Why do people curse?
Was there really a need to look for an answer to that question? Cursing was just something that you did.
Sometimes, curses really did seem to come out all by themselves.
Because you wanted to curse.
Because you had no choice but to curse.
That was currently the case with Eugene. In this situation, faced with such an Emperor, the curse words just came pouring out. He had been left with no choice but to curse.
Just look at this bastard — no, this son of a bitch. The words the Emperor had just spat out painted quite an interesting picture.
What did he say? For the Empire’s prosperity and the peace of the continent? In the end, this son of a bitch was just scared of Helmuth and the Demon Kings. He wanted to stop a war from happening no matter what, so he had called Eugene here today to put a leash on him.
In fact, if you looked at it from a different point of view, the Emperor’s words did seem reasonable. Helmuth was an extremely large empire, and not only was there the threat of the Demon King of Incarceration, there was even the Demon King of Destruction standing behind him. If all of the nations on the continent, both of the humans and all other races, were to join forces, they might barely be able to stand their ground in a war against Helmuth — no, if the two Demon Kings were to make a personal appearance on the frontlines, the war would probably end up one-sidedly flowing in their favor.
However, Straut could only say those kinds of words because he was an Emperor who lived in a peaceful era. Only in that way could he actually have such naive thoughts.
However, Eugene wasn’t someone from this era. Eugene could admit that his way of thinking was still tied back to his past, from three hundred years ago, during the era of war. Regardless of what others might think of him, Eugene really was an old fogey.
“Let me tell you how things were back in my day, you son of a bitch,” Eugene cursed as he sent his chair spinning with a kick. “The world was a very fucked-up place. Demonfolk, demonic beasts, and black wizards were getting up to all sorts of shit all over the place. Meanwhile, all the Demon Kings’ armies were crawling down from the Devildom.”
The Emperor was left grasping for words, “Ah…. Wha….”
“You asked me, who on earth would want a war, didn’t you?” Eugene snorted. “Do you really think that, back then, we all wanted the war to break out? Huh, do you? Those sons of bitches, the Demon Kings, were the ones who first assaulted the rest of the world. As a fucking Emperor, haven’t you even learned your history, you bastard?”
Unable to come up with anything to say in his defense, the Emperor was still flapping his lips soundlessly.
This couldn’t be helped. Straut had been a member of the royal family from the moment he was born, and that too, he was born as the Crown Prince, first in line for the succession. Because he had such an identity, he had hardly ever heard any rude words throughout his entire life, and in the same way, he was someone who had never once lowered himself to using foul language, nor had he ever felt the need to.
But what about Hamel? Growing up in a rural village in the boonies, he had become familiar with swear words from a young age. Having been the leader of their village’s gang of kids from a very young age, he had practically lived with swear words stuck to his lips. Then, after becoming a mercenary, every other word out of his mouth was practically a curse[1].
After becoming comrades with Vermouth, Anise had worked on correcting his manners even when it required kicking him in the ass to do so, but people, by nature, aren’t so easy to change. The only effect of Anise’s efforts was that he cursed somewhat less than before. Even now, after dying as Hamel and reincarnating as Eugene, he was still just as accustomed to cursing as ever.
Eugene continued speaking, “After having received such an assault, the people of that era were forced to gather their strengths together to fight back. As for this current peace? This is also something that was only obtained because the people of the past shed their blood in your stead. Got that? Not only were you able to grow up in such a fortunate world where you can live with a full stomach and a roof over your head, but a bastard like you was also even lucky enough to be born into the imperial family and become the Emperor. Haaaah, really, you son of a bitch!”
Eugene’s face twisted into a scowl, and he raised his fist threateningly at the Emperor. However, the Emperor didn’t show much of a reaction to the gesture.
This was also a natural reaction for him.
Because the Emperor had never once been on the receiving end of a beating in his entire life, he simply didn’t recognize that a fist that had been raised like that could ever be thrown at him.
