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Chapter 415: Chaotic Situation

“My sincerest apologies, but not yet. The lords are still in discussion. I shall notify you if there’s any news.”

The Silver Dragon that greeted me had the best of etiquette. He was also incredibly handsome—all Silver Dragons preferred handsome or beautiful forms—but no matter what he said, he couldn’t change the fact that the dragon leader council was incredibly inefficient at determining overall policies that would affect all the dragons. Four days had passed since I last spoke to Halos, and they had not even reached a basic agreement among themselves.

I understood why they had such a council system but couldn’t agree with using such a system at all.

The more council members there were, the more different benefits each member would be concerned about. It would be almost impossible to reach an overall agreement. Plus, dragons were notorious for viewing time as unimportant. It was likely that they wouldn’t reach a conclusion anytime soon.

“…Evelyn, how’s the discussion going?”

Still, things would be far more convenient with a spy, as Evelyn was also a member of the dragon leaders’ council. Plus, she had a deep connection with both Bardi and Dragon World, so of course she would be invited. No matter which sister went to the council, they represented the entire group of Evelyns, and I could learn the progress of the dragons’ discussion simply by asking Copper Dragon Evelyn next to me. But only after I asked did I discover that I was still too young and inexperienced, that I had been far too optimistic… Why was the dragons’ discussion stalling? Because of every different species’ personal benefits…

“…It’s a headache. Blue Dragon leader Kennen is arrogantly shouting about killing all outsiders and that dragons are the mightiest species capable of destroying all other species like how he always does. Yep, he’s the Blue Dragon leader that you made an enemy out of previously. He’s a maniacal dragon purist, so he probably would have opposed you regardless. The strange part is that the typically low profile White Dragon leader is strongly in agreement for working with you, while the usually friendly Silver Dragon leader is adamantly against you. You understand how it is, though. Silver Dragons have natural hatred for the undead.”

All of the above was easy enough for me to understand. The rest? I didn’t even know how to comment on it.

“The Copper Dragon and Bronze Dragon leaders both said that they don’t care either way. Both asked if Dragon City would pick up the tab for dinner tonight after the meeting. Most dragons that remain neutral on this topic have the exact same attitude. They’re strongly requesting an extra honeyed boar for lunch and an extra roast cow for dinner. Rather than the council topic, they’re more concerned about what’s for today’s lunch. Oh, someone’s even complaining that Gold Dragon Halos is abusing his authority and breaking democracy, but everybody is ignoring him. That’s because the Green Dragon leaders do that every time there’s a speaker. They oppose every single plan, no matter what it is. Wow, one of the Green Dragon leaders just spat corrosive acid at the speaker’s podium, causing Halo’s podium to disappear… Halos got so angry that they’re now fighting… Well, it’s whatever. Besides, it’s not like dragons are the only ones who break out into fights at leadership council meetings.”

Evelyn’s auditory livestream of the event helped me understand just how chaotic the dragon leader council meeting was. I suddenly felt a mysterious sense of sympathy for Halos the Gold Dragon and council leader. Just how bad must he have it to face a group of bastards like this every single day? …Cough—cough—I definitely wasn’t sympathizing with him because I was recalling the bastards in Sulfur Mountain City! Of course not!

“Halos is so pitiful. Isn’t him being the council leader the same as being everyone’s venting target?”

“That’s why the council leader is a job that the dragons take turns at. However, Gold Dragons have far too strong a sense of responsibility, so in the end a Gold Dragon is the unlucky council leader more than seventy percent of the time.”

Even though this job of council leader would only be temporary, it seemed truly unpleasant. But the dragons had ruled in such a way for countless millennia. Their social habits and customs would be ironclad. Changing them even slightly would be incredibly difficult.

“…Then what happens if the dragons need to take action on a major issue?”

“Then simply take action. An overall agreement has never been achieved even once. We all simply do what we want. Besides, it’s possible to accomplish things even on our own. For instance, if enough time passes, and the Gold Dragon leaders think that working with you will be worthwhile, they’ll just grab those who agree and simply work with you. They’ll act as the representatives of all dragons here in Dragon City.”

“…Then is there any meaning to this entire dragon council? It’s just to argue with each other and waste time, from what I can see.”

“Honestly, I don’t understand it either. However, it has been the custom for countless millennia, so there’s at least that meaning to it. At the very least, it can act as a notification to all other dragons in Dragon City whenever there’s a major issue, so that everyone can know about it. It’ll also prevent anyone from intentionally causing conflicts.”

“Intentionally causing conflicts? Are the dragons that bored with nothing to do?”

