Chapter 54
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Immortal Loyal Retainers (3)
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"Please, have a seat here."
The troupe leader watched the black-haired man shuffle awkwardly into his office, organizing his thoughts.
Kim Yul, Ulysses.
Even before receiving the man's business card, that name had already been seared vividly into the troupe leader's mind.
The troupe leader loved stories with expansive world-building.
Of course, this wasn't about the mere size of continents in the tale or the variety of races featured.
Was it a world where the characters truly lived and breathed?
Or just a flat stage where they served as props in a mechanical plot?
The writing of this author, Ulysses, fell squarely into the former category.
Succinct sentences packed with momentum.
Massive episodes that other novels might stretch across dozens of installments were wrapped up in just three or four chapters.
The subject matter was a bit niche, true.
But it was clear he understood the strengths of serialized fiction and tailored his work to them.
And then.
It was an intuition he couldn't quite justify.
But this author genuinely loved the world he created.
He infused meaning and backstory into even the most minor characters and fleeting locations.
Limited page space was a constraint, of course, but he overcame it cleverly.
The Hero Assembly.
Critics dismissed it as a cheap gimmick.
But as the troupe leader gazed at those cards, conviction bloomed within him.
Wasn't it born from an uncontrollable love for the world—a desire to share its rich details with as many readers as possible?
Enchanting the cards with illusion magic showed profit took a backseat to quality.
Or maybe it was just Chloe's harebrained idea.
"Ahem, it was entirely my idea, but thank you for the overly generous gilding."
Kim Yul scratched his head, speaking with an awkward grin.
Half humility, half pride.
Despite an ominous first impression, he was a likeable fellow.
Well, the troupe leader was already married with kids, anyway.
However.
Why did he have to get tangled up with Chloe of all people?
"You've probably heard, but our troupe, Fantasy Horizon, has no ties to Truth Newspaper's works. Same investor or not, Novelpia is out too."
"Because of that idiot elf, right?"
"You've heard?"
"Yeah. She was jumping around claiming she was the aggrieved party, so I grabbed her ears and subdued her."
"Her... ears...?"
The troupe leader tilted his head at Kim Yul's chilling words.
As novelists often say, there was probably some exaggeration involved.
Still, picturing Chloe wailing with her ears yanked brought a strange relief, washing away a long-held grudge in his chest.
Back when the troupe leader was a student at the Mage Tower.
At the center of every sporadic incident was the tower's most notorious failure of an elf, Chloe.
The girl meant well.
She truly did...
- "If there's no bread, just eat meat instead, right? Or are you lowly folk too poor to buy any? Then this lady shall graciously provide some for you!"
- "What in the world is that filthy getup you're wearing? It's utterly unclean—you should at least change into this top-grade dress I used to wear!"
Her elven dialect grated on the nerves, and even her good intentions came out like devilish barbs.
- "You said learning trash-tier illusion magic suited only for child's play would be useless? It's more than enough to let you reunite with your late mother, isn't it?"
Once her tantrum circuits fired, she went full throttle.
Well, that part had been satisfying, sharing the illusion magic major.
He hadn't been from a duke's family back then, but without his high elf blood, he'd have suffered a few humiliations.
And it was the troupe leader himself who'd always covered for his dumb, kind-hearted friend.
"Chloe does have a sharp eye for critique, but her imagination falls flat when it comes to creation. That's why she lacked talent in high-tier illusion magic."
"That's true enough."
Kim Yul readily agreed.
It wasn't the most flattering origin story for their friendship, but their current relationship stemmed from a bet with the novel-illiterate Chloe.
Following her advice back then would've derailed the plot beyond historical accuracy.
"Of course, I held out until she spat that I'd 'lost my touch in my old age,' but..."
Kim Yul noticed the glass trembling in the troupe leader's grip.
He seemed to have lost his patience, but Kim Yul wasn't elf-friendly enough to point it out now.
"I might forgive her if she apologizes, but business-wise, I'd prefer no ties. With this explanation, you understand──"
"Ahem, sorry to interrupt."
Kim Yul smoothly cut in.
"I'm not looking to adapt 'Two Heroes' from Novelpia into a magical play. This is an entirely new work."
Kim Yul slid over the manuscript he'd prepared.
And added,
"I'll drag Chloe here soon enough to apologize."
The troupe leader took the manuscript reflexively, shooting Kim Yul a skeptical glance.
