Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant-Chapter 397

“W-what the—why is this happening?”

Genuine fluster slipped out of Su-ho’s mouth at the system alerts exploding before his eyes like a runaway engine.

Regardless, the Transcendents were extremely agitated.

[ ■■ glares, seething with anger. ]

[ ■■■■ narrows their brows and toys with their hammer. ]

[ ■■ shakes their head. ]

They were all ■■, but he could tell who was who.

Come to think of it, is the alert-name order the order in which I became their successor?

At that moment, Tsukuyomi stared at Su-ho with a baffled look.

No—more precisely, they looked past Su-ho.

Su-ho couldn’t see them, but in Tsukuyomi’s eyes the silhouettes of the Transcendents clung behind Su-ho like guardian spirits.

“This is... what...?”

They were considerably taken aback.

Understandably so.

It was the first time they’d seen anything like this.

Then they let out a small, wry chuckle.

“I see. So that’s the story.”

Upon seeing Su-ho’s patron Transcendents, Tsukuyomi finally had every question answered.

How a mere human—just a civil servant—could be this strong.

Su-ho cleared his throat and said,

“So, why ask if I serve a god?”

“I have a favor to ask.”

“What kind of favor?”

“Well...”

At that moment—

[ ■■ frowns. ]

[ ■■■■ hefts their hammer up onto their shoulder. ]

[ ■■’s expression goes cold. ]

The Transcendents sent another round of warning messages.

With the warnings piling up, Su-ho sighed.

“Hold on.”

Then he knit his brows and operated the system.

[ Disabling system notifications. ]

Since the Great Upheaval’s system was modeled after a game system, you could shut alerts off like this.

Do that, and no matter who they were, even Transcendents couldn’t push messages to Su-ho.

‘Come on—you have to show some restraint. I can’t hear the other party at all.’

Su-ho gestured and said,

“Okay, go on. Start over.”

“...It seems the Transcendents love you quite a bit.”

“You saw it yourself. I’m someone you can’t help but love.”

“Your confidence is impressive. Still, all of it must be strength you earned yourself. I acknowledge that. Which brings me to this.”

Looking past Su-ho at the Transcendents arrayed behind him, Tsukuyomi said,

“I won’t be making the sort of proposal they’re thinking of, so don’t worry. I promise.”

They nailed it down clearly.

And here and there, sighs of relief escaped.

They were the Transcendents’.

‘I can’t hear it, but it’s like I can feel someone patting their chest in relief somewhere.’

Tsukuyomi shifted their gaze back to Su-ho.

“Do you know what the next Gate is?”

“In order, the next Gate’s owner should be the sun goddess Amaterasu.”

“Correct. But the one you’ll face there won’t be Amaterasu.”

“Not Amaterasu?”

“You’ll find Susanoo waiting.”

“What?”

If it’s Susanoo, he just took him down.

Granted, he hadn’t beaten the real Susanoo—but still, a boss you’ve already killed showing up again?

Su-ho asked,

“Why?”

“Because that’s how the next Gate is configured.”

“So what’s the proposal? You want me to finish Susanoo for good this time?”

“No, that would be meaningless. What I mean is... you’ll understand.”

A faint smile from Tsukuyomi.

Sharp one, huh.

Just as they said, Su-ho grasped it at once.

‘Gate bosses—especially divine-race monsters—are nothing but avatars, not the originals.’

Su-ho nodded.

“So, what’s the favor?”

“After you defeat Susanoo one more time, he will likely offer to make you his Apostle. I want you to refuse.”

“‘Apostle’... as in, successor to the successor? The very seat my Transcendents are worried about?”

“Yes.”

“Why do you think Susanoo would make me that offer?”

“You’re a talent worth coveting. Just look at you now. A Player carrying three Transcendents on his back... I’ve never seen a human like you.”

Praise from Tsukuyomi.

But rather than bask, Su-ho narrowed his eyes and shot a question back.

“Fine. I can refuse. What do I «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» get out of it?”

“I’ll let you pass this Gate without fighting me.”

“What is this... Just now you said you figured you’d lose.”

“Yes. Judging by your power, I would likely be the one to lose. But the process of accepting that defeat would be anything but easy.”

“Give me a break.”

So this was the “proposal”? He’d half-expected some sweet compensation; what came back wasn’t a reward but a threat.

Su-ho rubbed the glabella between his eyes with thumb and forefinger.

“So in the end you’re cut from the same cloth... Your tone is more polite than Susanoo’s, but the substance is just as arrogant.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“If you’re going to make an offer, make it a good one. At least something that clearly benefits me. Because I don’t care in the slightest about things like our fight or any collateral damage along the way.”

“Your confidence is remarkable.”

“Why? Sound like baseless bravado? Frankly, if I put you down and take enough rest, this whole fight won’t be anything to worry about. I’m a healer. And if you try to deal like this and hurt my feelings so I end up contracting with Susanoo instead? Wouldn’t that be the worst outcome for you?”

“......”

Tsukuyomi closed their mouth.

In truth, Tsukuyomi knew it too.

That what they’d just proposed was not a very good way to propose anything.

But at present there was nothing Tsukuyomi could pay Su-ho as compensation.

They could speak with Su-ho in the capacity of a boss monster, but they couldn’t hand things out for no reason.

Then Su-ho narrowed his eyes and asked,

“You’re in a real bind, aren’t you?”

“...What?”

“It must be frustrating. I know you’re not stupid. But because of system constraints, this is all you can put on the table, right? So you made this reckless offer. Isn’t that it?”