“…Yes. Often. For instance, any time a Green Dragon or Blue Dragon leader wants to do something, the Gold Dragon leaders will probably want to see if it will go against basic morals. And whenever the Silver Dragons want to do something, the Color Dragons will probably interfere. Most of the time, it’s not even because they oppose the issue itself, but they simply oppose the issue because of who brought it up. For instance, recently, the Silver Dragons decided to clean the ground of Dragon City. The end result was right after they finished cleaning, the Green Dragons immediately summoned vines and stink swamps and filled the place in. The Green Dragons claimed to prefer such an environment.”

“…They really do have too much free time on their hands. First world problems. How much longer are they going to argue for?”

“It’s common for the council arguments to last for anywhere from one month to two years. But Halos is the type to have others who agree immediately act together with him. Still, asking for others to act with him will take some time, and even those who agree will still need to have some discussions. That’s why they should respond to you in about two weeks or so.”

“This still requires two more weeks…?”

I was beginning to sympathize with Halos more and more. Apparently, working so hard to explain the plan at the council meeting wasn’t even in order to help the plan pass—it was to beg the other leaders to not make trouble, or at least limit the amount of trouble they’d make when the plan was carried out.

The only reason the dragons had survived with such a ridiculous political structure for so long was solely that the dragons had enough power. They had no natural predators. Even if they spent most of their energy on useless internal struggles and pranked each other out of boredom, their foundational strength would not be affected. However…

“This time, their enemy is the Titans. Is it really alright for them to continue behaving this way? The Titans are no small nuisance; they’re unlike anyone they’ve ever faced before.”

Yet Evelyn could only sigh. That was just how things were. Although she knew full well that the current dragon political system was horrid, there was nothing she could do about it. Due to their arrogance and overconfidence, the dragons had gotten accustomed to wasting their time like that.

“Forget it. I’m busy with my own affairs. Let me know when they’re done.”

Right now, time was precious to me; priceless, even. The outside world was in a mess—conflicts raged all over—so I had no intentions of waiting here for the dragons to come to a decision.

“By the way, it seems that you sisters don’t care too much about the current situation in Bardi? Aren’t you worried that enemies will find the entrance to Dragon World?”

“…Even if Dragon City doesn’t send reinforcements, our First Sister will personally act if it’s necessary. Please rest reassured.”

Alright, I didn’t need to say anything else on this matter. Now that I had seen Supreme Immemorial Dragons for the first time and could compare their sizes, I could now understand the ridiculousness of the physical size and draconic might of the first three, tri-headed Evelyn sisters. Although the three were still weaker than a Supreme Immemorial Dragon, it wouldn’t be by much. Plus, if all ten Evelyns fought together, they could communicate with their souls and were fully committed to fighting for each other. I was curious just what combat power level they could achieve.

“Right, have you come to a decision about Cher? What does she herself think?”

If we considered the fact that the experimental subject’s mentality would affect the stability, and potentially the outcome, of the experiment—cough—cough—I meant to say that I was worried that a little girl like her wouldn’t be able to handle the truth! I originally didn’t intend to tell Cher all the details; I wanted to only agree on a plan to cure her with the Evelyns before directly tossing Cher onto my surgery table and executing the final plan. However, the Evelyns absolutely insisted on telling her everything.

I was interested to know how Cher, with her stereotypical “class president” personality, would react when she learned all these worldview-shattering things.

“The existence she believed to be her adopted mother is actually her daughter. And this endless cycle of death and life and giving birth to new Evelyns is probably more than enough to ruin her worldview.”

“…This iteration of Cher is mentally stronger than even we anticipated. She’s decided to accept your plan to cure her.”

“This iteration? That means that a past Cher—”

“We’ve told her the truth before. None of us would ever lie to her. When my idiot older sister told her the truth, Cher immediately chose to commit suicide.”

“Eh? If she dies without falling in love, won’t that break the cycle?”

“No, it won’t. After she committed suicide, the cycle started all over again, and she became a baby with no memories. It was just that no new Evelyn sisters were born…”

From a certain standpoint, I must have truly hated Cher back in the year to do such a thing to her. But when I recalled the past self in my dreams, the man who hated the entire world, I felt it wouldn’t be strange no matter what ridiculous things he did.

Although it might seem rather strange to refer to my past self as “he,” memories of that time would play in my mind whenever I was asleep as of late. But this past me was far too different from the current me, and this made it difficult for me to view myself as him.

“Perhaps the price of reincarnating is some type of foundational change. Perhaps, without realizing it, I’m becoming ever slyer, ever more mature, ever more… comical?”

