Chapter 87: Resolution – Part 2

Chapter 87: Resolution – Part 2

Arreira waves his hand again, and a wooden table literally grows out of the floor, then branches sprout from it, reaching upwards bearing fruit. After only a few seconds, there are a dozen different types of juicy fruits just begging to be picked.

With multiple *poof*s, tea, sweets, and other savory snacks quickly populate the table, and the smell of food awakens our dormant stomachs. The selection implies just a simple tea time, but the quantity and variety imply a banquet.

"Take a seat," Arreira's voice sounds commanding, but also gentle at the same time.

Dozens of *pops* resound through the room as nature spirits appear all around us, and the little plush dolls all dive at the snacks before we can even take a step forward.

Arreira sighs and tiredly rests his head on his hand again. "After your 'gourmand' little friend came here, the nature spirits have become extremely gluttonous," he monotonously comments.Alll latest novels at novelhall.com

"Gih," Gify proudly states.

Arreira lifts an eyebrow, slightly amused, and slowly turns his "sexuality-bender" gaze towards me. "I'm sure Earthling Catholics would disagree. Am I correct, Ryder?" He slowly asks with a husky tone.

We pull our chairs closer to each other, then we all sit at the table. The padding made of leaves feels quite heavenly on our buttocks, and I'm glad that Arreira prepared chairs for the golems, too. Sitting with this new thick tail of mine is a bit awkward, though. I have to push it through the hole in the backrest to be able to sit comfortably.

While Alissa serves the tea, I decide to give him a short lecture, "Gluttony is a 'sin,' yes, but Catholicism is a religion intended for slaves. Though it preaches moderation, it still has too much asceticism to use it as the basis for a moral code. It's best to ignore Earthling religions entirely."

"You married in a church," Arreira states accusingly.

"Only to appease our parents," I calmly retort.

He chuckles and straightens his posture again. "Earthlings are such an odd people," he casually comments.

"I can say the same for Rupegians," I nonchalantly retort.

A smile graces his infuriatingly sexy lips. "Your new race is already having an effect on your personality."

I sip on my not-earl-gray and take a bite of a delicious not-strawberry cupcake, then I send him a glare but maintain a controlled tone. "I believe it's the grueling trial, the protracted sleep deprivation, and mental torture of seeing my loved wife die in front of me that has made me a bit cranky."

He gently shakes his head and bemusedly states, "No. Your wives certainly wouldn't be able to look me in the eye while saying that."

I focus on our [Bind]s and notice that I'm the only one who can look at his face. It's too bright. In fact, his body is the only source of light in this entire room.

I look at the girls, and they all seem as confused as I am.

Arreira waves his hand, and a booklet materializes in the air in front of him. "Let's leave that for later. We must start with your evaluation," he dismissively comments and starts flicking through his notes.

Lina suddenly decides to look him in the face and squints her eyes, then she boldly asks, "Wait... so you're really Arreira, the Unyielding?"

"Yes, I am," he casually replies without raising his eyes.

"Didn't you... die by Ajax, the first emperor? It's said he killed you by using [Absolute Zero], then [Star], and finally [Fissure]. How did your spirit survive all that?"

He dims his brightness, allowing her to see his face, which both arouses and disgusts her, then he gives her a slightly wider smile than one he wore before. "That fight was all a farce. The fact that nobody questions it thousands of years after the event brings me a small amount of pride in our acting.

"He didn't kill me. We pretended that he did to end the war. After I was sure that my succession would go smoothly, I came into my tomb and committed suicide, then I used [Trap Soul] on myself to bind my soul to the dungeon's core."

"Wow..." Lina mutters, and we all agree, though we're more muted in our awe.

"'Wow,' indeed..." He whispers and chuckles once, then returns to his booklet.

Lina clenches her fists to gather her boldness once again. "And, uh... why are you speaking in Andraste instead of Ingua?"

"I have level ten in dozens of languages, but only Ryder and Yulania know that language," -he raises his eyes from his notes and sends a quick glare at Yunia, making her flinch- "and not even the Golden-Elf knows her own language as well as she should.

