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SSS-Class Suicide Hunter (Web Novel) - Chapter 273: Epilogue (3)
Chapter 273: Epilogue (3)
This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml
Translator/Editor: Ryuu
“You, becoming my bodyguard? ……You, Elder?”
"Hmm."
The Sword Saint nodded vehemently.
“Don’t think for a second that because of my age I’m incapable of being a bodyguard.”
“No, it’s not about age. That’s absurd......"
Well, just the act of nodding reveals the beautifully contoured trapezius muscles peeking out from under his shirt collar, making me doubt if physical age really applies to him.
“Don’t be so surprised. Didn’t you say it yourself? That as long as you are alive, the Black Dragon Witch and others won’t revert back to their old, disastrous selves.”
“Disastrous? Who might that be, this disastrous one? Ah, perhaps you’re referring to a certain old man who goes around slashing and killing murderers every ten days? Kim Gong-Ja. Gathering information on people is a specialty of the leader of the Black Dragons. Oh my. Interestingly, the list and details of those the old man has killed are securely stored in a vault only I can access. How about we take a look together later?”
“Thankfully, my list is still too short to be included in that vault, Black Dragon Witch. Your list is so long, you’d probably need to rent out an entire building to store it.”
“It's recorded on USBs, not paper! What, you think I’m some old geezer?”
Your relationships are really terrible….
“Oh ho!”
Perhaps the sound of their argument reached far. The Heretic Inquisitor, who had somehow approached without notice, was now exclaiming behind me. Well, he probably used [Holy Technique - Teleportation] to transfer here instantly.
“The unshakable top-ranked Sword Saint and the rapidly rising second-ranked King of Death. It appears they maintain a peaceful relationship, but the tower's residents are interested to see how it will end. A bodyguard! Now that’s news.”
The Heretic Inquisitor nodded, grinning from ear to ear.
As always, he had an angelic face, but just moments ago, he was being tossed around by the Mountain Calamity Tribe kids. Tossed around by tentacles. Following the laws of physics, the slime from the tribe had transferred to him, and now as he nodded, slime dripped from his face.
Drip, drip, drip, drip.
“Uh, Bambolina, sorry but could you step back a bit......"
“Ahaha! If the Sword Saint becomes the King of Death's bodyguard, everyone will know! It’ll reveal who has the upper hand between the two!”
Thump!
The Heretic Inquisitor spread her arms wide and laughed heartily. The fluid from the children, that is, the aloe-like slime from the Mountain Calamity Tribe, shot out like bullets. Naturally, I was the target, standing right in front of him.
"......."
This attack feels like it might be good for the skin.
“It's about time for the King of Death's power to fully emerge. Let’s take [The Number 1 Ranker becoming a bodyguard] as a symbolic event and make it public!”
“What? Make what public?”
I slowly evaporated the slime off my body with my aura and asked.
“Of course, the fact that the King of Death has unprecedented power in this tower!”
"......."
“The King of Death is already a hero of the tower, but the image of a warrior is strong. Thanks to the Black Dragon Witch's image-making! But now it's time to also adopt the image of a ruler or leader. Haha. Perhaps, the King of the Tower.”
“No, I don’t see why I need to...”
“Because it's the truth, master.”
The Heretic Inquisitor smiled brightly.
"......."
I looked around with a strange sensation.
At some point, both the Black Dragon Witch and the Sword Saint had stopped arguing and were looking this way.
Silently.
Looking around again, not only Ester and the retainers of our family but also the Countess having tea with the fairies and the Paladin swimming with the mermaids were all gazing in our direction.
"......."
Uh.
What’s this atmosphere?
“Gong-Ja, that rogue old man mentioned it to you earlier.”
In the midst of the unfamiliar silence around me, Anastasia opened her lips.
“That he was testing you.”
"......."
“I hate to make you feel bad, but it wasn't just the old man testing you. Me. And all of us. We have been continuously observing you.”
I recalled hearing something similar before.
That they were watching to see if I was worthy of being their [comrade].
But I thought that test had already been passed. Why...
“To see if you truly deserve to be our [leader].”
"......."
“Having you as a friend, becoming comrades with you, I’m happy. It’s fortunate. But we cannot merely accept misfortune as an accident or fortune as mere joy.”
“We are the ones on the frontline, after all.”
Splash.
The sound of wet footsteps resounded.
“The Black Dragon. Temple of All Gods. Sang-Ryun. Celestial Martial Clan. Vigilante Corps.”
It was the Paladin.
