The Difference in Strength
Can you feel the gap in power?
“Master… Master!”
Who the hell is yelling so loud while I’m trying to sleep? That voice sounds way too familiar. Isn’t that the giantess warrior who’s been glued to my side ever since I came to this world—my summon and my sex partner?
“Tirga?”
“Master, are you all right? I’m so sorry. I don’t know what else to say.”
“Weird. I haven’t even summoned you yet.”
Given that I’m in some nameless space, this must be a dream. Naturally realizing it’s a dream… never thought I’d figure out lucid dreaming this way. Still, even in a dream my right arm is missing. Couldn’t the dream world at least give me a complete body? Damn nightmare.
“Master, summon me back into reality right now. I’ll go take revenge on that swordsman bitch.”
“Idiot. How are you even going to find that swordswoman? You couldn’t even kill her.”
“Morvanel? How did you get here…?”
“Well, I couldn’t just sit back and watch my darling go through something so awful.”
Morvanel walked up to me like it was the most natural thing in the world and gave me a back hug. The soft texture of her coat against my skin felt nice. For a dream, this was awfully vivid.
Tirga immediately flared up and shouted at her to get off her master, but Morvanel didn’t even flinch. Instead she sneered.
“Shut up, loser. If the elves hadn’t shown up, your master would’ve died right there. What right does a useless subordinate who can’t even protect her master have to talk big?”
“That’s…”
“You don’t deserve to stand beside him. So get lost.”
“Morvanel, if you’d been there that day, could you have beaten that Murim swordsman?”
“Of course, darling. And you wouldn’t have gotten hurt either. So summon me already. Throw away that brainless muscle-head. I’ll protect you from now on.”
“M-Master, please don’t abandon me.”
Tirga pleaded desperately. Seeing the once-proud Tirga like this was… oddly arousing. Go home and masturbate, defeated heroine! I’ve already got a full 19+ manga plotted out in my head.
It’s common in gacha games for characters of the same rarity to have wildly different performance. Newer characters are usually stronger than older ones too. So even if Tirga and Morvanel are both SSS-rank, it wouldn’t be strange for Morvanel to be far superior.
Right now I need a stronger, higher-performance summon for revenge, but throwing Tirga away? I could just keep both, right? After all, I can only summon two at a time anyway.
> [IMPOSSIBLE. Only one SSS-rank summon may be active at a time.]
“You can even show up in my dreams?”
“Darling, it’s time to decide.”
“Master, give me one more chance. I swear I won’t disappoint you again.”
The two SSS-ranks hounding me made my eyes snap open. I was back in the real world. The fact that I’d fallen asleep in broad daylight meant my body still wasn’t in great shape. I could barely remember when I’d dozed off.
My body was lying on a bed. Richel was beside me, holding me in her arms. Getting this selfish during a mission? Her discipline was slipping. Still, she was pretty, so I’d let it slide. More importantly, she was my girlfriend, so I could overlook it out of affection. Of course, seeing her didn’t make my heart race or anything, but that didn’t mean I disliked it. Romance really wasn’t easy. How long had it been since I dated back in my old world? My romance cells were probably all dead and buried. Or maybe this was another side effect of the Tarot? The Chariot Arcana had probably flattened every emotion under its tracks.
“You’re awake?”
“Yeah.”
“You looked exhausted because of the summoning, so I brought you to the bedroom. Pretty nice facilities, huh?”
“Actually, there’s something even more impressive than this. I’ll show you later.”
“Mar, the more I see you, the more surprising you get.”
She looked at me with sparkling eyes and kissed me. Richel was definitely proactive when it came to expressing affection. Was this the power of pure love? Even a one-armed cripple like me could be embraced with love. If any idiot ever screamed about NTR, I’d give them electroshock therapy.
> [Marquelon, we will arrive at the destination shortly.]
“We’re almost there. Isn’t it going to be a problem if we bring something like this into imperial territory?”
“Don’t worry. I’m the Imperial Guard’s superior officer here. I’ll report it to the higher-ups.”
“Richel, weren’t you a sergeant major?”
“I got promoted after the achievement of capturing Troopers Castle. Thanks to you, Mar. By the way, do you know the empire’s rank structure?”
“You pick up bits and pieces when you work as a mercenary.”
I couldn’t exactly tell her I was a veteran of another world’s military. Even if she was my girlfriend, that was still too heavy to drop on her. A superior officer, huh… imagining Richel with an aged expression doing administrative work felt unbalanced. Still, the empire’s military ranks were different from Korea’s, so I should drop the pointless fantasy. Richel cast some kind of magic and spoke briefly and concisely into what looked like a radio. Was that some kind of magical communication? Magic really was convenient.
After ending the transmission, Richel’s eyes widened and she spoke in a trembling voice.
“Um, Mar? Could you turn the ship around?”
“Where to?”
