Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. – Chapter 119 – Wouldn’t It Be Faster to Be Reborn?

Author: Cireng

Chapter 119 — Wouldn’t It Be Faster to Be Reborn?

A pitch-black underground prison where not a single ray of light could enter.

The Conspirator, Kyras, sat alone in his solitary cell, blankly staring into empty space.

“Kyras Selune.”

Suddenly, the deep voice of an Ash Wolf Guild prison guard reached him.

“You have a visitor.”

Dragged away without resistance, Kyras was forced into a chair somewhere. Everything was still completely dark, but unlike the solitary cell, he could at least make out faint outlines. Beyond a window submerged in darkness sat someone whose build was not particularly large.

“Sir Kyras. You seem to have grown quite haggard since we last met.”

“…”

Golden Crow Karr.

The very person who had ruined Kyras’s plans continued speaking as though nothing had happened.

“Have you abandoned your faith?”

“…Yes. I tried to delay it for as long as possible, but it didn’t work.”

Chuckling weakly, Kyras let his body slump.

“I no longer serve Lord Onishiv. But you won’t make me abandon my dream of a world where everyone lives in equal harmony.”

“I never intended to. Why would I make you throw away such a wholesome wish?”

“…Then why did you come? To mock the defeated me?”

“My goodness. How could I ever do something so cruel?”

Speaking in his usual emotionless tone, Karr handed something to the guild guard standing nearby.

Several minutes later… After going through a series of complicated procedures, Karr’s item was finally placed into Kyras’s hands.

A cobra statue engulfed in flames. Strangely enough, it was perfectly visible even in the darkness.

“…What is this?”

“It is an idol of Lord Lriria, the Watcher of Lonely Silence. I bought it for you at the City of Pleasure.”

“So why are you giving something like this to me?”

“Just keep it.”

Karr whispered quietly through the darkness.

“Then you shall encounter gloomy twilight… and cyclical death.”

With nothing but that cryptic statement, Karr departed. Back inside his solitary cell, Kyras absentmindedly caressed the idol.

At first, he had intended to simply throw it against the wall and shatter it.

Yet somehow… he suddenly found himself unable to do so.

“…”

Silence filled every direction. Nothing entered his field of vision.

The only thing that existed… was perfect solitude.

‘…What is this feeling?’

How strange. The darkness that had been choking him… the silence that had weighed upon his mind… were soothing the heart that had sunk into the abyss.

Ever since he embraced the cobra statue.

“…Huh?”

Kyras suddenly widened his eyes.

People said prisoners in District Three’s prison eventually went mad after being left in endless silence. Had he already lost his mind?

“…A snake?”

There, coiled within the darkness… he saw a snake. A tiny snake that made no sound whatsoever. It merely watched him quietly, wrapped in silence.

“…”

He had never seen this snake before. Yet somehow… he knew exactly what it was.

The Watcher of Lonely Silence. The Evil God of Gloomy Twilight and Cyclical Death.

Lriria.

“Ah…”

He could feel it.

The incredibly, incredibly, incredibly faint faith contained within that tiny snake.

He understood.

The thoughts of that higher being who merely watched him in silence.

His faith in the One Who Maintains All Things… the faith he had tried to preserve in his heart even after Golden Crow Karr had forced him to abandon it… began to waver.

‘Hiss…’

At last, the snake whispered something.

He couldn’t understand it. Not at all.

But… there was no doubt.

This was the rare hallucination experienced only by a select few… a religious revelation.

Because…

‘How can you be this powerless?!’

The Watcher of Lonely Silence simply lacked enough followers to project His own illusion into the mortal world.

“…LordLriria?”

Slowly, Kyras crawled toward the little snake on his knees.

The coiled serpent slithered up his arm.

Watching its slow movements… a thought naturally arose in his mind.

‘I want to protect His.’

A tiny, adorable deity. He wanted to protect Lriria.

The instant that thought surfaced… Kyras felt his mind becoming peaceful.

‘…What have I been doing all this time?’

How ridiculous. Despite dedicating his entire life to Onishiv… he had never found the peace that only arrived after abandoning that very faith.

His thoughts remained somewhat confused.

But his heart… had never been calmer.

Only then did Kyras finally understand what Karr had meant.

“O Watcher of Lonely Silence, please bestow Your flame upon this insignificant body.”

That day… Lriria gained a fourth believer.

And thus… the half-elf who had despaired of the world finally found peace of mind for the first time in his life… thanks to one tiny, adorable Evil God.

***

Lucius and I were walking along a road in the northern part of District Three.

“Where are we going?”

“We’re going to enjoy a secret little game that will make only the two of us’ hearts race.”

“…That sounds enjoyable.”

A response befitting a priest of Artein.

Which was to say… he meant it didn’t sound enjoyable at all.

“The truth is, I’m going to confess the love I’ve been hiding.”

“I see.”

“To you, Lord Lucius.”

“…That gives me much to think about.”

‘Crackle.’

Thanks to Lucius accepting every ridiculous thing I said with perfect harmony, I was able to have a conversation that pleased the Exalted One just enough.

Before long, after diligently carrying out my religious activities, we reached our destination.

It was the headquarters of a guild whose emblem depicted a wine bottle filled with gemstones of many colors.

“Since we’re already in District Three, I came to finish something I’d been putting off.”

As we entered, an Eastern Continent dwarf inspecting a pair of gloves at his workbench enthusiastically slapped his chest.

“Oh! Welcome!”

[Guild Master Tobirek of the Jewelwine Guild (Eastern Continent Dwarf, 78 years old). The craftsman to whom you previously entrusted corpse retrieval. Unfortunately, he looks far happier than the last time you saw him.]

