A temple engraved with a dragon statue.
Arrogance opened his mouth as he looked at the man sitting arrogantly in front of him.
“Join us.”
“Why should we?”
“It’s simple. If we disappear, you’ll be next.”
Arkade smirked as he looked at the self-proclaimed leader of the Forgotten Worshipers.
“—Or we might attack you.”
“You’re insane.”
The leader didn’t refuse Arkade’s outstretched hand.
And so, the Evil God Cult and the dragon worshipers joined hands.
* * *
“Ughhh… I’m dying…”
Academy research building. Sera, who occupied an entire research building, groaned as she stared at the items in front of her.
A staff capable of firing the 1-star Magic Power Arrow, a Magic Tool that can unleash 5-star magic but disappears after one use, scrolls inscribed with various magics, etc.
Every kind of Magic Tool was laid out before her. The curious thing was that no Magic Tool had more than one copy.
“I hate grinding…”
“You have to do it even if you hate it. Does anyone stay by your side because they like it?”
“Waaah-! Kail…! Can’t you just become a Grand Sword Master and smash everything? Flying Aura Master works too!”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Kail pushed Sera’s forehead to focus her on work. With an expression showing how fed up she was, Sera silently continued making Magic Tools.
With a wave of her hand in the air, poof-! A Magic Tool was completed. Any other magician or alchemist would be utterly shocked to see this absurdity.
This was Sera’s power, the Player’s ability.
“How much longer until max level?”
“Hmm… I finished Complete ages ago. But leveling up is so slow.”
“Was it like this in the game too?”
“In the game, without cheats, it was barely possible to reach max level by the third year. That’s why newbies are…”
“What you’re doing now isn’t a cheat?”
At Kail’s sharp remark, Sera tightly shut her mouth. That’s right. In the game, she had to personally gather all materials and resources herself, but here it was different.
In the Millennium Empire’s Academy with thousands of years of history, didn’t she have unlimited support for whatever materials she needed?
Working in an environment indistinguishable from what games call ‘cheats,’ Kail couldn’t understand why she had so many complaints.
“Ughh… Stop it… This is actually annoying. In reality, I just had to click the mouse, and when even that was bothersome, I used macros. Here, I have to manually click everything!”
“You sound spoiled. Maybe if you made Magic Tools like other magicians, one by one, you’d come to your senses?”
“That may be true… Ah, forget it! I’m taking today off! I’m going to play!”
Sera declared as she flopped onto the floor and started throwing a tantrum. Seeing this, Kail sighed deeply.
Why was she working so hard? It was all for the Magic Tool she could create upon reaching max level in Alchemy and Magic Engineering.
Though she hadn’t heard the exact performance details, she confidently claimed it would perform better than most Masters.
And why did a 4-star Sorcerer like her need such a Magic Tool? Well…
‘This girl is currently the continent’s most wanted person.’
The Evil God Cult Discriminator she created pushed the cults deeper into hiding across the continent.
So many cults were discovered in the process that the Emperor declared war on the Evil God Cult, dismantling numerous criminal organizations along the way.
Naturally, not only the dismantled criminal organizations but also the civil servants working overtime daily to catch them, and even the Evil God Cult itself—Sera was now receiving death threats from criminal organizations worldwide.
Though Kail was assigned to protect her, if she herself became a Master-level, protecting her would become much easier.
“Just for today. From tomorrow, I’ll work hard.”
“Really! Yes-! Where should we go first…?”
“Remember, wherever you go, you must stay with me.”
“…Even the bathroom?”
“The bathhouse too.”
Hearing this, Sera scrunched up her face in distaste. But Kail felt the same way.
It’s not like he enjoyed sticking around her. If she weren’t receiving death threats. If she weren’t his childhood friend from a past life, he would have ditched her long ago.
“I don’t like it either? I want to flirt with Yuri quickly.”
“Eww- Couples are disgusting…”
“If you’re annoyed, find yourself a lover.”
“I guess I should. Who would be good… Ah, how about the Crown Prince? He’s decent-looking and comes from a good family.”
“Do as you please.”
Kail said this while grabbing his sword and left the research building with her. Though uneasy, there wouldn’t be any significant issues as long as they didn’t wander far from the Academy.
What, aren’t there five people at the Academy with Master-level or equivalent skills?