“The imperial capital, Ermania. The Chancellor wants to meet you in person.”
I understood why Richel was reacting that way. Meeting the president as a soldier would be just as nerve-wracking. Of course, I was just an otherworlder and an outsider, but this might actually be a good opportunity. Let’s see what that elf chancellor Admi mentioned looks like.
“Info window, change the Provecti’s destination. Target: Ermania.”
> [Confirmed. Recalculating route.]
This was Sanctuarium, the capital of the Holy Empire.
A woman wearing a bamboo hat that hid her face and carrying a long, elegant sword was walking somewhere. Her destination was a conference room with a secretive atmosphere. At the round table sat a man wearing glasses who gave off the impression of a shadowy figure, sipping tea.
“Welcome, Seol Yeon-hwa. Please have a seat wherever you like.”
“Why did you summon me directly? You could’ve just used that convenient magic of yours to speak.”
“Still, seeing someone in person is better, don’t you think? Communication magic isn’t omnipotent. There’s quite a lot to discuss, after all.”
“…”
When Seol Yeon-hwa reluctantly sat down, the man gestured. From somewhere, a teapot and cup flew over and landed precisely in front of her. The teapot poured tea into the cup as if a person were doing it. It was an incredibly precise spell. Seol Yeon-hwa didn’t even glance at the tea.
“This is a tea that even the nobles of the Holy Empire rarely get to taste. You should try it.”
“Are you joking right now? If it weren’t for you, I would’ve already killed that bastard who murdered my comrade and disciple and taken my revenge!”
“Ah, you mean that hero-obsessed friend? He would’ve died by someone’s hand eventually, even if it wasn’t Marquelon.”
“What did you say?”
Seol Yeon-hwa shot to her feet, hand reaching for her sword. But the man was faster. Just like the teapot and cup, swords flew from somewhere and aimed at her throat and vital points. If she moved even slightly, she would’ve been fatally wounded.
“Sword control technique?”
“How pitiful and foolish. There’s no Demon King for a hero to defeat, and yet he strutted around calling himself a hero in this world where justice has vanished, only to die. What a joke.”
“Shut your mouth.”
“The truth is cruel, and reality is miserable, Seol Yeon-hwa.”
“Did you call me here just to preach?”
“Preach? First, sit down and listen to my story properly.”
While Seol Yeon-hwa seethed with rage, the man casually scratched at her wounds. If he had been powerless, he would’ve died to her sword long ago, but his strength was in no way inferior to hers. Left with no choice, Seol Yeon-hwa released her sword and sat back down.
“Those black-robed people stopped me because they feared the likes of you. There must be a proper reason.”
“Do you know who they are? They’re the Imperial Guard of the Silvareich Empire. If you had touched them carelessly, you would’ve had to prepare for war with the empire. Right now the Holy Empire is involved in the northern civil war. Starting a war with the empire on top of that is something even a child wouldn’t consider.”
“If that’s the only reason, I can’t accept it!”
“The situation in this world is just as complicated as the Murim you came from. Please understand. If you’re so resentful, why didn’t you kill Marquelon before the Imperial Guard arrived?”
“You bastard!”
Seol Yeon-hwa’s fury reached its peak. She drew her sword in an instant and unleashed a sword wind. The round table and chairs were shattered beyond recognition, and a fierce, swift attack flew toward the man. But the seat where he had been sitting was empty. Only a broken chair remained.
“Where are you looking? I didn’t know you had a hobby of swinging your sword at empty air.”
“When did you—?”
Seol Yeon-hwa tried to attack again, but her body wouldn’t move. A magic circle had been drawn beneath her feet at some point—this was a paralysis spell that prevented the target from moving. She gritted her teeth and struggled with all her might to escape the magic, but it was useless.
The man caressed her face and then boldly used magic to loosen her robes, committing outright sexual harassment. An indescribable shame and humiliation dominated Seol Yeon-hwa’s mind and body.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“A bitch who doesn’t know her place and runs wild needs to be punished. Compared to that person, your skin and body are rather shabby, but still excellent. It would’ve been better without those burn scars.”
Seol Yeon-hwa’s snow-white skin bore burn marks from Tirga’s lightning. Though she had endured with her martial arts, she was still human and couldn’t avoid injury. Seol Yeon-hwa thought that if the fight had dragged on even a little longer, she would’ve collapsed from exhaustion—Tirga’s power and abilities were that overwhelming.
The man groped Seol Yeon-hwa’s breasts and smiled lewdly.
“This is a warning. As long as the empire stands behind Marquelon, give up on revenge.”
“What if I refuse?”
“If you want to be dominated by aphrodisiac magic and sent to a brothel, then by all means.”
“…I understand.”
The man removed his hand from her chest and released the paralysis spell. With neither initiative nor strength, she fixed her clothes, swallowed her rage and shame, and left the conference room.