Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. - Chapter 11

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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 11: E-Class Maze – Fire Ant Nest (3)
Even at the map-obsessed one’s comment, our wicked god maintained their silence unwaveringly.
“Then I’ll need to prepare different offerings. Since Lidni has such a delicate palate and cannot tolerate spicy food….”
The moment I muttered this while turning to examine another corpse, my right eye popped out like a blinded crow.
Immediately, the voice of the wicked god—wiser than anyone—rang harshly through my mind.
【Does this body appear to you to be some incompetent deity incapable of swallowing lukewarm flames? I merely had other business to attend to and failed to respond in time!】
Crunch-crunch—!
【Delicious. The burning sensation in my tongue is most impressive!】
Lidni is absolutely not someone who cannot handle spice.
【In particular—slurp—the way sparks burst out with each bite, whoosh, it sends such rapture through this body.】
Strange interjections like “slurp” or “whoosh” did pepper the oracle here and there, but they were merely peculiar exclamations, nothing more.
There was no way the visionary of twisted truth could be so weak as to fidget with their tongue merely from spice, was there?
“Does it please you that much?”
I nodded with satisfaction.
“Since the wise one is pleased, I too am delighted. I’ve gathered plenty of Fire Spring from the fire ants this time, so I’ll prepare it again next time.”
【…….】
For some reason, our wicked god did not respond to their faithful believer’s words, maintaining silence for quite some time.
“Lidni?”
【Ah, um. My child, swallowing delicious knowledge all at once would only dull your faculties. Any traveler who has taken steps on the path toward truth must learn the virtue of restraint!】
– Caw-caw!
The blinded crow cried out loudly while eating, then began sneaking glances in my direction.
Looking closely, the offered sacrifice had only half its upper body consumed, while the generous topping of Fire Spring from the fire ants had been pushed aside to the lower half.
“But why is it acting that way? Surely Lidni didn’t order their representative to stop eating because they couldn’t bear the heat of the flames?”
【It seems their condition isn’t so good.】
“Indeed. In my irreverence, I nearly turned someone far greater than any other deity into a spoiled child complaining about offerings laced with Fire Spring.”
【Wait, now I see it—you’re making fun of me! What’s gotten into all these Cult Practitioners lately….】
Screech!
As Lidni erupted in indignation, blood began trickling from my left eye and nose.
A side effect that occurs when the wicked god’s voice becomes too thunderous or loud.
“Kar!”
Marlin, who had been watching quietly, rushed over in alarm and wiped away the blood.
I accepted her touch—grown more delicate now that her skill had risen by one point—while staring blankly into the void.
【…So the half-elf is fragile after all.】
The very perpetrator of the bloodshed lowered the volume of their oracle to a whisper.
【Tsk! I dislike this. Back then, people would listen obediently even if their eyes burst open and blood gushed from their mouths just to hear a bit more of my words. Don’t whine like a child over a little blood.】
The most important thing to manage in conversation with Lidni is pacing.
It was easier to think of them as an elderly person lost in nostalgia rather than a deity demanding worship.
I had all the answers memorized, but this situation was different from when I only had to choose from a predetermined set of options, so I needed to remain vigilant and careful.
“You speak truly. Living as a Cult Practitioner, one is bound to experience the agony of eyes shattering and brains being crushed under the wicked god’s rebuke at least once, are they not?”
【Now that’s more like it! Kar, you’re certainly bold, but you’re different from other apprentice Cult Practitioners.】
I deployed the acting skills I’d honed while dealing with Manager Choi—that demonic executive who ground through subordinates like consumables at my former company—and Lidni was pleased as expected.
【Such strange abundance of knowledge, and the mastery with which you wield these mysteries as though you’ve always used them… now that I think about it, it’s quite suspicious! Could you possibly be a spy-priest dispatched by the divine faction?】
“No. After all, Lidni has so few believers that there’s no need for them to monitor you.”
A deity’s power grows stronger the more believers they have, and they perish if not a single worshipper remains. Most of the wicked gods that exist today have barely two-digit numbers of followers left.
To speak coldly, the threat posed by a wicked god was not so different from a chicken—descendant of dinosaurs who once ruled the world, yet now consumed as food.
Still, they were at least at the level of a fighting cock, so ignoring and abandoning them wasn’t an option.
【In any case, I shall watch over you myself from now on, so do not disappoint me.】
The blinded crow, which had been loitering about near my feet, retreated into my right eye socket.
【If we continue talking further, it will become too great a burden for you. I shall withdraw now. What payment do you wish in exchange for this offering?】
“For your lost traveler who has yet to draw near the threshold of truth, please grant me a mystery.”
【Speak the name of the art you desire, my child.】
“I wish for the Veil of Deferred Wounds.”
【The offering you’ve given is insufficient in divine power, but I shall grant it specially. You seem destined for greatness.】
Spark.
Along with a sharp sting, an eye-shaped tattoo was branded onto the ring finger of my right hand.
“Thank you.”
【Next time, bring a truly fine dish!】
Leaving behind one final complaint about the side dishes, the wicked god’s presence vanished from my mind.
Only then did Marlin’s tense expression finally relax.
“Now that I’ve experienced it twice, I can tell the difference—between when the wicked god possesses Kar and normal times.”
“Impressive. Most people wouldn’t notice that kind of thing by instinct alone.”
This was exactly why I’d selected her as the first Explorer to groom.
My younger brother Abel’s potential and talent were nothing to scoff at, but my sister had such a superior foundation to begin with that training her was genuinely satisfying.