Thinking about this, I looked forward to experimenting—I mean curing Cher even more.

“Alright. After we gather the required materials we’ll immediately begin the surgery. I hope she can accept what she becomes. Ha! I’m like this after only four reincarnations. What will she become after she’s had eight reincarnations? Perhaps she’ll be reborn as someone amazing. I really look forward to this.”

Out of all those unreliable methods I proposed, there was only one that the Evelyns found acceptable. Of course, this method was the only one usable from the very start.

“Plan 178 (Revised edition that’s impossible to revise any more, and I’ll get angry if anyone tells me to revise it again, but I’ll have to revise it if you really tell me to…) Final Plan: Soul Net Construction.”

“When normal lives are lost, they will lose all their memories in the River Styx and Heaven’s Pillar. Cher, however, never entered the River Styx to begin with. She simply washed away all her memories and started over from the beginning, but this didn’t wipe the memories deep within her soul. In that case, we can use an advanced magic spell—such as Memory Recovery—to help her regain her memories of her past lives. It’s similar to restoring deleted data on a hard drive… Don’t ask me what a hard drive is; I’m just making an analogy to make things easier for myself.”

“Of course, in Cher’s situation, if we suddenly place eight lifetimes worth of experience in her head, there is a seventy percent chance her brain will directly explode and another twenty percent chance she’ll go insane. But there’s still a way to carry out this plan: every Evelyn was once a part of Cher, so their physical connection can be transformed into a memory connection. We can use the technology of Pride to create a soul net.”

“Of course, creating a soul net requires a high degree of synchrony between the souls. Pride’s soul net is successful because he’s the only controller of the soul net. All other souls are his tools and slaves. But your souls are all foundationally the same, plus you had soul connections with each other to begin with. I have an over ninety percent chance of success in creating this soul net.”

“After creating the soul net, we can use the Evelyns to help Cher absorb her memories so that she can accept the inheritance of her eight reincarnations. All of her memories and strength will be gathered into her current soul. Just these memories and new soul shards that will be born will give Cher an over seventy percent chance of instantly becoming super powerful. And as long as her own soul becomes strengthened, she’ll naturally be able to control if she enters reincarnation or not.”

“Actually, I feel that this should be the true complete form of Lust: the Evelyns will become an endlessly evolving group under Cher’s leadership. The previous pre-programmed self-evolution was only because the leader Cher was far too weak. She was unable to keep up with the Evelyns’ progress, which actually slowed down the progress of evolution and even made things random.”

“As long as this surgery is completed, I can guarantee that she won’t be weaker than any other Original Sin of mine, although I don’t know how powerful she’ll become in the end. In fact, it’s quite possible that with you sisters’ assistance she’ll be able to directly skip through the Three Heavy Doors of Myth and instantly become a SemiGod. Of course, since she’s the oldest sister of the Seven Original Sins, she should have this power level to begin with.”

Evelyn nodded. This current iteration of Cher was already the strongest and most iron-willed out of all the previous Chers. She was able to become a Weaver of Fortune—also known as Summoner of Misfortune—on her own, best evidence of her excellent potential. All the Evelyn sisters were looking forward to how far she could progress.

“Then what’s the price for this?”

“Everything… Sorry, I just really like to use this joke. In theory, there won’t be any price. But the most common side effect of having too many memories is multiple personalities. Still, having a soul net will mitigate these problems. In conclusion, the success rate should be really high. After all, it’s not that difficult for me to solve the problem that I created… and even if a new problem arises, I’ll take care of it.”

Evelyn nodded in agreement, and thus the plan to cure Cher was settled on. But this wasn’t something that could be done instantly as all ten Evelyns would need to arrive together in order to help absorb Cher’s soul shards and memories.

At this moment, Evelyn paused for a moment and then looked at me somewhat strangely.

“What’s the matter?”

“…My sisters want me to ask you if you’re really able to give us what you promised. What you promised us isn’t something that’s so easily achievable. Even Ayer wouldn’t be capable of accomplishing it.”

“Of course. I, Roland, always carry out my promises. I never lie.”

“…My dragon senses are telling me that surprisingly you’re not lying to me. You actually never lie? I feel more reassured now. By the way, I should mention that you’ve even managed to change my impression of you.”

“Don’t be fooled by him. He never lies, but he forever only tells part of the truth. Aren’t there so many out there that have been pitifully scammed by him?”

“Silly cat, shut up! I’m clearly a good person—a really good person!”

******

[TL/N: A sudden scene change occurs here. Roland is talking to the devil Kamiltias that he was negotiating with back in Chapter 412.]

“…Alright then. It’s settled. I really look forward to the day I meet you in person.”

