bookpower Chapter 120: The Hero (2)
Chapter 120: The Hero (2)
Chapter 120: The Hero (2)
King...
The corners of my mouth curved into a smile. After all, it was said that some people's instinctive reaction was to smile when they encountered unexpected situations. I looked around, meeting the eyes of the Black Witch, the Inquisitor, the Viper, the Paladin, and the Countess one by one.
“You’re kidding, right?”
“Of course...” the Black Witch began.
I was hoping to hear “Of course, I was just joking,” but what she said next was completely different from what I expected.
“... we don’t plan to just establish a monarchy in the Tower out of the blue. Death King, you may not know this, but the others and I really put a lot of effort into building the Tower’s system... We created it after a series of trials and errors.”
“We’re trying to actualize the ideal anarchism in our own way,” the Inquisitor remarked. “Haha, a guild in the Tower is actually a type of union—”
“Stop. Telling Death King these things now won’t help him,” the Paladin interjected. “Being our king is just a symbolic gesture, but a symbol has power. That is the power you have right now, Death King. A hundred thousand people enter the Tower a day because they believe in your name and character.”
“...”@@@@
“Not even the Black Dragon Master was able to accomplish such a feat. You are the first Hunter of the Tower to have this unprecedented amount of power!”
Only then did I realize that the Paladin was more excited than usual. She was always composed; the only time she had ever raised her voice was during the incident on the twelfth floor. Everyone had forgotten about it by now, but back then, they had all been lost in their mistrust and tried to eliminate each other. Now, she was having trouble holding her composure again.
It wasn’t just her. Except for the Inquisitor, all of the Five Guild leaders had a strange air around them. The guild leaders were working hard to keep the small flame of excitement from turning into a burning frenzy. However, their excitement was clearly evident when they looked at me.
“In the past, we couldn’t handle this kind of population influx because there wasn’t enough food. But now that we’ve secured enough land and trade routes... we can feed the newcomers even though it may be difficult.”
“Above all, we have experience,” the Countess said. “I’m not bragging, but all the guild leaders here have been through chaotic and difficult times. The Paladin used to be a nomad because of her country’s fall. The Black Dragon Master is an orphan from a country devastated by a civil war. The Inquisitor and the Viper suffered at the hands of the mafia and gangsters since childhood. I was born in the poorest village in the world.’”
“That’s right,” the Black Witch murmured. “We’re the only ones in this world who can deal with this kind of crisis. It’s impossible for any country in the outside world, but we can do it! We overcame greater mayhem than this!”
I watched the guild leaders’ heated discussion. They had abandoned the old world and fled to this new one. Even after rising to the top, they still didn’t give up their desire to build a new world.
The Black Witch clenched her fists. “Death King, we can do it. Let’s accomplish what no country in the outside world has been able to do. These people were kicked out of their land and left with no choice but to run away here. Let’s create a world where they can live with some peace of mind!”
This was their ideal and dream.
“We know what it’s like for a society to fail, so we can avoid making failures.”
The Paladin had fled from a certain country in South America.
“We’ve lived through people being divided in wartime, so we know how to prevent a civil war.”
The Black Witch had survived the Black Sea region, which was engulfed in war.
“We know what violence looks like and how to make it work in our favor.”
The Inquisitor had been raised among an Eastern European mafia family, and the Viper had grown up in the Triad in the Central Plains of China.
“We’ve experienced what poverty is, so we can beat it.”
The Countess had been born in a poor village in India.
“Let’s show them, Death King,” the Black Witch said. “Let’s show the people that we can make the world a little better!”
At that moment, I realized that I was the one who had changed the guild leaders. Nothing like this had ever happened before. In a world where the Fire Emperor had been taking everything for himself as the Rank 1 Hunter, the Tower was still just the Tower. It was the refuge for those who had lost hope and the paradise for criminals and death row inmates.
Even before my regression, I had never seen the Black Witch talk about a new world with her eyes sparkling. In all her magazine photos or even in any interviews, her eyes had always been cold. However, she had changed because of me.
