<The Demon Lord of the Swordsmanship Family Chapter 68>
I still don’t get it.
Why did this become such a hot topic?
The day I did my first live broadcast at my mother’s request.
Not worrying about others’ opinions and having fun chatting made it a satisfying time for me. I even wanted to do it again if I had the chance.
Naturally, Spring was there with me as well.
She wasn’t appearing on the stream, just accompanying me to the location.
Thanks to the ‘Fruit of Harmony’ given by Guardian Spirit Yggdrasil, Spring had improved a lot but was still my sticky-note kid. When I tried to ask Merhem or Jin Yu-ri to take care of her for a bit, Spring burst into tears, clinging to me and refusing to let go. So, she had to come along.
That way, we finished the broadcast happily and were wrapping things up when Spring, who had been taking a nap, woke up.
“Apuapa?”
I swear, our Spring walking groggily in her Captain Tiger pajamas, sleep still in her eyes, is absolutely the cutest thing on this planet.
No, this has nothing to do with her being my daughter.
Even objectively, through the cold eye of a Demon Lord, I’ve never seen or heard of anything cuter or more adorable than my daughter.
And yet, our darling girl appeared on the broadcast.
What was the natural response?
It was explosive. The chat window was completely overwhelmed.
The audience, who were already reluctant to stop the broadcast, bombarded us with donations shouting, “Just take my money!” after seeing Spring.
It was obviously the expected result.
Who could stand up against the lethal charm that melted even this Demon Lord with a mere smile?
Still, there’s always someone who likes to rain on the parade no matter where you go.
In the midst of this explosion of reactions, an odd comment popped up.
– Stop lying already. How could someone like you have a daughter that age? The age gap doesn’t make sense, right? What do you all think?
A typical petty individual expressing their doubts and hiding behind public opinion to wound others, all the while craving to be validated by others.
Mary calls these kinds of people keyboard warriors or couchside Yukpos; they were exactly that kind of people.
Did that make me angry?
Surely not.
Is there anyone who gets mad because a bug blocks their way?
Upon reflection, I feel bad for the bug. At least they contribute to the ecosystem in some way, don’t they?
I completely ignored it. The silver-haired host kept things flowing smoothly, ignoring the comment as I did.
But, the unexpected reaction came from an unexpected place.
“Our Daddy isn’t a liar!!”
Spring seemed pretty offended that her dad was being called out as a liar. Her eyes, brimming with unshed tears, were full of fury.
At the time, I was caught off-guard, wondering how she even knew how to read.
How could she read? I never taught her that.
In response to my question, Spring said,
“Yup, the Fairy Auntie taught me.”
I should’ve stopped right there.
But, foolishly, I confirmed,
“Yggdrasil?”
In the end, those fateful words came from Spring.
“Yup, yup! Fairy Auntie is Spring’s teacher!”
From that moment, the situation snowballed rapidly.
At the time, the number of people watching the Optimum regular broadcast was 300,000. Their influence was unimaginable.
Shocking news!
Park Ki-hyuk’s daughter appears in Optimum broadcast! Shocking statement:
Fairy Auntie = Yggdrasil = Spring’s teacher?
Breaking News: Park Bom, daughter of Park Ki-hyuk, revealed as Yggdrasil’s disciple.
Korea’s Guardian Spirit Yggdrasil. Finally takes her first disciple.
Yggdrasil’s disciple, inheritor of the Sword Master lineage, adopted daughter of Optimum.
Meeting of the prestigious lineage and the Guardian Spirit. Coincidence or conspiracy?
Is Yggdrasil following in the footsteps of the ‘Yellow Dragon’?
…
…
It’s laughable. The whole world is watching South Korea because of one sentence from Spring.
And even funnier, I still had no idea at the time that the world was in such an uproar because Spring had said “Yggdrasil is my teacher.”
As everyone knows, I’m not the most up-to-date with the news.
But our Lady Kim Yeon-hee was not like that. The moment the broadcast ended, I was summoned to my mother’s room.
“Park Ki-hyuk! You! Can you believe saying something like that!!”
“Huh? What did I say?”
“Yggdrasil!! What about Yggdrasil?”
“Ah… Spring learning Hangul from Yggdrasil?”
“It’s not Hangul! Oh! For real!”
“Grandma… Did Spring do something wrong?”
“Ah, no, it’s your father who has done wrong. Our little one is fine. Hand her over to grandma. My goodness! Shall we go eat? What do you want to eat… I’ll see you later.”
That’s when I got somewhat of a grasp: the importance of Guardian Spirits in this world and the significance of them taking a disciple.
