Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 212
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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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“So you only told me about this?”
The Department Head Professor, who had already heard our discussion about investigating artifacts and lost technologies to find a solution, raised his hand to offer his opinion. At that, Sunbird, who had been visibly frustrated the entire time, dragged the blackboard over and began writing something furiously with chalk.
“Information equality! Communication!”
Following Sunbird’s argument, we decided to start by creating an emergency contact network and a bulletin board.
“Why! Why do you Demon Kings! Have the same goal but! Only play solo!”
Sunbird roared about whether we understood the meaning of teamwork, then coughed heavily. It seemed his gastritis had progressed to esophagitis. People with esophagitis cough frequently.
“Everyone has their own lives, and they live far apart.”
“That’s exactly why humanity hasn’t been destroyed even after 1,000 years!”
Gerth, struck by Sunbird’s blunt criticism, wore a dejected expression. It was endearing.
“The biggest problem is you, Machine King!”
“Huh? Me?”
“You should have thought about establishing a hotline between Demon Kings with that technology first! What’s with Bunny Land being frozen to death!”
“Master! I don’t like that guy!”
There was nothing to be done about it. The Puppet King had summoned Sunbird like a management consultant for Demon Kings who lacked any sense of crisis.
RRRR
While Sunbird continued his nagging, a phone rang from Makina. Since he was wearing strange parts on his back, Makina—who had simply detached what looked like a magical girl transformation device—handed me the device and said the Underworld King was calling.
Wow. I had imagined something like an old-fashioned mobile phone, but this cutting-edge clockwork mechanism had become a video communication device.
When I opened the device, the face of Underworld King Cha Cha appeared on the mirror portion. Sunbird, who had witnessed the entire sequence, grabbed the Machine King in one hand and shook him furiously while radiating anger.
“Make something like that! A communication device like that!”
“This is our first meeting—why are you being so familiar!”
That was probably because, from Sunbird’s perspective, it wasn’t actually their first meeting. Since he had apparently served as King of Ten Thousand Demons before, he must have once commanded these Demon Kings as subordinates. No wonder he’d be frustrated if they weren’t performing.
“Oh, did I catch you at a bad time? Are you very busy, Evan?”
“I’m busy, but I have time to talk. We’re in the middle of a Demon King Council meeting right now.”
At my words, Cha Cha tilted his head. He seemed curious about why he hadn’t been invited to a Demon King meeting and why I was attending one.
“Evan, why are you at the Demon King Council?”
“Didn’t you vote?”
“Vote? What’s that?”
I learned something new. Given that Cha Cha didn’t have voting rights for King of Ten Thousand Demons, it appeared he wasn’t of the Demon Race.
…Then why does he bear the title of Demon King?
“I became King of Ten Thousand Demons with the support of 71 percent of the vote.”
“Huh?”
“The goal of the King of Ten Thousand Demons and each Demon King is the extinction of humanity. I cannot walk the same path as Cha Cha, who aims to eliminate both humans and the Demon Race. That’s why he cannot attend the council.”
“Huh!”
Though shocked by the news that I had become King of Ten Thousand Demons, Cha Cha, understanding everything that needed to be understood, began to tear up and wore a sorrowful expression.
“You’re all just leaving me out!”
“It can’t be helped. We’re walking different paths.”
“I hate you, Evan!”
My connection with Cha Cha cut off. The moment I heard that the situation had changed based on whatever decision he’d made, the words struck me like a blow.
The situation has shifted slightly. Awarding 10,000 experience points.
I could only pray to the Mother Goddess that Cha Cha wouldn’t accelerate his plague development efforts.
To commemorate my ascension to King of Ten Thousand Demons, I offered a prayer to the Mother Goddess and turned my attention back to the Conference Hall. Makina, who had been doing nothing but trembling violently, suddenly initiated an emergency escape sequence, firing rockets and body-checking Sunbird directly in the head.
「I’ll make it for you, so stop shaking already!」
“Aaaah!”
Foolish creature, touching the sleeping Machine King’s nasal hairs. The Machine King was merely conserving power—he wasn’t weak at all.
Makina explained that since this communication device borrowed the Mother Goddess’s power, all that was needed was to create additional receivers to pick up the signal. Then he smacked Sunbird across the face.
If it was such a simple task, did that mean the Machine King hadn’t done it for the past thousand years?
“If it’s so simple, you should have done it a thousand years ago!”
「Back then, I was barely managing to create my own avatars! You should be grateful for technological advancement!」
I see. So Makina hadn’t always possessed such effortless creative ability from birth. Perhaps as humanity advanced, so too did Makina. The realization was oddly moving.
“Now that we’ve finished discussing communications, may I share what I’ve investigated?”
Was the Department Head Professor actually doing work? The same man who’d shirked his Dragon Tribe responsibilities and dumped everything on his youngest member before disappearing?
