I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 97

Title) Immortal King Summary

Wild Grylls

Once upon a time, there was a kingdom.

Though poor, the kingdom was home to a kind king and his happy people.

The kind king served his people, and the people, recognizing his hard work, were always smiling.

But one day, bad guys invaded and began tormenting the people.

Because the king loved peace, he tried to talk to the bad guys, but what do you think happened?

The bad guys ignored the king’s pleas and tormented the people even more!

Furious, the king asked his remaining people to join together and defeat the bad guys.

The people, knowing how kind their king was, willingly joined forces with him.

Thanks to their combined effort, the king and his people defeated the bad guys, but oh no!

An even worse guy appeared from among the bad guys!

This even worse guy was so powerful that even the kind king struggled to defeat him.

Even so, the king did not give up and fought hard to protect his people.

The people also fought without care for their own bodies for their good king.

In the end, the king and his people defeated the even worse guy.

Having defeated the bad guys, the king and his people dreamed of a happy future and off they went to dreamland altogether.

Thinking of the day when everyone would laugh together...

...is how the story goes, right?

└ Heavenly Demon) You have a knack for fairy tales.

└ Sword Matstar) Right? Aren’t all dark fairy tales from the old days like that?

└ Allfather) Hohoho. If the Immortal King saw this post, he would have spat blood.

└ Wild Grylls) He’s already dead, so he wouldn’t be spitting blood haha

└ Wow. But comparing it like this gives me goosebumps haha

└ The part about ’sparing not their bodies’ and ’heading to dreamland’ is downright terrifying;;

└ From an undead’s perspective, he really was a good king rofl

└ fr fr, literally a wise ruler of the undead haha

It was right around the time the Gallery was flipped upside down over the contents of the book I had posted.

Immortal King, Balkan Kingdom, Holy Kingdom, whatever—it was all meaningless to me.

What mattered to me was content related to survival. Hidden truths didn’t mean squat.

’Chattering in the Gallery doesn’t accomplish anything anyway.’

Even if this fallout spilled into reality, I didn’t care.

There was only one scenario I’d care about: when I escape from the Forest of the Four Seasons.

Even if the country called the Holy Kingdom went wild over this, it couldn’t affect me in the absolute slightest.

’The Orange Badge’s mood might get a bit foul though.’

The Holy Kingdom is a nation that serves the gods, and Orange Badge is a deeply devout believer.

Now that facts shaking the very foundation of the Holy Kingdom have blatantly surfaced, she’s probably feeling uncomfortable.

If a deletion request comes in, I’m more than willing to delete it.

It’s already spread far and wide anyway, and I’ve already handed the book over to Allfather.

All I had to do was quietly watch. I had no interest in anything related to the Immortal King.

’It’s doubtful if anyone would even believe it, anyway.’

Unless Allfather makes the book public, trusting news originating from the Gallery is difficult.

Besides, it would depend on what kind of image the Holy Kingdom usually holds.

If the Holy Kingdom’s image is bad, this will become an issue; if it’s on the good side, people will just dismiss it like, "What kind of nonsense is this?"

’Usually, any organization made of people has some dirty laundry hidden away.’

Just as stagnant water inevitably rots, people gather and rot too.

Even with good intentions, as time passes, corruption is bound to set in.

Unless there’s a total purge, keeping an organization clean is practically impossible.

’Well, that story’s the same everywhere.’

That’s a problem for the people of that nation to solve on their own.

Stuck in the Forest of the Four Seasons, I had even less reason to get involved.

I silently closed the Gallery after watching posts criticizing and condemning the Holy Kingdom start to flood in.

It seemed like it would take a bit of time until the survival parts I wanted were translated.

’Anyway, there’s at least a slight chance other survivors exist...’

I was able to realize it through the corpses found this time.

That there is a high probability of more human corpses lying somewhere in this forest.

Unlike the corpse presumed to have been eaten by an owlbear, some maintained an intact appearance like the book’s owner.

’If they were people much stronger than me, they would have survived even longer.’

The book’s owner was the last scribe of the Balkan Kingdom.

