episode_0572

Noon the next day.

We confidently walked down the main street of El Costera.

Now, no matter who attacks or blocks you, you can stop them.

Everyone was tense and wary of their surroundings.

but.

“···Isn’t it just a city?”

No one is watching out for us.

It wasn’t that I couldn’t recognize it, though.

We glanced at each other as if we were curious.

The guards only glance at us, but don’t come forward.

‘Because we didn’t do anything bad.’

I was filled with shame.

From the beginning, they were not hostile to us.

─Except for Dantalian’s head.

The shipyard manager looked around the street full of people he had never seen before.

“···It’s fascinating. There was a city like this across the sea.”

“I don’t know how surprised I was when I first saw it.”

It is also thanks to Director Pera Kuwa Shipbuilding that it receives attention.

The two are demi-humans who have no resemblance to each other.

“There is such a beautiful city…”

‘It’s not that beautiful.’

The wives and shipyard managers were hungry for civilization.

So, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to take a break from travel for a day today.

I looked at the nymphs.

They all look the same, but are separate people.

Nevertheless, everyone looked at me in the same way.

‘It wasn’t what it seemed.’

Nymphs have a colony consciousness.

I walked out in silence, looking into their eyes.

Nymphs could not pretend to be mothers of children in front of me.

Some children who looked at the nymph’s gaze gave me hostile looks.

For me, it was just embarrassing.

‘Have you lost your sense of responsibility because of that guilt?’

─The collective consciousness of the entire race called nymphs?

My heart cools with disappointment.

However, it is not too late to be disappointed even after everything is confirmed.

Shir, who had relaxed, was already laughing brightly.

“Where is the nymph’s lake?”

“In the center of the city.”

“Have you been there too?”

“No. There were a lot of guards.”

Nymph’s Lake is located in the center of a park in the heart of the city.

It may not have been a park for citizens, but it was surrounded by tall trees and the inside could not be seen.

There were numerous guards tightly guarding the outskirts of the park.

But where did all the guards go, not a single hair was visible.

Instead, what filled their empty space were animals.

There were numerous carnivores that disappeared from the human world.

“There is no need to kill. I will take care of it.”

Feraku spoke quite politely and looked at me.

This is to carry out the orders received from Ceres.

“There is no need to put him to sleep.”

“What?”

Because it’s okay if we disappear.

“Anne, please.”

“Yes? Yes!”

As is natural among wives, there are two guests.

“Everyone raise your hand towards the person next to you, and never hit them.”

Everyone puts their hand towards Anne or touches the body of the person next to them.

The shipyard manager held out his finger to Feraku at the end.

“Catch it.”

He hesitated and grabbed the shipbuilder’s finger.

Why does it look like a picture of a newborn holding its mother’s finger?

“You must never let go. Because they might notice.”

However, since there were differences in stride length depending on race and height, slowing down was inevitable.

The carnivores guarding the park looked around with blank faces.

Just for a moment.

Eventually, one by one, they returned to the inside of the park.

Our very existence has been forgotten.

“···Let’s go.”

Inside the park, where outsiders are prohibited from entering.

Carnivores roamed leisurely in the park.

They play with each other, pick each other’s fur, and even pet each other.

Unusually, they all had tree branches in their mouths.

A refreshing scent wafts through the air.

‘It’s a fragment of a totem.’

The Laobian Empire, where the totems were cut down, burned down.

The fact that the servants were allowed to break the totem means that the inner magic world will be submerged in water.

“···Smells really good.”

Shir looks around in admiration.

“Can you tell where it comes from?”

“Over there.”

I turned in the direction Shir was pointing.

“Okay, let’s go there.”

“What?”

“You’re curious about what’s out there, right?”

How far did it go that way?

We were able to meet Callisto breaking the branches of the totem.

A young nymph and a middle-aged Dotaejong were standing next to her.

At first glance, they looked like grandfather and granddaughter.

If she didn’t resemble a nymph, I’d be mistaken.

I leisurely took my hand away from Anne.

“Are you a prophet?”

The middle-aged Dotaejong and the young nymph look at me in horror.

In contrast, Callisto simply breaks the totem’s branches without saying a word.

“Insultor?!”

I agreed in silence.

The prophet also seemed to have regained his composure and smoothed out his shock.

It seemed like the nymph had already accepted it.

