Reincarnated as an SSS-Ranked Blacksmith Who Refuses to Forge Weapons Chapter 234 234: 234. The Peaceforger's Rest

"The first chose power..."

"He beca divine and has not rested since, because power requires constant maintenance and there is always soone seeking to take it." There was a pause that felt like thinking. "The second chose knowledge."

"She still wanders through reality three thousand years later, still learning, and seems happy with this, though she would argue that 'happy' is not the right word." Another pause. "But you..."

"You chose peace."

"You built a ho for people who had none. You made connections that made God unimportant, and now I'm here to give you the sa choice I gave them."

Greg said, "A third life."

"New start. No systems. No gods. No divine gas. Real freedom from the start."

Greg was quiet for a long ti. He thought about Bork's clasp, which wasn't on his cloak right now but which he could still feel the weight of.

He thought about the headband Mira had on his wrist. He thought about a teacup on a shelf in a workshop on an island that would still be there in a hundred years and a thousand years because he had made sure of it.

He thought about Elwen, who had two hundred more years to live and everything she needed to live them.

"No," he said.

The presence changed. "No?"

"I've had enough... two full lives are enough for ."

"The first one I spent building things that killed people, and I had forty years of that to regret."

"The second one I spent building things that helped people live, and I had thirty years of that to be glad about." He looked at the white space around him with the directness he had applied to everything in two lifetis. "I've made mistakes in this life too."

"I beat a man to death with my bare hands in a dungeon, and I've never stopped knowing that I did that... I broke my oath, and I built things that weren't perfect."

"But...I also built Ho, and I raised ten children who are going to change things in ways I can't predict."

"I loved four won who loved back, which still feels like more than I deserved."

"You think you've done enough."

"I think I'm done." Greg said, "Which is different. 'Enough' sounds like I reached a quota."

"What I an is that I'm done... The work is done, the life is done, and I want to rest now and be with the people who got there before and wait for the people who will co eventually."

The presence was quiet in a way that made think they were really thinking about it.

Finally, it said, "You are the first to turn down this offer."

"Every soul I have brought here has chosen a different life..."

"They have always wanted more power, knowledge, and adventure." There was a pause. "You are the first person to say you have had enough."

Greg said, "It's a complint to what I had..."

"Then go," the presence said. "To your rest... and to your family."

"Your story is over, Greg Greyson, and the new one will unfold..."

He was already moving toward the warmth he could feel at the edge of the light.

"One thing," he said, stopping. "Tell the gods, whoever they are, that people don't need divine authority to build sothing worth having."

"Tell them that peace is harder than war and that anyone who tells you otherwise has never tried to maintain it."

"Tell them that every ti they turn a world into a ga board, soone like is going to co along and ruin it because people will always choose each other."

"That's just how we are."

The abstract presence made a sound that was both impossible and clear.

It was a laugh.

"I'll tell them," it said. "Goodbye, Peaceforger."

"They won't like hearing it."

"Can I know your na by any chance...?" Greg asked.

The presence then smiled and ford, where Greg was surprised to see a little girl that smiles at him. "You can call ... The Mind."

"The Mind... that's wise..." Greg then raised his hands. "Thank you, The Mind... for giving a second chance to change who I was..."

"Bye now..."

Greg walked toward the sound of a hamr on an anvil, the light, and the warmth of ho.

When he reached that place, he could see Bork was working on sothing at the forge. It wasn't the First Forge; it was just a forge, like the ones that exist in the spaces beyond life, which are realms where important work could go on.

He turned around when he heard footsteps, and his face lit up with the sa joy Greg had seen on a cliff fifteen years ago. That pain had never really gone away, but it was a different kind of pain now, the kind that doesn't stop you from being happy.

"Took ya here long enough, eh, Boss?" Bork said. "I thought you'd be here by fifty."

Greg said, "I... was busy."

"Of course. 1,247 people? Ten kids? Building a nation?" Bork went back to his forge. "Co here and help now."

"I'm making a clasp for when Dorin gets here... It will take a while because dwarves don't hurry."

Original Mira ca from sowhere to Greg's left. She had silver hair and golden eyes, and she hugged him like soone who had waited years to do so.

"Master-forger-darling! You're finally here!" She pulled back, held his face in her hands, and looked at him with golden eyes that were full of everything she rembered. "I've been watching through the Hearthstone."

"I saw everything~!"

"I know," Greg said. "How was it from here?"

"Perfect," she said. "Well, not perfect..."

"There were a few close calls. Helena almost blew up the enchantnt conservatory twice, and Lyssa turned the kitchen blue for three weeks in year nine. But overall? Perfect."

"Where are all the other people?"

Mira took his hand and led him around the forge. Hilda was talking to a patient audience about a geological formation that was intriguing.

Hammy was being a sli with a hamr in the corner, looking very happy, and the Crimson Falcons were sitting around a fire, doing sothing that looked like comparing notes on combat techniques, but they didn't need to use them anymore.

Kael was the first to look up and smile, just like he always did. Denna waved, which was half a greeting and half a sign that it was ti. Ryn raised an eyebrow like soone who has been waiting comfortably.

Everything was fine with them. They were all just who they were.

Greg had carried them for 15 years, but now that he was with them, he could stop.

He went to the forge with Bork and began making the clasp for Dorin.

After a while, Bork asked, "How did the peace thing go?" Not really a question. As soone who knew the answer and wanted Greg to say it.

"It worked." Greg said, "Ho is a country."

"The gods learned to knock before coming in, and my kids are amazing..."

"The Hearthstone is still burning."

Bork nodded, pleased that his faith had been confird. "Good. I knew it would."

Mira appeared at Greg's side with the organizational energy he had been missing without even realizing it. "What are you going to make first?"

Greg stared at the forge. He had all the ti in the world and a teacup to finish for his wife, who would co when she was ready. It could be two or three centuries from now, because Elwen had never been in a hurry about anything, and the waiting would be enjoyable.

"A teacup." He said, "Give it to Elwen... She'll want tea when she gets here."

Bork gave him a look. "You're making things for the house in the afterlife."

"What else could I make?"

Mira didn't look up because she was already sorting the tools into groups that only she understood.

"We love him because he hasn't changed at all."