Chapter 164 – Molang Fantasy (2)
Achievements.
Not every achievement has to be something grand or incredibly difficult.
Every “first” thing we accomplish in life gets recorded as an achievement. Some achievements that anyone can do might not attract attention, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t achievements.
「Surviving 10 Days on a Deserted Island」
「Holding Your Breath for 30 Seconds」
「Eating the Spiciest Dish in the World」
「Betraying Your Closest Friend」
‘Indeed…’
The virtual reality game <Molang Fantasy> contained an incredibly wide variety of achievements. From the easy ones to the extremely difficult.
The witch Ranuvela had said that in order to expand “my world,” I needed to accomplish various achievements in the dream.
「Killing a Person for the First Time」
「Killing 100 People」
「Killing 3,000 People」
「Killing 50,000 People」
……
Even for the same action, repeating it allowed one to achieve progressively greater achievements.
And as painfully obvious as it sounds, when I left the dream world, all that accumulated progress would reset…
That was the information the witch had kindly shared before falling asleep.
“I see now.”
Swimming lessons from Song Sun-young, naval battles—after that, my growth completely stalled. The same went for the swordsmanship I learned from Valentine and the taekwondo from the Master Go Mu-shin.
While I did become somewhat more proficient through wars and battles in the dream, my specialized skills remained unchanged.
Flip~
Using the speed-reading I had mastered from reading the 215-volume martial arts novel <Is This Heavenly Demon for Real?>, I rapidly skimmed through the strategy guide.
‘Wow!’
They say when a person is foolish, their body suffers.
The more I looked at the guide, the more I realized just how foolishly and inefficiently I had grown in the dream.
For example,
「Killing 100 People in One Day」
「Killing 3,000 People in One Day」
「Killing 50,000 People in One Day」
……
There were so many achievements I had passed by without even knowing they existed.
Moreover,
「Killing 50,000 People」
「Killing 50,000 People in One Day」
「Assassinating 50,000 People」
「Killing 50,000 Soldiers」
There were also numerous achievements that could be progressed simultaneously.
“Good heavens.”
It might sound a little unethical, but I had completely missed an absolutely golden opportunity to easily rack up extremely difficult achievements.
Super Grand Galaxy General Infinity Blade.
An SSS-rank monster that summoned blades equal to the number of enemies.
The strongest monster in the world, used by the protagonist of the hunter novel <I Became an SSS-Rank Hunter>.
If I designated the entire human population living in that world as enemies, killing 5 billion people in a single day would have been trivial.
“Tch.”
Besides that, there had been quite a few opportunities for me to achieve difficult accomplishments. I had simply passed them by because I didn’t know!
My stomach churned with regret.
Ding—!
(Greetings, passengers. This is your captain, entrusted by imperial decree to safely escort you all the way to the Holy Roman Empire.)
(The aircraft will soon be landing at the Third International Airport of the Holy Roman Empire.)
(Passengers, please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts.)
The in-flight announcement came on.
“Hm…”
Already?
I hadn’t even finished half of the strategy guide that contained only the achievements from the virtual reality game <Molang Fantasy>, yet four hours had already passed.
That many different achievements.
That many achievements in total.
And that also meant I had absurdly missed out on a tremendous number of them.
“Yawn…”
The witch, awakened by the sudden bustle inside the plane, let out a yawn full of lingering regret.
She looked just like a worker forced to pull overtime to make ends meet.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Yes. A little lacking because of someone, though.”
“Is there a reason you push your body so hard and rush around like this? You don’t seem like someone chased by financial hardship or someone obsessed with luxury and retirement savings like me.”
The fact that she was sitting in a business-class seat—more than twice the price of economy—already put her far from “poor,” but considering the abilities she possessed, she wasn’t exactly indulging in extravagance either.
“Is that a question?”
“No. Just simple curiosity.”
“Then I’ll only say what I want to say. I’m voluntarily going through hardship out of an altruistic heart—one that someone as selfish as you would find hard to understand.”
“Ah!”
