Chapter 364: translated
I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.
Chapter 364
Gloria stared blankly at the door that was emanating a golden light.
"What kind of place is this supposed to be?"
"We'll find out when we go inside."
Caesar took a deep breath and then strode inside.
Behind him, Agatha, Raven, and Gloria followed.
Inside the place where dazzlingly brilliant light poured in, there was a library. Like the Arch Great Library, there were bookshelves everywhere, and countless books were arranged on them.
The only difference was that they were all uniformly filled with golden books identical to the Akashic Records. The brilliant light pouring out from the unopened library seemed to be coming from all those books.
"Interesting."
Caesar looked up at the mysterious voice coming from above.
Above, he could see a woman reading an Akashic Record while hanging upside down. The woman's hair gleamed with an emerald color, and two horns were growing from her head, though they were not as ominous as those of a devil.
They were white, like Agatha's horns.
"I've never seen a story like this before."
Raven instinctively recognized who this person was.
"...Dragon."
The woman made a short jump and landed in front of Raven.
"Correct answer, Raven."
Raven was momentarily frozen and could not speak.
"Then who do you think I am?"
Who would be likely to manage a library full of Akashic Records?
Raven thought there could only be one such being.
"Smaurne."
The answer came not from Raven but from Caesar first.
"As expected, you're quick to catch on, Choi Seo-han."
Smaurne smiled slightly and snapped her fingers.
The Akashic Records flew over and formed a chair for Smaurne to sit on.
"I've called many people to this place, but I've never seen someone like you who created a future where both Elijah and Denver were killed."
"Choi Seo-han... Who is that?"
"Ah, sorry, but I'd prefer if the interlopers stepped outside for a moment. The conversation keeps getting interrupted."
Smaurne snapped her fingers.
With that, Raven, Gloria, and Agatha were thrown out beyond the door. Caesar grabbed Smaurne by the collar.
"What are you doing?!"
"It's okay, it's okay. I just don't want to be interrupted while I'm talking. It's annoying when questions like 'what's this?' and 'what's that?' keep cutting in while I'm trying to explain something, right?"
"...It was you. You were the one who called me to this place."
"Yes. Now the conversation flows much better."
As Smaurne snapped her fingers, Caesar was seated on the Akashic Records.
"How was it? Playing Valent Saga firsthand? Pretty thrilling, wasn't it?"
"Thrilling? I nearly died hundreds of times."
"That's why I let you experience it in advance. You proceeded as someone born a general, as a merchant, as an adventurer. Didn't you proceed knowing how this world works? And also..."
Smaurne snapped her fingers. Raven could be seen muttering dragon language in an attempt to open the door, while Gloria and Agatha were frantically pounding on it.
"You also met people who love you terribly."
"That doesn't change the fact that I experienced some awful things."
"Then shall I send you back to Korea?"
Caesar flinched momentarily at Smaurne's words.
"You wouldn't want that either, right? After all your hard work and achievements here, even I would be angry if told to go back to Korea."
"...Why did you do this?"
"Yes. That's the question that should be asked."
Smaurne snapped her fingers again.
Smaurne sat facing Caesar and drank tea. Caesar had no idea when or how the tea had appeared in the dragon's hand, or even in his own hand.
"It's a rather long story, I wonder if that's all right."
"Explain everything."
Smaurne took a sip of tea.
"It's a story you already know roughly. Grezawa and the humans tried to kill the flame dragon Sturungarden and me to create a world of their own. They succeeded in killing Sturungarden but failed to kill me."
"I was very, very angry and decided to punish humans after killing Grezawa. I decided to place a curse on this land."
Smaurne sprinkled tea into the air. The tea droplets transformed into barbarians.
"First, Akim! After killing that damned barbarian who bit off my wing, I cursed his descendants."
The barbarians changed into green-skinned goblins, orcs, and trolls.
"I decreased their intelligence but enhanced their reproductive ability, gave them strong bodies but also an endless fighting spirit. So they've been killing and fighting each other ever since."
Caesar suddenly recalled Elijah's words. To visit the Orc Altar. He suspected that the reason Elijah told him to go there was to reveal the secret about Akim.
"I also cursed Diana, the woman who encouraged Grezawa. To that woman who desired eternal life, I gave her truly eternal life but made her feed on others' lives. In other words, I made her become a vampire who sucks blood."
"So you did all this for your revenge?"
"That's right. The fog that prevents anyone from ever leaving this continent, the devils that were born among you, and the knowledge of dragon language that was taken away, all were curses against those who dared to challenge me."
Smaurne's anger was so intense that the entire library trembled.
"But even for me, bearing such a curse was difficult. So I enclosed myself in and the only way to break the seals and curses placed on this location is by embedding a condition and materializing the curse."
Smaurne snapped her fingers and created a game console.
"That method, as you expected, is to invite warriors from the outside world to this land to break this curse. The way to break the curse is to prevent the 'Devil Overflow,' which is this world's final destruction scenario, and then have a conversation with me."
"So you're saying I came here to break their curse?"
"Yes. Do you see these books inserted here?"
Smaurne pointed to the Akashic Records on the bookshelf.
"All the books here are records of warriors like you. Most of them died before getting far, or even if they cleared it, most died without meeting me."
Caesar thought for a moment and then spoke.
"I heard Elijah also entered here. Did he know you were here?"
