Elqueeness - Chapter 53

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Chapter 53

Chapter 53

T/N: If something is in parentheses, if it’s not under T/N, it’s the author’s side note .

<Haha, calm down, Hyung-nim . Do you really think I’d be angry over something like this? I didn’t expect you to be this eager to be punished . >

<Bu- but…>

<Well, if you’re going to keep talking like this, I might have to give you a proper punishment . Hyung-nim, watch your incompetent ah-ooh’s journey to the end . Whether or not I succeed, it is what it is, and I hope that you will remember me until your dying breath . That’s my punishment for you . >

T/N: 아우 (ah-ooh) is an outdated term for one’s little brother . Don’t go using this in modern-day society, use the term 동생 (dong-seng) instead .

<…!! Your Majesty…>

Anyone would want to be remembered, and have someone to cheer them on to help them realize that they are not alone .

Unlike Kai and me, who looked at this scene with warm expressions, Lapis clicked his tongue and muttered, “Timid brat . If you say you’re going to punish them, you should punish them properly, twist their wrist, or claim their wealth, what do you mean by just asking them to remember you?”

Soon after, the emotional Marquis quickly got up and prostrated in front of Isana . His eyes filled with hot tears as he looked up .

<Hyung-nim…>

The video ended with a close-up of Isana’s face full of tears .

Well, I felt like I had just watched a movie . As the magic spell disappeared, I got up from my seat and almost clapped without thinking . When I went to the movies in my past life, no matter how moving a scene was, never mind a single clap, I would even yawn at the screen .

‘Perhaps I’ve become more emotional?’

I grinned at my inner ramblings . It had been a long day .

***

While things looked happy on Elqueeness’s side, the gods in the netherworld had gathered for an emergency meeting with grim faces . Five intermediate level gods had gathered in one place .

Emergency meetings were rarely held, and only for extremely important issues, so everyone looked puzzled and disconcerted over what might have happened . Their gazes were directed at Mether, the intermediate god who had called them here .

“So what exactly is going on? I’m already over worked as it is, even without all this drama . What’s so bad that you’d call all five of us here?” (Asuka)

Asuka, the one with the most hasty personality, couldn’t hold it in anymore and spoke up first . But Mether had on a perplexed look, as if unsure of how to begin his explanation .

He was a god of death, in charge of directing souls to the netherworld . Most of the soul guides here (El called them grim reapers) were in charge of the same thing .

Mether was known for being calm in the face of any challenge, but it was difficult for him to keep a calm face at the moment, and as he did so, the others also had similarly perplexed expressions .

In the end, it was Arehis, who had been sitting in his seat without saying anything, who changed the atmosphere . Mether relaxed as Arehis began to speak with his signature poised smile .

“Please tell us . What is so important that you have summoned us for the meeting? Though I already have some guesses as to what it is . ” (Arehis)

“Ah . As expected of Arehis, you’ve always picked up on things quickly . I have called you all here today because I didn’t think I could casually make a decision without hearing your thoughts . ” (Mether)

“Exactly what is it?” (Random god)

Mether swallowed and looked at the white sphere on the table in front of him as if he hadn’t noticed everyone’s curious gazes . The other puzzled gods looked at the small child trapped inside the light sphere and then cried out with hardened faces .

“Wh-what is this, Mether? Why are these souls not on the path of reincarnation? You know that it’s forbidden to use human souls as personal accessories!?” (Random god)

“Please calm down . Everyone . These are not real souls, but a recording made by an illusion spell . I ask you to count the number of gathered souls . They are all children . ” (Mether)

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“Of course we can all see that they are children! Let’s see, there’s around 9,900 of them . What is your purpose for depicting so many souls together?” (Random god)

The other gods nodded in agreement at this comment, and looked displeased .

But no one dared to open their mouths after hearing Mether’s reply .

“You are correct, there are exactly 9,900 souls . These children’s souls were taken from Arkadon over several decades . The cause of death for every soul was the same . It was an <Offering to the Devil> . ” (Mether)

“!!!”

“What!!!”

– Clatter .

The majority of the gathered gods couldn’t help but stand from their seats, making loud sounds . All the gods present shared a face of surprise and concern .

