WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ SSS-Class Revival Hunter ◈
Chapter 37: The Alias of the Hero (1)
──────
In the last round.
It was when the tutorial of the tower had ended.
-Warriors.
-The ones who chose to climb the tower.
The hunters shouted the countdown energetically in the square. The Goddess descended above the square. She recited solemnly, like a priest offering a prayer.
-From the eleventh to the twentieth floor.
-You will face a trial.
-A trial of faith.
The hunters didn't pay attention to the Goddess's words.
A new era. A new stage.
Excited that the stage they had awaited for so long had finally opened, everyone rushed to the 11th floor. Some hunters even tested whether the Goddess could be cut with a sword.
-You will find the answer.
But…
-The answer you find will once again reveal who you are.
I didn't do that.
I stayed till the end, listening.
-Thus, you will come to know yourselves.
Looking back now.
We had already received a revelation.
About what would happen from the 12th floor.
-The ones who chose to climb the tower.
It wasn't about what rewards we would receive. It wasn't about who to suspect. The tower hinted that only the answer we found mattered.
-May fortune be with you.
The Goddess was just quietly offering her prayers.
Now, once again arriving at the 12th floor.
I nodded, my mind colored by that scene.
And I declared.
"I will clear up to the 20th floor within five days."
The answer I had decided on.
Silence filled the surroundings.
The first to break the silence was the master of the Black Dragon.
"Wait a moment. 5 days...?"
The Witch looked bewildered.
"Did I hear that wrong? It sounded like you said you'd conquer up to the 20th floor in 5 days. If it's a joke, it's not funny. Drop it."
"No, you heard right. It's not a joke."
"……"
The Witch closed her lips.
The hush that settled in the audience hall gradually turned into a murmur. The expressions of the hunters changed. Some looked incredulous, others disbelieving, and some didn't know how to react...
'Such a reaction is natural.'
I calmly faced the gaze of all the hunters.
It was a declaration that made no sense by any conventional logic.
"…It's impossible, Kim Gong-Ja."
After a while, the Witch spoke.
"You know it. It took us years just to clear up to the 10th floor. Sure, you might be confident after clearing the 11th floor in less than an hour, but... it's too much. Isn't that overconfidence? Aren't you a bit too excited?"
"Black Dragon Master."
I bowed my head.
"Please."
"……"
"Remember, I cleared the 10th floor. Not for you, but for myself. I wanted to succeed. But the rewards and achievements I gained from clearing the 10th floor, I shared with you all."
Including the information that wide-scale battles would occur from now on.
And the mini-map showing the boss monster's location.
I shared the information, and the guilds minimized their losses.
"It wasn’t just me but all of us who benefited from it."
Therefore, I could say with confidence.
"I have the right to ask you for a favor."
"……"
"Please just wait for 5 days. Not until I clear the 20th floor, but just wait for 5 days, regardless of success or failure. That's my request."
Silence swirled in the audience hall.
It didn't feel disadvantageous to me.
Maybe that's why.
[Welcome, Hunter Kim Gong-Ja.]
[You have conquered the 11th floor in 1st place.]
[You will receive the 11th floor's clear reward.]
The reason why the notification came much earlier than the last round.
In the previous round, rewards were only given after the Sword Saint's swordplay was over. It took a considerable amount of time. But this time, it was different. As soon as I started speaking, the topic of rewards surged to the surface.
'Alright.'
As if desperately trying to catch my attention and interest.
[The Goddess of Protection offers you a reward.]
[The Demon King of the Autumn Rain proposes a reward for you.]
The notifications sounded one after another.
I didn't choose any reward.
Just smiling inwardly.
'Getting impatient, Demon King?'
Soon the Goddess's and the Demon King's rewards appeared. I briefly glanced at them. Beyond that, I showed no further interest or curiosity.
[The Demon King of the Autumn Rain suggests you choose a reward.]
A voice echoed in my head.
[The Demon King of the Autumn Rain hints that you could even refuse the reward.]
Several times. Continuously.
My attitude didn't change.
'Pester me all you want.'
Unmoved, I paid no attention to the roles the Goddess offered as rewards or to anything the Demon King offered.
[The Demon King of the Autumn Rain is puzzled.]
[The Demon King of the Autumn Rain fails to understand your intentions.]
Fine. Don't be hasty.
If you keep dithering like this, I'll come find you myself.
"Hmm…"
The silence continued in the audience hall. The Heretic Inquisitor looked around, laughed, and apparently decided to speak first.
"The issue is simple! Hunter Kim Gong-Ja shared the strategy for the 11th floor with us. In return, he asked us to fulfill one request, and we promised to do so as long as it wasn't impossible!"
The Heretic Inquisitor grinned broadly.
"Do nothing and wait here for 5 days. It's not exactly a simple request considering the media frenzy for these 5 days... but it's certainly not impossible! Therefore, I agree!"
"It's certainly not an impossible request, but..."
"A promise is a promise! Black Dragon Master!"
The Witch's complexion darkened.
She hesitated, her lips quivering several times before finally sighing.
"Alright. A promise is a promise."
Essentially agreeing to my request.
