The Emperor’s Dilemma and a Sudden Proposal

“To be honest, I doubt you are truly the legendary Knight of a Thousand Hands.”

“You could say it’s an error not to recognize me, but that’s hardly my concern.”

The Imperial Army is particularly unpopular. While the Holy War faction offers the fun of delving into its lore, the Imperial Army pays poorly and demands an immense amount of work, forcing players to complete quarterly survival report quests.

Aside from their cool uniforms, they are truly the worst. They also nag incessantly. Typically, players only join for a short while to grind for attributes or obtain specific gear, abandoning it as soon as they achieve a noble title.

“What’s going on? If you’re not going to proceed, I’m just leaving.”

I expected something worthwhile, but all I got was nonsense. My mood was already foul, so why were they being so troublesome? Moreover, I was about to activate the Void debuff, which meant I had no time to spare.

It might look cool to have holes, but I didn’t know the way to hunt demons. Plus, I needed to raise our adorable Jack and Faust. What was this emperor, a mere mob character, saying to a player like me?

As I turned to leave, knights arrayed on either side surged forward, pressing their swords against my neck.

‘Huh? Is this some kind of cutscene-saving event? If they’re moving so uniformly, it must be something like that, right? What is it? What’s going on?’

“Yes! This is the kind of excitement a game should have!”

I wasn’t sure what it was, but it seemed there was a route I hadn’t known about! It must have been that the prelude couldn’t be skipped, so I had to go through it all. That’s fine then! I spun around, excitedly looking up at the Emperor as I asked.

“What are you giving me? What’s the reward? What do you want me to do?”

“They say you’ve lived for a thousand years, but you must be out of your mind. Or perhaps, merely a crazy swindler.”

‘Should I try to raise his favorability? It might be fun, but I’d rather not have the quest drag on too long.’ With the blades still at my neck, I simply pushed them all away. The sharp edges scraped with a metallic screech as they recoiled. Not a single scratch marred my skin.

“The Imperial Knights are much weaker than I expected. I thought I’d at least get a scratch.”

“Quick, seize him! Don’t let him approach His Majesty!”

The knights shouted at each other, swinging their swords at me, yet they couldn’t even nick my clothes. If one could reach this rank by simply slacking off, it truly would be a sweet deal. Perhaps I should have continued a bit longer, not given up halfway, and climbed higher just to collect a salary?

Still, their constant interference was annoying, so I swept them all away with a special defense barrier and ascended the stairs. Beyond the wall, the knights were yelling and relentlessly pounding on the barrier.

“My heavens. Astonishing. Though I hadn’t wished to confirm it this way.”

“Really? Hmm. Even if they’re just decorative NPCs who never fight, the Imperial Knights are far too weak. You should train them more. I find higher difficulties more enjoyable too.”

“If you kill me, many things will become troublesome in the future.”

“Why would I kill you? For a randomly generated NPC, you’re quite handsome. Though Faust is still undoubtedly the best.”

What could possibly compare to the undisputed number one most popular character? Oh, let’s exclude our Rabi; he’s objectively handsome. Bodangbo is cute, and our Bebe is beautiful!

The Emperor seemed surprised, yet remained seated on his throne. He didn’t draw a sword or dramatically shout. His hand appeared to tremble slightly, but I ignored it.

‘His animations are incredibly detailed too. He really looks scared.’

“Do you find my face pleasing?”

“Yes, very much so. Nocturne, Jack, and Faust are all handsome, but they’re event characters, so that’s expected. You, however, are a randomly generated successor, yet you turned out so well, didn’t you? I think your rarity makes you even more remarkable.”

It was good that I had climbed up, but there was nowhere to sit. This couldn’t be helped. I plopped down onto the seated Emperor’s lap. The Emperor’s body twitched.

“What, what is your, your ulterior motive?”

“Because there’s nowhere to sit.”

“I’d appreciate it if you’d get off.”

“Why? If you have something to say, say it quickly. I’ll listen, then I’ll go.”

The Emperor appeared flustered, but he didn’t push me away or stand up. See? It’s fine to sit on his lap. This is still the same? Is the level of implementation different for each character?

‘Ah, Jack and Faust might be early versions, which could explain it. Perhaps their implementation was too good, so they were discarded, but I managed to find them.’

After a moment of thought, I shook my head again. ‘Let’s not think about it for now. I need to see this through first.’ I felt it would be unfair if I wasted all my time today and didn’t get anything out of this.

“Why did you call me?”

“To, to reinstate you into the army… I called you.”

“Why me? Don’t you know I have to hunt demons? If I don’t catch them now, everything will be ruined immediately. Is that measly army really so important?”

“There are no demons. They are… merely things that exist in legends.”

“But I’m someone who only existed in legends. I’m here, but demons aren’t?”

‘I don’t know why he’s stammering so much. Faust was like this in the early days, too.’ I freely stroked the Emperor’s face. ‘His skin is really good. Even if he’s an emperor with rock-bottom importance, do all high-ranking NPCs have such good skin? Nocturne was smooth, but not this soft.’

‘I’ll have to touch the others later too.’

“If you intend to kill me… then just do it.”

“I said I won’t kill you, so why aren’t you proceeding and keep telling me to kill you?”

“Must I be subjected to such mockery and humiliation!”

‘I don’t know why he’s getting angry. He should just get on with the quest.’

“Look, I’m really busy. If I don’t deal with the demons soon, they’ll come down here.”

“For the past thousand years, there have been no demons! How dare you utter such lies!!”

“That’s because I’ve been hunting demons for a thousand years. I just stopped by to get some gear for my kids. If I don’t leave now, it’ll be a real disaster. If you have anything to say, say it quickly.”

