Chapter 21
#021
1.
Why do herbivores form herds?
Because they're weak.
Truly strong, brave males do not form herds.
I've depended too much on others until now.
If I'm being honest, the fact that I went looking for Akit and Areng in the first place was proof of my weakness.
Just because we got along fairly well in a previous run, I tried to rely on them even though there was no need to.
That bond. That weak desire to entrust myself to others turned me into Cedric Tangtangi.
But now it's different!
“Friendship and crap like that... I'll never trust it again!”
I became strong by severing that half-hearted bond with my own hands.
Like a rogue ninja from the Village Hidden in the Leaves who slaughtered his entire clan.
By any chance, does Laplace's Eye not have a Mangekyō awakening?
「Laplace's Eye」: Sorry.
Right.
What a pity, that's all.
All right, thoughts sorted while I digest my Chapaghetti.
From here on, it's time to set my playstyle for the fourth run.
First, let's look back on the previous third run.
The third run set a new record for the fastest possible retirement.
In that run, I didn't even get to touch Arbel before my guts were crushed and my limbs hacked apart, killing me in a single day.
But the actual gains?
They were far better than in the second run, where I'd barely scraped by.
I earned a whopping 92 pt, bringing my total points to 104 pt in one shot.
I got a free 'The Hotel Abyss, Suite Room Stay Voucher,' and even acquired the title 'Poison Mushroom Appraiser.'
Of course, it felt a little like I was exploiting a bug, but I don't feel guilty.
Because then I can make the rational rebuttal: 'Then what the fuck, is it normal for that goddamn shitpolis and that crazy samurai bitch to be chasing me at the starting point?'
Anyway.
It means that even if you spend the same life, the results can differ this much.
Careful route selection.
Efficient pt farming through diverse playstyles is this important.
So what should I aim for in the fourth run?
I learned it the hard way through the third run.
“I’m!!! weak!!!!”
Because it felt like I should, I knelt down, covered my face with both hands, and screamed.
I wasn't just weaker than the crazy samurai bitch.
I was an absolute loser in this setting.
I had been swaggering around like Ikkaku after pulling out only a revolver and unlocking Bankai.
How could this not be shameful?
I was just trusting a single modern firearm and worrying, 'What if the others ask me to be the boss of the bottom rung~?'
This won't do.
In this city, the weak are the strong's punching bags, errand boys, and fleshlights.
Even if I evade the samurai bitch's pursuit and heal Arbel, at this rate someone will just snatch her away from me.
“Absolutely no NTR!!”
I will become strong.
I need to become strong.
Stronger than I am now.
Even if rocklike adversity shatters me to pieces.
Even if I have to endure bone-breaking effort and muscle-rending pain.
“Shop ON.”
As part of that effort, I opened the status window.
After Coat and Hero, with Hero's meal refilled, 95 pt remained.
Enough points to draw three jokers.
I don't exactly want to hoard them in preparation for the status window that'll unlock later, but...
This isn't the time to save them, is it?
First, I should try everything I can each run.
“Heh, hehehe… hehehe….”
I was feeling a little down just a moment ago, but now I'm already excited at the thought of rolling gacha!
So this is why I worked so hard to earn points!
-Dum-jjak, doo-dung-jjak!
[Points used : 95pt =>65pt]
“…….”
A white draw animation that pours cold water on that excitement—C grade.
“I'm filing a complaint with the Financial Supervisory Service! You bastard!!!! How could you do this to me!”
Seriously, are you fucking kidding me.
Do you know how much I bled my guts out to earn these points!
This is enough points to buy 30 poison mushrooms!!!
I'm handing over every last point I earned so painstakingly! That's excellent payment etiquette!
「Trivial Indulgence」
- Grade: C
- Description: Offer this coupon with a pitiful expression. As cute as possible, Smile.
- Effect: Get one mistake or wrongdoing forgiven by someone clearly stronger than you.
- Note: Single-use.
And the effect is fucked up too.
“Whatever, I'll spin the next one fast too.”
-Doo-dung tak! Doo-dung tak! Dung-tak!
The next gacha has a blue animation; R grade.
“Guess I need to whine a little?”
Experience says that once it hits blue, the efficiency becomes impossible to ignore.
A warding charm with genuinely decent efficacy is also R grade, isn't it?
A thin sheet of paper fluttered down onto my palm.
「Vanished Receipt」
- Grade: R
- Description: Huh? I'm sure I used it... did I? Well, this happens sometimes.
