Solo Swordmaster

#289. I have a suggestion,

“…do I look like the kind of squire who will deliberately push people away for fear of getting hurt?”

“There is no one in the world who is not hurt. Especially if you hurt others just by being together.”

As Princess Green Dragon, who always pushed everyone away with a cynical and pessimistic attitude because she was tired of poison hurting someone.

Looking at the Sword Master, who is always cold-hearted and prone to sarcastic remarks.

Maia said quietly.

“You have a poison called time.”

Those who have obtained immortality.

A man who makes others die quickly just by being alive.

She could not have guessed how many times he had watched the deaths of his acquaintances and received envy and resentment.

But I could vaguely feel it.

“It’s also the fact that you never compromise on taking hostages.”

“….”

“If we are thorough in revenge so as not to be hurt, then the reason why you are ruthless in taking hostages is because that is your only weakness.”

He was the kind of person who would respond with a single snort at any trick he had ever done against himself.

Instead, when an acquaintance was injured or an innocent person died because of him, he showed his anger unsparingly.

When Yuna-kyung died right away.

In order to get the price of blood, he captured the president of a country and held a hostage, and even drew his sword against the infinite lord.

Just by looking at it, you could tell how much Limon cared for his acquaintances and how sensitive they were to getting hurt.

But no matter how strong.

Whether revenge is thoroughly carried out.

You cannot protect everyone alone.

That’s why Limon made an iron rule and made it impossible to take hostages.

In order to widely publicize the iron rule, to prevent acquaintances from getting hurt because of them and to distance themselves.

“So okay. There is only a difference in degree and method, but in the end, you are the same as me in that you have decided to push others away and live alone.”

Someone might think of him as a superman who just wins no matter what and doesn’t know pain.

However, Maia was able to assert.

There is no such thing as an invincible body.

A heart that doesn’t get hurt is just an illusion.

In fact, the fact that among the 13 sword masters that have existed in history, almost half were stained with madness and slaughtered proves that fact.

Even the sword masters who reached immortality…

No, because they were like that, they couldn’t bear the wounds in their hearts accumulated over a long period of time.

Same with Limon.

Rather than any other sword master, he must have suffered more injuries as he had lived a longer life.

He has endured and recovered from the wounds with superhuman willpower and has endured.

Like a master sword made after thousands and thousands of hammer hits, he created a heart of steel by repeating getting hurt and getting stronger over a long period of time.

That is the final sword master.

It was Limon Aspelder.

But that heart of steel was never perfect or flawless.

The scars accumulated over the years and the melted and hardened marks were entangled and full of scratches.

To the extent that he chose to live as a mad dog of a single-minded general in order to avoid attachment as much as possible.

“What I don’t know is why you, like that, don’t push me away.”

That’s why Maia couldn’t understand.

The reason why Limon, who treats everyone as sharp as a knife, did not sharpen himself.

Being faithful to the role of a slave?

that was bullshit

If it was because of a simple contract, I wouldn’t have risked losing the weight to come to her rescue, and I wouldn’t have given her this gift at the end of the contract.

“…Assuming I’m a cast iron chestnut, it’s just embarrassing to ask such a thing.”

“Is it because of what the sword demon did?”

“…”

It was an instant.

It’s ambiguous to be negative, and

vague to be positive.

Limon, who was about to move on to vague words like a joke, shut his mouth at once.

And that appearance, which was always shameless and not like him, became a clearer answer than any words.

“I see now.”

One more time to nod.

Maia looked at Limon with her darkly sunken eyes and spoke neatly.

“You must have felt a debt in your heart to me.”

* * *

If there were other clans of the Seven Dragons.

And if you listened to her.

everyone would be dumbfounded

The nemesis of the Seven Dragons, who has killed princesses and mercilessly cut down the clan many times.

Limon Aspelder.

For him to feel indebted to the princess of the Seven Dragons was more ridiculous than the sun rising in the west.

But never forget the grudge.

That’s why she ‘remembers’ the distant past than any other princess.

Having come to some understanding of the kind of man Limon was, she could.

The fact that among the scars engraved on his steel heart were those left by the Seven Dragons, and vice versa.

“Are you feeling guilty?”

“Well, I guess that’s what you call guilt.”

her ancestors in the past.

Or as the one who killed her.

Limon shook his head lightly.

“But if you ask me if I have a debt of the heart… Yes, at least I will not deny it.”

And he gave a few silver coins to those who came to sell information about the green dragon clan.

As the one who caused the massacre of the innocent elderly and infants by informing Sword Demon of the stronghold of the Green Dragon clan.

Limon readily acknowledged her point.

“It’s a contradiction.”

“You mean you feel indebted but not guilty?”

“No, I mean that you only consider such a thing as a debt.”

“…Did you just say that the massacre of the majority of the clan because of me was just such a thing?”

“That’s just the way it is.”

The ridiculous Limon.

Maia spoke to him in her typical pessimistic tone.

“Because we are your enemies just as you are our enemies.”

“…”

Limon did not deny the fact.

In the last Sword Dragon War, the Sword Emperor who fought three dragons together with him and met the end.

The one who created that battlefield was the Black Dragon.

It was the golden dragon that inflicted the fatal wound.

It was the poisonous blood of the green dragon that killed the sword emperor.

In that sense, among the Seven Dragons, the three clans could be said to be the enemies of the teacher even to Limon.

“If it were us, we would not regret it even if we killed not only the blood of our enemies, but also our relatives.”

“I bet you would.”

“But why are you sorry for that?”

