Chapter 359 (2/2)
And this being before Su-hyeun’s eyes, Kyle, was someone occupying a fairly high peerage that belonged to the imperial palace.
“I think you’re mistaken about something here.”
However, Su-hyeun didn’t see Kyle as one of the so-called ‘strong’.
“You are all ‘weak’ in this place. You struggle so hard in order to survive, yet barely manage to flee to somewhere safe, so you huddle in fear.”
“What are you trying to say, Sir?”
“I’m saying that you shouldn’t mistakenly think that you’re ‘strong’ just because your flesh isn’t being ripped off as a sacrifice,” Su-hyeun explained. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re a hare or a deer. You’re still nothing more than a prey in front of a lion.”
“…”
Kyle didn’t respond to what Su-hyeun had said. Su-hyeun’s words made him think for a while. Silence ensued as they walked through the corridor.
Su-hyeun glanced at Kyle’s face for a bit before scratching his head.
‘How did he get to this state?’ Su-hyeun wondered. He was genuinely curious.
The Dark Elves… Normally, they were a race that possessed a bit more human-like streaks than regular elves. They had a ‘darker’ side to them than other elves as well.
However, their roots still came from the elves. They treasured life and loved nature, and it would not change no matter what.
Yet Kyle had changed so much that his race’s original nature was nowhere to be seen. He didn’t manifest it at all. He found the death of 100,000 people as something natural and talked about it casually as if he knew there was nothing he could do.
In that case, could his nature be villainous to begin with?
No, that didn’t seem to be the case. He didn’t give off any sense of hostility in the way he spoke until now.
It’s just that…
‘He became used to it.’
He, too, had to struggle to survive.
He simply had become used to this—thus, his mindset—after spending far too long of a time in this place.
“We have arrived, Sir.”
Creak.
Kyle arrived before a heavy-looking door and opened it.
Even the doorway to this room, located at the end of the long corridor, was huge. The door was at least four meters high, and the room was around 50 square meters.
There were a huge bed wide enough for 10 people to lie down and roll around, clothes rack where he could hang his clothes, and a bedside corner; two couches and a table between them; and then the peaceful scenery visible through the wall made out of thick glass.
It certainly was a fantastic accommodation.
More than anything else, the entire room seemed to be crafted out of solid gold, too.
‘If such a room exists back in my world, it would probably cost tens of thousands of dollars to stay for a single night.’
But what really confused Su-hyeun was, ‘How could such a lodging even exist in this world, though?’
First of all, it was already ridiculous to have a palace made out of gold.
While Su-hyeun stood there impressed, Kyle opened his mouth to say something. “From today onward, my lord grand duke can stay in this lodging, and…”
He hesitated, but then, abruptly bowed his head.
“What you said just now, I’ll keep it in mind.”
“Ah…sure. Please do.”
Su-hyeun didn’t expect that reaction and could only reply in a slightly stiff manner. He briefly wondered if he had said something unnecessary, so he changed the topic since there was something else he wanted to ask, anyway.
“Now that we’re here, can you tell me how high the peerage of grand duke is? It does sound like something pretty high.”
“To my knowledge, a person who started their stay in this place right off the bat as a grand duke is…”
“It’s Su-hyeun… Kim Su-hyeun.”
“Thank you. Yes, you’re the very first one to do so, Grand Duke Kim Su-hyeun, Sir.”
“How many grand dukes are there? Seeing how everyone’s being classified according to their peerages, it doesn’t sound like I’m the only grand duke here.”
“There are three others. And now with you, Sir, there are four grand dukes. And above you is His Majesty the Emperor. There is only one emperor, however.”
“The emperor, is it…”
It might be possible that this ’emperor’ was the predator. Su-hyeun considered it and nodded again before asking something else. “Where can I find the emperor?”
“Even I don’t have that information.”
“Really?”
“Do you wish to challenge His Majesty?”
“Yes.”
“In order to do so, you must fight and win against the other grand dukes first, Sir.”
“What, you mean all of them?”
“Yes. It will be very difficult and arduous to…”
Ti-ri—
Buzz, buzz.
It was at that moment that a sound and a vibration came from Kyle’s pocket. He got a little nervous and hurriedly turned halfway away from Su-hyeun. “M-my apologies. May I…?”
Kyle then pulled out a square-shaped stone from his pocket and brought it to his ear. Su-hyeun found this sight surprising to behold and continued to stare.
‘Is that a phone? Not much of a gap in such things from modern science, then.’
From the magic elevator earlier to that stone telephone…
Su-hyeun found it mystifying that through magical means, one could catch up to a certain level in modern times. He had not run into other worlds where the civilization had progressed to this degree yet.
‘Then again, ether stones are just some rocks containing magical energy, so…’
It was meaningless to label which civilization was backward and which one was advanced anyway.
While Kyle was talking on the phone, Su-hyeun turned around to take a better look at this wide room. Around that time, he could hear Kyle’s surprised voice.
“W-what did you say?” Kyle couldn’t believe what he just heard.
Su-hyeun looked at Kyle.
Although he couldn’t hear what the other party was saying, something serious must have happened, judging from the tone of Kyle’s voice.
“I…I see. I’ll call you back as soon as possible.”
Kyle ended the call.
Su-hyeun sat at the edge of the bed and stared at the Dark Elf. “Did something happen?”
“Ah…yes,” he replied hesitantly. “It’s an issue concerning other grand dukes.”
“Other grand dukes, is it?”
“Yes. A new duke has arrived recently, but he…,” Kyle tried to calm himself down and continued, “…has already defeated one of the grand dukes and became one.”
The grand duke… It was the highest peerage in this world and the one right after the emperor himself.
From Kyle’s perspective, this situation of a grand duke falling so quickly was not all that different from the half of the heavens suddenly flipping over.
However, the story was slightly different from Su-hyeun’s point of view.
He didn’t find it surprising at all.
‘That guy made a move sooner than I expected.’
After all, he could more or less guess the identity of the new grand duke.