Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant

Chapter 514

Was she kidding, saying if he didn’t like it?

Was that something someone in the position of queen should be saying?

When Su-ho started to truly pour out killing intent, Marloe, too, showed a genuinely flustered expression.

"That killing intent is pretty ominous. Two jokes and there’ll be a full-blown massacre, huh?"

“Joke?”

At that, Su-ho swung his sword wide.

Sky Severing activated, and a gigantic sword slash brushed past over the queen’s head, and—

— KOOOONG!!

The enormous tree behind Marloe was cut clean through and toppled over, falling with the whole trunk.

Su-ho lifted his sword and pointed it at Marloe as he spoke.

“Stop talking like you’re joking. Are we close? Jokes are something you can do between people who are close. You’ve been treating me like some lowly mongrel all this time, and now all of a sudden you’re talking about jokes? It’s not even funny. If you’re a queen, why don’t you have the dignity to match? Or what, is this the dignity you’re aiming for as a queen or something?”

A nonstop carpet-bombing.

At those words, Marloe’s face turned red.

“...All right. I’ll apologize for this.”

At the sharp jab, Marloe apologized surprisingly easily.

It wasn’t because she feared Su-ho’s strength—this time, she truly felt ashamed of the words she’d let slip.

“...And I will also apologize for saying that to you before. Also, since you captured Gomes, who is the nemesis of our fairies and could be called a disaster, I will, as promised, not discriminate against you and will respect you as a fellow fairy.”

“Tch. You should’ve done that from the start.”

“However.”

“However?”

However?

What now with “however” again?

What were you trying to say after that?

Su-ho furrowed his brow, but she continued without caring.

“However, I and my children may respect you as a fellow fairy, but you must abandon any expectation that other fairies will respect you the way we do. This was, after all, a promise between you and me.”

“No, how does that make any sense?”

“That is reality.”

“This is unbelievable... Then give me some kind of proof—some kind of token of guarantee—that a queen-class fairy like you respects me, so I can be recognized wherever I go. Then other fairies will see that and think differently.”

“That is...”

Marloe trailed off.

From Su-ho’s perspective, it was a pretty rational demand.

If she truly acknowledged him as the same kind of fairy as themselves, she could produce something like a guarantee token as much as she wanted.

And yet even so, the reason she couldn’t answer easily and kept trailing off was because she still hadn’t fully, sincerely accepted Su-ho.

'Damn it.'

Watching her hesitant attitude, without realizing it, a crazed wail threatened to rise up inside me.

Because the reason she was acting like that was obvious.

But instead of pressing her with words, I only narrowed my brow and looked at her in silence.

Because that was the last respect Su-ho could show her—and the last expectation that her remaining conscience could be trusted.

After a while, fortunately, she accepted Su-ho’s condition, grudgingly.

“...All right.”

After answering, she snapped her fingers.

A Seal of Protection—something only Marloe could create—formed, and then settled onto Su-ho.

[Fairy Queen Marloe engraves a Seal of Protection on you.]

A system notification.

Along with it, Su-ho could feel her power as well.

It was thanks to the Fairy Form he had newly obtained this time.

Marloe spoke.

“I have just engraved upon you a Seal of Protection that only I can create. With that, all fairies will recognize my power, and it will be able to steer the opening of their reactions in the direction you want.”

“Nice.”

It felt strangely mysterious.

However, he couldn’t separately check any system information about the Seal of Protection Marloe had engraved.

It seemed like this was, literally, just something that felt like a certificate of guarantee.

After obtaining everything he wanted, Su-ho held out his hand toward her.

“Good. With this, our relationship’s gotten a step closer. In that sense, let’s shake hands.”

“...”

At Su-ho’s request for a handshake, she stared at his hand for a moment, then let out a short sigh and took his hand.

'A sigh comes out of me too, you little...'

It was like the feeling of a slave shaking hands with a nobleman for the first time right after the status system was abolished in the Joseon era.

Whatever. I didn’t care.

The process hadn’t been all that smooth, but in the end, the result itself turned out exactly the way I wanted.

Soon, behind Su-ho, a portal appeared that would allow him to leave the Fairy Kingdom.

Su-ho glanced at the portal once and said to Marloe,

“Feels like you’re pushing me out and telling me to hurry up and go?”

“It’s your imagination.”

“Yeah, it’s probably my imagination. But leaving right away like this feels a bit wasteful, and I’ve got a few questions I want to ask you. How about it?”

“What are you so curious about this time?”

“Of course I’m curious about a lot. It’s my first time ever coming into the fairy realm itself. But aren’t you hating me a little too much? You know, I might end up being the savior who’s going to save the Fairy Kingdom someday.”

“Savior? What kind of nonsense is that?”

At the talk about a savior who would save the entire Fairy Kingdom, she got genuinely annoyed.

To someone like her—who was like an extreme racist supremacist—Su-ho’s statement just now sounded like a freed Black person telling a racist white person, I’m going to be the savior who will save you white people.

But this time, Su-ho enjoyed her sour reaction.

Su-ho smiled and continued.

“There’s a lot I want to tell you and a lot I want to say, but for now, let me just ask one thing. Even though you could always feel Gomes’s presence, why did you go out of your way to tell me to bring you Gomes’s corpse?”

“There’s no obligation for me to tell you that reason, is there?”

