NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 1043
“From today on, call me… No, refer to me as the Heavenly Sovereign of the Eastern Empire.”
The officials of the Eastern Empire unexpectedly bowed low at the declaration made by the woman in the flamboyant cheongsam who was claiming the title of Sovereign.
“Long live the Sovereign!”
“Ten thousand years! Ten thousand years! Ten thousand years!”
“I will issue an edict throughout the Empire!”
While expecting a fierce backlash, it was absurdly natural for the attendants to accept this.
So I couldn’t help but ask,
“What do you know about her that makes you accept her as the Sovereign?”
One high official with a broad, toad-like face prostrated himself again as pointing at himself with Sing’s sheath, he said,
“After a brutal battle that shook the palace last night, light from the Heavens covered the entire Imperial Palace, and the Jade Emperor blessed the ascension of the new Sovereign, so how could we question her legitimacy?”
“Hmm, is this the effect of Oknodie’s achievements… Truly, I owe my life to Oknodie forever.”
Even when muttering to myself, not a single person shot me a glance that questioned who Oknodie was, as they desperately tried to gauge my temperament, not daring to breathe loud.
I felt as though I was back in the den of the now-defunct Teen Blade Sect.
“This is how it has always been. In the Eastern Region.”
Obedience.
The subordinates follow their lord’s command.
Public first, private second.
Doing the public task before the private.
Absolute obedience.
They obey unconditionally in any situation.
There is no interaction as human to human.
It’s a world where the strong, the powerful, and those who first climb the ladder take everything.
They profess order, yet the reality is merely hellish regulations for maintaining the system and efficient exploitation.
To me, the Eastern Region was hell and despair.
The only moment of escape from such hell and despair was the time spent with Lin.
“Lin.”
As Sing gently pressed the ring with her index finger, Lin, as expressionless as ever, drew her translucent body out of the ring.
When confronted by the silent glances of “Where did Oknodie go, and why are you wearing the ring?” Sing responded,
“Oknodie has left. From today onward, it’s just the two of us living in the Eastern Empire.”
Sing felt tense.
Fake Lin.
A collection of ghosts.
An existence that had swallowed up many demons during numerous journeys with Oknodie.
Even now in this journey to the East, unknowingly, it had continued to swallow many weird creatures while constantly increasing its power.
Would Lin really maintain her guise as Lin in light of such favorable conditions?
“…♪”
It was a false worry.
Lin flopped onto the throne room floor.
Then, spreading her arms wide, she rhythmically alternated between narrowing and widening her limbs.
As if to say,
“Now I can do as I please without anyone to scold me.”
“Lin, how reckless of you. Be a little more composed.”
While Lin pretended to listen to Sing’s reprimands, this time she busied herself tugging at the mustaches of the officials or petting the bald heads with her palm.
As a result, sweat was constantly pouring down the faces of the high officials, but Lin was targeting none other than the types with exceptionally high wrongdoings.
Having gained some insight from dwelling alongside Oknodie and having absorbed Dark Mana, Sing understood,
“Is this Lin’s way of feeding?”
The ominous ritualistic symbols on the floor of the throne room had vanished, leaving only the suspicious officials marked by Lin.
Now if they engaged in any naughty behaviors within the palace, Lin would immediately catch onto it.
Lin was preparing to continue her new life beside Sing in the residence they would share.
“Ha. Now this is how a little sister should be.”
The officials were terrified.
This new Sovereign wasn’t sending deadly creatures to do her bidding like the previous one, so there was a moment of relief.
However, they couldn’t help but despair as they witnessed this Sovereign’s more blatant disregard for the high officials.
“Still, for now, it’s a position I’ve been entrusted with. If I let it go to waste, I won’t have any face left to see Oknodie. From today on, the Eastern Empire must evolve greatly, unlike before. It must match the dark empire of the Western World.”
“Your Majesty, I don’t want to say our empire is lagging behind the Western World, but considering the prolonged torment from weird creatures, I believe it will require considerable resources and time for national recovery and functional normalization.”
“I don’t plan on doing much. Just gather the remnants of the Teen Blade Sect and their colluding high officials, the poor mercenaries and adventurers whose livelihoods have been impacted due to a decrease in weird creatures, and the Yin-Yang Masters.”
Considering the psychology of the same lineage, Sing could understand better than anyone.
Rather than allowing them to die after losing their reason to live and causing chaos in the mortal world, one must plant the goal of preparing against the greater enemies and future that humankind would face.
It would be wonderful if they could also strengthen their abilities in the process.
“All of them will be enrolled as transfer students or instructors in the Eastern Empire’s Cheonmu Academy.”
“!!”
