Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 270

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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 heeded Leri’s advice and kept my mouth shut. If he reported this to Gerth, I’d be the only one to suffer.
We hoisted the half-dead Wenri into the carriage and set off toward the Imperial Palace. The jolting of the carriage caused Wenri to lean out the window and retch violently, but the Coachman showed no mercy and drove straight to the Imperial Palace without stopping.
On the way to the Conference Hall, we picked up Bruno. The Duke Zibenstein, who had been taking a leisurely stroll despite being a prisoner—remarkably free for someone in custody—joined us wearing nothing but a single pair of shackles. The moment we met, he started prattling on about his twin daughters, so I threatened to arrange a political marriage between one of my younger siblings and him. The man shrieked as if I’d destroy his reputation entirely.
His reputation was already in ruins anyway—what more could possibly happen to it?
“Nooooo! I should have died with that old geezer last year!”
Inside the Conference Hall, guided by the Bachelor, the Sung King was wailing. The middle-aged woman had apparently received clarification from the Mother Goddess about her titles and learned the reason for the reorganization—she’d lost the chance to live eternally in the Underworld with Apet. She was in complete despair.
Apet, sitting on the Sung King’s lap, wore an expression of exasperation as she remarked that the woman was having another fit. Cecilia sipped her tea with elegant composure, while Gerth stood beside her in servant’s attire, equally graceful and composed.
Seeing Gerth in that outfit made my blood boil. I wanted to make him serve my every whim, then render him incapable of ever marrying again.
Overwhelmed by surging desire, I let out a roar and smashed through the wall. The Bachelor promptly tore off a receipt from his notebook like a parking ticket.
“I’ll send the repair bill to the Serpent King’s Tower. Be prepared to face charges for property damage to the Imperial Palace.”
Already burdened with countless crimes, the addition of property damage charges made Gerth sigh deeply before speaking with measured courtesy.
“I request a fine instead.”
“Hmph. That’s not something I can handle on my own authority.”
“I wasn’t asking you.”
Ah, I see—Gerth had been addressing Cecilia, not the Bachelor. The man’s self-consciousness had gotten the better of him. Realizing this, the Bachelor approached Gerth in a fit of hysteria and grabbed him by the collar. His shirt was about to tear from the grip. His chest was completely filled with muscle. Truly remarkable.
“Why do you two—husband and wife—show such disrespect to His Imperial Majesty?!”
“We are not disrespectful.”
“Then you think your tone is polite?!”
“Yes.”
“You’re even more stubborn than your wife!”
The Bachelor tried to shake Gerth by the collar, but Gerth didn’t budge an inch. As immovable as a post, Gerth’s complete lack of reaction seemed to drain the Bachelor of all sense of agency. The man whimpered and threw a tantrum.
“Why did God grant such power to these creatures?!”
“Because I am a being directly created by the Mother Goddess.”
“And I was directly subjected to trials by the Sunbird and the King of Ten Thousand Demons, then accelerated through rapid growth by the Mother Goddess.”
“I wasn’t asking for an answer!”
Then why ask? Gerth and I exchanged the same bewildered look, staring blankly at the Bachelor, who tore at his own hair in anguish.
“Those personalities won’t change even after a trip to the Underworld, so you’ll just have to accept it.”
Apet leaped down from the Sung King’s lap to comfort the Bachelor. The man, ashamed at being consoled by a ten-year-old, could only stare at the ceiling.
“Shall we begin the conference?”
Cecilia, who had been sipping tea and observing, finally spoke. She began by noting that though this conference was unofficial, its impact on the world would be significant. Since it was an informal discussion, she saw no need for formality and launched directly into the main topic.
“I believe we should divide beings into humans and non-humans.”
I knew Cecilia would pull something like this. And she went even further than I’d anticipated. I’d expected her to at least propose something like “quasi-human” as a category, but instead she wanted to split everything into human and non-human.
“Your Majesty, isn’t that an overly human-centric perspective?”
Go, Bruno! Tear into Cecilia!
Apparently unwilling to face the whip, the middle-aged man brushed aside the “Bruno” epithet and firmly rejected Cecilia’s proposal. The Sung King blinked in surprise, as if she’d never considered the term to be human-centric.
“The act of naming is significant, Your Majesty. If we divide beings into humans and non-humans, doesn’t that create the appearance of drawing sides?”
Bruno was performing better than expected.
When I asked what the demi-humans thought about it, Leri was the first to agree with Bruno’s point.
“When you say ‘non-human,’ it carries a strong connotation of ‘things that aren’t human,’ you know?”
Wenri nodded in agreement with that assessment.
“It’s the kind of thinking you’d expect from a dictator steeped in imperialism and nationalism.”
The moment the female informant finished speaking, everyone except Cecilia and Gerth held their breath. Wenri, a demi-human, had finally said the words that everyone had been too afraid to voice—words that might have gotten them beaten to death by Bruno. There was no need to live up to her reputation quite so thoroughly.
“I’ll kill you! You bastard!”
The Bachelor drew his sword against Wenri. Honestly, I couldn’t even defend her on this one.
“Eek! Why are you suddenly acting like this?!”
“You were wrong to say that in the very heart of imperialism.”
“But still! Shouldn’t a dictator be called a dictator?!”
As Wenri continued to call the Emperor a dictator, the Imperial Palace Guard finally arrived and had her imprisoned on the Bachelor’s orders.
And so another person found themselves in the Imperial Palace Prison.
“You’ve got great subordinates, goat-girl.”
“I am not your goat-girl.”
“Does she live in the Serpent King’s Tower? Could we meet her if we went?”
“She’s a Floor Master—an executive stationed permanently in the Serpent King’s Tower.”
“I’ll contact you beforehand when I go to meet her.”
They’d have plenty of time to chat in the prison, so why arrange a separate meeting? Was he planning a formal recruitment? Was this that thing that keeps appearing in your songs—that
‘friend’
concept?
“If you oppose my suggestion, surely you have an alternative?”
At Cecilia’s words, Bruno glanced at me. Had he just blurted something out without thinking of a replacement term?
I pondered for a moment, then applied a biological nomenclature to our species.
“What if we divided them into mana users and mana lifeforms?”
“That’s long.”
“It would be awkward to keep saying ‘this mana user’ and ‘that mana user’ every time we refer to someone.”
“It doesn’t resonate with me, Evan.”
Even Gerth was opposed. When my suggestion was rejected, everyone offered their own terms, but they all looked dissatisfied. As the conference dragged on and everyone just kept sipping tea, Leri finally couldn’t contain his frustration and spoke up.
“Can’t we just live the way we’ve been living?!”
That actually made sense. Life returned to everyone’s faces except Cecilia’s. What if we simply redefined the term—instead of calling mana users “demons,” we called mana lifeforms “demons” instead?
When I organized Leri’s suggestion and presented it, Cecilia finally showed a reaction.
“That works.”
“The terms ‘mana user’ and ‘mana lifeform’ could serve as supplementary explanations, I think.”
“The Serpent King approves.”
“The King of Ten Thousand Demons also approves.”
“Then the Sung King will also approve.”
Once those with “King” in their titles had approved, all eyes naturally turned to Cecilia. She had only said it was acceptable, not that she actively approved. Under everyone’s gaze, Cecilia blinked those abyssal eyes of hers and uttered words that could have been either a joke or the truth.
“His Imperial Majesty the Emperor also approves.”
“…”
“…”
“….”
Let’s pretend I didn’t hear that last part. We came to a silent understanding and decided to have Sung King relay the message to Mother Goddess through her skills. After Sung King used her ability to communicate with Ursula, a status notification window appeared immediately.

