Chapter 1327 – 1327. Plum Blossom Sword Master Reincarnated Into A Baek Family
I put aside all sorts of other matters and decided to deal with the cracked blade of the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger first. After all, the post-war cleanup wasn’t my responsibility, so it didn’t matter to me.
When a person is sick, you go to a doctor. When a machine breaks down, you go to an engineer. When something goes wrong, it’s best to seek out an expert. I went to the dwarf slave village in Thebra.
“Welcome, Count! As per your orders, we’ve been making weapons and armor every day!”
As soon as I appeared in the village, the dwarves prostrated themselves on the ground. It was a survival tactic they had learned from my usual antics. I looked around the Frost Hammer tribe with a serious face and said,
“It’s an order. Gather all the dwarves.”
The dwarves spread my command throughout the village with uneasy expressions. In less than 10 minutes, all the dwarves had gathered in the center of the village.
“Um, Count. Was there a problem with the goods we delivered…?”
Fersus, the chief of the Frost Hammer tribe, asked, trembling with fear.
Instead of explaining with words, I summoned the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger.
“Heeeeeek?!”
The dwarves let out unsightly screams and collapsed to the ground as I suddenly pulled out the sword.
“P-please spare us!”
“If we made a mistake, we’ll fix it right away! Please give us a chance!”
“H-have we become useless?”
I frowned. I didn’t like the fussing dwarves. Should I kill one as an example? I seriously considered it, but then realized that now wasn’t the time.
“Look at this! The blade of the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger is cracked!”
“It’s hard to see from far away. May we take a closer look?”
“Yes. Look carefully. If the crack in the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger gets any bigger, or if the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger breaks… you will all be annihilated.”
“Heeek! W-we’ll look carefully!”
Fersus approached. He very carefully looked at the cracked part. His face became serious.
“Count. May I take a closer look?”
“Yes.”
Fersus reached out his hand. He wanted me to hand over the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger. I was reluctant to hand the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger to anyone else, but I had no choice if I wanted to fix it.
“Huuuuh!”
As soon as Fersus received the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger, he was startled and dropped it on the ground.
“You little shit!”
“Hic! I-I’m sorry!”
Fersus put on the gloves he had on his waist and grabbed the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger. Fersus’s face was not good. It wasn’t just because he dropped the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger.
“You guys. Come and look at this sword.”
Fersus said to the surrounding dwarves. The dwarves, while watching my reaction, couldn’t hide their curiosity and slowly approached.
“Hoo…. This is almost like a cursed sword. Hey, you’re an expert in cursed swords. Do you know anything?”
“Hmm…. I’ve made cursed swords on purpose a few times… but this is on a different level. It’s naturally turning into a cursed sword. And wasn’t the material of this sword said to be red dragon scales and dark iron? To artificially make it a cursed sword, you would have to kill at least hundreds of thousands of people and accumulate grudges…”
“You killed hundreds of thousands of people…?”
“That’s the minimum. Look at the sword. There are traces of the grudges contained in the sword being washed away through reforging. But it’s still in this state.”
“Can’t you just reforge it?”
“Are you crazy! Didn’t you see the chief scream as soon as he grabbed the hilt? If you try to reforge it, you might die before you even hit it a few times with the hammer. It’s best to get rid of a sword like this.”
The dwarf looked at me, realizing what he had said. I glared at him with wide eyes. He lowered his gaze and mumbled.
“I-it’s absolutely unacceptable to get rid of such a famous sword. Don’t you all think so?”
“O-of course.”
“We shouldn’t get rid of a famous sword that will go down in history.”
They were all watching my reaction.
“Stop talking nonsense and fix the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger.”
The dwarves started whispering among themselves. I didn’t like it, but there was nothing I could do. I was the one in a hurry.
The dwarves’ meeting ended. Fersus, holding the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger, carefully approached me.
“Um, Count… please don’t get angry and listen calmly.”
“If you don’t talk nonsense, I won’t get angry.”
“Ahem…. W-well….”
Fersus hesitated. He looked around as if asking for help, but the dwarves were looking at Fersus with cold eyes.
“Hoo. I’ll be honest. We don’t have the ability to repair the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger.”
“Are you saying you don’t want to do it?”
“N-no, absolutely not!”
“I heard what you were saying earlier. You were saying the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger is a cursed sword or something.”
“A cursed sword. In other words, a demonic sword. It refers to a weapon that has been altered by grudges or curses. It has special abilities… but they are usually bad.”
“Just get to the point. Just get to the point.”
“…The Fire Lotus Flying Dagger is a sword that is undergoing demonization. The problem is that the demonization has stopped because the blade is cracked. Usually, in this case, the demonic energy… that is, things like grudges or curses, would escape, and it would become ordinary metal… but the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger is not doing that.”
“So what’s the reason you can’t fix it?”
“Because if we try to repair it, we could be crushed by the curse and grudges and die. Of course, we are prepared to risk our lives to repair your Fire Lotus Flying Dagger, Count. But if we try and die… both the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger and us will face bad consequences.”
