"Me, you're going to protect me? ...The elder?"
"Um."
Sword Saint nodded vigorously.
"Don't think for a moment that my age makes me unfit to guard someone."
"No, it's not about age… That's absurd…."
Considering his robust physique barely concealed by his shirt, one could hardly argue that physical age was a limiting factor for him.
"Don't be alarmed. Didn't you say it yourself? As long as your life is spared, the Black Dragon Witch and others won't regress to their former chaotic state."
"Chaotic state? Who are you calling Chaotic? Ah, perhaps you mean that old man who goes around slicing up murderers every ten days with his blade, pretending to be some righteous avenger? Kim Gong-ja. As the leader of the Black Dragons, gathering information on people is my specialty. Oh my. Interestingly, the list of people this old man has killed and the circumstances of their incidents are stored in my secret vault, which only I can access. Want to have a look together later?"
"Lucky my list isn't long enough to fill a vault. Black Dragon Witch. Your list is so long, you might need to rent an entire building for it."
"It's all recorded on USB drives! Who do you think is old-fashioned now!"
You guys really have a bad relationship….
"Oh!"
Perhaps the arguing voices of the two reached far. The Heretic Questioner, who appeared behind me at some point, was continuously exclaiming in admiration. Well, he probably teleported here using [Sacred Technique – Transmission].
"Immutable number 1, Sword Saint, and the unstoppable number 2, Death King. It seems like they maintain a peaceful relationship, but the residents of the tower are interested in how this will end. A bodyguard! This is newsworthy."
The Heretic Questioner smiled brightly, nodding his head again and again.
As usual, he bore an angelic face, but just moments ago, he was being swung around by the Snail Race children. Swung in a tentacle swing. Following the laws of physics, the Snail's sticky secretions transferred onto the Heretic Questioner, now dripped with slime every time he nodded his head.
Drip, drip.
"Uh, Bambolina, I'm sorry, but could you move a little bit away...."
"Ahaha! If Sword Saint becomes Death King's bodyguard, everyone will know! It will reveal who has gained the upper hand between the two!"
Thud!
The Heretic Questioner spread his arms wide and laughed heartily. The Snail's bodily fluids, or rather the Snail Race's aloe-like slime, he had been holding, was suddenly shot out like bullets. Naturally, I was the one who got hit.
"...."
Feels like an attack that could improve my skin.
"The time is ripe for Death King's forces to make a full appearance. Let's use [Number 1 becoming a bodyguard] as a symbolic event and reveal it!"
"What? What are you going to reveal?"
I slowly evaporated the slime covering my body with aura and asked.
"Of course, the fact that Death King has unprecedented power in this tower!"
"...."
"After all, you are already a hero of the tower, but your image is more of a warrior, largely thanks to Black Dragon Witch's image-making! But now, it's time to adopt the image of a monarch or leader. Haha. Perhaps, the King of the Tower."
"No, I don't see why I need to…"
"Because it's the truth. My master."
The Heretic Questioner beamed at me.
"...."
I glanced around, feeling a strange sensation.
Without realizing it, both the Black Dragon Witch and the Sword Saint had stopped arguing and were now silently observing us.
Quietly.
Once again, when I turned my gaze, not only Estelle and the other guardians of our family but also the Count, who was drinking tea with the fairies far away, and the Crusader, who was swimming with the mermaids, caught my eye.
"...."
Hmm.
What's with this atmosphere?
"Kim Gong-ja. this shameless old man mentioned something to you earlier."
Amidst the unfamiliar silence around me, Anastasia spoke up.
"He said he was testing you."
"...."
"You might feel slighted to hear this, but it wasn't just the old man testing you. Me. And all of us. We've been observing you all along."
I remember hearing something similar before.
They were observing whether I was worthy of being their [comrade].
But I thought I had already passed that test. Why…?
"To see if you truly have what it takes to be our [leader]."
"...."
"You bring joy as a friend. It's a fortune to have you as a comrade. But we cannot merely accept misfortune as mere accidents or fortune as mere happiness."
"We are leading people, after all."
Splat.
The sound of wet footsteps echoed.
"Black Dragon. Ten Thousand Temple. Sanglyeon. Chen Mu-mun. Civil Militia."
It was the Crusader.
She stood atop the broad rock, completely drenched from swimming with the mermaids. The Crusader squeezed the water from her hair, sending droplets falling onto the rock where we gathered.