“Anything else you need me to do?”
“Let’s head out now.”
I handed the blood-stained Dagger back to Marlin and we left the Garbage Dump.
– Screeeee!
A swarm of Fire Ants had converged near the entrance.
Marlin stepped forward and swiftly bisected every individual, but within moments more came pouring in to fill the gaps.
“Ugh, there are so many!”
The novice Thief Explorer whimpered even as she cut down every Fire Ant with her Dagger and Spider-silk Needle.
Being a capable assistant, she was harvesting Mana Stones and Fire Springs without being told, so I had her stop and we moved on.
“Getting tired? Should we call it here?”
“Not yet. But do Explorers usually fight this much?”
“Typically, the Thief class doesn’t engage Monsters head-on.”
“Then why am I…?”
“Because you’re not your ordinary, typical Thief, Marlin. You’re a Thief I’m raising myself as your direct patron.”
Marlin tilted her head, seemingly unaware of how exceptional an opportunity she’d been given.
“But isn’t Kar still only a Level 1 Explorer anyway?”
“That’s no way to speak to your patron.”
Even as we talked, my eyes stayed fixed on the map.
Our current location was the lower right section of the Nest.
The place I needed to reach for the “true Clear” was near the center.
Taking a shortcut from here meant roughly ten minutes of travel.
I tapped Marlin on the shoulder.
“From now on, let’s move a bit faster.”
“Why?”
“Do you want the long explanation or the short one?”
“Short, please.”
“If we don’t pick up the pace, we’ll be torn to shreds by the swarm of Fire Ants flooding toward us and die in a gruesome heap.”
“…The long one.”
“Fire Ants have degraded eyesight, but they communicate through fire.”
According to research by a renowned Monster specialist, the flames that spring from Fire Springs all look identical to human eyes, but the information contained within them is vast.
Normally they emitted flames primarily to signal the colony of approaching threats.
“Soon, the heat from the signal fire released by the dead Fire Ants—indicating an intruder’s presence—will spread throughout the entire Nest. When that happens, countless individuals will come to kill us.”
“…How many, roughly?”
“Easily over a thousand.”
A horde that a low-level Cult Practitioner and Thief alone could never withstand.
If we dawdled, we’d be swept away by the tide of swarming ants.
Marlin’s ears perked up sharply.
“This is way too dangerous. Isn’t this Maze supposed to be low difficulty to Clear…?”
“It is an easy Maze to Clear.”
“Easy? With a thousand Fire Ants coming at us?”
“In difficult Mazes, even a single individual Monster is stronger than a swarm of Fire Ants. In comparison, a Maze where only Level 1 Monsters roam is practically a children’s playground.”
“…….”
A Maze’s environment never favors an Explorer.
It was a fundamental rule worth emphasizing a hundred times over.
“Well, scratch ‘playground’—would it help if I said it was more like the grimy back alleys near an academy frequented by troublemakers?”
“That’s enough!”
The young assistant, who’d smacked my forearm with her tail, immediately began walking with urgency.
“Which direction do I go?”
“That way.”
“Got it. Let’s hurry!”
As we traveled along the shortcuts, the novice Explorer assistant unhesitatingly cut down any Fire Ants we encountered.
She was beginning to strain; her sword strokes were steadily slowing.
“Conserve your strength. We can’t have you collapsing from exhaustion now.”
“But they keep coming. How am I supposed to…?”
“Just keep going ahead. Stay on this path.”
I unfolded the map for the breathless Marlin, marked our destination, sent her on ahead, and surveyed the surrounding terrain.
I’d expected it would be difficult to navigate with real geography rather than graphics, but fortunately I could make out the landmarks well enough.
‘Almost there.’
We were approaching the heart of the Fire Ant Nest.
All that hurrying had been worth it.
I pulled several strands of spider silk from my right index finger—the finest and sharpest I could produce—and stretched them between ceiling and floor at regular intervals, like bars of a cage.
A low, grinding screech echoed through the passage.
The Fire Ants surged forward as I hastily retreated from my work.
Without eyes, they couldn’t dodge a trap laid so openly—not until they’d already paid the price.
Just like this.
A sharp, wet crack.
The lead ant’s head split cleanly in two, bisected left and right.
Four more fell before the pheromone signal from the dead reached the rest, and the aggressive advance stuttered to a halt.
The Web of All Things had fire as its weakness, so I couldn’t keep them pinned forever, but annihilation wasn’t my goal anyway.
I moved forward, laying identical traps as I went.
A distant, grinding wail drifted back.
Another shriek, sharper than the last.
Behind us, the pitiful cries of the Fire Ants continued without pause.
Plenty of them were being severed by the spider silk, their corpses piling up and blocking the passage.
The tunnels didn’t allow for easy detours—to go around meant backtracking significantly—so as more dead ants accumulated, the swarm’s forward momentum naturally slowed.
“Kar!”
Marlin had stopped in the middle of the corridor ahead.
Precisely where I’d told her to wait.
I’d worried she might lose her way wandering around, but her nineteenth sense was truly exceptional.
“But what are you planning? This is just the middle of the ant colony!”
“You’re right.”
Which was why it took me time to find it in the first place.
I’d never have imagined the Hidden Piece would be hidden at just one point in all these vast tunnels—indistinguishable from any other stretch of passage.
I had Marlin take the pickaxe from her back and pointed to the left wall.
“Break through here. There’ll be a new passage on the other side.”

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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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