When was that again.

I remember I was wearing thick clothes, so it must’ve been winter.

Then again, maybe not.

I had just finished accepting the breaking of the engagement with the Murong Clan, and because of that, in the Bang household...

[Oh, hold it—!]

“...Hm?”

The moment I tried to force myself to recall that time, Yoo Cheongil hurriedly cut me off.

[We don’t need that detailed an explanation, so just summarize it in about three sentences.]

“...Excuse me?”

[I don’t particularly want to hear it in depth.]

“What the hell...”

I was going to tell him for once, and what kind of dogshit line was that?

I stared at Yoo Cheongil in disbelief, but he really did look genuinely annoyed.

“...There’s nothing to summarize. It’s just a simple story.”

I scratched my cheek and said,

“I stuck my nose in because I was bothered by the parents’ lingering attachment, and it just turned into a pain in the ass.”

Murong Yeongsun’s mother had had such deep lingering attachment that she’d turned into a ghost and stayed by Yeongsun’s side.

The Murong Clan had an oddly large number of enemies, and because of that, something had happened to Yeongsun back then.

It hadn’t been long since my memories of my previous life had resurfaced, and in the midst of that, I’d gotten myself involved.

That was the very day I steeled myself that, if I was going to meddle, I’d only meddle so far and no more.

[And that’s the reason that girl is suspicious now?]

By suspicion, he probably meant the part where she asked what I was seeing.

“...More or less.”

It was the aftereffect of what had happened back then.

[There won’t be a problem?]

“...So far it’s fine.”

It was something I could brush off with denial. It wasn’t like she was certain, anyway.

‘That really was a mistake.’

To this day, I counted it as the biggest mistake of this life.

How could it not be.

Not only had Liaoning been thrown into an uproar back then...

‘...It’s also the day I decided how I was going to live this time around.’

That when it came to ghosts, I wouldn’t pull any more pointless stunts than absolutely necessary.

That had been my resolve before I met Yoo Cheongil.

“Snnff.”

I blew my nose roughly and moved on.

“Training’s shot to hell today.”

I had plenty to do, like giving the Divine Sword a try.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen.

Tap, tap. I flicked at the hilt of the sword tied at my waist and let out a sigh.

“Ah.”

Then I remembered something I’d forgotten.

Come to think of it, there was something I’d meant to ask.

“So. Is it really okay for me to use this Divine Sword...?”

[Hm?]

At my question, Yoo Cheongil made a puzzled face.

[What do you mean.]

“It’s still the Heavenly Demon’s sword... I’m not sure if I should really be the one using it.”

[Heh.]

Hearing that, Yoo Cheongil let out a small laugh with narrowed eyes.

[You’re a funny bastard. Even if the one who wielded the sword was the Heavenly Demon, the sword itself hasn’t committed any crime, has it.]

“Technically that’s true... but there’s such a thing as perception.”

Right now, the rumor going around was that I was the Sword Saint’s successor.

If word got out that I’d repaired and was using the Heavenly Demon’s sword in this situation...

‘If nothing else, Blue Moon Sect will probably rise up in arms.’

The prestigious sect that had produced the Sword Saint.

They might actually try to kill me.

‘And if I say “Yoo Cheongil told me to use it”...’

Like hell they’d believe that.

They’d obviously come down harder, saying I was insulting my dead master, so from my point of view, this Divine Sword didn’t look like a purely good thing.

Keeping that in mind, I tried bringing it up to Yoo Cheongil, but—

[No one’s going to find out anyway. Don’t bother with it.]

Yoo Cheongil spoke casually, picking his nose.

“We still can’t know that for sure.”

[You can, though?]

“I mean...”

[Honestly.]

As if he couldn’t stand my worrying anymore, Yoo Cheongil flicked away the booger on his finger and spoke.

[Nine out of ten people who knew about that sword will have died by the Heavenly Demon’s hand in the war, and even if there are survivors, they’ll pretend not to know it even if they recognize it.]

“...Huh? And why is that?”

