Chapter 32
Shock swept through the crowd.
Hwi-min was the cause.
'No way!!!'
…In truth, the tournament bracket had been rigged for him to lose.
The strange rule that even the princess could have a knight participate.
No, wasn't the tournament itself strange from the start?
Though the Third Prince had stubbornly insisted on holding it, that was all.
The empire had intended to hand the Third Prince a victory.
Hwi-min meeting the deputy commander in the first round was no coincidence.
'But… why!?'
Of course, they had thought he would win.
They had thought there were no variables.
A crack appeared in the empire's arrogance.
'If His Highness the Third Prince loses like this, the empire's reputation…!!'
Then all gazes converged on one place.
The Third Prince, Berse.
A man who was popular and good in every way, but possessed an abnormal sexual fixation on swords.
What if Hwi-min defeated him?
-Gulp.
'A war could break out.'
In the worst case, a war would begin.
It was entirely possible if the extremists rose up.
'Why did His Highness hold such a ridiculous tournament in the first place….'
That was why everyone's eyes were filled with questions as they looked toward the Third Prince, but…
-Clack-clack-clack-clack.
"O-oh!! Oooooh!!!"
The Third Prince was a genuine madman, rumored to have even once tried to insert himself into a sword sheath.
He was too busy bobbing his sword up and down while looking at Hwi-min.
"……Ah."
'He's still just as strange today!'
Everyone who saw that gave up, too.
It was impossible to understand.
No, they didn't want to understand.
'His name was Ryu Hwi-min, right? I hope he has some political sense—or at least basic tact.'
Their gazes shifted again and settled on Hwi-min.
And so the people thought.
Come on, surely he wouldn't really win all the way to the end.
He obviously knew this event had been prepared for their side to win.
This was just another show to amuse the prince…
"Third Prince. I'm sorry, but I'll be taking the princess back."
"……!!!!"
Hwi-min's provocation!
Its effect was powerful!
The imperial citizens screamed inwardly!
'That bastard really intends to go through with it!!!'
That kingdom bastard was really going to do it.
In a tournament held solely because of the Third Prince's whim, where the winner had already been decided…
He was planning to win without reading the room.
Tension instantly filled the crowd.
This was a catastrophe.
-Whisper, whisper.
"Hey, why don't you stop that guy you brought? You know this will cause trouble for both you and us if it goes this far."
The imperial princess seated beside the princess.
Even she whispered anxiously.
But what was the princess's reaction after hearing that?
"Certainly, as things stand, it would be right for me to become the Third Prince's consort."
"Right. So…."
"But what about the future?"
The princess suddenly said something bizarre.
"……Huh?"
'What is she talking about?'
The imperial princess covered her mouth with her fan.
She was hiding her open mouth.
"What do you mean…."
"By the way, Your Highness, that's a beautiful ring."
"This?"
She even changed the subject to the ring.
A ring engraved with the imperial crest glittered on the hand holding the fan.
"How many years ago was it made?"
"A little over fifty, I suppose? It was made on the day the empire was founded."
"And yet it still looks new."
"Of course it does—it's gold. Anyway, why bring up the ring all of a sudden?"
"……."
In the princess's eyes as she looked at that ring,
A flicker of pity passed briefly.
"Your Highness, I'm sorry. Sir Hwi-min has a greater purpose. I don't think I can stop him."
"Purpose? You brought him here yourself because you didn't want to marry our pervert."
"No, he came looking for me. From a truly distant place."
"What have you been talking about all this time?"
"Just watch for now."
And then, at that moment.
Clang—!!!
The sound of a sword being drawn rang out.
Their gazes were drawn toward the sound.
Before Hwi-min, a knight was shouting.
"Graaaargh!!!"
The knight's condition was obviously strange.
His eyes darted wildly.
His breathing was so ragged that it sounded beastlike.
Veins bulged grotesquely from his muscles.
"Babel Empiwe... gwowy!!!"
Even his pronunciation was slurred.
The empire's proud berserk magic.
He had clearly received it.
"……!!!"
'It's so obvious! Did they not care about saving face!?'
It was a particularly underhanded move, enough to shock even the imperial princess, but…
"Kyuikyuik."
"……?"
Hwi-min crooked a finger at him.
An obvious provocation.
