Ihoujin, Dungeon ni Moguru

Chapter 116: At The End Of The Festival… II

【138th day】

「Oh, err, no」

I was awakened from a light sleep when a warm blanket was laid over me.

Next to me were Ea and Rana. Maria had grown attached to Rutsuko-san and was sleeping between her and the Gunmerrys. The rest of the kin and everyone else of my party appeared to have fallen asleep in the dining hall after all the revelry.

God had blankets under her arm and was going around covering everyone with them.

I could see my breath and the air was still and serene.

「Souya, can I have a word with you?」

「Yes」

After re-draping the blanket over the sisters, I followed god.

We left the dining hall and went out into the training grounds. The thin layer of snow that had accumulated on the ground glistened white in the darkness of the pre-dawn hours. In just one night, the world outside had turned to winter.

「Are you cold?」

Gladvain-sama was wearing a warm-looking fur cloak. Underneath, she was wearing a high-leg dress today. It felt like she should be feeling the cold more than I was.

「It's a little cold. But compared to the freezing cold of the left continent, it's nothing to complain about」

Besides, the poncho that had absorbed the dragon blood is strangely warm. Is this thing giving off heat?

「The cold of that land freezes even the soul. There’s no comparison to this mild winter」

「Gladvain-sama, you're from the left continent, right?」

「Mm-hmm, on that land, I was born, trained, fought, contended, was honored, and became a god instead of being allowed to die. It's a nostalgic yet distant memory. Nowadays, I can only remember it as if it were someone else's dream」

「Umm, can I ask you about the evil dragon? I know it's disrespectful for someone like me who isn't one of your kin to ask, but……」

After what had happened yesterday, my interest in dragons had been aroused.

It's also something that relates to the power Rana showed. I want to know as much as possible.

「It's fine. Just so happens, that's what I wanted to talk to you about」

God obscured her grandeur with a sorrowful expression.

「The evil dragon, Lord Rot-Scale, Rustvain?Lolan?Lumidia」

In that dragon's name……

……were the names of her two daughters.

「The year I was born, a fever was sweeping across the left continent. The number of victims was not just in the thousands or tens of thousands. More than a few countries perished. In particular, many babies lost their lives. Graveyards were filled with swaddling cloths, and the sobs of mothers echoed throughout the continent. The one who took pity on everyone was Lord Rot-Scale, no, at that time, it was still called Lord Green-Scale. It was the most beautiful and gentle dragon, and it had scales as green as jade. That dragon absorbed the fever from everyone, accumulating it in its body」

Dragons can even do such things, huh?

Performing miracles such as healing people's illnesses like saints do.

「I myself am one of those saved by that dragon. It was an act done out of great compassion. It's a beautiful tale that should be passed down forever, an anecdote that connects people and dragons together. That dragon really loved people.

However, when that dragon absorbed the disease from the entire continent, its beautiful green scales rotted away and its body was racked with tremendous pain. People saw the dragon, who had fallen to that state, as a giant focus of the disease. Even then, the dragon still showed its concern for people. By its own volition, it flew away from the world of people.

But you see, there was no place for a dragon with rotted scales. It was chased away by the other dragons, and in the end, it had no choice but to return to the left continent.

And what did people wish for this being who had sacrificed so much of itself for the sake of others? They wished for its death.

It's shameful, but that's the way people are when it comes down to it.

Maybe it was because of love or loathing, or maybe it was the pain caused by the disease. Or maybe it was due to people's resentment and curses.

That dragon went mad and began to eat people. It started to be called the evil dragon, Lord Rot-Scale, and we, the warriors of Velsvain, were tasked with slaying it.

Eight thousand elites. Apart from Elysium, this was the strongest army in the world at the time.

Among them were many who had been saved by that dragon, including myself. It wasn't that we hated the dragon. We simply felt sorry for it. If its suffering was only going to persist, the least that we, the people who had been saved by it, could do was to put it out of its misery with our own hands.

And then, amid the flames and carnage, I alone survived.

As the legend went, I was the one who dealt the finishing blow to Lord Rot-Scale.

At the end, the man I loved was reduced to ashes before my very eyes. The magic sword I had inherited from my ancestors shattered after wounding the dragon. Having lost everything and bearing the wishes of my brethren, I drove my fist through the heart of that dragon.

But then, I do wonder.

That perhaps the birth of a dragon-slaying god was Lord Rot-Scale's wish all along.

It's just too sad for a dragon who loved people and sacrificed itself to help them to go insane and take the lives of the very people it had saved. It must have wanted someone to stop it.

If the wishes of people are what create gods, then there's nothing strange about the wish of a dragon doing the same. Though it is ironic that the wish of a dragon that saved people is to be killed by them」

It's an ironic and sad tale that no one knows the truth of.

But people do not worship those who led happy lives. The lives of saints and heroes are often tragic. It's precisely because their stories are tragedies that people are drawn to them.

