I Gain Infinite Gold Just By Waiting-Chapter 266: Episode 4-2_Demon King (2)

2.

Kim Buja strode alone through the darkness, entering the imperial capital with his head held high. His presence was so imposing it seemed to outshine the Demon King’s own majesty.

Who could have imagined it?

That the barrier protecting the imperial capital—the very same iron bars that imprisoned it—could be crossed by a man who simply walked in on his own two feet.

The Demon King and his army had supposedly withdrawn from the capital to spread across the continent, but countless monsters and demons still lingered nearby, watching for any humans who dared to emerge. That was why the army had to use secret tunnels the demons didn’t know about whenever they marched out, quietly eliminating any monsters they encountered along the way.

An army that had to tiptoe around its enemy. That was the reality of the continent under the Demon King’s shadow.

So, naturally, a roar of cheers erupted.

WAAAAAAAH!

The victory in the Seron Kingdom. This report felt far more precious than any other, because it wasn’t a battle where one army had clashed with another and won.

He had done it alone, single-handedly smashing two demon legions to pieces.

“Kim Buja! Kim Buja!”

People shouted his name at the top of their lungs, a name that wasn’t easy to pronounce. Until now, it had been unfamiliar. Though he had lived on the continent for several years at the side of the often-mentioned imperial princess, his own name had never stood out.

Even so, people shouted it now, determined to carve it into their minds, into their very bones.

The hope that they might be able to go back to the way things were.

Those who had gathered with that hope in their hearts flocked to the plaza. They wanted to see his face properly, even just once.

“I want to see the Hero of God.”

“I wonder what he looks like.”

Their feelings were pure. In a world where even God had become hard to believe in, the appearance of a tangible being they could lean on was all the prompting they needed to seek out an object of faith.

And the ones who loved people like this most were con artists. This was when fringe cults thrived, and warlocks who preyed on twisted beliefs went wild. No one had the luxury to judge right from wrong. They lacked the ability, and even if they could judge, they chose to look away.

All they needed was something—anything—that could make them forget the pain of reality.

That was why it mattered what kind of hope you gave them, what kind of story you told them. The mood going forward would be decided by it.

Standing before them, Kim Buja hesitated for only a moment before he spoke.

“I am indeed a hero sent by God.”

"OOOH!"

Exclamations of awe rose from all sides.

In normal times, in a normal world, he would have been treated like a lunatic, mocked, or even stoned for saying something like that. Even if he really were a hero of God, who would go around bragging about it? And to do so willingly, in front of a massive crowd?

Yet among the countless people gathered in the plaza, almost no one doubted him. Rather than questioning his existence, they focused on what he was saying.

Knowing this, Buja casually let the kind of cringe-inducing, goosebump-worthy lines roll off his tongue that would normally make his own skin crawl.

That wasn’t what mattered right now.

“I annihilated two of the Demon King’s legions in the Seron Kingdom, and now I intend to erase the Demon King from this continent.”

WAAAAAAAH!

He laid out his grand plan for the future. It might have been meaningless to them. Even if they knew his plan, they were stuck inside the magic circle, with no way to see how or when he would fight. Even if he lost to the Demon King, they would have no way to confirm it.

He was simply giving them hope. Something to soothe their anxiety.

Of course, there was no reason Buja had to volunteer for that role. Even if he did nothing, people were already clinging to life by grasping at the faintest threads of rumor.

He had another reason.

And that reason appeared before the eyes of the people gathered in the plaza.

“This is my world. In that world, there are things far stronger than demons everywhere, and monsters stronger than the Demon King are beyond counting. I have been killing those things. That is why God chose me. However, in this world, I cannot use my full power. I need your strength. Your faith in God. When that faith gathers, it will allow me to use my power again.”

It was a feature he could use not only on Earth but also on the continent.

To the people here, it might have felt unfamiliar. He had shown them videos once or twice before, but those had been forced broadcasts. This was the first time they were seeing such a detailed, sophisticated hologram.

It needed an explanation. And because it was so unfamiliar, they needed a way to ease their deep-seated wariness.

However, Buja didn’t waste time on that. He had called himself a hero of God and come to the plaza for a reason.

“Anything you have is fine. Just paying the price to see my world gives me tremendous strength. In one week, I will go to slay the Demon King. Until then, I ask that you lend me your strength.”

Sometimes, a spectacle needs no explanation.

* * *

He left the follow-up work to the imperial princess.

In truth, even after his speech, not everyone would have believed him. On top of that, telling people who had nothing to somehow pay him would naturally make even the devout suspicious. No matter how many demon legions he had crushed, he was still just a “hero.”

Faith without cost is always easy to give, but asking those who have nothing to hand over even more only breeds resentment.

