525 - Festival Afterparty #1

"We shall see to it that these Elves are safely locked away in the Titanium Express Prison. At any rate, you truly worked hard today."

Zacchaeus and the other Dwarfs bowed their heads repeatedly toward us.

It hadn't been long since we met, and I didn't know much about them, but having just fought a life-and-death struggle together, a sense of camaraderie had formed between us before we knew it.

"When you trade with the Temple of Vulcan, just mention the name Zacchaeus-! Then you'll get at least a 20% discount-."

As a bonus, I even received a good business proposal.

"Then it is goodbye-ssi...!"

With that, we were finally able to return to the city of Olympia.

It was already late evening, and the morning and afternoon events had concluded.

━ Today's matches were truly spectacular.

━ Right? I never thought the Sparta Women's Association would end up winning the water polo match.

On the streets, clowns wandering about in festival makeup and drunks kept the faint heat of the athletic festival simmering.

━ Ah, I really won a lot of money-. I'll treat you to a meal, so let's all go for a second round-!

━ More importantly, did you see the summit of Mount Hypos today? What on earth happened-?

━ Who knows. Just look ahead and walk-. There are so many people-.

I once had times when I enjoyed that kind of ordinary citizen's happiness.

I miss it a little.

Just then, Luna spoke to the air while watching the clowns.

"So, can we rest a bit starting tomorrow? I feel like we've been so busy lately that my body feels all stiff...!"

"This Paranoy also wishes to participate in the Olympia festival for at least a day-ssi...! Of course, it is not that I, Paranoy, wish to play, but rather for the sake of establishing a theory on the correlation between festivals and participating Nymphs from an observational perspective-ssi...!"

"I also think it would be good to take a full day's rest. Since there is a child in my womb. It seems best to make sure my physical strength is recovered."

Luna, Paranoy, and Hippolyte all looked exhausted in their own way.

Considering everything that happened today, honestly, it wouldn't be strange to be bedridden for a week, let alone resting for a day.

"Then, let's make tomorrow a day off. Yeah, let's get some rest too."

"Tomorrow is the Nymph Candy Speed-Eating Contest, the biggest highlight of the athletic festival-ssi...! Since I, Paranoy, have also submitted an application to participate, you must come to watch-ssi...!"

"Goodness, Paranoy, you're entering the Olympia Games?"

"Luna-nim, that is correct-ssi...! I shall go forth and exalt the majesty of the Nymphs of Sodomora and the Black Brotherhood to the world-ssi...! Although there is a favorite to win named Candynoy from the West, I, Paranoy, also...."

Chatter, chatter.

Hearing girls like Luna and Paranoy prattling near me, I could feel that I had returned to my own kind of daily life, to the path of normalcy I had been walking.

I wonder if I'll be able to spend some time leisurely for a while now.

Of course, I still have more work to do.

"Hassan, where are you going?"

"To Mimir. I have to tell her what happened and receive my reward."

If I successfully completed the task.

The deal was that Mimir would connect us with an Elder who possessed a wealth of information.

The traitor of Hypos and the traveler of Midgard.

The Elder would likely be someone who could explain these two figures acting in the shadows, as well as their goals and the reasons behind them.

At the very least, they should be able to give me information similar to that.

"You guys go to the city hall first and rest. I'll finish up and be there soon."

"Okay-! Let's all have meat and drinks together for the first time in a while today-! We'll be waiting, so come quickly-!"

"That is very good-ssi...! I received top-grade Nymph-friendly flavored charcoal from the Temple of Vulcan, so if we grill meat with this, it will taste magnificent-ssi...!"

"Then, see you later-. Ah, and Paranoy, give some food to Spotty in the stable. I left him alone yesterday and today. I'm not sure if he'll be okay."

"Understood-ssi...!"

I sent the group to the Temple first.

Passing through the bustling citizens on the dark night streets, I went through the Slums of Olympia toward the cabin of the Elf Reconstruction Foundation.

Chrareureu-.

Under the light of the two moons, white petals swayed beautifully, welcoming me. It had its own charm. However, I found myself clenching my fists at the chilling coldness lingering around the cabin.