The gesture looked strangely cheap, but precisely because of that, it radiated the ease of an overwhelmingly powerful man.
In fact, he wasn't nervous at all.
-Ding.
[Isaac]
Level: 110+5
Status: Berserk
'Even so, this is still Egen Tower.'
Awakeners who normally reached this point were level 115.
It was a little tough, but ordinary Awakeners could win if they caught their opponent off guard.
To Hwi-min, whose stats overwhelmed his opponent and who possessed numerous Mythic-grade traits, the knight's struggle looked cute.
"Graaaargh!!!"
"Hup!"
Thump—!!!
He struck the charging knight's armor.
The blow he'd gauged using the Sword God trait reverberated inside the armor with enough force to knock the opponent unconscious.
It didn't take long for the knight to roll his eyes back and collapse.
"Gueegh…."
"……."
Boom.
The knight fell, armor and all.
Silence fell over the crowd.
There was no one in the empire who could stop him.
Everyone realized it at that moment.
-Tap-tap.
"Hey, hey! Hurry up and stop your knight, will you!?"
The imperial princess began urging the princess as well.
At this rate, it would really become a disaster.
But the princess remained unfazed this time, too.
"It won't do any good."
"No, but if you tell him…."
"And besides, that isn't the problem."
"……What?"
"Look over there."
The princess pointed at one place.
The imperial princess's gaze followed hers.
Then the imperial princess's eyes widened.
"This is a waste of time. Don't you agree, Ryu Hwi-min?"
"……!!!?"
'That pervert has no sense of propriety!!!'
The Third Prince was stepping forward.
His sword was drawn, and his face was filled with delight.
"Everyone else, forfeit. I think I'm going to get jealous."
"But, Your Highness!"
"Can you not hear what I, Berse, am saying? I said forfeit."
"……Yes."
The knights who had started to rise sat awkwardly back down.
They couldn't defeat Hwi-min by stepping in, nor could they defy an imperial command.
So they decided to watch for now.
The satisfied prince cast his gaze at Hwi-min.
"Now, shall we begin? Let's enjoy ourselves."
"……."
'I'm having a horrible time, though.'
Despite getting the time reduction he had wanted so badly, Hwi-min's expression grew more sour by the second.
After hearing the next words, his complexion darkened as well.
"Come, show me your long, stiff sword!"
"Um, your wording is a little…."
"Ah, I should show you my sword first! Here, behold!"
The prince raised his sword with a childlike expression.
A top-quality blade flashed.
"Isn't it truly big and beautiful!?"
"Ah, yes."
"Now then… shall we do it?!"
"……."
"Then here I go!!!"
And then, whoosh—!!
The prince swung his sword at Hwi-min with a delighted expression, and…
'Let's just finish this quickly. Sigh.'
Slice.
With a single careless sword swing from Hwi-min, the prince's sword was cleanly split in half and fell away.
Clang.
As the sword he cherished rolled across the floor, sharp gasps rang out from all around.
"Hup!!?"
'His Highness's sword!!!'
The prince was obsessed with swords.
To him, his sword was like a lover and a spouse.
Yet even after Hwi-min broke such a sword…
"Hh!! A-as expected!!"
Why was the Third Prince smiling?
Why was his face flushed and his body trembling?
The imperial citizens didn't know.
Only two people, the princess and Hwi-min, knew.
'So this is where it begins….'
'The Gay-Ass Tower's signature attraction.'
The princess silently closed her eyes.
Hwi-min quickly stepped back.
Amid the silence pressing down on the colosseum,
Only the prince's voice rang out cheerfully.
"Yes, yes!! You are the one I've spent my entire life searching for!!"
"…."
"No matter how fine a sword may be, it's meaningless if the wielder's skill is terrible!! The sword shines most beautifully in your hands, Ryu Hwi-min!!!"
"……."
"So, come! Become my bride!! I'll give you everything I have, so hone your sword by my side for the rest of your life!!"
"""……… ."""
A very long and heavy silence followed.
No one dared to open their mouth.
They truly did not want to understand what they had just heard.
The imperial princess was the one who broke the silence.
'That lunatic bastard!?'
"Knights! Knight Order!!! Grab that perverted bastard and lock him up right now!!!"
