Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 156
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“I’m sorry. We girls have something to talk about.”
“Hmm, I suppose there’s no helping it then.”
A boy’s heart would shatter if he stumbled into girls’ talk where we casually discussed tearing people apart and cutting them up. At my jest, Eugene set aside her disappointment and suggested inviting Reina Letem and Kanna to the end-of-term party. That would work fine. I told her I’d mention it to them myself, and Eugene replied she’d prepare more food. A wise decision—Reina Letem ate quite a lot.
Since we had no need for formalities, I bounded across the rooftop and landed smoothly at the Letem Count Estate, where a maid greeted me and guided me to my friends. Judging by how the escort maid kept staring at the sky, it seemed Reina Letem and Kanna had also made a rather dramatic entrance from someone else’s rooftop.
“Evan Laef!”
“E-Evan!”
Why did you two insist on calling out my name like some cartoon character the moment you saw me? You were both starting to resemble Sera.
The two of them, who had been sprawling on what was unmistakably a princess-style lace pink sofa that Count Letem had purchased solely to torment Reina Letem, came rushing toward me the instant I appeared, their voices trembling as they spouted nonsense.
“Friend. Don’t be shocked when you hear this. We actually—”
“E-Evan, what do we do?”
I told them I wouldn’t be shocked even if they confessed to dating each other. At my careless remark, they both grew angry at how I could say such a thing, then started trembling again.
“We actually—”
“E-Evan, Reina and me, we, we suddenly—”
“We actually have a death countdown!”
When Reina Letem brought up the death countdown, Kanna nodded while tears streamed down her face. I’d thought everything would be fine after killing my uncle, but this was like a bolt from the blue.
“I-I heard this only happens to divine messengers—”
“But our status window just went crazy and—ta-da!”
So divine messengers received these wretched death countdown notifications too. Well, it made sense—since it was like a divine proclamation sent individually by the gods, those close to divinity would receive notifications fairly often. Even without a death countdown specifically.
“We only have seventy days left! Seventy days! Do you understand? Our lives are seventy days!”
“W-what do we do, Evan? W-what do we do?”
“Calm down for a moment.”
That number seventy seemed familiar from somewhere, so I opened my status window to check the death countdown details. With exactly seventy days remaining, I had no choice but to explain.
“If it’s a countdown to destroy Sky Island, I have seventy days too.”
“I knew it!”
“S-so Bunny Land really is the problem, isn’t it?”
Interesting perspective. I’d simply assumed I needed to drop Sky Island without thinking, since I received countdowns constantly. But these two, experiencing it for the first time, were working backward from the cause. If this countdown to destroy Sky Island had come only to our group, we could narrow down the source.
“Our common points would be completing the Bunny Land rides and becoming demons.”
“Now that you mention it, why did only we become demons?”
“I know the reason for that.”
My statement seemed shocking—both Kanna and Reina Letem widened their eyes and stared at me. I felt a bit embarrassed to explain, but since the responsibility ultimately fell on me, I told them boldly.
“You two have eaten things that were large, round, shiny, or dark and murky.”
Mostly from my hands.
The two of them, who had consumed inner cores from creatures like the Thousand-Year Fire Fox and the Human-Faced Tree, nodded at me as the memory came rushing back. I took a deep breath and steeled myself.
“Eating those things can turn you into a demon if you’re lucky!”
I braced myself for Reina Letem’s retaliation.
But the furious Reina Letem, the moment she realized I was the cause, unleashed Incineration with a brilliant display of mana. I countered with Absolute Freeze, but when two Ultra Rare skills clashed, the shockwave was devastating even as they canceled each other out.
“You little brats!”
After I burned down a room, froze it, and smashed it to pieces, the Head Maid appeared. We were chased out of the Mansion while being swept at with a broom. With no other choice, I rented a private room at a club frequented by the nobility, and the moment the attendant finished showing us in and left, Reina grabbed me by the collar.
“You bastard, take responsibility for my life! What are we going to do now!”
“Take responsibility? Don’t say things that’ll cause misunderstandings if others hear.”
“Misunderstandings? You’re trying to kill me, you bastard!”
Reina was so furious she threw me to the ground, but I felt surprisingly fine about it. Was this the kind of fun that normally made Reina so irritating?
“P-please stop, Evan. I-it wasn’t intentional.”
“That’s right. I also heard an explanation after becoming a demon.”
“You heard an explanation? Do demons get assigned a guide or something?”
Come to think of it, these guys became demons without a guide. No wonder they’re confused. Since they’d become my demon comrades, I decided to tell them about something secretive. Reina was too frazzled right now, but if she thought about it calmly later, she’d figure it out quickly enough.
“When you were summoned to the Brandenburg Townhouse. Gerth and the Department Head Professor were there.”
