Chapter 213 – Reception – 2
“Yes, well… I expected there would be one or two secrets.”
I responded calmly. It felt like the light mass smiled slightly.
“Did you suspect that?”
“It would be foolish not to. There are restrictions in place preventing certain facts from being disclosed, and it was confirmed that the person behind it is the god of the Holy Kingdom. Ignoring it would mean viewing the world too simply, wouldn’t it?”
Of course, if they went so far as to impose restrictions to prevent disclosure of secrets, something significant must be hidden. The remaining question was when it would be revealed.
I was just now barely grasping the opportunity.
“If that’s the case, the conversation will be quick. You are ready to approach the secret.”
“I’ve been ready for a long time. It’s just that things like the whimpering of that guy or the goddess saying ‘it’s not the right time’ kept interrupting me.”
Since it still took the form of light, I wondered if it was truly a goddess, but the popes had told me that the Sun and Moon take on the form of a woman, and with a feminine voice, it probably was.
Upon hearing my words, the light mass simply laughed. It seemed to intend to gloss over its own statements.
“The identity of that little witch is probably what you expected.”
“…What did you just say?”
For a moment, I thought I misheard. But the returned reply confirmed that I had not.
“I said it is likely what you expected.”
“What do you think I expected?”
A sharp retort escaped me, but the light mass just smiled as if it understood everything.
Of course, since I couldn’t see the expression, I couldn’t be sure if it really was laughing. That was all I could feel.
“Think about who I am. You can’t possibly fail to notice that, can you?”
For someone to give such a confident answer, one would think they should have been able to at least capture a dragon properly instead of being mocked.
I stared intently at the goddess. It felt like she was subtly avoiding my gaze.
“The ability I possess and the ability to capture it are completely different. Just as humans cannot smell with their eyes or taste objects with their ears, so it is for me. So there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s not that my power is lacking; the nature of the power is different.”
The light mass earnestly explained her excuses. It was a statement that made sense and yet didn’t. In short, was it more about the issue of compatibility than power itself?
“I’ve rambled on. Now let’s get to the main point, what you truly wanted.”
I had a strong feeling that she was trying to redirect the conversation, but I didn’t want to pry further here, especially since I was more curious about Nix’s identity.
“As you expected, that little witch is indeed a human from another world.”
‘As expected.’
I was surprised at how calm I could remain after hearing those words.
The reason was unclear. Perhaps it was because I had anticipated this content from the start, or maybe it simply seemed natural. Or maybe the goddess had done something to prevent me from being shocked and collapsing.
“To be precise, we should say that she once was. Her identity as a person from that world has completely vanished now. However, I won’t delve deeply into this point. We aren’t here to discuss philosophy, are we?”
I nodded. At this point, discussing what defines a person was not something I wanted to engage in. That was something philosophers who would appear someday would handle, not me.
‘The other world probably refers to…’
She was likely speaking of Brightest Darkness 3.
Furthermore, possibly even Brightest Darkness 1.
Based on the item lists and descriptions that users speculated from the game, it seemed that Brightest Darkness 1 through 3 shared the same universe, only differing in timelines.
Putting together the goddess’s words, Nix seemed to be an NPC that appeared in Brightest Darkness 3. No, perhaps it was even ambiguous to call her an NPC since she had crossed over from another world.
My head felt like it was spinning with the complexity of it all. I didn’t remember much from Brightest Darkness 3 because I had only played around 200 hours, and there were certainly no NPCs that could be considered witches.
Then who exactly was Nix?
While I pondered this question, the goddess continued speaking.
“The reason her personality split into two was that she crossed over worlds, and accepted some of my power, leading to this side effect.”
“…She accepted power?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“But I didn’t feel any divine power from Nix—”
“It’s fundamentally different from that gentle power.”
The light mass gave a small sigh. No, it seemed to have sighed.
“What did that little witch confess she did to you?”
“She said she put two spells on me.”
“Both are powers that cannot be used with a human soul. If misused, your mind would have crumbled away.”
“What?”
“The reason the little witch’s personality split is also because of this. It’s to share the burden.”
I never would have thought there would be such a backstory.
In the game, it was just testing newly created magic on some passerby, but here the process was entirely different while the result remained the same.
How could one even notice that without any particular information?
‘…Wait a minute. Then why did she cast the spells?’
From her tone and actions, it seemed that the god of the Holy Kingdom took quite a liking to me. So if she was going to bring me here, wouldn’t it have been better if she had generously supported me instead of imposing penalties?
If she was going to go through the trouble of casting such spells, it would have been much preferable to have taken me from the start, as it could have helped me grow much faster.
The thought of the struggles I faced at the beginning only reinforced this.
“Wait a moment. Then why did you cast spells on me? If it weren’t for those spells, I—”
“You would have already been killed by that thing.”
The goddess’s voice settled heavily. I faltered and stopped what I was about to say.
“You know the reason it returned when you first encountered it. You understand, don’t you?”
I retraced my thoughts. The creature that devours the world had come directly to the imperial palace, and yet, after saying something, it just returned.
“…Is it because I seemed so insignificant on the outside?”
