Chapter 37. The Hero's Epithet (1)
Chapter 37. The Hero's Epithet (1)
1
Last cycle.
It was when the Tower's tutorial had just ended.
-Warriors.
-You who climb the Tower.
The hunters shouted the countdown with vigor in the plaza. Above that plaza, the Goddess descended. The Goddess intoned like a priest offering a solemn prayer.
-From the eleventh floor to the twentieth floor.
-You will face a trial.
-A trial of faith.
The hunters did not listen to the Goddess's voice.
A new era. A new stage.
Excited that the stage they had waited for had finally opened, everyone rushed up to the 11th floor. There was even a hunter who tested whether the Goddess could be cut by a sword.
-You will find an answer.
But.
-The answer you find will reveal once more who you are.
I did not do that.
I stayed until the end, and listened.
-And so you shall come to know yourselves.
Now that I think back on it.
We had already received a revelation back then.
What would happen from the 12th floor onward.
-You who climb the Tower.
What we had to agonize over was not which reward we would receive. What we had to consider was not whom to suspect. The Tower merely hinted that the answer we found was all that mattered.
-May fortune be with you.
The Goddess was simply offering a quiet prayer.
Now, at the moment I arrived at the 12th floor once again.
I nodded, coloring my heart with that scene from back then.
And I said.
"I will clear up to the 20th floor within five days."
The answer I had decided on.
2
Silence filled the surroundings.
The first to open their mouth was the Black Dragon Master.
"Wait a moment. Five days......?"
The Witch wore a bewildered expression.
"Did I mishear? It sounded like you just said you'd conquer up to the 20th floor within five days. If that was a joke, it wasn't very funny, so take it back."
"No, you heard correctly. And it's not a joke."
"......."
The Witch closed her lips.
The silence that had settled over the audience chamber gradually spread into a stir. The hunters' expressions changed. Some looked at me with dumbfounded faces, some with disbelief, some as if they didn't know how to react.......
'This reaction is only natural.'
I calmly endured the gazes of every hunter.
Because, by common sense, it was an utterly absurd declaration.
"...That's impossible, Kim Gong-ja."
After a moment, the Witch spoke.
"You know this. It took us years just to clear up to the 10th floor. Of course, you did conquer the 11th floor in under an hour, so you might be a little full of yourself, but... it's too much. That's far too much confidence. Aren't you a bit overly excited?"
"Black Dragon Master."
I lowered my head.
"Please."
"......."
"I conquered the 10th floor. I didn't conquer it for all of you. I simply cleared it because I wanted to succeed. But the rewards and achievements I gained from conquering the 10th floor, I shared with you all."
The information that a group battle would now take place.
The minimap showing the boss monster's location.
I shared the information, and thanks to that, the guilds minimized their losses.
"...It wasn't just me. All of us benefited."
Therefore, I could say it with confidence.
"I have the right to ask a favor of you all."
"......."
"I'm not asking you to wait until I clear the 20th floor. Five days. Whether I succeed or fail in conquering the 20th floor, just wait exactly five days. That is my request."
Silence hung over the audience chamber.
It was not a silence that felt unfavorable to me.
Perhaps that was why.
[Welcome, Hunter Kim Gong-ja.]
[You have conquered the 11th floor in 1st place.]
[The 11th-floor clear reward is being granted.]
The reason the notification sounded far sooner than last cycle was.
Before, the reward was only granted after Sword Saint's sword rampage had completely ended. It took a long time. This time was different. The moment I opened my mouth, talk of the reward surged to the surface.
'Oh yeah.'
As if urgently trying to draw my attention and gaze.
[The Goddess of Protection presents you with a reward.]
[The Demon King of Fall Rain presents you with a reward.]
The notifications rang in succession.
I chose no reward at all.
I merely grinned inwardly.
'Got impatient because we aren't fighting, Demon King?'
Soon, the Goddess's rewards and the Demon King's rewards scrolled up. Glance. I threw them a single look. I showed not a shred of interest or attention beyond that.
[Demon King of Fall Rain urges you to choose a reward.]
A voice rang in my head.
[Demon King of Fall Rain hints that you may even give up the reward entirely.]
Several times. Repeatedly.
My attitude did not change.
'Hurry me or don't.'
I remained as unshakable as a stone.
I paid no attention to the roles the Goddess offered as rewards, nor to what the Demon King offered.
I literally ignored them.
[Demon King of Fall Rain is puzzled.]
[Demon King of Fall Rain cannot understand your intentions.]
That's fine. Don't be so impatient.
If you keep spacing out, I'll come find you myself.
"Hmm......."
Silence continued in the audience chamber. Heretic Questioner looked around, then let out an "Aha!" and burst into laughter. He seemed to have decided to speak first.
"The matter is simple! Hunter Kim Gong-ja shared the 11th floor conquest information with us. In return, he requested that we grant him one favor, and we promised to grant it as long as it was not impossible!"
Heretic Questioner smiled serenely.
"For five days, doing nothing, everyone waiting here. Considering the media will raise hell for all five days, it's not exactly a simple favor, but... it is even less an impossible one! Therefore, I am in favor!"
"Of course it's not an impossible favor, but......."
"A promise is a promise! Black Dragon Master!"
The Witch's expression clouded.
She pursed her lips a few times, then eventually sighed.
"Fine. A promise is a promise."
In effect, a statement that she would accept my request.
