***
《Baal hasconquered the neutral city ‘Aian’.》
《‘Aian’ begins to sink into the abyss.》
《The Mountain of Trainees, Delphia, Pavlin, and Aian, a total of four places, have disappeared from the map.》
《Baal has obtained the title of ‘Evil God’.》
《The fourth evil, Baal, begins to regain its original power.》
《Two neutral cities remain. ‘Cartel’ and ‘Temple of Rune’.》
《If the fourth evil, Baal, conquers ‘Cartel’ and ‘Temple of Rune’, the ‘One Who Is the Abyss Itself’ will be completed. Afterwards, a warp leading to Earth will form.》
The news of the fall of the third neutral city, Aian.
After Delphia fell, Pavlin and Aian were collapsing one after another like dominoes.
The reason was simple.
After the first subjugation squad was annihilated in a single day, they failed to construct a proper defensive line.
Too fast, and too overwhelmingly powerful.
Everyone’s minds were breaking at the speed they could not have predicted.
–How strong is that bastard Baal anyway? Whenever it invades, the city doesn’t even last a day
–It even looks like it’s getting stronger?
–Evil God? Does the title give it extra effects?
–What? Regaining its original power? Is that thing insane?
–Forget fourth evil, that thing is basically a Demon King
Falling like autumn leaves.
The masters of the neutral cities no longer had even the strength to squeeze out resistance.
All they could do was accept their destruction.
Calling it one of the four evils wasn’t enough now. Calling it an Evil God, a Demon King, wouldn’t be strange.
The biggest problem was that if all five neutral cities fell, the fourth evil would invade Earth.
–Anyone have the Soul of Hydragon?
–I saw a video. Someone in Korea summoned Hydragon using the Soul
–So did they find them in Korea?
–They said they searched everywhere, but still couldn’t find the owner
–If you have any conscience, the owner should come forward. What, we’re all supposed to die together?
–Is Gracia our only hope? Where did the Master go?
–Mintchocoisdelicious, rise up!
–Phantom God! Please save us!
The Soul of Hydragon that Gracia was searching for was still nowhere to be found.
There was no owner. No one knew who had it.
Then, a single person posted on Player Talk.
–I know who has the ‘Soul of Hydragon’.
–You’re lying at a time like this? You think this is funny?
–Ignore bait
–If you’re lying, I’ll really come find you and cut your damn hands off.
The excitement among the players rapidly escalated.
Naturally.
Unlike Pangaenia, if the four evils invade Earth directly, everyone knew there would be no answer.
Truly, no answer at all.
First, unlike subjugating the fourth evil in Pangaenia, Earth required separate ‘Fragments of the Broken Golden Rule’.
And if the four evils invade someone else’s nation, would anyone willingly use those precious, desperately lacking fragments to launch an expedition?
There were countless intertwined interests.
Unlike Pangaenia, which was divided into cities, Earth was not divided.
–It’s currently in the Empire.
–Anyone can say crap like that.
–And what then? Are we supposed to storm the Empire?
–This is all I can say. However, the ‘Master’ would know specifically who it is. He too was in the Empire until not long ago.
–The Master was in the Empire?
–Wasn’t he in hiding?
–Then where is he now?
Even if he was in the Empire, shouldn’t his whereabouts be known once he left?
With even Gracia taking action, only the Master was silent—strange, given the Master was an even worse attention-seeker than Gracia.
–Well. He’s cursed. His Pangaenia body turned into a ‘pig’. Until the curse is lifted, he probably can’t appear. Even if it is, he’s too embarrassed to show up
–… a pig? What kind of curse is that?
–This guy’s been spouting nonsense since earlier.
–Still, maybe it’s plausible. That form would be the Master’s trauma. It proves that the rumor of him being called a ‘pig’ and being bullied as a kid was true
–Now he’s writing novels
–But wasn’t there a rumor that the Master was severely bullied when he was young?
–All the related people are underground now so we can’t fact-check
–Why does this guy’s tone sound so weird?
Eventually, people dismissed him as a troll.
But the commotion didn’t last long.
《‘Temple of Rune’ has been conquered.》
《‘Temple of Rune’ begins to sink into the abyss.》
《If the final city ‘Cartel’ falls, the ‘One Who Is the Abyss Itself’ will be completed.》
–…
–Why?
–What?
Only three hours after Aian fell.
…‘Temple of Rune’ was also conquered.
***
The root of the reaper church.
The Imperial Palace of the Empire.
At its heart, I looked around.
A realm unknown, a place even Wilhelm could not reach.
Reaching this point was good, but…
‘None of them look human.’
