Chapter 31. The Objectives Aligned.

“I'm talking about what you did in Dejong.”

Simon spoke cautiously, as if gauging my reaction.

“By making a brief appearance, you made sure the news reached the Imperial Capital, and you left a trail that only those who've learned the Celestial Sword could recognize, didn't you? Even disappearing with a sword manual containing the mysteries of the Celestial Sword. In the end, I thought you were leaving a message for our Master so he would come looking for you?”

Huh.

Now that I heard it, it sounded plausible.

“Wasn't it your plan to naturally enter our Master's tutelage, using the fact that you've learned even a part of the Celestial Sword as a pretext?”

A talented disciple who mastered swordsmanship with only a leaked, incomplete manual.

A magnanimous master who takes in a disciple after seeing his talent, despite the manual having been leaked.

It certainly painted a good picture.

The cause and effect were natural too.

That was true, but.

“……Not at all.”

I'm not that much of a planner.

I was grateful for his high evaluation of me, but if misunderstandings like this piled up, it could lead to a fatal misjudgment later on.

It was better to get the assessment right and move on.

“…….”

“…….”

A heavy silence fell.

Soon, Simon opened his mouth as if to console me.

“……You don't swing a sword with your head, do you? Even if you're not smart, there's no problem in becoming a great swordsman. Of course.”

“I'm not so bad as to deserve that!”

I only said it wasn't to that extent, so why was he treating me like an imbecile?

This incident was the result of a series of improvisations, but if I were truly stupid, my identity would have already been exposed and I would have been on the execution block.

“Alright. We can get to know that part of you over time.”

Is he ignoring me?

Is he really ignoring me?

“So, what do you think about becoming our Master's disciple?”

Simon brought the conversation back on track after it had strayed for a moment.

Becoming the Sword Saint's disciple?

I answered immediately.

“There's no reason to refuse.”

I needed power to pay back what Luke did to me.

My skills were improving quite rapidly now, but in truth, it was closer to ‘recovering’ by relying on the memories Luke possessed.

In the end, this meant that the original Luke's skill was the limit.

What's more, since the memories weren't even complete, it was highly likely that I would stagnate at a point far below that.

To rise beyond that, I desperately needed help.

Learning the sword properly from the Sword Saint would undoubtedly be of great help.

Simon probably never even considered that I would refuse.

I could tell by the way he smiled faintly at my answer, as if he had expected it.

“Excellent. Then prepare to go to the Imperial Capital.”

“The Imperial Capital? Is that alright? What if someone recognizes me……”

It wasn't like a criminal returning to the scene of the crime.

Did it make any sense to brazenly walk around the Imperial Capital after killing the Emperor?

“That's why a disguise is necessary. I've already tampered with the wanted posters to put a completely different face on them, but there might be people who knew Luke.”

No wonder.

The face on the wanted posters was completely unrecognizable.

It seemed the Sword Saint had been obstructing the investigation with his authority.

Besides, the portrait was meaningless anyway since Luke had switched to a different body.

The Master's grace is as vast as the sea.

“I believe the nickname you earned as a mercenary was ‘Green,’ wasn't it? First, let's dye your hair green.”

“Aren't you speaking a little too lightly about someone else's hair?”

That damned Green.

Guild Master, I won't forget this grudge.

“Then shall we get a tattoo on your face?”

“……I think it's about time I changed my hair color.”

Dye was better than a tattoo.

This guy would surely try to engrave a strange design for a tattoo.

“A wise decision. Green. Pfft.”

“Isn't brown or black dye sufficient?”

Look at him snickering.

No matter how I looked at it, his emphasis on the color green was clearly intended to torment me.

“The goal is to draw attention away from your face. The more unique the color, the better. The same goes for tattoos.”

Simon was logical.

It made sense to draw gazes to a specific part to prevent people from focusing on the face.

If one had a strange hair color or a distinctive tattoo, their face wouldn't really register.

“Wearing unique clothing is also an option. Like going around with your upper body completely exposed. Or wearing women's clothes.”

“…….”

Looking at it again, the green dye seemed like a godsend.

Dyeing my hair a weird color was better than being a pervert.

“As a last resort, there is magic or magical tools that can prevent facial recognition.”

“Couldn't you consider that option first?”

There was something that good, so why was he saving it for last?

Right, magic.

In this world, there were potions with miraculous effects, and there was magic.

Although, magicians were esteemed individuals and hard to meet.

I didn't know much about magic, but shouldn't most things be possible with it?

“It doesn't work on skilled magicians or knights. Some people will attack immediately, taking the disguise as proof that you have something to hide.”

What a grim world this was.

I immediately gave up on magic.

It was a shame that I had to choose a conventional disguise method when magic was perfectly available.

Anyway.

The minor details could be dealt with later.

There was actually something that had been bothering me.

“May I ask one thing?”

“You don't have to feel so burdened. We're now fellow disciples under the same Master, aren't we? If you have any questions, you can just ask casually.”

Simon spoke kindly.

But I wouldn't be fooled.

How many people had told me to think of them as an older brother?

And how terrible were the results of actually believing those words?

In the military, at the company.

The people who said such things were the most dangerous.

“Why does the Sword Saint want to take me in as his disciple?”

