Ch.189Life and Death (3)

“…Aren’t you jumping to conclusions too much?”

Even if it wasn’t Llewellyn, it would be normal to say that in this situation.

Of course, the God of Life and Death may have a repulsive appearance and instill instinctive terror and fear in humans, making even facing it undesirable.

But to claim that the magical realm was caused by that deity? To Llewellyn, it seemed like an absurd speculation.

“So you’re saying the magical realm in the Old Continent is also its doing? Even if the reasons are different… that’s too far-fetched.”

Realistically speaking, it was an impossible story.

Perhaps it could be possible because the other party was a god, but even so.

“It’s already difficult to travel back and forth between the Old and New Continents, so why would it even bother doing such a thing…?”

“There might be reasons, don’t you think?”

Llewellyn couldn’t deny that. As he stood before the Death Lion, he wondered why he had to defend such a repulsive being.

‘…Why am I feeling such revulsion?’

The thought made him frown slightly. Arba seemed to interpret his expression differently.

“This isn’t a simple assumption. Look at this.”

Arba placed something on the table.

“A stone fragment?”

It looked like an ordinary stone fragment, but it had a subtle purple hue.

There was something distinctly ominous about it, clearly not something pleasant to look at.

Arba slowly showed the stone fragment to Llewellyn, then gripped it with both hands.

Crack!

And broke it. Just as Llewellyn was wondering what she was doing.

Beneath her steel gauntlets came a sound of something being crushed and what seemed like a small scream.

“…This is.”

What emerged between the steel gauntlets was something neither Llewellyn nor Lucilla had ever seen before.

The wriggling thing resembled an earthworm.

But only in its writhing form; its roots looked like something one might see when rats’ tails become entangled, leading to mass death.

Roots that emanated malice. Fittingly, the upper part writhed with pain and malevolence.

Though it couldn’t penetrate the steel gauntlets, it moved busily, biting and pounding against them.

Llewellyn was speechless as he looked down at the strange life form.

“What is this? Where did you get such a thing…?”

“It’s a fragment from the city wall.”

Upon hearing this, Llewellyn noticed a vaguely familiar pattern. The distinctive shape of stacked stones in the wall.

It was a part of it. Just a tiny part, which is why he hadn’t recognized it at first.

Llewellyn looked at the wall fragment with confusion. So what was the significance of this?

Arba answered.

“This is a stone fragment from the wall that has been tainted by the magical realm.”

Indeed, it bore the characteristic color of the magical realm.

Something close to purple. And within it, an unidentified wriggling worm.

Not only that, but even the stone fragment from the wall seemed to have been affected by some strange phenomenon, giving it a weathered appearance.

‘No, not weathered. This feels… decayed.’

Llewellyn wasn’t a construction expert, so he couldn’t say exactly what it was.

But he wasn’t the only one who thought so. Lucilla’s expression darkened, and Ortemilia was staring at it with interest.

“…So, what connection does this have with that monster?”

The God of Dreams seemed uncomfortable with the term “monster,” but he had no chance to speak.

Arba nodded to her subordinate, and the quietly standing subordinate stepped forward and dropped a large stone fragment.

It was about ten times the size of the fragment Arba had broken with her hands.

A rock so decayed it seemed like it would crumble at the slightest touch.

And on it, the shape of a footprint.

Llewellyn’s expression hardened. Now he recognized it.

There was a faint soot mark on the rock. The areas with soot were mixed with purple, giving off a dull, glossy color.

Recognizing the soot on the rock, Lucilla spoke involuntarily.

“This is… Star Flame?”

The unique skill she had used earlier. The localized nuclear flame she had used to push back and kill the monster approaching her brother.

The God of Life and Death who had been hit by it was unscathed, but there were clear marks left on the wall.

Lucilla clearly recognized her own technique, and Arba nodded.

“Do you understand now?”

The placed rock emitted a suppressed scream in a dull color. Arba picked up the rock and said with a long sigh.

“Do you see why I say that monster is the cause?”

Llewellyn finally realized this wasn’t an issue he could just dismiss.

This was a matter that needed to be investigated, regardless of the truth.

And Llewellyn always preferred direct solutions.

A while later, Arba sighed at her subordinate’s report.

“Extinction and his companions have left for the magical realm?”

*

If this were a game, Llewellyn’s course of action would have been very different from what it was now.

If it were a game, he would have farmed everything farmable, cleared all possible side quests, and only then followed Life and Death.

But this wasn’t a game. Despite having a status window, the rules of games hardly applied, if at all.

Llewellyn had long since stopped thinking of living in this world as a game or amusement and had accepted it as his life.

This was now his world. Even if it were just a butterfly’s flutter or a dream.

Llewellyn decided to do his best here. Even if it was an illusion, doing his best would leave no regrets.

So Llewellyn made his decision and chose to solve the most urgent problem first.

“I am pleased.”

The God of Life and Death, walking ahead, spoke. Llewellyn followed behind, scanning the surroundings.

It was the magical realm.

He had only seen it in the game and was seeing it in person for the first time, and it was a place that felt utterly alien.

Trees, grass, even rocks.

Everything had a purple hue and was severely distorted, far from its original form.

Shadows seemed to writhe, and even the sunlight didn’t reach the ground, giving everything a dark feel.

“Steward. How do you feel?”

“Neither pleased nor displeased. Just… I don’t like this place.”

“You will get used to it.”

The God of Life and Death said so, and from behind Llewellyn’s waist, the God of Dreams let out a contemplative hum.

