◈ Episode 450. It Is Not to My Taste (3)
『The reason Grandfell keeps his distance from high society is simple. Too many stories pass back and forth there. In a social world where only groundless rumors meant for amusement are exchanged, Grandfell did not wish for his eyes and ears to be contaminated…….』
Where in the world had that setting come from?
‘It’s a rationalization from back when I kept my mouth firmly shut.’
I, Lee Hoyeol.
At a setting that surfaced after so long, my cheeks seemed to heat up.
Because I remembered the embarrassing reason why I had added that setting.
‘Back then, I suffered quite a bit from rumors too.’
There’s this famous senior in the year above us, and apparently a kid from the class next door saw Lee Hoyeol going to and from school with that senior. Then shouldn’t we start being friendly with Lee Hoyeol now…….
‘……
Anyway, Lee Yerim.’
You hateful, beloved enemy of mine.
If I examined the setting itself, it wasn’t wrong. It was a good thing not to be swayed by baseless rumors, and better still not to take an interest in them in the first place.
‘I just have to pretend I don’t know where it came from, Hoyeol.’
Even as I muttered that inwardly, I did not take my eyes off the faces of the transcendents. I thought back to what I had said. Not even frogs in a well, but merely frogs in a social hall.
‘In any case, his sharp tongue really is something.’
The skill that had made several skilled mages cry in the Magic Tower’s Topaz Hall hadn’t gone anywhere, had it, Grandfell? The transcendents looked as if I had struck them where it hurt. Above all.
The creature of immortality.
Fsssss.
Among the gathered transcendents, Urs had been the strongest, and for that reason he had handled the most unpleasant tasks, including the 『Duel of Time and Space』. Now, melted away by aphids, he was vanishing without even a shape left behind.
The young-looking transcendent muttered hollowly.
“……
This is a joke, right? He really lost? To that fledgling mage?!”
If they could not believe it, I was willing to personally recite the fifth paragraph on page 1,324 of 『The Cultivation Method for Elixir Herbs』, which I had inspected.
A wary voice continued.
“What do you want?”
Difficult as it was, it seemed they had somehow accepted it.
‘And if you don’t accept it, what are you going to do?’
I did not turn my head to check, but it was reassuring. Thanks to Mary and the heads of the Four Houses matching their numbers to some extent, I could raise my head even more uprightly.
“Did I not already tell you?”
“What are you talking about?”
Mary spoke in my stead.
“From now on, no one may enter the social hall without my permission. No one may leave it either. Nor may any ugly trash be brought inside.”
I nodded in satisfaction and thought.
‘A perfectly unfair rule.’
So it was only natural they would let it pass by their ears.
They must have wondered what kind of nonsensical bullshit that was.
Of course, when it came to rules, our Grandfell was perfectly impartial and just.
‘It’s not as if he seriously proposed such a malicious rule.’
More than anything, why would I be insane enough to take charge of screening entry to the Social Hall of Time and Space on top of the Magic Tower? Above all, even being on the top floor did not give me the right to enforce such a rule.
If the relationship and favorability reached their maximum and activated the [Authority] function, then it would be a different story……. Well, for now, that was still far in the future.
[Relationship with the Social Hall of Time and Space: 40%]
[Favorability with the Social Hall of Time and Space: 40%]
So I spelled out the hidden meaning.
“Do not engage in needless gatekeeping, frog.”
From here on, it was my cold, sincere intent.
“It means do not block the path ahead of my disciples.”
“……!”
As I said, it had begun with Jesse Hainness.
I could not guarantee the exact order, but with her at the forefront, Nam Taemin and Hisagi. Even Skal and Leonie. Players would enter the realm of the Strange one after another and prove their qualifications as transcendents.
‘Who do you think is teaching them?’
[Grandmaster of the Strange].
Since I had seized that title, was I not the teacher of all who entered the realm of the Strange? That was why I could shamelessly call them disciples.
At my words, the transcendents’ faces twisted.
“D-Disciple? That mage is……?”
“That’s not the important part. He clearly……!”
