538 - Seeing Off the Winter # 1

Tuk, tak, kkang, kkang-.

As Paranoy said, the mansion wasn't completed yet.

Because of that, as soon as early morning arrived, the sounds of hammering echoed noisily from various places in the mansion and garden.

Also, the sounds of the Black Brotherhood's soldiers patrolling every nook and cranny of the mansion, the Nymphs' ceaseless chatter, and the chirping of winter wild birds released in the garden tickled my ears.

It was enough to penetrate the windows and curtains of my room on the very top floor, the fourth floor, so it absolutely did not allow for sleeping in.

"Is it morning already?"

The day after returning to Sodomora.

The morning after reuniting with Lady Nox, who had transformed into the appearance of a small child, and after dueling the former Pluto cultists in the training grounds.

I left the mansion to handle the backlog of work and headed towards my Temple. Since it was in the same western district, it was about a ten-minute walk.

It felt good to wake up properly while walking and breathing in the cold morning air.

"Ah-, Hassan-nim, you're here?"

Martha, the priestess who, along with Paranoy, is responsible for the overall operations of the Hassan Temple, greeted me. Including her, Hassan's original twelve priests were gathered in the Temple, diligently working on something.

"Snow removal?"

"Because it snowed a lot last night! We have to clear it before it freezes solid."

As Martha said, snow had indeed piled up to about ankle-deep last night. A considerable snowfall. If left as is, we would undoubtedly face trouble, just as Martha predicted.

"Right. Everyone's working hard since early this morning."

I offered them some appropriate praise for their hard work. With that, Martha and the twelve priests in robes seemed quite motivated.

"It's our workplace! We have to work even harder-!"

So much motivation first thing in the morning.

I recalled that their annual salaries are around 20 Gold or so.

20 Gold... that's like 200 million, isn't it? Getting paid that much annually would naturally boost company loyalty and work motivation.

Capitalism is great, indeed-.

While thinking that, I entered my private office for the first time in a while. Then, Martha assisted me by my side.

"While Hassan-nim was away in Olympia, I managed the office a bit! All Hassan-nim needs to do is sign this simple document!"

Hearing the word 'document,' I quickly glanced over the text written on the table.

"Giant Sacred Tree Spider Miong's Walk and Responsibility Confirmation."

Miong is a giant spider that lives in a nest built in the Temple's basement. It had fluffy white fur, understood human speech well, and had a relatively gentle and kind personality, didn't it?

I casually scribbled my signature.

"Anything else to sign?"

"Matters that require Hassan-nim's approval... hmm. There aren't really any."

"Good. That's very good."

Since the subordinates know their respective tasks well, there's nothing left for me, the leader, to do. It's a truly ideal work environment. Competent subordinates. A relaxed leader who only takes responsibility for the big picture.

However, a leader must be someone who presents the big picture and direction.

That was the reason I came here since early morning.

"Martha, in the afternoon, can you gather people in the Temple plaza? Preferably focusing on the priests. I'm going to announce new guidelines today."

"...New guidelines?"

"Yes. Discipline, commandments, laws. The Great Commission. I'll give them the primary goals for the followers, whatever you want to call them. You could also say I'm giving orders."

"Hassan-nim is finally going to assign missions to the followers? Everyone will love it-!"

"Will they?"

"Yes-! Because our followers have been training for the past few months to become servants of God!"

Martha's reaction was better than I expected. Of course, the reaction when the main point comes out of my mouth will be different. Everyone will probably be quite surprised.

More than anything, I don't know if the newly joined former Pluto priests can handle my new orders. At least I established dominance yesterday, so they should know it's better to follow.

If they refuse, well, there's nothing I can do. The mansion's underground prison is quite spacious right now. It wouldn't be a problem to fill it a bit and use them as fuel for Lady Nox to store her power.

"Alright then, let's meet in the afternoon."

"Take care-!"

Waving goodbye to Martha, I left the Temple.

The streets were still covered in the snow that fell last night, so the sound of crunching snow, *ppodeuk, ppodeudeuk*, was loud with every step.

* * *

Upon returning to the mansion. As if timed for the start of work, many people were bustling about.

From the craftsmen constructing the mansion, soldiers, priests clad in robes, and Nymphs, to merchants pulling carriages from outside and bringing goods into the mansion.

━Are you Hassan-nim? I am Gyeongho from the Berfia Trading Company-. Here, this is a gift from our company to Hassan-nim, the owner of this mansion. Wild ginseng honey preserve-.

━Ah-! To meet Hassan-nim, you must first have an interview with me, Paranoy, Hassan-nim's exclusive Nymph and right-hand man-! I will check if it's poisoned...!

It's fucking chaotic.

But I felt pretty good about it.

In the space bustling with people like a Friday evening downtown, there were plenty of people who greeted me familiarly or bowed respectfully.

I felt like I had become something truly great.

I also felt the reality that I am truly the owner of this mansion.

Since there's some time until I gather everyone at the Temple. Should I wander around and get familiar with the mansion's layout?

"Paranoy, why is this room filled with gold coins on the floor? Is it a gold vault?"

"It's Miong's room-! Those are dividends Miong received from investing in stocks-!"

"What? Miong invests in stocks?"

"Hassan-nim didn't know...? Miong is called the ruthless wolf spider of the closing stock market-! It's the natural enemy of ants-!"

Paranoy chattered on about how Miong, who earned Copper by catching mice, used that to do business and earn Silver and Gold.

"Miong."

Just then, a spider with a brilliant rainbow droplet light emerged from the pile of gold coins. Good heavens, a spider nesting in a pile of gold coins. It's fucking successful.