"I mentioned that Elijah was a hidden boss, right? Elijah was truly remarkable. With his obsession for Diana alone, he entered this library and discovered the secret."
"Is Raven similar?"
"If you're referring to Ravens from other worldviews, yes. Raven is the only key that can enter this library. She's the only linguist and magician who can analyze the dragon language and combine dragon language. That's why I made you be born exactly at this time."
As Smaurne snapped her fingers, Ravens appeared from all directions.
"Since both Elijah and Raven solved the secret, I had to give them a small gift. However, neither Elijah nor Raven could escape the constraints of this world. I gave them both choices: either continue living in this library or go outside with distorted memories."
It seemed clear what choice the Ravens had made. Without exception, they would have decided to remain in the library. The current Raven is different, but the Raven in the game had no particular attachment to her current life.
"Elijah decided to go outside. So I had no choice but to distort Elijah's memories."
"Is the erased name in the library the distorted memory?"
"That's right. While distorting the memories, I had to modify the Akashic Records inserted here. I set it up so that the only way for warriors like you to enter this door was by passing through it with Raven who understood dragon language. But if by chance someone entered after reading Elijah's memories, it could become a big problem. So I added a small setting to this world to prevent Elijah's memories from being read."
"You made it so I couldn't read Elijah's memories?"
"Exactly."
"But I was able to read his memories when I came into contact with Elijah?"
"That wasn't a problem. However, it could have become an issue if you had read the memories in the equipment or chain sword that Elijah had worn when entering this library."
Caesar frowned.
"It seems like you made the problem quite complicated?"
"That's right. Elijah was like a game bug. When you fix one bug, another tends to be born. So he became a significant obstacle for warriors trying to break the curse placed on this world."
Caesar struck the chair. The Akashic Record papers fluttered.
"Because of that, I had to go through hell!"
"I know. But it couldn't be helped."
"You don't even say one word of apology."
"Instead of one word of apology, I want to give you a gift for all this hardship."
"...A gift?"
"You know about dragon language, right? Using dragon language requires an appropriate price in return. In other words, bringing you to this world requires a price."
Smaurne stood up and approached Caesar.
"Warriors who didn't see the true ending of devil origin were simply sent back to Earth. They lost their memories and were treated as if they never existed. But you're different."
Smaurne handed Caesar a key.
"I'll give you the opportunity to become the master of this library."
"What? You call that a gift?"
"Becoming the master of this library is equivalent to becoming a god. It contains records of all the people living in your world. Agatha, Gloria, as well as Denver, and even the Emperor, Yan, Mitchell, and Rose, the entire life of every person is recorded here."
Smaurne smiled brightly.
"You can manipulate their lives as you wish and control them however you want. You can become a god in the true sense, not like those illusory four goddesses or whatever spread throughout the world. How about it? Isn't it really good?"
Caesar took the key.
"So I become the god of this world?"
"Yes."
"Then that means I can control you too?"
"...Well, in a sense. But I don't really recommend it. It would take you hundreds of years to fully understand this library. Should I call it studying to become a god?"
"Your tongue seems to have gotten quite long, Smaurne?"
"I'm just saying I don't recommend it."
Caesar stood up.
"I don't need to live forever, nor do I need the power to manipulate this world. If there's one unchanging wish I've had since the moment I was born in this land until now, it's to give you, who messed with me, a taste of your own medicine."
"You... What are you thinking of doing?"
"Smaurne, bring me your life."
At Caesar's command, Ravens from other worlds handed over the book containing Smaurne's life. The book was continuously being written in real-time.
-W-what are you going to do with me?
-Was there a human who didn't want to become a god of the world?
-This is absurd.
Caesar couldn't read the dragon language, but he could understand the words contained in the Akashic Record. And Caesar instinctively knew how to use this book. Caesar inserted the key into the book and then opened it.
Then countless dragon language poured out.
"Smaurne, you shall become my pet lizard."
"W-what?!"
Smaurne's appearance suddenly changed into something like a flying lizard doll.
"W-what is this?!"
"Yes. That's perfect."
Caesar grabbed the stubby tail of Smaurne. It has the appropriate weight and texture, just like when he grabbed Star’s tail. And he spun it.
"Aaaaaaaargh!"
This heavy yet electrifying sensation. It feels like doing fireworks in a refreshing way. Caesar stepped on Smaurne.
"Ugh!"
"Yes, the cushioning isn't bad either."
"W-what are you trying to do?"
"What else? You'll have to be my stress-relieving punching machine until I grow old and die."
"I am a dragon! Y-you shouldn't treat me like this!"
"Right now, you're a talking lizard doll."
Caesar grabbed her by the collar and began walking out the door.
"I'll think about whether to become a god or not after living for a while. But since I don't have any particular thoughts right now, I'll think about it while tormenting you for the time being."
"This is absurd. This isn't what I wanted...!"
Caesar kicked open the library door that wouldn't open. There were Agatha, Gloria, and Raven, sitting down in a sea of tears.
"Huh...? Caesar?"
The sound of the door closing was heard from behind.
It seems like the same sound was heard when he was first born into this world, so that must have been this sound.
"I'm back."
The three people threw themselves into Caesar's arms. Caesar embraced them and whispered the closing sentence of a fairy tale.
"Let's live happily ever after."
I Killed the Demon King. It was a Mistake.
The End