“It…it can’t be, there’s yet another existence killing in the name of that ritual?” (Random god)

“No, no . Please remain calm . Nothing is certain yet . As you all know, Arkadon has suffered for an entire decade under the absence of the water spirit king . Most of the dead children appeared to have emerged during this time, so it’s fair to say that many of them were killed by people conducting rain rituals, desperate for water . Especially in countrys where it was custom to have children sacrificed to worship the spirit kings . ” (Mether)

“But that’s a big ‘IF!’ The number of souls is already 9,900! If this unknown someone is trying to ascend as an Devil God again-” (Firenze)

“Firenze-nim!”

As he blurted out the dark thoughts of everyone at the table, everyone’s faces grew pale, as of course they would . Arehis’s face hardened and he shot Firenze a firm look as he shouted him down .

What was a Devil God? A god at the height of all evil, a cursed existence among the gods!

The most evil of beings, created by absorbing the blood of 10,000 young children!

With a power that rivaled the Great God, the highest being in existence, they could claim control over almost all the middle realms, and even most of the god realm, as long as they wanted to . It was truly a serious emergency . At that moment, it seemed almost impossible to remain calm .

Murmur . Arehis hit the table with a loud bang as he looked at the panicking gods . As everyone turned their attention to him, he looked at Mether with a cold look on his face .

Facing the chilly eyes, Mether couldn’t move an inch .

“Surely it was Mether-nim who was responsible for the delivery of the souls . So what exactly was the reason why you waited until a whopping 9,900 of them were amassed?” (Arehis)

“I-I didn’t do it on purpose . At the time, because there were so many dead people besides the children in Arkadon, I didn’t look too deeply into the numbers . And since there were only a few people who specifically died because of the drought, I didn’t notice that there was such a problem . ” (Mether)

“But how did you realize that something was strange, then?” (Arehis)

“Even though the drought was already over, the child sacrifices for rituals continued . So then I thought the sacrifices might not be for just a mere ritual asking for rain . ” (Mether)

“And since the number was nearing 10,000, you thought of that possibility . Correct?” (Arehis)

Mether obediently nodded in agreement at Arehis’s words . The gods’ faces became increasingly troubled, but no one could blame Mether . Despite his restless surroundings, Arehis slightly bit his lips and remained silent for a very long period of time .

‘It looks like I will have to meet you very soon, Elqueeness-nim . ’

Bitterly mumbling these words, Arehis raised his head with a firm look and turned to the four other gods who had gathered for the meeting in the netherworld . A hard voice flowed from his mouth .

“In case this is exactly the scenario that we are concerned about, none of us will be able to escape punishment from the Great God . Of course, then the Devil God won’t be able to escape punishment, either . ” (Arehis)

“Erk…” (Random god)

“However, Mether-nim has said that nothing is certain yet . Even if that’s true, nothing will get done if all we do is sit and talk about it here . Since the number of souls gathered is true, this must be reported to our superior . For now, I will select someone to go to the god realm as our representative . ” (Arehis)

As the god’s meeting was coming to an end in the deepest, darkest place of the netherworld, something else was happening in the god realm .

Elwien’s angels felt like they were experiencing what it felt like to die . How could there be such an onslaught of a violent temper every time they entered the temple!

And it wasn’t coming from just any god, this was one of the rare high gods of the god realm . The energy he was giving off wasn’t something that the soft-hearted angels could handle .

The angels’ faces paled, and refused to regain their color at the chill that had encompassed the temple (I think they’re saying that it isn’t cold temperature-wise), which had already lasted for several days . If someone saw this scene, they might even think that the god realm had entered a winter season .

Though the temple usually had a strict and quiet ambience, there was a simple explanation for the mood change in the last few days . Elwien, who hadn’t been able to take a breather because of his hectic schedule, had finally reached his limit .

It was caused by a pile of documents that arrived at his temple a few days ago .

On that day, a pile of parchments were unexpectedly delivered . And upon seeing the ‘subtly’ attached memo <General Management of the Demons> to each file, Elwien’s dormant fury erupted, rising by the second .

“Erghhhh! That old man! I’m gonna kill him!!!!!!” (Elwien)

“E-Elwien Sir! Please calm down, calm down!!” (Random angel)

“DOES IT LOOK LIKE I CAN CALM DOWN RIGHT NOWWWWWWW!!!!”

