Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. - Chapter 116

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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 116 — Ten years lying in bed? Unbelievable!
I stood before a building whose facade was achingly familiar.
[Sun Orphanage]
The moment the sign embedded beside the main gate entered my vision, I understood what was happening to me.
A dream.
More precisely, a grotesque nightmare of the sort that belonged in that category.
‘Here again.’
Being such a loyal, recurring visitor, the moment I recognized the setting, the lucid dream began.
It always happened this way.
My mind remained sharp, yet I was granted no power to manipulate the dream world as I wished.
Instead, robbed of free will, my body moved of its own accord.
“…….”
Presently, ungrateful eyes forced their owner to witness a sight most unwelcome.
The entrance to the orphanage.
A young girl covered head to toe in livid bruises, blood dripping steadily, drew near to me.
“It hurts….”
“…….”
I held Yunji’s gaze for a moment, then placed my hand upon her blood-matted hair.
“Today the resentment feels a bit lighter, doesn’t it? Would you not tear me to shreds and trample me beneath your feet, as you did before?”
Naturally, no answer came.
But that was all right.
Some emotions do not crumble, even when laid bare in one direction alone.
“Next time, I hope we might at least exchange a few words.”
As I wiped the blood from Yunji’s face, I drew a finely-spun thread of spider’s silk from my forefinger.
Thump.
Sharp pain lanced through my neck, and my clouded consciousness suddenly clarified—the world lurched sideways.
“…….”
The next moment.
I was lying on some hospital bed.
In a wide, comfortable room suffused with a pleasant fragrance, a single bed had been placed for me.
《Finally awake! :D》
Immediately, as if waiting all along, words appeared before my eyes.
《Mightplace – Wings of Sky》
《The most prestigious healing facility in the 3rd District. Entry is ordinarily impossible for commoners, but members of the Ash Gray Wolf Guild may use it by expending the considerable Merit Points they accumulate each time they plumb the Dungeon.》
“How long was I out?”
I threw back the blanket embroidered with blue sky and tried to rise, but my body swayed.
At that, Jinsil hurriedly displayed characters in enormous script.
《You collapsed for approximately one day. The aftereffects of the Hand Mirror Artifact have not yet subsided—refrain from exertion for now!》
“Thanks for the quick briefing.”
Though only a day had passed, my head—which had felt extraordinarily heavy and aching—now felt considerably lighter.
Wings of Sky truly lived up to its reputation.
Still, complete recovery would likely take longer; I would need to seek out some more formidable healer later.
I rose from the bed and walked slowly toward the window.
Chirp-chirp-chirrup!
As I gazed out upon the twilight sky, its hues growing deeper as the sun sank low, lightning suddenly crackled across my collarbone.
It came particularly violently; the detoxification lagged slightly.
“So you found it unbearably tedious while I lay unconscious.”
With no other believer of note to observe, even a single day must have felt tiresome.
To bore so exalted a being—what a transgression.
As an Unclean Merchant of the Socialite persuasion, there was nothing for it but to offer a proper apology.
“I am deeply sorry that I grew too weak and simply fainted. I beg your forgiveness.”
Soft whisper of fabric.
I unfastened the top two buttons of my clean patient gown and drew back the collar slightly.
A graceful service, refined enough to avoid excessive exposure.
The subtle downward tilt of the head, as if in embarrassment, was the finishing touch.
Crackle-crackle-crack!
From the tattoo near my collarbone erupted lightning of such intensity and strangeness that even an intelligent entity would struggle to describe it—then it vanished.
It seemed to be pleased.
Soft purr.
Following which, the taciturn one offered their own greeting.
But I couldn’t make out what he was saying.
Among the three followers, I was the only Socialite, and perhaps the aftermath of losing consciousness had weakened his Divine Power considerably—far more than before—making his words utterly incomprehensible.
“That’s right. I also believe grilled chicken skewers are the king of street food.”
I offered what was probably the closest answer to the truth, then gazed out the window.
Even after a long while, Okail, the Guide of Catastrophic Creation, sent no sign of acknowledgment.
“It seems the evil god wasn’t worried about me at all while I was unconscious.”
I nodded with satisfaction.
Yes, this is how an evil god should be.
A god could only be called truly wicked if he remained devoted solely to his own desires, indifferent to whether his Socialites lived or died.