“Of course there isn’t. And it’s not like you’d tell me nicely anyway. But when I was taking your test, that thought suddenly occurred to me. Why would you, someone who’s always detecting Gomes’s presence, go out of your way to tell me to bring you Gomes’s corpse? The conclusion I reached was that you were trying to find a way to stand against the Fairy Dragon through Gomes’s corpse.”

“...!”

At Su-ho’s words, Marloe’s eyes widened.

Because he’d hit the nail on the head.

At her reaction, Su-ho, too, lifted the corners of his mouth in satisfaction.

That pure, clear reaction felt like teasing a little kid.

Su-ho continued.

“So I took Gomes to my hideout and observed it in my own way. Of course, I don’t know sorcery as well as you do, and I don’t know how you plan to use Gomes, but I’ll tell you this much—I observed Gomes in my own way, and toward the same goal as you.”

“So, did you gain anything?”

“I’m going to find out little by little now. But no matter what, I can guarantee I’ll get a more definite result than you. And I’ll tell you this too—I’m planning to start with the Fairy Dragon and then take down every other fairy-hunter faction as well.”

“...!”

A bombshell statement.

Her mouth simply wouldn’t close.

Earlier, it had been hard to accept—how could a lowly mongrel dare to talk about being the fairies’ savior, and so on—but after hearing Su-ho’s plan, all kinds of complicated thoughts rushed through her.

With her mouth half open, she barely managed to close it and spoke.

“I acknowledge it. The intent is good. You’ve perfectly grasped what I am trying to do as well. But whatever happens, the process will never be easy.”

“It won’t be easy. But I’m confident. Because my abilities are pretty outstanding.”

“There is no poison more vicious than arrogance and conceit.”

“It’s not arrogance. What—want me to show you proof or something?”

“What proof are you talking about?”

“Power you people might never get even if you live your entire lives—I got it in just a single encounter. For example...”

As he said that, Su-ho raised his voice slightly and shouted,

“Wo!”

In that moment.

[Fairy Hunter's Roar is activated.]

A short shout.

But what came out of his mouth was none other than Fairy Hunter’s Roar.

At the same time, Su-ho’s voice spread out in all directions, and—

“Ghk, ghkeuhk...!”

“Ueheheh...!”

“Aaaaargh...!”

All the low-ranking fairies with insufficient resistance started collapsing to the floor and writhing, like cockroaches sprayed with insecticide.

And that included Marloe as well.

“What is this...!”

It had been nothing more than a one-syllable shout.

Yet even she, a queen-class fairy, was so startled she momentarily lost her balance.

That was how lethal Fairy Hunter’s Roar was to fairies.

Su-ho grinned and said,

“So, how about it? Is this enough to prove my outstanding ability?”

“How in the world did you obtain that power?!”

“One of the abilities I have. That’s why I can say it confidently. That I could become your savior. So now, accept me with your heart, not your head. Sure, I inherited the Plague Fairy’s Seal, but was I a Plague Fairy from the very beginning? You know perfectly well I’m a Player, and you still keep rejecting me—rejecting me, rejecting me.”

“...”

Marloe shut her mouth.

Then she changed the subject.

“Enough. So what were the things you said you were curious about?”

Heh.

At her reaction, the corners of his mouth lifted.

Because it was visibly obvious that her favorability had skyrocketed.

Su-ho didn’t miss this moment.

“There’s a lot I’m curious about. There’s even more I want to see. For instance, why you came to hate the corrupted fairies, why you released soldiers to find me the moment I came here. Why the corrupted fairies were ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) outside the fairy realm instead of in the Fairy Kingdom, and also...”

“Stop, stop! Why are you so curious about so many things?”

“I told you. I’m curious about a lot. I’m a Player. And I’m the kind of Player who really wants to get strong. On top of that, you’re the first real fairies I’ve ever met in my life—how could I not have questions? Especially...”

Su-ho raised a finger and pointed beyond the queen and the fairies.

Then he said,

“Since I came all the way here, I want to see that World Tree the defense soldiers were talking about earlier, too.”

“What are you—! How sacred the World Tree is, and you dare...!”

“Hey, you’re doing it again? Are you incapable of even having a conversation with me unless you talk like that? The World Tree I know has the image of a mother who embraces everyone, so if you keep acting like this, the World Tree is really going to love that.”

Of course, this was just him arbitrarily applying the image of a World Tree he’d only ever seen in fictional works from media.

But so what?

Looking at the system’s personality, it seemed to reference human creations more than you’d think, so it wasn’t impossible.

And besides, it was the World Tree.

How could he just leave without seeing it?

At Su-ho’s remark, she shut her mouth for a moment, then, after a long bout of deep thought, lifted her head and looked up at the sky.

Then she slowly lowered her head and spoke.

“I understand everything you mean. But no matter what, right now, it’s not possible.”

“Not possible right now?”

“Everything has its time. And more than anything, right now you lack the stature. Even if you want to know, I can’t tell you, and even if I want to show you, I can’t show you. But soon, you will know everything. So let us promise the next time.”

She snapped her fingers.

In that moment.

FWOOSH!

Su-ho’s body was sucked into the exit portal and vanished, as if being pulled into a black hole.

After Su-ho disappeared, when the portal closed, she looked at the place where Su-ho had been and murmured,

“...Soon, everything will revolve around you.”