Chapter 44. The First Hero (38)
"What one platinum?!"
Na-ye looked at Seongchan.
"How about one gold?"
"That works too."
Park Seokdu's face twisted.
"Now even Vice Guild Master Lee Na-ye is targeting me?!"
He pointed at her.
"Fine. Vice Guild Master Lee Na-ye! I challenge you to a duel!"
"Seokdu! Aren't you too angry? A duel seems excessive."
One common way of resolving serious conflict was a duel.
But guild members almost never dueled each other.
Losing often meant declaring that you would leave the guild.
"I'm serious."
Park Seokdu glared at Na-ye.
"Vice Guild Master Lee Na-ye, decide whether you'll accept."
He raised a finger.
"The loser leaves the guild and pays ten platinum. The winner stays."
Then he added,
"And the duel will be fought using weapons other than shields."
"Pien finally created a chance for everyone to get along, and you're ruining it."
Seongchan sighed.
"Completely ruining it."
"Shut up!"
"Seokdu! How can you say that to Seongchan?!"
"Decide!"
Park Seokdu's voice was absolute.
Na-ye had to answer.
Silnyang, are you okay?
Park Seokdu's angry face no longer mattered to her.
She was focused only on Silnyang.
The spirit had been watching Na-ye with obvious nervousness.
Then its head tilted.
I felt it.
The anxiety and suffocating frustration.
At first, Na-ye had stood firm.
But as Park Seokdu became more aggressive, anxiety briefly surfaced.
That emotion shook Silnyang too.
It remembered years of the same pattern.
Every time Park Seokdu became angry, Na-ye grew anxious.
Then she tried to smooth things over.
Then she let the situation pass.
Silnyang had always become frustrated.
Suffocated.
Then returned to the Spirit Realm.
That cycle had repeated for years.
So Silnyang automatically assumed it would happen again.
But it didn't.
Na-ye caught the anxiety before it grew.
Instead of sinking deeper, she sent Silnyang encouragement.
Let's fight.
"Kyao!"
When its master encouraged it, Silnyang instantly threw away the frustration and fear.
Silnyang can change emotions that quickly.
"Kyaooo~"
Silnyang nodded as if it were obvious.
A wind spirit bounced freely.
Its emotions could change just as freely.
That was why the master needed to guide it well.
Na-ye had accidentally guided it through years of frustration before.
"Kyao! Kyao!"
Silnyang cried angrily as if saying,
Don't guide me with emotions like that.
Na-ye laughed.
"Vice Guild Master Lee Na-ye!"
Park Seokdu shouted again.
"Does this look like a joke? Do you not understand what a duel is?"
"Seokdu."
Na-ye looked at him.
"Isn't forbidding my shield far too favorable for you?"
"Then what?"
Park Seokdu scoffed.
"Should I fight without my gloves too?"
He knew his condition was unfair.
So what if I know it's unfair? What are you going to do? Change it?
Park Seokdu believed he had given everything to the Rice Ball Guild.
Yet he still occasionally heard complaints.
[Doesn't Guild Master Park Seokdu realize how hard Vice Guild Master Lee Na-ye works?]
[How can only the Vice Guild Master be running around helping everyone? What's the Guild Master doing?]
[If Lee Na-ye had become Guild Master, we wouldn't have been discriminated against like this.]
Kang Tae-sik's complaints had stuck in Park Seokdu's mind.
He knows nothing.
He doesn't help.
So what does he know?
Cha Hyeonwoo might have been a great Guild Master from the members' perspective.
But from Park Seokdu's perspective, he had been an idiot.
Always taking care of people.
Always sacrificing himself.
It all felt fake.
At least hide it.
Watching him made it look like I was supposed to act like that too.
I didn't want to.
Cha Hyeonwoo had died while protecting others.
He had died without ever taking off that mask of false goodness.
"That's not what I mean."
Na-ye's voice was patient.
"At minimum, both of us should be allowed to use our main weapons."
Park Seokdu hated that tone.
Cha Hyeonwoo used to talk exactly like that.
Always gently correcting him.
