Chapter 279
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 279
Chapter Title: Was That the Reason?
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A watermelon dropped from a building.
Or perhaps an aquarium struck by a hammer.
From the "something" that had been crushed into the ground, painting it with white and red blossoms, Li Chingwei slowly withdrew her foot.
Swish, swish.
As if she'd been waiting.
Tzushian knelt politely on one knee.
Li Chingwei let her carefully wipe the filth from her foot and leg.
She gazed for a moment at Gula's body, twitching like a frog pinned under a car tire before finally going limp.
Then Li Chingwei murmured softly.
"...That makes eight, doesn't it."
Tzushian didn't ask what those words meant.
She focused solely on cleaning her revered princess's sacred form—revered with love, but even more with awe.
And Li Chingwei had no intention of explaining it to her.
She was simply lost in the afterglow of felling a monarch so easily.
'Was I just lucky?'
If he had been from the Liberation Brigade.
If his trump card was Constellation Descent.
And if he'd used it.
Then even she might have had to stake her life.
The difference between 1 and 0 is small, but it holds a chasm near infinite versus finite.
A monarch who had reached level 100 wielded a Constellation Descent on an entirely different plane from what players below level 99 could manage.
'Or maybe he was just a dud.'
But Li Chingwei didn't view the situation optimistically.
Gula was undoubtedly a vile man.
Still, that alone didn't make him a specter of the Liberation Brigade.
It wasn't particularly surprising for someone who suddenly gained great power to start looking down on others and act greedily.
Especially for a Gula, who had been treated like an incompetent pig as an errand boy for a mid-tier gang.
In that sense, Gula was an ordinary, average monarch.
Simply because he came from gang stock.
And because he'd massacred everyone who knew his past.
Having begun his player life with crime, he'd revealed his greed more blatantly than most.
'Well, it doesn't really matter either way.'
Whether he was a Liberation Brigade specter or not.
Killing just one monarch wouldn't alter the future Ainsha had foreseen.
Fate wasn't something you could change so easily.
'This is as far as I can go.'
Knowing that better than anyone, Li Chingwei gave a wry smile.
And gazing toward the distant sky.
Toward the event that would decide this nation's future, and the only one who could change that fate, she whispered softly.
"I'll leave the rest to you, Sword Duke."
Crackle, crack.
Hardly befitting the sturdiest princess of the Seven Dragon Society's Green Dragon Princess, Rimon pondered as he held her light, soft body close.
Gazing at the dying campfire.
Should he fetch fresh firewood now?
Or just hold Maia through the night like this?
Choosing the former would wake his master; the latter might harm her fragile health.
Fortunately—or unfortunately—
He didn't have to choose, avoiding the sin of an disloyal slave.
"Hm?"
Rimon raised one eyebrow.
He sensed a sinister aura outside the cave.
Tutting at the uninvited guest arriving in the dead of night, he moved to wake Maia—
"Looks like we've got a visitor."
"...You weren't asleep?"
"With such a vicious presence around, how could I sleep soundly?"
Maia sneered coldly.
No matter her condition, she was the Green Dragon Clan's top expert.
She couldn't miss such blatant killing intent.
"What'll you do?"
"A guest is a guest, invited or not. We should greet them."
"Then I'll come too."
"It could be dangerous."
"This cave isn't exactly safe either."
"Fair point."
Rimon nodded.
A spirit's nest might be different.
But leaving Maia in this ramshackle cave—if it collapsed, that'd be a headache.
"Besides, you're the one who swore to protect me."
"...You sure know how to leave me speechless."
Swearing protection, only to whine about guarding one frail woman now?
Scratching his cheek at Maia's absurd words—absurd in several ways—
Rimon chuckled and stood.
"Shall I help you walk? Or...?"
"Making a patient walk?"
"Can't just do it without asking."
"Cheeky as ever."
Grinning slyly even as he did, Rimon scooped her up effortlessly.
As if accustomed, she naturally wrapped her arms around his neck.
Thus cradling Maia,
Rimon stepped out of the cave.
Crunch, crunch.
True to the Amazon rainforest.
The dense jungle, devoid of artificial light, was pitch black, visibility near zero.
Only fleeting glimpses of white butterflies dancing in the faint moonlight.
But Rimon didn't falter.
Glancing at a thicket, then fixing on the butterflies, he spoke casually.
"Come on out already. You didn't trek all this way just for hide-and-seek."
A random mutter.
But the reply came instantly.
