Ch.145Festival (2)

“Little Lord.”

I, Yoon Se-jin.

Though my talents may be modest, if I were to name one of the few flaws in someone with my unlimited potential…

It would be that I have no idea what to do during party preparations.

Ha, even someone as perfect as me has shortcomings.

Though I think that, when I really consider it, this happens often.

In truth, what can I do besides fighting? I was originally from the modern world, a student who got transported into a game before I could experience much of anything.

Suddenly remembering how I used to lie around all day under Isla’s care because there was nothing I could do made me a bit depressed.

Hmm, nothing’s changed since then, has it?

But thinking about it carefully, it had only been about two months since I fell here, so it was understandable.

“Little Lord.”

That’s why I was sitting in a corner.

Even when I peeked around asking if I could help, I was turned away—how could they ask the birthday person to help with their own birthday preparations?

After wandering here and there, I ended up confined to a corner at Uncle Mourner’s suggestion: “Wouldn’t everyone be uncomfortable with you wandering around? Go to your room.”

To be precise, it wasn’t even a corner.

The Pantheon direction was crowded with people, and the Nest was too small to stay in.

So I was sitting in a suitable garden along the path leading up to the Pantheon.

Birds were singing, and a warm breeze blew between the flying birds.

Flowers were in full bloom, surrounded by all kinds of medicinal herbs I couldn’t identify.

I sat in that flower bed, spacing out.

Actually, it suddenly occurred to me that this might be some kind of consideration from them.

Anyone could tell I seemed lost in thought, and I was indeed in a situation where I couldn’t help but have a lot on my mind.

I am a god. Honestly, until now I could have been uncertain or just brushed it off with “I don’t know.”

But now it wasn’t just me—many others knew I was a god.

I felt like even dogs would know I was a god soon, and perhaps before long, the whole world would know.

In such circumstances, hadn’t the Empress told me?

To grow by consuming gods.

The context was obvious. There were divine remains or something similar on this continent.

Becoming stronger by absorbing such things.

I could easily guess that was the focus of the DLC.

So following that path and absorbing gods was the right thing to do. If there was a problem…

It was that I wondered if it was really the right thing to do.

I stared blankly at the sky. The sky of this divine continent, where winter had not yet passed, was clear, high, and clean.

The scenery felt refreshing to me, who had only seen Seoul’s sky.

As I was staring blankly, a head suddenly entered my field of vision.

“Oop.”

Half a beat later, golden hair tickled my face and almost went into my mouth.

As I brushed away the hair hanging over my lips, dark eyes without a hint of light stared at me from close range.

“Little Lord.”

When I pushed aside that hair, two things became visible.

A youthful face that made it difficult to guess the age, as if time had avoided it.

And long, pointed ears on the sides of the head.

I was thinking about touching those ears sometime when the tied hair slowly draped over my face again.

I frowned as I pushed the hair away again.

“…What?”

“If you kept ignoring me, I was going to stab you.”

Oh, shit.

Only now did I realize that Eshaterna was holding a dagger in her other hand.

If someone else had said it, I would have thought it was just a violent joke.

But Eshaterna would really stab me.

Falsehood doesn’t exist for Eshaterna; if she doesn’t want to speak, she’ll say so rather than make excuses.

If Eshaterna says she’ll stab you, she really will. There would be no hesitation.

Come on, I was just thinking and couldn’t hear you.

Does that really warrant stabbing?

As I looked at Eshaterna with cold sweat, she demonstratively lifted her tabard and returned the dagger to her waist.

“No, why… I was just trying to think.”

“Dog.”

“Dog?”

“Are you planning to keep it? You’re not thinking of giving it away or eating it, are you?”

She must be talking about Huey, who was wandering around the Pantheon during the birthday celebration preparations, eating scraps of food.

I nodded, and Eshaterna’s expression changed, which was rare.

It was a sullen expression.

“Can I kill it?”

“Are you crazy?”

“I can’t?”

“No. Absolutely not. Are you angry?”

“It’s not worth getting angry about.”

With a “hmph” and a pretense of being upset, the elf withdrew her face that had been hovering over my head and plopped down beside me.

Though I realized it late, I was reminded anew.

Eshaterna. She was the great criminal of the elves, and a dangerous being who was a prime suspect at the time of Grim Darker 1.

When someone of high name and fame who shouldn’t have died did die, people would naturally say, “Ah, then Eshaterna must have killed them.” That’s the kind of person she was.

So Eshaterna’s behavior wasn’t new. The fortunate thing was that she listened well to my sister, the “Lord,” and to me, the “Little Lord.”

She was a murderer who knew how to control her impulses. If I told her not to kill, she wouldn’t, and if I told her to kill, she would do so without hesitation.

I guess I don’t need to worry about Huey. While feeling relieved, I also felt somewhat puzzled.

“But why do you want to kill Huey? Isn’t he cute? Why would you want to kill such a fluffy, friendly creature…”

“I’m jealous that he gets more affection than me.”

“Ah, I see.”