All the ‘humans’ here wore ‘beast masks’.
Most wore bronze-colored beast masks, and only a few—who seemed to be management-level—wore silver masks.
‘Why is number 1 the only one without a beast mask?’
Only number 1 was different.
Instead of a beast mask, he wore a golden mask.
Putting the question aside, I walked deeper into the palace, soon facing a place with a long endless table piled high with food.
And beside that table stood ten individuals wearing different golden masks.
They all looked at number 1 and me.
“So the ‘disinfection’ of Darkan is finished, I see.”
“How many ‘sinners’ were there? Shall I guess? Twenty?”
“I say fifty. If that vicious ‘golden mask’ handled it, at least fifty died.”
“Ohh, shall we bet? Loser gives a thousand slaves.”
“And what about the one next to him? The black goat?”
Everyone already knew about the ‘disinfection’ carried out in Darkan Territory.
The golden mask.
Number 1 opened his mouth.
“This one is the guardian of the twelfth ‘Orthodox’. Since a golden mask was not prepared, he had no choice but to wear a black one. He requests your understanding.”
“Well, it can happen at first.”
The one wearing the golden cat mask spoke.
Judging by the silhouette, he seemed male, but nothing here guaranteed whether any of them were men or women—not even their voices.
“A twelfth, hm. I'm very curious what kind of ‘Orthodox’ it is.”
“Mmm. I thought only we existed. Twelfth? There is no such thing in the records.”
“We’ll know once we confirm what ‘Orthodox’ it is.”
The masked individuals were curious about ‘Hel’.
Then number 1 approached the central seat and sat.
The others also sat.
Each chair reflected the characteristics of its mask-wearer.
Naturally, no seat remained for me.
An uninvited, unexpected guest.
“There seems to be no seat for me.”
At my words, the masked figures laughed.
“You do not have the qualifications to sit with us yet.”
“Mmm. You haven’t even shown your ‘Orthodox’, yet you look for a seat.”
“Sit on the floor until the banquet ends. You have no place here.”
Number 1’s eyes sparkled with interest.
He was curious how I would react.
Very well.
The banquet of reapers.
I understood that the table was not my place.
“Then I shall sit here.”
The only window in the room.
At the center of the window, sharp as iron bars, where the light poured in, I sat.
Then the one with the golden sheep mask asked:
“Without a chair?”
“Without? There is one.”
“…Hm?”
At that moment—
Fwaaaaaaah!
A burst of light far stronger than the window’s rays poured forth.
Brilliant, resplendent beyond compare.
【Throne of Radiant Light】
The most radiant throne, elevating my dignity to the extreme, manifested itself.
Seats are things one creates on one’s own.
Sitting upon the throne, resting my chin lazily on my hand, I looked at them—
As if observing them.
Or as if I were the master of this place.
Who is the true ‘Orthodox’?
“…”
“…You brought quite an amusing one.”
“That bastard… is he a clown? Golden mask, did you hire him to make fun of us?”
“Well, there’s no way a twelfth ‘Orthodox’ exists.”
The golden-mask owners murmured as they stared.
He walked to the window where light poured, then suddenly materialized a throne of light.
A throne so radiant it was blinding.
Just by looking, anyone could tell it wasn’t ordinary.
‘A very tempting throne.’
‘Unique-grade? No, something beyond typical unique-grade.’
‘Hooh.’
Some evaluated its value with keen interest.
Estimating its grade, admiring its brilliance.
But their excitement didn’t last.
For the problem was not the throne itself but the place.
This is the Imperial Palace.
The place where all ‘Orthodox’ gather.
No one—no king, no lord, no ruler of any city—could dare display such arrogance before them.
Anyone but them.
Meaning my life should already be forfeit—
…if I were not truly the ‘guardian of an Orthodox’.
“At the very least, the ‘Imperial Three Swords’ pledged their soul and life in oath. That he is the guardian of the ‘Twelfth Orthodox’.”
Cutting through their doubts, the golden mask added.
The Imperial Three Swords.
He acknowledged the one wearing the black goat mask.
The masked ones looked surprised.
“The Three Swords?”
“Three Swords… the disciple of the Fox, is he not?”
All eyes converged at one place.
There sat the one wearing the golden fox mask.
A slender figure. Long navy hair tied behind, legs crossed with a relaxed air.
With a sword painted with plum blossoms resting upon their knees, being stroked gently like a cat or dog.
【Lv. ??】
…As expected, I could not see it.
Neither level nor information.
The same was true for all the golden-mask owners.
‘Strange.’
I found it odd.
My hidden trait, Heart of the Iron-Blooded Monarch, or Great Sage.
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