Chapter 348: Full Moon Voyage (5)

What next? My friend told me to keep doing what I had been doing, and it wasn’t like I could refuse her request since we were friends. If I were to describe my activities in great detail, I was now traveling the world and bringing down city mayors to their knees.

“We admit our loss...”

“Here is our tribute... Please show mercy on our city...”

A hundred people came to me at once to make a deal. The terms weren’t anything new. I wouldn’t return to the city for six months. In return, the people were going to bow to me.

[Bataran Port City has admitted their defeat.]

[You have become a colossus who has brought down six cities.]

[Bataran Port City citizens are very unhappy with the trade!]

[You are very happy with the trade.]

[Again, you alone have gained a huge reward.]

Because I was exposing everyone’s secrets, the Golden Heaven Realm was falling apart. Unable to bear this torture, the people always surrendered and felt the sharp sting of hunger. In a way, an actual famine had hit the city ports.

[The Gold-Biting Cat begs you to stop and screams for mercy!]

As the one-man plague continued wreaking havoc, the Gold-Biting Cat was being pushed into a corner more and more. Six port cities had already fallen, and no one could stop me. Seven hired mercenaries, all of them wearing tiger-skin cloaks, once came for the bounty on my head.

[A mid-sized trade group named Moderately Good Fighters asks for a trade.]

[1. Both sides agree to exchange physical damage for the next thirty minutes.]

[2. The total settlement will take place after thirty minutes.]

[3. During the settlement, the amount of physical damage taken shall be defined as a sustained loss.]

[4. The amount of physical damage inflicted to the other party shall be defined as a reward.]

This was how the Golden Heaven Realm worked. To fight, both sides had to agree and sign a contract. The result? It was needless to talk about it. In the hologram, the God of Trade still cried while the Countess ate her chips. Could it be any more obvious who was the winner and who was the loser?

—You’ve brought down the sixth city without a hitch. What a joyous day.

—Meow... Meoooow...

The Countess ignored the crying cats.

—

How many cities are left? Six? Seven? Even if six hundred remain, it’s only a matter of time.

With the recorded conversation now over, the Countess was now directly talking to me. Each time I swept a city, the Countess dealt with the God of Trade and took something from them. This real-time talk was one of the trophies. The person in charge of the economy in our Tower was very thrifty...

—Admit your defeat. The more you struggle, the more your heaven will be ruined. The Death King is showing mercy at the moment and only making the people bow before leaving, but I don’t know how long this merciful attitude will last.

The cats blazed with rage.

—What have we done to you people?

—We were just trying to earn a living!

Meow!

This is a high-level Constellation’s tyranny! We won’t accept this!

Meow!

We’re going to file a formal complaint!

—You want to know what you’ve done? First, you gave me a penalty of making cat ears grow on my head if I use my skill past the daily cap.

—What’s wrong with that? Cat ears are cute! Very cute!

—Also, using the

Cat’s General Stor

e more than a set number of times gave me a cat tail.

—From a biological and evolutionary point of view, a cat's tail has the perfect curve! It’s a god’s gift! You should be grateful that such a gift was given to you, human!

—You fucked me over with an item named World Peace.

—Come on. Don’t you think it’s already weird for an adult to take such an item seriously and buy it in the first place? We made that item so that people would mature, at least a little. It doesn’t mean much.

Meow.

It’s just a life experience and a lesson.

The other cats waved their paws.

—True!

—That’s right!

—You’re no customer! This isn’t funny! We’re the teachers!

—Thank us! Thank us for our existence! Bow deep with all your heart! Be grateful for the Skill and the penalties we gave you! Bow down!

—Even cats have pride!

—Meow! Meow! Meow!

The Countess nodded firmly.

—I think you know why I’m set on crushing the crap out of these worthless cats, Gong-Ja.

My friend seemed to have a

lot

of pent-up grudge. I could only hum in response.

It was night. After taking down the seventh city, I opened the map again. Thanks to the Countess’s plan, it would be easy to take down dozens—even hundreds—of cities. It would take time, but it wouldn’t be hard. Still...

“That’s odd,” I murmured.

Beyond the hologram, the Countess tilted her head.

—What is it?

“The Gold-Biting Cat... I can’t find them. It may seem like I’m moving at random, but I’m only going after the big cities. The sixth and the seventh cities were the most prosperous.”

Only port cities existed in the Golden Heaven Realm. Most of the world was water, probably for easy trade. Groups of small islands dotted the oceans, and the towns and cities rested on the shore. There was no inland. While there were mountains, no villages could be found there. People always lived by the sea.

“I thought I’d see the God of Trade if I went to the biggest city.”

—See the God of Trade? What do you mean?

“I mean it literally. The previous floor is ruled by a World Tree big enough to make up one city. If this is heaven, then the residents should be able to see their god from anywhere. That’s the point of these floors, I think.”

—Hmm....

The Countess frowned. The look between her eyes made it clear that she would have never thought of that.

—

Interesting idea.

“Yes. I thought the biggest city would be the God of Trade’s base, but no matter how much I scour the city, I can’t find them. It’s really weird.”

—

Maybe the last floor was special. All gods are different. This God of Trade probably built their base far off from civilization, where no one can find them, so they can laugh as they watch humans ruin themselves.

“You think so?”

—Yes, I’m sure of it.

I glanced at the hologram. The cats flinched.

—W-what are you looking at?

