Chapter 109: A Queen Subjugated

I ended up going along with the Merchant's request to accept the Demon Queen, Elizabeth, as a citizen. Before that though, I wanted to see for myself how willing she was, and so, questioned her about what caused the war that the Merchant had shown me.

I know that he had done it to make me sympathize with her but I couldn't take the things I saw out of my mind, I needed at least some answers about it.

Elizabeth: "The previous Demon King... My father... had an incredible Gift that allowed him to obtain both Demonic Power and Divinity. He acquired so much of both that he acclimated with it and developed a way for others to do the same."

On the note that the Merchant left behind last time, there was also something about this technique.

Since normally by acquiring Demonic Power you would subtract your Divinity, only someone who was already capable of obtaining both through a Gift could come up with a way for others to do the same.

The Merchant has been looking for ways to strengthen himself in order to kill the King Of The Gods, so this method would be incredibly useful for him, so I'm guessing this is what started their relationship.

Elizabeth: "He also managed to unify the continent and ended up becoming a myth... with prayers and tales about him, his Divinity surged to the point he could ascend but..."

Miwen: "He refused, right? The whole thing about becoming a puppet..."

I still have no idea about the whole process, so I ended up asking them since it seems I'm back on the Merchant's good side.

To my surprise, the Merchant finally gave a satisfying answer.

It seems he really wants me to warm up to Elizabeth.

Merchant: "...When one ascends, Asdrea, the King Of The Gods, will give them a gift in the form of... a lot of fake divinity. It has the same capabilities as normal divinity, but it gives Asdrea control over the user. Most of the Gods don't even know that they are puppets, but at least the oldest ones that follow Asdrea know, one of those was the one who killed Liz.

Anyway, the only way to get rid of that fake divinity is to give up all of the divinity you possess, which most Gods aren't willing to do."

...So this fake energy that he passes on as divinity works the same... and he has enough of that to feed every single God?

I shouldn't even be surprised anymore, it's their king, after all, a man not even the Merchant is confident in defeating.

As for them not willing to surrender their Divinity... Yeah, I can understand that, even more so if the one telling them to do so is the Merchant, who has a twisted and suspicious nature and personality and is also known for killing Gods.

If I were one, I'd definitely think that it's a trap.

Elizabeth: "Once you attract the eyes of the Gods it's already over... The God responsible for my world took his refusal as an insult, and declared him the target for a Divine War."

Licia told me that a Divine War differs from a World Punishment because it has a target, and killing others besides it is frowned upon.

This means that until this point, they only wanted to punish Elizabeth's father, and the rest of her world should be fine.

At least, when I ran mana through the Merchant's card back on Earth, Catherine wanted to declare a Divine War against him, probably in order to preserve our world too.

The Merchant once time said that we are cattle, that we are used to further boost the Divinity of the Gods, so it makes sense that they wouldn't destroy the world and all life on it all willy-nilly.

But what reason could there be for what I saw then?

I can't help but think that it's even worse now that I know that this must've hurt them too, at least if you consider the population of the world as a resource, which seems to be the case for the Gods.

Elizabeth: "After my father's death... I rose to power and conquered the entire world. Of course, due to that I also got enough Divinity to ascend. But when the God responsible for my world came to propose that I should ascend... I killed him."

Merchant: "...Which led to the second time the Gods were insulted by the inhabitants of Hell, and so, they decided every single one of the demons was a sinner that should be punished, and the World Punishment that you saw began."

I thought that perhaps the Gods acted as revenge for their fallen comrade, perhaps trying to reason their decision, but according to the Merchant that wasn't the case.

Since Divinity can be stolen after killing a God, there are plenty of examples of people who ascended by Killing the God responsible for their world. Most of the Gods just see that as a show of weakness, and laugh at their fallen brethren while crowning the one who took its place.

Of course, it's ironic that they believe themselves to be so high and might, having even ceremonies for the very act of... becoming someone else's puppet.

Still, if it was for revenge I could maybe accept it but... the mountains of dead men I saw were just because... their actions made Godhood seem unimportant.

Elizabeth's father seemed to be much like me, a friend of the Merchant, but mostly neutral in the whole war thing.

Elizabeth only took a side in response to the killing of her father, while the Gods... didn't even care about the death of one of them, they were more worried about how they got besmirched.

As I thought... it's repulsive.

Also, there was one thing about what she said that caught my attention... her world was called Hell?

