden radiance, her face as serene as a newborn's, and harmless to the point that punishing or holding her accountable felt meaningless.

It was the first time after judgment that someone's order outweighed their chaos. Granted, he had only used the skill on villains and demons before.

Not enough to warrant killing her.

He was no tyrant warlord. Kim Junyong of Seoul was not an indiscriminate killer.

"Fine, I'll make her a knight."

Flash.

< Stripping Ryu Jai's qualification as a Warrior of the Goddess. >

The golden glow swiftly contracted and was absorbed into the scale.

Thud.

Ryu Jai, who had been floating in midair, descended to the floor.

Flash.

< Ryu Jai has been appointed as a Knight of the Arbiter. >

A portion of the divine power absorbed by the scale flowed toward Ryu Jai and was absorbed into her body.

< Please allocate the power of order to the knight to stand against chaos. >

< 1,270 order points remain. >

Hm? Why wasn't it 1,000, the point value of a divine orb? Where did the 270 come from?

< These are the order points settled from Ryu Jai's deeds. >

"...?"

He paused.

It settles hers too?

As Arbiter of the Scale, he settled his good and evil deeds daily, receiving rewards or punishments.

However, the fate of Ryu Jai's accumulated order points was now his to decide.

"...A grinder."

< ...A Knight of the Arbiter is a companion and helper... >

Too wordy. Definitely a grinder.

He readily assigned her 270 points. She had accumulated these points from the deeds she had done since returning to Earth.

Those deeds had saved her from judgment and looked as if they would serve as the foundation for her recovery.

"Hehe, grow well."

With 270 points, she could handle demons just fine. He could have used the remaining 1,000 points to enhance the scale, but he converted them to a divine orb instead.

< Acquire Divinity >

Flash.

He looked at the golden orb in his hand with satisfaction before storing it in subspace.

"Deputy Director Lee."

"Huh! Y-Yes!"

Lee Mina, who had been waiting with her mouth covered by her own hand and even holding her breath, was startled.

"Let's go."

"S-Should I take you home?"

"What are you talking about? We haven't even handled what we came for."

Why had Kim Junyong come here? Because of the invitation from Daesan.

He hadn't even known Ryu Jai was here, and since she wasn't an assassin hired by Daesan, he had no business with her.

He swept his gaze over the spectators.

Astonishment, surprise, excitement, fear, competitive spirit.

Even while drawing the gaze of all the hunters gathered in the banquet hall, he didn't bat an eye.

Most people would naturally get nervous under so many watchful eyes, especially in a place where some of the most renowned hunters in East Asia had gathered.

However, they weren't enough to make Kim Junyong nervous. After all, no one gets nervous just because of a few flies buzzing around.

"Where did he go? Oh, there."

Meanwhile, he spotted Daesan's chief secretary hurrying out of the banquet hall. As he tried to follow, the hunters quickly moved aside. But suddenly, two hunters stepped forward to block his path.

"Stop."

"And you are?"

"Wu Feilong."

"Lin Hongwei."

As they introduced themselves, Lee Mina drew in a sharp breath.

"Do you know them?"

"Th-They're rankers. Super rankers."

Oh, top 100 in the world. Were these Daesan's hired assassins? As Kim Junyong let his killing intent flare–

"...!"

"...!"

Both hunters flinched and froze, and even the scale gave a start.

< Killing without judgment is a serious crime. >

"Whoops."

Huh, he had almost killed them. He needed to follow procedure.

"Come at me."

At Kim Junyong's confident demand for a proper self-defense fight, Lin Hongwei and Wu Feilong faltered and took a step back.

"W-We're not here to fight."

"What did you do to Ryu Jai?"

They were already cowed by the brief glimpse of his killing intent.

"What? Go see for yourselves."

"Th-Then, excuse us."

"...Thanks for not hurting her."

"...?"

What was this? These pathetic weaklings.

"Let's go, Deputy Director Lee."

"Y-Yes."

Once the two disappeared after the chief secretary, the silence that had settled over the banquet hall began to give way to chatter again.

"C-Crazy. He overpowered Ryu Jai."

"How did he do that?"

"It was like an aurora made of gold!"

"What kind of skill is that? I can't sense it at all."

From their perspective, while the two were talking, Ryu Jai suddenly hung in midair in a golden radiance, jerking in convulsions yet unable to move.

Then, Kim Junyong tossed her aside and walked away leisurely.

"Looks like telekinesis."

"Hmm, what did they talk about?"

"Could there be a rift among G-ranks?"

"Oh! Ryu Jai's rank dropped!"

"What?"

At someone's shout, they all pulled out their phones to check the Demon Realm Forum.

[ Ryu Jai - Rank 833 ]

"Whoa, what? She became a ranker?"

"Crazy! Is it an absorption skill?"

"Isn't that a permanent injury?"

Speculation swirled.

Ryu Jai, once ranked 5th among Guardians, was now 833rd among rankers.

The upper ranks, once stagnant, had shifted dramatically.

"Wow, do you realize what we just saw?"

"Crazy. Ryu Jai couldn't move at all and got completely beaten."

"What? No, she was fine. She just knelt."

People reported to guilds, called acquaintances, chatted with colleagues, or posted anonymously on the Demon Realm Forum.

Everyone who witnessed this historic moment firsthand was swept up in excitement.

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