Chapter 543 – The Cursed Throne
The time when the party looked at the mouse hole. A hamster with fine brown fur comes out of the burrow.
“Chwik!! Finally!! Cheek!! The revival of knowledge is imminent!! Cheek!!!”
“…”
Unexpectedly, human words come out of the chubby hamster’s mouth.
“Um… What is that? Why a hamster…?”
“…Not a hamster. He is the apostle of our knowledge.”
“…Nowadays, do you tame rats and make them followers? Is that a high ranking position?”
Bruno is so absurd that despite the priest’s explanation, he unknowingly pours out blasphemous words in front of them.
“…”
And when the priest, blushing at those words, closed his mouth and lowered his head for a moment. The hamster listens to Bruno’s words and starts waving his cute legs.
“Oops!! Cheeky thing!! I’m an apostle of knowledge!! Apostle!! Now that knowledge is sealed and cursed together, I just became like this!! You cheeky bastard!!!”
‘Ah… I guess I got that shape because I got scolded by the space kitty.’
Hearing the hamster’s cry, Seong-il realizes why the little mouse refers to an apostle.
“Hey!! You!! Won’t you salute me right now!!”
Seong-il was lost in thought. When the hamster sees the barbarian warrior staring at him with his arms crossed, he exclaims in anger.
“To the rat? Why me?”
“Ignom!! I am the apostle of great knowledge!! I will curse you!! Jjiik!!”
A hamster with a cute appearance and a bloody sound. Interestingly, when the hamster shakes his hand, he holds a very dainty wizard’s robe and wand in his hand.
“Jjiik!! Right now!! If I don’t kneel…!!”
“I’m the apostle of the one who sealed your god. What’s wrong with me? Shall I seal you too?”
“…?!”
The hamster swung his staff at Seongil’s words and flinched. However, apart from that, the wand he waved already created a black cursed lightning that flew to Seongil as if the magic had been completed.
Pajijik!!!
The power of lightning is unbelievable for a spell used by a cute hamster. The time when the party and Seong-il were startled by the order. Intense light emanates from the back of Seongil’s hand.
“!!!!!”
A mighty presence and power that spreads out from the cute, sparkling pattern on the soles of cats. After lightly swallowing the flying lightning, the pattern scatters terrifying energy toward the hamster.
“Jjieik!!!!”
When hit directly by the energy, the hamster wriggles in pain while exposing its cute and fluffy belly.
“…Poop!”
Despite the situation, Senna puts her hand over her mouth and tries desperately to hold back laughter, probably because the hamster is cute.
“Oh…”
Either that or not, Seong-il looks at the pattern of the kitty that deflected the hamster’s magic and looks interested.
“Chwiiik… It hurts…”
“Apostle!!!”
Priests of knowledge run to a fallen hamster, pick it up and pamper it. Seong-il’s colleagues, including Ban, look at the ridiculous appearance with strangely emotional expressions.
“Jjiik… Poetry… The skills are quite good!!”
A hamster struggles to get up from his seat after drinking the healing potion given by the priest. To his muttering, Seong-il responds in a piercing voice with a tone of embarrassment.
“I’m stupid… Will your magic work for me, the apostle of the existence that sealed your god? Mr. Kkuk!!… I think I’ll pray to Kitty again and throw these bastards away.”
“!!!”
Seong-il is already busy, but he gets annoyed when he sees a hamster climbing on him. And the priests, including the hamster, look frightened and quickly kneel in front of Seongil and begin to ejaculate.
“You are a great man!! Please have mercy!!”
“Jjiik!! I’m sorry!!”
Seong-il laughs at the sight of hamsters staggering among the priests and staggering gears.
‘Apart from the priest, this hamster’s stance change is very fast.’
Seong-il tells the hamster that he is annoyed because he is a colleague to be with for the time being.
“If you act arrogant, I’ll remove you from the mission!! Got it?”
“Jjiik… Sin… I’m sorry.”
The appearance of a hamster moving its small head up and down and apologizing at the threat of a sad day.
When he shows that he has become quite compliant, Seong-il holds the hamster in his hand and brings it to his face before talking to him.
“According to the revelation, we have to go defeat the red dragon with only six people. And there are already five members in the party.”
“Chji… Jjiik… That… By the way?”
“The Master Paladin serving in the Temple of Justice has expressed his willingness to participate. Explain why I need to take you. Appeal that you are better than the Master Paladin.”
