Chapter 297 - [20th Round] The Stench of Corruption
“This is just ridiculous! Something is really wrong with this place!”
Hero Richel, whose flying ship was confiscated, sat in the garden of the royal palace with a desperate expression on his face.
He had just started a new round, and his vehicle had already been stolen.
He did nothing but cheat, and now he muttered complaints to himself that the world wasn’t being fair to him. How pathetic.
“I don’t think you have the right to say anything about cheating, hubby, considering you rushed to the Demon Lord’s castle at level 1 and defeated my father in just one day.”
“What’s that got anything to do with this?”
Ssosia didn’t seem to want to recognize the merits of her MAX-Cla.s.s husband.
The Black Box was perfectly legal.
It was a skill and job developed by my resentful senior, whose power was scattered throughout Fantasy.
However, it wasn’t the Black Box that allowed me to win.
Even if I didn’t have it, I was strong enough to defeat my father-in-law at level 1.
How?
Thanks to Master Mollan’s teachings, I was able to harness the power of biology and developed my body.
Aside from his Dark Energy, the previous Demon Lord couldn’t do anything to oppose me.
“But you had problems with me.”
“You distracted me with your cowardly chest. Even my Holy Sword bounced off of them! You should at least be aware of your cowardice!”
“Don’t make excuses for s.e.xual hara.s.sment!”
Meanwhile, the adventure of Hero Richel continued. Without his vessel this time.
Breaking his promise to serve the Dumpling King for a year, he fled at night and headed north.
Hero Richel went to the Mercenary Guild first and invited Mercenary A again, nicknamed “The Stormbringer,” to join his party. He then continued on his way, setting up camp in the forest to avoid being found by his pursuers from the Dumpling Kingdom.
Where was he going?
I didn’t have to wait long to find out. He headed to a secret place that even I didn’t know about with my 100 years of experience.
“A cemetery.”
But it was no ordinary cemetery. It was of the Lanuberk imperial family, the founders of the Holy Empire.
Only the emperor and his immediate heirs could be buried in it.
Of course, public access was strictly forbidden, and its security was so high grave robbers wouldn’t even dare peek into it.
Most powerful families, large or small, had such cemeteries.
So I didn’t pay much attention to them.
However, as soon as Hero Richel spilled his blood on the tombstone outside the cemetery, something strange happened.
BRRRRR!
It split vertically in two, with both pieces skidding to the side like a sliding door.
But there was no secret staircase leading to a dungeon.
Rather, it revealed a spatial gate, a resonant sky-blue vortex filled with white divinity mixed with blue magic.
“Sir Hero! I don’t think we should enter that.”
“It’s alright, Lanuvel. Don’t worry. I’ll just show the fools what a n.o.ble lineage is.”
“Oh…”
“Let’s go inside. I didn’t want to do this, but now I have completely lost interest in the world of Fantasy.”
“Is that so…”
For a moment, I doubted my eyes.
“What happened to Lanuvel?”
Her expression suddenly darkened, losing his falsified cuteness.
Hero Richel didn’t seem to notice the changes in her behavior, but not me, who had spent many years next to her.
She was acting strange.
“And in what form does her strangeness manifest in, hubby?”
“Watch closely. Lanuvel’s no longer swinging her pelvis from side to side, as she usually does when entering any dungeon.”
“You are so pathetic. That just means you’re constantly staring at that beautiful girl’s b.u.t.tocks whenever you enter a dungeon.”
“I only noticed it because it annoyed me.”
I wouldn’t deny that I had an unrequited love for Lanuvel in the first days of my 1st round when everything seemed scary and unfamiliar.
I relied on her… at least until I realized that she deliberately stepped on traps or chose the most difficult path to complicate my adventure.
FSHH!
Hero Richel, Mercenary A, and Lanuvel entered the dimensional gate while Ssosia despised her MAX-Cla.s.s husband.
And they were gone.
I could use Shadow A’s honorary teacher status to “secretly” oversee all students.