“Wait, you don’t mean…”
“The Professor is a dragon. I scheduled a consultation with him today to discuss the Sky Island matter.”
“This is… what?”
“And Duke Zibenstein is also someone who became a demon from being human, like us.”
“What kind of world is this where everyone’s a demon!”
I agreed with that sentiment. When I came to my senses, everyone around me had become a demon. I laughed absurdly at the ridiculousness of it all, and my fellow demons, catching onto my mood, started laughing foolishly as well. After laughing and chattering for a while, Reina, the most pragmatic among us, calmly opened her mouth.
“So. What about our Machine King?”
“Do as you’re told. There’s no other way.”
“N-no, the amusement park version was incredibly strong too.”
“Can’t we call the Department Head Professor one more time? Ask for help?”
Probably not. I shook my head, and Reina grew anxious, asking what the reason was. It seemed she was anticipating what bombshell revelation would come next, given how many I’d been dropping.
“Common Professor is one of the three original dragons. In a manner of speaking, the Machine King is like his elder sister, so we can’t expect his cooperation in harming her.”
“Now we’ve gone from demon lords to the three original whatevers.”
“Th-the three original dragons? W-what are those?”
These two only knew about the Dragon King. I answered concisely.
“One of the three dragons God created first became the Dragon King.”
“This is insane.”
“S-so the Department Head Professor is as strong as the Dragon King?”
That seemed about right. I nodded, and the two of them, recalling what happened in Bunny Land, continued the conversation.
“No wonder. They were playing around with the Machine King attraction.”
“I-if the Machine King is stronger than the Department Head Professor, th-they say…”
We’re all dead men walking. The commotion the kids were making prompted me to share what I’d noticed.
“Calm down. The status window said to destroy the Sky Island, not to eliminate the Machine King.”
Reina, who had been complaining that those were the same thing, changed her opinion after realizing something a moment later.
“I see. So the consultation with the Department Head Professor is…”
“To ask if there’s a power source driving the Sky Island. Whether a method to destroy it exists.”
Rather than defeating the Machine King, we’d just make the habitat fall. Sensing this was worth attempting, Reina sprang to her feet and urged me on.
“Let’s go! You said you scheduled a consultation! We need to go right now!”
“He said he’d return today after attending a seminar. We don’t know if he’ll be there even if we go now.”
“What kind of dragon attends seminars!”
But Common Professor is the Department Head Professor, so he should focus on his primary duties. It seems to suit him quite well in his own way.
“A professor’s job is to study and teach.”
“C-Common Professor’s classes are fun!”
“Right, with demons, dragons, and beastmen all over the world, there must be dragons with professional integrity too.”
Still, it’s something that he’s taken an interest in teaching—a man who once abandoned his responsibility to subjugate dragons and destroy humanity.
“So, should we just play around while we wait?”
“I, I brought this from home.”
“I’m not doing that needle-stabbing game anymore!”
Kanna must have suffered quite a bit at her house, because the moment she pulled out the voodoo doll, Reina Letem threw a fit. We’d set that aside because of the Sky Island matter, so I suppose Kanna’s assassination business handover went smoothly after all.
I decided to vent about this topic and waited until the Department Head Professor returned.
◇ ◆ ◇
When we visited the Magic Department Dean’s Office, the professor brewed red bean tea for all of us in a row. I asked why he suddenly served this unpleasant tea, and according to what he heard from Dr. Bruno, it’s apparently a tea that’s trending among kids these days, and he was told to brew it for students.
I wish Duke Zibenstein were dead.
“I thought only Evan had requested a meeting.”
That was the original plan. But circumstances have changed now. I conveyed the preliminary information the Department Head Professor needed to know for the meeting.
“Everyone in this space is a demon.”
“Oh… I see.”
He was deeply curious about how we ended up like this, but the professor, who said he’d listen to my story first, sat back leisurely and sipped his red bean tea. I decided not to drink the red bean tea since I had no intention of staying trapped at the academy.
“The three of us have been given a death sentence—we must destroy Sky Island within seventy days, or we die.”
“Hmm. Already a selection?”
“Selection?”
I persistently questioned what “selection” meant for a full ten minutes—a word I couldn’t possibly let slide. But the Department Head was equally stubborn, dodging the issue for over ten minutes, leaving me no choice but to give up.
“I won’t ask about that. Then I’ll just ask what I originally intended to.”
“Go ahead.”
“You really have to answer this one.”
“I’ll listen and think about it.”
Damn flying lizard. I cursed at the Department Head to destroy all dragons, then got to the main point.
“Is there a way to destroy Sky Island? If it has a power source, would the island fall if we destroyed it? Would destroying something like a power chamber work?”
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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