<507 – The Mouth of Destruction>
On the way to the palace.
I couldn’t ride in the same carriage as Masugaki Princess, but I confidently claimed the title of the princess’s friend and secured a dedicated escort carriage for myself.
In the carriage sat Leif the Maid and Eungchilgeom in a blue uniform.
“Professor, don’t worry, just rest your eyes. You need to be in good shape before entering the palace,” said Leif.
“But why are you here, Leif?”
“I came at Butler Jonnas’s request to escort the young lady. Due to the urgency of the situation, I couldn’t be of help at the scene, but I was gathering residual forces to pressure the Revolutionary Army.”
“I see!”
“The body thief was caught by the Revolutionary’s eyes and perished, while the Mirror Thief became a Betrayer and sided with the Revolutionary Army. The Flying Thief escaped through dimensional boundaries to save its own life but, avoiding the poison, lingered too long in a dimension where humans should not tread, so now it requires a long recovery just like Professor Destroyer.”
So, essentially, all the main forces of the Thief Guild had vanished, and its influence had significantly weakened.
“Is it okay to talk about that in front of Eungchilgeom?”
“It’s information that can be figured out without being told. Please consider it a kindness I provide for the young lady’s safety.”
Eungchilgeom sitting by the window of the escort carriage smiled and nodded.
“I will verify the accuracy of information, but if proven true, I will help to the best of my abilities.”
The conversation ended, and since I was urged to rest, I closed my eyes and looked through the backlogged records.
━━━
[You teamed up with friends at the Vesuvius Volcano Show and really showed something.]
[Completed the surprise event at Vesuvius Volcano Show.]
[You gained 100,000 Points as a completion reward.]
[You gained 200,000 Points as a cooperation bonus.]
[Operation Establishment +100]
[Mana Control Art +100]
[Focus +50]
[Thinking Ability +50]
[Stealth +50]
[Trick +50]
[Mana Technique +30]
[Calmness +5]
[Perfection +5]
Showed off a magic show: Successfully conducted a magic show with the help of the Red Magic Tower’s Non-mainstream School.
– Achievement Effect: Magic Success Rate +5%
[As such, you are a thoughtful apprentice who concerned about Professor’s Dark Mana rampage and stole the last hit from Demon Minion Orde Taco.]
[Last hit bonus increases gain efficiency. (×5)]
[You gained 2,000,000 Points due to the subjugation bonus.]
[Crying +100]
[Imitation +100]
[Mana Control Art +50]
[Mana Technique +50]
[Record Magic +50]
[Stealth +20]
[Trick +20]
[Explosion Magic +20]
Last Hit Expert: You habitually stole the last hit from enemies, dealing damage below 1%.
– Achievement Effect: Ambush Damage +200%
[Completed Rosgini’s Support Request event.]
[You gained 100,000 Points as a completion reward.]
[You gained 200,000 Points as a cooperation bonus.]
[Contribution of the Non-mainstream School of the Red Magic Tower skyrocketed.]
[Whenever the Red Magic Tower conducts its own fire show, contribution will increase further.]
[You can use future contributions to purchase treasures from the Red Magic Tower or acquire magic, or deploy wizards within the tower for operations.]
Hero of the Non-mainstream School: You rescued the Non-mainstream School of the Red Magic Tower from the brink of annihilation.
– Achievement Effect: Relationship with characters from the Non-mainstream School of the Red Magic Tower +20
━━━
A lineup of fantastic effects appeared.
I’ve not only saved the doomed Red Magic Tower but also gained relational benefits to become a new mainstream faction.
The debt these people owe me will be significant enough to bring the Red Magic Tower into any future large-scale operation at least once.
But the real big deal was what came afterward.
━━━
[Why is it so easy to gain the Old God’s power? You acquired the Book of Insights in just one second. Are you perhaps the reincarnation of Sukha?]
[You gained 1,000,000 Points as an achievement reward.]
[Impermanence +100]
[No-self +100]
[Achieving Nirvana +100]
Authority Extractor: You fully retrieved one or more powers.
– Achievement Effect: You are guaranteed a minimum extraction efficiency (100) of any power acquired through any means.
[You eliminated Castro, one of the Triad Demons of the Revolutionary Army, with your skills.]
[You gained 1,000,000 Points as a subjugation bonus.]
[Dimensional Magic +300]
[Impermanence +200]
[Mana Technique +100]
[Mana Control Art +100]
[Mana Booster +50]
[Mana Breathing +50]
[Provocation +50]
[Tracking +50]
[Focus +50]
[Boldness +50]
[Strong Enemy Specialization +10]
Slayer of Demon Master: You killed the Demon Master that thrived on blood.
– Achievement Effect: Complete immunity to kills below the Demon Master class.
[Is this truly possible? You single-handedly defeated the Revolutionary Demon responsible for one of the Three Great Evils in one strike.]
[Critical kill bonus increases gain efficiency. (×5)]
[You gained 100,000,000 Points as a subjugation bonus.]
