Chapter 88 - Over-the-Top Is the Way to Go (1)

“I'm moving the Heavenly Martial School's headquarters to the twenty-second floor,” Viper said casually.

Several days had passed since our party cleared [Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon].

“Pardon?”

“I've decided to move. The entire training hall is going with me. Just like you inherited the Demonic Cult's rightful lineage, I became a disciple of my master, the Murim Alliance Leader, didn't I? The Heavenly Martial School is my guild. It only makes sense for it to follow me under the Murim Alliance.”

Viper calmly read his novel.

As I'd seen last time, despite appearances, he was an avid reader. His tastes were extremely narrow, but this place was overflowing with books that catered to those bizarre preferences.

Wearing glasses (nonprescription, purely for looks, retail price: 9,800 won), he turned the pages of a book wrapped in a magical cover (a Hero-grade item that fit any book and allowed its title and cover design to be changed at will, retail price: 2,000 gold).

“My master ended up half an invalid, but his limbs are fine. That Apothecary girl says she managed to make him mobile, at least. So I'm going to bring him in as our Supreme Guardian.”

“The Murim Alliance Leader, as Supreme Guardian...”

“Yeah. He's deeply grieving the Heavenly Demon's death. Watching him makes even me depressed,” Viper said offhandedly.

A guardian was a sect's protector. Literally, someone who safeguarded its teachings and lineage. The Supreme Guardian was the highest among them. In effect, Viper intended to honor the Murim Alliance Leader as his sect's most senior elder.

“At times like that, it's better to keep yourself busy. Teaching the younger generation, that sort of thing. It'll help make our guild members stronger, too.”

I was a little surprised. Wasn't that an incredibly thoughtful gesture?

Perhaps sensing my gaze, Viper paused with his hand on a page.

“... Hey, Death King. Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Oh, nothing. I was just impressed. Clearly, not just anyone can lead one of the Five Great Guilds.”

I'd wondered why an otaku beyond all imagining commanded such respect from his subordinates. Now I had my answer. He took good care of his people.

“R-really?”

Viper blushed and scratched his nose.

“Ahem. Hmm-hmm. D-don't get the wrong idea! I only did what anyone should do. If you get praised just for doing what you should, that makes the world far too lonely, doesn't it? Whew. We can't have the world growing lonely on account of little old me.”

“So creepy...”

“Huh?”

“I didn't say anything.”

Anyway, what Viper said got me thinking.

Taking care of my people. That was something I'd been considering even before entering Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon.

I'd become the third-ranked hunter. Was a high ranking and some martial arts skill all there was to it? Respect. Moral standing. Wasn't it time I learned to show that kind of consideration, too?

Let's see.

Someone here I could reasonably call “one of my people”...

“Ah, I want a duel. I want a fucking duel so badly. An overwhelming, diabolical duel. I'm starving for a duel with our lives on the line. Zombie, let's pick martial arts for our next apocalypse, too. This time, let's go to a Murim ruled by the unorthodox factions instead of the Demonic Cult! Unorthodox masters, let's goooo!”

Hmm.

No.

Definitely not this guy...

“Gongja! Out of special consideration for you, I have made clippers custom-fitted to your fingers and toes! Once you experience my snip-snip skills, you will never be able to trim your own fingernails and toenails again! Just three minutes! No, two minutes! Please, entrust your hands and feet to me for a mere 120 seconds!”

Not this star-nut either.

Even less so.

[Sparkle sings again today. Of the Hero's glorious achievements. Of the Hero's gallant figure as he unleashed his lion's roar from the battlements of the Aegim Empire. Of the Hero's struggles in the martial world, as beautiful as they were desperate. Ah, Sparkle is happy to behold the Hero's august face again today. May you live a thousand years. Ten thousand years. A hundred thousand years.]

“...”

Huh?

Was there... not a single normal person around me?

Not one?

Was this for real?

Strange. I was normal. A model citizen who tried to live a normal life. So why was I surrounded by nothing but a deranged ghost, an insane constellation, and a dimwitted sword?