They’d pretend not to know the Heavenly Demon’s sword even if they recognized it? I couldn’t make sense of it.

Why would they pretend not to know? I couldn’t understand, so I asked again, but—

[Out of sheer embarrassment, they’ll keep their mouths shut.]

Snicker, snicker. All he did was spit out something incomprehensible.

‘Embarrassment?’

[Oh, of course, they just won’t say anything. The ones who recognize it might still do something prickly, so if it looks like that I’ll let you know.]

“...So in the end, you’re saying it’s something that shouldn’t get found out, aren’t you?”

[Not so much that it can’t get found out as... hm... there’s nothing good about showing it to someone who knows...?]

“Same difference.”

[Nope. In the first place, there probably aren’t even five people left in the Central Plains who could recognize that repaired sword. I’m saying it’s a waste of energy to worry.]

“Hmmm...”

I guess that was at least a relief.

It would’ve been pretty unfair if I’d gotten my hands on a sword this good and still couldn’t use it, but it looked like that wasn’t going to—

[Oh, but. If the Sword Emperor catches on, you really could die, so watch out for that.]

“...”

The moment I heard that, I groaned on the inside.

Of course.

“...For fuck’s sake.”

The curse came out on its own.

In other words—

He’d just said there were only five, so it was almost impossible to run into them—and then. One of those five was right nearby.

*****

Someone said it once. Speak of a tiger and it appears.

“Oh my, Young Master, you’re here.”

“...”

The moment I came back to my quarters, the person I least wanted to see was there to greet me.

For now he went by the name Chudong, but in truth he was Sword Emperor Ui Yangyeon, a member of the Heaven-Beyond-Heaven alongside Yoo Cheongil.

“...Elder Chu, you’re here.”

“Ah, I’m terribly sorry. The horses have been acting up lately, so I had no choice but to be away for a time, you see.”

“No, it’s fine. I assumed you must have your reasons.”

I had been wondering where he’d disappeared to.

More precisely, he had vanished the moment we’d arrived at Tang Clan.

‘...What the hell is that?’

Looking at him, I had to secretly lower my gaze.

‘...Just how many people did he kill?’

The smell of death coming off the Sword Emperor was overwhelming.

There didn’t seem to be any evil spirits or ghosts clinging to him... but there was a stench that wouldn’t fade unless a good bit of time passed.

‘At least several dozen.’

Even if I lowballed it, several dozen.

If I stretched it, it could easily be in the hundreds.

‘...Are you insane?’

Cold sweat gathered on my back.

The thing about that number was...

‘That smell fades in a few days.’

Anything to do with death doesn’t linger that long; it’s supposed to dissipate within three days at most.

For it to still be this vivid meant—

‘It means he killed that many people just recently.’

What the hell had the Sword Emperor done.

What had he done that he came back hanging that kind of horrifying energy off himself.

As I was sitting there inwardly shaken by that—

“Young Master?”

Chudong called me. That snapped me back to attention.

“Ah, yes, Elder. Did you say something? I’m a bit tired, I must’ve missed it.”

At my words, Chudong gave a kindly smile.

“Oh, no, nothing important. I was just wondering if you’d been well while I was away.”

“...Oh. Well, of course. Tang Clan has been taking good care of me, so my body and mind have both been comfortable.”

“Heh heh heh. That’s very fortunate to hear.”

“Hahaha.”

I made small talk as I shifted to hide the sword at my waist.

“In that case, I’ll go make my preparations while we wait for departure time.”

“Yes, understood.”

Thankfully, Chudong headed off toward the stables. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

I saw him off with the proper courtesy, but my eyes were busy watching the things rising off his back.

‘...Fucking chilling.’

I’d rarely seen a build-up of death that thick even in my previous life.

Sure, the world now was much more dangerous than it had been then, so maybe it was to be expected, but—

‘...Even so.’

I understood very clearly that he was someone I absolutely must not get entangled with.

‘What the hell is the Sword Emperor?’

What did he come here for.

‘At first I thought his reason for coming along was to act as an escort.’