Eugene didn’t really care about the fact that the Emperor wasn’t showing a response. Having been pissed off and annoyed by the Emperor, his first reaction was just to pour out everything he wanted to say.
“What was that you said earlier?” Eugene asked with a sneer. “The prosperity of the Empire and the peace of the continent? You goat-fucking fuckwit, what exactly did you hear when that bastard Incarceration was throwing his weight around and yapping away? Whether or not a Hero appears, and even if we don’t do anything, that motherfucking mysterious Oath is still going to end! And what do you think will happen once that Oath is over? What else?! That bastard Incarceration will just do the same thing he did three hundred years ago. And do you know what that means?”
There was no response from the Emperor to Eugene’s question.
“It means the world will be fucked!” Eugene roared. “Well? I said the world will be fucked, you idiot! You bastard who only knows how to spout, ‘You dare! You dare!’ Even knowing just how painfully your ancestors got their shit kicked in three hundred years ago, you still have the nerve to say such things?”
The Emperor still couldn’t come up with a response to all this. It wasn’t that he couldn’t come up with a way to refute Eugene’s words. It was just that the Emperor found himself unable to fully comprehend the situation he was in.
The man who was vomiting out such a vulgar and uncultured speech right in front of him was Eugene Lionheart. There was no doubt about that. However, due to the powers given to him by this Space, the Emperor had discovered that the one inside Eugene Lionheart was the Stupid Hamel.
But did that even make any sense?
What was the Stupid Hamel who died three hundred years ago doing inside Eugene Lionheart? And was that Stupid Hamel from three hundred years back actually admonishing the Emperor of the Kiehl Empire with such harsh curse words?
How the hell was he just supposed to accept this?
Eugene broke the silence, “You shithead, when an elder born three hundred years earlier than you is speaking to you, how dare you keep your mouth shut? Aren’t you going to say anything?”
The Emperor eventually stammered, “Im… impudence….”
Eugene frowned, “Impudence? You’re the one being impudent, you fucktrumpet!”
Until now, Eugene had been holding himself back from taking action by using curse words instead, but since the Emperor was still behaving like this, he felt that cursing alone wasn’t enough. If this was still in reality, Eugene would have made an effort to be even the slightest bit more patient, but now that they were here in the special space, he didn’t have any intention of keeping his patience.
Eugene stalked over to the Emperor with a grim expression on his face.
Even the Emperor couldn’t afford to stay still at this move. He still couldn’t quite grasp this situation, but even a neighborhood stray, let alone an Emperor, would be able to tell that someone drawing closer to them with that expression on their face wouldn’t have any kind intentions for them upon arrival.
“You dare!” the Emperor roared as he waved his staff.
Fwooosh!
Because his omnipotence within this space was still intact, the Emperor was able to fly high into the sky out of his own free will. He created a new throne from this higher vantage point and sat down on it while glaring at Eugene.
Mustering his dignity, the Emperor shouted, “You dare to question Us , the Emperor of the Kiehl Empire—!”
“Aren’t you going to get down from there?” Eugene chided like an adult speaking to a particularly naughty child.
The Emperor stammered, “T-tell Us your true identity!”
Eugene snorted, “Tell you what? Haven’t you already discovered it due to your oh-so-impressive powers? You already know who I am.”
“Th-that’s…,” the Emperor trailed off uncertainly.
“Fine, since you want me to say it, I’ll just say it. I am Eugene Lionheart, the reincarnation of Hamel Dynas, who died three hundred years ago. Satisfied? But not even the Emperor of my era dared to behave as arrogantly as you have, you motherfucker!” Eugene swore loudly.
That was a lie. Three hundred years ago, he did meet the Emperor, but that was before they had even started exploring the Devildom in earnest.
After their party crossed the sea and made a name for themselves while wandering through the Devildom for some time, they declared that their goal was to slay the Demon Kings and had returned to the continent for resupply and reorganization. The “Hero Vermouth” and his companions had been invited to an audience with the rulers of the continent, which had included the then Emperor of Kiehl.
