Chapter 361: Everything Is Exactly As It Seems (4)

A Pioneer inevitably left a tremendous mark on history. In that process, war always began.

Daat understood the concept completely, yet no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t picture a catastrophic war on the scale of the Great Dragon-God War or the Great Demon-God War erupting because of Keter.

“If we exaggerate a little, you could say Big Brother already led this war.”

Of course, the Lillian Kingdom’s civil war hadn’t started because of Keter. It began as a struggle for the throne between the princes. Still, Keter had undeniably exerted major influence.

Puga leaned forward. Because he was so big, he became close enough to Daat that they could feel each other’s breath.

“You truly mean that? That Keter led this war?”

The other non-human races stared at Daat in surprise. Gripping his chair, Daat stepped back slightly.

“Maybe not leading the entire war, but influencing it.”

The beastfolk began murmuring. At the same time, a thought occurred to Daat.

Because of his past life, Big Brother was determined to settle things with Queen Lillian once and for all.

In that previous life, Queen Lillian had destroyed Sefira. On top of that, she had even tried to kill Keter to eliminate any future threat. However, Keter had regressed, and he resolved to end things with her to prevent the same tragedy from repeating and for revenge.

Is that going to be the Pioneer’s great war? Something comparable to the Great Dragon-God War? Feels like we’re talking about two completely different leagues here.

Daat decided to test his doubt.

“Keter intends to kill Queen Lillian. Otherwise, Sefira will live in fear forever. Could that be the Great War you’re talking about?”

It was Inara, not Puga, who responded, “Daat, listening to you now makes something I felt in Liqueur finally make sense. Maybe Keter isn’t a Pioneer after all.”

“Why?”

“In Liqueur, I searched for a way to leave without going through the Godfather. I wanted to protect Keter from him. However, Keter escaped Liqueur without the Godfather’s help. If he truly were a Pioneer, the Godfather would never have let him go.”

“The Godfather didn’t completely let him go. Ultima’s backing is the Godfather.”

“I know, but that level of interference could simply be keeping tabs on a troublesome figure. The Godfather isn’t careless.”

“I guess... Then should we be glad? That he’s not a Pioneer?”

“Hmm. The Keter I know... he does feel like someone who could start a world-shaking war.”

Daat didn’t want to agree, yet he found himself nodding.

“He’s the type of person to create some kind of incident. Still... he wouldn’t do something on the scale of the Great Demon-God War.”

The Keter from Liqueur might have, but the Keter from Sefira wouldn’t. Daat was certain of this. In Liqueur, even if something went wrong, Keter would be the only one who died. Now, Sefira would inevitably be dragged into it as well.

“But Keter is definitely a Pioneer...” Inara murmured, confused.

“What makes you so sure?” Daat asked.

“Our tribe can tell once we get a taste.”

“Taste of what?”

“There are... ways.”

Silence fell again. Daat’s mind was just as muddled, but one thing was clear.

“Set that aside for now. What I want to ask is this: you want to live in Sefira, don’t you?”

The conversation had drifted, but Daat had come to deal with the trouble they were causing in Sefira.

Inara nodded. “Yes. We want Sefira to accept us. Let us stay here.”

“You understand that’s an enormous demand, right?”

The emperor of the Samael Empire was still obsessively hunting the Seven Cursed Species. To ordinary subjects, they were living treasures that could give them instant wealth and social elevation.

Kai of the Imperial Special Task Force had tolerated Keter hiding one beastfolk of the Seven Cursed Species only because the benefits justified it. However, that had been one. Now there were five, perhaps more. No city in the world could openly protect five members of the Seven Cursed Species.

“We’re not asking for sacrifice. We’re proposing a deal,” Inara said.

“No amount of money can protect you from the empire.”

“You don’t need to protect us. We simply won’t be found.”

“You know, hiding in tunnels won’t be enough to evade the empire. There’s already an agent from the Imperial Task Force in Sefira. You may have already been exposed.”

“Even if we are, it doesn’t matter. They won’t be able to find us.”

“Why?”

“The fog of Liqueur—we can recreate it.”

The fog of Liqueur was a barrier one could enter freely, but never leave. Imitating its mechanism through magic or incantation wasn’t impossible. The true challenge was preventing even Transcendentals from escaping.

Daat stared at Inara, to which she nodded confidently.

“We failed to break through the fog in Liqueur, but through research, we succeeded in replicating it... and we can control it.”

As a mage, Daat burned with curiosity about how they had achieved such a feat, but there was no time to derail the discussion.

“So you want to build a second Liqueur beneath Sefira and live there. In exchange, what can you offer us?”

“First, we’ll teach you how to create the fog. That’s one. Second, we’ll lend our strength. We’ll accept compensation, but we won’t make unreasonable demands.”

“We’ll thoroughly verify whether you’ve truly recreated it.”

“You should.”

“That’s it?”

“What more do you need?”

“You’re asking us to stand against the empire. That’s nowhere near enough.”

“That’s unexpected. Give us a moment.”

While Inara called for another strategy discussion, Daat chewed on his nails.

They’re not slow. I’m just getting impatient.

Keter’s condition was weighing on him. He wanted to check on him as soon as possible.

“Are you done yet?”

