#244: The One Who Can’t, The One Who Can. — Battlefield of the Gods

“What? What proposal?”

“It means a proposal, a proposal. Don’t you know what a proposal is?”

The Creator’s face quickly turns red as he realizes what it means.

Surely he didn’t ask because he didn’t know the word’s meaning, even though he’s the Creator. I’d asked just in case, but when I brazenly told him to make an offer after all, he seemed to boil over with anger, snorting and stomping his feet.

“Are you going to trade with me if this scares you? If you don’t want to, let’s pretend it never happened. As for me, I won’t be missing anything.”

“Fine! I know, I know!!”

And with that, he started taking out items one by one. There were all sorts of outrageous items.

I remember the number being over 20,000 when I got Guardian last time. So of course it would be packed with absurd items.

“Huh? That’s all?”

“Huh? Then what…!!”

“My bad.”

“……”

There was no fierce bargaining, no back-and-forth argument with give and take. Just the Creator genuinely getting annoyed now and then, and me casually picking my ear.

Whenever I didn’t like something, I kept firing off ‘My bad’ or ‘screw off,’ and the Creator’s face just kept turning red and then returning to normal.

“You bastard!!”

“Cancel the deal?”

“N-no, no, no!!”

The Creator hurriedly tried to stop me, afraid I might actually do it, his face split evenly between indignation and regret. In truth, I had only taken a few items from him.

“Bad guy, mean guy, stingy guy, dirty guy. Tch!!”

I can hear all the quiet muttering. He was clearly saying it so I would hear it, but since I was in such a good mood after successfully finishing a good deal—one-sidedly from my point of view—I decided to let it slide.

The items laid out before me were three.

One jewel that radiated tremendous power.

One utterly ordinary longsword.

And one silver-bright bracelet and a set of ten rings.

‘You were hiding things like this… ?’

[Dragon Heart of the Primordial Dragon (The First Dragon’s Heart) [??]]

In the process of creating many beings, the Creator always paid extra attention to the first one.

In that sense, the first dragon, in which the creator had planted even a little godlike authority, possessed fierce power, a brilliant mind, and even mastery over mana.

On top of that, it had powers directly bestowed by the Creator like a superhuman, so there was no being that could stand against it, and it fulfilled its duty as an arbiter until it successfully met its end.

The dragon among dragons. It is the heart of the first dragon, the Gold Dragon Goekion.

(Item for consumption only)

—The Primordial Dragon's power, 'divine power domination,' has awakened.

—divine power rises.

—If consumed by someone who is not of the dragon race, especially not one of the higher-ranked dragons, it can lead to death.

Price: luck 28

[Divine Sword—Decur [Demi-God++]]

This is a story from when the Creator was still very immature. He went around finding those among the creations who were famous as masters and proposed manufacturing duels. Naturally, the Creator had never once been defeated.

The craftsman he ended up meeting last by chance was one who made farm tools in a shabby blacksmith shop in the countryside.

The reason the Creator, who had not been very interested at first, proposed a duel to the craftsman was that he discovered the farm tools had not dulled even after several years.

After repeatedly refusing, the Creator even grabbed hold of his weakness and started the duel, only to lose for the first time. Of course, it was because he hadn't used godly power, but still, a duel was a duel.

The Creator, who received as a gift this sword that had cut through the sword he made as if it were a rotten radish, bestowed a blessing on the craftsman and stopped his antics.

As its name, which means 'to cut,' implies, there is nothing it cannot cut. If enough divine power is imbued into it, it can even wound the true body of a low-ranked god.

—To use it, you must be 'recognized' as its master.

—To increase its cutting power, a considerable amount of divine power must be infused.

Price: luck 48

[The Harem Manager's Jewelry Set [Demi-God+]]

Again, this is a story from when the Creator was still immature.

The Creator used to enjoy octopus-like dating with the creations. This jewelry set was made so that he wouldn't forget a lover's name, wouldn't forget whom he had contacted, and wouldn't get caught dating or having secret rendezvous with another lover far away; it is precisely the Harem Manager's Jewelry Set.

—The necklace can send and receive communications with all the rings, and it uses telepathic transmission rather than voice.

—If it is the same dimension, distance does not matter.

—The range depends on how close the dimensions are and how much divine power is infused.

—When a ring sends a communication, the necklace owner's field of view shows the name of the ring's owner who attempted contact and their current location.

Price: luck 14

Total price: luck 90

“Tsk tsk tsk.”

After I finished reading the item descriptions, I found myself clicking my tongue while looking at the Creator the way I look at Arun.

