Chapter 216: Garrand The Sword Emperor (1)
omYPHnWinter Holidays.WEY1E
giofThis was the fourth winter I was spending in this world. The winter was as cold as always, but there was a drastic difference compared to before.U2G
iUVQ“Faster!”dKczO8
pdthaHer shout was followed by three stabs of silver dots that were difficult for my eyes to even follow.l0D
ReS2y0– Kang!7e6e4GB
3FRCZNCHowever, I used the same set of stabs to offset her attack. It was a miraculous stunt, and I didn’t even understand how I did it myself.3BpM
eV2k5“Those are the 97 moves of Six Ways of the Spear. With that, I have passed down everything about Six Ways of the Spear.”o7w
pYxC4iI was learning the final moves of Six Ways of the Spear that I hadn’t managed to learn in the last iteration. The secret and profound arts of the Six Ways, as well as nigh 100 different moves, would have been impossible to learn, had Master not been alive.NGJ5SHX
TSEiSbS“Shall we take a rest?” she offered.HDv
9DkK8“Sure.”G0qazAM
KKXTE7EThe final midnight of the Autumn Harvest Festival went by rather peacefully, and the Academy, which was supposed to meet its demise, was able to reach its winter holiday in one piece.da2uuP
HRANeAnd it was thanks to that that I was able to practice spearmanship with Master as I was right now.sLklK
wYF“Let’s have a cup of tea.”ziZuTP0
tJSRV“Should I reduce the brightness a little then?”GfHOk
sH2“You probably should.”pFBtP
Ol89JZHHearing that, I slightly reduced the power of the “Sun” that was being manifested over us. The Sun, lighting up the otherwise dark Shadow World, slowly turned dimmer until it was no longer shining brightly over our heads.2OBvV
y3qRI was starting to get used to maintaining the balance with Sun Manifestation, which consumed a tremendous amount of mana, and training in Six Ways of the Spear, which required utmost concentration.RRYcDxn
yagzE“There is nothing more for me to teach you,” said Master.Rm7EVnZ
fGJjGBs“I still haven’t beaten you even once, though.”v22t
H61q4“Training is different from a real fight, and Korin, you are the type who is stronger in a real battle.”M8jzC
qEcx“…I can’t rely on uncertainties like that. I need to be much stronger than I am right now.”4Lysj
QkdIOnly then would I be able to confront Tates Valtazar and come out on top, even if I had to fight him 1-on-1 on the off chance that such an outcome came to be.4AUe
QNWrkAs if she saw through my thoughts, Master patted my head before giving me her other arm.WMY1w
Jkx“Touch it.”wF1x
ZI8UUI“Uhh… Umm. Okay.”bDKx
a3J9FThinking that there must be a reason, I touched her soft, slender, and beautiful arm.v4YsU
Iiurc“Observe every part of it, carefully.”wfrh8n
xVM“May I… ask why?”dbaI
tq0I was following what she said and fidgeting with and massaging her clean arm, but couldn’t really tell why.oQW
UGXzM“What are your thoughts?”ZCjy
yN9k9H“Umm… It’s very pretty.”tLp7wr
Si3ITl“…!”ZsE
1keShe suddenly slapped the back of my hand after hearing that. It stung quite a bit.l8FB
oru“F, for goodness sake! Not something like that!”WKy
iJC“Well… That was my honest opinion though.”2VdQ
4Z1a“R, really?”t1C
2Dl0WfMaster gave an empty cough with her face deep red.Dv4f4r0
EMwyGt“Did you have… a different intention?”H5aa2F
pP4Yc0N“Tell me the difference between my arm and yours.”AcVxM
i2S“Well… Yours is thin and… mine is thick?”zbu
MwE28zF“You are correct. Your muscles and your tendons are far superior to mine. The muscles and tendons in my arms are much weaker in comparison.”0nTVxG
3kd4k“But if you enhance them with aura… Huh?”Guj7b
ia2nUItI belatedly realized something. Has Master ever… used aura against me?E1fsCBG