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Even in the midst of sheer madness, Elwien held back his temper, afraid that the papers might get damaged . If the Great God had seen this display of ‘professionalism’ (?), perhaps Elwien might have gotten a month off .

TN: The (?) is from the raws . Author’s making fun of Elwien’s so-called “professionalism . ”

“Exactly why do I need to manage the Demon Realm too~~!!!”

Elwien, who was letting out his resentment with no one to hear him out, greatly lamented his situation . He thought back to the day of his recent meeting with that ‘villain . ’

That day as well, Elwien was out of his mind, swamped with work . Ifrit had blown up more documents than he had estimated, and in the midst of all this, he had ended up getting preoccupied with watching over El’s adventures . So in the end he became too busy to eat or sleep . (Then he could’ve just stopped watching El playing . But Elwien is someone who’d rather die than stop watching . )

And so the other gods, overwhelmed by Elwien’s massive workload, would settle for leaving a message, even if they had requests, for him with the angels . But the only one who ignored all of those considerations and went to meet Elwien in person was Karnos, the Demon God, well-known in the god realm for his extreme infamy .

With a handsome appearance and shoulder-length hair, he greeted Elwien upon his arrival .

“Heyhey, Elwien . Do you want to be the first workaholic god in existence? Why are you so busy?” (Karnos)

“Shut up and get out . ” (Elwien)

…One thing to note was that Elwien had not an ounce of goodwill towards Karnos . No, actually, it’d be more accurate to say that Elwien felt hostility towards the other . The reason was that most of Elwien’s massive workload was due to the trouble caused by the demons of Viton .

So wouldn’t it be obvious that he didn’t have a favorable impression of the god that was in charge of those people?

Elwien looked like he was going to explode at any second, but Karnos only struck an exaggerated pose and let out an “Oh my, how scary~” to the former . But there wasn’t even a hint of fear on his smiling face .

Elwien felt his blood pressure rise up again as he spoke through his teeth .

“Exactly . What . Have . You . Come . To . Do . Again . You . Bastard . Just . Rot . in . Hell . ”

“Come on . I’ll be sad if you keep talking like that . You know, as someone who once held the same position as me~ couldn’t you speak in a more friendly way?”

“The fact that someone like you ‘once held’ the position of Elqueeness is something I to~~tally don’t want to remember so just keep your mouth shut . If you have something to say just quickly say it and disappear . Disappear forever from my eyes!”

“Tch- you’re no fun . I’m just trying to treat my junior colleague with the utmost respect . Hey now~ Elwien-sshi . If you keep frowning like that, you’ll end up with wrinkles . ”

T/N: -씨 (-sshi) is usually used for people who aren’t that close but don’t need to address each other as higher in status .

“Shut! up!”

Karnos saw the murderous light in Elwien’s gaze and closed his mouth reluctantly .

Though this was an extremely cold response, Elwien was the only one in the god realm who was able to ‘deal with’ Karnos and even talk back . The other gods didn’t even dare to look him in the eyes or were too busy running away from him .

Karnos, who had been upset about this, was once calmly advised by Elwien .

<I’m telling you, if you want to get closer to people then first stop terrorizing them . > (Elwien)

<But when did I~> (Karnos)

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Elwien had so many documents to go through that he didn’t have the free time to deal with Karnos, so he was luckily able to slip away from the latter’s tricks relatively (no, very) often .

There was a sort of ‘initiation ceremony’ for the new gods who entered the god realm to get duped by the Demon God, but Elwien was the one and only god who hadn’t been done in by the Demon God’s tricks to this day . He was quite the respected existence among the other gods .

But this achievement might soon disappear into history . Because of exactly one being’s existence…

“Now that I think about it, didn’t you have a son, Elwien?” (Karnos)

“…If you bother El, I’ll kill you . ” (Elwien)

“Hoho, so it looks like it’s true? What’s with you? You’re not someone who would care much for others . His name’s El? You probably didn’t adopt a human as your son…who is it? The amazingly lucky child?”

“Stop it . Don’t say his name . Don’t look at it either . Don’t even think about him . Don’t e~~~ver even ask me out of curiosity . ”

“Tsk~ You’re acting like you’d be depressed without your son . Anyway just tell me who it is . Who is it, hm?”

