Chapter 242 – The Sleeping Flame (9)
I didn’t wake Veronica until I got on the ground.
It was because I felt that if I woke up in the middle and walked together, I would be more suffocated than when I came. I was exhausted as well because I had to recharge mana to keep carrying it.
“… Veronica. Wake up.”
I was shaking and waking up.
The mana of the runes that call her sleep had already been collected, so Veronica opened her eyes right away.
“… It’s okay.”
Veronica stares blankly at the blue sky and my face, then bites her lip as if realizing that it wasn’t a dream that her wisdom was denied. She got up and muttered.
“I guess you put me to sleep with magic. Well done. Thanks to you, my mood has calmed down quite a bit.”
“… Can I ask if you’re okay?”
Even I thought it was a strange question, so Veronica laughed too.
“Nothing to worry about. I’m just a little tired You will not find a cold dead body of a bicorn in the alleys around your house.”
“Hey. That joke is not funny at all.”
“Whoop whoop. Did you? Human humor is difficult.”
When I said it straight, Veronica shook her head, revealing her horns.
“Anyway, get on. Let’s get out of this crater for now.”
Veronica transforms into a bird by memorizing runes. I took my luggage and climbed on its back.
─Flutter.
Veronica flew over the crater and landed on the top of the mountain. If they descended like this, they would arrive at the entrance where the other party members were waiting.
Wheein…
Still, we didn’t start right away and were hit by the wind blowing in the alpine area. The mountain was on the middle of the hill, so the scenery of the island could be seen far away.
It was a very beautiful island.
The gradation of nature, changing from the green jungle to the sandy beach on the coastline and the horizon, was more beautiful than any man-made art.
Still, it was nothing compared to the beauty of a god-made god.
Veronica put a self-deprecating smile on her beautiful face as the wind blew her hair.
“My dear. Actually I am I thought it was fate that I met you like this.”
“Fate?”
When I asked without realizing it, Veronica ran a hand through the side of her hair.
“Isn’t he like that too? If you hadn’t found me captured by the circus, you would have come to see me while disposing of their property. I heard people say, ‘I have a rare animal, what should I do?'”
“That’s… It is.”
The animals of the circus were classified as ‘property’ that I could receive.
If we didn’t meet until after the circus was defeated, Veronica, who was being held by the circus, would have been found and brought back by the Haysbent guards.
If so, you must have told me.
A rare animal called a bicorn continues to rampage, so go see it or something like that.
If it had, I think it would have put her face where Veronica was detained. He must have been confident that he could communicate even against the bicorn.
After that, by talking to her in the language of her bi-con, she might have gone through a procedure similar to her original first meeting.
“In other cases, too. Even if I escaped along the way, or even if I didn’t meet the end of the day, you and I were meant to be together.”
Veronica said as she looked at the coastline.
“Even if you hadn’t met me, you would have gone to the Holy Forest with Tyrsi. Of course, if the rune had been stolen by an ogre there, he would have followed him.
If I hadn’t been there at that time, it’s highly likely that the ogre would have activated the magic circle of the Holy Land. If so, even if you defeated the ogre, you would have been surrounded by your own people in the Holy Land, and wouldn’t you have resolved the misunderstanding by having a conversation with your translation ability?”
This time, too, it was a story of possibility.
Let’s say that even after receiving the circus pay, she didn’t go looking for Veronica until the end.
Still, I must have fought against the ogre professor’s bastard in the promotion test.
‘That bastard went around absorbing the old god’s mana, so of course he was targeting me.’
Without Veronica, I wouldn’t have even known of the existence of the moving magic circle.
Even if I waited an hour or two to get ready, I would get caught up in the space shift of the ogre cub.
After fighting the Ogres in the Holy Land, he somehow won.
However, after the victory, it is a fantasy country rule development that is surrounded by the residents of the holy land.
An encounter with a mysterious tribe that lived hidden in the backcountry!
What if you talk to the bicorns there with your translation skills to clear up misunderstandings, and remember the story of the bicorns that were captured by the circus troupe the other day?
Naturally, the relationship with Veronica continues.
