Chapter 221
The Proatine Kingdom was quite busy these days after kickstarting Project Utopia.
Project Utopia was a secret project to disguise the Proatine Kingdom as a weak impoverished kingdom to outsiders while it secretly grew its military strength, and the key to this secret project was none other than the Great Wizard, Decimato.
Decimato was the Head Magician of the Proatine Kingdom, and he led the magicians all over the territory to engrave magic circles that would disguise the kingdom. These magic circles were going to transport anyone who crossed the kingdom’s border to desolate lands instead of the actual kingdom, and it would be a desolate land filled with all sorts of traps and monsters.
The magicians diligently went around the kingdom installing space distortion magic circles while the kingdom’s administrators were hard at work to start the census.
They were taking records of every single citizen living in the kingdom, and this was the basis for the Citizen Registration that was going to be employed in the future to make sure that everyone knew their birthdays.
“Hey! How old are you?! Show me your citizen identification card!”
“Sure! Show me yours too!”
It settled most arguments about whether one party was older than the other.
However, that was not the end of Project Utopia.
“Your Majesty, what do you think if we establish a lousy city to perfect our disguise?”
“A lousy city..?”
Siegfried tilted his head in confusion at Michele’s suggestion.
“Yes, Your Majesty. I was thinking about making an exact replica of Preussen before Your Majesty ascended to the throne.”
“Are you thinking of going the extra mile to build a fake capital that will make us look extremely impoverished..?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“That will only be a ghost town in the end, no? I mean.. who’s going to move there..?”
“Your Majesty does not have to be concerned about that. We will incentivize our citizens to take turns living there.”
“Hmm..”
“Any foreigners who manage to somehow enter our kingdom will be completely fooled that we are extremely poor. On top of that, I will instruct Scribe Gringore to conduct acting classes, so I’m confident that our disguise will be flawless.”
“I’m not sure if we really have to go that far, but I’ll approve it since it’s your suggestion/”
“Thank you, Your Majesty. Oh,?also..”
“Hmm?”
“I will be naming that city as the Deception City.”
“That sounds really good,” Siegfried smirked as he liked the name of the new city.
***
Meanwhile, at Lagonda Taraf’s lair, located deep within the rocky mountains west of Preussen.
“They’re doing quite the interesting things..”
The Chromatic Dragon smiled while observing the humans going about their day in front of his lair.
“They’re trying their best to hide their territory that’s the size of a rat’s shit.” The dragon was belittling the effort of the humans because it seemed meaningless in his eyes. “What are you working so hard for, foolish humans? All of you will be slaughtered tomorrow.”
Lagonda Taraf could feel that it would only take him less than twelve hours to regain full control of his body.
Twelve hours later, the humans would have a taste of a disaster in half a day’s time.
Evil Dragon Lagonda Taraf was about to reappear and cause havoc.
***
The next morning..
“Master’s going to visit my kingdom today,” Siegfried announced in the morning meeting. He made sure to remind and plead with the officials again and again. “My master is an extremely.. scary person.”
He paused for a moment before continuing. “So please make sure that none of you will offend him, and please inform everyone that they should mind their manners with him. I will not take responsibility if any of you die on the spot because you offended Master, and I hope you will heed my warning as most of you aren’t Adventurers.”
He felt that the warning was not enough, so he continued. “Just think that you’re in the presence of an Ancient Dragon.. No, just imagine he is the Dragon Lord. That should make it easier for you to gauge how scary he is. Do you understand?”
Comparing the Level 999 NPC to the Dragon Lord was probably the best way to explain Deus’ power, but the kingdom officials couldn’t understand why Siegfried was pleading with them so much.
‘It seems His Majesty is really dedicated to serving his master.’
‘I guess His Majesty is trying to scare us so that we’ll act cordially to his master.’
‘Hoho! Treat him like the Dragon Lord.. I see that His Majesty still tends to exaggerate from time to time..’
It was quite difficult for the officials to accept Siegfried’s words. After all, who would believe that someone was going to be as powerful as the Dragon Lord..?
The officials would have probably scoffed inside and mocked if it were anyone else who said such words, and the only reason they tried their best to understand Siegfried was that their loyalty toward him was quite high.
In fact, even Daode Tianzun’s interest was piqued after hearing Siegfried’s pleas.
‘Hmm.. his real master..’?Daode Tianzun attended today’s morning meeting because he was curious about Siegfried’s master. ‘I’m really curious.. I wonder what kind of a person managed to completely transform that good-for-nothing piece of trash who only has grit and no talent.. He’s probably a Grand Master. Perhaps he’s a Grand Master of old?’
Daode Tianzun figured that Siegfried’s master was probably another Grand Master that had yet to appear in the world. After all, the highest peak a human being could ever reach was Grand Master, and he was confident that no human being would be able to transcend the realm of Grand Master.
‘I hope to meet him soon. It would be quite interesting to chat with another Grand Master and maybe share a drink with him too. Keke!’
Chwik!
The space in the middle of the throne room abruptly distorted.
‘Hmm?’?Daode Tianzun was sensitive to mana, so he noticed it before anyone else.
‘Heok!’?Daode Tianzun gasped in horror just a second later.
Why?
A skinny old man and a large-framed old man suddenly appeared out of thin air after the space distorted a bit. Daode Tianzun didn’t feel the presence of any magic circles.
‘H-How is that possible?!’?Daode Tianzun felt that all of the knowledge he had gathered throughout his life had crumbled in an instant.
Teleport?
Warp?
It was neither.
The two old men didn’t appear through either of those spells, and their method could only be described as something that transcended magic itself.
