Chapter 73
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: Pureblood Prince's Ruined Castle (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Your ordered coffee and orange juice."
The dessert cafe server arrived with a tray.
A kid who looked about five years old shot her hand up.
"And peach honey preserves, peach shaved ice, peach pudding, peach tart, peach yogurt...."
The server took the child's whiny order with a smiling face.
Beside her, Gonghyeok sipped his orange juice and asked,
"Won't you get fat eating like that?"
"Hah? Are you an idiot? Angels don't get fat."
Nathaniel savored the aroma of her espresso.
"The beans are in great condition. When you come down to the Saba world, you need fun like this at least."
The sight of a five-year-old kid relishing the bitterest coffee among them all was utterly bizarre.
"More than that, you should praise me a bit more. You're always thinking of stuffing things into guys' underwear. Talk about a wolf in sheep's clothing...."
"Heh heh. About that guy's underwear."
He stroked the back of Nathaniel's head as she reached for dessert.
"I set up this meeting to prepare your mind. Boss one-shotted, ten skills activated simultaneously, right?"
At his snake-tongued wicked grin, Nathaniel broke out in cold sweat.
"Well, see... If I set my mind to it, the energy of the universe helps me, but no, if I actually did that, my dignity as an angel...."
Ding-a-ling.
As Nathaniel started babbling nonsense and on the verge of a mental breakdown.
The bell on the shop door rang, and a woman entered.
The woman in a beige trench coat glanced around briefly before approaching Gonghyeok's table.
"Long time no see. Mind if I sit next to you?"
At her cheerful greeting, Nathaniel openly scowled.
"Why not just stand? You're a flighty succubus anyway—probably more comfortable standing than sitting."
"Oh my. The basics of hospitality start with sitting down. More than that, looks like you've loosened up a lot lately, Gonghyeok. Seeing you munching on snacks out here made my heart feel all warm."
"Damn succubus...."
As Nathaniel, whose personality had grown much fiercer since her revival, was about to unleash a machine-gun barrage.
Gonghyeok grabbed her crown and chin with both hands.
"Nom nom. Nom nom."
"Mmph!"
Gonghyeok's hands moved Nathaniel's jaw, forcing her to chew the dessert silently without a word.
"Sit."
"Thank you~"
Lilianne gracefully sat beside him.
As stifled giggles leaked from the succubus's veiled mouth, twin flames ignited in Nathaniel's eyes.
But all she could do was grimace and mechanically chew the food in her mouth.
"So cute. Adorably so."
"Yeah. Cute, right? But enough spectating—time for business."
At Gonghyeok's words, she cleared her throat and snapped her fingers.
[Deriving the Causality Calculator's computation from 2 hours ago.]
[Devil Quest 'City Subversion' is 37% complete.]
[Lilianne's Quest 'Eliminate Other Devil Contractors' has achieved 1400%.]
"Hmm. Things are progressing well. But you've cleared my quest so thoroughly it's hard to skim off the rewards."
Lilianne looked troubled.
So far, Gonghyeok had killed a total of 14 devil contractors.
All of them from factions opposing Lilianne's.
But devils couldn't openly egg on killing other devils' contractors.
She could've quietly siphoned minor rewards, but with achievements piling up like a loan shark's debts, Lilianne was in a bind.
"I wasn't expecting anything anyway. Just acknowledge the weapon contract rights."
Crunch.
Gonghyeok nonchalantly bit the tip of his tongue.
As blood seeped out, the ring glowed.
[Borrowing the power of 'Oath-Binding Princess Ring (S+).']
['Blood Manipulation (A)' activated.
Blood is controlled by the owner's will.]
The blood from his tongue swelled rapidly, enveloping the seating area.
Thousands of thin blood threads intertwined, instantly forming a red curtain.
The people around jumped in surprise.
But soon dismissed it as some avatar ability and returned to their own business, glancing over.
"Nicely woven."
Lilianne murmured, rubbing the curtain fabric.
How long had it been since gaining the ability, and already this level of technical finesse.
Few hunters used skills not for combat but in daily life with such precision.
'0.65 seconds? No, 0.55?'
She calculated the time to weave the curtain.
Dividing blood into thousands, tens of thousands of strands and crafting clothing in an instant?
No matter if the skill rank was A or S, it was impossible without repeated practice.
"You. Were you a vampire in a past life by any chance?"
"Once is enough. More importantly, don't focus on useless side notes."
There were 13 weapons on the table.
Each one exuding a sinister aura—magical tools through and through.
"Drew the curtain to take these out."
"Oh my, oh my!"
She exclaimed in admiration, lifting a staff from the magical tools.
"This is the possession of the Lord of Hosts, Isaac Gerolbane, right?"
"A very strong bastard."
"He lasted over ten minutes against you, for a necromancer?"
As Nathaniel sniped from the side, Gonghyeok chuckled dryly.
"Unique item. 'Advocacy of the Vanished (U.S+).' You need over a hundred thousand undead to earn this. Plus skull mace, blade of embers...."
Examining each item, she swept her hand over the table.
['Advocacy of the Vanished (U.S+)' and 13 other weapons' user restrictions released.]
