The senile king smiled at me.

"Do I seem mad to you? If it were me, I would have done the same, so it's not that strange."

"...."

"I didn't believe in gods either. I thought only the weak entrusted their will to gods. But..."

Pour—

Blue tea was poured into his teacup.

"After witnessing the divine radiance myself, my thoughts completely changed. It seems the gods were really gods."

"...."

I had nothing to say, so I kept my mouth shut for a moment.

The old king sipped his tea and said.

"Anyway, I lost consciousness after those mysterious words. It must have been because a mere human was exposed to the divine power of a god for too long. As soon as I woke up, I fled the forge as if running away."

"...."

"After that incident, I no longer visited Ophosis. No, I couldn't. I just couldn't bring myself to face him."

The old king stared blankly at the blue tea. As if his past was floating in it.

"I had to turn a blind eye to my friend's tragedy, so how could I shamelessly show my face?"

I crossed my arms and tapped my forearm with my fingers, then looked at him.

"...You stood by and watched Ophosis's disciples die for just that reason?"

The old king raised his head and looked at me.

"I don't have the guts to defy a divine command. What would you do?"

Let's think about it. What if those so-called gods had threatened me to let Tina die?

I answered without hesitation.

"I would have to tear all those so-called gods to pieces. Such beings do not deserve to be called gods."

The old king chuckled.

"That must be the difference between you and me. I was a worthless coward, so I couldn't refuse. I desperately looked for a place to hide."

"...."

"After that, Ophosis came to see me. When he visited the palace to deliver an item ordered by the royal family, he didn't send his disciple but came to see me himself, but..."

The old king covered his face with one hand.

"I... made up some excuse and refused. I just couldn't face him. And so, we naturally grew apart."

I watched the old man's deeply troubled face. His wrinkles were deep, as if he had suffered a lot.

Suddenly, he looked at me.

"Did Ophosis resent me?"

I quietly recalled my memories. What came to mind was only worry, sadness, apology, and regret. There was no resentment.

"He didn't say anything like that."

The king smiled bitterly and looked up at the sky.

"You foolish friend... you should have at least sent some curses. Then my heart would have been much lighter."

The atmosphere became very heavy. I didn't like the gloomy atmosphere, so I tried to comfort him in a deliberately light tone.

"What can you do about it now? The only thing to do is to get beaten up to your heart's content when you meet in the afterlife."

The king smiled faintly.

"Yes, I suppose I'll have to."

The conversation broke off for a moment, and silence followed. As they were each lost in thought, the king, who was drinking tea, suddenly choked and started coughing violently.

"Cough! Cough!"

I stared at the king blankly, and then, with a premonition that the coughing wouldn't stop easily, I looked for a handkerchief. But I was not a delicate man who carried such things as handkerchiefs. I had no choice but to tear off a piece of the tablecloth that hung down to my knees and hand it to the king.

"Cough! Cough!"

The king covered his mouth with the tablecloth that had been transformed into a handkerchief. A moment later, when the coughing finally subsided and he took the handkerchief away from his mouth, the white handkerchief was stained with bright red blood.

My eyes widened. Huh? It wasn't just a simple choke?

I looked at the old king with slightly sunken eyes.

"...Old man."

He chuckled.

"The day I see Ophosis is not far off."

He looked as if he was looking forward to death. To me, death was something to run away from at all costs, but to him, it was the final journey and destination he had been waiting for.

"...."

I looked at the king who was not far from death. No matter how much he was a king who had once ruled the world, now that he was close to death, he was just a mere human. In the face of death, money, honor, power, everything loses its meaning. Of course, if you have a few of those, you can build a fancy tomb, and there will be quite a few people who will mourn and grieve. But what meaning does that have after you're dead?

Death has various views depending on the person. Some say it's a process of heading to the afterlife, and some consider it another trial. To me, death is the annihilation of a world. Because if I disappear, the world that is reflected in my eyes will also disappear.

The world of the old man in front of me was flickering as if it would go out at any moment, but it was his world that was going out, not mine. His world would soon sink into endless darkness, but my world would continue for a long time after that. Someday, I too will sink into Ketel's embrace, but not now.

