After finishing the long speech, we had a separate meeting with the Emperor.

He lightly wiped the sweat from his forehead and said,

“That was an excellent speech, Hero.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you.”

“Now it’s clear what I must do.”

He slowly closed and opened his eyes.

“You mean, to prepare the trial, correct?”

“Yes. I would like it if as many people as possible could attend.”

“The capital is already mostly evacuated, so… I see. I will prepare a site beyond the city’s borders. There happens to be a suitable plain there.”

“How long will it take?”

“How long would you like it to take? I will make sure it’s ready within that time.”

No, I mean, now you’re making it sound like a lot of pressure.

I glanced at Adwin.

He immediately caught on, as always, and switched to soul communication.

[When was it that you broke the Branch of Corruption, Neril?]

[Today makes exactly two weeks.]

[Then let’s go kill Velosian and Aktion today.]

The party members’ eyes widened at his words.

Serein asked,

[All of a sudden like this?]

[There’s really no reason to delay any longer. Before, we didn’t know how much fame we needed to kill Velosian…]

[But now we do. 4.8 million.]

[Yeah. And right now, it’s over 5.6 million. Our fame rose a bit more after that last event.]

In fact, Impelium had once nearly killed Velosian and Adin when their fame was only around 5.2 million.

There was no way I couldn’t do it now, with more than 5.6 million.

Xenia said,

[Sounds good. When are we going?]

[Right now.]

[Huh? Right now?]

Ignoring her bewildered question, I turned to the Emperor.

“Please make the preparations in advance. We will be back shortly after taking care of Velosian and Aktion.”

“I’m familiar with Velosian, but Aktion?”

“Oh, right. Hmm… just another one of his kind. Nothing you need to worry about.”

“If I’m not mistaken, Velosian was the Demon King of Lies who existed even before Idria, wasn’t he? And yet you speak of him so casually.”

“Well, we have become transcendently stronger since then.”

The Emperor let out a hearty laugh.

“Very well, then. The palace underground will remain open to you at all times, Hero.”

“Thank you. We will be back soon.”

I immediately stood up from my seat.

I meant to bow out of courtesy, but the Emperor bowed his head first.

“I wish you good fortune, Hero.”

Beneath the Imperial Palace.

We were once again in that place covered with countless white doors that made your head spin just to look at them.

Offense spoke first.

“Now that I think about it, how much did our fame rise this time?”

“Hm? Ah, right. Give me a moment.”

I checked the display window.

< Neril Slane / Total Fame: 3,413,820 >

< Xenia Seide / Total Fame: 3,398,700 >

< Adwin Ayn / Total Fame: 3,251,000 >

< Lisel Vint / Total Fame: 3,188,300 >

< Serein Magnus / Total Fame: 3,103,500 >

< Offense Dake / Total Fame: 3,079,900 >

I told everyone their numbers.

Serein cheered in joy.

“I’m not in last place!”

“Why not? Why am I last?”

“Let’s call it the difference in personal charm. You should try smiling more, Offense. Like me.”

“People ought to see how black your heart is.”

“Say whatever you like. I will take it kindly. I can do that right now.”

I let out a small laugh and thought,

‘Their fame really did skyrocket. It’s far more dramatic than when we defeated the Celestial god.’

[It means your strategy was that effective.]

‘Yeah. I’m glad.’

Xenia’s eyes gleamed as she took the Branch of Corruption from her robe.

“So it’s my turn now.”

“Do it inside.”

“It will only take a moment.”

“Think about what kind of world that place is. There’s no guarantee we will find Velosian or Aktion that quickly in that crazy place.”

When we rescued Idria, we used a wide range search magic circle through Pirensha’s and Serein’s blood.

But this time, we had no such clues.

Still, even if those two were hiding with everything they had, I didn’t believe for a second that we wouldn’t find them.

Xenia seemed convinced and nodded.

“You’re thorough. Got it.”

“Good. Let’s go in.”

I grabbed the handle of the special room’s door.

Click.

But it didn’t open.

After a few futile attempts of twisting and tugging, Lisel spoke.

“Maybe it opens by pushing?”

“This door opens inward from the outside and pushes outward from within… wait, I feel like we have had this conversation before.”

“Did we?”

“Could it be locked? No, that’s a stupid question.”

Of course it would be locked.

They already knew we hadn’t killed them last time.

And if they knew that, they would have naturally prepared for us to come back.

I just didn’t expect that ‘preparation’ to mean locking the door.

Neril said,

“Try opening it by force. You should be able to, right?”

“Hm.”

“You have to be able to. If you can’t open a door Aktion locked, it means even with your current fame, you still can’t overpower him.”

“Now that you say that, I suddenly feel motivated.”

My muscles twitched.

I poured all of my 5.6 million fame into sheer strength.

Power surged through my body like nothing I had ever experienced before.

“Urgh… ngh.”

But the door wouldn’t open.

Bang. Boom.

It wasn’t pretty, but I threw a punch at the door.

Then I kicked it. I even used the Hero’s Sword and unleashed a skill.

Yet the door didn’t even have a scratch.

The group, who had been cheerful moments ago, began to stiffen with unease.

Adwin spoke up.

“H-how about we all try together? If we combine all our fame…”

Then…

Tap.

A window appeared in front of me.

Trail sounded horrified.

[What the hell is wrong with this thing lately?]

‘Calm down. Didn’t we talk about how even the display window has a will of its own?’

[Ugh.]