Chrareureu-.

As if sensing my will, the Hassanium Gauntlets immediately armed and encased my hands. I drew the hammer Mjolnir from the holster at my waist and smashed the cabin door-.

Kwajijik-.

"...."

Beyond the shattered door, I saw Elves lying on the ground. Seeing as they were already cold, it seemed they had lost their warmth hours ago.

What on earth happened here?

Feeling suspicious, I went down into the basement of the cabin. And there, I could find the answer to what had occurred.

The basement was filled with the corpses of Elves. Some of them were faces I had seen at the Elf Reconstruction Foundation when I was chasing away the centipedes.

And others, wearing black clothes, were dressed exactly like the Elves who had raided the Temple of Vulcan in Hypos.

A fight between Elves had broken out here. Did it happen around the same time we were fending off the Elves in Hypos?

"Mimir, Mimir, are you there?"

I first looked for Mimir, my trading partner.

She didn't get taken out too, did she? A bad premonition ran down my spine and rattled my throat.

After going deep inside for a while, I entered the branch manager's office.

There, I found a woman collapsed, leaning against a table.

"Cough-. You're late-. I thought, I was going to die, waiting, hey...."

A broken arrow was lodged in her chest, piercing her lungs. It was obvious at a glance that she was dying.

"Mimir-."

I checked Mimir's pulse at her wrist.

The energy of life was very thin.

It seemed the arrow had narrowly missed her heart, but since too much time had passed after receiving the fatal wound, it looked like it was time to prepare for the end.

"What on earth happened...?"

"I suppose, my betrayal, was discovered. Mother, the World Tree, is, merciless, to traitors.... Actually, I knew, it would end up like this, but...."

Mimir, who spat out a mouthful of blood, laughed. However, it was more of a self-deprecating laugh than a refreshing smile.

MnZBMElkRjFKc3ZCR0RiWklQRlA5WlZINzRaZThhUzZ1cnMyS01IbEgxWmNSVUMrV01Uc0FrRGlITFdDVmFDTw

"...Anyway, I was, waiting for you. Hassan.... Because I promised.... Today, at midnight.... Go to... the meeting place. My, words, are, finished with that.... For that.... I couldn't... even die.... Fuck...."

"Wait a minute."

I pulled the rest of the arrow out of Mimir's body. Then, I blocked the wound with my palm and infused her with the aura of life I possessed.

Zuuuuung-.

"Cough-!"

However, Mimir's condition was not good; instead, she only spat out black blood even more violently.

"I know, my condition, best. It's too late. This, is a deadly poison.... Everything is broken. It's the result of my choice. Choices, always come, with a fitting price-."

Mimir's condition weakened noticeably.

I continued to infuse life force into her body. And I didn't forget to keep talking to her.

"Keep talking. Anything. It doesn't matter what, just hold onto your consciousness and speak."

"Let me, rest a bit. I, worked every single day. According to, Mother's instructions. Without a will. Like the executioners, who attacked me. Every single day. By someone else's will...."

"This isn't resting. It's dying. I can heal you. If you just hold onto your consciousness-."

"This, is my will. My, first and last will. The moment I betrayed Mother. I knew, I would be killed. But, a death by my own will...."

I realized Mimir was saying something important. So, rather than giving a clumsy response, I decided to focus on the treatment and listened closely.

"...."

"I lived most of my life like a doll. But at the very end, I want to die by my own will. It's scary, and cold. But, it doesn't feel, all that bad.... Now, I can rest...."

"In this land of Gaia, death is not the end, Mimir. It's a new beginning. You will be born as a new being."

"Is that, reincarnation or something...? Not letting me rest even in death. Making me live another life-. That's a more, wicked fate, than the World Tree...."

"So, what do you want to be if you're born again? Let me hear it. I was once the god of reincarnation. If you tell me, I might be able to grant it."

"What I want to be.... Just.... On a lazy afternoon, doing nothing, sitting in a chair.... I want to read a book.... The things I want to read.... Things that were forbidden, as blasphemous, by Mother World Tree. Like romance novels...."

