Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. - Chapter 103

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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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Episode 103: Guild War — Daybreak (4)
“How is my disguise? Rather flawless, wouldn’t you say?”
I ventured the question casually, and Mordan stroked his beard, eyeing me with renewed wariness.
“…Two out of four were fakes, you say. Loath as I am to admit it, that’s certainly a remarkable transformation. What Secret Art is it? Transformation?”
The Secret Art of Okaeil, a minor deity of the evil pantheon, was just famous enough that a veteran Explorer like him recognized it at once.
“That’s correct.”
“Is Transformation really such a superior Secret Art? I heard the followers of Okaeil number barely a thousand.”
Transformation was indeed not a Secret Art of exceptional performance.
Without Thunder Boom, the dissonance was difficult to hide, and one’s identity would be exposed quickly.
But.
In the Battlefield of Sun and Moon, where all souls achieved equal rank and physical capacity, it was different.
With levels synchronized, even a high-level Explorer like Mordan found it no simple matter to notice that his ally had been replaced by a charming Socialite named Kar.
Whoosh!
The flames greedily devoured the trees nearby, swelling in size.
The forest was burning in its entirety.
“Now I shall engage you in earnest.”
Without hesitation, I opened my mouth wide and swallowed the roaring inferno before me.
My throat and stomach burned with scorching heat.
《Through the effect of Sin: Gluttony, your body has acquired the same properties as Leria’s dark flames!》
“…You swallowed the fire?”
Mordan, who had been poised to charge at any moment, flinched.
Why would he hesitate like that?
Fire swallowing was a common trick found at traveling performance troupes, wasn’t it?
“Will you not come?”
I walked calmly through the wall of flames that obscured my vision.
“Then I shall come to you.”
…….
At the sight of a vampire walking serenely through the inferno, the dwarf’s eyes widened.
“Well, farewell!”
“We’ll meet again another time.”
The ranger Rael and the lurker Tilda Ires of the Nunun Bear Guild, sensing the danger, quickly fled.
A very wise decision.
“Vice-guildmaster.”
The pink-haired Berserker of the Grand Warrior Guild spat sharply and seized the arm of Bron, the dancer who served as vice-guildmaster.
“Let’s go.”
…….
Bron nodded and attempted to withdraw with his guildmates.
Thump.
“…Ugh?”
But before they could leave, Yallen, her paralysis now broken, approached silently and drove a dagger into the Tonfa Berserker’s throat.
True to her nature as a schemer, she had doubtless coated it with virulent poison.
Thud.
The Berserker of the Grand Warrior Guild crumpled forward.
Having eliminated an Explorer in a single move, Yallen spoke to me.
“I’ll handle Bron, so please take care of Mordan!”
“Understood.”
The moment I replied, I unleashed a sudden barrage of fire.
Whoooosh!
A tremendous torrent of flame erupted forth with ferocious intensity.
Fifth Tier Sin: Gluttony doubled both efficiency and power when manipulating an absorbed element.
Thanks to this, the force of the Flame Wave Spell that now composed my body was amplified.
“…I underestimated you. You’re a formidable Explorer after all.”
Mordan, struck directly by the Flame Wave Spell, emerged from the roaring fire.
Three Small Hammers, tools he had crafted himself, flew about him, pushing back the flames.
“Now I won’t be careless.”
Mordan pulled a massive hammer from subspace.
At first glance, it was a masterwork tool that appeared extraordinarily heavy: Angry Weightiness.
A weapon capable of extinguishing fire—the shared weakness of vampires and ghouls alike.
“Golden Raven Kar. Your performance as a promising newcomer ends here.”
Whoooosh!
I unleashed another wave of flames.
“Ungh…!”
Mordan split the fire in half with his colossal weapon, then charged straight at me and swung his hammer.
Bang!
“…What?”
The blow, packed with tremendous force, dealt far less damage than he’d expected.
A brown aura enveloping my face had absorbed the impact.
The dwarf pressed on undeterred, hammers flying in rapid succession as his brow furrowed.
“That’s… an Aura? How is a Socialite—?”
“I’m a Socialite with many secrets, you see.”
Avatar of Earth.
The native Secret Art of the earth elves, granting substantial physical enhancement with each Tier increase.
The Tier-up conditions were such a nuisance that in reality I was only Tier 1, but within this Dungeon, I’d reached Tier 5.
And from Tier 4 onward, Avatar of Earth gained a new effect beyond the Strength increase.
A deep hum emanated from my body.
Brown aura coalesced around both my arms.
Aura.
A force saturated with the very essence of earth itself.
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
The hammer strikes kept coming.
