The Swordmaster Wants to Fall in Love! 94. For Business (1)
Seolhyang opened her eyes and realized her side felt strangely cool. She let out a soft murmur, fumbling around beside her, and discovered that Evan—who should have been lying next to her—was nowhere to be found. She carefully sat up.
She felt no fear at his absence. Evan wasn't a child, and she didn't suffer from separation anxiety.
After stretching slowly, getting up, and finishing her morning wash in the bathroom, she was greeted by Anya's cheerful voice.
"Ah, you're awake! Sister Seolhyang!"
"Good morning, Anya. Where's Evan?"
"The Swordmaster went to the training grounds!"
The awkwardness between the two had been almost completely smoothed over by now. On the surface, Seolhyang's status was that of Evan's maid, but that was only on the surface. Anya essentially regarded Seolhyang as Evan's mistress of the household.
In practice, she held nearly that much authority. Just today, she'd slept comfortably in the same bedroom as Evan and had the luxury of waking up later than him.
Seolhyang accepted the tea Anya handed her, letting the warmth awaken her body, and headed toward the training grounds with her simple drink in hand.
─Hya!─
─Hoo!─
Along the path to the training grounds, Evan and Mirinae's battle cries echoed from afar. This wasn't because Seolhyang's hearing was exceptional as a blind woman—it meant the two Transcendents' voices were powerful enough to pierce through the building's soundproofing magic.
Seolhyang carefully dialed down her hearing and stepped into the training ground. Almost simultaneously with her entrance, the clash of two swords rang out.
Clang—! A shockwave of sound so intense it seemed to leap through the air swept through the training ground, and immediately after, Mirinae's faint voice followed.
"Whoa—I surrender, I surrender! I can't keep this up."
"Surrendering already?"
"Already? I put up a decent fight, didn't I!"
"Honestly, that wasn't enough."
"Not enough, my foot! You monster genius!"
Mirinae threw a tantrum and tossed the wooden sword in her hand aside with a flick. Evan, his eyes covered by a blindfold, tilted his head as if he could see perfectly and dodged it without a care.
Seeing that, Mirinae let out a bewildered laugh. Evan, having dodged the wooden sword, removed his blindfold and grinned.
"How about we sit and have a drink? Sister Seolhyang just arrived, too."
"What? Wha—Seolhyang, when did you get here? I didn't hear you at all."
"I just arrived. The fact that you didn't hear me is because I've trained to be that quiet… It's strange that Evan heard me."
Seolhyang said this while looking toward Evan. He had already approached her and accepted the drink she offered, gulping it down.
But only for a moment. Evan stopped drinking as if something was wrong, stuck out his tongue, and frowned.
"Ugh—The fruit quality's off today. Is something wrong?"
"…You can tell that?"
"I've just gotten used to it."
"Right, of course…"
Seolhyang looked at Evan with an expression of disbelief.
Tactile sensitivity sharp enough to dodge a sword while blindfolded.
Hearing keen enough to catch Seolhyang's footsteps that even an elf couldn't detect.
Taste refined enough to distinguish the subtle quality of fruit used as ingredients.
Evan's senses had always been pushed to the extreme, but this surpassed human limits.
…It was that shocking, then.
That was right. Evan hadn't become like this long ago. To be precise, it had happened the day Seolhyang had taken him.
The day he'd experienced pleasure layered twice—simultaneously in the dream world and in reality.
Evan had gained Super Perception.
'So this is the real world.'
Every time he drew close to a woman's body, Evan realized that the world surrounding him was expanding little by little. Realizations he could never have reached alone, not in a lifetime.
It was absurd. After swinging a sword for over a decade, he couldn't have reached these insights—yet he could attain them simply by embracing a woman?
'I understand now why other people get so hung up on women…'
In the adventurer city of South Eli, if you spent enough time there, you'd often encounter people obsessively fixated on women to an excessive degree.
They'd strike up conversations with every woman they passed, hit on them, openly harass them, and in extreme cases, wouldn't hesitate to rape.
He used to find it incomprehensible. What need was there to risk your life over a woman? But now that he knew the female body, it was different.
It was worth risking your life for. That's what Evan thought.
"Swordmaster, Swordmaster!"
"What is it?"
"A guest has arrived!"
"A guest?"
Evan tilted his head at Anya's words and headed toward the living room. Anyone who had come looking for him up until now had been handled smoothly by Anya.
If this was someone Anya couldn't refuse, then it must be a noble or royal of high enough power that she couldn't casually turn away—or someone of comparable status.
"Oh—ho-ho-ho-ho! Swordmaster, it's been a while, hasn't it!"