My heart pounded hard as I thought of the world that Teacher had dreamed of.
“Please... tell me what I should do,” I said in a quiet voice.
I could change the world.
Twenty-Second Floor: Heavenly Demon Chronicle (Genres: Murim, Fusion)
Twenty-Third Floor: The Space Iron Knight’s Epic (Genre: Sci-Fi)
Twenty-Fourth Floor: Diary from the Dawn Mountain Lodge (Genres: Mystery, History)
Twenty-Fifth Floor: Story of Sormwin Academy (Genre: Romance)
Twenty-Sixth Floor: Festival City Apocalypse (Genre: Sports)
Twenty-Seventh Floor: Epic in Bakery Street (Genres: Cooking, business fiction)
Those were the apocalyptic books we had cleared so far. I had stayed on the twenty-fifth floor for fifteen days after clearing the Story of Sormwin Academy. During that time, other Hunters cleared the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh floors. All of the Hunters with titles had been working together to clear the stages. Now, only the twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth, and thirtieth floors remained.
However, I had a plan of my own for this upcoming expedition. If things went as I hoped, the twenty-eighth floor would practically become the last apocalyptic book we had to work on.
With that plan in mind, I said, “It’s not just resources or technology that are useful to us, Mr. Inquisitor. You said it yourself that the population of the Tower is increasing by nearly a hundred thousand people per day.”
“Mhm.”
“What we need now is someone to bring everyone together.”
The Inquisitor blinked. “I agree, but that is why we want to crown you, Mr. Death King. You will become that symbol for the Tower. We’ll create a position that suits you as soon as possible! It’s going to be a cool position like a guild union leader or a council president!”
I shook my head. Some people could have been tempted by such titles. After all, it sounded as if whoever had it sat on the throne of the Tower.
“A deception like that won’t work.”
“Oh, what do you mean by deception?”
“Everyone here needs to win the people’s support, not just me. I’m not the one who really rules the Tower right now. It’s all of you. Only when you all have the people’s support will the Tower come together as one.”
The room quieted down.
The Inquisitor smiled. “That makes sense. But you know what, Mr. Death King? We have committed a very grave sin in the name of putting an end to the chaos in the Tower. We did some incredible things, and we’re still doing them. Unfortunately, we have absolutely no moral justifications!”
“The Inquisitor is right,” the Black Witch murmured. “We’ve committed too many sins to become someone’s beacon of hope.”
I shook my head. “You can start doing good from now on. No, I strongly encourage you to do good.”
“...”
“We are one team. I can’t root out religious problems like Mr. Inquisitor can. I won’t be able to handle the problem of gangsters like Mr. Viper has been doing. I won’t do a better job than you guys when it comes to politics, economy, social order, or anything else. I’m not trying to be humble. It’s just the truth.”
But I was confident in my ability to unite these talented individuals.
“I’ll never betray you. You can trust me. If you guys get into a conflict, I’ll mediate it. I’ll make sure you all get to discuss matters If you need to. Please trust me. Let us join forces.”
The guild leaders remained quiet.
I held up Our Victim. “As you said, this apocalyptic book doesn’t have abundant resources or fertile land. But a sacrifice that shouldn’t be tolerated has been made. By clearing this world, we can show the world what kind of people we are.”
This expedition would be our opening move. It would show everyone how we were going to run the Tower. We wouldn’t turn a blind eye to sacrifice. Rather, we would face every problem head-on even if that meant tackling insurmountable difficulties along the way.
We were going to show the world who we truly were.
“Only then can we ask the Tower’s residents to trust us.”
“I see. This will make them trust the government, huh?”
“Yes.” I looked at the guild leaders one by one. “It just so happens that this apocalyptic book requires more than two challengers. Miss Black Dragon Master, Mr. Inquisitor, Miss Countess, Mr. Viper, Miss Paladin... Please fight with me.”
My colleagues—the most brilliant all-star members in the Tower—would be joining me in the next expedition to the apocalyptic book.