The Swords I Raised Are Too Strong - Chapter 85
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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 85. King Sejong (2)
[Patriot Child and Youth Protection Act]
Among the countless Patriot Special Laws, this was the most powerful legislation.
Children, by their very existence, deserved to be blessed.
It was the government’s role to protect them and help them grow properly, and it was the duty of every member of advanced South Korea’s society to uphold this.
【No kids zones? Patriotic families raising children can’t even enjoy a cup of coffee in peace? From now on, no kids zones mean execution!】
【Of course kids are loud. That’s just how it is. You’re filing complaints over that?】
Once, children in South Korea possessed “absolute power.”
And as a result, the nation fell apart.
The Patriot had completely failed to account for the vicious side of children.
【We went easy on them because they’re kids, and they crossed the line? Kids who don’t listen need a beating.】
At the President’s urging, the Patriot amended the Child and Youth Protection Act in part.
Citing how social order had deteriorated because children treated teachers as nothing, he strengthened teachers’ authority.
【You can’t just beat anyone—only school teachers can! Everyone else who hits kids gets execution!】
Teachers selected under the government’s strict standards gained the authority to administer corporal punishment.
The reason corporal punishment was permissible for such precious children was—.
【I stole things as a kid too. My homeroom teacher beat me senseless for it. After that, I never stole again.】
It was thanks to the Patriot’s own experience that the rod was a cure.
Yet even that proved insufficient to prevent children’s delinquency.
【School gangs? School violence? And even torture? How could children be so cruel?】
The crimes of vicious juvenile delinquents exceeded all bounds.
The enraged Patriot introduced an unprecedented law—”execution for school violence perpetrators”—that shocked the world.
I still remember being horrified when the executions actually took place.
And so school violence disappeared.
I thought that would solve the children problem and finally bring some peace, but….
【I got pregnant, had the baby, and came back to find my career derailed? This is fucking insane!!!】
The problem didn’t end with just the children.
When couples married and had children, it brought far more complications than the Patriot had anticipated.
Career interruption after pregnancy and childbirth.
Parental leave that existed only in name.
Astronomical prices for infant products.
And countless other problems remained.
【Patriotic credits upon childbirth! Companies must prioritize hiring! The state covers formula and diapers for free! Twenty-four-hour unmanned drone emergency medical services too!】
Benefits poured forth endlessly.
【In a country where people just keep aging and dying, if you interfere with patriotic duty, you all get executed, got it?!!!】
When a major bank ignored this, the owner’s entire family was executed, and Korean society transformed as a result.
Yet “children and youth” continued to create countless problems.
How much noise from children should society tolerate?
How should one handle complaints from overzealous parents making a fuss about their children feeling relative deprivation?
The disparity in educational quality between Seoul and the provinces, and so on….
“Was it the 1,341st revision? Regardless, it’s been amended now, so follow it!”
After countless governmental efforts, the current Patriot Child and Youth Protection Act was born.
The Patriot’s great achievement—raising South Korea’s birth rate above 1.
An Achievement that garnered praise from the World Voice itself.
The only nation to see increased birth rates since the Gate crisis, they say.
Now it has steadily grown, surpassing 1.5.
‘I had forgotten.’
In present-day South Korea, all children are welcomed by everyone.
No-kids zones had become relics of a barbaric past, parents who neglected their children were called death-row inmates-in-waiting, and school violence had become an impossibility.
‘To the Patriot, children are like the Fortress of Invulnerability itself.’
The Patriot was a figure who cherished this nation’s children with fierce devotion.
Even after expelling all adult foreign workers, he embraced the young children of foreign workers born on this land as Koreans alongside their parents.
And….
‘Iris Ruzbella appears to be a child to the naked eye.’
Diminished by constraints.
I never imagined I would regard Iris Ruzbella, sitting upon the Imperial throne with a crimson greatsword in hand, as an actual child.
I had underestimated the Patriot’s ignorance far too much.
