Chapter 200
Chapter 200
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 200
Chapter Title: Wrath's Dilemma
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For the first time since her birth, Wrath came face-to-face with a formless, colossal malice.
“...”
The moment she encountered it, she realized.
That something was the entity that had created her.
And soon, the very source that made up her being.
“Annoying...”
Ever since being born and tossed outside, Wrath felt malice toward everything.
The dull gray sky and the ruins,
The ugly, twisted magic beasts.
And her own pitiful situation.
Wrath simply harbored hostility toward all life, just as the outside world demanded.
“Ugh!”
Or so it should have been.
Judak*: How's this guy taste?
For some reason, she didn't feel angry at this being called Judak.
“What did you feed me!”
Wrath shouted, yet she felt puzzled.
What was it... It was like the fuel for her anger was just draining away.
‘This is weird.’
Judak's very existence was strange.
It was a sense of dissonance, as if she'd lived her whole life in a space of silence.
Loneliness from existing alone, and the bond of being with everyone, coexisting.
A truly contradictory being.
But the goodwill within it was so embarrassingly unfamiliar that Wrath could hardly bear it.
Judak*: Candy?
“What's that? Some kind of poison!”
Wrath pulled the candy from her mouth to throw it on the floor but hesitated.
This lingering sweet taste in her mouth.
After a lifetime of gnawing on magic beast flesh and rotten food, this modern sweetness was indescribable.
One thing was certain: it wasn't something to toss on the ground.
“D-delicious.”
Judak*: Lollipop. I can give you more.
“Really...?”
Wrath looked up like a harmless deer, then snapped back to her senses belatedly.
“N-no, don't mess with me! I came here to fight you!”
Wrath jumped to her feet.
She scowled fiercely and yelled at the empty air, but...
Wrath's crimson eyes no longer blazed with ominous fire like before.
On top of that, a cold draft blew through the open window.
Wrath closed the window and scurried back, wrapping herself in the blanket.
“...I'm not angry.”
Wrath pouted her lips with an expression she couldn't tell was good or frustrating.
That was when it happened.
['Milk Chocolate Bar' x1 has been delivered!]
['Almond Choco Ball' x1 has been delivered!]
Desserts of all kinds started pouring down from thin air.
“Wh-what!”
Wrath flinched, shoulders hunching.
They all looked mouthwateringly delicious at a glance.
“To just dump out something this precious like this?”
But Wrath didn't pick any up to eat.
If there was ten thousand won on the street, you'd pick it up with a smile.
But if there was a black briefcase stuffed with fifty-thousand-won bills?
“You're showing off to me or something?”
Suspicion would naturally arise first.
Wrath kept her eyes glued to the chocolate but said what she needed to.
Judak*: Showing off what?
“That you're superior to the outside. You're trying to recruit me!”
She vowed not to fall for it, no matter how much he pretended to be friendly.
There was no such thing as a free lunch in the world.
The strong might have the power to share food with the weak,
But no one did.
“You too, right?”
Wrath asked, enduring with superhuman patience.
Judak*: Yeah, that's right?
And Judak didn't hide it.
“Huh...?”
Wrath, who had been snarling viciously, was left dumbfounded by the unexpected response.
Judak*: I am trying to recruit you.
“S-see!”
Judak*: But that's 'cause you're a pitiful severe punisher or whatever. Yeah.
Judak*: I don't really need the power.
“...I'm pitiful?”
She didn't know what a severe punisher was, but it was shocking.
Pitiful.
She never imagined she'd hear those words.
Judak*: Would you help a starving, shivering girl for what? To gain something??
Shivering girl...? Me?
Wrath felt her very identity being denied.
Outside, she was the Seven Deadly Sins that all magic beasts feared—Wrath herself.
Wrath unwittingly threw off the blanket and shouted.
“I am Wrath!”
Judak*: A starving, shivering girl.
“I said I'm Wrath!”
Judak*: A vicious puberty girl pretending to be tough.
“I am!”
Judak*: Severe Punisher.
“Ughhh!”
Wrath realized.
She could never win an argument against that being.
As she lay flat, trembling, something tapped her on the crown of her head.
When Wrath looked up, there was something with a unique shape.
It looked like a teardrop wrapped in pretty silk, ornate and flashy.
“Chocolate...?”
She didn't know what it was, but instinctively, Wrath knew.
Kisses, the famous chocolate everyone knew.
Just looking at it made her want to eat it.
“No! I have to hold back!”
Wrath bit her lip hard.
If she ate that, she wouldn't get angry anymore.
The source of Wrath's power would weaken.
As Wrath's eyes wavered under the temptation, text appeared before her.
Judak*: But what's good about being angry?
“What kind of question is that!”
Judak*: So I get that you're Wrath.
Judak*: What's the upside?
Judak*: Looks like you like sweets and feeling happy in a warm place too.
“That's!”
Wrath's eyes widened at Judak's words.
Her eyes just widened.
And she couldn't say anything.
The best answer she could come up with was that she was Wrath, and that was it.
Judak*: Fine for the other Seven Deadly Sins. But you? What's the gain?
The Seven Deadly Sins drew power from the sins they embodied.
Pride, Greed, Envy, Lust, Gluttony, Sloth.
Each acted according to their name,
Gaining strength and pleasure from it.
But there was one exception.
Judak*: You, Wrath?
Judak*: It's fucking boring.
“Guh!”
He was right.
Wrath didn't get any fun out of wrath.
Wrath wasn't a desire to begin with.