“···I told you so. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

The young nymph smiles weakly and says.

The Prophet’s face grew cold before her smile.

“How did we get here?”

“I came by boat.”

joy.

The Prophet snorts.

“What were you thinking when you brainwashed Callisto?”

“For the sake of external magic.”

I leisurely looked around.

The carnivores were watching me.

But it doesn’t move.

“Does the fact that you showed up mean that there is room to tell the story?”

“Yes. To begin with, I don’t like violence.”

“I see. What year and country were you born in?”

This is probably not a question about Pangea.

“20th century. Korea.”

“seconds? Middle?”

“Born in the latter half of the year, lived until 2016.”

“Hoo… 2,000 years. Maybe we can make sense.”

The Prophet smiled and sat down on the rock.

“Sit anywhere.”

“You can stand.”

“You look nervous.”

Didn’t answer.

Because asking that question itself is an act of thinking.

The prophet who read my actions first avoided my gaze with a meaningful smile.

“Answer the question.”

“Deputies of Diana and Ceres came to this island.”

“And then he said.”

“We came to rescue animals from the human world!”

“Please help me dismantle the totem so that it can be used as a meal replacement for animals.”

After finishing speaking, the prophet looks directly into my eyes again.

With very angry eyes.

“···What do you think I should have done?”

“I should have killed them both.”

At my answer, silence fell in the hall.

But even for a moment.

The corners of the prophet’s mouth were torn apart.

“Puhahaha! Killing a servant’s agent?!”

The Prophet laughed for a long time.

So much so that my breathing becomes disrupted.

It took quite a while to get my rough breathing in order.

“You…! I truly think so!”

I’m serious.

But even if you kill them, they won’t end up like that.

I pointed at Callisto, who had lost his senses.

“What is the reason for making it like that instead of killing it?”

“Because it is available.”

“People say he even married Callisto.”

“You tricked me like that. To confirm my identity.”

I looked at the prophet.

There were also doubts.

A perfect human being falsely accused of being Do Tae-jong.

Because I was curious about what it would be like to have a body like that.

“I didn’t understand. Why did humans like Hercules from the Inner Demonic Sutra become an extinct species?”

“Ah, I was curious about that too. It’s so perfect, why?”

“The reason was simple.”

The prophet speaks in a pause, as if joking.

He grinned.

“It’s because of the parents.”

Called.

On the contrary, my heart grew cold.

“···Parents? Are you justifying what you did?”

“Look, who would want to steal the child of someone who is well off?”

I looked at the prophet.

If he is of a different race, it is not worth listening to any more.

But he was Do Tae-jong.

“You’re not saying that your parents were bad guys, right?”

“Of course! Um… do you know what is called selection pressure?”

“I don’t know.”

“What about natural selection?”

“You know that. If you’re good-looking, you’re chosen, and if you’re ugly, you’re left out.”

The prophet raises his eyebrows at the light joke.

“That’s right. But I would like to speak from a more macro perspective.”

“In addition to the numerous sapiens, there were numerous humans on Earth. But in the end, only Sapiens remained.”

“It’s because it couldn’t cope with the natural environment and broke while trying.”

I don’t know what I want to say.

I laughed heartily and looked away from the prophet.

“···You are really doing too much.”

“What?”

“He starts telling an interesting story to a person, but behind the scenes he is trying to kill the person.”

Because there were carnivores creeping around.

“Oops, I got caught. So?”

It felt like I was hearing backstory.

─What can you do?

The prophet is still smiling.

Of course, I didn’t think much of it either.

“Please tell me the story first. So?”

“What?”

“I was really curious as to why it was abandoned.”

The Prophet groaned at my arrival.

Then he chuckles.

“Look. We are big and strong. The strength is strong like a bear, and the body is flexible like a cat.”

“But only one. There was something we didn’t have.”

‘What does Taejong Taejong lack?’

Only then did I understand the root cause of this situation.

“···Totem.”

The Prophet nodded.

This island was originally a place where cannibalism was a common practice.

“That’s right. There was no life on this island.”

“And Dotaejong was the most powerful on this island.”

The strongest, hungriest man.

I realized what the selective pressure the prophet was talking about was.

“Have you started plundering other demi-humans?”

“That’s right. Because if you don’t loot it, you die.”

These are humans.

That meant that their nature was also human.

“According to an ancient text, they came to a funeral where the body was eaten and even looted the body.”