cflyP“Wait. Wait, that… doesn’t make any sense…”Ffd
4aJ1DMaster cut me off without waiting for me to finish murmuring in utter confusion.o8XzMYp
CoDPU“Do you know Garrand Arden?” she asked.rDzNX
Uuzj7f“The Sword Emperor? Well, I’ve only seen his face once this time but… I saw him a few times before.”Ul7vK
mvCGT0“Go see him, and tell him about your relationship with me.”qbgH5b
iBakUyX“Have you met Garrand Arden?” I asked.OmHPSbC
HG5“Back when he was an immature young man… and a few times after that. You might be able to understand something after talking to him.”9wVDk1G
Qby“Can’t you just teach me instead?”nPQ7Lh
OmCqcMaster shook her head in response.4OMI
4zoPiQq“This is something that cannot be taught; you must be enlightened to it yourself. Your strength is already perfect, and that isn’t what you need. Go talk to Garrand Arden and make him acknowledge you. That is how you can fight against Tates.”jUm
Xg6vWbzGarrand Arden, huh?emeO
Fs46FI was feeling the need to talk to him sometime soon. Since Master was recommending it on top of that, I decided to do it with haste.Co04TZh
XA8r7“Then let’s stop here for today. Training any more than this won’t be very meaningful.”yWgb12J
MhQtvIF“Alright.”mGy
jRoKbVThese days, the focus was more on quality than quantity. It made sense because Master couldn’t spend all of her time helping me train.x205iwe
pz4“Then I’ll see you…”tf4QJ
GIA3Bw“K, kuhum…!”OFUq
LOlEnwpShe suddenly let out an unnatural cough before sneaking a glance at me with a slight blush on her cheeks.pnJBhn
cBw“Umm… Any farewell hugs?”DTu
ERR5G“But I’ll be seeing you very shortly anyway.”ebe
hH3kZ“Ah, r, right…”oREh3Qs
tEq71KMaster became dispirited in the blink of an eye. She was an adorable person, and I was happy to be liked by someone like her.Vhx20
GoXgDJdWalking up, I wrapped my arms around her back until her small body was fully locked in my arms.HEWSss
4Dr“Thank you as always… for everything.”c1iyKD
qi9n“Ah, uhm! Yes! It’s very warm. Let me go get some water!”6TCha
Xkqi1dShe said while fanning the heat away from her cheeks. She looked exceedingly adorable.w0fJd3b
lH8K****aEewq
XifbThis winter had been very harsh in the last iteration.I7fmQ9p
MjvaIHVThe city met its demise; the Academy fell and I lost Master. Just like the player, we weren’t able to stop Tates Valtazar and his forces just by ourselves.zpeZM
lazlWBecause of that, right now, I was somewhat lost as to what to do.xMn1
6D6VNormally, the player was supposed to travel around the continent following the storyline but…s8qG9kk
Vdu5“There’s not much to do.”BqFZ
nHeThese days, there was nothing urgent to do.hE7
r3W79BDun Scaith, Fermack Daman… and even Miruam. All the pressing problems had been dealt with, and the Academy was still standing strong on top of that. Training meaninglessly didn’t sound right either.LCjvT4
IS2And because of that—4wgG
KsbyimN“There. A bit higher.”Rzrc8y
j3ne“Here?”IJtL
nZWRGgI was scratching Hua Ran’s belly.eDhI
mwRI scratched her soft belly over the thin layer of clothing as Hua growled softly in satisfaction. She was basically a cat at this point.TvzVnfH
Meq5W“Little Navi~. Does it feel good?”jqED5P
Lxp“I’m not Navi.”bt8lJr
z4ASlkm“Yes yes. Little Hua.”uinfD
Z65These days, Hua was a lot more docile than before. She began coming over at night and let me touch wherever I pleased without creating a fuss.uqluavv
rjT9“Does it feel good?”zQSAKH
YFQnV8Y“Yeah.”TiZxA
q7Kzf6AFuu… I know this isn’t the right thing.06qge
kkBYI know I shouldn’t be doing this but…DsUj
KvWn7“Oppa. Can you scratch my back?”iaynoK
4yfLRfv“Uhh… Ran?”qnPpgF