"My apologies... I thought causing a ruckus at night would be rude, so I approached quietly—seems I bothered you instead..."
A phlegm-rattled voice echoed—
And change occurred.
The butterflies suddenly swarmed together, forming a human shape in moments.
A wrinkle-covered face.
A body gaunt as an old tree.
An old staff in hand.
Anywhere but this jungle heart, he'd pass for a common slum-dweller. Instead, the elder bowed politely.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Diego, the old man sent to fetch the princess..."
"Forest Guild?"
"This lowly body has been fortunate enough to claim a seat at the Forest Guild's fringes..."
Gula's close aide, who had led the search for Maia.
Diego spat phlegm with a few coughs, then spoke lowly.
"Let me warn you upfront: pointless resistance is unwise... You'd only hurt the princess needlessly."
"Hmm, is that so?"
Narrowing his eyes at Diego for a moment.
Rimon glanced at Maia and asked casually.
"What say you, Master?"
"Do I need to spell it out?"
"Your will comes first, after all."
"A competent slave intuits his master's will without words."
"My apologies for being incompetent."
A brief chuckle.
Rimon shrugged, eyeing Diego.
"As you see, my master has no interest in your invitation. Head back today, old timer."
"A foolish choice..."
"Can't entrust my precious master to some mystery geezer."
"I already introduced myself, didn't I...?"
"Oh, that Forest Guild fringe bit? If it was a joke, it landed perfectly."
As if he'd heard the funniest thing.
Rimon snickered.
Then abruptly stopped, glaring coldly at Diego.
"Specter of the Liberation Brigade."
Silence followed.
No rustling leaves.
No chirping insects.
In the utter stillness where all noise vanished, a low voice returned.
"...How did you know?"
"Things felt off from when I rescued Master."
As if denial was futile,
Diego admitted it readily. Rimon replied coldly.
"Like why the Forest Guild's trackers missed her."
Maia, half-delirious while fleeing, couldn't have erased her trail even as empty flattery.
Footprints would be lucky.
Uncontrolled poison left traces even a blind man could follow.
Yet they missed such clear signs?
The Forest Guild, full of monster-kin players with heightened senses?
Absurd.
...Unless someone deliberately obstructed the hunt.
"Including those butterflies swarming where Master collapsed."
Maia's potent poison repelled even beasts.
For mere insects like butterflies to circle her was abnormal too.
Someone sabotaged the tracking.
And a suspicious tail followed.
Combining those anomalies, Rimon's conclusion was singular.
Someone tried sneaking Maia away from Gula.
No proper Forest Guild member would do that.
"How does that prove I'm Liberation Brigade? Could've been helping the princess...?"
"If helping, you'd have acted sooner. Good comes to the good; evil to the evil, as they say."
Rimon snorted.
With the ability and authority to hinder Forest Guild trackers, contact was possible anytime.
Doing nothing until Maia fell into a trap proved it wasn't goodwill.
One who didn't serve the Ten Great Guilds.
But exploited their power to target a Seven Dragon Society princess.
In Rimon's knowledge, only Liberation Brigade specters would dare such folly.
Above all, the reason he suspected them specifically:
"Besides, anyone else but you lot has no reason to drag that guy in."
"...Sharp eyes."
Rustle.
Realizing hiding was pointless?
The thicket behind Diego parted.
Sighing at the slow-emerging figure, Rimon said.
"Even amid that chaos, your sudden vanishing felt too abrupt."
"Did it?"
"Yeah, never expected this."
Enduring such hardship searching for him amid the Green Dragon Clan's retreat.
All for naught—absurd.
Muttering softly to himself, Rimon scratched his head vigorously before asking bluntly.
"Just one question."
"What?"
"Since when?"
"...No need for reasons?"
"Reasons are always lame anyway. Just curious when you decided to stab me in the back."
Indifference?
Or composure?
Gazing steadily at the unshaken Rimon, he replied lowly after a long pause.
"Not from the start."
Only natural.
Liberation Brigade was a player crime syndicate.
He, originally no player, couldn't have been one from the beginning.
"I wrestled with it to the end."
But no one starts as a player.
Players gain constellation power via contract.
Even ordinary humans can become players with a contract.
Or player criminals.
"Until I realized I lacked the talent to pass this fragment sword's test."
"...So that was why you turned traitor?"
Rimon narrowed his eyes.
And at the figure in the darkness.
Bearing the shadow of a constellation with eight arms on his back.
Gripping a platinum fragment sword in one hand.
He called coldly.
"Mr. Sculptor."