Chapter 346: The King Who Kills Others, The God Who Kills Himself - 2
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 346: The King Who Kills Others, The God Who Kills Himself - 2
The Golden Lord had no artistic taste. This was something Hilde had figured out for herself. Now that she was up close, she could see the city was clearly just reusing the same few patterns.
The statue, by contrast, was incredibly elaborate. From the wrinkles around its mouth to the finely sculpted beard and hair, and even its lifelike expression, it was by no means the work of someone who cut corners with recycled designs.
It was as if a living person had been turned to stone.
Hilde’s eyes sparkled as she nodded her head vigorously.
‘As expected of Father! He has an eye for art! Then again, art is a human endeavor. Of course the King of Humans would know!’
Actually, I figured some of it out by reading your mind.
Still, it was unnerving. While everyone else was thinking about the summit, she alone was scrutinizing the statue from every angle. What kind of person was she?
“…You bastards. I’ve had enough. I have treated you with sufficient goodwill, but…”
Hector’s body trembled with rage. Hot air blasted violently from his pistons as pressure converted to heat, scorching the air.
Wait, the Regressor brought up all the important points, and I just wrapped things up. Why are you glaring at me like you want to kill me? Is this Jenga? Where the last person to make it fall takes all the blame?
Literally steaming, Hector spread his hands. A dozen pistons shot out from his body and aimed at me in unison. If he wished it, the pistons would fire in an instant and batter my entire body.
“Are you threatening me?! Me!”
A taboo was a taboo.
No matter how much the people of the Fallen Dominion lived like mayflies, they didn’t actually want to die tomorrow. But what would happen if word spread that their food caused deformities and could even kill them?
They would stop buying the Dominarch’s food. And they would scramble to live in Claudia.
One or two would be fine. A special being like a Primarch could handle that demand. However…
If everyone tried to live in Claudia, society would collapse.
If everyone wanted Claudia’s food, the economy would be ruined.
For the Fallen Dominion to maintain even a semblance of a state, this taboo had to be kept hidden. And now, an outsider—from an enemy nation at war, no less—had discovered that very secret.
‘If it comes to it, I’ll fight to the death…! If my strength isn’t enough, then I’ll borrow the power of the Golden Palace!’
Hector spoke with grim determination. He was nothing if not a loyal subject.
“No. I’m just asking, to be sure. We wouldn’t want to make a mistake based on our own assumptions. If we wanted to blackmail you with this, would we have said what we suspected right to your faces?”
“…”
His only flaw was that he was too good of a person. A more suspicious and ill-tempered man would have been too offended to even listen to me. But he listened to my words carefully and understood that my question stemmed from pure curiosity.
‘Is he afraid of becoming a statue if he comes face-to-face with the Golden Lord…? Hmph. If he’s guessed that much, I can understand his fear. I can’t just lump them all together.’
After glaring at me in silence, Hector took a deep breath and retracted his pistons.
“…Resonating doesn’t turn you into gold or steel. The statue wasn’t made from a living human. You can rest assured.”
“Then what?”
“Ask no more. I can never tell you. However, I guarantee that you outsiders are safe.”
That was enough. If he was thinking of the answer that clearly in his head, my mind-reading could pick it up perfectly.
Hector didn’t know the exact details. Only the Golden Lord would know the process of ‘Resonance.’ But as his long-serving aide, he knew what happened, even if he didn’t know the principles behind it.
A human who resonated with the Golden Lord was… ‘collected.’ So that they could be ‘summoned’ at any time.
Good. I’ve got another clue. My curiosity was satisfied, so I had no lingering attachments. I nodded my head as if I understood.
“If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to. I just needed to confirm that I’m safe.”
“…Thank you for your understanding.”
He didn’t look very thankful. Well, that was probably just political rhetoric.
Despite the brief squabble, the Regressor accepted Hector’s proposal and agreed to a one-day grace period. Hector, sitting glumly like a sucker who’d been fleeced, didn’t remove the steel dome and instead called Peru over separately, intending to dig up what little information he could about us.
