# Chapter 462: Side Story 135
Today was finally the day.
The count title succession ceremony was scheduled to be held at the royal palace.
They had to maintain proper formality.
Though receiving the title wasn’t the actual goal.
Ju-hyeok put on the ceremonial robes he had prepared.
Mari and Gyeon Dal-rae helped him adjust his attire.
“It is truly most lamentable.”
“What is?”
“If only these garments were draped upon the Young Master’s true form, how splendid it would have been.”
Well, that’s a bit….
They called it ceremonial robes worn by nobles, but it was really not to his taste.
“The lower garment feels too tight.”
A certain important area was quite prominently visible.
“It is but your imagination.”
“No, it isn’t?”
“Even if it were so, this body is not your true form, is it not? It is Count Yurik Delian’s.”
Even so, it wasn’t like it wasn’t his.
It was embarrassing.
“U-um, w-what matters is the s-soul. Count Yurik Bong-nim has a w-wonderful soul.”
Oh!
Our Mari was flattering him.
Meanwhile, Bardin, the Holy Knight of Radiance, had an expression of dissatisfaction.
Was it because they’d forbidden him from revealing his wings?
That couldn’t be helped.
They were entering the palace to catch a Demon God—if he went looking like an angel, the target might flee the moment they saw him.
“That is not what troubles me, my lord.”
Then what?
“To receive the count title investiture, one must kneel before the monarch.”
Well, that was the law and etiquette of the royal palace.
“But how can my noble lord kneel before a mere monarch?”
What was the problem?
It wasn’t like he’d be kneeling sincerely.
“Worry not. There is a method.”
What method?
“The standard etiquette requires one to place one knee on the ground and bow one’s head, like so.”
“Yes, exactly that posture.”
“But I did not kneel.”
“…You did though?”
“No. Look closely.”
What was there to look at?
“My knee is approximately 0.1 millimeters off the ground.”
“…”
“Consider it a lunge. A lower body exercise.”
Good grief.
“So you’re saying I should pretend to kneel while actually doing lunges?”
“Yep!”
What nonsense.
A man could kneel if needed.
“Stop with the useless talk and let’s head to the palace.”
But there was one problem.
What were they going to do about their Mari?
Right now her hair was covering her face so it wasn’t clearly visible, but if it was revealed, there would be chaos.
Was that an ordinary face?
She stood head and shoulders above even other elves.
“Mari-ssi…”
“I-I’ll move separately.”
Separately?
“I w-was thinking of going to see the World Tree.”
“Aha!”
Right.
They said the World Tree was inside the palace.
“Please worry not, I shall affix a Perception Interference Talisman upon Mari. Then none shall notice Mari’s presence.”
Good.
They’d enter the palace together, then Mari would go to the World Tree while the rest attended the succession ceremony.
“Let’s do that.”
First, they needed to check their supplies.
‘The Judge’s Mallet goes in my breast pocket…’
He also wore the Spatial Transfer Shipgant bracelet.
And the Jageumhongholro too—though it was a knockoff, they brought it along.
He had also prepared a gift.
Something to present to Queen Serena Artia.
He couldn’t show up empty-handed when receiving a title.
The gift was a Mana Enhancement Elixir.
Dragon Heart, World Tree leaves and fruit, top-grade Magic Stones—a miraculous potion refined by Mari, the greatest alchemist in any dimension.
For Ju-hyeok, it was just one of many common items.
There were hundreds of bottles in the White Tower warehouse.
He’d even told the summoned beings to drink a bottle whenever they were thirsty, but it was something they wouldn’t even glance at.
They said they’d rather drink cola.
Still, it was perfect for showing off generosity.
And so…
“Let’s go.”
“Yep!”
***
From morning, the royal palace banquet hall was bustling.
All the nobles of the capital had gathered for the count title succession ceremony.
While the ceremony itself was important, what really mattered was the banquet that followed.
A social party hosted by the palace.
Of course, informal social gatherings had always existed.
But they were small in scale, with few nobles participating.
This event was an official social banquet, wasn’t it?
The palace was the host, and all central nobles would be gathered.
Everyone had to attend, setting aside all other matters.
Ju-hyeok waited in the palace banquet hall with Kozak, Gyeon Dal-rae, and Bardin acting as his attendants.
However, the nobles didn’t approach to speak with him—they just glanced at him from afar.
He was like a borrowed barley sack at a funeral.
The atmosphere was extremely awkward.
But was he bored?
No.
It was very entertaining.
Ju-hyeok discreetly observed every noble in the banquet hall.
Then information would appear on the King Status Window.
Name, age, occupation….
Most fascinating of all was each person’s psychological state.
