Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 99

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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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“Mother! You’re alive!”
“I fell into a well for a moment. And I’m not your mother.”
“Evan Laef! Thank goodness you’re alive!”
“Yes. It’s fortunate this device doesn’t claim lives. I’ve just returned from the Underworld.”
“Squeak!”
Titi, who had been fluttering above my head, threw a fit asking how on earth I’d managed to return alive from the Underworld. Given such a question, I could only answer thus.
“I climbed the staircase and exited through the passage.”
“I see.”
Gerth accepted this explanation, but everyone else gathered here rejected it outright. They murmured that one couldn’t possibly fall into the Underworld and return unscathed. When I explained that I’d received help from a mole demi-human to escape, they began murmuring again—apparently questioning whether such a creature even existed.
It didn’t appear in the original work either, so mole demi-humans must truly be a rare species.
“Why are you burning this place?”
While enduring my reverse Lion King moment, I questioned why the Demi-human Village Friendly to Humans had been reduced to this state. Though I’d personally intended to conduct a search and destroy operation, I’d never planned genocide.
Above all, I was the Market Administrator of Ilam and had just declared today that I would establish a demi-human-friendly city. I hadn’t wanted so many demi-humans to lose their lives, nor for their residential village to burn.
“We heard someone attempted to kill you, so we’re exterminating them.”
“Don’t worry, Evan Laef! We found and killed that bear demi-human first!”
I’d wanted to do it myself, but they’d beaten me to it. I stood amid the burning Beast-Human Village, enduring my reverse Lion King moment while receiving congratulations from everyone. They suggested throwing a celebration at the Tower once this was finished—a party to commemorate my return. But if “once this was finished” meant the complete annihilation of the demi-humans, I had to stop it.
“Gerth. You can’t kill them all.”
“Why not?”
“This shouldn’t happen a day after I declared I’d be pro-demi-human. As the Market Administrator, I want to prevent it.”
“They tried to harm you. We must eliminate them entirely.”
“It’s unavoidable from a policy standpoint.”
“Your safety comes first.”
“Since I’ve returned alive, it seems you’re prioritizing your own rage over my safety.”
“That’s not true.”
“Then stop.”
“No.”
“Then let’s fight.”
“Fine.”
After setting me down, Gerth turned and trudged away, creating distance between us. The man established a proper fighting interval, swinging his mechanical arm on the right experimentally before extending his left foot forward in a combat stance. It seemed he’d decided to rely primarily on his left side, judging the mechanical arm unsuitable for combat.
“Come at me with the intent to kill.”
“Wait, why do you two have to fight?!”
“Squeak!”
Just as we were about to exchange blows, Leri and Titi—who loved to interfere—tried to stop us. Then Gerth stomped the ground and unleashed some kind of aura. Even from a distance, my body trembled from the force.
“I’ll die.”
The aura was so terrifying that Titi, mid-flight, let out a squeak and went rigid, crashing to the ground. Simultaneously, I activated Guided Freezing and fired a barrage of ice spikes at Gerth.
Since he’d told me to come at him with lethal intent, I manifested my magic with the intention of piercing his entire body. Gerth evaded the ice quickly, but since the Guided property was attached, the spikes continued pursuing him relentlessly.
I concentrated my focus to activate another spell, but Gerth, having grasped the magic’s nature, narrowly dodged the ice spikes one by one, driving them into the ground.
“It’s going to hurt.”
“Cancel! Ice Bind!”
I withdrew the now-useless first spell and reshaped the ice into a different form. Gerth approached in a flash, leaping lightly into the air and twisting his body—I could predict his next move. A simple kick. I instinctively raised my guard over my head and formed an ice sphere.
Gerth’s leg shattered the jagged, solid ice in one blow, and the impact traveled past my raised arm straight into my skull. My arm felt like it would snap, and my brain seemed to rattle around inside my head.
I was on the verge of losing consciousness, so I bit my tongue hard to force myself to stay alert, then drew my pistol and fired at close range. Gerth, thinking it was just a regular bullet, tried to block it with his mechanical arm—a grave miscalculation.
The bullet’s magic froze Gerth’s arm across a wide radius, and gripping the gun with both hands, I brought it down in one swift motion and shattered the frozen mechanical limb.
“Damn it!”
What good was destroying one arm when he wasn’t even using it in the fight anyway! I cursed under my breath, wasting precious magical ammunition on suppressive fire as I tried to create distance. Or rather, I tried to. My body, which should have moved backward, was suddenly yanked forward, forcing me to cast another spell. In an instant, I was seized by the collar and dragged.
“Ugh!”
Gerth, who had shattered all the ice I’d fired at him from every direction with his bare hands, drove his knee into my suspended body and lightly grabbed the back of my head, slamming me into the ground. My mind went blank. My face was drenched in liquid—it was definitely blood from my nose.
“You’ve grown stronger.”
“…”
“Destroying your arm was impressive.”
“…”
“So I’ll follow your wishes.”
“Thank you.”