I'm guessing that Gladvain-sama had named her daughters after Lord Rot-Scale as a way of mourning its passing. It's also ironic that their lives ended in tragedy as well.

「I can no longer bring myself to discard or hate them. The wishes and curses of people and dragons can only be obscured by the heat of battle. The path of the warrior that I extol is no more than such」

「Gladvain-sama, the power Rana showed……」

「That's right. It’s because of my blood and my legend. That’s the miracle that came out of losing the man I loved」

So, it appears that she truly does love me.

It's something that I feel proud of, but also something that weighs heavily on me.

「My blessing comes at too great a cost. My fate has taken its toll on my kin and my descendants. That's why I'm afraid for them. Rana, in particular, is the spitting image of the Lumidia in my memories. Though it's rather bizarre for an elf to look so much like that child who was murdered by an elf」

Murdered, she said. Could it be?

「You know how Lumidia died?」

Despite the cold, I started to sweat profusely.

She did seem to know that her blood flowed in the veins of elves, but I hadn't thought that she knew about the end Lumidia had met. If I'm not careful, the Heures clan will incur the wrath of god.

「Yeah, I heard about it from Melm. "This body has the blood of abominable Hemus running in it," he said. He told me of the resentment he felt towards his ancestors for hiding it for so long. I was also enraged. I wanted to strangle every descendant of Heures, who had made himself out to be the victim――」

If I were in Gladvain-sama's shoes, I would probably never forgive him.

I would have killed every single Heures I could get my hands on. That wouldn't be enough for me, and I would go on to hate all elves.

「But I couldn't do it. Vengeance for something that happened in the distant past is far from my mind now that I’ve become a god. I would only besmirch my divinity and drag my kin into a needless conflict. ………………No, that's not the reason.

It was the resemblance.

Be it Melm, Ea, or Rana. ………………There’s no way I could ever bring myself to kill them. Not my own children. I'm a god who has left my humanity behind, but I will never forget the time I spent as a mother」

This is something men will never understand.

Though I’m not sure that this is something that even women would understand.

「Souya, your way of fighting is that of the old warriors of long past. No fear of death, no greed, and no desire for fame. Killing for the sake of killing, and sacrificing one's life selflessly. That way of fighting is what checked Elysium's invasion, and also the foundation that the history of the Myriad Kings and us, those of the Velsvain school, was built upon.

But hear me, old one.

They have died out. Because of the nature of people, they were exploited, used up, and wiped out.

Rana loves you. It seems that Ea does as well. It would be one thing if their love were to fade with the passing of time. But if that's not the case, the longevity of elves will bring them much suffering and pain.

Souya, live long. Even if it's only by a single day, increase the time you're by their side. Memories can bring comfort. They are perhaps the only comfort an elf who has loved a Hemu can ever have」

「………I'll bear that in mind」

Asking a man with a death wish to live long, that's quite the tall order, Okaa-sama.

「And, if possible, have a whole lot of kids」

「………………」

Umm.

Well, that's…… Got it.

「At least two, no, four. No, if I include Lanseal, then six might be on the low side」

「Wait just a minute」

Huh, how did she come up with those numbers?

「Why wait? Two each from Rana and Ea. Two should be a piece of cake for Lanseal. Hang on, Lanseal's children, huh? I'd love to have them as my kin. No, it's too troublesome, so I'll just welcome all of them as my kin. Leaving aside your blood, all three of them have excellent lineages. I doubt that they'll be compromised by something as trivial as having some foreigner blood mixed in」

She’s subtly singing her own praises.

「Please calm down for now, Okaa-sama. I mean, it would be wrong of me to try anything with Ea, isn't it?」

Messing around with the sister-in-law. What is this, an eroge?

That'll surely get me knifed by my father-in-law.

「What are you talking about? That guy Melm once had his way with every single one of a group of four sisters」

「I beg you………please don't compare me with that guy」

That pervy elf. He's more pervy than King Lemuria.

Follow Otou-san’s example a little!

「This is so troublesome. Souya, why don't you just form a contract with me and also become one of my kin? After all, it would only be natural for the children of two of my kin to become my kin as well」

「Huh?」

I froze at her sudden offer.

It's a very tempting offer. If I become Gladvain's kin, my reputation will skyrocket. I'll have a reputation that will blow away my notoriety. This is the kind of fame that's hard to come by for an adventurer. It could also be seen as a reward for my reckless fight against the dragon, so if I became Gladvain's kin at this timing, no one would have a problem with it.

「However」

Gladvain-sama's offer didn't come without a catch.

「Break your contract with Misuranika」

「What?」

What kind of joke is this?

Even if they're from god, those are words that I can't just ignore.