“Yes. He said ‘disciples.’ Plural.”
The insight of mere frogs.
It seemed they believed that they, who could enter the Social Hall of Time and Space, were chosen beings different from everyone else. But I, who had experienced it myself, knew.
That was why I could say it without holding back.
“You would do well to abandon your warped perspective as quickly as possible. The achievement you attained is not so grand. Was it not something that could be accomplished merely by consuming roots of grass?”
“……!”
Anyone listening would certainly think I was referring to Urs.
However, consuming roots of grass, elixirs.
I had a past where I forcibly formed Circles.
‘At times like this, I’m glad he’s so thick-skinned.’
If it had been my own face, my cheeks would have been burning to the point of bursting from embarrassment. Truly.
But that shameless mouth had no intention of stopping.
“A place one can enter by unanimous consent merely by hunting a demon less than trash.”
As if that were not enough, he even expressed his contempt for high society.
“That is precisely the place you deem so noble and grand, this Social Hall of Time and Space.”
The demon less than trash here referred to the high-ranking Demon King, Gamigin. And the one who hunted that Gamigin and entered the social hall by unanimous consent was, of course, me.
I sincerely clicked my tongue inwardly.
‘I can’t even argue if they call him obnoxious.’
After accomplishing what anyone could see was a tremendous feat, saying it had actually been nothing at all sounded hateful even to my own ears. If I were one of the transcendents, my face would have gone red and blue as well.
But the effect of the verbal abuse was tremendous.
“……
Tch.”
Their spirits were completely crushed, and they could not even bring themselves to refute. Even though they knew this was the Social Hall of Time and Space, a place where all acts of violence were strictly forbidden, they did not dare open their mouths.
‘Then let’s slowly get to the main point.’
Since I had perfectly seized the momentum, it was now time to begin the interrogation in earnest. But before that, I should inform them of a legitimate way to escape this situation.
“For reference.”
Of course.
“The dueling ground is open to you at any time.”
I did not have even the slightest intention of going easy on them.
*
He could not bring himself to do it.
‘If I want to leave, I have to knock him down and leave?’
He had already been greatly shocked by the three, including Mary.
But the man who appeared last was on another level.
To the point that doubt arose in his mind.
‘It feels like only yesterday he dueled Shegwin…….’
Compared to then, his words and actions seemed to have changed in their very “rank.” The Warrior of Sunrise racked his brain. It was said that a martial artist should consider a wound on his back a shame.
‘Impossible.’
Even if he reached the realm of the Sunlight Blade and Sword-Body Unity, he could not be certain he would surpass the silver-haired man, let alone the Witch of the Southern Sea.
Then there was only one method.
‘Abandon the ship.’
The Warrior of Sunrise thought of his dream. Even if the Transcendent Alliance broke apart, it would merely delay the time it took him to reach his dream by a little.
Above all.
‘How vile, Oxidin.’
Oxidin had caused this situation.
And he had not shown himself in the social hall until now.
So the Warrior of Sunrise made his decision.
‘I will tell them everything as it is.’
And seek mercy.
The Eastern Continent had now sunk beneath the sea, but because he knew etiquette, he could recognize courtesy in another man. If he showed sincerity, that man would also sincerely grant mercy.
It was the moment the Warrior of Sunrise resolved himself.
Suddenly, a question occurred to him.
‘……
But.’
Including the Child of Lightning, whose mouth was particularly loose.
The other transcendents had kept their mouths shut.
Including Urs, who had turned to powder, none of them had any reason to protect Oxidin as king. Even if he called himself king, no one served Oxidin as a king.
The Warrior of Sunrise gathered his thoughts.
‘In any case, it is none of my concern.’
Then he opened his mouth.
“……?”
No, he tried to open his mouth.
“!”
But his lips would not budge.
His throat would not obey.
He could not produce his voice according to his own will.
His gaze naturally shifted.
‘Is this man’s pressure……?’
No, that could not be.