And a true Socialite should accept an evil god’s indifference and neglect with joy.
“Please continue to maintain that austere demeanor befitting an evil god.”
As I was touching the area on my thigh where the chain tattoo was marked, the hospital door opened and a pair of tiger-kin siblings entered.
“Huh?”
“Kar!”
Merlin rushed over and grabbed my hand.
“You’ve finally woken up! You’ve been lying there for ten years!”
“Is that so.”
I nodded calmly.
Jinsil had said it was only a day, but I trust my ward.
…….
…….
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“…Why aren’t you surprised?”
“Good heavens.”
I shrugged my shoulders and covered my mouth with my hand.
“Ten years asleep. I really can’t believe it.”
“…Ugh, seriously! You’re so infuriating!”
Merlin poked at my ribs repeatedly with a sharpened index finger.
I grabbed her finger and shook it back and forth like a handshake, then asked, “Nothing happened while I was out?”
“There was some commotion when the patron finished clearing the Dungeon and collapsed right as he came out.”
Abel let out a soft laugh.
“People came up with all sorts of theories about the patron’s collapse. The current prevailing hypothesis is that he’s always been sickly anyway, but just looked healthier in the Battlefield of Sun and Moon because he turned into a Vampire there.”
I’d wanted to be known for an intellectual image, but somehow acquired a frail and delicate aesthetic instead.
An Elf-blooded evil god worshipper does grow weak because of the Cleansing Bud, so the rumor isn’t entirely baseless.
Zing!
That lofty personage registered a protest—frailty belongs to Lanky, so don’t take it from him.
“Lanky” was Odillon.
He was certainly the type who’d blow out his knees just from a casual walk.
“But, patron.”
Abel, who had been smiling softly, suddenly lowered his voice.
“You fought in quite a painful way in this Guild War too.”
“Abel’s right. Didn’t we make some promise before? Hmm, what was it about again?”
…….
The siblings sent a simultaneous chill through the air with their gazes.
Terrifying.
More so than when that evil spirit department head Choi called me at three in the morning.
“…I’m sorry.”
This wouldn’t resolve with mere words, so I made a concrete promise aloud.
“Next time, if my appearance grows progressively worse during a fight, I’ll overlay it with the Illusion Realm Mystery to make myself look intact.”
“…What kind of promise is that!”
“You really do exceed all expectations.”
The light in the siblings’ eyes softened somewhat.
The Battlefield of Sun and Moon was a Dungeon where safety was guaranteed, so they probably weren’t furious from the start.
If they had been, they would have shown their anger from the beginning, just like last time.
“Is there anything else in particular I should know about?”
“The Half-Elf who invaded the Guild War is locked up in a prison in the 3rd District.”
It was said that Targon himself had thrown the conspirator into the cell.
In the process, the Half-Elf kept resisting without giving up, and allegedly took a direct hit from the fist of the gray orc who’d returned as a Level 9 Berserker.
I couldn’t hide my regret and sighed.

“You’ve been trapped in such a dreary place. Honestly, the 4th District jail would be better.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Merlin’s ears perked up.
“Isn’t a prison just a prison, no matter where it is?”
“No. Every district in Pletika has its own distinct prison, each with its own character.”
In the case of the 3rd District, it’s an underground dungeon.
Due to all manner of mystical surveillance systems, once you enter, you see no sunlight until your sentence is finished.
“When you’re locked in that underground dungeon, you’re trapped in darkness the whole time. That’s what makes it excessively cruel.”
“Thinking about not seeing light for decades—yes, that does sound horrifying.”
“Hmm? That’s nothing special. Just imagine you’ve become a Vampire with an extreme pathological fear of sunlight.”
“…You really do have impressive imagination, don’t you?”
Merlin shook her head slightly and poked my back with a finger.
“So what makes you think an underground dungeon is so terrible?”
“There should be all sorts of traps so that when you manage to escape, the joy feels proportionate. But there’s nothing but darkness and no other dangers at all, so the whole design crushes your will to escape through something called boredom. It’s truly inhumane, isn’t it?”
…….
I was trying to explain the horror of the underground dungeon’s design—this concept of ‘absolute nothingness’—when Abel spoke up first.
“…Anyway, that ninja was interrogated by the Ash Gray Wolf Guild. Apparently, he cooperated surprisingly well and confessed to all his crimes quickly.”