“I’m sorry…”

He sighed.

Limon let out a light laugh and opened his mouth as he looked directly at Maia.

“To be clear, I am not sorry for cutting down your ancestors.”

Even if I could go back to that time.

Limon will make the same choice.

At that time, the Seven Dragons were an organization that aimed to overthrow the world.

It was an enemy that had to be subdued in order to protect the world, and the princess was like the core of the Seven Dragons.

“What I regard as a debt of the heart is that I made unnecessary sacrifices by attracting people I shouldn’t have involved.”

“…Do you mean that you are sorry for killing your enemies out of revenge?”

“Precisely about crossing the line of revenge.”

Limon cut it off.

He does not deny revenge itself.

Enough to think that it would be closer to justice to kill oneself than to see one’s family nemesis live in a huddle by entrusting judgment to an absurd law.

But that’s why I thought there was a line to keep even in revenge.

Is killing not enough?

Then kill more brutally.

Or take everything and make you despair.

However, killing the enemy’s family as a means was clearly an act of crossing the line.

Some may consider it a sin to be a member of the enemy’s family and feel refreshed if they tear their family apart in front of him.

However, at the point of harming an innocent person, it is not revenge.

It’s just a crime.

One of the most important reasons.

If you expand the range of revenge in that way, the end will disappear.

“Revenge is poisonous in that it is as easy to harm oneself as it is to harm one’s enemies.”

The deeper the grudge.

Vengeance destroys oneself.

That’s why I feel great relief when I pay back my grudge.

But that’s why it’s easy to get caught up in a sense of collapse after taking revenge.

It is as if a drug with excellent efficacy feels a sense of loss after the drug disappears.

“It is also a terrible drug.”

And like drug addicts.

Those who are addicted to revenge will continue to obsess over revenge in order to overcome the sense of collapse.

Only enemies at first.

the family next.

later friends and relatives.

If it’s still not enough, people of the same nationality, religion, race, and gender as enemies.

Just because there is a little bit of contact with the enemy, you can harm it without hesitation.

There is no logic to it.

It’s just an act to feel the sense of accomplishment and exhilaration of revenge, not to repay a grudge.

Even this is a legitimate revenge, feeling proud and fulfilled as if he were a dark hero.

“You know very well what kind of end a person addicted to that drug will lead to.”

I couldn’t know

An enemy worse than Limon.

A group of people who are at least a little bit related to them.

The Sword Demon, who slaughtered a tenth of humanity after cutting down everyone without mercy, was the worst nightmare of the Seven Dragons.

‘…was it something like that?’

Only then did Maia understand.

Age of Heroes of the Past.

Limon raised seven sword masters.

In other words, it was possible to mobilize all of them to hunt the Seven Dragons.

However, Limon did not stop the disciple from fighting the Seven Dragons.

I didn’t force them to fight.

always always always

Face the Seven Dragons alone.

I just took the lead and saved the world.

Previously, it was attributed to arrogance or vengeance.

But that was an illusion.

‘In the end, even though we were his nemesis, we didn’t become true enemies.’

It may be natural.

According to Limon’s belief, the grudge against the Sword Emperor would have all been settled when the seven dragons died.

I just fought against the Seven Dragons because they threatened the world.

In the process, it just created a new ring of resentment.

Limon did not want to involve his disciples in the chain of revenge, so he had been fighting alone.

Even if you can’t subdue the Seven Dragons.

Even knowing that the people he saved will one day return with a grudge.

Just like when he blocked the way of the Sword Demon who was trying to chase down and annihilate the rest of the clan even after slaughtering half of the Green Dragon clan in the past.

‘Because he seems absurd.’

So Maia couldn’t help but lament.

He clearly resembles her in that he deliberately pushed others away and lived like a hedgehog.

But on the inside, it was completely different.

Because he couldn’t bear the death of even one Karra, he lived to avoid being hurt more.

While pushing away to protect his acquaintances, Limon has lived his life choosing to continue to incur resentment and get hurt rather than becoming a slayer like a sword horse.

Because there really was a difference as big as heaven and earth between them.

That was why Maia inadvertently opened her mouth.

“I have a suggestion for you, Limon.”

“What are you talking about?”

until just a little while ago.

she was thinking

Should I make this offer?

And can you do it?

However, since I had already crossed the threshold of death once, I did not want to regret it any more.

And because I understood Limon and knew there was no reason to hesitate any longer.

Maia said quietly.

“Be my sire.”

Limon wasn’t too surprised by that sudden statement.

I just scratched my cheek.

“If it is to prepare for the next generation, there would be no reason for you to choose me as your sire anymore.”

“No, it can’t be without you.”

“…is it because of the eighth dragon psionic?”

Limon sighed.

Ever since he found out he had an eighth dragon psionic and used it to heal her.

This much was to be expected.

The eighth dragon psionic is the long-cherished wish of the Seven Dragons.

Especially for Maia, it was the only answer that could solve her lifelong conundrum.

So, he even prepared a gift for visiting patients, but it was only natural that he wanted a perfect solution rather than a makeshift solution.

“Not just because of that.”

That’s why Maia’s answer gave Limon an unexpected expression.

“Are you saying that you will at least repay the grace you saved with your body? Or that you have to take responsibility because you saw her naked?”

“Grace doesn’t matter. I have no intention of being forced like that.”

“Then why are you saying it must be me?”

If there is no other reason, why would he want to make himself, an enemy, his sire?

Maia gave an honest answer to Limon’s doubtful question.

“Because I fell in love with you.”