He had climbed up onto the broad rock. He was soaking wet from swimming with the Gill Fish Race. The Paladin squeezed the water out of his hair once, and droplets of water fell onto the rock where we were gathered.
“The mid-tier guilds under us, including the Alchemy Castle, number 13 on the rankings. Officially unannounced, but virtually direct subordinates, there are 4 guilds. Hundreds of guilds work for us as subcontractors, and if you count their subcontractors, it spans the entire city of Babylon.”
"......."
“It’s easy to become our business partner. To become our comrade, that’s hard. To become our friend, even harder. And you’ve managed that difficult task.”
“So.”
The Black Dragon Witch continued.
Accordingly, my gaze shifted to her.
“Maybe we thought that you could handle [something a bit more difficult].”
“We had hopes.”
The Paladin took over.
“We maintain the 5 great guilds system, not for any other reason but to keep checks and balances. Almost everyone living in the tower belongs to a guild, that is, they are [members].”
“The idea was for the 5 equally powerful and specialized guilds to cooperate while competing. Furthermore, to protect the personal and property rights and safety of the members.”
“Which guild to join, leave, or rejoin, it all depends on the residents’ freedom. Guilds that can't make money will naturally decline, and those that don’t share the wealth will naturally disappear.”
“That’s the system we created for the tower.”
“In other words.”
“We didn’t trust ourselves alone.”
The Paladin spoke softly.
“To not become corrupt."
"......."
“If I had the power to subjugate the Black Dragon guild, I would have gladly thrown them in jail. Declaring all their legally and illegally operated shops, stores, and informants as tumors of the tower and punishing them. During that execution, could I have remained true to myself? I wasn’t sure.”
“I have scenarios ready to assassinate all hunters from rank 1 to rank 10.”
The Black Dragon Witch said.
“Haven’t used them since the mass purge though.”
"......."
“If the Black Dragon were the only guild instead of one of the 5, would I really have carried it out? Even if I think of myself as a person with strong self-control, that self-control comes from the presence of others.”
Meow.
A cat's cry came.
With the body and eyes of a cat, but not the eyes of a beast, the tricolor cat spoke.
“As you know, we never really trusted each other. Yet, the reason we didn’t fall into civil war or reached rock bottom is because we didn’t trust ourselves much either.”
“That’s right.”
The Sword Saint spoke.
"After all, we also appear human just because we put on a layer of a mask."
"......."
“King of Death. We were testing to see how you would be.”
Testing.
What test are they talking about?
When did it start?
“There have been quite a few times when we gathered without you and discussed you.”
“When exactly......"
“After clearing the Great Library of All Knowledge and before entering the 30th floor. We conducted various background checks on you, your spending habits, the people you meet, how you behave when you meet strangers. Almost everything was investigated and shared.”
Gathering information is my forte.
That’s what the Black Dragon Witch said calmly.
“That’s… a violation of privacy, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Sorry. Really sorry for the intrusion. Ah, how awful of me to dig into a comrade’s past. Vice-Captain of the Vigilante Corps? Could you arrest me for the crime of snooping around people’s backgrounds?”
“Hmm. I declare you not guilty.”
“See? Kim Gong-Ja. Not guilty. Let’s just say I’m sorry and move on.”
"......."
Gosh, my comrades and friends here are indeed wielding unparalleled power in the tower....
“Don’t worry. We only confirmed that your private life is disgustingly clean.”
“I feel like you just put together two contradictory words…”
“We also confirmed that you write a diary every night to show the Duchess of Ivansia. Be thankful that I didn’t get my hands on the contents of your diary. I really debated whether to order my subordinates to find out what’s in it or not…”
“Hello? Anastasia? Have you lost your mind?”
“Oh, but the first sentence is always the same, so I got to know it. Dear…”
“Let’s break off our friendship!! Bring back the friendship contract! Right now!”
“……Anyway, the conclusion is that you are a person with integrity.”
The Paladin smirked.
“But just being consistent isn't enough. If we are to consider you as our leader, there are qualities a leader needs. Convincing us to be human is just a secondary issue.”
“It’s not about political power either.”
The tricolor cat clung comfortably to the Paladin's calf.
Then, the Paladin picked up the cat, and in his arms, the Countess in her cat form said,
“Politics should be left to the experts. Law enforcement to the Paladin, internal affairs to the Black Dragon Witch, economy to yours trule, and when you need a shoulder to lean on, you can rely on the Viper. Diplomacy with the outside world can be handled by involving the Sword Saint. He’s terribly stubborn, but he might listen if it’s a request from you, King of Death.”
"......."