The flame dog, whom he had clashed with earlier, grumbled, “Short-lived species... always in such a hurry.”

“You bit...”

Crack!

A spark burst from the flame dog’s forehead, and he toppled backward.

“...ch.”

Someone finished Daat’s sentence for him. The moment Daat heard that voice, his expression instantly softened. He turned, and a grin spread across his face.

“Big Brother!”

At Keter’s sudden appearance, the previously relaxed non-human races immediately tensed.

* * *

In Liqueur, showing weakness was forbidden. It was the same as advertising that one had grown weaker. That was why no one ever asked if people were alright; both the one who asked and the one who answered would be deemed weak.

“Big Brother, are you okay?”

And yet Daat asked Keter without hesitation.

“I’ve put out the urgent fire.”

Keter’s hand rested not on Daat’s head, but on his shoulder.

Daat took the hint and stepped back. Keter had a straight face, but Daat could tell he was angry.

“Keter.”

Inara called his name, her tails swaying gently. She had only spoken his name, yet overwhelming Charm flooded the room. It was hundreds of times stronger than what she had directed at Daat. On top of that, Charm worked doubly on someone she had once physically united with.

Keter had once been so enthralled that he couldn’t leave Inara’s embrace for an entire month. If anything, her allure should have affected him even more. However, he merely glanced at her.

“You stay out of this.”

“Why? Do you know how long I waited for you? How much I missed you?”

Inara twisted her body flirtatiously. Even the other non-human races struggled under her sensual presence, but Keter subdued her with a single sentence.

“Want me to never touch your tails again?”

“...!”

Whoosh!

Inara instantly retreated and pressed herself against the wall before sliding down and sitting. Puga stared in shock.

“Was that a spell? What did you do to Inara?” he asked.

Though the question was directed at Keter, it was Inara who snapped.

“Stop it. Don’t drag me into this. K-Keter? I did exactly what you told me, okay?”

“W-what... How did you make her act that way?”

Inara might have acted shallow, but she was a Nine-Tailed Fox. A Nine-Tailed Fox with all nine tails was a near-divine being; Inara, with seven tails, was already a demigod-like existence. Her mental strength and combat ability ranked within the top five among the beastfolk. And yet she openly submitted to Keter.

Keter clicked his tongue as he surveyed the non-human races gathered at the table.

“Your necks are awfully stiff. Judging by the atmosphere, you’re here because you want to leech off Sefira.”

Not all non-human races interacted with humans. Only Inara and Puga had any social grace, and the others did not. As expected, Keter’s provocation made them bare fangs and claws in irritation.

“Wild animals don’t exactly manage themselves well, do they?” Keter added.

They looked ready to fight at any moment. Puga hurriedly stepped in.

“Lord Keter, hear us out.”

The Celestial Ox Tribe, who was strong enough to contend with giants, flexed his massive muscles as he spoke. Even the temperamental flame dog shrank slightly under his pressure. However, it meant nothing to Keter.

“Hear you out? No. You should be begging—begging to be accepted and offering everything you have. Even that wouldn’t be enough. So what is this atmosphere?”

Crack.

Keter gripped the stone table with one hand and lifted it.

Whoosh! Crash!

“I don’t understand why these animals are pretending to be people.”

Being called an animal was the most demeaning and insulting thing to beastfolk. Even the gentle Puga issued a warning at that word.

“Lord Keter. Stop treating us as animals and apologize.”

"Does being able to speak make you human? No. You’re only human if you can be reasoned with. I can't talk sense into you animals. Do you know what’s needed when communicating with animals?"

Keter extended his hand backward. Daat smoothly took out Keter’s firepoker from his subspace and placed it in his palm.

Clang!!

The moment he received it, Keter smashed it into Puga’s jaw. Puga had sensed the attack. He could have blocked or dodged, but he chose not to.

Human strength cannot injure me.

Since Keter used only brute force, Puga intended to demonstrate the Celestial Ox’s endurance and strength. However, Puga was lifted into the air, and...

Crash!

...his legs gave out, and he collapsed backward, his head slamming into the floor. His eyes were open, but they were out of focus.

“That felt good.”

Creak, creak.

Keter bent the warped head of the fire poker back into shape with raw strength and looked at the remaining non-human races.

“Do you want it short and very painful, or long and very painful?”

The moment Puga fell, the flame dog ignited and charged at Keter. The flame dog, who was already hostile toward humans to begin with, charged at Keter with genuine killing intent.

Clang!

“Whimper!”

A single strike landed squarely on the flame dog’s head, drawing out a pitiful, animal-like cry.

Thud thud thud!

What followed was a merciless beating. Seeing that, the remaining non-human races lunged at Keter—to protect the flame dog, out of pride, or out of fury.

Keter smiled.

“That’s right. For animals, the fastest way to settle hierarchy is through a fight!”

It was a free-for-all, five against one. All of the non-human races were at least Grandmaster-level, some Primes. Yet they couldn’t regain their footing against Keter’s savage, unconventional attacks—headbutts, eye gouges, shameless strikes below the belt. He even took hostages mid-fight.

“Ah...”

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Inara watched with an ecstatic expression. Daat exhaled in relief. The Keter he knew had returned.