—Do you think we’re scared? We’re not afraid of you!”

—It’s true! You’ll regret not agreeing to the negotiation when we politely headbutted the floor! You should have just agreed to the good terms and ended it then.

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

—It’s too late! There’s no going back!

—No going back! No going back! No going back!

I wasn’t sure how to feel about their slogan. Regardless, even though they looked like cats, they were a Constellation, strong enough to rule a floor. Just in case they failed to maintain their poker face, I observed them, but as expected, they didn’t make such a rookie mistake.

I looked around.

The waves hit the shore. When I first came to this floor. I had arrived at a port. Back then, I had faced the streets, not the sea.

All the cities were ports. Could this be a clue?

“The Goldcoin-Biting Cat... The Goldcoin-Biting Cat... The gold coin...”

Lost in thought, I paced the beach until the full moon rose in the night sky. A thought flashed through my mind.

I hid my feelings and stayed calm as I said, “Nisha.”

—

Hmm?

This is the first time you’ve called me by my real name. Well, you and Patricia have been using your real names for a while. You know, you’re the only one who calls both me and Patricia by our real names. Usually, my friends hate Patricia, and Patricia’s friends also despise me. You’re a very rare case.

“It’s an honor to hear that. Anyway, Nisha. You’re watching me as if I’m in a film. Do you have the ability to rewind?”

—

Hmm?

Yeah, I think so.

The Countess turned her head and talked to someone out of frame, probably the Primordial Staff. Soon, the Countess turned back to me.

—I can do that.

“Then can you look at the night sky from the past four nights? There’s something I want to check.”

—That seems more productive than eating chips. Sure.

The Countess fanned herself slowly as she rewinded through a few days’ worth of clips, something I couldn’t see.

“Any progress?”

—All the clips are up right now.

“Please check the moon.”

The cats flinched and turned to me at once, but it was too late. Now that I no longer needed to hide my face, I went on without delay.

“Has the shape of the moon changed? Is it always a full moon by any chance?”

The Countess nodded.

—You’re right. There isn’t even a slight change. It’s always a clear full moon.

I knew it.

—

Meow!

On second thought, continuing our negotiations doesn’t sound so bad.

—If we think hard, there is always a slight room for discussion even in an unconditional surrender, right? Uncondition is still a condition.

—Customers! From now on, we’ll take this negotiation of surrender seriously!

The cats were panicking. Confused, the Countess tilted her head, but I paid no heed and sharpened my vision. With eyes that surpassed human limits, I looked at the full moon.

There’s nothing there.

Sadly, I found nothing on its surface. It actually wasn’t a real moon. Unlike the Earth’s moon, the surface was clean. It wasn’t even round, just a flat disk shaped like a moon at first glance.

That’s not a hideout. The cats aren’t there. Then...

I quickly scanned the area. My first deduction was that each heaven had a Constellation that ruled it. The residents in that heaven could see and feel that Constellation at any time and from any location. The residents here lived by the sea, so the Constellation had to also live somewhere nearby.

If the sea itself were the Constellation, all the questions would be answered, but the Constellation of the seventy-third floor was made out of cats, who had no connection to the sea. Maybe they lived in the deep sea in a secret base or in a submarine. That was possible, but then the souls in this heaven wouldn’t be able to see or feel the Constellation any time they wanted.

It’s a god they can see by looking out from the shore.

Waves crashed into the shore.

It’s not the deep sea or some faraway ocean. It has to be something that people can see from their homes.

In the middle of the night sea, a bright full moon of the night sky was reflected on the surface of the water like a gold coin.

I smiled. “Found you.”

Without pause, I stepped toward the reflection. Ripples formed, growing stronger with every step I took.

Splash! Splash!

I ran to where the full moon was reflected on the water. The cats were freaking out.

—Meooooooow?

—No! No! Wait! A deal! Let’s make a deal!

—Customer! Lady Countess! VIPs! We’ll give you a fifty-percent discount on all items forever! Isn’t that enough? Please accept our surrender!

—Sixty percent! Seventy percent! Eighty percent!

—We’ll cut it by ninety percent! Please stop your friend—

I dived toward the water’s surface, where the

gold coin

glinted. To my surprise, it wasn’t the cold seawater I splashed into. I felt the water’s touch on the reflection’s surface for a brief moment. Soon after, gravity—different from the weight of water that normally makes it hard to move around in the sea—brought me toward solid ground.

“H-h-he’s hereeeeee!”

I landed on the ground. There was no underwater sea palace. The moon on the water’s surface was a portal or a gate of some sort that led straight to the God of Trade’s home. The gold coin was the full moon, and the Goldcoin-Biting Cat was the cats living on the full moon.

“Emergency! Emergency!”

“What should we do?”

“D-don’t panic! You only die once!”

“We’re sooooo done!”

The cats huddled together in the white space, shaking hard. Seeing multicolored furballs hugging each other while trembling was somewhat touching.

I smiled. Regardless of everything, I was here as the wacko representing my Tower, and wackos had an aesthetic they had to follow.

“

Mmmm.

Hello, brothers and sisters. Do you have a moment to talk about our lord and savior and the path they carved for you?”[1]

1. The raw is parodying a pseudo-cult's preaching. Literally, it means “Do you know tao?” but tao has a variety of meanings in these pseudo-cult's preaching. Some modification has been made for a smoother flow. ☜