Hero Baird, at this mont, raged like a wounded lion.
Kars was once again stunned, for in Baird at this mont, he seed to see the hero of the past who had gambled with the divine.
Baird vowed to leave the Netherworld, to find the one he loved, and for this, he was willing to pay any price.
Kars shared Baird’s thoughts, unsettled by them, and he advised Baird to enjoy the prosperity of the Great Plain, but his words were rely futile and ineffective counsel.
As Baird gradually regained his old consciousness, he issued an ultimatum to Kars,
"Kars, forgive for abandoning our past friendship.
I must ask you, do you intend to stop from leaving the Netherworld?
Regardless of what you say, I still intend to leave this place. I have devoted my life to my love; she has beco the aning of my entire life. Apart from her, nothing else can make feel happiness.
I now yearn to return to the Mortal World, not because I pine for past glories—which indeed once brought joy—but because they have all beco epheral and insubstantial.
Whatever you plan to do, Kars, I beg of you not to stop ."
The poetic words of Baird deeply shook Kars, and as his friend, Kars ultimately gave up on stopping Baird and, under Baird’s persuasion, decided to lend a hand.
Above the Great Plain, Kars held a secret banquet in Baird’s na, gathering Baird’s forr comrades and heroes who still revered him to this day.
When Baird’s visage appeared at the banquet, when the hero among heroes spoke, every soul mistook him for a victim of the Illusion Technique by the god of lies and deceit.
It was only after repeated confirmations and explanations by Kars and Baird that these heroes finally realized that it truly was Baird, Baird who had reclaid his self-awareness.
When the heroes learned of Baird’s plan to leave the Netherworld, they were all greatly astonished; for nearly ten millennia, none had heard of a soul that could leave the Netherworld and return to the Mortal World. Like Kars, they urged Baird to abandon the idea, yet the hero was already resolute in his decision.
"I know you wish to persuade , but who can truly convince ?
I once slept, for after my bet I fell into utter despair. Now, I awaken because the form of my beloved restores hope once more.
If I am to stay here, then I might as well continue to sleep, to live a life as an empty shell."
The words of the hero moved everyone present, and thus, under Baird’s call to action, one third of them resolved to join their ranks. Each had their own quests: to achieve honor even in death, to create new legends, to leave the Netherworld with Baird, or simply moved by Baird’s words.
The remaining two-thirds were asked to keep the secret and swore before the gods in front of everyone never to speak of what they had seen and heard that day.
Afterward, the Great Plain temporarily returned to a state of peace and tranquility while Baird and the heroes he united with discussed their next plans.
The Netherworld, the domain of the dead, is an easy destination for the living—rely requiring death to step foot, but for the dead to return is far from a re challenge akin to scaling the heavens.
It was an unprecedented event; since the creation of the Netherworld, except for the great judgnt executed by the father of the gods, no soul had ever left the Netherworld, let alone returned to the Mortal World.
But the great souls still harbored imnse passion and burning blood in their veins; under the leadership of Baird, they began to devise plans.
For they were heroes in life, and still exemplary humans in death.
Soone said,
"I’ve heard that although Death God Nakbet is unfeeling, his Queen Esroa is not.
Even though Esroa rarely appears before the souls, the Netherworld often speaks of her rcy. That will be our hope."
This proposal was approved by the heroes, and they resolved to cross the Netherworld River that divided the regions of the Netherworld, to seek an audience with Esroa, mistress of the Netherworld.
However, the Netherworld River that separates the Great Plain from the Netherworld Palace is tumultuous and surges ferociously. It’s incredibly dense and shimrs like rcury. Even the best swimrs, once fallen into the water, cannot struggle; the souls wishing to cross the Netherworld River must take a vessel.
There was only one vessel on the Water Galaxy, and that vessel had but one ferryman, by the na of Somi, who served only Nakbet and his Queen.
Hence, the Heroes pleaded with the ferryman to allow them passage across the river, and for this, they were willing to do anything for him.
"Don’t even think about it, my loyalty is as gold.
Your temptations are like silver, but ten pieces of silver do not equal one of gold; your threats are like fierce flas, but true gold fears not the fire’s trial."
Confronted with the helpless Heroes by the riverbank, Somi rocked his oar and sneered at them.
At this ti, Adrian from Baird’s side whispered to the other Heroes:
"I rember this ferryman, Somi, has a grandson.
Though he is the son of a Hero, he made a grave mistake, and his soul was left in the Punishnt Wilderness.
Somi is so loyal now only to redeem so sins for his grandson."
The Heroes then asked Adrian what great mistake his grandson had committed and what they could do to help.
Adrian continued:
"That grandson left his father Aston’s corpse in the wilderness, just to take the coffin money for gambling, thus committing a sin.
For this reason, during the Netherworld Judge’s verdict, Aston testified against his son, sending him to the Punishnt Wilderness.
His father, although in the Great Plain, remains preoccupied with not having given his body a proper burial."
"If we can persuade him to forgive his son, allowing his son’s punishnt to be alleviated, then Somi will also allow us to visit Esroa."
Consequently, Baird and the others returned to the Great Plain, where they t Aston. In the na of fellow Heroes, they requested that he forgive his son and lessen his punishnt before the Netherworld Judge.
After learning of Baird’s desire to return to the Mortal World, Aston agreed to their pressing request, but he also set forth his condition.
"Baird, if you return to the Netherworld, you must give my corpse a proper burial."
Aston demanded that Baird conduct a funeral for him in the nas of several Divine beings and threatened Baird that if he failed to do so, he would incur the punishnt of the Divine beings.
Burying relatives and companions is the duty prescribed by the Gods, relevant to a person’s honor and dignity after death. It was obvious that Aston’s son had failed to fulfill this duty and thus faced the deserved judgnt.
Having learned from this story, Baird swore to the Divine beings that upon his return from the Netherworld, the first thing he would do was to give Aston’s corpse a proper burial.
With the promise made, Aston was deeply touched and slowly unveiled the story of his life.
It turned out that Aston was once brave and battle-worn, with extraordinary wisdom; he had not died on the battlefield amid flas and chaos, nor had he perished in adventures filled with unknown dangers—it seed luck always favored him, destined to grant him a peaceful old age.
But this Hero t with a ridiculous death—while tilling the fields, he swung his hoe too hard, it broke, and tragically struck his head, killing him right there in the field. He was a Hero, his presence in poems, yet death ca to him so unexpectedly.
What was even more sorrowful was the fact that after his death, his son, without filial piety, left his body in the wilderness, causing him, who lived like a Hero, to die like a clown.
"Your fate has been so rough and abrupt,
I hope nothing similar befalls in my journey ahead."
In Aston, Baird saw impermanence.
The impermanence of life was best illustrated through him.
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