The curtains on the story had drawn to a close.
Everything was concluded, and everyone had played their part.
The continent was saved, the protagonist had died, and the souls had fallen asleep.
Now, I could only step back in silence and look forward to seeing how the new story I didn’t know would unfold.
[How are you feeling? Are you okay?]
However, even at Stella’s concerned question, I couldn’t give a proper answer.
“It’s difficult to tell.”
I had received a new body back when I attended the confernt ceremony for Erica and Fel last ti.
And since I could no longer walk around in the artificial body with Deus’ appearance anymore, I ended up getting another artificial body similar to the one I had used during my travels.
Thanks to that, I could now live as Kim Shinwoo, but the problem was its durability.
“I don’t think it will last long.”
Just because the story had ended didn’t an I no longer had all my power.
The body was still unable to endure the enormous mana, and I anticipated it would break soon.
In fact, the first body I used, Deus’ artificial body, didn’t last and broke.
“Maybe I should just stay in my soul form.”
Clearly displeased, Stella frowned and shook her head.
[Even if you’re being stubborn, you still need an artificial body. If you stay in your soul form like with and senior, you’ll eventually lose the sense that you’re not dead.]
“…”
[You should rember that you’re not dead. And you need to make sure that everyone else knows that as well.]
“Yeah, you’re right.”
If I walked around in my soul form, I would end up no different from the souls who were unable to find rest after they died.
It might seem similar, but it was fundantally different. The continent still recognized as soone who hadn’t died, and that was why the souls residing in Deus’ body hadn’t burst out and run rampant.
“It’s complicated.”
I gave her a bitter smile in response, and Stella didn’t deny it.
[But you have always found a way to navigate those complicated middle grounds. You should be proud.]
“If you say it like that…”
When I silently expressed my thanks, Stella stared at for a mont, then stood on her tiptoes and kissed without warning.
Chu.
It was short but lingering.
Her actions were impressive for a Saintess, but for a demon lord, it was a clumsy surprise.
When I looked down at Stella with surprise, she responded with a bright smile.
[Do you know? You’re more obedient when you’re like this. How cute.]
“I didn’t realize there was such a difference.”
[It definitely feels different. Maybe it’s because you’ve beco more relaxed. You are gentler as Sh-shinwoo. I’m sure Senior thinks the sa.]
“You just kissed and now you’re embarrassed to say my na?”
Seeing Stella’s face turn bright red imdiately made laugh. But it didn’t seem like an incorrect observation.
After shedding the stiff aristocratic mannerisms I had adopted when I beca Deus, I may have naturally beco gentler in my actions.
Or perhaps it was because of the sense of liberation now that everything was over.
[Just like how I was set free from the role of a Saintess, maybe it’s because you’ve been liberated from the role of Deus. So, don’t resist change.]
Despite being embarrassed, Stella smiled brightly. I nodded lightly in agreent with her inference.
“Definitely.”
The Stella I t back at the Elia Convent and the Stella from now were very different.
“It feels a bit strange to say this, but you look happy.”
[Oh my.]
Stella covered her mouth and smiled bashfully. She seed genuinely appreciative of the way I viewed her change, making her even more endearing.
The brief, warm atmosphere ca to an end.
Anyway, I still needed to think about the issue with the artificial body.
The answer might not be far off.
[What’s wrong?]
I stared at Stella, causing her to tilt her head. Just as I was about to answer that it was nothing…
[Co out quicklyyyyyy! You should give her so beatingggg!]
A childish scream ca from outside. We both looked out the door at the sa ti, but Stella passed the buck to , saying she would tidy the inside of the house.
When I stepped outside, I saw the Dark Spiritualist and Findenai bickering in the small garden.
What mattered was the small animal between them.
It seed to be a puppy.
Because the Dark Spiritualist had insisted on wanting to raise one, Findenai said she would get one from sowhere, and it seed like that small animal was the one she was talking about.
As soon as I stepped outside, the Dark Spiritualist began gesturing toward angrily.
[Look at this! How do you even raise this thing?!]
“Why? Don’t you think it’s cute?”
Findenai held it out to , and only then did I realize it wasn’t a puppy.
“A wolf?”
“Yeah, I found it.”
“…You want to raise a wolf at ho? But we already have one.”
“Haha.”
Findenai gave a dry laugh and shot a sharp glare.
“Do you wanna get bitten?”
She said as she bared her sharp teeth. I thought she liked the nickna, but maybe not?
[Where did you find this?!]
“She probably brought it from beyond the Norseweden mountain range.” ”
As I answered on behalf of Findenai, she raised her middle finger, looking utterly baffled.
“Damn it, there’s nothing you can’t say in front of your wife, huh?”
“…”
[Oh, really! Didn’t I tell you to stop saying weird things?!]
My ears were starting to hurt as the Dark Spiritualist yelled loudly from the side.
