“Sword Saint…?”
The Crusader frowned her forehead.
“What are you doing here?”
She probably didn’t expect to meet him in this small alley. It was an unexpected place and person. It didn’t seem to be a coincidence.
“A young lady is already having problems with hearing.”
The old man was exuding a murderous intent towards me.
“I’m sure I said to move. I have something to do with the guy over there.”
“Are you saying that you want to speak alone with the Kim Gong-ja hunter?”
“Huh. I’m not interested in his name.”
“······.”
The atmosphere of the alley changed.
The Crusader didn’t frown anymore. She was expressionlessly glared at the Sword Saint. Her guard was definitely up.
“Move.”
Sword Saint spoke.
“I already said to move 3 times.”
“What doesn’t make sense three times wouldn’t make sense even after 30 times. Sword Saint. Did you lose your sense with your age?”
The Crusader grabbed her sword.
“Kim Gong-ja hunter already joined the five guilds, along with the Civil Militia. I don’t know what you’re thinking but…don’t think that the Civil Militia will stay still.”
“Ha!”
The Sword Saint snorted.
“I knew it. The guilds were all working together. I knew it.”
“…working together. I don’t know what you’re trying to say.”
The atmosphere became worse as time passed.
“Sword Saint. I know because it was already reported that you hunt humans. Of course, if it’s something according to your morals, I won’t say much. But it’s different if you’re planning to do that right in front of me.”
“Different?”
“I’ll stop it with my life.”
“Are you confident you can do that?”
“No.”
The Crusader looked at the Sword Saint expressionlessly.
“I’m going to fight with all my strength, and die. And the moment I die, you’ll be someone who killed an innocent player. Sword Saint. If you want to live the rest of your life as a murderer, be my guest.”
“······.”
“The life that you don’t have long to live. I’ll show you.”
The Sword Saint’s old face crumpled.
It was already evening. The sun set quickly in the alley. I could feel people walking her and there along the alley, but no one was here except for us. It was silent.
‘Yeah.’
I brought the Crusader here to make this kind of silence.
‘Sword Saint is weak to innocent people.’
And Crusader was probably the only innocent people of the large guilds.
When the Sword Saint tried to kill me in the last regression, the Crusader got in between Sword Saint and me.
-Ms.Crusader.
-You’re the only person here who hasn’t hurt anyone. Fine. I’ll trust you.
It was what he said in passing.
That meant.
‘The kill count of the Crusader is [0].’
Even the Sword Saint had violent morals…no. Because he had those standards, the Crusader would seem like an even better person.
‘The Sword Saint won’t ever be able to hurt Crusader.’
To evil people, he was a murderer, but to good people, he was a harmless old man.
And…
‘It’s not just the Crusader.’
Someone walked next to us. It was the pharmacist. At the appearance of the Sword Saint and Crusader, she was hesitating, and she spread her arms out.
“E, excuse me.”
The pharmacist spoke. Even her chin was trembling probably because she was so nervous. She bit her lips several times and finally managed to speak.
“I don’t know what it’s about…but the c, customer here! He’s my savior!”
The future Lord of Alchemy spoke as fiercely as she could.
“It’s not like there’s laws in Babylon like the outside world but…protecting a customer is o, obvious…and even though you’re the Sword Saint! I can’t forgive you if you touch a customer here!”
“······.”
“A few days ago gangsters made a mess and I was in trouble! Sorry, but please leave from here!”
The pharmacist shouted. If she went against the Sword Saint, she would’ve died in a second. But he was still weak to her.
It was for the same reason.
‘Saintess. Crusader. Lord of Alchemy Castle.’
These three hunters were famous for being kind.
‘Even when the Flame Emperor was in the slums, the Lord of Alchemy Castle arrived first.’
Kind people.
They were always on the short side, and received more stress than other people.
But the only people who could stop Sword Saint were…kind people like them.
“What are you going to do?”
