episode_0068

The expedition continues. The expedition to subdue the Four Heavenly Kings.

However, what was a little unusual was that this time, instead of heading to the edge of the demon world, they were heading to the center of the human world.

As such, it is impossible to know when and where the fight against the puppet government will take place.

His abilities were quite unique, and he was well aware of his abilities as they were unique.

Indeed, he deserves to be the Four Heavenly Kings that I hate the most.

Since we never knew when something would happen, we couldn’t help but be nervous all the time, and the more nervous we were, the more interested we became in him.

“If we find the guy, can we immediately subdue him?”

One day, Lily asked me this:

I immediately shook my head.

“That would be impossible.”

I’m not discussing the guy’s strength.

Because he’s not the kind of fool who would come into the human world without any preparation.

“I’m sure I have at least one return scroll. There’s no way I would go into the poison without any preparation.”

“Then, do we have no choice but to open our eyes and miss it···?”

“That’s not it.”

I shook my head at Yuris’ question.

“At least the teleported location should be traceable. Then, the location of the puppet master’s castle will be known naturally. That makes Lily’s mission that much bigger.”

“Me, me?”

“Yes, I need to find out where the coordinates are.”

The location of the castle where the puppet master lives is always random. That’s why he’s so annoying. That’s why just finding out where he lives is a huge achievement.

“By the way···.”

As we were talking like that, Camilla spoke up.

“It really doesn’t come out···.”

“···That’s right.”

I couldn’t help but agree with that. This was already my third and fourth time here.

While I was investigating your territory, I didn’t see even a trace of the guy.

At this point, we were beginning to suspect that we were chasing after nothing.

But based on the footage Lily brought, the guy was definitely inside. And if there was still no trace of him, then there was only one possibility to consider.

“Looks like that guy headed straight for the center too.”

“···That’s right.”

All wealth and power were concentrated in the center. It wasn’t as much as Seoul, the capital of South Korea, but in any case, the center of the human world was where many powers were tied together.

So, if that guy were to unleash his powers in the center of the human world… there’s no telling what kind of disaster would occur.

‘Now that I think about it… I almost got into big trouble.’

Thinking about that, I suddenly felt relieved. The situation is not good, but it is definitely not the worst.

What if Lily hadn’t found the footage?

What if the cloud city was left to perish?

What if Oleg’s human sacrifice had succeeded without any interference?

No, what if we hadn’t even applied in the first place…?

Creepy creepy.

A shiver naturally ran down my spine. We almost met the worst without even knowing it.

If you fail to stop Oleg’s offering, you will face a wave of monsters at least 5 times greater than the previous wave.

The cloud city is helplessly destroyed by the sudden attack of a large army of monsters.

In this way, fear of monsters spread like dominoes from the cloud city, and naturally, the eyes of the human army were drawn in that direction.

When the army is organized and sent out to suppress the disturbance there… the puppet army is already close to the center of the human army.

In this way, humanity was left half-defenseless in the middle of the capital when they encountered one of the Four Heavenly Kings. With just one move, humanity was on the verge of being destroyed.

In short, it almost got screwed.

I felt anew that the guy’s scheme was frightening. Now I feel like I’ve finally read his picture.

If you think about it that way, the situation was more hopeful than you thought. After all, didn’t you know that the puppet company existed and that he was targeting the center?

You can gradually collect information in this way.

Thinking in that way, we now moved on to the next territory.

*

Fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth.

After learning of the puppet master’s plan, we quickly moved to the next territory.

Since he knew that the target was the center, there was no reason to waste time in the outskirts.

Of course, just in case, I had the knights and priests of each territory thoroughly investigate. If there were any brainwashed people, it would be a disaster.

Moving so quickly, we were able to cross over to another country and enter the Empire straight away.

“The infrastructure definitely gets better the further you go inside.”

“···Infrastructure?”

“There is something like that.”

After arriving there for a while and looking at the scenery, I let out a slight exclamation of admiration. As expected, an empire is an empire. When I crossed the border of the empire, rather than the other cities that looked like rural villages, splendid buildings immediately appeared.

Still, the capitals of other countries were worth seeing.

Of course, since it was the outskirts of the empire, there weren’t any flashy nobles to be seen. Even if there were, they’d probably be holed up in their castles and not even come out.

I thought about it and started walking again. Now that I was close to the center, it was time to do some proper research.

I see priests, knights, and wizards. I release the one-eyed bug again to explore the back alleys and red-light districts.

While I was investigating like that, I frowned for a moment.

They say that when the light is strong, the shadows also become stronger.

Even though it was an empire… no, rather, because it was an empire, the scenery of the back alleys felt even more intense.

On a deserted street, an old man was dying from an illness.

In another alley, assaults and thefts were committed with impunity.

In some places, the cries of the unfortunate echoed, while in other places, slave traders strode proudly.

By the way, slavery is legal in this country.

As I said before, this game is more of a dark fantasy. Just look at the bright and lively city from the front, and you’ll see a dirty and ugly backside.

It was a truly mentally unhealthy sight. I frowned for a moment and continued my investigation.