- Effect: Can duplicate a one-time-use joker that has already been used.
- Note: Applies only to 'single-use' jokers. 'Vanished Receipt' cannot be duplicated. Single-use.
“Oh!”
The effect isn't bad.
A Vanished Receipt doesn't just expand my immediate options; it drastically widens my future choices.
Take, for example, the 'Copy of the Myo-beop Loyalty Sutra.'
Even though it's a high-rank SR joker, I haven't been able to use it at all because its effect and risk are impossible to calculate, and it's single-use.
But what if I used it like a death echo at the very end of a doomed run, then used Vanished Receipt to use it once more in the next run?
The second time, I could use it at a much higher value.
Maybe the lackey summoned by the Myobop Loyalty Sutra could even beat the samurai bitch?
But seriously, what the hell does it summon?
“If possible, I'd like it to be tentacles.”
My anger suddenly drains away.
I was just R-grade angry.
“All right, that was good. Let's keep it like that, okay?”
[Points used : 35pt => 5pt]
-Doo-dung tak! Doo-dung tak! Dung-tak!
Despite my heartfelt encouragement, this animation was green—UC grade.
“Sigh….”
I don't even have the energy to be angry anymore.
Hey, status window-kun.
I just want to stop dying in this fucking city now.
I need to be cozy-cute with reverse-bunny Arbel and eat apple mango bingsu, okay?
“Let's just see what it is.”
Tap, what fell into my palm was a monocle.
It was one of the symbols of a British gentleman, and because of its structure, which clips between the eye sockets, it was a racist fashion item Asians couldn't wear.
「Exhumation Monocle」
- Grade: UC
- Description: “No, Your Honor, it's true that I killed someone at that time.”
- Effect: Over the past month, you can peek at up to three pieces of the other party's past that they most want to hide.
- Note: You can only peek at actions the target is aware of. Uses remaining: 3.
“Hmm, an item of no use to me.”
But who else besides me, Cedric, could possibly have lived with not a speck of shame under heaven?
It feels like it'll definitely be useful somewhere.
I'll definitely use it on Arbel!
Arbel's most embarrassing past month? I can't resist that.
I stopped escaping reality.
“Fuck….”
But is there any use for this besides Arbel? What am I supposed to do with knowing the past someone wants hidden? It doesn't even give me evidence.
Can I not get any stronger anymore? Is this the growth limit of a born one-star Cedric?
“…….”
While I was clutching my head.
A brilliant inspiration flashed through me like Nietzsche.
“…Hold up.”
If I play this right, I might be able to use it?
2.
Fourth run, day 4.
If C Sector is Chinatown, D Sector gives off the feel of a huge factory complex.
Not one of those clean, tidy factory complexes, but the kind from the Industrial Revolution era that threw regulation and labor laws to the dogs.
In my view, the biggest culprit behind Necropolis's air quality being able to smack India across the face is this D Sector.
Because black smoke is flowing up into the sky like cola, to the rhythm of engine sounds that echo everywhere like heartbeats.
No, really.
My eyes sting even when I just stand still.
But no one voices any direct complaints about it.
I only grumble to myself, 'Hing ;ㅅ; Cedric Eye-Burn King,' and have no intention of shouting, 'Hey there! Shouldn't we be protecting our environment a little!'
Because the true owner of this D Sector is Twilight Resource Development, one of Necropolis's two major conglomerates.
Even if there had been environmental activists in Necropolis, they'd probably be rotting deep in a trash heap by now.
Anyway.
Since both the second and third runs only stayed around C Sector, it's been a while since I came out this far into D Sector.
I wonder if Mr. Ron is doing well.
“You still haven't come to your senses, Gatsu.”
I slapped my own cheek.
To still expect anything from humans after tasting bitterness like that.
My destination is D-1 District.
It's the district where Twilight Resource Development's headquarters is located.
Passing through gaps between workers in grubby overalls,
squeezing through narrow alleys where oil waste mixes in, making the mud stickier than in other districts,
the moment I stepped into D-1 District.
I lost my words for a moment.
“That's insane.”
It reminds me of The Wizard of Oz (1939), notorious for its child actor abuse.
With just a single step as the boundary, the saturation of the scenery changed.
The gaps in the moat, enormous like a canyon, and the green smog that always floated like a sea of clouds are nowhere to be seen.
Instead, an unbelievably clear and transparent sky stretches overhead.
Even the air entering my lungs is as refreshing as walking along a forest path. Just like Sol's Eye.
