Chapter 148
Chapter 148
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 148
Chapter Title: Ambush
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Ambush.
The Hero Tournament was racing toward its conclusion.
Only the semifinals and finals remained, followed by the hero selection ceremony and battles between heroes from various fields.
'...Why is this taking so damn long?'
I thought to myself while gently stroking Cheong Yura's tail.
Maybe I shouldn't have come to the Hero Tournament at all.
As I grumbled inwardly, a seed of malice floated up.
No, if I hadn't come, some horrific incident might have happened.
Thinking that way, maybe coming here wasn't so bad after all.
"...Hmm?"
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Because you've changed again. How is it that the moment I look away for a second, you've changed even more?"
"I am pretty impressive, after all."
"... ."
Volkan stared at me with a blank expression.
But the system was just too suspicious a power; there was nothing I could do about it.
'...Still, it's unusual.'
There weren't many changes.
I'd just gotten better at handling my Gift, Overlord.
And I'd acquired a new sword technique called Divine Thunder.
Yet Volkan thought even that much was a change, which was odd.
'Is it because he's lived so long? His instincts are downright supernatural.'
-You might not realize it, but it's enough to notice. You used to radiate fighting spirit everywhere, but now even that's gone.
'Me? Oh... .'
Come to think of it, the orc hero Gotash had gotten excited just sensing my fighting spirit.
Wonder what happened to that guy.
Looking at the bracket, four remained before the semifinals.
Ermé and So Yeonhwa. Gotash and Brandil.
Cheong Yura had forfeited.
"... ."
The reason was simple enough.
When I took on a level 7 combined attack, Cheong Yura sensed something and decided I was more important than the tournament, so she came to me.
'Gotta do right by her.'
Resolving once more to treat her well, I fiddled with her tail.
So fluffy.
Ah, this addictive texture.
-Don't make that pervert face, Yuseong.
"You, that expression... you can't help it, can you?"
"... ."
What kind of face was I even making?
I put on my most wronged expression, and a voice came from beside me.
"It was a super pervert face."
"... ."
Golden eyes and long-grown silver hair.
Veronica plopped down next to me and said that.
"Who was it? That mage with glasses pushing them up looked less weird than you."
This one's on me.
"What are you doing here?"
"...I need a favor."
"A favor?"
"Yeah."
"How much upfront payment did you have in mind?"
"... ."
Veronica gave me a dumbfounded look.
Then she sighed and held up one finger.
"At least one platinum coin minimum."
"Thank you, customer."
"I really can't get used to this."
"To what?"
"That someone with your skills moves for money alone."
"I like goods too."
"That's the weird part. You have integrity, and you can resolve most things with cash. Normally, even if you want to trust guys like that, it's hard."
Veronica looked at me while muttering almost to herself.
"So, what's the request?"
"If."
Veronica whispered softly to me.
But the request was so bizarre that I furrowed my brow.
"That's it?"
"Yeah, that's it."
Her expression mixed resolve and relief as she looked at me.
I frowned, then nodded as if I understood.
Veronica stood up as if that settled it and headed somewhere.
"...Feels like I just took on something super annoying."
"What."
I nodded at Volkan's words and recalled what Veronica had said.
-If I die, take good care of Clara. Make sure she doesn't antagonize the Church.
It left a strangely eerie feeling.
*
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Saintess.
At some point, it had been said she had fallen.
Humans steadily produced saintesses.
The Church always put forward a saintess, and other races acknowledged her as worthy of the name.
Yet it was peculiar.
Over a thousand years, the Sword Hero, Thief Hero, and Mage Hero positions were claimed by all sorts of non-humans, with humans occasionally taking them.
But the Saintess was always a human-exclusive class.
The Church had always been that way.
Always crafting someone worthy of saintess.
It wouldn't be strange if other races or humans suspected as much.
-We have received the gods' choice.
The Church merely repeated those words.
Some even said the gods loved humans and thus bestowed the saintess upon them.
However.
I knew the Church was rotten to the core.
-The Church is completely rotten.
The very guy who threw me into this world.
That friend had shared all sorts of stories about Arcadia World.
Calling it a god game or a flop game, yet he couldn't let it go.
Looking back now, I wonder how we even became friends.
-Be grateful I'm even hanging out with unemployed bums like you.