However…
“There seems to be something wrong, my a.s.ses-of-beautiful-girls-loving hubby.”
“I love pelvic bones, not b.u.t.ts. Anyway, I noticed that too. Richel disappeared from the surveillance system.”
My junior, whom I could spy on until quite recently, completely disappeared from my radar.
How did that happen?
I wanted to consult with Ssosia, the system developer, but…
“Stop saying such strange things.”
Strange? My pride was hurt.
“Ssosia, I tried not to talk about it, but to avoid such misunderstandings, I have to confess. Your hip bones are the best.”
Of the countless pelvic bones I examined, she had the most beautiful.
“Huh? I-I don’t want to hear anything! Idiot!”
“Heeheehee! My niece is so cute when she blushes~”
“Auntie, I… Hey?”
I rose from the Demon Lord’s throne, interrupting Ssosia’s excuses.
It was time to survey the Lanuberk family cemetery with my own eyes.
It was possible to fly there using my wings, but I decided to use Flying Ship Orgat instead.
… For the sake of fairness.
Since I went on a business trip to the north of the Central Continent for no reason, it would only be fair to send the rest of my copies there to not violate the overall scenario.
However, whenever a new “variable” intervened, history changed.
Introduction: The Hero summoned a flying ship.
Main body: The Demon Lord confiscated the flying ship.
Conclusion: The Demon Lord boarded the flying ship.
Richel summoned a flying ship, so Demon Lord Parmamon decided to respond.
In other words, I didn’t violate the principle of fairness.
The reason behind my actions was my dastardly junior’s movements.
▶ Admiration: You are simply amazing. You make even that interpretation possible!
‘One must be able to adapt to any situation, Trainee Teacher!’
Even the faculty members, who were always prejudiced against me, wouldn’t be able to say anything against it.
[Welcome aboard, Captain.]
[Please set the course.]
If another Hero summoned a flying ship, my copy would also have to act the same way I did for the sake of the principle of justice. However, except for my little junior Richel, whom his parents provided well for, all heroes began their adventures empty-handed.
So there was no problem with that.
“The Holy Empire of the Central Continent is the country founded by the descendants of G.o.d, right?”
Knowing the secret of the royal family, Richel opened a secret gate with his blood.
“Are you trying to say that my aunt’s the founder of the Lanuberk family?”
“Are you coming with me?”
My cowardly wife boarded Orgat.
“If I don’t go with you, you’ll think that I stayed because I felt ashamed. I want to understand your affection towards pelvic bones.”
“My niece~”
“Don’t take this the wrong way!”
I had enough of their tongue-twisting.
Since when did my cowardly wife act like a cute character?
A flashback of the 1st round suddenly came to mind.
We were aboard the Flying Ship Laurita, borrowed from the guardian of the Northern Continent, and we were breaking through the blizzard towards the hideout of one of the Five Great Disasters, the Snow Queen Elsh.
▶ Delight: It must have been very romantic.
‘The cold was fierce, Trainee Teacher, who has a warm heart and soul.’
And the day turned out to be strange.
I fell in love with the Sword Princess, who criticized me for killing the Ice Princess that fled and caused suffering to the villagers.
Hence, that time, I mustered up the courage and called her on Laurita’s deck to confess my love.
It was a very dark night. The sky didn’t have even a single star.
▶ Antic.i.p.ation: How did it go?
Walking on the deck covered with a thin layer of ice, the Sword Princess slipped and fell overboard somewhere in the snow.
▶ Embarra.s.sment: Bad luck…
‘Yeah.’
I never imagined that the woman called the strongest knight of Fantasy would fall so ridiculously.
Rescue operation?
I didn’t want my companions to start blaming me again, so I didn’t tell anyone about it and went to bed.
I thought she froze to death, but the Sword Princess later turned out alive and stayed in my squad until the very end of my 1st round.
Needless to say, our relationship was very tense.
“And you had a son from such a woman?”
“…”
I didn’t answer Ssosia’s jealous-filled question.
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It was the best move I could take back then.
