Chapter 137
"...!"
The pressure of mana bore down on my body.
It hurt, but thankfully not enough to knock me unconscious.
Feeling the difference from a month ago, I quickly took stock of the situation.
Right now, even if I stepped into an A+ gate, I wouldn’t feel any mana pressure at all.
And yet I was feeling this much pressure. That meant something was wrong.
It meant the mana in this place was on the level of an S-rank gate.
"You should be all right now, Do-woon."
Grichin’s warm voice reached my ear.
True to his words, the pressure and pain crushing my body vanished a moment later.
Grichin had spread his mana and pushed back the pressure.
"...Thank you."
"Are you all right?"
"Yes. Thanks to you."
I was glad I was here with Grichin.
If he hadn’t been with me, I would have had to endure the pain while being crushed by the mana pressure.
Under pressure like that, even keeping my body together was hard.
"What happened all of a sudden?"
"It's Smirnov."
"Smirnov?"
"Yes. He let his power burst out."
"Damn it... ."
The curse came out before I could stop it.
Smirnov was with Tae-cheon right now.
Which meant Tae-cheon had just taken that same mana pressure head-on.
Still, the guy was a tank built like no other in the world, so unlike me, he’d probably be fine.
"Ah... Mister Lee was just attacked."
Grichin, staring into the distance, sounded impressed.
Mister Lee... that would have to be Tae-cheon.
Tae-cheon was attacked?
"Amazing. He blocked Smirnov’s attack with one hand."
"...Smirnov attacked Tae-cheon?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"......"
The World Tree Sapling felt anger from the caretaker.
It advises the caretaker to stay calm.
"To think he’d withstand the attack with just one arm. As expected of Do-woon’s friend... hm? Wait... this energy is...?"
That meant he had blocked the attack.
It also meant he’d moved easily despite the mana pressure.
That was Tae-cheon, all right.
But...
"......"
Smirnov had attacked Tae-cheon.
Why?
For what reason?
Questions surfaced one after another.
But I decided to act first.
As always.
I took out the shield I’d prepared as a gift for Tae-cheon.
Then I started walking forward.
"Do-woon?"
"I need to go see Tae-cheon."
"Stop, Do-woon!"
Grichin stretched out a hand to stop me.
But I didn’t stop walking.
"The energy pressure is still spread..."
His concern was pointless; my body was perfectly fine.
I didn’t feel any mana pressure at all.
Thanks to Mendax Testudo.
Mendax could resist mana pressure within a certain range.
The sapling is bewildered.
It finds the caretaker’s calm demeanor baffling.
The sapling worries that the caretaker may be insane.
...Rude.
I’m just trusting Tae-cheon.
The sky was completely white.
Light reflected off the clouds, blindingly bright.
The World Cup Stadium below was the same.
Maybe that was why.
As Tae-cheon climbed the stairs, he looked like an ancient warrior heading toward a temple.
That was, if you ignored the fact that he was squinting so hard his eyes practically disappeared.
And at the top of the stairs, there he stood.
Emperor Maksim Danilovich Smirnov.
A man born with the greatest talent in Russia’s history.
"......"
He looked down at Tae-cheon with a face as arrogant as the title attached to his name.
To be greeted by that face the moment he finished climbing the stairs...
Tae-cheon looked away.
Beside Smirnov stood another man in a suit.
The moment his gaze landed on Tae-cheon, the man bowed politely and greeted him.
"Thank you for coming, Lee Tae-cheon. I am the interpreter, Pavel Bogorise."
"Sure. Nice to meet you. I'm Lee Tae-cheon."
Tae-cheon also tipped his head slightly, shading his eyes with one hand.
Then he turned his gaze back to Smirnov.
That smug face was irritating enough that he didn’t even want to look at it, but Smirnov was the one who had called him here.
Smirnov looked at Tae-cheon with a different expression than before.
His condescending gaze was gone, replaced by one thick with greed.
"Hmph... ."
Tae-cheon let out a breath through his nose.
He was a man recognized as Korea’s best tank.
Men and women alike, guilds as well, there were countless people who wanted him.
So greed was nothing new to him.
Though he hadn’t expected Smirnov to wear that kind of expression, either.
"Looks like you’re in the mood to talk, huh?"
Tae-cheon felt relieved.
He’d brought an interpreter, so at least this wouldn’t be like yesterday, when they’d just stared at each other.
When Bogorise translated his words, Smirnov nodded.
Then he answered at once.
"I wanted to speak in a quiet place."
"You could've said so. I would've moved the location."
"Only if you had been alone."
"If I had been alone...?"
Tae-cheon tilted his head.
Only if I had been alone?
That meant he hadn’t moved because Do-hee and Miller were there.
Why would that matter?
Curious, Tae-cheon waited, but Smirnov simply kept his mouth shut and stared at him.
"Quit staring. You'll wear down this handsome face."
"Pardon?"
Bogorise asked back in confusion.
Tae-cheon grinned and shrugged.
Ah. So that was a joke.
Only then did Bogorise understand. He laughed and interpreted for Smirnov.
Smirnov, hearing it, gave a slight chuckle too.
"Yes. My apologies."
As he said that, Smirnov closed his eyes.
He drew in a deep breath, then let it out slowly.
And then he called Tae-cheon.
"Knight."
Smirnov’s voice was solemn.
There was no arrogance in it, no conceit.
"Become my knight."
"What...?"
"I will grant you the honor of becoming the emperor’s knight."
"Grant me the honor, huh..."
Tae-cheon scratched his temple with the hand that had been shading his eyes.
Just as the shock began to fade, a blunt assessment of Smirnov surfaced in his mind.
