Episode 12: I Have the Power to Build a World

What is a wholehearted lie?

It starts with believing the lie yourself.

What I’m doing now isn’t a lie, it’s real.

I believe it so much that it’s almost self-hypnosis.

I am a No-Name.

I am a No-Name.

I am now perfectly a No-Name.

A terrifying ability that would make your body explode the moment it touches you.

I don’t know the name, but anyway, there’s something like that.

Believing in it and wielding it with all my heart achieved excellent results.

The flower-hair guy who was trying to finish off Aransul.

He immediately got away as soon as I rushed at him.

He’s a quick-witted bastard.

To realize what would happen if he touched my hand and make the judgment to get out.

Too bad.

If he had just touched me a little, he would have been done for sure.

I tried to narrow the distance with the guy, subtly hiding my hand.

Then the flower-hair guy also quietly assessed the situation without giving me any distance.

,Harua!

At that moment, Aransul grabbed my shoulder and kicked off the floor.

Her strength was so great that my body was dragged along, dangling.

To break through the defense of Aransul, who has this kind of strength.

That guy is no ordinary person, just like me.

The flower-hair guy didn’t chase us right away.

Like the quick-witted bastard he is, he seemed to be watching the situation and then chasing us.

Well, if he touches my hand, he’s done for, so it’s the right decision.

,Are you out of your mind!

Aransul shouted as she ran.

,Are you out of your mind?

,Your actions just now.

,Phew, I almost got him, too bad, right?

Aransul looked at me with an incredulous face.

Looking at that expression, I remembered something I had forgotten.

Ah, I’m a Holy Magic Swordsman.

Wait, I was so caught up in the moment that I forgot.

The ability in my hand disappears.

I could have built the world, but it’s a shame.

,You would have died if I hadn’t.

When I answered, clenching and unclenching my hand, Aransul bit her lip.

She probably knew that best.

Her eyes shook for a moment, then she lowered her head.

,…Sorry, I was too weak and dragged you into this.

,What’s with the ‘sorry’ in this situation? We just ran into a crazy bastard.

It’s just bad luck.

It’s not Aransul’s fault.

Aransul ran silently.

She seemed to be thinking about something complicated.

,Being weak was my own will….

She seemed to mutter something to herself, but I couldn’t hear it well.

,More importantly, who is that guy? He doesn’t seem like an ordinary guy.

I’ve seen quite a few strong people while working as a Pioneer.

But that guy seemed to be on a different level, even among the top-notch Pioneers.

He’s a guy who gives off a very dangerous vibe.

,…The Great Sinner of Sloth, Cosmic Jack.

I was shocked by Aransul’s answer.

I’ve heard of Great Sinners, they’re criminals.

The stigma of being a Great Sinner is attached to those who have destroyed at least a city-sized area.

I just rushed at a guy with that stigma with my bare hands.

There’s no bigger crazy bastard than me.

It’s no wonder Aransul was horrified.

,If you knew, never do that again. There will absolutely not be a second time.

Aransul warned, and I agreed.

Rushing at a guy like that again is suicide.

I will never do it.

,More importantly, Aransul, I’m going to walk on my own now….

It was when I spoke to Aransul, wanting to walk on my own.

A shadow falls over my face.

I discovered a hand with flesh sewn together here and there, coming right up to my face.

Just a pure, bare hand.

But as soon as I saw that bare hand, I got goosebumps on my face.

My lips were parched.

Time moved very slowly for a moment.

A strange phenomenon experienced in the moment of facing death.

I knew this phenomenon well because I had already experienced it.

The flower-hair guy, Cosmic Jack, was visible between the knuckles of his fingers.

Cosmic Jack was a cautious guy.

So he didn’t deliberately show his skills and fought Aransul moderately.

But I, an irregular, appeared.

So he decided not to hide his skills any longer.

Right next to me.

Aransul’s face had already been touched by Cosmic Jack’s hand.

Rashes bloomed here and there on Aransul’s pretty face, swelling up, and then it exploded without hesitation.

Aransul’s body, without a neck, collapsed.

As soon as I saw that, I knew Cosmic Jack’s ability.

This bastard had a real killing ability that blew up everything he touched.

The gauntlet was just a restriction he put on himself to deceive his opponents.

His true value was in his bare hands.

And the death that Aransul faced is coming to me in the same way.

Thud-

Cosmic Jack’s hand touched my face.

I felt like a flower was smiling gently.

With that as the last thing, my vision widened along with the sensation of my face swelling up.

The world was visible in 360 degrees for a moment.

My eyes were swollen to their limit.

The same must be true for other things.

This fucking other world!

Pung!

And that was another death I experienced.

* * *

There are many deaths in the world.

For example, being killed by having your limbs torn off by a cult.

Being beaten to death by a thief.

Being killed by having your head crushed by a murderer.

And there is also dying from having your head swell up and explode.

벌떡-

I got up from my seat and blinked.

Then I raised my hand and groped around, scratching my head.

My exploded head had been safely restored.

까악까악-

In the distance, the sun was setting and I could hear the sound of crows flying in the sky.

My ears are a bit muffled.

When I inhaled and exhaled, I felt like my ears were opening up.

,Hoo.

I’m alive again.

I took a light breath and looked around.

And I scratched my head again.

Was it because endorphins were pouring out like crazy right before I died, with my brain swelling up massively at the end?

I feel an strangely itchy sensation in my head.

It was a strange feeling, like I wanted to scratch the inside of my brain.

I lowered my hand that was scratching my head.

I should stop, because I think this will become a habit.

