Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. - Chapter 111

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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 111: Guild War – Daylight (4)
“What kind of elf are you, Kar?”
It was some time after we’d cleared the Earth Elf’s Tomb, when I was lounging about at home.
On one particularly bright afternoon, Merlin suddenly posed the question to me.
“Why the sudden curiosity? Half-elves are all equally incompetent anyway.”
“Just wondering. Your hair and eyes are golden, so… are you a Golden Elf?”
It was an original deduction born from his still-limited knowledge.
I answered while sprawled lazily across the sofa.
“Merlin, elves are divided into seven tribes in total. There’s no such thing as a ‘Golden Elf.'”
Elves are a race created by the touch of Meterd, the god of nature and abundance.
Fire, water, vegetation, gem, and earth.
Five elf tribes, each descended from one of the five attributes of nature.
And after the sun deity Solmiran and the moon deity Selvaran split into two, they each created one new tribe.
“Thus were born the Sun Elves and Full-Moon Elves, whom we call the High Elves.”
High Elves.
In human terms, the nobility of elf-kind.
Since it was an archaic term, Abel, who’d been brewing tea, tilted his head in confusion.
“I’ve never heard that term before.”
“I’m not surprised. The High Elves are, for all practical purposes, extinct.”
The Sun Elves have vanished from the world since their massacre during the Valterium Empire’s unification of the three continents.
Meanwhile, the Full-Moon Elves, cursed by Selvaran due to some catastrophe, have mostly devolved into monsters.
Undead creatures called Ghouls, vulnerable to moonlight.
And the tiny handful who survived live on as Half-Moon Elves, barely maintaining their lineage.
“So here’s a question for you both: what elf bloodline do you think I am?”
The siblings paused briefly, then answered in unison.
“The sun?”
“Like the sun, sir.”
I placed a hand on each of their heads and asked again.
“Why did you think that?”
“When you carried me out of the Flame Ant Cave, your body was so warm!”
“Because you’re like the sun to us.”
“Abel: one point. Merlin: minus ten points.”
“Why would you do that!”
I pressed down on Merlin’s head as he protested, gazing out the window.
The sun of Solmiran, riding in a carriage drawn by a divine beast, shone particularly brilliant and warm today.
‘Why did I choose Sun Elf back then?’
When creating a Half-Elf character, you can choose your bloodline directly.
There’s no performance difference between them—it’s more of a customization feature.
But at some point, I became fixated on Sun Elf alone.
Whether it was a lingering effect from the body change when I became “Socialite Kar,” I couldn’t recall the reason at all.
……
What had my former self been thinking, I wondered.
Why had it to be a Sun Elf?
The reason escapes me, but I have no desire to force myself to unearth it.
After all, bloodline isn’t a particularly important factor for a Half-Elf.
“The weather is remarkably pleasant today. Perhaps Solmiran is in good spirits?”
“Perhaps so.”
“The day is certainly warm.”
I wanted to focus on the present and future rather than the past.
Most likely, ordinary Half-Elves like myself were all living each day with the same thought.
***
Half-Elves are a race born of sorrow and misfortune.
Abandoned by the heavens—lacking both the innate Secret Arts of elves and the diverse Dexterity and intellect of humans.
Even if they’re lucky enough not to be killed in childhood, most Half-Elves are forced to live pitiable lives, relying solely on their only advantage: their beauty.
“Certainly quite fateful, I’d say.”
One of the Six Apostles, the Schemer.
The Half-Elf Ninja Kairas spoke quietly.
“A Half-Elf with blonde hair and golden eyes, yet I’ve remained uncertain until now. It’s because encounters like this with adventurers are virtually impossible for our kind.”
“That’s usually the case.”
Sun and Half-Moon.
The two clans of High Elves had nearly faced extinction in the distant past, and so they were exceptionally sensitive to ‘maintaining bloodline purity.’
As a result, even now, whenever a Half-Elf—such a filthy mongrel—was born, they would never let the child live.
“At least those of us who were sold as ‘commodities’ could say we had extraordinarily fortunate circumstances, couldn’t we?”
“Not at all.”
Kairas the schemer let out a scoff.
“You were probably sold off to some dark god’s cult as a living sacrifice. I was dragged into a ninja organization and subjected to horrific training from the age of five—killing and trampling my peers. Death without knowing anything would have been preferable.”
A pseudo-livestock raised as a reserve sacrifice.
Disposable ninja warriors injected with assassination techniques and worked to death.
We grew up in equally tragic circumstances, neither of us able to claim superiority over the other.
Perhaps that was why.
The schemer’s gaze, which had been fixed upon me with something like a curse until now, had noticeably softened.
“…Honestly, I wanted to kill you. But the urge is gone.”
Kairas the schemer burst into laughter.
It was a clear, bright smile—so different from the lethal ninja who had been pinning me down moments ago that one might doubt they were the same person.
“Kar the Black Raven. How much were you sold for?”
“Given that I carried High Elf bloodline, surely around one gold, at least?”
“That sounds about right for me too.”
“The market price for Half-Elves hasn’t changed much since the Valterium Empire era, has it?”
