Chapter 285: Reist's Tragedy (1)

Translator: Dreamscribe

The Crown Prince's bragging provoked Kaljest's and Scharnhilde's factions, along with every imperial and high-ranking noble who wasn't part of the Crown Prince's camp. No, "provoked" was putting it mildly. It was a flawless act of provocation.

Everything lined up far too neatly.

Dispatching the Inspection Corps and a fleet while accepting horrific losses.

He had raised the banner of determining whether Arkia truly existed, but proof of Arkia's existence was already overflowing. To anyone's eyes, there was clearly another motive at work.

The testimony of the Inspector General and a loyal knight laid that motive bare.

It had been an attempt to snatch, free of charge, the great RL and Reist World that Reist had built by pouring in his entire fortune, his time, and his effort!

On top of that, the reason he had ground up an entire fleet turned out to be to supply materials while bypassing the Authority System. For that kind of greed, he had sacrificed the Inspection Corps' newest battleship and a large-scale fleet.

The Inspection Corps was not the Crown Prince's personal force but a unit under the Emperor's direct command. The Crown Prince had the authority to move them, but naturally, he was not supposed to abuse it the way he had this time.

The reason the Crown Prince could behave this way was thanks to the Emperor's indifference. The Emperor had fundamentally taken a hands-off stance toward the factional fighting over the right of succession. Historically, in the Kalsus Dimensional Empire, once someone became Emperor, their outside activity became extremely rare.

Only orders came down.

And in the end, the Crown Prince hadn't just crossed the line; he had left it far behind him.

The culprit who blew up the battleship and burned all the supplies was a member of the Crown Prince's Blood Alliance, and then, as if he'd been waiting for it, he'd flaunted verification of the ship's abundant supplies.

It was a story that flowed together as smoothly as water.

Kaljest and Scharnhilde ground their teeth.

The leadership of both factions gathered in one place for a conference. Of course, they weren't meeting in person; the conference was held in a meeting hall they had installed in Arkia at great expense.

"…Does he not realize that a Crown Prince can be replaced at any time?"

"For now it is nothing more than a title."

Kaljest and Scharnhilde had already left comments of protest on the Crown Prince's post, and had sent formal letters of protest they'd written themselves.

NobleSoul: ??

The Crown Prince's avatar name had already been made public.

Even in the face of Scharnhilde's and Kaljest's protests, that was his reaction. He acted as though he hadn't the faintest idea what they were talking about.

He was blatantly provoking them!

"Crown Prince" simply designated the imperial who stood first in the line of succession.

Before becoming Emperor, that could change at any moment. In fact, the rankings were being shaken up because of RL, and the Crown Prince's faction was shrinking in real time. Reist's friendly relations with Kaljest and Scharnhilde had actually raised the two of them considerably in the order.

"I dispatched my personal escort knights to my younger brother."

"Only that much? I sent Nasko, the Empire's finest knight, along with two legions armed with the latest technology."

"Ah, don't you know? Every one of my personal escort knights commands a legion of their own."

The information that the Crown Prince was targeting Reist was now common knowledge. Thanks to that, the odds of him actually acting on it had dropped drastically, but the two of them assembled their most skilled people and sent them as escorts to show off their closeness.

Reist had liquidated his entire fortune, so he had drastically reduced his personal soldiers. He was also supporting Calgul, who was currently fighting the Dimensional Predators, so his personal forces were the smallest of any of the princes.

Hearing that the escorts she'd sent had joined up with Reist, Scharnhilde could finally breathe a little easier.

"Unless the Crown Prince is a fool, there's no way he'd attack Reist on Planet 10."

Reist was scheduled to hold a meeting with the Empire's bureaucrats on Planet 10 and deliver a speech. He was reportedly going to reveal a number of things, including the necessity of RL, the need to check the newly risen third power, and information about the immense evil known as the "Evil God".

Reist was truly the treasure of the Empire.

All his rogue behavior had been to escape being kept in check while he searched for a path forward for the Kalsus Dimensional Empire!

Out of boundless loyalty to the Empire, he had even given up his right of succession. And yet, instead of cheering him on, someone was obstructing him and trying to gulp down the results?

The justification was already more than sufficient; it was overflowing.

Even a Crown Prince could not treat an imperial with a claim to the throne however he pleased. Failing to properly grasp the situation, the Crown Prince demanded that the Inspector General be handed over, but Scharnhilde and Kaljest flatly refused.

"I'll run a hunting squad and assassinate them on sight."

"We'll need to control the Arkia Great Plains and the Black Forest."

Scharnhilde and Kaljest decided to start checking the Crown Prince's faction in earnest. They would be thorough enough that his people couldn't set foot in RL at all.