“!!!”
The hamster’s eyes widen to the size of a bell at the words of Seong-il that depending on the answer, he may be excluded from the party.
“Chi… Jjiik!! Ba… Please take me with you!! Be sure to show my worth in this mission…!!”
“Ah~ Be loud and say what you can!! Don’t bother with useless rhetoric!!”
At Seong-il’s scream, the hamster looks at him with a slightly dejected expression. Then, when Seong-il really seems to be curious about his abilities, the hamster remakes his signature arrogant expression and appeals to himself.
“I’m a ninth-tier mage who is less than twenty throughout the continent of Solon!!”
“…The ninth rank?”
“Jjiik!! That’s right. Before the knowledge was sealed, he gave me a revelation!! It’s said that beings who have broken through the ninth hierarchy with a human body are only twenty at best!! Squeak!!”
“Hmm…”
“Even… It’s been 300 years since knowledge disappeared!! During that time, the popularity of mages only declined. Therefore, if the number of mages in the 9th rank decreased, I am confident that it would not have increased at all!! Jjik!!”
‘I’m not saying it’s wrong.’
Strictly speaking, there were surprisingly many cases where a person who threw off a human mask like ‘Rich’ or who transcended human beings like ‘Dragon’ became a 9th tier…
As the hamster said, there were really few cases where a being wearing a ‘human’ mask was a ninth-tier mage. Excluding the playable characters, there are less than five ‘human’ wizards of the ninth rank that exist throughout the Cursed Throne series.
‘…But isn’t he not human?’
If you just listen, the hamster in front of you is at least 300 years old. In addition, Seong-il looked at him with long eyes through slightly tinted glasses because he had the appearance of a beast.
“Why… Why do you do that… Jjiik…”
“If you listen to what you say, you seem to be at least 300 years old, and you look like a hamster, but are you really human?”
“Jjik!! That’s right!! It’s because I’m not an ordinary person!! Jjik!!”
“Because it’s an apostle?”
“…It’s a little different from that.”
‘Hmm? Are there any settings I don’t know about? I’m curious. Shall I dig some?’
Denying the answer, the hamster carefully looks at Seongil’s eyes.
‘If it was another game, I would have skipped it… Fuck. The Cursed Throne is a game that I played like a half-dead person, so I can’t just pass over the questions I’m curious about.’
Because of this, Seong-il, who smells the secret, looks at the hamster strongly.
“What’s the difference? Please explain.”
“Jjiik…”
A hamster who seems to be contemplating whether or not to open his mouth even after he speaks out.
“Hate it? Hmm… Master Paladin rather than him…”
“Jjik!!! I am a being who received a fragment of ‘essence’ from the god of knowledge!! Jjik!!”
“…Nature?”
A setup I’ve never heard of. When Seong-il and other co-workers show curious expressions at the appearance of an unfamiliar word, the hamster puts on a resigned expression and opens its mouth.
“Jjiik… Knowledge… Existing… So, you thought that the traditional method of evangelism was ‘inefficient’ because the speed was too slow…”
“However?”
“That’s why he wanted to use a method to influence the mortals of the primary material world more quickly. Jjiik…”
“What does that have to do with you?”
When the hamster tries to talk more, Seong-il gets annoyed. However, the hamster hesitates and is reluctant to speak, as if that was the best way.
“Uh huh.”
“…”
However, Seong-il was able to understand the other person’s psychology like a ghost through empathy. He realizes that the hamster is frowning and calls him off with a sharp tone.
“Huh? If you don’t tell me, will they just exclude you from the party?”
In the end, the hamster who couldn’t overcome the pressure reveals his shame as if he couldn’t help it.
“Jjiik… In order to ‘quickly’ inform the mortals of the ‘correct’ knowledge, Knowledge creates ‘apostles’ transplanted with some of his powers, and ‘anti-forces’ the ‘correct’ knowledge to non-believers. You tried to pass it on…”
“…”
“That…And that’s me. Jjiik… An apostle who has been weakly implanted with a piece of God’s soul and can use some of his powers. As an apostle of God who handles all knowledge, I have a great talent for magic…”
“Are you crazy?”
Bruno cuts off the hamster’s words and spits out swear words from his mouth. Although he is not the god he believes in, and he is also a missing god, Bruno seems to take the words of the hamster seriously enough to dare to insult God from his mouth as a priest.
