[12th Round] Fair and Square!
Previously, I subdued demon worshippers who held important positions in countries with the help of Dark Energy.
But now that I had used Dark Energy to raise my Gifted ZZZ, there was nothing left for me but good old violence.
I was still a righteous hero, though. I wouldn’t result in cheap tactics like a coup d’etat.
I pulled the string next to my bed.
The noble who guided me here came in instead of the maid. Her lips broke into a bright smile.
“What do you need, hero? A bath? Meal? Or… Me?
Baths were unnecessary.
The water spirit attached to my armpits maintained my hygiene. Even doing the laundry had been eliminated.
I wasn’t sure about meals.
My digestive system, which was no different from a bio-nuclear power plant, was very efficient. Still, I expended a lot of energy, so I did my best to eat regularly.
But that wasn’t my priority right now.
“I need you.”
“Oh, my God!”
Did she really not expect me to be so aggressive? The noblewoman, whose cheeks turned red in an instant, faltered.
But only for a moment.
As expected from an aristocrat, she immediately pulled herself together.
With a charming yet innocent look, she slowly approached me and gently laid her hand on my chest.
I pulled the noblewoman, whose slender waist was further joined by a corset, with my right arm.
She pretended to lose balance and fell on my broad chest.
“I have a favor to ask of you.”
“Anything.”
Her hot breath tickled my ears. The spirit sitting on my shoulders didn’t seem aware of what was happening.
“Spread the rumor that I am the rightful heir of this country.”
“Ye…Yes?”
“I am no ordinary hero. The blood of the great emperor who unified the Northern Continent of Fantasy flows through my body. You believe me, right?”
“… Of course, my hero.”
She answered politely and distanced herself from me a little.
Then she held the ends of her dress gently in both hands and greeted me gracefully.
“I pledge my loyalty to the Holy Hero.”
“Thank you.”
‘Yes, thank you so much!’
Raising the skill ‘Fabrication’ proved useful despite the difficulty it put me through!
▷Type: Skills
▷Name: Fabrication
▷ Grade: Z (54%)
▶ ZZ: Disguise yourself as God.
▶ Z: Win the appeal of God.
▷ SSS: Disguise yourself as a family member.
▷ SS: Disguise yourself as a lover.
▷ S: Disguise yourself as a friend.
▷ A: Disguise yourself as a witness.
▷ B: Win the appeal of a family.
▷ C: Win the appeal of a lover.
▷ D: Win the appeal of a friend.
▷ E: Win the appeal of a witness.
▷ F: Lies become more plausible.
There was no convenient option to turn into a King, but turning into the King’s family was just as good.
Of course, fabrication wasn’t all-powerful.
The greater the lie, the higher chance of failing.
However, I was loved by the universe. Even if I only had a 0.1% chance to succeed, it was as good as 100%.
The effect of Divinity Z also helped me in this regard.
Oh, I forgot.
A spirit had joined me. Since the First Spirit appointed him as a king, should I refer to him as the King of Soul Spirits?
In my eyes, he was just a pervert who enjoyed sexual harassment, but as someone who didn’t wait for orders before working, I held him with high regard. I decided to call him the Spirit King.
And the rest of them? They should work hard to earn it.
“Will you help me?”
“Now that I know the truth, I can no longer take your kindness and consideration for granted. Do not ask, but please command me.”
“Then, bring me the Queen of this country.”
I didn’t bother explaining how.
After all, she swore allegiance to me. Regardless of the consequences, she would carry out any of my orders.
Of course, I didn’t intend to use her and abandon her.
After all, that was something only a coward who couldn’t trust his competent subordinates would do.
“Yes, my lord.”
She wasn’t even a powerfully built knight, so this task might be too much to ask of her, but noble ladies in aristocratic society weren’t as simple as they might seem.
They were driven by certain reasons, after all.
Unless it was significant enough to influence the world, aristocrats gave reasons for killing commoners and slaves, no matter how far-fetched the reason.