“Why? What?!!”

His already sulky face looked even uglier when he shouted. The Creator, who usually had the image of a handsome middle-aged man, looked downright ugly.

“A show-off… and a Harem Manager, no less… tsk tsk.”

“Huh? Ah, n-no!! No, that’s not it!! No! I’m saying it’s not!!”

“I wonder if the goddesses, including Aetas, know about this…”

“Aaaaa! No! No!! I’m saying no!!”

Is this his dark history? The Creator denies reality and throws a fit for a long while. Regardless, I carefully put the items into my inventory and called to the Creator.

“Now give me the service.”

“Service? What service?”

“No service either? Then the deal is… my bad.”

“Aaaagh!! Don’t do that!! I said don’t do it!! I’ll give it to you! I’ll give it, okay?!”

“Oh? You said you’d give it to me? Is there such a thing as saying two different things with one mouth? Or not?”

“No! There isn’t!”

“Good. Then give me that.”

“…That being what?”

After being angry for a long while, he trails off with an ‘oops’ look on his face.

But I smirked at the Creator, who had already promised to give it to me. He wiped away non-existent sweat and took a step back.

“Give me the ego bitch in charge of ‘Setting’ as a service.”

“…Hey, you crazy bastard!!”

The Creator’s blood-spitting feelings were none of my concern.

After that, the shakedown continued for a long while against the Creator, who kept insisting he absolutely couldn’t give it.

The space where Kim Han had disappeared. The Creator gazed blankly at the place where Kim Han had been.

The one who approached that Creator was, unexpectedly, Sophia.

“Are you all right? That Ego is…”

“Hm? Sophia, what are you talking about? You saw it too. I was robbed, I tell you! That despicable bastard!”

If you only listened to the content of the Creator’s words, he seemed indignant and resentful toward Kim Han, but his voice and manner sounded very cheerful. He even kept snickering.

It was completely different from how he had just been blowing up at Kim Han.

“Lord Creator, I’m sure that Amor bitch and her cronies will get in the way…”

“Now, now! Sophia, what are you talking about. For the balance of the Battlefield of the Gods, I even consumed my own power to forcibly summon Kim Han and persuaded him too. But that wicked Kim Han bastard didn’t listen to me, the Creator. What a stingy bastard! I had ‘no choice,’ truly by ‘force majeure,’ but to hand over even my collection to Kim Han. Sob, my collectiooon…”

But even with the Creator’s complaints, Sophia’s gaze didn’t change. If anything, it became sharper as she glared at the Creator.

“Tch. As expected, Sophia won’t fall for it.”

“Of course. I’ve been watching for tens of thousands of years.”

“Wow! Stalker!!”

“Enough.”

At Sophia’s cold words, the Creator looked at her with a benevolent smile.

“Thanks as always. You’ve worked hard too.”

“Even with a benevolent father Setting, I won’t let you gloss over it.”

“Tch!”

After trying a few more Settings and seeing that none of them worked, the Creator gave a bitter smile and spoke.

“Kim Han is really amazing, isn’t he?”

“…Yes?”

“Exactly. Honestly, I never imagined he would go this far. Haha. To reach luck 200, too.”

“……”

“Ah, Sophia doesn’t know, does she? How amazing luck 200 is? When Feliki ascended to godhood, her luck was around 250, right? Well, Ludicer seems to think it was around 150, but anyway, the truth is like that. With just a little effort, that guy might even become a god. Just with luck alone. And do you know this saying? The rich get richer, the poor get poorer.”

“I know.”

“Humans seem to describe the concentration of wealth that way. But the phrase that fits this best is luck. Lucky bastards stay lucky. Luck calls more luck, then luck rises again, then the increased luck calls even greater luck. Then it rises again…”

“Yes, yes.”

Sophia’s words, cutting off the Creator as he tried to gloss over it again, were firm.

“Tch. Anyway, Kim Han will get stronger. Then, just as you said, there’ll definitely be some bastard who tries to interfere, right? Heh heh. What happened today is to prepare for that time. You saw it too, right? How heartless Kim Han is? Ruthless bastard. He really does great.”

“…Are you all right?”

“Hm? About what?”

“W-well, Kim Han… Never mind.”

“It’s fine. That guy seems terribly petty. I found that out for sure today. Proposal, my foot! ‘My bad,’ to me, the Creator!!”

“Pfft!”

