Chapter 231
“Alright, then the pest will fly off for now.”
Shwoooosh!
As the Goddess of Life lightly brushed her palm, the large fly on it buzzed away in a hurry.
Paris, who was originally Zeus, would come to live as the king of filthy insects, completely unaware of what he had been.
“Then… what should we do with the other gods? Hmmm.”
The Goddess of Life surveyed the motionless gods around her and nodded slightly. While Zeus, the ringleader behind forcibly making Rychlen a god, had turned into a fly and taken off, it wouldn’t be accurate to say the other gods were blameless. They too would face punishment.
“Ugh… If I clean everything up here, the plan will be totally wrecked. Sigh… There’s no helping it.”
The Goddess of Life snapped her fingers lightly, and at that moment, dozens of new figures appeared.
They were all dressed in the pilgrim attire of the Temple of Life.
“Humans…?”
“No, it’s impossible for a human to come here without an invitation.”
“Did the Goddess of Life summon them? What on earth does she want with mere humans?”
The gods frowned at the pilgrims that popped up around them. Just humans. What could they possibly accomplish?
But…
“It wasn’t in the plan, but let’s get on with it. Confine each god to their own temple.”
“Yes!”
The pilgrims shouted in unison and started grabbing the nearby gods.
“L-let go of me! Just some humans!”
“Just humans? You’ve got quite the lack of discerning vision.”
Bam!
With those words, the pilgrims began to unleash their energy.
“Gaaah!”
A powerful magical force that felt far beyond human capabilities radiated from the pilgrims—a magical power that rivaled even the mightiest of gods.
And it was not just one or two, but dozens of pilgrims pouring out this energy, making it only natural for the gods to be flabbergasted.
“What in the world is happening…?”
“I wouldn’t just summon humans out of nowhere. They’re all dragons that follow me.”
“Dragons…?”
From the perspective of the gods, dragons were beings they could only vaguely speculate about, and encounters with them were almost nonexistent.
They were only hazily aware that dragons had powerful bodies and magical abilities. Sightings of them in person were rare.
Most dragons acted as pilgrims for the Temple of Life or holed themselves up in their own domains. Though a select few dragons did act as gods, they kept their distance from others.
So, gods could only guess the existence of dragons through the records scribbled by others, leaving them entirely unaware of the dragons’ true strength.
They wouldn’t know that the dragons possessed raw power capable of matching gods.
After all, during the day of Aesir’s demise ten years ago, they revealed their terrifying might through merciless attacks during Ragnarok, yet only Hermes and Mars had witnessed it directly.
Most gods, apart from those two, lacked a proper understanding of dragons’ strength.
“Alright, everyone. Let’s get started.”
As the Goddess of Life spoke, the dragons began to move en masse, taking along the immobilized gods.
Before long, all the gods were relocated by the dragons.
“Okay, then.”
The Goddess of Life looked at the lone remaining Rychlen and opened her mouth.
“I thought there would be a lot of variables since I only prepared a rough plan, but I didn’t anticipate it would get shattered this badly.”
“Plan…?”
“Right. The plan. Your reckless actions completely derailed it, didn’t it?”
The Goddess of Life sighed as she looked at Rychlen.
“This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. I intended to pressure the gods into a war using dragons and numerous forces after giving them some time, like with the Aesir… After triggering the Gigantomachia, I thought I’d erode the faith in the gods of Olympus…”
“Did I do something wrong?”
The Goddess of Life paused at Rychlen’s words, then shook her head.
“To place all the blame on you… well. It was wrong of me to aim a dagger at your neck the moment things began to get tangled. And I did it with a hefty dose of poison.”
“But… I didn’t want to become a puppet king for those guys.”
“Hmm. That’s fair. I get that, but… They summoned you ahead of schedule. We should’ve had a few more days of time, but…”
Haaaah!
The Goddess of Life let out a heavy sigh.
“Well, what’s done is done. Regrettably, we’ll have to disregard the Gigantomachia. And the faith gap that arises from forcibly bringing those gods to decline… I really don’t want to, but it seems I’ll have to take charge of it.”
“A gap in faith?”
“Ah, don’t worry about that. It’s something that you, a human, don’t need to concern yourself with.”
The Goddess of Life said this while examining Rychlen’s body.
“Let’s see. No serious injuries. Good. I suppose it’s fine to send you back as you are.”
“You’re sending me back…?”
“Given the situation, there’s nothing you can do here to help. Moreover, this place will be chaotic for a bit while we deal with those gods. So you’d better head back now.”
“But… Gaia…”
A chuckle slipped from the Goddess of Life’s lips at the mention of that name.
“Gaia. It’s been a while since I’ve been called that. The others didn’t know of it.”
“…”
“Yeah. Hades mentioned you lead a pretty satisfying human life. Has that thought changed at all?”
Rychlen nodded while looking at the Goddess of Life.
“Just as I’ve heard. If you’re satisfied with your life, that’s good. Hmm. Now then, off you go. I’ll handle the rest.”
“But…”
“But what? Have you suddenly changed your mind and want to return as a god?”
Rychlen shook his head. Still no desire to be a god.
“Is that so? Hmmm… Well, if you had the desire to be a god, you likely would have done so long ago. Then, I suppose the position of the King of Gods will remain vacant.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you have nothing to apologize for. It’s those gods who are the real jerks.”
