◈ Episode 449. It Is Not to My Taste (2)
I’d been wondering why he hadn’t spat out that line yet.
I straightened my attire.
Putting on the Jacket of Dawn, I prattled on.
“It is not to my taste.”
Of course it isn’t.
The oasis of high society.
The idol of high society, Lord Grandfel. “Even if I am disinclined, the circumstances are what they are, so let us endure.” Just before entering [Understanding of Darkness],
I witnessed the message announcing the start of a Duel of Time and Space.
However, I had blocked all messages related to Time and Space. In other words, after leaving the Social Hall of Time and Space, I hadn’t received any news related to it.
Because of that, I learned of it belatedly. ‘Jesse Hainess.’ The news that she had fought a duel with Urs.
Seeing as she had entered the Social Hall of Time and Space as a Transcendent,
Jesse must have fully awakened the power of the Archmage. ‘I should start unblocking it soon.’ Transcendents undergo qualification reviews by other Transcendents.
If I had known that fact in advance,
perhaps I might have been able to prevent this situation. ‘With Grandfel’s strictness as I know it, he definitely would have.’ He would have cast a vote against Jesse, saying she wasn’t ready yet.
But now that the incident had already happened,
this time it was your turn to bend your stubbornness, Grandfel.
As expected, he spoke with haughty elegance.
“This is without precedent, so regard it as an honor.”
A sparkle appeared before my eyes. [From now on, news from the ‘Social Hall of Time and Space’ will be updated.] ……
Even when he was merely lifting a block, he had to make the most out of it, didn’t he? But even if I had to endure my face heating up because I’d gone back on my word,
from now on, I couldn’t afford to neglect news from Time and Space. ‘I know their intentions for certain now.’ They had stolen the crown of the Monarch, Ryuo Junchun,
and seven Transcendents had joined hands to be reborn as kings of the continent.
They had begun revealing their ambitions in earnest. ‘Are they trying to tighten discipline from within first?’ If I had to put it that way, Jesse was a fledgling Transcendent.
I couldn’t ask the person herself,
but some sort of conversation must have passed between Jesse and the seven Transcendents. ‘And their opinions didn’t align there.’ The Transcendents judged Jesse to be useless.
They must have tried to eliminate her through a Duel of Time and Space.
Perhaps Jesse wasn’t the first.
At the same time, Jesse might be the beginning. ‘Everyone is growing, after all.’ The realm of the extraordinary.
Even among those knocking on the door, there were Nam Taemin and Hisagi. And I couldn’t leave out Skal, the Dragon Knight once called humanity’s ultimate weapon and hidden class alongside Jesse. ‘In the end, he met a dragon.’ Of course, whether the prideful Ice Dragon,
Froznax, would obediently let Skal climb onto his back was another matter, but in any case. For the sake of future Transcendents, a Transcendent alliance that wanted to act territorial? ‘I need to break their spirit properly.’ In none other than the Social Hall of Time and Space.
To do that,
simply straightening my attire wouldn’t be enough. ‘Let’s see, if there are seven of them.’ Shouldn’t we match their numbers to some degree on this side too?
I was no longer Lee Hoyeol, who had nothing to his name.
Even in the Holy War Alliance, there were Transcendents other than me.
Transcendents who lived on a different “floor” from you lot.
*
The Social Hall of Time and Space.
A space permitted only to Transcendents.
The ornaments decorating the hall, the gold coins in circulation, and the magic tools one could purchase with those gold coins were all on a different level from the Arcana Continent.
Once one grew accustomed to such a Social Hall of Time and Space, even the perspective from which one saw the world was bound to change.
At this moment, that was true of the six Transcendents gathered in the hall. 『Child of Lightning』 The boy with blond hair as intense as thunderbolts looked around the hall.
Hadn’t it become cleaner than before somehow?
Far more so than when they had stripped the crown from the adventurer’s head.
An innocent voice rang through the hall.
“Did someone clean this place?”
“Clean, my ass. Like that would happen.”
“Ah! It’s the unfashionable big brother.”
“……
Unfashionable?” 『Warrior of Sunrise』.
His thick black eyebrows twitched.
He could have dismissed it as the nonsense of an immature brat.
But he couldn’t.
The words had been spoken in complete sincerity.
“I fear your innocent malice.”
“Malice? That hurts, brother.”
“Don’t look at me with those eyes.”
It gave him goosebumps.
In untainted, pure malice, there existed no such thing as a cause.
The warrior avoided the brat’s gaze and rolled his eyes. ‘In truth, I’m no different.’ The seven Transcendents who had joined hands.
However, the intentions harbored by each of the seven Transcendents were different.
The warrior did not overlook that point.
For now, they were on the same boat, but once they reached the midpoint.
In order to head toward their own destinations. ‘The moment we step off the same boat.’ The seven Transcendents, depending on their direction,
would point their blades at one another without the slightest lingering attachment.