When I shifted my gaze to the side, I saw a corpse that had already started to attract bugs.

It was Aransul’s corpse.

She was the one who left me a warning to be careful until the very end before she died.

When I approached her and brushed away the bugs, I saw her empty neck.

The Great Sinner of Sloth, Cosmic Jack.

I realize once again how much that bastard was playing with us.

At the last moment, neither Aransul nor I could even react.

That’s a real monster among the ones I’ve met.

I don’t know why there are so many monsters in this other world.

Even if there are many, do they have to appear in front of me?

I came back alive from the airship, and then there’s a Great Sinner.

Life is too hard and I have terribly bad luck.

I couldn’t feel Cosmic Jack’s presence anymore.

Since I died with my head exploded anyway, there’s no way I’ll come back to life, so he must have just left me alone and left.

I know why he’s called the Slothful one.

I sat down in front of Aransul and raised my hand.

Wait, is there really a need to save a barbaric otherworlder?

I scratched my head once.

The surging disgust subsided.

I’m going back and forth because I’ve experienced the shittiness of this other world after a long time.

Well, I’ve been living too comfortably for a Holy Magic Swordsman lately.

,Arise.

To clear my head, I activated Resurrection while spouting nonsense.

Then a bright light permeated Aransul’s body, and her head slowly began to recover.

After a while, Aransul’s pretty face returned.

I felt a little proud when I thought that I had created that with my own hands.

It seemed like it would take some time for Aransul to wake up, so I leaned against a tree.

When I see Bulldog Ajussi or the airship crew, their memories are all over the place right before they die.

I wondered if Aransul would be the same.

I was unconsciously scratching my head, and soon after, Aransul suddenly opened her eyes.

At the same time, she got up from her seat, grabbed her sword, and swung it.

I almost clapped at her neat movements.

Aransul stood there with her eyes wide open.

Then she slowly turned her head and made eye contact with me.

She had a blank expression on her face.

It was the common face of people who had died and come back to life.

,…Harua?

Judging from her expression, it seemed like she hadn’t realized the situation yet.

,Yeah, it looks like we somehow survived. Cosmic Jack knocked us out and left.

,That can’t be….

Aransul muttered, trembling with the hand holding her sword.

,My head was definitely blown up….

Could it be that she remembers that?

I don’t know what kind of mental strength she has.

Thinking that she’s not normal either, I subtly conveyed.

,Then, there’s no way your head would be so intact.

,…….

Aransul’s eyes were unfocused, as if she couldn’t refute.

Then she soon turned back to me.

,Harua, did you do something?

Why is she so quick-witted?

But in this world, magic that saves people is not a given.

,What can I do?

A Holy Magic Swordsman who hasn’t even bloomed a seed yet.

What could such a Holy Magic Swordsman really do?

Aransul knew this too, so she remained silent and slowly lowered her sword.

,I’m going to rest for a bit.

Her head must be complicated from dying and coming back to life, so she walked wearily and sat leaning against a tree.

And for some reason, she was fiddling with her left hand.

While Aransul was resting, I rested along with her.

What should I do in the future?

There’s still some distance to the Breathwood.

But it’s also not a good idea to wander around the forest where Cosmic Jack is roaming.

I somehow survived this time thanks to Resurrection.

But there is no next time.

The bastard will feel suspicious seeing us alive and will definitely try to kill us.

He might really bury us in the ground this time.

While I was worrying, Aransul was also silent, as if she had something to worry about.

,Harua.

In the forest at night, where the sun had already set.

Aransul finally opened her mouth.

,Cosmic Jack is targeting Lilian-nim.

Lilian.

Hearing that word, Raphael’s request came to mind.

Raphael asked me to deliver a letter to Lilian.

She was said to be the leader of the Fairy race and a master of space magic.

I never thought Cosmic Jack would be targeting her.

Unexpectedly, our goals overlapped.

,The airship crash was also his doing. He’s trying to lure Lilian-nim out of the Breathwood through the commotion.

Lilian-nim won’t ignore the crashing airship.

But we evacuated the people from the airship.

As a result, Cosmic Jack’s plan was twisted, and he targeted us instead.

,And Harua, people will be coming soon to investigate the airship crash.

My body stopped.

,Then, Cosmic Jack, who is wandering around the forest….

,He’ll use those people as hostages to lure out Lilian-nim.

It’s truly a vicious cycle.

But it wasn’t a problem we could solve either.

,Then, let’s get out of here quickly.

,It’s impossible to go to the airfield. The forest at night is rough, so it’s harder to find the way.

Above all, the Fairy Forest is vast, so the probability of encountering the search party is low.

Aransul got up from her seat and looked at the Breathwood visible between the leaves.

,On the other hand, we can set the Breathwood as our goal and move forward.

,…Are you seriously saying we should go to the Breathwood now?

Is she out of her mind?

It seems like she’s forgotten that Cosmic Jack is roaming the forest.

Aransul slowly turned to me.

,If we arrive at the Breathwood and inform Lilian-nim of this fact, she can send a letter to the airfield with space magic.

Then, instead of the search party, a formal army will come to catch Cosmic Jack.

So we have to go to Lilian.

Aransul was saying this.

She’s a girl who just came back to life.

To be exact, she died once.

She even died from having her head swell up and explode.

And now that girl is saying that she will go into the forest once again.

It was no different from saying that she would step into death with her own feet.

She risks her life for others.

It’s noble, but it’s an action I can’t understand.

I stared blankly and then opened my lips.

,I’m not going.

I am not a saint.