Rychlen couldn’t muster a response, sensing the underlying disappointment in the Goddess of Life’s words.
“Then… hmm. If I send you back like that, it seems everything that happened here will be recorded. Hmm… I might need to do a bit of adjusting.”
“Gaia…?”
“Oh, don’t fret. It’s not that serious. I just thought I’d edit a little of your memories—nothing major, just a bit. Specifically, the part after you tried to stab your neck.”
The Goddess of Life spoke almost anxiously. Rychlen nodded slowly.
She saved him from becoming a god, so editing a memory was something he was okay with.
No, truthfully, he wanted to do anything for her.
Thus.
“It’s fine. That little memory is no problem.”
“Thank you. I’ll tweak and edit the point where time halts. No, perhaps it’d be better if you simply stab yourself in the neck, suffer a fatal wound, and then I’ll help you punish the gods and revive you afterward.”
Hehe, that sounds fun!
With that, the Goddess of Life cracked a small smile.
“Considering your nature, writing about what happened here is a given, and it shouldn’t take long for that writing to spread among humans. This way, we can showcase the arrogance and selfishness of various gods… In the end, by saving and reviving you, I could redirect their faith back towards me… Ugh. I really don’t like this.”
As the Goddess of Life thoughtfully spoke, she suddenly frowned and began venting her frustration.
“I successfully reduced the burden by using spirits to divide the workload and minimized external activities, managing to redirect the faith overflowing towards me to other gods, and now this is just going back to square one! Argh! I don’t want to get buried under work!!”
With a shake of her head, the Goddess of Life released a series of sounds that were hard to comprehend. Rychlen merely tilted his head in confusion as he observed her.
While the specifics eluded him, it was becoming clearer that her plans being derailed would lead to significant troubles for her.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
“So, the Goddess of Life revived Rychlen, who had taken his own life, and punished the other gods gravely. That’s roughly the story.”
“There are no major discrepancies from Rychlen’s records. It stated that he was revived from death thanks to the Goddess of Life.”
“Well, anyway, that should be the gist of it. Hmm… Did I miss anything?”
I softly spoke to the dragon priestess who appeared to be deep in thought.
“I’ve heard the tale, but I’m unclear on its relation to hiding the name Baal.”
Ugh…
“Oh… right. I was explaining why Baal’s name was concealed.”
The dragon priestess offered an awkward smile, as if realizing she had truly forgotten.
“The reason Baal’s name was obscured is… Well, let’s say it’s to wait for the day Baal returns.”
“A day of return?”
“It was left empty for the time Baal’s spirit would eventually return. It won’t be immediate. After living dozens, if not hundreds, of lives, when the spirit finds satisfaction… wouldn’t it be possible for them to return to their divine place?”
The dragon priestess continued, her gaze seemingly looking far off into the distance.
“Although his name was once shrouded and buried by wicked individuals… I believe he will come back someday. When that spirit returns, I’ve prepared for the whole world to know that the King of Gods once existed.”
The dragon priestess maintained eye contact with me, continuing her narrative.
“In such a situation, if someone else were to unearth and proclaim Baal’s name… how would that mess with the preparations?”
“…”
In that instant, my shoulders felt heavier. No, the air was thickening.
“To put it simply, it feels like setting up a surprise party only for someone to spill the beans early and ruin the whole thing, you know what I’m saying?”
“Ah, I see…”
“I’m glad you understood! So.”
Snap!
The dragon priestess lightly snapped her fingers, and she snatched something that materialized in the air.
A small shard of stone tablet. A piece that felt oddly familiar.
“I’ll keep this.”
“That’s…!”
I quickly rummaged through my pockets, realizing the piece of paper that had Baal’s name written on it was missing.
No, how on earth did I lose what had been in my grasp all along…?
“I’m forbidding you to speak of Baal. To be honest, even if you neatly organize this and present it at a conference… I just don’t foresee you coming out unscathed.”
“That…”
“Or do you plan to stake your life on it, end up losing everything, and end up buried in obscurity?”
At the dragon priestess’s words, I shook my head. If she was saying it that sternly… it meant she’d see to it personally.
“Well, I’m not a villain, either. In exchange for taking this, I’ll give you a small gift.”
The dragon priestess pulled something from her attire and tossed it to me.
A shell made from crystal, its insides transparent.
“What is this…?”
“It pops up often in stories, right? A magic conch shell—an object that grants three wishes.”
“A magic conch shell…? You’re not saying that it actually exists outside of stories, are you?!”
At my exclamation, the dragon priestess chuckled.
“It exists because there’s an original. Most tales emerge this way. Anyway, in exchange for that piece of stone, I’ll grant you three wishes. I’ll grant almost every wish unless it’s something I can’t fulfill. You’ve delved into Baal’s truth so deeply that if you keep on, you’ll reveal everything, so, consider this a token of honor.”
“My goodness… An actual wishing shell exists… Wait a second! Why do you have this…?”
When I looked up at the dragon priestess, she had already vanished.
Why does the dragon priestess possess this conch shell? Or perhaps… her true identity is…
I shook my head, sorting through the unwelcome thoughts trying to emerge, before placing the conch shell into my pocket and exiting the room.
First, I need to talk to Huang Dong-Kyung. Even if I end up giving him one of the three wishes, we still have to wrap up the discussion.
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