[13 weapons now bound to contractor Ju Gonghyeok.]
"What on earth are you going to do with so many weapons?"
"There's a machine god among the avatars."
Machine god?
She tilted her head briefly before clapping.
"That's the primordial god worshipped by the Machine God Tribe, right!?"
"Yeah. I'm somewhat acquainted with it. Need lots of one-use weapons to wield it."
Watching him suddenly bring up another tribe out of nowhere, Lilianne thought,
'What the hell is this guy talking about?'
But she gave up and shook her head.
Asking would just get 'You don't need to know. See for yourself later.'
Regathering herself, she looked at Gonghyeok seriously.
"Actually, I brought some information in place of the reward I couldn't give this time."
"What kind?"
"It's about this 10th floor mission."
"Yeah?"
"Yes. Don't be surprised. Out of the 15 random missions, the selected 10th floor mission is...."
Gonghyeok sipped his orange juice and spoke.
"Pureblood Prince's Ruined Castle. 300 participants. Supervising angel Remiel. Hmm, devil's probably you?"
"Eh? Correct!"
"Pfft!"
Reflexively praised Lilianne and sputtering-coffee-in-shock Nathaniel both stared at Ju Gonghyeok in disbelief.
"How did you...."
"Sorry."
Ju Gonghyeok apologized first.
"Truth is, I didn't come just to meet you. Had another appointment."
As Ju Gonghyeok withdrew the blood curtain, another person in the cafe came into view.
"You were there."
The 10th floor mission's protection target.
Executive Director's secretary. Sesk.
"Nice to meet you. And these two on either side?"
As he asked about Nathaniel and Lilianne sitting on both sides, Gonghyeok introduced them naturally.
"Left one's my girlfriend. Right one's my girlfriend."
"Pfft!"
"Oh my?"
At the screw-loose explanation, the cute five-year-old-looking Nathaniel spat her coffee for the second time and gawked up at Gonghyeok in absurdity.
Lilianne covered her flushed cheeks and coyly turned her head.
"I see. Well, may we move somewhere without these two?"
"Ah. Sure."
As Gonghyeok wiggled his finger, Nathaniel shrank to palm-sized.
"Not a person—a summon."
"I see. A summon, though...."
Sesk nodded.
"Quite the unique taste. But I'll respect it."
"Don't respect it!"
He stuffed the shrilly protesting Nathaniel into his pants pocket.
Sesk sat across from him.
"Down to business."
He bowed his head.
"As head of the Eight Evils Society, thank you for handling our blunder and Martunis's matter."
"No. Just did what needed doing."
How could mafias cozy up to city officials?
Simple.
The non-necro mafia don sat before him.
Had Sanchez died there, Sesk, the Eight Evils Society head, likely wouldn't have escaped wrath either.
"As thanks, I'd like to offer a modest token."
Thud.
A single coin placed on the table.
Its color was neither navy nor blue—green.
Gonghyeok pondered briefly for the first time in a while.
'Take it?'
But he soon pushed the green coin straight back to Sesk.
"Didn't meet you for something like this."
"Then?"
"Had one question, so I called you."
Gonghyeok pulled out not orange juice, but a cigarette.
Lighting one from the Eight Evils Society's pack, he spoke.
"Pleasure to meet you. Did we meet back in the day?"
"......"
An incomprehensible question.
Sesk fell silent before replying.
"Back in the day? Didn't we first meet a few months ago at the recruitment plaza?"
"Right. One more question then."
Cigarette smoke billowed up to the ceiling.
"By any chance. Can't stand that you failed to kill me?"
"I don't understand the question. Why would I?"
"Yeah. Of course."
Gonghyeok tapped ash onto the railing.
"That's all the questions. See you tomorrow at the mission with Director Jeong."
"......"
The silent Sesk quietly rose and left.
Ding-a-ling.
The door bell chimed clearly, announcing Sesk's departure.
Lilianne, who had been watching, voiced her doubt.
She too hadn't gleaned any meaning from the audacity.
Just that it stirred hostility and unease in Sesk.
Cautiously, she spoke.
"Um."
"Yeah. Gotta kill that bastard."
"......"
At the characteristic death sentence, Lilianne barely managed a word.
"Why?"
Cigarette smoke rose to the sky once more.
Nothing reflected in the smoke.
"Don't know the guy."
"You don't know him?"
"Nope. Don't."
Eight Evils Society head and Executive Director's secretary?
In his nearing 300-year life, the Eight Evils Society head had been the Chinese Xian, and there was no Executive Director's secretary.
Plus the recruitment plaza.
That uneasy gaze from first meeting.
Instinct told him.
Gotta kill this bastard.
＊ ＊ ＊
Woooong.
As the magic circle's light faded, 300 hunters appeared on the wasteland before the castle.
Sunset light illuminated the dilapidated castle.
Pureblood Prince. Graduit's ruined castle.
Kyyyaaaaah—
A horrific scream echoed from within the castle.
Crimson-black stains and shriveled corpses adorned the walls and towers here and there.
Behind the prepared hunters, a golden halo shone.
"Warriors here to fulfill your mission. Welcome."
The senior angel who had appeared with Azazel and Sandalphon before.
It was Remiel.