The devil face, which was hovering in midair, was also smiling. He seemed to be quite satisfied with what he obtained in our negotiations.

“I look forward to it as well. It’s truly interesting to speak to you. I’m even beginning to suspect that you’re secretly one of us devils in disguise.”

“Hehehe! Others indeed call me the ‘devilishly wicked and sly Roland.’ However, I still feel that I need to work harder to live up to the name and be compared to the real deal.\'”

The Devil Lord Kamiltias’ image chuckled at this.

“Actually, there’s a simple shortcut. I can transform you into a fellow Devil. I promise that after transforming you, I’ll give you a position equal to mine—no—even higher than mine.”

“By position, you’re referring to physical position like standing next to you? Higher means lifting me above your head? Could you at least get a little more creative? Why play such word games? Besides, even if you were being honest, I still wouldn’t have agreed.”

“How regrettable. Alright then, chat with you next time.”

The devil’s face vanished. I then furrowed my eyebrows and slumped over in my chair, completely relaxing myself and revealing my fatigue in a rare instance.

The Devil Lord was even more difficult to deal with than I expected. I really didn’t want to have to talk to him again if I didn’t have to.

As expected of an expert in tempting mortals into becoming fallen. Not only were devils naturally born with allure magic—one of the most difficult types of magic to defend against—they were also experts in psychology, hypnosis and all sorts of other little tricks. They were masters at making humans unknowingly fall for their traps.

Not only that, the devils’ language possessed its own magic power. If you accidentally agreed to or promised them something you would likely be bound by a contract. I had to constantly be on guard with my words, which was quite tiring.

Talking to Kamiltias meant that I had to forever be on guard against any potential wordplay tricks, along with defend against all his magics. This was even more tiring than a battle of attrition. Moreover, he seemed to be having quite a lot of fun. After he saw how special I was compared to others, he kept trying to act like a salesman, attempting to make me promise to transform into a Devil.

“Luckily, we were communicating across dimensions. Otherwise, he would have been even more difficult to deal with. Considering that I really do have to meet him in person in the future, I’m truly shooting myself in the foot here.”

But, from another standpoint, our “friendly interaction” here had greatly helped our negotiations. Meanwhile, the other competitor, the Demon Lord, was in a much worse situation.

“I’ll definitely think of a method to return! Don’t you dare give me flowers—”

That was Elisa’s final angry roar when I ended my communication with her. It would seem that she was under great stress from whatever she was going through in the Abyss.

At her forceful request, this plan that shouldn’t have involved her was forced to include her. She would be even busier in the future.

“Okay then. Although there are many troubles, at least there are some good things as well.”

I looked out the window and saw everyone being busy. This camp of ours on the Ghostwind Plains was becoming more and more like our home. Our new city here, which was named Dawnlight Town, was changing every day. Everything seemed to be progressing well.

“…The pearl of the Ghostwind Plains? The largest business district in the entire world?”

In our time here, I discovered that this world was just like an unexplored treasure vault. How could we possibly let the resources here go to waste?

Of the three mega airships, only the Borealis remained stationed at Dawnlight Town every day to guard it. The other two mega airships were both utilized as huge merchant airships and went to other locations to trade with the natives every day. As I watched our treasury fill up, I felt like I could just about say “Robbery? That’s far too slow a method to make money.”

What? You’re asking me if the bone airships were too scary to be used as merchant airships? The truth was the opposite. Only by having intimidating strength would it be easier to make trades with the bad-tempered locals.

At first, our people went out with the intention to peacefully scam—I mean peacefully trade with them. However, most of the natives had attacked them the moment they arrived, so now my people had learned from the experience. First, my people would stop the bone airship at some major tribal gathering location and fire a couple cannon shots to destroy a few buildings. After that, trading with the natives became much easier.

Unfortunately, having only two airships was still inefficient. But I wasn’t impatient about it, since my main goal right now was simply to let all the natives learn about my existence. My people were here to stay and would need to coexist with them.

The more I learned about this world, the more I didn’t want to leave.

Every single day, countless warriors in the Gentlemen Alliance mercenary group would make breakthroughs. It would very much shock others in the mortal plane if they learned how many Gold and Legend ranked warriors I had despite their young age.

And in this environment magic research would have new developments once every few days, which, in truth, was even better news.

Resources, technology and personnel. If I could carve out a place of my own in this world, I would receive an endless amount of benefits. I completely understood why the dragons didn’t want to give up on Dragon World.

Meanwhile, one of Timlad’s new accomplishments truly astonished me.

“Artificial souls? You succeeded?”