Leveling with the Gods

Chapter 132

Clack—

The dishes clinked, and the food moved on the table.

YuWon didn’t bother to lift a spoon or a fork. He just sat there and watched as Lancelot ate the feast.

“You aren’t eating?”

He brought the delicious-looking meat chunk to his mouth and washed it down with expensive wine in the middle of the day.

YuWon observed him for a little more then lifted his fork.

“The food isn’t that good.”

Stab—

As he put his fork into the meat, a trickle of blood flowed out of the medium-rare roast.

“The smell of blood is too much.”

It was natural that a good piece of meat would ooze a bit when eating, but it wasn’t about the meat. It was about the smell of blood created to put this meal on the table for Lancelot.

“Seems like you haven’t eaten good food before.” Lancelot laughed heartily as he ate another piece of meat. “You should have meals like this once in a while going forward. You definitely have the right to do so.”

“Didn’t I tell you?”

Plop—

YuWon dropped the meat he lifted with his fork back onto the plate.

“The food isn’t that good.”

Clang—

The fork was dropped onto the table.

The knife Lancelot was using to cut the meat stopped.

He wiped his mouth with a napkin and looked at YuWon.

“How did you get to know the Elder?”

The useless talk came to an end, and the real questions were starting.

Lancelot’s ‘Elder’ was Merlin. There was no one else in Britain he would give his respects to. Merlin was the sole entity in Britain that Lancelot needed to mind.

YuWon getting close to that Merlin was definitely something that Lancelot would keep track of.

“Just by chance.”

“Is it because of you that he sometimes goes outside these days?”

“Probably.”

There was no reason to purposefully hide the fact that YuWon was close with Merlin. Actually, thinking about it, he was in a situation where he would’ve needed to make up a relationship just to keep this conversation interesting. Because only then would Lancelot become a little more wary.

“…Really?”

As the sound of utensils stopped, silence filled the room.

Even though Merlin’s name was uttered, Lancelot’s expression didn’t have a hint of caring. It was hard to discern, maybe because it was something he knew already, or maybe he really didn’t care that much.

‘So that isn’t the main topic.’

It was then…

Shwooo—

Mana started to spread and fill the room.

YuWon didn’t move as he looked at Lancelot.

It was Lancelot who had started to move the mana. However, it didn’t look like he was trying to use a special skill or get ready for battle. He just lightly spread his mana out around them.

There was only one reason to control mana like this.

“Our conversation will become a little more comfortable with this.”

The blocking of the player kit.

Players’ kits that were activated with mana had a lot of useful features. One of them was the ability to record audio and video, and Lancelot seemed to be cautious about features like this.

“I heard that you have the Stone of the Sea.” Lancelot’s tone changed.

This was the main topic.

“So?”

“Someone I know desires it. So I hope you will hand it over to me.”

To directly come out and demand something like this wasn’t an action that should be taken by a guildmaster and king of a nation.

In any case, thanks to this, YuWon was able to obtain useful information.

‘I was guessing whose side he was on…’

“So it is Poseidon.”

Snap—

A vein popped on Lancelot’s forehead.

“Do not say his name in vain.”

Seeing his reaction, it was probably right. Well, if that wasn’t the case, there really was no reason to send two knights of the Round Table after him.

If it was Zeus, since he already had the 「Divine Sky Crystal,」 there wouldn’t have been a need to make a move while risking intervention by the Administrator.

“Initially, I was planning on taking it by force. There were lots of methods to use, with you either living or dying in the end.”

“So that’s why you wanted to shift Mamos onto me? To make false charges against me?”

Using Percival to make YuWon stand up for Mamos and using Mamos to cause a problem. With that as the starting point, Lancelot was going to put the blame on YuWon. However…

“That was what I initially had planned.” Seeming stressed, Lancelot rubbed his temple with his hand. “If he wasn’t a child of Belial.”

Belial.

That name had stopped Lancelot in his tracks. The blood of Belial made it a tricky situation, even for Britain.

Even if demons didn’t usually treat their offspring like children, they were still an important asset in themselves. And touching the bloodline of a king of demons could be interpreted as a challenge to that Demon King.

“So you changed your plan. To one that moved the knights.”

“That’s right.”

“The clean up would’ve been difficult.”

“No matter the outcome, I was planning on killing them. In the end, there’s no need to keep those two who only followed the King of Knights around.”

“You were abandoning them from the start?”

“That’s right.” Lancelot used his hand to draw a line across his neck. “Dead men tell no tales.”

“…Really?”

It was so disgusting that YuWon felt like he would vomit onto the table.

However, the main point still hadn’t been revealed yet.

“So the reason you called me?”

“The Ruler of the Seas had shown great generosity towards you.”

“‘Generosity’?”

“If you hand over the Stone now and swear your loyalty, he promised to treat this as if it never happened and give you his full support.”

It was an unprecedented condition.

The Poseidon who was stubborn and egotistical had reached out his hand first, even after the 「Divine Sea Crystal」 that he had wanted for so long was taken from him.

If anyone else had told YuWon this, it would’ve been natural to doubt them at first.

On top of forgetting everything that had happened, after handing over the 「Divine Sea Crystal,」 Poseidon, one of the “Big Three” gods, promised to support him.

However, that didn’t phase YuWon at all.

“Wow.”