‘I’d rather bite my tongue than tell you that . ’ Elwien shook his head to Karnos while thinking this . If he accidentally let Karnos know anything about El, that demon god who was far more free than Elwien was, then he was bound to go to the spirit realm and make a big fuss while searching high and low for his son . El wouldn’t be able to handle this behemoth of a personality .

“I don’t want to see my son fainting . ”

‘And I don’t want to let El know about the existence of an old man(?) like him . ’

T/N: The (?) is from the raws . Because Karnos is old but the author is poking fun at this label because all the gods are old, I’m guessing .

Elwien kept his cool despite the raging fires inside him and kept himself from revealing El’s identity . Knowing that once Elwien decides on something, he wouldn’t budge an inch, Karnos could only wistfully close the discussion . It looked like it was going to be difficult to get Elwien to personally reveal anything . (So doesn’t that mean you could get information from someone else instead!)

“What exactly are you here for? Don’t you see I’m busy? Be quick . State your request in a few seconds and then leave . ”

“Ah . So the thing is, I have to go on a business trip . I won’t be able to see you for awhile so I wanted to say goodbye before I left . ”

“…A business trip?”

This was the first time that he’d ever heard of a god going on a business trip . If you were going to be gone for a period of time, it was probably so that you could tackle documents for the entire day . But what did Karnos mean by business trip?

This guy was always busy fooling around . Elwiens foul mood was starting to worsen .

‘No matter how I think about it, I can’t get rid of the thought that he’s just going to play . ’

Indeed, and unfortunately for Elwien…it was the truth . Karnos spoke with an oblivious expression on his face .

“I get a freebee pass to go play in the middle realms! It’s a gift from the Great God for my hard work, -is what I think it is?”

“Ugh!! This is discrimination!!!”

“Hehe . As you know, gods aren’t able to be in the mortal realm for more than one hour . But this time, I was given a free 5 year pass to stay there . Though my powers will be reduced and limited there . How is it? You’re jealous, right?”

“Snap . If you’ve just come here to pour salt on my wounds then just go! Right now I’m v-e-r-y . busy . ”

T/N: 뿌득 (Bbeu-deuk) . He’s grinding his teeth and it’s making a sort of snapping sound from his mouth, so that’s why it’s included in the quotations .

“Hehe . You’re not going to ask me where I’m going? It’s a place that’s left a deep impression on the both of us . ”

“What, are you going to the Demon Realm?”

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“No way . Then I wouldn’t have bothered to say “middle realm . ’ It’s Arkadon . It’s a place I went to often when I was Elqueeness but I’m feeling sentimental now that I’m visiting after so long . ”

“What? Where did you say? Arkadon?!!”

Screech-

Elwien was so surprised he stood up . Out of all the places he could be going to, for it to be Arkadon! With his personality, if Karnos met El by coincidence he would never leave him alone . Good god .

“No way, you can’t! Go somewhere else!”

“Huh? Hey~ It’s not a place that I can choose to go to . It’s a place that was arranged by the Great God . ”

“You still can’t! Beg him to send you somewhere else!”

“Tch~ Don’t wanna . I’m pretty excited to return to my hometown after a long time away . Anyway, I’m going to count on you until I return . Since I only believe in you . ”

“Wha-what? Wa, wait!!”

Karnos disappeared right after he finished speaking…as for Elwien, he felt just like how one would if they had been struck by lightning in the middle of a nap .

Contrary to his calm expression, everything in front of his eyes began to look white .

If that demon that knows nothing but causing mischief meets El, Karnos would definitely cause trouble . On top of that, if he found out that El was his son, that would make things even worse .

‘Karnos might toy around with El after fooling him that he’s his father’s friend! That definitely cannot happen!!’

Yet the Elwien who was busy worrying about his son didn’t even think about the full meaning of Karnos’s departing words .

And so the disastrous result was that many days later, he returned from the mortal realm, unprepared to face the music . That is, to face the extremely vicious paperwork to be done in the absence of the Demon God .

As he looked at the vast pile of papers that easily exceeded over tens of times his usual workload, there was only one thing that Elwien yelled out as he lost his mind .

“You bastard demon, I’m gonna~!! Ugh! Call back that bastard right nowwww!!”

“Elwien-nim! Please remain calm!”

In this way, the god realm was in upheaval as well, though in a different way from the netherworld .