Chapter 214: Dekan’s Renown
The next morning.
In Dekan’s dormitory, the morning light illuminated the living room floor.
Dekan had bought the latest newspaper, and he sat on the sofa with Teacher Cat, both of them poring over it together.
[Kingdom Union Gazette Front Page Column]
“… King Laxus VI of the Kingdom of Tomafis endured nearly three months of inhumane torture by an unknown spellcaster before his death…”
“… Under cruel torture, Laxus VI suffered sleepless nights and dramatic weight loss, eventually descending into madness…”
“… Moreover, not long ago, Laxus VI’s beloved son, Prince Arik, the third prince, was unfortunately attacked and suffered brain damage while supporting Randir Kingdom in battle, leaving him still unable to regain consciousness. This became the final blow that shattered Laxus VI’s psychological defenses…”
“… Laxus VI chose suicide in the middle of the night, found past the point of saving…”
“… Before his death, Laxus VI left a blood-written note, in which he allegedly documented the names of those he suspected of being the spellcaster. Most of these people were his enemies or those he had conflicts with…”
“…”
Dekan looked at the list.
“Hold on, how is my name on here!”
Dekan’s fingers ran across the newspaper, shouting in indignation as he saw his own name.
“Meow meow!! You don’t even flinch while doing such heinous things, meow!!”
Teacher Cat saw Dekan’s expression, making it want to slap Dekan across the face.
Do you still need to put on such an act right now?!
If it hadn’t known that Dekan was the one behind all this, it might have been almost deceived by him.
“Tch, don’t you understand the importance of an actor constantly immersing themselves in their role? One must be able to deceive those around them and oneself, achieving seamless performances.”
In a flash, Dekan returned to his calm and leisurely demeanor, flicking Teacher Cat’s head with his fingers.
Then he crossed one leg over the other, shook the newspaper, and turned to the next page.
“Let’s see what other good news there is…”
The following pages were filled with analyses and predictions regarding the world’s situation.
“… Though the Kingdom of Tomafis appears stable at the moment, there is a tendency towards internal strife. The elder and second prince had long been prepared during the time when Laxus VI was severely ill. The eldest daughter of Laxus VI should not be underestimated either…”
“… But with Laxus VI’s earlier-than-expected death, his offspring dare not make a move, maintaining a delicate balance…”
“… Ironically, what keeps the Kingdom of Tomafis stable, to some degree, is the mysterious spellcaster, causing the succession to remain unclaimed…”
“… According to experts’ analysis, the relationship of trust among the Northern Kingdoms teeters on the brink of collapse, and the group led by the Kingdom of Tomafis is trending towards disintegration…”
“… The concerning attitude of the Salong Empire in the far north is also a matter of worry…”
“… The Empire also seems to exhibit restraint. It isn’t hard to deduce that the mysterious spellcaster isn’t from the imperial faction. Otherwise, the Empire might have already taken preemptive action…”
“… The Kingdom Union has now issued a bulletin to all member nations, offering rewards for any intelligence about the mysterious spellcaster…”
“…Reporting by Kingdom Union journalist Ludwig.”
After reading, Dekan continued to think as he held the newspaper.
“Dekan, you’d better not mess this up. If you do, I’ll be finished as your accomplice, meow!”
Teacher Cat, recalling the upper limit of the bounty just now, gradually felt a bit afraid.
This price tag makes it worry that Dekan would report Morion.
“You can trust me, being an accomplice in this case is very safe. There will be no exposure.”
“How did I become an accomplice, meow?!”
“Don’t bother with those details anyway; they all face the death penalty.”
“…”
Teacher Cat stared wide-eyed at Dekan and then helplessly shook its feline head.
“Alright, meow. Honestly, your ‘Dekan’s Gospel’ is even more despicable than I imagined…”
“The effect is indeed better than I expected. After all, who could bear such one-on-one torment, being cursed daily? I wouldn’t even be able to stand it myself.”
In fact, Dekan knew that if someone were gradually cursed to death, their rank had to be low enough.