First of all, it looks like there won’t be any harvest today. I’ve been searching the area for hours and haven’t found any.

‘Let’s take a break···.’

Thinking like that, I sat down on a park bench nearby. I think I’m going crazy because I’ve been watching videos all day.

“Hoo···.”

Taking a deep breath and looking around, I saw children chatting in the park. Perhaps because it was the city, they were wearing somewhat shabby civilian clothes, but they all looked lively.

It’s nice to see that innocent smile.

If you look at it this way, it really is a nice place to see.

“What are you doing here?”

As I was staring blankly for a moment, a saintess asked me nearby. When I turned my head, I saw her approaching me.

I guess he found me while walking down the street and investigating.

“I was a little tired. I was resting for a while.”

“Oh, I see.”

She answered like that and sat down next to me naturally. If it were other kids, I would have immediately started yelling at her for being a slacker. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to have any such intentions.

It just created a more difficult situation.

“······.”

“······.”

There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment. Things were still a bit awkward between us after I shed a man’s tear in front of her.

We didn’t really fight or get hurt, but memories of that day kept bothering me. To put it simply, I felt like I was being sold.

This kid, if he has nothing to say, why does he sit awkwardly next to me?

“···Has there been any progress in the investigation?”

Still, I tried my best to be sociable and started to speak.

“No, not yet. I guess I have to contact them directly to investigate… It’ll take longer than I thought.”

“Well, I guess so.”

In order to breathe in divine power and see a reaction, you have to get close to it first. As a result, the investigation will inevitably be slow.

“···The kids are cute.”

As I was thinking about that, this time she opened her mouth. It seemed that the saintess also did not like awkward silence.

“Yes, that’s right.”

I responded appropriately and continued the conversation.

“Even though the Demon King’s army is on the rise, there are still people who laugh.”

“That’s why we’re going on an expedition to the Demon World.”

Yuris said with a laugh. It was true.

This was the scenery she wanted to protect. The everyday scenery of someone laughing and talking. We were risking our lives to protect just this one thing.

“Rude, Rude. Let’s play house!”

“Yeah, right!”

As I was thinking that, the kids in front of me opened their mouths.

“What are you going to do?”

“Playing couple! I’m the mom and you’re the dad!”

“Yeah!”

From what I could hear, it seemed like they were playing house. I used to play like that a lot when I was little. We looked at the children in front of us with faces that seemed to think they were cute.

and···.

Crack!!!

The sound of a slap echoed loudly. The girl in front of me was slapping the boy, that is, my husband.

“Honey, how could that be?!”

The husband’s face turned away, and the boy’s cheeks turned red. We looked at the two children with astonishment.

The shocking situation didn’t end there.

Crack!!!!

This time, it was the husband who slapped his wife in the face!

The blow was so strong that the body of the child playing the role of the wife fell to the ground.

What the kid said was even more interesting.

“You damn bitch… who dares to slap someone?”

I’m going to go back.

Indeed, is this the average personality of the imperial people?

Even though it’s just child’s play, it’s extreme.

Yulis, who thought so, even tried to step forward and mediate.

“What is this··· I have to stop this···!”

But I raised my arm and stopped her instead.

“No, things are about to get interesting, just wait a minute.”

“What? What’s so funny about that? Even if they’re kids, they’re like that. We need to educate them quickly!”

“So, let’s calm down a bit and see. We need to know the cause to be able to educate them, right?”

I continued speaking, stopping her.

“It is often said that children are mirrors of adults.”

I don’t think you can create something out of nothing.

Likewise, we could not immediately adopt scenes that children had not seen as play situations.

If you think about it, it was a bit of a strange scene.

Where and what did the kids see that made them put on a show like that?

In modern times, this can be explained. In modern times, there are many visual media, including TV.

Even I grew up watching morning soap operas on TV before going to kindergarten.

It was similar in other families, as fighting between spouses was a common topic of conversation when playing house.

But that’s not the case here. There’s no plausible visual media, and no worthwhile plays. Nevertheless, the fact that such a plot came about means that such scenes have been seen often nearby.

Of course, the main culprit would be the guys’ parents.

“You, because of you, our son was sold···.”

“You fucking bitch, why is it my fault?! I don’t even have money to eat right now, what do you want me to do!”

“That’s···!”

“Do we have land to farm? Will the landowner give us a lot of food? If not, what if the taxes are low? They take all the food they produce, so… Since they pay a high price for slaves, they sold them, right? ”

“······.”

Yuli’s mouth was shut. Perhaps it was because she had grown up in the church most of her life, but this sight seemed quite shocking.

From what I roughly heard from the children, I thought it could be summarized as follows: the lord’s exploitation was severe. The slave market was thriving. The lord was buying slaves.

“···Let’s stop playing house. It’s not fun.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Hey Rude… What if I get sold too?”

“It’s okay. You’re not pretty, so you won’t sell.”

“···Kick, I really hope so.”

The two children who had been talking like that quietly left the park. The laughter they had been making no longer seemed innocent.

I opened my mouth quietly.

“I guess I have something to solve.”

It is still unknown whether the puppet master’s hand touched this territory.

But regardless, shouldn’t the problem be solved?