He'd buy Hanul drinks while saying crap like that, so we happily became friends.
The reason the Church could always produce a saintess.
That reason was...
"By the way, what are you gonna do?"
Lost in thoughts of the Church, Volkan tossed that at me.
"About what?"
"If you become a hero, you'll nominate a master or something..."
He stared at the sword at my waist.
It looked like an ordinary longsword normally, but its true nature was the holy sword.
Right now, it was just sturdy and chatty—that was its identity.
-What'd you say?
Volkan gazed at the holy sword and spoke.
"That thing's no ordinary danger, is it?"
"Well, yeah."
A holy sword should return to its rightful owner.
So I'd need a substitute or get the holy bow, which would teach me.
'But I still have stuff to learn from the holy sword.'
The Seven Petals Sword Arts.
I'd only learned four techniques so far.
No, not even properly.
-Of course. They're all originally different sword arts with different names. But you might master them properly someday.
The holy sword grumbled that to me.
Dark Moon, Black Sea, Mysterious Heaven, Divine Thunder.
Those four weren't their true forms, it said.
They were adjusted for me, and mastering them would reveal the real techniques, according to the holy sword.
To learn the true Seven Petals swordsmanship, the holy sword was essential.
So ideally, So Yeonhwa or Ermé—someone close to me—would win.
'...Can Ermé beat So Yeonhwa?'
Ermé was exceptional.
In every way, not just the sword.
Total stats would put her about even with So Yeonhwa.
...That's the problem—about even.
So Yeonhwa was a one-trick pony with the sword; everything else was questionable.
Put differently, matching someone proficient in all areas with sword alone was the issue.
-Well, that girl... there might be a chance.
'You still won't spill?'
A while back.
When I first met Cheong Yura and talked with the holy sword.
It had told me.
Ermé wasn't walking the hero's path, but another.
One closer to an apostle's path than the righteous way, and it warned me not even to learn its name.
-She's humanity's despair, made as a hero substitute from the start.
'Like a demon sword?'
-Similar. Unlike a demon sword, it's better since it wields the power of sun and moon... but bearing that karma would take a madman.
The holy sword shut up after that.
Acting like it didn't want to say more, probably because it wouldn't benefit me.
"Well, you probably have it all figured out."
Volkan said that and stepped away from me.
"...What?"
"What else? Just make sure the sparks don't fly only to me."
"I already told everyone we're master and disciple; how could they not?"
"Haa..."
Volkan clutched his forehead like it was a headache.
It was quite the complicated issue.
"No helping it. Punch anyone who doesn't listen right in the head."
"... ."
What the hell was this guy saying?
Maybe cultivating that fiery internal art messed with his brain—too much yang energy driving him mad.
"Don't worry. Your master here has laid the groundwork, so people might see you as Volkan's disciple."
"... ."
That puts my reputation at risk.
"Anyway, enough joking."
Volkan crossed his arms after saying that.
"The holy sword must be tempting for you."
"Still lots to learn."
"Oh? You?"
"Your swordsmanship and internal arts took me a day... ."
"This punk? I haven't shown my full hand yet!"
"Got more to teach?"
"There's the true Jaha Divine Art and Plum Blossom Sword Method."
"True Jaha Divine Art?"
"Jaha Divine Art represents our Mount Hua Sect. It can't be just A-rank."
"Oho."
"And the advanced parts of Flame Divine Art. Master that, and you can claim my full legacy."
"Oho."
"Putting on an uninterested face while chiming 'oho'? Wanna get beat?"
"No, I am interested for real."
"For real?"
How to put this.
I was starting to gauge just how strong the Seven Petals Sword Arts were.
'Feels a bit pointless now.'
Shocked by the thought, I slapped both cheeks.
Smack smack.
'Arrogant attitude when I haven't even mastered it yet.'
"Hm?"
"Nah, just felt arrogant for a sec."
"You can afford to be arrogant."
Volkan grinned awkwardly.
"But."
The moment he said that.
Volkan whipped his head around.
At the same time.
I felt an intensely unpleasant aura.
"What the...?"
At the edge where Volkan looked.
My enhanced vision caught something.
Black blood-like substance burst into the air.
A sense of something extremely dangerous approaching washed over me.