Chapter 298: That Bastard Is Legend (3)

The man had disheveled hair and bags under his eyes. There was no emotion in his eyes when he turned my way and said, “Greetings. I am the apostle who serves the Eternal Plains Warhorse.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m the Death King.”

“I know who you are. Normally, I would never have met you. Never. But the Assistant Writer, the Berserker, and the Paparazzo asked me to.”

The black-haired man looked around the deep underground cave. The Hunters who had brought Mahos’s apostle at my request were standing far away, glancing at us and wondering if listening to my request had been a good idea.

“It’s rare for three people to make the same request simultaneously, and I like rare occasions.”

“Thank you for accepting my invitation,” I said.

The apostle of Mahos smiled. “No problem. I’m the one who should be grateful to you. When we’re done with our conversation, I’ll kill you and finally complete Lord Mahos’ quest after a really, really long time. It’ll be very pleasant. So? Why did you want to see me? If you want to surrender, you are welcome to do so at any time.”

I smiled. “I want to understand you all.”

***

A short girl with blond buns on either side of her head frowned. The buns looked like they would be warm even in the cold winter, but I didn’t need to see if it was true.

“What?”

The girl’s voice was full of rage, resembling an engine that was always running. She was the apostle of the Incarnation of Love and Lust, Babbit.

“Understand us?”

I nodded. “Yes. I want to know more about the Constellations you all serve.”

“You’re funny. It’s ridiculous for humans to understand each other, but you want to understand Constellations? If the Assistant Writer hadn’t asked me to meet you, I wouldn’t have come to this smelly cave in the first place.”

Babbit’s apostle narrowed her eyes, waving her hands as if trying to ward off a mosquito. She soon became very irritated.

“

Urgh!

Stop talking. You’re noisy! I’ll talk to him on my own!”

It looked like Babbit was sending messages to the girl. She really seemed like an apostle favored by her Constellation since she treated her Constellation very casually. Ordinary believers couldn’t even dream of doing this.

“Seriously, why does my Constellation like someone like you?” the girl muttered.

I replied, “I’ll bring down the Magic Tower, but it doesn’t mean much if I just destroy it by myself. I’ll connect all your quests and the Constellations you serve together to fight the Magic Tower.”

“What?”

“To do that, I first need to understand the Constellations properly.”

I looked straight at Babbit’s apostle. The cloak she was wearing made her look like a noblewoman. She laid her red cloak on the damp stalactites, using it as a cushion to create a small seat for herself. I poured tea for her to drink.

“An apostle like you would be able to speak much more freely with your Constellation. Rather than just using normal messages, I want to talk to your Constellation through you in more depth and detail. What quests does your Constellation prefer?”

The girl’s expression was reflected through the wine-red tea. I asked, “What kind of Constellation is Babbit to you?”

***

“The Eternal Plains Warhorse’s followers are a kind of army,” Mahos’s apostle said.

“Army?”

“Yes. Ordinary believers are soldiers, and apostles like me are generals. We only think about victory and spoils of war. To us, all battlefields are dungeons.” The man took a sip of his tea. His eyes grew wide, and he looked down at his cup. “It’s delicious.”

The man blinked, then returned to his usual expressionless face and locked eyes with mine. He smiled faintly.

“

Hmm.

Where were we? Right, our quests are usually about clearing dungeons. Once we destroy the Magic Tower and plant our flag, we can finally say that our quest as Lord Mahos’ believers has been completed. You said you would gather quests from various Constellations and clear them all at once, yes? That’s impossible, Death King. Your plan is bold and courageous, but it’s too unrealistic.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because the Constellations are too different from each other,” the apostle answered with conviction. “We have to destroy the Magic Tower. However, the other Constellations, like the Incarnation of Love and Lust, will give you a completely different quest from Mahor. That quest will never align with ours. Go meet Babbit’s apostle. You’ll understand what I’m talking about and how impossible your plan is when you meet her.”

***

“The Magic Tower elder should be dealt with first,” the apostle of Babbit said. “My Constellation and we, her followers, place the utmost importance on relationships between humans. We see everything else as unnecessary. For us, clearing the fiftieth floor isn’t just about destroying the Magic Tower’s rock walls. The leader of the Magic Tower, the mother of all Spiders, is our target. Conquering the elder’s heart is the condition for clearing the floor. But that’s impossible.”

“Why?”

“The elder of the Magic Tower has never opened her heart to anyone,” Babbit’s apostle replied as she sipped on the tea. “What the...? Shit, it’s delicious.”

She vented out her anger on the tea for no reason with a sigh. “My Constellation’s ability is

Pink Romantic Comedy

. Don’t look at me like that or I’ll flick you in the head really hard. I didn’t name it. Anyway, if

Pink Romantic Comedy

is used, it becomes easier for people to date. I’ll show you.”

The girl put down her teacup and clasped her hands together. She closed her eyes and prayed. Pink light flowed out from her hands, wrapping itself around the floor in a five-meter radius. Other than that, I didn’t notice anything unusual, but when Babbit’s apostle opened her eyes again, she looked very serious. “Okay. I’m ready. Do it.“

“What? Do what?”

“I don’t know. Do anything. Stand up or keep talking. It doesn’t matter. If you do something, you’ll immediately know what kind of power this is.”

“

Uhm

... then.” I picked up the teapot because the apostle’s teacup happened to be empty. “

Huh?

”

Just as I was about to tilt the teapot to pour her a second glass, I tripped over my own feet. There was clearly nothing in my path, no rocks or anything for me to trip on, but for some reason, my feet slipped.

I quickly tried to hold the teapot securely, but then my feet tangled for the second time. I wobbled like a tightrope walker who was going to fail and landed with the teapot in my arms right where the apostle was sitting.