‘Is he the incarnation of a god?!’?Daode Tianzun exclaimed inwardly.
It indeed felt like a god had descended to the continent.
***
“Master!” Siegfried rushed up from his throne and bowed flat on the ground at Deus’ feet. “Your disciple greets you!”
“Kekeke! Did you miss me that much?” Deus cackled.
“The answer is quite obvious, Master!”
“Hoho! You cute little thing! Keke!”
Deus burst into laughter, seemingly satisfied by Siegfried’s greeting.
“The officials of the Proatine Kingdom greet the Royal Teacher Elder-nim!” Michele hurriedly shouted.
“We greet the Royal Teacher Elder-nim!”
The officials shouted in unison and kowtowed.
“Oh~ You have educated your pawns very well,” Deus said.
“Yes, Master. I cannot allow anyone to be discourteous toward you when you have come all the way here, right?”
“Keke! You’re right! A person should know how to respect others! I’m extremely satisfied by what you have done, my disciple!”
“Thank you very much, Master!” Siegfried exclaimed while letting out a sigh of relief inside. ‘I really hope that nothing happens..’
The fact that Deus could kill someone simply by looking at them was quite burdensome for Siegfried. Of course, he wasn’t worried about himself but rather about the officials of the kingdom.
While everyone, including Siegfried, was on the ground, Daode Tianzun saw a familiar face and exclaimed, “Ah!”
“Betelgeuse?” Daode Tianzun continued.
“Hmm? Oh! Hyung-nim!” Betelgeuse exclaimed after recognizing the old magician.
“Hmm..?” Deus’ eyes darted toward Daode Tianzun.
‘Fuck! He’s screwed! Damn it, I should’ve warned that old man!’?Siegfried felt his heart drop, but there was nothing else he could do because the situation was already out of his hands.
“Blockhead.”
“Y-Yes, Elder-nim!”
“Do you know him?”
“T-That’s..”
“I taught you to respond immediately whenever I ask you something. Did I or did I not?”
“You did, Elder-nim!”
“So?” historical
“He’s a hyung-nim I’m familiar with!”
“Really? Hmm..” Deus stroked his beard while inspecting Daode Tianzun from head to toe.
‘Fuck!’?Betelgeuse was thinking the exact same thing as Siegfried. He immediately ran up to Daode Tianzun while thinking. ‘This hyung-nim is a really nice person, so I can’t let him become a slave like me..!’
Betelgeuse had known Daode Tianzun since his youth days, and he respected the magician quite a lot. Therefore, he hurriedly tried to save him from the clutches of his scary master.
“Hyung-nim!”
“Yes?”
“Please show respect to the elder-nim if you value your life!”
“Respect..?” Daode Tianzun tilted his head in confusion.
“Elder-nim has transcended the realms of humanity itself, as you have witnessed just now!”
“Oh!”
“Hyung-nim, you’re a Grand Master, I know, but your future is going to be royally screwed if you get on Elder-nim’s bad side! It will be wise for you to show respect to him if you do not want your final years to be in vain!” Betelgeuse said with a sense of urgency in his voice. He even added, “Please go and greet him first.. if you don’t want to die miserably..”
The Sword Emperor was basically telling him to go greet the skinny old man if he valued his life.
‘Me?!’?Daode Tianzun was flabbergasted.
He could have never imagined that a Grand Master like him would one day pay respect to someone else.
‘No, that old man displayed powers equal to a god just a few moments ago. He is truly a transcendent being, so it is only proper for me to greet him first,’?Daode Tianzun thought. He couldn’t fathom the old man’s might, but he could instinctively tell that Deus’ power couldn’t be measured at all.
In the end, he decided to pay respects first. ‘They say you have to be careful of leaves falling in the final years of your life.. Yeah, I should probably heed those words and be careful..’
He decided to accept Betelgeuse’s advice and prevent any chances of him ruining his life in his final years.
Besides, it had already been years since Daode Tianzun abandoned all desire for power and authority, so it wasn’t that difficult for him to be the first to pay respects to someone else.
“Hello, Elder-nim—” Daode Tianzun was about to greet Deus, but..
Kwaaaaang!
The castle started to crumble.
***
Five minutes before the castle started crumbling, Lagonda Taraf finally regained full control of his body.
“The time has come,” Lagonda Taraf muttered. He stretched his curled-up body and immediately kicked down the lair’s entrance to go out to the world.
The lair crumbled, but that didn’t matter to him at all. Lagonda Taraf had no plans to use this flimsy lair that he hurriedly built four hundred fifty years ago. The sole purpose of this lair was to provide shelter while he was healing from his wounds, and it was also a sanctuary that would protect him from that?human chasing after him.
The lair that once was his shelter had already served its purpose, so the mighty dragon no longer had any need for it.
“I should probably hunt for some dwarves as well..”
Lagonda Taraf was thinking of exploiting the dwarves to build him a new lair that was going to be incomparably more luxurious than anything else on the continent.
Chwaaaak!
The mighty dragon spread out his wings.
Flash! Flash!
Then, the Chromatic Dragon’s rainbow-colored scales shone brightly beneath the sunlight.
“It will be more fun if I destroy things the old-fashioned way instead of using my breath,” he smirked as he set his eyes on the human city that was encroaching on his lair. He flew into the sky and spotted the perfect target to start his fun.
The mighty dragon aimed for the tallest building in the city and dove straight for it while roaring.
“Gwuuooooooh!”
Dragon Fear!
It was an ability that instilled fear in every living creature within earshot of the mighty dragon’s roar!