Survival Story of a Sword King in a Fantasy World

Holy Punishers (1)

Prouasar, located in southern Allendia, the Fairy Kingdom.

It was a rich land where animals played in the dense forest and crops ripened in the fields. In the center of the territory, the Japran River, which supported everyone’s life, flowed.

However, normal people’s lives weren’t good at all.

Because the lord of that place, the 380-year-old Sylph, the Count of Prouasar, was quite eccentric.

-If you’re a human being, you should be valued for your skills, not for your blood!

In the Latna Continent, it might’ve seemed like a very progressive mind at first glance.

However, the Count of Prouasar’s interpretation was somewhat different.

In his thought, ‘human’ didn’t mean Latna’s intelligence, but humanity itself, which was the creation of Althea.

The Fairy tribes were completely excluded.

“What does blood mean to a human being?’

Compared to the noble Fairy tribes, any human being was humble anyway.

It wasn’t funny when low-minded people talked about each other’s blood.

‘Of course, human values should be determined by individual skills.’

Certainly, the Count favored talented humans and high-level hunters, even humans.

What about normal people who had low levels and no skills?

‘They’re not worth anything, so we should just use them, right?’

All he had to do was feed them enough to prevent them from starving to death, dress them enough so they wouldn’t freeze to death, and put them to sleep.

‘What’s the point of spending money on people who don’t live close to a hundred years even if I take good care of them?’

The estate tax was the lord’s authority, and he took 60% of the expenditure as tax.

Using such huge tax money, he hired ‘worthy human beings’ to create his iron fortress and enjoy a luxurious life. Under the harsh exploitation, the common people could do nothing but curse the Count.

‘Shitty Lord!’

‘Damn Prouasar!’

Of course, they did so internally.

No one could dare criticize him openly.

The full name of the Count was Prouasar Eli Meliador.

He was a member of the Meliador family of the Sylph tribe, the fourth royal family of Allendia.

He was a high-ranking aristocrat who was allowed to use the royal family name, even though he was the farthest from the royal family.

Besides, he belonged to the jurisdiction of Hollien, the Queen of the Fairy Kingdom. Even the aristocrats didn’t dare touch him, so he was at least a king within his own territory.

The high castle of the Count, located in the center of the estate.

In the office, a middle-aged man with gray hair calculated the month’s tax.

“A total of 340,000 Allen? The unexpected changes in the night have increased my profits.”

A special tax was collected to prepare for the deadly yet strange events when the moon was out.

He said it was to prepare for the appearance of the Alien monsters.

It couldn’t be said that his profits had increased since he had to spend it anyway, but the story was a little different in his case.

Just as dungeons did not appear in all parts of Latna, some places didn’t suffer from the vents depending on the night’s unexpected changes.

The territory of Count Prouasar was one of the lucky cases.

The monsters never appeared, yet the special tax was still collected.

Since he had public money, how couldn’t he be happy?

“If this is the case, I can buy the precious rice wine of Shartan.”

He was a gourmet, which meant he spent a considerable amount of money on getting his hands on precious food from all over the continent.

Counting the money, Count Prouasar enjoyed himself.

Derek, the head of butlers who was standing next to him, carefully gave his opinion.

“The world is not stable. Don’t you think it’s better to refrain from spending money?”

The territory of Count Prouasar was lucky enough to avoid the night’s unexpected changes, but other areas were suffering great damage.

“Wouldn’t it be difficult to show off too much luxurious life…?”

As if convinced, the Count also nodded.

“I see. Let’s cut food costs by 10 percent this month.”

“No, that’s…”

Derek was embarrassed.

He meant to be frugal, but Prouasar said he would just cut down on his food expenses?

A person who used to eat on a gold bowl wouldn’t have their luxurious lifestyle stopped even if he ate on a silver bowl.

However, that was for the Count to realize himself.

Frugality had a different standard for him in the first place.

“Then why don’t we cut taxes a little bit? Wouldn’t it be difficult for the Count to lose your people?”

The Count asked seriously.

“Didn’t the soybean farming go pretty well this year?”

“Oh, well, yes…”

“Then it’s okay. Humans don’t die even if they just eat beans.”

“Old people will be in danger.”

“Isn’t it the providence of the world that the Goddesses set those old people to die when they are old enough?”

“…”

Derek shut up.

His long experience told him that the Count didn’t want to listen to him anymore.

“Don’t worry. Normal people can’t complain. How good is our land to live in? I feed them and let them sleep. They don’t need to worry about dying since there are no monsters…”

As Count Prouasar kept talking such nonsense…

A huge explosion rang out outside the mansion.

Boom!

The floor shook as if there was an earthquake.

At the same time, loud cries were heard in the wind.

“Attack! Attack!”

“Everyone ready for battle!”

Derek looked out the window in astonishment.

“Is this the assault of monsters?”

The Count, who was slow to grasp the situation, was not even surprised.

Grabbing his pocket of money, he murmured blankly.

“No way! Our territory doesn’t even have monsters, does it?”

* * *

Four shadows were reflected over the smashed gate.

There were a big man, a slim, tall beauty, a wizard wearing a robe, and a silver-haired girl dressed in light armor.

