Chapter 311: Our Arsilan (4)

Translator: Dreamscribe

After Episode 6 concluded successfully, Arsilan gradually regained stability as time passed and prospered on a scale incomparable to before.

The economy grew at a breakneck pace, and the civilization level of the New World also rose dramatically. The Sillion Empire had reached a level that surpassed even the Kalsus Dimensional Empire.

From the moment they began harnessing dimensional energy through Dimension Stones, countless new professions and technologies poured forth. Through FS Games' updates, no fewer than 22 new first-tier classes became available for class advancement, while more than 10 second-tier and third-tier classes were added as well.

In addition, the things Jinwoo had added for the New World were listed in the update notes, allowing the Heroes to check them for themselves.

Jinwoo began preparing for Episode 7 in earnest.

Through Episode 7, he intended to spread Arsilan's name throughout the Dimensional Realm and develop it into a force capable of threatening both the Kalsus Dimensional Empire and the Erosion.

The Heroes were already discussing all sorts of things about Episode 7. The expanded setting revealed in Episode 6 had come as an enormous shock, and even now, it was so vast that no one could possibly hope to explore all of it.

New content continued to emerge throughout the New World, and there was not even enough time to simply look around. The world was so vast that even scholars on Earth with no interest in Arsilan Saga conducted in-depth research on it.

Could Episode 7 surpass Episode 6?

The Heroes did not doubt the Creator God, but they still could not readily say yes. They simply could not imagine what could possibly be introduced to surpass everything they had experienced so far.

Of course, Jinwoo was not worried about the content of Episode 7.

‘The Kalsus Dimensional Empire is enormous, and the Erosion's territory is mysterious.’

Those things alone were incredibly compelling content.

What would the Heroes see and experience in that vast world?

How much would they be able to grow?

Could they surpass level 300 and enter the realm of Transcendent Beings?

Jinwoo was extremely curious as well.

For now, he put ‘White’, Leon's other identity, on autopilot. Whenever Leon was away, White appeared in the New World or wherever help was needed, lent a hand, then disappeared.

‘Might as well take a look around.’

Jinwoo left Arsilan and entered the Dimensional Realm.

Thanks to the explosive growth of his Authority and influence, he could now travel freely between dimensions with nothing but his own body, without making any special preparations. If he was alone, it seemed he would not even need to go through the usual procedure for crossing dimensional barriers.

Swoosh!

Jinwoo's body vanished as though melting into space itself. He crossed through space, lightly leapt over the boundary between dimensions, and arrived in the Kalsus Dimensional Empire.

‘They're putting up a good fight.’

The legion led by General Gord, with Kalgul at its center, continued battling the Erosion forces that kept crossing over. Kalgul's territory had already been completely consumed by Erosion and had fallen entirely.

They were locked in a continuous war of attrition. The Erosion side was steadily losing Authority, while the Kalsus Dimensional Empire was burning through troops and resources at an extreme rate.

‘I already filmed it, so I can edit the footage and use it as a promotional video.’

Content that shamelessly milked someone else's money and effort!

Wasn't that something every developer dreamed about at least once?

Even compared to the Liberation War of Episode 6, the scale was several times larger.

The Erosion faction was probably feeling extremely frustrated right about now.

Later, he would stop by the Erosion's territory and try to coordinate the schedule for Episode 7.

After ordering them to fight a little more fiercely, Jinwoo crossed over to the Sanctuary for the first time in a while.

The Sanctuary was as disgusting as ever. An immense pressure weighed down on the entire Sanctuary, and although light poured out from its center, it was stained with such filthy, repulsive colors that it could hardly be called light at all.

Was it because his influence and Authority had risen?

The pressure itself no longer felt particularly strong, but the revolting stench was even clearer than before. It was the smell of Evil Karma. Jinwoo wanted to return to Arsilan immediately, but before starting Episode 7, he wanted to see the situation for himself.

Jinwoo moved to Reist's planet.

Reist's planet had been reborn as the busiest attraction in the entire Sanctuary. Reist World had grown even larger, and with Scharnhilde and Kaljest's full support, it had become just as extravagant as the Sanctuary's inner regions.

‘Oh….’

Reist's mansion had also been expanded until it looked like an imperial palace. A newly constructed garden came into view. There, Jun, dressed rather impressively, stood with a smiling Scharnhilde.

A considerable amount of Scharnhilde's Evil Karma had been washed away.

When Jinwoo first met her, she had been on the verge of crossing the line into becoming an Evil Person, but now she had taken about two steps back from that point. Since she had completely backed away from the boundary of becoming an Evil Person, Jinwoo decided to acknowledge her to some extent.

‘Not everyone in the Kalsus Dimensional Empire is an Evil Person.’

Just as there were Evil People in Arsilan and on Earth, there were also people in the Kalsus Dimensional Empire who had not been tainted by Evil Karma.

Jinwoo could not bring himself to treat those who were not Evil People harshly. He did not believe he had the right to do so.

Jinwoo was about to call out to Jun when he stopped.

Jun was doing something.

