Chapter 224: Prophecy of Apocalypse (2)
t6kxTV“Wow…”VqT
8f6In the last iteration, Park Sihu and I had a much easier time compared to how it was like in the game.DKiLna
lo8We didn’t take the proper procedures in terms of quests, and leveled up at a speed that would be only possible through cheats. It was relatively easier than how it should have gone.qWV
EsRxtazAlthough I had to swing the spear like crazy as someone who possessed the body of a side character, it was still an undeniable truth that Park Sihu’s elixirs provided a large amount of assistance along the way.pqU
98NwzLike that, we quickly became strong and were easily acknowledged by others. We were able to create a tremendously strong party but… there was still a problem we couldn’t fully solve.aWlSAc
PX0JS2oOne of such was wealth.4ejGOY
ka62BPNo matter how much money the player was to collect, it was never more than tens of thousands of gold coins.KP47Z
Y89eDCThe amount of gold required for monster carriers like Hresvelgr, one of the end-game contents, was around 15,000 gold coins or more.czgp
3URTaking into account the money you needed to create a guild and the money required to hire mercenaries, the player needed to earn 20~30 thousand gold.WEeP
EI8oOf course, that was excluding the amount of money that had to go into the actual gear and equipment of both the player and the party members.GgRB
U1kzOr5“Korin. We got the bill for this month, but there’s still too much budget left. So I called a circus troupe, some chefs and massaging experts. Let’s go get a massage together~”3vxY
QDZ3 Hresvelgrs.07fNcyg
tTjl8jt56 top-notch wyverns.rGXssbG
TxpSATens of primary members, 300 from the Warsky Mercenaries and 300 from the Arden elites. 400 slave mages from the Tower of Mages… each equipped with high-quality gear made by the best craftsmen of the kingdom.JMRWfo
3qDCLoFood and consumables were also nothing but the best of the best.7dk3Xt
HRA1VXi“Ko~rin~dongsaengg! I’m distributing the new prophecy statements to all the chapels located throughout the kingdom. And the preparations for munitions are also under way! The Old Faith though! You should have seen the look on their faces! Kyahaha!”Lywj
oEnVTlJEstelle, the Saintess of the Zeon Order.JJo
zZbOMThe New Faith, which was supposed to incur chaos in the kingdom alongside the Old Faith, were all purged by the Saintess.THcpvT
T9HzThe pope and the cardinals were all gone, leaving behind only the blind and faithful believers of her miracles.Uo6RVmX
tzQf4egAfter all that, the Saintess was making use of what she accomplished 200%.6zHa
v60Eu8Originally, the prophecy of apocalypse spread by the Xeruem Order was supposed to bring chaos into the kingdom and increase their public authority. This naturally would have affected the final battle as well.cDTu4
gvoBut what was going on now?0m29
qvSThanks to Estelle meeting a false prophecy with a false prophecy of her own, the confusion and chaos of the populace was heading in a different direction.oSAXW9M
QBVGfTIt was towards the savior referred to as the ‘New Sun’.PFYG
3ijxEg1As for who it was that Estelle was inferring at… it was obviously me.VCqfxP
NFgvRZThis lady was serious. She was serious about making me into a god being worshiped by the common people.ViK7Td
lLgthZAnd to be frank, it was very effective.1HWu5c
ROwac[The New Sun will rise!]gNaNj
bHej0GN[Saintess Estelle speaks of salvation through the apocalypse!]X8evkv
OhRWh[Who exactly is this New Sun!?]CaR
A0iDue to the intentional efforts of the Zeon Order and the media, the Saintess’s prophecy was being spread to all corners of the kingdom.Gegp3Cq
iXTe4yoThe distressing prophecy of apocalypse, was reframed with a hopeful future of salvation.4sF
4xFtEven though that was my plan… It was weird to see how effective incitement and propaganda were.RmRFkhl
h9K“This is far more than just ‘easy’.”GnRu
mVOuAThe absurd amount of wealth provided by the Dunareff… on top of the absolute position of the Saintess…dWgh
UDn3qIs it really okay for everything to sail this easily?zcT
Q9efRsx“I will hereby announce the investigation group!” said King David with a sonorous voice, personally announcing the contents of the scroll.KtzwCL
mlPvqI4The formality and its format reminded one of a ceremony and a speech that was usually given before a war, which didn’t sound right, because technically this was just an investigation to research what was happening with the weather.jKW