If Buja had been building trust with people for a long time, it might have been different. But he had only just begun to become known, and rumors alone were not enough to earn unconditional trust.

That was why he hadn’t added any special explanations. Those would come from people they already trusted.

“Believe in him,” the imperial princess said, her expression firm. “When the Empire fell, and I was captured by slavers, when everything was over, he was the one who stayed by my side and protected me. He is the savior of my life.”

“And when the Pope joined hands with darkness and corrupted the Church,” the saintess pleaded, radiating holy power, “when even high-ranking priests trembled and submitted to that power, and I myself was blinded by foolishness, he was the one who received God’s revelation and pulled me from that darkness. He created another order to purify the Church and ultimately drove out the darkness. God does not demand wealth from the faithful. However, to lift the restriction placed on his hero and defeat the Demon King, He needs the strength of those who live in this world.”

The words of the two women currently defending the Empire and protecting the continent completely erased any doubts that had begun to sprout.

In truth, it wasn’t a situation that invited much doubt to begin with. Doubting wouldn’t change anything.

The imperial princess and the saintess didn’t just talk; they shared what they owned to help people purchase Buja’s videos. On top of that, the reactions of those who had watched the videos spread, encouraging others to buy them as well.

“He really is a hero from another world.”

“His world is completely different from ours.”

“The buildings pierce the sky.”

“Those piles of scrap metal are faster than carriages.”

“The health food we only eat on special occasions—everyone in that world eats it.”

“No wonder people live so long there.”

New technology is always shocking and revolutionary, no matter the world. There were countless things that could not be found on the continent. Then again, the people of Earth had been just as amazed by the continent’s wonders.

No one could help but be curious; no one could help but be interested.

As they watched the videos, people found comfort.

“I feel a little less anxious now.”

“So this world isn’t all there is.”

“In my next life, I want to live in a place like that.”

“A world where even women can become kings...”

You could call it escapism. They left behind a reality where they could do nothing and spent time as someone in that free world. The holograms made that possible. They could see through anyone’s eyes, and when they watched dungeon hunts from Buja’s perspective, the powerless viewers could feel as if they themselves were cutting down demons.

The rumors spread, piercing the barrier, slipping past the demons, and reaching every living person on the continent. For those who had already purchased and watched the videos that appeared simultaneously across the land, they were an inescapable drug.

Looking at the amounts he was now receiving in Gold instead of points, Buja smiled in satisfaction.

“I’ve gotta milk this for all it’s worth right up to the end.”

At the same time, he couldn’t quite hide a bitter smile.

“When was it? I remember saying that if I ever got this much Gold a day without doing anything, I’d quit hunting altogether and just spend my life goofing off while raising my stats.”

It had probably been in the very early days, when he was getting so little Gold he couldn’t do anything. Back when he had to risk his life in desperate battles against monsters with the body and stats of an ordinary person. Back when he had sworn, through his frustration, that he would someday completely wreck the Gold Maker system.

He hadn’t known then.

“If I’d known, I’d still be running myself ragged even with this much Gold coming in, I would’ve told myself to take it easy.”

He hadn’t known that even with this much Gold, the Gold Maker would demand more.

That even when he had become unimaginably strong, he would still face enemies that required him to grow stronger still.

That even now, with stats so high it was hard to imagine how he could possibly die, there was still a final battle ahead that made him seriously wonder if he might actually die for real.

FLAP!

He shook off those thoughts and looked at Hwangdo’s broad back as the dragon flew, with the army following behind.

The final battle.

This was the last campaign to take down the true Demon King.

* * *

A silent plain.

Endless ranks of monsters and demons stretched to the horizon. Even after their numbers had been cut by more than half, the Demon King’s army looked even larger than before, a living testament to a continent already swallowed by darkness.

However, the continental army was no small force either.

Though their numbers barely reached half of the enemy’s, a gentle holy power enveloped every soldier, a light that seemed ready to burst forth at any moment and drive back the darkness.

In response, the Demon King stepped to the front.

His mere presence made the darkness grow thicker.

The Demon King did not bother to speak. Demons did not converse. The victor lived, the loser died. In a world ruled solely by the logic of strength, the very act of talking with humans was a humiliation.

Instead, he raised his hand, ready to show them why he was their king.

VWOOOOM!

The ground heaved, and blood erupted from the earth.

This was not the planet’s blood.

It was the blood of the countless corpses that had perished here, blood that had soaked into the ground and vanished without a trace. Now, at the Demon King’s command, the very soil vomited it back out.

FWOOSH!

The blood shot into the sky, then fell as a crimson rain.

Drenched in the downpour, the Demon King’s army roared.

Blood was their power.

The demonic army began its charge.

* * *