“Don’t want to?”
“Uh, no!”
I clearly and straightforwardly respond to the Goddess of Death who asks me again. She starts scanning my body here and there.
“Uh, is something hurt? Did you hurt your head from too much exercise?”
“Not that kind of thing.”
“If it’s not that, then why do you say no? Others squirm and scream when they don’t want to die, but why don’t you?”
Just look at her rushing at me as if ready to bite, even though she can’t resurrect me right away! I flick her hand off my shoulder to calm her excitement.
“If I get resurrected, it won’t really solve anything.”
“There’s no answer? If you head to the continent, won’t you get some kind of answer? You’re the one who defeated them after all.”
“Sigh, that’s the problem.”
What the God of Life desires is for me to fail at resurrection.
But if the Goddess of Death helps and I actually get resurrected, the God of Life will realize that He has failed.
I have no idea what kind of unexpected actions the God of Life might take in that situation.
Given that only the God of Life has power left, and without other gods to keep him in check, he’d wield his power however he likes.
“It wouldn’t be good to poke a puffed-up creature for no reason.”
“Ahh.”
Nodding slowly as if she understood, the goddess lets out a sigh.
“So what are you planning to do? The folks on the continent must be in a frenzy trying to rescue you.”
“Yeah, I appreciate that. I want to get resurrected and return to the continent as soon as possible. I want to see everyone too. But not right now. If I go back to the continent now, it’s just leaving the problem behind.”
Time and death have lost their power, so that’s irrelevant.
Life, on the other hand, could act unpredictably.
I had to properly root out that threat, and it just so happened that I had an opportunity.
“Just keep ignoring his contact and demands. Lure him to the Spirit Realm.”
“When we go to take control of the Spirit Realm, we fight him back, right?”
“Yeah, I’m asking casually, but do you have any secret weapons that can defend the Spirit Realm?”
“……None of that.”
As if she naturally imagined the God of Life invading the Spirit Realm without bloodshed, the Goddess of Death shook her body as if trembling.
“Yeah, that makes sense.”
I wasn’t really expecting much anyway.
The Spirit Realm I had seen so far was too empty. This place, where the wind hardly blows, fits the description of a sanctuary for the dead perfectly, so there couldn’t be any secret weapons to stop a god in a place meant for the deceased.
Since my course of action was set, I awkwardly scratched the back of my head.
“I never thought I’d end up saying this.”
“Hmm?”
I slowly reached my hand out and spoke to the Goddess of Death.
“This time, I’ll stand by your side.”
*
Clank clank.
The sound was too heavy to be called footsteps.
It was the marching noise made by the paladins marching in sync.
“Wow! Knights!”
“What are they doing here?”
“Is something going on?”
Seeing the knights entering the village, the lively citizens of Nirva began to buzz among themselves about the newly arrived topic.
These weren’t just any knights; they were the paladins from the Batian Cathedral. Just their movement costs money, and naturally, that money falls onto the citizens of Nirva.
From food to daily necessities, and snack items too.
While they might have brought along food and clothing, how could people only eat supplies when there are restaurants nearby? Citizens’ expressions were already brightening as they hoped they’d stay a bit longer.
Unlike nameless knight orders that give off a feel of polite scoundrels, these were paladins.
They fight in the name of the gods and are always worried about how they appear to outsiders, so they couldn’t just speak carelessly to the citizens.
In the center of the paladins stood Ares, adorned with armor and a cloak symbolizing the Paladin, seemingly peering into the hearts of the citizens.
Having lived in a rural town himself and being quite perceptive, he could tell the overall urban atmosphere was excited.
‘The citizens are friendly. This won’t make intelligence gathering too hard.’
Two weeks ago, all light in Nirva had disappeared for about two minutes. It was no mere case of the sunlight being blocked.
From lights to little things like candles.
An incident where light lost its color and was swallowed by darkness.
Not much time passed, and it didn’t cause major damage, so at first, the citizens of Nirva were talking about it in wonder, but after two weeks, it had become quiet.