At the mention of reading being what she wanted to do, I thought of Friede.

Did her obsession with romance novels also have its own meaning?

It seemed Mimir desperately wanted to do in her next life what Friede was doing so casually.

I thought she might be greedy and ask to be born as a daughter of a rich family or a princess.

"Then, do that. I can at least grant that much."

"Granting it-. Hassan, you're talking as if you've become something special...."

"I have become something. You know. In your life, when things were most difficult and hard. Have you ever tried praying to someone?"

"Prayer... it's been a long time since I stopped... God... doesn't listen to my prayers...."

"I am that God. I'll listen to your prayer. However, do what you want to do in this life, not the next."

I pierced Mimir's chest with my sharp hand and grabbed her heart.

"Ugh-! Wh-What are you doing. Your, your hand in my chest-. My, my heart-."

"Endure it even if it hurts."

I massaged her heart with my hand filled with aura. I was forcing her heart to beat by massaging it.

Of course, it was fucking nonsensical. But as I had declared to Mimir, I was a god.

A god must be able to do everything.

Therefore, they must be able to easily pull out those who have fallen into the abyss of life, and they must always listen to their voices.

"Mimir, from now on, for about a year in prison. Read all the books you want. I'll have people bring books in for you."

"Uuuuuugh-. Nooo-. Wh-What, this, feeling, it's my first time-. Eu, heung-at, ha-ang, ha-a-eut-."

"And after you're released, you'll be in charge of the Olympia branch of the Black Brotherhood. There are Elves joining the Temple lately. I need a missionary who can lead and guide them."

Since Paranoy is uncooperative with Elves, after all. Elf followers in the Black Brotherhood might end up being overshadowed.

"You're not ready to go to the next life yet."

"Heuang-eua-a-a-at-!"

Mimir's waist arched high into the air. At the same time, she convulsed violently and even let out a high-pitched scream.

A few minutes passed like that.

Seureuk-.

I took my hand out of Mimir's heart.

The place where my hand had entered healed as if nothing had happened, and Mimir's complexion also improved noticeably.

"There. Anyway. Think carefully about what I said."

"...."

Mimir closed her eyes. It was nothing serious; she just seemed to have fallen asleep because her body was exhausted from the intense massage.

"If I had been any later, it would've been a disaster."

Now, I decided to take all the Elf corpses in the Foundation building outside and make graves for them in the garden.

Cleaning the blood off the floor would be good too, but that would take too much time.

In total, fifteen graves were made.

By the time I finished, it was roughly near midnight.

According to Mimir, the appointment time with the Elder who held the information was midnight today? The meeting place would be under the steeple where the sacred flame was burning.

My steps now headed toward the place of the appointment.

As I headed toward the crowded square of Olympia, the person waiting for me there was surprisingly a familiar face. Even the bulging belly was familiar.

"You are-."

At my words, the woman took off the hood she was wearing.

"We meet again. In a completely different situation. In a completely different place-."

She was Sigurd.

The wife of Zacchaeus, the High Priest of Vulcan.

Sigurd, the Elf spy who had infiltrated the Temple of Vulcan.

I thought she was locked in Vulcan's prison on charges of espionage? I don't know how she got out.

"Are you the Elder Mimir spoke of?"

"Yes. I am also the one who gave Mimir the information about the raid on the Temple of Vulcan. Let me reintroduce myself. I am Sigurd, an Elder of the Gwangmyeonghoe."

Was she a double spy?

"You don't look old enough to be called an Elder."

"It's a secret from Zacchaeus, but I'm quite old. Anyway, that's not what's important. Seeing as you've come here, you must have met Mimir. Is she, dead?"

"She's alive for now."

"I see. Even when I went there, she was in a state beyond help. You, getting your hands on that Mjolnir and all, you really do absurd things."

"I don't think I'm as absurd as you...."

Getting pregnant while being a spy. Women are strong. I felt like I could never have done that. While I was admiring her in that sense, Elder Sigurd spoke.

"Then, shall we walk for a bit? It's a night I'd like to walk. You must have many things you want to ask me as well."