Altruistic heart.
The opposite of a selfish heart!
It seemed the witch Ranuvela didn’t like the fact that I, a “shaman,” was using my abilities for personal greed.
Vrrr—
(We have safely landed at the Third International Airport of the Holy Roman Empire.)
(Passengers, please make sure not to leave any belongings behind…)
“Let’s get off.”
“Do I not need the string anymore?”
“Where do you think we are? This is the land of witches. It’s also the land where the greatest number of witches were persecuted.”
“Ah, yes.”
The witch Ranuvela, answering curtly, took the lead, dragging her suitcase.
***
Perhaps because there were many foreigners at the airport, she seemed to be using hypnosis.
“Welcome.”
“You’ve worked hard.”
But the moment we stepped off the plane, beautiful women dressed in airline stewardess uniforms took the witch’s luggage for her.
Swoosh—
Ranuvela naturally handed over her suitcase and once again used the staff-only passage to skip immigration.
‘Uh… at this rate, I won’t even be able to buy souvenirs at the duty-free shops…?’
While I followed the witch with that thought, we soon arrived at the underground parking lot of the airport.
And there, waiting to be boarded immediately, was a luxurious white limousine.
I had already guessed from the witch’s eye-catching outfit, but her actions were far from discreet.
“You’re very bold.”
“Even someone as selfish as you struts around confidently as an Olympic star. Compared to that, this is actually quite humble.”
“Ah, yes.”
She doesn’t let a single word slide!
Tap.
The white limousine, carrying us in the back seat, glided forward smoothly without the slightest vibration.
I had thought the same thing when I rode in Mao Zhai’s car before—how long would it take me to buy a car with this kind of ride quality?
…I entertained such trivial calculations while gazing at the scenery outside the window.
“Is it fascinating?”
“It feels like stepping back in time… I’ve never seen a landscape like this in reality.”
Carriages traveled the roads, and if you changed the foreigners’ clothing, it would look almost identical to the world of a romance fantasy.
Architecture made of brick and limestone in this day and age?
And the chapels.
In the ten minutes we had been driving in this car, I had already counted more than twenty chapels.
Was this what you’d expect from a religious nation that deified P?
“We’ll be arriving soon, so let me give you some precautions.”
“There are precautions?”
“Do you think you’re just going to meet a friend? Or that she’s some adult who will tolerate most rudeness because she owes you a favor?”
“……”
I wish she’d stop hitting the nail on the head.
“Her official title is Her Eminence Cardinal Promessia Constantine.”
“Cardinal…?”
“So in public, please address her with respect and reverence as ‘Your Eminence the Cardinal.’ When it’s just the two of us, you may call her ‘Elder.’ If your brain is too slow to keep it straight, just stick to ‘Elder’—it won’t be a big issue.”
“A cardinal should be—”
“Your Eminence the Cardinal.”
“…Wouldn’t someone of that rank basically be the second-in-command of this country?”
In the Holy Roman Empire, the Pope—elected by vote from among P’s aptitude holders, like a president—sat at the very top. Directly below were the Emperor, who inherited the position by bloodline, and the Cardinals, appointed by the Pope.
In practice, the country was governed by three Cardinals appointed by the elected Pope, and if a Cardinal made a serious mistake, the Pope took responsibility—an unusual structure.
The imperial family, including the Emperor, handled diplomacy and public-facing roles while also monitoring the Cardinals.
“Kang Moon-soo. Treating Her Eminence the Cardinal the same as a minister in your country would be an enormous insult.”
“Ah, yes. My apologies.”
What’s the difference?
“She is not someone interested in politics or economics. Among them, the Elder is the one who dislikes involvement in worldly affairs the most.”
“Hm…”
Is it really okay to appoint someone who is indifferent to the country to the position of Cardinal, which is supposed to govern the nation well?
“The Holy Roman Empire is ruled not by law, but by faith. The Elder’s only role is to identify and punish immoral heretics. Like this.”
“Hanging…?”