[Charging +500]
[Deadly Strike: Instant Kill +500]
[…]
[…]
[Mana Technique +200]
[Mana Booster +200]
[…]
[…]
[Strong Enemy Specialization +25]
[Magician’s Arch-nemesis +25]
[Super Focus +5]
The End of Revolution: You forced a sacrifice upon an exploiter who demanded sacrifices.
– Achievement Effect: Complete disregard for all verbal-type functions.
━━━
The elimination of the revolutionary leader.
With just this one event, countless sacrifices the revolutionary could have caused are obliterated.
Take, for instance, [Day of Revolution].
The event that doubles the number of specters held by the revolutionary is rendered void.
Naturally, the event [Invasion of the Jeido] that would lead those specters to invade Jeido also disappears.
Once the Jeido invasion is gone, the [Royal Palace Invasion] event will also disappear, along with the [Emperor Overthrow] event.
The Empire’s main enemy, the Three Great Evils.
With one of them gone, it’s only natural for the Empire and the Emperor to grow stronger.
However, the tension on the continent also decreases.
With the ending of the Day of Revolution, which forcibly triggered the war generation that ends the academy’s peace era, the progression turns out relatively peaceful.
There won’t be students dropping out or taking a leave of absence due to war.
Professors won’t be deploying to the battlefield, so students won’t be heading out for external practical lessons either.
In essence, I’ve preserved the peace of the Academy with my own hands!
Do my friends at the Academy even know that I stopped the rotten system where low kill counts at the battlefield meant low grades?
Well, it doesn’t really matter if they don’t.
It’s just the kind of thing players do.
Even if nobody acknowledges it, it was necessary work for the strategy.
‘Had I not killed the revolutionary, Professor Destroyer might have perished right there.’
Then a necromancer revolutionary, who possessed Professor’s soul, would have succeeded in fully controlling it with the souls of billions.
Without a corrupt body to fear, he would unleash a stronger force than ever before with [Specter: Destroyer].
Essentially, the revolutionary’s plan was to challenge the Emperor’s overthrow using Professor’s specter, fulfilling his long-held ambition.
‘Hmph. No way I’m letting a delicious Professor who generously gives experience points every time I attend his lectures slip away to a failed event.’
How many professors like Professor Destroyer, who have low lecture difficulty and generously provide experience points, are out there, huh?
Moreover… this time, the professor happened to get a terribly sad random background setting, I want to comfort him as Havi Nodi.
Even if I can’t accept the feelings of those fond of me, it still feels a bit wrong to use him as a tool for my strategy!
“Hehe.”
Anyway, the professor is alive.
I also killed the revolutionary.
And I got a ton of rewards.
“Hehe!”
As the joy bubbled up and laughter escaped, Leif asked.
“What brings you such joy?”
“Nothing much. I’m just really happy that everything is going well.”
“I see. This is indeed something massive that you cannot experience in your young years. I’m proud to know you survived in good health.”
“That’s true, but…”
“Is there a more enjoyable reason?”
“Of course! A proper grand war event is coming soon, much better than the revolutionary’s clumsy war, right?”
“…Huh?”
Was it too much hardship that made Leif question me?
Seeing Leif, who still looks like she’s in her 20s, with increasingly dull ears made my heart ache a bit.
At times like this, it’s my duty as the [Kind Child] to be considerate and say it clearly, slowly, and clearly for her to understand.
“The revolutionary war would have triggered a chain reaction where the angry Emperor would have sought out and crushed the seeds of revolution one by one, right? If it succeeded, it wouldn’t grow any further and just end there.”
“…”
“That revolutionary thing has now been nullified, so there’s no one to stop the Emperor. So when the Emperor’s random gacha fails, he’ll start planning a great war to plunder resources instead of grains.”
“Regardless of whether that’s true or not, why… does it make you happy, Young Lady?”
“Before graduating from the academy, a war exploding is obviously better than a war exploding during graduation season. I can replace it with my graduation project!”
Not just Leif, but Eungchilgeom also stared at me with a stern face.
What’s with these guys all of a sudden?
“I don’t want a grand war! It’s an event where peace-era students can level up during graduation season without being robbed of experience points by the war generation! It’s actually quite a good deal… If things get tough suddenly, I can just use the princess and the warrior to set up an assassination angle…”
Even after my low-key strategy was careful, their brows didn’t relax.
Geez, this carriage atmosphere is so heavy.
“Lady.”
“Yes?”
“Please promise me you won’t mention this to anyone again. Can you do that?”
“No way! If we want to make this event happen, we need to convince the princess and the warrior!”
“Lady!”
As Leif raised her voice, I shrank my shoulders awkwardly.
What’s happening… did I just say something I shouldn’t have?
I don’t think so.
I just wanted to remind them to prepare for the sweet event ahead…
“It’s truly troubling.”
It wasn’t just Leif; even Eungchilgeom faced me with a serious expression.
“It’s indeed troubling if I should slay someone discussing assassination boldly in front of Eungchilgeom who serves the Emperor.”
“Why does everyone hate me? It doesn’t matter if Eungchilgeom knows, right? Everyone would be dead before the grand war event even starts!”
“…Is that a declaration of war as the Heir of the Foundation?”
Every time I made excuses, the atmosphere in the carriage sank deeper into the swamp.
