But before she could finish, Ash interrupted to avoid trouble.
"Actually, some time ago, I received the Sword Emperor certification at the Sword Sanctuary. So I guess you could say I'm Gal's final disciple? I'm also Ghislaine's junior fellow disciple."
"You're a Sword Emperor? How is that possible? A guy like you is actually a Sword Emperor?", Eris struggled violently and turned her head back in disbelief.
The girl beneath him looked back in shock, and Ash found it extremely satisfying.
Although he was bullying her, he really did enjoy messing with a friend's junior.
So when he met Eris's gaze, he couldn't help smiling. While roughly patting Eris's head, he explained, "Can't be helped, Eris. Reality is just this cruel. You'll probably have to stay underneath me for the rest of your life, never able to turn things around or get your revenge... By the way, I am your reality."
"G-Ghislaine! This guy is lying, right?"
Hearing the confirmation from what seemed like her sworn enemy, Eris's expression instantly twisted. She excitedly slapped the wooden floor beneath her and looked back at her master.
But Ghislaine looked as though her mind were somewhere else. Only after a long while did she come back to herself and slowly shake her head.
"No. Everything he said is true."
"Liar!"
"What?"
"Absolutely impossible!"
"It's true."
"No! I don't believe it!"
Ghislaine's second, far-too-calm confirmation completely broke Eris.
She shook her head frantically, unwilling to admit that the man before her was far stronger than she was.
Because that meant that not only could she not beat him with little tricks, she couldn't even beat him by relying on her family's power. If he bullied her, then she could only be bullied. There was simply no way for her to get even.
But when had she ever suffered this kind of humiliation? After repeatedly denying it, Eris unwillingly looked back at Ash with a fierce gaze and ground out, "I-I absolutely won't let this go!"
"That's certainly something to look forward to. But next time, I'd prefer it if you took a bath first. Then you'd at least bring some water with you."
"One day! I'll become a Sword Emperor too! I'll sit on you down there! I'll use you as a rag!"
"Good. That's ambition and spirit! But plenty of people have said that. So far, though, no one's managed to do it."
He was completely unfazed by the girl's threat, even continuing to pat her head with repeated "thump, thump" sounds.
He was even somewhat looking forward to seeing what kind of expression she would make after learning that he was the Fighting God.
The only unfortunate thing was that he hadn't recorded these words. But... if he repeated them to her later, he could probably get an equally interesting expression.
After Ash stood up, Eris practically fled the scene at once, disregarding all decorum as she took off running. He had no idea what she intended to do.
At this point, Ghislaine, who had been standing nearby with her arms crossed, finally couldn't hold back her curiosity.
"Aren't you the Fighting God now? Why did you say you're a Sword Emperor? Are you messing with the kid?"
"Not entirely."
After what had happened when he gave the princess not only a gift but also a large amount of treasure equivalent to a dowry, Ash basically understood how this world viewed people of the divine rank. He couldn't help feeling a little bothered by the prospect.
"Being a Sword Emperor might be fine. But if I say I'm divine-rank, forget the nobles here. Nobles and royal families from other places, even people from neighboring countries, will definitely send people over or come personally to pester me."
"Can't you just drive them away?"
"Wouldn't that be troublesome? Even if it wouldn't be troublesome for you to do it. I can practically already imagine that after driving all those people away, I'd walk down the street and still end up saving a damsel in distress more than three times on a single street, bumping into all kinds of young and married women a dozen times. And I'm sure a whole bunch of people would come trying to take my title for themselves."
Even if he wasn't afraid of any of that, those assorted challengers could still annoy him to death.
Even if he killed one batch, another huge batch would appear. And here, unlike the Sword God, Water God, and North God, he didn't have a whole bunch of disciples to block all those challengers for him.
The Death God had spent ten years fighting to defend his title, yet powerful people still kept coming to challenge him. There was simply no way to solve the problem of challengers.
But there didn't seem to be anything he could do about it. That title was just too tempting, enough to make people risk their lives for the chance to turn a bicycle into a motorcycle. In the end, the Death God simply went into seclusion and disappeared. Even now, no one knew where he had gone.
Aside from challengers, there would also be all kinds of people trying to curry favor with him, people wanting to become his disciple and learn from him, and people wanting to gamble on their luck. Not only would there be a huge number of women appearing for "fated" encounters, there would definitely be male versions too.
And as long as humans still existed, those people wouldn't disappear. They would even use every possible means to get something out of him.
For example, if someone like the richest person in the world or a president announced his identity and walked around outside, the scene would immediately turn into a walking disturbance.
Even people without ulterior motives would definitely gather around in large numbers just to see what kind of person he was. It would inevitably be far more troublesome than a celebrity going out in public.
If he was only stopping by and leaving right away, then of course it didn't matter. Giving his name would indeed make things more convenient.
But if he wanted to stay for a little longer, it would be more convenient to keep a low profile first. If he didn't want to spend the rest of his time dealing with countless people with ulterior motives, it was better to simply find an excuse.
Ghislaine, who had never considered any of this, only nodded thoughtfully after hearing him.
"Looks like becoming divine-rank is pretty tough?"
"Under normal circumstances, it's not much of a problem. But speaking of which, I recently ran into a perverted princess."
"There are perverted princesses too?", Ghislaine had always imagined princesses as dignified and elegant, so she couldn't help looking surprised. But compared to her surprise, Ash was even more speechless.
"You're actually saying that? Aren't you the clan chief's daughter? You could count as a beastman princess too, couldn't you?"
"I guess so? But what's with that look?"
"Mm, nothing.... I was just saying."
After casually brushing Ghislaine off, Ash held his forehead with one hand and felt a headache coming on over this bizarre world and its bizarre princesses. He couldn't help letting out a long sigh.
But at this point, Ghislaine couldn't help asking curiously, "By the way, you didn't see my letter, did you?"
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