Ch.203Chapter 203. Epilogue (3)

Chapter 203. Epilogue (3)

Loa? Our monster pigeon spirit Tuntuni? That’s impossible.

…No. It’s not impossible.

Tuntuni is a spiritual creature raised on various medicinal ingredients. He evolved into a spirit through Paya’s shamanic arts after she became a spirit master, and he grew stronger through all kinds of journeys.

Weren’t True Malak, Lakan, and Tuga originally spiritual creatures too? Like them, Tuntuni might have obtained some kind of divine status after continuous leveling up(?).

What’s puzzling is the divine status. To obtain divine status, faith would be necessary. Has Tuntuni ever been worshipped?

– Hmm.

It’s not like I have no idea.

I’m not sure about worship, but Tuntuni is very popular among children, especially girls. The number of girls who come holding their parents’ hands to see Tuntuni is countless.

Should I say it’s almost BTS-level popularity? Anyway, Tuntuni was the tribal federation’s top animal idol.

Even True Malak, another animal(?), had to concede to Tuntuni when it came to popularity among children.

It makes sense since Tuntuni, who spends most of his time within the tribal federation, is more suitable as a mascot than True Malak, who only appears during wars.

I hate to admit it, but he’s also cuter in appearance.

‘What? Lord Malang? I’ve only seen him as a totem.’

‘But Lord Malak is scary when he manifests…’

‘I cried when I saw him.’

‘He’s scawy~!’

I declare that I’ve never been jealous, not even once. I’m not petty enough to complain about children’s attention.

Anyway, could it be that the children’s love and faith transformed into something like divine status and gave Tuntuni power? As someone who doesn’t know the exact criteria for divine status, that’s all I could think of.

True Malak, you jerk, you should have left a Loa guide or something!

“Ah, so that’s what it was.”

“Indeed… unwavering faith and reverence become power for the Loas. Could the children’s pure affection have become divine status?”

I wonder if it sounded plausible to Lakye and Paya. They nodded after hearing my reasoning.

“…Then what should we do? Should we just watch over him?”

– That would be best.

“…”

Paya looks up at Tuntuni with sad eyes. She stroked Tuntuni’s beak with her small hand.

“I wish you wouldn’t go far away and stay by my side… But I should be happy, right? It’s a good thing.”

Did he hear Paya’s murmur?

Kwik…

Tuntuni opened and closed his beak as if answering. Then he closed his eyes tightly and began to tremble.

“Tuntuni?”

A yellowish light spread like a spider web and wrapped around Tuntuni’s body.

“Tuntuni!”

Tuntuni transformed like a caterpillar in a cocoon. Paya knocked on the cocoon made of light, but there was no response.

Has he become a pupa to ascend as a Loa? If so, it might be dangerous to disturb him in this state.

– Priestess Paya. Calm yourself. Tuntuni has entered the journey to become a Loa.

“Aah…!”

The tears that had welled up in Paya’s eyes rolled down her cheeks.

– …

I understand her sadness. Paya had been with Tuntuni for many years. But I also thought this might be a good thing.

Now we’ll have one more Loa on our side, on humanity’s side, besides Lakan. Since Tuntuni often gave fan service (mostly making kwik-kwik cries) to the children who followed him around, he’ll become a reliable ally Loa.

I hope he doesn’t suddenly become arrogant like Tuga just because he’s become a Loa.

I calmed Paya down and isolated the place where Tuntuni was lying. When I say isolated, we can’t really stop children from coming to see him.

***

Several days have passed since Tuntuni entered the divine cocoon.

[PetitNoir: Please pray for Tuntuni]

[CowBikiniDance: “Tuntuni, I’ll always remember you”…A farewell moment soaked in tears and rain]

[MorningTentInstaller: Is Tuntuni!!! Going away?!! (Roughly a crying emoji with tears and snot)]

[BasementFirstElection: Seeing Tuntuni was healing TT]

[MalJukGeoriRestorer: Should we make a Tuntuni totem too?]

[TrustedMonkeyUncle: Isn’t it good to have more allied Loas? Why are the kids so sad?]

[DinosaurPunch: I made a ‘Tuntuni Special Lunch Set’ to wish Tuntuni well on his journey to a better place. It’s bread shaped like Tuntuni.]

[MeleeSpy: To honor Tuntuni, I will give up chicken for a month]

The community was buzzing with this rare topic, and…

“Uhuheong~!”

“Uwaaaaang!!! Uwaaaaaaang!!!”

“Tuntuni… don’t gooo…!”

“Mom… is Tuntuni dying?”