The more she got angry, the angrier she got, with no pleasure in it at all.
“I-I draw power from wrath!”
Maybe that's why Wrath made excuses.
She could just ignore it if she didn't want to hear.
But she couldn't.
Because it hit the nail on the head.
Admitting it would make her situation too pitiful.
Judak*: So what if you get power?
“No one outside can oppose me!”
Judak*: So what if no one opposes you?
“...What.”
Judak*: If no one opposes you, is there a cake worth claiming or something?
She didn't know what cake was.
But Wrath realized it was something as delicious as these desserts.
In other words, no matter how strong she got outside, she wouldn't get even a slice of cake.
“But...”
That was weird.
Wrath had never questioned it before.
She was just born to be that way.
But now that it was pointed out...
-Tap
“Ah!”
A chocolate bar dropped on Wrath's head.
Wrath, rubbing her head with teary eyes, stared at the chocolate that had fallen to her knees.
Judak*: Eat it.
Wrath's hand reached for the chocolate bar on its own.
That was when.
Judak*: Don't eat it.
“What...!”
Wrath's cheeks flushed red.
Was he toying with her now?
But before she could complain, new chat arrived.
Judak*: If eating that tastes good and makes you happy, eat it.
Judak*: If mindlessly raging and harming lives is more fun than eating that, then don't.
Wrath's hand twitched.
She already knew what was fun.
But questioning and denying centuries of ingrained identity wasn't easy.
As Wrath agonized, Judak's chat appeared again.
Judak*: Going back outside is your choice.
“...And?”
Judak*: But if you go back, think about it. You won't ever eat or enjoy this again.
Wrath hesitated for a moment.
The barren gray ruins outside.
And this sweet, cozy place.
Wrath hesitated briefly, then widened her eyes.
*
[Title: Lord Judak! Dragon appeared!!! Dragon!!!!!]
Posted by: DarknessLover
(GIF of a golden dragon pacing around the entrance)
(GIF of it shoving an eye bigger than an elf and mumbling something)
(GIF of a dark elf trembling in the shadows)
Lord Judak, help!
I can endure anything else, but not this!
Judaak!!!
[Likes 7431] [Dislikes 6]
- Whoa, that's creepy as hell lol
- How is that eye bigger than the entrance?
- Sneak attack win chance?
└ Info) Dragon pupils are harder than scales depending on the species
└ Oh, go for it go for it
└ Loen) I'm about to die here, this is too much!!!
- But it kinda looks like it's saying "Excuse me."
A frantic post went up on the gallery.
“What, just a regular help call.”
But the race making the help call was neither elves nor humans—it was dark elves.
A race even more self-reliant than dwarves, who had never asked me for help.
“And they're desperately requesting aid like this?”
Curious, I checked it out, and a dragon was prowling around the city.
The dark elves were naturally pale and at a loss.
However.
“Mallang?”
It was Mallang, the gold dragon—no, the golly—living with Yongyong on the top floor of the Kellieaton Magic Tower.
As far as I knew, the distance between Lumelin and Kellieaton was quite far...
Why the hell did it fly all the way there?
“Maybe bad blood with dark elves in the past?”
I'd vaguely heard something about dragon hunter legends.
Unbelievable, but soon the party involved appeared in the post.
- Mallang) Ah, that's not it.
└ Lololol it's saying ah here
└ Loen) Th-then why come all the way here?... Sir?
Loen, suffering cognitive dissonance from the dragon, broke character and used polite speech.
The reason Mallang came to Lumelin was simple.
- Mallang) 'Cause Lord Judak threw jewels to the canyon bottom.
└ Loen) Y-yes, that's right. So?
└ Mallang) If it's not too rude, could I go down for a bit?!
Mallang spoke as politely as possible.
And the dragon's kind voice.
Rooooaaar!
Turned into a terrifying, rumbling howl that echoed through the canyons.
└ Loen) Eeeek
└ Heeeek
└ Hweeeek
The dark elves let out groans.
Of course, they couldn't easily refuse.
Nor could they accept.
“Time for me to step in?”
In the end, I had no choice but to mediate personally.
- Judak*) “Soko made da”
└ Mallang) Ah
Mallang visibly panicked when I showed up.
Had it been trying to get permission before I arrived?
The flustered vibe was obvious.
└ Judak*) Lol
└ Mallang) Heh...
└ Judak*) Not too rude?
└ Mallang) Hingyuㅜㅠ
Fortunately, I nipped it in the bud before it escalated.
Just a short time away from the gallery, and all sorts of crap happens.
4.444.404: Judak...
Just then, a message from Wrath arrived.
Judak*: Yeah?
4.444.404: I've decided.
A single short chat: I've decided.
“Decided faster than I thought.”
Whether to stay here as I suggested or cross back through the rift.
“Most of her power is tied up outside, right?”
Wrath had most of her power bound outside for some reason.
Meaning, staying here meant giving up that power.
Judak*: Yeah, tell me.
Of course, I knew what decision she'd make.
“She'll stay here.”
There was nothing outside in that gray world.
I was even thinking of giving her more candy if she stayed like a good girl.
4.444.404: I'm going back outside.
“What?”
A completely unexpected reply came.
Going back to that empty outside?
“Why?”
As I failed to understand, another chat arrived.
4.444.404: Oh right, one more thing.
Judak*: ?
4.444.404: Judak, I need your clothes too.
Judak*: ???
4.444.404: So...
4.444.404: Take them off right now!
Wrath was really going back.
Demanding I hand over my clothes without shame.