Race description has been updated. Race values have changed.

Everyone snapped their fingers together to check their status windows and see if the notification had appeared. The update made sense given the conference results, but why had the race values changed? Had the code been newly generated? Was that more convenient than overwriting?

Evan Laef
Title: Half-Half, Mana Master (Beginner)
Status: Blessed by Ursula
Experience: 215,100

L+) Legendary Frost Magic Lv.1 – 1,000,000 EXP until next level
L) Demon King’s Charisma
L) Superhuman! Diamond Body Sprout Lv.1
UR) Mana Control Lv.1 – 100,000 EXP until next level
UR) Absolute Invulnerability Lv.1 – 100,000 EXP until next level
*UR) Magnificent Fusion
SR) Composing Guitarist Lv.1 – 10,000 EXP until next level
N) Riding and Accuracy Lv.10

L) Cunning Tricks
EX) Jack of All Trades

“….”
Half-Half? Not like half-half chicken—what on earth is this? I tapped the status window with growing dread and checked the detailed description.

Half-Half: A human (mana user) and simultaneously a demon (mana lifeform), an organic being of humanity while sustained by half the Machine King’s power source, a portion of a dragon’s heart, and half the core of Serpent King’s Tower. Congratulations—your life is worth approximately two and a half halves.

Forget all those fancy-sounding terms like half-human, half-demon! Why “Half-Half”?! If Hubert were a tiger, we’d actually be a complete chicken family!
I gritted my teeth and forced my expression to remain neutral, refusing to show my frustration. This fact about being “Half-Half Radish” would go with me to the grave. I’d keep it secret for life. I was too embarrassed to tell anyone.
“There’s additional explanation now.”
“See? Isn’t it so much more convenient to just keep living as you have been?”
Right—continuing to use the name I’ve always used is better than some prettified new designation. Changing a name won’t eliminate demon discrimination overnight anyway, and being classified as “non-human” just wounds my pride.

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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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