Losing to Hwi-min would have been better.
They could at least spin it as giving way out of respect for his chivalry.
But what? Become his bride?
A man who was the Third Prince of the empire…
To another man?
'If he was going to do this, couldn't he have done it secretly behind closed doors!!!'
If word got out, what would the temple say?
They foamed at the mouth over homosexuality, so they would surely gleefully proclaim it heresy.
No, the temple could be suppressed.
The real problem was the incident itself.
This was a stain on the empire, an embarrassment that would last as long as history itself.
The kingdom was no longer the issue.
"Nothing happened here today, understood!? If a rumor gets out, I'll wipe out even the collateral branches of that family, so keep that in mind!!"
Thus, the imperial princess declared that they should treat it as if it had never happened.
Everyone agreed.
The imperial citizens gathered there, naturally.
The princess who had nearly married someone like that.
And Hwi-min.
None of them wanted to be remembered in history for something like this.
-Drag, drag.
"Ryu Hwi-min! Put your sword—your sword—into its scabbard! Better yet, coat it in plenty of oil so it makes a squelching sound!"
"Your Highness, please stop!!"
"Ryu Hwi-miiin!!!"
The prince did not agree as the knights grabbed and dragged him away, but regardless,
The prince was removed.
Only then did Hwi-min move.
"Your Imperial Highness. Now that things have turned out this way, you'll make sure the princess gets home safely, won't you?"
"I-I was going to, but…."
"Then I'll be off!!"
'Farewell, Kingdom Tier!'
And then, clomp—
He walked forward.
Toward the portal that had appeared before him.
Until the princess's desperate voice rang out.
"W-wait! Sir Ryu Hwi-min!!"
"Oh? Princess?"
"Wait!!"
The princess hurried down.
Grabbing the trailing hem of her dress, she ran with her shoes clicking against the floor.
What she finally said after running so desperately was rather underwhelming.
"Are you leaving?"
"That's the plan. Actually, I…."
"Then what will become of you?"
"I'll be going up, I suppose."
Hwi-min answered casually as well.
There was no point talking to an NPC about towers and the like; they wouldn't understand.
He turned away again.
"Then farewell. Be happy."
"……."
Step, step.
Hwi-min walked quickly.
In the eyes of the princess watching his back…
Her eyes were brimming with tears.
[—Ryu Hwi-min… Oh!! He has traveled back through time!!]
'Just how far in the future have you come from?'
In truth, the princess knew his circumstances.
Someone who had come from so far in the future that even his ring had worn smooth.
A member of the imperial family who had come to the past to change the future.
The Spirit King had said it, so it couldn't be a lie.
Hwi-min was one who had crossed through time.
'How terrible must the future have been for my marriage to the Third Prince to lead to this?'
But reversing time was grand magic.
She couldn't even guess what price would have to be paid for it.
In other words, he had come to the past even after paying an enormous price…
[—I'll be going up, I suppose.]
'His very existence is being erased, so how can he leave so peacefully?'
He would vanish once his mission was complete.
It was only natural, since the future had changed.
In fact, as Hwi-min stepped through the portal, he appeared to the princess to be fading away.
'Did he even prevent the world's destruction?'
She did not know what kind of butterfly effect her political marriage had caused.
But Hwi-min was that strong.
What could have happened in the future to force him to become so strong?
Moreover, what could there be that even that power couldn't solve, forcing him to wager everything and come to the past?
The princess couldn't begin to imagine.
So she didn't ask.
[—I have circumstances I can't discuss. I'd appreciate your understanding.]
That smile, as though he had resigned himself to everything, remained vivid in her mind even three years later.
-Mutter.
"…Farewell, my knight. Most noble hero, who came from a truly distant place."
-Roll.
The princess's tears ran down her cheeks and soaked her dress.
At least she would etch deep in her heart the fact that a hero had sacrificed himself for the world.
Of course, all of this was completely different from the normal story of Tier Four…
-Grin grin.
'Now all I have to do is kill the boss!!'
Hwi-min had no idea that the story had changed.
Having climbed to Floor 39 in a single day, there was no way he could know about some hidden story.
-Ding.
[First Scenario Clear!]
"……Huh?"
And so, the message that appeared before his eyes, too,
was something Hwi-min could never have dreamed of.