Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 58

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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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“Thank goodness! You knew about it!”
“I did know.”
While Hubert wiped his chest in relief, Mother’s face flushed red and blue as she tried to snatch the lingerie from my hands.
“Give it here, miss! The moment that bastard shows his face, I’ll break his legs!”
“You lack the strength to do that, Mother.”
“You don’t know me? If I say I’ll do it, I’ll do it!”
I know that all too well. That’s precisely what terrifies me about her. Whether she lacks strength or power, she’d assemble a suicide squad to get the job done—and that thought made my blood run cold.
Since I’d received it as a gift, I placed the lingerie on the harpoon and stretched my hand to keep Mother from snatching it. She bounced frantically trying to cover the underwear, while Hubert blocked my path. The man seemed somewhat angry, or perhaps desperate.
“You misunderstand! My father may be foolish, but he’s not depraved!”
“That’s right! The Serpent King is just blockheaded, not lascivious! You don’t know anything, Mother!”
It sounded like he was taking my side, but it actually sounded like an insult. Did I mishear?
“A man who brings up intercourse on a first meeting—wouldn’t his heart be pitch black, not white?!”
Mother had been holding onto that grudge all this time?
“He’s a beast, so instinct is unavoidable! It’s not like we can change species!”
“Then beasts should stick with beasts! Why involve someone else’s precious daughter!”
“If that were possible, I wouldn’t have been alone for 500 years!”
“Right! Well done, young Fox!”
So you two aren’t taking Gerth’s side at all? You’ve just been holding a lot in?
I waved the harpoon back and forth, and while they argued, I stuffed the lingerie into my bosom. I’d hide it in my travel bag and wear it once I got to school. If Mother found it while we were in Ilam, she’d tear it to shreds and throw it away.
“White One!”
I wasn’t needed in this quarrel, so I should get back to my duties as Village Chief. I called White One, wrapped it in a sling, carried it on my back, and descended the tower with Kanna. Jumping would be fastest, but Kanna might be in danger, so I had to use the emergency stairs.
When I pressed the button for the direct elevator to the lobby level about ten floors down, the elevator hummed to life with a ding, and the doors slid open. From inside emerged Object Head, one of the Floor Masters.
A mechanical being with a cubic head lit by a light bulb, raising a single chick, nodded at us. I’d only glimpsed him once before, but he had a remarkably cheerful demeanor.
“Hello!”
“Ah, hello.”
After I returned the greeting, the mechanical being nodded once more and disappeared beyond the partitioning door.
Perhaps thinking it rude to ask that question in Object Head’s presence, Kanna waited until we’d been riding the elevator for a while before asking me.
“I-is he, the M-Machine King’s, s-subordinate? W-why is he here?”
“He came to study abroad because he didn’t know how to raise chicks.”
“A-ah, I see.”
I simply repeated what Leri had told me. Since Leri said he’d come to study abroad before taking leave, that chick couldn’t have been just a chick if it had remained in that state for ten straight years—but I decided to keep that observation to myself.
Normally I’d run there to level up my skills, but I couldn’t exhaust my friend like that. Perhaps I should ride a horse instead.
“Do you know how to ride a horse?”
“Y-yes! …I do!”
It seemed she’d changed her answer mid-sentence, but this wasn’t Kanna’s first time doing that, so I decided not to press the matter.
I selected the gentlest horse from those we’d brought from the Horse Racing Track, placed Kanna behind me, and headed toward Ilam. Kanna asked if I’d be doing the same work as yesterday, but today’s schedule was slightly different from my usual routine.