For example, Laxus VI himself was only at the third rank.
Dekan’s curse was quite lethal against him.
At the start, the curse Dekan placed on King Ashtonton was much more potent since he was at the sixth rank. Without the chance acceleration to inner turmoil, there would’ve been no hope for Dekan to kill a sixth-rank power over three months.
If the enemy was of a higher rank, it would’ve been even harder.
Having finished the newspaper, Dekan once again retrieved “Dekan’s Gospel” and, as usual, used it to curse Laxus VI.
“Why are you cursing him again, meow?”
Teacher Cat could not believe what Dekan was doing.
The man had already gone to the underworld, and Dekan still wouldn’t let him rest?
“I’m checking if he feigned his death; no one escapes my retribution.”
Dekan closed the death-note-like object and put it away after the activation effect failed when he wrote Laxus VI’s information.
It seemed Laxus VI was truly dead.
But the daily curse for the day was also consumed.
“Terrible, meow…”
Dekan seemed satisfied as he took out the list handed over to him by Ice Snow Princess before and looked it over.
Solving two kings of the Northern Kingdoms had caused widespread unrest in the entire northern region.
They were probably now overwhelmed with dealing with new alliances and quelling internal rebellions. There was also a fierce neighbor just further to the north – the most powerful country in the world, and the only empire, Salong Empire.
For years, Salong Empire had been the mortal enemy of the Kingdom Union. With its vast territory and overwhelming national strength feared by every kingdom, it once might have annexed the entire continent through the “War of Destruction” if the scales of the gods leaned just a little more in its favor.
However, due to this war, both the kingdoms and the empire ignored the Shadow World, leading to the continuous outbreak of severe disasters.
Adding to this, the Rebirth Church caused disorder, leading to the collapse of the Ninth Level Shadow World.
Coincidentally, the disaster caused by this Ninth Level Shadow World fell entirely within the borders of the empire, nearly destroying four provinces and claiming a third of the empire’s population.
The once invincible Salong Empire was dealt a heavy blow, stalling its aggressive advance.
This created opportunities for the various kingdoms to breathe and form alliances.
A formidable organization — the Kingdom Union — was established to resist the Salong Empire.
It could be said that the unity of the Kingdom Union was greatly dependent on the existence of the empire.
Until a few decades ago, when the new emperor ascended the throne, relations between the two sides gradually calmed down.
The conflict between the two then shifted toward the Rebirth Church.
The Rebirth Church could be described as a pestilent insect that never truly perishes. In nearly a century of history, it had risen and fallen multiple times, yet it had never been completely eradicated.
Despite the Kingdom Union and Salong Empire targeting the Rebirth Church, they had been unable to fully uproot it.
The Cardmaker’s Guild and the Sun God Church were neutral factions that were not hostile with either the Kingdom Union or Salong Empire and had cooperative relations with both.
Of course.
All factions were hostile toward the Rebirth Church.
After the resistance from the Northern Kingdoms against Dekan lessened, although the empire’s special rank cardmakers might still impede Dekan’s progress with his cardmaker agreement, the trouble was no longer as troublesome as before.
After all, Dekan’s special rank review still had a lot of supporters.
Plus Dekan’s double defeat of two bishops.
Now Dekan’s identity was more than what could be summarized as a quasi special rank cardmaker.
An existing balance had now been broken, the review progress would proceed smoothly.
“Meow… you wouldn’t let go of the empire emperor, would you?”
Teacher Cat asked as it shuffled closer to Dekan.
After all, Dekan had already messed up the northern front of the Kingdom Federation. Given that Norton Kingdom was also affiliated with the Kingdom Federation, Dekan probably would do the same with the empire to maintain balance.
It also knew Dekan was known for retaliating. Any enemy within moral justification bounds, Dekan would take out early before they had the time to develop and gather intelligence.
So, the empire emperor was likely doomed to a disaster.
Of course, Dekan may not have thought the Northern Kingdoms chaos would reach such an outcome initially.
