Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 524: Inside the Overlord’s Dreams

“Fwaaaaa.”

Ares recalled the incident yesterday with Guild Master Minhyuk, who finally found out about his mother’s secret soybean paste stew recipe.

‘That’s right. It’s only the Food God’s that’s unique, not the entire kingdom. There’s definitely a lot of stepping stones here in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom that can allow me to grow stronger.’

Beyond the Heavens Kingdom housed plenty of prominent and respectable high rankers. From what he heard, the number of high rankers in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom exceeded the total of the number of high rankers of the four major guilds in the country. Ares was also aware that the players that had entered and migrated to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had experienced tremendous growth in a short period of time. Ares firmly believed that he would also be able to achieve such an effect. That was why…

‘I’m very curious about the jobs and positions of the executives and the NPCs of Beyond the Heaven Kingdoms.’

They were the best rankers and NPCs in the country! Ares was sure that their jobs and posts would give an insight to how they became strong. In fact, he was most curious about the NPCs’ jobs and positions. The NPCs of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were so strong to the point that one would consider them to be out of this world. Ares believed that they were the reason why Beyond the Heavens Kingdom could maintain and become even more powerful, despite their king, Minhyuk, being a little ‘unique’.

.

Right now, Minhyuk’s aide, Haze, was standing beside Ares. She had received an order from Minhyuk to inform Ares and his guild members about the affairs of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. While Ares stood beside Haze and listened to her explanations…

“Lalala~”

…a man passed by. Ares’ eyes twinkled when he saw the man.

‘Locke!!!’

Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and Legend Guild’s original member, Locke, who was famous for his class as Jeffrit’s Descendant. Despite his undesirable looks, Locke was an indispensable figure in the kingdom.

‘I wonder what Locke’s position is?!’

Locke was both a great dealer and an extraordinary debuff master. He could even become a healer at times. It was only natural for someone with Locke’s power to hold the position of ‘Attack Commander’ or ‘Defense Commander’.

“Can we follow him?”

“Of course.”

After receiving Haze’s approval, Ares quietly followed behind Locke.

“Ah, it’s time to do today’s mission.”

Ares’ expectations soared after hearing Haze’s words. He was going to witness the mission that Locke always did everyday!

‘It’s definitely a mission that makes him stronger!’

As they walked like that, Ares saw Locke stop in front of a large dog house. What Locke did next was simple…

“Chu, chu, chu~?Our Love, Hope and Happiness! Dear baby, it’s time to have a meal with daddy~”

…he poured food into three large iron bowls while shouting at the dog house with a gentle and cute expression. Then…

Blink—

Ares could only blink. He literally blinked as the three-headed Cerberus jumped out of the huge kennel and pounced on their food.

“My dear cuties, let dad have a touch, just once…”

“Keuhaaaaaaack!”

“Grrrrrrrrrr—!“

“…Alright. Next time then~”

After making sure that there was a next time, Locke crouched down and began to clean up the enormous piles of poop around the kennel.

“Punks. You definitely poop so much and in a very pretty way too~”

“…?”

After Locke cleaned up the shit with a smile on his face, Cerberus jumped up and rushed forward to play with him. Cerberus bit and scratched at Locke.

“…Shouldn’t we help him? Locke is being eaten by Cerberus…?”

“Get used to it. It’s an everyday occurrence. Also, they’re just playing around.”

“…Th, that’s playing around?! Locke’s head is already bleeding after getting hit by Cerberus?! E, even his arm is halfway from being torn off…!”

“It happens every time. Don’t worry, he’ll heal himself.”

“Ah. What’s Locke’s position?”

Ares was not curious about Locke feeding the dogs. He was only curious about Locke’s position in the kingdom. Then, Haze looked at Ares weirdly while saying, “Sir Locke is the Cerberus’ Sitter. He holds a very important position in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.”

“…?”

For a moment, Ares’ expression was colored with disbelief.

“Unbelievable…” Ares mumbled, realizing that something had gone really, really?wrong here.

“Sir Locke is also one of the att…”

But before Haze could even finish her words, intending to inform Area that Locke was also one of the attack captains, Ares had already spotted another guild member. This guild member was none other than Vice Guild Master Genie. Ares immediately ran after her, only to see Genie lift the tail of the cats and look at their anuses.

“Okay, nothing’s wrong today either~ Stay healthy~ The Luwak coffee is really abundant. Hoho!”

“Ah. One of our Vice Guild Master’s jobs is to take care and manufacture Luwak coffee to fill in the empty position that Ghost Spear Ben had left behind.”

“No way…!”

And in another place…

Ares saw the one that he was most curious about, Elpis!

