Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: The Monsters Want to Talk
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No matter how many times I checked, the monsters weren't picking fights—in fact, they were maintaining an incredibly gentlemanly demeanor.
―Though, to Erin and the Holy Knights, the monsters' words sounded like nothing but guttural roars.
On top of that, the expressions on the soldiers' faces in the panels...
They were drenched in cold sweat, looking utterly terrified.
It was understandable—the monsters were drawn with such delicate, horrifying detail.
It wasn't just scary; the depiction was so vivid that I wondered if the author had ever drawn creatures this well before.
Honestly, if something like that showed up in my dreams, it would be a nightmare for the ages.
Even Ophelia, Luca, and Linea—comrades who had walked the path of knighthood alongside me—looked grim, clearly feeling intimidated by the monsters.
Truth be told.
Since it was just a comic, part of me really wanted to see Ophelia in an action scene.
Luca and Linea were exceptional knights—revered even among their peers—so if they sliced through a few monsters here with flair and stole the show, I'd probably see her in a new light.
Even with her low intelligence that couldn't memorize a single Plain Fact, she effortlessly dispatches ferocious high-level monsters that terrify everyone else?
That was gap moe. A clichéd but delicious trope.
Nothing beat a Musou-style scene for showcasing a Holy Knight's cool exploits effortlessly.
That was exactly the kind of scene I'd hoped for.
A little difficulty was fine. What was the problem when a god was always watching over them!
Yeah. The issue was—
In my eyes, the monsters' intentions were unmistakably gentlemanly.
[ Igugwoden : Hold on ]
[ Igugwoden : Does the combat start next chapter? ]
[ Please Donate : Yes. ]
[ Please Donate : Might you be thinking of using 'Divine Power' to handle the monsters yourself? ]
[ Igugwoden : The opposite. ]
[ Igugwoden : Can you tell them to hold the fight for a bit? Does that need Divine Power too? ]
[ Please Donate : With Erin, who is already fully synchronized with you, Lord Igugwoden, conveying a message like that would be simple. ]
[ Please Donate : Is something the matter? ]
[ Igugwoden : Forget matters—the monsters don't want to fight? ]
[ Please Donate : ? ]
What else is this?
I gulped down a pre-chilled glass of cold water.
[ Igugwoden : The dialogue in the parentheses. ]
[ Igugwoden : They're saying they don't want to fight. ]
[ Please Donate : Ah... ]
[ Please Donate : Lord Igugwoden, can you hear the monsters' voices? ]
"Ha!"
At the author's utterly shameless response, I let out an involuntary chuckle.
You type the dialogue yourself and now play dumb?
Even a dog from a private academy recites poetry after three years.
After so many 1:1 roleplays with this immersion-obsessed mad author, I'd gained some confidence in my own WWE skills.
Let's throw down.
[ Igugwoden : Yeah. ]
[ Igugwoden : I can hear the monsters' voices. ]
[ Igugwoden : And they want conversation, not combat. ]
[ Igugwoden : If you're a god, shouldn't you listen to even lowly monsters? ]
[ Please Donate : Understood. ]
[ Please Donate : A god's will must be fulfilled. I'll relay it to Erin immediately. ]
So the fight's on hold for now.
Good. I'm a god. The Sole God Igugwoden. My words are Plain Facts...
After a quick self-hypnosis, I cautiously placed my hands on the keyboard.
[ Igugwoden : The monsters' voices sound weird to Erin and the Holy Knights, right? ]
[ Please Donate : Not weird so much as terrifying, I'd say. ]
[ Please Donate : They're enduring it thanks to their training, but any ordinary civilian would cower from the sheer pressure and collapse, becoming helpless prey for the monsters. ]
[ Igugwoden : No, no—the monsters aren't looking for a fight right now. ]
[ Please Donate : You did say that... I can't help but be shocked that the monsters don't want to fight. ]
[ Please Donate : The demons so far have been savagely hostile toward humans... ]
[ Igugwoden : Yeah, whatever. ]
[ Igugwoden : Anyway, can you translate the monsters' language so humans can understand it properly? ]
[ Please Donate : Translation, you mean? ]
[ Igugwoden : Yeah. ]
I didn't know the full details—
But the monsters wanted to communicate. It was clear from the parentheses.
Some problems resolved with surprisingly simple triggers.
Communication was a prime example. Tangled knots that seemed impossible to untie due to lack of talk could unravel easily once people shared words—that was the true power of communication.
So, no matter how grotesque they looked.
Even with their creepy, frightening voices.
If they sought peace, shouldn't we give them a chance to speak?
[ Please Donate : Directly intervening with monsters influenced by the Demonic Energy spread across the continent... ]
[ Please Donate : It should be possible... ]
[ Igugwoden : Possible but? ]
[ Please Donate : As I mentioned, with Divine Power, nothing is impossible. ]
[ Please Donate : The issue is how much power the situation requires... ]
In other words, it's expensive.