Even if Holy Weapons like those that attacked the previous Academy came again, they could easily repel them, so no problems should arise.
* * *
The Evil God Cult has seven Apostles.
Seven Apostles governing seven sins named after the Seven Deadly Sins.
Among them, the strongest Apostle could naturally be called Arrogance. His power itself was the ability to ‘always become stronger than the opponent in front of him,’ so defeating him purely based on stats was impossible.
There was only one way to defeat Arkade: One needed an ability user capable of killing opponents with higher stats. Naturally, this wasn’t easy, so Arkade still held the title of the strongest.
However, even Arkade relinquished the title of the strongest under certain conditions.
“—So you were here, Thief.”
Arkade appeared through space travel and saw the Thief gnawing on meat in some unknown remote location, giving a wry smile.
But that moment was brief; the Thief met his eyes and immediately rushed over to grab his neck.
“Guh-! What the…!”
“Arkade—what did I tell you when I left the church?”
“First, let go of this-.”
Crack-! Arkade groaned as he felt the Thief’s grip crushing his neck. Having once died and revived, Arkade used spatial movement to escape the Thief’s grasp and regain his breath.
“…You’ve gotten stronger.”
“I promised to protect the believers, didn’t I? You broke that promise. Precious believers of the Evil God. Ah, ah-! Our believers…!”
Seeing the Thief suddenly roll his eyes back and scratch his face furiously, Arkade backed away slightly and groaned. The demonic energy emanating from his body filled the area, pressing down on him.
‘Indeed, the strongest Apostle…’
Normally, the strongest Apostle was Arrogance himself, but under specific conditions, the strongest was Greed, the Thief.
The strongest guardian sent by the Evil God to protect His believers.
An ironic ability that grows stronger as the number of believers decreases. An Apostle who doesn’t grow strong to protect, but protects because he is strong.
“…Since you’ve come to find me, you must have found a solution?”
“Yes, the Empire’s Academy. There—”
Before his words even finished, the Thief kicked off the ground and disappeared in an instant. Arkade glanced sideways at the distant figure flying away and sighed deeply.
‘Spatial movement would have sufficed.’
It seemed nothing registered in his sight due to his anger at the current situation of believers dying.
Rightfully so, Greed, who hated having things taken away more than anyone, was in a situation where his believers were being taken away.
That anger would be greater than the rage harbored by the Apostle of Wrath.
‘It seems I’ve extended my reach to those lizard worshippers too, so there shouldn’t be any major issues.’
Arkade thought this as he returned to the church. With the Evil God Cult on the defensive, his duties as the church’s leader never ceased.
* * *
—Sniff sniff, Romeo. I have something to tell you.
—Don’t cry, Juliet. Speak.
—Actually… I’m your biological younger sister.
—What!?
Watching a play that instantly transformed from a passionate love story defying family opposition into a sudden incestuous tale, Kail let out a dry laugh.
The Romeo and Juliet he knew wasn’t like this. And wasn’t it reckless to just throw this kind of content around anyway?
Glancing sideways at Sera, she seemed completely immersed in the play, wearing a shocked expression as if she hadn’t noticed anything unusual.
“Wow… Was Romeo and Juliet really like this…?”
“You’re truly dense.”
“What are you talking about-? Your grades are lower than mine.”
“But I’m top of the Knight Department.”
“Yeah, but overall ranking, I’m higher～.”
As their banter grew louder, Kail realized the other audience members were glaring at them and belatedly bowed his head, closing his mouth.
Seeing Kail, Sera also realized what they had done and closed her mouth, focusing back on the play.
After Juliet’s incest revelation, the play was heading towards its climax.
—Ah, Juliet. How could you…
BOOM!
At that moment, the theater’s ceiling shattered, and a stranger abruptly fell down. As the narrator tried desperately to handle the situation, the audience watched a man clad in a pitch-black robe.
—Uh, uh- Th, then a ninja appeared!
The ninja who dropped onto the stage scanned the audience, then swelled his body as he looked at Sera. His black clothing ripped with a tearing sound, and the ninja transformed into a dinosaur.
—G, it’s a Dinosaur Ninja!
Amidst the increasingly thrilling play, Kail began clapping.
Now this is what theater is all about.