RDwZ75The higher-ups of the kingdom were still just viewing the longer winter as a temporary abnormality in climate, and didn’t see it as a grave issue. All they thought was that the weather was a bit crazy.CGjIih
XUJCFL“This investigation group has a tremendous responsibility of investigating the current abnormality in weather as well as finding clues related to the prophecy of Saintess Estelle.”h0VL
pWNf3g4Added to the investigation of climate issues was the prophecy of the saintess, the loftiest lady in the world who was personally connected with the god.ZAEbO
3sIuABLWhatever she said had to be true. No-one could possibly say no when the saintess claimed that she personally heard it from the god.e0W
of3“The Saintess has prophesied that the origin of this incident is related with the north. As such, we will increase the size of the investigation group and keep an expedition troop at bay. Every troop must therefore be ready to march through the winter.”rVsDLl3
OUnbxOf course, some of the priests of the Old Faith tried to tackle the Saintess for distorting their ‘prophecy of apocalypse’ but Estelle returned the same response to them.4F0b7
ztCJO‘I heard it. For real.’Z66
zF07OtO‘Like I said, I heard it from the lord!’cm4
snIJuH‘Do you think I’m lying? I’m the Saintess, you know? Whatever I say goes. Stop blabbering.’YmB1
oX9uThat wasn’t exactly what she said and it was quite heavily paraphrased, but that was what she said to them in a nutshell.CfdE
MmfDachAs a result—FZjH8AG
OhP“I grant full rights of this investigation to Baron Korin Lork, who may form the group at will. I also give permission for Saintess Estelle Hadassa El Rath to form the divine expedition.”F0mqKQz
S7BLMI was the commander of the investigation group, but also had the right to give commands to the expedition in an emergency. Although the expedition was technically under Estelle, it was the same thing anyway and didn’t really matter.Rv3
HwfD0p9“It’s finally about to begin.”C8YM
GH1“Everything seems to be going the way you wanted it to.”U5lqm
FuUMaster said while taking my side with a smile.cHEqn
UBd4hNVThe first investigation group amounted to 800 in total, comprised of absurdly exceptional talents.u7VnD
L4YMaster Erin, Lady Josephine, Marie, Hua Ran, Alicia… and me. There were 6 with the word ‘Unique’ in their title, and added to that were 794 who were all knights and mages.dwV
efhAU“This looks enough to start a war,” commented Lady Josephine while lifting her glasses.JpBUhr
bz0p“Most of them are reserve guardians I’ve summoned as the president and 300 of them are slave mages, so the official number of the investigation is 500.”d14t
2YJ“That’s the ‘official’ number, is it?”aFjHCy0
H6QO“That is exactly right.”d6C
UqAQsDIn preparation for the final war which would happen simultaneously at numerous fronts, I stationed the reserve guardians wherever necessary, and squeezed out all the remaining guardians that could be utilized.L7OW
CJJmMAlong with this legion of 800 knights and mages…hi1
IFgi31[Side Quest: Fallen Valkyries2rjE2
1SQx※ Difficulty: S5r9QUN
KYTz※ Deadline: April 31st]u0R
0bx“Northern borders. That’s our first destination.”8cQO
h1wzFIt was one of the places that would go down if everything went according to the game scenario. The wall was where the valkyries of the north would escape through, after losing half of their numbers, all the way until they could reach the player.fdt5
WcDSCB4We had to protect the valkyries that were against Tates Valtazar, as well as the great wall at the northern front, which will save the lives of countless humans.6migvI
r0sd67****pLSjL
QkeIEver since the start of the winter holiday, Rashid had to move with his father after a long time off work.asJOVg6
Edj2“Uhp… Uhpp! Uhp!”90n
DMlC1iMIt was ironic how he was back with the head of Hasassin, the race of assassins, despite escaping it to walk the chivalrous path of a knight.vXUGPgk
vtkKidnapping, secret investigations, assassinations and destroying facilities.tL9
kbXjeThose were nothing new for the Hasassin race, who were one with the darkness from birth.uER
UBL1For Rashid, it was slightly disturbing how this was a request made by a senior, whom he had been considering to be the greatest example of a model knight.GAgDN
2gDJrKorin requested while tapping on his shoulder.kms
aZEoB[I’m not saying the result is the only thing that’s important. But there are just too many bastards in this world.]E4G