The murder of Rigoberto from the Ash Gray Wolf Guild, and Laenis from the Unforgotten Turtle Guild.
And the leaking of Secret Art information from Ash Gray Wolf Guild explorers.
Considering the conspirator was a ninja wielding the Flesh Garment, a Secret Art specialized in infiltration and intrigue, the damage could be said to have been minimal.
‘Because he’s a believer of Ernisive….’
The ascetic of equal balance.
An evil god of agonizing harmony and compulsive order.
Since Ernisive pursued ‘harmony’ just as Artein did, his believers didn’t simply go around killing indiscriminately.
Had Ernisive been a deity that pursued mass slaughter, he would have met the same fate as the thirty-seven evil gods who perished during the Cathedral Age.
“And now he simply sits listless and vacant, or so I’m told.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Apparently he stays in the same posture all day, staring blankly ahead.”
Through the Consciousness Usurper, I’d commanded him to abandon his Faith, so he’d lost all will.
For the conspirator, Ernisive had been the reason for living.
It pained me to see my kinsman trapped in despair, but life has always been full of sorrows, so it was something I could bear.
‘…Still, I won’t deny that he had no choice but to fall into Faith toward Ernisive.’
I myself don’t particularly care for the atmosphere in some parts of elf society that disdain Half-Elves.
I still disliked those elves who clung to the antiquated notion that if a human falls in love and a Half-Elf is born, you can simply kill them or sell them off.
The world’s perception of Half-Elves was still far from harmonious.
“But what exactly is the identity of that Half-Elf?”
Merlin suddenly asked, narrowing her brow.
“Even the Unforgotten Turtle Guild Master couldn’t hide his anger….”
“A Half-Elf who fell into the worst circumstances and, unlike me, didn’t grow up right and ended up twisted instead.”
“Grew up right? Who did?”
Merlin looked around as if to survey the area, so I grabbed her head with both hands and made her face me directly.
“Look right here. Isn’t the 6th District’s most upright Socialite standing right in front of you?”
“…You do seem to live more righteously than other Socialites, I suppose.”
Merlin gave a lukewarm response, though she did affirm my words.
Abel also nodded beside her.
“What about the other Socialites? When I wave my hand at them with a friendly smile, they get all embarrassed and quickly turn away—shy, introverted types, aren’t they?”
I wanted to befriend the neighbors in Sociato Town warmly, but they were all too bashful to even return a greeting.
“That’s because you’re too….”
“Where are the rest of the team, anyway?”
As I asked while reaching out to pinch her cheeks, Merlin forcefully pulled my hand away and answered.
“At the Ash Gray Wolf Guild headquarters. They’re throwing a celebration banquet for winning the Guild War. Our Exploration Expedition was invited too.”
“Then why did you two come here?”
“Because we couldn’t enjoy ourselves without you, obviously.”
Merlin spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Abel’s expression affirmed his sister’s words as well.
A gratifying decision from a sponsor’s perspective.
“How thoughtful of you.”
I ruffled both their heads at the same time.
Merlin broke into a smile, her ears twitching as she spoke.
“Charlotte also came part of the way, saying she couldn’t enjoy herself alone while you were unconscious. But then she said there was something urgent to do and left.”
“Mm.”
On the surface, she’d declined the banquet for the same reason as her siblings, but her true intention would have been entirely different.
《She came along to earn Merit Points, then conveniently excused herself so you and your siblings could have a quiet conversation. And by the way, she’d already asked the healer when you’d wake up—planned that part beforehand.》
《And she did it all while knowing you’d be sharp enough to see through it! It’s truly admirable!》
Worldly wisdom at an extraordinary level.
Surviving in the slums as a thief meant this was the bare minimum.
“You two, I’m awake now—shall we go enjoy the banquet together?”
I patted both their heads as I asked, and their tails swished back and forth eagerly.
“Yes!”
“To be honest, I was a little disappointed, but this works out perfectly.”
The food would pale next to Charlotte’s cooking, admittedly, but with so many people milling about, it would be wonderfully lively.
Besides, I’d missed out on paying respects to that exalted one while I was unconscious—the banquet would be a chance to remedy that.
“Then let’s go.”
It was the way of things: after finishing a major task, one earned a celebration.
It was a principle that every exploration industry worker except Odillon would agree with.

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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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