3.
The place that the light took me to was also filled with gentle light.
It was a place where you could only see white stretching infinitely no matter which direction you looked.
In this place, someone had arrived before I did.
"Oh?"
"Hmmm."
The two of us made eye contact.
The other smiled in a way that was eerily reminiscent of a cat.
"Welcome, Death King. It's been exactly 10 days. I must say, there's no one more reliable than someone who keeps their promises so perfectly."
The keeper of the Tower's gold. The Master of the Merchant Union. The Count.
The count was dressed in traditional Indian attire. Despite her immense wealth, the Count only wore a simple, one-color sari. The resplendent folding fan in the Count's hands was the only thing that stood out.
"Thank you. Uh, how are those elf race kids doing?"
"Ugh. Don't ask. They became so shameful after I left them for a while!"
The count waved her fan. The golden arabesque designs sparkled and shone.
"Those kids had no concept of money at all, so I focused intensively on teaching them how to manage it. Regardless of whether they are elves or not, can they survive on just eating grass? Huh, but those guys quickly fell in love with the taste of money. Now, they judge everything based on whether it can make money or not. I can't believe it!"
"..."
The fate of the elves was truly strange.
Before my regression, they reigned as a bloodthirsty fighting race under the rule of the Flame Emperor.
Children really do resemble their parents.
"Doesn't that mean that they're faithfully following the Count's teachings?"
"Ugh. What kind of person do you think I am? I'm the type of person who treats money as water. It falls as rainwater, then flows into a river before returning to the ocean."
"In other words, you spend money like water."
"Aigoo. That's correct. I suppose I can't pretend in front of the Death King."
The Count giggled over her fan.
"Anyway, when are the others coming? It seems we have been getting along too well these days and they've become indisciplined."
Huh.
"Haven't you guys always been close?"
"We became careless. In the past, we were all best friends, so there was a lot of chaos. After the great purge, things became a bit strained. But we started to grow close again after you arrived."
"Heh."
"Of course, there are some who never stopped being close."
I see.
'They had many ups and downs.'
Although I was certain that I was getting along well with the other hunters, I still didn't know much about their past. The Heretic Questioner. I'd heard about Bambolina's past not so long ago.
"Ah. By the way."
After thinking about the Heretic Questioner, a thought popped into my mind.
"I heard that the Crusader is dating someone. Do you know who it is?"
"Mm? Why do you ask?"
"I'm a bit curious. The Crusader always wears a helmet. So I was wondering if she wears the helmet while on dates with the person…"
"No way."
The Count let out a laugh.
"I can't speak for others, but the Crusader cares a lot about hair care. Even when she takes off her helmet, her hair is perfect."
"Huh. Really?"
"Of course. It glows like a beach at sunset. The reason she wears the helmet in the first place is because…"
Pop!
Suddenly, we heard a ridiculous sound effect. The Count and I turned our heads at the same time.
"Sorry, sorry! I was working on something in the Tower so I'm a little late."
The Constellation, [The Lady Who Walks Through the Mirage], appeared with a pillow in her arms. It seemed she had been busy. With a soft 'phew…', the Lady wiped sweat from her brow.
"Let's see here. Ah. You cleared the 33rd floor. Have you finished talking?"
"Talking? We're waiting for the others."
"Huh?"
The Lady tilted her head to the side.
"Why are you waiting? The others are waiting for you."
"Huh?"
"Ah…. Ahh. Sorry. This is something that I also can't explain. It's been a really long time since I was in charge of a stage, so I always forget things. Really. My intelligence was really nerfed too much when I fell down to a Constellation. It's almost like the main body in Zrakua…"
What was she talking about?
When she saw our blank gazes, the Lady stopped speaking and waved her fingers instead.
[The Lady Who Walks Through the Mirage will now announce the person who was eliminated on the 33rd Floor stage.]
I turned to look at the Count, and the Count also turned to me. Eliminated? Weren't we all moving to the next stage with no one being kicked out?
The Lady opened her mouth.
"If you completely give up your right for supremacy, or fall to the point where you are unable to claim it again, you will be eliminated. Simple, right? That's what happened to the snails on the 32nd floor. And on the 33rd floor…."
The Tower's voice sounded again.
[The Count was eliminated on the 33rd floor.]
My eyes widened, and the Count's eyes followed suit.
The Tower made another announcement as if to drive the nail in further.
[Another reminder to everyone.]
[The Count was eliminated on the 33rd floor.]
"W-, wait a minute! That's not possible!"
The Count finally spoke up.
She was so flustered that her ears perked up like a cat.
"Why is it saying that I was eliminated!?"
"Hmm, the elves gave up their right of supremacy. You are automatically eliminated because you are in charge of the elf race. I know you might be mad at me, but I also have to follow the rules… sorry."