"It seems that Andraste is gradually taking over the realm, which isn't what I'd predicted, but it's still salvageable with cultural stimulation..." He lowers his voice until it becomes a mere mumble, then focuses completely on his booklet.

With a bit of help from me and Alissa, the girls all manage to get over their arousal from the mere sight of his face, and his presence starts to feel a lot more "normal" than it did before.

Our hunger quickly grows more pronounced, so we stuff ourselves with food while we wait.

After a minute or so, the booklet is lowered, and Arreira stares at us again, his annoyingly strong gaze making us freeze for a split-second. The amusement of before is gone as he coolly starts his speech, "Let us begin chronologically. After I committed suicide, I put the dungeon on 'sleep mode' and cut off my own consciousness, leaving only a small sub-process to monitor changes in my own Thread of Fate."

"You can see the Threads?" Ciel interrupts, her curiosity overcoming her wariness.

"Most God-Rulers can, in some way or another..." -He frowns- "or could. You've all stopped using that title, which is a shame since it's a good fit for our kind, but I digress. After thousands of years, I believe, I didn't pay attention to the passing of time, something happened. A new bond appeared in my own Thread, so I surfaced the dungeon and waited." -He spares a glance towards Ted- "If what the golems said is true, then that appearance coincides with your arrival in this realm."

The way he speaks without moving his mouth is creepy and off-putting, and I feel like he's just flexing his magical powers to impress us, then I remember that Pua, the Gaping Maw, also spoke like this, and that makes me a bit curious.

Before I can ask, he continues blabbering, "I've been greeting and wiping the memories of all that come into the dungeon, and when your group arrived, I instantly recognized that you were 'different.'"

"Wait, how did you wipe our memories so easily?" Yunia interrupts, her thin golden eyebrows knitted in concern.

Arreira smiles cheekily, and it takes a bit of effort from her to avoid blushing. "The teleport method was definitely not normal, didn't you notice? Anyone who used it passed out instantly, and then there were all the times when you slept inside the dungeon, so it was trivial to wipe your memories after a brief questioning."

"I see..." Yunia whispers as the realization dawns on all of us. We've been in his grasp ever since we entered this dungeon.

He turns to his booklet and starts reading from it, "So, for the first level, your performance exceeded expectations," -he sends us all a gentle glance- "so I increased the number of monsters coming after you to test how you'd react, and that also had favorable results, though I was expecting greater carnage instead of you running away."

"Well, we didn't have the stamina or mana to fight for much longer, so we ran before we could get overwhelmed," I explain ourselves.

He nods without looking at me. "Precisely. I wanted to test your limits and achieved exactly that. Now, for the second level, it wasn't a significant test as there were many other adventurers living within, but your short speech to disperse Lord Mavel's men was a nice performance, well done."

Hana smiles smugly while Ciel awkwardly scratches her cheek.

He barely gives them any time to process his words before continuing, "After that, you passed through a series of battles without a single problem, and let me say that the way you dealt with the Uspidor by pushing it off the arena was very amusing." -He smiles without turning to look at us- "I always hated those types of monsters, so it's very satisfying when I see one splat so messily."

"Well, it's definitely not pleasant to witness it first-hand, solely because of the smell," Roxanne comments with a wry smile.

Arreira snorts and mutters, "True," then he continues in his sober tone, "After that, comes Goloria." -He lifts his eyes to give us a brief look- "It's curious how the poem I created had some similarities to an Earthling poem, and it's not the only similarity that exists between our two realms, humans existing in both worlds not-withstanding."

I raise my eyebrows in surprise and quickly swallow the cupcake I was eating so that I can comment, "Oh, right... I did feel like I'd heard it somewhere before. I've found quite a few similarities between our worlds myself."

Arreira hums in acknowledgment and continues, "Then you solved the door puzzle so easily that I felt reluctant to let you pass. I admit, I didn't want a human to be the first to go through, but all six Crown Lords disappointed me, so I decided to test you."

"All six...? I only knew that my father and Confiel came," Yunia curiously comments.

"Yes, all six. Confiel was the only one to find the hidden door, but I felt that he lacked creativity, so I didn't let him pass. Your father was obsessed with this dungeon, searching for anything that would give him power, but I didn't want to give anything like that to him, so I led him in circles inside the castle."