Like he was looking down from above.
Like he knew everything.
Like Park Seokdu's way of living was wrong.
"Fine."
Park Seokdu sneered.
"Remove the rule about not using main weapons. You can use your shield and sword."
"Seokdu."
Na-ye frowned.
"It has to be a fair duel."
"Exactly."
Seongchan stepped between them.
"You know Na-ye can't use a sword properly right now, so you set it up that way."
Then he looked at Park Seokdu.
"Do you have one hundred platinum?"
He definitely doesn't.
One platinum equaled one thousand gold.
One gold equaled one hundred silver.
One silver equaled one hundred copper.
If an ordinary worker earned around ten silver a day, the amount Seongchan had just named was absurdly large.
Unless he owns something extremely valuable.
Park Seokdu did not.
"One hundred platinum? What kind of nonsense is that?!"
"If you can't pay that, then unfortunately..."
Seongchan continued.
"If Na-ye is allowed to use both sword and shield, you pay thirty platinum if you lose."
Park Seokdu stared.
"So Vice Guild Master Lee Na-ye only pays ten platinum if she loses, but I pay thirty?"
"Oh?"
Seongchan looked impressed.
"You figured it out immediately. I was about to explain it because I thought you couldn't calculate."
"You bastard!"
Park Seokdu finally snapped.
He charged straight at Seongchan.
Na-ye moved into his path.
Her shield was already in her hand.
Park Seokdu didn't slow down before the wall-like shield.
Lightning Movement.
He activated his A-rank skill, Lightning Movement.
Lightning gathered around his feet.
Then his body moved in an impossible zigzag pattern.
He slipped diagonally around Na-ye's shield.
Then changed direction again.
In less than one second, he reached Seongchan.
Park Seokdu started to throw a punch.
Then stopped.
"You know what this is, right?"
Flutter.
It was a sheet of paper.
The crest of the Terk Kingdom appeared in the upper-right corner.
A golden seal below showed that it carried the King's direct order.
"His Majesty Haiman actually approved this?"
"You don't believe it?"
"Do you understand how stupid it is to forge a royal order?"
"What if it's real?"
Seongchan's smile disappeared.
This is the authority I gained after stopping Sir Kosdal from beating the Rice Ball Guild half to death.
The document authorized Seongchan to oversee the guild's education and correction.
That included correcting improper behavior by the Guild Master.
Step. Step.
Park Seokdu, who had been standing close to Seongchan's face, slowly backed away.
Then stopped.
Is he trying to scare me into accepting it because of his face?
Park Seokdu looked behind him.
He wanted Pien.
"You only look for me when you need something."
Pien sounded unimpressed.
She was already standing beside him.
While Park Seokdu had been reading, she'd moved closer.
"Does this look real to you?"
"Yes."
Pien studied the seal.
"The seal itself is clean, but more importantly, the mana residue proves His Majesty Haiman personally stamped it."
She activated her A-rank skill, Mana Analysis.
"It wasn't done by a representative."
Park Seokdu frowned.
"So it's real."
Then he looked back at Seongchan.
"Still, one hundred platinum is too much. Make it thirty."
Park Seokdu had around forty platinum.
He kept emergency funds because he still managed a guild.
This means Na-ye has to use a sword.
For years, Park Seokdu had watched Silnyang become furious whenever Na-ye touched a sword.
As long as the duel happened, he would win.
"What's happening?"
Pien became interested.
"We decided on a duel."
Seongchan explained.
"Na-ye can use both sword and shield. In exchange, Park Seokdu puts up one hundred platinum."
He smiled.
"If he loses, he also pays another ten platinum and leaves the guild."
"No!"
Park Seokdu tried to object.
But Pien understood situations quickly.
"Oh!"
She immediately smiled.
"Then I can lend Guild Master Park Seokdu the remaining seventy platinum."
"Why would you?"
"You're obviously going to win."
Pien shrugged.
"I'm not giving it for free. You can pay interest."
She smiled wider.
"Ten percent every month."
