Three Peculiar People
The Golden Empire, Imperium.
It was the single largest collective of humanity on the continent, having swallowed up seventy percent of it — and the strongest nation in existence, boasting no fewer than eight individuals powerful enough to topple a kingdom on their own.
Eight strategic weapons, in all.
To put it in modern terms, it was as if they possessed eight nuclear warheads — ones that could move freely wherever they pleased and be fired again and again.
When every other kingdom was lucky to have a single weapon, or less, Imperium alone hoarded eight. But it had one very significant weakness.
Unlike mere weapons, their 'egos' were remarkably strong.
Imperium belonged to the Emperor and the imperial family. The Eight Swords swore absolute loyalty to the imperial house and moved at its behest.
And yet, if you asked whether they stood in a strictly divided hierarchy, the answer was an emphatic no.
Duke Hwangyeol — imperial blood, and the strongest of the Eight Swords — was, in practical terms, the equal of Duke Mageuk and Duke Ryeongshin.
They could issue commands in the Empire's name, but they could not control them.
The remaining Swords could be kept somewhat in check, but even they could not be treated as mere subordinates.
The Eight Swords, after all, were bearers of the rank of Grand Duke.
They were, in every sense, the summit of the Empire.
"That shouldn't be the problem, though..."
It was on the road leading to the Empire that Sword God saw the enormous ogre.
It looked little different from the ogres commonly sighted across the continent — except that its size easily exceeded fifty meters.
The ogre bellowed a cloud of snorted breath and swung a club the size of a fortress, and part of the village came crashing down.
─Save us!
─Aaaaagh!!
─The knights! Where are the knights?!
The screams of villagers carried from a distance.
Had anyone else been standing in his place, they would have sprinted over without a moment's hesitation. Sword God, same as ever, simply strolled forward at his leisure, observing the ogre.
A field boss, around level 90.
Its territory nearly touched the imperial border, so there would hardly be any users around.
Besides, Debra — the nearest kingdom city — lay several kilometers away at the minimum.
In other words, no one was coming to save that village from its peril.
Tap. Tap.
─SAVE US!!
'...Although.'
Was this actually inside imperial territory?
Tick.
"Hard to say."
Had they been subjects of the Empire, he would have cut the beast down without a second thought. If not — well, there was no particular reason to exert himself on their behalf.
The rewards from a level 90 field boss weren't bad, admittedly. But he'd just come from slaughtering level 110 monsters.
Experience and currency on that scale? If he'd had nothing else going on, maybe he'd have bothered. Not today.
"Guess I'll save... huh?"
"Hm?"
"What?"
Saga-gak...
A violet line traced itself across the ogre's body.
A perfectly vertical stroke, accurate to the millimeter, from the crown of its skull straight down to its groin.
A heartbeat later, the ogre's body split into two halves and toppled to the ground.
Puuwaaaaak!
The burst of particulate green blood, arriving a beat too late, drenched most of the village.
"Kyaaaaaagh!!"
"I-it's dead!"
"We're alive..."
"Tsk."
They never shut up for long, do they?
All that noise for nothing.
This is exactly why I don't help people.
Complaining about having used a dragon-slaying blade to butcher a chicken, Sword God slid his sword back into its sheath and started to walk away.
"E-excuse me!"
"?"
The one who'd grabbed him was a man on the far side of middle age, edging into his twilight years.
In that instant, Sword God's violet eyes pierced straight through him.
The village chief, most likely.
The man, still draped in green blood, bowed his head quickly.
"Thank you! I don't know where you hail from, but you've saved our lives. Consider it fate — please, at least allow us to offer you a meal—"
"It was nothing. Forget it."
"But surely—"
"Would you have me cut you down too before you let me leave?"
When Sword God coolly spelled out the worst-case scenario, the chief shook his head in a panic.
It wasn't killing intent, exactly, nor anything else so distinct — but the chief had just witnessed an absurd catastrophe firsthand.
An ogre towering like a fortress, armed with overwhelming strength. Every time it swung its arm, more of the village crumbled and more people died.
Just as they had been half-resigned to a calamity no one could oppose—
the ogre had split in two.
The one who'd made it possible was a swordsman with black hair and violet eyes.
The chief had simply assumed the city's knights would ride to their relief. A wandering oddity like this was something he could not have imagined even in his wildest dreams.
"Th-then, safe travels, sir."
"...So it won't be long, then."
"Pardon?"
"Nothing."
If war breaks out, this place gets swallowed first.
It technically sat within the territory of the kingdom of Debra — but it also pressed right up against the Empire's border.
'Frankly, that might be for the better.'
Better to live under the Empire than under Debra.
With that, Sword God departed.
Viiiiing...
Unaware that a user hidden among the villagers was recording every last second of it.
One flick and it's in two pieces. The sheer style of it I mean— so cool lollll
This is why Rank 1 hits different lmaoooo
Downvote: You think Rank 1 is a joke? Sword God is stronger.
Personally? Upvote, obviously lol
"Welcome, Sword God."
Having been received with due courtesy by Duke Hwangyeol, Sword God entered the imperial capital, Imperidium.
Befitting the moniker "Golden Empire," gilded buildings lined every street, manned inside and out by rows of gold-clad officials and attendants. Yet the design was never excessive, never lacking in artistry — it never once weighed on the eye.
"Thank you for the hospitality, Duke Hwangyeol."
"Your expression is poor. Did something happen?"
"...Nothing of consequence. I was merely drawing a great deal more attention than I cared for."
He said it breezily enough, but Sword God was in a foul mood.
He'd braced himself for word of his return to spread the moment he set foot back on the continent. DeoEn wasn't short on users, and as the Rank 1 player, plenty of eyes were on him — it wouldn't have been strange for the news to break anywhere, at any time.
But if it had to break, he'd wanted it to happen at the moment he himself chose to step into the light.
Unread chat messages: 2,681...
Unread priority chat messages: 171...
'Not like this. Not whether I willed it or not.'
"...Perhaps I should have just let him die."
"Pardon?"
"S-Sword God killed a massive ogre at the very edge of imperial territory... and it appears he caught the eye of another otherworlder there, s-sir..."
Saintess Nea, robed in white, entered the duke's audience chamber where the two men had been alone.
The moment she took her seat, her glasses flashing with reflected light, the maids hurried forward and began laying her portion onto the table already laden with delicacies.
Duke Hwangyeol picked up his knife.
"Where was this, Saintess?"
"I-inside the territory of the kingdom city Debra... There was a village being destroyed by the ogre, you see..."
"Debra... So they've managed to survive on a single city, have they."
"You intend to erase them?"
"Erase them? What a thing to say, Sword God."
The Empire does not stoop to such things.
'Unless they side with us, that is.'
Clink.
"You truly are a peculiar one, Sword God. Your cold-blooded nature fits this place perfectly, and yet in certain odd ways you carry the air of an otherworlder."
"......"
"Leo is the same. And so are you..."
Clink.
"Is Lily Elbrit the same as well?"
"...Yes."
Lily Elbrit. She, too, was one of them.