Come to think of it, none of the three were even “human.” This was madness. Was this my fate? If so, wasn't it a dogshit fate? Was God a dog, by any chance? That son of a Siberian husky...

“Aha, Death King! What are you thinking so deeply about?”

“Inquisitor. I was thinking it'd be nice if you went to the thirteenth floor and negotiated with the priests in Aegim's world. Wouldn't it be good if newbie hunters could get quests there?”

“Oh! I was just thinking along similar lines myself. Seeing you think of something that could benefit everyone proves we're on the same wavelength, Death King! I'll be off!”

After sending off the man who resembled a blond Welsh corgi, I felt even less confident about my luck with people.

“Um. D-Death King.”

A savior appeared before my despairing eyes.

“I've succeeded in mass-producing the cure for the zombie virus. The ingredients it needs are reasonably easy to find, too. I-if you get a preventive injection beforehand, you should be able to explore the twenty-second floor without any problems.”

This was the one!

“Boss.”

“Y-yes, Death King...?”

“Have you considered moving?”

The Apothecary blinked when I brought up the plan I'd conceived right after her contest with the Medicine King.

“Sorry?”

“Your current shop is too small. Clearing this stage has made your name even bigger, so you should expand. Orders are going to flood in. Can your current shop handle that volume?”

“Ah. Well. I'd been thinking about expanding, too. But property prices on the first floor... As you know, I'd need to take out an enormous loan... The Count did show me some kind of contract, saying they'd cover everything.”

“No, absolutely do not sign that.”

What was that cat doing, pawing at someone else's fish?

“Property? I'll give you all you need.”

I went big.

“Moving costs and interior renovations, too. I'll cover all of it, so all you need to bring is yourself.”

The Apothecary's mouth fell open.

“Eh. Um. R-really...?”

“Yes. You know I own the twentieth floor, right? I'll find you a prime location. Just bring yourself.”

Her mouth opened and closed. She seemed unable to believe my offer.

But I meant every word.

'What's the point of letting the land sit idle?'

Thinking of it as an investment in a colleague who would one day become the Alchemy Ministry Head, I didn't begrudge it at all.

I smiled.

“In return, please give the medicines and potions I request a little priority. Is that all right?”

“O-of course! I already do that... Ugh. W-what am I going to do? I've received far too much from you, Death King...”

The corners of her mouth trembled uncontrollably. Whatever she said, good news was good news. Flustered as she was, she couldn't quite hide her delight. With both hands clenched tight, she looked as though she were shouting, “Yes! Woohoo!” inside.

I felt pleased, too.

'I see. So this is how rewarding it feels to take care of someone.'

Just then.

“Ahem. Hmm! Khm-hmm. Ahem, khm!”

“...”

“Now, youngster. Aren't you forgetting something?”

The Medicine King was suddenly standing there. I hadn't sensed him at all until he'd come up behind me. Had this old man learned lightness arts in Murim without my knowledge...? What an impressive level of mastery.

“I wouldn't mind a bit more land in my old age, either...”

He cast me a sidelong glance.

“Oh dear, my shop's so old these days, it smells musty. Gets damp all the time, too. Terrible for my back! It's on the third floor, so my knees creak from going up and down every day...”

Another sidelong glance.

“It would be lovely if some nice young fellow handed me, oh, roughly a hundred thousand pyeong somewhere with fresh air...”

“My apologies. My friend has been rude.”

The Sword Star came over, grabbed the Medicine King by the scruff of his neck, and dragged him away.

Even as he was dragged away, the Medicine King squawked at the top of his lungs.

“Hey! What kind of person interferes with a friend's sales pitch instead of helping him? Is that what they teach you in Northern Europe? Markus, you rascal! You're from a prestigious wealthy family, but your business ethics are worse than a beggar's!”

“My friend. Growing old is upsetting enough as it is. Let's not become disgraceful, too... You already make plenty of money.”

“I'm running a loss! A loss! Orders have dried up lately! Apothecary! You, Apothecary girl! Just say, ‘I played dirty in our last contest. In truth, I have no power whatsoever to block the great Sean McAllister's road to victory.’ Just that one sentence! Come on, just say it, will you!”