"The 'Noble Blood Alliance' has been spotted in the Black Forest, coordinates X22, Y233!"

One of Scharnhilde's Blood Alliance members shared his screen.

It showed the Crown Prince and his Blood Alliance members marching majestically into the Black Forest with enhanced weapons. Scharnhilde's member quietly tailed them.

Burning through a mountain of items, they began hunting the Black Forest's boss monster, the Corrupted Troll. It appeared at a low rate in the Black Forest and dropped rare materials along with the quest item that allowed passage to the Demon's Castle, so many Blood Alliances were after it.

The Demon's Castle.

That place was protected by the Black Swamp.

To remove the Black Swamp, the "Radiant Purifying Water" created by the Authority System was required.

The Corrupted Troll's health gauge dropped, and they smoothly cleared phase two and entered phase three. Scharnhilde and her Blood Alliance members' avatars held their breath and waited nearby.

The moment came when the Corrupted Troll had 0.001% health left.

"All of you, stand back!"

The Crown Prince's avatar strode boldly toward the groggy Corrupted Troll to take the last hit.

Just as the Crown Prince's avatar raised the +4 weapon he had spent a fortune successfully enhancing, ready to strike off the Corrupted Troll's head like a hero out of legend…

THWICK!

A dagger suddenly flew in from behind and punched through the Crown Prince's throat. His avatar, fatally wounded, slumped straight to the ground.

Scharnhilde and her Blood Alliance members, wearing dark robes and Anonymous Masks that concealed their identities, looked down at the Crown Prince.

"What the…."

"What!"

Before the Noble Blood Alliance could even react, Scharnhilde struck off the Corrupted Troll's head.

[The 'Anonymous Hero' has slain the Corrupted Troll for the first time! Congratulations! Glory to the Kalsus Dimensional Empire!]

[The Authority System is beginning settlement!]

*'Blood of Purification' obtained.

*A large amount of experience obtained.

*A 100-pull free weapon draw ticket obtained!

*A 100-pull free armor draw ticket obtained!

*The scales of probability tilt in your favor. Your enhancement success rate rises slightly!

The information window rose in front of every avatar logged into RL.

Thanks to the "Anonymous Mask", a rare-grade item, her identity stayed hidden.

NobleSoul: ???

With his throat run through, the Crown Prince's avatar couldn't use voice chat. Instead, text popped up above his head. He couldn't make sense of the sudden turn of events.

Who would dare inflict harm on him, the Crown Prince!

It felt like every bit of common sense was being denied.

"Easy money."

Scharnhilde spat out a phrase she'd learned from Jun.

Her voice was transmitted to the Crown Prince through a modulator. Above her head, an emote appeared of a figure shaking its head with a smirk.

The Crown Prince had paid a hefty sum to subscribe to the "Safe Storage Pass". It was a system that prevented items in the inventory and equipment window from dropping on death.

But the protection wasn't unconditional.

When an avatar died, the highest-grade item could still hit the ground at a low probability.

The instant the Crown Prince's avatar lost its life, the +4 weapon he had been holding dropped to the ground.

TIIING!

An orange pillar of light shot up from the fallen weapon. Scharnhilde immediately snatched the weapon up, pulled a Return Scroll from her inventory, and tore it.

FWISH!

Scharnhilde and her Blood Alliance members vanished on the spot, returning to their garrison base.

The Crown Prince, who had hurriedly revived his avatar, stared at his screen with a hollow expression.

The +4 weapon in his equipment window was gone!

And the glory of being the first in RL to slay the Corrupted Troll had been stolen too.

The Crown Prince wasn't quite fool enough to miss who the culprit was. Kaljest or Scharnhilde, it had to be one of those two.

If he, the Crown Prince, magnanimously forgave them and demanded compensation for the damages, they would surely accept. He took a deep breath to settle his rage and sent a whisper.

'I demand an apology and compensation.'

The Crown Prince sent his whisper carrying that plainly stated opinion, but the replies that came back weren't what he'd expected.

Kaljest: ???

Scharnhilde: ??

Nothing arrived but replies claiming total ignorance.

"H-How dare they…!"

KWAAANG!

The Crown Prince pulled his hands from the panel and slammed his fist down on the luxurious table.

"I'll open the Imperial Palace treasury."

He would show them what power and wealth meant.

Even without Jinwoo working from the shadows, the hatred between them was growing deeper and deeper.

* * *

Reist's body, left on autopilot, was on its way to Planet 10 in the Sanctuary for a policy meeting and a speech. Having wrapped up his delightful event in RL, Jinwoo returned to his role as Reist.

