Chapter 217
『Translator: RainTL』
༺ Garrand The Sword Emperor (2) ༻
Garrand Arden the Sword Emperor was closer to a side character, who appeared a limited number of times in the game.
Nonetheless, he was one of the three strongest allied characters.
Danann of Justice, Erin Danua.
Dimensional Witch, Josephine Clara.
And Sword Emperor, Garrand Arden.
Josephine 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.
Erin Danua was technically the strongest character after Tates Valtazar, and was equal to Eochaid Bres without the Sun.
She had a considerable level of impact in the main storyline and was an indispensable NPC if the player wanted to take the Spearman route.
Besides, the only reason the player was able to survive Tates Valtazar during the destruction of the Academy was because of her sacrifice.
Compared to the two people mentioned above, Garrand Arden was slightly strange.
Scenario-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.
He didn’t appear much even after the appearance of the player who could potentially inherit his status as the strongest guardian but—
“Greetings, Sword Emperor.”
“Been a while, young man.”
I met this old man a few times in the last iteration, and I remembered being scolded in every encounter.
『You are wasting your talents. How unfortunate. Very unfortunate indeed.』
That was probably his way of giving a high evaluation of me. For some reason… everyone I met had a similar opinion.
“Thanks to you I enjoyed the clouds a whole lot.”
“Kuhum…!”
That 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.
And I repaid the favor by cutting down the tree that created a path to the floating island.
“How did you come down?” I asked.
“Since I was up there anyway, I enjoyed the scenery before stepping my way down.”
“...Step on what?”
“The giants, of course. I used them as a stairway to come back down.”
“...”
What?
“That’s… very interesting. Anyway, what brought you here?”
“Is that all you have to say about that?”
“Do you want me to do anything?”
I decided to put on a shameless front, pretending like it wasn’t my fault.
“I do indeed… Nothing big, but marry one of my granddaughters. You can take them both if they don’t mind.”
“G, Grandpa?!”
This old man… in the last iteration, he told me to take Lunia and was saying the same thing again.
“W, what are you saying, Grandpa!?”
Alicia slapped him on the back in a fluster as Hua Ran gave a frown from the side.
“Hahaha! Lunia that girl didn’t seem to mind it.”
“W, what? There’s no way…!”
“She did say a senile old man should stay out of it, though.”
The Sword Emperor laughed heartily and giggled in spite of his old age, before tapping me on my shoulders.
“A good man should naturally be able to satisfy a few women. Am I wrong, young man?”
“I can finally tell where Lunia’s view on marriage is coming from.”
Everyone in this household was slightly off in the head. I guess the only normal person was Lady Sophia, Lunia’s mother.
“Hmm. But anyway, a spearman, huh…? Brings back memories.”
Hearing 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.
“Sir Korin Lork. Let me lead the way.”
Soon, 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.
“Ohh~ Sir Korin! Nice to meet you!”
Surprisingly, the man who greeted us was the president of the Guardian Association.
“President Redic.”
“Do you know me?”
“How could I not recognize a great senior and the pride of our Merkarva Academy?”
“Huhaha…! Is Lady Josephine doing well?”
“She is still in her prime.”
Redic 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.
What 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.
“I am incredibly honored to be welcomed personally by a great senior.”
“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!”
“I am flattered.”
“By the way, how is Young Lady Marie?”
Redic raised a question after glancing around.
The 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.
“Senior Marie is in the South right now. I heard she had a meeting with the branch president over there.”
“I, I see. Kuhum… He’s from the Elizabeth Academy in the west though…”
He discreetly pulled the “he’s not from the same academy as us” card, but that didn’t work on me.
“Oh yeah. The Saintess wanted me to give you a letter when I told her I was coming here.”
“T, the Saintess did?”
I handed over the hand-written letter from Estelle which President Redic seemed quite moved by.
Considering 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.
In 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.
This was why Garrand Arden, who hated politics, didn’t pay much attention to the Association after receiving his title as an honorary president.