AojT1pK“I demand fair treatment,” Ran joked with a smile.S1A
MlDKWhen I scratched her back over the clothing, she started rustling her body.9fKLs
LY9VZWM“That tickles. You can put your hand underneath if you want to.”XMisE
RxrNZ“No can do!”ZlolC
1ZkG“You can touch and scratch at the same time though?”JgAA
s3jeAL“No can…”FoEl
5r2uOE“Do you want to touch my belly at the same time?”LNjuE
I0d3a“No…”m1tD
WrWO“You can do whatever you want to, actually.”VP5
hEpw“Stop teasing me… You have no idea what I might do.”iePMg3
GgL“Hehe.”mFTj
MukQOlFWhat a mischievous little devil!Ab2M
44d3MRan floated an alluring smile before tickling my chin with the crown of her head.EBwI
I8X1YUT“There are two of us~. You can basically marry two people you know~?”UUP02Y
tiSi“Marriage is not a ‘buy 1 get 1 free’ scheme.”gNCQ
eZ6“That’s how much I like you though, Oppa. I can put up with that much.”D1JX
Oz0RPRan still had the bewitching smile on her lips. After finishing her sentence, she brought her lips to my cheeks without a sliver of hesitation.n70
V9FIF5“Hua isn’t good at showing affection so~ I can do that for you whenever you want.”H2vBw
FZWRt“Dear me…”wSBo
sPL“Or do you not like me because I’m worse off than others? I’m still growing, you know? You never know; I might be bigger than Sister Marie in the future.”5odCON
FELsbCF“That’s probably going to be hard.”Ybs
N7P2IHMarie’s “that”… is off the charts, you see.SIFN
Dk6“You already have a perfect set of eyes, nose, and lips. I can’t imagine you becoming even prettier.”X7UXbn
Cdoenk“Hue…”XKRW4S
wCNaHer cheeks immediately turned red. She was strong on the offensive, but it seemed that she was weak to compliments.oYGFK
ysjShe snuggled closer in so I wrapped my arms around her body.B9fsq
XRstQDespite my ambiguous stance, Ran didn’t voice a single compliment. She instead showered me with love and affection without a hint of discomfort.LMr6
EtvIt was… concerning, thinking about what would happen after I eventually had to choose someone.qSw7
LyaLb“Are you still diligently doing your practice routines on Ways of the Fist?”H7Xn7B8
yKm“Yes. I was more talented in martial arts than I thought.”GvAkz
NdV8“Hua couldn’t really do it though.”qS4JTB
XuCK“She’s too strong, after all.”nGHy
vt2RBoth personalities of Hua Ran had equal specs, but Hua was overwhelmingly more talented at fighting in general. Her relentless personality and innate talent in aura made her a perfect fighter.pxR8cp
1GAoDKeHowever, that came at the cost of being awkward at martial arts, where you had to delicately and effectively make use of each move.fExu
7Wk“The Association is probably going to assign you an evaluation test as well. You should prepare for it.”BcrcvZ
tbd“Evaluation… But Hua said she wasn’t interested in becoming a Unique Grade Guardian.”fYgU6NN
sVz“It’s still a good idea to become one. Being a Unique Grade Guardian equals authority.”xdIP1
lC9cJThe player eventually had to become a Unique Grade Guardian. That correlated to what the player would be able to do during the final war.LJxEDk
elTG“No matter how precarious of a situation it may be, the world will refuse to fight as one. However, it will be different if the top figures have power and authority.”pCbI7vN
WXYlQ7FIf aliens were to invade, would the world fight as one like what happens in some Hollywood movies?xmu04x
iegWGProbably not.tz4T
q2eBut what if the presidents of each nation were trustworthy people who shared an objective?pjhAVL
tAK“Will becoming a Unique Grade Guardian be helpful?”dv8S
zohKBb“Yes, because Unique Grade Guardians have the authority to aim for the presidential position of each branch.”voN