“...What are you getting at?”

At Tsukuyomi’s counterquestion, Su-ho finally grinned.

Because it proved his read was right.

‘So what if they’re divine race—at the end of the day they can only play within the rules the system made.’

All the more since, unlike Susanoo, this one had been polite from the start.

He’d jabbed earlier about being “the same stock,” but that was for the system’s eyes—a line dropped on purpose.

‘That way I can ground what follows as strategic speech.’

Compared to other Players, Su-ho was exceptional.

But that didn’t make him anything other than a Player.

He too had to play within the frame the system created; and if he wanted to draw out what he wanted with more leeway, then for now he had to work the board while minding the system.

Strategic speech accounted for that.

Su-ho continued,

“I won’t ask why you don’t want me to accept Susanoo’s offer. It’s obvious. Susanoo is greedy, and actions driven by that greed would harm the world you love, right?”

According to the records, Susanoo was so violent and willful he was ultimately banished from the divine realm.

Thus Susanoo became a chthonic god, not a heavenly one.

“But you know me, right? I’m someone for whom getting stronger matters more than those circumstances. No matter how bad Susanoo is, if he can give me great power, I can take that Apostle seat any time. Which means what you need to give me right now is compensation on par with what Susanoo could give me. And you don’t have anything you can give me right now.”

Faced with the hard truth, Tsukuyomi fell silent.

Seeing the sulk on their face, Su-ho chuckled and said,

“Then how about this?”

“...What?”

“I’m curious about a few things. Answer them. Even if you have to do it under system constraints. If I get the answers I want, I’ll call it even.”

“What is... Do you even know what it means to be under system constraints?”

“Nope. But that’s all you can put on the table, isn’t it? So—deal or no deal?”

There was no real choice.

Tsukuyomi sincerely loved the world, and they were genuinely worried about Susanoo’s temperament.

“...Very well.”

“Good. First question. As you saw, I conditionally gain the powers of the ice attribute and the dark attribute. The trigger is moonlight. But it’s not like I haven’t been through Gates without moonlight; and yet it only activated here all of a sudden. Do you know why?”

It was what had most nagged him since entering this place.

He’d meant to investigate the moment he left, but he had a feeling Tsukuyomi might know.

As the moon god, they would know the moon better than anyone.

‘They’re divine race, a boss monster, and the god of the moon to boot. Who else on this earth would know the moon, from the system’s perspective, better than Tsukuyomi?’

At Su-ho’s question, Tsukuyomi shut their mouth for a moment.

Then, half-lidding their eyes, they nodded after a stretch of silence.

They’d gotten the system’s permission.

“Fortunately, I can be of help on that point. But first, let me ask you something. Why is your power affected by moonlight?”

“That’s because...”

How should he explain this?

After a brief thought, Su-ho boiled it down.

“Because I possess the Rune of the Moon?”

“The Rune of the Moon?”

Tsukuyomi’s eyes went wide without end.

“How are you in possession of the Rune of the Moon? I don’t see anyone connected to it.”

Their gaze shifted to the Transcendents behind Su-ho.

But no matter how they looked, none of those three beings seemed connected to the Rune of the Moon.

“That’s a power I obtained separately. So—what’s the reason? For reference, I also possess the Rune of the Sun, so I’d like you to be a bit detailed.”

Know one, know ten—the Runes of Moon and Sun might be opposed, but they were of a similar grain, so he figured there’d be common ground.

At Su-ho’s words, Tsukuyomi began to panic.

“Y-you even have the Rune of the Sun?”

Their eyes went impossibly wide at the fact he possessed the Rune of the Sun as well.

Having the Rune of the Moon alone was astonishing; to own the Rune of the Sun at the same time—?

“How on earth...?”

They were so shocked it was almost embarrassing.

Su-ho tilted his head.

“Is that really that surprising?”

“What do you mean ‘is it’? The two runes are by nature—!”

Worked up, Tsukuyomi started to explain—

And then their mouth suddenly shut.

The system had imposed a restriction, wary of excessive information disclosure.

Tsukuyomi calmed their excitement.

They’d decided to accept system constraints, but the deal wasn’t done yet.

Meaning, there was no need to shoulder risk at a useless juncture.

Barely calmed, Tsukuyomi exhaled a sigh.

“Haa...” 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Seeing their reaction, Su-ho smirked.

“Got hit with a restriction, huh?”

“...You know more than I thought. Just what are you?”

“Told you. A civil servant. Thanks to this, though, I’ve got a hunch your answers might substitute well enough for Susanoo’s power. So—why did the Rune of the Moon suddenly respond?”

With the topic back on track, Tsukuyomi finally began to give an answer.

“In short: because the moons you’ve faced until now did not contain mana.”

“Mana?”

“Not all moons are the same. The moonlights you’ve bathed in until now lacked mana, so the Rune of the Moon did not respond. The same goes for the Rune of the Sun.”

Su-ho nodded at the explanation.

If there was a difference, it did seem to be the presence or absence of mana.

‘Moreover, Tsukuyomi’s moon empowered the Residents of the Night, so that clinches it.’

But if that’s the case, aren’t the activation conditions for the Runes of Sun and Moon too inefficient?

Just then, a presence he’d briefly forgotten popped into Su-ho’s head.

“Then what about this?”

He snapped his fingers, and a small luminous orb appeared on his fingertip.

It was the Henry Moon. But—

“Wh-what...?”

Tsukuyumi’s mouth fell open wider than at anything they’d seen yet when they saw the Henry Moon.