Chapter 166
Chapter 166
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 166
Chapter Title: Seven Deadly Sins, Seven Sin Beasts
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Penny had absorbed one of them with her own power.
Her changed appearance was proof of that.
“Wow, this Sin Beast!”
Penny wasn't a kid...
“No need for me to protect you anymore, huh?”
Up until now, I'd been the one looking out for her, but there was no reason to anymore.
Bunker life suited me just fine.
But it might've been uncomfortable for Penny.
“Nothing much to do for fun, right?”
At best, eating whatever tasty stuff she wanted and freely reading novels and fairy tales.
Lying around in a safe place?
Penny had gone out into the world looking for fun.
At the very least, she hadn't come out just to hole up in an underground bunker.
“She must've felt stifled, even if she couldn't say it.”
So, as much as it pained me...
For Penny's own good, I said it.
Judak*: Get out.
“...What?”
But Penny's reaction was different from what I'd expected.
Her face froze in shock, then her eyes lost focus as she stared at the gallery.
“You're telling me to leave?”
The atmosphere was different from usual.
Maybe because she'd just absorbed Envy—her look, her vibe, even her speech felt unfamiliar.
She seemed somehow unstable.
“How could you say something like that?”
“No, I mean, it's not like...”
Don't people usually get fed up living together after a while?
I didn't mind at all, of course, but I'd heard most folks prefer independent living spaces as they grow up.
Even if Penny left, I had no plans to cut off support.
“Points don't cost much anyway.”
Now that she was a reliable ally.
I'd send her whatever she liked as usual.
Plus, she could come hang out in the bunker anytime she wanted.
“Did I say it too bluntly?”
Thinking it over, it might've come off wrong.
Worried my true intentions hadn't gotten through, I decided to lay it all out honestly.
Judak*: It's uncomfortable for you. Leaving now will be better for you in the long run.
“Word fight!”
-Creeeak!
At her shout, the bunker wall got scratched.
It was solid steel, yet clear claw marks were left behind.
Lust + Envy.
Penny now had both of those.
Naturally, she might get swayed by desires even more.
“To say something like that to me...”
In fact, Penny's expression turned subtly twisted.
Her fists clenched and trembled, and soon she couldn't hold back her emotions and...!
“You're throwing me away...?”
“Huh.”
She was back to normal.
From that unfamiliar adult Penny vibe to the little Penny I knew so well.
“I like rolling around at home...”
Judak*: Weren't you the one who wanted to leave?
I'd been sure she wanted to go.
Penny frantically shook her head at my question.
“Can't we keep living together?”
I was the surprised one this time at her response.
“I figured you'd definitely want to go out on your own.”
Penny was even more of a homebody than I'd thought.
If living with me wasn't a hassle for her, then of course I didn't mind.
As long as it didn't interrupt my gallery time, I was fine with it too.
After some thought, I left a chat message.
Judak*: Bring Melona when you come back.
*
“I'm home.”
Penny returned to the bunker.
When I opened the door, it was the usual Penny I knew.
I patted her head as a “good job,” and she toddled off to my room.
“Hold up, that's my room.”
“I know.”
Answering with the confidence of that mailman uncle from the workbook, Penny illegally occupied my bed.
Wondering what was up, it seemed my earlier “go live on your own” comment had shocked her.
“Today, I'm doing whatever I want.”
She hugged the pillow, glared at me.
Then, true to her pact with the Envy she'd devoured, she started munching on dessert while reading a novel.
Meanwhile, I lay in the corner of the bed and checked the gallery for new featured posts.
[Title: Update on the Second Mine Rift]
(Gif of beasts screaming)
(Gif of beasts fleeing in panic from the rift)
(Gif of dwarves tossing grenades beyond the rift)
Brothers, this grenade thing you gave us.
The hand-feel is insanely good!
[Upvotes: 3491] [Downvotes: 15]
- Rift normalization
- Ah lol, it still won't close? Even like this?
- What kinda game are they playing? Look at those dwarves' sunny faces lololol
- (Dumbass x beast meme)
[Title: Wait, where you going?]
(Gif of the rift rumbling and vanishing)
(Gif of disappointed dwarves sighing)
We just got started.
Why stop now?
We'd just figured it all out, why stop?
[Upvotes: 12] [Downvotes: 1]
- Business is over, customer^^
ㄴ (Dwarf meme saying 'Open up')
ㄴ Ah lol, why keep it open with no troops? Lol
ㄴ Dwarves looking bummed out is the dumbest shit lol
While I was sorting out the Envy issue, the dwarven mine rift had stuck around.
Beasts could spill over at any moment.
But charging out into it wasn't feasible either.
So I'd given them grenades.
A weapon with insane cost-performance.
“Nice wrap-up.”
The first few tosses didn't budge the rift.
But after dozens—hitting triple digits—the rift slammed shut in a hurry.
“Why wait around?”
From the moment Envy got nabbed, the rift's lifespan was basically over.
I was killing time browsing missed posts when...
[Featured Post: Reporting this.]
“Hm?”
One title caught my eye.
In a gallery flooded with endless ...jpg, txt, ㅇㅎ) crap every day, there was a simple title.
And it straight-up said it was reporting something.
Realizing shit had probably gone down, I clicked it right away.
[Featured Post: Reporting this.]
(Gif of a knight foaming at the mouth in rage)
(Gif of knight shoving protesting peasants with his hand)
I'm a tenant farmer from the Edelin region.
