Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 68
Chapter Title: Swordmaster Hayes
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Boom!
Dalton soared through the air like a bolt of lightning from the kick before tumbling across the ground. The sheer brutality of the blow was enough to make anyone cough involuntarily just from watching, but Dalton neither showed displeasure nor sprang to his feet. Instead, he stared blankly at her.
“Captain... what in the world is that form...?”
Hayes had always looked youthful. She had trained her body her entire life, and as an aura practitioner, her aging was slowed as well. It wasn’t for nothing that the number of knights who adored her—even though she was past forty—couldn’t be counted on one’s fingers.
But even so.
This was beyond anything reasonable.
‘She looks younger.’
It was unbelievable. It was said that the saint of the Holy Empire could achieve something similar with her blessings, but even that didn’t happen overnight.
“What... happened?”
Count Ilrain asked. His eyes burned with intensity.
Hayes answered.
“I learned a new aura cultivation method from Han. And... I attained enlightenment.”
“Hah! Enlightenment? Are you trying to trade jokes with me right now or something?”
Vmmm!
A crimson blade aura erupted from the sword Hayes had already drawn.
Count Ilrain, who had twisted his face in menace, went slack-jawed, and the envoys from various nations watching the scene were equally stunned.
But the most shocked were Hundred and the soldiers behind him.
“No way! Sword... Swordmaster after just three days of training!? That’s a realm only the lord of Starting has ever reached!”
Hayes grinned at Kuger’s near-muttering.
“It’s not my first time learning from him. Haven’t you heard? When I was young, Han and I roamed the entire continent together for two years.”
The soldiers stirred at the intimate address and explanation. To the people of Starting, Han Jaeyeon’s stature was godlike. He was the incarnation of a god descended to earth, the savior who would quell the world’s chaos.
Naturally, the soldiers were deeply shaken by Hayes’s words.
“W-what’s this? Does that mean this knight lady is a candidate for the lady of the house?”
“She’s a Swordmaster!”
“Hayes... Hayes Starlight. Yeah, I think I’ve heard the name. There were rumors among the nobles about some issue with the lord...”
“What? When was that?”
Hundred quietly reassessed the situation as he watched the murmuring soldiers.
‘Swordmaster? Just like that, out of nowhere?’
It was hard to believe. Hayes, Chrome’s greatest sword called the Duelist Knight, was undoubtedly Chrome’s top swordsman, but even accounting for that, Swordmaster was too much.
What was a Swordmaster?
Across the entire continent.
Not a single one had appeared in over a thousand years.
In other words, Hayes Starlight might not just be Chrome’s greatest sword—she could be the continent’s.
Even the warriors of the famed Murim Alliance, which the Ming Empire boasted of, treated sword auras as legends in this era, didn’t they?
‘I thought it was odd how a famous swordswoman like her had no presence at all... So it was a difference in realm? And the second Swordmaster emerges not in our Starting, but in the Chrome Kingdom.’
He wasn’t the only one bewildered. Count Ilrain, Chrome’s representative, eyed her warily rather than joyfully.
“Did your realm advance, and that’s why you look younger?”
“What other reason could there be? It’s probably the same reason that guy doesn’t age. He was hiding his power, wasn’t he?”
“That doesn’t add up! I’ve seen that guy plenty of times! Logically speaking...”
“Count.”
Hayes smirked as she spoke.
“Don’t you get it yet? The world has already outgrown your petty common sense.”
“......”
Count Ilrain met the eyes of Hayes, who gazed at him blankly.
‘What’s this? Something’s different. But in just three days?’
Hayes had always been an outlier among nobles. Born a noble lady, she took up the sword against her family’s opposition and fled the house with nothing but her blade when a political marriage was forced upon her, wandering for two years.
Each act was scandalous enough to shake high society.
And the talent and will that made such actions possible.
But even so, she was a noble. She fought for her Starlight Marquess family and fulfilled all her noble duties, merely postponing them.
No matter how exceptional her swordsmanship, for a woman to command the royal knights meant she had equally sharp political instincts.
That was why Count Ilrain and Hayes, though not close, had never been rude to each other—yet here she was embarrassing him in front of so many.
‘What the hell happened?’
But ignoring his bewilderment, Hayes brushed past Count Ilrain and approached the Chrome Kingdom’s aides, who had come to assist the envoy leader.
“I’ve decided to stay with Han’s guild for a while. In exchange for someone of my caliber joining, the Chrome Kingdom promised supplies like food and military goods. They said they’d provide plenty, so work it out.”
“......The marquess will be disappointed.”
“Tell him.”
With that, she headed up to the lord’s castle.
Unlike when blocking the envoys, the soldiers parted for her in droves.
“S-salute!”
“Oh my. Don’t be so stiff. You’re just guests. By the way, you’re Kuger, right? I saw you earlier—your presence was impressive~”
“A-ah, I...”
The envoys could only watch Hayes’s receding figure in stunned silence.
* * *
The army of thirty thousand began marching south. Ten thousand players and twenty thousand regular soldiers.
‘The ratio’s pretty good.’
Since the guild level surpassed 7, the number of players had been growing steadily. They no longer needed me to buy class cards; the setup now allowed one purchase per day per member.
