Chapter 160
Chapter 160
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 160
Chapter Title: Great Flood - 3
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Less than half a day had passed since the downpour began.
But the capital was already a mess.
If even the capital, with its well-developed waterways, was like this, I didn't even want to imagine what the more backward territories looked like.
'I hope my hometown is safe too.'
The prison was underground, making it especially dangerous.
I hoped Lord Hasfil would let Mother out for a bit.
That's when it happened.
"Hero."
The Emperor called me in a low voice.
That's right.
We had requested an audience with the Emperor the moment we arrived in the capital.
An audience with the ruler of the empire was arranged in less than five minutes.
I spoke in a soft voice.
"I'm grateful that you still call me the hero even after hearing that oracle."
"No. There are few on this continent who have witnessed your prowess up close as I have. To me, 'hero' refers to you."
"......"
"The situation is urgent, so let's get straight to the point."
He cleared his throat lightly.
"It's only been four hours since the downpour started. But already, a significant number of lords are pressuring me."
"What kind of pressure?"
"They're demanding I issue an imperial decree declaring Maide Mohan a fake right now."
"There are still territories like that left."
"Those who haven't encountered you. Roughly a third of the total, I'd say."
I need to work harder.
Neril cut in.
"On the flip side, the territories that have met Maide are staying silent?"
"That's right."
"Even risking divine punishment?"
"Yes."
The Emperor answered casually and gave a fairly gentle smile.
"Just like I'm not wavering."
The party's faces filled with indescribable emotions.
We had already confirmed after the last discriminatory oracle that the territories I'd passed through weren't shaken.
It had been moving enough back then, but this time it was different.
Their own lives were on the line.
They were believing in me as the hero without wavering, even under the threat of death.
[That's why your reputation hasn't taken a big hit yet.]
It was truly something I was grateful for and happy about.
But.
I said quietly.
"But that's only because four hours have passed since the divine punishment began."
"......"
"What about after four days? Forty days? Then everyone on the continent will turn their backs on me."
"Hmm."
"It's not their fault, nor is it something to feel wronged about. That's why we need to take action before it's too late."
The Emperor shifted in his seat.
"What action, and how?"
"Order all the lords to do one thing."
"It won't work. As you said, lives themselves are at stake here. No matter how much the lords order..."
"No. That's not what I'll ask of the lords."
His eyes widened.
I continued.
"What I'll ask is this: Install communication orbs connected to Your Majesty in their territories."
"......"
"And cast voice amplification magic on them so all the territory residents can hear the voice coming from those orbs."
"No way?"
"Yes. I'll give a speech through the communication orb."
The Emperor looked like he'd forgotten to breathe for a moment.
"A direct speech to the people..."
"Relaying it through the lords like before won't solve this. Every resident in every territory needs to accept it from their hearts and follow my request. That's the only way to stop the downpour."
"Hmm. What exactly do you plan to say? What's your ultimate goal?"
I took a breath.
And uttered the words most taboo on this continent.
"I'll make everyone deny the Heavenly God."
Delivering a speech across the entire continent at once wasn't something easily accomplished.
The Emperor asked for just one night.
In the meantime, we worked to minimize damage at least in the capital where we were.
"Neril, the Withering Jewel, please."
"Sure. Here."
Jenia and Serein gripped the jewel together.
I said.
"You're covering the entire capital with a shield spell, right? Is that possible?"
"Of course."
They both murmured incantations simultaneously.
Now it seemed less like borrowing power from the Heavenly God through prayer and more like converting their own divine power into a spell.
Whirrr.
Soon, a shield enveloped the entire capital.
The downpour, pounding with enough force to pierce the ground, stopped.
I looked up at the sky.
The rain hitting the shield flowed along its surface out of the capital.
It was truly an eerie sight.
"Huh? Whoa? The rain stopped?"
"Look there! The sky!"
"W-What's that?"
"Idiot. You ask that in the capital with the Knights of Light? That's a shield spell."
"I'd have to see it for myself..."
"Who the hell cast such a massive spell?"
Normally, I'd step forward and say we did it, but not now—not the situation or the mood.
Click.
Jenia and Serein released the jewel.
I said.
"You're skipping prayers entirely now?"
"Yeah. Serein and I put our heads together and talked it over."
Jenia smoothed her hair once and explained.
"Divine power seems like just another type of energy."
"What do you mean?"
"Like qi or mana. Chanting prayers is similar to forming hand seals in magic."
"......!"
"Adin isn't granting divine power to unbelievers like us. It's just that divine power automatically replenishes when it depletes."
It was a reasonable theory.
Does that mean even if Adin falls from being the Heavenly God, their combat power won't be affected?
Then Jenia spoke again.
"So don't worry about us—just make sure to crush Adin."
"You're really starting to resemble Serein."
"......"
"Don't glare like that."
"Wait. What do you mean?"
I ignored Serein's protest and changed the subject.
"Anyway, good work. Let's head back."
"Yeah. The spell will last a full day. We'll recast it at this time tomorrow."
"Got it. Hopefully by this time tomorrow, the downpour will have stopped. Thanks to my speech."
"Heehee. Yeah, really."
Jenia's smile as she laughed looked a bit forced.