Indeed, for an assassin with no blood, tears, or mercy, Eshaterna was a woman starved for human affection.

That’s why she depended on my sister, who could love her without fear. And for similar reasons, she clung to me as well.

Sure enough.

“Everyone avoids me out of fear when I put my head out for petting, but that dog just walks around and everyone pets it. Isn’t that unfair?”

Her killing intent was genuine. A normal human wouldn’t want to kill for such a reason.

But Eshaterna was different. She was a woman who would stab me if I continued to ignore her, even if I could die from it.

She’s really dangerous.

I should keep a closer eye on her. As I thought this and looked to the side, Eshaterna tilted her head and looked at me.

She was an assassin who could snap my neck in an instant or plunge a dagger into my throat if she wanted.

Despite being one of the most dangerous beings across two continents…

I didn’t feel threatened.

Perhaps it was because Eshaterna was extremely beautiful on the surface.

Her golden hair, tied in a single strand and draped over her shoulder, truly shone like gold in the sunlight, and her eyelashes, dyed the same color as her hair, seemed like a halo surrounding her dark crimson eyes.

Add to that her long ears and her white but healthy-looking face.

Anyone would see that Eshaterna was a beauty. And that beauty was staring at me intently.

Her slightly smiling lips seemed pleased, as if she had read the goodwill in my gaze.

Oh, really.

I was a man too. How could I not feel good when a beautiful woman smiled at me? Even in the midst of having so much to think about.

After lingering in Eshaterna’s gaze for a moment, I flopped backward.

“I don’t know.”

“Do you have something troubling you, Little Lord?”

Eshaterna flopped down after me, her head pressing against my abdomen. She was light. When I slightly extended my hand, Eshaterna deliberately guided it to her cheek, making me rub it.

“Troubles? I have many. Being alone makes me think too much.”

“Shall I listen?”

“…Maybe.”

Eshaterna, just like Huey would, used my abdomen as a pillow and fidgeted.

Her long legs contained the continent’s best kicks, and the arms that wrapped around my thighs as she stretched contained the elves’ deadliest strikes.

But now she was docile. Rather, she seemed to be comforting me.

I sighed and spoke slowly.

The golems, their sacrifice.

The shapeshifters I couldn’t protect, Elize.

The Empress.

And my father’s gene in my body, and the three clans that couldn’t help but love me because of that gene.

As she listened to all of this, Eshaterna changed her position several times.

She lay with her chin on my abdomen, then wriggled up to rub her cheek against my neck, and even lay right beside me.

Eventually saying, “This is the most comfortable,” she returned to my abdomen.

I stroked Eshaterna’s head.

The gentle warmth of the scalp beneath the thick hair felt good.

Petting a person and petting a dog were inevitably quite different in texture.

Was it because of the difference between a dog’s fur and human hair, between scalp and a dog’s skin?

Personally, I preferred petting a person. Though it might be because I’d been trained by Eshaterna.

Anyway, after hearing my whole story, Eshaterna twitched her pointed ears and said:

“Those are the troubles of someone with a full stomach.”

“…You think so?”

“If I had such things, I would go around telling everyone to love me.”

“I’m not you. I’m a person with shame, so I can’t do such things.”

“You… with shame, Little Lord?”

When I laughed briefly, Eshaterna laughed along.

She didn’t draw her dagger. Rather, as if it had been her intention all along, she rested her chin on my abdomen and slightly lifted my clothes to poke my navel.

“In the end, there’s only one problem.”

“Hmm?”

“Little Lord doesn’t know what he wants to do. That’s the problem, I think.”

The assassin poked my navel with her finger, and when I flinched, she chuckled.

But I couldn’t criticize Eshaterna’s attitude.

I remembered words I had heard recently.

‘My lord, what do you want to do?’

Words Lorian had left. It felt like those words were knocking at my ears.

Even after hearing those words, I was quite taken aback.

I couldn’t answer, and Lorian, not expecting an immediate response, quietly dismissed me.

Thinking about it, that was true. I…

Even when I was still Yoon Se-jin, I didn’t know what I should do. What I should do, what goal I should live for.

I didn’t know. I wondered if my sister had felt the same way.

Then I would get a bit depressed. Had my sister ever thought, “How long do I have to take care of this freeloader?” while in such a quagmire?

I was afraid she might have thought that even for a moment, but I also resigned myself to it.

It wasn’t much different now.

What should I do, what goal should I live for?

I couldn’t easily find an answer.

I had only been focused on surviving and fighting to keep living until now.

I had no “goal” to speak of until now.

A goal of my own, not one set by others.

Eshaterna studied me intently for a while, then slightly raised herself and kissed my cheek.

“Since you look so troubled, I’ll ask the Lord to love me. Sleep well.”

And she moved away with light, silent steps. I watched the assassin for a while, then closed my eyes in the flower bed.

Indeed, I felt like I could sleep well.

So I took a short nap.

[Play Time: 9,979 hours]

“Lu.”

I opened my eyes three hours later.

“Did you sleep well?”

It was the moment when the all-white hunter had found me.