If he had been able to inflict harm in this way, he possessed more than enough power to have trampled them long ago. On top of that, the rules of the Social Hall of Time and Space should clearly still be in effect…….
A thought abruptly came to him.
‘Could this be why they had their mouths shut?’
Judging by their expressions, that really was the case.
It had begun with their voices, but now their hands and feet would not obey either.
The Warrior of Sunrise sensed it.
‘It must have been before we entered the social hall.’
Before entering the social hall.
Someone had used a cowardly trick on us.
Once he thought that, only one person came to mind.
‘Oxidin, that bastard!’
It was then.
“Regrettably.”
The silver-haired man’s patience reached its limit.
“It seems none of you have any intention of answering.”
Click.
The man rose from the chair where he had been sitting leisurely. Then he moved his feet. Reaching his hand into empty air, he waved a quill pen through the Social Hall of Time and Space.
All they could do was swallow dryly.
He tried to think. The man could not possibly be writing a contract out of nowhere. Then was he truly modifying the rules of time and space? Did the top floor truly grant such authority?
“…….”
As he watched with his mouth forcibly shut.
“As of this moment.”
The man opened his mouth.
“I will begin an unofficial Duel of Time and Space.”
……
An unofficial duel?
At the same time, the scenery changed.
The Colosseum of Time and Space appeared, and a battlefield unfolded.
Soon, the transcendents were able to face it.
On the opposite side of the Colosseum battlefield.
“!!!”
The man stood before them, upright and alone.
*
Messages flashed so brightly it was dizzying.
[You have obtained the top-floor privilege of the Social Hall of Time and Space.]
[From now on, you may use the highest-tier Spacetime Shop.]
[From now on, you may use products worth 10 gold coins or less by Spacetime Shop standards for free.]
……
The Social Hall of Time and Space.
Once I lifted the block, the messages that had piled up until now surged forth all at once.
I, Lee Hoyeol, had not yet transcended material desire.
‘What, free?!’
Because of that, my eyes widened more than once.
But thanks to our incorruptible and upright Grandfell.
I was able not to let one message slip by.
[From now on, you may use the dueling ground of time and space at your discretion.]
The dueling ground of time and space.
In the days when Arcana was nothing more than a game, it had been called the “Colosseum,” a place where PVP could be conducted. Its purpose was still the same now, but if there was one thing that had changed.
‘The authority of resurrection is gone.’
It meant that lives had to be staked now.
In that sense, if there had been anyone watching this situation.
They would have had no choice but to be shocked.
Because I was standing in that dueling ground of time and space, facing five transcendents. Was it thanks to entering the dueling ground? Only now did I come to know their names.
[Child of Lightning has completed entry.]
[Warrior of Sunrise has completed entry.]
[Rotten Shaman, Uriah, has completed entry.]
[General Merchant, Pokom, has completed entry.]
[Master, Killerband, has completed entry.]
[The Duel of Time and Space will soon begin.]
This was something that could not happen in an ordinary Duel of Time and Space.
A one-against-five duel with transcendents, of all things……! Even someone desperate to die would not choose their end in this way. Recalling the rules of the dueling ground, it should have been impossible.
But as I said, I had become able to use the dueling ground of time and space “at my discretion.” And I had added an arbitrary rule to this dueling ground: a duel of one against many.
‘Let me say it again.’
I was not desperate to die.
The reason I had summoned the transcendents to the dueling ground was simple.
Because it was clearly visible to me.
The hidden class, [Tyrant].
Its [Brainwashing].
So I had no options to choose from.
Naturally, because I was a demon hunter.
I did not know any magic to heal [Brainwashing].
‘Though I question whether such a thing even exists in the first place.’
It meant I had no choice but to use the only cure for [Brainwashing] that I knew.
That’s right.
It was [Brainwashing] that was cleanly dispelled once its target was beaten to the verge of death.
I murmured calmly.
“Even if you have grown dull, you must not forget the value of time.”
Just as they observed me, I observed them.
Thanks to that, I arrived at an estimate.
I would not lose.
“Come. I shall face you all at once.”
Even against five transcendents!