The God of Jesters
Chapter 317 - 5.13.1 Truth afoot.

Chapter 317: 5.13.1 Truth afoot.

It was a world made for me, built to entertain me with its wonders and the magic it held.

But no matter how hard I tried, I could never be part of it.

It was all so close from the eyes of others, where they could feel, touch and smell it. While I was always in their shadows, just a mere audience on their journey, barely able to interact with them unless I entered their dreams.

It was a gift of life that was out of my reach. And even in the body of a dead, I couldn’t taste the joy of it at all.

"You are one interesting creature." Looking at the rotten corpse stuck to the roots of the plant like creature, it was easy to see what’s its true nature was.

No, the nature of the whole field. "Such a fresh breath of air, who have imagined that below my feet would be so many dead... or should I say, sacrifices."

I loved this body, such a perfect body made just for me.

And it was, considering how close Krotal was to me, to my true nature. Making both of us pretty compatible in some sense. Then all I had to do was hand him over to Vegal, the old bastard that wished to obtain a new body. He then slowly modified the boy’s body in the coming days, bit by bit, without even the boys’ knowledge.

Sadly, his plan came to a ruination brought by Remira and I got the chance to earn the ownership of the boy back, along with the technology I was looking forward to so much.

The result of which is my current body.

The boy named Krotal was no more in a particular sense. There was only me, enjoying this wonderful life.

A life that would come to an end, if nothing is done in time.

"She didn’t choose a simple method of sacrifice, that I am sure." I dodged the attack, which moved awfully slowed in my eyes. But I didn’t retaliate much. Nor could I fight back, considering I lacked actual experience to begin with.

But what I was doing was to find the answer through the clues I have already obtained.

"The Root and Harvest is a church that deals with life, unlike the church of Red Sun." So it needs life to create more life. And with the notes of Malidi, I can ascertain one thing. "There is a harmless way out of this."

Malidi has always been a madman, and aren’t all the smart people are like this?

Hence, knowing his madness, to keep his conjectures from misleading innocent people, he never puts forwards his thoughts into the papers he writes, but he discusses it with people on the same level as him.

And there was one conjecture he came up with.

"Return to root, come home, follow your ancestors, believe in your traditions. These were the tenet of Root and Harvest."

One way to return to root, is death. Although the easiest method when one doesn’t understand how it works, it’s the most wrong as well.

For you are using someone else’s ’root’ to enter deeper into the place. You force someone to return to their root by killing them and then using their path to enter through a long passage.

A path that fools like my precious boss or underling Baldar must have followed. But considering his soul had already been claimed, he will be stuck there, away from the world and away from causing any chaos the moment he falls.

But for now, I have to find the short passage, the way that it should have been since the start.

And what was it?

"Let’s see if it works." The fruit that I held, a fruit which would have probably corrupted my soul if I had been the one to pluck it off. But using the boy who had double protections from belonging to the faction of gods of this ruin and that Ugly flower, I was able to obtain it unscathed.

Now, all I need to do is keep away from the roots of this monster and create some distance.

And not like this thing is fast, a plant moving by itself was already a miracle, not to mention, it has to drag its nutrients, which were the dead along with it.

So I made some distance, staying away from other plants of this field. And seeing that I was currently safe for a few seconds, I took the fruit and put it in my mouth. "Delicious." Grown under the dead as its fertilizers, it was really tasty considering the amount of nutrients it might have absorbed.

"A new life." I thought, taking out the giant seed of the fruit in my hand.

If I am not wrong, then this might be the answer I had been looking for.

The Root and Harvest, the sacrifice is the way of the Root, while what I am currently doing is to use the way of harvest. But to obtain that harvest, I have to first plant the seed.

But not in the body of the dead, as it was written in the notes of Malidi, but my own body. "It is foolish, I know." It might as well be a false idea, which might bring me down and corrupt me completely.

A hunch that would be the end of I, the Rat King. But it was a fun thing to try to look forward to what happens.

So, taking a deep breath of the world, as it might just be my last, I made a slit close to my heart, letting the blood flow, belong placing the seed into the injury.

"Ah...I.." And before I could speak a word, I could feel it. "Its growing." Said I in a pained expression. But from the looks of it, the chaos in the field seems to have died down. "I earned myself sometime." I became one of them, or at least, I was going to become one if I don’t leave this place fast. But for now, the chaos on the field has died down, and the silent shakes on the ground can’t be felt anymore as well. Meaning the situation hasn’t turned super bad for now.

At least, I didn’t get to meet their boss.

It doesn’t mean I was free of danger. "It’s attacking the soul, as I expected." I said with a smile, knowing that the corruption has taken root and will slowly spread until I become one of these monsters that remain forever in this field.

"The door opens when the dead gets buried with the seed." And I did just that, with little time I had, my arms hooves, which I used to dig out a small home. Breaking apart the wheat as well as the bones I found buried below them, before digging enough space to fit my body. "Let’s go deeper." With those words, I covered my body with the dirt and bones as a small sprout grew out of my wound.

"I was faster." I said to the sprout, before the bright sun got covered by the dirt.

*****

By the time I opened my eyes, I was back in the ruins, though unlike before. This ruin looks a bit barren even when compared to the one from the first floor.

There was only a single intact stone monument, above which was an altar of sorts.

The only issue was, this thing was too tall.

"You, who are you?" Asked the man that popped right beside me. His eyes looked suspicious, while his arms had already stretched out to attack me.

But with a single smile of mine, he stopped. "Master, you are here?" He asked. Surprised to see me in a living body.

"I always wanted to enjoy stuff like this for myself. So I came here... but where is Baldar? He should be here by now."

"Still stuck in the floor before, it seems." As he spoke these words, he was confused. "But Master, how did you break past the fourth floor so easily."

"I found the shade faster than expected..."

"You didn’t meet Baldar?"

"No, it would seem he is still stuck in his test." Lugerth was not suspicious of my words, and he had no reason to, for who would have thought that something, so bizarre would happen with a time bomb like Baldar.

I obtained what I wanted from him while keeping things clean. But the more I force him, the more he would fall for the other side and hence be free from my control and turn into a menace.

So I had to stop him before things get actually serious. So forcing him to participate was all my idea, knowing full well what will happen the moment he enters the fourth floor.

As for Lugerth, he was always the man who was meant to be here with me.

"Let’s move for now, our competitors won’t be too far ahead."

Of course, they won’t be, for I could see them, and they could see us as well. ’She really found the clean way.’ I didn’t know if I should really celebrate their ingenuity. But ignoring all of this, as I walked, I spoke to Lugerth. "Also, I am your hostage from now... treat me as you see fit." Lugerth didn’t question me much, his silence was his agreement and by throwing and pushing me as we got closer to the stone Steele, I knew that I had earned Remira’s attention.

There was not a single scratch on her body, beside the mark on her arm, that suggested the blood-letting she had done. She truly appeared unscathed.