[21st Round] Bakery
▶ Anxiety: Was it worth it?
‘Don’t worry, Trainee Teacher!’
This guardian blocked trade between the Eastern and Western Continents.
Without the maelstrom he was guarding, my 1st round would have been two years shorter.
Plus, he was an idiot.
Our ship fell into his vortex on its way to the Western Continent.
Once he let us go, he could have thrown us in the direction of our destination.
But he brought us back to the Eastern Continent instead.
If this obstacle disappeared, it would benefit the heroes’ adventures.
Oh! We had arrived.
It happened so quickly since we crossed the endless waters without being disrupted by the whirlpool.
Western Continent of Fantasy.
In the past, it was a cold continent where, due to the abundance of Lucifers in the sky, not even a single ray of light could break through, but now it flourished just like the Central Continent.
I was even given a reception.
“Welcome to the Empire of Eternal Night. I am the daughter of Her Majesty the Empress and the Great Sage Shakespeare…”
“Princess of Darkness.”
“Oh, uh… Though I am a princess, I’m not—”
“Princess of Darkness.”
“… I see how it is. Please, call me what you like, Demon Lord,” answered the Princess of Darkness politely, standing on the deck of the flying ship built based on the principle of Orgata, which the director’s grandson owned.
I landed on the deck with her.
Although I was in a hurry, I wasn’t a savage who ignored warm greetings.
Besides…
A hologram appeared in the air.
“Lord of Demons and Hope, we have already collected the Chaos Artifacts for you. The teachers who appeared here tried to divert our attention by attacking residents and provoking me, but they are now hiding somewhere after their failure.”
“Not teachers, but some kind of robbers.”
Although I didn’t ask, the Connoisseur gave me the information I needed.
The hologram also showed the Western Continent’s epitome of beauty approaching him from behind and biting her husband’s earlobe.
“Ahem! The collected artifacts are on a flying ship. As soon as the teachers get close, we plan on shooting them with the night sun, but they still haven’t taken the bait.”
“It turns out they’re not complete idiots.”
“Moreover, we have completed preparations for the serial production of the Mollanphone you ordered.”
“Great job.”
“It is nothing special… Ah! Honey, we’re talking about important matters right now.”
“My dear Shakespeare, my body and mind are hungry for you. You worked all day. It’s time to rest.”
“Oh! Demon Lord! If there are any changes, I will contact you again!”
Peep—
The hologram disappeared.
Judging by the calm expression on the Princess of Darkness’s face, she had become accustomed to such a passion of her parents.
“On their behalf, I would like to apologize. My mom is especially problematic. I thought she would get better over time, but the fact that she’s the empire’s ruler just gradually faded away from her mind instead. Well, my father is at least doing her work for her. Thanks to him, despite her lazy governance, the empire enjoyed a quiet life for two millennia without any problems. However, she still doesn’t seem to show even the slightest sign of correcting her behavior…”
… She had a lot of complaints.
I would advise her to get married to eliminate her envy, but the Princess of Darkness was a companion. After about 300 days, the world would be fixed, and if she were to get married, her chances of participating in the heroes’ adventures would be greatly reduced.
Deadly journeys were designed for bachelors and virgins. Married men and women wouldn’t risk their lives in such a way.
If they had children, it would be even harder to convince them.
“By the way, this flying ship is huge!”
It was like floating aircraft carriers linked to each other like train cars.
“Do you like it?”
“Very much so.”
It resembled a spine.
“It’s designed by the Great Sage Shakespeare specifically for the Demon Lord. The ship is modeled after your sword, which looks like a spine, and is powered by a fully automatic system that does not require manual piloting. It is equipped with firepower capable of sinking any continent in a couple of seconds, but this requires huge amounts of resources, making long-term battles difficult.
“This is great.” Regression meant I’d always be able to replenish my arsenal, so its inefficiency during wars of attrition had been canceled out.
“I’m glad you like it.”
“Does it have a name?”
“Mollanfors.”
“Mollanfors?”
“It’s a mixture of ancient languages. Simply put, this is Mollan’s Power.”
“Perfection!”
“Inside Mollanfors are factories for the production of androids and fighters, which makes up this vessel’s entire crew. They’re currently inactive since they don’t have the required materials to function, but they operate automatically.
“The investment was worth it.”
I successfully brought a man to a woman together in the past, and now I savored the fruits of my labor.
Mollanfors.
I would need to test its firepower later, but I had no doubts about its capabilities since Shakespeare was the one who invented it.
▷ Perplexity: The Phantom King Shakespeare I knew was just a vampire that fought using corpses and ghosts…
‘You’re lagging behind, Fugitive Senior. We’re already at the 5th curriculum.’
The MAX-Class junior cleaned up all the mess his FFF-Class senior left behind in the past curriculums.
Mollanfors!
It was a very cool name that I would never get tired of!
▷ Nervousness: The mistakes of my youth disappeared along with my personal file. Now all that remains is to gather my ex-wives who can be considered witnesses of those times.
If he gave me his full support, I would make it happen.
Following the instructions of the Princess of Darkness, I scanned the Chaos Artifacts stored in Mollanfors’ conning tower.
