The Boss Wants to Die - Chapter 79

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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 79
Those words carried weight.
Everyone has moments like this—moments when the arc of their past becomes suddenly, crystalline clear.
Moments when every choice they’ve made seems to have been steering toward this single opportunity all along.
For Aerial, this was that moment.
He clung to me with every ounce of strength he possessed.
“I’m going to hold on to you. With everything I have left. This is for me. Not for the Water Tribe, not to get revenge on those pirates—for me.”
Aerial lifted his head.
His face was drenched in tears, like the tidal wave that had once swallowed the ruins.
They were tears of hope found at the end of a long darkness.
“Purely for me. This is something I’m doing for myself.”
“…….”
“For me, I want to ask you this: I hope the Water Tribe comes back to life. If they do, I think I could forgive myself. Then I think I could actually live my own life. Then…….”
Aerial’s voice cracked as though he were wailing.
“With reason untainted by hatred, I think I could decide what to do about those pirates.”
I felt the weight of it and tried to step back slightly.
But Aerial dug his nails in and refused to let go of my legs.
He raised his voice like he was breaking something.
“Now I understand! What you meant! I get it so clearly now, because it’s for me, because it’s about being happy—!”
He sobbed, his words catching in his throat.
“Can’t you help me? Please…….”
“…….”
“Please……?”
‘What do I do?’
I couldn’t bring myself to push him away, so I stood there awkwardly instead.
My hesitation seemed to feed his desperation; he pulled his tail over and clung to me like a leech.
‘But I don’t even know what I can do to help.’
I can’t promise anything until I hear what’s being asked of me.
I can’t torture him with false hope.
I can’t bestow mercy by carelessly swearing to do something uncertain.
“Water Deity. What exactly are you asking of me?”
The Water Deity, who had been waiting all this time, slowly opened his voice.
― I have lived far too long. My strength wanes; I waited only for death and rebirth.
“And?”
― But I cannot die now. If I do, my memories will perish along with this aged body.
The Water Deity’s voice grew somber.
― The me who is born anew will have no interest in a Water Tribe long dead. So I cannot simply die like this.
Even if the Water Deity is ancient and has little time left, he will live at least several more centuries.
If he dies within two hundred years and is reborn, taking a hundred years to mature, that alone would be three hundred years hence.
The Water Tribe would be not merely forgotten but erased beyond the pages of history itself.
― Before I die, I must revive those children with this old body. My strength alone is nowhere near sufficient.
“…….”
― I need your power. Only then can they be revived.
“What would you have me do?”
― Make me your subordinate, Demon God.
“……What?”
Ding!
[The Water Deity has requested to become your subordinate!]
While I stammered in shock, another hologram appeared.
[Oh dear, the target of subordination is a deity! Unfortunately, you cannot make a fellow deity your subordinate.
We will circumvent this by redirecting the request to an Alliance instead.]
[The Water Deity has requested to establish an Alliance!]
The same message seemed to have reached the Water Deity; an ambiguous sound—between a groan and a sigh—echoed forth.
― If not subordinate, can I still borrow your power through this Alliance?
“I don’t know. I’ve never done an Alliance before.”
As I shrugged, a system that shouldn’t exist spun an hourglass and loading began.
After a long moment, a notice appeared.
[New information regarding Alliance formation has arrived. Would you like to review it?]
I nodded.
Ding!
[An alliance can only be formed between equals.
Humans with humans, gods with gods, monsters with monsters.
Once forged, an alliance cannot be dissolved until one party dies.
※ Warning! Parties to an alliance cannot inflict direct harm upon each other!]
‘Fairly specific,’ I mused.
I rubbed my chin and read the next passage.
[For an alliance to be formed, an equivalent exchange must take place.
The Water Deity’s requested condition is: “The power of a young god capable of resurrecting the Water Tribe.”
Do you accept?]
I furrowed my brow. “How much of my power are we talking about? You’re not trying to drain me dry, are you?”
— You are but six years old, a mere infant among gods. Power overflows from you—a Demon God, no less. This is nothing.
‘Hmm……’
Well then.
I shrugged inwardly and accepted the Water Deity’s terms.
[The Water Deity’s alliance condition has been accepted.]
[Now it is your turn.
Please state your alliance condition for the Water Deity.]
I fell into thought.
What mattered most to me right now was…….
“Tell me the secret you’ve been hiding.”
That was it.
With this, I could uncover what the Water Deity had fought so hard to conceal.
‘An unexpected windfall,’ I thought smugly.
“You were so desperate to keep it hidden. Pity,” I said, gloating.
But the system promptly doused my triumph.
[Your requested alliance condition has been automatically rejected.]
It was like ash scattered on a finished meal.
[To forge an alliance, an equivalent exchange must occur.
Please state a condition of equal value to “the power of a young god capable of resurrecting the Water Tribe.”
— Rejection reason: The value of your requested “secret revelation” is too high!]
‘What?’
I scowled.
All I’d asked was for them to tell me a secret.
How much value could that possibly have?
‘More than resurrecting an entire tribe?’
Was this a game thing?
Multiple lives hung in the balance, yet my request was deemed more expensive and rejected.
‘The Water Deity’s condition doesn’t seem cheap either……. But no matter how I think about it, this makes no sense.’
I tilted my head.
The value assessment system seemed off somehow.
‘Can’t be helped. Let me narrow the scope.’
“Tell me who owns this collar.”
[Your requested alliance condition has been automatically rejected.
— Rejection reason: The value of your requested “collar owner revelation” is too high!]
Rejected again?
Are you mocking me?
I demanded clarification from the Water Deity. “You’re not the one rejecting this, are you? Just stating who owns one item is worth more than the lives of an entire tribe? Do you seriously believe that makes sense?”
— ……I did not refuse.
The Water Deity answered only that, then sealed their lips.
Unless the game and the Water Deity were colluding to make a fool of me, this couldn’t be happening.
My unease mounting, I changed my condition once more.
“Then tell me who this god is that I’m supposed to find.”
[Your requested alliance condition has been automatically rejected.]
At this point, fury began to rise in me.
Clenching my fists, I stubbornly rattled off conditions in rapid succession.
“Tell me what it means that I’ve awakened in an unstable state.”
[Your requested alliance condition has been automatically rejected.]

