Chapter 116
Chapter 116.
-When looking at all of humanity, am I such a villain that I could be counted among the worst? There have been countless monarchs who massacred tens of thousands of people, and slave traders have existed in every era. How could an adventurer like me be worthy of being included among the Seven Deadly Sins?
Columbus, who had been expressing his grievances in the B1 map, Sea of Darkness.
And then he said.
-I am a sinner who eliminated a certain 'possibility'.
He revealed the crime that made him one of the Seven Deadly Sins of the First Tower.
What could this possibility that Columbus, who discovered the New World, have eliminated?
At that time, Lee Ganghan could only speculate among various possibilities, unable to pinpoint anything specific.
'After that, I liberated the constellations with the Adventurer's Eye.'
The three constellations that Lee Ganghan had liberated at that time were:
'Feathered Serpent', 'Smoking Mirror', and 'Southern Hummingbird'.
The three were gods from Aztec mythology.
Currently, no one believes in them as gods, but they once held positions as major deities of the American continent.
'Perhaps the possibility that Columbus eliminated was referring to these three gods?'
Thanks to his discovery of the New World.
Eventually, the indigenous people were massacred and their faith disappeared.
After clearing B1 'Sea of Darkness'.
Considering that these gods happened to appear when the hidden rewards were unlocked.
This was a reasonably plausible deduction.
But then.
'Nero, on the contrary, made possibilities bloom...'
If possibilities were eliminated and gods disappeared.
Did Nero, who made possibilities bloom, create gods?
'Or maybe he further developed existing religions.'
Lee Ganghan made his own speculation about the story of making possibilities bloom and looked at Nero.
"You, did you promote any religion?"
[Religion...?]
"Yes. Like believing in a specific god more."
[Not particularly...? Ah. Of course, as an artist, I did like the god Apollo, but that was merely personal preference. As a ruler of Rome, I didn't excessively favor any specific god!]
Although he liked Apollo, who was in charge of arts.
It wasn't to the extent of specifically promoting him.
'Hmm. I don't know for now.'
Lee Ganghan wasn't particularly knowledgeable about history in the first place.
Moreover, since this 'possibility' might not be related to gods.
It seemed premature to definitively think in the direction of gods.
"Um. Right. Then since you've answered my questions, shall we part ways cleanly?"
[Wh... What? I answered all your questions!]
"Then did you want to keep living? It's time to part ways now."
[Wait...! I can't let this performance opportunity slip away like this...! Co, could I play the lyre just once?]
Well, this is something.
Columbus died cleanly.
But Nero has deep regrets.
"Heavenly Demon Lord! If you hand it over, he might revive! It would be better to just smash him to pieces!"
[No, no! I swear as an emperor! Although 500 is a small number! Still, in front of this audience, I'll just do one last performance and go...!]
This is quite persistent.
But still.
'If I grant his last wish, might the clear evaluation grade go up?'
This B2 seemed to have been cleared too easily.
Intuitively, he felt like he would receive a clear grade of S.
But if he let Nero perform once and then killed him.
The clear grade might go up.
"Fine, alright. But if you do anything foolish, you die immediately?"
[With that mad wing's flames there... how could I possibly resist...]
Nero, completely intimidated after seeing the Flame Angel's Wing.
Indeed, he didn't seem like he would resist at all.
Whoosh!
When Lee Ganghan threw the lyre to him.
[Good...!]
Tick!
Nero, who caught it.
[Wrapped in pure white flames, an artist performing his last piece with his death. This is truly wonderful!]
He began to strum the lyre while getting excited all by himself.
Diring, Diring!
An ancient instrument.
Lee Ganghan wondered what kind of sound it would make.
'It feels somewhat clumsy?'
Although Lee Ganghan didn't know much about music.
Screech. Screech.
In between.
No, most of the time there were off-key notes and screeching sounds.
He wondered if this was really a performance by an emperor who had been shouting about art so much.
And it wasn't just Lee Ganghan who felt this way.
-Ah, seriously, what a variety of nonsense!!!