“Sir Tobirek, have you been well?”

“Quite well indeed! Ever since I made your subspace storage, my craftsmanship, which had been stagnating for quite some time, suddenly started improving dramatically!”

“It seems Solmiran has blessed you with sunlight.”

Perhaps the Ever-Burning One had bestowed brilliant creative inspiration upon the dwarf whom I would be relying on frequently in the future.

Was it too self-centered of me to think that?

“You’ve accomplished something incredible this time, haven’t you? Winning the Guild War! I was absolutely stunned watching the broadcast.”

“I truly am such a capable cultist. Please praise me to your heart’s content. Pat my little backside and tell me I’ve done well.”

“…My arms are too short for that.”

Instead of patting my rear, Tobirek stroked his beard.

“So then, what brings you here?”

“Naturally… I’ve come to commission something.”

I removed the Hand That Grasped the Ember from my left arm and held it out.

The dwarf’s pupils trembled.

“So that arm really was a prosthetic. How did that happen?”

“I got too hungry and ate it.”

“Please say things like that while smiling. Otherwise, it sounds real…”

Shaking his head, Tobirek accepted the prosthetic.

He inspected it carefully.

“Oh? Remarkable craftsmanship. It doesn’t seem damaged anywhere. So… you want additional functions?”

“Exactly.”

Nodding, I retrieved my trump-card material from my subspace.

“Ack! Where is this now?!”

It was the head of the centaur-type elite golem.

“…What’s that?”

“A trophy from a labyrinth in a future timeline. It possesses the ability to absorb energy, amplify it, and then release it.”

“I’m not an object! Treat me like a person!”

The severed golem head protested loudly.

Naturally… I ignored it.

Humanitarian treatment was a luxury reserved for those who weren’t war criminals.

“Let me see.”

Taking the golem head, Tobirek rotated it several times before letting out a small gasp.

“A golem from the future, you say? There are certainly many structures here that defy ordinary understanding. Especially the mana core… it’s extremely unusual.”

“Unlike modern ones, its mana core automatically absorbs mana from nature and recharges itself.”

“Then it can operate semi-permanently without a mage maintaining it? Astonishing!”

A mage’s resource mana power was energy refined from natural mana absorbed into the body.

Modern golems quickly ceased functioning unless mages periodically replenished them with mana power.

The golems of Golemophia, however… kept operating indefinitely on their own.

“Please install this golem’s mana core and its energy absorption function into my prosthetic arm. Is that possible?”

“Hmm…”

Tobirek stroked his beard thoughtfully.

“It won’t be easy… but I’ll give it my best. Somehow, I feel as though Solmiran is smiling upon me.”

[Perhaps that’s not merely your imagination…]

“Anything else you’d like to commission?”

“Yes.”

From my subspace, I retrieved the handcuffs Demon Suppressor, obtained from the Ash Wolf Guild’s vault.

“What’s that piece of junk? It looks like something from at least the era of the Great Holy War.”

“Precisely. It’s so old that I fear it’ll fall apart if used as-is, so I’d like to have it repaired.”

“If it isn’t too rude to ask, could you also tell me how you intend to use it? Depending on its purpose, I might be able to add some special functions.”

I glanced once at Lucius standing beside me before looking back at the dwarf.

For some reason, Tobirek visibly flinched. Then he nodded.

“Ahem! I’m a dwarf who believes in harmony and cooperation. I’ll respect… your preferences.”

“I’m planning to use it in combat.”

“…You’re going to fight with handcuffs?”

Before Tobirek’s expression became even less harmonious, I hurriedly explained.

“So I’d like you to lengthen the chain. And while you’re at it, please make it as durable as possible.”

“Lengthening it is easy enough.

Making something this old durable enough not to shatter, however… that’s another matter.”

“Which is why I brought someone to help.”

Lucius stepped forward and folded his hands.

“I am Lucius, a humble lantern of Lady Artein.

I intend to bless those handcuffs.”

“In that case… There shouldn’t be any problem. Very well. I’ll take this commission too.”

The dwarf accepted the Demon Suppressor and placed it beside the golem head on his workbench.

“How long will it take?”

“I’ll finish as quickly as I can. I can’t keep the future great explorer waiting too long, can I?”

“Exactly. Someday I’ll become an extraordinary great explorer. You should get my autograph now before I become even more famous.”

“…For some reason… this time, your words actually sound convincing.”

After some hesitation… Tobirek eventually had me sign his hammer.

Watching nearby, Lucius chuckled.

“I never imagined he’d actually ask for one.”

“It’s an investment of sorts. Things like this are quite common in the explorer industry.”

It wasn’t unusual for an inexperienced explorer to become a legendary figure in just a few short years.

Targon was the perfect example.

There was even a famous story about a dragonkin blacksmith who became fabulously wealthy after selling a tiny fragment of a weapon Targon had used as a beginner.

“Treasure it carefully. Someday… it may make you a rich man, Sir Tobirek.”

Leaving Lucius behind to assist with the crafting work, I paused before leaving and suddenly asked,

“By the way, Sir Tobirek… would you happen to have any interest in the Twisted Truth?”

“…I’m sorry, but no.”

“How strange. I promoted the Evil Gods so enthusiastically during the Guild War, yet hardly anyone comes looking for me.”

“…”

Avoiding my gaze, Tobirek simply stroked his beard.

Lucius, whose eyes met mine, smiled awkwardly before speaking.

“…Perhaps… it’s because you’ve become such an extraordinary explorer that people feel intimidated about approaching you.”

“Ah! So that’s what it was?”

Since promoting worship of the Evil Gods wasn’t possible in the game, I had never been entirely sure.

Apparently… performing too brilliantly had become the problem.