"Na-ye only pays ten platinum if she loses. Why do I have to put up one hundred?!"
"You sound like you're afraid you'll lose."
Pien tilted her head.
"If you can't do it, then change the rule so Na-ye doesn't use a sword."
"Fine! I'll do it!"
Park Seokdu immediately pulled out his gloves.
"Then let's duel right now!"
Seongchan didn't even look at him.
"You're Pien, right?"
"Yes."
Pien knew about Seongchan.
They said he has future sight.
He really knows my name even though I never introduced myself.
Is it like Count Thornjer's ability to learn names by looking at someone? Or something even stronger?
Pien's curiosity didn't matter to Seongchan.
"This is a duel between the Rice Ball Guild Master and Vice Guild Master."
He looked around.
"Doesn't it feel wasteful to hold it here?"
Pien's eyes brightened.
"You're right!"
She immediately understood.
"Guild Master Park Seokdu is spending one hundred platinum just to force Vice Guild Master Lee Na-ye to hold a sword."
Pien smiled.
"Everyone in the Terk Kingdom will want to see that."
"Merchants can do business."
Seongchan continued.
"The Highs Merchant Company can even run betting."
"Exactly!"
Pien clapped.
"If you were really going to hold the duel immediately, I was about to say the same thing."
She looked impressed.
"This kind of major event should be announced properly."
Peuten, who had been watching, approached with a smile.
"What are you talking about?!"
Park Seokdu shouted.
"We should do it right now!"
He was panicking.
Couldn't they see?
Na-ye and Silnyang both looked disturbed.
They looked mentally shaken by the sudden mention of the sword.
You need to crush them while they're confused.
Park Seokdu's emotions were unstable.
But he could still read a situation.
"Did he say they're dueling immediately?"
"Really?"
"Everyone! The Rice Ball Guild Master and Vice Guild Master are dueling!"
People immediately gathered.
The excitement spread.
The atmosphere quickly turned into one where delaying the duel seemed impossible.
As more people gathered, Park Seokdu's expression became proud again.
"Everyone wants the duel."
He looked at Seongchan.
"What are you going to do?"
Seongchan simply fluttered the royal document.
It contained education authority.
Nothing about stopping duels.
"What do you think happens if I hand this to Sir Kosdal?"
Seongchan spoke calmly.
"He wanted to kill you. I was the one who stopped him."
The name Kosdal changed everything.
A knight who might cut off someone's arm in the middle of an argument if he disliked them enough.
The gambler inside Park Seokdu, who had been desperately trying to force the match immediately, shrank.
"What are you talking about?!"
Park Seokdu suddenly shouted at the crowd.
"How can we duel right now?!"
He pointed dramatically.
"The entire Terk Kingdom deserves to witness our duel!"
Then he pushed through the crowd and disappeared.
"Silnyang."
Na-ye looked toward her spirit.
"I think you should return to the Spirit Realm and recover."
"Kyao. Kyao."
Silnyang agreed and disappeared.
Silnyang really hates the idea of her holding a sword.
More precisely, it began after Cha Hyeonwoo, the twin-sword user, disappeared.
Silnyang believed Cha Hyeonwoo had abandoned it because he chose the sword.
It wasn't Silnyang's fault.
Silnyang regretted everything.
If only it had made Cha Hyeonwoo's swords sharper.
Maybe it could have protected him.
When Park Seokdu mentioned the sword, Silnyang's emotions had filled with regret, longing, loneliness, refusal, self-hatred, and helplessness.
That was Na-ye's interpretation after feeling its emotions.
Whenever Na-ye touched a sword, Silnyang appeared, screamed, and became angry because it was terrified of losing another master.
It believed that no matter how much wind it put into a sword, it would still fail.
"Overcome it."
Seongchan looked at Na-ye.
She nodded.
"I'll bring back one hundred platinum."
Her eyes were clear.
"And I'll become a master Silnyang can rely on without fear."
Na-ye had once lived with cloudy eyes.
She endured.
Protected.
And believed that protecting everyone would eventually solve everything.
That vague look was gone.
In its place was clarity.