“There’s even a tale of a mercenary who made a name for himself across the northern continent, only to be captured and sold at a pittance….”
The atmosphere suddenly grew warm and friendly.
A leisurely conversation between enemies.
The shared sorrow and misfortune of being Half-Elf had become, in its own way, a gentle warmth between us.
“I have a proposal for you.”
Kairas spoke then, her tone considerably softened.
“I cannot fathom where your knowledge comes from, but you clearly know much about ‘us.’ Isn’t that so?”
“Correct. I could even name every member of the Six Apostles one by one.”
“…Then detailed explanations are unnecessary.”
The schemer slowly raised her arm.
In her terribly pale hand—bearing the blood of a Half-Moon Elf—an object that had not been there before now rested: a statue.
A fish sculpture with ten eyes of an unknown species.
《A stone carved by foolish things that worship Unishive, the ascetic of impartial balance. I urge you—look upon it no further, nor take interest in it.》
“Kar the Black Raven. Devote yourself to Unishive. And share with me the power of the Great Demon.”
“…….”
An invitation to faith and a proposal to join as a comrade.
A hidden event that occurred when a Half-Elf born of High Elf stock faced the schemer after accumulating enough Renown.
“In truth, the Consciousness Usurper is also a masterwork created by the Six Apostles’ fellows through the power of the Great Demon.”
The schemer raised one corner of her mouth and gave a small shake of her head.
“To be honest, that demon dwelling at the highest level of the Nightmare Dungeon is repulsive and utterly loathsome. Yet the power it possesses is genuine.”
《Worthless drivel—cover your ears at once! >:(》
“Ah, come to think of it, you’d already know this.”
Crackle-crackle!
Black lightning erupted violently from the tattoo on her collarbone, yet it could not drown out the schemer’s words.
“The Great Demon possesses the power to draw ‘future possibilities’ into the present.”
Kairas gazed at the Statue of Unishive with an enraptured expression.
“In my case, I gained a Secret Art capable of realizing the ideals of the one I serve. A Secret Art drawn from a future where Unishive reigns over the world, as it were?”
The Six Apostles do not revere the Great Demon of the Nightmare Dungeon, yet when orders come down, they obey with their full strength.
The demon’s power was wondrous to that degree.
“How about you? You’re a rather promising Half-Elf—you could become a formidable explorer in no time.”
“That would certainly be the case.”
“Then there is little more to discuss. Kar, let us together tear apart the foundations of this world, which is so brutally harsh to Half-Elves!”
As she spoke, heat began rising in her thin voice, and it grew steadily more forceful.
“Surely you too resent it—this reality where some are blessed with fortunate lives while others are condemned to languish under the curse of their very ‘birth,’ a factor beyond anyone’s control!”
Thud!
Kairas struck the cavern floor with her foot.
“Why does Meterd stand idle while countless Half-Elf infants perish!”
Fierce emotion began to surge across the beautiful face of the Half-Elf ninja.
“Why does Solmiran care only for the creative while denying sunlight to the weak who need succor? Why does Selvaran pay more heed to his prey than to those who worship him! What of the malevolent gods who lack even sufficient divine power yet still fail to come to their senses—they are not worth mentioning. The heavens and the earth are filled with absurdity. Unreason blankets the world entire.”
Resentment, hatred, disillusionment, thirst for vengeance.
All manner of negative emotion that Half-Elves were prone to feel came pouring out through Kairas’s words in a torrent.

Kairas, who had been earnestly expounding to herself, turned her gaze toward me.
“But the one you serve is different from those deities who concern themselves only with their own safety. You already know this, don’t you?”
Her silver eyes now held an emotion utterly unlike anything before.
Fanatic devotion and exhilaration.
Unable to contain the overwhelming joy, her face flushed crimson.
“The one you serve desires the harmony of all sentient beings! They hope for a true order where everyone stands at the same height! How could one not serve such a being!”
Harmony and order.
The ideals Arthain pursued aligned with these to some degree.
The destination was the same, but the means of reaching it were not.
Not at all.
“Kar, you too—climb aboard the land that the one you serve carries. After all, you can serve other malevolent deities alongside, can’t you? It appears you possess the Fanatic constitution.”
“Well, theoretically there’s no reason it couldn’t work.”
《The wise one urgently counsels against it! No matter what other deities you serve, Unishive is impossible!》
Zzt-zzt-zzt!
Squirm…!
All the malevolent deities except Okail, who showed me scarcely any interest, simultaneously expressed their disapproval and counseled me against it.
Not only the malevolent deities.
Whisper-whisper-whisper.
Both of the benevolent ones sent their will to me as well.
– Do not listen to any more of this.
– That one—that one, we should rip out her tongue!
The benevolent and malevolent aligned beyond their factions, expressing the exact same opinion.
That I must never become a Socialite of balanced equality.
“I’m already a Socialite who believes in four of you simultaneously, so there’s no reason to hesitate at adding one more, is there?”
“Well reasoned!”
“But, you see.”
I gazed quietly at the fish-shaped statue and spoke.
“I have no desire to witness the annihilation of the entire world.”
