SSS-Class Revival Hunter - Chapter 365

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ SSS-Class Revival Hunter ◈

Chapter 365: The 1st Floor (2)

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[Come when I tell you to. Come and perform tricks right under my nose when I tell you to, and if I order you to open a bag of potato chips for me, open it. Of course, you cannot tell me any lies and must always speak the truth. And that is not all. If I tell you to meow, then meow, and if I tire of the sound and tell you to bark instead, then bark willingly.]

The Countess surveyed her surroundings.

"There are too many ears here for a conversation. Let's move elsewhere."

It was a sensible suggestion. We left the square.

Well, we just moved to a cafe clinging to the edge of the square.

'It's been a while since I've been here.'

This cafe was where we first met. The place where I was acknowledged as the vice guild master of the five great guilds during our first meeting. A place with its own significance.

Originally, this place was occupied by the most famous franchise in the world, the Green Star Octopus Mermaid Queen, but at some point, it turned into a cat cafe.

"W-Welcome! Woof! Dog Owner!"

To be more precise, it changed today.

The cats I clearly remembered seeing in the Heaven of Gold, a meowing legion that unmistakably belonged to [The Cat that Bites Gold Coins], rushed to the entrance.

"Woof! We are so overwhelmed by the Dog Owner's arrival that we cannot steady ourselves!"

"Ah, I have already prostrated myself on the ground in my devotion...!"

"We have composed an ode to the Countess out of our devotion, woof!"

The Nyangnyangs lined up in a row, prostrating themselves. Their heads bowed but their tails were sticking up, wagging furiously.

The reason the cats didn't meow but barked instead was because the Countess commanded them to do so.

"Hmm."

The Countess covered her lower face with her fan, her eyes smiling.

"Not a bad welcome. Well, being the God of Commerce, you'd expect at least this level of service. Lead us to our table."

"Woof! Right away!"

The cats stood up and led the way.

We arrived at a window seat. It was arguably the most luxurious spot in the cafe, where sitting alone could justify the cost of the coffee. And literally, a hotspot.

"We warmed the seats in anticipation of the Dog Owner's arrival! Woof woof!"

Because the cats had already taken a seat on each chair.

"If the warmth of our bottoms can warm even a little of our master's cold body, it will truly be the honor of three lifetimes! Woof!"

"Hurry and sit, Dog Owner. We all wish to serve you at once!"

"We've sent all other customers away. Don't worry! We gave them 10 gold coins each and asked them to leave politely, so they left happily!"

"If they realized their insignificant lives contributed to the Countess's comfort, they would surely rejoice too! Woof woof!"

"What the..."

I shuddered.

"I've never seen such a servile being..."

"I wondered where to best utilize them to earn such praise. It seemed there was no punishment greater than being eternally stroked by the very humans they scorned. So, I bought a cafe."

"I believe this cafe's land is the most expensive in the tower..."

"Well, money is something I have in abundance."

We took our seats by the window.

In other words, this cafe was situated in the square. Although the cats controlled the entrance and no one followed us inside, pedestrians could still glimpse us from outside the window.

Passersby snapped photos and waved, shouting through the glass. When I awkwardly waved back, a burst of cheers shook the soundproof glass.

Terrifying.

"Shouldn't we sit somewhere more secluded...?"

"No."

The Black Dragon Master firmly refused.

"Do you know how long you've been away? I won't say you need to spend 90 out of 100 days in Babylon, but at least stay for 30 days. You're practically a king. There's nothing worse than a leader who abandons his throne."

"So we came to a cafe on purpose..."

"That’s right. At the very least, when you're on the first floor, you need to be visible to the people. It's better to let the citizens see and feel reassured that the top-ranked hunters are living close to them, rather than holding meetings in some hidden depths. Right?"

So this was also part of reputation management.

Unlike me, Anastasia effortlessly smiled and waved. The glass vibrated again with the crowd's cheer.

Really, the Black Dragon Master is flawless.

"Now, you must be curious why I remember the heavenly floors."

"Yeah. It's puzzling."

"As you know, I made [The Cat that Bites Gold Coins] bow before me."

Indeed, four cats were kneeling in a row beneath the Countess's chair. I knew this was the Countess's idea of a killer joke, but I refused to react.

"Tsk."

As if to say, Honestly, you have no sense of charm, the Countess fanned herself.

"I demanded absolute obedience from the god. But in truth, I had another aim. To hide a beast, you must first create a forest to conceal it. To me, absolute obedience was that forest."

"And what was the beast?"

"The inability to lie to me."

Recalling the Countess's terms, I remembered:

「Of course, you cannot tell any lies to me and must always speak the truth.」

Indeed, such a condition was included in the Countess's surrender terms. Noticing my recollection, the Countess nodded.

"Seems your brain is still sharp, Kim Gong-Ja. Then let me ask from my side."

With a swish, the Countess's fan closed.

"Did [The Cat that Bites Gold Coins] lose its memory?"

I blinked.

"Pardon?"

"A simple question. The [Staff of Time Immemorial] can distort the memories of hunters and Constellations. So, one might think that the [The Cat that Bites Gold Coins] would also lose its memories of the heavenly floors and the pillars. However, upon hearing that, I suddenly thought."

Tapping the table lightly with the tip of her fan, the Countess continued.