At such moments, the noble ladies demonstrated their true strength.
For the family, for the husband, they were adept at using whatever connections they had built from a very young age.
Knock knock.
It wasn’t long until the Dumpling King’s Queen was in my bedroom.
Her face, considered to be one of the most beautiful in the Dumpling Kingdom, was filled with discomfort, which was understandable.
Such an occurrence wasn’t common, after all.
As Shadow A said, it was disrespectful for a summoned hero to come onto the mother of a country. Even more, she was a married woman who couldn’t just come and go in a male’s bedroom as she pleased.
If the maids couldn’t keep their mouths shut, it would turn into a scandal. I knew it fairly well.
My fantasy career was already 60 years old, after all. There’s not a chance that I wouldn’t know.
“Why were you looking for me, hero? If it’s not important, I won’t let this slide.”
“There’s nothing to worry about. I have very important business, my Queen.”
The process of persuasion was the same as what I did with the female before.
Still, I couldn’t just ignore the fact that the Queen was a demon worshipper. I didn’t know if she had the skill, but I knew a day would come when she would betray me due to the orders of the demons.
I either had to eliminate her or have her submit to me. I executed my decision.
“Oh?! This unpleasant power…”
“That’s right, my Queen.”
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
Drawing out the Dark Energy that had permeated the depths of her bones caused her to fall onto the ground in pain.
The maid that followed her like a shadow couldn’t escape the same fate.
Nobody came to their aid.
That was because this place was well sound-proofed to protect the privacy of the palace’s guests.
Their suffering didn’t take long. Their faces, dripping with cold sweat, had started to calm down.
She knelt before me.
“Ah, Holy Hero!”
“Greetings, your grace!”
I made an incredible collaboration between Divinity Z and Illusion Z! On top of that, the love of the universe eliminated the possibility of failure.
It was like eating a baby dragon.
▷ Type: Skill
▷ Name: Divinity
▷ Rank: Z
▶ ZZ: Divine Retribution (34%)
▶ Z: Unconditionally Divine
▷ SSS: Receive worship.
▷ SS: Perform divine reflections.
▷ S: Ignore normal attacks.
▷ A: Receive praise.
▷ B: Purify Dark Energy.
▷ C: Use divine protection.
▷ D: Bestow a blessing.
▷ E: Resist Dark Energy.
▷ F: Use divine attack.
But my work wasn’t finished yet.
Yeong-ae completed her mission by bringing the queen to my workplace (bedroom), so there’s no need to worry, but the role of the queen representing and leading the females of the dumpling kingdom was just beginning.
▷ Race: Human
▷ Level: 164
▷ Job: Queen (Favor → Captivity ↑)
▷ Skills: Charm A, Elegance B, Viciousness C, Sociability D, Dark Energy E…
▷ Status: Irritation, Anger, Caution
That was her former stats. Being deprived of Dark Energy, the Queen received a big blow to the skills associated with youth and beauty.
If the finest beauty in the kingdom returned to the king’s bedroom with a pale face and were rejected, my plans would be ruined.
She needed an upgrade.
▷ Race: Human
▷ Level: 104
▷ Specialization: Queen (Favor → Captivity ↑)
▷ Skills: Enchant A, Seductiveness A, Femininity B, Captivity C, Coquetry D…
▷ Status: Submission, Excitement, Blessing, Strengthening, Baptism…
With the help of my skills, including Divinity Z, I had elevated her abilities.
Originally, I could not change her main skill, “Charm A,” but I succeeded in dragging it down the second time around. It was then changed to “Enchant A,” which could be used to captivate a man.
Was the level of competition too high?
“Queen.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
“Make the false king a slave to your love. Be my eyes and ears until I get the support of these foolish people and become the true ruler of this country.”
“I will put all my body and efforts to make sure your deed is done.”
The Queen and the maid stepped down.
Now that I had the Queen, the lady of the dumpling kingdom, on my side, it was safe to say that all women in this country were my allies.
Of course, not right now.