“Those who commit sex crimes are left standing naked in the plaza. If someone removes their stepping stool, the noose tightens around their neck and they die.”
“If you’re going to kill them anyway, why go to the trouble…?”
“Because sometimes they survive. People who believe the criminal is unjust guard the stepping stool, provide them with clothes and food. But since not everyone thinks the same way, the plaza is always noisy.”
“Hm.”
If medieval hanging and burning at the stake were spectacles and examples, was the Holy Roman Empire’s method a trial judged by the people?
Honestly, I had doubts about whether this approach suited modern society.
Swoosh—
While I was lost in various thoughts, the white limousine gently came to a stop in front of the grand chapel’s rear entrance.
“We’ve arrived. Explaining to someone as self-centered as you what this place is would just go in one ear and out the other, so I’ll skip it.”
“I at least know…”
This beautiful chapel—I think I’d seen it a few times while flipping through free magazines that came into the convenience store.
Did tourists and believers only use the front entrance?
At the rear entrance, only a few attendants were waiting to greet us.
“Welcome, Your Highness the Princess.”
“Your Highness. Please allow us to escort you inside.”
But the way they addressed the witch was far from ordinary.
“Princess…?”
“Did you really think a face like the one you’ve been staring at so intently could come from ordinary genes combining?”
“……”
The intensity of the verbal beatings seemed to be getting stronger?
“The witch who seduced the Emperor. The Emperor bewitched by the witch. It was just a story that could exist somewhere, and it turned out to be true.”
“Ah…”
It felt like being hit with a blunt weapon.
The Emperor, who was supposed to monitor the Cardinals, ended up being seduced and became completely infatuated? While the other two Cardinals kept a sharp eye on things?
In the Holy Roman Empire, aside from the Pope who held the power of appointment, there was practically no one who could restrain Ranuvela the Seventh.
By the way…
‘She really is beautiful.’
Inside the chapel stood countless statues.
Athletes, doctors, janitors, politicians, lawyers, farmers, merchants, chefs…
They had sculpted ordinary people living according to the aptitude test results of P, whom this country held sacred.
“Do you like it?”
The witch’s voice as she asked carried a clear sense of pride.
“Yes. Much more than some naked statue of a man holding lightning.”
“I’m glad—for once our thoughts align.”
“But…”
“What is it? Since I’m in a good mood right now, I’ll answer a simple question.”
“It really doesn’t suit you.”
A witch—the very symbol of impurity—entering a sacred chapel?
It felt like blasphemy.
“That’s prejudice. There are two who claim to be God’s representatives. One is an old man who preaches very well, and the other is a beautiful woman who performs miracles. Which one seems more like God’s representative?”
“…The latter, obviously.”
Humans believe what they see a hundred times more than what they’re told.
“In the past, witches were persecuted because they were honest. Those who answered that their magic was a miracle granted by God were revered as saints.”
“Ah!”
We passed through a long corridor lined with sculptures that seemed to represent every P aptitude profession in existence, and at the very end…
Creak—
A double door slowly opened, revealing a mural of a witch and a saint kneeling in prayer, facing each other.
‘O God!’
The moment I saw the interior of the room, I found myself calling out to God.
“Welcome, Kang Moon-soo, faithful follower. And thank you for your hard work, Princess.”
A woman greeted us warmly, lounging in an alluring pose on a sofa so plush that half her body sank into it.
“Uh… thank you for the warm welcome.”
So this was a Cardinal? I could feel an unfamiliar faith welling up from my heart.
“Your Eminence. A guest has arrived, yet you’re… as usual, unclothed…”
Ranuvela wore an extremely troubled expression.
It was the same look I had when a convenience store owner, after making a huge mistake, dumped the cleanup on me and ran off to play games.
You can’t scold your superior…!
This is really awkward.
“Princess, you’re far too conservative. The only men who would get excited looking at a grandmother over a hundred years older are heretics who can’t adapt to society. Isn’t that right, Kang Moon-soo, faithful follower?”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
I’m truly sorry for being a heretic who can’t adapt to society!
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