Chapter 217: Garrand The Sword Emperor (2)
feJ7s7Garrand Arden the Sword Emperor was closer to a side character, who appeared a limited number of times in the game.yMaH6G
QNU3TeNonetheless, he was one of the three strongest allied characters.ndTofRE
X5zkQSDanann of Justice, Erin Danua.dB0GM
2tFDimensional Witch, Josephine Clara.OheFuc
g46k1HAnd Sword Emperor, Garrand Arden.PkexU
5TbsJosephine was a powerful assistant who consistently helped the player from the mid to late stages of the game. In the first place, the battles towards the end were only possible with her help. Her assistance was paramount in completing the game.dDG
a7cEErin Danua was technically the strongest character after Tates Valtazar, and was equal to Eochaid Bres without the Sun.pW5
rIcShe had a considerable level of impact in the main storyline and was an indispensable NPC if the player wanted to take the Spearman route.7XYB3
enSwBesides, the only reason the player was able to survive Tates Valtazar during the destruction of the Academy was because of her sacrifice.EJFj3qi
HeUCompared to the two people mentioned above, Garrand Arden was slightly strange.caeX
3CIScenario-wise, he was the strongest contemporary swordsman representing the generation after Tates Valtazar. Despite being commonly referred to as a setting sun, there had yet to be another existence that could inherit his position.EEdNxew
m2mY9gHe didn’t appear much even after the appearance of the player who could potentially inherit his status as the strongest guardian but—obXiW
Un3“Greetings, Sword Emperor.”PlMhrP
csuwB“Been a while, young man.”V1SB
QwRXgUhI met this old man a few times in the last iteration, and I remembered being scolded in every encounter.vk88
mm9p『You are wasting your talents. How unfortunate. Very unfortunate indeed.』21jNbC
oK6xThat was probably his way of giving a high evaluation of me. For some reason… everyone I met had a similar opinion.kc5fi
x8GLATC“Thanks to you I enjoyed the clouds a whole lot.”A5AhH6
mXv“Kuhum…!”vbJr0
RKoA3That was back when we went to the floating island to obtain Claiomh Solais. After we defeated the Sword Fiend and chased away Dun Scaith, the Sword Emperor did stop the horde of giants for us.eMPRJqp
XPgjAnd I repaid the favor by cutting down the tree that created a path to the floating island.4rp
ZXdx“How did you come down?” I asked.wfG
NBIc4“Since I was up there anyway, I enjoyed the scenery before stepping my way down.”TlybK1
EFAtsc“…Step on what?”ShJcZ
QmiY“The giants, of course. I used them as a stairway to come back down.”Tr47NZ
X2li“…”sMG57
TIwOfrNWhat?qjP
BfT3“That’s… very interesting. Anyway, what brought you here?”9hFb
cwGgQz“Is that all you have to say about that?”6rHn
aO2“Do you want me to do anything?”4hrh
BgzpI decided to put on a shameless front, pretending like it wasn’t my fault.OCtg
j1odqsl“I do indeed… Nothing big, but marry one of my granddaughters. You can take them both if they don’t mind.”wRm
4hX315“G, Grandpa?!”SLUSZM
smUSIXThis old man… in the last iteration, he told me to take Lunia and was saying the same thing again.U5Z7aWt
Qi05VL“W, what are you saying, Grandpa!?”D4JA3
NIzEsFeAlicia slapped him on the back in a fluster as Hua Ran gave a frown from the side.pVm6lNN
HBcS“Hahaha! Lunia that girl didn’t seem to mind it.”pNmDDip
8157“W, what? There’s no way…!”gXMtlP0
oJ6“She did say a senile old man should stay out of it, though.”dKv
gWLThe Sword Emperor laughed heartily and giggled in spite of his old age, before tapping me on my shoulders.ab1iH
N34X8c“A good man should naturally be able to satisfy a few women. Am I wrong, young man?”jranrOc
cd5x6NI“I can finally tell where Lunia’s view on marriage is coming from.”13Je0q
LG2Everyone in this household was slightly off in the head. I guess the only normal person was Lady Sophia, Lunia’s mother.jsbP
GEi6Vxa“Hmm. But anyway, a spearman, huh…? Brings back memories.”YcO95aO
tqNomEHearing that, I remembered that I had to ask him about Master but by that time, the Sword Emperor was already in the middle of being escorted away by the overly-respectful staff of the Association.9dA
ao6“Sir Korin Lork. Let me lead the way.”jsOzP9
qa0c8gSoon, another staff appeared to guide us down the corridors of the Central Association, until we were met by a man with a generous and virtuous appearance.wQW0NiZ
WDi4s“Ohh~ Sir Korin! Nice to meet you!”kkXm8
wilyWA4Surprisingly, the man who greeted us was the president of the Guardian Association.Or9dy
cnUnqtd“President Redic.”X8DZvPK
RPqyh“Do you know me?”XdDhDRS
H1esu“How could I not recognize a great senior and the pride of our Merkarva Academy?”cJsUe
G9sEK“Huhaha…! Is Lady Josephine doing well?”Glej
Q7hfkgY“She is still in her prime.”jbroadT
