Chapter 148
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 148
Chapter Title: I Have to Eat to Live Too
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"Who would dare treat the Sword Duke like a sucker?"
Wang Gineung answered reflexively.
It was 100% sincere.
The other Black Dragon clansmen felt the same, but he especially knew just how terrifying Rimon was, having witnessed Ryu Gangcheol's demise firsthand.
But Rimon just snorted at the words.
"Really? Then what's this?"
"What's what, sir?"
"This junk you brought, claiming it's the entirety of the Shanghai Wang family's assets."
Rimon kicked at the thin stack of documents inside the halved small chest with his toe.
Wang Gineung tried to respond.
There must be some misunderstanding.
This was undoubtedly everything the Shanghai Wang family had. Please don't be angry and clear up the misconception.
But the moment their eyes met...
Wang Gineung swallowed the excuse that had risen to his throat.
His gaze alternated between Rimon's cold face and the large chest Rimon was tapping with his finger, before he let out a heavy sigh.
"...Did you know everything from the start, sir?"
"You thought I wouldn't?"
"I'd heard the Sword Duke had no interest in amassing wealth."
"So basically, you saw me as a sucker after all."
Rimon raised an eyebrow.
He continued, staring at Wang Gineung with chilling eyes.
"You figured you'd siphon off the real assets and talent, toss me this empty shell, swear false loyalty, and I'd fall for it hook, line, and sinker."
"......"
"You idiot."
Was it because he'd hit the nail on the head?
Wang Gineung fell silent, lips pressed shut.
Rimon clicked his tongue lightly, as if it was too ridiculous to even get angry about.
"If you wanted to deal, just deal. If you wanted to beg for mercy, just beg. What kind of moronic idea was it to grovel for compassion while trying to scam me?"
"It was a calculated risk-benefit analysis."
Swearing absolute loyalty and offering everything was far too dangerous a gamble.
The one you pledged to could discard you and take it all at any moment if they felt like it.
In that sense, Wang Gineung preparing a fallback was, in a way, a perfectly rational decision.
"Did that calculation factor in the loss if you got caught scamming?"
"I didn't expect to get found out like this."
Everything except the part where getting exposed meant total ruin, like now.
He seemed to have transcended resignation into enlightenment.
Wang Gineung chuckled hollowly and continued softly, glancing at the large chest on Rimon's lap.
"How could I have foreseen that before I, the family head, even made a decision, my retainers would rush to hand everything over to the Sword Duke first?"
Unlike the empty shell Wang Gineung had offered, Rimon coldly tapped the chest containing the Shanghai Wang family's true assets in every sense.
"You should've expected it. This is the result of that risk-benefit obsession you love so much."
"You're right, sir."
Wang Gineung readily admitted it.
He could roughly guess why his retainers had abandoned him for Rimon.
"One scapegoat to bear the sins is enough in me. No need to drag the whole family down with it, right?"
"Quick on the uptake. I like that."
"From their perspective, this is the most profitable choice."
If Wang Gineung had still been in one piece, the family wouldn't have turned on him entirely.
A high-rank expert like him could elevate the family's status just by existing.
But now, even as a former supreme expert, with both arms lost and reduced to a cripple...
Wang Gineung was a stain on the family.
Like an old hunting dog good for nothing but boiling in a pot.
"Do you resent your retainers?"
"How could I resent them for shedding precious blood because of a fool of a family head like me?"
Yet Wang Gineung harbored no grudge against the family.
The heaviest casualties in the raid, the family cornered...
All his responsibility.
"What happens to the Shanghai Wang family now, sir?"
"Ask your new family head, not me."
Rimon glanced aside.
Following his gaze, Wang Gineung gave a wry smile as the masked figure who had brought the chest removed their mask.
"This is a surprise. Never thought you'd be the one plotting this, Wang Ryun."
Wang Ryun, the martial forces leader.
Originally from a branch family, he had become the Shanghai Wang family's top expert after Wang Gineung's crippling. He replied stiffly.
"I merely followed orders."
"...The princess?"
"......"
"Well, if even the main house's martial leader was a spy and I never knew... I wouldn't have a leg to stand on even with ten mouths."
Wang Gineung let out a hollow laugh.
He'd prided himself on sharp instincts better than anyone's.
But it wasn't just embarrassment at failing to read his retainers' true feelings.
With Wang Ryun as the new head, the family's future was plain as day.
As Li Chingwei's spy, to secure his position, he'd serve Rimon with utmost zeal.
"Now the Shanghai Wang family becomes the Sword Duke's loyal hounds."
"Yeah. Finally, I can replenish the Guardians' manpower thanks to you."
"That's a relief."
Wang Gineung's wry smile deepened.
