Oscar gripped his greatsword tightly.
Clang.
He tossed away the hilt and clung to only the blade—the part still usable for combat.
“Haah, haah.”
Oh.
Perhaps from the strain, he dropped the edge for a moment before lifting it again. A drop of blood dangled dangerously from the tip.
Inside, I let out an exclamation. Until now, I’d only thought of him as a soldier serving the regime.
“…Huu.”
Oscar’s chest heaved as he tensed, casting me a fierce glare just as I had stabilized my breathing.
The subspace barrier had already dissipated. Oscar was completely exposed. Whether he realized it or not, his subordinates reached out desperately, screaming:
“Captain! That’s enough!”
“Silence, all of you!”
The shrill metallic clang echoed.
The guards lying on the ground simply clenched their lips. Once things settled, Oscar licked his chapped lips.
At first glance, he didn’t appear seriously wounded. In fact, he was intact—of course, he had just emerged from the subspace.
But mentally, Oscar was exhausted.
The end of subspace meant any attack now could kill him.
And still, he didn’t back down.
To be honest, the determination Oscar had desperately gathered stirred no emotion in me.
My soul was too worn to be moved by something so trivial.
Not just from age—but as a person.
‘Damn.’
Memories of my childhood suddenly surfaced. That past, where all I did was swing a sword, having pawned off my humanity.
For some reason, I feared I was reverting to that former self.
Thump, thump.
My heart pounded hard.
Because, unlike in subspace, I could smell blood in real space.
Swish.
Oscar pointed the blade directly at Kang Geom-Ma. Then, he began spinning on himself, propelling sideways with strong steps.
Fwoosh!
He spun rapidly inward. Afterimages multiplied counterclockwise, like a gradient of aligned clones.
He seemed to be aiming for a blind spot. His gaze, calculating the attack’s trajectory, was sharp.
Even the speed of his footwork was decent. His “warrior-class” title wasn’t unearned.
“Wow…”
Victoria opened her mouth in awe. As she rarely paid much attention to the Royal Guard, she didn’t know exactly how strong Oscar was.
She had only thought, “He must be strong.”
‘Now!’
Oscar’s blade gleamed. The strike, precisely aimed, barely grazed beneath Kang Geom-Ma’s ear.
Kang Geom-Ma slightly turned his head and then leapt ten steps back with a single impulse.
Oscar, hidden again among afterimages, kept multiplying them.
They slowly began to close in on Kang Geom-Ma, like they were tightening a noose.
“With all due respect, Your Highness, may I ask a question?”
Shail placed a hand over her heart and bowed. At the formality, Victoria scratched her cheek awkwardly.
“Yes, well…”
“Thank you.”
Shail turned her gaze to the battlefield.
“There’s a saying: ‘It’s darkest under the lamp.’ Your Highness may not know, but Royal Guard Captain Oscar is among the strongest of the warrior-class heroes. It’s said the only ones comparable are All Mute from the Lancelot Company or Mao Lang from Iron Horn. Lately, rumors suggest there will soon be a selection to fill the vacancies among the Seven Star Heroes.”
When reporters asked President Sung Yuchang of the Hero Association, he kept silent. That silence made it clear it wasn’t baseless. The world began to speculate who the next Seven Stars would be—and how many in total.
In the end, collective internet debate led to a conclusion:
“That the most likely successors to the Sword Master’s Seven Stars seat are those two.”
“Exactly. There are others, but those two are top of mind. Do you see my point, Your Highness?”
Victoria nodded.
“You’re saying the benchmark is Captain Oscar, not All Mute or Mao Lang.”
“Very perceptive.”
“…I have a question.”
Just then, Oscar launched his sword again.
Clang!
Kang Geom-Ma deflected it effortlessly, and Oscar, without hesitation, caught the returning blade and attacked again.
The sashimi blade and Oscar’s clashed.
Oscar tried a headbutt, but Kang Geom-Ma casually turned and struck his forehead with an elbow.