This holy scripture’s results were too unpredictable.
“No, next up, I can’t curse the emperor of the empire.”
Dekan hesitated.
He had entertained the thought of cursing the emperor in the empire next.
Although the emperor in the empire was relatively special, his individual combat was extremely fearsome, even counted among the strongest forces of the empire.
Relying solely on “Dekan’s Gospel” curse was definitely not enough to kill the emperor.
At most, the emperor’s mentality would be ruined with patience.
But problems arose.
Mia had said yesterday that she sensed Dekan was under suspicion.
If not for irrefutable alibis, it would’ve been easy to associate Dekan with this series of events.
So if Dekan were to next curse another clear enemy of his with the emperor of the empire,
Even if Dekan had perfect alibis,
Such a string of curses targeting known enemies perfectly fit Dekan’s interests.
Adding that the method involved Dekan’s expertise at cursing,
It would be hard for others not to start suspecting him!
They might even speculate that Dekan had some sort of long-distance strike means or magical abilities.
Therefore, Dekan decided he had to change his approach to completely wash away all suspicion.
The key point was to not curse people who would benefit his interests!
He must disassociate himself from any suspicion completely.
Thus, Dekan decided to symbolically curse the kings of the Kingdom Union countries next, with the minimal amount of curse power.
This would confuse everyone’s hearing!
After cursing all the kings, Dekan wouldn’t immediately curse the emperor of the empire for a while.
Simulating a period of tranquility.
At the same time, it would also be best to frame the empire and make others suspect that “this mysterious spellcaster wants to help the empire”.
Of course, Dekan would not waste the daily curse opportunity.
Fortunately, there was an enemy he needed to deal with.
Cursing him probably wouldn’t become universally known.
That person was —— the Illusory Bishop Carlos!
Dekan decided that after cursing all the kings, he would start targeting Carlos.
During this time, he had dispatched his slave Isabel to investigate and had Alice help confirm the true name of the Illusory Bishop.
Using connections from both underworld and mainstream sectors, they finally confirmed the complete true name of the Illusory Bishop.
Although Dekan didn’t expect to kill the eighth-rank Carlos with curses,
Cursing for a year or two should at least break Carlos’ state of mind.
Eliminating the church’s number-two leader and strategist beforehand would make it easier in the future to completely annihilate the Rebirth Church.
Thus, in the following days,
Dekan commenced his nationwide king-cursing plan.
Randomly choosing one or two kings each day for standard curses.
Just formalities.
…
Three weeks flew by.
“The first day of cursing Carlos. For the next year, I will be writing his name here every day, silently sending him blessings, and he will never know on the other side of the world, there is someone so deeply concerned about him.”
Dekan casually wrote something after cursing Carlos with nothing else to do, on “Dekan’s Gospel.”
He felt daily curses had gradually become an inseparable part of his life.
Thus, he decided to document things daily starting from then.
Cursing must have a sense of ceremony.
“You’re exceptionally bored, aren’t you… ”
Teacher Cat sighed when it saw Dekan adding a random note after the curse, feeling a bit like it no longer wanted to record this person’s life.
It worried about Tarta.
Such a nice girl, although she made sinister-looking cards, still had a heart.
Staying with Dekan, that heart might soon be completely lost.
“This semester is almost over. I hope there will be a shadow battle before it ends.”
Dekan looked at the calendar on the wall.
June 22.
Finals were approaching.
This semester had fewer classes, and he had practically nothing to review.
However, since Cornelia had missed about half a semester and one student missed the entire semester,
Dekan had transformed into a tutoring teacher.
He returned to the intense private tutoring from the previous semester’s final.
“Ah, Tarta is truly smart, understanding everything with but a nudge. Flora is really something…”
Dekan sighed as he picked up two books, holding the water cup, prepared to go to the library to look for Cornelia.
When he opened the dormitory door, he just happened to see Alice standing outside.
She seemed to be about to knock.
“Huh? Mia’s not here?”