I shouldn’t have felt any pain due to possessing the artificial body, but if it hurt, it ant the Dark Spiritualist was indeed a dark mage.
“Its mother was dead, but it kept sucking on the teat, so I brought it here. The other siblings were all dead as well.”
It was a typical, sowhat cliché story, but surprisingly, it had a solid effect.
[…Why didn’t you tell that from the start?]
The Dark Spiritualist quickly snatched the wolf cub from her.
She had now taken on a form that was difficult to just call a soul.
[Fluffy IV! You shall now be known as Fluffy IV! I’ll make you happy!]
“Ssspp, I didn’t expect you to na it that.”
Findenai scratched the back of her head, clearly having trouble understanding the Dark Spiritualist’s sense of naming, but the Dark Spiritualist was already walking around the yard with Fluffy IV.
Then, her gaze naturally shifted to the house where we were going to live.
It wasn’t particularly spacious.
If you were to count the number of people living here, it would be just Findenai and .
The Dark Spiritualist and Stella were already dead, so I didn’t count them, but if I said that, they’d probably be angry.
Anyway, it was a newly built house, sturdy and neat on the outside.
It might have seed random, but the mbers of the Scrapyard Nomads had built it as a congratulatory gift.
And the reason it was constructed in a scrapyard was that it was located within the territory of the Clark Republic.
The place was sparsely populated but it was the sa place where Findenai had wiped out the Yellow Flower manufacturers the last ti she followed my orders.
In short, drug dealers had chosen this place for its remoteness, but after clearing it out, we decided to use it.
And at the mont, it didn’t feel right for both Findenai and to stay in Norseweden.
However, we might eventually move back to that place after so ti had passed.
“My child’s dad.”
Findenai nudged with her elbow, her mouth curled into a playful smile.
“Don’t call that.”
I resisted a little as I spoke, but it was no use.
“Then how should I address you? Husband? Honey? I don’t think I should use Master Bastard anymore, right?”
“Sigh.”
I sighed and paused before replying.
“Findenai, my body is currently an artificial body.”
“I know.”
“The artificial body itself isn’t very durable, so I can’t do anything too intense. So… things like that are hard. Plus, I can’t have kids.”
“…”
It was the first ti I had spoken so straightforwardly, so Findenai’s expression slowly turned stiff.
But that was the truth, so I had no choice but to tell her that.
“Besides… if we tried doing it now, you’d just… well…”
Doing it with right now will essentially be a self-satisfying act through a tool. The words just lingered on my lips as they were hard to express.
Findenai, who sowhat understood what I was trying to say, slowly crossed her arms.
Then, with a neutral expression, she replied.
“That’s such a disappointnt.”
“…”
“But do you rember what I told you last ti? The reason I was so aggressive when I expressed my feelings for you?”
Of course, there was no way I could forget what she had said back then.
“You said that because I didn’t express it in words, you wanted to know through actions, right?”
Findenai nodded slightly, her cheek turning flush.
She was embarrassed as she recalled that ti.
Seeing her like that, I gently pulled her into my arms. It was painful not to feel any warmth from her body.
Even though I could feel the sadness of not having her warmth in my arms…
“I love you.”
I whispered softly as I held her, and Findenai also embraced carefully, making sure not to break my artificial body.
“It really sucks, but I feel like an ordinary woman now.”
“…Do you hate this?”
“Heh, heh.”
She gave a hollow laugh as she lay in my arms, replying.
“I like it. So fucking much.”
I tried to pull away from her, but unexpectedly, Findenai remained clinging to stubbornly, so it took a bit of ti.
Then, since Stella would have trouble cleaning the house all by herself, Findenai, who was once a maid, went inside.
Then, I briefly turned away from the house and headed outside.
I knew an uninvited guest had arrived.
No, it wasn’t just one person.
They had brought an entire crowd with them, but calling them “people” didn’t seem quite right.
“What should I call you?”
A familiar face stepped forward as I asked casually while facing them.
It was Velas, the God of festivals and joy.
“Well, long ti no see.”
Velas greeted with a carefree wave, while the other gods around us clicked their tongues or simply observed cautiously.
However, I didn’t react much because I knew why they had co.
“Did you co here to kill ?”
I cut straight to the point.
The gods flinched and imdiately tensed up, so even readying themselves for battle.
However, seeing my lack of reaction, they seed to be genuinely confused.
“Are you confident?”
Glowing with a white light, the goddess with scales and a sword asked. She was most likely the goddess of justice Lucia served.
“I can easily kill all of you and then go back to cook dinner for the others.”
It wasn’t a shallow boast or a warning.
I was simply stating the truth, and the even tone in my voice made it even more convincing.
In fact, I was also the very person who defeated Raizel, the strongest among the gods.
Of course, I had received help from the souls back then, but now, I had beco much stronger than before.