“President.”
However, I was different. I had already learned from seeing Park Sihu in the last iteration, that politics was necessary to save the world.
“I have an invitation to a secret club called, ‘Voices of the South’. You should join us if you have time.”
“V, Voices of the South?”
Voices 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.
“We should have a glass of southern wine over there and talk about… you know, right?”
“H, haha… Weren’t you underage?”
“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.”
“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!”
“I will appreciate your assistance in the evaluation.”
“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.”
President Redic was all smiles as he walked out of the room.
It was highly likely that he had been uneasy the whole time.
Garrand 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.
Although 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.
Therefore, it was only natural for him to feel anxious.
However, 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.
Alicia and Hua Ran looked dumbfounded.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I feel like I just witnessed a very dirty negotiation.”
“...Corruption?”
“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.”
It 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.
Marie and Estelle are on my side, so what’s the problem?
“The Unique Grade is an easy win now. We just need to complete a few paperwork and go home.”
Unfortunately, that plan of mine was obstructed by someone unexpected.
***
The executives of the Association were the ones giving me the evaluation.
Just like how it went in the Grade 1 promotion test, they measured my basic stats and assessed how much I could do.
“Everyone knows who Sir Korin is, and what he is capable of, right?”
“Of course. His ability to manifest a Sun is already unheard of.”
“And he overwhelmed the subordinates of the 2nd Princess in a 1-on-1 battle.”
“Plus, he has an incredibly long history of hunting demons. There’s no need for him to prove himself again.”
The judges who were greatly influenced by the president were busy showering me with compliments.
It 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”.
So this is the power of authority, huh~?
“But we still need some evaluation so how about we have him show us the Sun? I believe that should be enough.”
“Sure.”
“If you say so, President.”
“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.”
It 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—
“How boring.”
A knight suddenly intervened and put a stop to the skit with a click of his tongue.
“Y, you are?!”
“Sir Garrand?”
“Why are you…”
He scoffed before standing in front of Redic.
“Oi. President.”
“Yes? P, please speak, O mighty sword…”
Despite being the president, he did not dare nitpick on the conduct of the living legend himself.
“Let me raise an offer as the honorary president.”
“And what might that…”
“I will be in charge of Korin Lork’s ‘Limitless Evaluation’ from now on. Any complaints?”
“U, uhh…”
“Nothing, huh? Then let me take care of it from now on. You guys can leave.”
Garrand 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.
“Couldn’t you just let me off in peace?”
“I didn’t like the skit happening in front of my eyes.”
He immediately retrieved the intimidating aura he had shown the executives of the Association and smirked.
“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.”
“You mean the Domain? I can show you that anytime.”
“Against a dummy?”
He placed his enormous hand over the dummy prepared for my evaluation.
He didn’t even do much – it was just a soft touch and a tap that couldn’t even be counted as a slap but…
- Kaduk! Kaduduk…!
The dummy crumbled in a flash.
“...”
Although 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…
…He demolished it with a single tap.
Was that how strong he was? But that didn’t make sense. I didn’t see any of that.
“Breaking a few of these useless toys can’t prove anything. Only clowns would think that.”
Stepping over the crumbled fragments of the dummy, the Sword Emperor continued in arrogance.
“What’s hard about slicing, stabbing, kicking, crushing, cutting, and blowing away a piece of rock standing still? What does that accomplish?”
He unsheathed his swords.
The 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.
Twin Dragon Blades. It was a treasure that was supposed to be in the hands of the Sword Fiend.
“Let me show you what skits like this cannot reveal. Korin Lork. Prove to me your real strength.”
“...”
Everyone turned tense and silent.
On one side was the strongest swordsman of the contemporary times, who had yet to be dethroned.
And on the other side was me, a future Unique Grade.
What would happen if the two were to collide?
Anyone would be curious and anyone would be excited.
“...Me? Why would I? I don’t want to.”
Except for me, that is.