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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Foreigners who have entered this world.
At those words, my eyes, looking at the King, narrowed in suspicion.
‘How?’
How did he know we were from another world?
‘The rules should have altered his perception.’
Rules.
The laws of this alternate world.
But he wasn’t affected by its power?
A living being in this world?
‘Is that even possible?’
As I thought that, the image of a giant Dragon flashed through my mind.
Dragon’s Brand.
In other words, the mark of a servant.
‘Ah, right.’
The brand was also applied using Dragon Language.
I understood immediately. And I was certain.
The gluttonous one who only spoke and indulged in food.
That King was also a dragon’s servant.
‘I haven’t confirmed the scales yet, but I’m almost certain.’
There was no way he wouldn’t be affected by the rules otherwise.
‘By the way, this is strange.’
I glanced around.
‘Why are the knights and soldiers so indifferent?’
Knights standing in orderly rows at regular intervals on both sides of the long red carpet.
Soldiers lined up like statues on both sides of the throne.
Even though the King had said something questionable, something that would make anyone in this world think, What does that mean?, their expressions remained unchanged.
It didn’t seem like the kind of indifference born from loyalty.
Emotions that humans possessed.
Doubt, suspicion, distrust, and curiosity.
None of those were visible, not even a speck of dust.
As if…
‘…their emotions had been removed.’
Could they be golems, not humans?
But unlike Terra, they weren’t emitting mana.
Their chests were rising and falling, breathing air normally, just like any other human.
Then…
‘…brainwashing?’
Or hypnosis.
It was highly likely they were being controlled by something.
And I suspected the culprit was…
‘…that person over there.’
Right next to the throne.
An unidentified figure, cloaked in a robe and wearing a deep hood, standing motionless.
That person looked incredibly suspicious.
But it was just a suspicion.
It could be a mere assumption.
‘So, I need to confirm it.’
With that thought, I called out to Terra, who was standing next to me, holding my hand and easing As’s anxiety.
‘Terra.’
[Yes, Master.]
‘The scan you did at the mansion yesterday. Can you do it without being noticed?’
[Yes, I can.]
‘Good. Then scan this audience chamber. Especially that person over there who’s practically advertising, ‘I’m suspicious’.’
[Have you noticed something strange, Master?]
‘Yeah, the knights and soldiers in this audience chamber. The King said something that should have seemed strange, but none of them showed any emotional reaction. As if they’re being controlled. So, I want to check. Whether that shady person hiding their appearance is the culprit or not.’
Terra, whose attention had been on As, looked up at my words.
[Indeed. As Master said, it is suspicious.]
‘Right? So, please confirm it.’
[Yes, I will confirm it right away.]
As the messages appeared in my field of vision, Terra’s blue eyes deepened in color.
[Scan commencing.]
[Mode: Invisible.]
True to its name, unlike at the mansion yesterday, no lasers shot out from Terra’s eyes.
Still, I felt a slight sense of unease that she might be noticed, since her eyes had deepened in color so noticeably, but…
“‘Smack, smack.’”
…as if to say there was no need for such concern…
The King was still busy indulging in food.
And the knights and soldiers were still standing like statues.
And the suspicious person I was wary of…
“……”
…was staring at us, emanating a dark aura.
Or rather, more precisely…
‘…staring at As?’
The direction of the hole in the hood, flickering with darkness, was towards As.
It seemed I wasn’t the only one who thought so.
Slide.
Terra, who had been scanning the audience chamber, discreetly moved to intercept the gaze directed at As.
And the three girls standing behind me.
Arthur, Asuka, and Lee Seo-yeon.
Crackle, crackle.
They glared at the suspicious person with a sharp, blade-like aura that sent shivers down my spine.
Perhaps because their aura was too strong…
Clang, clang, clang…!
On both sides of the red carpet.
The knights, who had been quietly watching us, gripped the hilts of their swords.
At their actions, Arthur and the others’ gazes, which had been fixed on the suspicious person, shifted.
They scanned the knights with cold, wintery eyes, sharp as blades.
Perhaps sensing the danger from their gazes alone…
Shing!
The knights drew their swords. And starting with that…
Whoosh!
The soldiers, who had been standing motionless on both sides of the throne, pointed their spears at us.
“““…”””
Silence fell.
