Solo Swordmaster

Chapter 37:Inflation

Was it because Limon had been alive for a long time?

He had been through, quite literally, all kinds of ordeals.

Among those, many were unfathomable.

Hence, it was quite a rare occasion to see Limon get taken aback by anything.

“…Did you just say that you’ve been secretly ensuring world peace by preventing all those inevitable wars for the past 32 years?”

But at this moment, Limon could feel his eyeballs pop out of his sockets and roll onto the ground in astonishment.

He wanted her to tell the truth, not joke around.

And if she was serious, he wanted her to lie for the sake of his sanity.

“You, the Seven Dragons Association?” he confirmed again in a trembling voice.

“Yes.”

She did not hesitate.

Shutting down Limon’s desperate wishes, she delivered another blow to the shocked man.

“For whatever reason it may be, if there were any signs of war, we got the powerful to compromise with one another through threats and bribery. And we created the Player Society and the guild system, so that players would regulate themselves. We stopped anyone trying to bring major chaos to this world before they could act — whether it be dark mages, mad scientists, or players.”

Limon was starting to feel dizzy.

Li Chingwei’s words had a much greater impact on him than even the thousands of skills Lee Chun-gi had used.

That was how shocking her confession was.

No matter how much time had passed, regardless of the fact they were a legal major corporation now — the Seven Dragons Association Limon knew of wouldn’t do such a thing.

To be exact, they couldn’t do such a thing.

“That goes against your doctrine.”

The Seven Dragons Association was ultimately a religion.

They believed that the ultimate utopia could only be attained through a world ruled by dragons — that in order to revert the world back to what it used to be, it had to be pulled out from its roots.

And they did not hesitate to act on such beliefs.

As a result, the Seven Dragons Association has been the cause of chaos, war, and strife for many centuries.

When they first entered the legal world, many rightly doubted their intentions.

And here stood the Black Dragon Princess.

Did one of the princesses of such an organization really just say that they stopped wars, regulated players, and prevented chaos to maintain world peace?

Anyone who knew of the past Seven Dragons Association would have been enthralled by this news.

And to that, Li Chingwei had a definite answer.

“ There isn’t actually a rule from our founders that we must destroy the world, you see.”

Well, of course there wouldn’t.

The Seven Dragons would not have taught them to destroy the world when they were ruling it, and it was impossible to preach otherwise when they were dead.

World domination was a matter of fact for the Seven Dragons Association, due to their tenacity for revenge getting intertwined with their beliefs.

In that sense, they were most definitely able to contribute to world peace.

Having explained herself, Li Chingwei grinned.

“Our most important objective is recreating the utopia our founders made, not to overthrow the world.”

“...Does anyone else believe that crap?”

“For some odd reason, no.”

“Well, no shit…”

Li Chingwei tilted her head to the side in confusion.

Limon looked perplexed.

The Seven Dragons Association and Limon would not have engaged in bloody battle for centuries on end if they were actually reasonable people.

Moreover, it was a scheme that changed both their practices and goals.

They were trying to ruin Limon to build their utopia, yet they’d achieved that utopia in the process of ruining Limon.

It had the same result, so it doesn’t matter, right?

Why don’t you tell a devout believer to convert their faith immediately? Paradise and heaven are the same good, aren’t they?

Or try telling them to feast on the forbidden foods — their beliefs are irrational, after all.

You’ll get the chance to be cursed out by a man of faith.

The Seven Dragons Association in particular did not know of compromise.

A man would lose even his most distant relatives upon critiquing their beliefs. If one were to count, there would be entire mountains of people exterminated by the Association.

And yet, here they were now. One of the seven princesses, the cardinal leaders of the Seven Dragons Association as well as the pillars of their faith, of all people, telling Limon that she didn’t care.

Limon felt like he was seeing his world spinning.

“There was indeed a lot of opposition from within our association about this plan as well. It didn’t even feel like it could come into fruition at first.”

“I see that chivalry’s still alive.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Nothing. It’s just nice to hear that there are people in the Seven Dragons Association who don’t think like you do.”

Who knew he would be feeling relieved that there were still members of that association still opposed to peace? Even he himself found it ironic.

Li Chingwei continued while blinking in confusion as she didn’t understand Limon’s complicated reactions.

“Anyway, we had to propose another plan in order to persuade those who were against it.”

“Another plan? Did you maintain galactic peace or something this time?”

“No,” Li Chingwei softly shook her head at Limon’s sarcasm.

And when she went on to speak again, Limon couldn’t believe his own ears once again.

“It was to legalize the Seven Dragons Association.”

***

***

“…The hell did you say?”

“We suggested taking the Seven Dragons Association out of the shadows by creating the Seven Dragon Group as a means to acquire the necessary funds and influential power for world peace.”

“That’s not what I meant, I’m not deaf! I’m asking, why is that being brought up now?!”