On the way to Planet 10, he stopped by other regions as well. It was to observe Reist World's expansion and to manage his image. He also intended to secretly plant communication relays and build a network reaching into the Sanctuary's interior.

RL had now become an essential part of life for anyone in the Kalsus Dimensional Empire. Perhaps because of that, Jinwoo was welcomed everywhere he went.

Was it thanks to his increased influence?

Even after reaching the middle stretch of the Sanctuary, the pressure didn't feel severe. He could use his Authority without much trouble. If his influence kept growing like this, might he be able to penetrate the deepest parts of the Sanctuary?

'Good.'

He had gathered a great deal of information while operating as Prince Reist, but he still knew little about the Sanctuary's depths. The Emperor's existence in particular was shrouded in a veil. Supposedly even the Crown Prince and the imperials only received instructions; approach was forbidden, and they couldn't meet him.

They said he sat upon a sacred throne and looked into every corner of the Kalsus Dimensional Empire, but that story lacked credibility. If it were true, he wouldn't have been able to evade Jinwoo's senses.

"Communication's working well now."

If it were Wi-Fi, it'd be about one bar short of full.

For the first time in a while, Jinwoo watched a Hero broadcast. The number one stream by viewership was, as expected, Haebyul's.

Title: We're finally entering a dimension adjacent to the Kalsus Dimensional Empire!

#Constellation #ElfGoddess #Vanguard #Pretty #Cute

She'd slapped on all sorts of tags, but he couldn't say he agreed with them. The Heroes, centered on Haebyul and the Romance Heroes, had saved numerous dimensions in need and advanced into a dimension bordering the Kalsus Dimensional Empire.

The day when Heroes would be seen inside Kalsus Dimensional Empire territory was no longer far off.

'They've saved 60% of the invaded dimensions.'

Thanks to the Heroes slipping neatly into the gaps Jinwoo had stirred up, many dimensions had been liberated.

Jinwoo gazed at Haebyul and the Romance Heroes on the screen with eyes full of affection.

[Nankan, everyone! Nankan here means hello in the Kantaru dimensional language.]

-It really is the multi-dimensional era now.

-Way too many races, I keep mixing them up.

-Will the Creator God add Dimensional Beings to character customization?

The Heroes called every race living in the dimensional realm "Dimensional Beings". Quite a few Dimensional Being races were beautiful, so requests to change one's race kept pouring in. It was under positive review.

[We've arrived in a new dimension! According to the dimensional map we got our hands on this time, we're pretty close to that dog of an empire.]

-Are we finally invading the homeland?

-LET'S GOOO

-Other Heroes are starting to push forward too.

Even without content updates, the dimensional realm itself was content on an insane scale, so everything was always new and always fun.

'Praise me.'

Jinwoo nodded with a pleased expression.

In any case, the Heroes were having fun and many suffering dimensions had been liberated, so it was a very good thing.

Having arrived in the unfamiliar dimension, Haebyul and the Romance Heroes discovered a gathered force of the Kalsus Dimensional Empire's army.

It was a fairly large force.

They needed to work out a plan, but the army was already marching on a city, so there was no time.

[Let's just stop them first!]

Once Haebyul decided that, everyone nodded and went along with her call. Haebyul and the Romance Heroes leapt from their ship and landed on the ground.

The advancing Kalsus Dimensional Empire soldiers spotted Haebyul.

A fierce battle was about to break out.

Haebyul and the Romance Heroes raised their weapons to show the might of Arsilan.

And then it happened.

Something was wrong with the soldiers.

[Ha, haaak!]

[Aa, aaaaaaargh!]

[D-Demons! Demons! A demon has descended!]

[The Gut Ripper is here! Why is that horrific demon in this place…!]

[W-We're going to die. Aaaaargh!]

The soldiers shrieked as if they'd seen a ghost and even dropped their weapons. The ones with a shred of reason left hastily pulled what looked like gas masks over their helmets.

It was a countermeasure for the Evil God Disease.

[E-Everyone retreat! Retreat!]

A terrified officer screamed the order.

The advancing tanks stopped dead, then immediately turned around and began falling back. The fleet controlling the army did the same.

[Uh, um…?]

[What?]

[Why are they doing that?]

Haebyul and the Romance Heroes were left blank-faced.

Haebyul tilted her head, then grabbed one of the fleeing soldiers.

[Aa, aaaaargh! P-Please, just kill me! Please….]

He wasn't begging to be spared; he was begging to be killed.

Haebyul, who had learned the Kalsus Dimensional Empire's language, understood the soldier's words immediately.