“There is another. Didn’t I say that it was the bailiff of Romania who took Rosanna and her animals? Of course, having been sold along, I would have gone up to the position of looking for a buyer.”
“I guess so. To the auction in Romania.”
Auction to visit next spring.
If I had left the treatment of Veronica to the guards, she would have waited until the 100% auction was held, unsold.
There’s no way we can just throw away the bicorn, which is a ‘rare animal’.
It must have been detained somewhere until an auction was held where it could be sold for a high price.
That’s how I went to the auction to sell the elixir I picked up in the underground tower, and there I saw Veronica as ‘one of the animals I entrusted to find the owner’.
‘If I had gone to the Holy Land of By Corn, I would have tried to rescue Veronica, and even if I hadn’t known her at all, I would have asked for her sale to be cancelled.’
It was said that the sale of animals was donated, but as a person who donated ‘property’, he has the right to cancel the donation.
It was easy to get your money back if you paid a little money like fees and food. As I watch Veronica rampage, I don’t think she yawns, sell or not.
‘Thinking like that makes me feel the real fate.’
From one to ten, we stood at a crossroads where we would meet again and again.
Even if they passed by once, they would meet again——and know who each other was and what situation they were in.
“So, when you told me about the secret as well——I accepted it as destiny that I met you.”
Veronica looked down at her palms and said so.
“It was a well-planned meeting, and it was meant to be that way. I thought I took the place of the seer to serve you. It was thought that it was enough to surrender oneself to the great flow of destiny.
… It is safe to say that we thought that we would be comfortable with each other if we dedicated ourselves to the heir of God who would save our family. I tried to scatter petals while dedicating myself to the fateful person who fell right in front of me.”
“Petal?”
It was a godlike metaphor. Veronica flicked her index finger.
“Yes, petals. I intended to offer you the success promised by the prophecy and the glory to be attained as the successor of God. I wanted to become a servant who helps you and assists you in your success. In other words, they expected to receive the salvation of the clan in return.”
It must have been a natural way of thinking for the bicorns who lived by relying on the prophecies.
If the prophet’s prophecy was pointing to us, it was a 100% predetermined future.
If Veronica intervenes or not, let’s assume that I am Odin’s successor and ‘destined’ to save the gods.
If so, it wouldn’t have mattered if Veronica didn’t hesitate to touch my future.
It’s a future that will come true 100% anyway, so wouldn’t it be okay if I wore a t-shirt? Moreover, because Veronica intervenes, such a future may be destined to unfold.
Just as Odin or the prophet tried to prepare for the prophecy, but on the contrary made the prophesied future come true.
Such was the fate that was decided.
“However, you spoke with such a fate in front of you. You can’t choose your future out of necessity, simply because you need it.”
Veronica, who was watching the sea, saw me. Feeling embarrassed, I objected.
“It’s a grandiose interpretation. At that time, it was just about marriage?”
“Doesn’t that mean the same thing? Let’s be honest. Even if you hugged me and made me her wife in that situation and at that timing, saying, ‘It’s something you have to do,’ no one would have said anything.”
“… Well? I don’t know how it would have been.”
I pretended to, but I can’t deny it either.
If I had said that I would make Veronica her wife, she would have agreed to know Fran and Dana, and Veronica would have agreed.
“But I was rejected by you. At the time, it was just a feeling of sheer shame. I fell for the word fate and blamed myself for not thinking of your heart.”
“At that time, Ira. And now?”
“Even though I blame myself now, I have no regrets.”
Veronica, so assertive, met her eyes with her mine.
“——In this age where the word fate has lost its meaning, it was fortunate that you and I did not use fate as an excuse for love.”
Veronica gave her one stretch and she laughed.
“Ha. She waited for her throat to drop when the prophecy of the past 5,000 years would come true. It’s a bad joke for a human as well as a bicorn. What else should I say to the clan?”
“Heh. Recovery is faster than you think. I was relieved.”
Oh, I think Veronica said something similar to this the other day. Veronica half-opened her eyes mischievously, as if to make a joke of her.
“Be proud, not secure. The reason I was able to overcome my heartache and get up was because of the support that was you. You can straighten your shoulders, saying that you are the master who is relied on by your servants.”
