Chapter 69 – New Club Member (1)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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…After leaving the Headmistress’s office.

Step, step.

The footsteps of the Sword Emperor and me filled the corridor of the main building. As though leading me, the Sword Emperor walked ahead, and I trailed along behind him.

Silence had settled between us. The kind of silence so thick it felt hard to breathe.

The reason for this awkward atmosphere was obvious enough: the Sword Emperor’s bombshell declaration just moments ago.

‘I will pass my seat as one of the Seven Star Heroes on to Kang Geom-ma.’

The moment I heard those words, I felt my chest sink. To be honest, even several minutes later, the back of my head still throbbed. My brows narrowed in doubt.

I suddenly raised my head and looked at the Sword Emperor’s back. His stride was so fast that he quickly widened the distance between us. Even so, the way he walked still carried dignity and refinement in perfect measure.

‘No matter how I look at it, he must be taking some incredible tonic or something.’

I moved my feet while only my lips twitched. I had to be careful how I opened my mouth. But if I let it pass here without asking, it felt like I would regret it forever, so I finally spoke through my hesitation.

“Sword Emperor, may I have a moment.”

Only then did he slow down and glance back at me. The easygoing manner he had shown in the Headmistress’s office was gone, and he wore his usual stern eyes once more.

‘So he really had been acting to ease the Headmistress’s worries.’

The Sword Emperor looked at me quietly for a moment. Sunlight streaming in through the corridor windows made gold swirl in his pupils. A subtle current lingered between us for a few seconds, and then he spoke.

“Is this about the succession of the Seven Star Hero seat?”

As if he had expected it, his sharp voice touched my ears. I nodded with a slight flinch. He immediately came to a stop and leaned his back against the wall.

“It must be sudden for you. But as I told you earlier, this is a judgment I reached after thinking and agonizing over it for a long time. Of course, I do feel sorry for not telling you beforehand, but once I had made up my mind, I wanted to say it in front of Medea.”

He let out one short breath. Then, all of a sudden, he asked me something.

“Do you know why the Seven Star Heroes have remained at four all this time?”

“Uh, well…”

I hesitated in answering. It was a question I had never really considered, but now that I thought it over, it did feel strange.

The Seven Star Heroes were originally seven seats. But after the battle to subjugate Basmon, three had died, leaving only four now.

Fifty long years had passed, yet those three seats had remained vacant the entire time. I had vaguely assumed they were left empty to honor the three who had fallen to Basmon.

“…Perhaps it is to honor the Sword Emperor’s comrades who passed away first.”

At that answer, the Sword Emperor let out a faint smile and spoke again.

“Well, you could take it that way. Ah, of course, I have no intention whatsoever of belittling those friends who went before us. It is thanks to their noble sacrifice that both you and I are standing on this land alive. Still, to say the seats of the Seven Star Heroes remain vacant for that reason alone would be somewhat misleading.”

The Sword Emperor shook his head, then ran one hand back through his hair. His pale hair, tinged with silver, bore the marks of time. Then he added.

“To be frank with you, the reason is simple.”

“…?”

“Because no hero stronger than us has appeared in all that time.”

I could only blink. The Sword Emperor let out a short laugh. Then he pushed himself off the wall and looked at me. A clear intensity swirled in his eyes.

“The strength of demonkind is immeasurable. Humanity may outnumber them, but if the demons ever mobilized their full army, we would be destroyed in less than half a year. Conversation and negotiation only work when both sides stand on the same level. The only means of checking them is strength.”

“And what does that have to do with leaving three seats vacant?”

The Sword Emperor shook his head broadly.

“Half-baked strength is worse than none at all. Think about it. If one of the Seven Star Heroes were to be defeated by some mere magical beast, would humanity still be able to place its faith in them?”

“That makes sense too.”

“A Seven Star Hero is not merely a position for enjoying glory. It is a role that restrains demonkind and represents humanity. There is that famous saying, is there not, that great power carries great responsibility? Though at this point, its meaning has somewhat faded.”

As he said that, the Sword Emperor briefly narrowed his eyes. I had a rough idea of what had passed through his mind.

‘The Absolute Bow, Saki Kojima.’

He was the one who had actively used the prestige of being a Seven Star Hero to serve as Japan’s lifetime prime minister. Since he was also Saki Ryozo’s father, I didn’t particularly want to speak ill of him, but in public he was treated as little different from a dictator.

‘…Come to think of it, Ryozo hardly ever talked about her family.’

Even Chloe occasionally brought up her family, but Ryozo almost unnaturally never mentioned her household or background.

‘Even when I played Miracle’s Blessing M, the other remaining Seven Stars, the Absolute Bow and the Spear Saint, were only ever mentioned and never actually appeared, so their personalities and actions were still a mystery to me.’