Just sending three of us like this was something that should’ve been impossible in the first place.

So I’d assumed the Blue Moon Sect Master had made separate arrangements to use the Sword Emperor as our hidden guard.

‘But the man himself never showed.’

Even in moments of crisis, the Sword Emperor had not appeared.

His movements had gone dead for days, then suddenly he showed up now.

‘Which means our escort was never his real purpose.’

It felt like he had some other goal entirely.

“Sss...”

What was that goal. What was important enough that that monster was doing coachman work to stay here.

That part really did bother me, but—

‘...Don’t dig.’

Getting any deeper into it was too dangerous and too horrifying.

My instincts were warning me as I looked at the Sword Emperor.

“Phew.”

I let out a breath and was just barely pulling myself together when someone came in from the direction he’d gone.

“Excuse me.”

He looked like one of Tang Clan’s household people.

The moment I saw him, I knew what he’d come for.

‘Sooner than I thought.’

This meant—

“The Clan Head would like to see you.”

—that the Poison King had finished agonizing over his decision.

*****

I turned back and headed once again for the Poison King’s residence.

“We meet again.”

By the clock, it hadn’t even been a couple of hours.

I’d thought that since he said he needed to think, he’d take at least a day, but the Poison King had called for me again far faster than I expected.

“Have you finished deliberating?”

“Yes.”

At my words, the Poison King nodded.

“Originally, I was going to call you leisurely tomorrow, but I decided that finishing this talk as quickly as possible would be better for you as well.”

“I’m just grateful for your consideration.”

He was right. From my perspective, the sooner this ended, the better.

“Earlier, you said it was priority trading rights with Iron River and exclusive trading rights for lower-grade weapons, yes?”

“Yes.”

I nodded, even as I was thinking I’d have to phrase things differently inside.

‘He’s going to refuse anyway.’

Even with Myriad-Flowers Rain on the table, it was obvious this would be rejected.

Unless the Poison King had gone insane, there was no way he’d accept this—

“I’ll accept it.”

“As expected, I thought you’d... In that case, for other terms we can... Huh? What?”

I was in the middle of talking when my brain went blank and I just stared at the Poison King.

What did he just say...?

“...What did you just say?”

“I said I would accept your conditions.”

“...Why?”

“...?”

At my response, the Poison King furrowed his brow.

“Do you dislike it?”

“...No, it’s not that I dislike it. I just can’t understand why you’d accept it.”

“Is this not what Young Hero Bang wanted?”

“It is, but...”

No matter how I looked at it, this wasn’t something you could just accept.

Exaggerating a little, it was basically throwing away almost half of Tang Clan’s revenue streams.

And you’re agreeing to this?

Just for Myriad-Flowers Rain?

‘Well, not just, but still.’

Even so, it was something that shouldn’t happen.

No matter how much I turned it over in my head, it stayed that way.

Unless the Poison King ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) had completely lost his mind, this wasn’t something that should be on the table.

And yet he was agreeing to it?

So, as I stared at him in disbelief—

“In return, I do have a condition.”

‘...Phew.’

When he said there would be an additional condition, I let out a sigh of relief on the inside.

Of course there was something more. It was a part I could relax about a little, but...

‘...But instead of cutting it down, he’s adding on?’

That still didn’t make it any less strange.

No matter what condition he added, I could only see this as Tang Clan taking a loss.

‘Just how amazing a condition is he planning to add.’

What kind of condition could possibly make this worth accepting.

I listened closely to the Poison King’s words.

“Young Hero Bang.”

“Yes, Clan Head.”

“I heard you broke off your engagement with the Murong Clan.”

“...Yes. Well... that’s right.”

Why was that coming up here?

I frowned at the uncomfortable feeling.

“In that case, how about getting engaged with Tang Clan this time?”

“...Huh...?”

“Become engaged to my daughter. That is the additional condition.”

The Poison King said that as he looked at me.

My body went stiff and my tongue wouldn’t work properly.

My head felt blank.

So—

“What kind of bullshit is that?”

I just couldn’t hold it back.