That was what created this catastrophe.
Grab!
“Children must be protected—what on earth have you done?!”
The Patriot seized me by the collar.
His hands trembled like aspen leaves as he shook me down….
I hastily turned toward Iris Ruzbella to speak.
“Stop—.”
Stop.
That’s what I meant to say.
But Iris Ruzbella’s blade moved faster than my words.
* * *
Thud—.
The Patriot’s hand vanished.
The very hand that had gripped Shin Si-woo’s collar simply ceased to exist.
It felt as though he had never possessed a hand to begin with.
‘Did I ever have a hand?’
Thud—.
The Patriot’s field of vision lowered.
This time, his legs had vanished.
‘What in the world….’
The Patriot turned his head.
The crimson girl stood upon the Imperial throne, wielding her blood-red greatsword, gazing down upon him.
Her gaze was as cold as the guillotine in Gwanghwamun Plaza.
“I did not permit her to see.”
With that, Patriot’s vision went dark.
The first question that arose was.
‘Why?’
She was clearly just a little girl.
A child the world should protect.
Then why had she done this to him?
Why had she destroyed him so utterly, when all he sought was to protect her?
‘A murder weapon carefully cultivated by Shin Si-woo since childhood!!!’
The moment Patriot confirmed the girl’s identity—.
—You remain insolent to the end. I shall not even permit your thoughts.
Sound ceased.
Sensation vanished.
A silence where nothing could be felt.
‘….’
Losing limbs was something I had endured countless times in trials, and I had died with my head split open many times before.
Even when those Chinese dogs made me consume poison that melted organs, I could bear it.
But this kind of suffering—it was my first time.
Eternity.
Endless void consumed me.
It was a terror that transcended pain.
Through that void, eternal as the ages, I wandered helplessly.
Years.
Decades.
Centuries.
Perhaps millennia.
I could not even fathom how much time had passed.
If this continued, I might even forget that I was ‘Patriot’.
Through that agony, a faint voice echoed.
“Revival. Regeneration. Restoration. Stabilization. Healing. Recovery….”
It was King Sejong’s voice, holding the Hunminjeongeum.
Shin Si-woo’s voice came alongside it.
“Iris, you misunderstood, so stop here.”
“Yes, Master. I shall obey your command!”
With that, my five senses returned.
‘Shin Si-woo….’
I had experienced endless eternity and returned from it.
Yet I remained ‘Patriot’.
Experiencing the void of eons was nothing.
I stepped forward.
“Hey there, junior.”
King Sejong seized the Patriot’s hood.
“Patriot, stop—.”
“I have to go! There’s a child there!!!”
Yet the Patriot pressed forward.
A singular conviction: that child must not be left in such a state.
“How did you rise, having trampled through eternity?”
At that unwavering resolve, Iris Ruzbella tilted her head.
At first, it had been mere curiosity.
Now it had transformed into profound fascination.
Above Iris Ruzbella’s crimson eyes, a malevolent star ascended.
Her [Eye] had opened.
In that instant, Iris Ruzbella perceived the entity known as the ‘Patriot’ in perfect clarity.
‘A being who conjures destiny through ignorance.’
Truly, he was a peculiar one.
A bizarre existence unlike any she had ever encountered.
‘Did he truly regard me as merely a little child?’
Context exists in all people.
How could he view her—seated upon a crimson throne in the supreme Imperial Palace’s Audience Chamber, wielding a colossal greatsword—as nothing more than a simple child?
Had she not just cast the Patriot into eternity?
She was maddened with curiosity as to how such reasoning was even possible.
“L-little one, do you attend school? I… here in South Korea, education through graduate studies is free—.”
And yet, paradoxically, he was a being of absolute, unyielding ‘purity.’
The Patriot still believed Iris Ruzbella to be a child.
‘That unwavering nature is truly bizarre.’
The Patriot moved with one hundred percent sincere conviction.
Driven by a single purpose: to protect the children of South Korea.
