Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant

Chapter 510

Su-ho narrowed his eyes at their name cards.

‘Fairy Kingdom? Where is Fairy Kingdom? Don’t tell me it’s some concept like a Fairy Realm where fairies gather? Like an Elemental Realm?’

That was the right answer.

This place was the Fairy Realm where all fairies gathered, and the fairies called it the Fairy Kingdom, and it was also the place Su-ho had been summoned to for the bloodline quest.

‘Now that I look, they had wings on their backs too.’

Tiny little wings, like fruit flies.

So even though they all looked like uncles, the essence itself was fairies, is what it meant.

Su-ho’s mind started turning fast.

And after not long, Su-ho began to understand this whole situation.

‘I learned Corruption Sorcery, and Corruption Sorcery is power I obtained through the Plague Queen. According to what Grid said, the corrupted fairies aren’t just shunned by other fairies—they’re hated.’

And judging by what the defense soldiers were saying, it seemed the corruption-type fairies had been kicked out of this Fairy Kingdom.

The fact they were saying he’d come back, and the way they were hunting him down like rat-catching the moment he arrived, using the World Tree—everything pointed to that.

‘Then is their goal to kill me?’

That can’t happen.

That isn’t something you get to choose.

I have something I have to do.

That was to receive the recognition of ???, the second condition of the bloodline quest.

Of course, he didn’t know who ??? was.

Then the first priority goal was to find out who ??? was.

After finishing his judgment, Su-ho nodded and used a skill.

[ Blood Armory activates. ]

He held back the Heracles club.

The blood sword he had summoned and was holding right now was simply a negotiation tool for show.

Su-ho pointed the blood sword at the defense soldiers and said,

“How about calming down instead of getting worked up?”

“Y-you blasphemous—! So you’re finally showing your true colors!”

“I’ll ask one last time. You’re not willing to calm down and talk?”

“No! Catch that bastard right now!!”

“Yes, sir!!”

I clearly tried to talk first.

But you’re the ones who refused.

Having accepted their intent, Su-ho immediately swung his sword.

Slice!

There was no need to use a skill.

With one big swing of his sword, the tips of the spears they were holding fell off as if it were a lie.

“Next is your heads, so think before you come at me.”

A second warning.

But even so, there are always guys who can’t tell courage from reckless bravado.

“Don’t be ridiculous!!”

One unnamed defense soldier standing in the second row charged at Su-ho, holding his spear that hadn’t been cut yet.

Yeah.

There always has to be one like that.

Instead of answering, Su-ho swung his sword hard.

At the same time as the spearhead was cut off, the neck of the guy who’d been showing off his bravado was slashed wide.

“Gkeoaaaeok...!”

He didn’t behead him.

He just cut a deep gash around the vocal cords.

If he left him like that, he’d die from blood loss.

But do fairies even have the concept of bleeding out?

Still, seeing him spill blood, no matter if he was a fairy, it couldn’t be a light wound.

Su-ho walked over to the fallen defense soldier, lifted his hand, and made him wrap his own neck and press down to stop the bleeding.

“Hold it tight. If you don’t, you’ll die.”

Then he raised his head again and spoke to the surrounding defense soldiers.

“This is the last time. I want to talk with you. So don’t just hate me blindly—guide me to the Queen. Then I’ll spare this guy.”

A sneering proposal.

At that, one defense soldier bit his lip and trembled.

“You cowardly...!”

“Cowardly? Me?”

“Yeah! Cowardly, taking a hostage!”

“This is absurd.”

Slice!

At the word cowardly, he swung his sword again.

But what he cut wasn’t the defense soldier who accused him of being cowardly—it was the arm of the defense soldier whose neck had been cut.

“Gkyaaaaaah!!”

The defense soldier who had been pressing his neck with both hands instantly became a one-armed man and had to clutch his neck with one hand.

“S-stop!”

That was when it happened.

From among the defense soldiers, someone who looked like he had a fairly high rank stepped forward.

- Fairy Kingdom Defense Captain Lv.???

His name card said Defense Captain.

As if meaning for them to calm down, he spread his palm and stepped forward, quietly set his spear down on the ground, and spoke.

“We’ll do as you say. We’ll guide you to Her Majesty the Queen, so save my subordinate.”

“Now you finally speak like someone reasonable.”

He didn’t know how high Defense Captain was, but since he was in a higher position than the others, he probably wouldn’t lie.

Su-ho immediately began treating the hostage.

[ Restore activates. ]

Hwaaa!

As Restore activated, a warm effect spread out and regenerative healing began.

Maybe because of the unique pain-reduction effect that occurred in that process, even the defense soldier who had been shuddering in pain gradually calmed down, and in the end he even came to have a relaxed expression.

Then, when Su-ho finished the treatment and lifted his head again—

“......?”

He was about to say the treatment was done, but the expressions of the Defense Captain and the defense soldiers staring at him weren’t normal.

More precisely, they looked like they’d seen a ghost.

“What’s with you guys? Why are your faces like that?”

“Y-you... How on earth did you...?”

“What? Explain it so I can understand.”

“H-how does a fairy like you, closest to death, have a power that can restore something...?”

“That makes no....”

He was about to ask what that was supposed to mean, but in that instant, he understood their reaction at once.

‘Don’t tell me corrupted fairies don’t have healing abilities?’

Grid had said that corrupted fairies were existences closest to death. That was why they were hated and shunned.

And he’d said fairies could only have one power each.