– Psychology: What kind of outfit is that? Tsk tsk, typical country bumpkin from the provinces. No wonder he got his engagement broken off.
See!
He’d said so.
The ceremonial robes were strange.
– Psychology: He really is as delicate as the rumors say. They say he nearly died. How could someone with that body command monster hunts?
– Psychology: Still, I should get acquainted later. Got to butter him up if I want to get a foot in the mining development.
The King Status Window’s fraudulent authority.
But there was no information related to the Demon God.
Just trivial personal details.
Then!
-Creak!
The banquet hall doors opened.
“Her Majesty Queen Serena Artia enters!”
The crowd parted.
The nobles bowed their heads.
Queen Serena walked in wearing a gentle smile.
‘A queen, then.’
As befitting an elf, her appearance was beyond words.
Though not as good as their Mari, of course.
The ceremony began.
The palace chamberlain called out loudly.
“Yurik Delian, kneel before Her Majesty.”
Hmm.
Now that he was actually about to kneel, his pride was hurt.
So, just as Kozak had demonstrated,
He kept his knee approximately 0.1 millimeters off the ground.
Queen Serena began her speech.
She commended what Yurik had accomplished in the Delian territory, how much progress had been made.
“…Hereby, I recognize the succession of the count title to Yurik Delian.”
She raised a sword and tapped his head and shoulders.
“Count Yurik Delian, congratulations. I hope you will continue to practice the spirit of chivalry for the Artia Kingdom.”
– Psychology: Phew, it’s finally done. No wait, there’s still the banquet. I need to finish quickly and find the High Elf.
High Elf?
Was she talking about their Mari?
Anyway.
“Your Majesty, I thank you for granting me succession to the count title. Though it is modest, I wish to present a gift.”
Hm?
Queen Serena’s eyes sparkled at Ju-hyeok’s words.
“A gift for me?”
“Yes. I prepared it hoping for Your Majesty’s eternal health amid your exhausting duties.”
– Psychology: How thoughtful. Such a good child. Even if I don’t like it, I should accept it happily.
‘You’re a good monarch too. You deserve this gift.’
He then pulled out the prepared Mana Elixir.
“Oh!”
“…Ah!”
“Th-that’s?”
“Could it be.”
“Is that an elixir?”
Both Queen Serena and the nobles were stunned.
They instinctively recognized what it was.
Purple liquid contained in an antique glass bottle.
A soft glow emanating from within.
Intensely swirling mana.
It was a genuine elixir.
One that definitely contained World Tree leaves and fruit, as well as Dragon Heart and top-quality Magic Stones.
Where did he obtain something so precious?
Its value was equivalent to half a year’s national budget.
-Gulp.
Queen Serena swallowed dryly.
‘Wh-what should I do?’
Yurik had said he’d give a gift, but she hadn’t expected much.
The heir of a fallen territory.
Though he’d developed a Magic Stone mine, that was recent.
He should still be poor.
So she’d intended to happily accept whatever he gave.
But this was a truly magnificent gift.
Enough to burden even a monarch.
She had also prepared a gift for Count Yurik Delian.
Likewise an elixir.
But inferior garbage compared to what Yurik presented.
If she brought out her return gift here?
It would be absolute humiliation.
Ju-hyeok also knew what Queen Serena was thinking.
Through the King Status Window’s psychology display.
Tsk tsk.
The gift for a vassal was merely a knockoff elixir?
Was this kingdom really this poor?
Rather than developing the territory, he should develop the nation.
“I g-gratefully a-accept the Count’s gift.”
“I am honored.”
“I too have prepared a return gift for you, but it is vastly insufficient.”
At least she was being honest about it.
“It’s alright. Your sentiment alone is enough.”
“No. If you would just give me a little more time….”
But right at that moment!
-Woooooooo…
An auspicious energy flowed into the palace banquet hall.
“Huh?”
“What?”
“…Hm?”
-Shararararara…
A mystical melody rang in their ears.
What was happening suddenly?
The nobles stirred.
Where was this sound coming from?
And what was this energy?
‘Wh-what on earth?’
Queen Serena was also flustered by the sudden phenomenon.
Then, in an instant!
One fact surfaced in her mind.
‘Could the High Elf be…?’
Serena strode quickly across the banquet hall.
“Y-Your Majesty! Where are you going?”
“To the rear garden.”
The queen opened the doors and rushed outside.
The nobles followed behind her.
And they witnessed it.
A single elf standing with her hand gently placed on the massive World Tree trunk.
It was Mari.
She and the World Tree had met.
The entire World Tree was enveloped in brilliant light.
Various kinds of spirits appeared as well.
They circled around Mari and the World Tree, singing and dancing.