And the mont I was freed from the constraints of my artificial body, I could unleash all the power that had been suppressed.
The gods must have known that as well because they remained tense and didn’t make any reckless moves.
“The reason we’ve co is… because we’re worried.”
Eventually, Justia spoke up, softening her stance. After hearing her, the atmosphere among the other gods shifted slightly.
“The continent’s final fate has been sealed. Now, we can truly be free.”
“…”
“But the fact that you’re still around is a big source of anxiety for us.”
It was not like I didn’t understand the reason.
“Because the souls haven’t been annihilated, and the boundary between life and death hasn’t broken.”
“Exactly.”
The prerequisite side quest before seeing the ga’s ending—the story of Dante and Luaneth.
In that episode, the player had two options.
Either the boundary between life and death broke, bringing forth the continent’s destruction, or Luaneth annihilated all the souls.
However, since the souls still remained, the flow of fate hadn’t gone as expected.
That was the reason for their worry, afraid that their newly found freedom might be suppressed once again.
“The thing you all call fate…”
After pondering briefly, I spoke to them.
“It’s not as grand as you think. We just move to bring the story to an end, that’s all.”
“…”
“It doesn’t matter how you see it or how you accept it. It is clear that the story has co to an end, and I will carry the unresolved parts on my shoulders.”
As my own form of atonent for the tis I’d enjoyed their stories as I wished.
“You’ve probably been waiting for hundreds, thousands of years for this mont. You know, you’re also victims who were swept up in the flow of the story.”
They may be called gods, but they were not omnipotent.
In reality, they were just beings who existed to bring the story to completion.
A little more special than humans, a little more versatile, and a little more knowledgeable.
That was all.
While they had often been adversarial, ultimately, their goal was to finish the story they had been burdened with from the mont of their birth.
And to obtain their freedom.
In fact, the ones who hated fate the most were probably these very beings.
“It’s ti for you to leave. Your role is over.”
From the beginning, there was no script where gods intervened in the scenario of [Retry].
They were more like stagehands who didn’t appear on stage, but because of , the situation beca tangled, forcing them to step forward.
Slowly, I turned around and began to return to the house, feeling the presence of people behind .
When I snuck a glance behind, the gods, perhaps having co to their own conclusions, were all bowing their heads in my direction.
Now, I could clearly understand why they had co to find .
They just wanted a confirmation.
They wanted to know if it was really over.
Whether they were truly liberated from everything.
Whether the mont they had waited for so long had finally arrived.
In fact, I had provided the very answer they sought.
“Heeyaaa!”
At that mont, looking like he had sothing to say, Velas ca rushing from behind, waving his hand with a bright smile.
“I’m a god who knows how to express my gratitude, you know.”
Velas approached with a shrug of his shoulders, and I paused for a mont, observing him.
He could probably beco the ally I needed most right now.
“You don’t have a physical body, do you?”
“Hmm? Yeah? We kind of refer to our body as a ntal body.”
I reached out and touched him.
The warmth imdiately spread through my hand.
At that mont, Velas took a step back in surprise.
“Huh?! What are you doing?! I like won!”
“…Later.”
From his words and the warmth emanating from his hands, it was clear—he was exactly the kind of helper I needed at the mont.
“Drop by when you have ti.”
“…”
“Or I’ll co find you.”
Startled by my serious warning and implied threat, Velas reluctantly nodded in agreent as we arrived at the front yard of the house.
The Dark Spiritualist was playing with Fluffy IV, and Stella was tidying up the ss Findenai made while trying to clean up.
“No matter what, we appreciate your sacrifice, Kim Shinwoo.”
His gaze was fixed on the front yard, and Velas expressed his gratitude with a complicated expression.
“Personally, I didn’t want the boundary between life and death to collapse. Because even if we found our freedom, the world would still be destroyed.”
“If you’re going to say pointless things, just leave already.”
At my words, Velas scratched the back of his head awkwardly before he left.
The surroundings felt empty again.
I mulled over the words he had spoken just monts ago.
Sacrifice.
“Well.”
Was I supposed to use a flattering word like “sacrifice”?
“Master Bastard! No, no. This isn’t right. Damn it, honey! Co help ! She isn’t a Saintess but a harlot!”
[Findenai! Please, stop it! I already told you, Senior and I don’t need a bedroom!]
“That ans you’re suggesting that we all sleep together! How dare you barge into a couple’s bedroom!”
[I also want to build a house for Fluffy IV!]
“Then you go and sleep with him!”
[Let’s make a deal— just let Senior sleep outside, but you should take in.]
Though it was sowhat noisy, it seed a bit difficult to attach the word “sacrifice” to .
After all, I was too content with the scene before .
A smile crept onto my face.
It wasn’t sacrifice.
It was a journey.
After all this ti, I had found a place to belong.
“Really.”
It was such a good day.
***
sko-fi/genesisforsaken
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