Chapter 243 : Rest (4)
༺ Rest (4)༻
Me dying because of women?
It was so out of the blue that it didn’t make any sense.
“What do you… What? Me?”
“Yes.”
“What… Huh? ME?”
“That is exactly the case.”
Skuld replied firmly with a smile to pull me out of my stupor.
“Like, how could that…”
“I am simply telling you what I saw. It is only one of the possibilities of your future, so please don’t worry too much about it.” “I can’t just not worry about that…”
How could I possibly die because of women? There was absolutely no way this could ever be possible!
“T, the girls are all so nice. There’s no way they would kill me…”
“From time immemorial, it has been commonplace for heroes to die because of women.”
Looking at my pale and expressionless face, Skuld added.
“Don’t worry, Sir Korin. I will make sure to personally behead you so that you can head to Valhalla.”
“I don’t need you to! This is the problem for you guys! I’m trying to be friends and yet you’re always aiming for my neck!”
These ladies had a strong tendency of competitively wanting to behead warriors they’ve acknowledged! The ‘women’ mentioned in the prophecy might be one of them in fact!
“W, who was it?” I asked, but Skuld shook her head in response.
“I could not see her face, but I can assume who they might be.”
“How?”
“I am a norn stealing a glimpse into destiny. The fact that I could not see their face, means they must be of a higher divinity or ability than me.”
“…I, in other words?”
“She could either be a goddess, or someone strong enough to push the entire world into chaos.”
Those were tremendously hard requirements to meet, but there were quite a few I could think of.
First of them was Master… Although I couldn’t possibly imagine a future of Master killing me, she was still the only living goddess of this era.
There was also Estelle… the pseudo pope wishing to be the next Goddess of the Earth, and to be fair, she really could become one with the power of her divinity.
Wait, damn it.
Now that I think about it, Marie, Alicia and Hua Ran were also potential threats. The three of them had been gifted by the three Goddesses of War.
Could these qualify them as a semi-goddess? Well, even apart from that, they were strong enough to individually affect the entire world.
“Don’t worry too much about it. You never know what will happen in life.”
Skuld’s next words that dying in such a way could be a happy ending in itself, hearing which gave me goosebumps.
“H, how could that be…”
Something like this had never happened in the last iteration… and I was single my whole life on Earth, so why now…?
I stumbled my way out of her tent with my mind full of dizzying thoughts.
Skuld finished off by saying, ‘If you ever feel like you are going to get poisoned or stabbed by your partner, please don’t forget to find me first~’ and didn’t lose interest in my head the whole time.
****
My fate was to die due to women.
That sentence refused to leave my mind.
As for the reason… I assumed it would most likely be because of jealousy.
The fact that there was a pregnant woman meant that I had chosen someone, and someone else who couldn’t sit still and do nothing must have decided to kill me… I, it was highly likely that such a horrifying thing would be my future!
Then who? Who’s going to kill me?
I couldn’t help but see everything with doubt.
“Korin? Why aren’t you eating your Blood Jelly soup?”
“…Sunbae. Whose blood did you use for the blood jellies?”
– Flinch!
Marie’s eyes wavered from my sudden question, but she eventually pretended to have regained her calm and carried a baked potato to her mouth.
“I, I don’t know what you mean by that question…? Of course blood jelly soups are made from ox blood.”
What I knew, was that pouring a certain amount of that soup could turn mages with high magic resistance into vampires and ghouls.
‘Is it Marie?”
No, it can’t be. Marie is such a nice girl… There’s no way she would do such a thing to me!
Then… is it Alicia?
I carefully observed Alicia, who was casually stretching with no regard to her armpits being in full display.
‘It can’t be her. She was open about me getting married to multiple girls.’
Considering her distorted personality, she was the type of person who would invade my house at night along with her sister if I was married to someone. Wait, that’s not that good either…
‘Then is it Estelle?’
Estelle was extremely devoted to me, and was even trying to deify me as a god for some reason. Would she try to kill me? Probably not. I felt like she was someone who would kill the wife instead.
‘As for Master…’
It was out of the question for her. She was the living personification and avatar of justice. There was no way she would kill someone from jealousy!