The hunters in the Great Library stared at the Medicine King. Through their joint research and surgery, the Apothecary had gained enough newfound respect for him to call him an elder. Now she looked at him like a water flea again, murmuring, “Wow...”

Viper, who had been quietly reading his novel, grumbled.

“What the hell? Why does the heroine die in every novel I read? Is this the latest trend?”

Sure enough, not a single normal person in this bunch.

Opening the Apothecary's new shop on the twentieth floor went smoothly. The gold I'd won in the lottery was more than enough to cover the construction materials.

Labor wasn't a problem, either.

“Listen, Death King. I can get you a discount on the building materials, you know? And that's not all. I can find you all the workers you need. Just sign this contract along with the Apothecary...”

“I said, no thanks!”

After shaking off the Count, who kept hovering around like a cat on a laptop, I turned to Hungry Ghost.

“Is everything going well?”

“Yes, my liege. Construction proceeds smoothly.”

Hungry Ghost directed construction in a yellow safety helmet and a green armband, with a pink whistle between her lips. Skeletons summoned through Rebirth of a Hundred Ghosts supplied the labor.

“Fucking hell! Goddammit! Hey! You worthless piece of shit! What the hell have you got against me? Why do I have to haul rocks surrounded by these bags of bones? Say something, you bastards!”

One handsome young man with a ponytail and an exceptionally foul mouth was mixed in among them, but with the vast majority of the labor force consisting of skeletons moving in perfect coordination, construction proceeded without a hitch.

While construction continued smoothly, the Apothecary, the Heavenly Martial Sect's leader, and I made an agreement.

“All right, that should more or less do it.”

The agreement was as follows.

“There are still plenty of living corpses on the twenty-second floor. In other words, lots of mobs. And there are ruined Taoist temples all over the place. Lots of dungeons, too.”

“Yeah. So our Heavenly Martial School establishes a base there...”

“And... hunters who want to visit the twenty-second floor first get vaccinated on the twentieth floor... at my new pharmacy... Is that right?”

“Exactly. We collect a small fee along the way... Within reason, of course.”

The plan benefited all of us: me, the owner of the twentieth floor; the Apothecary, setting up a new home there; and the Heavenly Martial School, moving its headquarters to the twenty-second floor.

'Well, I never thought I'd see the day I'd collect property fees.'

It was a truly satisfying feeling.

But once the pharmacy actually opened, a flaw in the plan emerged. Specifically, far too many people flocked to the twentieth floor.

“Medicine God!”

“Apothecary King!”

“Medicine Emperor!”

“O Supreme Medicine Saint, Unrivaled Heavenly Martial Emperor! Please sell me some medicine!”

Anyone could travel as far as the twentieth floor without an epithet. So it wasn't just hunters seeking vaccinations before visiting the twenty-second floor who poured in. Far more hunters than that descended on the twentieth.

Administering the zombie virus vaccine required a somewhat complicated procedure. Trying to produce ordinary medicines at the same time kept throwing the workflow into chaos. The Apothecary initially tried to handle it herself, but finally cried out.

“Death King, this can't go on!”

In the end, we had no choice but to call in the last member of the twenty-second-floor clearing party. Viper slung an arm around the Medicine King's shoulders.

“Medicine King, business hasn't been great lately, has it? I'll give you a nice spot at the Heavenly Martial School's headquarters on the twenty-second floor. Want to come be our resident physician?”

“Now, Heavenly Martial Sect's leader! What do you take Sean McAllister for?”

Despite his bluster, the Medicine King's business really was struggling. His pharmacy's selling point had been its high-end medicines, but now that the Apothecary had appeared as a vastly superior alternative, that had become nothing more than a half-baked premium-market strategy.

Everyone knew it, and deep down, so did the Medicine King. After a few rounds of persuasion, he finally groaned.

“All right. I'll spend some time on the twenty-second floor giving injections and treating emergency patients, and collect a few fees.”

“Yeah, please. ... I needed a personal physician to look after my master full-time, too.”