[Um, hey, hold on….]

Haebyul tried to ask why, but the soldier suddenly pried open his own helmet, drew a dagger, and stabbed wildly into the gap. He had killed himself out of sheer terror.

[Th-The Gut Ripper…!]

[Th-That demon is casting a curse!]

The soldiers who witnessed the scene screamed that and trembled violently.

-Gut Ripper?

-No clue what that means but anyway, Haebyul, you're a star now!

-lmao they're calling her a demon?

The Kalsus Dimensional Empire's soldiers reacted to Haebyul as though they were looking at the most loathsome, horrifying thing in the world.

[Why on earth…? A demon? Gut Ripper? I don't even like gopchang that much.] [TL: gopchang is grilled beef intestines, a popular Korean dish; Haebyul is riffing on the "gut" in her nickname.]

-Oh Haebyul, honey….

-What have you been doing out there.

-I mean, considering everything she's done, they've earned it

Haebyul felt terribly wronged.

"Hmm…."

The soldiers stationed in the dimensions near the Kalsus Dimensional Empire played RL. They knew all about Haebyul, who had butchered knights and created scenes straight out of hell.

[CreatorGodMainGodEvilGod has donated 5,000,000 won!]

*Consider it condolence money.

Jinwoo made a donation and attached a hefty mission on the side.

It could be considered a usage fee for her image.

[A-Aaaah! CreatorGodMainGodEvilGod donated five million won! Thank you! Reaction time! Heave! Ho! Hrrraaah!]

Haebyul launched into a reaction right on the spot.

It was the evolved version of the Haebyul Rabbit.

[Aa, aaaargh! Th-The demon is going berserk!]

[Th-Th-This ghastly feeling, c-could it be the Evil God Disease!?]

[Hnn, hnnnngh! N-No!]

At that sight, the soldiers fell into a panic.

The dance Haebyul was doing now really did look like watching a rabbit infected with the Evil God Disease.

"……"

Jinwoo was watching the broadcast when the ship came to a stop, so he shut it off and stepped out onto the bridge.

The ship had stopped because the escort forces sent by Scharnhilde and Kaljest had joined up with them. The fleets bearing Scharnhilde's and Kaljest's crests radiated an overwhelming pressure that shoved everything around them aside.

'A bit excessive, honestly….'

Even the Crown Prince wouldn't have received an escort on this scale.

Dozens of ships guarded Jinwoo like an iron wall as they landed at Planet 10's airport.

The instant Jinwoo stepped off the ship, an enormous crowd erupted in cheers all at once.

From the area around the airport all the way to the building where the speech would be held, the crowds were packed shoulder to shoulder. The children of high-ranking nobles scattered flower petals, and a military band performed RL's majestic theme.

Reist was popular enough that every single person gathered here had temporarily given up logging into RL. It was no exaggeration to say he had gone beyond hero to become a great saint the likes of which the Kalsus Dimensional Empire's history would never see again.

Jinwoo, escorted by knights, paused briefly and raised his hand high. He was showing off the bracelet giving off its iridescent glow. At that, Nasko, the knight Scharnhilde had sent, raised her own right hand with its bracelet, eyes brimming with emotion, following Jinwoo's lead.

The crowds saw it and copied it too. Light then poured out of the bracelets, staining the surroundings in beautiful color. Instead of waving arrogantly, Jinwoo bowed to the crowds with full courtesy, as though he were the one addressing heroes.

That whole scene was being transmitted to everyone as video through the bracelets.

Prince Reist, who made the Kalsus Dimensional Empire even richer and stronger by creating RL, is treating us like heroes!

"Uwaaaaah!"

"Kyaaah!"

Moved and thrilled to the core, the crowds let out cheers that sounded like screams. The escorts dispatched by Kaljest and Scharnhilde felt an enormous swell of emotion as well, gazing at Jinwoo with eyes full of respect.

"RL! RL!"

"Let's conquer Arkia!"

"Long live the Kalsus Dimensional Empire!"

"Let's defeat the demons!"

Jinwoo nodded and climbed into a vehicle.

There were so many suckers that he was in a fantastic mood. RL's user count had grown exponentially, and the number of nobles and soldiers going bankrupt had grown right along with it. Thanks to the vicious Blood Alliance system, their squabbles were spilling over into real life.

The division of the Empire.

A cracking sound had emerged inside an empire that had stood firm for ages. Fine fissures were gradually spreading across the whole of it. Jinwoo intended to drive a wedge straight into the center of those cracks.

'A perfect stage.'

A hero was made complete by tragedy.

The name of the production Jinwoo had prepared this time was "The Tragedy of Reist".

*****

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