Especially in the case of “imprints,” it was a privilege only a small number could have, so most fairies lived as attribute-less fairies without any imprint.

So the reason they were shocked was probably because of those things.

After grasping the situation, Su-ho immediately changed his expression and said,

“Yeah. I’m a special fairy. So stop talking and guide me to the Queen.”

“Y-you’ve safely finished the treatment?”

“Check for yourself.”

When Su-ho stepped back a few paces, the Defense Captain stepped forward and checked the hostage’s condition.

Then the hostage slowly opened his eyes and said,

“Captain....”

“Are you all right? Nothing hurts anywhere?”

“Yes, I’m fine... I’m really completely healed.”

After confirming the hostage’s safety, the Defense Captain escorted him to the rear, and only then nodded.

“Fine. I’ll guide you to Her Majesty the Queen.”

“Finally, we {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} can communicate. Lead the way.”

“Fine. But as a warning, just in case—if you do anything foolish to Her Majesty the Queen....”

The Defense Captain spoke with the scariest expression in the world.

“Then even if it costs my life, I’ll kill you for sure.”

“Yeah, make sure you do. Your Queen must have it good—she’s got a loyal subordinate like you.”

“Hmph...!”

Instead of replying, the Defense Captain turned his head and began walking in front, and Su-ho also began slowly following behind him.

After walking like that for a while, Su-ho, following behind the Defense Captain, asked,

“I have something I’m curious about—can I ask?”

“What is it?”

“You have wings, so why don’t you fly?”

“......?”

At that question, the Defense Captain stopped in his tracks and stared at Su-ho with an odd look.

“Why?”

“Then why aren’t you flying around?”

“Because I don’t have wings.”

“What?”

“I’m serious.”

Of course, if it were dragon wings, he had those, but those weren’t capable of flight either, so pass.

When Su-ho showed his empty back, the Defense Captain’s expression twisted strangely once more.

“You... What are you, really... No. Ask Her Majesty the Queen for the details. But like I said before, if you threaten Her Majesty the Queen or act insolent, then...!”

“Ah, you’ve been repeating the same thing this whole time. Shut up. Do you think I’m you? Who was it that shoved a spear in my face the moment we met?”

“And you cut someone’s throat, didn’t you!”

“Then when someone charges at me saying they’ll kill me, am I supposed to just stand there?”

“Just as expected of a plague factor...!”

Ugh, this really isn’t getting through.

Su-ho tried to ask something else, then gave up and moved quietly.

After traveling for a long time like that, a clear lake appeared.

At first he thought it was the sea, but looking closer, it really was a lake.

It was just that like the other terrain, the lake was enormous too.

Then the Defense Captain raised his spear high.

The other defense soldiers also raised their spears, and the moment all defense soldiers had their spears raised, an astonishing phenomenon occurred.

Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwa!

The sea-like lake began to split apart like the Red Sea.

But beneath the split lake wasn’t pitch-black darkness or dirt ground—it was clear, mysterious light rippling.

Then, as they lowered their spears, the defense soldiers began jumping down into it one by one.

Saaaah-

Saaaah-

The lake bottom, which he thought would make a splash, made an unexpected sound.

More like the sound of being absorbed, disappearing.

In reality too, the moment they jumped, they became transparent as if being absorbed and vanished.

When all the soldiers had gone in, the Defense Captain, who remained until the end, jerked his chin at Su-ho.

“Go in.”

“Do I just jump in?”

At Su-ho’s question, the Defense Captain furrowed his brow again.

“You’re really a strange guy. Why do you keep talking as if you’re not a fairy? Don’t tell me you’ve never used a ‘Saemmun’ even once in your life?”

“What’s a Saemmun? Is it called Saemmun because it’s a door that looks like a spring? And I’m not a fairy—”

He was about to answer that he wasn’t a fairy, but stopped.

It seemed that by their standards, he felt like some outrageous outsider who didn’t have any common sense.

Of course, if you got down to it, he did have fairy blood, so it was true he was a fairy.

Even if he wasn’t a legitimate fairy, he still had fairy blood, so it wasn’t that he wasn’t a fairy.

He even had fairy power, and he knew how to use sorcery, after all.

Su-ho didn’t answer further and jumped into the Saemmun.

Then Su-ho’s body, like the defense soldiers who had gone in before, smoothly vanished.

At the same time, it felt like his senses flipped over, and his vision went dark, then turned bright white, and his sight began to return.

Around then, Su-ho’s body, regardless of his will, was able to land on the ground as if hopping down from a stair.

Right after landing, when he slowly raised his head, Su-ho let out an exclamation without realizing it.

Because the world he entered through the Saemmun beneath the lake wasn’t underground or under a water surface—it was like the Fairy Kingdom he had seen so far, but its size was a normal shape on a scale of common sense, the kind Su-ho was familiar with.

“Wow.”

It was even beautiful.

Then, the Defense Captain appeared beside Su-ho as well.

The defense soldiers who had entered first were lined up in ranks, and when Su-ho appeared, they split like the Red Sea and formed a path.

It felt like he’d become an honored guest.

Are they welcoming me?

That was when it happened.

“Her Majesty the Queen is arriving!!”

So that wasn’t it.

They were in formation because of the Queen’s arrival, not me.

Soon, with the blaring voice of a herald, something swarmed into view from the sky far in the distance.

Fairies.

And among the flying fairies, a slender woman appeared, carrying the alluring bearing like the Plague Queen he had seen before.

She was the Fairy Queen who ruled this place.