"Under their command, including alchemist guilds, there are 13 mid-level guilds. Officially unannounced, but in fact, there are 4 guilds that are practically direct subordinates. Hundreds of guilds work for us as subcontractors, and if you trace the subcontracting chain, it can easily cover the entire city of Babylon."
"...."
"Becoming our business partner is easy. Becoming our comrade, harder. And becoming our friend, even more so. You've managed something difficult."
"So."
The Black Dragon Witch picked up the conversation.
As she spoke, my gaze naturally shifted to her.
"Maybe it's possible to achieve [something even harder]."
"I hoped so."
The Crusader took over the conversation again.
"The reason we maintained the structure of the five major guilds after the massive purge wasn't for nothing. It's for mutual checks and balances. Almost everyone living in the tower belongs to some guild, that is, [members]."
"Five major guilds, each with comparable power and expertise, should cooperate and compete at the same time. Furthermore, we should protect the personal safety and property rights of those belonging to the guilds."
"Whether to join a guild, to leave, or to rejoin, it all depends on the residents' freedom. Guilds that fail to make money will naturally decline, and those that don't share their wealth will naturally disappear."
"We created the tower's system with such thoughts in mind."
"In other words."
"We were not confident alone."
The Crusader spoke softly.
"Confident that we wouldn't become corrupt."
"...."
"If I had the power to subdue the Black Dragon guild, I would have gladly thrown them in jail. Their shops, stores, and informants operating on the border of legality and illegality, I would have deemed them all as cancers of the tower and punished them. In the process of that enforcement, I wasn't sure if I could remain true to myself."
"I have prepared scenarios to assassinate all hunters from rank 1 to rank 10."
The Black Dragon stated.
"Haven't implemented any since the Great Purge."
"...."
"If the Black Dragon had been the only, sole guild instead of one of the five, I wonder if I really wouldn't have executed it. No matter how much one thinks of themselves as a person of strong self-control, that restraint comes from the existence of others."
Meow.
A cat's cry echoed from behind.
With the body and eyes of a cat but not the gaze of a beast, a tricolor cat spoke.
"As you know, we never trusted each other much. Yet, the reason we didn't descend into a total mess and internal war is probably because we didn't trust ourselves much either."
"That's true."
Sword Saint said.
"In the end, we all wear a mask to appear human."
"...."
"Death King. I was testing to see what kind of person you are."
A test.
What test are they talking about?
Since when?
"While you were away, we gathered together quite often to talk about you."
"When exactly…?"
"After clearing the Library of All Things and before entering the 30th floor. We even conducted a thorough background check on you, including your spending habits, people you meet, your behavior when encountering strangers. Almost everything was investigated and shared."
Gathering information is my specialty.
So said the Black Dragon Witch calmly.
"Isn't that… an invasion of privacy?"
"Yes. Sorry. I truly apologize for that. Ah, digging into a comrade's past, really makes me the worst, doesn't it? Deputy Commander of the Civil Militia, would you arrest me for the crime of investigating a person's background?"
"Hmm. I declare you not guilty."
"Ah, look at that, Kim Gong-ja? . I'm not guilty. Let's just say I'm sorry and move on."
"...."
Whoa.
Indeed, my comrades and friends are guild masters wielding unparalleled power in the tower….
"Don't worry. We just reconfirmed that your private life is disgustingly clean."
"That sentence just felt like a contradiction…"
"We also confirmed that you write a diary every night to show to the Duke of Ivansia. Be thankful that I didn't get my hands on its contents. I really debated whether to order my subordinates to find out what's written in it…"
"Hello? Anastasia? Are you crazy? Have you lost your mind?"
"Oh, but the first sentence is always the same, so I got to know it. My beloved…"
"Let's end our friendship!! Bring back the friendship contract! Right now!"
"...Anyway, the conclusion is that you are a person of integrity."
The Crusader smirked.
"But having integrity alone isn't enough. If we were to choose you as our leader, there are qualities needed in a leader. Convincing us to remain human is only a secondary issue."
"It's not about political power either."
The calico cat, familiarly, clung to the Crusader's calf.
Then the Crusader picked up the cat in her arms, and from within her embrace, the Count cat spoke.
"After all, politics should be left to experts. Public safety to the Crusader, internal affairs to the Black Dragon Witch, economy to myself, and if you occasionally need a shoulder to lean on, rely on Venomous Snake. For diplomacy with the outside world, bringing in Sword Saint to handle it is enough. He may be a stubborn old man, but he would listen if it's a request from you, Death King, right?"
"...."