“You need to stay healthy wherever you go, Tuntuni…”

“Nooooo~!”

Reality was even more chaotic.

The sound of children crying in front of Tuntuni’s isolation facility echoed throughout the tribal federation.

“It’s a good thing! Stop crying, it brings bad luck!”

“Tuntuni is becoming a Loa like Lord Malak. Shouldn’t we be happy?”

“It’s a celebration! We should hold a festival instead!”

Barbarian parents tried to stop their crying children.

Barbarians are close to being religious followers of the Loas. For them, Tuntuni’s ascension was something that should be celebrated.

But as cultures and races mixed, the children’s education process(?) also changed. It was revised to be more pro-civilization under the leadership of the Saint and Rachel.

Because of this, children couldn’t purely rejoice in Tuntuni’s ascension.

“If you don’t quiet down, I’ll offer you as a sacrifice to the apostate Charon! He likes the flesh of young children!”

“Do you want to become a zombie?”

“Uwaaaang!!!”

Charon had somehow become a ghost story like the bogeyman or the Hong Kong ghost grandma.

Some barbarian parents even held clubs to stop the children (which I obviously prevented), but civilized parents tended to sympathize with their children’s sadness.

“It’s okay. He’ll surely come back down. Like Lord Malak.”

“If you cry, Tuntuni will be sad too.”

Despite being comforted like this, the children didn’t stop crying. It can’t be helped. They’re too young to accept farewell.

“Come on, it’s not like Tuntuni is going to die.”

“Kids are allowed to cry a bit, you jerk.”

Siwoo gave a light knock on the monkey’s head as he grumbled. Despite his words, the monkey had come to see the isolated Tuntuni.

When I say isolated, I mean we’ve prevented people from getting too close, not completely sealed him off from view. Everyone can see Tuntuni in his cocoon state.

“Lord Sans.”

Lakye, who was observing the situation, spoke up. It was a small voice only I could hear.

“Yes?”

“Are you truly a Loa right now?”

“That’s a difficult question.”

I inherited True Malak’s will and can use totem abilities through the status window effect, but if you ask if that makes me a Loa, well… I’m not sure.

After facing True Malak’s soul destruction, I became unable to use ‘Manifestation’ again. Can I still be considered a Loa without a physical body to manifest?

“…If you’re not a Loa, does that mean you’ll go through a process like Tuntuni to become one?”

“Maybe?”

“…”

Lakye didn’t like that possibility. Well, I don’t particularly want to go back to that spiritual realm or whatever it was either.

“…I wish you would stay here, Lord Sans.”

“Huh?”

“By my side, always. …Is that not possible?”

“…”

I suddenly felt embarrassed and turned my face away.

I thought it was a proposal for a moment. It must be words filled with respect and loyalty, right?

“…”

To change the mood, I checked the community. Due to the hot topic, posts were being uploaded at an incredible speed, and if I missed even a moment, they would pile up.

[LuluTV: Tell those brats to stop making a fuss

Seriously, could you pick out Tuntuni from among other pigeons?]

– Comments –

[VeryBlackFemaleInmate: Think before you speak, you crazy bastard lol How could you not recognize that size?]

[NotACatfish: What template is this?]

[Ghoulre: Nice trolling lol]

[ShotgunAttack: Anti pretending to be a fan pretending to be an anti of Tuntuni]

“What kind of template is this now.”

It’s sad that I can’t understand all the jokes since everyone was possessed on different days.

[3Rep500: You might frown at the noise of children crying

But if you say ‘why are you whining over something so trivial when they’re not even dead,’ well… there are many things I could say back:

Why get so angry over losing one sports game?

Why buy figurines for mere animations?

Why cry over a fictional character’s death?

Why mourn a mere dog’s death like it’s a family member?

Once someone starts to like something, how many things can’t be explained as ‘mere’…

Anyway, he’s going far away. They might never see him again. Let them cry a bit.]

“Oh.”

There were some serious posts too. While I was exploring this community full of all kinds of jokes…

[Skynet: Lord Sans. Please reply when you check this message.]

I received a private message from an unexpected person.

Skynet? It’s been a while since I heard from this person. One of the few paladins who didn’t join the tribal federation.

[What’s up?]

[Skynet: I heard that you are Lord Malak’s messenger. Is this true?]

[Yeah?]

[Skynet: I see. Then can you communicate with Lord Malak?]

[Yeah]

[Skynet: I see.]

What could this be about?

With Skynet’s next message, my curiosity turned into shock.

[Skynet: I am the administrator of the status window.]

“What…?”