"…Miss Evelyn?"
"Yesesss! I'm Evelyn Montblanc, head of the Montblanc Merchant Guild!"
Sitting in the living room was a young lady with distinctive blonde ringlet curls—Evelyn Montblanc.
Evan, having heard her characteristic laugh, sat on the sofa opposite her and met her gaze. His eyes flickered at the sight of her cleavage, so openly displayed.
'Big…'
He hadn't been without meeting women with larger breasts than hers, but the chest tightly bound and emphasized by a corset had its own kind of charm.
A chest deliberately emphasized and revealed for others to see. A chest offered for men to look at… Evan, who was freely indulging in that view, lifted his head when he noticed her hand covering it.
"Um, heh-heh. Y-you've changed a lot, haven't you, Swordmaster…"
Perhaps sensing his heated gaze, Evelyn blushed and began pulling her clothes tighter.
Evan, feeling regret at the now-concealed cleavage, lifted his head to meet her eyes and asked.
"So, what brings you here today?"
"W-well, if you're asking what I've come for… I'm here to collect a debt! Oh-ho-ho!"
"A debt?"
"—You're not going to tell me you've forgotten, are you? That you owe a debt to me—to the Montblanc Merchant Guild!"
"Ah… that."
At her prompting, Evan finally recalled the matter with Rainia and nodded, agreeing with her words. Indeed, he had owed her a debt.
When Rainia had been kidnapped, it was Evelyn who had rushed to him with information, even though he hadn't known about it at the time. To be honest, she hadn't expected the information to be useful either… but that didn't diminish its value.
"Yes, well. A promise is a promise, isn't it? What do you want? I can't marry you, but I could make you a child or two."
"…Well, you've grown up, haven't you, Swordmaster."
"Thank you for the compliment."
Evan, having read the emotion in Evelyn's eyes, realized she hadn't offered a purely sincere compliment, but he didn't point it out and simply accepted it.
Evelyn, belatedly realizing she'd made the mistake of revealing her feelings, cleared her throat with a heh-heh and fanned her mouth with her hand fan.
"Anyway, it's a relief that you remember. The debt itself is nothing. The railway construction project the royal court is conducting this time—I just need you to let the Montblanc Merchant Guild take it on."
"Railway construction…?"
"You don't know? The new technology announced by the royal court. The tracks needed to make trains run back and forth."
Montblanc's eyes sparkled as she spoke.
"—Railways that will stretch across the entire kingdom. If we win the contract for this, the Montblanc Merchant Guild could grow into an even larger enterprise…! Just thinking about it makes my legs tingle—Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho!"
"But that's not my responsibility. Even if you tell me, there's nothing I can do about it."
"That's fine! You're a Transcendent favored by His Majesty the Spear King! Simply mentioning the Montblanc Merchant Guild's name to His Majesty would be more than enough—!"
"Hmm… Is it really okay with just that? If so, then."
Strike while the iron is hot. Evan immediately attempted to communicate with the Spear King right there on the spot. It was possible because Carnelly, uncomfortable with being used as a bridge, had donated a communication device to the Spear King.
And indeed, whether her words about the Spear King's favor were true or not, the connection was received before even a second had passed.
"Swordmaster? What's up?"
"Ah, Your Majesty. It's been a while. I have something to ask…"
Evan brought up the matter of the railways right there. He recommended the Montblanc Merchant Guild for the project. The Spear King, listening to Evan's story for a moment, let out a knowing laugh before the tale was even finished.
"Is the head of the Montblanc Merchant Guild there with you?"
"Yes, she's in front of me."
"Is she someone special to you? Or do you owe her a debt?"
"If it's a debt, I do owe one."
"Then I suppose this counts as a debt too, then?"
"Huh? Ah… I suppose it does."
The Spear King, smiling with satisfaction at the word "debt," continued.
"Good. Swordmaster, from now on, you may address me more casually."
"Huh…? What do you mean?"
"You can call me 'Spear King Uncle,' or just address me casually. That's what I mean."
"No, I couldn't possibly…"
"Oh, come now. And I'll call you Evan. I'll grant your request on that condition."
"…Spear King Uncle. Please take good care of me."
"Good, Evan."
The communication ended.
Evelyn, who had been listening to the entire exchange with her eyes trembling, swallowed hard and looked at Evan as if asking what had just happened.
Evan looked at her and nodded casually.
"He said he'll remember the Montblanc Merchant Guild, okay?"
"T-thank you so much…"
Evelyn bowed her head deeply as she offered her gratitude.
Evan realized her speech pattern had broken down.
'That was a persona, then…'