"It doesn't make sense! The elves were quiet throughout the entire stage. They didn't actively participate in the war, so it didn't consume much of their power. How could I be eliminated?!"
"Well, what happened was… Hm. This is annoying! See for yourself."
Boing.
With another strange sound effect, a video began playing in the air in front of us. Did Constellations decided on their own sound effects? If that was the case then this one deserved to be judged.
-Hmm.
In the video, several elves were gathered together. Each of them had long, pointed ears.
-The goblins have become monsters.
-I heard the rumors, but I didn't think it was true. They're even more terrifying than I imagined.
The elders of the elf race wiggled their ears as they whispered to each other.
-I thought the general was lying because he didn't want to take responsibility, but that wasn't the case.
-Oh my god. Did you plant spies in the expeditionary army? That's traitorous.
-Anyone who didn't plant spies is a fool. What if the general who went out in the army was to suddenly turn his sword towards us? I know all of you planted your own spies. No need to pretend.
-That's right.
-Yes, that's right.
-You can't always believe your own race. We are all experienced and we know this.
-Such selfishness. We didn't care about the commanders we chose, and only cared about our spies. It's no wonder the holy expedition failed.
Mm.
What was this?
This was far from the discussion among elders that I was expecting…
-What can we do? The money we spent to organize the allied army was wasted.
-We intended to make up for the potential losses by taking the snails as slaves.
-Now isn't the time to discuss the original plan. The problem is that the goblin race has become the hegemon. We spent hundreds of years developing the plan to take control of the mermaids, but now people have come to mess with it. It's time for us to reconsider our grand strategy.
Huh.
I looked at the Count in bewilderment.
"Merchant Union Master…. No way…."
I'd thought that a multi-race alliance like that one couldn't have occurred without reason. Perhaps…?
The Count seemed equally as surprised.
"I-, I only taught those kids how to use money a little bit."
"I'm sure it's not just money. Did you also teach those kids to become a hidden power…?"
"I didn't mean to! I told you, didn't I?! Those kids grew up in a weird way. No, more than that, isn't this a racial secret? It should be confidential. Why are you showing it to the Death King?!"
The Count turned to the Lady.
Unbelievable.
While I was raising my goblins with a pure heart, the Merchant Union Master had been aiming for an economic victory behind the scenes. If I hadn't seen this video, I might not have found out about this till after I cleared the 40th floor.
'Wow. Now that I think about it, I also moved according to the Count's advice, didn't I?'
At that time, when the Goblins were about to clash with the allied forces, it was the Count that made the suggestion to me. So, following her advice, I entered Uburka's dream and told him to [Negotiate in a way that benefits every race].
In other words.
"The Count was trying to suck honey all on her own… When and how did they start taking control of the mermaids? They're like ghosts."
"Come on. They didn't take control, they were only helping them. A mutually supportive relationship. It's difficult for the mermaids, who live in the water, to make trade ships. The elves, on the other hand, live in the forest and are experts at handling trees…."
"Oh my God. So the ships they carry the salt on were made for them by the elves?"
"To be precise, they were loaned to them."
The Count groaned.
"All the ships operated by the mermaids are owned by the elves. They simply pay a shipping tax for every trip. In addition, all ships owned by elves can only be anchored at ports run by the elves…."
"Erk. Why could they do that?"
"They get 30% off their shipping tax when they anchor at an elf port. They also get a free repair service…."
"Wow."
"And while the mermaids can swim in the water, they cannot supply salt to villages and cities that aren't near water. The elves are the ones in charge of this."
"If they take an elf ship and use an elf port, of course, they will use an elf wagon. As long as the mermaids work hard to make the salt and bring it to the port… the elves will play the role of distributors, is that right? The harder the mermaids work, the more free money the elves make?"
"Something like that."
My mouth fell open.
What was this?
It was such a vicious tactic.
"You really… really… are the Merchant Union Master."
"If you want to make a lot of money, it's necessary to dominate a platform!"
The Count was furious.
"I just taught those kids the obvious truth. More importantly, I don't want to receive that kind of look from you who raised the goblins to be a bunch of muscle-headed pigs!" (TL: Muscles!)
"No. I raised those kids to be strong enough that no one would bully them. With pure hearts."
"That purity was frozen to death and became a twisted mummy. I just taught my kids the truth of the world so that they wouldn't have to futilely work hard and suffer!"
"A child needs to suffer a bit in order to grow properly!"
"Huh. What the hell are you talking about? If you're suffering that means you're not living a good life!"
"It's because of parents like the Merchant Union Master that kids these days are so narrow-minded!"
"It's because of parents like the Death King that kids these days are so sick in the head!"
"Ah, you're so salty."
"You're really worthy of your name."
"What's wrong with Kim Gong-ja?"
"It's truly filled with the disposition of a classical scholar!"
