## Chapter 309 – 309. God’S Atlantis
309. God’s Atlantis
The 20th District, the Plain of Tranquility, is a quiet place as its name suggests. The district itself is quite large, but there is nothing there except for grass and large rocks.
And it is a place where animals do not live.
‘If you dig into the ground, there might be worms…’
There are no beasts or monsters. And the same goes for people. There might be merchants passing through, but no one lives here, building homes and settling down. Because the ruler of this place does not want it.
‘It’s not known who the ruler of the 20th District is… but they’re probably a member of Helten. Because the one who commissioned me to come here is Helten.’
I walked aimlessly across the plain. They wouldn’t have used Pesica to commission me just to mess with me.
‘If I keep walking, something will come up.’
My thoughts were right on the mark. But what actually appeared was unexpected.
“This way.”
It was a raccoon.
A raccoon with gray fur was about 10 meters away, waving one of its short front legs at me.
I narrowed my eyes. Did the raccoon just talk to me?
‘Come on, even if this is a fantasy world, that’s a bit much… Is there someone else hiding nearby?’
I looked around, but there wasn’t even a shadow of a person.
“This way, you clown.”
The raccoon moved its mouth and spoke. Listening again, its voice was surprisingly gruff. I had no choice but to acknowledge that the raccoon had spoken.
“……What are you? I’ve never heard of a talking raccoon.”
“I’m a raccoon, you moron.”
I resisted the urge to punch it and approached the raccoon.
‘…Is it really a talking raccoon? Or is someone controlling it with some special skill?’
There were too many possibilities, making it difficult to guess.
As I approached, the raccoon moved away, creating some distance. It seemed to be telling me to follow, so I quietly followed behind it.
“Raccoon. Where are we going?”
“Shut up and follow. You’ll find out if you follow. And I’m a raccoon.”
“……Are you a Helten executive?”
“You probably already guessed.”
No. I’m asking because I haven’t guessed.
The author who wrote [God’s Atlantis] didn’t set up everything about Helten. They only set up some of the executives who appear in the story, so there are Helten executives whose identities I don’t know.
‘Looking at this raccoon’s arrogant attitude… it seems like it has a certain position within Helten.’
While I was thinking about this and that, I arrived in front of a rock. A flat rock over 4 meters wide was just lying there on the plain.
“Why here?”
“You’re so stupid. You have no eye for things.”
The urge to kick the raccoon shot up, but I barely managed to hold it back.
The raccoon stood up on its two legs and swung its front paw at the rock. The front paw didn’t hit the rock but sank into it.
I immediately realized. The rock in front of me was a kind of disguise. It was a magic or skill that disguised the entrance to another space as a rock.
“This is…”
“Too annoying to explain. There are no traps, so just follow me. If they wanted to kill you, they wouldn’t have done something so cumbersome from the start.”
The raccoon slipped into the rock. I followed the raccoon and stretched my foot towards the rock. After confirming that my foot went in, I went inside.
「You have entered the 3,709th District, the Star Judgment.」
「This is a hidden district.」
「In the 3,709th District, truth and lies are judged.」
「The penalty for lies has been lifted by the ruler’s setting.」
「Due to the ruler’s special setting, seats other than the Contract Seat cannot see the situation here.」
「Due to the ruler’s special setting, you cannot leave the district by using scrolls or other spatial movement.」
‘A hidden district… There was a place like this.’
The scenery didn’t change much. The night sky, a plain full of grass. The cool air that I felt. It was the same as before I came inside.
However, there was a rocky area a little further away.
“Don’t space out, follow me!”
I followed the raccoon to the rocky area. The rocks were similar to the famous Stonehenge of modern times.
There were a total of five figures in the rocky area. Each was wearing a mask and covering their bodies with cloaks, making it difficult to identify them.
“I brought him!”
The raccoon said that and then approached a man leaning against a rock and snuggled into his arms. The man had his head bowed as if he were asleep. He was wearing a black cloak, so his face was not visible.
“Good job, Raccoon.”
It was a young man’s voice. I turned my gaze to where the voice came from. A man was sitting on a rock in the center of the area. Wearing leather clothes that the exiles often wore, he had an octagonal mask on his face.
It was a strange mask with no eyes, nose, or mouth. It was a mask that seemed like it would be impossible to see through, but he was looking directly at me.
“Nice to meet you, Cheonma. I am the leader of Helten.”
「It is the truth.」
The system notified me. It was because of the characteristics of this district. The judgment of truth and lies. That included the words spoken out loud. In other words, if you lie here, you will be immediately exposed.
I felt cold sweat running down my face under the clown mask.
‘…I never thought I’d meet the leader of Helten like this. I thought I’d only meet an executive at best…’
And that’s not all. The others are also extraordinary. Perhaps the people gathered here are the executives of Helten.
“I am Cheonma.”
I said.
Is it rude to speak informally? These guys don’t care much about that.
「It is the truth.」
The system popped up. It informed them that what I said was true.
“I heard from Pesica. You want to join Helten? What’s your purpose?”
The notification window again said it was the truth. But it’s a hasty judgment to unconditionally believe the system’s notification window. If the other party is the ruler of this district, they can change the settings of this district.
“I thought I could gain more by joining Helten.”
“What kind of gain? Money?”
“Power. My goal is to get stronger by using Helten.”
「It is the truth.」
It judges truth and lies. It can’t find even the hidden words on purpose. If you pay attention to this point, you can use it enough.
