Weed and his party arrive at the palace and Python is amazed to see that huge crowd of people gathered around the palace. Weed looks around and can here the clamor of people, including merchants who are selling items as well as the ever-present battle chants of the Porridge Cult. Weed is impressed that all of these people were able to fight for his lies and hypocrisy (the line here is about a corrupt world and gathering people to him [something] hypocrisy. This was the only sensible assumption I can come at). Weed then spots a group of beginner Avians who are throwing themselves off of cliffs in an attempt to learn how to fly. Weed becomes very worried about the future of Arpen. (note: I’m not sure if he’s worrying about the flying part or the following) He thinks about how Arpen’s future can be very short despite of all of the struggles it took to rise. Pale asks Weed what he’ll do and Weed replies he’ll do what he has always done. Pale hopefully asks “Have a superior tactic?” but weed simply shoots down that ideas and says “Fighting bravely” To Pale’s disbelieving “really” Weed concedes and says “He’ll make one gold” (?). The party then splits up, with Weed leaving to go to the palace.
Point of view switches to a squadron of assassins who have infiltrated the palace grounds. As it turns out, the Hermes guild has sent 700 (?) elite assassins in order to end Weed’s life and to sow chaos. One of the assassins asks why they are killing Weed during the battle and not before, to which another assassin replies that the defeat will be more traumatizing and it’ll be easier to subdue the North. The assassins are disguised as novice merchants and they are trying to blend in as much as possible. Suddenly, one of people walking in the streets turns grey. The assassin leader demands to know why somebody has ignored his order to wait for a signal before assassinating. He then continues on about how there’s not much benefit in killing merchants. One of the crews speak up, saying that they are not the ones that are killing others. It is they themselves who are targeted. The man making the report is then suddenly cut off. To be in the assassination group of the Hermes guild, one must be at least level 380 and undergo a lot of training. But right now, one of the most notorious assassination groups in the Versaille continent is being assassinated one by one. The leader asks for the enemy’s location and identity but the subordinates reply how they don’t know. The enemy is killing his targets with a single blow and is instantly disappearing back into the shadows. Currently, on the crowded palace ground, there are less 50 Hermes assassins disguised as novice craftsman classes. However, to the “unnamed assassin” who has the ability of the Eyes of Truth, they are easily visible. The Hermes guild assassins are all extremely notorious, with the names of every single one of them hovering in red above their heads. Although they have used camouflage to conceal the murder’s mark, the Eyes of Truth skill could easily penetrate through the disguise. The man comments on how fun it was to assassinate other assassins (apparently he is hunting them down very quickly thanks to what he learned from hunting with Weed) and he notes his experience and skill levels are rising quickly. The players mingling on the palace grounds finally notice that there is something strange, with players turning grey left and right. However, the unnamed assassin’s attacks also lift the camouflage of the other assassins (?) and the players quickly realize that these assassins were from the Hermes guild. Finding themselves suddenly in the midst of an angry crowd, the assassins were wiped out in less than 5 minutes. The leader of the assassins was stunned by how their secret is revealed and orders all of the remaining assassins to retreat. Meanwhile, people around the palace started talking about this event. This is one of the conversations:
“Hey, do you want to hear a story? They say that in the palace, a death god has appeared.”
“Oh, you mean the man who calls himself the Shadows of Death?”
“You know him?”
"Yeah. By the way, his real name is Crab Condiments.”
(Summarizer’s note: If I recall correctly, a couple of volumes back, there was an unknown assassin saving a group of artists when they were caught by the Haven law enforcement for painting anti-government propaganda. One of the artists, a beautiful young lady sees the assassin and asks if she can befriend him. Flustered, the assassin agrees and the lady is surprised to hear that the real name of the assassin is Crab Condiments By the way, Crab Condiments was also mentioned to have been going through the Assassin mastery quest chain. Lol, you really have to feel sorry for that guy).
Weed is slowly sculpting a sculpture of a man with a perfect body and a handsome face. This statue, is of Hess Tigger. He is annoyed at Hess because Hess had tried to “take from his rice bowl” (I think Hess did stuff in the past age like freeing slave, giving away treasure, or something along those lines) and is jealous of how heroic Hess acted. He finishes the statue and names it the Cocky Lord Guy. After he finishes the statue, gaining several stat increases, he speaks out “Appear, ugly Lord bastard. Resurrection Sculpting!” Hess Tigger opens his eyes and asks in a voice of disbelief if “his Lord” is really here. After hearing Weed say it’s really him, Hess Tigger’s face breaks out into a brilliant smile that can turn women into putty, and says in a sweet voice that can cause women to swoon, how “the Lord” looks a lot younger than before. Weed carefully asks if Hess realizes that Weed is weaker than before. In the laws of the desert, the strongest warrior was the leader. However, Hess allays Weed’s worries and says how his pledge of allegiance has not weakened with time, and will continue even though he has died. Hess continues saying hero-like things but Weed then suddenly speaks up, asking why Hess is dead. Hess tells Weed how, after escorting the elves back to their dwellings, he traveled around the world, searching for Weed. The noises of the Arpen forces preparing for battle causes Hess to look outside and ask what the voices are (he also notes how they seem to be preparing for battle). Weed mind quickly calculates the way to best persuade a good person like Hess, and says how they are currently in his kingdom. He admits that he has been very cruel in the past, but it has all been for the sake of defeating the Embinyu (he says how all of his sins remain vivid in his mind and how he still carries the burden of guilt lol). Hess hurries to point out that it was thanks to Weed that the desert tribes gained new life. Some tears appear in Weed’s eyes (I think the book says how if a person looked closely, they could see the pepper power applied to his eyes lol) and he says how he created Arpen Kingdom in order to atone for his past and fulfill the dream of a peaceful and unified kingdom. Weed muses out loud about how he slowly raised Arpen Kingdom from scratch and how, in the beginning, he has sowed the seeds for wildflowers onto the wilderness that would eventually become Arpen. He continues and says how Arpen, the pride and joy in his life, has now been invaded by the Empire Haven, the empire filled with resentment and hate which is intent on oppressing the weaker Arpen. Weed finishes by saying how if Arpen is destroyed, what he has spent his life working for will be crushed and he will have to forever bear the burden of the lives he has taken. Hess Tigger’s eyes fill with tears and he declares that he will stop the Haven Invasion. Weed rejects Hess Tigger’s words telling him that there are two reasons why Weed has resurrected Hess. The first is to lead the women and children of “soon-to-be destroyed” Arpen Kingdom to safety (?) and the second is to rally the troops of the desert (?). The novel ends with Weed thinking about how that was a good life experience and how he should continue to live this way if he wants to become the vice-president of one company or another (?).