Creak—

Seemingly not interested anymore, YuWon stood up from his seat.

“You called me here just to tell me that?”

“‘Just that’?”

Lancelot’s expression deteriorated with anger.

The lord he was serving was insulted once again. And this response from YuWon was a clear rejection of his proposal.

“You can take my answer to be a ‘no.’ Thanks for the food.”

“What is it? This is an offer that has no downside for you.”

“I’ve heard offers like that so many times before. You can keep living your life with your head bowed down.”

After getting up, YuWon turned away.

Hearing his final words, a vein popped in Lancelot’s neck.

“You dare—Don’t you know who I am…”

A glare could be felt on his back.

“I know very well.” Before YuWon left the room, he half-turned his body to look at Lancelot. “But it seems you don’t know what you’ve become yet.”

He left the room.

He hadn’t eaten from the feast that had been laid out before him, so he pulled out some hardened bread from his inventory. This much was enough to fill his stomach.

‘Poseidon reached his hand out first.’

This wasn’t a simple matter.

Poseidon was a High-Ranker. And one of the highest ranking High-Rankers at a similar level to Susanoo at that, the ones who controlled the ecosystem of the Tower with his hands. He was an existence that was even put on the same level as Zeus as one of the “Big Three” gods in Olympus. His power and authority were incredible, and there was no reason he couldn’t just break a player, no matter how strong or incredible that player was.

But for him to reach out first, there was probably another reason.

‘Is he preparing to go to war against Zeus?’

Olympus had sent two Rankers to capture YuWon, meaning YuWon’s current combat powers at least rivaled that of a Ranker.

‘Obtaining the Divine Sea Crystal and a player who would become a High-Ranker in the future. However, that much shouldn’t be enough.’

Poseidon probably had other backup plans.

In anycase, if he and Zeus fought and killed each other, that was just better for YuWon.

* * *

Translator - Jreaming

Proofreader - BringTheRayn

* * *

The next day…

Camelot was moving busily.

The Round Table Conference. The biggest and most important event that took place in Britain once a month.

“Looks like the table will need one more seat.”

“Why?”

“I heard the Elder would come.”

“The Elder? That’s a surprise.”

“That’s right. I wonder since he hasn’t had any interest in the Round Table Conference for a hundred years now.”

Merlin’s attendance was quite an important factor in Britain. He was a living legend of The Round Table, similar to Lancelot. If the situation had been better, there were even rumors that Merlin would’ve been the king of Britain after Arthur.

“This probably means something’s up.”

The knights all met up in one place. The top of the palace, the highest point in Camelot.

It wasn’t even a room. All the walls had crumbled, and only a single round table and the multitude of seats filled the area.

Step, step—

The knights walked up the stairs.

After arriving at the meeting area, they went to their respective seats.

“It’s been a while, everyone.”

“I heard that Jahar went into seclusion training. There’s no way he would miss the meeting, right?”

“He’s coming in now.”

“Oh, Guile. I heard the news. Your ranking has increased quite a bit?”

“I was lucky.”

“Those guys at the Ranking Management Bureau are quite thorough. There’s no way your ranking would increase just because you’re lucky.”

As people started to filter in, the meeting area became boisterous. Everyone greeted everyone else, talked about the big and small matters of the Tower, and many more stories were shared back and forth.

There were two main points of the conversations.

“I heard Elder Merlin will attend this conference.”

“He’s getting along quite well with a player named Kim YuWon.”

“Everyone knows that.”

“I heard his name quite a bit. It’s certain that he’s an intriguing guy. Seeing that Elder Merlin is paying attention to him…”

The names of Merlin and YuWon were spoken a lot among the knights.

When they had first heard that Lancelot had invited YuWon to the castle, their reaction was split half and half then as well. There were the people that were curious about how incredible of a player he was and those who ignored it because at the end of the day, he was still just a player.

However, as the story of Merlin started to spread, their evaluation of YuWon started to change as well.

“But… where’s that guy, Thal?”

“Lollit’s not here either.”

“It’s nearly time, so what the hell are they doing?”

Thal and Lollit, who hadn’t missed a single conference before this, were both missing.

“But, Pendrac, why is your head like that?’

“You shouldn’t be balding yet.”

“Pfft!”

“…Please don’t ask.”

After getting all his hair pulled out by Merlin, Pendrac was flaunting a shining head.

As the talks continued…

Step—

A heavy footstep was heard throughout the meeting area.

At this point, everyone could tell who it was just by his footsteps.

The noisy meeting settled down.

Everyone stood from their seats as the final expected person showed himself.

“Looks like everyone’s here.”

Lancelot.

After arriving at the meeting area, he looked around at the knights.

“Thal and Lollit still aren’t here.”

“I’ll speak later about those two friends.”

As Lancelot took his seat and gestured with his hand, the knights sat down as well.

After looking at the two empty seats for a bit, Lancelot’s gaze slowly moved.

“Now, since it looks like everyone’s here…”

Step—

At the foot of the stairs, the sound of two footsteps could be heard.

“We’ll start the Round Table Conference.”

The knights’ eyes turned to the stairs that led up to the Round Table.

The two people who were later than Lancelot: the Great Magician Merlin, who had stopped his activities for a while and hadn’t shown himself at the Round Table in a long time, and with him arrived an uninvited guest—Kim YuWon.