"There's no way that could be."

"......"

The Countess did not explain why she thought it impossible. Instead, the cats lying under the table pricked up their ears.

"Woof! Your thinking is correct, Dog Owner. We cooperate with the [Staff of Time Immemorial]! When that pillar sends a soul, we receive it. Even if the other Constellations cannot remember the pillar, we, who cooperate with her on the heavenly floor, are bound to remember!"

"Indeed."

I felt as if I had grasped the whole situation.

"Nisha lost her memory, but the God of Commerce kept those memories. Then Nisha asked the cats what had happened and learned the whole story. Since they could not lie, Nisha grasped the full sequence of events."

"My, my. Now the two of you even address each other by your real names..."

Anastasia murmured in amazement beside us. Or perhaps, she just seemed dumbfounded.

The Countess shrugged her shoulders and then lifted one of the cats onto her lap.

"W-Wooof..."

"Hmm. Right, but that alone wasn't enough to be certain."

The Countess stroked the cat's head. Trembling. The cat shivered in terror, as if it were a mortal who had been blessed with a pat from a mythical monster.

"I needed assurance that, come what may, the pillar would not tamper with the Constellation's memory. Regrettably, I was not in a position to demand such a guarantee from the pillar. From the pillar's perspective, I am nothing more than a mere hunter. So, I thought of a counterintuitive solution."

"Counterintuitive solution?"

"Simple. Create an event where [no matter what happens, the pillar cannot tamper with the Constellation's memory]."

The Countess flicked the top of the cat's head. The cat trembled.

"Wooof... W-We became the Countess's slaves under the agreement. That was the deciding factor. The moment we became slaves, the [Staff of Time Immemorial] became absolutely unable to distort our memories, no matter what happened."

"Why is that?"

"Because it would be a complete mockery of our feline lives."

The tricolor cat wagged its tail.

"If the pillar erased our memories, we would become the Countess's slaves overnight [without knowing how it happened] and [without the slightest idea why]. Isn't that unfair? It would be as if we blinked once and suddenly became the servants of some mayfly... of the most noble person in the world! Woof! Of course, we would be delighted by this situation and praise the Dog Owner's elegance just as we do now, but objectively speaking, it would be nothing but utterly unreasonable violence!"

"I see."

The Countess rubbed the cat's ears, causing the cat to jump in surprise and cry out "Meow!? Wow, woof! Woof!" in a pitiful protest, but to no avail.

"In short, I needed an absolute point that could not be rolled back. A point that could neither be erased nor distorted. That's why I let you rampage through the heaven and subtly pushed you until the Constellation submitted."

"......."

That is, the moment the Countess was told that she would be summoned as a judge and lose her memory, and the moment she suspected that the administrator of the Heaven of Gold might be [The Cat that Bites Gold Coins], she set her sights on forcing the Constellation's surrender.

After hearing the Countess's grand and far-reaching scheme, I parted my lips.

"Weren't you worried?"

"Hm? About what?"

"The [Staff of Time Immemorial] might have a vicious nature. She might be the kind of being that tolerates unreasonable violence. How could you trust that pillar?"

The Countess's eyes widened.

She covered her mouth with her fan and laughed softly.

"What are you talking about? Kim Gong-Ja, I have never once trusted the [Staff of Time Immemorial]."

"Excuse me? But..."

"I trusted you."

The Countess looked at me.

"You care about the tower more than anyone else. If the pillar managing such a tower were a ruthless dictator, you would have been the first to crush her. Isn't that so?"

"......."

"You tolerated the existence of that pillar. Not reluctantly, but willingly. Kim Gong-Ja. if you respect someone, they must be worthy of respect."

From afar, the cats wobbled towards us. They each served us a cup of coffee. The Countess held an Americano in one hand and smiled brightly.

"Just as you trust my abilities, I trust your judgment."

"…Nisha."

"You are our leader, and we are your comrades. And comrades, in my belief, strive to be equals."

The Countess said.

"What we did, how we cleared the stages, what conversations we shared, a world where only you, Kim Gong-Ja, remember any of it... Good heavens. I reject that with all my might."

The smile that the Countess wore made it seem plausible why Patricia, despite their utterly opposite personalities, fell for the Countess.

"I lost my memory but when I opened my eyes, I found these cats scurrying around my feet. When I asked what happened, the cats showed me an ultra-high-definition hologram of the events in the heaven. I'd like to boast that everything went according to my plan."

"Woof."

The cats that delivered coffee to the Countess now pressed against my legs. Three cats combined their strength to lift a tray.

"White Mocha Frappuccino, venti, quad shot, half-and-half Java chips, with extra chocolate drizzle!"

I had never ordered it, but the cats brought my custom menu. I chuckled and turned to look at their master.

"A gift."

I was momentarily at a loss for words.

"Ah. Of course, the real gift is something else."

"Really."

"I just wanted to tell you this."

"Really..."

"Welcome, Kim Gong-Ja. You've worked hard conquering the heavens. We will always remember what trials you faced. The only thing you need to remember is one thing."

"…My comrades are amazing."

"Even if you leave us by ourselves, we will never leave you by yourself."

I must have been making a face too embarrassing to show to passersby. To hide my expression, I took a sip of my coffee.

That day's White Mocha was exceptionally sweet.

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