The Heavenly Demon Can’t Live A Normal Life [EN]: Chapter 70

The next day, Willas waited for Roman in the reception room, looking tired.

“Is this finally happening?”

The night before, Willas had trouble sleeping because Roman’s soldiers had surprised him.

They were strong and ready to fight, like the warriors of Valhalla. Their sword skills were very impressive, even better than what you usually see in the frontier.

As a priest of Valhalla, he had seen many strong people and was sure that if the soldiers’ strength came from Roman, then Roman might be the strongman the rumors talked about.

“Roman Dmitry, is he an undiscovered talent who hasn’t had a chance, or is he just pretending to be a hero to impress people?”

What was certain was that he could find out by checking himself. Willas took a sip of his tea.

The time hadn’t come yet, so he waited calmly. Soon, the door opened, and people came in.

“Young Master Roman has arrived.”

He put down his teacup, his heart pounding.

He wondered what kind of person Roman Dmitry would be. The moment he saw Roman enter, he exclaimed without realizing it, “…Oh ho.”

Roman walked steadily with his eyes looking down at Willas, but he seemed relaxed. Willas, who had learned to judge people from many meetings, was sure that Roman was used to being strong.

He thought Roman Dmitry might have defeated Homerus.

After a short introduction, Willas asked, “Is it true that you defeated Homerus in the Grand Warrior Battle?”

“It is true,” Roman answered casually, as if it were nothing.

Willas was surprised by Roman’s reaction and said, “I don’t think you realize what you’ve done. Homerus isn’t just a strongman ranked 49th, but someone who was almost at the 4-star level and was expected to rank above 30th. You, Roman Dmitry, only 25 years old, defeated such a person. Do you know what that means?”

Homerus’s defeat wasn’t the only shocking thing. The fact that the person who defeated him was 25 years old was why Willas had come to Dmitry.

“A strongman who defeated Homerus at 25 is very impressive. Reaching the 3-star level in your twenties is already amazing, but if you might even be at the 4-star level, you’re the most talented person in the history of the Cairo Kingdom. That’s why the Valhalla Temple wants to find out the truth.”

“I understand what you mean,” Roman said, leaning back with interest.

“You are talking around the point and saying my victory over Homerus doesn’t make sense. Get straight to the point. A priest of Valhalla must have a good reason to come all the way to Dmitry, right?”

“I understand,” Willas said. It was time to stop wasting time and confirm the truth.

“First, let me explain the ranking procedure. Ranking matches are either official or unofficial. An official match needs permission from the Valhalla Temple, and you have to defeat your opponent in front of someone watching to prove your strength. The result of an official match changes your ranking right away, and you get an ID card that proves your ranking. If you had defeated Homerus in an official match, we would have skipped the proof process and told everyone that the Cairo Kingdom had a new 49th ranker.”

The problem was that it was an unofficial match. Unofficial matches happen randomly and didn’t have that name at first.

“An unofficial match is what we call it when rankers suddenly fight each other. If someone defeats a ranker outside of a ranking match, they move up one rank after a year. You can’t take the defeated ranker’s ranking by winning an unofficial match. But even after the match, if you prove you’re strong enough, you can get the last spot created as the ranking moves up.”

So, if Roman really did defeat Homerus, he could get the 100th spot by proving himself.

“Actually, there’s no way to prove you defeated Homerus. The Valhalla Temple only believes what it sees, so even if there are witnesses, it won’t change anything. So, to confirm unofficial qualifications, we use an aura measuring device. It’s simple. If you meet the ranker’s standard on the device, we’ll say you can take the last spot and put your name on the ranker list. But unlike official matches, you don’t get an ID card. It could change at any time, and the 100th ranker is easily challenged by others, so we usually give them time until it’s safe.”

The explanation was over, and it was time to confirm the truth with the aura measuring device.

Willas waited for Roman’s answer, and Roman asked, “Is there a reason why I have to become a ranker?”

“Well, you’ll have to take some risks if you put your name on the ranker list, but if I were a swordsman, I’d say it’s worth it. Making your name known as a swordsman is worth the risk for the honor alone, even if there’s no reward.”

Roman smirked and laughed. In Murim, there’s a ranking system like the Ten Great Masters of the World, and many people risk their lives for it, so Roman understood what Willas was saying.

Showing yourself isn’t always good. The more you’re seen, the more attention you get, which creates problems. But,

“I don’t like proving myself with an aura measuring device. Please give me a new opponent instead. They can be around the same rank as Homerus, or even higher. I’ll prove myself by defeating a ranker in front of you.”

Roman, who was Cheonma Baek Jung-hyuk, didn’t mind showing himself.

Willas was surprised. He had met many people but had never seen someone so bold. He wondered what Roman thought a ranking match was.

A ranking match isn’t a game. People risk their lives to get on the ranking list. It’s a glorious place to prove yourself as a swordsman, but many people die trying.

The rule that they shouldn’t kill their opponents wasn’t very important. If strongmen of similar skill fought, the fight would become fierce, and in a real fight, swords can hurt badly, and people might get seriously injured.

That’s why people called Fernando, someone who is always around rank 30 and hard to beat, a true ranker. Fernando never refused challenges and always fought to prove himself.

On the other hand, some cowards put their names on the ranking but never accepted challenges. They lowered their ranking every year but waited until the last year to fight and protect their ranking.

That’s how much rankers, even strongmen, didn’t like ranking matches. They had worked hard to get wealth and fame, but they could die if they accepted the wrong challenge.

Willas said, “Actually, a new ranking match is the best way to prove yourself. But it’s not that simple. You can’t just do it because you want to. You have to consider the opponent’s agreement and schedule. Think about it. Is there a strongman in the northeastern part of the Cairo Kingdom who’s on the ranking? No. So, it’s impossible because there’s no opponent.”

“That’s a shame.”

If there was no opponent, an official ranking match was impossible.

“There’s only one way,” Willas said.

“We’ll do a test with the aura measuring device. If you meet the standard, Roman Dmitry will be named a new ranker of the Cairo Kingdom.”

The aura measuring device looked very simple, even though it had a grand explanation. It was a fist-sized sphere. Willas showed it and explained, “The test is simple. If you put mana into the device, it will change color based on the power of the mana. Red is 1-star, orange is 2-star, yellow is 3-star, and green is 4-star or higher. You defeated Homerus, who was a 4-star aura swordsman, so you need to prove you’re at least 3-star yellow to take the last spot.”

“I understand.”

There was nothing special to understand. He just had to put mana into it.

Roman took the sphere and thought it was interesting to see this new technology.

“The Salamander Continent has more developed magic than Murim. They even have tools to measure a martial artist’s power, so magic must be strong. What are magicians like? Are they like the sorcerers of Murim, or are they superhumans, like gods?”

He looked at the aura measuring device and couldn’t understand how it worked. Roman became curious.

“If I use aura like they do in this world, how will the device react?”

The two worlds use aura differently. The swordsmen of the Salamander Continent release aura all at once, while the Murim people refine and condense mana.

So, when people checked Roman’s aura, they were puzzled. Even when he used 1-star aura, it created a dramatic wind effect, but Roman overwhelmed his opponents with power that made them doubt it was aura.

He knew how to release aura, but he avoided it because it was inefficient.

“That’ll be fun.”

It wasn’t bad to follow the common sense of this new world sometimes. If the aura measuring device was made for released aura, Roman could release aura explosively.

How would this world’s magic evaluate his power? At first, it was curiosity, but he thought it was a good opportunity.

“Start,” Willas urged.

Roman firmly grabbed the aura measuring device and slowly began to put mana into it.