The Perception Interference Talisman attached to Mari was completely useless in this situation.
-Swssssss!
The surging vibration of mana
lifted Mari’s long hair upward.
Finally, Mari’s face was revealed.
A legendary High Elf.
“Ahhh!”
Serena Artia was moved to tears.
Her legs trembled uncontrollably.
-Thump!
Her knees buckled on their own.
Serena prostrated herself, pressing her head to the ground in reverence to the High Elf.
“High Elf!!! Why have you come only now!!!”
The half-blooded nobles were no different.
The World Tree’s blessing filled the palace rear garden.
Tears flowed on their own.
No one was first.
Everyone followed Serena and prostrated on the ground.
“High Elf!!!”
Ju-hyeok, of course, did not prostrate.
He was worried about Mari.
‘Hmm, our socially anxious shut-in Mari is really going to hate this.’
And indeed she did.
Mari stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do.
She looked around frantically as if searching for someone, and upon spotting Ju-hyeok,
she scurried over, leaned gently against his side, and held his hand tightly.
Oh dear.
Their Mari.
How startled must she have been.
‘But why is the World Tree acting like that?’
Did it like their Mari that much?
It was going absolutely crazy.
Wasn’t this an overreaction?
And this sight was witnessed by everyone in the palace rear garden.
The High Elf was leaning against some backwater provincial lord—a count who had just been invested—holding his hand?
Queen Serena also stared blankly, looking back and forth between Ju-hyeok and Mari’s faces.
Ju-hyeok was in an awkward position too.
He couldn’t shake off Mari’s hand.
‘Phew.’
More than anything, the wimpy hidden strategy had failed.
He had planned to hide his identity and secretly search for the Demon God.
He could see it even now.
The King Status Window psychology of everyone gathered here.
Bewilderment, agitation, confusion, awkwardness, puzzlement, questions, mental breakdown.
Even the high-ranking duke and marquis nobles.
Even the central officials.
Even the servants working in the palace.
Even the laborers maintaining the rear garden…
‘Huh?’
Ju-hyeok tilted his head.
Something was strange.
The authority bestowed by the god Wignar.
The King Status Window that appeared whenever he looked at and focused on someone in this world.
Frankly, it was exhausting.
Whether monarch, noble, or commoner—it appeared just from seeing their face.
But….
‘What’s with that gardener?’
A man in work clothes holding shears.
The King Status Window wasn’t visible.
No name, no gender, no age, no occupation, no psychology.
He couldn’t even sense any energy.
There was nothing.
Colorless and transparent.
Strangely so.
‘Could it be… the Demon God?’
Very likely.
Ju-hyeok made eye contact with the gardener suspected to be the Demon God.
‘It’s you!’
He hadn’t been hiding among the nobles but as a palace gardener.
‘Let’s catch him.’
Right now.
The moment he slipped his hand into his breast pocket to grab the Judge’s Mallet!
-Spit!
In the blink of an eye, the creature shot up into the sky.
Running away?
A Demon God with only 1/10th of his divine status remaining?
Ju-hyeok reflexively shouted.
“Bardin!!!”
-Fwaaaash!
Bardin’s hidden wings unfurled.
-Shwaaaak!
Bardin soared up in pursuit of the Demon God.
-Tspirrrit!
Simultaneously, he hurled his massive square shield.
“Light!!!”
-Thwack!
The Radiant shield struck the Demon God.
The impact made the Demon God stagger.
But there didn’t seem to be significant damage.
He accelerated again and fled.
Even with only 1/10th of his divine status remaining, a god was still a god.
Bardin pursued relentlessly.
Blocking the escape route with brilliant radiant light, he grabbed the creature’s leg with his hand!
Grabbed and shaken off.
Back and forth.
A fierce struggle unfolding in midair.
But they were getting farther away.
At this rate, they might lose him.
‘Let’s go up.’
Though he couldn’t fly, he could walk.
Shadow Step, Sky Stepping, Skywalker.
He also had an ally to help him.
“Sillaiel!”
-Woooooong!
-Fwaaaash!
The Wind Spirit King Sillaiel manifested in the palace rear garden.
– Ju-hyeok-nim? –
“Sillaiel, I need to catch that guy. Will you help me?”
– Yes. –
-Spapapat!
And so Ju-hyeok shot up into the sky as well.
Together with the Wind Spirit King.
Queen Serena and the nobles watched the entire spectacle with dumbfounded expressions.
What am I even looking at right now?
First a High Elf appeared, then the gardener—a mere palace worker—suddenly flew up into the sky.
On top of that, a knight with wings like an angel.
He seemed to be a vassal of Count Yurik Delian.
But even that was nothing.
The unprecedented manifestation of a Spirit King.