Of all people, handling clan surveillance under Rimon himself.
Even without Wang Ryun, the family would be thoroughly subjugated.
Less risk of being discarded like a worn rag? Fortunate or unfortunate?
He didn't bother seeking the answer.
At least the family's survival was what he'd hoped for.
Except one thing.
His own position.
That's why Wang Gineung spoke flatly.
"Sword Duke, one last question."
"What?"
"Where do you think I went wrong?"
When he snatched Ryu Gangcheol?
When he gained investigative authority?
Or when he met Rimon?
When exactly had his choices led to this end?
No matter how he pondered, he couldn't pinpoint it himself. To Wang Gineung's question, Rimon answered softly.
"How should I know? But one thing's certain."
"What?"
"If you'd prioritized your princess over the family's gains, no matter how cornered you were, she'd have helped you at least once."
Li Chingwei would've protected them for the benefits they provided, loyalty or not.
That the family became the scapegoat was because they failed to prove their worth, Rimon said. Wang Gineung chuckled bitterly.
"I see. I misjudged what truly mattered."
As a scheming Black Dragon clansman.
As family head in this ruthless era.
He'd believed only tangible money and power benefited the family, not intangible trust.
Yet in the end, lacking that trust cost him everything. Wang Gineung sighed.
Then slowly lifted his head.
"Wang Ryun."
Perhaps feeling no need for masks anymore.
His voice, filled with weariness instead of cunning, came from a face that seemed a decade older in an instant.
"Don't end up like me."
Those were his final words as Shanghai Wang family head to the new one.
[So, what happens to him now?]
"Better if you don't know."
[The fact that even you say that lets me imagine it... and I hate myself for it.]
"The Seven Dragon Society isn't kind to failures."
After the warriors dragged Wang Gineung away.
To Yuna Kyung's quiet murmur, Rimon replied flatly.
It wore the guise of a megacorp now, but the Seven Dragon Society was originally the world's largest crime syndicate, once called a demonic cult.
It wouldn't let Wang Gineung retire peacefully after massive clan losses from repeated failures and leaving him a powerless cripple.
Especially after stabbing rising star Rimon's back multiple times.
[For someone like that, you seem fine slacking off, Team Leader.]
"I had solid backing."
[Doesn't that mean without the princess covering for you, you could've been wiped out too?]
"As if."
Rimon snorted lightly.
Then he stated flatly the reason it could never happen.
"I'd just have to deal with the hassle of wiping out a few dozen assassins sent my way."
Yuna Kyung clamped her beak shut.
It hit her anew.
Rimon's laid-back life so far was like strolling between blades.
[...I've been thinking this for a while. Team Leader, do you really have to marry the princess? This place just doesn't suit you no matter how I look at it.]
"Can't ditch the bride just because I don't like her family."
[Is that what this is about?]
"Yeah. And even if it weren't for the marriage, I'm not backing out now."
Rimon stated firmly.
His expression turned cold.
"You saw the Liberation Brigade's specters too, Na-kyung. How alien and dangerous they were."
[Well...]
Yuna Kyung trailed off.
They'd repelled them, but Bellos, Eugene, and Ryu Gangcheol were abnormal in every way.
Not just borrowing constellation power via the 『Descent of the Constellation』 skill—they'd housed the constellations themselves.
That let them surpass level limits and rival monarchs.
The bizarre armor they wore, Bellos's horrific rampage after losing divinity...
Overlook the rest.
But if 『Descent of the Constellation』 was a skill all Liberation Brigade specters could use?
They might rival—or surpass—the top ten guilds.
"I don't know why they're after the Seven Arks or what they plan, but one thing's clear."
Recalling Eugene's intel on the Brigade's goal—the seven arks hiding star secrets—Rimon continued quietly.
"Something's happening."
Like the Demon War with descending demon gods, or the Refining Crisis that redrew America's map.
Unholy events brewing somewhere, and failure to stop them meant the world plunged into calamity again.
Yuna Kyung wore a complicated expression watching Rimon declare as the hero who'd saved the world multiple times.
[So you're allying with the Seven Dragon Society? Need their power to stop it?]
"No. I'm not just allying—I'm swallowing the whole damn thing."
[...Pardon?]
Hearing his goal for the first time?
Rimon flashed a cold smile at Yuna Kyung, beak agape like a startled pigeon.
"I've saved the world how many times already? Time I claimed a modest reward like this."
[...The Seven Dragon Society is modest? They hold the world's wealth as a megacorp?]
"Still cheaper than the whole world."
He was done playing savior for free.
Whatever the Liberation Brigade plotted, he'd take what was his.
Yuna Kyung could only gawk at Rimon, who spoke so nonchalantly—like a pushy salesman hawking world peace.