“And then they eat the body in front of the family.”

“Can you imagine how big an insult that is?”

─Who eats the corpses of my parents?

Just thinking about it made my head dizzy.

Because a funeral is a dignified ceremony, not a meal.

“But, is that wrong?”

And the prophet’s question that breaks the pain of labor.

“If I don’t eat it, I’ll die?”

“No.”

“Is that a reason for Ain to respect Dotaejong?”

“No.”

“That’s right. I can’t blame anyone.”

It is said that when you are really hungry, your eyes roll back.

Even animals do not abandon their young.

However, they often eat their own young.

“The majority of southern sea creatures are non-human entities.”

“I saw Hae-su, whose child was murdered, burst a villager’s child to death.”

“They understand death, pain and dignity.”

“When my baby dies, I cry out in sorrow.”

And the same action continues.

“And eat.”

In the end, humans cannot escape the category of animals.

People who suffer from or have suffered from life-or-death-threatening starvation change their way of thinking.

The same goes for animals.

For example, a puppy that was rescued and adopted before starving to death eats food until it vomits.

─Because I’m afraid of being hungry.

Starvation is more painful than flogging.

People who die of starvation will not be able to tell whether they are dying from hunger or from pain.

I understand death broadly.

Because I’ve died dozens of times.

That’s why he was extremely wary of the shipyard director’s empty stomach.

“···It’s a shame.”

“Did you not have enough to eat?”

“Actually, it wasn’t like that. But amid repeated hunger, people stored and hid food.”

“Not very smart.”

“Ha, you are just like an animal.”

“I just know how to handle wild animals.”

So, the Daotae sect plundered the demi-humans for tens of thousands of years.

It would be correct to say that it was selection pressure and that we were pushed.

“Children learn how to live from their parents.”

“But, is it strange to just do what I learned?”

“No.”

Moreover, what about that size?

Dotaejong would have needed twice as much food as other demigods.

Moreover, they are hunter-gatherers.

Because they search for food on their own, they must have consumed more calories than the average person.

“Do you understand now? The selection pressure is good and evil.”

“And who decides between good and evil? It’s a servant!”

‘He’s the same as me.’

A feeling of happiness welled up inside me.

On the contrary, the Prophet’s face was frowning grimly.

“250 years ago, I learned to teach my father how to plunder demigods!”

‘250 years?’

I glanced at the prophet.

How old is this man?

“It was so practical and cruel that it made me shiver!”

“I refused to learn. But my father said that.”

Is there any other way besides “!”

“But, no words came out.”

“···Because there was none.”

The Prophet smiled bitterly.

The eyes were staring into space, losing focus.

But even for a moment.

He looked at me.

“I immediately found the nymphs and asked for them.”

“Ask me to plant a totem in the human world!”

“But the nymphs said that.”

“No. There is already a totem of Prometheus in Pangea!”

“If you plant a totem here, it will have a medicinal effect on Pangea!”

“Holy Laobian Empire? Fuck you!”

“I brainwashed the nymph and planted a totem in the human world.”

“···So the Laobian Empire burned.”

‘So Lu burned the Laobian Empire?’

“The totem was cut down.”

“The main body of the tree is not the tree, but the roots.”

Too much information passed through my mind in an instant.

There are too many things that don’t make sense.

“···So, why did you go looking for the nymph?”

“Nymphs are the chosen race of Prometheus.”

He must have survived until now because he is good at something.

But that wasn’t what I was curious about.

‘This person knows things you should never know.’

“How did you know that nymphs can plant totems?”

“···What?”

Chosen races and agents are nothing special from the servant’s point of view.

─But it is not a totem.

This is directly connected to the nameless Mother Goddess and the wishes of each servant.

There must be some reason why the Earth Mother God was asleep.

Servants respect the totem and will punish anyone who attempts to destroy it.

I gave you such valuable information.”

An old voice steals my attention.

But it was my first time seeing him standing there.

He was just a child who could be seen anywhere.

but.

‘what?’

I’ve heard this voice somewhere before.

Where did this child come from in the first place?

─This is ground zero watched by thousands of carnivores.

I looked around and soon realized.

That everyone is standing still.

Moreover, even the animals have stopped.

‘What happened?’

There was no way time had stopped.

The child greeted me with his eyes in a fresh and friendly manner.

“It’s been a while.”