He trembled as though nervous. He seemed to be trying to move, but his body was so stiff that it was as if all his joints had locked up. He looked like a clumsily moving robot.

‘What is he doing?’

Jinwoo tilted his head and began observing Jun more closely. Looking again, a path made of flower petals had been laid through the garden, and the spot where Jun stood was decorated with red flowers arranged into the shape of a heart. Even candles had been tastefully placed around it.

It was a setup he had seen many times before!

‘Ah!’

Jinwoo finally realized what Jun was doing.

When Scharnhilde reached the spot directly in front of him, he swallowed hard, clearly overwhelmed with nerves. Cold sweat was even streaming down his face. Jinwoo crossed his arms and watched the scene from above.

Thump!

Jun dropped to one knee, pulled out a box containing a ring, and opened it.

A ring decorated with a rather valuable gemstone revealed itself, gleaming beautifully.

‘To Scharnhilde, of all people….’

Jun was proposing to an Imperial Princess!

It did not seem as though very much time had passed since they met, yet he had made an incredibly bold move.

Jinwoo knew Jun had not returned to Arsilan or Earth because of Scharnhilde, but he had not realized things had gone this far. There was a vast difference in their social status to begin with, and they were a pair who should have been impossible to bring together.

‘She'll reject him.’

Jinwoo nodded to himself at the thought.

‘Ah, who's going to work here now?’

Things naturally became awkward after a confession.

It was true that the two had become close, but rather than being romantically involved, weren't they closer to having a friendly relationship between liege and retainer?

And this was not even an ordinary confession. He had suddenly gone straight for a proposal. There was no way Jun would be able to keep working here after this. It was a shame, but for Jun's sake, Jinwoo decided he should arrange for his swift return.

Jinwoo nodded and looked at Jun sympathetically.

Scharnhilde's body trembled.

Was she about to slap him across the face?

Well, someone who was not even a high-ranking noble had dared to propose to the most exalted Imperial Princess in the entire Kalsus Dimensional Empire. On top of that, she was an Imperial Princess with a claim to the throne.

He could even be killed for this, so Jinwoo decided to protect him to an appropriate degree.

Just as Jinwoo was about to activate protective magic.

Fwump!

Scharnhilde burst into tears and tightly embraced Jun.

“Huh?”

She was smiling brightly, looking utterly happy.

Jinwoo was deeply shocked by the sight.

“What?”

Question marks seemed to pop up one after another above Jinwoo's head. The Kalsus Dimensional Empire did not have a culture of marriage proposals like this, but Scharnhilde knew perfectly well that what Jun had just done meant asking her to marry him.

“Seriously, what?”

Jinwoo stood there for quite some time, blinking blankly. Jun spent some intimate time with Scharnhilde in the garden. Then, when one of Scharnhilde's subordinates approached and whispered something in her ear, she looked at Jun regretfully before leaving.

After watching her disappear, Jun clenched his fist triumphantly.

“Woooooo!”

Apparently overcome with joy, he bounced up and down on the spot while shouting. He spun around wildly in celebration until his eyes met Jinwoo's.

“Uh….”

“……”

Jun froze on the spot.

An awkward silence descended.

Jinwoo fell into thought for a moment.

Jun looked every inch a noble of the Kalsus Dimensional Empire. Thanks to the considerable care Jun had put into customizing his appearance, he did not look inferior to Scharnhilde in the slightest even when standing beside her.

“Hmm….”

“W-well…, um, the thing is, h-how this happened was….”

Jinwoo sank deeper and deeper into thought.

Seeing Jinwoo's grave expression, Jun became increasingly restless. When Jinwoo finally raised his head and looked at him, Jun could not even meet his eyes, like a criminal who had committed some terrible crime.

“Want to be Prince Consort?”

“I'm sorr…, what?”

“Since it's come to this, you might as well become the Prince Consort of the Kalsus Dimensional Empire.”

Jun nearly jumped out of his skin.

“Prince Consort means the Empress's husband, right? Me, as Prince Consort?”

“Yeah. You didn't propose without being prepared to go that far, did you?”

“W-w-well, no, that's not exactly….”

It was a plan Jinwoo had vaguely considered before.

Starting a civil war from within, backing Scharnhilde, who possessed a claim to the throne, and controlling her.

Now that she was no longer an Evil Person, there was no need to dominate her mind or turn her into a puppet.

Given the enormous debt he had saddled Scharnhilde with, he thought he could make things work somehow, but this might actually be the better option.

Thanks to RL, Scharnhilde's debt was still increasing even now.

“I'll do my best!”

Jun nodded resolutely.

The power of love really was incredible.

“You said you'd never have any reason to get close to people from the Kalsus Dimensional Empire, and now you've got yourself a wife.”

“A-ahem!”

“Let's head inside for now.”

Jinwoo entered the mansion with Jun to receive his report. The interior was packed with doctors and technicians. That was because, in the deepest part of the mansion, Reist was still clinging to life inside a life-support device.

Reist, hero of the Kalsus Dimensional Empire!