4s8osZRedic Georgio. He was a former Grade 2 mage and the top executive member of the Association. He was a 30-year senior of the Academy.wUYeUG
ZUfWWhat might be rather surprising was that the President of the Association was not that strong. Of course, a Grade 2 guardian wasn’t weak by any means, but still fell short compared to Grade 1 guardians.u7RMF
tRZ9“I am incredibly honored to be welcomed personally by a great senior.”Un1bk7E
1e8“Haha. I should be the one saying that, considering how our Merkarva Academy has given birth to the next Unique Grade Knight after the Sword Emperor!”CTIbUm1
CQtw7“I am flattered.”6to
AVDE“By the way, how is Young Lady Marie?”he55sr
WgmBWRedic raised a question after glancing around.2y7ijas
HBkTLThe position of a president wasn’t something one could take simply by being strong. Anyone apart from the Sword Emperor had to earn their position through politics.jYSu
K3rks“Senior Marie is in the South right now. I heard she had a meeting with the branch president over there.”BRwYT
b8k“I, I see. Kuhum… He’s from the Elizabeth Academy in the west though…”MEN9v
WoDTHe discreetly pulled the “he’s not from the same academy as us” card, but that didn’t work on me.MxKG
rtL“Oh yeah. The Saintess wanted me to give you a letter when I told her I was coming here.”lwfSrRL
PgT“T, the Saintess did?”zuB2
MNLOI handed over the hand-written letter from Estelle which President Redic seemed quite moved by.tYivznW
LBAKConsidering how the position of a president was nothing but that of an official assigned by the royal court, it made sense for him to be so moved by the letter personally written by the princess and Saintess of the New Faith.XLH
tqCXSJbIn fact, the president was just an honorary title and the true value was in how ond could forge connections with the higher-ups of each region.7i2k0k
6aZ5OThis was why Garrand Arden, who hated politics, didn’t pay much attention to the Association after receiving his title as an honorary president.RPucQ4L
1ujOd6“President.”ChzlWy3
Mx6oxBHowever, I was different. I had already learned from seeing Park Sihu in the last iteration, that politics was necessary to save the world.7CwO
F1GrkZC“I have an invitation to a secret club called, ‘Voices of the South’. You should join us if you have time.”mTU
tk12u“V, Voices of the South?”o8NI
Z85lx9Voices of the South was the meeting place of the central political bigshots, run by the Dunareff themselves. Entering that was like a highway to success by receiving their support and becoming a representative of the South.fJEHL
eJMS5Qs“We should have a glass of southern wine over there and talk about… you know, right?”NqV
HObhk“H, haha… Weren’t you underage?”iXT0tM
qLXgrGf“Come on! We can’t not have any drinks when talking about the grandiose potential of the future, can we? Plus, I can legally drink starting next month.”5wH5yE
LN92H4N“Uhahaha…! What an open-minded young man! Right. As they say, you need to learn how to drink from an adult! Sounds good to me!”m4p
alXy8S“I will appreciate your assistance in the evaluation.”4looE
WMOqv“Don’t worry! All you need to do is show us the Sun that stopped the army and get a few signatures from the staff.”2uJO2
7ALBatPresident Redic was all smiles as he walked out of the room.Q6crmwL
lPnuIIt was highly likely that he had been uneasy the whole time.YhE4Ayd
EXvGxGarrand Arden wasn’t interested in a position in the Association, but he didn’t know if I would be the same as him or not.C0GOUQx
Y8mHAlthough it was old, a rule was still a rule. A Unique Grade Guardian had the right to challenge the president of a branch, which meant the position he had built up so arduously was about to be stolen away.SGh
eDaTherefore, it was only natural for him to feel anxious.5eUpiOF
zIXEuHowever, now that he had a connection with the Dunareff and the New Faith thanks to me, he would be more than happy to let go of his current post if we gave him a decent position elsewhere.BlYV
SX0fDbeAlicia and Hua Ran looked dumbfounded.QZP4Mj
tVBDwKa“What’s wrong?” I asked.jAg
zmy“I feel like I just witnessed a very dirty negotiation.”Wad3i
Lphi1“…Corruption?”jBBkzYI
01omV“It’s just one position and there’s no need to have someone riled up about it, right? We’re just doing what’s good for everyone.”714wPia
KuaSIIt took us a lot of work in the last iteration doing political warfare and digging around but… there was no reason to do that anymore since we could send him off in peace.H8ybH
MAsxfMarie and Estelle are on my side, so what’s the problem?ExOqwVe
7zH“The Unique Grade is an easy win now. We just need to complete a few paperwork and go home.”lyPa4Iu
IdyWwUnfortunately, that plan of mine was obstructed by someone unexpected.ozkHyPh
Rcs***0OCf2h