The group quieted as they saw me staring into empty air.

They couldn’t see what I was doing, but they understood well enough.

<With your current fame, this door cannot be opened.>

“Even if we all try together, like Adwin said?”

<No. Fame doesn’t stack simply by working together. At least one of you must surpass Aktion’s fame.>

I shrugged.

“By Aktion’s fame… you mean the amount he had back when he was a Hero, right?”

<Correct. Hard to believe, but Aktion carried out his duties as a Hero quite faithfully, and in his home world he earned an enormous amount of fame. At that time, Aktion was truly pure.>

“Ugh.”

<I can understand that reaction.>

“Fine, just give me the conclusion. How much fame are we talking about?”

<10 million. >

…

I must have misheard.

<I have already cleaned up the numbers and given you the final figure.>

“What kind of nonsense is that? Ten million?!”

My outburst made the others react.

Even if they couldn’t see the display window, they must have caught on from my words.

Their faces turned pale.

All the countless feats we had achieved since swearing to become Heroes.

Toppling a Celestial god.

Defeating the Demon King of Lies.

Forcing a Demon King to stand trial before humanity.

And even after all of that, we had only barely surpassed 5.6 million.

“Ten million…”

Hearing Neril’s murmur, I hurriedly came to my senses.

Then I snapped at the display window.

“There must be some mistake. Wait, maybe he went around stealing other people’s fame like Velosian?”

<No. Aktion never had such an ability.>

“Then I still can’t believe it. I don’t know what grand deeds he might have accomplished as a Hero, but I can’t accept that everything we have done falls so far short.”

<Aktion’s accomplishments were impressive, yes, but the stage itself was far more favorable. The population of his original world was at least three times greater than this one.>

The heat in my head cooled at once.

Even facing such absurdity, I couldn’t help admiring myself for staying calm enough to reason through it.

‘Phew. Fair enough.’

Getting angry wouldn’t change anything anyway.

Then Neril spoke.

“What is it saying, Mide?”

“Hmm. Something about population… wait, hey, can’t you show yourself to my party members?”

<I’m exclusive to the Hero…>

“Come on, give us a little special treatment. Honestly, if my party had lived in any other era, each of them would have become legendary Heroes.”

<Normally that’s not allowed, but I will make an exception this time.>

Shh.

The display window seemed to rotate in the air, turning toward the others.

Their eyes changed immediately.

“So this is what Impellium showed us before.”

“Even seeing it a second time doesn’t make it any less strange.”

“And the sentences written here… it’s clearly a sentient being with a will of its own.”

They were intrigued, but not particularly shocked.

‘Would they be surprised if they knew that sentient being’s name was Bion?’

They probably would.

Especially Trail.

Lately, Trail had been struggling deeply with questions about his own identity.

And since the display window refused to answer, I couldn’t give him one either… for now, at least.

Neril said,

“Do you think we could even reach ten million? We went through hell and even pulled off the Demon King trial to barely pass 5.6 million.”

She was just muttering to herself, but the display window answered coldly.

<It will be difficult. From my observation, you have already earned nearly all the fame this era’s people can give. No matter how innovative your next strategy is, it won’t raise your fame by much.>

“……”

<And unless you reach ten million, you will never defeat Aktion. In fact, you won’t even be able to open this door.>

I see.

The last time we came here to rescue Idria, the door must have opened easily because Aktion had allowed us in.

He must have been confident that once we entered the room, he could kill us.

Adwin asked,

“Hyung, what do we do now?”

“We will have to build up ten million fame and come back.”

“But, uh… didn’t that thing or whatever it is just say that’s difficult?”

I fell silent for a moment.

The display window had said it would be hard to gather that much.

But I had a feeling.

There had to be a way.

Nothing we had done up to this point had ever been easy.

And then.

An idea struck me like lightning.

“Ah. Ahaha!”

“Mide, what’s wrong?”

“I get it. I feel like I’m about to lose it too.”

“Mide’s fine. You think he is Serein?”

“How strange. I feel like I have been insulted worse than Offense lately.”

“At last, someone who understands me.”

My whole body trembled with exhilaration.

Surpassing the unreachable ten million fame to kill Aktion.

I had just thought of a way to make it happen.

Then text appeared on the display window.

<That expression tells me Aktion doesn’t have much time left. I take it you have come up with a plan?>

“Huh? How do you even know that?”

The window left one final line before fading.

<I have seen that look many times before.>

When the window vanished, the faces of my companions came back into view.

Neril looked unimpressed.

“What is it babbling about now?”

“Wow, you got close fast. You’re quite the social one.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. The way it talks like we are old friends is what’s annoying.”

“Well, forget the small stuff and focus.”

All eyes turned toward me.

I grinned and said,

“Aktion’s body is dead. Batore took his own life.”

“That’s right. But his soul wasn’t in the underworld. He is probably still inside this room in soul form.”

“No. Think about what he has been doing for the past fifty thousand years, switching bodies to stay alive. He must have taken over a new body within this special room.”

“Huh? There wasn’t any body inside fit for him to inhabit… wait, you don’t mean…!”

Exactly.

A name long forgotten suddenly flashed through everyone’s minds.

I smiled.

“Our hope. The precious enemy who always gave us strength in times of trouble.”

Kaeld Wake.

I didn’t even need to check with the Eye of Omniscience

Aktion had possessed Kaeld.

‘And that…’

Would be the greatest opportunity we could ask for.

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