SSS-Class Revival Hunter - Chapter 380

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ SSS-Class Revival Hunter ◈

Chapter 380: The Gardener of the Rotten Flowers (2)

──────

Rust-colored sunlight pooled inside the plastic flowerpot filled with black soil. The lily of the valley slept quietly with its roots immersed in it.

As I gazed at it, [The Staff of Time Immemorial] spoke up.

"Having shaped the sky and crafted the land, it seems it's time to create the sea."

"Yesno."

"Yes, the order of creation... Wait. What kind of response was that?"

"You'll see."

Though [The Staff of Time Immemorial] raised an eyebrow, I proceeded without further reply and summoned Ester.

[The Heaven that Gathers Wails summons his Apostle.]

[Your Apostle responds to your call.]

[The Apostle of The Heaven that Gathers Wails manifests.]

The woman who once was hailed as the Saintess of the Weak and now served as my family's advisor appeared. Her voice spread across the world even before her feet touched the ground.

"Lord, what brings you to call upon me this time?"

Ester's voice was vibrant, still riding the adrenaline from a recent battle.

I raised a hand to calm her and said, "Ease your spirit, advisor. This isn't a call to arms."

"Oh, is that so?... I regretted not playing a more significant role in the last battle..."

"Have you become a bit of a brawler lately?"

"The Chamberlain is akin to an online game, influencing those around to become more aggressive. I am but one unfortunate victim of this."

Isn't that an insult to online games?

While it's debated whether online games increase aggression, it's a repeatedly proven fact that Silvia does. Unlike online games, which can relieve stress, Silvia only tests one's patience...

"Having a fighting spirit is good, but save it. There will always be battles to fight, and it won't be too late to draw your sword then."

"Yes, Lord... um. So, why have you summoned me?"

Ester blinked hesitantly, her violet eyes finally reflecting not me but the place where we stood.

"Um, this place is...?"

"The world I'm creating."

I continued.

"The place our family will call home."

"I see. This is our Nazarick."

"What's Nazarick?"

"A location from an old novel of your world recommended by Viper."

That gentleman, is he planning to collapse our family from the inside...?

"I see. So, you plan to fortify this place. Excellent. Let's place a [Gardener] in each garden. The gardeners, each wielding powerful skills and items, will possess absolute power within their domain, surpassing even you, Lord, within..."

"I'll need to talk with Liǎofàn later. Um, Ester. I didn't summon you to discuss security systems."

"What is it, then?"

"Ester, can you bring rain?"

The Demon King of Autumn Rain.

Once hailed as the Saintess of the Weak, now serving as my family's advisor, and previously a girl who submerged a world under a crimson flood, blinked.

"Rain, you say?"

"Yeah."

I recalled a skill card of Ester's that Guardian Spirit had once read to me.

[Resentment Flows Like Rain]

Rank: S-

Effect: They do not look. It is not seen. When something is not visible before their eyes, people believe it does not exist. 'They have gone blind.' Yes. 'They are ignorant.'

Then, show them.

Show them vividly how many lives have died in their ignorance. As much as the innocent blood that flowed in this world, the sky will willingly pour down red rain.

*However, only the blood you have witnessed yourself will become rain.

"Bring rain to this garden."

I requested.

It resembled a prayer.

Ester closed her eyes and bowed her head. Platinum-blonde hair cascaded down, covering her neck and chest, pooling over her clasped hands.

Her lips parted.

"Ah."

They closed briefly, then opened again.

"Ah."

Again.

"Ah..."

It was akin to ruminating.

When something unbelievable happens, when one witnesses the unbelievable, the action of chewing over it multiple times to digest and accept it internally. Thus, each time her lips opened, the sound emanating seemed to overflow from deep within her heart rather than her vocal cords.

A sight I had witnessed countless times in her trauma.

"----, ----, ---------------······."

And so, the scene I first witnessed upon entering the world of the Aegim Empire unfolded before me.

Crimson rain fell upon my garden.

"......."

It was a deluge.

The rain, falling heavily across the garden, quickly enveloped it. Droplets clinging to the hanging sunsets scattered chaotically. Where the crimson rain met the red fragments, oddly enough, dark blue rainbows bloomed.

I quietly observed the droplets seeping into the plastic flower pot.

"Intense."

"Yes."

Responding to [The Staff of Time Immemorial]'s comment, I nodded.

"It is like a sudden shower."

"......."

"That rain was taken for a passing shower at first."

I quoted from a book I had read long ago.

"An ordinary rain, countless before. As fierce as it was, it would soon cease. They thought it just another shower to discuss under umbrellas with neighbors or to play a game of chess indoors until it passed."

These were quotes from various books.

If a person is a book, then I've lived a reader's life. Though not a Librarian, I had many books to quote from.

"But it wasn't so."

"......."

"It wasn't like that."

[The Staff of Time Immemorial] inhaled deeply, as if holding a broken staff in her mouth.

The image reminded me of a smoker calming their nerves with a beloved pipe, and the effect seemed similar, as the magician spoke in a cool tone.

"It happens everywhere."