Simple overhead slams, the Tier 6 universal Secret Art Ancient Tree Impact, and assistance from the steel arm tools that had sprouted on both flanks.
I deflected every blow, deploying the aura with subtle precision only at the impact points.
Since I knew every attack pattern and his physical abilities had declined due to the gimmick, an impenetrable defense became possible.
“How are you… completely blocking all of my trump card combinations…?”
Mordan muttered in a daze, pressing his assault with visible threat.
He seemed bewildered—a weakest-tier Socialite was displaying defense that bordered on the supernatural.
I suddenly spewed bright red flames, sending the dwarf flying backward, and opened my mouth.
“Citizens of the 3rd District, are you watching? I, a Socialite, am flawlessly defending against the attacks of the renowned Explorer Mordan. This is all thanks to my unwavering Faith in the divine beings I revere—”
Mordan charged at me again, his hammer cleaving through both my words and the flames.
Crack, crash!
Even shielded by my aura, the weighty hammer delivered sharp shocks to my neck and shoulders.
I pressed on regardless.
“—because of the special Knowledge that Lidni bestowed upon me, I am able to perform so brilliantly. If you are interested in the Twisted Truth, please consult with this Socialite, Kar.”
“…Don’t promote your faith in a Guild War!”
The moment Mordan, unable to hold back, cried out and poured strength into his grip, flames burst forth from a snake tattoo that had migrated to his shoulder.
Whoosh!
Flame Wave Spell engulfed Mordan’s head.
The fire descended further, burning down to his body.
“Grraaagh!”
As the small hammers scattered around him worked to extinguish the blaze, a blind crow suddenly burst forth, folding its wings as it dove.
Peck!
Its beak struck true, hitting the bridge of his nose with precision.
So this is what seeing Brave Bird in the flesh was like.
“…All of you, listen well.”
I could have persisted longer, but Mordan, refusing to grovel, brought a Communication Device to his lips.
“The ‘Golden Raven’ Kar knows how to use Transformation without the slightest artificiality. Be careful.”
I didn’t bother interrupting him and let him finish.
There was no need to hide that Transformation existed.
In fact, I wanted it known far and wide.
‘Perfect.’
The foundation for countering the schemer’s trap was taking shape.
“Mordan…?”
Bron of the Grand Warrior Guild, who’d been playing tag with Yallen as she kept splitting into two, flinched at the news.
He clearly hadn’t anticipated that a mere Socialite could claim victory over a veteran like Mordan.
“You can’t afford to get distracted!”
Yallen, who’d barely managed to flee until now, seized the opening and slashed Bron’s thigh with her Dagger.
The virulent poison smeared on the blade seeped in—Bron dropped to one knee.
“If that’s how it is, then at least one—!”
Bron shoved Yallen away with his shoulder and charged at me next, unleashing a blue-aura-wrapped straight punch with full force.
Bright Sky Wind Strike.
A Secret Art that ignores defenses—Aura, armor, protective barriers—and deals damage regardless.
Crack!
The Warrior’s merciless fist caved in my head.
“Excellent!”
Joy bloomed across Bron’s face, only to give way to horror moments later.
“…That’s impossible.”
“Ah, well, that stings a bit, I must admit.”
More than half my head had been crushed in, yet I remained standing.
I simply waited there, unmoved.
“Surely all Explorers have identical physical capabilities…?”
“So we did.”
But once Secret Arts came into play, everything changed.
The curse that steals Strength and Agility—Seedling still functioned here in the Dungeon as it always did, raising my Stamina stat through Storm Cloud Rumble and Copying Mirror alike.
And.
The body-stat adjustment gimmick was a debuff for veterans like Mordan, but for me it was a super-tier buff.
“Bron, what do you think?”
I stroked my rapidly regenerated head, wearing the wicked smile of a true Socialite.
“My durability and healing power have touched the realm of the transcendent—at least within this Dungeon’s bounds.”
The Battlefield of Sun and Moon was a place where one could experience, however incompletely, the future of an immortal build.
***
Yallen sat on the ground, exhaling a long sigh.
“Whew, that was close, really.”
This time, not in the Western Dwarf dialect.
Mordan of the White Jade Hand Guild.
Heaviclo of the Grand Warrior Guild.
Both Explorers had proven formidable opponents.
In another Dungeon, a Socialite of my caliber would have been bent like a twig in no time.
“Thanks to you bravely taking their attacks, I was barely able to hold on. You’re amazing!”
《Translation: We won because of you, sure, but you really do fight like a reckless brute. Still, I’ll give you that—pretty impressive!》
That somewhat twisted perspective toward me persisted, but at least it was favorable, and that was enough.
