Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint - Chapter 739

WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 739: Episode 30: Twelve Zodiacs (1)

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「The essence of the Twelve Zodiacs lies in the creation, decay, and extinction of all things. Thus, it represents no animal.」

- From 『Understanding of the Hundred Beasts』

* * *

After the Scenario began, most people spent their nights wide awake.

They never knew when or where a monster or enemy might appear. Fatigue could be relieved by consuming Ellain Forest Essence or recovery potions, so unless they faced a sleep penalty, there was no need to take the risk.

Sleep had become a luxury.

In that sense, every Incarnation surviving the Scenarios had lost their dreams.

The Incarnations before me were no different.

A beastfolk who had been trapped in the prison of the Scenarios for so long that they had forgotten how to dream asked me,

"Y-you'll really change our fable?"

The crane innkeeper looked at me nervously.

"I can change it for you."

"If the Twelve Zodiacs find out..."

"The Twelve Zodiacs can't come here."

I gestured with my chin toward the inn entrance. Lycaon sat there with his eyes closed, cross-legged in meditation.

A few beastfolk looked at one another and nodded. They had seen Lycaon's strength for themselves, so they had no reason to doubt me.

"Which fable would you like me to change?"

"That is..."

"Is it ‘Fox and Crane Hotel’?"

"How did you know?"

There was no mystery to how I knew.

[The fable Fox and Crane Hotel has stopped its story.]

After repairing the Fable Fragment "Brick House," I had gradually begun to see the flow of fables wandering through Area 13.

The crane innkeeper let out a quiet sigh before speaking again.

"Recently, my fable's status has become unstable."

For a fable to maintain its function, the fable's true owner had to remain active in the Star Stream, or the fable itself had to keep being talked about.

"So I tried to have the fable talked about through Stage Transformation, but I can't bring the scene to life alone."

Of course they couldn't. That fable didn't belong to the crane alone.

"Are there no foxes in Area 13?"

The crane innkeeper nodded with another sigh.

"There used to be, but the last fox disappeared a few months ago."

"What happened to the last fox?"

"After the Twelve Zodiacs took the fox, we never heard anything again."

The Twelve Zodiacs.

It was obvious why they had done such a thing.

[The fable Fox and Crane Hotel is fading.]

They couldn't let a being that had risen through fables in Area 13 threaten their position.

I slowly looked over the beastfolk.

Perhaps some of them had once been Constellations, or had come close to becoming one, like the wolf from "The Three Little Pigs."

Time had simply worn away their fables and stripped them of their original Status.

The innkeeper muttered in a powerless voice.

"The fox is probably dead."

The fable must have told them. The fox and the crane were bound together by that fable.

"At first, I considered selling the fable to the Twelve Zodiacs. If I handed it over to them, I could preserve its status even if the fable changed."

I recalled the wolf Constellation that had struggled desperately to preserve "The Three Little Pigs."

"But I couldn't do it. Even if the fable disappeared, I didn't want to bow to the bastards who took the fox."

The innkeeper lowered their head deeply.

"I know I have to let the fable go now. I can't protect it alone, and it isn't an important fable in the Star Stream. But..."

A strange longing flickered in the crane innkeeper's eyes as they slowly raised their head.

"I thought you might have a way."

I nodded.

"There is a way."

"Really?"

Just then, a Scenario message appeared before me.

It had probably been triggered by the Recycling Center Director or the Administration Bureau, who had been watching the situation.

[A new Sub Scenario has arrived!]

Category: Sub

Difficulty: C

Clear Conditions: Succeed in reenacting the fable Fox and Crane Hotel.

Time Limit: -

Reward: 12,000 coins or 2,000 Recycle Coins, Unidentified Fable Fragment

On Failure: -

This was different from "The Three Little Pigs." The Twelve Zodiacs weren't involved, so I had no reason to hesitate about joining the scene.

The problem was finding someone to play the fox.

Killer King raised his hand.

"I'll do it."

"You're a wolf, Killer King."

"Then we'll change it to Wolf and Crane."

"There has to be a fox for the scene to manifest."

None of my companions had a fox mask.

A fox, huh.

It would be nice if I had a fable related to foxes.

Ah, wait.

[Checking the delayed reward list.]

Come to think of it, I still had a fable reward I hadn't claimed.

[Checking the rewards for the seventh Main Scenario.]

[An S-grade Skill Selection Ticket is currently awaiting collection.]

[A Historical-grade Fable Selection Ticket is currently awaiting collection.]

The S-grade Skill Selection Ticket was one thing, but a Historical-grade Fable Selection Ticket?

Hadn't the original Scenario reward been different?

[You have achieved an impossible achievement in the seventh Main Scenario.]

[The Administration Bureau recognizes your achievement.]

[The Scenario reward Random Historical-grade Fable has been upgraded to a Historical-grade Fable Selection Ticket.]

The Administration Bureau had done something useful for once.

Considering what had happened at Washington Dome, an upgraded reward was entirely plausible.

Still, a Historical-grade Fable Selection Ticket...

Most Historical-grade fables were garbage, but some, like "Persistent Martial Arts Master," were useful. There were also fables like "Hang It on the Ear and It's an Earring" and "Hang It on the Nose and It's a Nose Ring," which displayed terrifying power when fused.

With a little anticipation, I checked the reward list.

[Checking the Historical-grade Fable reward list.]

[You may select one of 461 fables.]

Four hundred and sixty-one.

There had to be at least one useful fable in there, right?

1. Dung Pretending to Be Soybean Paste

2. Cat with Singed Whiskers

3. Silla-Tang Allied Forces

...

Every fable I saw seemed terrible.

There were even fables that would have made the Demon King of Salvation faint.

I continued looking through them.

Number 10, 30, 50, 100...