A scribe is someone closer to literary arts than martial arts.

There was a chance they grew stronger living in the Forest of the Four Seasons like me, but unfortunately, they wouldn’t have been able to use the Gallery.

Since even I couldn’t guarantee survival without the Gallery, it was a massive difference.

’In the future, I should search places like caves thoroughly.’

Since they wouldn’t have the leeway to build a hut in the Forest of the Four Seasons, most would have used caves as shelter.

’Not just humans, but other races must have entered too, right?’

If I’m really lucky, I might even meet them.Get faster updates on nove⁠lping.com.

In particular, the Demon Race and Elves have much higher baseline strength compared to other races.

To the extent that they easily manifest magic that humans have to rack their brains over to learn.

Even without the Gallery, having magic would give them a huge advantage in survival.

’Though by this world’s standards, I’m an idiot, so I can’t even dream of magic.’

I gave up on magic long ago. They were explaining fire through physics or something.

Especially after hearing it was tied to mathematics, I gave up without hesitation.

I’d rather use magic physically instead.

’If there really are survivors....’

Just the existence of another person would be a comfort. I thought I was alone all this time.

Would I really be able to find traces of people? It felt like I had gained a small goal.

If escaping was the ultimate goal, finding traces of survivors was a sub-goal.

’Did they say most people who enter the Forest of the Four Seasons are criminals?’

Criminals sentenced to severe punishment like having their eyes gouged out before entering.

Or criminals who committed horrific priors and had no place to step foot in society.

Or explorers who entered out of sheer bravado, and so on.

Of course, the probability of meeting them would be extremely low.

Because the Forest of the Four Seasons was said to be the size of a small nation.

’Still, I can’t give up.’

It felt like another hope had sprung up. The hope that if I got lucky, I might meet a human.

I let out a long breath and stood up from my spot.

’Instead of wasting time like this, I should train more.’

There was still time left until dinner. Rather than moping around, practicing swordsmanship was better.

I picked up my sword and shield, gradually polishing my shortcomings.

’Anyone is fine, I just wish someone were alive.’

It was a very small wish.

Kadir was a man who wanted to know everything in the world.

Whether it was magic, people, or history did not matter.

For nothing intrigued him more than truths veiled in darkness.

Such a thirst for knowledge often brought ruin, but who was Kadir?

The Mage King and master of the Magic Tower. The one who had mastered all magic.

No matter how massive it was, a "mere" truth was nothing more than source of amusement to him.

"Rice Craone."

[....]

Kadir calmly uttered someone’s name.

At that, the skull sitting isolated before him reacted.

A green glow manifested within the empty eye sockets.

As if it had opened its eyes.

"Do you know who that is?"

The skull conversing with Kadir was originally an entity kept inside a freezer.

However, seeing how it had begged to be killed, it was certainly no ordinary being.

[How do you know that name?]

A dreary yet heavy voice flowed out from the skull.

It felt less like a voice originating from vocal cords and more like Thought Transmission.

Kadir—no, Allfather—opened his mouth without flinching at the voice that gave chills just listening to it.

"It seems the contents written in the book were accurate after all."

[I asked how you know.]

When Allfather didn’t give the desired answer, the skull—no.

The Immortal King made a sound as if feigning anger.

Simultaneously, a green energy enveloped the skull, blazing fiercely like fire.

It was the surging aura of death itself. Even with only his head remaining, the Immortal King’s power endured.

"I happened to learn of it by chance. From the looks of it, your scribe seems to have fled into the Forest of the Four Seasons."

[....]

"If you answer my question in earnest, I shall also tell you where and how I obtained this information."

The aura of death enveloping the Immortal King gradually thinned.

A silent assent to hear him out.

At this, Allfather wore a deep smile for a moment before adopting a serious expression to ask his question.

"Why did you conceal such truth?"

[Because our kingdom was weak and defeated. Is that answer sufficient?]

A cynical reply, yet one that pierced through the ways of the world.

The weak boundly lose much to the strong, and the truth is no different.

Above all, history is written by the victors.