Who had summoned it?
Count Yurik Delian had called it.
The Wind Spirit King Sillaiel, no less.
***
Getting up to the Demon God was quick.
Sillaiel created footholds in the air and pushed him upward.
“Light!!!”
Bardin pressed the attack relentlessly.
Meanwhile, the 1/10th Demon God struggled desperately to break free.
Sillaiel joined in too.
A whirlwind appeared in midair, surrounding the Demon God.
-Tstsststst!
Blade storm whirlwinds assaulted from all directions.
As expected of a Spirit King.
Can’t run now, can you?
Better surrender quietly.
Before you get beaten.
Ju-hyeok gripped the Judge’s Mallet and drew up Underworld Energy.
-Swoong!
Instantly, Ju-hyeok’s form was wreathed in deep darkness.
The Yama that the great demons of the demon realm called the Great Demon God.
Practically Yama Ju-hyeok.
Could a mere 1/10th Demon God possibly stand against him?
“Light!!!”
Practically an angel, Bardin wrapped his arms around the 1/10th Demon God’s waist.
-Fwaaaash!
He radiated the light of Radiance to its maximum.
Divine power maximized.
-Sssst! Sstststst!
The Wind Spirit King Sillaiel’s wind also coiled tightly around the Demon God.
Struggling, unable to move an inch—the 1/10th Demon God.
Ju-hyeok approached with mallet raised.
The Demon God’s face went pale in an instant.
“W-wait! Let’s talk first.”
Don’t want to.
Let’s do it later.
After you get hit first.
But right then!
-Crackle!
Two horns sprouted from the creature’s forehead.
Simultaneously, the Demon God’s body began to grow.
Gigantification?
-Rumble rumble rumble!
An intense wave of demonic energy.
Bardin of Radiance was knocked backward, and Sillaiel’s whirlwind disappeared.
“You!!! I won’t let this go.”
So what?
You think you’re the only one who can grow?
Our Go-bang can do that too.
“Sillaiel-nim.”
– Yes, Ju-hyeok-nim. –
“When something comes out, please support it so it doesn’t fall.”
– Something… –
Spatial Transfer bracelet activated.
-Sssst!
The Shipgant of the Underworld appeared, and he quickly opened the hatch in midair and boarded.
“…Gasp?”
The Demon God’s expression was dazed.
What is that?
The Shipgant of the Underworld swung the Judge’s Iron Mallet in its hand and struck the gigantified 1/10th Demon God’s head.
-Shwaaak!
-Crunch!
“Kugh!”
A death cry burst from the gigantified 1/10th Demon God’s mouth.
One more hit.
-Shwaaak!
-Crunch!
“Keuk?”
-Shwoooosh!
The gigantified 1/10th Demon God plummeted downward.
Ju-hyeok followed him down.
Grabbing the creature’s neck in midair, he beat him mercilessly. Wham wham wham wham!
“Sillaiel-nim, please lower us down. Slowly.”
The Shipgant descended slowly.
Then landed in the palace rear garden.
Queen Serena and the nobles scattered in terror at the sight.
-Srrrrrt!
Finally, the Demon God’s gigantification wore off.
Ju-hyeok opened the hatch, stepped outside, and stored the Shipgant in his bracelet.
Then!
-Ching!
A King Status Window suddenly appeared.
“Oh!”
It belonged to the 1/10th Demon God.
– Name: ????
– Occupation: ????
Still not perfect.
But as expected, something showed up after beating him.
Then?
Ju-hyeok’s mallet strikes, now infused with Underworld Energy, immortal energy, and divine power, began.
-Shwaaak!
-Crunch!
Hack! Wham wham! Wham wham wham wham!
The creature’s King Status Window gradually began to reveal itself.
And then.
– Name: Kallihar.
– Occupation: Demon God of the Demon Realm.
So his name was Kallihar.
Come to think of it, he hadn’t even heard the creature’s name from the god Wignar.
‘Well, at least I know now.’
He then beat the 1/10th divine status completely out of him with a few more mallet strikes.
Then he pulled out the knockoff Jageumhongholro that the Chaos Demon King had once given as a gift.
“Kallihar!”
“…”
“Kallihar?”
“…”
“You said you wanted to talk, so answer me?”
“…”
“Kallihar!”
“….What?”
-Shwat!
-Shwooop!
Kallihar’s body was sucked into the Jageumhongholro.
Capture successful.
All that remained was finding the 9/10ths of divine status fragments he had hidden.
Easy, right?
This is what you call click?
Queen Serena and the nobles couldn’t believe their eyes.
They just stood there blankly, watching.
What exactly was going on?
Was this some kind of mass hallucination spell?