"Therefore, the last thing we need to test is just one thing."
The cat narrowed her eyes. It was the Count smiling with her eyes.
"To see how you would govern people if you were in a position of leadership, that was the real test."
An example.
"Initially, when I received the quest from 'The Lady Who Walks the Mirage', I thought, Aha."
From the 31st floor to about the 40th.
"This could be useful."
Stages where one becomes a god to guide an entire race.
"It wasn't that I immediately set up the test. Right, Ten Thousand Temple Master. It was entirely his own choice to rampage around for over 200 years."
Aha-ha."
The Heretic Questioner laughed brightly.
"That's right! This is the first time I'm hearing this story!"
"Well, not just you, the Chen Mu-mun Master also didn't join in my story."
The Count said.
"But as a result, the impulsive actions of the Ten Thousand Temple Master gave me a lot of inspiration. In a time of absolute crisis where every race was enslaved, I was able to watch up close as you rallied us all together to start a rebellion."
The cat gently stroked the Crusader's cheek with its paw.
"In short, you have the qualities of a revolutionary. A revolutionary! Not bad at all. I don't dislike it. But the leader we need is not a revolutionary, but a ruler of the tower. Countless refugees who fled from numerous countries. Someone who could soothingly govern the Tower's residents who are busy hating, despising, mocking, and ridiculing each other. I needed a little more information. For instance…"
The Count spoke up.
"How would you handle [different races] under your rule?"
"Different races, you mean…"
I briefly thought of the Dokkaebi Race, but changed my mind after seeing the Count' smiling eyes.
"Don't tell me, the Fairy Race…?"
"Correct. Death King. It's good that you catch on quickly."
"...."
My eyes widened.
The Count looked at me and let out a cat's purr.
"The Heretic Questioner was the first to be eliminated, followed by me. I remember your baffled face when 'The Lady Who Walks the Mirage' announced my elimination."
"...."
Back then.
『Wait a minute! That makes no sense! Why am I being eliminated!?』
『Uh-huh, the Fairy Race has given up their hegemony.』
Certainly.
The content whispered by the Fairy Race elders in the video shown by the Lady was,
『Let's surrender. We can't win this fight, and there's nothing to gain from winning. There's nothing to gain by investing money, and nothing good comes out of it. Whatever we do, it's a losing deal.』
『We'll surrender our country to the Dokkaebi Race and become a vassal state. In exchange, we'll ask for protection.』
『Yes. Let's surrender.』
『It's just becoming a vassal state, no big deal.』
『Thank you. Great Cat.』
That's how it was.
I thought it was just a farce that the Count laughingly created.
"...."
I opened my mouth.
"…Did you deliberately get yourself eliminated?"
"It's more accurate to say I induced my own elimination."
"The Fairy Race children surrendered to the Dokkaebi Race on their own, but"
"Who raised and nurtured those children? Who were they revering as a god?"
"...."
"With just a little prophecy, a little hint, and a little instruction in their dreams, the children would easily follow. Death King. The way you conquered the stage wasn't much different."
Thinking back.
The Fairy Race was behind the funding of the multi-racial alliance.
Before I met Uburka, I had discussed it with the Count, who advised me to [negotiate in a direction beneficial to all races], and following her suggestion, I entered Uburka's dream.
From the beginning to the end?
If the Count' big picture was to have the Fairy Race surrender bloodlessly to the Dokkaebi Race without any battle or war.
"Why would you do such a thing..."
"Didn't I say it? To test you."
The Count said.
"Ruling is easy when you can persecute someone simply for being from another country. Let alone when a different race comes under your command. Ah, they look different, have different habits, and even worship different gods. Wouldn't the Dokkaebi Race discriminate against the Fairy Race?"
"...."
"I was curious. How you would lead the Dokkaebi Race is your own matter. But besides that, whether you could also effectively govern other races like ours, who had left their homelands, is a quality necessary for our leader."
I fell silent.
I slightly raised my eyes to look at the Crusader's face.
The Crusader, holding the calico cat, had a calm expression.
"Patricia."
The next person to be eliminated after the Countess.
A comrade who [voluntarily] abstained from the stage.
If the Fairy Race held the capital, the Ocean Race held logistics, and along with the Count' race, her own race was naturally integrated under the Dokkaebi Race.
"Hmm."
The Crusader nodded.
"Yes. Kim Gong-ja. I abstained on purpose."
"...."
"To understand who you are as a person."
I realized.
Why the Goblins were able to conquer the continent with so little bloodshed.