The records of the defeated are bound to be distorted and erased.

Allfather stroked his beard as if finally understanding.

"I knew long ago that the Holy Kingdom was rotten, but I didn’t realize it was to this extent. Thanks to you, it underwent a purge once, so is this current state considered an improvement?"

[....]You are reading on novelping . com, the official source.

"No. Even so, they banished the Hero... Tsk, tsk. They’ve clearly yet to come to their senses."

The image of the holy kingdom, El Dorado, could not be called good even as empty flattery.

Originally, they held the conviction to subjugate the Demon King, but that faded over time.

Recently, the Demon Race became so engrossed in sports rather than fighting that they didn’t even pay attention to other countries.

Rather, they began to focus on culture, and came to view the Demon King simply as the king of demons.

A group that has lost its purpose normally scatters, but El Dorado was a whole nation.

In attempting to forcibly band together, water naturally stagnated, and that stagnant water rotted.

[Now answer Our question. How did you come to know that fact?]

While Allfather was muttering to himself, the Immortal King spoke grimly.

At that, Allfather snapped his fingers. A book materialized in his hand.

"It is this. The record left behind by Rice Craone, the final scribe of the Balkan Kingdom."

Swish—

Allfather kindly displayed the first page of the book.

Despite lacking eyeballs, the Immortal King’s gaze moved along the page of the book.

Following that, seeing his native language for the first time in a long while, the Immortal King gasped out a dry chuckle.

He spoke in a tone of disbelief.

[Unbelievable. We ordered him to flee to the Forest of the Four Seasons.]

"It was obtained from that very Forest of the Four Seasons."

[Impossible. The Forest of the Four Seasons is a labyrinth from which no one can ever escape.]

"That is also true. However, it was not found by me directly."

Allfather briefly summarized and explained everything that had happened up to now.

That Grylls had fallen into the Forest of the Four Seasons and was able to access the Gallery.

And how, after suffering hardship upon hardship, he accidentally stumbled upon the corpse and the books.

The Immortal King listened silently to the story before opening his mouth.

[Incredible.]

"It is all true. So, what do you wish to do?"

[What do you mean?]

Allfather flipped through the fully translated book and spoke in detail.

"I am asking if you wish to deliver a blow to the Holy Kingdom. I do not particularly care for the Holy Kingdom myself, you see."

[....]

"The Previous Hero who died taking you down with him. He was a dear friend of mine. Besides, that mutual destruction itself was because he succumbed to the Holy Kingdom’s pressure.... He was effectively murdered."

[Do as you wish. But We have a condition.]

"A condition?"

At the mention of a condition, Allfather raised an eyebrow.

Next, the Immortal King stared intently at Allfather and requested in a voice close to resignation.

[Kill Us.]

"That will be for later."

[Damn it.]

At the flat refusal, the Immortal King cursed under his breath.

Though mild for a curse, considering he was a king, it was quite severe.

"Any other request?"

[We are curious who found the records.]

"I already told you it was obtained through the Gallery."

[Help Us access that Gallery.]

"Nonsense. You are clearly..."

Allfather trailed off. An amusing thought had suddenly struck him.

Ordinary undead have no ego. Possessing faint willpower, they are closer to monsters.

However, the Immortal King was an exception. Even with his entire body gone, he maintained a perfectly intact ego.

If so, wouldn’t he be capable of accessing the Gallery as well?

[You wear a perverted expression.]

"Ah. My apologies. An entertaining thought crossed my mind."

[So, will you help Us?]

"Of course I will."

[Even knowing We could reveal Our location?]

A question bordering on a threat. At the same time, a foolish question.

Allfather chuckled softly before bringing up a logical point.

"Who on earth would believe that the Immortal King, who plunged the continent into terror, is stuffed inside a refrigerator?"

[....]

"I certainly do not mean I’m setting you free. I’m merely telling you to browse the Gallery."

For a long while after, the Immortal King pondered Allfather’s words deeply.

Finally having made up his mind, he requested in a calm voice.

[Please kill Us.]

"Later."

Not a chance in hell.