Oscar’s nose began to bleed. Bent like a bow, he tightened his core to stay balanced.
With immense focus, he held onto the thread of the battle.
Though his form looked somewhat pathetic, it was unclear why he was trying so hard. Choi Seol-Ah frowned, murmuring:
“Why doesn’t the lord just kill him already?”
Kang Geom-Ma responded to every attack, yet for some reason, he didn’t counter.
He just stood there, deflecting blows from all angles.
Victoria sympathized with Choi Seol-Ah’s complaint, but she answered Shail first.
“From what I understand, All Mute is stronger than Oscar.”
“That’s correct.”
“Then shouldn’t All Mute be the standard rather than Oscar?”
“An excellent question.”
Shail smiled with narrowed eyes.
“But, Your Highness, if the bar is set too high, no one can reach it. As you may know, before Heavenly Sword reformed the system ten years ago, the Seven Star Heroes remained at just four for decades. Do you know why?”
“Heavenly Sword…”
Back then, demons fully played their part. So the standards were strict, embodied by Heavenly Sword himself. Shail explained:
“If the bar is too high, no one even gets considered.”
“I see.”
“Truthfully, though I’m labeled warrior-class, I think placing me on the same level as Oscar is a mistake. To be blunt, I’m probably only at the level of his solar plexus. With my skills, I couldn’t land even a single effective blow on Lord Kang Geom-Ma. Oscar, at least, is trying to find an opening. Even if it means emptying himself completely.”
Shail’s words made Victoria narrow her eyes slightly.
“Quite the generous assessment for someone who’s not exactly friendly with us. It’s fine to be strict with yourself and others, but to some ears, it might sound like you’re praising Oscar.”
“Praise, you say…?”
Shail tilted her head slightly, repeating the word.
“‘He’s giving everything he’s got just to find an opening’—is that really praise?”
At that moment—
BOOOOOOM!
A deafening explosion rang out. Spectators’ hair blew wildly.
Dust blanketed what had just been a fierce battlefield.
Even the alert Royal Guard members looked confused.
When the dust cleared, a desolate scene emerged. One wall had caved in at least three meters.
At the center, Oscar was embedded—like someone publicly executed.
His joints bent in strange directions, like a tangled puppet. The sashimi blade stuck out all over him, reinforcing the image.
It wasn’t clear if he was dead. But even if alive, he would at least end up a cripple.
The most shocking part was Kang Geom-Ma. His hair had turned slightly white.
But then, as if black ink were being poured over it, the color gradually returned to normal.
Victoria trembled. But Shail and Choi Seol-Ah barely flinched.
“Looks like he got irritated.”
“Seems that way.”
Shail, agreeing, spoke to Victoria.
“Do you understand now?”
Gulp.
Victoria swallowed dryly.
“Even if it personally bothers me… to ease public unease, we need to fill the positions now.”
Fill the Seven Stars—with heroes at least on All Mute’s level.
***
That night, after the chaos.
Since I was returning to the country first thing the next morning, the emperor invited me to dinner.
At sunset, Garyeon came to get me and knocked on the door to guide me.
I was in the middle of a nap. After turning Oscar into mush, my head was still a mess, so I opened the door half asleep.
“Heavenly Sword, sir. I ask that you accompany me to a palace ceremony.”
“As long as it’s not something complicated.”
“I only ask one thing during the walk. Don’t say a single word. That’s all.”
A strange request.
Upon agreeing, Garyeon began to guide me. Along the way, I kept watching my surroundings.
Garyeon’s demeanor, walking ahead of me, was very different from the clumsy air she had shown before.
‘What is this…?’
I would soon have an audience with the emperor.
Kang Geom-Ma ✪ Garyeon
I suspected they had replaced the phrase “former official” with “palace officer ✪ emperor” for that reason.
But, to be direct, I was completely wrong. The reason Garyeon, who used to be so noisy, turned quiet was not because she was going to see the emperor. It was because of where I was going to meet him.