“When I looked at his master-servant contract, it turned out to be a fraudulent contract. Aren’t you dissatisfied?”
It is said that the real savior became Nagari 5,000 years ago.
It seems we weren’t meant to be mates of destiny. Even if Veronica shakes his hand and flies away, there is no excuse to stop him.
I felt sick to my stomach for some reason, but Veronica said as if she didn’t notice me.
“No complaints. I have already become delighted to serve you. Even if the prophecies are false and no one guarantees the future, there are many reasons for me to be by your side. Rather disrespectfully, I am so happy that I even forget the situation.”
“Are you happy?”
“Whoops. Why am I the only one who is happy? You and I weren’t meant to meet by fate.”
Even if you move a little, Veronica sticks close enough to her hand.
“The reason why my heart beats when I see you is not because I was led by fate. That’s how you said you enjoyed being with me. This joy and happiness was ours from the beginning.”
Veronica put her hand on her own chest. She brushed her hair down the side of her back. Her eyes, wide open with her anticipation and anxiety, looked at me with undisclosed fondness.
“… My dear How many times will you not embarrass me?”
It was the face of a woman in love that he had been showing for a long time recently.
‘… Even before today, Veronica had secretly appealed to her.’
Each time, I let it go in moderation.
I now realize exactly why I was the way I was.
“Hey. Veronica. Me too. To be honest, I felt uncomfortable talking about being her successor or something.
It’s so out of the blue that I’m destined to save the descendants of a god, but the alter ego of a famous god told me I was the successor of a god? Of course, it was more suspicious and uncomfortable than I thought.”
It was my true heart that I had never said before.
My goal is to return to my hometown.
But Odin suddenly appears in a dream and you can become a god! Even if I say it, I’m just dumbfounded. I’m not even a pro demigod wannabe who wants to be the No. 1 main god.
Besides, didn’t that Deutsch’s super-powerful old man appear in the form of my mother?
It must have come out that way because there were restrictions on intervening in dreams. I know that.
But the sight of my family turning into the gods of another world made me feel so fucking confused.
It was like, I felt like I heard that the place that suits you is here.
“Even when I hear words like fate or prophecy, I don’t feel it. Now that I think about it, I have the feeling that I just followed what he was told. That fate was closely related to my situation, and I had a desire to help you.”
It’s fate that has already been decided, but what can I do?
I thought it was just like that, and if I do my own thing, something will work out somehow.
Veronica overestimated me, but in fact I wasn’t all that different from her.
“But what do you see now? It doesn’t have to be like that, and it’s not like you and I are bound by fate. We just broke up to get along here, so it wouldn’t be strange if we never met again.”
Veronica seemed shocked by my words, like a child abandoned by her parents, so I continued without hesitation.
“So I thought about it. If you say that you don’t have to be me, how about going to find another master or savior? And then—”
“… Did you?”
“I felt like I was going to die because my stomach was swollen.”
That was the selfish true intention of Nord, the forager of another world.
I know it’s petty.
Ugly jealousy is right.
‘But isn’t that what love is all about?’
It is a denial of reality to call a friendship or a business relationship a partner who is likely to turn away when they are gone.
It is love to win even when you are jealous and ugly.
I’m not a eunuch or an idiot who doesn’t notice, but there is a limit to noticing everything and pretending not to know.
Didn’t I tell you before coming to the island?
I pretended not to, but I also had a lot of fun spending time with this guy.
So far, I’ve drawn the line thinking of Fran and Dana, but even in this situation, pretending not to know until the end?
‘Sounds crazy.’
Even when this guy secretly appealed to me that he liked me, I was the one who passed it all over.
Every time that happened, I was sorry and my conscience was stabbed.
But that’s me.
Are you saying that I, who walks the path of a forager harem, should just step back even though I clearly know that we have feelings for each other?
Where does that sound like!
It was not like a forager to just sit still and wait.
My wives seem to think that they will find out right away and bring them when the time is right.
Well, how could I not recognize him when I see him so often while living together? Veronica looks at me like 5 or 6 times a day, and when her eyes don’t meet, she pretends to be like that and turns her head away.