The road here is neatly paved, with not a single chipped stone to be seen, and street trees proudly displaying green leaves here and there. Birds chirp from all around.
And the pinnacle of this entire artificial landscape.
Twilight Resource Development's headquarters, bathed in a single holy beam of sunlight, resembled a massive altar built from countless white bones.
This isn't another dimensional transfer within Necropolis.
This is a 'miracle' purchased through a bargain with the world.
How much would they have to pay each year to turn a miracle like this into an all-purpose item?
“Ahem.”
Let's stop acting like a bumpkin.
This is D-1 District, a place where if an unidentified outsider like me gets caught by security, they'll beat me until I'm dead and turn me into 'resources.'
I checked my reflection in the window.
A briefcase at my side, a monocle over one eye, a neat suit, and an Armani long coat over it.
I look dandy, like a gentleman from Savile Row, the street synonymous with British gentlemen's tailoring.
Of course. I only barely managed to get this outfit after running myself ragged at the mushroom factory for three days.
It definitely wasn't bespoke; I scoured the black market hard to find something in my size and in decent condition.
“Arbel's going to fall head over heels.”
Shall I do a rehearsal now?
I muttered, smoothing back my pomade-slicked hair once more.
“Get your filthy hands off me. You, of all people? You want to check my ID?”
Cedric may be a talentless bum, but he's still got looks.
When I lowered my voice and spoke arrogantly, I looked every bit like a plausible noble.
Ah, right. Cedric is a noble, isn't he?
He was such a total pushover I forgot.
“All right, shall we go?”
I'd already scouted the route in advance, so my steps were unhesitant.
After only a few blocks, I spotted a luxurious restaurant with two guards standing at the entrance.
[Le Jardin]
Le Jardin.
I know a bit of French, and it means 'garden.'
True to its name, the red-brick exterior walls were covered here and there with green ivy vines.
In this city, anything green and leafy is more of a luxury than marble statues.
“Please stop there.”
As I tried to walk in naturally, one of the guards in black sunglasses shoved my shoulder and stopped me.
He probably wasn't a restaurant guard but a bodyguard.
Those sunglasses and that suit. They look oddly familiar.
“Access beyond this point is currently restricted to pre-authorized personnel only…”
“Get your filthy hands off me. I have a prior appointment.”
When the razor-sharp voice flowed from my mouth, the bodyguard flinched.
“My deepest apologies. However, procedurally, if you do not state your purpose for visiting and your identity, I cannot let you through.”
“So?”
“If you would present your identification…”
“Do you think you're important enough for me to have to report who I am to you?”
Humans are greatly influenced by what they see.
As I said, a well-dressed Cedric looks aristocratic enough to be identifiable from a distance.
I'm not the one who dressed up like a clown and caused a fuss for nothing, after all.
“S-still, since we haven't received any other schedule report, procedurally…”
“Name.”
“Pardon?”
“If you want to hear my name, then tell me yours first.”
And after polishing myself up at the bathhouse and dressing in these flashy clothes, the bodyguard hunched his shoulders pitiably.
I didn't give him a chance and pressed the attack.
“I'm not completely heartless. I'll carve your name on your tombstone.”
The moment I reached inside my coat, the bodyguard's face turned ashen.
In truth, I was just preparing to pull out the 'Trivial Indulgence' in my inventory if necessary...
Where is this? Necropolis.
It must have felt like a threat to his life.
He broke out in a cold sweat, then bowed politely.
“I'm sorry for not recognizing you. Please go in.”
“Sure, good work.”
“Yes, sir!”
Tsk tsk. This is why a man needs guts.
Refusing inspection at a guard post?
If it were me, I'd fire a blank immediately and get a reward vacation.
-Jingle jingle
The inside of the restaurant, which I entered as the doorbell rang, was as luxurious as its exterior.
How should I put it...
Like a 150-year-old British restaurant with a racist waiter who would never seat an Asian by the window, even if there were empty tables.
Tables left empty because the place has been booked out.
Two people were proudly occupying the dreaded window seats no Asian could ever hope to claim.
One was an aide standing behind them in a suit.
The other was a beautiful woman sitting and eating.
Before the flustered aide could even stammer, I pulled out a chair and sat down.
“First, I think it'd be best to take out those two guards up front. They really don't know how to do their jobs.”
Across from Ceres Cassian, a director at Twilight Resource Development.
“You have good eyes. Eyes that are mad.”
She set down the fork she'd been using to stir the snail in its shell with and grinned.