Hellmode ~A Hardcore Gamer Becomes Peerless in Another World with Retro Game Settings~

Chapter 463: King and Gate

Allen's group was able to enter the Dragon God's Village thanks to the Spirit King Fabre.

They had waited for half a day, so they had gotten hungry.

A rather large city stood just across the gate, so they looked for an inn to spend the night there.

For that, they asked a dragonkin adventurer for the best inn nearby and went there.

They went to the inn, took a bath, and gathered in the dining hall.

The terrain around there was arid and dusty, so the girls had wanted to bathe first and then eat.

It was hard to find much greenery in that area of the continent.

They all sat down in the dining hall and ordered food.

(Hmhmm, I see. So the big crocodile ones are adventurers, and the slim lizard ones are cooks or waiters.)

The dragonkin also had varied features inside their race, which seemed to influence their jobs.

"Woohoo! It's meat!!"

Luck raised his knife and fork in excitement at the large piece of meat placed on the table.

"Yes, it's meat. I wonder if it's dragon meat."

"Allen, there's no way they would eat dragons in this village. It does look good though."

Cecile said that was not the case. Luck was already stuffing his cheeks.

Dark elves did not have the same aversion to meat that elves had.

Watching Luck eat, Allen thought back to what happened at the entrance.

"Ignomas, thank you for standing up for us back there."

He had taken a stance for the party.

"Well, I'm also part of your party now. Why did you not get angry being treated like that though?"

Allen had become as influential as a country's representative now, but he did not seem angry by being treated so poorly by the gatekeepers.

"Well, there was no reason to get angry at them there."

"Hm?"

"There's things I'd like to accomplish before beating them up."

Ignomas still looked puzzled.

Even Allen would be annoyed after being held up for half a day, but his objective was the Gate of Judgement. He needed to find a way through the gatekeepers instead.

He needed free access to the gate if he wanted to enter the Divine Realm.

Though if he succeeded in getting there, he would likely be able to get out through force.

Having a friendly relationship with the dragonkin would make it easier to get in and out afterwards though. In the end, Allen needed to find a peaceful resolution.

"I see, you're a strategist even if you were born a serf."

"I don't really care what I am, it's not like I'm doing this for fame."

Allen had come to that world to grind, not to become famous.

"Hmm, I do want fame though."

Ignomas had been born a peasant, but had joined Prostia's knights to gain fame and authority.

"I also want fame. Also, why is everything meat here? It's not good for my skin. I need to watch my diet."

Allen felt like mermen had a tendency to want fame. Rosalina also seemed annoyed with the local cuisine.

(Maybe letting Luck order dinner wasn't a good idea.)

A waiter came the moment they glanced over.

"Ah, could I order something else as well then?"

Sophie also wanted something else, so far she had only eaten the vegetables from side dishes.

(Everyone has a distinct personality. That's good.)

Allen did not force his ideals onto the party. He did not mind Ignomas and Rosalina's attitude.

He looked over at Fabre who was eating fish.

"So you actually know the Dragon King?"

'Hm? I guess, though we're more like acquaintances.'

Allen went into strategy mode and changed topics.

Everyone except for Luck and Ignomas noticed the change in Allen, so they listened silently.

Allen had asked Merus a lot of questions before coming there.

He had asked various things about the village.

Maybe some things were taboo for the Divine Realm, but Allen felt like anything worked as long as it was within the rules.

He also wanted to verify what Kurena had heard from the Arbiter God.

"Fabre, have you ever crossed the Gate of Judgement to enter the Divine Realm?"

Fabre had said to not use honorifics with her, so Allen just called her Fabre.

'Mm? Not at all. I believe the gate has remained shut for the last 10000 years. Matil told me the conditions to open it are extremely harsh or something like that.'

Allen recalled what Merus said about the King, the Gate, and how this world was structured.

There was a reason for the existence of the Dragon King.

The Gate of Judgement was at the tip of the peninsula.

The dragonkin watched over the gate, and the Dragon King ruled over them.

(So dragonkin watch over the Gate of Judgement, and demons over the Gate of the Abyss.)

Merus had mentioned this world was split into the human world, Divine Realm, and Underworld.

The Void divided each of them.

Two gates existed in the human world, leading into the other realms.

The Gate of the Abyss had been destroyed, so demons no longer had to look over it.

A Demon King would be born to rule over demons, and sometimes become the Demon God.

A Dragon King would be born to rule over dragonkin, and sometimes become the Dragon God.

