Ch.222222. Beloved by Fate

Same time.

Somewhere in the divine realm, a hidden space where the blood-soaked God of Vengeance resides.

The God of Vengeance, Ma-Duk—or rather, the result of my personal preferences being actively reflected.

In this place that resembles my room from when I still lived a worthless life as a mortal…

“…Phew. Busy, so busy.”

Taking on the unique appearance of a red humanoid figure with a wolf’s head, I was coordinating a massive project that I had finally achieved after a long period of planning.

This plan, known as the Hero Corruption Project, was simply an attempt to steal the boy who would become the ultimate weapon of the good gods.

No, to be precise, the true purpose is to diligently train that boy through these attempts and ultimately utilize him in the Second Demon Invasion that will soon occur.

In this world—this world with the simple name of Basic Middle Fantasy—there are, naturally, several important major events.

Representative examples like the birth of “Pleasure,” the fall of the Rom Empire, and the Great Demon Invasion are deeply connected to the fate of this world.

In other words, this world, which was originally expressed as a game, flows as close as possible to a predetermined fate, except for some random elements determined by random numbers.

So this element called fate is, so to speak, the predetermined flow that the world follows, and I, summoned by the God of Chaos, can create chaos (variables) in that flow.

Of course, this is not because I’m special, but because I’m a soul from outside.

Anyway, back to the main point.

In the end, there exists a massive flow (order) called fate in this world, and while this flow may be uncertain microscopically, it is determined macroscopically.

To put it simply… should I call it a butterfly effect prevention machine?

Since fate has its own kind of flexibility, if you save someone destined to die, someone random will suddenly die instead.

Therefore, even in the endlessly changing and twisting flow of the world, certain predetermined routes are still being fulfilled.

One such representative “fate” is that boy Peter, whom I am now directly observing.

The boy named Peter has absolutely nothing special about him, except for one thing.

Far from being royalty, he doesn’t have a single drop of rural nobility’s blood, so he doesn’t even have a surname. His talent for magic is nonexistent, and his physical abilities would not make him exceptional if he weren’t diligent.

Additionally, he’s a completely pure human without a single drop of any other race’s blood, and naturally, he has had no fateful encounters whatsoever during his childhood.

Apart from being born into a somewhat happy family, he’s a boy who could be found anywhere… but there is one thing about him. One innate talent that makes me pay direct attention to him.

That is his talent for being loved by fate.

If I were to give a name to this abstract talent… yes. Perhaps no name would be more fitting than “protagonist correction.”

Peter is loved by the fate of this world more than any other mortal.

In this world where domestic violence is practically a constant in rural households, Peter grew up under a good family with a strict but affectionate father and a kind mother, which is rare.

Additionally, his family owned quite a large piece of land for mere farmers, and perhaps because he had no male siblings, he was supposed to inherit all of it.

Moreover, he had a childhood friend who grew up with him and developed feelings for him, and the area around the village was even a safe zone where not even a single goblin dared to appear.

Even when an adolescent but still intermediate-level manticore attacked the village, he managed to escape safely to a safe zone with his childhood friend.

In other words, being loved by the world’s fate means that all actions flow in a way that is most advantageous to oneself.

At first glance, it might sound no different from having extremely good luck, but in reality, simple good luck cannot be compared to this “protagonist correction.”

“Protagonist correction,” if I had to explain it, is not so much about having extremely good luck as it is about the plausibility of worldly matters being arranged in favor of the possessor of the “protagonist correction.”

If Peter were merely lucky, the manticore wouldn’t have attacked the village in the first place, but considering plausibility, that would be strange, so the manticore attack did occur…

However, Peter was able to successfully escape and safely move to the city of the territory.

Even the fact that Peter was discovered by my eyes is probably part of this “protagonist correction.”

In any case, I am giving him attention with the intention of making him stronger in the future, and this is a factor that somehow reduces his chances of dying by nurturing his power.

If I were to explain Peter’s ability using the TRPG I used to like as an example, it could be summarized as “always rolling a critical hit when rolling dice.”

Seen this way, it might seem like even I am being played by this thing called fate, but after quietly observing Peter, I was finally able to identify the weakness of that protagonist correction.

“Protagonist correction” is merely a tool that creates the most favorable flow for its possessor.

It is absolutely not a magical box that creates something from nothing.

No matter how much “protagonist correction” one has, to obtain a legendary weapon, one must search ruins and find hidden elements rather than staying cooped up in a room.

To gain strength, one must move directly, whether by training or making a contract with a demon, and without a clear sense of purpose, “protagonist correction” will just end up making one a lucky person.

So the true weakness of “protagonist correction” that I’ve figured out is absurdity.

Like a tank suddenly rushing into the middle of a medieval battlefield, like a Yi Sun-sin class destroyer appearing in the sea during the Battle of Chilcheollyang.

If there is a flow where everything becomes infinitely favorable to the possessor of “protagonist correction,” then I, the only one in the world who can intervene in that flow, can simply cut it off.

Fate is, above all, something that seems unrealistic but is infinitely realistic.

It’s like bringing in an army (regular forces) to point a gun at the dealer’s head as the best way to win in a rigged gambling den.

In other words, I, the only being who can chew up fate, can just push through with force.

Well… that said, I don’t particularly intend to kill that boy Peter.

After all, it’s more convenient for me if he grows up well and becomes an outstanding warrior, and while it would be nice if he came under me, it doesn’t particularly matter if he doesn’t.

Because they are such righteous and good heroes, they probably won’t be able to say anything against the Dawn Empire, which is better than anywhere else for ordinary people to live.

…Of course, I can’t help but covet the possessor of “protagonist correction,” so I’m planning to prepare a few items to tempt him.

※ ※ ※

In the world, there exist countless relics of the past.

There are powerful relics from the era of empires that collapsed after reaching the peak of prosperity, as well as items leaked from the Dawn Empire, the world’s only evil god-worshipping nation…

Naturally, among these relics, those that could be considered intact were quite rare.

From cases where the engraved magic simply deteriorated or items damaged during distribution, to objects that became dangerous due to magic being altered in the process of breaking, but…

Indeed, the most malicious are tools created with the purpose of harming someone from the beginning.

The harmless ones made simply for pranks are relatively benign, but there are also weapons made for crimes such as turning lead into gold for about 10 minutes.

Some disguise themselves as normal items only to curse the wearer or user, while others even have self-awareness and try to steal the user’s mind.

And among this category of weapons, the most representative and famous was the “Cursed Red Dagger.”

Unlike an evil soul-sealed sword that openly tries to dominate the opponent’s body, this instead has the power to “guide in a certain direction” the mind of anyone who has held it even once.

Its quality as a weapon is comparable to a “divine weapon” made directly by a god, but those who were tempted by it and picked up this dagger died one by one after committing bizarre acts.

Moreover, it’s meaningless to try to seal it using any method, as this cursed weapon unbelievably wanders around looking for its owner.

As a result, it was a dagger that drew severe aggro in various ways, with mainstream religious orders trying to capture and either purify or destroy it, but…

People were completely unaware.

That another sword with a terrible demonic aura, comparable to or even worse than this dagger,

A true demonic sword (魔劍) had been released into the world.