Skm[Are you talking about yourself?]Mc1M
IdFOKuP[Damn it! Don’t look at me like that! I know that already! I know!]mmX
T2eTHIn any case, the mission he had assigned to them after entrapping his father and paying a huge amount of gold was finally coming to fruition.XI7pE
SUAh– KUAAAAHK!7FGnX
GLmQg– Please! PLEASE STOPPPPP!!!Y8Dp
QDHnJo7The basement was echoing with screams. Rashid felt slightly skeptical about doing something that felt so greatly distant from his chivalrous dream, but his thoughts changed after reading the documents they gathered.1vQR
AI7“What horrendous fuckers.”GUzwUu
LLQvwqIt was mind-blowingly shocking, and Rashid felt first-hand how humans could stay quite rational and unsurprised when the truth was absurdly ridiculous.RhBFdw
1PR“Fuu~. These guys are tougher than expected.”983yi
bgRcWThe steel door to the basement creaked open as his father, Sinnan Ib Salman Mustali, walked back up. As always, his face reeked of blood.t24w
gVfG“Is it not going well?” Rashid asked.AycWT
9Ullms“Fellows with disgusting convictions don’t tend to open their traps so easily. But this won’t take that long.”qejuSqJ
ChiQ“I believe you should hurry. I’ve heard that the expedition is being formed with haste.”9lE
xk3“That’s pretty fast. Something like that would normally take months to go through. Looks like our employer has quite the political power.”Of28
LKuThat’s… probably thanks to all the women.wi0FPD
Qg3Rashid wanted to add but refrained from doing so.U1F1K
kAZcPcyKorin Lork was definitely a respectable knight. He was a kind-hearted hero, who was a great target for aspiration and mentor as a fellow knight, but…q7KKKv
7BitfA‘He has too many women.’vrD
rH2It wasn’t like he indulged in such matters, and yet there were still way too many women around him – each of them were abnormally extraordinary on top of that.ST2OjQO
twqqIFEven Rashid thought the preparation would take until May at the very least. But from the looks of things now, ‘May’ sounded like a joke.7ka
tPb9XaFThe super-wealth of the Dunareff, power of the Arden, full-on support from the royal family and the false prophecy of the Saintess.SMB
GhuThe synergy of his messy relationship with women allowed everything to be resolved in the blink of an eye. It was to the point that it seemed like he was going against the laws of the universe, and be possibly met with a backlash.FkrZO
gKf4aG“Ehew…”YSrdG
seXskY“What is the matter, son?”iKbs
xlVNatL“Nothing. I was just… thinking how being ripped into 5 parts won’t be enough for some people.”lKC3Os
q94KiHt“…How sinful must they be for you to say such a thing about them?”3HmFX
iKt“I guess you could call it a sin.”lx7Qk
Z4NCUPAlthough he respected Korin Lork as a senior knight, Rashid was greatly concerned about his future.ltWeFHj
ooLd‘He’ll probably be ripped into different parts, right?’u6d
AUusAll who live by something, will die by something.fop2WB
sx1ZaFQRashid was reminded of that line from somewhere.dsA0W
BuC****g0IU
MLPThe El Rath Kingdom, in possession of most of the continent, had clear distinctive traits for each region.xQFV9v
USLyThe east had a great military as well as a trade route to the east.ELqhFai
4apltJThe south had wide plains of grass and abundant resources which in turn made them exceptionally wealthy.un9OA
IgEEThe west was the center of religion, while the capital city was the core of culture and administration.KwDbiES
6coy7Each region of the continent had their distinctive traits, while the ‘north’ had two possible interpretations.w3cFb
CNiBKSqOne of them was the immediate north of the El Rath Kingdom. It was referred to as the north for being on the north of the capital city, but the lands were infertile and were therefore few in population.zYh
U9incDIt was widely known how everywhere except for the ‘northern walls’ were basically free from the eyes and hands of the central administration.kNdD
2NuHVJBecause of how independent the location was, the end of the wall was where the Tower of Mages, the sanctum of magic, had been located, but that in turn proved just how barren and uninhabited these lands were.0C7e
WePmuOne of the fundamental reasons for the lack of population was the infertile lands, but there was also the presence of barbarians, who loved harassing the kingdom ever since its establishment.TUmn7U
