“Sniff, sorry about that.”
It took Darius an additional 10 minutes to finally calm down and using the handkerchief that Deia handed him, he wiped away his tears and snot.
“I’ve shown you all an unsightly side of myself as the head of the family.”
He blew his nose loudly and then tried to return the handkerchief to Deia. Staring at him with a look of utter disbelief, Deia simply held up her middle finger and told him to buzz off.
“I’m surprised that you still rember that you are the family head.”
Deia mocked Darius as she casually stood up and relinquished the seat of honor. It was only after seeing that one would realize how naturally Deia had claid the seat of honor in the first place.
“Ahem, then shall we start the eting?”
Darius spoke as he sat down.
His eyes were still red, but since he wasn’t sobbing uncontrollably like before, the eting could proceed.
Naturally, the eting began with the sole eyewitness, Findenai.
It was sowhat fitting in a way, since most incidents were usually witnessed by a maid.
“I was fighting that lion-hunter bastard when the general store door appeared all of a sudden, and Master Bastard popped out from there.”
Then she pressed her lips shut.
“…Is that all?”
Darius asked cautiously, and Findenai simply shrugged.
It felt like a child trying to describe an incident they had witnessed to their parents, and her overly simplistic report left the room in silence.
“What else do you expect to say? I got blown away by the force.”
“…”
Findenai herself wanted to provide more details, but there was nothing more she could say in this situation. She could only gesture dramatically, as if to express that there was truly nothing left to say.
With that, everyone’s attention naturally turned to .
Deia imdiately asked for my opinion.
“What do you think?”
“…”
“In the end, you should know best. We want to hear your thoughts. Frankly speaking, we still don’t know what ensued after you disappeared inside the general store with the God of Thunder, Raizel.”
No one knew what I had gone through that day or how I managed to survive and return.
Everyone was patiently waiting for to start explaining.
“Has the Land of Eternal Rest been established properly?”
Though I felt slightly troubled by Deia’s question, I nodded.
“I didn’t fail.”
However, I couldn’t say I had completely succeeded, either.
The Land of Eternal Rest was originally supposed to be created using the end stone, but that plan had failed. Instead, I had miraculously managed to establish it by accepting them into Deus Verdi’s body.
“I’ll explain everything now.”
Even though I was hesitant to share the details of the sacrifices involved, I began slowly explaining the situation.
***
By the ti the eting ended, evening had fallen over Norseweden, shrouding the land in darkness.
Deus Verdi and the countless souls, who seed poised to march over the mountain range at any mont, were still circling the mountain peaks, not advancing.
What had happened to the Mountain Lord?
I couldn’t even sense his presence because of the souls.
“It’s like a mountain of ghosts.”
I suddenly felt as if I was personally witnessing the Land of Eternal Rest I had struggled so hard to create.
However, I obviously couldn’t feel happy that my vision had beco reality.
Because in the end, the souls had once more returned to the continent.
The dilemmas I had faced while trying to create the Land of Eternal Rest were starting all over again.
Originally, the continent had reached a saturation point where there was no more room for souls to rest, causing the boundary between life and death to collapse, bringing about destruction.
However, it was worth noting that souls only contained mana but had no weight of their own.
Since they had no physical form, they didn’t really take up any space.
In truth, the term ‘saturation of souls’ could be seen as a very vague expression.
Which is why I could even consider the idea of cramming all the souls into a small mana stone like the end stone.
Because they didn’t really take up any space, I could force them into an extrely small mana stone or even into a person’s body.
My goal was to transport all of them to another dinsion entirely, thereby emptying the continent.
Additionally, I hadn’t fully comprehended the connection between the continent’s limitations and the saturation of souls back then, simply because there wasn’t a need to.
But now, things were different.
How did this happen?
According to my original plan, Deus Verdi shouldn’t have been able to leave the general store now.
Yet, as if mocking my resolve and determination, that entity had sohow reappeared on the continent, leading the souls along with it.
Things are getting complicated.
For now, he was still waiting at the mountain peaks, but he would eventually co looking for here.
Since it wasn’t feasible to fight on the mountain with our soldiers, the strategy we arrived at in the eting was to evacuate the territory entirely and face him head-on.
“This way!”
“Wipe that pout off your face, you bastards!”
“If anyone hasn’t had dinner yet, co over here, and we’ll feed you!”