How could he wrangle that proud idiot Chloe?
Kim Yul just flashed a bright smile.
"If you're wrong, you apologize. Even a child knows that's how the world works."
The next day.
As Chloe's wail echoed through the Novelpia building—ears yanked since dawn by the president who'd just arrived—
"I hope today's morning edition arrives soon!"
"Can Cao Cao really escape this time?"
"Even if he does, he won't recover."
"No spoilers, you bastards! I haven't read that far!"
"Hmph... Isn't not reading this far a crime?"
"Shh. Delivery's here...!"
"No cutting! I got here first!"
At last, readers received the long-awaited Cao Cao escape arc.
- "Hahaha! Look at that! Zhuge Liang, Zhou Yu, those smartasses still have a ways to go! If I were them, I'd have hidden ambushes in this Oryeom Forest!"
Thoroughly defeated and fleeing, Cao Cao laughed boisterously to maintain his leader's dignity and composure.
But as the saying goes, the mouth is the source of disaster.
- "Zhao Yun of Changban is here!"
A white-silver spear targeted him.
- "Hahaha! Zhuge Liang's divine calculations don't reach this far, it seems. If it were me, I'd plant someone like Zhang Fei in this Huarong Valley! The name reminds me of shouting 'bastard' in front of Huarong Gate──"
- "Bastard who defiled three married women! Your love, Zhang Fei, has arrived!"
PTSD from Zhangpanpa triggered, Cao Cao hurled his commander's helmet and whipped his horse madly.
But old habits die hard.
- "Hahaha! Hahahaha!"
Cao Cao raised the laughter flag again.
- "Prime Minister, why laugh this time? Please, just hurry. I'm terrified every time you do."
Zhang Liao, who'd stuck by him to the end, panicked and tried to silence him.
- "You think I couldn't see through Zhuge Liang's shallow trick of burning the small path to force the main road? So we'll take the small path and escape easily!"
- "......"
Zhang Liao's spirit pressure was too weak to block prime Pelé-level bullshittery.
His reasoning held water, though—if they survived this, home was in sight.
Regrettably.
- "Hahaha! As expected! If it were me, Cao Mengde, I'd have ambushed troops here. We'd be rats in a trap!"
- "Prime Minister. No troubles in your absence?"
- "Y- Yun Chang...?!"
The exhilarating reveal—that Cao Cao danced in Zhuge Liang's palm to the very end—set readers' hearts ablaze.
Turning the page, Cao Cao would surely meet his end.
Half thrilled, half pitying, readers flipped ahead.
"Uh...?"
"Huh?"
"This is..."
They encountered an unexpected twist.
No Cao Cao conclusion.
Instead, a backstory overshadowed by Red Cliffs unfolded via flashback.
Zhuge Liang's genius foresight in predicting Cao Cao's flight path.
And a heated debate between indignant Guan Yu—who'd received no orders—and Zhuge Liang.
Guan Yu flushed jujube-red from fact bombs like 'You served Cao Cao once.'
- "If Guan Yu lets Cao Cao go, he gets punished. If Cao Cao doesn't come to Huarong, I get punished. That settles it, right?"
The mood swerved into razor-sharp tension with this aggressive pivot.
Readers were floored.
This bet was utterly unpredictable.
And the first to snap out of it shouted,
"Yes... this is it...!"
Enlightened on the spot, he bolted to a board game salon.
Targeting those who'd gamed through the night—especially Hero Assembly fans—he bellowed,
"Let's play Prediction Game!"
Not strictly a board game.
But one of their favorites: Prediction Game.
As the name implied, wagering on outcomes. Definitely not gambling.
Instead of explaining at length, he spun today's Novelpia around.
Clink! Clink! Thud!
Coins and pouches piled up neatly.
Around the same time.
Similar scenes unfolded elsewhere.
Even at Jean Renault Salon.
"Guan Yu values loyalty above all—by his past actions. Cao Cao lives."
"A man's pride is on the line here—how could he release him? And narratively, isn't it prime sweet potato fodder?"
"You wagering, then?"
"Fine! I bet Cao Cao dies."
Sparks flew hot and heavy.
The empire's emperor rose to hegemony through gambles in dire straits, chaining wins to victory.
That DNA coursed through imperial blood.
'Chicken out and drop dead' set the capital ablaze with fervor.