Why hesitate? Nowhere.
If you’re going to call me the world’s mean bitch, do it.
She was prepared to be scolded when she had Dana.
Worrying about the same problem over and over again and again and again is something that masochism shouldn’t do!
It would have been possible to do it after making a mistake, going over and thinking about what had already been concluded.
And it was never a mistake to tell Veronica my heart right here and now.
“Huh, huh… Did you? Are you jealous if I leave you?”
Veronica blinked her eyes slightly in surprise and her mouth parted. It was a laugh she couldn’t contain.
“Jealousy cannot be expressed in words. You said to me, ‘Ah, someone said, isn’t it the previous owner? This person here is the real owner.”
“Oh, what a fool! Don’t even imagine the future! Even just imagining it for a moment is terrifying!”
Veronica, she exclaimed, flinched more than she did when she said that she was being sold at her auction. I shook my head.
“Right? But it wouldn’t be strange if that were the case. Because there is nothing to guarantee our relationship.
Both you and I are in a position where we have things to do and things we want to do. What connected us like that was something grandiose called a prophecy or fate.”
However, as Veronica also said, the prophecy and fate are no longer used as excuses.
What is an excuse in the first place?
An excuse refers to a reason for a reason.
We wanted to be together, but there was no good reason.
Then what should I do?
‘I have to come up with a new reason.’
That’s why we should be together.
“——Veronica. Stay by my side.”
I pressed forward and pressed our foreheads against Veronica. As her face drew closer to mine, Veronica blushed like her virgin and only munched her mouth.
“Forget prophecies that even the person concerned couldn’t believe. Did you say If it’s a clan curse, I’ll break it.
Look. It’s not even been half a year, but I’ve already figured out a way to do it that no one knew. All that’s left is for me to find an idle god, grab him by the collar and threaten him, or become Odin’s successor or whatever.”
I said it like it was obvious.
Because. Because foragers first make an oath and put it into practice.
Since ancient times, machoism is a belief made up of the oath and practice of a real man.
“… My, what can I do for you?”
Veronica looked at me shyly.
“I have very little to give you. It means that it is difficult to return the favor I received from you. What do you want from me?”
“Anything. You just have to do what you do. It only changes our relationship and why I help you a little bit.”
I am a candidate for Odin’s successor and an archaeologist. It is said that one day you will be in a position to face the assholes who are secretly in society.
The conscience-stricken criminals who reign in this world will have a fucking adverse effect on my safety and dreams.
Think about it. What if I looked to the magic or history of the past to find a way to travel between dimensions?
You don’t even know how many Suicide Squad pups there are in another world!
It was obvious that those bastards would attack me and the people around me.
It is possible to predict such a future without the ability to foresee.
Isn’t it the future we will face anyway? Veronica, who was going to follow him hand in hand, was paying for the compensation and the price by mortgaging the future.
Try to get caught up in my trouble constitution for about 10 years. Veronica would regret getting her nose pierced by me too.
“So you don’t have to hesitate thinking about being sincere because it’s a burden or guilt. I want to let my girls live doing whatever they want to do.”
Because that’s the duty of a harem forager.
“… Did you say anything you want to do?”
I grabbed Veronica’s waist to prevent her from running away, but Veronica wrapped her hands around my waist as if she hadn’t intended to run away from the start.
“… My dear This is a secret, but in fact I know one way to overcome my curse.”
“… So? That’s amazing. I can’t even imagine how it would be.”
“Uh, um. It’s very embarrassing and rude, so it’s the only way you can help in this world.”
We hugged each other around the waist and pretended not to know each other casually. It’s like putting on a play that has been put together in advance.
It was then. I smiled at the sudden thought.
“I know a way to break the curse too, would you like to try it? It’s famous magic in my hometown.”
“… Ho, ho If you say it’s a famous method, you can’t help but try it. What kind of magic was it?”
“——This kind of magic.”
I hugged Veronica’s shoulders and kissed her lips.
The scholars said that since ancient times, it was polite to release a curse with a kiss containing love.
Well, the roles of men and women were reversed.
