Chapter 170: King’s Last Mercy

[Miraculous victory! Calculating rewards now...]

DING!

[Would you like to claim your rewards?]

Roderic stared at the screen, his brows raised.

’’Eh? I’m getting a reward for this?’’ he muttered, caught off guard.

After a moment, he shrugged.

’’Guess it only makes sense. Certainly not going to complain about it.’’

Without another thought, he pressed accept.

A massive golden window instantly unfurled in front of him.

[Congratulations! Host has earned the following rewards.]

+30,000 Throne Coins

+1× Special Shop Discount Voucher (50%)

+ Unranked Item: [The King’s Final Mercy]

- - -

Roderic’s jaw dropped.

’What the flying fuck is this?’

Before he even had the chance to digest everything properly, the screen faded away.

A golden necklace materialized in his hand out of thin air.

But Roderic didn’t even look at it.

’’Thirty thousand Throne Coins?!’’ he exclaimed loudly.

A massive grin spread across his face as his eyes sparkled.

Roderic couldn’t hold back his laughter.

’’Hahaha! That’s what I’m talking about!’’ he said. ’’What an absolutely crazy reward!’’

It was quite literally comparable to both his first and second main missions put together.

Of course, that’s just accounting for the raw monetary value. The talents he’d gained from those were priceless.

And then there was the second reward.

A fifty percent discount voucher!

’’I’m fucking rich!’’ he said excitedly. ’’Divine-rank items, here I come!’’

Just imagining all the things he could purchase made Roderic’s heart race.

He pumped his arm into the air, only for a sharp, aching pain to shoot through his body.

’’Argh! Damn it!’’ he cursed, immediately lowering his arm.

As he massaged his muscles, his wild thoughts began to settle.

There was no way he could actually buy a divine-rank item after all.

’That one meteorite spell alone cost 150.000 coins,’ he thought, shaking his head with a soft smile. ’Other divine stuff likely won’t be any cheaper.’

Still, that did little to dampen his mood.

There were still hundreds of things he could purchase with that amount!

’’System,’’ he called out. ’’Show me my current balance.’’

—————World Throne System—————

Name: Roderic Whitemane

Age: 18

Throne Coins: 31,144

> Status

> Quests

> Shop

> Archive

> Territory

> Retainers

???

- - -

Roderic raised an eyebrow.

’Damn,’ he thought. ’I was actually close to running out before, huh.’

The techniques he’d purchased for his retainers hadn’t been cheap.

Purchasing the tracking spell and other items during the battle also came with a pretty costly price tag.

’At least I don’t have to worry about that for a little while.’

Without another thought, Roderic dismissed the system screen.

A deep breath left his mouth as he glanced over Whitemane City.

Even from here, he could see the remaining damage underneath the moonlight.

’’Soon enough,’’ he muttered, clenching his fist.

SCRCH!

Roderic paused for a moment.

’Hm?’

He lowered his gaze slightly.

Only then did he remember the golden necklace resting in his hand.

’’Oh, right,’’ he mumbled. ’’Almost forgot about you.’’

He raised the necklace up to his eye, examining it curiously.

A large, beautiful crimson gemstone hung from a delicate golden chain. Golden, wing-like patterns curled around the gemstone, while a small crown sat on top.

The entire pendant ended in a sharp golden point, giving it an almost royal appearance.

’’Damn, that’s a pretty nice necklace,’’ he muttered, turning it between his fingers.

Despite its appearance, however, Roderic couldn’t sense anything unusual about it.

There was no aura, mana, or anything else embedded inside.

’’The King’s Final Mercy, huh? What a strange name...’’

And then there was its rank.

Or rather, it didn’t actually even have one!

That was something he’d never encountered before.

’’I’m sure there’s something special about it,’’ he mumbled, a golden light flashing through his eye. ’’There’s no way the System would give me something useless, right?’’

[...]

For several seconds, the information remained completely blank.

Just as Roderic was about to speak up, something finally changed.

DING!

[The King’s Final Mercy]

Rank: Unranked

Description: A deceptively beautiful pendant containing the means to deliver catastrophic destruction.

Effect: Upon activation, the host may summon a means of destruction of their choosing.

[Remaining uses: 1/1]

- - -

Roderic just stared at the screen with wide eyes.

Before he even got the chance to speak, a deep red panel popped up ahead of him.

[WARNING: Host can only use five words to specify the means of destruction.]

[WARNING: DO NOT USE THIS LIGHTLY.]

’’...’’

Roderic blinked once.

Then he read through the panels again.

’’What the fuck?’’

His eyes lingered on the catastrophic destruction part.

That sounded rather promising.

But what exactly did it mean by a single means of destruction?

A spell?

A natural disaster?

Perhaps even some kind of crazy monster?

’’System,’’ he started quietly. ’’What exactly are the limits to this thing?’’

Several seconds ticked by.

’’Hello?’’

Three more seconds passed.

No reply came back.

Roderic wanted to click his tongue dismissively.

But his gaze was drawn in by the mysterious necklace in his hand.

’’What the hell am I supposed to do with this?’’ he mumbled, his voice barely a whisper.

For a while, he simply kept staring at the necklace.

The longer he thought about it, the stranger the whole thing seemed.

’Just what the hell is this thing?’

For some reason, a strange feeling began creeping into his heart.

Why?

Why would the System give him something like this?

Sure, he’d achieved a miraculous victory and all... but it wasn’t enough to earn him such rewards.

The necklace’s purpose seemed to be like a ’last stand’ type of thing.

’It feels more like a token of misfortune than anything,’ he thought. ’Kind of like wearing a bomb vest around my neck.’

Roderic stared at it for a moment longer.

Despite everything he suspected, there was not an ounce of hesitation as he placed it around his neck.

’’Alright,’’ he said, pushing himself up. ’’Let’s go back now.’’

Dusting his clothes off, he glanced at the city once more.

’’It’s about time I get some sleep in.’’

With that said, he turned and began heading back to the manor.