To be so sincere on top of being so good-natured—it wasn’t typical of the Fallen Dominion, but then again, a country needs people like him to function.
The Regressor, who had emerged from the steel dome, walked away with nonchalant composure before glancing back.
“So they didn’t use a living person for the statue? That’s more surprising.”
“What? You knew too, Shei?”
“It’s obvious. When you see an overly realistic sculpture, the first thing you should suspect is whether it was once a person.”
Wow, it’s so well-made. Isn’t that the normal reaction? What kind of life have you lived?
“But how did you figure it out?”
“I just picked up on something the Dominarch let slip. Humans resonating… it just sounds creepy, you know? Like you said, Shei, I’m glad I didn’t eat any food from the Fallen Dominion.”
“He said it doesn’t really affect outsiders, but yes.”
‘If I were to resonate with the Golden Lord in the Fallen Dominion instead of just dying, would I be able to regress…? Ugh. I’d rather not find out.’
Shaking her head, the Regressor got ready and said.
“I’m going to see if I can find where the Golden Lord is. According to the Dominarch, he should be somewhere nearby. Knowing the location beforehand will give us more options. If things go south, we could always ditch the Dominarch and go meet him ourselves.”
She boldly declared her intention to break her promise. Spoken like a true Regressor.
Hilde, too, offered a compliment laced with admiration.
“Wow~! You have no intention of keeping a promise you just made! Amazing! I’m so moved!”
“Shut up. So what are you going to do for the day?”
“‘Me’? ‘I’m’ going to disguise myself and gather information!”
“That’s the same thing!”
“Shei was the one who accepted the offer, not ‘me’! Besides, when ‘I’ transform, ‘I’ become a different person, you know?”
“A different person? Please. You’re still you, even when you transform. You don’t become someone else.”
The Regressor’s thoughtless words accidentally touched a raw nerve for Hilde. Perhaps it was exactly what a shapeshifter who had lost herself needed to hear.
But sometimes, the message is colored by the messenger. The smile vanished from Hilde’s lips as she spoke.
“You have no right to say that. Because you can’t find ‘me’.”
“I can too, you know. I’ve guessed right a few times.”
“By using your ‘Eyes’? Pfft. Anyone can figure it out when they’re already suspicious. And you have to rely on the Power of Light just to confirm it? That’s cowardly. What’s worse is you don’t even know you’re being a coward. The only one who ever recognized ‘me’ from the start was Father.”
Uh. Actually, I used a power similar to that called mind-reading. If you praise me that much, I’m going to feel pretty bad.
Still, I know I’m a coward, so maybe that makes it okay.
“What’s with you all of a sudden?”
“It hurts my pride when you criticize ‘my’ transformation art. Well then, ‘I’ must be off to prepare for my infiltration~.”
Hilde waved her hands dismissively and headed toward a dark corner of the alley. The Regressor watched her go, a look of bewilderment on her face.
“What’s with her?”
“I don’t know, but it looks like you got on her bad side, Shei.”
“Are you saying it’s my fault?”
Not your fault, exactly. You two just don’t seem to get along.
Though we had agreed to split up and gather information, I had no intention of running around on foot. I’m hopeless when it comes to physical labor.
The Golden Lord. Is he trying to become a king? Or a god?
I couldn’t understand his intentions at all. His actions lacked consistency. Producing food and building cities made it seem like he wanted to save humanity, but the end result of creating so many people was to simply collect them.
A king is one who kills others and lives off their blood and sweat.
A god is one who divides himself and gives the pieces to his people.
But the Golden Lord’s actions fell somewhere between the two. He used his power to provide a place for others to live, but the fate of the people who lived there was to be ‘collected.’ His subjects ultimately become a part of him—‘collected’ if they live, ‘dismantled’ if they die.
But… there’s no reason to collect something like a human.
Is that why he insists on the title ‘Golden Lord’? Because he is neither king nor god?
“I really need to meet him.”
I was muttering to myself as I retraced my steps.
Just then, I heard a commotion from the street ahead. I looked up to see a carriage tangled up with something on a slightly sloped road. The people who appeared to be the owners were shouting, veins bulging in their necks.