Serein next to her was the same.
Offense tilted his head and asked.
"What's wrong? You both look like you skipped lunch."
"Give a physically possible analogy, Offense."
"It's plenty possible..."
"We're just sorry."
I couldn't understand what she meant.
"Sorry? For what?"
"If I'd solidified my 'resolve,' I could've done this without the jewel anytime."
Serein picked up Jenia's words.
"It's more than that. We might've even shielded the entire continent."
"Haha. No way."
"Think about the feats Maide turned reputation into power for."
"......"
"Of course, it couldn't last forever, but temporarily shielding the continent with a spell? Probably possible. The fact that we can't..."
They both sighed at the same time.
"Means our resolve isn't there yet."
"You two, don't think weird stuff. You can't do any better than this."
"Maide. What did retirement mean to you?"
"Huh?"
"You were always going on about retiring the moment you opened your eyes. What does giving that up mean to you?"
I scratched my cheek.
"Mercenary work splits into two: paying gigs and non-paying ones."
"......"
"Not just tycoons or nobles make requests. There are plenty from the poor and powerless who can't offer much reward. I took those too, without discrimination."
"Really? But how'd you save up so much?"
"I covered the shortfall from big scores. Plenty of people in the world don't mind spending money."
Serein unwittingly made an envious face.
I continued.
"But at some point, the tagline 'The Unyielding Sword Emperor helps the powerless for free' stuck. Even trivial stuff I didn't need to help with—people started requesting just to exploit me for free."
"Not all poor people are good, huh. Still, that's too much."
"Yeah. Of course, I cherry-picked and refused those. But then this thought hit me."
The growing name value piling up before me.
Expectations of what the Unyielding Sword Emperor would surely do or not do.
How to free myself from all that?
"The answer is retirement."
"No way."
"Yeah. My idea of retirement isn't just living comfortably. I wanted to live as a normal person, unrelated to the path I'd walked or what I'd built."
"Giving that up means..."
"I'll probably be the hero forever. No matter where or how I hide, the world will find me, discover my use, and shove the job in my face."
Everyone clamped their mouths shut.
What does giving up retirement mean?
Simple.
"Does it mean serving humanity until death?"
"Something like that? But I don't know the specifics."
"Maide."
"All I did was resolve to give up retirement. So I can't know exactly how the world's laws will shape me."
They all fell silent.
The mood grew almost solemn.
Jenia said.
"So mine falls short of that resolve. It does."
"I told you not to worry."
"......"
"It's all speculation. Plus, looking at Imperium... well, never mind."
Like I'd told Trail before, Imperium seemed content with his current life.
Not the emotion you'd expect from someone who'd given up the most important thing.
But it wasn't certain, and I didn't want to shake the party's hearts over it.
"Anyway, today's work is done. Let's go sleep."
"Oh, yeah."
We returned together to the rooms the Emperor had prepared.
Then Neril muttered.
"Resolve, huh."
The next day.
A summons came from the Emperor.
He led me to the rooftop of the palace.
The rooftop was densely covered in magic circles that made you dizzy just looking at them.
Neril's eyes widened unusually.
"Amazing. It's connected to every communication orb on the continent."
Huh?
The Emperor nodded.
"Indeed. I did my best to aid the hero, humble as it is."
"......"
"Gathering in the town squares to listen isn't enough to properly spread the hero's appeal."
"So anyone with a communication orb can hear the speech."
"Yes. Speak from that magic circle, and every orb on the continent will forcibly activate."
Neril opened her mouth.
"But that's not all you considered. You put work into the voice amplification magic too?"
"Hmm. I didn't just worry about volume—I instructed even distribution. So the hero's voice reaches anywhere in the territories."
To go that far for me.
'Huh? Wait.'
A pre-regression memory flashed by.
Right before the final battle with Idria.
Suspicious of Kaild back then, I'd secretly contacted the Emperor around that time.
And asked him to broadcast the secret flowing through my communication orb across the continent.
Thanks to that, Kaild's confession spread instantly, collapsing Idria's lies.
I hadn't realized it then, but the Emperor was the key player in that strategy pre-regression.
And now, just like then, he was making sure my voice reached the entire continent.
I drew a small smile.
But I quickly shook off the thought and spoke seriously.
"Before we start, we need to discuss among ourselves."
"I'll step away."
"Thank you."
"No need."
The Emperor went downstairs as if it were natural.
Offense said.
"The Emperor must've gotten burned badly by you last time too, Maide."
"We opened our hearts through friendly conversation."
"Knew you'd say that. Anyway, let's discuss now?"
I nodded.
The goal of this speech: Make the continent's people deny the Heavenly God.
First, clarify what this 'denial' means.
"Bluntly saying 'The Heavenly God is actually human' won't work."
Jenia's reasonable point.
"To all humanity, the Heavenly God is absolute. There's no precedent for a hero denying the god."
"Right. I wasn't planning to go that far from the start."
"Then should we say the previous oracle was the Demon King's doing?"
Oracles had come down twice in the past anyway.
Humanity couldn't tell which was real.
Even if we said this oracle came from Idria, not the Heavenly God, there's no way to verify truth from lie.
'But.'
I shook my head firmly.
There's an even better way.