In a world that was falling to pieces, the banquet could only have been held by squeezing the lifeblood out of the already suffering people; all to send a farewell to the warriors who would be setting out to slay the Demon Kings and the Hero who stood at their head. Even back then, Eugene had disliked how those rulers had held themselves, but that being said, he had still been able to hold himself back from pointing an accusing finger at the emperors and cursing them out.
But what if…? What if Hamel had returned from the Castle of the Demon King of Incarceration without dying? Would the Emperor of that era have still been as arrogant as the Emperor of today’s era?
Eugene didn’t think that would have been the case. So even if what he had just said was untrue, Eugene didn’t think of it as a lie.
“ We … are the Emperor of Kiehl,” the Emperor declared as he gathered his faculties and settled his trembling voice.
Reincarnation? Could such a thing really exist in this world? The Emperor still couldn’t quite believe it, but — he had no choice but to believe it.
“Eugene Lionheart…!” the Emperor took a breath. “Even if you are the reincarnation of the Stupid Hamel, the hero from three hundred years ago, how dare you be so rude in front of Us —”
Eugene cut him off short, “Why shouldn’t I?”
Still standing in the same spot, Eugene looked up at the Emperor, who was so high that even if Eugene tilted his head all the way back, he could only see the soles of the Emperor’s feet.
As a test, Eugene tried to move his body around. He found himself able to move easily without any problems. Next, he tried taking a few light hops on the spot.
“Just think about it,” Eugene continued. “The reason you called me here was to either subjugate or get rid of me by using the impressive powers of this space.”
The Emperor hesitated, “That’s….”
Eugene raised an eyebrow, “Are you going to try and deny it? Is it alright for an Emperor like you to lie about such a thing?”
“This truly is all for the prosperity of the Empire and the peace of the continent!” the Emperor roared, refusing to back down. “Eugene Lionheart! If you really are the Stupid Hamel from back then, shouldn’t you be able to understand Our will all the more? After all, didn’t you personally see and experience that terrible war from three hundred years ago?!”
“Of course, I know all about it,” Eugene admitted.
“Our current peace was won back then by Vermouth Lionheart and the other heroes like you!” The Emperor attempted to claim, “But We , as the reigning Emperor, have the duty to maintain this peace—”
“It seems you weren’t fucking listening to what I just said, were you, you moron? Even if we don’t do anything, the Oath is still going to end!” Eugene repeated himself.
“Even so… there should still be other methods,” the Emperor desperately insisted. “And the Oath still hasn’t ended just yet! Also, even if the Oath does end, it’s not guaranteed that the Demon Kings will declare a war—”
Eugene snapped back, “And there’s no guarantee they won’t! Hey, do you really think you know the Demon Kings better than I do? Huh? When you don’t even know better than me, why do you keep trying to get the last word?”
The Emperor shook his head, “There might… still be other methods. A way to maintain peace without a war or killing the Demon Kings…!”
Cracracrack.
Gripping the armrests of his throne so strongly that the wood was starting to shatter, the Emperor declared, “That is the reason We summoned you! Because We believed that it was necessary to prevent you from acting in haste. To understand your true intentions and determine whether you are a threat to the Empire and the world!”
“So what are you going to do now?” Eugene asked with a smirk as he tilted his head to the side. “You’ve already tried it, haven’t you? The power that you’ve been granted inside this space can’t do anything to threaten me.”
“Do not underestimate Our power!” the Emperor warned.
Eugene sneered, “I might just roll over laughing. If anyone were to see you now, they might think that you were the one who created the powers of this place. But Vermouth was the one who gave this to you, didn’t he?”
Without saying anything in response, the Emperor suddenly raised his staff.
Voovoovooom!
The space began to vibrate once more. A colossal sword abruptly appeared high in the skies above where the Emperor was sitting.
“Eugene Lionheart — no!” the Emperor corrected himself. “The Stupid Hamel, your very existence poses a great threat to the Empire and the world! As such, We shall administer your sentence here and now!”