The remaining hunters also agreed to my request one by one. The Witch and Heretic Questioner. The hunter with the highest refinement here and the hunter with the highest lunacy here, the two of them had endorsed it side by side. Even hunters who weren't guild masters promised five days of silence, swept along by the surrounding atmosphere.
"This one never joined such a promise."
Except for the hunter with the highest boomer level here.
"The promise this man made is one. To watch over the young man for the next five days. There is no reason to grant any other request."
"......."
"If you leave to clear the 20th floor, I shall simply follow behind you, as promised."
"Hmm."
I nodded.
"Yes, that's fine."
From now on, I would face the Demon King alone.
I was confident I could win alone, but... if Sword Saint was behind me, it was like gaining a thousand more allies. There was no need to refuse him if he insisted on following.
I looked around the audience chamber.
"Thank you for granting my request, everyone."
And I slowly turned on my heel.
"I'll see you in five days."
Creeeak—
I opened the great doors of the audience chamber and walked forward.
Beyond the doors lay a vast palace. Walking out of the palace, high walls stretched in rows, and beyond even those walls lay the capital of the Aegim Empire.
A sight I had already passed through once in the previous cycle.
-Huh?
But it was different.
-What the. All the NPCs are stopped?
Baekhuryeong walked alongside me, looking all around.
Baekhuryeong was right.
The knight NPCs guarding the palace, the street vendor NPCs selling fruit in the market, the guard NPCs patrolling with bored faces. From the palace to the city, every NPC was frozen in place, perfectly still.
'It's because the quest hasn't started yet.'
It was time with the pause button pressed.
I trudged across the frozen streets.
Far behind me, Sword Saint was following.
-Quest?
'Yes. No one has chosen a [Role] yet.'
Right now, the Empire has no chancellor and no knight commander.
Even though they are key figures that a nation must have.
Hunters filling in for them was exactly the quest from the 12th floor to the 20th floor.
'On the 11th floor stage, the quest was given as soon as you entered. That's probably the correct order. But on the 12th floor, didn't we hesitate for a long while? Does it take ages for a quest to be given?'
The quest only opened after choosing a role first.
In other words.
'If you don't choose a role, the quest doesn't start. The Demon King's army doesn't invade, and the Imperial army doesn't fight back against the invasion.'
That's why the NPCs are frozen.
And they will remain frozen.
'Unless we choose roles.'
A kind of trigger.
The act of top-rankers choosing roles is itself the condition that triggers the start of the quest.
'But you see, Sword Emperor sir.'
I crossed the street. Since the pedestrians were frozen in their own individual poses, I wove through the gaps between them, winding my way out. It felt like walking through a maze.
Even while walking through a maze made of human bodies, notifications rang ceaselessly in my head.
[Demon King of Fall Rain urges you to choose a reward.]
I ignored it.
[Demon King of Fall Rain advises that if you will not choose a reward, you should give it up entirely. In that case, the right to choose a reward passes to the next conqueror.]
I ignored it and kept walking.
[Demon King of Fall Rain urges you to make your choice!]
At last, I passed through the city gates.
Beyond the Imperial city, a vast plain stretched out.
'Hypothetically. What do you think would happen if the Demon King died in this state?'
-What?
I could see it.
The minimap revealed through the battlefield's blessing.
A single red dot, unmistakably glinting on the translucent map.
At this moment, when no monsters had been summoned yet, the red dot meant one thing.
'I'm asking what would happen if the boss monster croaked before the quest even started.'
The Demon King.
'It's simple. No one would be able to choose the Demon King's reward.'
-.......
'Naturally, no traitor could appear either. He just gets eliminated before he can even try any of his tricks.'
I crossed the plain. I walked in a straight line toward the red dot. Before long, I arrived right at the red dot's doorstep. A little further and I would be at the location marked for the boss monster.
[Demon King of Fall Rain is enraged at you!]
Had he finally realized my intent?
Only now, here, did a slightly different voice ring in my head.
[Demon King of Fall Rain manifests!]
The sky before my eyes rippled black. A pitch-black pit opened like a black hole, and from the gap oozed a viscous fluid like filthy water.
A drop. A trickle. A mass.
The fluids gathered and gradually formed a large shape, and from that shape a voice leaked out.
-How dare you.
The Demon King was seething with rage.
-Follow the proper order, Hero of the Goddess. To come here without making any choice is insolent. Only one who has inherited the Imperial crown is worthy to receive my sword.
"What nonsense."
I gripped my sword hilt tightly.
"I made a proper choice."
-What.......
"Look. This is the best choice."
A time when the quest had not yet begun.
A world where the Imperial city had not yet been invaded by the Demon King's army.
And so, a world where not a single human had died.
"Demon King, I'm going to kill you before the quest starts. Then not a single hunter will die, and not a single Imperial citizen will die. Of course, no traitor will appear either."
-.......
"Understand? It's a happy ending with no sacrifices at all."
I grinned.
"I've never been much for bad endings. Maybe it's my personality? I prefer happy endings whenever possible. But since you're being a pain in the ass and getting in the way of my happy ending, sorry, but go ahead and die."
-How dare.......
The Demon King's form writhed.
-How dare you say you will stop me alone! Without even the Empire's aid!
"Yeah."
I drew my sword.
I aimed the tip precisely at the pitch-black form.
"Aid, my ass."
A vast plain.
In the middle of frozen time and a halted world.
My sword became a single hour hand, aimed at the enemy.
I opened my mouth.
"A hero fights alone."
The eternal five days began.