…Ah, this wasn’t what mattered right now. I had been swept along by the Sword Emperor’s words, but what I actually wanted to ask wasn’t why there were four Seven Stars. I shook off the stray thoughts and asked in a low voice.

“I understand what you’re saying, Sword Emperor, but that isn’t what I’m asking. Please explain why it’s me.”

At that, the Sword Emperor looked at me as though I were being absurd. He tilted his head again and again, studying me.

“…Kang Geom-ma, are you pretending to be slow, or are you truly that slow?”

“Pardon?”

“I say that because you don’t seem to understand what I mean. The reason I’m passing the seat to you is because you are stronger than I am, and by a wide margin at that. Isn’t that self-evident?”

“…Ah.”

I couldn’t give any reply. Strictly speaking, there was reason in what the Sword Emperor said. After all, I was the one who had reduced the Fifth Legion Commander Agor to half a corpse.

Still, the sensations from that time were so hazy that it was difficult to call it wholly my own power. When I sank into thought and said nothing, the Sword Emperor looked at me closely and spoke again.

“There is something I have long been curious about regarding you. But now, I believe I must know.”

The Sword Emperor’s voice was calm. For a moment I found it strange, but I forced my expression flat and nodded. After a brief silence, he spoke.

“It seems that your power has a time limit.”

“…!”

My heart pounded violently. It felt as though a hidden weakness had been exposed.

It wasn’t exactly something I had a reason to hide, but there was nothing good to be gained by revealing it either, which was why I had told no one.

Thump, thump, thump.

My eyes met the Sword Emperor’s. He studied my face, then shrugged and added.

“Do not be too alarmed. To be honest, even I was only making a rough guess, so I had no certainty. But no human being can use such immense power without any restriction. Even you, Kang Geom-ma.”

“……”

“Ah, and the part about the restriction being time was also just a guess. During the class assignment test and on Avalon Island, you collapsed after about a minute.”

I listened to his words in silence for a long while. Weighing them in my head.

On one side of the scale were the advantages of telling him about the restriction. On the other side, the risks.

After pondering it for a while, I made up my mind.

“Sword Emperor.”

Seeing my serious expression, the Sword Emperor let the smile at the corner of his mouth fade. I steadied my breathing and slowly opened my mouth.

“There is something I need to tell you about my power.”

* * *

A little later, after I had finished explaining, the Sword Emperor nodded as if he now understood.

“So what you’re saying is… when you manifest the blessing, tremendous pain rushes in as the price of that power, and you suppress it using another blessing?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

I explained the Blessing of the Sword God and the Blessing of Painlessness to him. Of course, I left out the finer details. No matter how trustworthy the Sword Emperor was, revealing one’s weakness in full to another person was something to be careful about.

The reason I had told him was to borrow his wisdom, not because I wanted sympathy or understanding.

I simply stared at him in silence. Noticing my gaze, the Sword Emperor patted my shoulder as though telling me to relax.

“Rest easy. I have no intention of telling anyone. And using one blessing to suppress the restriction of another is a truly groundbreaking idea. You certainly do have talent.”

The Sword Emperor tapped his own forehead lightly with a finger.

“However, depending on the situation, the distribution of one’s strength is also important. Even you would not wish to keep fighting forever while pressed for time. And for that, you will need an experienced master…”

The Sword Emperor deliberately dragged out the end of his sentence. A smile was etched into his old, weathered mouth.

“…And I happened to be in need of a disciple with outstanding talent.”

I blinked. Then the Sword Emperor stroked his empty right sleeve and let out a clear laugh.

“Since I have marked you as my successor, doesn’t it follow that handing over the role is my responsibility as well? And though I have resolved to retire, just thinking about it already makes me restless. In any case, once things are settled, I will call for you, so until then, enjoy your life at the academy. Hahaha!”

“S-Sword Emperor!”

Immediately afterward, the Sword Emperor spun on his heel and set off with brisk steps.

I belatedly reached out a hand and called after him.

But whether my words reached his ears or not, he was already at the end of the corridor in an instant. For someone who was supposed to be an old man, his footwork was absurdly nimble and quick.

“……”

For a moment, I almost manifested the Blessing of the Sword God and gave chase, but then I shook my head.

“To think I almost drew a sashimi knife and charged at someone who had shown me such favor…”

He must have injured his head on the island. Or perhaps it was the lingering effect of Agor’s mental magic.

Letting out a sigh, I stopped the hand that had been searching through my pocket.

* * *

After that, the weekend passed.

Since it was my last day off before returning to school, I had meant to rest thoroughly, but…

“Ha.”

I let out a short sigh. The things the Sword Emperor had left me with, almost like homework, kept bothering me so much that I couldn’t truly rest.

“…How in the world is all of this supposed to play out?”

At this point, I was trying to laugh off the smaller deviations, but if things kept going like this, the original story would be completely transformed.

Suppressing the tangle of thoughts clawing through my head, I walked down the hallway of the faculty building.