「That god is no decent god」

「I know. All by herself, she brought three kingdoms on the right continent to ruin. She's a woman who attained godhood through misdeeds and intrigue」

「Souya, you're mistaken. That's not the extent of it」

「Huh?」

Mistaken? What do you mean, bringing countries to ruin is not the extent of it?

「When it comes time for a country to collapse, it falls to ruin very easily. If such a thing were enough to attain godhood, the world would be full of gods.

Her godhood is something much more gruesome, dark, and horrifying. Have you not asked Misuranika about it?」

「Err, no」

I got the feeling that my god doesn't like to talk about it. So I never pried into her past.

「I don't think she would have answered even if you had asked, but……I'm sorry, I cannot speak anything of it after all. No matter what kind of god is involved, a god cannot divulge the secrets of another god. That would only result in carnage」

Certainly, religious wars are incredibly nasty. The only way to settle them is for one side or the other to be wiped out.

In this alternate world that has so many gods, it would be a quagmire. Even if it's a god with very few followers, like Misuranika-sama, a god should not be repudiated.

「Gladvain-sama, I appreciate the offer」

However……

「But I refuse. No matter what happens, I will not break my contract with Misuranika-sama」

……that’s not going to happen.

「Souya, you must be aware that the kin and the followers are influenced by the fate of the god they contract with. No matter whether it's good or bad, it will always befall them. For Misuranika's fate to befall you is――」

「Even so, I will continue to believe in that god. Gladvain-sama, this is a thing called "honor and obligation". When I first arrived in this country, I was denied a contract by many gods.

Because I'm a foreigner, or because I don't have dreams, or because I'm not strong enough, or that I have ties with certain races, there were many reasons, but by and large, I was forsaken by all the gods in Lemuria.

To top it all off, I got thrown in jail for beating up some thieves.

The one who took me in and saved me at that time was Misuranika-sama. She was the only god in this country who would form a contract with me.

To forget that debt and switch over to another god, I would be no better than the most shameless of sluts. If such a person became a kin of the honorable Gladvain, he would only tarnish that reputation」

I had gotten a little emotional.

But this is my belief, my conviction.

「I see. ………………I understand. Forget I said anything. Someone who has twice abandoned her own children has no business trying to act like a mother」

「No, that's not what I meant by that」

「Let's go back inside. I'll brew you some hot tea」

With a flourish of her cloak, Gladvain-sama turned and headed for the dining hall.

The loneliness written on that back made my heart ache a little.

「Hmm? That reminds me」

But then she thought of something and stopped in her tracks.

「Didn't you call me "Okaa-sama"? Twice, at that」

「Obfuu」

She had heard me clearly. Both times, at that.

「Hmm, hmm?」

She came up close to me.

Oh, this is “that” pattern.

「Oh, umm, I'm really sorry」

「No need to apologize. Come on, hmm, hmm?」

Looking oddly mischievous, she leaned her shoulder against mine.

「I won't be offended. It's alright, so try saying it again」

「Seriously, please spare me」

While being teased in that manner, I returned to the dining hall with her.

The tea that was brewed for me tasted very sweet and nostalgic.

Yeah, this chapter is about how the “fates” of the gods affect their followers. The man Gladvain loved was burned to ashes by the dragon in front of her eyes before she killed it with a punch. Hence, when Rana saw Souya being burned by the dragon’s flames, it triggered the “fate” and that’s also how Souya knew that she really loves him. Gladvain warns Souya that Misuranika’s fate is too horrible, that having that fate befall him is not what she wants to see, but as all god’s stories are apparently tragedies, the same would kinda be true for almost everybody. I mean, Gladvain’s fate is pretty bad itself. But then again, for a person who has gone through what she has, losing everything from brethren to children, to consider Misuranika’s fate to be terrible……

And yeah, ruining a few countries is nothing compared to what Misuranika has done to attain godhood. I’ll let you know for free that Gladvain is being truthful on that point. In case you forgot, back when Gladvain went to the camp to eat curry in vol 3, she and Misuranika acted familiar, like they knew each other from before. And, as can be seen from the humiliation play at the end, they’re kinda similar in some aspects.

The “honor and obligation” Souya mentions is one word in Japanese, hence the weird-ish grammar there, but now that I think about it, Ji’e’toh from the Wheel of Time must have been inspired by it because that’s exactly what it is. It’s a code of conduct that’s about doing what is honorable and just. Like never abandoning the one person who had reached out to you when everyone had abandoned you. Yes, it’s used a lot in Yakuza stories.

That last line, huh? Ever notice the absolute lack of mention of his mother thus far in the story by Souya? Even his father got a mention here and there but Souya has never brought up his own mother ever. And now, he sorta has a Mama and a Mother, as well as an Otou-san and sorta two fathers-in-law here in this alternate world.

This epilogue-like final arc has kinda been full of important details so far, hasn’t it? Well, 3 more parts until the end of the volume! Stay tuned!