The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success - Chapter 127

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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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Chapter 127
8. The Circumstances of the Strongest
The Tower Master carefully concealed himself behind the maze wall.
This place harbored abandoned experimental creatures, so he had to move with utmost caution.
Thus, despite having entered the Grand Temple’s maze days ago, he still hadn’t penetrated the Temple’s interior.
‘The deeper toward the center, the more treacherous it becomes.’
The Tower Master let out a groan as he activated a concealment scroll.
The concealment scroll was one of many he had personally crafted—never commercialized to the masses. Without it, he could never have come this far.
‘Aran, my daughter… she must be in there.’
The Tower Master’s eyes darkened as he thought of his daughter.
And his granddaughter weighed just as heavily on his heart.
‘I couldn’t even call myself grandfather, couldn’t shower her with all the affection I wished to give… and once again, I’ve been cruel to my own bloodline.’
My granddaughter, Namia—a girl I met as though by fate itself.
I never got to lift her high in my arms, never got to give her a piggyback ride.
If only Aran had let slip even a single hint that she had a granddaughter…
I would have brought her to the Magic Tower immediately and raised her without letting her feet touch the ground.
‘And all I could offer my own granddaughter was a position as Minister of Education in some worthless department…’
The Tower Master sighed deeply, his voice laden with regret.
‘Will I be able to see you one more time before I die, Namia?’
I wanted to reunite her with the father she had yearned for so desperately. To do that, I had to go inside.
That meant I would have to stake my own life.
‘I will bring your father before your eyes, no matter what it takes.’
The Tower Master glanced up at the sky and exhaled slowly.
‘And I will keep your existence hidden for the rest of my life. You must remain blissfully unaware and live happily to the very end.’
Then he resumed his weary march forward.
* * *
I entered the Temple’s interior with almost absurd ease.
Where I stood was an enormous maze.
A vast labyrinth designed to prevent unqualified intruders from ever reaching the Temple.
The maze was densely covered in ancient script. And I was exceptionally fluent in ancient languages.
‘My mastery of ancient languages was what allowed me to become Minister of Education, after all.’
I stared blankly at the ancient words written before me.
Prove your worthiness before the divine. If you seek the Thread of Aurodeuke, go right. If you seek the Cloth of Arastine, go left.
I had no idea what the Thread of Aurodeuke or the Cloth of Arastine were.
So I…
“Activate!”
It was a fireworks scroll. I hurled it beyond the maze wall and activated it—with a thunderous boom, three or four sections of the maze wall crumbled instantly.
Whether one understood ancient script or not, the result was identical. Raw power solved everything.
‘My destination is the Temple anyway. I just need to destroy everything as I head toward the center.’
The strongest had no need to navigate mazes. Destruction sufficed.
As I watched the Temple Maze walls crumble around me, a twinge of conscience stirred within my chest.
‘These are ancient ruins, steeped in the weight of countless centuries… Ancestors, I apologize.’
But truthfully, the Emperor would arrive soon and demolish this entire place anyway.
I had witnessed Jayden manifest his special ability during the Banquet Hall. In the original story, Jayden’s special ability was ‘Dragon-kin Healing’.
That’s why, when the High Priest’s trap left him trapped in the Cave facing death, he was able to heal himself and escape alive.
‘Either way, the Emperor must have been healed by Jayden.’
No matter how much Kiaros called it the Dark Age, if the Emperor remained unharmed, the Gaejo Faction would no longer be able to act as brazenly as in the original timeline.
‘No, not the original story… just the future before I changed it. The book was merely a form to perceive the future, after all.’
The High Priest had been captured.
Which meant the Emperor would soon manifest as a dragon and begin destroying the Temple.
I remembered from fifteen years ago when the Emperor had instantly annihilated the entire Southern Monster Habitat.
According to the townspeople’s rumors, an entire mountain had been blown away.
‘Then the Grand Temple would be his first target. Whether it’s the Tower Master hiding in secret or my Father trapped as an experimental subject, they’ll all perish.’
So before that happened, I needed to at least see their faces and, if possible, save them.
I was carefully crossing the collapsed Temple Maze when it happened.