“You’re honest. Well, what we do is a bit illegal, but it’s the best way to gain power. But the goal of our Helten is not to gather together and get stronger.”
“I know. Even if I want power, I won’t do anything like selling you out.”
“Ah. You know. You know what our goal is. How?”
The gazes towards me suddenly sharpened. Among them, only the leader of Helten was interested in me, but that changed with my last statement. Besides the leader of Helten, two other executives were showing interest in me.
“Helten is the most famous criminal organization in Atlantis. I was curious, so I did some research.”
「It is the truth.」
The research they understand and the research I’m talking about are different. I met the author who wrote [God’s Atlantis] and researched various things. I also already know Helten’s purpose through the original work.
“It’s the truth… You’re more capable than I thought.”
The man to the leader’s left said.
He was a man wearing a mask studded with jewels and dressed in the clothes of a wealthy merchant.
“Until just now, your value was only about 4 million penny, but with your last statement, it has risen to 80 million penny.”
“It went up 20 times. Still, that’s quite stingy. Shouldn’t I be worth at least 1 billion penny?”
“Maybe in the future. But your current value is 80 million penny. There is a fatal problem with the truth and lie judgment in this district. It’s subjective. You might be mistaken about our purpose as something completely different and trivial. So, on behalf of the boss, I’ll ask again. What exactly is Helten’s purpose?”
I thought for a moment.
‘Can I say this? …No. It’s already spilled milk. If I don’t say it, I’ll be suspected in another way. Then it’s better to…’
From their point of view, I’m weak. If I fought one of them right now, there’s a high chance I wouldn’t last 10 seconds and die. So I need to appeal my specialness to them.
“Your purpose is… to prevent the next Atlantis from opening. Isn’t it?”
“…Ooh.”
The jewel mask made a small exclamation.
“How did you know? Even Pesica doesn’t know. Only we know that, and the lower ranks wouldn’t know at all… Is there a traitor among us?”
“I figured this out on my own. I can’t tell you the details… but no one among you told me that. Of course, that includes the Helten executives who aren’t here.”
「It is the truth.」
“Indeed. It’s understandable why the boss is interested in you. I’ll raise your value to 1 billion. Do you know what level 1 billion is? It’s a level of value that should be killed as quickly as possible.”
「It is the truth.」
“That’s a very kind assessment.”
「It is a lie.」
“Cheonma.”
This time, the one on the leader’s right called me in a neutral voice. It was a man wearing a cracked lion mask. He was holding a spear in his right hand.
“Will you betray us, Helten?”
“No. If you don’t interfere with me and don’t mistreat me, I can cooperate. Even if it means killing a Seat.”
「It is the truth.」
「The King of the Demonic Sky chuckles.」
「The Lord of the Heavens scoffs at you.」
Rather than getting angry, the Seats scoffed at me. It was the expected reaction. From their point of view, a human saying they would kill them is not just rude, but it looks like a comedy. Because it’s much closer to impossible than a human becoming a god.
“That statement… I like it.”
The one wearing the lion mask said that and lay down on a nearby rock.
“Sparkly and Lion seem to be interested in you.”
The leader said. Sparkly and Lion are a kind of nickname. You can think of it as a code name. Since they’re hiding their identities with masks, they can’t use their real names.
“Then. Am I a member of Helten now?”
“That’s right. But you can’t be an executive. You’re too weak for that, and you haven’t done anything for Helten. If you want to become an executive of Helten, build up your strength from the bottom and work for Helten. If you reach a certain level… I and the others will acknowledge you.”
「It is the truth.」
I felt a question.
That’s the reason why the leader of Helten would bother to meet me in person. If he was just going to make me a low-ranking member of Helten, he wouldn’t have met me directly like this. Because the low-ranking members of Helten are ultimately just pawns.
“You seem to be wondering why we called you here directly. Why do you think we called you here? One, as a hint, I’m the only one who was interested in something about you. The others here only came because they were interested in me calling you.”
‘……Is this also a kind of test?’
I thought for a moment.
What could the leader be interested in about me?
Successfully bringing the branch of the Seven-Branched Sword Tree through Pesica’s request? Acting with a clown mask, saying I wanted to join Helten? Moving under the name of Cheonma?
‘There’s no way Helten would be interested in that.’
Let’s go back through my memories for a moment. There was one thing.
A reason why the leader would be interested in me.
I had definitely told Pesica before. And Pesica would have reported to Helten.
“…The Seat I contracted with. It’s because of the King of the Demonic Sky.”
“That’s the correct answer.”
「It is the truth.」
“The King of the Demonic Sky is a unique Seat even among the top Seats. The King of the Demonic Sky doesn’t contract with just anyone.”
「The King of the Demonic Sky cocks his head.」
The King of the Demonic Sky seems puzzled, but it’s not strange that the leader knows about the King of the Demonic Sky.
Because he knows what happened from the 1st to the 7th round of Atlantis with his hunter ability.
“Do you know the identity of the King of the Demonic Sky?”
“I know. Judging by your reaction, you don’t seem to know.”
「It is the truth.」
“What is the identity of the King of the Demonic Sky?”
“That… I can’t tell you. I don’t want to turn the King of the Demonic Sky into an enemy. And even if I don’t tell you, you’ll find out his identity soon enough.”
「It is the truth.」
“……”
I frowned. In the end, I couldn’t find out the identity of the King of the Demonic Sky. I was going to force it, but I stopped.
“Then, is our business over? What should I do now?”