"Miong-!"

"Miong will probably sleep a bit longer, so we must ask you to leave-!"

"Hey Paranoy, you're not just making stuff up because spiders can't talk, are you? Is that really money Miong got from investing?"

"I can swear on the River Styx-!"

"Really?"

That's fucking amazing. Isn't its investment sense better than Hippolyte's? Maybe because it's a spider, it reads fortunes with Spider Sense and invests.

"Well then, goodbye, Miong. I'm jealous of all that gold, man."

"Hioong-."

Leaving Miong's golden nest like that, I headed towards Luna's workshop located near the mansion's back gate. A building with a large chimney stood behind the mansion.

As I opened that door and entered, a musty smell immediately assaulted my nose, making me feel like I would cough dryly.

"What is this-. Cough-."

"Ah, Hassan-! What brings you here so early in the morning? Paranoy's here too!"

"No, just... I was taking a stroll. Around the mansion. Luna, what are you doing here since morning? Did you perhaps not sleep at all yesterday?"

"I was experimenting with the tools in the workshop-! There really isn't anything we don't have! Now, if only we had the time, we might be able to create the legendary elixir, Nectar-!"

Nectar is alcohol, not an elixir. But I recall hearing that good liquor is good medicine, so I'll just overlook the minor detail.

I took a good look around Luna's workshop.

It was filled with beakers and flasks of unknown purpose, giving me the feeling that something terrible would happen if I touched even one incorrectly.

Turning my gaze from the unfamiliar objects, I opened my mouth, gauging the mood.

"Hmm, ah-. And Luna, I have something to tell you-."

"Ah-! I have something to tell Hassan too-!"

"Oh?"

"Yeah, yeah-! Now, uh, what's it called-. Since we've come to Sodomora. Now. We have to prepare, you know. That thing-."

Luna, fidgeting with her toes while her face was smeared with black soot, seemed restless. Hearing her say there was something we needed to prepare, something flashed through my mind like lightning.

"Ah-. The wedding."

"Th-that's right! The wedding. I, um, think the Ideope traditional wedding ceremony is also fine. What do you think, Hassan-?"

"What's the Ideope traditional wedding ceremony like?"

"It's a huge festival-! We invite everyone, and dance and sing all night long!"

"Oh?"

"Yeah, yeah-!"

"Hmm."

Honestly, I didn't have any romantic notions about weddings. I tended to think of a wedding as just a gateway.

However, I did have romantic notions about married life after the wedding. For instance, fresh and tender times together. Legal sex without worrying about anyone's gaze. Passionate newlywed life day and night....

But Luna seemed to have put a lot of thought into the wedding, an event of a lifetime.

"Then, let's do it however you want, Luna."

"Yes-! I knew Hassan would say that-! So, the date, this week? No, no, because we have to perform the purification ritual from this week to next week. The week after next?"

Luna spread her hands and diligently counted on her fingers. As I asked Luna, who was fiddling like that for a long time.

"What's this purification ritual?"

"Since we're having a wedding-! So we can start with a new, clean heart. And we perform a devoted worship to the goddess of marriage, Juno-nim, saying we'll take good care of things from now on-!"

"Do I have to do it too?"

"It's for the brides! If the grooms get involved, it's considered impure!"

"I see."

Is it like a pre-wedding quest? Like taking wedding photos and looking into dresses or makeup.

"Me, getting married-."

Anyway, Luna seemed very happy. I didn't want to break Luna's happiness, but I decided to tell her the reason I visited her workshop since early morning.

"Luna, I found Lady Nox."

"...!"

At my words, Luna's hair stood on end. Just like children experimenting with static electricity using balloons, it stood straight up. How did she do that?

Luna, with her hair standing on end, asked.

"Is that true? Where is she now? Is she okay? Can I meet her now?"

"You can meet her, but-."

I don't know if I should call that 'okay'. However, Luna's enthusiasm was immense, so Paranoy ended up spilling Lady Nox's location.

"She's in the basement-!"

Right then, Luna headed to the mansion's basement.

She forcefully opened the door to the deepest, dungeon-like room there. Then, Lady Nox, who had been sleeping on the bed placed inside the room, slowly opened her eyes.

"Child-. What is the matter?"

"Lady Nox-!"

"You are my little night."

"But why have you become so small? I thought you were a Nymph!"

"It's because my power isn't whole. Because I ended up expending all the Karma I had gathered since the moment the primordial melody wavered, at the very end."

"I don't understand what you mean. But still, I'm glad to see you again!"

Luna hugged Lady Nox, who was about a head shorter than her, and was deeply moved. It's fortunate that Luna is happy.

"So, can you explain what happened? And where exactly were you?"

Luna, who had been hugging her mother for a while, asked. Then, the small goddess Nox explained in a soft voice while sitting on the bed.

"─And that's how it happened."

What? It's already over?

I feel like I didn't hear anything.

Did I doze off?

While I was bewildered, Luna had somehow started shedding tears. Even Paranoy was shedding tears.

"It seems like such a sad story-! If you tell that story, you'll definitely win this year's Nymph award drawn at the end of the year-!"

What?

As I was becoming flustered, Lady Nox added a few more words of explanation.

"Because of that, I have lost much of the power to interfere with darkness. However. Despite that, there is something I can feel. Something like a tremor-. Hassan, this is something I want to tell you."

"Me?"

"Yes. I am originally a being born from the primordial firmament. Although I can no longer return to that state of chaos. I can faintly sense the energy of that realm."

"Th-that, is it true?"