The Ordinary Me is Worshipped as a Deity by the Extraordinary Them - Chapter 154

“If there was truly anything I regretted in this lifetime, it would probably only be that I hadn’t slacked off thoroughly enough.” —by Su Li.

……

The inn.

Ever since that conversation with Joel, Su Li had once again felt that familiar atmosphere.

For instance, Egbert’s challenge invitation, or Lan Zhe’s crushing culinary skills.

Su Li didn’t understand, and Su Li was greatly shocked.

“I don’t think dueling with Joel, or talking with him, is any good channel for understanding Rota County.”

Those two unfortunate friends knew far more about this city than Joel did.

Upon hearing this, Egbert quickly waved his hands to indicate, “I had no intention of gaining deep understanding of this city.”

“Everything we needed to know has already been laid out in the open. Even if we knew the deeper things right now, we wouldn’t necessarily have any way to make obvious changes.”

“The reason I chose to duel with Joel was simply because I felt that during battle, the distance between people becomes closer. In this way, I could also more conveniently judge whether Joel’s approach to you was truly as he claimed during your conversation—that he admired you—or whether he was trying to use the help you granted this city for personal gain.”

The logic of these words was too normal, but being overly normal made it appear particularly abnormal when coming from Egbert.

Before Su Li could speak, Lan Zhe had already shown an expression questioning whether he had forgotten to take his medicine.

“But the fact has always been that apart from us, even if others witnessed everything Su Li did with their own eyes, they wouldn’t necessarily truly acknowledge the good results he brought.” This was human nature.

Selfish, greedy, unwilling to acknowledge that glory belonged to others.

“You can’t say it like that.” Roy crouched on the ground, tossing up and down an apple that a vendor had given them—more precisely, given to Su Li. He said lazily, “There are indeed many who pretend to be blind, but truly blind… I reckon if they were truly blind, those transformed monster beasts who had long since successfully transformed and infiltrated the upper ranks of various races wouldn’t want all their subordinates to be idiots.”

“Additionally, I think Joel’s idea of pushing Su Li onto the spiritual highland isn’t bad. What do you think?” Roy had also considered this from several angles, such as whether this would make Su Li attract too much hatred, or whether it would make those incompetent weaklings hostile toward him.

Such thoughts flashed through his mind and were immediately dismissed by Roy as unnecessary—Su Li was already being watched by a giant dragon, so why worry about a bunch of fleas and cockroaches jumping around on the ground?

“Same thoughts here. Rota County certainly doesn’t amount to much compared to the entire monster beast society, but as long as the people here acknowledge that Su Li helped them, even if they later transform from humans to monster beasts, as long as they haven’t completely lost their minds, his helpful actions should yield some returns.” Lan Zhe’s focus had always been on what Su Li could gain.

“Returning to our original goal, we came here with the sole purpose of giving humans the qualification to negotiate with monster beasts on equal terms, rather than remaining perpetually oppressed at the bottom by monster beasts.” Egbert looked at Su Li with devoted eyes.

Every time he thought of Su Li’s goals, Egbert felt as if he possessed endless strength.

The greatest feeling from believing in Su Li was that believers could give the one they believed in a continuous motivation to persevere.

But obviously, Su Li had no intention of starting a cult, nor did he want to be inexplicably loaded with profound goals.

He emphasized, “To be precise, my purpose in entering monster beast society was simply to ensure that in my retirement days, I wouldn’t have to worry about sudden dangers that weren’t natural disasters.”

“As for the prerequisite for retirement…”

“Under this standard, although it could be translated as giving humans the qualification to negotiate with monster beasts, this doesn’t mean my original purpose was so grand.”

Su Li considered his explanation perfectly reasonable—it not only emphasized his ordinary persona but also highlighted his life pursuit, which was early retirement…

Having explained so clearly, there was no reason others wouldn’t understand, right?

But immediately he saw Egbert put on a “You’re absolutely right” expression.

“Perhaps what you said is correct, but we are not you. You define your goals more simply to better persist in your purpose, while we define our goals as extraordinarily grand simply because of the actual changes you bring.”

“If those changed by you are destined to be meteors that light up the night sky, then you, who brought about the change, are the bright moon that illuminates the world, derived from the radiance of the sun.” Egbert’s attitude was extremely candid.

If previously when he said these praising words, he could still show a shy expression, feeling he might not have praised adequately….then now, Egbert, who spoke all this frankly, probably felt that even if he hadn’t praised adequately, he had to praise first.

Otherwise, if Lord Su Li thought his “bashful and shy compliments” were words spoken against his conscience, that would be terrible.

Su Li couldn’t control himself as he pressed his constantly throbbing temple, the corner of his mouth twitching uncontrollably, and immediately said words he hadn’t spoken in a long time. “Shut up!”

Egbert showed an innocent expression.

Roy threw the apple in his hand to Egbert and laughed. “Worthy of you, saying words more ambiguous than when wandering poets praise gods so naturally.”

Egbert was particularly confused. “I was simply expressing my most sincere inner thoughts.”

Lan Zhe rolled his eyes at him. “That’s exactly why Su Li feels embarrassed.”