I had listened to his story, so now it was his turn to answer my questions.

"Old man."

"What is it."

"About the revelation you mentioned."

Even though he was an old man on the verge of death, I couldn't hold back these words. I had to say what I had to say.

"Wasn't it just a crazy dream?"

The king laughed.

"Devil. Do I look like a fool who can't distinguish between dreams and reality?"

I was about to answer in the affirmative, but I closed my mouth. Then I carefully chose my words and opened my mouth again.

"So, you thought I was the adjudicator of that prophecy?"

The old king nodded.

"Isn't that right? You appeared with the Dagger of Ophosis, and you cut off both of Van Dyke's arms with a broken sword."

"Hmm."

To me, it felt like he was just fitting the situation together somehow... but the old king seemed convinced.

"Now that I say it, it wasn't that long of a story."

The king let out a deep sigh. It looked as if he was letting out something that had been filling his chest all this time.

"I don't know how the gods in the heavens are looking at you. But I want to tell you this one thing."

"Say it."

"When I heard the voice of the god... it didn't seem like this was the only trial that would befall you."

"What do you mean?"

"Based on the voice of the god I heard, my short insight, and my intuition mixed in..."

The old king looked at me with eyes that held deep years.

"This will only be the beginning. From now on, trials will rise like waves and continuously try to swallow you."

The old king reached out and lightly tapped the back of my hand.

"Please keep your current heart well. Don't live a cowardly life like me."

"...."

I stared at his wrinkled hand silently.

The old king smiled brightly.

"Yes, with this, I've said everything I wanted to say. I feel so much better now. You wouldn't know how long I've been waiting for this day."

I looked at the old man's eyes silently. Strangely, it felt like I was looking into the eyes of a child. They were clear, as if there were no regrets.

"Thank you. Thanks to you, I can go to meet my friend with a much lighter heart."

The old king, who had looked healthy for his age, rapidly deteriorated as soon as he had finished telling me his story. As if he had been preserving his life force just to tell this story. The king looked as if he had shrunk considerably compared to before.

He stood up from his seat, approached the party that had followed me, and asked for a handshake from each of them, asking them to take good care of his third son.

"The worthless king is leaving now. Please take good care of my third son."

Then, supported by Frost, he entered the mansion.

I watched his retreating back and then called out to him, raising my voice a little.

"Do you know?"

The old king turned around.

"There's a saying that when a person dies, the one who was closest to them among those who have gone before comes to meet them."

The king smiled.

"I quite like that story."

***

Clack! Clack!

In the garden full of flowers, Fluffy and Frost were in the middle of a sparring match. Fluffy swung the reddishly glowing Vlad, and Frost countered with a wooden sword. It was amazing to watch how he could counter that eerily sharp blade with a simple wooden sword. Was there iron embedded in it? I'll have to check later.

Currently, we were sitting in the cool shade of a tree, watching the sparring match.

I asked Walpole, who was sitting next to me, watching.

"Where's Sir Ashley?"

"She went to the bathroom."

"I see."

"She drank a lot of tea."

"That blue tea?"

"Yes."

"She must have liked the tea."

"You could say that."

"I should give her a gift before I go. Was it butterfly pea flower tea?"

Walpole chuckled and nodded.

"That's right. The rare blue tea. It was butterfly pea flower tea."

"...."

Why was this guy so excited? It seems something fun had happened while I was away.

Meanwhile, Linda was sleeping soundly, leaning on my shoulder and drooling. She said she had put poison in her tea. Did she accidentally mix in a sleeping pill?

'Even better.'

If a rampaging Linda is a devil, a calm Linda is an angel. Her sleeping face couldn't be prettier. It's amazing how big a difference it makes when her crazy eyes are closed, even though it's the same face.

"Kool..."

It would be great if she didn't drool on my shoulder.

Sizzle...

Perhaps because her saliva was mixed with poison, my clothes were slowly melting. It didn't seem to be this bad before, but perhaps her poison skills had improved while she was playing with poisons in the hospital room, and now even her saliva was a threat.

So geniuses' realms improve even when they're just playing around. What an unfair bunch.

"Get away from me, you brat."

"Ueh."

I pushed Linda off my shoulder, then rolled her to one side.

