Chapter: 134
“What’s beyond death?”
One day, the hero asked me.
“Beyond death?”
“Yeah. When life comes to an end, death is bound to follow, right? So wouldn’t that death itself have an end? What’s on the other side of that death?”
“The end of death… If we’re talking about the bottom of the Afterlife, there are three gods waiting there.”
At my words, the hero shook his head slightly.
“Didn’t you tell me about the Afterlife before? How souls go through judgment from the gods of the Afterlife, get punished, have their memories washed away, and then start a new life?”
“Yes, I did say that.”
Looks like he still remembers the stories I shared while we traveled together.
I picked up an apple from the bedside table where the hero was resting. With my magic blade, I carefully peeled the skin, cut it into bite-sized pieces, and brought it to his mouth.
But the hero couldn’t bring himself to eat the apple.
“Can’t eat it?”
“Nope, not hungry.”
“And you skipped breakfast too.”
I clicked my tongue softly. If I wanted, I could easily extend his lifespan, yet the hero was stubbornly refusing.
“Isn’t it the natural order of life to be born, live, age, and die? Just because I’ve been around the Goddess of Life doesn’t mean I should break that rule.”
“What if I don’t want that?”
“Yup, just my little stubbornness.”
With a tired expression, the hero laid back down on the bed.
“Let’s get back to the topic. What’s beyond death?”
“The soul gets cleansed and is reborn, carrying a pure spirit.”
“So what happens to the souls that pass the judgment from the three gods of the Afterlife?”
At the hero’s question, I was momentarily speechless.
“There haven’t been any souls that have passed that judgment yet.”
“Must be some pretty strict criteria for the judgment.”
And that was true.
How many things do humans do in their lives? Isn’t there a hint of malice in all those actions? Is there goodness in everything?
Or have they achieved such incredible feats that even malice becomes meaningless?
To the point where they’re called heroes? To the point of being celebrated by the world?
At least so far, there’s been no such soul.
It was to the extent that even the three gods who decide the verdict might need to show a little leniency.
“The truth is… since there haven’t been any souls that passed the judgment, the place beyond it hasn’t been created yet.”
If that place… let’s temporarily call it Paradise.
Before creating Paradise, I thought about gathering souls that pass the judgment separately, but… hmm.
“Is that really okay?”
“Since there aren’t any souls that meet the criteria, it’s fine to make it in advance, but…”
Traveling with you has been more enjoyable than I expected. So I put it on the back burner for now.
“It was just temporarily postponed. And… I have a feeling you’ll be the first soul to pass that judgment. I should start getting things ready.”
I actually have some methods in mind for creating a new world.
“Me? What have I done that’s so great?”
“Haven’t you done good deeds for the world?”
As a hero, the feats you’ve accomplished while saving the world and defeating monsters are unparalleled good deeds.
If you don’t pass the judgment, then who will?
“If you don’t pass the judgment, then no one else will.”
The hero chuckled awkwardly at my words.
“I don’t think I’m that special…”
“Chin up! You’re going to be known as the first true hero in this world.”
The elderly hero straightened his posture a bit too rigidly and then coughed.
I held the hero’s hand and used my life-infusing power to make him more comfortable.
“Really… you don’t need this?”
“Nope. I’m good enough.”
The hero sank back into the bed.
“My wife has been gone for a long time now. Most of the people I knew are gone, my daughter’s now a wrinkly old grandma, and her kids have started families of their own… Is there really any reason for me to keep living?”
“Yeah, you’ve got a point.”
The hero was over 100 years old.
His daughter had turned into a grandmother in her 60s, and her grandchildren had already married, had kids, and started their own families.
The hero’s descendants had grown to the point of forming a small village.
“There’s no longer even a founding king of Arcadia. Hmm. There’s really no one left I can call a friend.”
“But didn’t that guy stomp back to his hometown before kicking the bucket?”
The curse on Arcadia’s land has vanished. That land had become a place where life is reborn again.
