Chapter 40
Someone came looking for me.
But this time, I had a shotgun and the masterwork sword the dwarf had given me.
“Who am I? A shotgun owner.”
Suppressing my nerves, I slowly approached the door.
And when I slowly opened it,
“So you were inside. I’m an investigator sent by the Kingdom of Kellyerton.”
“Oh.”
A man with dark circles under his eyes stared at me while repeatedly writing and erasing something.
What the hell? He was just an ordinary civil servant.
“What are you investigating?”
“With the founding of Kellyerton, we’re conducting a census of the capital’s population. Are you a former citizen of Kelton?”
“No. I’m not...”
He spoke to me in a businesslike tone, his face worn down by fatigue.
“Then let’s go get you an identification card.”
*
Although a new country had been founded, many people remained in the territory of the Kingdom of Kelton.
Kellyerton issued them new identification cards and made them citizens.
After going from house to house, it was simply my turn.
“All done. You’re now a citizen of Kellyerton.”
“Um, thank you.”
And it was over in no time.
Given how chaotic things were, they weren’t interested in what I did for a living.
There was no situation where they searched my warehouse and discovered that I was the Head Mod.
They simply took my name, stamped a document, and handed me a wooden identification tag.
[Kellyerton Identification Card]
[Name – John Malphite]
“This actually works.”
I couldn’t give them a Korean name, so I made one up at random. I hadn’t expected it to actually work.
Going outside was less difficult than I had expected.
“And I don’t see any monsters, either.”
The streets looked very different from when I had first dropped into this place.
Of course, it still looked like a ruin, but at least there were no zombies trying to eat my flesh.
I was about to head back, but while looking around the plaza, something strange caught my eye.
A statue easily as large as a building.
“What is this?”
A beautiful girl in airy wizard’s robes, with a smile recognizable despite being carved from stone.
And the description of the bizarre statue proudly read:
[Head Mod]
Kellyerton was founded under the Head Mod’s protection. This is the first statue created to honor the Head Mod.
“Me?”
Come to think of it, most of the conversations among the people gathered around the statue were about me too.
They were discussing their impressions and evaluations of the statue, or else...
“Hmm, but isn’t it a little inaccurately made?”
They were even debating whether it was a faithful depiction.
“What do you mean? Are you saying there’s something wrong with this statue?”
“I mean, the Head Mod is a beautiful half-elf. Shouldn’t the ears be pointier?”
“What are you talking about! The Head Mod is the youngest daughter of a noble family. Obviously, she’s human.”
Of course, they were all wrong.
Anyway, while some people were passionately debating my race and gender,
others were tossing coins into the fountain in front of my statue and making wishes.
“Please release spicy tuna cans at the next market.”
“Please let me pass the knight exam.”
The sights of Kellyerton, the newborn kingdom, were every bit as intense as the atmosphere in the Gallery.
I watched it all blankly before sitting on a nearby bench and clutching my head.
“What kind of phenomenon is this?”
Had they all gone mad as a group?
“Why are they praying and arguing so desperately over the Head Mod?”
There were far too many things for me to process if I was going to venture into the outside world.
I couldn’t stay outside any longer.
I was just thinking that I should hurry back to the warehouse and regain my peace of mind by looking at beastfolk selfie memes when—
“What? What did you just say?”
Someone passing nearby had heard my grumbling and stopped me.
“Yes?”
“I’m asking whether you just said, ‘What’s the big deal about the Head Mod?’”
When I turned around, I saw a shirtless man with muscles that looked ready to burst.
He glared at me as if I had insulted him and strode toward me.
Thump.
“Take it back...! What you just said...!!!”
“Take it back!”
I never fight unless I’m certain I can win.
I immediately handed him ten mana dumplings and withdrew my statement. The man nodded and walked away.
“I didn’t know it was this bad.”
I knew that posts praising the Head Mod were uploaded to the Gallery every day.
But experiencing it firsthand felt completely different.
However, no sooner had the man left than a suspicious man in a black robe approached me.
“Excuse me, I’ve come to share a word of wisdom with you.”
His suspicious outfit and eerie atmosphere practically announced, I’m with a cult.
Even so, the man approached with a friendly smile and abruptly asked me:
“Do you believe in the Head Mod?”
*
Lady Evelyn Ophelia.
Evelyn, who had now become queen, had come outside the castle for an inspection.
She was walking down the street with a can of tuna in one hand and a spoon in the other when—
“Your Majesty, look over there.”
Lloyd, who had become the queen’s knight, pointed somewhere.
There, a black-haired man was being held by an ominous-looking man and proselytized to.
“What a distinctive appearance. Could he be a foreigner?”
“Your Majesty.”
“Oh, right. You told me to speak informally now.”
Evelyn awkwardly corrected herself and looked at the black-haired man.
She hadn’t seen many black-haired people in her life.
