Chapter 119: Right to Silence
The place where we were staying was a sprawling back alley on the outskirts of Crossfade.
In fact, most of the people who couldn’t secure lodgings ended up there, resting to relieve their tiredness.
“Excuse me, do you have a vacant room…?”
“I’m sorry, but it’s fully booked up to a week ahead…”
“Oh… I see.”
We tried asking merchants and the city dwellers, even offering large amounts of money for a place to stay but to no avail. Travelers who had booked earlier had secured all available rooms, paying astronomical rates that we hadn’t imagined.
In the end, those who, like us, arrived too late, had no choice but to camp at the outskirts of the capital.
And the number of people in that situation was far greater than we’d imagined.
It was a testament to the popularity of the “Divine Festival.”
“Excuse me, sir, ma’am, don’t you have a home?”
“Why are you living like this?”
“Mama says that if you don’t study hard, you’ll end up like these uncles! Did you not study hard?”
Attempting to camp out, we were quickly surrounded by neighborhood children. Some of them were a bit too mischievous, but we were too exhausted from the crowds of the day to even respond.
Thus, Seop Baek, Seseona, and I silently ignored them as adults, but Ruci seemed uncomfortable with that approach.
“Hey, Hero!”
“What is it?”
“That insolent brat mocked me with his tongue! Split him in two, quickly! Let him regret his words in Hell, brat! Hahaha!”
“…”
I swiped my hand across Demon King’s head, intending to strike powerfully.
She screamed in shock and clutched her head.
“I, I… Why did you hit me! Grrr…!”
Demon King glared at me with tears welling up in her eyes, feeling betrayed. She then started running towards the children with a malicious grin.
“All right then! I’ll personally fix these brats’ attitudes!”
“Wow, what an oddly-looking auntie! Her hair is white, but her eyes are bright red!”
“I’m NOT an auntie!! Take that, you brats!!”
At first, it seemed like she was going to chase them around desperately…
… but later, they ended up teaming up and playing happily together.
“Skipping stones? How dare you think this body could lose to such games! Let me see that!”
“Haha! Lady, you don’t even know how to do it, yet you’re boasting!”
“Bah! You underestimated the wisdom of 150 years of experience!”
Could this truly be the same person who bathed the entire continent in fear 30 years ago?
It was perplexing to see her getting along so well with the neighborhood kids.
But why should it matter? Rest was the priority right now, so I decided to ignore the small inconveniences.
“Ugh…”
“Hehe… Master Jung Yong…”
I glanced to the side and saw Seop Baek and Seseona, curled up tightly in a blanket, already asleep. It was understandable considering how tired they must have been. I was tired too.
… But was it possible for a robot to get tired? That thought occurred to me a bit late, but I decided to pass it by.
Digging too deep into Seseona’s secrets only tired me out more.
“…”
I stared silently at the two sleeping faces with my mouth shut and my eyes wide open.
It wasn’t for any particular reason—just that they were pretty, and it was nice to admire their beauty. The opportunity to observe such beautiful faces up close doesn’t come often.
But then, beep. My gaze was interrupted by the unexpected activation of the Eye of Mimir, displaying their status windows.
[Name: Seop Baek]
[Nickname: 154829771th Hero, Snow’s Ki Practitioner]
[LV. 106]
[HP: 370/370 MP: 1010/1010 Physical Condition: Normal]
[Strength: 23 Agility: 31 Intelligence: 133 Hero Sense: 8]
Looking at this again, I realized the power gap between Seop Baek and me had grown incredibly wide. I chuckled lightly at the realization, reminiscent of old memories.
I was about to dismiss the status window and refocus on my beauty appreciation, but I paused when I saw Seseona’s status window.
[Name: Seseona]
[Nickname: 161829771st Hero, Multi-purpose Armed Android, Scrap No. 773]
[LV: Unavailable]
[HP: Unavailable MP: Unavailable Physical Condition: Normal]
[Strength: Unavailable Agility: Unavailable Intelligence: Unavailable Hero Sense: Unavailable]
“… Unavailable?”
It wasn’t a question mark, yet it wasn’t displaying any normal statistics.
My Eye of Mimir was already at max level. There shouldn’t be much information on this continent that I can’t uncover. And yet, right here, “unavailable” popped up in front of me.
“What could it be?”
After pondering for a bit, I remembered something vital—the system developer sleeping on my hip.
I quickly pulled out Vestark and held it up to my face, lowering my voice to avoid waking the others.
“Brother Sooho, may I ask you something?”
“Hmm?”
As always, the answer was immediate.
Lately, he seemed to be sleeping all day, but the moment I called him, he quickly responded. There must be some special mechanism unique to the sword.
“I just checked Seseona’s status window, and it says ‘unavailable.’ What does that mean?”
“Unavailable? Is she a special entity?”
An unfamiliar concept popped up, and I instantly raised my eyebrows.
“Special entity?”
“That special summoning hero thing isn’t within my predefined range of living beings. It’s probably not a mere modified human but a 100% artificially created robot. I did account for modified humans, though.”
“Ah, I see.”
“Are you curious about her stats? Let me roughly estimate based on combat data. Taking into account her wide-range missile tracking attacks, she’s probably around level 250 or so. She might be stronger if she has some hidden trump card she hasn’t shown yet.”
“I wasn’t curious, but thank you anyway.”
That reminded me of the time when the entrance exam curtain was drawn.
Upon reflection, Seseona couldn’t apply for private tutoring due to being a robot, which inadvertently became the reason we grew close. It seems the reason her status couldn’t be displayed was similar—her non-human nature.
Nodding my head in agreement, I posed another question.
“While I’m at it, may I ask a few more questions?”
“Hmm?”