The air grew hot, the atmosphere sharp.
Arthur and Lee Seo-yeon slowly extended their hands towards the air.
At the same time, I opened my inventory, preparing to take out my guns.
It was a situation where a battle could break out at any moment.
Nevertheless.
“Oh… this meat is delicious. Where did you get it?”
“We brought it from a village near the royal capital. Do you like it?”
“I do. Make sure to include it in my next meal.”
“Yes, I’ll inform the chef. And I’ll instruct the soldiers to bring livestock from various villages.”
“Smack, smack, do that.”
The King showed no interest in the current situation.
He was completely preoccupied with the food, the meat he was eating.
I chuckled at his absurd behavior.
“Ah, now that I think about it.”
The King, who had been diligently tearing, chewing, and savoring the meat, suddenly raised his head, which had been buried in the food.
“I almost forgot about the Hero and the foreigners.”
The King’s greasy face, his murky yellow eyes, scanned us. And then.
“Have you all eaten?”
He blurted out an irrelevant question that didn’t fit the situation at all.
“……”
It was beyond absurd, it was baffling.
I glanced back, and Arthur and the others seemed to feel the same way, staring at the King with bewildered expressions.
‘Doesn’t he see what’s going on?’
I looked around.
Knights and soldiers were aiming their weapons at us with emotionless faces, like mannequins.
‘He can clearly see how hostile the atmosphere is.’
How could he ask if we had eaten?
Perhaps sensing my thoughts, or because we didn’t answer…
“…Now that I think about it, what’s with this atmosphere? Why is it so tense?”
He finally realized what was going on.
“Knights and soldiers, lower your weapons.”
At the King’s command, the knights and soldiers, who had looked ready to attack at the slightest movement from us, lowered their weapons. And they returned to their motionless stances, just like when we first entered the audience chamber.
“Hmm… it seems my vassals have been rude to you.”
The King said, placing the pig’s leg, which he had almost finished, on the table.
And he put on an apologetic expression, as if the knights’ and soldiers’ fault was his own.
For a moment, I thought,
‘Maybe he’s actually a decent person?’
But as soon as I had that thought…
“So, as an apology, I’ll punish those who were rude.”
He showed his true colors.
“Mage.”
“……”
Step.
At the King’s command, the mage, who had been standing motionless, took a step forward.
And slide, he raised his arm, revealing a pale hand hidden beneath his robe.
“His Majesty’s decree…”
A chilling voice, befitting his gloomy appearance, echoed through the audience chamber.
“Five knights and ten soldiers, commit suicide…”
Wait, hold on.
“Suicide? What…!”
Wasn’t the punishment too extreme?!
But before I could do anything…
Shing— Thud!
Five knights and ten soldiers drew their swords and slit their own throats.
“Crazy…!”
Blood spurted everywhere.
At that sight, I cursed and looked at As. And I hurriedly tried to cover her eyes, but…
Fortunately, Terra had already embraced As and covered her eyes.
But looking closely, Terra’s actions seemed somewhat clumsy.
Tremble, tremble…
Although she had covered As’s eyes, she hadn’t covered her ears, so As heard everything. The sound of blades piercing flesh, the sound of lives being extinguished.
“……”
Looking at As trembling, I thought,
Now I was certain.
Brainwashing, hypnosis.
Whatever it was, the knights and soldiers here were being controlled.
And.
‘That bastard.’
The King, who was indifferent to the deaths of his vassals.
Rather, he was chewing on the pig’s leg he had placed on the table, with a satisfied expression, as if he had enjoyed a good show.
I knew that King was not a good person.
Having grasped that the King’s nature was evil, just like a dragon’s servant, I reached into the open inventory beside me. I gripped Thunderbolt in my hand.
Shing.
At the same time, I heard the sound of swords being drawn from behind. I turned my head slightly to look back, and I saw Arthur and Lee Seo-yeon summoning their weapons stored within their souls, Excalibur and Dainsleif.
Clang.
And Asuka, who couldn’t control her talent yet, was seen drawing a sword from a dead knight’s waist and gripping it in both hands.
“How is it?”
The King grinned, his mouth greasy with pig fat.
“My sincerity?”
“Sincerity?”
I looked around.
The floor splattered with red blood.
