Chapter 42

Hyunkeshuni glares at me.

Several things to say came to mind, but there’s one most important question.

“Why did you stop me?”

If one person had failed, I would have thought they made a mistake in the middle. But in Andrew’s Miriga Order, people who understood Yasle’s knowledge discussed and complemented each other before performing the ritual.

The possibility of error is significantly low.

And shortly after starting the ritual, they were murdered.

In other words, it means there’s a means to detect the ritual somehow. Even when someone attempted the ritual and failed, that person was killed first.

That’s right.

The opponent has a means to detect the ritual. They know how to block the ritual, and have the skill to find and kill.

Honestly, I couldn’t imagine anything about Hyunkeshuni until now, but she jumped in as soon as I came to this world, right?

Now that I know the ending, the process connects.

So I asked with annoyance. Hyunkeshuni gripped her staff tightly.

“Why? You ask why? Look at what you’ve done!”

She pointed around. Around us stand what were once people. Their heads have all become dark purple spheres. Now there’s no warmth, let alone light, inside them.

What was once Tis has only his lower body remaining. And where his upper body should be, there’s a hole as if a flower has bloomed. It’s shaped like a heavy object fell on a glass window, breaking the center and cracking the surroundings.

“Is this what people look like when they die!”

“Then, why did you stop me before?”

So I asked again. This is the first time I’ve done this. No, I’m really dumbfounded as this is the first time I’ve experienced this phenomenon too.

I don’t know if this is possible simply because he had quite a lot of descendants and they were all connected by blood and I could take everything when collecting, or if Tis and his descendants were special.

I’ll have to find out later.

But this is a phenomenon I’m seeing for the first time now.

In other words, it means this wasn’t the reason Hyunkeshuni ran around trying to stop me before.

While waiting for Hyunkeshuni to answer, she suddenly swung her staff. The staff is shaped like it was made by tearing off a human’s upper body skeleton and spine. Red blood splattered on my face along that skull.

The blood came from Hyunkeshuni’s palm.

It seems she pierced her hand right on the spine process to draw blood. So that’s why she gripped the staff earlier.

[Beheading Slaughter Technique]

With a strange phrase, my neck flew into the air.

The world spins around.

But did you forget? This isn’t a physical body. It’s roughly made by manipulating a bunch of polygons earlier. So I grabbed my head with my arm.

Thud, thud, roll

Ah.

I dropped it.

Hmm. Something feels strange.

Shouldn’t I be looking at my body from the floor if my head falls off? Even if the nerves are still connected by some unknown ability when the neck is cut, I should be able to move my body while watching with my eyes.

I’m just here.

Clearly, my viewpoint rotated at the moment of cutting, but now the viewpoint isn’t on the floor but in the head.

No. No. I just said it.

My body was an amorphous object like a bunch of polygons.

Was it really cut?

Is there a need for it to be cut?

Can it even be cut in the first place?

While thinking like that, the head on the floor disappeared, changing into a low-resolution form like fragments disappearing in an old game. Conversely, there’s a head on the neck as if it was never cut off.

Until now, blessed people died by having their heads cut off. So this is the method of the crime.

“It really was Hyunkeshuni who was the culprit. You killed the people I blessed with this?”

“You, weren’t you only able to regenerate if you had warmth?”

A question for a question.

But looking at it now, the possibility of being ejected back outside seems small.

I’ll answer.

“No. Did I ever say that even once?”

Come to think of it, Hyunkeshuni was the one who experimented with wounds. She frowned.

That’s right. She figured it out on her own without any dialogue. Although I did act to make her misunderstand.

“What about me was so scary that you tried to stop me from coming back?”

I asked. I never did anything that could be dangerous to anyone. At least until the last moment.

Because I endured patiently.

“You are that law. The law that when intelligent beings in this world feel intense frustration and despair, they cause a tremendous explosion. And that was just an act to eat people. Right? How could anyone not be afraid when there’s a law in front of them that says it will now actively go out and eat people? Unless their intelligence is so low they can’t think about that future, who wouldn’t be afraid?”

I was about to nod, but stopped slightly because it was a bit subtle. There’s a part she’s misunderstanding. I need to clear that up.

“I don’t eat people.”

“People die when you eat their warmth.”

“No. They change when I eat their warmth. Don’t you remember? After I ate the warmth of the sacrifices, the person next to me killed the sacrifices.”

That’s why when Yasle gave me sacrifices, he gave them separately in a room with warriors. Because they became monsters when they lost their warmth.