That was because it took a considerable amount of time for her to expand her influence.
“Drug Hero, I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“Won’t it be simpler to brainwash the king who looks like a dumpling? I don’t understand why you need to go about this in such an inconvenient way.”
“Because I’m a hero.”
Oppression through violence had consequences.
Even if the king were turned into a puppet, the country would become a mess if nobles and knights didn’t follow. If that happened, much more time and effort would have to be spent than I would now.
I learned that from my experience in the first round.
After colleagues eliminated the king or chief with who they disagreed with, they ruined the country with a military regime disguised as justice.
It had always been me who had to clean up after them.
“Humans are too complicated…”
“… and Spirits are too simple.”
It’s a terrible vertical hierarchy.
I just didn’t say much because I was on top of it. If I were at the very bottom or even in the middle of it, then I would definitely have already staged a coup.
“Drug Hero, if it’s a coup, then it’s already happened! Those fingers and drugs have enslaved the spirits. But you didn’t even realize what you did! Do you even have a conscience?”
“You submitted to me voluntarily. Don’t fabricate the truth.”
“I don’t want to hear that from you.”
“What did I-?”
Agitation F→ Agitation D
I sacrificed this skill, but now I have created it anew. Its rank was beginning to rise at high speeds.
It looked like the queen’s already working.
“I’m going to the neighboring Holy Kingdom.”
“Already?”
“Surprised by the speed of a MAX-Class Hero, Drug Spirit?”
I would play fair and square with Agitation and Fabrication.
***
I wasn’t leaving the Dumpling Kingdom behind.
Now that I had decided to unify the Central Continent and build a huge empire, I would rule this land someday. If there were any internal problems, such as devil worshippers or secret associations, they would become obstacles in my path later on.
However, I no longer needed to worry about the Dumpling Kingdom.
“Seems like the people I got working for me have been working hard.”
The five heroes that had been summoned before me had already taken care of its problems. There were five of them, so all that was left for me to do was to clean up small issues.
Of course, that wasn’t counting the Devil-worshipping Queen.
To punish the Queen who was favored by the King, I would overthrow the entire country as I did in the second round.
But Alex, the loyal Commander of the Royal Knights, would never support this approach. In other words, I had to remove him first before I could get to the Queen.
It was even harder since he was a precious colleague.
“Drug Hero, how are you going to take over the Holy Kingdom? I know you have your nasty combo, but the knights and saints who serve as the Kingdom’s backbone are given special protection. You can’t break through their mental defense.”
“I know.”
I was a hero with 60 years of experience! Of course, I knew!
How could she think I knew less than some spirit that had been previously imprisoned in a dirty sewer?
“You’re the only being to ever exist that ignores and humiliates the noblest and most beautiful spirit in the universe. Divine punishment is fearsome, Drug Hero. The heavens are on your side… Or is it?”
The First Spirit trembled as if it was chilly…
We moved quickly to the Holy Kingdom. The Dumpling King readily paid the travel expenses even without the persuasion of the Queen.
However, it felt inadequate going alone without the surveillance from Lanuvel and Alex.
The Queen used her powers at that moment, allowing us to arrive in the Holy Kingdom in an instant.
Saintess A, who received the message in advance, was with Hero T, the strongest in the kingdom. They were on standby.
Hero T. His name was Tomato.
I remembered clearly since Luke was the one who taught me that.
“Welcome to the Holy Kingdom. As you may already know, I am a saintess who is much loved by God, and this is Commander Thomas, a Holy Knight, the hero of the Holy Kingdom. You have seen the future, haven’t you? If so, then you should already know that you must first pass the Holy Sword test before anything else.”
Saintess A looked up at me with sharp eyes and questioned me. Her doubt was understandable.
However, like the First Spirit, this little saintess seemed to belittle a hero’s role too much.
An unprepared hero wasn’t a hero. They were just social misfits.
Bbyong!
“Saintess, are you ready to be tested by a hero?”
The Holy Sword, Nucleon.
What else is there to say?