Dekan looked around the corridor but couldn’t find Mia.
Normally when Alice came to visit him, Mia would usually be with her.
Alice shook her head.
“Mia’s taking an exam.”
“So, Alice, is there anything you need from me? Come in.”
Dekan returned to the living room, placing the books back on the coffee table, and then sat down on the sofa opposite Alice.
“Dekan, do you know about the Kingdom Union Hero Festival coming soon?”
Alice asked.
“Hmm, I was planning to travel as well.”
Dekan nodded.
He had already made plans with Cornelia to travel south after the end of the first year for the once-every-five-years [Hero Festival].
Although his special review was still being processed,
But as a hero who had defeated two bishops, he had already received an invitation from the Kingdom Union.
He and Chloix would be special guests at the event.
Also, the female group under Happy Group was also invited.
With a growing reputation in the central kingdoms, they would be given a chance to perform at the opening as special guests.
Dekan even wrote them a new single.
Their progress could be considered astronomical. Ice Snow Princess and Judith, with their superior comprehension and physical abilities, learned singing and dancing without any trouble, and Flora was naturally a born idol.
Among the three, only Ice Snow Princess was slightly worrying.
During performances, compared to the other two, Ice Snow Princess would occasionally still seem a bit restrained and unnatural.
If this opportunity could be seized to make a successful public debut, it might gain popularity throughout the kingdoms of the Kingdom Union.
There was even the possibility of making a big hit in the empire, completing cultural infiltration!
Due to the tenth-anniversary commemoration of the Kingdom Union and the Empire signing diplomatic relations,
This time’s Hero Festival also invited guests and participants from the empire.
“This time, I will represent the diplomatic mission of the Norton Kingdom to participate in the Hero Festival…”
Alice hesitated, as if there was something she wanted to ask Dekan for.
“That’s fine; let’s go together. It’s a security detail, right?”
Dekan graciously agreed.
Anyway, Mia had already promised to go along as well.
Mia would definitely be willing to spend time with Alice.
Alice quickly waved her hands.
“No no, what I wanted to ask you is if you could represent our Norton Kingdom to compete and win the championship.”
“Ah, no…”
Dekan firmly refused.
He didn’t enjoy competitions at all.
He was going there to travel.
And with so many talented youths in the Norton Kingdom, it wasn’t necessary for him to participate.
The Hero Festival didn’t restrict rank, but it did restrict age, needing participants under 30.
So Ice Snow Princess and Judith couldn’t participate regrettably.
The greatest eighth-rank master of the Kuran Territory of Norton Kingdom also couldn’t participate.
But seven-rank masters under 30 were still available.
Dekan preferred sitting in the audience, as a guest, or commentator, pointing fingers at the landscape.
“Hey, sorry, I won’t force you, it was just to ask your opinion.”
Alice sighed but quickly put on a relieved smile.
“The king??”
Dekan asked with confusion.
He thought Alice wanted him to win the championship so he could represent the Norton Kingdom to look good.
Alice nodded.
“Yes, it was he who wanted to consult your opinion.”
After hearing this, Dekan sat up straight, his expression more serious as he asked.
“King uncle is asking for help, so this Hero Festival must have some special significance?”
The king had always treated him well, with great favor. Therefore, if there was anything where he could help the king, Dekan would be glad to do so.
Alice stood up, walked to the door connecting the living room to the balcony, and pulled the curtains.
Then she walked to the front door of Dekan’s dormitory, peeking out to confirm no one was around.
Only then did she return to the sofa.
“What are you being so secretive about…”
Dekan commented on Alice’s actions.
However, Alice did not show her usual casual nature but instead asked earnestly in a serious low voice.
“Have you heard of ‘Lord of Calamity’ and ‘Calamites’?”
Dekan was startled.
He hadn’t heard that.
But judging by the name, it should be an important person.
And the calamities, are they some sort of secret society?
Dekan, not understanding, asked:
“Is he a legendary figure from ancient times?”
Alice shook her head in answer.