“If you get rid of the grudges or curses?”
“It’s already been reforged once. If we purify it in this state… the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger won’t be able to withstand it and will break.”
“Then what do you want me to do? It’s cracked, and the demonization has stopped? Are you saying I should just give up?”
“I-I’m sorry! The Fire Lotus Flying Dagger has excellent durability, so it won’t break right away! I think you can use it for at least 100 years!”
“You little shit…”
“Heeeeeek!”
I sighed. These incompetent dwarves were one of my sources of income. A source of income that I could milk for the rest of my life. If I killed them in a fit of anger, the loss would be enormous.
“Okay. I’ll have to find another way. You guys get back to work.”
“Um, Count. Looking at the state of the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger, it seems like you killed a tremendous being… May I ask what kind of being it was?”
“Can you tell?”
“Our conclusion is that it wouldn’t be in that state if you killed an ordinary being…”
“Hmm. I killed a red dragon. It was an adult.”
“Oh! I see. That’s why it’s in that state…”
Fersus and the other dwarves nodded as if they understood something.
I looked for others. I couldn’t give up on the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger so easily. According to Fersus, I could use it for 100 years without any problems… but 100 years didn’t feel long to me, who used the Leisure Life App.
‘100 years is nothing in the world of Light Ascension. I’ll basically keep the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger in my inventory, but…’
First, I met with Yuria. She usually solved most of my problems. Coincidentally, Sharnel and Priscilla were also by her side. Priscilla was an Ancient Dragon, so I could ask for her advice on the state of the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger.
Yuria’s eyes widened when she saw the state of the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger.
“This is… amazing.”
“Dullibard. The grudge of that half-baked thing is vividly contained. Usually, that wouldn’t happen… is it because it’s a sword made of dragon scales?”
“I, I don’t really understand even if I look at it.”
Yuria shook her head.
“I’m sorry, Master. It doesn’t seem like something I can do anything about.”
“If you touch it carelessly, the curse will transfer to your body. It’s a material that can’t even be made with magic tools. I recommend throwing it away.”
I sighed at their reactions.
Yuria and Priscilla had given up. That meant there was no way to repair the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger in this world.
But it wasn’t time to give up completely yet.
I had the Leisure Life App. Someday, I would be able to get an item that could repair the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger.
‘If not, I can go to a world where I can repair the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger.’
I looked at the blade of the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger with a heavy heart. The cracked part caught my eye. It wasn’t even 1cm, but it bothered me so much.
‘……If I sand it, won’t the crack disappear?’
Was it just my imagination? I felt like the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger trembled slightly.
***
As soon as the war ended, Melissa relinquished her position as the Archduke of Argen without any regrets. She abandoned her position above all others and returned to being my maid.
The Archduke of Argen declared a new kingdom.
The Kingdom of Argen.
The people, exhausted by Dullibard’s tyranny and the continuous wars, supported the Archduke of Argen.
The continental war was over. The flames of war that had been burning the continent had died down.
My marriage with Melissa was postponed until after the Kingdom of Argen was settled.
I led the army on the way home. It was a long way to go back. But when I thought about what I would gain after returning, my steps became lighter.
‘The surviving troops after the war are 50,000… that’s a lot?’
20,000 slave soldiers. 30,000 elite soldiers.
Considering that there were 120,000 troops when I left my territory, more than half had died. That alone was a huge loss, but 50,000 was still a lot.
‘Did I capture too many slave soldiers… I should kill them at the right time.’
When we returned to the Rapelli Kingdom, the slave soldiers and elite soldiers would return to their own territories. There wouldn’t be even 10,000 soldiers left in my territory.
‘They’re guys with war experience. And they’ve tasted looting and rape once… it wouldn’t be strange if they turned into bandits.’
I didn’t care if they caused trouble in other countries. But the Rapelli Kingdom was my territory. I couldn’t just stand by and watch them cause trouble in my territory.
‘I should get rid of them before they cause trouble. It’s too obvious to get rid of them all… let’s leave about 20,000.’
The problem was how to kill 30,000 people.
I couldn’t kill them openly. My own soldiers would rebel, and it would damage my reputation.
‘Let’s use demons.’
The plan went smoothly.
I asked Yuria to create a large-scale trap. I led the army into the trap. A natural disaster created by magic occurred. The ground cracked, and hail fell from the sky. Here, I also created the appearance of demons with magic and showed them to the soldiers.
“Demons! Demons have come to kill us! Kill the demons!!”
I shouted with all my might.
The cause of all this was demons. That was what I wanted to emphasize.
And when about 30,000 of my own troops had died, I stepped forward and eliminated the demons myself.
“There were many sacrifices, but we have defeated the demons and won! Now, let’s go home!”
The soldiers cheered.
I laughed at the soldiers in my heart. They were fools.
And we returned to the Rapelli Kingdom and disbanded the army.
[The game is over.]