“So, the last thing we need to test is only one thing.”
The cat opened its eyes narrowly. It was the Countess's playful smile.
“If you were to become a leader, we were interested to see how you would rule the people.”
A real example.
“When I first received the quest from [The Princess Who Strolls Through Mirages], I thought, Aha.”
From the 31st to around the 40th floor.
“Could this be useful?”
Stages where one becomes a god and leads a race.
"It wasn’t that I immediately drafted the test. The Temple of All God's Master. That child wreaked havoc for over 200 years purely out of his own will."
"Ahaha.”
The Heretic Inquisitor laughed innocently.
“Right! This is the first time I’m hearing this!”
“Well, not just you, the Celestial Martial Guild Master didn't participate in my plan either.”
The Countess said.
“But eventually, the spontaneous actions of the Temple Master gave me a lot of inspiration. To be able to watch from up close as you rallied us all together in a time of dire crisis, where every race was enslaved, and led a rebellion.”
The cat gently stroked the Paladin's cheek with its paw.
“In short, you had the makings of a revolutionary. A revolutionary! Not bad, I don’t dislike it. But the leader we need isn't a revolutionary but a ruler of the tower. Countless refugees who fled from various countries, these tower residents who are busy hating, despising, belittling, and mocking each other, need a leader who can gently stabilize them. I needed a bit more information. For example…"
The Countess spoke.
“How would you treat [different races] under your rule?”
“…Different races?”
I briefly thought of the Earth Spirit Tribe, but changed my mind seeing the Countess's eye smile.
“Don’t tell me, the Fairy Tribe……?”
“Correct. King of Death. I like how quick-witted you are."
"......."
I opened my eyes wide.
The Countess looked at me and growled softly like a cat.
“The Heretic Inquisitor was the first to drop out. Then it was me. When [The Princess Who Strolls Through Mirages] announced my elimination, I remember your dumbfounded face.”
"......."
That time.
『Wait a minute! That’s absurd! Why am I being eliminated!?』
『Erm, the Fairy Tribe gave up their dominance.』
Certainly.
In the video shown by the Princess, the elder fairies whispered,
『Let's surrender. We can't win in a fight, and there’s nothing to gain by winning. No point in investing money or gaining anything. It's a losing deal no matter what we do.』
『Let’s offer our country to the Earth Spirit Tribe and become people under their rule. In return, we ask for protection.』
『Yes. Let’s surrender.』
『We’re just using them, that's all.』
『Thank you. Great Cat.』
That’s how it was.
I thought it was just a trivial incident that the Countess played off as a joke.
"......."
I spoke up.
“……Did you deliberately get eliminated?”
“More accurately, I induced my own elimination.”
“The Fairy Tribe kids surrendered to the Earth Spirit Tribe on their own.”
“Right, but who nurtured those kids? Who was revered as a god by them?"
"......."
“With just a little prophecy, suggestion, and command in their dreams, the kids easily followed. King of Death. It wasn’t much different from how you conquered the stages.”
Thinking about it.
The Fairy Tribe was the financial backer behind the multi-racial alliance.
Before I met Uburka, I had a discussion with the Countess. She advised me to [negotiate in a way beneficial to all races], and following her advice, I entered Uburka's dream.
From beginning to end?
If the Countess's grand plan was for the Fairy Tribe to surrender bloodlessly to the Earth Spirit Tribe without any battle or war.
“Why would you do such a thing......"
“Didn’t I say it? To test you.”
The Countess said.
“Discrimination based on nationality alone is easy in governance. Let alone another race under your rule. Ah, they look different, have different habits, and even worship different gods. Wouldn’t the Earth Spirit Tribe discriminate against the Fairy Tribe?”
"......."
“I was curious. How you would handle the Earth Spirit Tribe is your business. But beyond that, I wondered if you could also manage other races that fled their homelands like us. That's the quality our leader needs.”
I fell silent.
I slightly raised my gaze to look at the Paladin's face.
Holding the tricolor cat, the Paladin’s expression was calm.
“Patricia.”
The next person to be eliminated after the Countess.
A comrade who [voluntarily] abstained from the stage.
The Fairy Tribe held the capital, and the Gill Fish Race held logistics. Along with the Countess's race, she herself naturally became part of the Earth Spirit Tribe’s hierarchy.
"Hmm."
The Paladin nodded.
“Yes, Kim Gong-Ja. I abstained on purpose.”
"......."
“To understand the person you are.”
I realized.
Why the Earth Spirit Tribe was able to conquer the continent with so little bloodshed.
