The Swords I Raised Are Too Strong - Chapter 25
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 25. Sword House (2)
“Shin Si-woo, I sincerely―.”
And so on and so forth.
Japan’s Prime Minister, Hatoyama Jiro.
The white-haired old man’s words were lengthy and verbose.
I observed him calmly.
Despite being seventy years old, he maintained a remarkably robust physique.
‘I’ve heard Japanese Transcendents are docile, yet his hair is quite thick.’
His abundant white hair was parted evenly down the middle, yet even so, his locks possessed a fullness that caught the eye.
I merely noted such superficial details while letting his words flow past me entirely.
He’d been rambling without pause for nearly a minute, and I’ve never been fond of such tedious verbosity.
Besides, I don’t even understand Japanese.
‘If only I had a power like Jesus’s forced translation ability.’
In any case, while I entertained such thoughts, the Prime Minister’s speech came to an end.
“He’s pleased to meet you.”
Seol-ah, who’d come along as our interpreter, summarized his words briefly and concisely.
She knew my temperament well enough to be perfectly suited for this sort of thing.
“….”
The Prime Minister’s expression darkened, apparently displeased that his elaborate greeting had been abbreviated.
I regarded him steadily.
“Sumimasen―.”
He bowed his head respectfully.
Then he guided us forward.
‘So much for being Japan’s Prime Minister―he seems to lack conviction.’
While I was thinking such things, Seol-ah whispered in my ear.
“He took a hardline stance back when Patriot was around, and got bombed for it.”
I nodded lightly.
The memory of Patriot’s Dokdo incident, which had once driven South Korea into madness, came to mind.
Back then, Patriot had advanced an aircraft carrier into Japanese waters before suddenly issuing a statement.
―Dokdo is Korean territory! The East Sea is the East Sea!
Thinking it was merely a threat, the Japanese Prime Minister responded aggressively.
―How dare you look down on us! We are not greenhorns!!!
Immediately after that statement, bombing rained down upon the Japanese archipelago.
“…I caused tremendous suffering to our people through my own mistake back then.”
Though she’d whispered softly, the Prime Minister had apparently heard Seol-ah’s words.
The Japanese Prime Minister spoke in halting Korean.
“You speak Korean?”
“Just a little….”
After that, he continued in Japanese.
Apparently, he’d been forced to memorize that apology in Korean just to recite it.
‘What a pain.’
In any case, I relied on Kang Seol-ah’s interpretation to converse with the Prime Minister.
“Jesus’s brother, the SSS-rank Transcendent Shin Si-woo—we’re not foolish enough to act carelessly around him.”
“Indeed, that is so.”
Strictly speaking, I held the superior position here.
I had come to resolve Japan’s troublesome lava Gate, after all.
“Thank you for coming, and I look forward to your continued cooperation.”
“Of course.”
At that moment, a man who had been silently following beside the Prime Minister exhaled and spoke.
“Stop summarizing everything so strangely and leaving things out, will you?”
A Japanese man fluent in Korean.
He was Yaksha, an SSS-rank Transcendent who served as the Prime Minister’s bodyguard.
In Japan, he was famous as a monster-slaying aberration.
A close-combat professional covered in muscular bulk and sporting a crew cut.
Though he had directed his words at me, their true meaning was clearly aimed at Kang Seol-ah.
‘My sister’s nerve is truly extraordinary.’
Kang Seol-ah’s face twisted.
That expression when the sharp-tongued Kang Seol-ah emerged.
However, the opponent was an SSS-rank Transcendent and a natural awakener.
There was a high probability he was insane.
I should step in here.
“I find this arrangement quite convenient, actually.”
I stepped forward before my sister could respond.
In truth, my sister hadn’t done anything wrong.
The Japanese Prime Minister’s words tend to stretch on for about a minute.
Filtering out the unnecessary and organizing only the essential points worked better for me anyway.
“…You—”
“Enough.”
As Yaksha began to bristle, the Prime Minister stopped him.
I understood his reluctance to offend me, given how much the lava Gate had been plaguing him.
And I was stronger than the Japanese Transcendent Yaksha.
By a considerable margin.
The gap was evident even while wielding the non-transcended Aga Sword.
‘It’s strange how monsters like Jesus are in such abundance.’
Four seconds, ten seconds, eight seconds.
Combined, my swords’ manifestations totaled twenty-two seconds.
Jesus was a monster beyond that.
Still at a level difficult to contend with.
But this Yaksha was different.
I could confidently say a two-second victory was possible.