Han Guild, having reached level 9, had unlocked lower-class summon cards (level 7), lower-pet summon cards (level 8), and lower-guardian summon cards (level 9). All 150 guild members now bought one each daily.
The mountain of honor coins from taxes and tributes from all players had nearly vanished due to the daily summon card buys and the nine skillbooks unlocked at level 6.
‘Hah. Reality hits hard.’
Unbelievable. Honor coins from tens of thousands of players, all gone?
Real money or game coins—gathering takes forever, spending is instant.
Skillbooks were mercilessly priced, so more honor coins were needed. Attendance and achievement rewards had limits.
‘Time for guild content.’
Level 6 had unlocked normal-grade guild raids, but they hadn’t tried one yet. Like all Revenge content, guild raids weren’t just something you could do casually.
[Summon Key]
An item obtained through crafting. Consumes one each of top-grade wood, iron, gems, cloth, leather, and 1 million gold for a chance at normal to legendary grade keys.
‘I’ve got mountains of synthesized top-grade leather, and wood can come from the Dryad Forest as we march south. Iron drops from orcs, no issue... Ah, what about top-grade cloth and gems? Top-grade gems are too far from here, and top-grade cloth-dropping Arachnes are extinct...’
He was pondering this when.
“What a sight.”
Hayes, draped in a single silk robe, spoke as she gazed at the soldiers departing through the south gate. Her expression looked complicated, lost in thought.
“To be honest, I want to keep them longer and train them more. But dragging it out won’t help, so off they go.”
Scouts reported the Vulcan Orc Fortress was on the brink of collapse.
Ice Elementals were pouring in relentlessly, leaving orc warriors in a desperate cycle of death and survival.
Then Hayes said something odd.
“......Ice Golems are giant ice blocks, so blades don’t work. You have to smash the body with blunt weapons, whittle it down, and destroy the core in the torso. With bodies like that and no fatigue, even a hundred regular soldiers couldn’t handle one.”
“......?”
She still gazed distantly at the soldiers.
“Yeti grow stronger and faster the more they’re wounded. Even the bravest knights died pathetically because of it. That arrogant Marquis Showoff had his spine ripped out by one.”
“Hayes.”
Even at my call, she stared blankly at the soldiers—or rather, something beyond them.
“Incompetent nobles full of greed, capable and loyal knights and officials, and the royals who lorded over them—all died equally...”
“Hayes!”
I grabbed her shoulders firmly and called out. Life returned to her vacant eyes.
“Han.”
“Call me Jaeyeon. That’s actually my family name.”
“Right, Jaeyeon.”
Hayes pushed me lightly onto the bed and straddled me. It seemed less seduction and more seeking comfort.
“When I couldn’t see you, even my runaway wasn’t that long.”
Her breath tickled my ear as our bodies pressed close.
And in that position... Hayes unraveled a long tale.
Her flight from an abrupt political marriage.
Her return after a year, disappointed by the [outside] world.
The rift in space and monsters pouring out.
The fierce battles.
The moment of crisis where she alone reached completion and survived while all of Chrome perished.
The saint’s prophecy of a savior who never came. And her sacrifice to send people to [Peach Blossom Paradise].
‘This is... Revenge’s story.’
I easily grasped the core.
‘Without players.’
In an MMORPG, players aren’t special. A city has a dozen or two NPCs but hundreds or thousands of players; hunting grounds are crawling with them.
Dime a dozen.
But in the [scenario], players are different.
‘Games are all like that.’
Players are protagonists, inherently special. They complete quests, reshaping the continent.
Savior.
The term NPCs used for players during main quests.
‘In other words, regression. Or more precisely, memories from another timeline. Makes sense—even perfect class compatibility doesn’t turn a class card into instant skeleton transformation and Swordmaster.’
“You’ve been through a lot.”
“......”
I patted Hayes’s back as she hugged me tighter, thinking.
‘What is this world... exactly?’
Ardenia. This vast continent in my inner world was full of unknowns.
Why it existed in an ordinary guy like me, why it took the form of hyper-pay-to-win Revenge.
But the more I used this power, the more familiar it became, the more one thought dominated my mind.
‘Full of holes.’
Hit and crit stats skipped as “impossible to implement,” treated as nonexistent.
Hundreds of millions of monsters and massive castles rendered, but NPCs never fully.
Recognizes class holders as players by name but no ID, so no chat. Abandoned update boards and mailboxes with no new patches or events.
Monsters not just roaming but waging sieges on their own.
Infinite legendary pets from repair requests.
And Hayes with memories from another timeline.
‘Doesn’t make sense.’
At first, I thought it might be a test or interim stage. Some great game master or transcendent being midway through something.
But no matter how I thought, it was off.
‘Thunderbird, Ice Queen... even Kasim rendered, but not NPCs? Can herd field monsters into dungeons but can’t implement hit stats?’
Inconceivable power alongside childish sloppiness coexisted.
It had always puzzled me, but hearing Hayes’s words—those [traces of failure]—sparked a sudden thought.
‘This is just like...’
I patted Hayes’s back, pondering. Perhaps this world was.
A discarded [failure].
Or a half-hearted [imitation] for practice...