The last prince of Arcadia is said to have returned to his hometown before dying, falling asleep peacefully among the ruins of what was once a city and never waking up again.
“Going back home was his wish, after all. He must’ve been happy to sleep there in the end.”
“Yeah.”
He must have missed his hometown dearly, enough to want to be buried there.
“To think he couldn’t even pass the Afterlife’s judgment despite such a grand feat of founding a great nation… That’s just too harsh.”
“In his case… the judgment has been put on hold.”
His soul was tangled up with both good and bad deeds, as well as his grand achievements, making it tough to reach a verdict.
Considering he was praised as the founding king among humans, even if it takes some time, he seems bound to pass eventually.
“You said the place he’ll go after passing the judgment hasn’t been created yet, right?”
“Yeah. If someone can pass the Afterlife’s judgment and receive approval from the three gods… they’ll need an appropriate place, but I’m still figuring out what would suit them best.”
Heaven, paradise, Elysium—there are many names for it, but while I’ve devised a way to create it, I’m still unsure about the exact shape it should take.
A place that isn’t physical, where only souls exist; a place where only happiness exists; a place where one can be eternally happy.
That might be what paradise is, but… I’m just not sure.
Does eternal happiness equal paradise? If someone stays happy without changing until the end of the world, wouldn’t that be like being preserved?
A space forcing someone to stay happy forever, much like preservation.
I have no clue what’s right. Even though I’m called a god and have powers akin to one, I don’t really know anything properly.
“You seem to have a lot on your mind.”
“Yeah, the worries are endless.”
It would’ve been easier to just leave everything alone and watch the world from afar, but I’ve gotten too deeply involved.
“Just relax and think about it. Easy peasy.”
“I can’t just think about it easily!”
It’s a place where souls worthy of respect will come, so I can’t just slap it together haphazardly.
“Why not just create a place based on what the souls desire?”
“Desire?”
“Yeah! For me… it’d be a landscape like this village. I really enjoyed living the simple life here.”
Hmm… If I do it like that, it might get tricky. If the number of people destined for that paradise increases, who knows how big it’ll have to be?
And if the people who enter want to live alongside their loved ones… it gets complicated.
Nothing seems easy. Not a single thing.
“Well, honestly, I don’t really want to go there anyway.”
“Wha-what?!”
What do you mean you don’t want to go there?! If you don’t go, then who the heck will?!
“You said only those who pass the judgment can enter, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Only those specially selected who pass the judgment will get in.”
“Then, my wife won’t be there, will she?”
I was left speechless by the hero’s words.
“I didn’t realize you cherished your wife so much.”
“Yeah, living together probably made me fond of her… I just want to see her face again now.”
The hero laughed softly.
“But if her soul gets washed clean through the Afterlife’s judgment, her memories of you will also be completely wiped. Even so, you still consider her your wife?”
“Well, what does memory matter? Her memory has already been lost once before. Yet, we still lived happily together, right?”
I was at a loss for words.
“If the soul that passes the Afterlife’s judgment enters the place that my sister creates… will I not be able to meet her again?”
“The chances are pretty high. Even if your wife passes the Afterlife’s judgment in her next life, that soul will have different memories by then.”
“Hmm… In that case, I wish to be reincarnated too.”
“Are you saying you want to meet her again in your next life?”
The hero nodded slowly.
Oh boy… this foolish guy…
“The souls that don’t pass the Afterlife’s judgment will have their memories completely wiped and will live a new life. Even if it’d be hard to call her your wife, are you saying you’d be reborn just to find her?”
“Yeah. It’s a foolish choice, isn’t it?”
I couldn’t say anything more.
Could there be a choice more foolish than this?
But…
“Alright. I’ll respect your choice.”
“Really?!”
“However, you’ll have to be the first resident of the paradise I create.”
“What? Didn’t you just say you’d respect my choice?”
Yeah, I will respect it.
But the fact that you’re going to be the first resident of paradise isn’t changing anytime soon.
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