Chapter 320 – Letter of Friendship (5)
Team: HH, thursdays, Yahiko (8/10)
“Pahaha! I feel full watching you eat.”
The Gluttony Emperor patted his own stomach, looking at Yeon-woo’s empty plates.
Yeon-woo thought it was funny.
‘Hilarious.’
He snorted.
The Gluttony Emperor was full just by watching him? Actually, he had eaten most of the food here. His stomach, which had grown twice its original size, was proof of that.
Of course, Yeon-woo had eaten quite a lot as well.
The Gluttony Emperor may have been someone he needed to kill someday, but he had no reason to refuse something nice.
Thanks to that, Yeon-woo was able to taste many elixirs he didn’t even know about.
There was the soup created using a Fenghuang, the apple that increased your lifespan with just a single bite, the mermaid meat that increased your stamina, and the Divine Wine that kept ghosts away, among many others.
Yeon-woo saw his stats increase at once.
“And lastly, try this. It’ll be perfect for cleansing your palate.”
It was a golden wine in a small flask. It was beautiful, like waves reflecting the morning sunrise.
This was the most unique out of all the foods he had enjoyed, so Yeon-woo examined it with his Draconic Eyes and was taken aback.
“This is.....?”
The Gluttony Emperor chuckled.
“Uhehehe. You recognized it right away. You are correct. It is.....”
‘Jamshid’s Liquor!’
“It’s liquor that the King of Ten Thousand, who was as cruel as the Vampiric Lord, made himself. I also only enjoy it when special visitors come.”
“.......”
Yeon-woo didn’t have anything to say. The Gluttony Emperor was giving Jamshid’s Liquor as an after-meal treat? He was probably giving it because he considered Yeon-woo a precious visitor, but Yeon-woo felt like his efforts to get it were in vain.
“What are you doing? Quickly, drink it. Ke! It’s nice.”
The Gluttony Emperor tipped the flask back and had a happy smile. His layers of skin shook.
Yeon-woo looked at him for a moment and brought the flask to his mouth. He could feel the Blessings in his body try to circulate.
‘Boo.’
「Yes. Sir.」
Before Jamshid’s Liquor was absorbed into his body, he told Boo to store it somewhere else.
[You have obtained one of ‘Jamshid’s Liquor.’]
[Currently collected: 3/5]
Thankfully, a message saying that the liquor was separated into the subspace popped up.
Yeon-woo sighed, and he looked at the Gluttony Emperor with a calm gaze. He was still trembling from the aftereffects of Jamshid’s Liquor. It was like looking at a high drug addict.
Yeon-woo guessed the difference in power between him and the emperor. He could see open spaces through his wide-open Draconic Eyes. The flaws were tied up in a complex manner. It was full of imperfections.
What if he ran at him with Vigrid? The thought suddenly occurred to him.
The Gluttony Emperor’s obsession with dragon meat began a long time ago. That was why he had begun to pressure his brother way back when.
‘That’s also why he sent Viscount Lao.’
He was someone who Yeon-woo had to catch someday, like he had caught the Summer Queen. He felt an impulse to do it as the emperor showed that attitude of his.
But.
“.......”
Yeon-woo slowly regained control of his emotions.
The Gluttony Emperor wasn’t someone who could be defeated that easily, and even if he succeeded, the real problem followed after.
Outside, there were the two dukes, the 36 marquises, and the 108 counts. Behind them, there were tens of thousands of soldiers.
He couldn’t avoid all of them and run away. It wasn’t time yet.
And.
The Gluttony Emperor opened his eyes. Not knowing what Yeon-woo was thinking, he smiled with happy eyes.
“It’s so fun to be able to eat with a cherished friend.”
“I’m the thankful one. And this is a present I’m giving to Your Majesty.”
Yeon-woo pulled out a box and handed it to a servant next to him.
The emperor rubbed his hands together and licked his lips.
“Goodness. You didn’t have to do something like this. You don’t have to worry about it, but since you’re offering it to me, I won’t deny it.”
What had Yeon-woo brought? The Gluttony Emperor opened the box with an expectant face. Soon, his eyes widened and his chin fat trembled.
“T, This is.....?”
“Dragon meat and Dragon Blood. As you can see, it’s the Summer Queen’s.”
“Oooooh!”
Kwang!
The Gluttony Emperor burst up from his chair. His flushed cheeks were filled with anticipation.
The dragon meat and Dragon Blood he had wanted so much were in front of him. And it was from the last dragon, the Summer Queen!
“Tuan Tien! Quick! Quick!”
Kwang! Kwang!
At the Gluttony Emperor’s beckoning, Duke Tuan Tien hurried.
* * *
“Hahaha. Today is the happiest day of my life. When will I be able to experience a day like this again?”
The Gluttony Emperor put down the plate he had been licking and trembled.
Yeon-woo laughed. He didn’t like seeing the Gluttony Emperor so happy, but the things he gave the Gluttony Emperor were useless to him.
He had only brought dragon meat scratched off from the ribs, and the blood was only what was left over after they were done using it.
It was hilarious to see him be so happy with what was merely trash.
Moreover, he was someone who ate soul shark caviar or Fenghuang soup until he was full. That was why Yeon-woo saw that the value was subjective to whoever bought it. He couldn’t help but laugh.
Just then, red light gathered in the Gluttony Emperor’s eyes and vanished. His large stomach waved grotesquely like a snake trying to digest what it swallowed whole.
Then.
Urrrng—
‘What?’
The pocket watch shook.
Yeon-woo put his hand inside of his jacket and touched the pocket watch. It was different from the vibration he felt when he heard his brother’s voice.
