The Boss Wants to Die - Chapter 30

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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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The boss wants to die.
Episode 30
Michael made the first move.
His face was already drained of enthusiasm.
I coaxed him gently.
“It’s a Levelless Quest. You can do it too.”
Michael pressed his fingers to his forehead.
“Akt Hebgenia would never invite me. I’ve just wasted my time.”
“Don’t say that. Just listen for a moment. You’ll definitely be interested, trust me.”
Michael kept glancing at my shadow, clearly itching to leave, but knowing he’d be summoned again soon enough, he held his tongue.
“You just need to act a little.”
Michael planted his hands on his hips, as if to say he’d hear what this was about first.
“You’re going to take me directly to Akt.”
“You want me to do that?”
Michael pointed exaggeratedly at his own chest with his index finger as he asked.
It seemed like he was appealing that such a thing would never happen, not even if he died and came back to life.
I ignored him and continued.
“Akt seems to think you won’t kill me. He did when you threw away the Holy Sword and ran.”
“I can’t kill you.”
That’s exactly what he’d said back then.
When Michael lost grip of the Holy Sword and stumbled backward.
It was an event burned into my mind so clearly I remembered every detail.
“So what does that matter?”
“What do you mean ‘so what’? Michael Irubur, who won’t kill me, is a useful dealer. Isn’t that obvious? What level are you even at?”
I was saying it would be profitable to take him on as a party member.
Michael looked unconvinced, but I pushed on stubbornly.
“Go to Akt and tell him this: tell him to properly crack down on the Evil God. And then…….”
Michael’s expression twisted strangely.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but are you… imitating my way of speaking right now?”
“Doesn’t it sound similar?”
“Not at all.”
The Evil God’s voice was rather shrill.
No matter how low I pitched it, I couldn’t match Michael’s pleasant baritone.
“That’s not what matters right now anyway.”
“I apologize. It’s just difficult to concentrate when I find a conversation so utterly lacking in substance.”
Michael delivered the cutting remark without blinking once.
“… You know how to be sarcastic too? You’re just trying to provoke me, aren’t you?”
“There’s no point being a model priest anymore. I’ve already fallen thoroughly.”
Michael laughed cynically.
“Fine. I’ll concentrate. Hurry up and tell me. I don’t want to spend another second in this women’s restroom.”
The sturdy, neat-looking Holy Swordsman really did clash with the garish women’s restroom.
Even in a hurry, this was a bit much.
I felt a twinge of guilt toward him and cleared my throat.
“Tell Akt that the Evil God keeps pestering you. That even though you said you had no intention of killing me, he keeps hunting you down and urging you to kill me.”
Michael lifted one eyebrow with obvious displeasure.
“And then?”
“Then Akt will be troubled. That’s when you make the proposal. How about inviting me to join the party instead?”
Michael’s face crumpled.
“Because living while constantly being hunted by the Evil God is impossible—you’ll say it’d be better to stay together for now instead.”
“Akt will never agree to that. I’m leaving.”
Michael was absorbed into my shadow before he even heard my response.
“Where do you think you’re going? Come back here, Michael.”
Summoned again, Michael couldn’t suppress his irritation and snapped at me.
“Don’t waste my time.”
“Are you going to kill me?”
Michael’s face, which had been heated with defiance, faltered.
He stared uneasily at my crimson eyes, which reflected him like a mirror.
I held firm, suppressing his negative response before it could form.
I couldn’t back down one inch.
Either way, we had to collide.
Time was slipping away, and Michael’s affection points stood at -1.
Rather than spending four months wearing a title like “Incompetent Evil God” and twiddling my thumbs, I had to pull off some kind of acrobatic feat to persuade Michael.
‘I will absolutely claim the quest completion reward.’
The thread leading to the ending would be in my grasp.
Even if that stepping stone was Michael, I’d crush it if I had to.
Michael’s voice took on an oddly darkened tone as he replied.
“I will not kill you.”
“Then why not do this instead? You’re my familiar, after all.”
I fixed Michael with a steady gaze as I spoke.
“The moment you didn’t kill me, Akt already dropped his guard against you. It’s worth the attempt.”
“What benefit do I gain from doing this?”
“Have you forgotten why you were following Akt?”
Michael’s mouth closed shut.
“Because he was a criminal. Because you said he had to be brought to the Holy Sanctuary?”
…….
“I can see you have no intention of dragging him there right now, so you’ll need some excuse to give the Sanctuary, won’t you?”
Ha…….
Michael let out a hollow laugh.
“You really are infuriatingly clever.”
“I have circumstances that force me to be cunning.”