But it didn’t provide me with any useful information.
Only my senior knew if any of these were his wives’ belongings.
▷ Conclusion: There’s one. The red shoes with unusually high heels. I ordered them for my ex-wife, who hated her childish figure… What?
It seemed race and nationally weren’t the only criteria Fugitive Senior didn’t mind…
He never ceased to surprise me.
“We need to take these shoes to the Central Continent.”
It might be possible to track down that teacher with a tiny physique.
▷ Depression: That won’t happen, junior. Why do you think those shoes that make her taller were thrown away?
It looked like my senior had enough reasons to run away from home.
The Princess of Darkness handed me a new Mollanphone.
“This is Mollanphone 2, which the summoned heroes will receive. Turning it on will automatically display its user manual on its screen.”
“How cute.”
“The Demon Lord’s Mollanphone 2G is still in production. Once it’s done, we will contact you.”
“Good.”
This concluded my business on the Western Continent.
I have moved all of the Chaos Artifacts, including the shoes, into my Demon Vault.
All that remained was to find the artifacts that Shakespeare missed.
Folding my wings, I jumped off of Mollanfors’ railings.
But I didn’t just fall.
Fshuh! Fshuh! Fshuh!
Compressing space, I gradually changed the direction of my descent.
I didn’t know my destination myself. I was just following the prompts of the President of the Universe, after all.
▷ Perplexity: Junior, no matter how much attention the universe pays to you, aren’t you too confident in your luck?
Luck? No, I was confident in every step I took.
Clap!
A crater should have formed around me, but I fell somewhere below ground instead, revealing a void under the earth’s layer.
Although the Western Continent’s environment and landscape had changed radically due to the MAX-Class Righteous Matchmaker’s works, the world’s structure itself remained the same.
I knew this place well.
“Cave of Trials. I was here 200 years ago.”
It was a secret place that could never be found by anyone other than those who had the Hero trait. It was the same as the “Training Cave” hidden on the Northern Continent.
Since this place was tied to the system, not even Shakespeare could find it. Even if he did, he wouldn’t be able to get inside.
The same would’ve gone for me, but I was a hero.
I didn’t use its actual entrance, but I got inside anyway.
▶ Surprise: So this is where my senior colleagues were hiding!
No wonder they managed to escape Shakespeare’s space bombardment. They had holed themselves up in here.
There was no better place to use as a safe house.
Naturally, teachers weren’t heroes. However, they could enter as managers.
“What a pity, student Kang Han Soo… Many would’ve been delighted if you used your judgment for the good of the school.”
“Gardening Teacher, I know you’re sorry, but this time you’ll have to give up. He’s been a terrible student from the start.”
“Geography Teacher! Be careful!”
“Don’t worry. We are completely safe here. Unlike him.”
Just like the others, they were a couple composed of opposite genders.
The female Gardening Teacher and the male Geography Teacher.
The way they looked at each other was unusual.
▷ Denial: That’s how colleagues normally look at each other! Stop making strange assumptions!
Leaving my senior alone for being unable to accept reality, I frowned as I looked around.
I tried compressing space, but it didn’t work.
Geography Teacher seemed to be right in front of me, but I still couldn’t reach him.
“Anything you do will prove futile. I am the one who organizes adventures for students. I can easily predict your movements.”
“Predict my movements? Interesting.”
“I assumed you would get here. Although the way you penetrated through the ceiling was quite a surprise, it doesn’t change anything. This place is full of traps created to subdue you.”
“There’s hardly any in here.”
With open arms, I welcomed all the traps I struggled to avoid in my first round.
Poisonous arrows, iron balls, hooks, mines, spikes, flamethrowers…
They couldn’t even scratch my current body, but still, this cave made my level drop.
That bothered me.
I tried to approach Geography Teacher by compressing the space around us once more.
[Space]
[Eight Trigrams]
But it didn’t work.
Unlike the other teachers I could handle in this way, he was a “divine apostle” who borrowed power from God, just like Supervisor Bakery.
If I had the full power of the Demon Lord, there would be no problem, but right now, our powers neutralized each other.
“Surrender now. As you may have guessed already, I’m not just a geography teacher. I am a divine apostle. I have rendered it impossible for you to get out of here as I make you pay for your arrogance.”
“Nonsense.”
“Haha! Everyone can bluff… Huh?!”
“Like I said, nonsense.”
I threw my Perfect Holy Sword at Geography Teacher, striking him down.
Grabbing his back, he exclaimed, “How is this possible?!”
“Isn’t it natural?”
The power that gave Geography Teacher a herniated disc wasn’t borrowed from other gods.
[Spine]
This strength was my own.
“You didn’t know?”
“How could I know that? I only heard that you are an F-Class apostle of some god with a sore back!”
“You’re next, Gardening Teacher.”
“This is Parker Lee’s fault! His report has been falsified!”
It seemed the faculty members were unaware of my strength up until now because of Supervisor Bakery.
Now it became clearer why they flocked here like moths dazzled by the light.
That being said…
“On your knees.”
All spines bent in front of me.