Unishive’s ideal is apocalypse.
More precisely, a living hell indistinguishable from the extinction of sentient beings.
A dream that roughly coincided with the purpose of the Great Demon dwelling on the highest level of the Nightmare Dungeon.
This was why the schemer, a believer of Unishive, had so readily accepted the recruitment into the Six Apostles.
“………”
The warmth that had filled Kairas’s expression froze over once more.
“It is not annihilation. It is an ideal paradise where all are ‘harmonized.'”
“That is entirely untrue.”
I shook my head with conviction.
“How can a world where all sentient beings suffer equally and endlessly be an ideal paradise? The great deities of heaven and the underworld have agreed to call such a horrific world ‘hell.'”
Though some occasionally misunderstand, as Astrímia sometimes does, I do not relish suffering itself.
The inevitable hardship and adversity that accompany my rush toward my purpose.
Only the pain that ultimately brightens the fruit I finally grasp holds value.
“I apologize, but if the qualification to become a Socialite of that deity is the warped inclination to derive pleasure from endless suffering inflicted without cause, then I have already failed that test.”
In my non-believer build, there was no room for the Secret Art of Unishive to intrude.
“And I have no wish to descend beneath the Great Demon. For me, a future already exposed holds no more value than a single petal of a flower.”
Foresight and prophecy that glimpse the future are the most worthless abilities in existence.
They are vicious thieves that steal away the exhilaration of stepping forward into an uncertain tomorrow that sets the heart racing with anxious excitement.
“I shall carve out my future with my own strength.”
“…Even if you die because you cannot overcome a crisis?”
“That itself would be one of the ideal futures I desire. Especially if I were to meet such tragedy in an A-Rank or higher Dungeon, truly……”
I faltered, unable to contain the trembling conveyed through my head and heart, before continuing.
“It would be nothing short of the finest of ends. The mere thought makes my heart soar weightlessly, you see?”
“……”
Kairas, who had been gazing at me with wavering eyes, let out a long sigh and spoke.
“…Then it cannot be helped.”
Kairas quietly murmured and withdrew a scroll from her bosom, unfurling it.
Countless objects were drawn upon the lengthy vertical sheet of yellowed parchment.
A Paper-Form Subspace Artifact.
Flutter.
As she gently shook the scroll, the innumerable tools that had been depicted suddenly spilled out.
Dozens of throwing stars that loitered at their owner’s side, a large ninja dog golem, and a short blade inscribed with strange markings along its edge.
The conspirator reached down and picked up one of the daggers.
《Mastercraft – Companion of the Lord》
《The sharper it becomes, the higher the owner’s Agility stat.》
The conspirator’s primary weapon.
Its raw performance was nothing extraordinary, but as a blade, it aligned perfectly with ninja combat where speed was everything.
Whooooosh—!
Soon, a deep cerulean aura began to swirl violently around Kairas.
“Unishive, I shall spread your order across this land.”
[Will That Devours Malice].
The conspirator’s unique Secret Art, brought from the future through the authority of a Great Demon.
Upon activation, it temporarily purges all negative status ailments and greatly raises the user’s Agility.
In exchange, the body is wracked with terrible pain.
《The conspirator’s momentum has become extraordinary. Exercise caution!》
Suddenly, the cerulean aura vanished.
All at once, the calamities of body and spirit that had been strangling the conspirator were gone.
The Bane Sprout, the price paid for serving the evil god, and the countless prohibitions imposed to restrain the disposable ninja’s movements—all of it.
“You truly must die.”
[Will That Devours Malice] grows more potent the more and greater the calamities it consumes.
In other words.
By devouring calamities in both quality and quantity, the conspirator’s Agility had reached the realm of the transcendent.
“At least I’ll make it swift.”
The moment the words left my lips.
《Warning: Throat targeted from behind!》
Kairas had already reached my back.
Shink!
Before I could even react, the dagger thrust through my throat, driving deep.
A pain crashes over me as if my head might sever any instant.
If not for the [Barrier That Postpones Wounds] that Jinui wrote for me using [Insight into Chaos] to pierce through the danger—I would already be dead.
“Quite fast, aren’t you…”
The conspirator, who until now had fought with their body dulled by the Bane Sprout, relying solely on their own skill and command of Secret Arts, was finally unleashing their full power.
Had it not been for the drawback of [Will That Devours Malice], which required a long charging time, they would have eliminated me at our first encounter.
“You’re already dead.”
The blade bored deeper still.
Drop after drop of crimson blood.
A formidable opponent beyond my current reach.
A lethal threat to my life.
“…Ah, ha.”
I’d meant to hold back, given the mood.
But laughter keeps spilling from my lips.
Tzzzzzzzt!
A fierce will came surging from on high.
‘Pretty thing, go smash that delicate face to pieces! Crush it utterly!’
A rather savage request.
Not because I’m a believer of Unishive, the evil god whom all divinity regards with caution, but because of personal preference—though I have no intention of refusing.
“Your Majesty, trust only in me.”
I shall honor your desire.
The way the conspirator prefers—thorough and certain, though it may take a touch of time.

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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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