I wasn’t the only one shocked. Samryong’s eyes widened as he stammered that he never knew the Professor could actually work. The Department Head Professor, showing no sign of displeasure, spoke of relics from before the fall of the old human civilization.
“This is something all the Dragon Tribe leadership already knows. Near the Eternal Snow Mountain, close to where the dragons dwell, there exists a Seed Storage Facility that has existed since before our recorded history. In truth, the reason we established ourselves in the Northern Region was to guard this place.”
Wait—are you telling me Samryong didn’t settle near the Volcanic Region just to maintain the Red Dragon concept?!
This revelation shocked me, Eugene, and Samryong equally, each of us expressing our astonishment in turn.
“You mean Samryong didn’t establish himself there to maintain the Red Dragon concept?!”
“So that’s why the dragons never left our territory?!”
“What? You were guarding our Seed Storage Facility the whole time?!”
But Samryong, as the previous Dragon King, isn’t it strange that you didn’t know this?
“…Wait, the Eternal Snow Mountain?”
The Eternal Snow Mountain, located directly across from the Northern Brandenburg Volcanic Region, was something I was already familiar with. Some of my memories came from Eugene and Samryong, but I remembered it for an entirely different reason.
Didn’t Gerth bring that Millennium Snow Ginseng I consumed from the Eternal Snow Mountain?
“Gerth. About that Millennium Snow Ginseng you brought—did you get it from that Seed Storage Facility?”
“I did.”
So it wasn’t something he’d obtained by wandering the mountain and doing the work of a wild ginseng hunter. So that’s how it was…the Millennium Snow Ginseng was being artificially cultivated in the Seed Storage Facility….
“Then this ordeal to obtain the Millennium Snow Ginseng—it wasn’t some fantastical trial imposed by some great being?”
“Each time you pass through the facility’s security measures, a system removes greed so you only take the necessary amount. Stabilizers are administered to prevent rampage inside. Usually through injection with a syringe.”
So the ordeal wasn’t fantasy—it was science fiction! I thought I’d cast aside the seven emotions and five desires through some great being’s intervention, but it was chemical castration?! No wonder the vigor elixir I made worked so well—the hormones actually functioned!
Damn it, everything I thought was magic turned out to be science! Pure science!
“And for reasons unknown, an Oreo Factory remains near the Seed Storage Facility.”
“Right, I found that strange too.”
“What were the old humans thinking? Did they want to leave a cookie recipe for posterity?”
“Though I have to admit, it tastes pretty good.”
That’s just how it happened to turn out. I apologize on behalf of the old humans. Even I was puzzled at first why an Oreo Factory would be there.
“Anyway, that’s all I know. Shall we go take a look, Evan?”
Yeah. I hadn’t gone before because I didn’t know about it, but now that I’ve learned there’s a legacy of the old era there, I have to visit.
Since it was the weekend and the Professor said he could take us directly there, I gathered volunteers for a field trip to the Seed Storage Facility.
Sunbird seemed intent on not going, saying he needed to peck at Makina to make communication devices, but Eugene showed strong determination to go since it concerned his territory. Then when Kanna and Reina said they’d tag along since they had nothing else to do, and Seian also said he’d follow me, Gerth quickly reached out and grabbed Seian’s thumb.
“If Lemon Pie is going, then I’m going too.”
“This is turning out to be quite a group.”
The Department Head Professor suggested it would be better to transport us in a container and asked Samryong to make a steel one. If I kept things cool from inside, we should arrive safely.
“It’s cold, so bring winter clothes.”
The Professor rattled off the supplies like he was leading students on a school trip. Winter clothes, personal water bottles, and snacks—only as much as would fit in our bags.
Following the Professor’s instructions, we gathered our outer garments and packed water and snacks into our bags. Once we finished preparing like we were heading on a picnic and climbed into the container, tapping the walls, we felt a floating sensation as the Professor shot straight up into the sky.
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“Achoo!”
This place is still freezing. By the way, for this being Earth, the terrain and climate are quite different—is there a reason? From what I remember, the Seed Storage Facility was somewhere like the North Pole. Brandenburg is cold, but geographically it’s not the North Pole.
Did the planet’s axis tilt? Still, I can’t make sense of why the terrain changed.
“Wow, there’s a place like this in the snow mountains.”
The most amazed person as we headed toward the Seed Storage Facility was undoubtedly Eugene. He marveled that he’d lived his whole life in this area without ever knowing such a place existed, and the man, slipping through a rocky crevice well-hidden by the surrounding terrain, gasped in wonder once more.
“Wow!”
“Science!”
A wave of near-future technology sweeping into a world I’d thought was fantasy!
Sleeping inside the snow mountain was an enormous steel door large enough to serve as an aircraft carrier entrance. Before the door was some kind of device, and there was a hologram puzzle that could be solved there—it seemed they’d made it so that any human with the intelligence to solve the puzzle could enter this place.
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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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