His story had become a myth.

“Most of the nobles now regard this place as even more sacred than the inner Sanctuary.”

Jinwoo nodded.

“When is the civil war going to break out?”

“Well….”

“Hmm?”

According to the original plan, a civil war was supposed to break out between the Crown Prince's faction and the Scharnhilde-Kaljest alliance. Once the empire split in two and began fighting fiercely, Arsilan would make its full-scale advance.

‘It'll make the story more plausible too.’

What the Heroes and the people of Arsilan had witnessed on the final stage of Episode 6 was an overwhelming level of technology and sheer numbers. It must have seemed as though the enemy forces were pouring in almost endlessly.

In reality, however, the Kalsus Dimensional Empire did not have the capacity to keep committing forces at that scale. That was why Jinwoo had planned to introduce the explanation that the civil war had left them unable to display that same overwhelming force again.

It was groundwork for Episode 7.

“It doesn't look like a civil war is going to happen. The Crown Prince has been captured.”

“What?”

“Most of the influential high-ranking nobles have sided with us…, ahem, with Imperial Princess Scharnhilde. Public opinion blaming the Crown Prince for what happened to Reist has become too overwhelming…, and more importantly, the Crown Prince is incredibly incompetent.”

The Crown Prince's power had been immense enough to crush such public opinion by force. Yet apparently, he had been too stupid even to think of raising an army. Instead, he kept playing RL until he fell into Scharnhilde's trap and was imprisoned.

“I thought he'd at least do something if we backed him into a corner….”

“So did I.”

How had someone like him ever become Crown Prince?

He did possess the strongest legitimacy and held the greatest share of the previous generation's legacy.

He had concealed his incompetence beneath his power, but the moment a crack appeared, he was devoured.

Apparently, Scharnhilde and Kaljest had been holding lengthy discussions about what to do with the Crown Prince.

“What about the Crown Prince's faction?”

“They're still intact, but they're in tremendous confusion. Quite a few groups from the Crown Prince's camp are also defecting to the Scharnhilde-Kaljest alliance.”

Jinwoo nodded.

“Where is the Crown Prince being held?”

“At the outermost edge of the Sanctuary.”

Apparently, when high-ranking nobles or members of the imperial family committed crimes, they were imprisoned there. Since they could be banished from the Sanctuary at any moment, most remained quietly confined.

With the Crown Prince being held there, Scharnhilde and Kaljest's core forces were guarding the location under extremely heavy security.

“We can't leave things like this.”

He would have to force a civil war to happen.

Until now, he had been unable to approach the Crown Prince because the man had remained in the inner Sanctuary, but now the Crown Prince was within Jinwoo's sphere of influence.

“Prepare for civil war.”

“Understood.”

The Crown Prince was being condemned by the nobles as the Evil God's minion or the Devil's servant. In that case, Jinwoo would simply turn him into the real thing.

***

For the first time in his life, the Crown Prince was consumed by overwhelming rage and hatred. Everything had always gone according to his will, and that was the truth by which this vast empire operated. Not once in his entire life had he ever failed to get what he wanted.

At least, not until RL appeared.

It was unfair.

He had done nothing wrong. He had absolutely nothing to do with Reist ending up in that state.

Public opinion had turned against him, but he could simply crush it with his power. Even so, he was a merciful Crown Prince. Scharnhilde, Kaljest, and even the other members of the imperial family were all subjects he would rule in the future.

That was why, when Scharnhilde asked to meet so they could clear up the misunderstanding, he had left the center of the Sanctuary despite his retainers trying to stop him.

“Mmmmmgh!”

His limbs were restrained, and a gag had been stuffed into his mouth.

How dare they treat him, the Crown Prince, like this!

Even the high-ranking nobles managing this place looked at him with contempt. Having known only gazes filled with awe, respect, and fear throughout his entire life, he was deeply shocked.

“Mmmmmmmph!”

The Crown Prince thrashed and howled.

He would kill them!

He would kill every last one of them!

He would torture them without end, and even after they died, he would make them suffer for eternity!

He screamed those thoughts over and over, but no one came to rescue him. The Imperial Knights refused to leave the center of the Sanctuary, and the legions loyal to him were hesitating. They were being swayed by Scharnhilde and Kaljest's attempts to win them over.

Strangely, even though the Crown Prince had been reduced to this state, the Emperor himself showed no sign of making a move. His attitude made it seem as though he did not care what happened.

Even the knights guarding the prison clicked their tongues and ignored him. Seeing the once most exalted Crown Prince being treated like a criminal naturally made them sneer.

A surge of furious rage rose within him.

“Mmmmmph!”

If someone would only free him from this place, if someone would only give him the chance to take revenge, he felt as though he could do anything. The Crown Prince had been struggling desperately for quite some time when exhaustion finally began to set in.

Swoosh!

Suddenly, a sinister chill came from beside him, cold enough to freeze his entire body solid.

“Do you desire power?”

A voice that sounded as though it had risen from hell beyond the abyss wrapped itself around the Crown Prince.

*****

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