“We’ve arrived.”
The location I reached was not Mount Fuji.
A spacious, elegant conference room welcomed us.
This was the place to discuss compensation before dealing with the lava Gate.
Even if I came here to obtain Aga Sword’s residence, working without pay didn’t suit my temperament.
“First, I’d like to discuss the matter of handling Gate erosion.”
“Very well.”
I sat across from the Japanese Prime Minister.
Then I surveyed my surroundings.
‘Two beyond the walls.’
I felt a powerful aura.
They appeared to be at least SSS-rank Hunters.
All three Transcendents in Japan had come here to prepare for me.
It seemed they had abandoned the lava Gate and poured all their strength into this negotiation table with me.
‘Three Transcendents.’
Including Yaksha beside the Prime Minister, we were outnumbered in terms of Transcendents.
Moreover, I even had Seol-ah with me.
‘Of course, a confrontation wouldn’t actually occur….’
Still, I kept it in mind.
The Prime Minister began speaking as he handed me a cup of tea.
“First, the source of the lava Gate came from Korea―.”
It seemed they were planning to come in strong from the start.
But then, I’m Shin Si-woo.
I’m not that easy of a man.
“What exactly are you people?”
I immediately drew my blade and asked.
The Prime Minister was flustered by the sudden situation, and the Transcendent Yaksha tensed.
Did I mention it?
‘The Japanese Government is suspicious.’
Negotiations and all that are fine.
But I’m not the type to fight with my blade sheathed at my back.
‘I prefer to come in strong, like my swords.’
In Sword Raising World, the first thing I prioritized was never getting stabbed in the back.
* * *
‘I thought she had a mysterious appearance like Yuki―.’
On the way to the negotiation hall with Shin Si-woo.
The Japanese Prime Minister found himself at a loss.
“Welcome.”
This arrogant woman had condensed his carefully prepared greeting into a single line.
Yet she was too beautiful to even voice the word “arrogant.”
Truly, one could even argue he deserves to be called the greatest under heaven.
How could a mere human stand as an equal to the half-elf Yuki?
‘What about Kang Seol-ah?’
Perhaps the plan would face complications.
An S-rank brainwashing sorcerer—Sato Masaki, a wielder of tremendous power who had once ensnared Jesus himself.
There was a limitation that it could only be used on a single person, and he possessed no combat ability whatsoever—
Yet wasn’t it a power of staggering magnitude, where the outcome varied absurdly depending on who that one person was?
He had intended to use him to naturalize Shin Si-woo as a Japanese citizen.
‘—An unofficial transcendent?’
But the woman beside Shin Si-woo, despite not being an awakened one, emanated a mysterious aura that rivaled that of an awakened being.
‘First, Shin Si-woo.’
Hatoyama Jiro, the Prime Minister of Japan, thought to himself.
He needed to understand the nature of this man called Shin Si-woo.
Once he confirmed the lava Gate’s disappearance, he would draw Shin Si-woo into Japan according to plan.
‘I should come in a bit stronger from the start.’
To extract information, it was more efficient to lead with negative emotions.
‘Let me emphasize Korea’s responsibility.’
His intention was to check whether this Korean, who knew the truth, harbored guilt toward Japan.
So he spoke.
“First, the source of the lava Gate originated from Korea and crossed over—”
But…
Shin Si-woo suddenly drew his sword.
Whoosh—!
Without hesitation, he pressed the blade against the Japanese Prime Minister’s throat.
The cool steel kissed his neck.
“Gasp!”
As the Japanese Prime Minister cried out in panic, Shin Si-woo said something.
The female interpreter conveyed it.
“As long as you don’t move, you won’t die. —That’s what he says.”
Coming from a transcendent, it wouldn’t be a lie.
However…
Speaking with a blade pressed to one’s throat was truly a terrifying ordeal.
‘He’s not as insane as the Patriot, they said!!!’
The Japanese Prime Minister was utterly bewildered.
Yaksha, the SSS-rank hunter who had accompanied him as a bodyguard, could do nothing.
“Prime Minister, right now you must absolutely obey this man’s commands. When he drew his blade, I sensed no warning, no presence whatsoever—”
Essentially, Shin Si-woo was stronger than him.
The Japanese Prime Minister trembled, but answered calmly.
“Whatever you wish, I will obey.”
Then Shin Si-woo asked a question.
“What exactly is the true intention behind leaving the lava Gate unattended for years?”
