SSS-Class Revival Hunter - Chapter 235

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ SSS-Class Revival Hunter ◈

Chapter 235: King of Death (2)

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The Ghouls live in a penal colony.

Sinners who dyed the empire in blood, and sinners who failed to serve the supreme master till the end. They were shackled in chains under the name [Ghoul Reincarnation], and the cost of these chains was horrific.

The deceased do not inherit their abilities from life.

The dead can't bring back their prime from life but only reminisce. The great demon who once annihilated the empire turned into a small Preta, and the Demonic Cult that once commanded the world became nothing more than quirky ruffians.

But now, it has changed.

"Hahaha! How long has it been since I've felt the power of Divine Art of the Demonic Heaven!"

Martial arts swirled around the swords held by the disciples.

The bodies they once lost have returned, and the martial arts they once abandoned have come back.

Their prime.

As the disciples returned to the era of Demonic Heaven's domination over the martial world, they were filled with excitement.

"Damn, who knew this day would come…"

"Let's have a martial arts contest! Let's open a competition!"

"I was already grateful for having my life saved once, but now the Vice-lord has even returned our martial arts, I am utterly overwhelmed with gratitude!"

"Long live the Vice-lord! Forever and ever!"

"Shouldn't today be declared an official feast day for the Demonic Cult?"

"I really want to start a contest right now, but this courtyard seems a bit cramped. Vice-lord! Where are we? I've been wanting to ask since I was first summoned, but you looked so stern and serious that I'm only asking now."

I smiled wryly.

It's just like a bunch of runaway peasants, deserters, slaves, and beggars not to keep quiet and turn the place into a marketplace.

"First, clear the space as your successors are waiting. While you were receiving the boxes of Earth Bone Dragon, the remaining five hundred troops were still patiently waiting in the shadows. Either enter the mansion or climb up the wall, make some space."

"Yes, Vice-lord!"

The disciples responded in unison.

Then, skillfully, they climbed up the walls, or onto the shoulders of their companions already on the walls, merged with the wall as one, or slipped under the large deck like burrowing rabbits.

In less than 30 seconds, the courtyard of the Hanok was clean.

"That's some skilled maneuvering."

Jaa Soo-Jeong admired the scene.

"......."

Uburka sat silently on the deck, just looking at the courtyard.

The murderous intent and keen edge radiating from the cultists, and above all, the level of their martial arts. Uburka must have been measuring his own ability against all of it.

Although Uburka remained silent, the muscles in his arms twitched and rippled as the warrior's excitement began to rise.

"Get ready. You'll be fighting them soon."

I tapped Uburka's arm.

"And the strong ones you'll face aren't just them."

I looked around the courtyard and spoke.

"Next."

[The skill is progressing!]

The Ghouls waiting in line were summoned.

The total number of the Demonic Cult is 1000. Having already summoned 499 and given them new bodies, this time I put the memories of another 500 into black beads and placed them into my heart.

Thus, the immortal legion of the Demonic Cult was complete.

"Next."

The next person summoned was somewhat less imposing than the Demon King of the Autumn Rain or the Demonic Cult that had once commanded the realm.

"Goldencup."

"......."

The maid standing in the courtyard flinched, trembling slightly.

Born into a noble family, her golden hair was always neatly groomed.

Once hailed as the flower of the social world and a heroine who dominated the empire.

Lady Silvia Evanair of the baronial House of Evanair.

"......I greet the sun and moon of Ivansia."

Goldencup bowed politely toward the raised wooden floor where Raviel and I sat side by side. Her fingertips clenched tightly around her skirt.

"Thinking about it."

I opened my lips.

"We haven't talked much, have we?"

"......Please do not honor me with such formal speech. I am only an underling of the Duke’s Wife. I cannot bear it, so please speak more casually."

"Right. We haven't talked much, you and I."

I spoke casually. Raviel silently, just quietly lifted her right arm and placed her hand on my distant shoulder.

Then something remarkable happened.

Until now, this place was just an old Hanok in some shabby village. A mansion with an unnecessarily large courtyard.

But the instant Raviel took hold of my shoulder, the raised floor where we sat became a ducal seat attesting to both our titles, and the courtyard where Goldencup knelt grew as solemn as an audience chamber.

"I need to have a talk with you."

"......."

Goldencup let out a suppressed breath.

There were no grand family banners or knights in shining armor here. But the [Ivansia Ducal Family] did not exist in silk curtains or marble stairs. Where Raviel is, where Kim Gong-Ja is, that place is Ivansia.

In another world, an insect foreign to that land droned like a cicada.

Before their cries ended, Goldencup did her best to bow respectfully.

"Please ask your question…"

"You were a returner, right?"

"Yes."

"I understand that you used the power of a Constellation to return. And you coveted the position of Empress, which was to be assigned to Raviel. But why?"

"......."

"Why did you specifically target the position of Empress? Did you want to seize the greatest power in the empire? Why did you bet everything in your new life to steal Raviel's position?"

Silvia Evanair, no longer called the Lady of the Baron, sealed her lips.

As the lord of the Ghouls, I could command Silvia to speak, but I chose not to.

"......I'm not sure."

Even no longer being called the Lady of the Baron, Silvia Evanair, once a noble of the empire, spoke on her own.

"Not sure?"

"Yeah, well, it's a past I've lost."

Silvia quietly lifted the corners of her lips.

"The lover of the Crown Prince. The future Empress. The rise of the family. Numerous invitations at my feet and the countless riff-raff who flocked to flatter me... All in the past, right? After losing it all, I wonder why I clung to them so desperately... I'm not quite sure."

"You don't want to know?"