Limon cried out, finally losing control of his emotions.

The legalization of the Seven Dragons Association was a social issue that took the world by storm. In fact, it was one of the biggest incidents in the Iron Age at the time, even bigger than the rise of Constellations and players.

And to hear that it was all because of him!

This wasn’t something Limon could accept so easily.

Meanwhile, Li Chingwei was nonchalant.

“It was the only way we could persuade those who opposed it.”

“…So you carried out your plan for world peace under the pretext of legalization?”

“Yes. It seems like you misunderstood something though, Master of Swords. We, the Seven Dragons Association, didn't stay in the shadows because we liked to.”

No one likes to live in hiding.

Especially not when it’s a massive group with power and wealth, like the Seven Dragons Association.

The leading members of the Association wished to come out from the shadows, but they couldn’t reveal it in fear of going against their doctrine, as well as the backlash from its members.

The plan for world peace was the perfect pretext — it didn’t go against their doctrine, it was justified under the reason of ruining Limon, and if it went wrong, those who brought it up would take the fall.

As soon as the plan was brought up, it was inevitable that both the Elders and the Princesses took up the offer.

“In truth, everyone deserves credit for their secret preparations, allowing the legalization process to go by quickly,” Li Chingwei said with a bright smile.

As it turns out, the majority of the seven Princesses had already been pulling strings behind the curtains.

It was all thanks to their preparations that the members of the Seven Dragons Association took it as they did — surprisingly well.

And in less than a year, the Seven Dragon Group dominated the global economy.

Limon looked at her with dead eyes. He looked like he had just lost everything.

“…Chivalry isn’t dead, my ass.”

Limon couldn’t understand why he felt more heart-wrenching about the Seven Dragons Association’s apostasy than even Yoo Na-kyung or Kang Jungsoo’s betrayal.

Fed up by the dishonesty, he was merely reminded that kids these days were, in the end, just kids.

Li Chingwei gave Limon a bitter smile.

“But it was truly a challenge to maintain world peace. Much more than we thought it would be.”

“What, did you think it would have been easy, then?”

“No, I knew it would be difficult.”

World peace: it was a dream even children could have. A dream only children could have.

And the Seven Dragons Association came to learn of the fair share of hardships that came with attaining world peace.

“I just didn’t know we would be spending more money over the course of these 32 years than we have had to for centuries past.”

“Just how much money did you guys spend?!”

“I am not sure. The exact amount cannot be summed up, but the Seven Dragon Group did almost face bankruptcy after a few years.

“Are you trying to shrivel up the world economy for world peace?!”

Limon’s mouth was agape.

The Seven Dragon Group was the biggest company in the world. The very company acclaimed to have all the world’s riches in their grasp, hitting bankruptcy?

With that same amount of money, their goal of world domination could have been achieved multiple times over.

Though, of course, the Association would also go down in ruins.

“Obviously, that was not something we wanted.”

Their goal was making a utopia, not living in poverty.

And definitely not when they already had access to all the money and power in the world after successfully coming out into the sun.

“So we made the Monarchs the new Absolute Rulers.”

“…???”

Limon looked perplexed by the sudden change in subject.

“What does that have to do with… Wait.”

He stared down Li Chingwei.

“You said you guys were the ones who created the Player Society and the guild system, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then, could it be…”

Having been a former PAB agent, Limon had a rough idea of the player profit system.

This was a conclusion he could come to because he knew exactly what kind of group the Seven Dragons Association was to the core.

Looking dumbstruck, Limon cried out the unimaginable, “did you ‘inflate’ it on purpose?!”

“It is as you say,” Li Chingwei nodded calmly.

“We bought the Dungeon products at hundreds of times their actual costs, and turned the high-level players into multi-millionaires.

The reason high-level players were called ‘one man companies’ and were looked upon so highly in this society was due to the value of the mined products, monster corpses, and items taken from the Dungeon.

And who decided the cost of those Dungeon scraps?

No one else but the Player Society.

In other words, the Player Society could raise the price of theses scraps endlessly with nothing to stop them. And if even the Seven Dragons Group considered the Dungeon scraps to be valuable, then its worth would inevitably soar up.

Even if those scraps were nothing but useless garbage.

“The Society gets a portion of the revenue from players and guilds via regulations. The cost of the Dungeon scraps going up must mean…”

“The Society gets more profit as well. And regulating the cost while repeatedly selling them back into the market…”

“The Seven Dragon Group would have made an insane profit. Not to mention, you guys were able to scale trade the debt you got thanks to your bubble chamber.”

“You figured all of that out from the fact we were behind the Player Society. Impressive.”

But Limon couldn't bring himself to feel triumphant about his discovery.

Instead, his veins popped out of his forehead.

“Oi, you bastards. That’s a scaaaam!!!”

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