And so, Norseweden was bustling and had beco noisy once again. The apprehended hunters were being dragged away by soldiers, and the citizens were evacuating, as if it were a familiar routine.
Given the lack of suitable facilities, I had heard that storage rooms were being emptied to house all the prisoners.
They were probably excited about the opportunity to clean out the warehouses as well.
The hunters, all considered terrorists from the mountain range, were now part of Margrave Darius’ achievents and would later be transferred to Graypond.
Among those being dragged away, I spotted Yun Ye. And by chance, our eyes t.
In a brief mont of eye contact, Yun Ye gave a bitter smile and clicked his tongue.
- Wasn’t this supposed to be a fateful opportunity?
With his lips, he silently expressed regret at having scouted . While we had indeed spent far more ti together than I had anticipated, I had no intention of pardoning his cris against Norseweden.
“Um, excuse .”
Just then, a small girl nad Xiao Hu approached . She was acting alongside the citizens of Norseweden as I had made a special exception for her.
Her situation could only be described as bad luck. She had simply followed to seek revenge for the Ancient Dragon and the yokai, only to end up in this chaotic place.
When I turned to look at Xiao Hu, her expression was complex.
“What… should I do?”
Her question was simple yet profound, perfectly capturing her current emotions.
“Haven’t you already avenged the Ancient Dragon?”
Yun Ye was arrested, and he would probably face Mage Tribunal Judge Tyren in Graypond’s execution grounds for his acts of terrorism.
If she wanted to enact personal revenge, she would have to follow Yun Ye there, but wasn’t this much enough?
However, Xiao Hu had a sowhat conflicted expression. It seed she was still struggling to shake off the kindness Yun Ye had shown her.
“So, will you spare ?”
“That’s… not it.”
“You’ve already achieved one goal. Next is my head, right?”
“…”
I knew my comnt was sowhat provoking, but Xiao Hu needed to make a clear decision.
“I’m the one who killed the yokai. And even if the sa situation were to arise again, I would undoubtedly act the sa way.”
With each word, Xiao Hu’s shoulders drooped further, her head lowered as if each of my words weighed heavily on her.
“Xiao Hu, there’s nothing I can do for you.”
I had no intention of taking responsibility for her or helping her grow.
The manner in which I treated Owen, whom I had personally appointed as my successor, and Xiao Hu would naturally be different.
“All I can tell you is that you need to figure it out for yourself.”
“…”
“Why are you different from them?”
Unlike the other yokai, the girl neither consud human flesh nor killed anyone. She only went about delivering things with a smile.
“Why in the world is that…”
“I’ve been thinking about it for quite so ti now.”
“…”
“You and Lanhardt have sothing in common.”
“Pardon?”
Hearing that she shared a similarity with the Lion who led the hunters, Xiao Hu looked at in confusion.
“W-What do you an by that…”
She tried to grab and ask for an explanation, but unfortunately, ti was up.
Leaving Xiao Hu behind, I walked forward slowly.
The cries of ghosts echoed amidst the chilly wind.
People naturally began to gather behind .
“Wow, I can’t see a thing, but I feel like sothing is moving in the air.”
With Snow White slung over her shoulder, Findenai let out a wry laugh as she glanced around.
She seed to feel it more keenly as her senses were sharper than those of most people.
“Really? I don’t feel much.”
“…Even I feel a bit uneasy.”
Deia glanced around on hearing Findenai’s words while Darius responded with a faintly uneasy expression.
Feeling reassured by the group that had gathered so quickly, I answered while gazing up at the sky.
“It’s better not to look.”
The souls covering the sky veiled the surroundings like fog.
“Are there a lot of stars tonight?”
Sensing the aning behind my question, the three imdiately swallowed hard and replied.
“They’re shining brightly.”
“We should be stargazing on a night like this.”
Nodding at Findenai and Deia’s replies, I slowly checked ahead.
Standing eerily like a ghost itself, he awaited us at the very center of the city.
His appearance was almost completely different from what I had seen in the mirror. Looking at him, I wondered if this was how others perceived Deus Verdi.
Yet, there was sothing strangely unfamiliar about the atmosphere compared to when I entered.
Through the strands of his long hair, Deus’ eyes t mine.
Having finally found , he slowly straightened his hunched back.
The surrounding souls swirled chaotically, offering rough, unspoken greetings.
***
sko-fi/genesisforsaken
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