I chose my words carefully.

For me, it was clearly a good thing.

But for the Sword Saint?

Seeing him mobilize Simon for an errand, it didn't seem like he had that many disciples.

At the very least, it meant he wasn't some backroom old man who had retired and found joy in raising disciples.

He hadn't seemed particularly fond of me, and it could be said that he had already done enough just by breaking me out and going to prison.

Despite that, his intention to take me as a disciple was hard to understand.

“First, it's because the body you've occupied is that of Luke Ivers.”

Simon scanned me up and down with a sticky gaze.

“Because it is a body that possesses heavenly talent, limited to the sword. Everyone knew that among the Master's disciples, Luke was the only one with the potential to surpass him. Though his soul was irredeemable trash.”

The emotion in Simon's eyes was jealousy.

An inferiority complex towards a being with overwhelming talent.

“Anyway, our Master is eagerly awaiting the emergence of someone who can surpass him. The desire not to let the body of Luke Ivers, which holds that potential, go to waste probably accounts for about thirty percent of it.”

“What's the other seventy percent?”

The Sword Saint's wish.

There was a more important reason than that?

“We need someone to chase the escaped Luke Ivers.”

For the first time, the smile vanished from Simon's face.

His drawn-out way of speaking also became cold and subdued.

“If he had been caught and executed right after assassinating the Emperor, that would be one thing, but the fact that he fled desperately, by any means necessary, means he still has things left to do.”

He possessed a talent that even Simon, who was near the pinnacle of the Imperial knights, had to look up to.

Even with such a precious body, he killed the Emperor, going as far as to dabble in Black Magic—and then he fled.

“If the Emperor's assassination was merely a part of the process, we cannot know how much blood and chaos will follow for his final objective.”

It had always been a question for me.

What did Luke Ivers gain by killing the Emperor?

I needed to know that to understand Luke's actions.

The conclusion I came to after gathering information on my own was ‘change’.

The Emperor, for better or worse, pursued ‘stability’.

He was praised as an excellent ruler by the common people, but if you asked why he was excellent, no one could answer.

They would just mumble that everything was thanks to His Majesty the Emperor's grace, just as they had heard from others.

He had no great achievements, but he also made no major blunders.

He had simply maintained the Empire.

He was the stake that prevented the Empire from moving forward, and at the same time, the wall that kept it from stepping back.

The death of such an Emperor signified a change for the Empire.

Now, the Empire could move.

Forward, or backward.

‘Once the change begins, he will likely try to steer its direction.’

It was a process similar to making things from iron.

You heat a hard lump of iron to soften it, and then you ‘hammer’ it until it takes the desired shape.

Needless to say, that process would not be peaceful.

“In that case, wouldn't it be better to officially put Luke on the wanted list?”

The things Luke would do from now on would surely be far beyond the level of an individual.

Just as when he killed the Emperor, he must be thoroughly prepared.

Was it really possible for me alone to stop him?

“Who would believe that Luke moved to another person's body? You'd be treated like a madman.”

“Then if the Sword Saint secretly mobilized people……”

“And Luke is also aware of the people our Master can personally mobilize, so he has undoubtedly prepared countermeasures.”

A rebuttal came before I could even finish my sentence.

It was to be expected.

There was no way the Sword Saint and Simon hadn't thought of the things I could think of.

A conclusion reached after considering all the methods I couldn't even think of.

That the most effective means was to improve my skills and catch Luke off guard.

“Are you perhaps afraid?”

Simon asked while looking straight into my eyes.

The sharp question took my breath away for a moment.

‘Am I afraid?’

Suddenly, I looked back at myself.

I realized that I had been pretending to be rational, trying to avoid the situation where I would become the sword that stabs Luke.

‘I see.’

Just a few weeks ago, I had been a weak modern man.

Although I had grown a little accustomed to killing, my senses were still disconnected from this world.

On the other hand, Luke was one of this world's most heinous criminals.

It was clearly a dangerous task.

So, I had been looking for an excuse.

“Yes. It seems I am afraid of that bastard.”

Even though I had vowed revenge against him several times—I had been hesitating under the pretext that I was weaker than him.

Did I snatch up the benefits, telling myself ‘I have to get stronger to face Luke,’ only to try and run away when I sensed danger?

How pathetic.

Yoo Seung-Jae.

“However, fine. I was planning on giving that son of a bitch Luke a taste of his own medicine anyway. I will gladly follow.”

The objectives aligned perfectly.

Except for the fact that I had the most dangerous role, there was nothing but gain for me.

All things considered, becoming the Sword Saint's disciple was something to be extremely grateful for.

“Ah, and. I'd like to know if you could accept one more person as a disciple.”

Pol had also learned a part of the Celestial Sword.

If he received the Sword Saint's teachings, he would surely become competent.

I was in a disadvantageous position compared to Luke, so I had to find a way to increase my forces somehow.

“Well. That's not something I can decide. However, an ordinary talent won't be enough to satisfy our Master.”

“Still, don't you think he'll probably accept him? I have a good feeling about it for some reason.”

The body he abandoned, thinking it would die in the Imperial Palace.

The subordinate he intended to use and discard as a tool.

When he gets tripped up by the very things he cast aside, the look on Luke's face would be something to see.

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