==================
Translator: thursdays Editor: Yahiko PR: LightBrin
King.
“Uh…”
The tip of my lips rose up. People instinctively smile when they encounter something unexpected.
I looked around. Black Dragon Master, Heretic Questioner, Venomous Snake, Crusader, and Count. I met their eyes, one after the other.
“…You’re joking, right?”
“Of course,” said the Black Dragon Master.
I wanted her to continue and say, “Of course I’m joking.” But the words that came from her lips were the complete opposite of my expectations.
“Of course, we can’t make a new monarchy right now. Death King, you may not know this, but we’ve devoted our heart and soul into the Tower’s current system… We struggled through many failures and setbacks for this.”
“We’re each trying to work the ideals of anarchy in our own ways. Aha. The ‘guilds’ in the Tower are actually a kind of combination…”
“That’s enough. Talking about that won’t help Death King.”
The Crusader cut off the Heretic Questioner.
“The king is a mere symbol. However, symbols have real power. Kim Gongja. You already have real power. A hundred thousand people entered the Tower in one day after seeing your name and believing in your character.”
“…….”
“Not even the Black Dragon Master has accomplished this before. You’re the first. There’s no precedent for any Hunter having this kind of power!”
It was only then when I realized the Crusader was more worked up than usual.
The Crusader was always calm and poised. The only time she raised her voice was during the [12th Floor Incident], which nobody remembered now. She had only acted like this when everyone was suspicious of each other and trying to kill each other.
But the Crusader was excited now.
It wasn’t just her.
Other than the Heretic Questioner, all of the great guild leaders were strangely heated. They were struggling to keep their excitement in check, but I could see their bare emotions in their gazes.
“We wouldn’t have been able to handle this population boom before. Food had been scarce. But the way we are now, we have enough land and trade routes… It will be difficult, but we can meet the demand for food.”
“Above all, we have [experience],” said the Count.
“I’m not bragging, but all of the guildmasters here have experienced turmoil. The Crusader is a nomad from a ruined nation. The Black Dragon Master is an orphan from a country ravaged by a civil war, and the Heretic Questioner and the Venomous Snake have been living with mafia and gangs since they were young. I was born in the poorest village in the world. Everyone here is an ‘expert of troubled times.’ ”
“That’s right,” affirmed the Black Dragon Master. “In this world, only we can deal with this crisis. No country, no nation in the outside world can do it. But [we] can! We’ve overcome things worse than this!”
“…….”
I gulped. I could clearly feel the guildmasters’ excitement.
They had abandoned the old world and fled to the new world. And though they reached the peak of this new world, the guildmasters hadn’t given up on their desire to build a new society.
“Death King. We can do it.”
A dream.
“Let’s do what no country in the outside world could do. Somewhere that’s a bit better. Let’s make a world where the people who were kicked away by the outside world can breathe and live a little!”
An ideal.
“We know well what a fallen society is like. So, we can make one that won’t fall.”
The Crusader, who fled from a country in South America.
“We know what divides people and causes wars. So, we can prevent civil wars.”
The Black Dragon Master, who survived bloody conflicts in the Black Sea.
“We know what violence is. So we can make use of violence.”
The Heretic Questioner, raised by the mafia in eastern Europe.
The Venomous Snake, who grew up in the Triads in central China.
“We know what it means to be poor, so we can overcome poverty.”
The Count, who was born in a trashy town in India.
“Let’s show them, Death King,” said the Black Dragon Master.
“Let’s show the people that we can create a slightly better world!”
Then, I realized.
It was me who had changed the guildmasters.
This never happened in the previous world. In the world where the Flame Emperor was ranked first… The Tower was just a tower.
A refuge for the hopeless.
A paradise for criminals and death row prisoners.
I had never seen the Black Dragon Master’s sparkling eyes as she talked about a [new world]. Not in a magazine picture. Not in any video interviews.
The Black Dragon always had cold eyes.
But she changed because of me.
“…….”
My heart pounded.
“Please.”
The world that Master dreamed of.
“Please tell me what I have to do.”
I could change the world.
“…Sure. Yeah. I thought you would ask that.”
The Black Dragon Master smiled gently. Her gaze portrayed her faith in me.
“Continue acting as you are. That’s the most important thing. Getting used to politics is something we can teach you step by step.”
“Ahaha. If you look at it sideways, it’s like we’re monopolizing the real power while Death King plays a figurehead!”
“…Well, I won’t deny that. But I also want to hand over this position to someone else as soon as I can. Do you know how many violent crimes happen each day?”
“Oh, there are frequent crimes under the name of religion! In the last ten days, 21 terror attacks have been prevented before they occurred!”
“Let’s stop talking about this. It’ll just make us miserable…”
Hm.
The most important thing is for me to stay as myself.
‘If so.’
I looked around.
“Library director-nim! Librarian! Where are you?”
My voice echoed through the huge library. Then, a small shadow peeped his head from behind a bookshelf the size of a house. It had been a while since I saw the Constellation [The Corner Librarian].
“Jeez, what are you doing back there? Get over here.”
“B-but… I mean…”
The Librarian’s lips trembled.
“How can an insignificant creature like I dare to show myself before the esteemed Death King? Your eyes will be dirtied. Please treat me like I don’t exist, as if I’m a speck of dust floating in the library…”
“Ah, don’t act so crazy. Just come here.”
“Uh. Um. Uhh…”
The Librarian floated helplessly. His long sleeves were fluttering like the ears of a sad Maltese puppy.
“Speak, please…”
“Please take out a book for our next stage.”
“Which Apocalypse do you want?”
“A fairy tale.”
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login