Ch.29Chapter 29. Why With Another Woman Instead of Me…?

Desire.

The primal instinct possessed by all living beings, and what rational beings suppress the most…

In some sense, a concept considered the greatest hindrance to life.

-Ting-a-ling!

But the jester denies such claims.

It is desire that gives us goals, and the liberation of desire that gives value to our efforts.

What value is there in a life that only restrains such desires?

“Come to think of it, you still haven’t paid back the money you took from me last time?”

“And you ruined the woman I had my eye on right in front of me…!”

“Aaaaargh!! Get lost, all of you! Why should I live like this?! It’s all because of you!”

“That’s my line! Why should I rot in this gutter with beggars like you?!”

Even if problems follow, in this moment at least, one need not think of such things.

As their accumulated desires seethed in this filthy alley, the jester continued playing, adding fuel to their fire.

Thus erasing their reason.

Casting aside all concerns, worries, and conscience.

“Aaaagh! Die! You bastards!!”

The sound of flesh tearing, even the lamentations of those who had lost their humanity.

The performance was so intense and addictive that it erased everything.

“Ahaha~!”

As reason was devoured and desire sprouted in its place, a red flower bloomed fully on the stage.

The jester danced across it, and the pleasant smile he had been hiding began to emerge.

“The humble jester sings~”

A brighter laugh than ever before.

Drawing joy that contained a light more vivid than the moonlight illuminating this festival of madness.

“Singing of his own life~♬”

Through his increasingly elevated spirit, he plucks the strings while recalling his old memories.

“A beggar born in chaos grasps the hand extended in salvation. The street ruffian becomes intoxicated with victory and becomes a hero, eventually becoming a king—watching, remembering the journey from behind…”

Reminiscence of a long life, a kaleidoscope of memories, a fairy tale of heroic narrative, a biography of a hero written from another’s perspective…

It doesn’t matter what you call it. Even naming it is a luxury for a song meant to enliven a feast.

“Yet fearing it would be washed away by time, I turned it into a merry song, and eventually it remained in this world longer than memories, passed from mouth to mouth~”

Even those who don’t know this song feel its excitement and pass its resonance to one another…

Hoping that even without awareness, its fame would remain in this world.

“O King, I am a jester for you~ In this moment of singing this song, I too am reminiscing about the glorious days I spent with you…”

-Ting-a-ling, ting~♬

“…So even now I hope. That the emptiness you feel, made from accumulated memories, will be filled, and that a smile will once again appear on your lips.”

As the lyrics concluded and the strength gradually left the hand plucking the strings.

The silence that followed was incomparably quiet compared to the previous commotion.

Just one person.

Except for a single man who had regained his senses and was terrified among the bloody lumps of flesh still oozing blood.

“Ah, aah…”

Is that terror directed at himself?

Or is it about what he had done at this scene, realized too late?

“…You’re trembling.”

Either way, it’s unnecessary here.

Thinking this, the jester placed his slender fingers on the lute strings.

“What are you worried about when you should be enjoying yourself?”

“S-stop…”

“Let’s liberate.”

-Ting~

“P-please…”

“Let’s release.”

-Ting-a-ling~♬

“Ah, aaah!!!!”

“If you can’t turn back, and don’t have the courage to face it, then running away can also be the right answer…”

Sweet whispers intertwined with the music.

As the man felt his mind being buried in it, only one thought remained within him.

“Uh, hahahaha!”

Yes, this is a dream.

If it’s not a dream, then bury it. That will solve everything.

-Slash!

When the weapon in his hand finally dug into his neck, taking away his last thread of life.

As the convulsions of the corpse that collapsed with a gurgle at the end subsided, the corners of the woman’s mouth who had received his blood on her body began to rise.

“…Huhu.”

As if substituting for the applause that should come from the audience after a performance.

“Ahahahaha, hahahahaha~”

She burst into laughter with all her might, stretching her arms wide and staring at the faces of the scattered corpses.

Ignorant people who died with their reason buried.

But what was drawn on their faces was nothing but exhilaration.

Despite meeting death after being faithful to their desires without caring about anything, there was clearly joy in their final moments, even though they had forgotten about death itself.

“That’s right~ There’s no need to suppress yourself! Whatever your life is like, make the end joyful and exciting~♬”

Even after falling into this sewer, at the final moment when they should have reflected on their lives, they met their end having forgotten all concerns and worries…

If truly the purpose of life is to pursue happiness, why is meeting the end while being faithful to desire considered such a sin?

“To enjoy that moment of liberation so thoroughly, to the point of being crushed so miserably.”

A bright smile appeared again on the minstrel’s lips as she looked back at the miserable traces left at the end.

Darker and brighter.

“This is really, truly~”

She whispers that she too has reached the peak of appreciation, sympathizing with their final moments.

“…Boring.”

Despite the excitement that had surged with pleasure, her heart fell uselessly into a deep abyss.

Like the heat of a body that had risen to climax suddenly subsiding.

At the end of liberation, as always, there was only an empty heart.

-Ting.

Yes, desire that ends with just one time is that boring.

No matter how passionate masturbation that can only be performed once in a lifetime might be.

If it leaves nothing behind, what meaning does that act have?

-Ting-a-ling~!!

So she sets off on a journey.

Seeking new audiences every moment…

Hoping that the intense pleasure that can only be awakened at the end of life will continue endlessly in her journey.

-Ting-ding, zzzzt!

Even if that too eventually remains as a futile memory, at least by weaving such stories like rags…

Hoping that it will become a story that her lord, whom she serves, can enjoy someday.