Splash!

“

Huh? Huuuuuuuh?

”

I blankly looked down at the apostle. The apostle also stared at me. Yes, I had fallen on her and suddenly found myself doing a push-up on top of her. What kind of laws of physics and dynamics were at work here? Unlike me, Babbit’s apostle didn’t panic at all. It was as if what had just happened was a natural phenomenon, like someone knocking over a cup by accident.

She said, “As you can see, wherever my Constellation’s power reaches, no matter what you do or how much you struggle, people cannot help but become closer to each other, either physically or mentally.”

“

Ah.

”

Now that I thought about it, I had heard that somewhere before. The Inquisitor had shown it to me once. Yes, Babbit was the Constellation that turned everything in the world into a romantic comedy event.

“You just fell over, but you were still paying attention to the teapot until the very last moment. Thanks to that, the hot water didn’t splash on me. Instead, you spilled the tea on yourself.”

Black tea flowed down my face. My hair was soaked. The tea drops that dripped down my chin fell right on the apostle’s cheek.

“Now I know that you’re a considerate person, even though I didn’t want to know that aspect about you. Do you understand now? I didn’t even think about getting close to you, but I’ve become closer to you physically and mentally.”

“Wow.”

“Yes, that’s how it is. On top of that, in front of me is a man’s face soaked in black tea. Statistically, men are four times more attractive when they’re wet.”

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Were there actually statistics like that in the world?

“Annoying.” The apostle shoved me away. She got up and dusted off her cloak. “What do you think? Do you understand my Constellation now? She’s just crazy about love. No, there’s more to that. If that was all, I’d probably think she’s cute. My Constellation doesn’t just like love. Hatred, regret, obsession, and possessiveness... She likes all the emotions that people have for someone else, especially the intense types. And my Constellation is certain that the person whose heart needs to be conquered on the fiftieth floor is that of the elder of the Magic Tower.”

The apostle sneered. It seemed she was mocking herself and the situation itself, rather than me. “Can you handle the elder? If a human lives for over a thousand years, you can no longer say that they have lived for that long. You have to say that they’ve been dying for a thousand years. The elder of the Magic Tower is a sovereign of a dying city. Love, hatred, obsession, regret—can you draw out even a single emotion from someone like her?”

The apostle pulled out a gold coin and placed it on a flat stalactite. She walked past me, pulling her cloak behind her.

“That’s for the tea. Take it.”

I held the apostle’s cloak, keeping her from leaving. “Please wait a moment.”

“What is it?”

“It may be impossible to gain the elder’s affection, but hatred can be elicited,” I said.

The apostle swatted my hand away. “You seem to be misunderstanding something. The hatred that my Constellation is talking about isn’t just irritation. It should be as intense as love. My Constellation only acknowledges the feeling of hating and cursing someone else so hard that it becomes a part of them. Do you think you can elicit that much hatred from someone who has lived for a thousand years? Is there anything in you that can make someone else hate for a thousand years?”

I nodded. “No.”

“So then—”

“Even so, I can elicit that feeling from her.”

The apostle’s eyes were as red as her cloak. A cloak was like a wall someone constructed when they didn’t feel safe with just skin and clothes. One’s eyes were also like that.

“I happened to have the person whom the Magic Tower elder hates the most in the universe as my teacher. I don’t know about other people, but my teacher alone can elicit powerful emotions from her. Well, actually, I can drive her crazy.”

[The Incarnation of Love and Lust is listening.]

“Please entrust me with your quests. Share them with me. If I were alone, it would be impossible to achieve this, but if you use my teacher’s name, it becomes possible.”

Silence fell.

Eventually, the apostle asked, “Who is your teacher?”

***

“The Sword Emperor,” I said.

The poker face of Maho’s apostle finally cracked. He froze, still holding up the teacup. Only after the steam rising from the tea had slightly dissipated did the black-haired man let out a short sigh.

“Didn’t he die one hundred fifty years ago? That’s nonsense.”

“He’s the legendary Hunter who climbed to the ninety-ninth floor. Do you think he really died without leaving anything behind? He could have reincarnated, or maybe he’s wandering the underworld as a ghost. At the very least, he could have left behind something in the hopes that an heir would appear one day to carry on his will. There are countless ways he could have survived, and I also have the means to prove that I’m the Sword Emperor’s heir.”

I smiled.

“Imagine. If I’m his heir, I can provoke the Magic Tower’s elder. She would become furious and express her emotions in a way she had never done before. I could solve the quest given by the Incarnation of Love and Lust. Wait, there’s more. The emotion that the elder will show me is hatred, deep, intense hatred, like a bottomless abyss. She’ll issue an order to kill me and mobilize all the power of the Magic Tower to wage war. If we win that war...”

The black-haired man looked down, lost in thought. “... we can also complete the Eternal Plains Warhorse’s quest.”

[The Eternal Plains Warhorse is listening.]

“Please leave your quests to me,” I said. “I’ll later show you the proof that I’m the Sword Emperor’s heir. The Constellations will be able to tell. What you need to think about now is whether my proposal is realistic or not.”

I spoke to the agents of the Eternal Plains Warhorse, the Incarnation of Love and Lust, the Labyrinth-Dwelling Eye, the Lonely Seeker, and the owners of the Faith that lost their names.

“I can bring down the Magic Tower.”

I planned to combine all the Constellations’ quests into one. The name of this ambitious plan was the Grand Campaign.

[The Incarnation of Love and Lust is listening.]

[The Lonely Seeker is listening.]

[The Last Sword in the Wilderness is listening.]

[The Tear-Bringing Bell of the Dead is listening.]

I nodded. “Please let everyone know that the Sword Emperor’s heir is here.”