8FcThe kingdom had several times tried to eradicate the barbarians of the north, but it wasn’t easy to annihilate those, who were living in the harsh wintery regions of the far north.iGDMc
1aRXdIn the end, the El Rath Kingdom made a compromise by creating a large wall around the Northern Kingdom, to stop them advancing down south.kYa0w
ybaThat was the first definition of ‘north’.Hb8
8PwVAs for the other definition of ‘north’, it was a very broad terminology.bfh43h
GRwIt referred to everything beyond the northern walls the kingdom had built – the vast land of barren nothingness, that was as big as the El Rath Kingdom itself.7rUd
BJP8c6IThat seemingly cursed and uninhabitable land was where they were situated.jao
jg1P“Unni. We have a message.”N6aFfmQ
9vi“Can you pass it to me, Hilde?”lBM
UIgiThe lady with hair as white as snow read the letter passed onto her.MgQ
gLtFMF[Mist is trying to stop them. The Frost Giant appeared. Some of our sisters escaped. We are nearing our limits.]dBwGXYV
MnYpThe message conveyed by one of her sisters contained depressing news.jJOmvW
x9NyNiflheim – the remnant of mythology which should have vanished from this land along with the end of the era – the demonic land that should have forever vanished from the memories of people in the deep underground, was being brought back to life by one man.EU2UQK
DFTgupQTates Valtazar.jpUT
nojY3PThat man’s objective… was to destroy the world.xnMT
oHSQQ“Unni… Do we really have to stop him?”QrHR
Uk9HNzi“Hilde…”pSljM9R
Uqs“But think about it. If he succeeds… we can regain our past glory. Even if we continue living on like this, we will wither away and eventually disappear. That’s why the sisters of spear… Olrun and Alvit are on his side…”CHdQ
A1f37E[A man carrying a spear will give us our new mission.]CQAyw
51pThat was the prophecy given by one of their sisters who could read the destiny, which ended up dividing them into two factions. Because of that prophecy, half of the valkyries became followers of Valtazar.pEm
U0nIt wasn’t like the lady with snow-white hair didn’t understand her sisters.lTp
SmGiAfter the fall of gods, the valkyries who had lost their purpose had similarly fallen from grace, but there was now a being who could grant them a new battlefield.2vMu
8uvlU5bHowever, siding with him meant discarding this current world.F44FXvO
fm3QOQ“Hilde. Over that small brook is the village of Geron and the little children. The grandparents of their grandparents of their grandparents received my blessing when they came into this world.”f16xD
YDsjmThat wasn’t the end.A57VGU
3Yqu10X“The forest across the village is where the village of the forest keepers are. They’re little children who cultivate nature, communicate with the elementals and help the forest survive through the harsh winter.”bBu
HNx“Unni…”OMbN2w6
pt2O9t“That’s not the end. There’s more. There are also the half-giants, who occasionally shared their game with us despite being a long descendent of the titans.”YWI
L3ZCWZQThe lady with snow-white hair, Brunhild, recalled the history of this land which she had overlooked for the past 1,000 years. The reason they were still alive, despite failing their mission of assisting the gods in the final battle, was simple.gA3g
gS8YiZ“They have nowhere else to go. They won’t be able to survive without us.”GHH3S2
BLZAIt wouldn’t be long until the horde of demons and giants would come south. The Master of Winter will descend and shake the earth with its footsteps.KoE0f
jkmplJnBrunhild wanted to protect the citizens of the north, who would be otherwise swept away in that turmoil.fet
CP1BNiL“We… should have died back then. We lost our chance to die an honorable death.”jBKW
y2pPlmP“I know.”i4XMDjs
ZLc0They had lived for too long.1XM9SO
Zv5For far too long… they had lived in harmony with humans.mX5c
98VLike that, the female warriors, who couldn’t meet a glorious end along with the gods, had ended up falling from grace.Qp1EVek
NtIx9g“But even if we fight till our last breath… everyone will die. For them to survive…”9j7GtX
pN73“We must cross the walls of the kingdom that are stopping us.”NoAYs
gq6h4eT“There’s no way they’ll let us in. They will probably think of us as barbarians.”tuNWgr
RE9LLd“…”nkHoJ1
0kOqBrunhild knew that as well, but there was no other option.BNbhrs
PmnpXIf need be… she might even have to gather her sisters and the tribes to break that wall.PG8
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