‘Why can’t he believe me? Even if the existing data is corrupted, shouldn’t he know the basics?’ I pulled out all the demon tokens I had collected from my inventory. The tokens piled up thickly on the floor, to the point where it was impossible to walk.

‘Now that I’ve taken them all out, I realize I’ve gathered quite a lot.’

“I don’t remember the exact number, but it’s probably just under 20,000. These are all demon tokens. Lesser mobs below the boss rank don’t drop tokens, so I’m not sure how many to count. But if you include all the regular demon mobs, I must have killed around two million.”

Then, I casually picked up a few and placed them in the Emperor’s hand.

“You’ve seen them before, right? Phelos probably had a few too.”

Giving the Emperor NPC a few tokens would grant adult-themed, suggestive attire. I wasn’t sure why this exchange was with the Emperor, but then again, it was just a game.

Fortunately, he seemed to recognize these. So he wasn’t completely oblivious, then? The Emperor trembled, holding the tokens I had given him, and stared at me, half-dazed.

“Since I’m here, can I exchange these now?”

“Th-these are all the demons… from all this time…?”

“Why aren’t you listening to me? I asked if you could exchange them.”

“Demons truly, truly exist….”

‘Is it because an event is currently underway? He’s not listening at all.’

‘Did I show him for nothing? It seems to have complicated things even more.’ I casually waved my hand in the air, magically retrieving the items and placing them back into my inventory.

“Aren’t you busy too? If you have something for me to do, show it quickly. If you have something to give, give it now. I told you I’m busy.”

“Ah, ah… what do you mean demons are coming soon?”

“He really doesn’t listen to a word I say. I’m right here. If there’s no one to hunt demons, they’ll naturally descend to devour people. So I need to go catch them quickly, and if you have anything to give me, just do it already.”

‘Even with all this urging, why is he acting like a broken cat? How annoying.’

“I, I need… time to think.”

“What? It seems I’ve messed something up again. Don’t you have anything to give me?”

“I, I can’t… understand what’s happening right now.”

‘Ugh, I don’t know what it is, but it seems to have gotten tangled again.’ As I stood up, the knights frantically cleared a path and retreated. Then, I saw Rabi standing before the barrier, holding his staff.

Rabi cast several dispel spells, attempting to dismantle my magic, but the barrier remained intact. I stood up and descended with a delighted smile.

“Rabi! Why did you come all the way here? Is something up? Did you miss me?”

“Pata! What on earth are you doing here?!”

“The Emperor called me, so I came. I thought he might have a quest, but he’s not making any sense, and I don’t understand what he’s saying. And just now, he told me to just leave. Perfect! Rabi, since you’re here, will you marry me?”

At my words, a sudden gasp erupted. ‘Huh? Why are they reacting like this?’

“M-marriage! So suddenly?”

“I think I’m about to enter the Void state soon. I was going to leave immediately to hunt demons, but the Emperor said he’d give me something, so I decided to wait a bit. It seems sleeping alone doesn’t grant the buff anymore. So, I thought I’d try to counteract it with the ‘Lover’s Whisper’ buff by getting married.”

‘Lover’s Whisper’ is a buff obtained through marriage. It’s constantly active as long as the marriage is maintained. And if you sleep together, you get a double buff effect, which is quite useful.

“Ah. Come to think of it, that might be inconvenient. My apologies. I’ll cancel.”

“Why, why would you cancel?”

“I have to go hunt demons, and you’d be left alone.”

“I, I could go with you….”

“Seeing as you can’t even break this, I guess it’s hopeless. Boss-level demons can be shattered with just a casual wave of the hand.”

To be precise, the barrier had a special property that rendered defensive or protective magic ineffective, but I didn’t explain it in detail. Anyway, if he couldn’t even break this, his damage output probably wasn’t great.

I dispelled the barrier I had erected. Then, for some reason, I took Rabi’s dazed hand and waved at the Emperor with my other.

“If you want to continue, call me later. Goodbye—”

Humming happily, I held Rabi’s hand and exited the Imperial Palace.

“Rabi, why did you come?”

As I swung our joined hands and asked, Rabi sighed and re-gripped my hand, intertwining our fingers.

“I was urgently summoned to the Imperial Palace, told there was a ruffian attempting to assassinate His Majesty.”

“Was that me? I had no intention of killing anyone at all.”

At my words, Rabi stared intently at me.

“I don’t know. I’ve never thought of you as dangerous.”

“Right? It seems there was some misunderstanding.”

“Still, I hope you’ll treat people of this era more gently in the future. They are very fragile. Weaker even than sugar cookies. If you’re not careful, they might crumble with just a touch.”

“Hmm. Can’t I just break them once and then put them back together?”

“I, I wish you wouldn’t hear bad things about yourself.”

As expected, our Rabi speaks so beautifully. Our Rabi is the best! So cute! Even though he’s a human male character, Rabi is still great! So cute!

“Rabi, can I sleep with you?”

Suddenly, Rabi abruptly stopped, only his arm still being pulled. ‘Why did he stop?’ As I looked at Rabi with a puzzled expression, he stood blankly before his face abruptly flushed crimson.

“Th-that… I wouldn’t dislike it, but…”

“No, it’s fine. If it’s too much trouble, don’t. I’ll just go quickly myself.”

“Go where?”

“It’s time to hunt demons. The ‘Void’ will manifest soon.”

And as I tried to leave again, he didn’t follow. I tugged gently, but perhaps he felt it too strongly, as Rabi stumbled. Surprised, I quickly embraced and supported him.