‘That, that’s right! The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom’s Shield!!!’

Elpis had earphones stuck on his ear as he sat in front of the fountain in the plaza and listened to his music.

Drip, drip, drip, drip—!

He was even shedding hot tears!

“Music… music is the only drug His Majesty has allowed…!”

As if he was not satisfied with that, he took things a step further by taking off his earphones, switching to speaker mode and dancing to children’s songs.

In another place…

“Ah. Conir is in charge of making His Majesty’ ramyeon. This is the most important position in the kingdom.”

“Sage Aruvel is a genius that has produced countless erotic masterpieces. I believe I don’t need to explain about his position any further, right?”

“That guy over there that’s shouting with his hands raised high up is Sir Corr. He’s the one in charge of treating the baldness of the subjects of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. He has a very important position. That person over there is Beyond the Heavens Kingdom’s fisher… Ah, Kaistra! That guy over there is an amazing person that has reached the god level in dishwashing…”

Then…

Swoooooooooosh—

A woman swiftly passed by Ares. With tears in his eyes, Ares looked at Mei Wei in shock and admiration.

‘That’s right. If it’s Mei Wei…! If it’s her then…!’

Mei Wei was the woman hailed as the global official number one ranker! That was right, she had to be normal, right? But then…

“Did His Majesty go to Lumae Kingdom already? Ha… I even got some very delicious bread and banana milk from Aerven Village this time but…!”

“…???”

Haze explained kindly after seeing Ares’ face get riddled with question marks, “Lady Mei Wei runs errands for His Majesty. I believe people call her ‘Bread Shuttle’.”

‘Mei, Mei Wei runs errands and claims to be a Bread Shuttle…?’

At this point, Ares realized, ‘No one’s normal in this place!!!’

Then, Haze smiled bitterly and said, “I believe you’ll experience quite a bit of confusion during your first few days here. His Majesty’s kingdom is a little special, right? But please don’t worry, I’m one of the few normal people here.”

Ares felt like he was about to cry tears of joy when he heard that. That was right. Not all of them should be abnormal, right? At first glance, Haze looked normal. But then, as if remembering something, she said, “Ah. Come to think of it, Ares Guild has the Reos Fruit as your special product, right? You should give all rights and authority over that product to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. At the very least, I can make the profits from it increase by around forty times.”

“Forty times…?”

Reos Fruit was a fruit that could increase the body’s cold attribute resistance and bring a bit of heat in it upon consumption. The heat that the fruit could bring about was pleasant and warm, so plenty of people enjoy this delicacy.

“Since it’s a fruit bestowed by the Sun God, it could create a pleasant warmth in the body. If we say that they will receive the Sun God’s protection the moment they eat this fruit, then this will definitely sell fast with the nobles. Ohohohoho!”

‘Th, that’s a scam…!’

The Legendary Scammer, Haze, was not normal either.

‘I need to stay alert and watch my actions closely!’

Ares promised himself that he would never be an abnormal person! However, what he did not know was that he would soon be ‘Minhyuk-ified’ too.

***

Raldo had plenty of shocking achievements, to the point that the people called him the Warrior God Raldo, or even Overlord Raldo. There were even stories being passed down about how Warrior God Raldo led 5,000 troops and forced back the 20,000 strong troops of Collodis Empire in the previous war. Such an absurd thing was only made possible because of his existence. The fact that Warrior God Raldo had used the Warrior God’s special powers was also something that was well-known to the continent.

But, despite his countless shocking achievements in the past, he was stricken with this strange, unexplainable deep sleep.

Step—

Minhyuk looked around the place where Overlord Raldo was sleeping and asked, “Has Raldo stayed like this since he fell asleep?”

“That’s right,” Evan, who had decided to cooperate with them, nodded in answer. “We haven’t been able to find any sort of hint so far. Also, a powerful force would stop us whenever we tried to touch His Majesty’s body.”

After hearing Evan’s words, Minhyuk slowly approached Raldo while carefully reaching out his hand to touch Raldo’s hand.

[An unknown power is currently residing in Overlord Raldo’s body.]

[You cannot get close to Overlord Raldo!]

To accurately find the issue in one’s body, it was only right to make contact with it. But even that was made impossible by this unknown power.

“And there were no signs of attack?”

“Yes. Of course.”

Overlord Raldo being attacked? That was completely preposterous. As Minhyuk rubbed his chin in thought, Prince Votto and the more than 1,000 surviving knights and troops that came along looked at him with nervous looks on their faces. Raldo was like the sky and the heavens to them. Although they had chosen Prince Votto, they would definitely not make such a foolish choice if Raldo had been awake.