Arreira's tone is casual, but it hurts Yunia's feelings to find out that her father's final days were spent being made a fool.

We caress her through [Bind] for a moment to comfort her, then we turn our attention back to Arreira again.

"So, what was the real answer to the door?" I anxiously ask.

"There was none," he answers cheekily with a subtle smile. "I carefully observed how you reacted, and then deemed your group 'interesting' enough to allow you to pass... but I did make things a bit harder after hearing your flippant speech."

Ciel and Alissa send me smug looks, so I decide to ignore them for a moment.

"It wasn't really that hard, though," Hana questions puzzledly and crosses her arms.

"I noticed..." He bitterly admits, then returns to his usual tone. "Which is why I made so many of the enemies in the Looping Winds Station invincible."

"How did you control the monsters?" Ciel immediately questions, apprehensive.

He smiles smugly, and his chiseled face shines a bit brighter. "I didn't, what I did was a mix of illusion and mana solidification. You could think of it as similar to a 'holodeck' from Earthling fiction."

"What's that...?" Alissa asks curiously and looks to me for an answer.

I clear my throat and start the lecture, "A fake 'reality' where everything is made of 'fake' matter, but that's not that different from normal dungeon solidification. What I think sets them apart is that a holodeck is a small room, not a huge, endless, open space like a dungeon."

Arreira's smile becomes wider with excitement, and this time it lacks any sort of sexiness. "Exactly," he eagerly responds and makes a dramatic pause to let us process the idea. "You were always in small rooms, relatively small for a dungeon, that is, which allowed me to focus all of the available mana into creating an environment that I had absolute control over."

"Ooh..." We coo in unison.

Yunia seems almost as interested in this as I am since she immediately asks, "But how could you control a dungeon so completely?"

Arreira's brightness intensifies for a short while as his smug pride leaks out. He assumes a stern expression as he states, "I'm a God-Ruler, so there's not much that's beyond my reach, but to control this dungeon the way I do requires [Trap Soul] and a few hundred years to get used to it."

Ciel raises her eyebrows and lets her mouth hang open, stunned by the revelation.

"You could create so many incredible things with that amount of control over a dungeon," Yunia comments in wonder.

He smiles warmly at her and counters with, "I wouldn't recommend it, not even to fellow God-Rulers, but a golem..." -He gives a serious look at the golems- "They'd be perfect Dungeon Masters."

I frown in confusion and retort, "But you said that they lack creativity, and if it took you a few hundred years to learn how to control it, how long would it take for the golems?"

He nods and sends a stern but smug look towards me. "Yes, but you're a terrible Golemancer, so someone more competent could do it in a generation, perhaps."

Oof.

"I don't think he has the right to gauge your 'worth,' but I agree that you deserve praise," I tell Lina through [Bind].

She blushes and nods, then keeps her eyes down in embarrassment.

Arreira turns to Aoi and gives her a gentle gaze as he frowns subtly. "I wasn't expecting you to fall so deeply into depression, but you pushed through somehow and discovered the inner human inside you. For that, you truly deserve praise..." -Aoi shows a toothy grin- "but... did you realize that you killed yourself, repeatedly?"

"What?" Aoi innocently asks and tilts her head in confusion.

Arreira closes his eyes in anguish. "No, of course, you didn't. I wasn't planning on it, but I was forced to heal you with the platform every time you tried your transformation. Otherwise, you'd have died."

"Oh... hehehe..." Aoi grins and chuckles like a child.

"Don't just laugh it off!" He hisses, then facepalms. "You're all half-insane..."

"Well, yes," Roxanne earnestly agrees and adjusts her glasses.

"Yes, of course, you are..." He tiredly mumbles, then recomposes himself and turns to Yunia. "You did admirably, too. I used a Weeper to force you to face your guilt, so I couldn't see what happened, but I assumed that you confronted your late parents?"

"Yes, I did," Yunia agrees with a somber tone.

