Airi looked at Ethan with a strange mix of fascination and disbelief etched into her face. She just couldn't understand it—couldn't fathom how soone could be this free. This unbothered.
And it annoyed her more than she liked to admit.
"Why are you like this?" Airi asked, tilting her head. Her black tears still stread down her cheeks, and the divine chains remained embedded inside her flesh.
It was… a fascinating sight for Ethan. To witness such beauty, bound and breaking, and still speaking.
'Truly, this tower is sothing else,' Ethan mused. 'I'm seeing weirder things every single day.'
Then, out loud—casual, almost amused—he answered, "Like what?"
Airi's lips twitched.
He knew exactly what she ant. She could feel it. And yet he still danced around it with that damn smile. But she didn't push. Not yet. She still needed him if she wanted even a shred of freedom.
'Ah… being at a complete disadvantage really is a sin in this world,' she thought bitterly. A stage-2 goddess—forced to play gas with a D-rank mortal.
What a joke.
"I an the way you carry yourself," she clarified. "The calm. From the mont you stepped into that forest, it was like… you were never worried about dying. Never once believed you didn't have a choice. Why?"
This ti, Ethan didn't deflect. His response ca quiet and plain.
"Isn't it obvious?" he said with a shrug. "You can only afford to act like this when you've got sothing that guarantees your survival."
"I know that," Airi said, leaning closer. "What I'm asking is—what gives you that confidence? Even in front of … a goddess?"
Ethan didn't answer with words.
Instead, he reached down, picked up a small pastry—made by the fairy race, soft blueberry and raspberry folded into chocolate—and gently placed it into Airi's slightly open mouth.
Airi froze.
Completely dumbfounded.
And Ethan just smiled. "You are a goddess," he said. "But a chained one. Does that still make you threatening?"
He tilted his head.
"If anything… you look a little lonely. A little desolate. Pitiful, even."
He smirked.
And for a long mont, Airi said nothing. She didn't lash out. Didn't curse him. Didn't threaten to turn him into ash for his impudence.
She just let out a low, quiet chuckle. "Heh…"
Any other goddess would have been furious. Would have taken this as blasphemy.
But not Airi.
No… she found it funny. Ridiculous, almost.
That's what loneliness did to a being like her.
It made you starved. Starved for sothing, anything, that wasn't just you. So when that presence finally arrived—even if it ca in the form of a rude, overconfident mortal—you welcod it. You laughed. Because for the first ti in centuries… sothing mattered.
Ethan smiled too. Not because he won sothing—but because she didn't get angry.
His trait, Eye of Revelation, didn't work against beings too far above his rank. So he had to rely on smaller things. Reactions. Deanor. He had to watch carefully to know what kind of creature he was truly dealing with.
Good or bad?
Sure, it wasn't accurate. It was awkward and clumsy. But that's all he had.
Anything else would've cost karmic points—sothing he didn't have the luxury of spending right now.
But now?
Now he'd seen enough to make his judgnt.
And the discussion could begin.
"I want to cross this forest," Ethan said plainly. "I need to reach Castria Kingdom. Can you help ?"
Airi stayed silent for a mont. Then slowly nodded.
"I can. The entire forest is under my domain. I can show you the path."
She paused.
"But I want sothing in return," she said, voice shifting—lower, colder. Her face, wet with black tears, looked terrifying in its stillness.
Ethan didn't flinch.
He expected this. Anyone would, seeing the state she was in.
"What's the demand?"
"Free from these chains," Airi said.
Then she added, her voice trembling just slightly—like a crack running beneath ice, "And if you can't… kill ."
Ethan's face didn't change.
He'd heard worse. With his identity as The rchant Beneath the World, he had encountered all kinds of desperation and madness.
Even coming from a goddess, this didn't shake him.
"Before we get into that," he said, "why don't you tell your story first?"
He leaned back.
"You can't seriously expect to risk everything for soone I don't even know, right?"
Airi nodded slowly.
She understood. He was right, even if she didn't like it.
Still… sharing her truth with a stranger? That was a heavy ask.
She closed her eyes. Composed herself.
And then, softly, she opened them again.
"My na is Airi Claimance ," she began, voice quiet but steady. "I am—or rather, I was—a Saintess."
Ethan blinked. "Saintess?"
"What do you an?"
Airi gave him a sad smile. The kind that lingered between grace and bitterness.
"Don't you know what that title ans?" she asked. "It's simple, really."
"Whenever you hear that word—Saintess—think only two things: chosen by god, and self-sacrificing."
"And do you know what happens when the very god who chose you as their ssenger decides to abandon you?"
Ethan frowned. "Why would a god abandon soone they chose in the first place?"
Airi shrugged. "Because I didn't obey."
Her voice was colder now.
"He wanted sacrifice. Specifically, he wanted our believers. Our won. He demanded the purest—virgins, the young, the beautiful. He wanted them for himself. To satisfy his divine lust."
"I couldn't accept it," she said, her voice cracking for the first ti. "I wouldn't. I watched parents offer their daughters with tears hidden behind smiles. I watched innocence slaughtered in the na of divinity. And I said no."
Ethan didn't smile anymore.
"And what happened when you resisted?" he asked quietly.
Airi looked at him—eyes glimring with black sorrow—and answered slowly.
"He cast away."
"He stripped of his blessing, fully accepting the backlash that ca from it. He made a fallen Saintess. Turned the people against . Said I was the one orchestrating the sacrifices. And as if that wasn't enough…"
She laughed bitterly.
"…He made a prophecy. Said I would bring ruin to them all. A fucking liar."
"That's what truly sealed it. They turned on . They cursed ."
She gestured at her chains. Her tears.
"They cursed to cry forever—as they cried for their daughters. And to be bound forever—to keep the ruin I never wanted from ever reaching them."
She stopped.
Then slowly, like announcing the final act of a tragedy already foretold, she smiled.
"And that's who I am now. Airi, the Fallen Saintess."
Ethan said nothing.
He just looked at her—at her eyes, at the pain swirling within them.
'Is she telling the truth?' he wondered.
He didn't expect an answer.
But—
[She is.]
The system responded.
Ethan blinked. Then gave her a small smile.
So it was true.
And knowing that, he couldn't help but feel a flicker of pity.
But curiosity, too.
"…Who was the god?" he asked softly. "Who did this to you?"
Airi's entire face shifted.
Anger. Rage. A divine hatred too old and too deep to put into words.
And with venom dripping from every syllable, she whispered:
"The father of bastards. The thunderous leech…"
"…Zeus."
—End of Chapter 69—
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