Eugene snorted, “Let’s just say that you do whatever you’re thinking of, you dumbass. What are you going to do about Sienna, who you didn’t call here today?”
The Emperor faltered, “That’s….”
Eugene prompted, “You should know by now I’m actually not just Sienna’s heir. So what do you think will happen if I don’t return from the Imperial Palace? Sienna will naturally come looking for me, no?”
The Emperor’s eyes began to waver.
Like Eugene had just said, even if it was possible to somehow subdue or kill Eugene, the existence of the wise Sienna still remained a huge threat. If they were able to bring her into this room, there might be some way of dealing with her, but… would it even be possible to hold a conversation with an Archwizard who was in a full rage because her heir, no, her old friend had run into some kind of problem in the palace?
However… that being said, the Emperor still couldn’t back down from his position.
Eugene Lionheart was dangerous. Just from the fact that he was the Hero, he endangered their current peace, but the knowledge that his true identity was that of an old ghost from three hundred years in the past made him even more of a threat! The Emperor had to somehow get a leash on him here and now.
“Do you really think you are doing the right thing here?” Eugene asked with a snort. “Sienna is alive, and so is Molon. There’s me as well. The continent is in much better shape than it was three hundred years ago. The Demon King of Incarceration and the demonfolk may also have gotten that much stronger, but we’re still not at such a huge disadvantage as we were three hundred years ago.”
The Emperor silently considered this.
“You said that I, as the Hero, am a threat to the world, but is that really the case?” Eugene asked skeptically. “Instead, isn’t my existence an insurance policy put in place in case the world really is about to get fucked up?”
Emperor Straut the Second wasn’t an idiot. He might have his own greed and reservations against the Lionheart clan, but even he realized there was cause to rethink his previous course of action.
Should he really kill Eugene Lionheart, the Hero?
It wasn’t like he hadn’t given any previous thought to making such a choice. However, like Eugene had just said, the Emperor felt that the existence of the Hero might actually be needed.
It was just that currently, in this period when the Oath had yet to run its course, the Emperor had believed that it was necessary to maintain the peace by restraining the young Hero from running amok due to his hot-bloodedness and getting into conflicts with Helmuth and the Demon Kings.
After all, wasn’t there already a precedent for doing so? If Eugene hadn’t raised his middle finger to the Demon King of Incarceration during the Knight March, or if he hadn’t decided to attack the Blade of Incarceration when the latter was attempting to withdraw, then the Emperor wouldn’t have felt the need to use such an extreme method to put Eugene in his place.
“I still find you extremely dangerous,” the Emperor eventually said with a long sigh as he waved his staff. At this gesture, the sword floating in the sky disappeared without a trace. “When you’ve already gone so far as to fell the Dragon-Demon Castle… and you’ve even slain Raizakia, one of the Dukes of Helmuth, haven’t you? If these facts were to be revealed, they would undoubtedly cause a controversy.”
“Since it’s a secret that I’m the one who brought down the Dragon-Demon Castle, everything will be just fine,” Eugene assured him.
The Emperor hissed, “You’ve slain Duke Raizakia, so do you really think that your responsibility for the fall of the Dragon-Demon Castle will remain a secret!”
Eugene waved off his concern, “Hey, I said that it will be fine. All of the demonfolk in Helmuth would have already known that Raizakia wasn’t in the Dragon-Demon Castle at the time. And the Demon King of Incarceration won’t even care that Raizakia is dead.”
“How can you be so sure of that…?”
“Do you really think you have a better idea than I do of what that bastard Incarceration might be thinking?”
When Eugene put it like that, the Emperor had no choice but to keep his mouth shut.
To be honest, Eugene wasn’t really all that confident in this regard. Eugene had never actually faced the Demon King of Incarceration himself, three hundred years ago, and even though they had met several times since he was reincarnated… he still couldn’t even begin to guess what kind of thoughts might be running through the head of the Demon King of Incarceration.
Eugene thought of something, “And also, you might think that the world right now is extremely peaceful, so you say that you have a duty to protect the peace, but… that’s not actually true, though?”