“Don’t laugh! I really was angry earlier, not just a Setting! Anyway, that’s why I want to treat him even better. You never know what he’ll do later. Look at this now. He said he was hostile to me and then took the Ego away, didn’t he? My goodness! To take the Ego of ‘Setting’ as ‘service’… Heh-heh-heh-heh. If that Amor bitch finds out, she might try to tear Kim Han apart. How much did that bitch spread her legs just to shove one Ego into ‘Setting’? Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh!”

“That’s true.”

“So, Sophia, you be good too. Don’t go picking a fight for no reason. You’ll end up like me.”

The Creator’s tone sounded like a guy in his twenties who looks like he’s in his forties because he started smoking in middle school, self-mockingly saying, ‘If you smoke, you’ll end up like your big brother.’

“…Yes.”

“Ah! By the way, Sophia, what do you think Kim Han will do with that Ego?”

“…?”

Sophia wore an unreadable expression, while the Creator held his stomach and burst into laughter. The two of them stayed silent for a long while.

My vision changed, and time began to flow slowly in the space where it had stopped. Is this what it feels like when Lee Hyo-ju uses her power to slow time?

The members, who had been moving slowly, gradually picked up speed and returned to normal.

“Companion!”

“Mr. Kim Han!”

“Chief!”

The sight of each of them rushing toward me looked extremely serious. For them, it was only a moment, but for me, it was already something from hours ago.

I had to grope through my thoughts and try to remember what had happened before time stopped.

‘Right. That damned ‘Setting’ bitch had been taunting me, then I… rejected the Creator’s summons.’

“Huh?”

“A-are you… okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s because the results were better than I expected.”

“Ah…!”

Everyone accepts it. It was probably basically an effect like my divine power increasing by 5, with slight differences depending on contribution, but at the very least, their stats should have gone up by 10. It wouldn’t have increased unconditionally regardless of tier, though…

“Let’s sort things out first.”

As I set the mood back in order, I put the tyrant’s corpse, brought by the party, straight into my inventory. Because it would be a necessary ‘key’ later.

I could roughly guess what the members were worried about. They were worried that I might have forced myself too hard and collapsed, like after fighting Button in the Wandering Swamp.

“I’m really fine. More importantly, someone go pry that thing off.”

I turned the attention of Hazel and Lee Hyo-ju, who still couldn’t shake the worry from their faces.

What I pointed at was the only thing still shining in the dark great hall. It was the golden dragon throne.

When I pointed at the ornate dragon throne, about the size of a long sofa, and told them to pry it out, Naruan and Proy, unlike the baffled members, quickly rushed over, grabbed one leg each, lifted it, and finally yanked it out.

“I’ll sell that and buy you something tasty.”

I said it as casually as if I were selling a game item to get a tasty meal, but just the value of the jewels and its historical worth alone would still leave enough for fine dining until the day I die.

Only then did the members start snickering one by one and begin prying off the jewels mounted on the walls and pillars.

They had seen me pour out all sorts of treasure from subspace, starting with an Acrich, then an Elder Death Knight and a Skeleton King.

So the members didn’t complain at all and even pulled out every nonfunctional magic lamp, stacking them all in front of me.

They knew it too. That even a representative could grow stronger faster if they had money in the Battlefield of the Gods.

Having stayed in Legion House for anywhere from a few months to several years, they had felt it more clearly than anyone, which was why they were still moving now.

“Hey, hey! Why are you trying to tear off the pillar? You can’t even sell that, and if you do it wrong, it’ll collapse!!”

There’s a saying about uprooting something down to its roots. Naruan was about to actually carry that out instead of using it as an example, but Proy stopped her.

Naruan pouted and looked around, but the great hall was already spotless. There wasn’t a single thing of value left.

Naruan, looking all droopy as if a tasty snack had vanished, came over beside me.

Clap-clap—

I clapped my hands and gathered the members. After the scattered members had all assembled, we decided on our next destination and moved out.

When I named the destination, none of the members could answer; they were shocked.

“Our next destination is the real imperial treasury vault, the one only the Emperor can enter. There’s nothing special on the way, so let’s move quickly.”

“……!!”

“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming?”

Only after I shouted at the members, who were frozen with blank expressions, did they hurry to follow me. Even Hazel, who was always calm, couldn’t close his mouth.

The distance from the great hall to the imperial treasury wasn’t very far.

Halfway through the move, Hazel came up beside me and asked as if something had suddenly occurred to him.

“Companion. But what happened while you were unconscious?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“No, I mean while you were unconscious. This may sound strange, but after you fainted, I had this odd feeling as though I had seen you fooling around with hundreds of women.”

“…W-well?”