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Upon entering the Temporary Chief’s Office, I confirmed that Titi had returned from her reconnaissance mission and summoned the Village Guard. As I unfolded the map and positioned the model that had been covered with cloth, Kanna asked what all this was. If she wished to know its nature, it was only proper to answer.
“A topographical map of the neighboring village.”
“The contour lines show no irregularities, chirp!”
The map had been surveyed five years prior, and it seemed there were no significant changes. Titi and I stacked wooden blocks to represent the terrain and placed a model of the Lord’s Castle atop the hill.
The village lay below the mountain, with the Lord’s Castle overlooking everything—a fortress designed to dominate completely. Even for a place where conflict rarely occurred, it was an overwhelmingly oppressive stronghold.
“We could encircle it and cut off supplies, or employ siege weaponry without issue.”
“Does the Academy only teach combat tactics, chirp?”
When Kanna shook her head in protest, Titi’s eyes filled with suspicion. I brought my hand down like a blade to split my friend’s head in two, a gesture meant to tell Titi to stop tormenting her.
“Kyieeeek!”
“You make a beast’s death cry when you’re hurt.”
“I’m not dead, chirp!”
It sounded exactly like the noise a monster made when dying. So she wasn’t dead. I expressed my disappointment and saluted the assembled Village Guard.
“Glory to Chief Evan!”
“Glory to her!”
Once I used the profits from expanding the mana stone mines to outfit the Village Guard in fine uniforms, discipline emerged where none had existed before. Beautiful clothing mattered. A sense of belonging began with what one wore.
Since we weren’t marching to war, I emphasized elegance and splendor over practicality, established several group mottos, and urged the villagers to respect the guards—and thus a proper military force was born.
“The time will come soon.”
“Ooh!”
My newly formed Village Guard brimmed with morale. This was my first major task since becoming Chief, and if this operation succeeded, everyone could aspire to higher positions.
“I thought it would take longer, but with Kanna’s help, we should see results within a week.”
When I introduced Kanna, the guards clapped in unison and praised her. Unaccustomed to such acclaim, Kanna blushed and bowed her head shyly.
“Please, I’m counting on you.”
“We’ll win over the territory’s residents first, as planned. Integration is only possible with their cooperation.”
I had justification for taking the Lord’s head, and I could give the residents reason to turn to me without guilt. Once public opinion was shaped, everything would follow swiftly. Storming the Lord’s Castle was merely a secondary concern.
“Since we lack sufficient forces, we’ll use siege weaponry to assault the castle. Prepare everything so the residents suffer no harm.”
“Yes, Chief!”
It would be convenient if Reina were here. Though it pained me to spend Ilam’s budget on oil, I decided that spending money was far preferable to contacting Reina. I examined the stacked wooden blocks before me.
“The reconnaissance confirms the actual terrain matches the map. Compile a report identifying the most effective points of attack.”
I assigned the task to the guards and headed toward Ilam’s Propaganda Office, where the village women were handwriting leaflets.
“Chief Evan!”
“Evan’s here!”
I shook hands with the Women’s Association leader and offered words of encouragement to all the members. The printing press in the Tower was too heavy and I couldn’t obtain Gerth’s permission to move it, while the Adventurer’s Guild maintained neutrality, so handwriting the flyers was our only option.
It wasn’t a bad choice—it created employment and gave the village women something to occupy themselves with—but I realized that if we won this conflict, I’d need to substantially increase support for the Propaganda Office. The working conditions were deplorable.
“Bear with it just this once. I’ll expand the Propaganda Office’s facilities soon.”
“Oh, Evan! More workers are coming anyway, and once the railway station is built, there won’t be much to do. Don’t worry about it!”
No—once I took the Lord’s head and unified the village, work would only increase. As the village grew into a city, the Propaganda Office’s responsibilities would naturally expand.
But since I hadn’t yet taken the Lord of Dellan’s head, I couldn’t make promises, so I simply nodded at the Association leader’s words and told her to keep working hard. Only the Village Guard knew about taking the Lord’s head. It was, in essence, military funding.
“Hmm….”
Kanna Sabah studied the flyer intently. As a woman who understood military expenditures, she could discern some scheme hidden within its contents. Well then, let me see what sort of deduction the pride of the Assassination Family would make.
“Th-this. Even after using me, there’s… there’s still so much work left, isn’t there?”
“That’s right. If you can become a full member by the end of this break, that would be fortunate.”
“Medicine. I’ll bring it within two days.”
So what I heard initially was correct after all. Kanna really is a genius at changing her story. But I pretended not to notice, pouring out praise—how much trouble she was going through for me, how I hoped she wasn’t overexerting herself, how grateful I was.
Normally she would have laughed with that silly, carefree giggle of hers, but Kanna Sabah, now wearing the eyes of a working woman, compared the two flyers and spoke to me.
“The, the written part I understand. But, what about the picture?”
“It’s an illustration for people who can’t read.”
The Serpent King’s Tower lay closer to Dellan’s territory. Because of this, adventurers who challenged the Serpent King’s Tower typically made their base in Dellan, and both the Lord of Dellan and the Adventurer’s Guild spared no support for such efforts.
From a human perspective, it was a natural decision since it meant profit, but from Gerth’s perspective, the nuisance was unbearable. Dragons picking fights was already tiresome enough, but having humans constantly stealing household treasures made them no different from vermin or cockroaches.
No matter how many were killed, more would appear from somewhere, infiltrating the tower, and if unlucky, tower members—beasts or beast-men—would die, supplies would be lost. And when security was reinforced, the demon folk would complain that humans were being slaughtered. It was an infuriating situation, yet the gentle-natured Gerth had endured this for five hundred years.
The day had come to put an end to the plundering orchestrated by the Lord of Dellan.
The first illustration on the flyer depicted Hubert, furious at having resources and personnel stolen. In a single image, it conveyed that the Serpent King’s Tower, which had quietly endured until now, had switched to an offensive stance.
Dellan’s side seemed to believe that the Serpent King maintained a defensive posture due to the intensity of human aggression, but this was a grave miscalculation. Gerth was simply a pacifist who would talk down those coming to fight and send them away, while executing thieves on the spot.
Having tolerated it all this time, the day had come to spit it back out.

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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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