"Ahaha. That sounds like a grand rebuttal. As expected from the moon of the Ivansia Ducal Family. You can see through the human psyche, can't you? Eh, there's nothing worth seeing through in me. But if the Duke’s Wife wants to act superior, then I, Silvia Evanair, will dutifully play along."

"It's because your butler is gone."

"......."

"No, to be precise, disappeared."

The butler from [Tales of the Sormewin Academy].

When Raviel was ruined and Silvia fell into corruption, the butler could endure no more and offered everything in a prayer. That wish reached a certain [Holed-Up Head Librarian].

-O God.

-Please help us.

Hamusutra willingly granted the butler's wish and turned time back to before Goldencup became Empress, before Raviel's ruin. In the restored timeline, Raviel drove a sword into her heart and became gilded.

As a price, the butler lost his existence.

He lost everything.

"......I, um."

Silvia clenched her teeth, her head bowed.

"I wanted to be friends with the Lady of Ivansia. Because she was beautiful... and capable, intelligent. I wondered if such a person could really exist among us."

Raviel, resting her head on my shoulder, narrowed her eyes and hummed.

"The very first encounter."

"Yes. I mean our first meeting in my first timeline. I was terribly nervous about making my debut alongside all those young girls. Then I spotted the Duchess, who was still known as Lady Silver Lily, in the distance."

Silvia recounted.

Like someone replaying a videotape they've watched several times, Silvia precisely recited the landscape of the past.

"To my young eyes, Lady Silver Lily was like a real angel. Silver hair! And even red eyes... People who have seen the most beautiful rubies would scoff at them as garbage compared to her eyes. So I…"

I understood.

"You admired her."

Like how I once admired a certain hunter.

After a brief silence, Silvia clenched her fist.

"Yes! That's right!"

Silvia grabbed her maid headdress and threw it to the ground.

"I was consumed by admiration! Alright?! Happy now!?"

Silvia snorted and glared at the silent Raviel. The initial politeness was gone, standing like a gangster, forgetting all manners.

Jaa Soo-Jeong, our expressionless landlord, approached with a tray.

"Here's some chilled barley tea. Would you like some?"

"Yes! I don't know who you are, but thank you! Hup, gulp, gulp, gulp…, what is this!? It's freaking delicious!? Damn!"

Silvia stared at the barley tea and suddenly slumped her shoulders.

Her expression was one of life's futility.

"Well, there were others obsessed with admiration like me. We formed a social club called [Silver Bells]. It was exclusive, and only ladies recommended by members could join. The screening was strict, not just any social club anyone could enter."

"Silver Bells…?"

"[Bells for Lady Silver Lily]. Little bells, you know. You don't get it? Idiot?"

Silence lingered for a while.

Guardian Spirit and Shiny broke the silence.

-Zombie. Even when you were living holed up, you never made something like the Fire Bells, did you?

[Shiny gently speculates that even the hero of that era would not have had the social capacity to create such a thing.]

-Ah… Sorry, Zombie. I accidentally touched a sore spot…

I quietly listened to Goldencup's story.

"So, as the founder, I was very active."

Raviel, with her chin resting on her hand, leaned forward.

"......I'm the person in question and this is the first I'm hearing of this."

"It was an absolute secret society. Just looking, no touching. We just watched from afar, went back to our secret hideout, and gossiped about Lady Silver Lily, wrote poems, and published stories. That was the incredible purpose of the secret society [Silver Bells]."

"I seem to be in a strange position like a platypus…"

Raviel pouted her lips. Indeed, she looked like a newly born platypus.

"Well, as usual, we were going 'Kyaa, Kyaa' and then, you see, I just casually wrote down Lady Silver Lily's real name… Raviel Ivansia, and below it, my name. Ah. I should show you for it to make sense."

Silvia looked around.

Then, spotting a broom for sweeping the courtyard, she trudged over to fetch it.

"Look here."

Silvia held the broom upside down and began writing on the ground.

Raviel Ivansia

Silvia Evanair

"Just like this, I scribbled the names on paper when I was young."

-Zombie, even when you were holed up….

[Shiny again gently suggests that even the hero of that era wouldn't have been in such a turbulent period.]

-Right.

I continued to focus solely on Silvia.

Silvia twirled the broom and said.

"At first, it was just a doodle out of boredom. But suddenly, an idea struck me. What if a child was born between Lady Silver Lily and me..."

Raviel dropped the teacup she was holding.

Silvia pointed her broom at Raviel, her expression fierce like an angry hedgehog.

"Ah, understand, will you? It was puberty, okay? Anyway, if a child was born between us, it'd be a bastard since we couldn't officially marry. We couldn't pass on the family name, but we couldn't give a completely unrelated name either. Combining [Raviel Ivansia] and [Silvia Evanair] seemed almost inevitable. Do you understand this outstand idea?"

"Miss Silvia."

Jaa Soo-Jeong politely raised a hand.

"It's not 'outstand,' it's 'outstanding' in this context."

"Thanks, but now shut up! Damn it! So, focus and watch!"

As Jaa Soo-Jeong dejectedly lowered her head, Silvia's broom briskly moved.

R A V I E L I V A N S I A

S I L V I A E V A N A I R

“Look here, everyone! This is the tricky part. When I was young I thought of combining our names to make a new one, but then I found something amazing!”

Silvia moved her broom to continue making letters on the ground.

“I've split the writing into individual letters, haven't I? But if we divide those again into consonants and vowels...”

+
R V L V N S A I E I A I A
S L V V N R I I A E A A I
+

A A A E I I I L N R S V V

Ah.

"......."

Indeed, written like that, it was unmistakable.

I looked at the letters arrayed on the ground.

"The letters forming the name… are all the same?"

"Yes!!"

Thud!

Silvia tossed the broom and spread her arms wide.