Granting natural communication between monsters and humans would be a big deal in the world's lore.
I couldn't fault them for a high price tag.
[ Igugwoden : How much would it cost? ]
[ Please Donate : To fundamentally alter the world for smooth monster-human communication, it'd take about 326,650 won in Divine Power. ]
[ Please Donate : It shakes the world's foundations, so it requires immense power—hence my hesitation. ]
Yeah... that's pretty pricey.
It's not that I don't have the money.
But for Erin, Eirene, or the Dish of Holy Knights—kids I've grown attached to—that'd be one thing.
Spending that much on monsters I'd just met felt a bit too steep.
[ Igugwoden : What about translating one line at a time? ]
[ Please Donate : That would cost around 2,500 won per sentence in Divine Power. ]
[ Please Donate : It would only reach those with strong faith in the god, though. ]
That was affordable.
But... is this really the best way?
I scrolled back up to check the monsters again.
Still grotesque on reexamination. Honestly, they had zero appeal—purely hideous.
If we translated their words... Erin and the Holy Knights might buy it. Aside from Linea, they'd been pretty receptive to me.
But what about everyone else?
How would people react to a Saintess insisting on talking with hideous monsters?
Wouldn't rumors spread that the church allied with monsters in the god's name?
Of course, there's always a way to clean that up.
If it got annoying, just click sponsor. Forcing my will outright wasn't impossible.
But.
Would that be the "good world" Erin prayed for—thanking me for making it better, cherishing them, and sharing Plain Facts?
More importantly, I wanted to answer Linea's doubts.
To win over the one who still didn't fully trust Erin, bulldozing seemed worse than a smarter approach.
If no method existed, fine—but trying couldn't hurt, right?
It might seem like needlessly taking the hard road.
But if it was the better path, shouldn't I take it?
After all—I'm a god.
[ Igugwoden : From what the monsters said in that 'Demon King wants to talk' vibe, it seems the Demon King has shown up. ]
[ Igugwoden : Listening to the earlier convo, the Demon King doesn't always appear just because the Saintess does, right? ]
[ Igugwoden : So, can you check on the Demon King side? ]
[ Please Donate : The Demon King? ]
[ Igugwoden : Yeah. She descended, didn't she? ]
[ Please Donate : I'll check immediately. ]
If I could learn what the Demon King was thinking when she said that, maybe the answer lay there—
With that thought, I killed about 20 minutes.
While I was distracted, a notification pinged for a new message.
[ Please Donate : As you said, Lord Igugwoden, it seems the Demon King has awakened. ]
[ Please Donate : You really can hear the monsters... As expected of Lord Igugwoden. ]
[ Igugwoden : lol yeah anyway ]
[ Igugwoden : Observe the Demon King for me. ]
[ Igugwoden : Like you did with the Holy Knights before. ]
[ Igugwoden : You can do that, right? ]
[ Please Donate : Of course, Lord Igugwoden. ]
[ Please Donate : I deeply empathize with your great cause. ]
[ Please Donate : Please forgive the time it may take. ]
'Emphasizing my great cause—she always flatters me in fresh ways.'
Time was whatever—like drawing a new short comic.
If it wasn't pre-made, it'd take a while, obviously.
[ Igugwoden : yeah go for it ]
[ Please Donate : Then, please wait a moment. ]
This one took way longer than 20 minutes.
I turned off the PC, ate, did dishes, showered, and was prepping for bed when my phone alarm went off.
[ Please Donate : xcqw.wo.to <<< Here's the observation of the Demon King as requested. Please review. ]
'Nice.'
Time to find out why she said that.
With that, I opened the link to the short comic the author sent.
* * *
―The Demon King.
She met her moment of birth far earlier than anticipated.
The massive influx of divine love—Divine Power—had supercharged the Demonic Energy, accelerating her descent dramatically.
The moment the Demon King was born, she sensed her predecessors' wills.
Or rather, it wasn't an exaggeration to say she was born embodying them.
The being fated to rule all demons first encountered, upon gaining consciousness—
One conclusion.
「Humans will never accept our existence. Dialogue is absolutely impossible.」
As she faced that conclusion, records from the past flooded her mind.
Memories of her kin, born long before her, who had shouldered the Demon King's burden first.
Most were horrific, soaked in blood—but her immense mental fortitude digested them effortlessly.
Thus, the Demon King—capable of logical thought from the moment of descent—pondered the legacy from countless predecessor Demon Kings.
Is that necessarily true?
Even if history with humans was a blood-soaked nightmare, if they were intelligent enough for dialogue, couldn't they talk it out?
This was the first thought of the Demon King, who had descended far ahead of schedule due to divine influence.
Was it the effect of the outpouring divine love?
For the demons' sovereign, it was an adorably naive notion.