…….
Michael fell silent for a moment, studying me.
I shrugged and continued.
“The fact that you’ve fallen has to stay hidden from the Sanctuary too. I know you need excuses for everything. Stop pretending otherwise.”
“……Is this what you’re asking? To deceive even a ghost?”
“An Evil God is more frightening than any ghost. At least I’m alive.”
I let my crimson eyes gleam with sinister intent.
“So. What’s it going to be?”
Michael seemed to reach the conclusion that my proposal wasn’t entirely unreasonable.
He drew his hand across his face and answered as if exhaling a sigh.
“Understood.”
‘Done. Now I can start gathering party points.’
The tension drained from me all at once, and my knees trembled, but I fought to maintain the Evil God’s dignity to the very end.
I patted Michael’s shoulder and pointed to the shadow.
If he understood correctly, it meant we’d meet again shortly.
He gripped the towel again with a troubled expression.
“I’ll be ready. But why are you going this far?”
“I don’t want to answer.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m feeling petulant.”
I answered without hesitation.
“You won’t tell me either. Why you’re not killing me. If I ask, will you actually answer?”
…….
“I thought this was what you wanted. A cold business arrangement.”
Michael, sensing the chill in my gaze, pressed his lips firmly together.
“Drop the pointless questions and go prepare.”
Michael stepped onto my shadow without another word.
“I’ll call you in an hour. We’ll be launching the quest in earnest soon, so remember that.”
The moment I finished speaking, Michael was absorbed into the shadow.
‘Now it begins.’
I stared at the shadow for a while longer.
‘I can’t give up. Never.’
I’ll keep struggling until the very end.
I can’t die within this game.
Even if I do.
At the very last moment, at least then, in my own life…….
‘……If I can only logout.’
I stood there like that for a long while.
***
The moment Michael Irubel returned to his room, he pressed his face into his hands.
The doubt gnawed at me—was I truly doing the right thing?
‘I’ve actually become a Familiar of the Evil God.’
The summoning was essentially a confirmation kill.
That I had become a Familiar.
There was no way out anymore, and the only path left for Michael was the road to Corruption.
Staring at the words “Fallen Priest” written in my status window with horror, I bowed my head and gripped the back of my skull.
Since the Fallen Priest status didn’t show outwardly, I hadn’t been expelled from the Holy Sanctuary yet.
But the moment I used my mana, the Holy Sword would turn black and expose everything.
That’s why I’d resolved to endure by using as little power as possible.
‘In a party Levelless Quest, there shouldn’t be any need to exert myself.’
The Holy Sanctuary probably hadn’t assigned anyone to shadow me anyway.
I was a trusted Holy Swordsman, after all.
‘I can’t be expelled from the Holy Sanctuary.’
I revered the Holy Sanctuary’s scripture, its merciful Bishop, and the sacred justice they pursued.
The fact that I’d been chosen to hunt Akt alone spoke volumes.
I was renowned for my faithfulness as a priest.
My worship and rituals were so meticulous that even high-ranking priests whispered about them in awe.
Sacred objects arranged at precise angles without a hair out of place.
Prayers offered every single day at times that matched down to the minute and second.
The glass vessels holding Holy Water so clean that even under sunlight, not a single fingerprint showed.
No devotee was more devoted than me.
At least, that was supposed to be true.
“Michael, you are the most faithful priest in this place, the Eclisis Sanctuary, and a Holy Swordsman.”
Recalling Bishop Montiguay’s face, I bit my lower lip.
“I entrust you with an important task. Please lend me your hand so that the light of the Divine may seal away the evil Demonic Blade once more.”
And yet, despite all that, Michael had fallen to Corruption.
Corruption.
Me.
It was unthinkable.
My heart felt so shattered that I couldn’t imagine ever facing the Bishop again.
No matter how many purification rituals I performed, it made no difference.
Once the stain of the secular world was marked upon you, it could never be washed away.
I had crossed a point of no return, abandoning chastity completely.
Like death itself.
That terrified me.
And yet the only reason I asked to become a Familiar of the Evil God was one thing—a memory that wouldn’t fade.
Ever since meeting Akt, that memory had been clawing at my mind.
“What exactly are you believing in? What are you following?”
“Do you think everything you know is all there is to this world?”
Young Akt from those days.
He had dared to mock my noble convictions.
He had spat upon the sacred ground where not a single impurity should taint.
It was shame that made my blood boil—throttling him wouldn’t have been enough to satisfy it.
But I hadn’t felt anger.
When I heard those words, I felt instead that the Holy Sanctuary had betrayed me.

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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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