“What would you feel if Elvi said those words you just spoke?”

That dragon would only say those words with extreme sarcasm.

Lan Zhe tried to make Egbert put himself in Su Li’s position, hoping empathy could truly exist.

But this was obviously a mistake.

Egbert said something outrageous in a hesitant tone…

“The…the strong think alike?”

Roy slapped his thigh forcefully—he was about to die laughing.

“How could someone be so good at reverse sprinting? Help, I never thought that someone like me who never even entered an academy’s gates could feel intellectual superiority.”

Egbert narrowed his eyes. “Want to go out and practice?”

Lan Zhe nonchalantly clapped once, making a gesture of pressing palms together. “Whoever loses gets to test medicine for me.”

“As for the winner…”

Lan Zhe showed a brilliant sunny smile. “Please test another type of medicine.”

Su Li finally saw those two people go out anyway.

…Was this the legendary “even in death, drag someone down with you”?

One day later.

A corner outside the Rota County inn.

Joel told Egbert, “I’m ready.”

Egbert nodded. “So am I.”

Roy, who was planning to open the window for some fresh air, happened to discover the two crouching in the shadows. He lowered his head and shouted downstairs, “What are you two ready for?”

The two in the shadows immediately stiffened, but the next second they both leaped into the air, working in perfect coordination to drag down the two-star mercenary who was leaning on the window.

Roy: ???

“What’s going on? If you don’t give me a reasonable explanation, I’ll definitely tell on you to the little master.”

Egbert smiled rather awkwardly. “No, I just wanted to answer your previous question at closer range.”

“Let’s hear it.” Roy stepped back, striking a deliberately casual pose, even shaking off nonexistent dust from his clothes.

“Yesterday Joel told everyone in Rota County about his review of the battle with the terrestrial monster beast.”

Roy gave him a puzzled look.

Joel said, “I hoped that everyone in this city who avoided death could understand exactly how much help Su Li provided to this city.”

Although when this news was revealed, there were indeed some people with unclear minds who pushed the source of all disasters onto Su Li, but those idiots had long been beaten more than once with sacks by Joel’s unfortunate friends.

In the end, they also learned what it meant that being weak wasn’t a sin, but being too stupid was poisonous to both others and oneself.

Roy showed a strange expression. “I vaguely remember we just discussed related topics yesterday, and today you’ve already put them into practice?”

“Of course.” Joel nodded. “I don’t know when more powerful and dangerous monster beasts might arrive, but I’d rather treat every tomorrow as doomsday. And since it’s already the eve of doomsday death, I naturally want to do everything I think should be done before being killed.”

“Like making everyone understand the little master’s power?”

“Exactly.”

“I need to think about this…”

“Please do.”

Roy’s final conclusion was: “…So what exactly are you two ready for?”

Joel’s gaze gradually became confused and tried to turn toward staring at an idiot.

Fortunately, his own people understood the meaning of Roy’s words. Egbert explained, “Lord Su Li only needs to slowly walk down the inn’s stairs.”

Roy suddenly seemed to think of something and said in surprise, “Everything?” Everything was ready?

“Yes.” Egbert nodded.

……

Su Li, who still didn’t know what he would experience, was tidying up his bed after his afternoon nap.

He hadn’t had time to eat lunch yet, but Lan Zhe had just knocked on his door to call him downstairs.

The only thing Su Li found somewhat puzzling was that Lan Zhe had also brought up a set of clothing that didn’t look suitable for daily wear, to replace the sheep pajamas Su Li had worn during his nap.

Su Li looked at the outfit similar in style to the [Holy Son Set] and fell into contemplation.

The Dark Church’s attire unexpectedly had more of a priestly atmosphere than the Church of Light’s.

But this outfit, not to mention the inner layers, obviously deliberately adopted the hood of the Church of Light for the outer layer. The white cloak had unknown golden patterns, and because the patterns were too delicate, they looked like plain white cloth when not directly illuminated by natural light.

Therefore, Su Li didn’t notice this hidden mystery.

Subconsciously treating this seemingly non-daily outfit as an alchemy protective item created by Castor, Su Li only took one second to think before finally deciding to put it on.

Although it wasn’t very casual, heaven and earth were vast, but one’s life was most important.

After tidying himself up, Su Li pushed open the inn room door.

The wooden railing structure allowed everyone sitting downstairs to see when someone walked on it.

Interestingly, there was a window at the turning point of the staircase.

At this moment, sunlight was just shining through that window.

Whether everything was calculated in advance or whether timing and location were perfectly aligned, when Su Li slowly walked down the stairs, he also discovered the hidden mystery of the white robe on his body under the backlit sunlight.

Su Li’s focus shifted, causing him to completely ignore that the inn’s interior was filled with people of various forms.

But to the people downstairs, they only felt that the person slowly descending from upstairs was indeed as Joel had said.

“That’s someone who, just by standing there and doing nothing, would capture everyone’s attention.”

“His strength was never on the level of power.”

Then on what level?

Unknown.

