◈ Episode 400. The Butterfly Effect in a Flower Garden (2)
Even the lowest life has its pride.
“It’s funny, isn’t it? To receive a favor that I didn’t even receive from my parents, a favor from a target who was just trying to kill me, it’s an indescribable feeling.”
The King of the Underground gasped for breath.
Of course, none of the Scavengers listened to him carefully.
They simply couldn’t believe it.
“That’s a lie, isn’t it?”
“Your face isn’t exactly the most favorable to save your life.”
“You’ll be lucky if you don’t frown. Kikikikik.”
They were abandoned for a reason.
It was one of the things the Scavengers heard over and over again.
From those with disabilities great and small from birth, to those whose burns and injuries had left them looking more like monsters than humans. Because each gutter, bottom, and shade had their own story.
The king laughed.
“Well, well. I thought I was one of them, but I’m not, because looking at him, I realize there are worse bottoms than ours.”
“Oh, worse than Scavenger?”
“Have you become senile because it’s time to die?”
“I thought you were a noble in the first place?”
“Hoho, I understand.”
“You keep saying you understand.”
Since when did it start?
‘I understand.’
The reason I started living with those words in my mouth.
‘……It was probably from then on.’
The target, a silver-haired man, said in Sitidel.
-“I will understand you.”
It was the first favor the King of the Abandoned had ever received.
It was a funny thing indeed.
I found out later.
Everyone on the Arcana continent knew the man.
The entire continent was out to get him.
‘Even if it were me, I wasn’t hated by the continent.’
The Scavengers are in the same boat.
Call it a shithole that never sees the light of day.
I had people to laugh and talk with.
But he had nothing.
-“I heard it was called the Great Family.”
-“…… And you don’t have any of your own to help you?”
-“Even in Sitidel, he limped off and disappeared alone.”
-“Well, the ones left are more than enough.”
Despite losing everything from the pinnacle.
Instead.
He had mercy on those at the bottom.
-“What the hell……?”
The man’s lonely backside was still fresh in my mind.
The king of the abandoned looked out at the gathering. Well, he didn’t think these poor fellows could understand a man they hadn’t seen face to face.
‘Because they each have deep wounds.’
But remember.
No, you must remember.
The King of the Abandoned has left a final testament.
“Remember, there is pride at the bottom.”
” …… pride?”
“As much as no one gives to us. We must never betray those who have shown us grace.”
Said the man’s name.
“Remember the man, remember the pride, remember Claudi.”
.
.
.
The demon appeared and the continent flipped.
“How do you feel?”
“……Ugh.”
“Tsk. Get used to being in a dirty, wet gutter.”
The bottom was full of new Scavengers, and rightly so. It was a devastated continent. There was nowhere else for the abandoned to go but down.
And new kings are born in times of trouble. Emilio, the new King of the Abandoned, quickly rallied his growing army of Scavengers.
“You bastard, if you’re going to lie down, get yourself in a corner and lie down.”
“Enough of this unnecessary bickering.”
“But, Emilio! These bastards, the ones who laughed at us. Do you have no sense of speed, do you not get pissed off, am I the only one who is trash?”
Emilio didn’t argue back.
He understood the man’s frustration.
But Emilio said out loud.
“I understand where you’re coming from.”
But it was just words.
A long time ago when he was a child.
The King of Scavengers who had taken him in when he was abandoned.
He could only repeat his words.
“But have mercy.”
But it wouldn’t be long before Emilio knew true mercy.
It didn’t take long.
Yes, because it came from an unexpected place.
“A great family…….”
The rumor drew out the words from memory.
“They say Claudi’s back.”
“Claudi? I’ve never heard or seen it. Who says they’re great?”
“……Wait, Claudi?”
At first, he was skeptical.
The only thing that grows from the bottom is suspicion of others.
But then.
“What, a village was created overnight?!”
“What’s with that machine, it’s crushing demons?!”
“So, you’re saying he did that and this too?”
Claudi was proving it.
His greatness.
And mercy.
“You don’t have the same face as the silver hair, Emilio……!”
I could no longer ignore it.
“Scavenger will repay Claudi’s mercy.”
*
Nash was still holding his blade.
“You’re at Claudi’s mercy?”
It was an understandable reaction.
Emilio, that name must be quite popular in the Empire.
Nash pursed his lips, then spoke.
“The Scavenger, the King of the Underground, Emilio. I knew of him. I heard he was organizing a faction in the sewers. But the Empire wasn’t involved. They didn’t think it was worth the trouble.”
Apparently, he was an underworld tycoon.
“But I can no longer overlook you, Scavenger, if you’re going to run your mouth. I’m sick and tired of being played for a fool.”
Does he think he’s brought trouble on the Emperor and the Empire by being fooled by his arrogance?
Nash is furious.
Not that he was taking it out on Emilio.
It was more like he was venting because he couldn’t forgive himself.
‘It’s scary in its own way.’
Why, they say there is no younger brother like you.
I wonder if that’s how Bensch feels when he’s angry.
But Emilio was worth his reputation.
He hadn’t lost a bit of it.
“Do you know, we’re lying flat on our backs at the bottom of the gutter, and we see expressions we don’t see in a high Imperial mage like you.”
“……what?”
“We see the face of the man you can’t see.”
By the man, you mean Pride.
“I was not mistaken unlike a high Imperial mage, and when I heard that a man with glorious silver hair had entered Antonium, I ran straight to…….”
Emilio’s gaze turns to me.
“That it wasn’t you. More precisely, I realized it wasn’t the same Claudi as you. Because the Claudi I heard about was never like that.”
I turn back to Nash.
