Chapter 54
Chapter 54: Spoils of the Hunt (3)
"I simply cannot believe this."
Makia Jangchen, the CEO of the Black Mage Group, stroked her face in lamentation.
"CEO, please don't worry too much. It seems the dismissal proposal won't come up at this shareholders' meeting."
Her secretary Thomas offered words of reassurance, but.
"My dismissal isn't the problem. Right now, our company's shareholder is……."
Tears flowed down her transparent, glass-like skin. Black tears and wailing laments.
"Aah, how could this……. Even the poor union workers are gone."
The company's shareholder had died.
Moreover, the connection to the possessor black mages who had formed a union and were staging protests had also been severed.
To blame the CEO's incompetence would be unfair—this was like a natural disaster.
The Great Cataclysm Patch had struck the black mages suddenly too, and the fact that the Emperor himself would move and a saint would protect the southern Empire was absolutely impossible to predict.
"It's not your fault, CEO."
Even with Thomas's kind words, Makia's tears didn't stop. Why? Because all of this had happened under the CEO's direction.
Because she was in the position to take responsibility-.
"I'll have to handle the cleanup as well."
Makia stopped her tears and looked at Thomas.
Eyes filled with determination.
'I must take care of our CEO.'
Black tear stains remained along Makia Jangchen's cheeks.
Wiping away those tear stains, Thomas bowed his head. Below his lowered head appeared a pure white hand.
Smooch!
Thomas kissed the back of her hand and waited for her instructions.
The cold skin that had touched Thomas's lips moved away, and the CEO began to speak.
"Erik, the saint, wasn't it?"
A being beloved by God, a monster wielding overwhelmingly powerful strength. However, the shareholder had been a monster no less formidable than a saint.
"No matter how much of a saint he is, for a mere fifteen-year-old saint to have killed the shareholder is no ordinary matter."
Over a million lives had been offered. Over a hundred years of life had been lived. Moreover, even the descent achieved by offering all of that.
'God's children who ignore the years lived and efforts accumulated.'
Isn't the existence of a saint truly unreasonable?
Finishing her thoughts, Makia Jangchen opened her mouth.
"With the single aspiration to kill God, I walked the path of a black mage."
Her gaze deepened like sediment settling, and thick darkness rippled.
The cherished wish of deicide. Thomas lived to fulfill her dream.
That's why he knew her sincerity. Toward Thomas, who was listening earnestly, Makia Jangchen began her story.
"In the past, I lost both my parents in a war started by the Empire and had to drift through battlefields as a child soldier."
The place she belonged to then was the Punitive Forces of the Solar Holy Army, operated by the 'Lu-Solace Church.' She was just a young girl who had lost her parents.
"A sinner who doesn't believe in God."
She was dragged to an infantry unit made up of convicts called 'spear catchers.'
"A pretty one coming here? Is this a special meal?"
Among the real convict soldiers made up of murderers and plunderers, she had to endure countless humiliations.
"Die!"
She survived the nights by stabbing to death soldiers who came to rape her. And when morning came, she headed to the battlefield as a punitive soldier meant to receive the enemy's spears.
"Murderous bitch."
In just a few months, the convicts who visited Makia's quarters disappeared. Most died, and the survivors were castrated and died the next day on the battlefield as spear catchers.
Around that time, Makia Jangchen began to hate this world.
"There is no salvation for those who do not serve the Sun God Lu-Solace."
This was what she heard when she begged the Solar Holy Army to remove her convict status after going through ten battlefields.
She instinctively knew.
Those who handled sanctity didn't see her as a fellow human being.
"Ah, I wish someone would just kill me."
In a situation where she couldn't even commit suicide due to magical restrictions. She headed to the battlefield waiting only for the day she would die.
"Descend upon this land-."
But salvation came even to her.
On a certain clear day, thick darkness descended from the sky.
Lu-Solace's sunlight was pushed back by the darkness, and the holy army that worshipped God retreated from the battlefield. And all the regular soldiers and convict soldiers left behind became sacrifices.
"Your hatred runs deep."
However, Makia Jangchen survived. Because an aged black mage saved her.
"The holy war, don't you hate those who commit mass murder in the name of God?"
Makia Jangchen grasped that old man's hand and flowed into a group called the Black Society.
Thus time passed and she became who she is now.
"CEO……."
Thomas shed tears as he listened to Makia Jangchen's life story.
The life of the one he respected, loved, and revered was truly a pitiful and sad tale. The fact that she told him this story meant. 'The CEO truly trusts me.'