“Ultimately, the goal is to reorganize Cheonmu Academy within six months and to elevate its standards to the extent that it can interact with the premier educational institution of the Western World, the Gift Academy.”
“We will fulfill your command!”
“Don’t be so glum. There’s no reason to worry. You can rely on Lin for magic and me for swordsmanship. Actual combat can be conducted in the Dream Realm of the Mini Noddy Sisters. All you’ll need to prepare are your physical and mental states.”
The normalization of the Eastern Empire had begun.
*
I wasn’t expecting too much, but Sing started to manage the nation more skillfully than I imagined.
Oknodie, watching the scene in transparent form, relaxed and turned to leave the palace.
“Did you stumble upon the Spirit Vein where the spirits disappeared? This is quite a strange place. Do you have any leftover Spirit Herbs?”
“Professor Red Mountain is waiting here!”
At Oknodie’s words, Sadi’s eyebrows furrowed slightly as she looked around.
No matter how hard she strained, she couldn’t see anyone, nor could she feel the sensation of a terminal being planted.
“You’re not teasing me, are you?”
“I don’t know!”
“I have no idea.”
“Feel it closely. The energy of this spirit vein.”
“…?”
It was a suitably pure energy befitting a spirit vein.
But what does that even mean?
“How curious. To maintain purity without any Spirit Herbs. What could be the source of this pure energy? Hee hee hee.”
“?!”
Only after hearing the hint from the Grandpa of the Okashii-ne did Sadi Chocolate concentrate on the energy itself.
Then, she realized.
The Great Nature, which wouldn’t even have a minimum personality to let a terminal seep in, was rapidly condensing to take on a human form.
“You’re much more perceptive than just carrying me like luggage. You’ve managed to find me intentionally.”
“Thank you for your help in the palace, Professor!”
“What do you mean?”
“The weird creatures. You blocked the powerful ones that Sister Sia, Jiang, and I couldn’t handle!”
“Hmph. You guessed it.”
Sadi felt a chill.
She hadn’t realized she had received help from the Professor.
If she had turned the wrath of the Great Nature itself, which she couldn’t even sense, against the Professor, she could have been killed without having a chance to realize it.
“I just came to thank you!”
“I must also apologize for obstructing your business!”
“Business? What do you mean?”
It was Jiang who reacted sharply to Oknodie’s words.
“I learned sufficiently about the catastrophe in the Eastern Empire from the brief time spent in the Palace. To do business in such a land, do you mean that Professor Red Mountain exploited the tragedies of this land using the weird creatures?”
To be honest, I had suspected this from the beginning.
Professor Red Mountain seemed to know the concealed locations of every Spirit Herb in the Eastern Empire like a ghost.
Considering they were all hidden in the protected confines of the Teen Blade Sect and the Imperial Palace, it was hard to shake off the suspicion of having some sort of connection.
“Oh, the Professor’s business is not what you think. It’s the opposite!”
“The opposite?”
“You are the master of the Cheonryeong Mountain Range, right? The mountain range connecting the East and West.”
“Is that so?”
“So you know a lot. You know how to identify an ‘escape route.’ Which boss monster will allow humans to pass for a low price.”
Jiang, who only thought in terms of sacrificing people to nurture Spirit Herbs and receiving a portion in return, was surprised by the unexpectedly temperate approach suggested by Oknodie.
“Are you saying that you informed where the monster that devours the least people is located and then split the spoils?”
“I won’t kill anyone. Who are you calling a killer? I just skimmed off 90% of the total wealth of those well-off kids trying to escape the Eastern Empire. Think of it as a kind of escape broker.”
Indeed, so she didn’t kill anyone, just pocketed the property.
“Professor, you’re kinder than I imagined.”
“Stop messing around. That’s right.”
“…”
Jiang fell silent under the Professor’s threat.
But the mood had become considerably milder.
The suspicions directed at the Professor had been resolved.
“Now that you’ve apologized, are you leaving?”
“I should go. To the West!”
“Oh, I see. I came here via the Dimensional Gate of the Professor too.”
I understand returning to take the Professor’s portal.
But contrary to Jiang’s thoughts, Oknodie shook his head.
“Not now! You can’t take the Dimensional Gate!”
“…Because of the Soul Sculptor?”
“That too, but there’s another reason!”
Oknodie suddenly grabbed his school uniform shirt and lifted it.
As his smooth abdomen was revealed, Jiang’s eyes widened.
“A wound!”
The scar from the attack by the Heavenly Sovereign while using his transformation special technique was riddled with tiny letters that were wriggling, causing the area to expand and contract repeatedly.
“If I enter an area I can’t control, this wound will worsen, and I won’t be able to enter the Dimensional Gate!”
Oknodie had come to find Professor Red Mountain to utilize the escape route cutting through the mountain range.