Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant novel Chapter 684

Only after the storm of System notifications finally passed was Su-ho able to look at Gestark again.

Gestark spoke with a benevolent expression.

- Is it all finished?

“Yes, thanks to you.”

- Then I suppose it is time for this old man to step aside. As the new king of the Giant Realm, please lead everyone well. And if fate allows......

Gestark smiled bitterly.

When he let the sentence trail off, Su-ho answered in his place.

“We’ll definitely meet again. So please wait for me until then.”

Gestark smiled at those words.

- I’ll look forward to it.

Gestark’s body began to glow, just as it had when he first appeared.

Then his head lowered.

When it slowly rose again, Seolmundae Halmang had returned.

After returning, she slowly bowed her head and paid her respects.

- I greet the new Giant King.

Her manner was exceedingly respectful.

As the current eldest authority of the Giant Realm, she offered her respects to the new Giant King on behalf of everyone.

Su-ho smiled.

“It feels awkward when you suddenly act like this.”

- Even if it is sudden, there are still things that must be observed. You have truly worked hard all this time.

She meant it sincerely.

There had also been many things Seolmundae Halmang had wanted to tell Su-ho, but because of both his security clearance as a Player and Gestark’s wishes, she had been forced to keep many facts to herself.

But now, she no longer had to hold back.

Thanks to Su-ho, she had risen to the position of High Elder, and from now on she intended to devote herself to serving Su-ho faithfully as the new Giant King.

She opened a portal leading somewhere new and spoke.

- Let us go. Countless Giants are waiting for the coronation of their new Giant King.

A coronation.

He had never done anything like that with Vampire Blood or Dragon Blood, yet here he was about to have one.

Perhaps that was why he found it amusing.

“Let’s go.”

His steps were light.

After passing through the portal, Su-ho soon found himself standing beside Seolmundae Halmang atop an enormous hill.

Below them, countless Giants packed the landscape, all looking up at Su-ho.

Seeing Giants packed together like matches in a matchbox, yet each one possessing a completely different build and size, Su-ho let out a quiet exclamation.

“I had no idea there were this many Giants.”

- These are all the Giants who exist in the Giant Realm. There are tens of thousands of them by number, and according to the rules, they are now all subjects of the Giant King.

Subjects of the Giant King.

In other words, my subjects.

At those words, Su-ho slowly looked over the faces of his tens of thousands of subjects.

Back in the Blood Realm, revenge had been the main objective, so he had neither the opportunity nor the inclination to look around at vampires of other ranks or pay attention to the vampires he passed along the way.

All he had cared about was carrying out Levan’s revenge.

The Dragon Realm had been similar.

There had been no one there except Omega in the first place.

In that respect, the Demon Realm had been somewhat better.

At least there had been people there he needed to protect.

‘But I could never shake the feeling that it was Grid’s world rather than a land of my own subjects.’

According to the System, it was his world, but in reality, ever since obtaining the Dominion Core, he had hardly even summoned Grid.

The Spirit Realm was the same.

That place also felt less like his own world filled with his own subjects and more like a realm where he acted as a proxy for Umbra and Jack.

Perhaps that was why.

Maybe because of everything he had experienced here, the Giant Realm inspired a strange sense of attachment in him, second only to the Human Realm.

As he slowly looked over his subjects.

“Hm?”

Something strange caught Su-ho’s eye.

More precisely, he saw someone who should not have been there.

Graul.

The man was standing with his arms folded, glaring up at Su-ho with a displeased expression.

How could Su-ho possibly fail to recognize that distinctive appearance?

Even his build was enormous compared to the other Giants.

“Why is that guy there?”

- Whom do you mean?

“Graul. He participated in the Giant King Competition this time, but I killed him myself.”

- Ah, you mean those people.

“Those people?”

- The ones who died during the Giant King Competition. They did not actually die. They were merely treated as eliminated after appearing to be killed, and they have all been watching you ever since.

“......What?”

What was that supposed to mean?

So aside from those who had simply been declared eliminated, the others had not really died either?

That was indeed the case.

Just as Seolmundae Halmang had said, every Giant who had supposedly died during the trials of the Giant King Competition had actually been summoned to something like a waiting room, where they watched Su-ho’s challenge unfold.

There were two reasons for this arrangement.

First, the Giants who participated in the Giant King Competition were no ordinary Giants.

They were valuable Titan-class personnel, and it would have been a waste for them to die.

The second reason was that Gestark’s Giant King Competition was inevitably designed so that only those called fake Giants could pass it.

Gestark wanted the other Giants to watch the challenge of a fake Giant and come to accept the result on their own.

And exactly as Gestark had intended, after watching Su-ho’s challenge from beginning to end, every one of them had ultimately been forced to acknowledge him, whether they liked it or not.

After learning the truth, Su-ho let out a hollow laugh.

“Haha, I never imagined there was a secret like that behind it.”

- Lord Gestark was wise enough to be called the Giant of Wisdom.

“I can see that. I’m very glad we were able to recover such valuable personnel thanks to him.”

Then Su-ho spotted Ruin and Uven among the crowd.

He was truly grateful to them.

They had supported him throughout the trials.

-j Then, to commemorate your ascension as the new Giant King, why not say a few words to your subjects?

“Is that all I need to do?”

- Yes. The succession battle took place while everyone was watching, so there are no objections. And according to the rules, they will all become the Giant King’s loyal soldiers.

The rules seemed to compel them to some degree, but because they had witnessed the entire challenge, they were also genuinely acknowledging Su-ho.