That was absolutely unthinkable! I could guarantee it!
Which means…
“You’re making dinner today right? Do you want me to help?”
I asked after walking up to Hua.
Hua and Ran.
Although the two of them were very docile, they had an unconditional liking towards me.
– Slap
“Hnn?”
My hand, which I had used to reach out to her, was quickly slapped away. Did Hua just do that to me? I thought you liked me! I thought we were close!
When I looked at her dumbfoundedly, Hua frowned as if she had seen something dirty.
“Immoral.”
“Huh?”
W, what was that about?
Seeing her walk towards the kitchen with her back towards me, I muttered.
“I, is this puberty?”
““………””
Everyone remained quiet despite my question.
…….
……
…
I continued thinking to myself even after the meal, but I just couldn’t think of anyone specific who would go to the lengths that Skuld mentioned.
While pondering to myself, I was walking down the streets when I came across someone.
“Sir Korin?”
“Ah, Your Highness Miruam.”
She looked like a small venom-less snake with her unusually casual dress and a fur coat over it.
“…Call me Miru.”
“Sure.”
“…”
Even though she was the one asking me to call her by her nickname, she looked slightly discontent when I agreed to do so in a flash.
Others might see her gaze and say she was angry, but I could tell the subtleties in her expression and emotions. She was my previous wife, after all.
“How are things going with the military?”
“Not bad. There are a few backlashes from the barbarians, but they’re slightly flexible thanks to the skjaldmaers.”
It really was great that we were able to win over the remaining valkyries. If the commander system of the military had been jeopardized, we wouldn’t have been able to win any wars.
“By the way, my husband really has a lot of women.”
“Kuhum…! Well, that’s…”
I was about to say, ‘nothing new’, but decided not to because that sounded like such a trash thing to say.
“Hmm~. At least you’re not saying no.”
Miru slithered forward like a snake before suddenly pulling my head down by the shirt.
“We’ve done everything in the future already, haven’t we?” she whispered.
We did do everything indeed. As well as anything she could possibly imagine.
The young man from Earth without any relationship experience turned into an addicted beast craving for more after realizing how it felt.
“How lecherous.”
“Even though you say that…”
Was she… trying to have me as her partner even in this life? Even though there was no political need for it?
I was going through such things in my mind when she suddenly added with a venomous smile.
“By the way, I don’t share mine with anyone. What can’t be mine, I will shred into pieces if anything.”
“Kuhk…!”
Are you the one who appeared in my prophecy?!
It was spooky.
I… really hope I can be alive for the ending.
****
Despite Skuld’s prophecy, I still meditated for the upcoming war. Physical and mana training were meaningless beyond this point, and the focus therefore had to be in getting ‘enlightenment’.
〚Korin Lork (Hero)〛
Aura – { Lower Unique (20,130) }
Mana – { Lower Unique (18,920) }
Specialties: { Regeneration of the Tenacious Warrior, Pain Tolerance, Domain Comprehension, Triple Core, Demonic Aura Release, Herculean Strength, Intuitions of a Player, Ether Comprehension, Battlefront Flag Bearer }
Strength: 373
Agility: 305
Vitality: 300
Aura: 314
Mana: 314
Increasing one of them into the ‘Unique’ realm was marvelous enough and yet both my Aura and Mana were in Lower Unique.
It wasn’t an overstatement to say that I was 4 ~ 5 times stronger than the player of the original game after a normal playthrough.
Besides, there was more.
Thanks to the Precept, 〚I do not perceive spirits〛 I dealt 50% additional damage to physical enemies.
And〚I will save the world〛 made me at least twice as stronger when the fate of the world was at stake.
I was already much stronger than a normal player. In fact, if the Precepts were activated, I might even be able to defeat a normal player party by myself.
And with these stats, I should be able to solo Tates Valtazar.
‘But Park Sihu couldn’t beat him.’
Park Sihu was the God of Magic.
A sorcerer so strong that even the common people called him a god.
Through magic he could suspend the world, restructure terrain and change the weather… he was full of cheats and basically had hacks.
But despite that, he lost. He lost and the baton was passed down to me.