Sizzle...

Her acidic saliva began to melt the grass. Frost, who had transformed into a gardener, might get angry, but it was better than melting my shoulder, so I left her as she was. It's a relief that she only does this to me. If she drooled on just anyone, she might have committed murder without even knowing it. She's a human poison.

I pushed Linda to one side and then comfortably watched the sparring match between the two famed sword owners.

"...."

As I was watching their sparring match... I felt my focus naturally blur. My focus blurred, and then moved inward.

I heard the old king's voice.

"The red-eyed adjudicator will come."

I had heard an unexpected story.

"The red-eyed adjudicator will descend from a high place. In one hand, he will hold a broken longsword that will burn everything, and in the other, a dagger that will be used as a key."

If I were to force myself into this, as the old king had guessed... "descended from a high place" would mean falling from the Mist Cliff. The "broken longsword," considering how often my sword broke, fits roughly. When it broke, I would raise my sword ki as the Heavenly Demon had taught me and use it as a complete sword.

The "dagger that will be used as a key." This is easy. The Dagger of Ophosis was essentially a key.

Then what about the "trial for the adjudicator"? What does this mean? Does it mean that all the life-threatening crises I have overcome so far were all trials foretold by a god? For what?

"The moment the adjudicator overcomes all trials, the master of a new throne will come."

The master of a new throne? What does that throne mean, and what does it have to do with the adjudicator?

And even the mysterious words he had muttered at the end.

"The one who stood alone. The one who awakened alone..."

If I insert myself as the adjudicator, who is the master of the new throne? Who is the one who stood alone, the one who awakened alone?

The answer was surprisingly close. If I am the adjudicator, as the old king claimed, it would be natural to see the Heavenly Demon as the master of the throne. Because the Heavenly Demon and I are inseparably close.

Then. Is the fact that I fell from the Mist Cliff and the Heavenly Demon was imprinted in my head related to the gods? Come to think of it, the only existence that could do such a thing was the vague and abstract existence of a god.

Adjudicator. Trial. New throne. Its master. The one who stood alone. Red eyes. A broken sword that will burn everything.

...My head became complicated.

[My disciple.]

The Heavenly Demon's quiet tone scattered the tangled thread in my head.

"Yes, Master."

[Is that something you can figure out by worrying about it now?]

I thought for a moment, then shook my head. It's all just grasping at clouds. Even if I were to figure out the meaning of those things, nothing would change right now. I will return to my hometown, and I will beat up the guys I don't like. There is no doubt about that.

"No."

[Then forget it.]

"Yes."

I forgot all about it. Adjudicator? Trial? Fuck it. I'll go my own way. If something blocks my way, I'll just tear it apart and move on.

A few words from the Heavenly Demon cleared my head.

When I came back from my thoughts, the sparring match between Frost and Fluffy was slowly coming to an end. Fluffy was swinging his sword with all his might, sweating profusely, and Frost was still in his gardener's clothes, countering with only very basic movements. There was no sign of fatigue at all.

"Heok... heok..."

In the end, Fluffy was stabbed in the thigh by Frost's wooden sword and knelt, and Frost quietly brought his sword to Fluffy's neck. His breathing was not disturbed at all. What does that mean? It meant that the gap between the two was that overwhelming. Even though one was holding the world's demon sword, Vlad, and the other was holding a wooden sword.

I heard Ashley's voice.

"How many times is that?"

Walpole answered.

"I don't know. I stopped counting after ten."

Sir Ashley, who had returned from the bathroom, was sitting next to me.

Frost helped the junior famed sword owner up and gave him some advice. I could have eavesdropped if I had wanted to, but I didn't want to steal someone else's advice, so I left them alone.

A little later, Fluffy, who had received a good lesson from Frost, limped over to this side. Seeing his brighter face, it seemed he had gained some insight.

At that moment, Frost, who was still standing in the middle of the colorful flowers blooming in the garden, raised his sword and pointed it at me. His intention was clear.

'You. Come out.'

I stood up, brushing myself off.

"That cold bastard. I'll go beat him up."

I received Walpole's enthusiastic cheers from behind and walked through the flowers.

(End of Chapter)