‘Please. Please awaken His Majesty Raldo.’

‘Please do not leave His Majesty Raldo alone in his sleep anymore…’

They even went so far as to plead and ask their enemy, Minhyuk of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, to help them. Minhyuk knew better than anyone else that he would be able to gain a huge reward if he could wake up Raldo right here and now.

“Kimaris.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Kimaris answered politely as he bowed and stood behind Minhyuk. Since he had decided to stay with Minhyuk, he would become his loyal vassal.

“Do you think I will be able to find something in his dreams?”

“We can find a hint as long as there’s something that he wants to find. However, there’s something that you have to keep in mind.”

Minhyuk looked back at Kimaris when he heard him emphasize this point.

“My skill ‘Dreams of Truth’ can allow someone awake to fall into a deep sleep and find the things that they have forgotten in their sleep. I can also allow His Majesty to be the one to dream and get a glimpse of that place in his stead.”

“That’s right,” Minhyuk nodded. He knew about the skill ‘Dreams of Truth’ too.

“I believe we should use the latter method and have Your Majesty be the one to dream instead. However, there’s a risk to this. If Your Majesty fails to find anything in the dream, then you will be trapped inside it until you die. Also, the stronger the person you will dream for and the longer you stay in the dream, the more sin you will bear.”

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

Evan, Prince Votto and the prisoners of wars, the knights and soldiers of Lumae Kingdom, that accompanied them here were shocked. Actually, everyone present at the scene was shocked by Kimaris’ words.

‘The Beyond the Heavens’ King will die…?’

‘The King himself has to risk his own life and death for this?’

‘How can this be…’

Even if he had the power to come back to life again, Minhyuk was still a king. The burden that a king himself had to carry was too much. Evan had a bitter look on his face as he said, “Beyond the Heavens King, I will not forget the risk that you’re bearing for us.”

However, even though he believed that there was no more hope, Evan still decided to not forget the efforts of Minhyuk to try and wake up Raldo. The same was true for the others. A king risking his life to save another king was a ridiculous notion. In the end, everyone believed that he would turn around. Before they came here, Minhyuk had told them to leave any important baggage behind.

“Minhyuk…”

Even so, Khan, who came with him, still expressed his concern. First, he did not know how much penalty Minhyuk would receive once it happened. And second, what if Raldo did not have anything that he wanted to find?

‘He doesn’t need to receive a penalty for this.’

After pondering for a moment, Minhyuk turned to Evan with a kind smile on his face.

“It’s alright.”

Evan looked confused when he saw Minhyuk’s kind smile. Minhyuk looked back and said, “Evan and the rest of these people here are waiting for you to wake up.”

Then, Minhyuk looked at the prisoners of war that he brought along, who were standing beyond the door.

“You also have subjects standing beyond that door crying for you. Even though I’m the king of an enemy kingdom, I know all too well how they feel. Even if I die, I’m still an immortal. Hence, I’ll challenge it for you.”

“…!”

Evan, the prisoners of war, and even the subjects that would hear about this story later on, were all in awe and admiration of Minhyuk.

‘You’re the king of another nation but you can understand the hearts of the subjects of another kingdom?!’

‘You can understand what the people feel even though we are from another kingdom.’

‘The Beyond the Heavens’ King is a true and genuine person. He’s… as great and amazing as His Majesty Raldo, isn’t he?’

[Your favor with Evan has reached the highest level.]

[The hearts of the prisoners of war are shaking.]

[The eyes that the prisoners of war are looking at you with is changing. They are now viewing you as a likable person.]

As for Minhyuk? His words were actually only half true. In any case, Minhyuk was bound to challenge this. If he could make use of the situation to win the hearts of the people here during this challenge, then it was just like hitting two birds with one stone. This just went to show how smart of a sovereign Minhyuk was. Besides, even if he died, he would still be able to win the hearts of the prisoners-of-war.

“I will now use Dreams of Truth,” Kimaris said as he extended each of his arms to Raldo and Minhyuk respectively. Then, a huge amount of demonic energy passed through Raldo before getting sucked into Minhyuk’s body. After that…

“Beyond the Heavens’ King, I, Lumae Kingdom’s Guardian Evan, will never forget your efforts!”

Thud—

Evan placed his rapier on the ground as he knelt down on one knee to show courtesy. Even the prisoners of wars knelt down all at once. However, Minhyuk was not able to witness any of this. His eyes looked vacant as his consciousness got sucked into a pitch-black darkness.

[You are now dreaming on behalf of Raldo.]

Then, a voice rang from somewhere.

“I killed my father and even coveted his secret scroll.”