At the start, I was blaming him for losing despite being so strong, but over time, I started to understand the strange reason as to how he lost.
It was because the enemy wishing for the end of this world, Tates Valtazar, could not be defeated through strength alone.
[You have otherworldly talent.]
That was what I heard from Lunia a long time ago… and I heard something similar from other people.
[Korin, you have an otherworldly talent.]
[You are similar to me. If you had sought the path of the sword, you could have reached the Heavenly Sword.]
Something vague but different to the outside talent like Aura and Mana – something intangible. That was what created a difference.
“Damn it. They all love to speak in vague terms and I can’t figure it out.”
As expected of those lofty people, they spoke like old clan elders from wuxia novels that beat around the bush.
In the end, there was only one thing I could do.
[Think about just one thing, and one thing alone. Combine all of your future aspirations and the Domain into your profound ‘truth’. Only through a harmony of the heart, mind and body added with your perception, realm and truth will you reach the ultima.]
Ultima.
It was something I had reached once in the past.
“Well, it should work out during the actual fight.”
I lifted my spear and stabbed forward with my ‘truth’ embedded into it.
– GWAAAAAAA—!
A hole appeared in the sky with the clouds breaking apart. It wasn’t much compared to the Sword Emperor’s magic show, but it was a decent imitation of it.
“There is only one thing I can do. Break their plans to pieces as hard as I can.”
Doing all I could to achieve the goal.
That was the only choice I had from the get go.
****
The days I spent taking a break weren’t boring by any means.
They were enjoyable, and I hoped they would last forever, but they were just a dream that had to come to an end. For a better tomorrow, we had to fulfill it in the present.
“Korin-dongsaeng… Look at that…”
We could see it even from the middle of the enormous army of more than 100,000 men. It was gigantic.
“World Tree, Yggdrasil.”
As we got closer to the territory of Tates Valtazar, everyone was starting to pick up the gigantic evergreen tree reaching towards the ‘space’. Although I had explained to her already, Estelle still looked baffled at the sight of it.
“I was wondering how a tree could possibly end the world.”
Had it been anyone else, they would have ignored it as daydreaming, but the girls believed in what I said. However, it seemed that the world tree was still beyond their imagination.
“It’s much bigger than it should be. I knew it… Things are different ‘this time’.”
“This time?”
It was then.
“Look!”
“Something is coming!”
There was a commotion spreading from the front, but we didn’t have to bother asking the soldiers at the front, because everyone could see the monster racing across the air.
[I am Gan Ceann, a messenger of the Great One.]
“…Dullahan.”
An unseelie fairy and one of the top demonic beasts of <Heroic Legends of Arhan>. They were at the pinnacle of demons alongside banshees, the top demonic spirit, whom I could ignore thanks to my Precept.
Suddenly, the dreary voice of the dullahan went through a change.
[At last, you have finally arrived at the final stage.]
“…!”
I immediately knew who it was. Combining the previous and this iteration, I had only heard his voice once, but it was a voice so distinctive and powerful that it was unforgettable.
Tates Valtazar. He had his eyes on us through the eyes of the dullahan.
[I have waited far too long for this moment. Do you have any idea how long I have been waiting for you?]
It was strange. I could instinctively sense that he was saying that to me, but… what I couldn’t understand was that there was excitement, euphoria and joy in his voice.
Why? He should be fully aware of how disadvantageous the current situation was for himself, so why?
[Now behold, the true beginning of world creation. The stage has been set. Although the cast is fewer than optimal, the quality is fantastic…]
From a distance… I was starting to feel a strange aura. The only ones who felt it were people like me who had divinity.
“K, Korin-dongsaeng. This… isn’t this a bit different from what you said?”
“…”
I had no idea. This was completely different.
Did something like this happen in the original game?
Did it happen last iteration?
What in the…
[The false god you believe in has supposedly said this. The world was formless and empty, with darkness over the surface of the deep. He said ‘Let there be light’, and there was light.]
This spread of divinity across the world with the World Tree at the center… was a pattern I had never seen before.
[I shall declare instead. ‘Let there be no light’.]
In that instant.
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Light vanished from the world.