Even having trampled through the agony of eternity.
Iris Ruzbella felt ‘amusement’ toward this bizarre human she had never encountered before.
“Hahaha! The Sword Lord speaks truly. This maiden was merely mistaken.”
She was the cruelest woman in the world.
And yet she possessed a magnanimity and boldness that dwarfed all others.
That is why she was an Empress.
She spoke.
“You are worthy to be the Sword Lord’s guest. I shall bestow upon you a gift personally.”
Before he knew it, Iris Ruzbella, mounted upon the Demon, stood directly before the Patriot.
The Patriot trembled, his hands quivering uncontrollably, unable to utter a single word beneath the overwhelming pressure of the small girl.
“L-little one—.”
He even let out a small scream.
Perhaps he had also wet himself slightly….
In the Patriot’s field of vision, the girl’s small hand grew larger and larger.
That tiny hand approaching his eyes.
Squelch—!!!
She had gouged out the Patriot’s eyes.
A single drop of crimson blood fell upon them.
“Grow well and return to the Sword Master.”
‘Hahaha!’ With that deep laugh, the Patriot’s consciousness faded away.
* * *
Whoosh!
[The soul of ‘Patriot’ is now bound to the Red Abyss.]
The Red Abyss—Cheonsal-seong, the Killing Star.
It is the world and dominion that Iris Ruzbella commands.
In other words, the homeland of her subjects.
Simply put, it is the stronghold where demons dwell.
And to have one’s soul bound there meant….
‘The qualification to become a demon.’
It meant that Iris, moved by the existence called Patriot, wished to make him her subject directly.
Among the million demons, every special individual was one who had brought Iris ‘amusement.’
Of course, he would not transform into a demon immediately.
When the Patriot reached his limit and died, it would grant him the chance to live anew as a demon—as one of her subjects.
And the Patriot’s eyes….
“Little girl, you’ve overstepped your bounds somewhat.”
Iris’s form grew translucent.
Overstepping meant exercising power beyond the limits the world permitted.
“I shall watch over the Sword Master from the Sword Realm!”
Iris and the crimson greatsword were drawn into the jewel within Aga Sword.
I nodded calmly.
‘Since I granted her the Eye, this is only fitting.’
The eye Iris bestowed upon the Patriot differs from my [Eye].
Cheonsal-seong—the star that kills all things.
It is something like a [temporary resident registration] for becoming an inhabitant of that place.
The benefits are quite substantial.
One gains the ability to wield the special essence that flows from Cheonsal-seong, and receives treatment as ‘one of us’ from the demons.
That essence, depending on how it is used, grants the protection of starlight to transcend the world’s laws when one truly seeks to kill something—allowing one to slay beyond the constraints of reality itself.
‘There is the matter of taxes to pay, but that should be easy enough for the Patriot.’
As I was lost in such thoughts, King Sejong stirred.
He watched my expression intently while unfurling the Hunminjeongeum.
“Awaken.”
An attempt to rouse the Patriot.
And true to his 0.3 Jesus nature, the Patriot’s eyes snapped open at once.
“Patriot, would you like an explanation?”
As I spoke, Patriot took a subtle step backward.
The moment he received the [Eye], Patriot glimpsed the stars of Cheonsal-seong and within them, he grasped the truth of Iris Ruzbella.
“Huff, huff… junior. That little one really is… thousands upon thousands of years old… that… that old—.”
Patriot’s hands trembled as he struggled to find words.
If he uttered what came after “old,” Iris Ruzbella, having returned to the Sword Realm, might instantly transform him into a Demon.
I immediately sealed his mouth shut.
“—This is my sword, born from noble effort.”
“No, it’s not effort, it’s—.”
Patriot’s lack of tact is truly appalling.
It’s a side effect of living as a transcendent for ten straight years.
Since everyone moved according to his will, there was never a need to read the room at all.
But that cannot continue now.
“A noble effort indeed. Patriot, please remain silent.”