Since childhood, I’d grown accustomed to hostile stares—as though I were some alien lifeform—so that degree of consideration felt almost like the tenderness one shows a newborn.
“…Laenis of the Unforgotten Turtle Guild. Heaviclo of the Grand Warrior Guild.”
Yallen’s expression turned grave, and she spoke in barely a whisper.
“Since Mordan seems to have been the insider himself, the remaining spy candidates now number just those two.”
Yallen had already narrowed down the list of conspirators.
More precisely, the conclusion was based on the results of an investigation by Dilmo, the gnome vice-guild master who oversaw Guild War society.
“One of them must be the spy, yes?”
“Almost certainly.”
“But since I can’t find them anywhere, they’re probably in the Battlefield of Moon. We’ll have to root out the spy in the Deep Layer.”
There was no need to rush things anyway.
The conspirator’s plan hinged on what happened in the Deep Layer.
“In any case, we’ve collected five Primordial Fragments so far.”
Yallen gathered the scattered gems from the ground.
“I just need four more to reach six. How many do you have, Kar?”
“I need just one more to reach twelve.”
“Twelve? Ah, the Hidden Piece?”
Yallen, who had just handed me one Primordial Fragment, scratched her cheek.
“You’re going after that pointless Hidden Piece?”
A Hidden Piece existed in this Dungeon that could only be triggered by collecting twelve Primordial Fragments.
This information was already public knowledge.
Because Guild War history spanned a considerable period, the Battlefield of Sun and Moon—the decisive arena—had been extensively studied until now, leaving barely any secrets untold.
“From what I’ve heard, that Hidden Piece isn’t particularly useful.”
“You mean—why waste time on something pointless? Time’s precious?”
Yallen fixed me with her clear eyes, studying my face intently.
Strangely enough, just meeting her gaze made my true intentions transparent.
I placed a hand over my heart.
“Yallen, Lidni knows everything. This Guild War will see an incident unlike any we’ve experienced before.”
……
Yallen, whose eyes had remained fixed on mine, pocketed the Primordial Fragment and raised both hands, bouncing slightly.
“Wow! I really can’t wait!”
Anyone could see how innocent her reaction was, and I found myself jumping up and down alongside her with equal enthusiasm.
The sub-guild master, who had been hopping about, suddenly froze in place.
Are your legs hurting?
“Yallen. The Hidden Piece activation requires some time, so please go ahead first.”
“…Understood. I’ll go on ahead and regroup with the other guild members.”
Yallen hurried away toward the Golden Tower at Forest Center for some reason.
Without delay, I drew out all the Primordial Fragments from my subspace and began arranging them neatly on sunlit ground.
The form I would create first was a circle.
Not an ellipse, but a perfectly round one.
《Warning: Ghoul approaching from ↖ direction!》
A slaughterer Ghoul attacked mid-process, but I quickly incinerated it and continued my work.
I couldn’t afford to be careless.
Even the slightest distortion would render it invalid.
‘Now for the final piece….’
I placed the last remaining Primordial Fragment at the very center.
It was complete.
A circle with a single point marked in the middle.
A Celestial Symbol meaning ‘sun.’
Whoooosh—!
The fragments, no longer mere small jewels but now symbols, began emitting a pale light.
For the next ten minutes, I had to expose them to the direct sunlight.
《Warning again: Ghoul approaching from ↑ direction!》
After that, I calmly eliminated the occasional nuisances that appeared, protecting the Celestial Symbol from disruption.
《Ten minutes have passed!》
And then, at last.
The time had come.
Whoooooosh—!
The Primordial Fragments were now blazing with a brightness incomparable to before.
But it still wasn’t finished.
There was one final task.
Whoosh!
I extended my left hand and unleashed flame at maximum intensity.
Fire caught upon the Celestial Symbol representing the sun.
The Flame Wave Spell flared with unusual ferocity, soaring upward.
Writhe….
The snake tattoo on my left hand, already shrunken and tense, disappeared beneath my sleeve.
— Whinny.
From within the blazing red flames, a horse rose slowly and gracefully.
A sacred creature bearing a mane that shone like the sun itself.
A Divine Beast revered in the waking world as the symbol of the Sun Temple.
《Divine Beast – Skinparksi》
《The Divine Beast that drew the chariot of Solmiran, goddess of the sun, and brightened the day. It can melt the undead merely by approaching them, for they are weak to flames.》
Skinparksi.
Solmiran’s steed.
— Whinny!
The Divine Beast descended upon the Dungeon.

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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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