Trust.
Thomas knelt at Makia's feet with one knee bent, filled with respect. Just looking at the scene, it would remind one of a lord and knight at a knighting ceremony, but-.
"Sanctity is the natural enemy of darkness."
The words that came out were not that. Makia Jangchen scrapped all existing plans. The world had changed, so the Black Mage Group's action guidelines should change too.
"We can't kill God, but we can reduce God's children."
Saints and saintesses. Those who wield overwhelming power merely for being loved by God.
Makia Jangchen decided to eliminate such unreasonable existences.
"Our efforts will bear fruit."
Black mages worship demons, but they devote painstaking efforts to offer sacrifices and handle black magic power.
Only by committing evil, following evil, and holding that evil cause in their hearts can one become a true black mage.
"My Thomas, we need countermeasures to deal with God's servants."
At the end of that effort, they would kill saints and saintesses-.
"Exterminating the saints and saintesses living on this land."
Thus was born the Black Mage Group's next business venture.
Code name: 'Killing God's Children.'
"The Great Cataclysm Patch has occurred. The religions will probably dispatch investigation teams featuring saints and saintesses to the labyrinth. Well, I don't know how the labyrinth will change though."
Thomas's eyes lit up. He turned his head cleverly.
"Thomas, wouldn't targeting the labyrinth be dangerous?"
"Probably, that executioner has also stopped his activities due to the labyrinth's changes."
The existence of the executioner who lives in the labyrinth. If he had stopped his activities as Thomas said, it was certainly an opportunity for the Black Mage Group to overturn the board.
***
"……My World Tree, what do you mean-."
Yuren's face was filled with shock. Forgetting what she was going to say, she blankly stared at the World Tree.
Shiver, shiver, shiver-.
The giant tree was trembling all over as if an earthquake had struck.
Moreover, the World Tree's apples were falling from the sky
Drop! Drop!-.
'Is she happy?'
Possessor Yuren was truly a child of the World Tree.
Despite being a possessor, she received grace and could communicate with the World Tree.
That's why Riferoze Astia had spared her. Such was Yuren, who clearly recognized the World Tree's mood.
'She's slightly embarrassed but definitely happy.'
Yuren slowly turned her head to look at Erik. Her eyes met golden eyes. The owner of those eyes said.
"The World Tree is mine."
A tone as if it were the most natural thing. As natural as if designating something that truly belonged to him.
"Th, that……."
Yuren wanted to deny something, but looking at the trembling World Tree, she couldn't think of anything to say.
Toward such a Yuren, Erik gradually approached.
"Yuren, traitor of the covenant."
Yuren's green eyes looked at the World Tree.
Those eyes were filled with hope for her mother's salvation, but-
Snap!.
The World Tree turned away from her. The connection between Yuren and the World Tree was severed.
And Erik asked her with a sneer.
"An abandoned child, are you?"
At those words, Yuren bit her lower lip hard. She had never even imagined such a crazy situation, so she couldn't think of any countermeasures.
As if reading Yuren's feelings, Erik strode up to her and began talking about what would happen next.
"I'm thinking of receiving compensation from the Elf Kingdom for this incident."
It wasn't like shaking someone down or anything. Making a coin shape with his fingers while speaking, Erik's appearance sent chills down Yuren's spine.
"An amount of about 1 billion should be sufficient."
The Elf Kingdom was a vassal state of the wealthy Empire. Classified as a kind of autonomous territory, there was no interference in culture and civilization, but economically, they had to follow the Empire's will.
"I heard the Elf Kingdom made quite a bit of money selling the World Tree's young leaves."
Of course, this had made the Elf Kingdom prosperous.
As the forest residents who built houses and lived near the World Tree belonged to the Empire, numerous cultural revolutions occurred.
At the forefront was the possessor Yuren.
"Yuren, I heard you led the Elf Kingdom's trade and development."
Thanks to that, Yuren had become the wealthiest existence in the Elf Kingdom.
It was because she couldn't forget her life as Ling Ling, when she was the daughter of a wealthy Chinese family.
'Damn it…….'
Ling Ling had studied abroad and lived in other countries from a young age. So she was less steeped in Sinocentrism.
Yet having lived soaked in the money of her parents who were Chinese party officials-.
"You've turned the Elf Kingdom into something like Chinatown."
Erik's eyes were directed toward the back part of the Elf Kingdom hidden by the World Tree.
'A crazy possessor and the insane World Tree that allowed it.'
No matter how he thought about it, the Elf Kingdom's appearance was difficult to accept.