“So if I were an Imperial Mage, I wouldn’t have brought him before the Emperor.”
“……what?”
“What, do you have a sting in your tail? Didn’t you say that words from the lowest of the low aren’t worth listening to? You just dismiss them as bullshit.”
You certainly have a big mouth, having lived in a rough environment.
The Williams family, just as Bensch grew up like a plant in a greenhouse.
Nash must have been pampered, too.
Nash’s fists tremble.
“…….”
He wasn’t used to hearing such blunt words from anyone, but the guilt was palpable. Nash didn’t forget the words easily.
‘You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself.’
Nash wasn’t a demon hunter, how could he recognize a demon when he saw one? So he was intrigued. How did Emilio recognize the smell of Pride?
I opened my mouth to speak.
“Are the people of Antonium safe?”
First, I asked what I wanted to know most.
A closed Antonium.
No more interruptions since the Emperor had become a puppet.
A perfect setting for a human sacrifice.
Moreover, it was the capital of the Empire.
Considering that most of the cities and towns in the Empire were destroyed, and the population of the capital was even more concentrated in Antonium……. If a human sacrifice were to take place, it would cause untold damage.
‘The sacrifice will give Pride unstoppable power.’
Emilio’s face grew serious at my words.
“As expected, you are as you said.”
……What did you hear, anyway? How many times have I seen a trivial anecdote bubble up, swell, and become a legend?
‘……I’ll ask the right questions and correct them later.’
But I don’t have time for that right now.
Like I said, it’s a mess.
Emilio continues.
“For now, the people of Antonium are safe. The mood in Antonium is business as usual, except that they’ve been caught off guard by the suddenness of the lockdown.”
So it’s okay.
For now.
But Pride may be diligently preparing a sacrifice.
I searched my memory.
‘Sacrifices require a foundation.’
A foundation for a sacrifice may be being laid in Antonium, unbeknownst to the rats and birds. I warned Emilio of the danger, and he replied confidently.
“There is no sign of anything strange in Antonium, not even in its basements, not even in its sewers, and best of all, the rats haven’t left Antonium yet.”
“Rats…….”
Emilio smirked at Nash’s reaction.
“Where the Imperial Court foresees danger with magic and enchantments, the Scavenger foresees the future with the rats that have become his companions, and the fact that I’m still alive and well is testament to that, isn’t it?”
Nash looked semi-disbelieving, but I wasn’t.
‘That’s pretty scientific.’
Why, I remembered watching the news before a big earthquake and seeing crows crowing and rats evacuating and stuff like that. I nodded, and Emilio looked a little surprised.
“Wow, I didn’t think you’d understand right away.”
Why not?
Doing everything I could, even at the bottom.
Shouldn’t I just do the best I can to survive?
‘Well, technically, I started at the bottom, too.’
At the time of the player’s awakening, I was only around level 50.
The Scavengers had rats.
There was a time when I really didn’t have a clue……!
‘Sure.’
Some things are there, some things are not.
I’m used to having to give it my all.
So for me, Emilio, there was no reason to doubt Scavenger’s abilities.
‘I’m too busy moving to doubt.’
With that said, let me ask you something, Emilio.
In Emilio’s words, Pride, he simply sealed the gates of Antonium. It didn’t make sense that he was blabbing about it everywhere and then not doing anything about it.
‘He must be up to something.’
There was only one catch.
The imperial palace in Antonium.
Would the Emperor be safe there?
Moreover, I know the Imperial Palace of Antonium.
I know what lies beneath.
Yes, the Emperor calls it the 『Warlord’s Library.』
I know it’s a ticking time bomb.
[Warlord’s Library]
[Appropriate level: unmeasurable]
[Collapse Progress: 92.7%]
It’s a rift anyway, isn’t it, the Warlord’s Library?
So.
I asked Nash and Emilio.
“Are the Imperial Palace and Antonium’s sewers connected?”
“……I believe so.”
“Even scavengers don’t go near the Imperial side because it’s guarded, but as you say, it’s connected, and the Emperor’s not exactly a high-minded man.”
If connected…….
Isn’t there a need to build a foundation from Antonium?
In the palace.
The basement of the palace, to be precise.
What if we collapse the rift from the [Warlord’s Library]?
Perhaps, we could swallow Antonium whole.
I had seen the rift, the Warlord’s Library, with my own two eyes.
I didn’t worry when I saw that the rift was nearly 90 percent closed.
I wasn’t worried, because the collapse rate would only rise under special circumstances.
It had.
The Emperor had paid for his life.
Only when he sought answers in the Emperor’s library.
Suddenly, his conversation with the Emperor flashed through his mind.
-“It’s as if the Lord carries the same burden as me……. No, I feel as if you are carrying a heavier burden than I am. That’s why your words truly resonate with me.”
Compared to the early days of the Cataclysm, things were incomparably better now, so perhaps the Emperor would never set foot in the Warlord’s Library.
But I couldn’t be sure.
Why, one may know ten miles of water, but not one mile of man.
But this man’s pride is high.
Even his doubts can only be described as noble.
But just in case, if I ever set foot in the Warlord’s Library…….
Just like I always did.
There is no choice but to strictly dispose of it.
My mouth opened.
“I hope it’s for a good reason, Emperor.”
*
──────
Claudi will lead the Arcana continent to ruin.
──────
The Emperor remembered.
A look of determination appeared in his eyes.
He muttered.
“For the sake of pride.”
“For the Pride of the Emperor.”
“I can’t help but ask.”
ClaudI in a revelation from his ancestors.
It truly is.
As the man says.
“You still don’t believe me, little Seric Rose?”
Does it mean Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo.