Hellmode ~A Hardcore Gamer Becomes Peerless in Another World with Retro Game Settings~
chapter-520

The group was standing by in a luxurious waiting room on the third layer of the capital city of Rabul. Only royalty lived on that layer, and from the window the lower layers were visible.

Peromus, who had just gotten married, as well as Haku and Kurena who had finished Levelling Up were also there.

Helmios, Galara, and the Ten Heroic Beasts were also there. The only ones who came from the human realm and were not present were the Dragon King and Allen.

The Dragon King was currently on a trip around the entire continent.

Abigayle would take part in the audience with the Heavenly King, representing the Dragon King.

If he felt something was unfair to dragonkin he could always consult with the Dragon King though. The Dragon King clearly cared about the dragonkin and their lives in the divine realm.

Eventually Allen teleported into the room too, even though he was the main guest.

"Holy…I thought I was going to die…"

(I don't even know how I'm still conscious.)

Allen's left arm was missing from the elbow down, while his right side was gouged out, his innards hanging out exposed. His orichalcum sword was shattered near the hilt, and most of his body was riddled with wounds so deep that his bones were exposed.

He looked like he had just come out of a fight with some powerful warrior.

"Wait, what even happened! All Heal!!"

Seeing Allen's bloodied body, Kiel quickly casts his magic, and soon Allen's body heals back.

"Allen, what's wrong with you! Stop doing that already, you can't defeat Nestiad! How many times have you been left half dead already!!"

Cecile started chastising Allen for it while he changed his tattered clothes.

"But it actually went way better than last time."

Allen checked how long the fight lasted on his clock.

(I've also gotten more used to Graham's Possession Combination. I lasted 10 minutes this time, that's a new personal best. One day I'll defeat him, for sure.)

'...He really resembles a researcher. There were only a handful of people like that in my time.'

Allen had continued testing out Graham's Awakened Skill [Possession Combination], which was starting to wear down on Graham. He could not wait for the time when his soul was freed.

"Unbelievable…"

Everyone watched in disbelief, but Formar seemed the most shocked. Allen had been trying to fight Nestiad time and time again, but only with his summons to not put others in danger.

Formar could not understand if Allen was gaining anything from that, not to mention Nestiad was unrelated to the Demon King.

But then Rosen spoke up, even though he almost never took part in conversations.

'Hahah, Allen never knows when to give up.'

"Huh? Sure. Are you going to give me some reward?"

'Of course not. A God doesn't give rewards to someone who does nothing, hahah.'

(Hm? Why is he talking all of a sudden?)

Allen felt it was strange for Rosen to speak up so suddenly.

Knock knock

Then someone knocked on the door.

"The audience with the Heavenly King is ready. Please follow me."

"Ah, yes! We'll get ready right away!"

Allen quickly wiped off the blood from him and changed into the prepared attire.

(Finally, after 10 days.)

They had been waiting for the audience for many days.

A knight led them to the audience hall, something Allen had seen many times now and in games, so he looked rather disinterested.

The entire third layer of the city was dedicated to the palace, and it was tall and wide enough for Haku to walk through the corridors effortlessly.

They reached a large gate, which opened with a heavy sound. Allen, Helmios, Galara, and the Ten Heroic Beasts entered first, while Haku and Kurena were last.

The audience hall was incredibly wide, with the throne further in.

The Heavenly King was sitting on the throne, surrounded by nobles, priests, servants and knights. Next to him sat the pregnant queen, who looked at Allen full of expectation.

Allen's group all lowered their gaze and knelt.

"So you're the Warden Leader Abigayle. I heard you're using those who crossed the Gate of Judgement to hunt ghosts for you.'

The king had a muscular body, though he seemed to be in the middle of his thirties.

His ample beard was blonde. The prime minister was next to him, but not many nobles were around, not considering this audience to be of much importance.

He spoke to Abigayle, sounding like he wanted Abigayle to thank him just for allowing the audience to happen.

"Yes. Thanks to them we were able to fulfill our duty as dragonkin."

"I let you stay in my kingdom all this time while you did nothing. I hope you'll start doing something now."

"Yes."

(Damn, this is worse than I imagined. I'll have to keep it a secret from the Dragon King or it could lead to a full on war.)

"And so, I heard you brought an extra large Spirit Crystal Stone."

"Ah, yes. This is the Spirit Crystal Stone from a Demigod Rank ghost."

Abigayle carried forward the Spirit Crystal Stone they obtained from the ghost Danies.

A knight stepped forward and took it from Abigayle and carried it to an elderly divine person with a big mustache.

"Jigen, what do you think?"

Jigen examined it through a monocle.

"In-incredible Lord Mephsto, this truly came from a Demigod Rank ghost…"

The king's name was Mephsto de Shandar, and he did not trust Abigayle so he had Jigen look at the Spirit Crystal Stone.

"Hmm…so it's true that those who crossed the Gate of Judgement are strong."

"Ohh! Then I'll actually get to give birth to our archangel!!"

"Yes, you'll give birth to a healthy angel. Jigen, give it to Queen Infinia."

The Queen was called Infinia de Shandar.

(I never said I'd give it to them. But I guess it makes sense since that was the reason for the audience.)

They were already acting like the Spirit Crystal Stone belonged to the Heavenly King.

Allen listened to their conversation while keeping his head low, while also making sure to focus his attention behind him so Cecile did not say anything against the king's behavior.

The Queen took the Spirit Crystal Stone from Jigen.

"So with this…"

Full of emotion, she took the Spirit Crystal Stone and let it touch her stomach.

It began to glow brightly while it was absorbed into her body.

(So this means a new angel will appear in the world?)

'That's it.'

Allen spoke with Merus through his Shared consciousness, who had already explained why the Queen wanted a Spirit Crystal Stone. Using it would allow their child to become an angel.

The type of Spirit Crystal Stone had an effect on which type of angel would be born.

(So it's like how bee larvae that eat propolis become queens.)

[Spirit Crystal Stones necessary to give birth to angels]

-Spirit Crystal Stone from a God Rank ghost -> First Angel

-Spirit Crystal Stone from a Demigod Rank ghost -> Archangel

-Spirit Crystal Stone from a Great Angel Rank ghost -> Angel

[Value of Spirit Crystal Stones (the numbers all add up to the same value)]

-Spirit Crystal Stone from a God Rank ghost 1

-Spirit Crystal Stone from a Demigod Rank ghost 10

-Spirit Crystal Stone from a Great Angel Rank ghost 100

Allen had brought a Spirit Crystal Stone from a Demigod Rank ghost, so an Archangel would be born.

(And this is all for the relationship between the divine people, divine realm, and gods.)

Allen had been there for half a month, but he had a decent grasp on their culture.

At first he was confused why there were so many people when he expected to see Gods.

But it turned out that the Gods created the entire divine realm and divine people so they would give birth to angels.

Dragonkin would hunt ghosts, bring Spirit Crystal Stones to divine people, and they would give birth to angels for the Gods.

Desperado had stopped Allen from bringing many people to not break that balance.

But regardless of what Allen thought, the queen spoke to the king.

"Oh, the baby is kicking. Please allow me to rest, Lord Mephsto."

"I see. Take Infinia to her room."

"Yessir!"

"Yessir!"

The queen was lifted with her chair and placed on what looked like a stroller to be taken out.

"Good work bringing that here. That warrants a reward, though I'm sure you understand this is nowhere enough for you to start living in the capital or something like that."

The king stroked his beard as he spoke to Abigayle about the reward.

At least he would give something in return for the Spirit Crystal Stone.

Thousands of years before the dragonkin had been chased out of the capital since they had stopped bringing Spirit Crystal Stones, so this was not enough for them to come back.

"Thank you very much. Then please allow Peromus from Allen's Party to trade with the divine realm."

The thought of living in the capital had not even crossed Abigayle's mind, it was all thanks to Allen after all. So he asked for a reward that would help Allen in return.

"Hm? Trade? You don't want the ship? This isn't what I heard you wanted, and I even had the compass ready."

(A compass? What's he talking about?)

The king looked confused by Abigayle's response, wondering why he wanted to trade.

"Ah, no…er… My apologies, I'm Allen, may I explain that?"

(It's my turn to take the baton. Time to get to work!)

"Hm? I don't really want to talk to someone from below, but you did get the Spirit Crystal Stone, so I'll listen."

"Thank you very much for granting me this honor."

The rest of the group trembled in suspense as Allen began negotiating with the king.

They all hoped Allen would be reasonable enough.

"Hmm, you might not know who I am since you came from below, but I'm the Heavenly King. Mind your manners."

(He just knows how to say below, divine people really are something else.)

Each realm seemed to have their own way to call the human realm, for humans it was the surface, for divine people it was the world below.

"I'm Allen, an Adventurer from the human realm. I'm very humbled to be allowed an audience with the Heavenly King working for the Gods."

Allen ignored his personal feelings as he switched modes to talk more respectfully.

"So an adventurer wants to trade here?"

"Precisely. I've encountered many wondrous items in the divine realm, and I'd love to showcase their magnificence in the human realm. Heheh."

(I had to spend 100'000'000 gold coins to obtain Graham, so I need to recoup that as soon as possible. Though Peromus will be the one doing the trading.)

He called the items from the divine realm wondrous, but in reality he believed they were all basic. In a way, the divine realm could use more items from the human realm instead.

"Hmph, so you get all the way to the divine realm and all you can think is money. You're more mundane than I expected. But I'll allow it, give these men permits to trade."

"Yessir!"

One of the servants present gave an immediate reply.

(Nice, that didn't take long. All the wait for the actual audience ate up more than enough time.)

So much time had waited since he hatched that plan that he wanted the permit as soon as possible.

"Alright, that's it then. That concludes the audience."

"Oh, no, there's still something I'd like to-"

Allen was not done talking to the Heavenly King.

"What? You want more? It's true that you brought a valuable Spirit Crystal Stone, but-"

The Heavenly King's words stopped there, seeing the Spirit Crystal Stones Allen took out from his Grimoire.

Everyone gasped seeing that there were two more Demigod Rank Spirit Crystal Stones.