uenWs5“President?”vc0pN
3aJGe“It’s an old tradition. No one really remembers it at this point but…”TH4bSeK
vOnTaking the seat of the president by challenging them was a rule that still existed. It simply went under the radar because there wasn’t anyone strong enough to defeat the executives and subordinate guardians as well as the president of a branch at once.bRyRU
06XPWhenever there were people like Garrand Arden the Sword Emperor showing up, they would immediately give them an honorary presidential position to avoid conflict, which was another reason for the lack of precedents.uZ9lF
vQFh“But they will see us as kids, and will refuse to give us the same treatment they gave that old man.”iDT0gp
B6JeBesides, there was also the fact that Marie and Hua Ran were demi-humans, who were treated like demons for a long time.iBQ
kqN8It was highly unlikely that they would give high positions within the Association to demi-humans, whom they had been hostile to.5md
qUngThat was why it was hard to expect much cooperation from each branch of the Association even in the game and the last iteration, because Park Sihu and I were the only ‘pure-blood humans’ that could have the word ‘Unique’ in our title.E0AYi3l
iMn4G0“Hmm~. So what you’re saying, Oppa, is that you want us to become Unique Grade Guardians to take over the Association, right?”P2jR
rTzhS“They will be vigilant of us already. It won’t be easy but…”nsAl
1Z8Marie, Hua Ran… and me.PQ9d
rx6It should be possible for us, monster guardians.zJlxIg8
3mj3“If we can at least get two from the three branches, we will be able to save a lot more people.”Uhi
ZNe38yIt was only a half-success in the last iteration because Park Sihu was the only Unique Grade that was available.uKflb
D3AAlthough I attempted to become a Unique Grade guardian myself, the final evaluation I received was ‘Semi-Unique’. The walls of Unique Grade were higher and harder to climb than expected.BZL
JvJHRkHowever, even that half-success allowed us to reduce the number of casualties by a lot.F80Ef8
q4A1Although we couldn’t stop Dun Scaith from reducing the South to ruins, we were able to swiftly deal with the rebellion of the Old Faith to the West and managed to stop the northern borders from being breached.le34TC
ghj7y7z“Oppa.”rW0dBJe
X6r“What is it?”7nKy
rZq“I think it’s amazing how you always try to save people. It’s so cool.”kPtZT
exJKs“Kuhum… That was very abrupt…”JUTIA
PZ1IwwW“That’s the kind of person you are, and that must be why you saved us, right? But…”ijVf
XgbfkoRan locked her fingers behind my neck.lvgHTO
Jip“When eeeeverything is over, we still want you to care about only us~”wij
VrT2“Not right now. I have a lot to do.”OmBgpvY
jM29Dq“Tch… Oppa. You’re so dense but obstinate, did you know?”jKG1f
kvvd4E“Yeah. I didn’t know I would turn out like this either. I wasn’t like this in the past.”WsAt
2NfF5“Is that when you were in your hometown?”fV4S
SPSrV“Guess so.”vDVu8cy
NKfX1geI was too busy playing around with friends on Earth, and the biggest difference to now was that I wasn’t popular in the slightest.Auj8
UyK5Hah… I guess I would have to face a different set of problems even if I were to go back to Earth.GrAhe
GvI8At least I’m popular here so… should I just stay here?9dJLh5
3tWWmz****RukncEP
XAHQEDsNormally, the guardians affiliated with the Academy took their evaluation tests at the end of the year, with the change to their Grade being decided over the holidays.Y2G3
nm2However, this rule didn’t apply to me because of the ambiguous state of my official Grade.HK4PZl
3j0DKorin Lork.HcQ