“You hit the nail on the head. As you complained, I could have fulfilled your desires. I could have done that. But if I had truly done that, it would have dealt with you instead.”
Hoo, the light mass sighed again.
“It was the best I could do for you to seem like I had no interest in you whatsoever. Only then would that creature not try to kill you.”
“Are you saying that if I hadn’t been stripped of all my powers, that thing would have killed me?”
“Exactly.”
Hearing those words made a bit more sense.
Honestly, if someone had asked whether I could win against that thing right after I had possessed this body or right after the creature that devours the world appeared in the imperial palace, the answer would have been a resounding ‘no.’
Since I hadn’t acquired the draconic words I needed to fight it yet, the moment it flew up and unleashed its breath, I would have been completely helpless. It would naturally not come down to the ground, knowing that.
But the question still lingered.
“Then what is the reason I’m alive now? That thing must have realized our relationship the moment the goddess descended here. Why didn’t it kill me and instead tried to negotiate with me?”
“It is because I have constantly faced defeat. Do you remember me saying that creature was filled with extreme arrogance?”
The heaviness in her voice deepened.
“When you first met that creature, I couldn’t discern the dynamics of the situation back then, but now I can. The speed at which it devours worlds has been increasing, and as you’ve heard, it has finally left just one world remaining. That’s why it made that proposal to ridicule me.”
After all of that, the goddess’s explanation continued for a while longer, but in summary, it went like this.
When that creature abandoned by god thought it could kill me, believing the goddess had created a being capable of eliminating it, it rushed over to find me, only to realize that I was simply too weak.
Excluding a bit of divine power, I was only marginally stronger than an ordinary human, and thus, the creature that devours the world thought it had lost due to compatibility in the fight against me and simply left.
It was perfectly reasonable considering the creature had been overwhelming in battles against the goddess due to that very difference.
It felt a bit peculiar to refer to it as a compatibility difference, but nevertheless, this was the scenario. In simpler terms, it viewed my existence as something useless for the goddess.
Now, it was clearly aware and ignoring that fact. It was a strange fight to lose while listening to just the explanation.
‘No wonder it came all the way to the imperial palace only to leave hastily.’
Additionally, it was mentioned that although it hadn’t granted powers before, it couldn’t provide them now either. It was already too busy trying to delay the absorption of the worlds it had already devoured.
I wondered if I should have been told all this, but I decided to quietly listen. If the explanation would have brought any trouble my way, the goddess would have kept her mouth shut first.
“Do you have any more questions? As long as it doesn’t go beyond your status, I’ll answer as many as you wish.”
The light mass seemed to smile slightly. As I stood still, gathering my thoughts, a sudden question popped into my mind, and I spoke up.
“If what you said is correct, then what about the game I played? And what exactly gave you the confidence that I would reach this point?”
If I had been at the extreme low end of the spectrum, I could have easily met my demise with a minor mistake against a trash mob on the road.
What kind of tremendous certainty did she possess to have had such a firm belief in me to cast those spells?
“……”
The goddess was silent for a moment.
Then she shared a very familiar reply.
“That, is still not the right time.”
“Yes, yes. I figured as much.”
Just as I suspected, I waved it off and moved on.
The light mass retreated. As the light that had filled my vision disappeared, I saw Lucifer still struggling in the distance.
Oh right, that guy isn’t dead yet. I’d been so taken aback by what I had heard here that I had temporarily forgotten.
With a gentle voice, the goddess whispered.
“What will you do with that one?”
“What do you mean by what will I do? I’ll kill him.”
“I expected as much.”
The light mass placed one hand over another in front of me.
“It may not be as much as you wish, but I’ll give you what I can…”
“…So, we can just see it as it turned out this way.”
I didn’t mention the conversation I had with the goddess about the truth of the world or that the creature that devours worlds was indeed a being much stronger than a god; I simply summarized my encounter with Lucifer.
‘Honestly, if I were to remove those two points, what would be left…’
Consequently, this implied that the goddess had shown up in person to capture just Lucifer, which had slightly dented my pride. However, since the guy was going to die anyway, I figured I wouldn’t worry too much about it.
The five gathered around were still in disbelief over the shocking fact that I had a conversation with a god.
“So then… Delta. Do you still have that power the goddess gave you?”
Aurora was the first to snap out of the shock and asked urgently.
“Probably?”
“Probably?!”
“I haven’t been able to test it since returning. Based on what you said, it seems likely to still be there, but you never know.”
Just as Aurora’s question initiated a barrage of inquiries from the knight commanders, a knock echoed through the door. Regularly, matching a specific rhythm, five times.
It indicated something related to Kaiquilia. The knight commanders dove off the bed faster than the eye could follow. Aurora, the last to move, slowly made her way back to the sofa.
Erica opened the door. A maid from the imperial palace walked in, her expression so emotionless that she might as well have been a robot.
“His Majesty the Empress has summoned you.”
“Understood. I will prepare immediately—”
“It is not referring to you. It’s for the Knight Commanders of the Silver Dawn.”
Her black pupils focused directly on me.
“The Knight Commander of the Dark Night Order has called for you alone.”
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