Ch.1228Can I Trust These Things?

After Turancai, Bergelmir also departed.

Though emergency treatment had been administered, his injury was a fatal wound that would not only fail to heal but would severely worsen if he continued marching with us.

To restore—or replace with something else—his lower body that had been sliced and torn away, he absolutely needed to return to his own base equipped with sufficient research facilities.

Honestly, it’s a bit suspicious… but what can I do? If we kept dragging him along, he’d die before long, so what could I say to that?

I couldn’t so pointlessly lose a giant subordinate I had just acquired. So, reluctantly, I permitted him to return to his base, heal his body, and then rejoin us.

“Is that really okay? What if he disappears as soon as he gets back, or plots revenge against us?”

Ophelia openly doubted whether we could so easily trust someone who had been our enemy until just moments ago, and honestly, I felt the same way though I didn’t say it…

“That is truly disrespectful. Do our giant oaths appear so lightweight to you?”

Bergelmir showed obvious displeasure at this suspicion and swore once more that such a thing would never happen even if the sky split in two.

Just words despite all the talk of oaths?

Well, at least Bergelmir seemed quite serious. As if breaking that oath would cost him his head.

“Even if I was exiled, I have not forgotten our culture and pride. Unlike you humans who speak falsehoods so lightly, know that our oaths are as heavy as mountains.”

Though he was clearly responding to Ophelia, somehow my solar plexus started aching for no reason. Is this what they call a guilty conscience?

[How nice to be so lightweight. Even if thrown in water, that mouth of yours would float.]

Hersella, sensing my feelings, used Bergelmir’s words as an excuse to tease me again. It was such an obvious reaction that I just let it slide.

Well, anyway, Ophelia seemed to accept his words and raised no further objections.

What was it she said? That when powerful beings like me or Bergelmir make serious oaths in our own names, whether we want it or not, magical binding forces follow.

Well, breaking it doesn’t immediately bring lightning down on your head, but the karmic consequences will find you, subtly but certainly.

Like having bad luck where everything you do goes terribly wrong, or suddenly experiencing physical problems during a life-or-death duel.

It was nearly impossible to counter such karma because you couldn’t even guess, let alone calculate, when and how it would manifest.

“How did you learn about that? I’ve never heard of it before. Lacy never mentioned it either.”

“The Eastern Grand Sorcerer knew many things. If her skills had matched her knowledge, we would have had a hard time defeating her with our power alone.”

The one who taught Ophelia such knowledge was Meiharin, the Ka’har Grand Sorcerer, Orhan’s second wife, and the 3rd Apostle of the Ancient God Church.

After being defeated by Hersella and me, she tried to resurrect herself by stealing her own daughter Imara’s body, but was captured and became Ophelia’s test subject.

The last time I saw her, she was half-insane and could barely speak properly. I wonder how she’s doing now.

Though “doing well” would mean living trapped in the body of an experimental subject mixed with small animals and insects, so her life couldn’t be very pleasant.

Anyway, Bergelmir left with a final oath that he would definitely return to serve me. He carried Caljarat, whom he promised to persuade, in his hand like a toy.

Thanks to Ophelia’s curse, Caljarat would remain asleep for a while, and by the time he woke up and potentially caused trouble, all preparations to subdue him would be in place.

I was actually a bit skeptical about this too, but since keeping him with me would likely just lead to a fight when he woke up, I had no choice but to agree.

[Will this be alright? If he betrays us, we’ll have essentially released two fierce beasts we had hunted.]

‘Well… if that happens, we’ll just find them and kill them again. We’ve already beaten them once, so why couldn’t we do it again?’

If the giant betrays my trust or fails to persuade Caljarat and lets him escape?

Then we’ll have to fight to the death again, what else?

It wouldn’t be easy, of course… but it wouldn’t be that difficult either. I’ve already fought and beaten them.

After fighting them, I realized something. Although I won easily this time thanks to the element of surprise, I would have won eventually even without it.

Caljarat was no longer my match. Even if Bergelmir had both his legs intact, he couldn’t have defeated me.

Perhaps that’s why I could be certain.

Even if they forgot the mercy I showed them and dared to bare their fangs at me again, the current me could rip those fangs out along with their heads.

The Fallen Angel’s divinity melting into my power, the experience of fighting them once—twice in the orc’s case, the difference in growth rate, the gap in equipment.

All these factors were telling me the outcome of the next battle before it even began.

‘Even if they just run away… I’ll definitely find them eventually. I’ve clearly imprinted both the orc’s and the giant’s energy signatures in my mind.’

The same applies if they hide without showing hostility.

Thanks to close contact for a considerable time, I could now track their energy signatures precisely.

It might be impossible from very far away, but within a certain range, I could accurately detect their energy and pinpoint their location.

I can track them, and I can definitely kill them. So why should I fear losing them?

That was my judgment.

[An inefficient waste of time. And uncertain.]

Hersella’s thoughts differed slightly… but when have our judgments or opinions not diverged? It was nothing new at this point.

‘So you think we should have killed them both?’

[Yes. Perhaps it would have been better to use them to increase your power. At least we wouldn’t have to worry about future troubles.]

‘I did consider that… but right now, increasing our numbers seems better. Just adding two skilled fighters like them would greatly expand our range of action.’

The biggest weakness of our alliance, made clear by the previous incident, was that I was the only demigod-level fighter.

In other words, I had to stay with our main force no matter what.

If an enemy powerhouse targeted our main force while I was away, our side would lack the power to resist and suffer massive casualties or even be annihilated.

Even if I alone became three times stronger than now, that fundamental weakness would remain.

The problem would be solved if I could raise the skills of my companions like Nigel and Ophelia to a level where they could face demigods… but how long would that take?

Reaching the limit of a hero might be achieved through fighting and winning many battles, but gaining the power to face demigods is on a completely different level.

It’s incredibly difficult for someone without divinity to obtain it, and even more difficult to awaken that accumulated divinity.

Most demigods I’ve met seem to have received divinity from the gods they originally served and then awakened it… but I don’t know how to do that.

Even if I learned how, my companions would grow stronger at the cost of my own power, which would defeat the purpose.

The human gods of heaven are probably in a similar position.

They either don’t know how to bestow divinity to create demigods, or they know but have reasons why they shouldn’t expend their divinity that way.

In the end, for my companions to gain power comparable to demigods, they would need to accumulate power and awaken it themselves, as I did… but how easy could that be?

Even in my case, it took the seeds planted by the human gods, transcendent talent, terrible life-and-death struggles, plus will and divine fortune combined to awaken my godhood.

It might be possible someday, or perhaps forever impossible… but it was clear that it wouldn’t happen anytime soon.

So, what could I do? If making allies into demigods is too difficult and time-consuming, then as a second-best option, I should make demigods into allies.

That’s roughly why I accepted the surrendered Bergelmir as my subordinate and decided to try persuading Caljarat, whom I would otherwise have killed.

Whether that was a wise decision or a foolish misjudgment, only time would tell. As always.