Lrd769Entered the Academy 2 years ago as Grade 5, but was promoted to Grade 1 Knight in just one semester in an official evaluation.r0Sb
9UpqDuring the second year unofficially became semi-Unique Grade, but even that was changed after the incident with Mound.oRgb
ozehhStopping the advance of an army with the Sun, I defeated countless challengers and the last fight against Eochaid Bres was clearly that of a superhuman above superhumans; proving that there was a sky above the sky.KV8Tf
JjYIn other words, the public perception of me was already that of a Unique Grade Knight.hME26
BleaMConsidering how even Marie was a semi-Unique Grade and Hua Ran’s Unique Grade was also unofficial, it could be said that I was grabbing a bit too much attention recently.NMJN2R
7Yzf9That was why Lady Josephine represented the Academy to recommend me as well as Marie, Alicia, and Hua Ran for the evaluation test.SxaHC
6n2TP7“Oh. Mr. Korin! This way! Here!”LU8Pn
yGrWhen we arrived at the waiting room of the Central Guardian Association located near the capital, I found Alicia who had gone to the East with Lunia beforehand.dGVmzUI
hy0XEe“Did you enjoy your visit back to your hometown?”XexOMV
pnHjWP“Yes! I have some horse jerky. Do you want some?”d8okeu6
qtla“Hoh~. Sure thing.”cIA7Lq
IrHGfI was about to take the jerkies when Alicia suddenly opened her arms out wide.HeIG
7Xg4xvX“Huh?”YRxw9
hLnGUM“It’s the first time in 2 weeks. I deserve a hug.”2KV9
woJ“Uhmm… Right now?” saying that, I looked around.Of5
jEZSjXBWe were in the waiting room of the Guardian Association… There were a lot of eyes on the surprising actions of the young lady from the Arden Household.3K7jF
ivJjgvn“My arms are getting sore. Quick.”Luokg
K2LIDdv“Mhmm…!”kd7Op6h
6iDwdyQI gave Alicia the hug she demanded.zb7
WcDOThese days… she’s being more and more touchy.84N6
29fOyZ“Hehe. Can you tap me on my back?”r7CxO
j3MD4D4“Okay…”BFYQ
tqEIyrxAfter I gave her a few taps on the back, Alicia whispered in my ears.gcjKaM
1F3lmmv“It’s been so long… Can we?” she suggested in a soft voice, and I immediately noticed what she was alluding to.yEE
lBsJpT“Y, you became quite bold all of a sudden, didn’t you?”cxdx
v3olf7“I had to read the mood every second in the East. I don’t want to do that when I’m with you either, Mr. Korin.”I7u9Gs
xEKXsVAlicia these days… was frightening. She was becoming more and more like Lunia.J3NC1Ue
5fRFQe“Then let me—”Ei1Mo
sKKK“W, wait…”NamPvO9
wJlaThat was when Alicia, who was bringing her lips towards mine, was suddenly pulled back with a scream, “Uaahk!”lzJb
uEJ“Ms. Hua Ran?”vcxA
k8aWith an indifferent look on her face, Hua said after pulling Alicia back.XqIo
3zRw“You’re… too close.”CtWJ
lkEn“Hing… It’s been 2 whole weeks though.”D9YkEh
SNZg“…”EnuO
xCeYDBoth Alicia and Hua knew that they liked the same person.ry3M
v0VBmWhat can I say… I’m the sinner in this situation.YQPz3Z
hZQ“Hahaha! I see. As they say, heroes love women indeed!”RX87xr
LM8An old swordsman approached in a burst of hearty laughter.toMzD
WsqMHis gray hair was disheveled and his martial uniform was tattered but… no one dared to even think about chasing the man out.7YU
TS46cPj“Greetings, Sword Emperor.”UMXVc
HyE“Been a while, young man.”Av5RIMg
nrcGarrand Arden.5uv
wFnzHe was the only Unique Grade Guardian in the current generation – the strongest swordsman who lifted the Arden Household into being out of nothing.WNy
d1PsQCM“Thanks to you I enjoyed the clouds a whole lot.”71xlyHx
kF0The eyes of a ferocious beast glared straight through my eyes. Right… we still had to go over that one thing.aes7GFD
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