This guy’s got some serious narcissism, doesn’t he?
Tae-cheon’s judgment was dead on.
Smirnov wasn’t merely proud.
He was the center of the world.
Without him, there was no world.
A world without him had no reason to exist.
That was the kind of man who called himself emperor.
And Tae-cheon said,
"I’ll have to refuse."
He rejected the emperor’s offer on the spot.
Bogorise, translating for him, turned to Tae-cheon in surprise.
He clearly hadn’t expected him to refuse Smirnov’s offer.
"You refuse... My selection? You refuse my selection?"
"Selection..."
A snort escaped Tae-cheon’s lips.
"I don’t think you know what that word actually means."
"Pardon...?"
Bogorise repeated, searching his memory for the dictionary definition.
Selection. The act of distinguishing and choosing.
Surely that was the right word for the situation...?
Why was Lee Tae-cheon saying he didn’t know the exact meaning?
He couldn’t exactly ask what was wrong with it, either.
This wasn’t a lesson; it was work.
In truth, Bogorise had no way of knowing.
Selection was originally a word used in the Joseon era.
It referred to the ceremony for choosing a king, prince, or princess’s spouse...
"......"
Smirnov stared at Bogorise.
His look was clearly asking why he wasn’t translating Lee Tae-cheon’s words.
Bogorise couldn’t translate Tae-cheon’s words.
He would have to explain his own mistake.
To avoid that, he threw a question back at Tae-cheon.
"Are you really refusing?"
"Yes. I am."
"No, why? If you joined this man, you could become a hunter who would be remembered in history."
"Probably."
"Then why are you rejecting his offe—"
"Simple."
Tae-cheon cut him off firmly.
At the claim that the reason for refusal was simple, Bogorise shut his mouth.
"I already have a master."
"......!"
Bogorise's eyes widened.
He already had a master?
In this day and age, who had a master?
Was there really someone in Korea as arrogant as Smirnov?
"Shouldn't you translate that?"
"Ah, ah... ."
At Tae-cheon’s voice, Bogorise snapped out of the thoughts that kept surfacing.
Then he looked at Smirnov.
Smirnov was staring at his incompetent interpreter with obvious displeasure.
Bogorise swallowed hard and translated slowly.
When he heard the words, Smirnov’s eyes widened just like Bogorise’s had.
Clench!
Smirnov ground his teeth and started shouting in an angry voice.
Bogorise listened while nodding repeatedly, then relayed it to Tae-cheon.
"H-he wants to know who it is."
"Why would you need to know that? Planning to go after them?"
"It would depend on who the master is, he says."
"Ha."
Tae-cheon gave a short snort.
It would depend on who the master is.
In other words, if he liked the answer he’d accept it, and if he didn’t, he wouldn’t.
If he didn’t accept it, Smirnov would try to take that person away.
"Tell me who the master is."
Tae-cheon glared at Smirnov.
Smirnov didn’t look away either.
"......"
"......"
The standoff continued, neither of them yielding their gaze.
How many minutes had they been staring each other down?
Unable to stand the tension any longer, Bogorise swallowed.
Glup!
"......!"
Bogorise grabbed his throat.
He hadn’t expected the sound of his own swallow to be that loud.
Smirnov, of course, didn’t care, but Tae-cheon seemed to notice and glanced back at him once.
Glup.
At Tae-cheon’s attention, Bogorise swallowed again, looking apologetic.
Fine. Let’s play along with this guy’s level, then.
Tae-cheon looked at Smirnov and said,
"I am a knight."
Bogorise translated his words.
"The Knight of the Sky."
As he said that, Tae-cheon lifted his right arm.
His only extended finger pointed upward.
At the white sky blazing with sunlight.
"Naturally, my master is the sky."
When he heard the translation, Smirnov frowned.
He couldn’t understand what Tae-cheon meant by sky.
Tae-cheon smiled, as if he had never expected him to understand it in the first place.
"Smirnov. You call yourself emperor."
"That is so."
"Emperor..."
"...?"
"Which means, in the end, you're only human."
"What are you trying to say?"
"Do you really think a mere human can take on the endless sky? Stop it. You'll only destroy yourself as a tyrant."
Bogorise's jaw dropped.
He stared at Tae-cheon, not even thinking to translate.
"Translate it."
"B-but..."
"Do it."
Bogorise’s face looked as though he might cry.
He knew all too well what would happen if he translated Tae-cheon’s words exactly as they were.
Smirnov.
He was a man who lived however he pleased.
The very fact that he called himself emperor showed how arrogant he was.
People behind his back called him a tyrant to insult him, but no one dared say that to his face.
Until now.
So Bogorise truly did not want to translate it.
But he had no choice.
That was the reason he had come here.
And there was Smirnov beside him, staring as though asking why he wasn’t translating.
Bogorise began in a trembling voice.
"......!"
Smirnov’s eyes flew wide at what he heard.
Fury blazed in both eyes.
Seeing that, Tae-cheon continued.
"I have no intention of lowering myself to the knight of some human bastard."
"Y-you crazy..."
By then Bogorise no longer looked as though he wanted to cry.
He was crying for real.
Tears had gathered in his eyes.
With a tear-streaked face, he slowly relayed Tae-cheon’s words.
When the translation ended,
"Lee Tae-cheon...!"
Smirnov called Tae-cheon’s name in a furious voice.
At the same time, his body began to swell.
It grew and grew and kept growing until it was large enough to blot out the white sky Tae-cheon had pointed at.
Even then, Smirnov showed no sign of stopping, continuing to swell larger and larger.
Watching that,
"Ah, now I can finally see clearly."
Tae-cheon lowered the hand that had been shading his eyes.