The imperial palace had a very high density of buildings. The land wasn’t especially large in proportion to its scale.
And yet, a small forest appeared. It couldn’t be called a park; there was only a narrow path that barely fit one person.
The dry tree branches intertwined with each other. Their twisted shapes absorbed the dim light from the outer walls. Even the crunch of breaking branches was chilling.
After about thirty minutes of walking, the thick trees vanished as if by magic. In their place, a log cabin stood right in the middle of the clearing. A man chopping wood saw us and slammed the axe into the stump with force.
“Good to see you.”
The emperor wiped the sweat from his forehead with the towel around his neck. If someone had seen my face at that moment, they would’ve thought of many different expressions. That’s how absurd the scene was.
“Looks like I surprised you.”
“…The emperor of the Great Empire chopping wood. How could I not be surprised? In fact, I think my reaction was rather restrained.”
“You’re right.”
The emperor spoke in his usual calm tone. At a glance of his eyes, Garyeon retreated the same way we had come.
She moved her lips slightly. It looked like she was going to say something but kept going in silence. Maybe she was holding back because she was in front of the emperor?
“Follow me.”
The emperor moved a finger. Garyeon’s consciousness completely vanished.
We entered the cabin. The inside was heavier than its appearance suggested.
The emperor took two small tea cups from the wall cabinet. Although they looked old, they were clean. He filled them with tea from a teapot he had in memory.
“So then.”
With the cup in hand, the emperor spoke.
“You gave our guard captain quite a lesson, huh?”
“He brought it on himself.”
“I don’t mean it as a reproach. Like I said, you gave him a lesson.”
The emperor let out a rough laugh.
“Have you found your answer yet?”
“…You already knew everything, didn’t you?”
That Oscar was trying to assassinate Victoria. That there was a mastermind behind it. The emperor already knew. He might even have known the true instigator’s identity.
“At the palace, that kind of thing happens frequently.”
“Just because it happens often doesn’t make it acceptable.”
“It’s something one must overcome to become emperor. If you’re found out, you die. If you lose in the power struggle, you die. Isn’t it simple?”
“…You’re cruel.”
I frowned. But the emperor didn’t flinch. With a lofty gaze, he stared at the fireplace and said:
“If I really favored Victoria, she’d be dead by now. The only thing keeping her alive is that I stay still, like a wound-up clock. You could call it my version of the art of ruling.”
“Then, by your logic, leaving Oscar in that state doesn’t violate any palace rules.”
“Exactly.”
Despite drinking hot tea, it seemed like steam escaped between his teeth. Even with the fireplace lit, the room felt cold.
The emperor finished his last sip and went to a small inner door.
“And your answer to the proposal I made?”
While holding the doorknob, he asked. I stood up from the chair and answered.
“I accept.”
But…
“I have one condition.”
“Ha ha ha, you really do think like a true educator.”
The emperor opened the door.
“I’ll add a condition to guarantee Victoria’s safety. Otherwise, I’ll go with Captain Oscar and rip the truth from whoever’s pulling the strings.”
A familiar scent came from the door. That same cold smell I had felt hours earlier.
“Let’s revise the terms of the deal.”
“…?”
“I only promised money, but I’ll grant one additional wish. Just one. If it’s for Victoria’s safety, I’ll care more for her than for myself. In return, I want you to fulfill one of my requests. Without fail.”
I stayed silent.
Because what I saw beyond the door left me speechless. Dim torches, and torture devices used only in the Middle Ages.
“Uuuh… uuuhk!”
“Guh… aaagh!”
A man and a woman were tied to torture racks. Blindfolded and gagged, their bodies were covered with marks of violence.
And unfortunately, some of the marks on the man’s body were my doing too.
“I already knew the guard captain and my wife had something. I didn’t care much. But if this gets out, that’s another story. It could hinder my plans.”
The torches cast dark shadows across the emperor’s face. And with a clear voice, he revealed the true reason for our meeting.
“Act like you didn’t see anything.”
Madness danced in his eyes.
____
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