Ten years since leaving with Riferoze after seeing Yuren.
The Elf Kingdom Erik had seen when he was five had possessed a civilization at the level of forest dwellers, but.
'In just ten years…….'
Now a Chinatown filled with red color that could be seen anywhere on Earth was spread out.
Erik worried whether the elves might have become steeped in Sinocentrism. And for good reason.
'……She really made it into China.'
The scenery visible behind the World Tree was just that.
Chinese-style wooden buildings lined up on both sides, and in front of the buildings hung long strings of lanterns.
The lanterns glowing red with fire spirits contained gave off a distinctly Chinese feeling.
Moreover, the building roofs were Chinese-style tiles, and the largest mansion had red pillars erected and was covered with golden tiles, looking exactly like the Forbidden City.
"Possessors say at times like this, you need to conduct ideological verification."
Erik drew the [Sword of Creation] and traced divine sword energy in the air.
Swoosh!
You couldn't say it was well drawn, but for an amateur, it was quite decent—a portrait was drawn.
'Ch, Chairman?'
Seeing someone resembling a yellow bear character glowing golden, Yuren flinched- and trembled.
To such a Yuren, Erik said.
"Try calling him a son of a bitch."
***
'Truly shocking.'
Erik recalled what had just happened.
Yuren fired arrows at the portrait he drew without hesitation while spewing curses.
"This son of a bitch!"
Because the results of the ideological verification were so clean, it didn't feel real.
However, what followed was even more unrealistic, so Erik decided to let things be as they would.
"By the will of the World Tree, we swear to always follow Lord Erik."
"……I see."
High Elves, the royal family of elves, are connected to the World Tree.
He didn't know exactly what the World Tree had said, but in this situation where the Elf King was bowing his head to him in the middle of the Forbidden City. Erik thought,
'Right, what's the problem with ideology anyway?'
And for good reason. Weren't those who rarely even left the Elf autonomous territory now treating him like their leader?
'To think things would go this far.'
The Elf King was among the High Elves the one who received the most grace from the World Tree. He was no different from a monster called the ultimate weapon of the elves.
Such a king offering the entire kingdom to him gave Erik an indescribable pleasure.
"This is the treasury."
The elves had broken the covenant, but they reached an agreement that Erik had fulfilled it instead.
Erik secured assets worth 1 billion gold.
Originally he had thought about taking more money, but-.
"There's less cash than I thought."
Looking at the elves' treasury with only around 1 billion gold, Erik tilted his head.
"We invested a lot of money in supporting the royals who left to find their kin this time. If you wish, we could call them back and-."
"No need for that."
The elves who had wandered the world carrying the World Tree had settled in the Empire.
Due to their long nomadic life, the elves had scattered to live everywhere, and because of this, even traitors called Dark Elves had increased.
'The elves have had it rough too.'
Those who had given the quest called 'Revival of the Elf Kingdom' in the game.
Erik recalled old memories after a while and looked at the elves' kingdom. He gained the conviction that developments similar to the game would no longer occur.
'Because there's a kingdom.'
The elves had already revived their kingdom. Even though it was in the form of a vassal state of the Empire, being classified as an autonomous territory meant they could preserve their own unique things.
The closed-minded elven ideology had become much more open through Yuren's construction of Chinatown.
Having placed a kind of completed form of kingdom under himself, Erik lightly organized his future schedule in an orderly fashion.
Among these, 1 and 2 were matters that could be resolved immediately, so Erik looked at the Elf King and asked.
"How about stopping by Duke Raffin's magic tower together?"
Behind the king stood Yuren and several guardians of the World Tree like guards…….
'Can it truly be that Mother World Tree belongs to that bastard?'
While the other guardians seemed to have no particular thoughts, only Yuren rolled her green eyes wildly, showing her displeasure with this situation.
'Moreover……. Going beyond the southern Empire means.'
This would violate the covenant. For the elves who had already failed to protect the southern Empire to go outside their permitted territory would be even more problematic.
Contrary to Yuren's complicated thoughts, the words that came from the king's mouth were very simple.
"I'll prepare."
He didn't even ask about the purpose. He would simply follow the words of the World Tree's master.
When the master of the World Tree appears, all elves shall uphold his will.
This was a saying passed down in the Elf royal family since ancient times.
'As expected, there seems to be something to it.'
Erik didn't know such detailed circumstances, but nodded with a rather satisfied expression.
There had been quite a lot more to receive from Duke Raffin.
'With all that trouble in the south, and the magic tower master goes into hiding?'