"You're crazy."
The Lady observed our quarrel.
"You guys are interesting… You make me think about my mom too…."
Amid our debate on the philosophy of child education, the holographic video continued to play.
-We should point the blade of the allied army towards the goblins.
-No. Cost-wise, it's not worth it. The snails had a Holy Land. What do the goblins have? What's the point of taking over a village full of mud.
-I heard the mud is really good for your skin….
-I'm sure you'd like that dear. But I'm not interested.
-We should surrender.
The elf elders blinked.
The Count and I closed our mouths.
-Mm?
-Let's surrender. We can win in a fight, and we have nothing to win if we fight. There's nothing to gain even if we pour all of our money into it. No matter what we do, it wouldn't be good for business. That's why we should fold early. (TL: In poker, to fold is to discard one's hand and forfeit interest in the current pot. Any bets that were made beforehand will also be lost)
-Are you crazy? Do you want us to stop doing business?
-I meant that we should spread out a new mat.
The elf elder explained.
-We'll offer to become a vassal race of the goblins. And in return, we'll receive their protection.
-Vassal?
-Protection?
-We will give authority of all the ports and ships we own to the goblin race. The entire continent is intimidated by the goblins. So if we sail or trade with the flag of the goblins, we will be much safer than we are now. Since we will be the first to become their vassal, they will certainly trust us even more. Then we'd be able to use the name and force of the goblin race almost for free. Like a donkey in a lion's skin.
The elders were troubled.
-Do we really have to give up so much…?
-The cheaper you are in the beginning, the more expensive tills will be later.
-It would hurt our pride.
-It'll be fine as long as we can recover what was damaged. Aren't we just doing it to make money anyway?
-That's true.
-We'll pay a tribute to the goblin race every year. They'd probably be happy if we said we'd give them 10% of our yearly profits.
-10%? Isn't that too much?
-In fact, we only need to give them 1% and say it's 10%. It'll be fine. There isn't anyone in our race who doesn't know how to maintain double ledgers.
-That's also true.
I'd never heard of the elves using double ledgers in my life, but it seemed to be common sense to them now.
An elder briefly muttered.
-Right. Let's surrender.
-It's just a matter of becoming a vassal race.
-What do the goblins like? Dirt? Would they like it if we brought dirt from our place?.
-We need to think of a plausible reason for our surrender.
-From what the spies told us, they're not that smart. How about we say that we fell in love with their muscles and that we'd like to live with them to appreciate them even more? It would probably work if we told them that we have money, but we don't have muscles.
-Really? Are they really that ignorant?
-It's amazing that such an ignorant race even managed to last this long. Nevertheless, it is a good thing. The more ignorant they are, the easier it will be for us to get into their good graces. We should be thankful.
-Thank you. Great Cat.
-Thank you.
-Like today, let us continue to sponge off of pushovers under the care of our guardian deity.
-Like today, let us make free money tomorrow by making others do the hard work. Let all the honey be eaten by us, in the name of ship tax, land tax, logistics tax, distribution tax, warehouse tax. Thank you.
The elders then drew something in the air. This seemed to be a prayer unique to the elves. The way they all bowed their heads was truly sacred.
"..."
I was silent.
"..."
The Count also had no choice but to remain silent.
"Ng. So they surrendered."
The Lady smiled.
"They have no interest in supremacy. They seem to be happy as long as they can make money. Sincerely. They said that they would be a parasite on the goblin race and suck honey forever… Mm. So you were eliminated because they voluntarily gave up their right to hegemony. Any questions?"
"I have a complaint!"
"Sorry. I don't accept complaints."
[The Count has failed to clear the stage.]
[The Count has been eliminated from the stage!]
"This is unreasonable!!"
The Count's figure began to fade.
She was probably being sent to the first floor.
"It doesn't make sense! I only taught them how to secretly suck honey in life, why would they give up their right to hegemony? Power! Power is the final destination of wealth, so why!"
"Elves are usually not that greedy. After learning the joy of making money, why would they need more? As you said, they just want to suck honey."
"De-, Death King!"
The Count reached out to me.
"Help me! Complain with me! I can't accept that I'm being eliminated like this!"
Um.
Umm.
"I'm sorry, Merchant Union Master. But honestly, I think this is your own doing. I'm not upset about you calling me a scholar or anything, I'm just saying…."
"No!"
The Count let out a scream as she was wrapped in light.
When the light faded, the only thing that remained was her echo.
Paaaht-
And in the next moment, the Sword Saint, Black Dragon Master, Venomous Snake, and Crusader were summoned.
The Black Dragon Master looked around.
"…We were made to wait this time too. Death King, did something happen?"
I shook my head.
"Nothing happened. Let's move on to the next stage."
I will never forget your eye-opening elimination, Count.
Make a lot of money.