“Hmph. Well, that fellow was easier to talk to than that scoundrel Markus. Fine. I'd been feeling lonely myself.”

As time passed, the clearing efforts continued.

We weren't the only hunters throwing ourselves into clearing stages.

Floor 21: Great Library of Myriad Thoughts

Floor 22: Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon (Genres: Martial Arts Fiction, Fusion)

Floor 23: Chronicles of the Space Iron Knights (Genre: SF)

Floor 24: Diary of Dawn Lodge (Genres: Mystery, History)

“Excellent. Truly, truly excellent.”

The Witch smiled in satisfaction.

By now, she was directing the hunters, carefully deciding which apocalypses to tackle and how to assemble the teams for each one.

“Death King, the way you brilliantly cleared [Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon] has made a huge difference. The other hunters are burning with motivation, saying they can't let you beat them. People who usually let everything I say go in one ear and out the other! Ah, if only things had been like this all along.”

She looked at me affectionately. Or perhaps the way one looked at a golden goose? At this rate, she seemed ready to credit me with the Tower's very construction.

“At this pace, we could reach the thirtieth floor before next month.”

Unfortunately, the Witch's prediction proved wrong.

On the day marking two weeks since Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon was cleared.

[Today's attempt to clear the twenty-fifth-floor stage has failed.]

Hundreds of hunters, including the Witch, stared blankly into the air.

[This announcement is repeated for everyone.]

[Today's attempt to clear the twenty-fifth-floor stage has failed.]

“W-what...?”

The Witch was bewildered. Horror seeped into her dark eyes.

“I sent the best clearing party we could assemble... and they failed...?”

A hologram hung in the air of the Great Library, broadcasting the clearing attempt live. On the holographic screen, countless demons cackled as they slaughtered humans.

Some of the people being slaughtered had familiar faces.

The fourth-ranked hunter. The Count.

The ninth-ranked hunter. The Paladin.

One hunter controlled Babylon's financial networks, the other its human networks. The people responsible for its economy and public safety. As the Witch murmured in horror, they were the strongest cards we could play.

Yet they had failed.

[Tales of Sormwin Academy]

Genres: Romance, Fantasy

Difficulty: D-Class

Participant Limit: 2–5

※Serialization is currently discontinued.

Introduction: Sormwin is a magic academy with a long and illustrious history. An ordinary academy where friendship and rivalry, love and jealousy intertwine. This apocalypse could have remained an ordinary school story, too. If only an artifact capable of destroying the world hadn't been sealed beneath the academy!

Reason for Discontinuation: The villainous noblewoman loses her fiancé (the crown prince) to a female student on her second incarnation. She flies into a rage and breaks the artifact's seal, unleashing a great demon that destroys the world.

And this was an apocalypse with a difficulty of merely D-Class.

The world had been selected because “magic is highly developed, and ores such as mithril are abundant.”

“Oh dear. How unfortunate.”

The Librarian looked down at the devastated hunters.

“But spilled water is spilled water! If one could put it back, that might be another matter, but I cannot overlook an attempt that has already failed. Everyone, please understand my position.”

The Librarian's eyes were smiling.

In other words, if someone possessed the ability to put spilled water back... they would be recognized as an exception.

It was obvious who the Librarian meant.

“...”

I headed to the library's restroom. I'd visited it once before entering Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon, too. The mirror above the sink reflected a man with a rigid expression.

“Damn it, I've never even read a romance novel.”

“Well, you'd never read martial arts fiction either, and you handled that just fine. You'll probably be all right.”

“That's true, but...”

I sighed and gripped my dagger.

“I can't let the Count and the Paladin die. And I don't think sending someone else would get it cleared. I'll have to try it myself after all.”

You might ask why I couldn't simply give up and tackle a different apocalypse. But things weren't that simple.

There was a reason I absolutely couldn't skip this one.

[Sparkle supports the Hero's decision.]

A fragment of the holy sword was hidden there, too.

“... Okay.”

I steadied myself, running my hand over the dagger's hilt.

“Let's give it a shot!”