The chatter of cadets drifted through the air like background noise. Listening to it made my tension ease a little.

“Complaining about it isn’t going to change anything.”

Right. As the Sword Emperor himself had said, even if the succession process moved smoothly, it would still take at least half a year. Before then, I only had to somehow persuade him.

To be honest, the privileges of being a Seven Star Hero were tempting enough to make my mouth water, but whenever I thought of the Second Human-Demon War that would break out in three years, I wanted to refuse as quickly as possible.

Imagining myself in that sea of blood and corpses, gripping a sashimi knife and hacking away, was absurd. And above all, the burden was overwhelming. Seriously overwhelming.

“Maybe it’s because I’m back at school for the first time in a while, but it doesn’t feel all that bad.”

One corner of my mouth lifted slightly. I raised my head and looked around at my surroundings. Then I noticed one particular spot in the corridor where cadets were unusually clustered together.

Unable to resist my curiosity, I headed that way. The place where the students were gathered was in front of a bulletin board covered with flyers.

“Hey, did you see this? What the hell is wrong with this club poster? Ugh, the taste is so awful.”

“Exactly. Even if the student council president were in this club, I still wouldn’t join.”

“But even though the background is chaotic, doesn’t this blue otter somehow look weirdly wistful?”

As I drew closer, the murmurs of the cadets echoed clearly in my ears. From the rear of the crowd, I looked over the bulletin board.

I was fairly tall, so even the tops of the male cadets’ heads were clearly visible.

‘A few of them are definitely going bald later.’

That pitiful observation lasted only a moment. Hanging where my gaze landed was a poster so flamboyantly colored it was enough to make me dizzy.

“Wow. Incredible.”

It was a design that could genuinely leave one speechless.

In my past life, I had been both a chef and a business owner, so I knew better than most how important advertising was. Even if this was only a club poster, the quality was appallingly poor.

The moment I stepped a little closer, the students standing there glanced at me and suddenly made way. Feeling awkward, I looked forward and froze.

⌜Recruiting members to join the travel club. Created by Speed Weapon.⌟

My pupils widened as though they were lanterns. Then my lips parted on their own.

“What kind of sick…”

I couldn’t quite bring myself to finish the curse. Shame hit me a moment later.

* * *

Later that same day, in the academy courtyard during lunchtime.

I had a joyful reunion with the members of the travel club. Chloe clung to me while sobbing and sniffling, while Ryozo casually handed me a sweet bean jelly. Relief and happiness floated through the atmosphere over the grass.

However, the one I had my eyes on was Weapon. I folded my arms and looked at him. Wearing a cheerful smile, he congratulated me on being discharged.

“Hey, do you know how worried we were while you were in the hospital?! Still, it’s a relief that you look healthy. Ah, right. While you were gone, we got some club-creation prep done our own way.”

Weapon spoke while rubbing the bridge of his nose. There was a clear hint that he wanted praise. I suppressed the twitch in my mouth and spoke in a low voice.

“…Yeah, I saw the poster.”

“Ah, really? Well, I made sure it was super eye-catching on purpose. No way anyone could miss it.”

“……”

I carefully chose how I ought to react. The effort itself was admirable, but if I praised it, that would mean I was acknowledging the poster.

It felt as though the blood of a businessman etched into me was rejecting that idea with all its strength. In the end, I only gave a weak nod.

“Sniff, I’m sorry, Geom-ma. I should have stopped him.”

Chloe, chewing on her lower lip, muttered beside me in bitter self-reproach. When I turned my head slightly, I saw Saki clutching her forehead. Dark fatigue lay beneath her eyes.

“Whew, sorry. Weapon was so damn stubborn… I tried to stop him, but I never expected that bastard to put it up on the bulletin board at dawn. Seriously.”

“…You did well.”

It smelled like early summer sunlight. The stirrings of life and the scent of greenery drifted faintly in the air.

Even so, aside from Weapon, the mood among the club members was gloomy.

‘At this rate, we’ll never find the remaining member.’

For our future dungeon raids, founding the club was an important matter. My plan had been to gather people, hunt magical beasts, and use the materials gained from that to strengthen Murasame, but…

To let a mere poster throw a wrench into the club’s founding was not something I could treat lightly.

As I mulled over ways to solve it.

Riiiiiing!

A sharp phone tone rang out from somewhere. Soon Weapon pulled a phone out of his pocket. Tilting his head, he answered it.

“Hello.”

Weapon spoke cautiously, almost muttering to himself. He exchanged a few words, then hung up. Resting her chin on her palm, Ryozo tossed him a question.

“What is it? Did the administration office tell you to take the poster down? I mean, it would be stranger if that kind of trash was allowed to stay hanging on the board.”

“…No.”

“Then what is it? Why does your face look like that? Stop dragging it out and just say it already.”

“…Someone’s coming later to interview for the club.”

“What?!”