Patriot’s new Constellation happens to be quite perceptive, fortunately.
True to King Sejong’s nature, he was remarkably intelligent.
“Yi Sun-sin, take Patriot and scout the border regions. I cannot fathom what those Chinese have been plotting.”
He tactfully summoned the other Constellations and sent them out on patrol with Patriot.
Patriot, apparently terrified of me, departed saying, “Junior, King Sejong is incredibly smart, so learn a lot from him!!!”
After Patriot and the Constellations had all departed, King Sejong lowered his head and spoke.
“Please, I beg you—spare him.”
Now my swords would descend upon this world.
I recited a single condition to King Sejong, staking my survival on it.
“I understand that Patriot grows stronger the more ignorant he is.”
But ignorance and lack of courtesy are entirely different matters.
“I don’t even ask for perceptiveness, but at minimum, let’s instill basic manners in him.”
King Sejong vigorously nodded in agreement with my words.
I wondered if I had been too disrespectful to a great figure of South Korea, but what could I do?
If left unchecked, it was painfully obvious that Patriot would either become a Demon or lose his mind.
“I shall… endeavor all the more earnestly.”
His tone sounded somewhat desperate.
I nodded calmly and resolved this matter.
Was this sequence of events recognized as a completed flow?
As if on cue, a message materialized before my eyes.
Whoosh!
[You have vanquished countless evils.]
[You have eradicated the Gate’s erosion.]
[By slaying the three demons—Poeak, Ferocity, and Xingxian—you have set the world’s flow aright.]
[Calculating rewards….]
“Xingxian, then—.”
King Sejong also played a role in slaying Bai Qi and Xingxian, who appeared at the very end.
Perhaps because of this, it seemed he had received a share of the reward message that appeared to Patriot.
“Do you know of Xingxian?”
A demon that neither I nor the Swords knew of.
“A demon of the Chinese.”
“…What?”
Hearing this made me wonder if King Sejong would be able to teach Patriot properly.
“Ah, so that crude expression was also Patriot’s distorted language?”
Looking at it again, it seemed he would teach well.
From just my reaction, he grasped precisely what the problem was.
“It’s not incorrect, but somewhat….”
“Vulgar, you mean. Normally one would call it China, yes?”
I answered with silence.
Honestly, after witnessing the true nature of China, I was beginning to think Patriot’s phrasing might actually be more accurate.
“Yet it is clear that they are villains deserving of contemptuous names. At least Patriot’s descriptions of them were never falsehoods.”
King Sejong sighed heavily with a hollow expression, then shifted the topic.
“Xingxian is the name of a demon that appears in China’s Classic of Mountains and Seas.”
A deity who rebelled against the Emperor.
Thus, even after being beheaded by the Emperor, he did not die but stood defiant—a symbol of ‘Defying Heaven.’
His very existence embodies disloyalty beyond measure.
“Then what of Bai Qi?”
“A general from the generation before the First Emperor. An unparalleled military strategist—.”
A ruthlessness that killed indiscriminately, friend and foe alike.
A cruel being who buried 400,000 men alive, abandoning all righteousness and virtue.
From this, I gained one certainty.
Guan Yu, Lü Bu, Dong Zhuo, and now Bai Qi.
“China is cultivating its own demons.”
The Republic of Korea, balanced between China and Japan and America.
Investigating China’s demons in our country had been extraordinarily difficult.
At my explanation, King Sejong drew a gentle smile.
“You too are one who understands righteousness and virtue, contrary to appearances.”
He spoke thus.
“Do you know what the correct sound for teaching the people is?”
Hunminjeongeum.
And….
“Mine has grown old. So I created it anew.”
What could he possibly mean by creating Hunminjeongeum anew?
As I tilted my head in confusion, an unbelievable message materialized before my eyes.
“Now you shall no longer wander in ignorance of anything.”
A brilliant flash!
[WorldNet KR—Hunminjeongeum V.001 has been promulgated.]
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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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