“If that’s not dying, then what the hell is it? Moreover, the humans you blessed. They all changed, intoxicated by that power! They all became monsters! And even that kid went mad with power and moved to take revenge!”

That kid is probably Yasle.

“Hyunkeshuni. I gave blessings, but I didn’t particularly change their minds. Let me ask you. If I had twisted people, could Tis have emerged?”

The most alien person. And at some point, he was purely a good person. Not simply a good person, but someone who could be resolute when needed to be resolute.

“You wanted this and made it that way!”

Ah. Indeed.

I can see how it might look that way.

I shook my head left and right.

“No. I didn’t do anything. From the beginning, I couldn’t do anything to people with strong self-will like Tis or Wide, or Isla. Hyunkeshuni will remember too. The title ‘Outer God’ that you gave me. When I experimented by telling them to say that word, people with strong egos didn’t flinch at all.”

At those words, Hyunkeshuni glares at me with a very sharp expression.

“Experiment? You, as I thought, you ate Yasle’s memories intentionally? So you spread the method to summon you, just like you made them spit out the title ‘Outer God’!”

Hyunkeshuni, who shouted like that, tries to swing her staff again. All the strange magic comes out based on this staff.

So I reached out and grabbed it. No, let me correct that. Several bodies with dark purple sphere heads moved and grabbed Hyunkeshuni’s staff. Those things move? They move like my hands and feet. If they move, that’s good for me.

Ah, she’s trying to run away.

I grab her.

Countless palms grab Hyunkeshuni and press her down.

“Ugh!”

Hyunkeshuni, pressed to the floor by several people with dark purple sphere heads rushing at her, groans. And an ominous dark blue aura moves.

I’m annoyed.

It seems I can grab it, so I grasped that dark blue aura.

“Kuhup!”

Hyunkeshuni convulses as if her windpipe was grabbed. Of course, my hand is actually inside her chest, but it didn’t physically pierce her body.

This body is really strange. After doing that, I realize something strange. Anyway, it’s good if she’s not hurt. There’s still something I want Hyunkeshuni to do.

I swallow the dark blue into the dark purple. Then my fingertips felt slightly lifted, but soon disappeared.

And when I pulled out my hand, her chest had no wound.

As soon as the hand was completely pulled out, Hyunkeshuni dry heaves and coughs.

I picked up Hyunkeshuni and sat her up properly. Even though I say I sat her up, she’s restrained in a sitting position on a chair by doll-like people. In a broad sense, it can be said she’s sitting.

“Don’t run away. I’m annoyed with you, Hyunkeshuni.”

Half of it is directed at god, not you, but please be the target of my venting. We’ve been together for half a year, right?

“Is this your true nature?”

Hyunkeshuni asked while calming her rough breathing.

“I don’t know what should be called nature. I’ve told you everything about what I am, haven’t I? I’ve always been curious, why are you so afraid of me? At least until the Future Hope Church collapsed, I didn’t do anything dangerous.”

Then Hyunkeshuni laughed. Not laughing out of fear, but mockery.

“I said it earlier. I thought a monster that eats people would actively go out to eat people. Moreover, a monster that craves something like warmth gives out power called blessings for free? Sacrifices? How could a mere human be equal to that tremendous blessing? It was clear there was something else. So I thought I should uncover it before it really became dangerous.”

Hyunkeshuni continues speaking while glaring at me, with her palm attached to one cheek, making her pronunciation slightly muffled.

“But that kid ignored my words, saying he would take revenge on the Kingdom of Anselus.”

Someone who would usually listen to Hyunkeshuni’s words? No. Ah. I see. Surely this person must have said it wrong.

“Did you perhaps say it like this? Let’s stop the blessings for now. Something like that… Yes. That’s right.”

She glares at me as if to kill me before my words even finish. Of course, I remember what I said to Yasle!

I quickly opened my mouth to cover Hyunkeshuni’s words that seemed about to explode in anger.

“I really did give blessings. Hyunkeshuni. From the beginning, I don’t know why they become stronger, why abilities appear. I just did everything Yasle wanted.”

“So you deceived us by pretending not to know anything.”

Yes. I pretended not to know anything. I did deceive. Because if I showed my true intentions and did as I pleased, my head would have flown off, right?

“I don’t remember lying.”

“You probably didn’t lie.”

Hehe. That’s right.