“Who’s the bastard that brought a carriage into the city?!”
“He slammed on his brakes!”
“What does me stopping for a second have to do with you crashing into a wall?!”
A traffic accident. A common occurrence.
This city was temporarily inhabited by the Dominarch’s alchemists and the Dholes who were after the cornfields. Public order was maintained by the Dominarch’s power and reputation, but with a gathering of unruly Dholes, trouble was bound to happen.
Can’t be helped. I’ll take a detour. I didn’t know the city’s layout well, but as long as I had a sense of direction, I would eventually reach my destination.
What? Bad with directions? I refuse to treat such mythical creatures as human. For a human, whose only asset is their intellect, to be bad with directions is just too shameful. You fail at being human.
With that, I ducked into a side alley to head for the next one.
“Huh. There’s no way through here.”
Strange. By my calculations, there should have been a path. Maybe I need to go a little further. Let’s see, the next alley.
Right. If I go through here, I’ll reach the next street. As I was about to enter the alley, a thought from within made me stop in my tracks.
‘When he comes, I’ll get him. Just gotta stab some rich-looking guy and make a score. One good stab is all it takes!’
What’s with all the muggers? He was holding a dagger with clear murderous intent. A surprise attack wouldn’t work on someone like that; he’d try to stab me the moment I spoke.
Run. I’ll just make a natural right turn here.
I wasn’t lost yet. I knew which way the sun had risen, and I had a clear grasp of north, south, east, and west. If worst came to worst, I could just climb onto the roofs and run across them. I’m not bad with directions.
Which made it all the more strange.
It felt as if, without any intention or deliberation on my part, I was being herded down a certain path with every choice I made. I was definitely going the right way, but it was leading me into a slightly darker alley, the kind where it wouldn’t be strange for someone to jump out.
It was bizarre. How could I describe this? It felt as if my choices were meaningless, as if I were a puppet moving as someone had ordained. I felt the unpleasant sensation of dancing in the palm of a chess master who sees ten moves ahead.
But that was impossible. I was a mind-reader, a scammer of psychological warfare who could read the thoughts of a player seeing ten moves ahead and turn their traps back on them. Yet my mind-reading sensed nothing.
The Dholes who blocked the road, the wannabe mugger, the dead end—none of them had intended to block my path. If they had, I would have read it and reacted accordingly. Even if someone had planned it, how could they have known I would be walking down that street at that exact time to prepare such a setup?
It must have been pure coincidence that I ended up on this path…
“I am warning you, savage.”
…No, there was one other possibility.
‘Fate,’ as the Sanctum called it.
A woman with her robe pulled down low stood blocking the narrow alleyway. The only parts of her visible were her slender mouth, her ash-gray hair, and the clenched fists peeking out from her sleeves.
Just as I thought.
I had read her thoughts, but having come this far, there was no escape. From the moment I changed direction on that first street, this encounter had already been ‘fated.’
By a Saintess of the Sanctum.
Standing in this place as ordained, she glared at me as ordained. There was hostility, but no intent to attack. She had come here merely to deliver a warning.
“If you seek to stop the war, I will stand by and watch. In fact, blessings will be upon your future. However, if you intend to pursue further chaos, if you seek to reduce humans once more to beasts acting on their whims…”
The Saintess of Steel. Feruel.
Among the Saintesses at the pinnacle of the Sanctum, she was the only one who possessed pure martial might.
The Saintess of Steel raised a tightly clenched fist and pointed at me. The holy gauntlet that covered the fist that could shatter heretics in a single blow was not to protect the fist, but to protect the one being struck. Yet, despite this tear-jerking consideration, it was said that no one had ever been protected.
Because everything the Saintess’s fist touched was pulverized.
“In the name of the Saintess of Origin, who blessed this humble servant and cursed the savage.”
I admit it was reckless to come alone, but it wouldn’t have been any safer if I’d brought someone with me. The Saintess of Steel is, quite literally, unstoppable.
Feruel pointed a finger at me and warned.
“With this fist, I shall deliver divine punishment upon you myself!”
No, not at me. At the King of Humans.