Neither Llewellyn nor the God of Dreams could agree with that statement.

That’s what the magical realm was like. A place that never felt familiar no matter how much you saw or experienced it.

Even in the game, it was a place you wouldn’t want to go near unless you were farming.

Llewellyn was now walking through such a magical realm. With the God of Life and Death right in front, the God of Dreams hanging at his waist, and further behind, his sister with an uncomfortable expression, vigilantly watching the surroundings.

Ortemilia was left with Arba. The reason was that if the God of Life and Death were to turn in such an environment, they wouldn’t be able to protect her.

Yes, Llewellyn was always ready to kill the God of Life and Death as he followed.

The pretext was simple.

“Nevertheless, I am pleased.”

The monstrous god, making a metallic sound that might or might not be laughter, moved through the magical realm with legs as thick as old trees.

“You, who once despised our love, now help us.”

Llewellyn had accepted his proposal to help with the separation.

At first, he thought he could simply wait for an opportunity.

Surprisingly, the God of Life and Death was quite rational.

He led Llewellyn, saying that for the separation, they needed to use prepared tools at his dwelling. Llewellyn, though suspicious, had no choice but to follow.

He also had a desire to explore the magical realm once.

But he hadn’t just left without preparation. He had done some basic research on the magical realm beforehand.

First, the magical realm wasn’t completely uncharted territory.

In the city, there was no shortage of ambitious people. Among them were mercenaries who wanted to conquer the magical realm and cultivate their own land, and such individuals formed exploration teams to venture into it.

Similarly, criminals who deserved execution but required extreme punishment were also banished to the magical realm.

So it was said that there would be some people there. How many and how they survived was unknown.

The man who seemed to be Arba’s assistant testified as such. Llewellyn was intent on finding traces of these people.

The information they possessed, the knowledge they had about the magical realm.

He believed all of it would be helpful.

The magical realm in the Old Continent and the one in this New Continent seemed quite different.

Just as Llewellyn and Lucilla were both homunculi but different in detail.

“You acknowledge our love.”

“…In a way, I suppose.”

So Llewellyn walked, playing along with Life and Death’s words.

Ignoring him might have been an option, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so.

Because Life and Death’s case wasn’t entirely unrelated to him.

Llewellyn had already been intimate with Lucilla.

He had planted his seed inside his own sister, and Lucilla’s body still contained Llewellyn’s seed.

Moreover, with his sister likely to be by his side whenever he woke up, the forbidden relationship between siblings was more his story than not.

The difference was that on their side, both were deities who had been intimate, merged, and caused harm to the world, while on his side, that wasn’t the case.

If the circumstances had been slightly different, the positions might have been reversed. So Llewellyn had no choice but to play along.

He also wanted to resolve this in a positive way if possible.

If those siblings could separate and live apart, Llewellyn might also feel that his own forbidden relationship was somewhat acceptable.

With such thoughts, Llewellyn looked back at his sister, and Lucilla, who had been vigilantly scanning the surroundings with sharp eyes, softened her gaze and smiled brightly when she caught her brother’s eyes.

It was a gaze full of affection. She even twitched the corners of her mouth and smiled, mouthing words.

Those mouthed words brought a faint blush to Llewellyn’s face.

A sudden confession of love, so it couldn’t be helped. Llewellyn looked ahead without even clearing his throat.

With nothing to stop her anymore, Lucilla couldn’t hide her love for her brother.

Even Ortemilia, who wasn’t particularly perceptive, would have narrowed her eyebrows slightly as she watched the siblings.

But what could be done?

Even if Ortemilia noticed, there was nothing she could do.

Even if they were to be intimate and have children, all Ortemilia could do was observe the rare case of conception between homunculi.

That’s why Lucilla was even more confident. The reason she wasn’t holding hands or clinging to him now was solely because they were in the dangerous magical realm.

If they were elsewhere, she would have already been walking arm in arm with him.

Llewellyn knew this well and walked silently, soon narrowing his eyes at a distant light.

The distance decreases. There were three adventurers at the campfire.

They appeared to be the exploration team he had heard about earlier. Llewellyn was about to approach them to gather information, but.

Kwajijijijijik!

Faster than a greeting, a casual wave of the hand, or a detailed observation of their appearance, Life and Death moved.

At the end of an acceleration that left no trace was an attack. A super-speed method that couldn’t even be identified.

Even to Llewellyn’s eyes, it appeared as disconnected moments. The adventurers, who had risen from the campfire and were about to reach for their weapons in caution, were shattered in that very pose.

All that remained of the three adventurers were fragments of flesh. Llewellyn stared at Life and Death, who stood on the campfire, frozen in place.

His mood twisted. No matter who the enemy was, the death of people wasn’t something he welcomed. Unless they were monsters.

Llewellyn’s eyes trembled with his twisted mood as he stared at Life and Death.

“Are you hurt?”

Life and Death asked calmly.

“…Sejin.”

Faster than the nausea rising from that calmness, his sister gripped his forearm.

Llewellyn involuntarily looked at the corpses due to the warmth on his forearm.

And discovered that those corpses weren’t human.

The bodies, split from the upper left to the lower right, were something that poorly mimicked human form.

Teeth sprouted and wriggled in the gaps of the armor, and the suppressed screams he had heard earlier could be heard.

His expression hardened. His complexion turned pale white. To such a Llewellyn, the god living in the magical realm said:

“There are many beasts here. Be careful, Child of the Sun.”

Disjointed words. As Llewellyn watched the three struggling monsters, he vaguely understood the magical realm.