The other hunters agreed to my request one by one. The Witch and the Heretic Inquisitor, the most cultured hunter here and the craziest one, stood together in support. Hunters who were not guild leaders were swept along by the mood and also promised five days of silence.
"I never agreed to such a promise."
Except for the hunter with the highest old-fogey level here.
"The only promise I made was to watch the young man for the next five days. I have no reason to grant any other request."
"……"
"If you plan to leave for the 20th floor, I will simply follow you, as I promised."
"Hm."
I nodded in agreement.
"Yes, that's fine."
From now on, I will be confronting the Demon King alone.
Although I'm confident in winning alone... having the Sword Saint behind me is like gaining a thousand allies. There's no need to refuse his offer to follow.
I looked around the audience hall.
"Thank you for listening to my favor, everyone."
Then, I slowly turned to leave.
"See you in five days."
Creeeeak. I opened the grand doors of the audience hall and stepped forward.
Beyond the doors lay the vast palace. Exiting the palace, a high wall stretched out, and beyond that, the capital of the Aegim Empire spread out.
A scene I had already passed in the last cycle.
-What?
But it was different.
-Why are the NPCs all frozen?
The Guardian Spirit walked beside me, looking around in every direction.
The Guardian Spirit was right.
The knight NPC guarding the palace, the street vendor NPC selling fruits, the patrol guard NPC with a bored expression, all NPCs from the palace to the city were motionlessly frozen.
'It's because the quest hasn't started yet.'
It was like time had been paused.
I trudged through the still streets.
Far behind me, the Sword Saint followed.
-Quest?
'Yes. No one has chosen a [Role] yet.'
Currently, there's no prime minister or knight commander in the empire.
Important figures that should exist in a nation.
Having the hunters take the places of those missing officials was precisely what the quests from the 12th through the 20th floors were about.
'In the 11th floor stage, we were given a quest as soon as we entered. That's probably the correct order. But there was a long delay on the 12th floor, wasn't there? It took ages for a quest to be given.'
Only after a role was chosen did the quest start.
Meaning…
'If you don't choose a role, the quest doesn't start. The Demon King's invasion won't happen, and the empire's army won't fight.'
That's why NPCs are frozen.
And will remain so.
'As long as we don't choose a role.'
A kind of trigger.
The choice of a role by the top hunters itself triggers the start of the quest.
'But you know, Sword Emperor.'
I crossed the street. I had to zigzag through the gaps between the motionless people, like walking through a maze made of human bodies.
Even as I navigated this labyrinth, notifications kept ringing in my mind.
[The Demon King of the Autumn Rain advises you to choose a reward.]
I ignored it.
[The Demon King of the Autumn Rain suggests that if you don't choose a reward, you should give up on it entirely. In that case, the right to select a reward will pass to the next hunter.]
I kept walking, ignoring it.
[The Demon King of the Autumn Rain urges you to make a choice!]
Finally, I left the city gate behind.
Crossing the city of the empire, a vast plain unfolded before me.
'What if, hypothetically, the Demon King dies in this state?'
-What?
I saw it.
The mini-map displayed through the Blessing of the Battlefield.
A single red dot was unmistakably twinkling on the translucent map.
At this moment, when no monster has been summoned yet, the red dot meant only one thing.
'What do you think will happen if the boss monster dies before the quest starts?'
The Demon King.
'It's simple. No one can choose the Demon King's reward.'
-…….
'Of course, there won't be any traitors either. It's just an instant out, even before any scheming could begin.'
I crossed the plain in a straight line toward the red dot. Before long, I reached a point directly in front of it. Just a little farther ahead was the boss monster's marked location.
[The Demon King of the Autumn Rain is furious with you!]
Realizing my intentions at last.
A different voice reached my mind now that I was here.
[The Demon King of the Autumn Rain manifests!]
The sky in front of me undulated darkly. A black hole-like abyss opened, spilling out a murky liquid.
A drop. A stream. A mass.
The liquids joined to form a larger shape, from which a voice leaked.
-How dare you….
The Demon King was enraged.
-Follow the proper order, Hero of the Goddess. How insolent of you to come here without making any choice. Only one who inherits the empire's crown has the right to receive my sword.
"What nonsense."
I gripped my sword's hilt tightly.
"I've made the proper choice."
-What...?
"See. This is the best choice."
A time not yet started by a quest.
A city of the empire yet to be invaded by the Demon King's army.
A world where not a single human has died.
"Demon King. I will kill you before the quest begins. Then, not a single hunter will die, not a single citizen of the empire. Of course, there won't be any traitors either."
-…….
"Do you understand? It's a happy ending without a single sacrifice."
I grinned.
"I've never really liked bad endings. Maybe it's just my personality? Whenever possible, I prefer happy endings. You're making such a goddamn mess of things that I can't get one, so sorry, but just die for me."
-How dare...
The Demon King's form writhed.
-You dare to stop me alone! Without the empire's help!
"Yes."
I drew my sword.
Aiming it precisely at the dark figure.
"What help?"
A vast plain.
In the middle of a frozen time and a halted world.
My sword became a single clock hand aimed at the enemy.
I spoke out.
"Heroes are supposed to fight alone."
The eternal five days began.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