The Crusader spoke.
“If you want to make a mess, go ahead.”
“······.”
The Sword Saint hesitated. If I was right, the result was already decided.
And, I was right.
Not too long after, the old sword user pulled his sword back.
“…Today’s not the day.”
The Sword Saint took his murderous aura back.
Even when he was walking back, he was glaring at me.
“I hope we don’t meet again. If he didn’t have anything to do with you, his head would be on the floor.”
Good.
Stage 2 clear.
With this, the Sword Saint wouldn’t swing his sword at me anytime. Even if he killed me, I would have the opportunity to speak.
“Sword Saint!”
Before the old man completely turned away, I shouted.
“I’ll be waiting in the empty field tomorrow morning!”
“······.”
“You can come if you want to. I’ll be waiting. Really! If you want to know what kind of human I am, come tomorrow morning!”
The old man turned his head around to glare at me. He examined my face with his blue eyes. But that was it. Without any particular response, he headed back out of the alley.
Once his heavy footsteps couldn’t be heard anymore, the Crusader sighed.
“Whew! That was close. To meet a murderer tonight.”
Murderer.
“..is the Sword Saint famous for being a murderer?”
“Not famous. But the five Guild Masters know well.”
The Crusader shook her head.
“I heard he lost his daughter to a murderer outside of the tower.”
“······.”
“Because of that, the Sword Saint doesn’t let go of murderers. He’s ridiculously tough. Well, we didn’t have any evidence, so we were just watching…mm. And this is obviously a secret.”
Bae Hu-ryeong got in front of me.
-Yeah. Grandpops Marcus told me that once before. His daughter and son in law were killed by a serial killer. His grandchildren barely survived.
‘Why are you saying that now?’
-Huh? What are you talking about? You didn’t ask.
Bae Hu-ryeong spoke shamelessly.
Yeah. He was always like this.
“Well. It’s not like I don’t understand the Sword Saint.”
The Crusader looked around bitterly.
In the empathy alley, the evening set cast shadows of the buildings.
“Working at the Civil Militia, you met murderers. Sometimes, there’s times when you think that it was okay for them to kill…even I’m tempted sometimes as well.”
The Crusader mumbled.
“All the guild masters have a behind story. Kim Gong-ja. Since you’re with us not, you’ll see that there are disgusting bits about us. How you’ll react…mm.”
She shook her head. Was it because she thought she said too many things to an outsider?
“We got off subject.”
She intentionally spoke in a brighter voice.
“So, how much is the potion here? The Civil Militia is also not funded well so it’s a bit tricky if it’s too expensive but…”
4.
The next day.
I looked at my phone by myself in the empty field.
There was really not a single soul here. It was obvious. The hunters of Babylon were all in the square having a festival.
It was similar to the last regression.
‘But there’s something that’s different.’
I looked at the news popping up on my phone.
-[Breaking] 11th floor, guild attack? Black Dragon gathering all their members.
-Guilds creating teams to clear…
-Heretic Questioner interview! “You have to have a team for the 11th floor.”
-Source of the information is a puzzle…
That was right.
The world had changed a little.
Because of me.
“······.”
And it was going to change again.
“Hmm.”
Sword Saint walked in from the other side. The sky behind him looked extra blue. People were shouting from the direction of the city.
[00:01:31]
The clock of light was floating up in the air.
A blue sky, people’s voices, and clock of light.
Sword Saint was walking towards me with all that behind him.
“You’re really alone.”
Sword Saint stopped.
“Is this the confidence to be able to stand against me by yourself? Well, I guess if you’re a murderer that did all that, you would be confident.”
His eyes when he was looking at me felt completely new. It was completely different to last time.
It was because there was acknowledgement and respect in his life last time.
But right now, there was none of that.
Enmity. Hostility.
It was like he was looking at a murderer.
-Zombie?
‘······.’
-Are you alright?
I nodded inwardly.
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