That made me a little bit confused, considering that it's the same name we used on Earth for the place where demons reside, but when I asked them about it, their answer only made me question things even more.

Priscilla: "It was also known as Inferno, but ever since the war that place is only inhabited by monsters who left the dungeon and the flames from the light you say that still burns to this day, and perhaps, will burn throughout eternity."

That's... surprisingly close to what I would expect of Hell but...

No way, right?

I wanted to talk with them some more, but Priscilla and the Merchant still had business to attend to and they were also discussing quite a bit since she started going all tsundere saying she doesn't like him or anything.

While it became clear that the Merchant had exaggerated, misunderstood, or even made up some of her actions in his stories, it's pretty obvious that she actually likes him at least a little bit.

The two of them acting like this reminded me a lot of what I do with Mia, it was surprisingly refreshing to see from an outside perspective.

The Merchant also made sure to drain some of my tickets before leaving, so I ended this event with only 10 tickets stored.

I didn't even get mad at him this time, like it or not, it was only thanks to him that we managed to get through this one the way we did.

As for the next one...

[Invitation! Please Come Visit The Infinite Hotel #TR0976KH669VFLM001

The Infinite Hotel is the pride of creation, that which imbues endlessness better than anything else.

It's not often that one gets an invitation, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

Answers to all mysteries reside in this place, and there's no danger at all!

You won't die! You won't be trapped for eternity! I swear!

Time Limit: Unknown

Restrictions: None]

... Alright I can see what's going on here, even more with that string of characters attached to the name of the event, but I decided to check my last "option" just to be sure...

[Invitation! The Infinite Hotel Eagerly Awaits #KFLAD983629310FV/+@

There's a incredibly pretty girl for you to meet, I know you like that. I'll give you her number if you play along.

I'll make you cookies if you come...

I'll give you good rewards, please...

I know the secrets to everything in existence, I'll share a few with you...

Just come play with me for a while.

Time Limit: You can stay as long as you like!

Restrictions: You can do whatever you want! Just don't mess with the rooms please.]

...Alright, this has got to be the strangest one so far.

That one with the Merchant was confusing, but this one is just sad. I think if I reject this I'll make someone cry.

It's still incredibly suspicious though, now more than ever...

Whoever is responsible for this not only seems to know about me but also about the mechanisms of my Gift. I'm not even saying this because of the message it left about having the answers for mysteries or whatever, but the way it seems to be flooding the system with repeated events to be sure it's selected clearly indicates that it knows how my Gift works.

To the point where it's able to circumvent it for the most part.

Unlike the Merchant who also had the power to mess with it but got caught by surprise, this one is doing it purposefully since the very beginning.

On that last description, it was even able to mess with the Time Limit and the Restrictions...

I guess I have no choice then... if it keeps spamming this event I might never be able to take a different one, so I'll go along with it.

I'll also make sure to select the third option as I want the pretty girl's number as well as the cookies.

There wasn't much time remaining today, so I decided to go visit Alex as the situation with the Army Of The Gifted seems to be escalating.

Last time Roy and Sam told me about a contract that has been going around with newcomers, so I had them get out of there and also informed Alex so that he could investigate it for me.

Today's report about it is quite bleak though... the faction that Sis took is crumbling, and everyone is deserting to the other side, only that blockhead and a few others are still resisting the new administration.

I thought the speed at which things have been turning there was sketchy, and Alex also agreed.

Apparently, the old leader was also moving things behind the scenes for this transition to happen, from the start, there weren't really two factions as the head of one of them was sabotaging itself.

It does raise a bunch of questions though...

When I got back home, there were a few things I needed to do, especially regarding a citizen who seems to have trouble following orders right now.

Since we now had 9 days until the next event started, I decided to take tomorrow off.

I wanted to get to know Elizabeth a little bit more before entering the dungeon with her. It's clear that power-wise she's more than sufficient, with her being at level 269, almost four times Mia's.

There's still a big question of how much I can trust her when neither the Merchant nor Priscilla is around.

I arrived in time to help Licia and Ellie with dinner, and when midnight came, I got to claim the kingdom points.

With those, I could finally get enough houses for the girls to sleep in again.

However, I had Ellie stay behind with Licia and Claire tonight while I was going to sleep in the kingdom.

I also made sure to instruct Elizabeth to sleep in the same room as Mia

I feel like the two of them have quite a lot in common, so I'm hoping they can relate to each other and form some kind of bond.

It's also a good time for Mia to get a roommate.

As for me, I got enough clues to know what I should do with Bea by now.