“Grrrrrrrgh….”
“Kyaaaah! Cack!”
My throat went dry in an instant.
Enormous monsters were slowly advancing toward me.
‘What is this… did the Gaejo Faction release monsters into the Sacred Temple Maze right now?’
This was my first time seeing monsters this massive and grotesquely shaped up close.
If these were Southern monsters, the Emperor had surely exterminated them all back then….
Then these creatures had to be experimental subjects the Gaejo Faction had secured.
‘S-so terrifying!’
I was absolutely petrified, trembling with genuine dread. This was no fear a fragile soul like mine could endure.
I was never meant for combat—I was a desk person!
My hands shaking violently, I cried out in the weakest voice imaginable.
“A-activate!”
The strongest didn’t need to maintain composure.
Fear could be dispatched quickly enough.
In an instant, the attack scroll I activated materialized in the air.
“Kyaaaaaaah, so terrifying!”
As my scream echoed, the monsters began collapsing.
The moment the magic circle activated, the creatures fell without even a sound.
‘My goodness….’
So this is what it feels like to be Dragon-kin?
A world rendered simple, where anything can be destroyed!
A sensation ordinary, fragile humans could never experience!
‘Wow.’
I gazed at the mountain of monster corpses piled before me and marveled.
‘If the real Dragon-kin saw me like this, they’d kill me on the spot.’
If I had been a truly wicked villain, this world would have been beyond saving.
‘Anyway, I need to find the Tower Master first. Since Father is an experimental subject, he’s probably in the deepest part of this place.’
If I destroy everything as I go, I’ll run into him somewhere, won’t I?
I’d never felt so utterly unprepared before. But strangely, being unprepared didn’t bother me.
‘Walls can be destroyed, and monsters can be killed….’
I habitually examined the corpses of the fallen monsters around me.
My body was that of the strongest, but my mind was still that of a civil servant. It was instinct to conduct a final review before submitting a report.
That was when I was meticulously checking through the piles of corpses.
‘Hmm?’
Something felt off.
‘Huh?’
Among the stacked monster corpses, I spotted something distinctly out of place.
A large, furry creature lying quietly in a blind spot just beyond my line of sight….
It looked like an ordinary dog at first glance, but its size was enormous—like a hippopotamus.
‘What is this? That familiar feeling of exhaustion and mental strain…?’
I furrowed my brow and approached it.
The eyelashes of the large dog, which had been playing dead with its eyes closed among the corpses, trembled slightly.
‘Good heavens, the shamelessness of it—selfishly preserving only itself while barely breathing!’
I approached the large white dog as if entranced.
‘It’s just like Namia Loapi used to be!’
The dog desperately continued its act of being dead even as I drew near.
If I hadn’t examined the monster corpses, I would never have discovered it.
I studied the dog carefully. It lacked the scales and protruding fangs characteristic of monsters.
‘This isn’t a monster—it’s an actual dog.’
Only its size was large enough that I could ride on it.
Not a monster, yet so large, intelligent enough to play dead, and here of all places….
“You… you’re an experimental subject.”
These people conducted experiments on humans and monsters alike—there’s no way they’d spare a dog.
At my murmur, the tip of the dog’s nose twitched slightly despite its closed eyes.
“Hey.”
I stood before the dog and spoke.
“If you’ve been caught, get up.”
At my gentle tone, the dog’s eyelids fluttered.
“…Woof….”
Finally, the White Dog struggled to its feet. Its gentle eyes and cute features contrasted strikingly with its enormous size.
“If you want to live, serve me as your master from now on. Understand?”
“…Woof.”
“Listen well to what I say from now on. Try not to talk back if you can.”
“Woof woof.”
“Even if you feel down, make a pouty face anyway, and try to do things even if they seem impossible.”
“Woof, woof.”
“Alright then, let’s get to work.”
I rummaged through my bag and pulled out several scrolls. They were all things I’d received from the Tower Master.
“Take a whiff.”
Dogs were said to have exceptionally keen senses of smell.
The Tower Master was likely somewhere within this maze.
I held the pile of scrolls up to the White Dog’s nose.
“Now find him.”

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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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