In that sense, the one he had to be most wary of was, without question— ‘It seems she was thinking the same thing.’ A small frame.
A woman carrying a bag larger than her own body. 『Merchant of All Things, Pokom』.
As she toyed with a gold coin, she opened her mouth.
“Why, I don’t see our king anywhere?”
The king Pokom referred to was 『Oxidin』.
“He’s someone whose true thoughts can’t be known.”
The Warrior of Sunrise still couldn’t understand it.
It wasn’t something grand like the crown of an imperial emperor.
It was the crown of an adventurer who had met a miserable end. ‘To think he would willingly put something like that on his head.’ Was he foolish, or was he greedy?
But the one who had planned the board called the Transcendent Alliance was none other than Oxidin.
The Warrior of Sunrise collected his thoughts once more.
Child of Lightning.
Merchant of All Things, Pokom.
Creature of Immortality, Urs.
Rotten Shaman, Yuraia.
Master, Killerband. ‘It’s certain.’ More dangerous than the five Transcendents gathered here was Oxidin.
Even now, that was the case.
When everyone had gathered in the hall as promised.
“Heeh, still not here?”
Only Oxidin had yet to show even the tip of his nose.
However, there was no reason to grow impatient like that prickly brat.
In the social hall, the flow of time slowed to an extreme degree.
Srrng.
The Warrior of Sunrise drew his dao and looked at its edge.
Resonance.
He examined the edge of the Sunlight Dao and then its hilt, just as Sword Saint Shegwin had done. It was the moment he pricked up his ears to hear the voice of the Sunlight Dao.
Ziiing— “!”
In that instant, the Sunlight Dao vibrated.
Was this the resonance with the sword that Shegwin had spoken of?
The realm of sword and self as one?
However, the misunderstanding did not last long.
It wasn’t vibrating……
It was trembling in fear.
It did not take long for him to realize that fact.
He sensed a presence.
“……!”
Everyone sensed that presence.
And it wasn’t just one.
Moreover, among them was a familiar face.
No, to be precise, he had never once faced her directly.
There was merely a woman in familiar attire.
A broom.
“……
The Witch of the Southern Sea.”
The woman who was always drunk on foul cigarettes and sprawled over a table.
The witch entered the hall with an expression one could not imagine belonged to her.
She opened her mouth.
“This is the new rule of the social hall presented by the highest floor.”
The highest floor?
The social hall had “floors”?
Even in his confusion, the Warrior of Sunrise did not lose his composure.
With the eyes of a martial artist, he assessed the combat power of the four, including Mary.
And he felt it. ‘……Where did those people come from?’ Their aura was anything but ordinary.
It wasn’t only the Warrior of Sunrise.
With Oxidin absent,
all of the Transcendents were overwhelmed by the aura of Mary
and the heads of the four families, excluding Maxima.
It was a pressure so great that, had this been the Arcana Continent, they would not have dared move recklessly.
But they recalled the rules.
Acts of violence were forbidden in the Social Hall of Time and Space.
The Child of Lightning asked brightly.
“Wow, amazing! I didn’t know there were Transcendents like you. Where have you been hiding until now? If I’d known you existed, I would’ve moved a little more systematically.”
The one who replied was Letel Acamond, head of the Acamond Family of Rapture.
“Hmm.”
The eldest daughter of the Acamond Family.
Thanks to her father and mothers, whose marital harmony was excessively good,
she had grown up alongside no fewer than fifteen brothers and sisters.
“Before I answer your question, one thing.”
Even so, the reason Letel had been able to firmly secure the position of family head and take over the Acamond Family according to her ambition was simple.
“What is that way of speaking?”
“……
Way of speaking?”
“Now, again, politely.”
Letel’s eyes gleamed with authority.
“Or do you need the rod of love?”
The Warrior of Sunrise looked at the Child of Lightning.
“……
Ugh.”
That purely insolent brat had been overwhelmed by her aura. Even though he knew she couldn’t harm him due to the rules of the hall, it was a pressure he couldn’t resist.
Gulp.
Do I have to use honorifics too?
It was the moment he was seriously agonizing over it.
There were those who restrained Letel Acamond.
“Stop teasing them there, Letel.”
“Teasing? This is proper education.”
“He would not be pleased with bullying the weak.”
It was only a single sentence. ‘……Weak?’ Yet the meaning contained within that sentence was dense.
An attitude that looked down on them as the weak.
But what was more astonishing than that was— ‘There is someone above them.’ Who in the world could reign above those monsters? But the most unbelievable thing was that the Witch of the Southern Sea had moved. The Transcendent Alliance had also discussed her.
Her level could not be gauged.
Unless she acted hostile,
they had agreed to avoid unnecessary conflict with the witch.
Fortunately, there had been no clash with the witch.
Until just now.
The Witch of the Southern Sea, Mary, opened her mouth.
“Our task is merely to convey His words. We should refrain from unnecessary conflict. You would do well to wait calmly as well.”
“…….”