But that two minutes were why the paladins had come to Nirva.
There had been testimonies of seeing Rin during the time the light vanished.
“Alright, first, we’ll head to the accommodations provided by Nirva.”
Obeying the command of Dioner, the paladin and the expedition leader, we head towards the accommodations.
As Ares adjusted his baggage and walked in sync with the other paladins, he locked eyes with Dioner, who was watching him intently.
Despite Dioner’s fumbling gestures, Ares quickly ran over to him without any complaint.
“Ares, you’re coming with me to meet the witness.”
“Witness, you say?”
Ares was a little taken aback.
Because Dioner was someone who, despite being a paladin, was overly sensitive about his own achievements and influence.
Thus, even during the march to Nirva, he hadn’t given any reliable information to his fellow paladins.
Although he didn’t directly mention it as the expedition commander, other paladins were indeed displeased, but Dioner was shameless about it.
Furthermore, Dioner’s scrutiny toward Ares was stricter than with other paladins.
From school days, Ares had drawn attention as an Honorary Paladin, and even after officially becoming a paladin, his outstanding skills had quickly made him a key figure in Batian.
Was that all?
He had a beautiful daughter with his wife from the prominent swordsmanship family, Duratan, and he even had a private friendship with the saint known to be the center of Batian!
This handsome fellow who suddenly popped up had a resume that anyone would envy with jealousy.
Because of that, Dioner had tried to give Ares as little achievement as possible during this expedition.
“Tsk, they said they wouldn’t talk unless you accompanied them.”
“Witness, you say? Who is it…?”
Caught off guard, Ares could only stiffen when he heard the name that popped out.
“It’s the head of the Ren family. You know, the one that recently started a clothing and accessories business.”
The head of the Ren family referred to Hayun Ren.
Hayun, along with Tana Krista, had started a clothing business through the remaining capital and connections of the Ren family, and was doing quite smoothly at it.
‘Did Hayun call us directly?’
Ares felt a shiver run down his spine.
He thought he had entered to catch a hidden tiger, but it seemed like he had already walked into the tiger’s mouth.
‘If Hayun and Rin are already together, then Rin must have deliberately summoned the paladins to Nirva.’
Why did she call us?
While pondering, Ares directed an excuse toward Dioner.
“It seems it’s because I’m a classmate from Aios Academy.”
“Hmm? You’re also classmates with the head of the Ren family?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Damn, what a tangled web you’ve gotten into.”
Dioner began to vent, saying that he had thought about this before suddenly letting out his complaints.
“I got to know the Duratan family through that too. And then there’s the Ren family. Moreover, Princess Elise is also your classmate, right?”
“Yes, quite coincidentally.”
“I should have just attended the Academy myself. For heaven’s sake, what good is praying? The connections are all doing the work instead.”
It seemed he was feeling quite disgruntled that his plan to meet the witness and monopolize the achievement had been thwarted.
Complaints kept pouring out.
“Plus, your face is all slender and you look pretty good for a guy, so you must have been popular. You would have been the center of your class, right?”
For a moment, Ares was at a loss for words.
It wasn’t that it had never happened.
There were times when he was surrounded by plenty of beautiful girls and got lost in that popularity.
But.
“No, my childhood friend was more popular than me.”
“Huh? Do you have someone like that? What’s he doing now?”
“……”
Ares closed his mouth.
Seeing him suddenly grow silent, Dioner displayed an unpleasant expression, but Ares couldn’t provide any answer.
Instead, a wry smile escaped from him.
People around envied and resented Ares.
They said he was blessed.
Said he had it all.
But Ares’s gaze was always chasing the back of a boy with black hair.
Even after three years and turning 21, that 18-year-old back showed no signs of getting closer.
The more he compared, the more he found himself to be miserable.
“Was he better looking than you?”
Noticing the odd atmosphere around Ares, Dioner awkwardly asked jokingly, but Ares only laughed at that remark.
“I think I was better looking, though.”
He swallowed his words that he was inferior in everything else while only a wry smile remained on his face.