“He is a recently renowned major figure. Because of him and his fanatical followers, the Kingdom Union even urgently convened a top-level meeting.”
“Ho, so am I meant to handle him?”
Although Dekan hadn’t figured out the relationship between the ‘Lord of Calamity’ and the Hero Festival,
But apparently, winning the championship of the Hero Festival must target the ‘Lord of Calamity’.
“Yes, likely, if one speaks of renowned, only the special cardmaker Dekan can rival him.”
Alice corrected herself after almost getting tied up in her words.
Dekan became furious after hearing this.
It had taken him so much effort to earn his current reputation.
How could some random jerk have gained a name equal to his, seemingly out of nowhere?
It almost felt like he struggled for thirty years, and this guy won the lottery.
And,
This wasn’t how they introduced a new boss!
He hadn’t even settled the Rebirth Church yet, and suddenly, out of the blue, there was a new faction.
An invincible flow story line shouldn’t be handled like this, right?
“Go ahead and explain the situation. Regardless of circumstances, if these people are a threat to the Norton Kingdom, I won’t stand idly by.”
Dekan changed his mind.
Although he didn’t plan to participate,
In the shadows, he would deal with this group of ‘Calamites’ and that so-called ‘Lord of Calamity’.
“The reward for the champion of this year’s Hero Festival is an opportunity for divination. The Celestial Diviner will activate her ninth-rank epic spell card to divinate once for the champion and answer the champion’s questions. We want you to win it after, and let the Celestial Diviner reveal intelligence about the Lord of Calamity.”
Alice explained.
Dekan crossed his arms, nodding.
He had understood roughly.
It looks like the Lord of Calamity and the Calamites were quite troublesome.
Even on the intelligence front, the Kingdom Federation was at a disadvantage.
The cooling period of the celestial diviner’s ace card was very long, measured on an annual basis.
Since the opportunity for divination was rare, it was usually reserved for major events.
The Kingdom Federation must have already requested the Celestial Diviner’s help to deal with the Calamites.
But clearly, the diviner refused.
Because setting the champion’s reward for this Hero Festival as a divination opportunity was the decision of the Celestial Diviner herself.
She must have discovered something beforehand.
So, to let the Celestial Diviner reveal intelligence about the Calamity Lord, the championship had to be won.
Unexpectedly, some of the Calamites were also likely planning to infiltrate the Hero Festival by assuming fake identities to participate!
Precautions also had to be taken against the empire’s participants.
Therefore, the Kingdom Federation naturally hoped for the most reliable contestant to participate, ensuring the secure acquisition of the championship.
In the Norton Kingdom, none were as trustworthy as Dekan.
“I understand. Alice, although I won’t be participating, rest assured, once attending the festival, I will think of a way to deal with the Calamites.”
Be it the Lord of Calamity or the Calamites, as an international counter-terrorism expert, Dekan wouldn’t allow them to exist.
He wouldn’t permit someone to be darker than he.
Dekan thought for a moment and then asked:
“By the way, what exactly has this person done?”
Hearing this, Alice glanced around once again, seemingly feeling a bit more reassured sharing space with Dekan due to his protective nature.
She swallowed and said:
“It starts from a few months ago with the death of the King of Ashtonton. At the time, everyone thought it was just a result of someone’s long-laid plans finally sparking a fire. Later, Laxus VI was also tragically killed. And at a time when everyone was panicking, he brazenly cast a curse on all the kings as if warning the Kingdom Union. It was almost like declaring war to the world, hinting at the onset of a great calamity… Now, some fanatical followers of the Lord of Calamity have also formed an organization called the ‘Calamites’, with an unstoppable trend…”
“Ah…”
Dekan was flabbergasted as he listened.
Beside him, Teacher Cat was also wide-mouthed, in the same state as Dekan.
They glanced at each other and couldn’t help but start sweating cold sweat.
Dekan felt there was an overwhelming sense of déjà vu to what Alice was describing.
This “Lord of Calamity”…
Wasn’t it himself??!!