qnYxThe executives of the Association were the ones giving me the evaluation.aMTuhE
wGgJ6C0Just like how it went in the Grade 1 promotion test, they measured my basic stats and assessed how much I could do.zBO
XMhGN“Everyone knows who Sir Korin is, and what he is capable of, right?”89OsfDL
LsD6“Of course. His ability to manifest a Sun is already unheard of.”4Dr
LwdKC“And he overwhelmed the subordinates of the 2nd Princess in a 1-on-1 battle.”ZKVenOm
lQ3AC“Plus, he has an incredibly long history of hunting demons. There’s no need for him to prove himself again.”u8VQn
PUiThe judges who were greatly influenced by the president were busy showering me with compliments.rrK1BW
aHQS2It felt weird to see them pour out praises without an end, in contrast to how they tried to pull me down in the last iteration with excuses like, “You’re too young”, “You don’t have enough history,” and “Your stats are too low”.GrDj
ZW0So this is the power of authority, huh~?TfN
SbJ0“But we still need some evaluation so how about we have him show us the Sun? I believe that should be enough.”CDEdrh
2QjEOV1“Sure.”5OoE5
Zh5“If you say so, President.”JKQ
BZOH“Junior Korin. Do you see that dummy over there from the training rooms? That one there is a very tough one with max heat resistance. Let’s measure it with that.”BoSE
9tuIt was great that I didn’t have to do all the missions and quests I did last time. I was more than happy to take the test but—hJ6RAg
FmfD98“How boring.”zvKjx
3QISaA knight suddenly intervened and put a stop to the skit with a click of his tongue.5GzY
3exN66q“Y, you are?!”2tPQYR
gusT7cz“Sir Garrand?”yZN6Lz
NFPOe“Why are you…”UTQC
vv6uVquHe scoffed before standing in front of Redic.hGMQDs
IyNqcsd“Oi. President.”x1tm
Is2ZQ6“Yes? P, please speak, O mighty sword…”Pnk
4z5IVDespite being the president, he did not dare nitpick on the conduct of the living legend himself.pkz51
wWt“Let me raise an offer as the honorary president.”c3LHN
zqhHqO“And what might that…”YFrY0
PXeSXm“I will be in charge of Korin Lork’s ‘Limitless Evaluation’ from now on. Any complaints?”Kqp6OO
Srqr8i“U, uhh…”3gtL
DfqkS“Nothing, huh? Then let me take care of it from now on. You guys can leave.”LiEU9
jrJYnGarrand Arden the Sword Emperor immediately made the judges shut up. President Redic stepped back after reading the mood, which unfortunately meant all of our discreet negotiations had come to an end.rluFX4
K6sP“Couldn’t you just let me off in peace?”6HCnq
rmOF“I didn’t like the skit happening in front of my eyes.”hwENmy
OagoNHe immediately retrieved the intimidating aura he had shown the executives of the Association and smirked.xfOXYF
bqbw“I came because I was intrigued by what you would demonstrate as someone who can also see the dark space. You can’t render this old man’s hard work to nothing.”mBALu6
GOse0“You mean the Domain? I can show you that anytime.”0hrE
9xVFx“Against a dummy?”LHFZVck
ITl99viHe placed his enormous hand over the dummy prepared for my evaluation.vVxs
lrBk1WGHe didn’t even do much – it was just a soft touch and a tap that couldn’t even be counted as a slap but…AF2
kByXGZ– Kaduk! Kaduduk…!Rgccj
j1eThe dummy crumbled in a flash.WzO8H
3PQuk“…”4pX9JB
fQx5rAlthough we were calling it a dummy for convenience’s sake, this was still an item forged with magic stones, and naturally, it was very resilient. And yet…WydP6n
CsjsqS…He demolished it with a single tap.lM6dC
YybxRsWas that how strong he was? But that didn’t make sense. I didn’t see any of that.MLABKe
S5pA“Breaking a few of these useless toys can’t prove anything. Only clowns would think that.”NuOchC
LxWRcStepping over the crumbled fragments of the dummy, the Sword Emperor continued in arrogance.1sP
oGF“What’s hard about slicing, stabbing, kicking, crushing, cutting, and blowing away a piece of rock standing still? What does that accomplish?”aQwp1v
d8C8He unsheathed his swords.VCUCyEy
HT3zOThe Sword Emperor unsheathed the two swords on his waist. Alongside the three on his back, each of them were masterpieces and renowned swords of the Sword Emperor.IppT
9OtTwin Dragon Blades. It was a treasure that was supposed to be in the hands of the Sword Fiend.tz0iz
tKLJYM“Let me show you what skits like this cannot reveal. Korin Lork. Prove to me your real strength.”a0Rkdc
pPA1bWx“…”O7DI
5ybY3Everyone turned tense and silent.bXnq
WuRRZOn one side was the strongest swordsman of the contemporary times, who had yet to be dethroned.lIRf0
ZN1jAnd on the other side was me, a future Unique Grade.T9KoaH
nVDWhat would happen if the two were to collide?iUNOkl
Lh6Anyone would be curious and anyone would be excited.d1LI
ZD9“…Me? Why would I? I don’t want to.”D93m
xrW6PDExcept for me, that is.F2X
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