The four of them slowly passed the gate through the fluttering debris.

Looking at the broken gate, Ryu Han-bin clicked his tongue.

“Is it okay to break this? It looks like a precious cultural asset.”

It was a wonderful old castle that looked more than 100 years old.

‘Shouldn’t we preserve these cultural heritages well?’

Of course, that was just Han-bin’s idea.

Artis replied as if he were saying nonsensical things again.

“What’s so precious about a castle that’s only 100 years old? It’s younger than me.”

“… Is that so?”

Cultural heritage standards in that world were quite different from those in modern times.

‘In modern terms, is it just like breaking an apartment door that’s been there for a while already?

He thought he didn’t need to care anyway.

Relieved, Ryu Han-bin turned to the castle.

Nearly a hundred heavily armed soldiers were staring at them.

They intentionally gave the troops time to gather.

“They are not monsters.”

“Who are they?”

“Are they bandits looking for the Count’s treasure?”

A considerable number of bandits had attacked the castle so far.

It was because if they succeeded well, they could change their lives in an instant.

Of course, they had never succeeded.

The power of the Count was amazing.

For that reason, the soldiers were quite used to that kind of assault.

In a short period, they already geared up for battle against the intruders.

However, unlike usual, their faces were dark.

‘Only four?’

‘Only four attacked us, and they went for a frontal attack?’

No one was relieved that the opponent’s number was small.

In Latna, where individual differences were so severe, it was much more likely that the few were at a higher level since they were confident in their skills than foolish ones who fought using numbers.

‘No matter what, four of you are after the Count family?’

‘How high is their level?’

Nevertheless, they did not run away in fear.

The soldiers calmly pointed at them with their spears and slowly went to capture the uninvited guests.

Ryu Han-bin, who sneakily turned on the guideline, was slightly impressed.

‘the soldiers are pretty good, aren’t they?’

[Race: Human. Swordsman lv. 42]

[Race: Human. Fighter Lv. 44]

[Race: Human. Spearman Lv. 41]

Most of them were level 40 or higher.

Most soldiers in the middle of the continent weren’t weak.

‘Their levels are higher than Artis was when I first met him.’

In the Xrad Kingdom, a remote region, people above level 40 were treated as top-class hunters worthy of showing off their power.

But they were just guards for the territory there.

‘It’s different when you’re in the Continental Top Three.’

Well, there was no reason to care about it.

Han-bin walked calmly.

The guards shouted at the approaching muscular giant.

“Stop moving, or we’ll attack you!”

“Unarm yourself and kneel!”

Han-bin and the security guards knew that they could not surrender after all those fusses.

But it was a formal procedure, so that they couldn’t help it either.

Ignoring them, Ryu Han-bin reached out for his weapon behind his back.

‘In fact, I don’t think I need to use a sword if they are at that level…’

Still, he unsheathed his sword out.

There was another reason.

Like when Leon Hart first met him, the other Templar Lords had the same misunderstanding about Ryu Han-bin.

-Isn’t that Gigant?

-What a surprise!

-So he became the heir of the Sword King?

He had to solve the misunderstanding.

-Actually, I’ve never met the Sword King.

However, he couldn’t solve it easily.

-Did you master the swordsmanship of the Sword King?

-Are you using the sword of the Sword King?

-I heard you’ve mastered the Valtara’s Fighting Spirit.

-You are the heir of the Sword King, after all.

After having explained it in detail, everyone understood the situation.

He also pointed out that the ‘misunderstanding’ was quite useful.

-It’s reassuring that the heir of the Sword King supports the Holy Punishers!

There was no need for Han-bin to claim to be the heir on purpose.

However, there was nothing to lose if people recognized Han-bin as a student of Baotolt.

He could borrow the name of the Sword King.

So he purposely took out the Gigant to show off.

He did it to leave a message.

‘Now, look! This is Gigant, the sword of the Sword King Baotolt!’

* * *

The enormous gray blade glistened in the moonlight.

All the soldiers looked demoralized by it.

“That’s a fucking big sword.”

“Jesus, he was no ordinary man!”

Everyone was surprised, but it wasn’t the expected response.

It ended with ‘Wow, the sword is really big!’

‘How come no one recognizes it?’

Well, it was hard to expect soldiers in that kind of territory to know.

Giving up, Han-bin decided to accomplish his original purpose for visiting the place.

He gestured to Effir.

“Stick it to them.”

“Roger that!”

Effir quickly inserted her hand in her pocket.

A long rod of nearly two meters was taken out of the space pocket.

As they put the stick on the ground and spread the rolled cloth, a large flag proudly appeared in front of the soldiers.

The symbol of the six Goddesses was drawn in the center. The flag had a cross made out of a sword and a spear.

At that moment, the soldiers recognized it.

That symbol was the flag of a ‘power’ that recently hit the continent.

“Holy Punishers?”

“Oh, my God! Why are you lunatics attacking our castle?”

Artis shouted.

“We are those who follow the will of the true goddess!”

A loud cry spread softly throughout the ancient castle.

“Holy punishment for the sinners of evil who serve the Incredible, the sinner of asceticism!”