Yes, Edelin in the Kellarton granary belt.
But it's Edelin in name only—it's this tucked-away corner, nothing special, just countryside.
A few days ago, some knight shows up saying he's raising the land tax.
(Gif of crying frog with a pitchfork)
What emergency grain do we even have?
We can barely scrape by settling here, so of course I told him it's tough.
(Gif of knight barging into house and eating/drinking freely)
(Gif of knight grabbing tenant farmer by the hair, mocking him with a laugh)
But these fucking knight bastards crossed the line.
At first I thought he'd leave, but nope—storms into the house for “training,”
Wastes our food, makes us serve him booze, total bullshit.
Can't take it anymore, filing a report.
Lord Judak, please punish these fuckers.
[Upvotes: 7431] [Downvotes: 32]
- Wtf, these pieces of shit?
- Didn't sign a contract first? Sometimes those scum pull this if there's no paper.
ㄴ OP: Where the hell we gonna get paper...? They say do it, we say okay, that's it...
- Same, wanna beat the shit outta them fr
ㄴ Can't we rally and revolt?
ㄴ Fr, if it's bumfuck nowhere, revolt and push, they'd let it slide.
ㄴ Those fuckers got money, wearing marketplace steel armor fml;
ㄴ Oh
ㄴ Yeah...
“Eh?”
Thought it might be bait, but it was straight-up honest, just like the title said.
A report directed at me, no less.
From reading it, some knight lording over a minor fief was throwing his weight around.
“Heard this kinda stuff is common...”
From my perspective, knights were just one of countless gallery users, so I hadn't noticed.
But yeah, medieval knights were high-status to common folk.
Normally, this would've gotten buried quietly...
- Wait OPgal, you ready for the fallout?
ㄴ Fr wanna cheer you on but...
ㄴ OP: No clue. Belly up to it, whatever fml
ㄴ OP: It reached Lord Judak's ears—what they gonna do?
The problem was it hit featured status.
To me, who even checks regular crap posts, featured ones were must-reads.
Naturally, the knight from the post came scrambling in.
- William: Wtf dude;;
ㄴ Lolol welcome Williamiamgal
ㄴ (Elf meme: You back to your senses?)
ㄴ William: Taking the post down first. Heading there now, let's talk it out.
ㄴ Just woke up from booze? Head spinning?
A belated damage control attempt.
But no one in the gallery thought he'd actually talk it out.
- OP: Don't make me laugh lol
ㄴ OP: Gonna grab me and beat me again? You hide, handle it yourself gg
ㄴ William: You fucking piece of shit
ㄴ There it is, true colors?
ㄴ Watch your mouth? See the upvotes? Lol
“Hmm, a report, huh...”
This was like a magic scroll.
Plenty of folks in the gallery asked me for help.
But asking me instead of the state for human disputes? First time.
“Kellarton does have that tendency.”
Maybe 'cause the queen and top knight know me?
Anyway, couldn't ignore someone asking me directly.
If I did, the OP's future didn't look bright.
- Judak*): It's me ㅇㅇ
ㄴ Gasp
ㄴ Judak has arrived
ㄴ William: No way Lord Judak;;
ㄴ Lolol now it sinks in?
- Judak*): Knight, freeze!
ㄴ Judak*): I'll review and judge
ㄴ OP: Thx
ㄴ William: ...Fine, got it...
No intent to meddle in state affairs.
But as always, make a pretext and it's fine.
If the knight really was abusing, gallery users couldn't properly gallery if oppressed.
“First time with this kinda thing, so no public notice went up—that's the issue.”
No big time sink to check past posts.
['William' user's posts... 0 found.]
“Doesn't post?”
Guess he avoided writing to not leave traces.
But even without posts, ways to catch him abounded.
['William' user's upvote list.]
3 days ago – Upvoted ‘Beat the shit outta disobedient tenant farmers lol’
1 week ago – Upvoted ‘How to handle tenant farmers like cake’
.
.
- Judak*): Lol
ㄴ William: Haha;
ㄴ Lloyd: Guess I gotta go
For a Kellarton issue, Lloyd—who cared more than anyone—summoned me straight to the kingdom.
And the village admin got handed to a waiting other knight.
- OP: Lord Judak is a god!!!
ㄴ Same village, that knight's rep was always shit ㅇㅇ;
ㄴ Knights strutting around lately pisses me off fr lol
Luckily, the incident wrapped up fine.
But calling it over would be tough.
- Lord Judak, reporting ours too!! [3]
- Knight bastards are total trash, upvote if agree lol [2]
- Beasts << Knights fact, upvote lol [31]
“Hmm...”
One down, but the root problem lingered.
Handling one by one would just waste time, low chance of fixing behavior.
“Wasn't too ungentlemanly, though?”
But that mindset came late medieval, gradually.
Early medieval doomers? Knights were straight-up thugs.
“More knights would be nice...”
Troop growth is always good.
But if those troops troll allies, same problems.
Pondering options, modern medieval already had a solid fix.
[Shop/Knight Literature]
[Arthurian Legends] - 10p
[Song of Roland] - 20p
[Don Quixote] - 22p
.
.
“This is it.”
In medieval times, rather than directly restraining knights, they made them self-regulate.
Chivalric codes from the church were prime examples.
But I'd go further: spread knightly romance novels outright.