“What do you mean by that?” the Emperor asked suspiciously.
Eugene told the Emperor of what had almost occurred in the Samar Rainforest.
He told how Edmond Codreth, one of the Three Mages of Incarceration, had performed a ritual deep within the Rainforest and had almost become a Demon King by sacrificing tens of thousands of the native tribal people.
The Emperor gasped, “That’s just absurd…!”
“Why would I lie?” Eugene defended himself. “If you don’t believe me, you can check it yourself using your powers, no?”
But wouldn’t the Emperor have already done so if he could? Although he was brimming with the desire to confirm the truth for himself, his powers weren’t working as he wanted them to.
Just like in the earlier case, the Emperor had attempted to investigate every last detail about Eugene, but all he had been able to find out with the powers of this space was that Eugene was also the Stupid Hamel….
‘As expected, it seems like they’re not working properly,’ Eugene thought as he confirmed his suspicions through the Emperor’s reaction.
Vermouth, who had created this space, must have arranged it so that the powers of this place wouldn’t be able to pose a threat to Hamel. Since the Lionheart line must also have continued to exist for the sake of Hamel’s reincarnation, such arrangements should not only apply to Eugene but also to those of the Lionheart blood as well.
Eugene tried to convince the Emperor once more, “Also, it’s not like I’m going to start a war right away or go off to fight the Demon King.”
The Emperor eyed him skeptically.
“I’ve already been reincarnated after dying once three hundred years ago,” Eugene reminded him. “Do you really think I’m crazy enough to put myself in a position where I would definitely die once more? I’ve also made some plans after thinking everything through.”
The Emperor considered this, “Hmm….”
“Think about it rationally, Emperor Straut the Second; what reason do we have to go against each other? Naturally, I also want this world to be peaceful. After all, I even fought and died for that peace three hundred years ago,” Eugene said persuasively as he motioned for the Emperor to descend. “It’s hard to keep looking up at you like this. Why don’t you come down a little closer so we can have an in-depth conversation? That’s right, let’s try and have that truthful conversation that you were aiming for.”
Eugene’s words were delivered in a soothing tone. His attitude might be disrespectful, and his tone was extremely arrogant, but… the Emperor decided to try and understand him with a heart as open as the sea. After all, he agreed with Eugene’s words. World peace — just how wonderful did those two words sound.
“Alright,” the Emperor agreed with a nod as he waved his staff once more.
His throne, which was floating high in the sky, slowly began to descend.
The Emperor declared, “Hero from the past, allow Us to introduce Ourself once more. We are the forty-eighth Emperor of the Kiehl Empire, Straut Theodore Kiehl—”
“Come here, you son of a bitch,” Eugene suddenly snarled, showing no intention of listening to the end of the Emperor’s introduction.
The moment the throne had come within reach, Eugene’s hands had shot out and grabbed the legs of the throne.
“You ill-mannered bastard,” Eugene cursed. “You keep acting so haughty just because you’re the Emperor, but I’m three hundred years older than a fucking brat like you!”
“Wh-what are you doing?!” the Emperor yelped as his arms waved around in shock.
He attempted to throw off Eugene and raise the throne back up, but it didn’t work as he wanted. Instead, the throne fell to the ground due to the force of Eugene’s pull.
“You’re asking me what I’m doing? You should know; this is all for your sake,” Eugene said.
The Emperor panicked, “What are you talking about…?!”
“You’re so arrogant and mannerless because you’ve never once received a proper beating since you were born. But this is just fine. It’s not like you’ll get hurt in real life just because you receive a beating in here. Now then,” Eugene’s eyes widened in excitement as he pulled the Emperor up by his collar. “I’m just going to have to hit you a few times.”
A sudden swing of Eugene’s palm slammed into the Emperor’s cheek.
1. The original Korean text describes him as ‘living with a rag in his mouth.’ Koreans use the idiom of ‘having a rag in their mouth’ to describe someone who swears a lot, similar to how English would describe such a person as foul-mouthed. ☜