* * *
“Japanese transcendents are powerful, but they specialize in individual subjugation. And the half-elf Yuki, who wields the forces of primordial nature, has poor compatibility with the lava Gate.”
The Japanese Prime Minister voiced his grievance before me.
Kang Seol-ah relayed it to me.
They had never neglected the lava Gate; they were doing their utmost to respond with the best measures available to them.
“Then why haven’t you held the Republic of Korea Government accountable?”
The Prime Minister’s eyes trembled slightly.
The Japanese Prime Minister spoke.
“There’s a Patriot raining bombardment on our homeland—how are we supposed to protest?”
The Patriot’s strength lies in firepower.
Yi Sun-sin, commanding twelve colossal aircraft carriers, is armed with cutting-edge weaponry and can dominate vast battlefronts.
Moreover, when he summons the Constellation—Yulgok Yi I—a hundred thousand elite troops specialized in Gate operations materialize.
With such a Patriot in existence, what grounds did Japan have to complain?
“…And even assassination attempts proved futile because of Sword Master Cheok Jun-kyung.”
Japan’s situation was deeply suspicious.
Yet the Prime Minister’s explanation held considerable merit.
‘Should I use it?’
Yulia Lanestia’s power.
If I employ [Heresy Inquisition], I can extract the truth without resistance.
Of course, there’s the side effect of rendering the subject a vegetable….
As I deliberated briefly.
【Master of Swords, based on his physiological responses, he hasn’t spoken falsehoods. However… I cannot rule out the possibility that an extreme transcendent like the Demon King might be concealing his presence and acting.】
Reinhardt Euclid, who had been observing silently, spoke.
‘The possibility that an extreme existence like the Demon King is hiding himself.’
I share that assessment.
The Demon King of the Demonic Nation.
He was an apostle of the Demon Worshippers and the sovereign of a nation.
To any observer, he appeared utterly ordinary.
‘I must be thorough.’
I resolved to summon [Second Sword Yulia Lanestia] to dispel such suspicions.
The moment I decided—
“Si-woo? You seem to be contemplating something rather sinister….”
Kang Seol-ah spoke gently.
“Perhaps you’re overthinking this.”
“You think so?”
“That world you experienced with those swords….”
My sister reassured me that Earth was different from there.
“Even if Demon Worshippers are scheming, Earth has transcendents, doesn’t it?”
Her words struck a chord within me.
Why are the Demon Worshippers operating from the shadows?
‘If I throw most transcendents into the Sword Raising World, they’d all carve out their own territory.’
The power balance is different.
The depth of trials varies wildly, and even if transcendents lose their minds somewhat, they tend to follow the greater purpose.
It’s a world entirely different from that realm where salvation was impossible without me and my sword.
“For now, I’ll trust you.”
I trusted Kang Seol-ah and retrieved the blade from the Japanese Prime Minister’s neck.
It’s somewhat excessive, but I know all too well what becomes of those in power who fall to the Demon Worshippers, so I had no choice.
If they were to [Fall] right before my eyes, there’d be no saving them—so I took measures to ensure I could execute them instantly if necessary.
A deep rumble echoed forth.
[Chaos] combined with [Holy Demon Sword].
Just to be safe, I summoned holy power through Aga Sword and healed the Prime Minister.
With [Holy Stasis] and [Infinite Holiness], it came naturally to me.
“H-healing abilities too!”
The Japanese Prime Minister wiped cold sweat from his brow and asked.
“Y-you’re trusting me?”
“For now, yes.”
“A-about compensation…”
I nodded and suggested we head to the lava Gate.
“I trust you’ll handle it appropriately.”
Now it was time for my Aga Sword to have a ‘home’.
* * *
Yongsan Park, South Korea.
Legitimate Korean territory that Patriot had completely seized after driving out all American forces.
Patriot had erased every trace of the American military presence and transformed it into a park for the people.
But then…
“Damn it, of all places, why did this shitty Gate have to appear in Yongsan Park!!!”
The underground bunker beneath Yongsan Park.
At some point, an absurdly massive tree root had burst through one side of the bunker.
Patriot, puzzled, had managed the location periodically until one day he encountered a mysterious black Gate.
[The Domain of the World Tree, Hunted Across Eons]
What were the enemies here?
“That colossal tree!!! And these insane pointy-eared bastards!!!”
Patriot was struggling in a way uncharacteristic of him.
He’d been inside the Gate for over a week now.
“The forest scattered bizarre noise, then nullified the bombardment.”
Constellation Yi Sun-sin muttered while holding the nuclear button.