The Northern Continent, ruled by a sweet three-year-old emperor, needed a successor. Even now, I don’t regret my choice.
Why the Sword Princess?
Because the nurse who gave birth to me was her childhood friend, and she trusted her.
There was no other reason.
[Captain.]
[You have arrived at your destination.]
[Landing.]
Flying Ship Orgat, which used to be a public transport for young angels, was very fast.
In the time it took to fly from south to north of the Central Continent, I would’ve only had time to satisfy Ssosia three times.
“Did you actually do the math?!”
“No.”
Didn’t she know what an a.n.a.logy was? All I meant was that we arrived at our destination in no time.
“I-I know that!”
“You are as cute as ever today, my niece~!”
“Please be quiet, auntie. Just for today.”
“Heeheehee!”
“And don’t laugh with that expression on your face!”
“You’re my niece, so you can openly confess to me.”
“Confess what?”
“Your obscenities~”
“What?!”
I ignored their argument and looked at the tombstone.
However, there was a noise around me that prevented me from concentrating.
“It’s a divine ship!”
“Ah! Oh my G.o.d!”
“G.o.d Herself has descended upon us!”
The Flying Ship Orgat was enormous. It was a five-masted sailboat, making it hard to miss.
The people of the Holy Empire were amazed to see it come to a stop at the cemetery’s flatlands.
“This is the descent of G.o.d!”
There was some truth in this.
The Demon Lord was also a deity, and my power made up half of the world of Fantasy.
I wanted to tell them immediately about the greatness of Master Mollan, but at the moment, I was busy with my dastardly junior.
However, I couldn’t just ignore the crowd of onlookers since I didn’t want my ident.i.ty to be revealed.
Someone had to go out to them and distract them.
A good idea came to my mind.
Clap!
“You called, Master?”
She was reborn as a spirit with a cloaca, but she still looked like a beautiful G.o.ddess.
Rice Cake.
The main face of the Festival of Heroes.
The pinnacle of beauty!
No resident would doubt her n.o.bility and holiness.
“I apologize for asking you to do this immediately after summoning you, but please go out to the people and tell them about Mollan’s Teachings.”
“Please leave it to me.”
Unlike the First Spirit, whose facial expressions and speech was deplorable, Rice Cake, who used to be Saintess H, was the perfect G.o.ddess in every way!
“Ah!”
“Oh!”
“G.o.d!”
Everyone who saw her hovering in the air prostrated themselves before her, which was quite natural for the citizens of the Holy Empire, who considered themselves the people of G.o.d.
And at this moment…
FASHUH!
The Hero Richel, Lanuvel, and Mercenary A jumped out from the sky-blue spatial gate of the newly opened tombstone.
Everything was different about them now, however.
Their level and skills had increased significantly, and their equipment was much better than before.
“Hmm? What the h.e.l.l?”
The Holy Sword C hung on Hero Richel’s belt.
As far as I remembered, it contained the soul of the former Hero.
And it had the function of changing its shape and size.
I didn’t use it because I was p.i.s.sed off by the instructions of the soul within, but it seemed to be useful for those who felt lonely.
Its name was different now, however.
Mollanrod, the Holy Sword of Mermaids!
That wasn’t the problem, though. There were five Holy Swords in total in the 5th curriculum, each hidden on one of the five Continents.
The current Holy Sword C, as in the 4th curriculum, was located on the Northern Continent.
But he got hold of this Holy Sword from a tomb on the Central Continent?
Was it just me, or was the smell of corruption running rampant?
“What?!”
Just as I was surprised by his new weapon, Hero Richel was surprised when he looked in my direction, bewildered by the fact that his lost vehicle now belonged to the MAX-Cla.s.s Impartial Demon Lord.
That was as expected.
Except…
“Hey, where do you think you’re looking at?”
My dastardly junior didn’t even glance at his distinguished senior.
His gaze was fixed on someone else…
“Grandma?”
His eyes were on my personal heating pad, who was busily preaching about Mollan’s Teachings.