-I feel the urge to leave the channel again...
-At least be good at performing, what kind of performance is this?
-If it weren't for the Smiling Face Demon, I would have blocked the channel long ago!!!
-Human. Execute him immediately! This is an order!
-I already turned off the sound...
The different race viewers were showing intense reactions to Nero's performance.
[Does that instrument originally make that kind of sound?]
"I don't know either. But he seems bad at it, right?"
[Yes... it's quite severe.]
"Kik kik. That guy, didn't he call himself an artist emperor?"
"Well, thinking is free."
Meanwhile, despite the external jeering.
Nero, who was already in high spirits.
[Oh! Apollo...! My fingertips are still burning! Time, how can you be so merciless! The world's stage is too small to contain my passion. Lyre, oh lyre! Your strings are crying with me too...!]
While not even being able to strum the lyre strings properly.
He was absorbed in singing by himself.
[I, Nero, am now! Going towards the climax of performance with death! My soul will sing brilliantly even in the flames...!]
And with that, Nero spread his arms wide in the fire pit.
[I am! Rome! And also a flame! Ah. Everyone, listen to my finale!]
When he tried to hit high notes and screeched loudly, even going off-key.
"Ugh. Heavenly Demon Lord, this is a bit..."
[Ah. This is getting a bit torturous now... When will it end?]
Even the Goblin Chief and the Divine Maiden, who had shown the sentiment of 'just not as good as expected' when he started playing the lyre.
Now hoped it would end quickly.
If they felt this way.
-Kill him
-Kill him please!!!
-If you don't kill him, I'll kill you!
The chat window was in even more chaos.
'Certainly, I can't listen to this any longer.'
Actually, for the clear evaluation.
He could just cover his ears and endure it a bit.
'Why is the song so long?'
The lyrics that Nero was improvising on the spot seemed endless.
At this rate, he might really keep singing until Lee Ganghan's stay time in the First Tower ended.
"Hey, stop."
Lee Ganghan notified Nero to stop.
[Heaven, stars! This finale...!]
The artist emperor, already in his own world, unable to hear anything.
"I said stop."
Swish!
When Lee Ganghan swung his sword once.
Only then did Nero stop his actions.
[No! Why! I was just reaching the climax!]
"Don't you see the audience's reaction?"
[What...?]
Then he looked around.
Nero turned his gaze toward the chat window that Lee Ganghan had been looking at.
'He can see my chat window too?'
Well, he had been singing about audience, audience.
He should be able to check the chat window reactions.
After reading the chat, Nero.
[They're telling me to die...?]
Seeing the criticism flooding the chat window, he stopped playing the lyre.
***
-Can he really see the chat?
-Good, hey, do you call that a performance?
-I usually respect the music and art of different race, but I really can't listen to this
-The basics aren't there!
-And what's with the singing? Getting intoxicated by himself...!
When they realized Nero could see the chat window.
Criticism chats came up even faster.
But this time, instead of just 'die', criticism was coming up with proper reasoning.
[No, no...! That's that, right! I'm a bronze statue now! I'm not human! So there were just some mistakes!]
He couldn't perform well because he was a bronze statue?
For that excuse.
'His fingers seemed to move just fine though.'
Even the singing, though the level was low.
It was a human voice.
-Then don't perform in the first place, damn it
-If you can't do it because you're a bronze statue, then just quietly burn away and disappear
-What confidence made you ask for 100,000 audience members? I really don't understand
-Everyone here is busy. Stop fooling around and die quietly
-Right, just die quickly! I don't have time to watch a nobody like you!
The chat window was saying everything Lee Ganghan wanted to say to Nero instead.
[Wh, what...?! A nobody...?]
Nero seemed shocked by this.
The confidence disappeared from his voice.
[That can't be... Surely the citizens of Rome, and the citizens of Greece too, all praised me! I even won at the Olympics!]
"That's because you were an emperor. They were probably just reading the room."
[No! That's not it...!]
While denying Lee Ganghan's words.
Shuuuuu...
Somehow, Nero was gradually getting smaller.