True to his chatty nature, Brother Sooho didn’t object to my inquiries.
What I wanted to ask concerned other matters. During the commotion, I couldn’t manage to ask. Specifically, the true identity of Brother Sooho, Diana’s identity, and the true identity of Ruci.
It didn’t seem like I’d get a chance to ask otherwise, so I rushed a series of questions.
“Ah. I thought you were going to ask something serious.”
Brother Sooho’s replies, however, were far less thrilling than expected.
He briefly confirmed most of my questions.
“Just as you know. The immortal witch Diana sought to destroy the world and succeeded once. Do you need further details?”
“Then… the legend about the Witch Knight, Brother Sooho…?”
“It’s true. I helped. I ensured that Demon Kings would be summoned periodically into this world and let loose monsters. The ultimate trickster? Correct, from the perspective of lesser deities.”
The conditional statement “from lesser deities’ perspective” left a lingering doubt.
When I gently pursued this matter, Brother Sooho laughed meaningfully and dodged with the clichéd line, “I don’t remember clearly,” signaling that further questions were unwelcome.
“And, about that immortal Demon King… Ruthika?”
This is the one part where Brother Sooho categorically denied my question.
With a chuckle, as if amused, he replied,
“No way is she my kid. And Diana, my wife? If you knew what Diana truly looks like, you wouldn’t say that. That Gena, she’s younger than an elf. Ridiculous!”
“Ah… then, is Ruci just another Demon King summoned like the others?”
As I scratched my head and asked, Brother Sooho paused briefly.
“Hmm? What’s that supposed to mean?”
Silence ensued for a moment. Then, Brother Sooho started negating my statement, as expected.
“Hmmm… Not exactly. She’s a special entity that Diana meticulously crafted. Just looking at the name ‘Ruthika,’ you can tell she’s cherished by Diana. It holds special significance.”
“Meticulously crafted…”
“In a certain sense, calling her Diana’s daughter isn’t entirely wrong. However, she’s definitely NOT my daughter. I’m not into that lolicon stuff.”
From the conversation, it seemed like witch Diana took on the form of a young girl. Brother Sooho directly described her as having white hair and mesmerizing purple eyes.
Her distinctive features, resembling Ruci’s, might be why the rumor about her being my daughter spread.
I nodded quietly to myself.
“Hey, Brother Sooho…”
“Yeah?”
“Isn’t this all a bit strange?”
“What’s strange? That I’m not a lolicon?”
Why does the conversation always end up like this?
After sticking out my tongue briefly at his playful response, I seriously asked,
“You said you helped summon Demon Kings and monsters. But then you also created the Hero Support System to defeat Demon Kings, right? Doesn’t that seem inconsistent? Are you not undermining yourself?”
“….”
“You’re on whose side, Brother Sooho? Diana or the Lesser Deities?”
That was the first time I asked him directly.
Brother Sooho kept silent, refusing to acknowledge or answer my question.
“…Brother Sooho?”
“…”
And while it was beyond our understanding then, this was the one question Brother Sooho would never confirm or deny from that moment onward.
Never. Not even once.
*
The next day, we headed to the ranking examination site right after dawn.
Even though we arrived an hour before the opening, quite a crowd had already gathered. The density of people was unexpectedly high.
Curious, I inquired why, and this was the reply:
“To participate in the Divine Festival, you need to achieve at least a “Master” grade in the ranking evaluation. Everyone’s bustling like mad, trying to qualify somehow. Tsk tsk.”
Apparently, that was the reason.
Because of the last-minute cramming crowd, our turn to take the qualification test came much later than expected. Despite waiting since the wee hours, it wasn’t until high noon that our turn finally came.
“Which test would you like to take: Attack, Recovery, or Special?”
“… Attack.”
“Got it!”
The evaluation process was simple. Participants choose one of three options: Attack, Recovery, or Special.
For Attack, similar to a punch machine, the force of your attack is measured.
For Recovery, your ability to heal wounds or status ailments is tested.
And for Special, evaluators use their discretion to assess and rank any non-standard abilities.
“Waited 5 hours for this.”
I sighed at the sight of a squishy-looking sandbag placed in front of me.
Knowing the crowd’s size, I wasn’t expecting a detailed evaluation but still felt disheartened seeing how it turned out.
“Whatever.”
Aiming for the lowest rank—Squire—was enough to enter the Divine Temple for now. Quickly finishing this felt far less cumbersome.
“Alright.”
I trudged up to the sandbag and tapped it lightly with the back of my hand.
BAM!
An immense boom echoed as the sandbag violently vibrated, and the ground trembled for a while.
“…Oh dear.”
Seemed like I lost control due to exhaustion. Glancing at the official waiting nearby, I noticed their wide-open mouth hung there in awe.
“What in the world….”
The evaluator’s eyes said it all: “Who the hell are you?”
Embarrassed, I scratched my head and quickly slipped out of the exam area.
[You have obtained a limited Marketeuriseu title: “Master.”]
After a while, I was able to add the two words “Master” in the corner of my alias section.
“Ahaha. The evaluator insists I should participate in the Divine Festival!”
Seseona, evaluated under the Attack category, received the “Supreme Warrior” grade.
“…Oh, it seems our A-Ran received high praise, which makes me happy.”
Seop Baek, evaluated under the Recovery category, also received the “Supreme Warrior” grade.
The ranking progressed as follows: Hero, Sage, Supreme Warrior, Overlord, Master, Squire, and Warrior.
With the number of Supreme Warrior grades and above being exceedingly rare, both were highly appraised.
And the last one. Ruci…
“…….”
Does it even need explaining? She naturally received the lowest grade, Warrior.
Despite her affected attempt to remain calm, her face turned as red as a tomato from sheer shame, providing quite a show.