His eyes were just as pitch-black, and she was instinctively drawn to his unusual appearance.
The problem was that he was being held captive and preached at right now.
“Monsters aren’t the only problem...”
Even in a world approaching destruction, monsters weren’t the only problem.
The various criminals and cults taking advantage of this opportunity had also become a major social issue.
If they focused solely on monsters and let their guard down against everything else, it wouldn’t be strange for them to end up like Adrian.
“Let’s help him.”
“Understood.”
As the two of them approached the man, their suspicions only grew stronger.
“It’ll only take a moment. This will be good for you too, brother.”
“Oh, I’m not buying anything.”
“Believe in the Head Mod. The Head Mod gives us markets and weapons. The Head Mod alone is our savior!”
“No, I’m not interested. Let’s go already.”
It was obvious to anyone that the man was disgusted, while the cultist clung to his arms and legs and kept trying to convert him.
“That’s far enough.”
Lloyd approached and intervened.
“What? Who are you to suddenly butt in—”
Shing.
“You’re allowed to say no to something like that.”
The cultist vanished into an alley in an instant as soon as Lloyd drew his sword, and the man breathed a sigh of relief.
With the monsters driven back, cultists, scammers, and criminals had begun swarming everywhere instead.
Had a law of conservation of trash been discovered or something?
The man seemed to hesitate for a moment, then bowed as if to offer his thanks.
“Thank you so much. Thanks to you, uh...”
But then the man saw Evelyn and froze in the middle of his sentence.
His face gradually turned pale, as if he had encountered someone he absolutely shouldn’t have.
“Are you all right?”
Evelyn looked him over with a worried expression.
Why was he so startled?
At this rate, it was almost as if he had forced her to do things she didn’t want to do,
teased her just to toy with her,
and was looking at her like someone familiar whom he had talked and laughed with long ago.
“Have we perhaps met somewhere before?”
By the time she voiced the question that had suddenly occurred to her, the man had vanished without a trace.
“Huh?”
She had wanted to ask him about this sense of familiarity.
Evelyn rested her chin on her hand and fell into thought with a serious expression.
“Was he someone you knew?”
“No, not exactly...”
It was difficult to put into words.
The man had definitely spoken respectfully to her... but somehow, it felt like he was using honorifics while speaking informally.
His speech seemed saturated with the unmistakable scent of the Gallery.
“Well, I can ask him if we meet again.”
Dark hair and dark eyes.
In contrast, his skin was so pale and white that he looked as if he hadn’t seen sunlight in years.
“I don’t think I’ll forget him easily.”
Remembering the man’s face, which kept flickering through her mind, Evelyn ate a bite of tuna.
*
- The story of the Head Mod statue appearing in Kellyerton.jpg
- Touching true story) An imagined portrait of the Head Mod
- LOL) Latest update on the world’s first Head Mod statue
Title: Why the Kellyerton Head Mod Statue Has a Canon Error...jpg
(A socially awkward guy clenching his fist and saying what he has to say meme)
Canon? W-Well, I don’t really know.
H-Honestly, I think it’s fine since she’s cute...
- What are you talking about, Gallery bro...
- As expected of the Otherworld Destruction Gallery
Featured Post) Kellyerton’s Magic Tower Is Under Construction lol
Author) Supreme Storm Mage
(A magic tower completed up to the fifth floor meme)
I’m taking it up to ten floors for the first phase.
I’ll build an office too, and create portraits based on the Head Mod statue to display there.
- Ooh, that looks cool. The design is excellent!
ㄴ Humans have talent for magic these days too.
ㄴ If only I had one of those, seriously.
ㄴ Supreme Storm Mage) ? It’s not mine.
ㄴ ?
ㄴ You built it, so if it’s not yours, whose is it?
ㄴ Supreme Storm Mage) I’m giving it to the Head Mod.
ㄴ ???
- I don’t understand what this means.
ㄴ Never try to understand mages.
ㄴ This is what they’re like when they get fixated on something.
- Didn’t something like this happen before?
ㄴ A Gallery user who wanted to become a great mage’s disciple built a magic tower and invited him over before, yeah.
ㄴ ?
ㄴ No, do you really have to go that far to learn magic?
ㄴ Becoming a disciple is pretty damn hard.
ㄴ Fact) Even then, he only took the magic tower and didn’t teach him any magic.
“Hmm, same as usual.”
An endless urban legend.
Countless rumors and bits of nonsense piled on top of one another and became distorted until they looked like the truth.
Yep, this is the Gallery.
Looking through the Gallery always put me at ease.
- Do you believe in the Head Mod?
- Gallery bros, have you been reborn?
- Join the Head Mod Worshippers and open your eyes to life on the Gallery!!
That was, at least, until I saw the cult that had been running rampant outside doing the same thing inside the Gallery.
“Ah, fuck, what is this now?”
Season 3’s first swear has entered the chat.
I felt my mind go blank.