[Right... You and I lived in different eras. That's why you can't understand. The art of our era, the beauty of the Roman period...! Future people like you wouldn't know!]
"I see. But since there's no one in this era who would appreciate you, could you please die now?"
Since there's no one to appreciate him anyway.
What's the point of more performances?
When Lee Ganghan made that polite suggestion.
[St, still, if you listen to my performance a little more...! Your mind might change...!]
Nero tried to hold out until the end.
'Ugh. I miss Columbus.'
That gentleman, although he was an alcoholic and kept saying slave, slave to the Indian ghosts.
At the end, he said everything he had to say and died coolly.
But this guy is so clingy.
'SSS+ or whatever, should I just eliminate him?'
At this rate, it really seemed like it would end with him singing until Lee Ganghan's stay time in the First Tower actually ended.
When Lee Ganghan decided to just eliminate him.
-Hey human, try pressing this
-What is this
-I fixed the off-key parts from his performance
-Why are you dealing with such a guy?
-It's just fun to watch someone who's bad but thinks they're good heh
A different race viewer.
Uploaded something to the chat window, telling him to try playing this.
Looking at what it was.
A file with play and pause buttons.
'TowerTube has this kind of function too?'
Human viewers couldn't do this kind of thing.
Different races know how to do interesting things.
When Lee Ganghan pressed the play button.
Diring, Diring, Diring...
Music similar to the tune that Nero had performed earlier flowed from the chat window.
[Uh...]
Music that was clearly contrasted with Nero's from just before.
The song seemed to be the same.
But the difference between having off-key notes and not having them was stark.
No.
More than that, the level difference was clearly apparent.
"This is listenable. Kik kik."
[The song was innocent.]
"Right. The performer was the problem."
The Goblin and Divine Maiden ghost.
And even Lee Ganghan unanimously agreed that the 'song' was fine.
[Ugh... This is because I'm a bronze statue...]
"Then don't perform."
[Art cannot be evaluated carelessly! Sometimes it can be disconnected from the public...!]
"Then why did you ask for 100,000 spectators? You don't need public evaluation."
[That's... that's...]
At Lee Ganghan's rebuttal.
Nero tried to find some excuse.
But.
Shuuuuu...
His body gradually became smaller and smaller.
Soon it became only finger-sized.
Even though he was saying that with his mouth, maybe he realized deep down that something was wrong?
[Ah... foolish ones... Right, what would the public like you know! Rather, I'll die like this and perform for Apollo...!]
Ah, it wasn't that he realized his performance was poor.
He was just making a mental victory.
Apollo, the god of arts.
He probably thinks it would be different if he performed in front of him?
Then.
-Me? I don't want to listen? heh I only like talented kids
-??? Are you Apollo?
-heh heh Well?
The viewer who had been going 'heh heh' from earlier and uploaded the audio file.
As if he was Apollo himself, directly denied this.
-Besides, you're not even a beautiful boy heh weird bronze statue heh truly worthless
-Exactly.
Bzzt.
A small spark flew from the chat window where the play button had been pressed.
[Just die, will you?]
A high-pitched male voice was heard from there.
Languid and slow-paced tone.
But there was strange power contained within it.
"Yes, yes...! I understand...!"
Thud! Thud!
Starting with the Goblin Chief.
The goblins all hit their heads on the floor in unison.
[Ugh... ugh...]
Nero, who had been holding out even at finger size.
Just let out groaning sounds.
Crackle!
His whole body was consumed by fire and disappeared.
"This is... could this be Word Magic?"
Like what Gershu had done.
Word Magic that gives commands that cannot be resisted with words.
Can this be sent through the chat window too?
-Our channel owner is fine? heh As expected heh
-Still, from next time, you shouldn't just press whatever gets uploaded to the chat window. Got it? heh
The person who uploaded the file gave Lee Ganghan such advice.
And didn't post any more chats.
And.
Ding.
[You have cleared the B2 battlefield, 'Golden Palace'.]
At the same time.
A clear message appeared before Lee Ganghan's eyes.