To be honest, it still didn’t fully make sense to me, but I’m a filial child. Because it was my mother speaking, I accepted it. If she says it’s a big deal, then it’s a big deal.
In fact, my mother very unusually personally issued a statement.
– …The ‘Fairy Auntie’ mentioned in the broadcast is indeed Yggdrasil. However, it was merely a request for her to help treat Spring’s condition; the claim that our Ms. Park Bom is Yggdrasil’s disciple is strictly not true…
This was a misunderstanding. We kindly ask for the public’s attention to cease.
It appeared that my mother’s efforts were calming the situation, but a few hours later, one article wiped away all her hard work like it was so much foam.
Yggdrasil speaks. “If Ms. Park Bom wishes, certainly so.” Disciple accepted?
“Hell of a woman—!!”
That day, I saw my mother cursing for the first time.
And like that, our adorable little Spring suddenly became the center of attention.
Honestly, looking back, I still don’t understand why this turned into such a big topic. What’s the problem with teaching someone? Or taking one as a disciple? Why all the commotion?
So, I asked.
Not difficult at all. There was someone who could explain the situation precisely at my level.
*
At the center of the club room.
Where dumbbells from 5kg to 100kg should have been neatly arranged, a perfectly square whiteboard stood there instead.
And the person standing in front of the whiteboard was our new club member.
The TMI Sister, Kim Ha-ni, the ultimate encyclopedia of knowledge!
She was drawing a world map.
Exactly. Exactly.
“Hey, Kim Ha-ni. I asked you to explain the situation. Is the drawing really necessary?”
“Just a moment, Yu-ri senior. To explain, background knowledge is essential. Just a bit. Please let me concentrate.”
When Kim Ha-ni finished the world map on the whiteboard, she turned around.
“Look here. Officially, there are a total of eight Guardian Spirits known worldwide. Here we have China’s ‘Yellow Dragon’, France’s ‘Flag of Liberty’, Britain’s ‘Lion’, the African Union’s ‘Euritha’, Russia’s ‘King of Beasts’, and in the U.S., the ‘Eastern Red Dragon’ and the ‘Western Gigant’, making two. Lastly, Korea’s ‘World Tree Yggdrasil.’ That’s eight in total, correct?”
“Dad, this Auntie talks so fast. Extremely fast.”
“Shhh, focus.”
“Hmph. These eight Guardian Spirits maintain a balance in their respective areas. Consequently, Guardian Spirits are also called ‘Balancers’.”
The so-called Guardian Spirits or Balancers.
Naturally, they possess an absolute strength that humans can’t possibly challenge.
“We can see how a confrontation between them would play out by looking at the U.S. ‘East-West Civil War.’”
East-West Civil War.
A war fought between the guardian spirits over dominion of the American continent.
It was a devastating war that caused enormous human and material losses. Records show that if it hadn’t stopped halfway, it could have plunged the entire American continent into irreparable ruin.
“The East-West Civil War, a blemish in history, led Guardian Spirits to realize the potential danger. If things went wrong, the world could end. Considering this, the Guardian Spirits established a rule known as ‘World Balance Treaty.'”
Guardian Spirits will not project their entity’s power.
There are a few exceptions, like situations “where no threat to life exists.”
“Sounds funny, doesn’t it? Who could possibly threaten a Guardian Spirit with force? Nonetheless, through the World Balance Treaty, the Guardian Spirits placed constraints on themselves and began exercising their influence in other ways, such as through what?”
“Academies?”
“Correct. Just as Yu-ri senior said: Academies.”
There are eight officially recognized Academies.
Exactly matching the number of Guardian Spirits.
“The Guardian Spirits began educating humans earnestly, imprinting their influence or traces. People were delighted because they could now formally learn techniques that until then had been learned haphazardly — like magic or ritual.”
At that moment, Han Jun-woo, who had been quietly listening, casually interjected.
“It’s unfair.”
“Pardon, Jun-woo senior?”
“Unfair.”
“Why do you think so?”
“Guardian Spirits are eight in number. Academies are in eight places. Countries that are not in these eight places won’t receive equal education, thus widening the gap further.”
“Exactly! A hundred-point answer.”
Indeed, the status of nations with Academies began to rise sharply from then on.
As for those that didn’t?
Even though they managed to develop by creating their own non-certified Academies, the gap was certainly there. Of course, if there’s someone personally tutoring from one side and self-study on the other, there’s bound to be a difference.
“Mary, you came to Korea for the same reason, right?”
“Yes, there is a definite difference between certified Academies and non-certified ones.”