“You said I can’t see gods because of a lack of faith. Explain what that means.”
[The requested alliance condition has been automatically rejected.]
“Why can’t you tell me the secret?”
[The requested alliance condition has been automatically rejected.]
“How is talking about this something so grave that it threatens the world’s very existence?”
[The requested alliance condition has been…….]
“Argh!”
I tore at my hair and screamed.
A refusal rose to my throat, but I choked it back.
“Right, so this is how it goes.”
I placed my hands on my hips and made a demand.
“Water Deity. Change the alliance condition. Ask for something more expensive. What if I offer to save every member of the Water Tribe and capture all the pirates, then lay them at your feet?”
— It won’t work.
The Water Deity, seeing through my thoughts, spoke with unmoved certainty.
— No matter what else in this world you offer, nothing will be worth more than what you have asked for.
“How is that possible? Are you really trying to swindle me?”
— No. You already know this yourself.
“Know what? I don’t understand anything——”
— You felt it, didn’t you? That the talk of the world crumbling was not merely empty words.
A hollow laugh burst from me before I could stop it.
“So telling the secret would bring about the world’s annihilation?”
— It is no such simple calamity.
The Water Deity’s voice was steeped in resolute despair, tinged with faint sorrow and fear.
— Please, speak of some other condition instead.
Now even the Water Deity was beginning to plead.
In that moment I felt both exasperation and a devastating pity toward Aerial and the Water Deity.
They were so desperate that they would entreat me to this degree.
‘What am I supposed to do?’
The system’s continued rejection was not their fault, after all.
How could I dismiss the obsession of even a Demon God clinging to the past, desperate to resurrect those they had loved?
I had to find some other condition.
‘Even if this is a game world, Aerial’s love for the Water Tribe is real.’
It might run deeper than my own meager longing to find a real family.
Unlike Aerial, I remember neither family nor friends nor anything at all.
Suddenly I felt hollowed out.
‘Then perhaps…….’

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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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