122. A Monk Who Can't Shave His Own Head

123. Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes

124. Cook Who Can't Tell Salt from Sugar

125. Ornamental Beard Specialist

There were even fables that looked like they could have come from a Random Fable Box.

Once the list passed 200 and eventually crossed into the 300s, an ominous feeling crept over me.

It looked like they had gathered nothing but fables abandoned by other Constellations.

I couldn't even find fables like "Hang It on the Ear and It's an Earring."

Just as I was resigning myself to possibly having to give up,

461. Owner of the Fox-Ear Headband

I stared closely at the final fable.

Why was this fable here?

「Owner of the Fox-Ear Headband.」

If I was right, this fable was definitely that fable.

Probably when Kim Dokja Company visited the amusement park in Oz.

「“What are you doing here?”

When I turned around, Yu Junghyeok was standing there, as expected, wearing a fox-ear headband.」

...Even if it wasn't that fable, it didn't matter. It had "fox" in its name, so I could use it right away.

「I'll choose number 461.」

[You have acquired the Historical-grade fable Owner of the Fox-Ear Headband.]

I immediately activated the fable.

Of course, using this fable wouldn't make a fox that didn't exist suddenly appear.

After all, the fable contained fox ears, not a fox.

[The fable Owner of the Fox-Ear Headband has begun its story.]

I looked at my Faceless Mask reflected in the window.

I had been told that masks in this world were fables that protected their owners.

If this mask truly was a fable...

「Attach.」

It should be possible to bind one fable to another.

「Attach.」

How many times did I urge the fable like that?

[The fable Owner of the Fox-Ear Headband responds to your Faceless Mask.]

My Faceless Mask began to emit a faint glow. The beastfolk watching us nearby cried out in amazement.

"O-ohhh!"

The form of my once-featureless mask changed in real time. Its snout grew long and pointed, and small ears sprouted from the top of its head.

It looked exactly like a fox mask.

[The fable Fox and Crane Hotel looks at you.]

The crane innkeeper grabbed my hand with an emotional expression.

"Y-you... were you a fox?"

"No."

The fox in this fable was dead.

Even if I took the fox's role and succeeded in the Stage Transformation, the fable would only be talked about for a moment.

"I can help you, but even if we reenact the scene this way, the effect will only be temporary."

"I know."

As with "The Three Little Pigs," there were ways to change the fable's development so it would be told anew, or bring other animals into it. But those were only temporary measures too.

"Innkeeper, don't you want to become famous again?"

"What do you mean?"

"Originally, ‘Fox and Crane Hotel’ was a fable as famous as ‘The Three Little Pigs.’"

The innkeeper looked confused.

"Don't you want to tell everyone in the Star Stream about your fable again?"

Creating a fable known by everyone in the Star Stream.

That was the dream of every star shining in the sky.

"As you know, Area 13's fables are weakening because you're trapped inside the Recycling Center."

"I know. But we can't leave the Center."

"You can't. But what about the fables?"

The crane innkeeper stared at me as if they couldn't believe what I was suggesting.

I nodded and added,

"We'll make the fables inside the Recycling Center known throughout the Star Stream."

"That's impossible. Constellations outside the Center can't know what happens here. Fables created here can never become famous."

"In principle, that's true."

And that was where the second stage of my plan began.

「Bihyeong.」

If they couldn't see it, I would make it possible to see.

「Open a channel for me.」

* * *

- You crazy bastard!

Just as expected, Bihyeong appeared right away.

- You crazy bastard! You crazy bastard!

「Stop that and hear me out.」

- Shut up, you crazy bastard!

「...」

- Do you know what's happening outside right now? Are you out of your mind?

「What's happening?」

- Are you seriously asking because you don't know? Did you forget what you and your Patron did right before entering the Recycling Center?

I recalled what had happened at Washington Dome.

- Constellations are gathering outside the Recycling Center right now. Do you understand?

「Which Constellations?」

- Who else would they be?

I could roughly guess.

Asgard, Olympus, Guiok, Veda, Tree of Guardianship.

The Constellations from the nebulae that had targeted us at Washington Dome must have gathered in force. There were probably Constellations from other nebulae who had heard the rumors too.

Thinking about it, it was a little frightening.

- Do you understand now?

Considering the scale of what the Demon King of Salvation and I had done, it wasn't strange.

At Ginnungagap of Asgard, a mythical stage, the Demon King of Salvation had slaughtered dozens of Historical Constellations from each great nebula.

And that wasn't all.

The Demon King of Salvation had even defeated Ares, a Fabled-grade Constellation listed among the twelve gods of Olympus.

Naturally, the Constellations of Asgard and Olympus had to be furious. Other nebulae would have begun taking an interest in us as well.

Some nebulae had probably also confirmed that the Behind-the-Scenes Contract between the Demon King of Salvation and me hadn't been severed.

- They'll definitely throw you into the underground torture chamber of Tartarus, torture you horribly, strip you of your sense of self, and turn you into a puppet weapon!

「That's awfully specific.」

- So don't ever get caught. Stay hidden in the Recycling Center no matter what. Don't ever go outside. Outside Constellations can't enter here, so it's saf-

「Thanks for worrying about me.」

- Why would I worry about you? I'm just afraid your market value will be damaged! You remember our contract was extended, right? Your Patron...

「I know.」

- Then why would someone who knows that ask me to open a channel?

「I don't mean a real-time channel. I mean a channel that only distributes fables.」

- Why should I listen to you...

「If something has value, you have to sell it before that value falls.」

- What?

「You said everyone is waiting for me.」

Even trapped inside the Recycling Center, I could feel it.

[The fable One Who Rewrites Fate grows stronger.]

Even now, the fables about the Demon King of Salvation and me were becoming famous.