-Zzzzt, zzzzt!!!

Repeating that, and repeating it.

Endlessly repeating that boring time with no known end.

-Twang!!

When her hand struck down, tired even of that time of patience, roughly breaking the lute string.

After throwing it to the floor, her gaze gradually turned to the sky.

Toward the moonlight illuminating this street full of dark red flowers.

“…I wonder why?”

Her amber eyes began to shine clearly as they captured the pouring light.

As if she had found a way forward in this empty journey that had continued for an eternity.

“Even though we just met by chance, from the moment I engraved your existence in my eyes, I can’t forget you.”

For the first time in her journey, where she had repeatedly encountered only those whose desires burned out and extinguished…

She felt that a person who should have been let go as a mere temporary connection remained so vividly in her mind.

“Hyoseong, can you teach me? How to fill this endless emptiness I feel.”

Yes, if immersion truly exists by continuing endlessly, then perhaps that man is the being she has been looking for.

A life faithful to desire cannot be lived suffering from thirst without satisfaction if it continues without ending.

“I would like that. I’m tired of smiling mindlessly now.”

So she hopes that a well that can continuously fill that thirst exists somewhere in this world.

Such sincerity was embedded in her current whisper.

****

And.

Inside a tent located in a remote part of the city.

-Zzzzt.

Irie, who was checking her fortune before ending the day just in case, frowned at the scene appearing in her crystal ball.

‘What is this?’

The predetermined future suddenly changes…

It’s not the first time.

After all, the future where this empire was devastated by the whim of a dragon living in this city had already unfolded.

But what was happening now was too much to be considered just a change in the future.

-Zzzzt, zzzzt.

What she saw was a scene as messy as mixed paints, and all she could hear was harsh noise.

It was a phenomenon she had never seen while fortune-telling.

No, she was certain that other fortune-tellers had never encountered such an anomalous phenomenon either.

‘Could it be that my ancestor can no longer foresee the future ahead?’

Yes, while the ability he possessed was certainly something that could be called omniscient, even that doesn’t reflect immediately.

If some variable arises, such as a sudden whim of a Transcendent, the observed future must be revised accordingly.

Such a prolonged disruption to the future means that something beyond the whim of a single Transcendent is happening.

The most likely possibility that comes to mind is not one but two, or more…

‘The whims of multiple Transcendents have collided.’

Just as she was having such an extreme thought and feeling her breath catch, the crystal ball became clear again.

The static noise disappeared, and she could confirm that the scene she had been watching until now had been restored.

“Ah, it’s back.”

Yes, this is the future she had been confirming until now.

The bed with mysterious lighting and lace.

And herself, wearing only underwear, panting as she was embraced by a man…

“Aahn~♥”

…But why?

Even after seeing that her safe future had been restored, why did she feel such complicated emotions?

“Ugh, why doesn’t this change…!”

She had checked many times since first meeting him, but the future where she would be with him remained the same.

And in a way that she, who had lived a frugal life while practicing astrology, could never have imagined…

Of course, if she kept this future in mind and was wary of him, she could avoid a future where she fell into such a vulgar state.

If all else failed, she could directly seek advice from the God of Destruction to accurately navigate changing the future.

Changing the future as desired requires a lot of power, but that too would be necessary for her purpose.

‘But the reason it’s not easy to change rashly is because there’s a high possibility that my future self hasn’t forgotten that purpose.’

If she hasn’t forgotten her mission, it essentially means that he was born with the destiny to be the hero who will save this world.

But examining that process in detail is not easy for her current self.

The future shown in the crystal ball is not something that will happen immediately but is scheduled for a distant future, and the further a future is from the present, the harder it is to confirm the process.

‘Yes, time will reveal it. Why I will become entangled with him…’

If she’s forgotten her mission, she just needs to come to her senses and stay as far away from him as possible.

But if the currently unremarkable man is destined to save the world in the future, she must prepare herself mentally, even if a vulgar future is foreseen.

‘I will be with that person…’

Hyoseong Woo.

A person who had caught her attention and concerned her since their first meeting.

And a person who didn’t deny her words as a fortune-teller, but took them at face value and even expressed gratitude.

‘I-it’s not that I dislike it… but, we still don’t know each other properly…’

Perhaps because she had seen the scene of their bodies intertwining several times?

As she recalled his face, Irie felt her face inexplicably turning red.

‘B-but doing it like that as seen in the future is a bit… if, if we were to have a relationship, it would be better to do it more modestly and gently…’

Having focused only on practice and mission, she had kept such matters outside her interest, but now that she felt the time approaching, she couldn’t help but be concerned in various ways.

And because of that, her curiosity was growing.

What on earth would happen later that would make her so attracted to a man she barely knew?

-Heuheuh, heuheuh~

The voice that had only trembled with sexual excitement now began to include exaggerated coquetry…

‘Huh? Wait… this isn’t my voice?’

Clearly it was the same future as before, but why was an unfamiliar voice suddenly heard?

With a sense of doubt, her gaze gradually moved forward.

The crystal ball still showed herself panting while engrossed in the act with him.

And also a white woman watching from the side and acting coquettishly.

-Hyoseong~ I, I can’t take it anymore~ P-please do me quickly too~♡

“…Eh?”

What on earth.

This unidentified white woman crawling on all fours under him, panting with her tongue out.

“…Why is there one more person?”

And why?

The man who was destined to be with her if she did nothing.

“Why is Hyoseong with another woman besides me…?”

Why was she feeling angry at the future where he was now with another woman?