“You obtained Yasle’s memories after waiting like that. Then you told people who received your blessing how to summon you. What do you plan to do with this world?”

Now Hyunkeshuni asked me in a voice sunk in worry. I feel like Hyunkeshuni is gradually falling down. Resignation and despair. It means these two are carving away at her heart.

She talks as if I’m going to destroy the world, but I have no such intention.

From the beginning.

“I don’t know what the world is. I just want warmth, Hyunkeshuni.”

That’s really all there is to it.

The reason I want to go out to various worlds, draw more harvesters, and create blessing proxies is all because I want warmth.

Suddenly.

I looked up at the ceiling.

And with a thud, from deep inside my heart. The man whose color had faded to gray said one thing.

“I want to punch the face of the god who made me like this.”

A manner of speaking like when I was once a man popped out. But if you ask if there’s an impulse, well, this side isn’t in such a hurry.

It’s just like choosing between barley tea or round tea. I’ll go with barley tea today. That’s the level of impulse.

At my words, Hyunkeshuni’s head shot up as if bouncing. Hyunkeshuni’s eyes looking at me are very round.

“What?”

“Didn’t you know? I was once human too, a very long time ago. Without knowing the reason, when I opened my eyes, I had to shiver in the cold until I realized I was the sea in that deep place below where there was nothing.”

In the old days when sky and sea couldn’t be distinguished. Suddenly a small light appeared above the sky, and that light slowly grew. And the light expanded to form the night sky.

When others appeared, I recognized myself.

I was the vast sea at the bottom. At first I thought I might be an ocean planet, but it’s just a plane.

An endless plane.

And I’m below based on some boundary surface. I’m full below. A boundary surface I couldn’t rise above.

At first, I could reach out to lights that came close to the surface, and now I’ve come up here like this.

“Hyunkeshuni. People shouldn’t blame me. I did as per the contract. I give myself, and collect when they die. I didn’t know I could take even their descendants, but originally I had no intention of reaching out to descendants.”

As I said that, I pointed to the sky.

“I made the contract first, but you blocked it. It’s a breach of contract. If you broke the contract, you should be punished.”

Actually, it’s an unexpected situation from beginning to end, and somehow it turned out like this, but let’s say that. Honestly, I didn’t know I could catch Hyunkeshuni so easily. Oh, I wonder if this dark purple energy can do a death beam, but it doesn’t even flinch at such thoughts.

All my actions since appearing in this world have been improvisations, and the motivation is annoyance. So it’s an opportunity.

“I’m not a cruel law. From now on, instead of exploding people who come to me, I’ll give blessings. Of course, only when that person agrees.”

I omit the part about not being able to make a contract if they don’t agree.

Hyunkeshuni glares at me with her eyes, telling me not to lie.

“It’s the same as lending money and taking it back with interest. Of course, if the person who received power wastes their life and dies, it’s my loss, but isn’t that what all investments are like?”

Of course, I omit the fact that I already profit from the moment of contracting since I gain warmth. And also the fact that if the contracted person kills someone, that person’s warmth comes to me.

“Sacrifices are eating the fruit in front of you. Blessings are planting seeds and waiting for fruit to grow on the tree. I chose the method to get more fruit. I have no intention of harming the tree. Rather, I hope it grows better.”

Just like Tis.

That’s the reason I chose only blessings instead of recklessly acquiring warmth.

When I chose a good method, a gift even came.

“I have no intention of artificially interfering in the future either. If they desire a blessing, I will give a blessing.”

“How many sacrifices do you plan to devour, you monster?”

Hehe. Good question, Hyunkeshuni.

“Sacrifices? Wasn’t that what Yasle gave because he wanted to?”

Then Hyunkeshuni, with a blank face, thought for a while and looked at me with a face that seemed to realize something. What on earth did she understand?

“Why on earth are you trying to persuade me?”

Ah.

Oh no.

I’ve been found out.

But she asked a question. Rules are rules. Even if you made them yourself, you shouldn’t lie.

“The summoning method. I want you to write it in a book.”

Originally, Hyunkeshuni taught Yasle the magic to summon evil beings. By the way, the method to reverse summon isn’t magic but a legacy of the Luminous Theocratic State, so I can’t use it.

“Get lost!”

Hyunkeshuni glares at me with an expression that says she’d rather take her own life.

It seems persuasion will be a difficult task. And what to do with this current situation is the biggest problem.

Until now, it’s been a place for family to watch Tis’s last moments, so other people are outside.

There are many things to deal with.