“Absolutely. Completely different! Academies with Guardian Spirits are different from those without.”
In countries with Guardian Spirits, there are Academies. These Academies nurture superhumans, and naturally, as the capabilities of superhumans improve, so does the national strength of that country.
“Thus, the modern development of mana science and the superhuman industry centers around the eight Academies that have Guardian Spirits.”
While Yggdrasil taught collaboration, leadership, and positioning with the maxim that “No forest stands alone,” encouraging ‘harmony,’ the Yellow Dragon of China promoted “Winners are justice” and pursued ‘competition.’
“The reason for each Academy’s different characteristics lies here. Since each Guardian Spirit has different ideologies and fields they’re confident in.”
Until this point, there were no issues. The Guardian Spirits were only projecting proper influence.
But as time passed, an event occurred that disrupted this delicate balance.
“China, while pursuing ‘The Center of the Continent,’ invaded neighboring countries. Yes, Sister Merhem must have noticed. This marked the beginning of the First World War.”
The First World War.
The start of a horrifying global conflict.
The flames of war, which first swept across Asia, spread to Europe, and even to Africa, which was resisting European colonization.
Layered on top of that were the latent conflicts between the east and west in the United States, leading to the world being engulfed by war, transitioning into the Second and Third World Wars.
And in the wake of the flames of war,
Nothing but the ashes of desolation remained.
A war without winners or losers.
It was then that people realized:
“The starting point of this war involved ‘disciples of Guardian Spirits.'”
It began with the disciples of China’s ‘Yellow Dragon.’
They deliberately planned the war to inform the world of the grandeur of the continent, aiming to recreate Asia as the center. It’s likely their ideology of “Winners are justice” was behind it.
“Other disciples of Guardian Spirits joined in.”
“Accelerating the war.”
“Correct. The main characters who left indelible scars on the world, as part of the global wars, were the disciples of the Guardian Spirits.”
To have a Guardian Spirit as a disciple practically guarantees strength. It’s unimaginable that those proud Guardian Spirits would pick someone without strength.
But when such skilled people gather to show off their power, that’s when the apocalypse comes. Typically, those with strength have influence and followers.
Looking at it this way, it’s not unreasonable to suspect the Guardian Spirits had their hands in things.
If that were true, it would have been impossible to stop the global wars.
“Ahhh, it all makes sense now.”
As the saying goes: “The snake scares the child after seeing it, and the pot lid does the same.”
There’s precedence, which makes it even more unsettling.
“Moreover, Yggdrasil was the only Guardian Spirit who had never taken a disciple until now.”
“Yggdrasil has no disciple? I didn’t know that.”
“Yggdrasil has been the most active advocate of the notion that the influence of Guardian Spirits needs to be minimized.”
I vaguely remember a conversation where a similar topic came up. Back then, Yggdrasil said something like:
“Ultimately, the true masters of this world are humans. We Guardian Spirits are outsiders. For an outsider to covet the place and territory of the master? We simply call that word ‘thief’.”
At the time, I thought it was just a joke, but now it seems that Yggdrasil was trying to express something to me.
Her true feelings.
“d*mn, how cool is that.”
That’s flashy. I like it.
Thus, in this rare instance of Yggdrasil, who had always been so moderate, taking her first disciple, even if Yggdrasil claims she doesn’t want to gain power,
“To foreign nations, the very existence of Ms. Park Bom is threatening.”
“……”
Silence fell.
It really was a more serious situation than anticipated. I fully understand why my mother, trying to protect us, caused a commotion and issued that statement.
How should we resolve this?
While contemplating this, I made eye contact with Spring.
“Apuapa?”
Her trembling, clear eyes. Seeing my reflection in them, I momentarily lost for words.
‘Am I worrying? Me?’
The emotion that followed was embarrassment.
It’s embarrassing. As a parent, I shouldn’t be sitting here fretting in front of my child. It’s making them anxious.
I wiped away my worries instantly and instead broke into a big smile.
“Our Spring is incredible, isn’t she?!”
“…Is Spring incredible?”
“Yup!! Everyone in the world is going crazy, wanting to see Spring.”
“Really? Do they miss seeing Spring?”
“That’s right!!”
I picked up and swung Spring around, and all worry disappeared from her face like snow melting in the sun, blooming as bright as her namesake “Spring”.
Thus, this is right. There’s no need to worry. Parents protect their children, removing obstacles if they appear and eliminating enemies if they come near.
My job is merely to protect this smile.
That’s enough.
“Spring, Dance of Happiness!”
“Yay~!”
“Great job~ Great job~.”
So, Spring, always smile.
Dad will protect you.