The cooling corpses.
And the knights and soldiers standing blankly, without their own will.
At those sights, I looked at the King with cold eyes.
“This bullshit?”
“Hmm? Are you not satisfied with my sincerity?”
“…Who would be satisfied with a suicide show?”
“Hmm… I thought I showed sufficient sincerity… but it seems it wasn’t enough for you.”
The King tapped the pig’s leg, now stripped of all its meat, leaving only bone, on the table, as if disappointed.
But only for a moment.
“It’s truly regrettable. I thought I showed enough sincerity.”
Clatter.
The King tossed the bone onto a plate on the table.
And he continued, sucking on his fingers stained with grease and sauce.
“Still, sincerity is sincerity. I believe I have sufficiently compensated for the rudeness of my vassals. So,”
Pop.
The King, having sucked all the sauce off his fingers, looked at me. Yellow light gleamed in his narrow eyes.
“I would like you to show me your sincerity as well.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Ridiculous? Aren’t you being rude to me right now?”
The King pointed his thick finger at Arthur, Lee Seo-yeon, and Asuka. More precisely, at the weapons they were holding.
“So, show me your sincerity, just like I did.”
“…Are you telling us to commit suicide?”
“No, you and the Hero haven’t been rude, so only the three women behind you need to commit suicide.”
“……”
Was he serious?
I frowned and withdrew my hand, which had been reaching into the inventory.
Click.
“Oh dear, are you going to be rude as well? How unfortunate. I thought you were a reasonable person.”
The King, perhaps realizing that the Thunderbolt in my hand was a weapon, even though he didn’t know exactly what it was, sighed as if lamenting the breaking of a valuable item, and leaned back against the throne.
“…Ah, this will do.”
The King snapped his fingers. Although, since his fingers were so thick, there was no snapping sound.
“I will graciously forgive you if you cut off your tongue.”
The King clapped his hands, as if it was a brilliant idea.
…Crazy.
Just like a dragon’s servant, he was filled with madness.
“Hmm? Don’t you like it? You don’t look too happy.”
“…Don’t you think it’s strange to comply with that?”
“Hmm, is it? I don’t know. I think it’s a reasonable request.”
The King looked at me with a puzzled expression.
But only for a moment.
“Ah, I almost forgot.”
Clap.
He clapped his hands, as if realizing something.
“You are not from this world, but from another world. Foreigners.”
The King nodded slowly.
“Now I understand. Why you don’t agree with my way of thinking.”
Crazy bastard.
Talking to himself and understanding himself.
He was a self-centered, arbitrary person.
I frowned at the King.
And I called out to Terra inwardly.
‘Terra, is the scan still going?’
[Almost done.]
‘Don’t give me a vague estimate, tell me the time remaining.’
[Eight seconds until scan completion.]
Eight seconds.
Almost done.
As I thought that, the King spoke.
“I apologize. For not understanding your circumstances.”
Six seconds.
“But don’t worry. I will enlighten you.”
Four seconds.
“Mage.”
Two seconds.
I released the safety on Thunderbolt.
I prepared to fire at any moment.
“Bestow my grace upon them.”
[Scan complete.]
Zero seconds.
[Scan results: As you suspected, Master, mana is spreading from the mage.]
‘Probability of the mage brainwashing the knights and soldiers?’
[100%.]
‘Confirmed.’
I immediately raised my gun.
I aimed it at the mage, who was extending his hand towards us.
And.
“Now, foreigners. Be enlighten…”
Rumble, Crash—!
I fired.
I blew the mage’s head off.
Thud.
“…ed.”
The King, continuing his sentence after the thunderous sound, blinked his eyes. And he stared blankly at me and the mage, who had fallen to the floor, now a corpse.
He hadn’t expected this, had he?
I aimed my gun at the King, who looked utterly dumbfounded.
“Now, it’s my turn to speak.”
Click.
I slightly tightened my finger on the trigger.
I intended to blow his head off if he made any wrong moves.
Perhaps sensing my intention, my killing intent…
“…Speak.”
The King, breaking out in a cold sweat, gave me the turn to speak.
“Dragon.”
“……!”
The King’s narrow eyes widened.
He stared at me in shock, as if wondering how I knew about the Dragon’s existence.
“Where is its lair?”
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