Yi Sun-sin’s aircraft carrier even had a nuclear submarine docked beneath it.
He had just fired nuclear weapons at the World Tree.
“The elves—no matter how many we kill, they never end.”
Yulgok Yi I led an army of 100,000 soldiers armed with cutting-edge weapons into the Forest.
However, the elves that emerged from the Forest wielded transcendent abilities like Transcendents themselves, blocking the 100,000-strong army.
The entire Forest transformed its terrain, putting the Patriot’s legion in a dire predicament.
“Elves… Did those Japanese bastards orchestrate this?”
The Patriot pondered.
A half-elf Transcendent in Japan.
That must be the root cause of this disaster.
“So when everything else fails, they’re trying to use the Gate to deal with me?”
Grrrrr—.
The Patriot ground his teeth.
It had been days of struggling here.
Yet he refused to abandon hope.
Once I escape this place, I’ll take my revenge on Japan.
This time, I’ll rain bombs on Tokyo.
For now, I had one task before me.
“We push forward until we succeed. These monsters must never set foot on South Korean soil!”
My duty was to protect South Korea from this vicious Japanese scheme.
“Patriot, what about the outside?”
“Even if the Gate ruptures, with all the mystical energy I’ve donated, I can hold out for about 30 days.”
“No, I’m worried about the Japanese military launching an invasion.”
“Japan… invading?”
Right now, South Korea had no Patriot.
“After experiencing Japanese colonial rule, you don’t understand? Your absence is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for those bastards.”
The Constellations knew Japan’s danger very well.
So did the Patriot.
“Those bastards can’t invade because of the lava Gate.”
“Patriot, can you be certain? The Great Britain Empire has emerged—what guarantees that the Japanese Empire won’t be revived? Your history….”
Yi Sun-sin voiced his concerns, and the Patriot declared with certainty.
“I’m telling you, Japan has no capacity for it!”
“Then… what’s the plan?”
The Patriot pointed ahead.
Mountains of mystical energy were piled high.
“Since we’re here anyway, let’s think of it as harvesting a massive amount of mystical energy and take our time figuring out how to conquer this place.”
This [Black Gate] was exceptionally troublesome in terms of enemies, but it poured out an enormous quantity of mystical energy.
“Once we escape from here… our people’s lives will become far more prosperous. Calculate it as 10 grams of mystical energy per elf head and hunt them thoroughly!”
If I donated all of this to the nation, it would supply electricity and water throughout South Korea with plenty left over.
I could even purify the contaminated land.
It was an endless opportunity for national growth.
Even a KOSPI of 10,000 wasn’t impossible.
“The aircraft carrier will be revived in 3 hours, and the 100,000-strong army in 2 hours. Should we rest a bit?”
While waiting, Patriot chatted with his Constellations.
Four hours of rest after twenty hours of combat was a rule that had to be observed.
Otherwise, the Constellations would grow exhausted.
“Real estate prices have normalized, haven’t they?”
“Probably. Following your wishes, Patriot, the Republic of Korea Government must have implemented something like a ten-billion ceiling.”
Patriot and his Constellations had trained the Republic of Korea Government.
Whenever Patriot asked for something, they would make it happen no matter what.
And so―.
“Patriot, how much longer will you leave the birth rate as it is? Those wicked Japanese spirits have a birth rate twice ours.”
“Population is national strength in this age!!! This is truly lamentable. Might I, Yulgok Yi I, offer my thoughts?”
“Go ahead.”
Patriot truly loved the great figures of South Korea, his Constellations.
“Well, what if you had them enact something like a mandatory childbirth law for all unmarried households? Since you’ve already normalized housing prices, Patriot, it should certainly be feasible.”
His thinking was certainly unconventional.
For Patriot, whose education was limited, the wisdom of his Constellations was invaluable.
“Since a couple is two people, we’d need them to have four children for the population to grow, wouldn’t we?”
“Oh, as expected of General Yi Sun-sin. What a brilliant idea!”
Yi Sun-sin had proposed a law mandating four children per household.
But then….
“That’s a bit difficult, though.”
Patriot spoke with a regretful expression.
“Patriot, are you rejecting such a wonderful proposal?”
Patriot’s motto was leading by example.
And Patriot was unmarried and childless.
“Since I’m still unmarried and have no children myself, it would be hard to impose that on the people.”
He hadn’t said the word “unmarried and childless” outright before his Constellations, but….
Patriot spoke to his Constellations with a slightly flushed face.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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