"......."

"Underestimating another's resentment. Never considering that the one you hurt might be a tiger rather than a cat. Growing lazy and careless until your throat is torn out or your innards rot. It happens to every empire, and no mighty power can avoid that path... Why are you smiling?"

"Just because."

As I spoke, I took another PET bottle, cutting it in half.

"Even beings as great as the Pillars develop calluses from life upon their hearts."

"Are you saying I'm putting on airs?"

"Are you not?"

"...The work I used to do was so damn awful."

[The Staff of Time Immemorial], who had served as a judge of the afterlife for an incalculable span of time, put the staff back into her mouth and then removed it again.

The rain pouring now felt colder than the blood running through my body, nearly freezing, and the mage's disgust manifested as white puffs of breath.

"Yes, but regardless of my intentions, is that not still true? The Aegim Empire fell because it mistook itself for the strong and let down its guard."

"Yeah."

I nodded and then shook my head.

"No."

The autumn rain, naturally soaking the entire land, accumulated. It didn't take long for the rising water level to seep inside my shoes.

Each raindrop had its own weight, and as some overflowed from the plastic flower pot, naturally creating variations in strength. The once-flat ground began to rise evenly at first, but then started to undulate with the force of the water hitting its surface.

It was the sea of this world.

"And additionally, they forgot two facts."

Standing with my feet soaked in a sea of tears, I spoke.

"That someone is crying."

Then added.

"That someone is crying for someone else."

I addressed [The Staff of Time Immemorial].

"Just as the Tower Master does."

[The Staff of Time Immemorial] hesitated.

Heat gathered in the broken staff. Like an archmage, she quickly grasped the crux of my words.

"Are you saying what the Tower Master does is commonplace?"

"Isn't that why you were drawn to the Tower Master?"

"Yeah."

Even in a world ruled by a merciless being, where despair reigns, someone will cry, and someone will cry for someone else.

"It's something that must not be forgotten."

The Aegim Empire was founded by the Constellation Killer, Leafanta Aegim. The empire's founding ancestor had always been in a junkyard to which no one was ever invited, weeping through his sword for others rather than himself.

Someone is crying. Someone is crying for someone else.

The Aegim Empire fell simply because it forgot that legacy.

"---------------······."

Within the empire's founder's blooming flower pot, the tears of the Demon King who caused its downfall overflowed.

The overflowing autumn rain mixed with the sea, leaving dark crimson traces on the translucent flower pot's exterior. Despite its recent emergence, the sea performed its duty as a sea. It silently accepted everything that overflowed in the world.

And it gave.

I bent down, scooped up seawater with a newly made plastic flower pot, and declared with open hands.

"Hundred-Flower Reincarnation."

[Activating skill.]

Inside the swaying flower pot, like water from a well bucket, a tiny lotus bloomed.

The frayed lotus, like curtains in an old ruined mansion never walked through, had no weight. The lotus petals, tattered and torn, surrendered themselves quietly to the waves created by alternating heavy and light raindrops.

"…This flower."

[The Staff of Time Immemorial] quickly recognized whom the lotus represented.

I nodded and pointed to the flower pot containing the Silver Bell Flowers.

"If this world needs a sky and land, it was solely for that child's sake."

"Similarly, if this world needs a sea, it's because this child needs it."

I placed the flower pot on the water's surface, which had risen to my ankles. It was the first boat to float on this world's sea.

The flower pot, like the lotus it contained, seemed weightless, entrusting its body to the movement of the waves. It climbed the hills created by the waves, then smoothly slid down, repeating the process.

Appearing precarious, as if it might capsize at any moment, it gradually found its rhythm, beginning its own voyage.

It drifted somewhere, eventually fading from sight.

[The sea has come to your world.]

[The 83rd floor has been cleared!]

And so, I continued to cultivate my sanctuary.

"Withered Flower Reincarnation."

[Activating skill.]

"Withered Flower Reincarnation."

[Activating skill.]

First, I bloomed flowers. I transplanted them one by one into prepared flower pots.

Then, I summoned my vassals and assigned them tasks.

"Ugor. Daddy, are you asking me to punch the ground now?"

"Exactly that."

"I'll do it, but... what's the point?"

"This flower prefers higher grounds."

Holding the tattered Cloud Chrysanthemum, I explained. My family's Chief Warrior looked at the flower blooming from the plastic flower pot filled with soil wrapped in white plastic and snorted dismissively.

"Got it. It's always hard to understand what daddy wants. Ugor, step back."

"Thank you."

"Krum!"

Uburka swung his fist. Bang…!! The previously flat ground and the undulating sea above it exploded vertically.

After the towering water column re-wetted the world with rain and then subsided, the floor of my sanctuary was no longer flat.

[A mountain range has come to your world.]

[The 84th floor has been cleared!]

It was done in such a manner.

[Spring has come to your world.]

For a flower that cherished the spring breeze and another weary from the perpetual winter, I brought spring.

[Summer has come to your world.]

For a flower that considered the boiling heat its homeland and another that wished to see the sea with its family on a summer day, I created summer.