Becoming a Demon God was a rare occurrence.

But demons had broken the law and trespassed into divine precincts, creating hundreds of Demon Gods, which now were simply called Demon Generals.

The Gate of the Abyss had been destroyed when the Evil God was split into 5 parts and banished, 1000000 years ago.

Without any duties, the demons would attempt to conquer the world.

That seemed to teach the world that one should never leave powerful entities free.

"I still can't believe that they named a village after the Dragon God that almost ended the world."

'Matil also regrets that. I remember hearing something about the God continuing to watch over the dragonkin and Dragon King.'

A Dragon King was awarded a Divine Artifact 10000 years ago, becoming a Dragon God.

That was the Dragon God Opholia, who tried to conquer the world.

Half the world was conquered and the Dragon God almost succeeded.

Usually the Demon King tried that, but sometimes the Dragon King would try that as well.

10000 years ago the Dragon King had tried that, leading to many lives being lost.

Even demons were overpowered by Opholia.

Elmea deemed the world was out of balance, so an army of angels appeared through the Gate of Judgement, which defeated Opholia and sealed the Dragon God away.

Merus was the First Angel leading those angels.

The Dragon God had caused the last reset of the world 10000 years ago.

But then the Divine Realm decided to name this village after that Dragon God.

It was a sort of warning to never forget what the Dragon God had done.

"I see. So that's the story. Is the current Dragon King better?"

Cecile sighed. They needed to meet the Dragon King to reach the Gate of Judgement.

'Well, I can't say what Matil's true motives are, but I'd say Matil also wants to see the gate open.'

The Dragon King Matildora had lived for millenia watching over the gate and village.

Fabre had been born at around the same time, so they had interacted in the past.

Even the gatekeepers knew that.

"Should we head straight to the Dragon King's palace then?"

"Ideally I'd like to investigate other things first, but I don't know how much time we have."

(I also want anklets.)

In games, the world would always wait for the protagonist to be ready.

Allen could grind as much as he wanted for items.

Now he missed being able to become far more powerful than the Demon King.

Here the Demon King was also growing stronger and continuously attacking the world.

Allen felt like he could not spend too long doing miscellaneous things.

The materials Habarak wanted were also important, but the Gate of Judgement took priority.

"That's true, how about we split this team into two then, Master Allen?"

"Hmm, that's a good idea."

(Maybe that's the only way. It's hard to know how long things will take anyway.)

"It'll be fine, Master Allen. It won't be the same as with Peromus."

Sophie told Allen not to worry. He was still thinking of how Peromus had been taken before.

Things would only get dangerous from there on, so he wanted them to move as a group.

But if they remained together they would not obtain much.

It was best if they had a material gathering team, and a gate team.

"Alright. Just don't feel pressured to do a lot. Try to find anklets for now, they might exist around here."

"So that and alchemy materials, got it."

Allen decided to accept Sophie's suggestion, and told her what he wanted to find there.

Anklets were a form of equipment in that world, but no one he knew could make them.

Anklets seemed to be mainly tied to mobility.

The frontliners mainly wore equipment that raised their Attack, so anklets could boost their Agility on top of that.

The Dragon God's Village had existed since ancient times as the guardians of the Gate of Judgement. Maybe they knew about old forms of equipment like anklets.

They did not trade much with other countries, so it was worth searching there.

Allen started thinking of how to split the members there.

(Hm? Huh? Since when has this been on the island?)

The Bird E circling Heavy User Island spotted a foreign object.

Something green was above the temple on the island.

A smaller white thing circled around it.

The white one was Haku, who looked small by comparison, even though Haku was 15 meters long.

"What's wrong?"

Cecile noticed Allen's reaction.

"There's a green dragon on the island. Hm? It's coming this way."

Allen used the Bird F's Awakened Skill [Messenger] to relay a warning to the island.

All the soldiers standing by went out with their weapons ready, and the green dragon left the island and flew to the Dragon God's Village at a high speed.

Soon there was an uproar outside.

"Let's go outside, the dragon is in the city."

Allen's group started getting nervous. They went outside as everyone made noise.

All the dragonkin outside were looking up at the sky.

"Ahhh, it's the Green Dragon!!"

"The Green Dragon has returned!!"

"The Green Dragon is back again!!"

Allen's group could also see the enormous dragon in the sky, with a wingspan of more than 100 meters.

'...'

"Hm?"

Allen felt like the green dragon had looked straight at him.

The green dragon floated in place for a while, then turned around and flew somewhere else.