‘It’s similar to the time when it came into contact with the Despair and Grief of the Black King.....’
That meant.
‘Does the Gluttony Emperor have something to do with the pocket watch?’
Just then, the two voices of the Cyclopes rang in his head.
『Master, that’s.....』
『It’s a Soulstone. Ha! Were they that common?』
‘What?’
Yeon-woo’s eyes widened. Why was the Soulstone coming up here? At that moment, Yeon-woo was able to share the vision of the two Cyclops.
There was something bundled in the chest of the Gluttony Emperor.
The dragon meat that the Gluttony Emperor had swallowed was being taken apart inside him and circulated throughout his body.
『It looks like Gula.』
『But he’s not even using 5% of the Soulstone. Is he just barely using Luciel’s Authority? Hmph! That’s like putting a pearl necklace on a pig!』
Brontes and Steropes didn’t stop criticizing the Gluttony Emperor.
However, Yeon-woo was able to learn something from what they said.
There wasn’t just a single thing or two that was off about the Gluttony Emperor. It wasn’t easy to tell where his power came from.
But if he was borrowing that strength, wouldn’t there be a way to defeat him?
The Gluttony Emperor had an Authority that could digest the Blessings he swallowed and turn them into his power.
Of course, Yeon-woo didn’t have to worry about it because he wasn’t going to give the Gluttony Emperor his power, but the Authorities were still annoying.
Unless one was a strong player like the Martial King, one wouldn’t want to go against the Gluttony Emperor.
‘Thinking about it now, the Gluttony Emperor was treated as the weakest and most powerless king in the history of Blood Land’s leaders. And then he suddenly became stronger.”
It made sense if he really had borrowed the strength of the Soulstone from Luciel like what the two Cyclops said.
And if it was true, he might have discovered a way to bring the Gluttony Emperor down.
Yeon-woo hid his sharp gaze.
‘The Gluttony Emperor. How should I bring him down?’
Yeon-woo had picked his next target to be the Gluttony Emperor.
The Gluttony Emperor had finished digesting, and he began to speak in a serious voice.
“I’ll swear on my name. If you need anything in the future, let me know. The entire empire and I will forever be your friend.”
‘He looks like he’s high.’
Yeon-woo nodded. It seemed appropriate to bring it up now.
“Then, may I request something from you?”
“Go right ahead. I said I’m your friend.”
Did he know how dangerous what he said was?
“Can I have some more Jamshid’s Liquors?”
“Hm? The liquor? Did you like it that much?
“Actually, I have to use it for something personal.”
Yeon-woo explained that he needed it for a weapon.
“How much..... do you need?”
“I need about two barrels of it.”
“.....”
To be exact, only two cups were needed, but he wanted to get everything he could.
The Gluttony Emperor didn’t respond for a while.
He said he would do anything, but giving Jamshid’s Liquor was something else. He had to struggle to get the Jamshid’s Liquor as well.
Actually, it was so precious that he always drank it with careful hands, but when Yeon-woo said to give it all up, he felt his heart fall to his feet.
“.....What happens if you don’t have it?”
Yeon-woo answered with a slightly exhausted gaze.
“I might be in danger. It would be harder to help you in the future. Of course, this is only a request, so you can deny it if you want to. How can I force you to give me something?”
Yeon-woo spoke like it was okay to deny his request, but the Gluttony Emperor had his reputation as an emperor and couldn’t take back what he said.
And in this dining room, many subordinates were watching him. They looked at him with assurance that he would give Yeon-woo the liquor.
“Your Majesty.”
Just then, Duke Tuan Tien carefully approached the emperor and spoke in his ear.
Yeon-woo’s eyes flashed. He wondered what the emperor would say next.
“Ahem! You said you needed the liquor, right?”
He narrowed his eyes with a cough.
“But as you know, Jamshid’s Liquor is extremely precious to us, and I cannot give it without permission from advisors.”
“Is that so? Oh well.”
“However, it’s not impossible. Let’s make a deal.”
“A deal?”
“You were also attacked by that damned Summer Queen on the 27th or 28th floor, right?”
Yeon-woo realized what the emperor was going to say.
“Yes?”
“Then work with us. We’re actually working together with Black Dragon to take revenge for Duke Ardbad. Help us.”
“......!”
Yeon-woo’s eyes widened.
‘Work with Black Dragon? To catch White Dragon?’
“I won’t be of much help.”
“Don’t be like that. Do you think I don’t know you split apart Triton alone? And you have those friends in the shadows of yours.”
‘He knows about Shanon and the others.’
The Gluttony Emperor spoke like it was nothing, but Yeon-woo didn’t miss the nuance in his words.
It was incredible that his Spirit Familiars hadn’t been caught until now.
With everyone focused on him, his hand was beginning to be shown. The Blood Land had probably looked into Yeon-woo, too.
“And the Fantasy Regiment.”
The Gluttony Emperor eyed Creutz.
“And even.”
In that moment, he wasn’t a picky wealthy man but the emperor of a country.
“With where your teacher is, with the One-horned tribe!”
Just then, a violent aura spread through the hall.
* * *
‘That was easy.’
Under the mask, Yeon-woo was smiling brightly with his fangs bared.
His enemies would be fighting each other. If he could get the Jamshid’s Liquor just by lifting a single finger, it would be a huge profit for him.
The only thing worrying him was the participation of the One-horned tribe, but the Martial King would take care of that.
Also.
‘It’s not weird if something happens in the war.’
Yeon-woo had already started to calculate how to take the Gluttony Emperor’s life in the confusion of the battle.
Shanon began to hum to himself.
「Stabbing in the back~ stabbing in the back~ what a fun song~♬」