The witch’s voice, heard for the first time, was astonishingly calm.
From the sight of her always sprawled out, drunk on cigarettes,
it was something he could never have dared imagine.
The difference in her demeanor froze the Transcendents. ‘……Who on earth is coming?’ And before long, the protagonist appeared in the hall.
For some reason,
accompanied by a familiar sound.
Click-clack….
When our Lord Grandfel tries to do something, he always does it properly. The so-called old-timer community, the Social Hall of Time and Space, was not actually a “social hall” in the sense used by high society. ‘You are simply dazzling.’ I never imagined he would add the [Aesthetic] stat to his attire……! The effect of Aesthetic, which had reached [High], was tremendous.
With each click-clack,
his attire did not fall out of place even as he walked with a majestic stride. ‘……My face feels like it’s going to burst, seriously.’ As though I had become the idol of the social scene, just as in the setting,
I entered the Social Hall of Time and Space.
And I faced those with whom I had some familiarity.
“So it was you.”
Why, we’d run into one another once or twice in the Social Hall of Time and Space, hadn’t we?
Especially when I was engaged in a war of nerves with Sword Saint Shegwin.
Everyone would have had no choice but to pay attention to me.
A few among them recognized me and flinched. “You’re the one who dueled the Sword Saint……”
I hurriedly opened my mouth.
“I do not wish to hear it.”
In the Social Hall of Time and Space, one couldn’t hide an Arcana nickname……
In other words, Grandfel’s full name.
In case they brought up the full name,
I cut them off.
“For it is not I who shall answer, but you.”
Yes.
The reason I had come to the Social Hall of Time and Space was clear.
It was to break the spirit of Transcendents who were running wild without knowing their place. ‘First of all, it seems we’ve seized the initiative for certain.’ The heads of the four families were powerful figures who had long been able to enter the upper floors of the Social Hall of Time and Space. They weren’t called the loyal retainers of the Claudi Family for nothing. ‘They must have been quite startled by Mary too, right?’ Even I flinched at Mary’s change.
Was it because she had quit smoking? Mary’s gaze itself had changed. It had been worth gifting her the nicotine gum I’d ordered along with green tea to meet the minimum delivery amount.
But the real thing began now.
“Urs.”
Urs of the Iron Arm.
Urs the elixir addict.
And now, what was it, Creature of Immortality?
“You are exceedingly hideous.”
But you can’t deceive my eyes.
Urs was no such thing as a Creature of Immortality. Through the [Pentagram of Pure Knowledge],
I had acquired knowledge of every mineral and plant existing on the Arcana Continent.
I recited the knowledge in my head as it was.
“The dangers of elixirs are well known. Even so, you repeated your foolish acts. What Creature of Immortality? You are nothing more than a living corpse devoured by the 『Maslova Aphid』.”
“?!”
The ones more shocked than Urs himself were the other Transcendents.
It seemed they had trusted Urs quite a bit.
I could guess why they had trusted him.
“You were the one entrusted with hunting Transcendents, were you not?”
“…….”
“Against new Transcendents, the only one who could secure a clear advantage would have been you, Urs, who had accumulated far more experience than other Transcendents. However, how unfortunate.”
Half-human, half-tree.
Urs did not answer or speak, but only his body was moving toward me. The heads of the four families, excluding Maxima, and Mary tried to restrain Urs, but—
Swoosh.
I lightly raised my hand to stop them. As I said, acts of violence were forbidden in the social hall, and I knew Urs no longer had the strength for it anyway.
I evaluated him coldly.
“You failed to look back upon yourself.”
Crack.
“That was the cause of your defeat.”
The elixir, Maslova.
An elixir that bestowed tremendous effects related to vitality.
However, it contained aphids as lethal as its effects were great.
And Jesse must not have flipped through the pages carelessly.
“You read it properly, Jesse Hainess.”
Author, Cle Odia.
Reviewer, Lee Hoyeol. 『Methods for Cultivating Elixir Herbs』 Page 1,324.
The content written in the fifth paragraph.
“It is your victory.”
That was right.
Jesse had not lost.
She had used elemental magic to create the optimal environment for the Maslova aphids to rapidly multiply. By causing Urs to be covered in aphids, she had made him rot away slowly.
“……
Wh-what? Urs, you?”
Urs buckled and collapsed.
The Transcendents were so bewildered they could not continue speaking.
Even so, there was a need to break their spirits even more thoroughly.
For the first time in a while, I offered kindness.
“And you have been defeated.”
My gaze moved in order toward their stupefied faces.
“You were not defeated by the four heads of the upper floors of the social hall.”
I added a concrete explanation.
“Nor were you defeated by the modest Witch of the Southern Sea. That is right. You were miserably defeated by an adventurer who has only just begun knocking on the door of a Transcendent.”
And yet, what did you say?
A new rule established by Transcendents?
Cold venom flowed from between my lips.
“Like frogs inside the social hall.”
“……!!!”