“…That’s right. Gods should use only ‘doctrine’ and ‘influence’ through the priests to enlighten the believers, never try to influence them with ‘power’… Jjiik…”
“Isn’t it to the extent that it’s not possible!! That’s what demons do!!!”
“Jjiik… So now knowledge is a time of reflection for a long time…”
“I’m full of energy… I can understand why the records of the god of knowledge were thoroughly destroyed in just a few hundred years.”
“…”
The hamster, the apostle of knowledge, bows his head and is silent, as if he had nothing to say at Bruno’s tongue-in-cheek remarks.
“Hmm. Enough with that story. In short, are you a mortal with some powers of knowledge?”
“Jjiik!! That’s right!! So I have a long lifespan and an understanding of powerful magic. The god of knowledge is also closely related to magic.”
“And because you received such a mighty authority, you were being punished for doing that, too?”
“…”
At Seong-il’s sharp point, the hamster is speechless and puts his head down again and trembles.
“It’s obvious if you don’t look at it. Anyway, you’re a ninth-tier mage? Then it must be quite useful against a worm-class dragon. A proper 9-tier wizard is almost a dragon-class strongman.”
“Jjiik… Actually, that’s…”
“…?”
Seong-il Seon introduces himself as a dragon-level strongman, and when Seong-il shows his understanding, the hamster scratches his head with a dainty hand and makes a puzzled expression.
“Jjiik… I’m in a situation where I’m being punished, compared to my heyday, my abilities are cut in half.”
“…Is this bastard?”
In fact, Seong-il frowns and gets annoyed at the hamster’s words that he introduced the specifications in a puffed-up way.
“Yai-san…!! I’m still not sure if I can catch a dragon with 6 people, but you dare to hit a ball!? If you cut it in half, you’re actually a 4-5 class wizard. Is this bastard kidding!!”
After showing all kinds of arrogance and popping out of the mouse hole, Seong-il shows a really open anger at the hamster’s words that he is a Lazaric-level wizard.
“Jjiik!! No!! No, ahh!! Jjiik!!”
“Then what is it, you bastard!!
“9th tier is right!! That’s right!! However, because of the curse, I can only use about 1/3 of the spells compared to the prime!! Jjiik!!”
“Oh yeah?”
When the hamster replies that the ninth rank is correct, but there is a penalty for the number of memorizations, Seong-il stops being annoyed and gently puts the guy down on the floor.
‘…The lack of orders is because I can memorize them efficiently.’
Seong-il was confident enough to cover the penalty unless the number of memorized spells was absurdly low due to the fact that he was a deceased person among deceased people. He stares at the hamster and asks him about his abilities.
“Name the number of spells that can be memorized. By hierarchy.”
“9… 3 based on the 9th rank. Jjiik…”
“Oh my gosh… You’re a complete half-mage bastard.”
“…”
Generally, a mage who has just reached the ninth rank in the main character’s party can memorize 4 to 6 spells depending on their intelligence quotient, so Seong-il quickly understands how bad a mage the hamster is.
“Jjik… Jjik… Instead, I have excellent abilities as a priest… Jjik… Also, compared to an ordinary wizard, my spell casting speed is very fast!!”
“Ohhh… Is that so?”
“Yes… Jjiik…”
“Can you summon a chiangel? If you’re an apostle, of course you can summon at least an angel serving God to the material world for a while, right?”
“… Jjiik.”
A hamster expressing impossibility with a short moan. Seong-il feels that his blood pressure rises again.
‘Damn it… It looks much better to just take the Master Paladin.’
When Seong-il puts on an annoyed expression on his answer, the hamster clings to Seong-il’s leg dance in a begging manner and begs him.
“Apostle of the great one!! Please give me one chance!! Jjiik!!”
“Okay…”
“As an apostle of knowledge, I have a high level of knowledge about magic tools and spells!! If I’m going to deal with a worm-class dragon, I’ll be more helpful than a master paladin!! Jjiik!!”
‘Wait… Magic tools? God of knowledge!?’
The hamster’s frantic remark reminds Seong-il of an item that passes through his mind.
“Hey… Wait a minute.”
“Chijik?”
“Are you not this?”
In front of the puzzled hamster, Seong-il openly opens his inventory and shows him the 『Spell Book of Wonder』.
