Chapter 337: Blood and Liquor (1)

I waved my holy sword. “So, what are you going to do?”

The crocodile gentleman, already in tears, saw the tip of my sword and stifled a scream. “W-what do you mean? What are you talking about?”

“Regardless of the circumstances, you won the bid, so we have to determine who is worthy of becoming a Constellation one way or another. Isn’t that why you appeared before me? Because you don’t want to lose your Faith?”

The crocodile gentleman stared at my sword.

His immensely thick neck, covered in scaly skin, quivered.

“A duel? One-on-one? A fair fight? Deal?” I asked.

“W-wait a moment! I didn’t come here to duel you. I’m a gentleman, after all.”

“

Huh?

Then why are you here?”

“Even if I’m going to surrender, we should talk first. Get to know each other before deciding on anything. Don’t you think so?”

I narrowed my eyes. “

Hm.

”

“You don’t know this because you bulldozed your way here from the fiftieth floor, but the Constellations on the upper floors are connected. They live similarly to humans, just in different forms and degrees. It’s similar! The Ruin-Harvesting Cow and Labyrinth-Dwelling Eye also worked together to attack you, right?”

The crocodile gentleman took a handkerchief from his front pocket and repeatedly wiped his forehead. However, crocodiles don’t sweat.

“In short, you’re afraid to fight me,” I summarized.

“That’s not... Yes, damn it! I’m scared! Terrified! Are you satisfied now? Where did a guy like you come from all of a sudden?”

Why was he getting angry at me?

“Let’s talk it out if possible. Alright? Do you know how many abilities you’ve acquired? Greed will come back to bite you, young man. Mutia’s regression, Hishimit Kritz’s information... What else? And... and... I have no idea who they are, but you also have some other Constellations by your side.”

“I feel like taking one more won’t make much of a difference.”

“Fuck, that’s true...” The crocodile shed tears. He was an honest gentleman. “B-but you’re so nice. At least you’re trying to be, so wouldn’t it be better to try resolving this by talking first, like the nice guy that you are?”

[The Labyrinth-Dwelling Eye cautiously nudges you.]

I looked down at my wrist, where the thin snake was coiled like a wristwatch.

“

Kieeeee.

” The snake raised their tiny head, hesitating as if afraid I was going to hit them. It was quite cute, even though the snake was the villain of the century who used to have dolls and mannequins of countless people on display.

[The Labyrinth-Dwelling Eye is cautious because it may be none of their business, but...]

—

Why? What is it?

The snake tightened around my wrist.

[The Labyrinth-Dwelling Eye secretly whispers that everything the crocodile gentleman has said so far is a lie.]

I slowly turned my gaze. In front of me, the crocodile was still wiping his sweat-free skin with a handkerchief. The snake and I stared at him.

[The Labyrinth-Dwelling Eye is assessing.]

The crocodile gentleman said, “Of course, I don’t expect us to understand each other through conversation from the start. True understanding isn’t achieved simply by exchanging words. Understanding each other is a great achievement. Isn’t that right?”

[The Labyrinth-Dwelling Eye has assessed this to be a lie.]

“Perhaps the essence of conversation is spending time with each other. Yes, time. Giving each other time. Even if you talk for thirty minutes, that doesn’t mean much to someone who has lived thirty years without another soul by their side, but what about a year later?”

[The Labyrinth-Dwelling Eye has assessed this to be a lie.]

“Talk to them a year after you had your first conversation. Do that every year! After a decade or two, you’ll realize you have spent a lot of your lifetime with them. That’s a new life that can be compared to the previous thirty years of their life!”

[The Labyrinth-Dwelling Eye has assessed this to be a lie.]

“I don’t believe I can earn your trust from the start, but I want to be a Constellation that’s worth your time and patience. What do you say, Death King?” The crocodile blinked. “Will you grant me the opportunity to talk with you?”

The snake also blinked.

[The Labyrinth-Dwelling Eye has assessed this to be a lie.]