With Gerth’s help pulling me up, I stood on my own two feet, wiped my nose with my sleeve, and spat out the blood pooling in my mouth. Blood dripped from my nose, from where I’d bitten my tongue—everything was a mess. On top of that, after that brief fight with Gerth, all the strength had drained from my body and my hands trembled uncontrollably. I wasn’t even sure if I was walking properly anymore. I’d expected Gerth to be incredibly strong, but I never imagined such a staggering gap between us.
“Gerth.”
“What is it?”
“I can’t walk.”
“Then get on my back.”
“Okay.”
As I obediently climbed onto Gerth’s back, the Serpent King’s Tower Officials and Titi looked at us as if all their faith had been shattered. I could hear them muttering that we were absolute madmen.
“Father, then should we…?”
“We return. Handle the cleanup according to Evan’s orders.”
At Gerth’s words, all the Serpent King’s Tower Staff turned their gaze toward me. I had already thought this through, so I mustered my strength and conveyed my intentions to everyone.
“Capture them all alive without missing a single one. This incident must not leak outside.”
“Ugh, capturing them alive is even harder though.”
“What are we supposed to do with them after capturing them?”
“It’s important to keep them alive, even if just for show.”
Once I made it clear that I only needed them to survive, the officials looked relieved and scattered in all directions.
“Hubert, take Titi and return with us. Leri, inform Evan’s friends and family of the situation.”
Now that I thought about it, since I hadn’t returned until the middle of the night, the ones at the Hotel must have been worried. Gerth really is more thoughtful than I am.
When I thanked him, Gerth said it was nothing and chanted the return spell, and I surrendered myself to the gentle magic. The moment we arrived at the Serpent King’s Tower, Gerth searched for an energy drink and sweet food to give me, then ordered me to wash up and come back as he’d prepare a simple dinner.
Even though I’d had no strength to stand just moments before, eating some food gave me the energy to move. I shuffled into the bathroom, washed my face, and soaked my body in warm water. Titi, who had followed me with a splash, let out a satisfied sound when I floated her in the bathtub instead of a rubber duck.
“Ahhhh, this is nice.”
“Nice?! What’s nice about getting beaten up by the Serpent King?! Chirp!”
“I started the fight first.”
“Still, who beats up someone like that when they want to mate with you?! Squeak!”
“That’s one of Gerth’s good points.”
“This unnie is absolutely insane!”
It was better than both of us standing firm and hurting each other’s feelings. I’d shown Gerth how sincere I was by throwing myself at him despite being no match for him, and he’d acknowledged that and yielded. In the end, things went according to my wishes, so I owed Gerth my gratitude.
“Driving me crazy.”
I wasn’t sure why Titi was being temperamental, but she fluttered her wings and engaged in some activity that was neither swimming nor washing. It resembled how birds bathe, so I’d told her to stop shedding parasites since she was dirty. She’d squawked back that she had no parasites on her body.
“I went down and checked—the barrier’s reactivation had nothing to do with any loss of life. You don’t need to feel responsible.”
“Squawk.”
Titi answered nonchalantly, but she exhaled as if relieved. The village the barrier was meant to protect had already burned to ash anyway, but she’d probably thought that if she’d gone back sooner and thrown herself down the well, I wouldn’t have nearly died. So she’d have flown about frantically, summoning Leri and Gerth, claiming I was dead.
Looking closely, some of her feathers were torn out as if she’d suffered hair loss—likely traces of a struggle with Menhil when she’d tried to escape.
In her own way, she’d thrashed about trying to avenge me. I found Titi so endearing that I stroked her head gently, then pressed it down and dunked her underwater. She thrashed violently with gurgling sounds, a massive sparrow writhing in the water.
“What are you doing! Blub! Squawk squawk! Blub blub!”
“Because you’re cute.”
“Squawk! You sadistic pervert!”
For a bird-brain, she certainly knew difficult words. I praised Titi, scrubbed her thoroughly with soap, and left the bath. Someone had left new clothes—I wasn’t sure who—and when I changed into them, they were white garments that looked like a couple’s outfit with Gerth. Since Gerth said he’d prepare food, I headed straight to the Dining Hall.
“Shriek!”
The culprit who’d left the clothes was quickly revealed. Hubert, who was helping with kitchen duties because Gerth had injured his arm, let out a wail the moment he saw me, then rolled on the floor in delight.
“Evan Laef. With only one arm usable, the meal will likely be delayed.”
“I’ll wait.”
Gerth emerged from the kitchen to deliver that report, looked at my clothes, looked at his own, looked at my clothes again, then looked at his once more before nodding in satisfaction and returning to cook.
“You two look absolutely, absolutely perfect together, Mother Evan Laef!”
You’ve gotten so used to mixing up titles that it’s not even worth correcting anymore. Instead of fixing his address, I simply nodded and sat at the table. Not long after, some of the Serpent King’s Tower Officials returned. A sheep demi-human named Wenri used a skill to heal me, and a bat demi-human named Bicure reported on the situation.
“We successfully captured roughly eighty percent of the village people. Wenri and I aren’t suited for battles against large numbers, so we returned early. Is there anything else you wish to command, Your Majesty the Serpent King’s Consort?”
“I am not the Serpent King’s Consort.”
“Ah, so that’s the setting.”

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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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