He nods, satisfied, then he finally turns to me, his stern gaze lacking any sort of frivolity. "You may have passed the maze, but the fact that you don't have any sort of defense or mitigation against your curse led to a disappointing result. You could've saved Ciel if you were stronger. Though her death was an admirable sacrifice considering her past." He gives her a gentle glance, making her become a bit awkward and uncomfortable.

She deserted Macht due to his suicidal bravado, and he died because of that, so she branded herself a coward, but I never felt that she deserved that. She did have some insecurities she needed to work through, though, so I guess it's good that she was able to get over it.

But I'm still annoyed with the way he's "judging" us.

"Where would I even begin to try to deal with this 'curse'?" I retort with an annoyed frown.

"I don't know," -he shrugs indifferently- "but it's imperative that you find a solution for it."

His attitude just makes me even more annoyed. Of fucking course I know I have to deal with it, but I've just had more important things on my mind all this time.

"And how am I not dead, exactly?" Ciel asks tentatively.

Arreira turns to her and excitedly answers, "After the crash, I removed your souls from your bodies and gave you all new, fake ones, like the Chimeras. If these new bodies were destroyed, you'd still die, but the Preservation Beds maintained the connection between your soul and your real body, preventing you from truly dying."

"Oh! I remember hearing about those Beds," Yunia suddenly exclaims.

He smiles bitterly and adds, "I believe it's now 'ancient' elven knowledge. Over time, you've replaced elven [Regeneration] with Avgian [Light Magic]'s [Heal]."

"[Light Magic] is simply a lot more efficient," Ciel proudly states with an angelic smile.

"It seems so," he dryly comments.

"So, what was that... encounter I had with the black tiger?" I curiously ask.

He becomes stern again as he turns to me. "I was pushing you to your limit, drawing out all of your emotions so that you could wipe them away, leaving an empty husk behind."

"Why, why would you do that?" I question and lean backward, a bit scared.

He leans forward, his face almost breaking into a manic smile, and excitedly answers, "You're a transmigrated hero of legends with multiple Gifts. I needed to know if there was a deeper reason for your transmigration here, and I found evidence of that... " He makes a dramatic pause, and we all focus entirely on him, anxious for him to continue. His voice becomes even more excited, and he actually starts grinning as he retells, "After I stripped you down into nothing more than a husk, 'something' prevented you from simply dissipating into nothing, instead condensing you into a faint shade of your former self. After days of waiting, that entirely emotionless shade started to feel something calling for it, drawing it towards the core of the dungeon."

He leans back, and proudly announces, "That is the evidence that there's something else, something faint, something divine, guiding your actions. For me, that was the final confirmation I needed to assure myself that you were someone truly special.

"In the core was the final trial, an experiment I wanted to test on all of you: the Inverted Weeper. As you may all recollect, you had a dream about the past, about a time you dearly miss, but it was all a lie. It was a dream designed to trap you inside it, but you all had firm enough ties to reality that you escaped the trap with your own determination. For that last test, you all passed with my sincere commendation." He gives us a kind smile and nods respectfully.

"This all sounds incredibly dangerous..." Ciel grumbles and glares, becoming rather angry at him.

"And how did I turn into this?" I ask as I lift my claws.

For the first time, he seems a bit unsure of himself, and all the "Charisma" from before seems to fade away as he awkwardly answers, "That... was an unforeseen consequence of wiping your soul mid-transformation. It seems that you got 'stuck' as a half-dragon, then the system somehow interpreted you as a new race. I'd guess that Change took notice of you and decided to 'bless' you with this new form." He shows a business smile that gives me the impression that he doesn't see this "blessing" as positively as it sounds.

I facepalm and sigh tiredly. "And why did we have to go through all these trials?"

He becomes excited again, and all his "Charisma" returns. "It's obvious, isn't it? I'll give you my 'legacy.' I'll name you my successor, the new king of the High Forest and all elves."

We all freeze in surprise.

"Wait, what? Why? How? Huh?" I stammer in bewilderment.

He dramatically looks to the distance, making his face appear statuesque again as he announces, "To bait the old dynasty, my descendants, out of hiding. Even the traitorous Generals have changed their ideals. It's time for the royals to end their disgraceful defiance."

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