I offered a smile and gently stroked the snake’s trembling head with my index finger. They whimpered softly, as if they would collapse onto the ground at any moment.

—Interesting. Even the last words are a lie. There’s nothing more to think about. Everything he says is a lie, isn’t it?

[The Labyrinth-Dwelling Eye answers that you are correct.]

—

He’s asking for an opportunity to kill me, not talk to me.

[The Labyrinth-Dwelling Eye believes that you are probably right.

]

He really was the definition of crocodile tears.

As soon as I smiled, the gentleman’s eyes lit up.

“Okay. Let’s talk.”

***

As it turned out, the talk the crocodile gentleman had mentioned wasn’t one-on-one. It was a gathering of Constellations whose power I threatened and whose domains overlapped with mine. In short, other Constellations whose asses were on fire had come to talk to me.

[The Reddest Sommelier has won the bid for the manager position of the sixty-seventh floor.]

[The Twins of Eternal Round Dance have won the manager position of the sixty-eighth floor.]

[The Dry Handprint Magnifico has won the bidding for the manager position of the sixty-ninth floor.]

Several Constellations sat at a long table waiting for me. It wasn’t just long; it seemed endless. The space set aside for conversation stretched out endlessly along the table as well. We could sit facing each other, but that was it. To get to the other side, we had to climb over the table. Mere words could never solve the differences between us.

“Please, sit down! Death King, welcome!” the crocodile gentleman said cheerfully. “We are all here to talk to you. We may look intimidating, but we’re all very shy. We only came here because I went ahead and gathered everyone.

Heh, heh.

People are shy by nature, whether they are big or small.”

[The Labyrinth-Dwelling Eye has assessed this to be a lie.]

I already knew that. I kept on smiling and looked around at the people the crocodile gentleman gestured toward.

“First, it’s my honor to introduce you to the Twins of Eternal Round Dance. These are very unique circumstances for Constellations, but they’re twins.”

The twins sitting across the table nodded at the same time and angle.

“Nice to meet you,” they both said.

Even their words were in perfect sync. One spoke in a high-pitched voice while the other spoke in a low voice, yet their voices somehow harmonized, creating a strange melody even though they were simply speaking normally. The twins held hands tightly, their faces expressionless.

The crocodile gentleman laughed. “They’re unique, aren’t they? It’s not that they’re two separate Constellations, but rather, they can only be a Constellation when they are together. Maybe they’re actually one person who just appears to be two. Who knows? Now, next is—”

“I’m Dry Handprint Magnifico, kid,” the Constellation in the flashy clothes interrupted. They glared at me with hatred, their eyebrows furrowed. The corners of their mouth were contorted. “I want nothing from you.”

They probably didn’t hate me in particular. Their anger seemed to have solidified at some point and become part of them. Their hatred was directed at something, rather than someone. From their face, I could only deduce that the reason they were so hateful had to do with their life.

The magnifico glared at me. “I only want one thing. For you to understand me.”

“Hey, hey! We can talk about that later!” The crocodile gentleman clapped. His arms were short, so his clapping looked awkward. “Let’s first celebrate the fact that this meeting took place without a hitch! Let’s have a toast!”

As the sound of clapping echoed through the room, a door opened, and butlers dressed in formal attire walked in one after another, carrying what seemed to be wine bottles.

The crocodile gentleman licked his lips. “This is a very precious wine. As my title suggests, I’m quite picky about wine. I craft human emotions into wine. That is my blessed power.”

The butlers seemed perfect in every way, but there was one thing missing. Their hearts. They reminded me of Swiss cheese from a famous cartoon about a mouse being chased by a cat. Each of them had a hole in the middle of their chests.

“The more intense the emotions, the more life is smeared on these emotions. That’s how the wine becomes fragrant and rich in flavor.”

No blood dripped from the holes in the butlers’ chests, nor were their innards visible. The cuts were as clean as in a cartoon show. One of the butlers approached me and tilted the bottle toward me.

