Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant novel Chapter 397

“W-what the—why is this happening?”

Genuine fluster slipped out of Su-ho’s mouth at the system alerts exploding before his eyes like a runaway engine.

Regardless, the Transcendents were extremely agitated.

[ ■■ glares, seething with anger. ]

[ ■■■■ narrows their brows and toys with their hammer. ]

[ ■■ shakes their head. ]

They were all ■■, but he could tell who was who.

Come to think of it, is the alert-name order the order in which I became their successor?

At that moment, Tsukuyomi stared at Su-ho with a baffled look.

No—more precisely, they looked past Su-ho.

Su-ho couldn’t see them, but in Tsukuyomi’s eyes the silhouettes of the Transcendents clung behind Su-ho like guardian spirits.

“This is... what...?”

They were considerably taken aback.

Understandably so.

It was the first time they’d seen anything like this.

Then they let out a small, wry chuckle.

“I see. So that’s the story.”

Upon seeing Su-ho’s patron Transcendents, Tsukuyomi finally had every question answered.

How a mere human—just a civil servant—could be this strong.

Su-ho cleared his throat and said,

“So, why ask if I serve a god?”

“I have a favor to ask.”

“What kind of favor?”

“Well...”

At that moment—

[ ■■ frowns. ]

[ ■■■■ hefts their hammer up onto their shoulder. ]

[ ■■’s expression goes cold. ]

The Transcendents sent another round of warning messages.

With the warnings piling up, Su-ho sighed.

“Hold on.”

Then he knit his brows and operated the system.

[ Disabling system notifications. ]

Since the Great Upheaval’s system was modeled after a game system, you could shut alerts off like this.

Do that, and no matter who they were, even Transcendents couldn’t push messages to Su-ho.

‘Come on—you have to show some restraint. I can’t hear the other party at all.’

Su-ho gestured and said,

“Okay, go on. Start over.”

“...It seems the Transcendents love you quite a bit.”

“You saw it yourself. I’m someone you can’t help but love.”

“Your confidence is impressive. Still, all of it must be strength you earned yourself. I acknowledge that. Which brings me to this.”

Looking past Su-ho at the Transcendents arrayed behind him, Tsukuyomi said,

“I won’t be making the sort of proposal they’re thinking of, so don’t worry. I promise.”

They nailed it down clearly.

And here and there, sighs of relief escaped.

They were the Transcendents’.

‘I can’t hear it, but it’s like I can feel someone patting their chest in relief somewhere.’

Tsukuyomi shifted their gaze back to Su-ho.

“Do you know what the next Gate is?”

“In order, the next Gate’s owner should be the sun goddess Amaterasu.”

“Correct. But the one you’ll face there won’t be Amaterasu.”

“Not Amaterasu?”

“You’ll find Susanoo waiting.”

“What?”

If it’s Susanoo, he just took him down.

Granted, he hadn’t beaten the real Susanoo—but still, a boss you’ve already killed showing up again?

Su-ho asked,

“Why?”

“Because that’s how the next Gate is configured.”

“So what’s the proposal? You want me to finish Susanoo for good this time?”

“No, that would be meaningless. What I mean is... you’ll understand.”

A faint smile from Tsukuyomi.

Sharp one, huh.

Just as they said, Su-ho grasped it at once.

‘Gate bosses—especially divine-race monsters—are nothing but avatars, not the originals.’

Su-ho nodded.

“So, what’s the favor?”

“After you defeat Susanoo one more time, he will likely offer to make you his Apostle. I want you to refuse.”

“‘Apostle’... as in, successor to the successor? The very seat my Transcendents are worried about?”

“Yes.”

“Why do you think Susanoo would make me that offer?”

“You’re a talent worth coveting. Just look at you now. A Player carrying three Transcendents on his back... I’ve never seen a human like you.”

Praise from Tsukuyomi.

But rather than bask, Su-ho narrowed his eyes and shot a question back.

“Fine. I can refuse. What do I «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» get out of it?”

“I’ll let you pass this Gate without fighting me.”

“What is this... Just now you said you figured you’d lose.”

“Yes. Judging by your power, I would likely be the one to lose. But the process of accepting that defeat would be anything but easy.”

“Give me a break.”

So this was the “proposal”? He’d half-expected some sweet compensation; what came back wasn’t a reward but a threat.

Su-ho rubbed the glabella between his eyes with thumb and forefinger.

“So in the end you’re cut from the same cloth... Your tone is more polite than Susanoo’s, but the substance is just as arrogant.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“If you’re going to make an offer, make it a good one. At least something that clearly benefits me. Because I don’t care in the slightest about things like our fight or any collateral damage along the way.”

“Your confidence is remarkable.”

“Why? Sound like baseless bravado? Frankly, if I put you down and take enough rest, this whole fight won’t be anything to worry about. I’m a healer. And if you try to deal like this and hurt my feelings so I end up contracting with Susanoo instead? Wouldn’t that be the worst outcome for you?”

“......”

Tsukuyomi closed their mouth.

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