They only knew that the young man descending backlit from the stairs wore clothing made of fabric far more expensive than even the Amikbi royal family’s ceremonial robes. The white robe under sunlight allowed everyone to clearly see the golden patterns on it.

Embroidered across a large area of fabric was a bird—a crow outlined in golden thread that seemed to have shed the ominous meaning commonly attributed to it by the world, leaving only divine radiance.

But if there was something most eye-catching that people couldn’t look away from, everyone downstairs would say it was definitely his eyes.

There were too many people with green eyes; no one had ever found such eyes particularly remarkable. But at this moment, everyone who could clearly see those green eyes felt an indescribable charm.

Indescribable, like a forbidden mystery.

The crowd surged below, but what was reflected in those emerald eyes was only the black crow embroidered on the inner sleeve cuffs.

Nothing external was placed in his sight.

“Brother, I think you were right.” After breaking free from that soul-captivating magnificence, someone downstairs forcefully patted Joel’s shoulder.

Before seeing Su Li, this person had also fantasized about what the young man Joel praised to the skies looked like and what kind of special qualities he possessed.

This curiosity was superficial.

Deep down, he still couldn’t help thinking: what could be special about a weakling? If it were the special quality of being a plaything, the kind of special quality found in pets of noble bloodlines, that would indeed count as special.

Many people thought this way, but due to Joel revealing the truth, they didn’t mind giving him face by squeezing into this not-so-large inn to see up close what the person he spoke of looked like.

When they actually saw him, what arose deep in their hearts was uncontrollable trembling, and even a trace of indescribable fear.

Those emerald eyes clearly weren’t looking at any particular person, but when the young man’s gaze moved from the crow on his sleeve cuff to look downstairs, everyone felt a fear of being completely seen through.

Normal people, when seen through by someone weaker than themselves in every sense, would only feel a strange disgust. But at this subtle moment, when everything seemed to be building momentum for Su Li, the people of Rota County could only feel silent oppressive force.

Especially when Su Li raised his eyes to survey them…

“Honestly, I even held my breath just now.”

Though fragile enough to be killed by anyone present at any time, the thought that simultaneously occurred to them all was—being his enemy would surely mean death.

Joel blinked and replied to that person, “Shouldn’t we be happy that such a terrifying guy who makes everyone feel horror is on our side?”

“You’re right!”

“He’s just like what those Light elementalists say—God’s spokesman on earth.”

“That seems right too. Weak strength can’t become a reason to prevent him from speaking.”

“How wonderful, completely transcending our structure, or rather our social strata, establishing his own kingdom in another world that none of us can reach, and yet not trying to claim kingship.”

“I didn’t expect someone as burly as you to say such poetic words.” Joel was surprised.

“Just kidding, I used to be a professional wandering poet! Without some eloquence, I would have starved to death long ago and wouldn’t even have had the chance to be kidnapped here.”

There were countless people discussing like these two.

Egbert and the others, sitting in a secluded corner downstairs and smiling as they watched all this, fell into boundless pride.

—Look, this was the treasure they had discovered.

Egbert thought this way and said it too.

But…

Lan Zhe, watching the young man walking straight toward their position, said to Egbert, who had his back to Su Li. “I acknowledge that Su Li is a treasure, but displaying the treasure before everyone’s eyes is something only you wanted to do. Understand?”

Egbert nodded calmly. “I look forward to everyone seeing Lord Su Li’s radiance, and I will forever be the first person illuminated by Lord Su Li’s light.”

“Is….that so?” The word-by-word tone made Egbert, who was immersed in pride, answer decisively, “Of course!”

“Lord Su Li’s gentleness, Lord Su Li’s will, Lord Su Li’s wisdom, everything Lord Su Li has done, the words he’s spoken, the direction he’s worked toward, his steps that never cease moving forward—all of these are light I will never forget!”

Su Li froze behind Egbert’s back.

The thought of widespread social death was suppressed for a moment, and Su Li slowly felt admiration for Egbert’s courage.

At least in his previous life plus this life combined, he couldn’t say such words.

Su Li suppressed his slightly shameful social death emotions and was just about to reach out to press Egbert’s shoulder to indicate his arrival, when he heard him say, “Lord Su Li’s scent, fallen hair, worn clothing, used bedding—these are equally precious.”

Su Li gave up patting his shoulder and instead locked his neck with lightning speed…

……

………………

“Don’t, little master. If you really want him dead, you only need to say one word. Why waste energy?” Roy, who enjoyed watching the excitement, even quietly told Su Li how to act more efficiently.

“I suggest you use the new potion I developed here. Even I can’t say clearly what effects they’ll produce when stacked together.” Lan Zhe took out five or six bottles of strange colors.

Recently, to prevent the possible arrival of stronger enemies, Lan Zhe had formulated several more potions. They differed in function but were the same in that no one could test them.

Joel seized the opportunity to join the commotion, saying, “So objects can also be treasures on par with the spiritual?”

The person who had just been shoulder-to-shoulder with him laughed heartily. “Whether they can or not, I don’t know. I only know that the most real god might be like this young man.”

Like choking someone on the spot?

The scene was in complete chaos.