The crocodile gentleman grinned. “I’ve always sought the concentrated emotions of humans, what is often called sincerity, so perhaps you could call me the Constellation of Sincerity. What do you think, Death King?”

Red liquid filled my wine glass.

“Don’t you have a similar side? Cheers!”

The crocodile gentleman opened his mouth wide. His short arms couldn’t grab the glass, so the butler poured the wine directly into his mouth. His thick crocodile skin moved as the red wine went down his throat. The red wine also seeped through his teeth, staining his neck and shirt.

“Delicious!”

At least that one word was true.

The magnifico tilted their glass elegantly with a scowl. “

Hmph.

It smells disgusting.”

The twins didn’t drink from the butler’s hand or lift the glasses to their lips. Instead, they took a sip of wine and let the other taste it on their lips. Their fingers were intertwined. Not a drop of red wine was spilled. The time it took for them to swallow the wine and the interval between the swallows were identical. Perhaps even the timing of their breathing was identical. They weren’t drinking; they were simply trying not to let go of each other.

I had a feeling that they were like that in everything they did, not just now. Everything that passed before them was merely a white backdrop. The only thing they sought to prove was that they would never let go of each other, so...

“I see.” I put down my glass and looked at the Constellations sitting across the table. “You all are certainly like me.”

The gentleman dressed in a suit, the Reddest Sommelier, took the hearts of others and was intoxicated by their emotions.

“I understand that as my position as a Constellation becomes more secure, things will become more difficult for you.”

The noble dressed in splendid attire, the Dry Handprint Magnifico, fed on hatred and made anger define their life.

“That’s why I’m happy,” I continued.

The two people with their hands clasped together, the Twins of Eternal Round Dance, only needed each other’s recognition.

“That I’m the one who will bring about your downfall.”

The Constellations froze. The magnifico stared silently at me, their lips touching the rim of their wine glass. The twins kept their lips pressed against one another, their eyes darting back and forth as they stole glances at me.

The crocodile gentleman slowly closed his mouth, wiping the wine flowing between his teeth with a handkerchief. He carried the handkerchief to wipe away the blood of another, not for the product of his own body heat.

The crocodile looked at me with a gentle expression that was slowly cracking. “

Hm.

Why is that? If you were going to antagonize us from the start, there was no need to accept our invitation to come here and risk fighting three Constellations at once.”

The butlers moved away from the table. Well, far away from my seat, actually. They took out weapons like swords and surrounded me.

“Why would you choose to reveal your hostility at this moment?”

“We didn’t gather here to talk anyway, right?”

I splashed the wine from my glass onto the other side of the table. Red danced beneath the chandelier. However, the wine didn’t fly over to the other side of the table and drench the crocodile’s head. It flowed down an invisible wall between us. A barrier of some sort was draped over the table.

“I intended to fight from the start. That’s probably why the Primordial Staff allowed your bid. If I’m going to fight anyway, I would rather fight more of you at once, so I lured you all here.”

“

Hmm.

” The crocodile gentleman blinked. “This is troublesome. This is just a device we made in case of a contingency... Death King, you’re misunderstanding something here.”

[The Labyrinth-Dwelling Eye has assessed this to be a lie.]

I could already see that without the snake telling me.

“However, if that’s what you think, it confuses me even more. You knew this was a trap, yet you accepted my invitation and came here anyway?”

I shrugged. “I wanted to see what tricks you used and what schemes you devised. Above all, I want to see what you all look like and hear what kind of stories you tell. I wanted to see it without hurrying.”

“And you did. What do you think?”

I grabbed my sword. “There’s a reason the Sword Emperor treats the Constellations as neat punching bags. Come at me all at once.”

“You’re underestimating us.” The crocodile’s gaze hardened. His eyes, slitted like a cat’s, locked onto mine. “Mutia only allied with Hishimit Kritz. The two of them never attacked you at the same time. You don’t understand what it means to take on three Constellations at once. You’ll pay the price for this.”

I tightened the grip on my sword. “Unfortunately for you, those words will be proven false, too.”