Chapter 101
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 101
Chapter Title: Village Development - 1
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In Niflheim, a realm that froze even souls solid, one sinner wandered eternally.
He had been born lame from the start.
Hating his own inferiority, he sought to drown it out with something else.
In the end, jealousy blinded him, and he committed his sins.
He lusted after another man's woman and neglected his own family in the process.
Even in death, he clung to his ugly jealousy and obsession.
"'Aaaah...'"
Of course, this was all from a human perspective.
From the gods' viewpoint, he had committed only one sin.
Becoming a vengeful ghost.
In other words, for defying the divine order—an unforgivable transgression—he was condemned to wander Niflheim forever.
The reason he could defy that order was because Ker, the goddess of rest and guidance, had perished in the gods' final war.
Had he accepted death willingly, he never would have become a ghost, nor suffered this endless torment.
"'Uwaaaaaaaa!!!'"
And the punishment of eternal wandering in Niflheim meant feeling nothing but despair until his lingering soul crumbled away completely.
The despair he witnessed was the very scene he had so desperately dreamed of.
Except it wasn't he who achieved that dream, but the man he envied to the point of festering resentment.
"Sian, I love you."
That man had claimed the love of the woman the sinner adored.
He could share kisses with her innocent smile, eat the warm meals she prepared for her beloved every day, and explore each other's bodies night after night.
"'Aaaagh! Why! Whyyyyy!'"
But that wasn't the end of it.
Even the woman who had been his wife began to pine for that man.
She showed him expressions she'd never once given her husband and whispered words to him she'd never shared before.
At first, there was her usual brusque demeanor, but gradually she yielded her body, then her heart. In the end, she truly loved him and sought to bear his child.
Faced with this reality, the sinner cursed his own obsolescence again and again, sinking into despair.
Why him and not me!
Why must I suffer like this!
Why is the world so unfair!
I curse you, I curse you! That man! You women who rejected me! This whole world!
In the endless echoes of despair, the sinner's soul crumbled and crumbled away.
Then, two figures approached the sinner.
[Lady Hela, this is the place.]
[How unsightly. Step aside.]
[Understood.]
At the command of the woman—who was half breathtakingly alive and half a corpse of the dead—the underworld's guardian swiftly executed the sinner.
Of course, he didn't truly die.
The dead couldn't die again, and he would simply face the punishment of wandering Niflheim once more.
Until his soul rotted away completely.
[Indeed. That's the soul that slipped from my grasp twenty years ago.]
The woman's identity was Hela, goddess of the underworld and punishment.
In other words, the mistress of Niflheim.
Gazing through the sinner into the mortal world, she focused on one particular man.
A powerful, incredibly stubborn soul—one that had preserved its integrity through the vast sea of reincarnation. A black soul.
One of those called "reincarnators" in the Holy Kingdom.
[I knew Hestia, that scheming wench, had been collecting black souls for some grand scheme, but this one takes the prize. Dangerous. Extremely dangerous.]
A god's trial is like a bolt of lightning from a serene sky.
It strikes without warning, vanishing in a flash.
But it leaves an immense scar in its wake.
That is a god's trial—a calamity and blessing no human can withstand.
Of course, whether it's truly a blessing from a human perspective is anyone's guess.
Just as the prophet Iyov was forced to live a wretched, despairing life due to the gods' wager, a god's trial is always described from the gods' viewpoint.
...
"Summer already, huh."
As summer arrived, the sweltering heat set in, and everyone was struggling with the warmth.
"Hot... so hot."
The Vivian sisters were having an especially tough time.
As northern tribesfolk, they were resilient to cold but vulnerable to heat in turn.
"Sis... ice water."
"Hueee... Master bro, please open a cool room."
"Just wait a sec."
They'd probably get used to it eventually, like Sylvia had, but it looked like they'd suffer through the heat for a while.
"Hm? Bro's here?"
"Clia? How long you been in the ice cellar?"
"Since after lunch—been here the whole time!"
"..."
Of course, even once accustomed to summer, it was still hot.
Everyone was trying to cool off in the chilly stone ice cellar.
"Fwaaa—finally feels livable."
"Wasn't built for this."
Thinking about it, aside from me, Elsia, and Elin, everyone in the household was of northern tribal blood—and terribly weak to the heat.
"Maybe I should make some fans."
Air conditioners, as divine inventions, required such advanced tech that even knowing the structure was beyond replication.
So when he considered making simple fans instead, he suddenly recalled the frost blade from the Frost Claw tribe he'd obtained during the expedition.
"If I use this right, it could work great."
"Master, anything I can help with?"
As he disassembled the Frost Claw claw, Vivian—who had grown fairly fluent in the imperial tongue—approached and asked.
"Vivian, perfect timing. You know the principle behind Frost Claw weapons?"
"I do. Frost Claw weapons and our Fang tribe weapons share the same origin."
"Hm?"
Weapons that froze wounds on impact, and suicidal throwing spears that could kill the user—stemming from the same tech?
How the hell did they diverge like that?
"As you know, Master, our tribe's weapons are based on curses."
"Curses... kinda like miracles?"
"Close enough. Just a few differences."
Vivian pulled out her favored axe as she explained.
"Curses only activate through special engravings."
"You mean these rune-like patterns?"
"Exactly."
This might be a unique troll technique.
According to Helen, the trolls of the mythic age had developed their own technologies without godly aid, building a civilization—and that's why they became targets.
"Vivian, could I learn this technique?"
It'd be handy for all sorts of applications.
Unfortunately, Vivian shook her head.
"No. Curse engraving requires special bloodlines."
"Too bad. Wanted to adapt it for something."
"No need to worry. Bessy and Becky here can do curse engravings."
"Oh?"
Hearing themselves called, Bessy and Becky perked up and responded.
"We can do curse engraving!"
"For Master bro, even if it hurts!"
"Hurts?"
"It uses blood as the medium."
"That's... a bit iffy, then."
Using kids' blood felt wrong.
"It's fine! We wanna help our Master bro!"
"We eat meat every day! If we can't work, we wanna help now at least."
Watching the clumsy imperial from the twin sisters, he felt puzzled.
Why were they so on edge?
After all this time together, he'd thought they were closer.
"Yeah, time to help your Master now."
"......"
The eldest sister Vivian had a habit of nagging her little sisters.
"No, I don't like the idea of you girls bleeding just for my whim. Don't worry about it."
"Master bro..."
"We wanna marry Master bro too. Wanna eat meat forever."
The young twins suddenly glanced nervously at Vivian before fleeing into his arms. Apparently, they saw his embrace as the safest spot from big sis.
And in that moment, they spilled what they'd been holding back.
"Sis keeps saying I'm slacking lately. Even though Clia picked up my slack extra good."
"Wanna eat lotsa meat. Sis gives less 'cause of her. I like meat too."
"Haha, yeah? Bro'll hunt hard then. Vivian, go easy on your little sisters."
"Master bro's the best!"
"Got it."
Vivian pondered for a moment before leaning in to whisper in her sisters' ears.
"...We'll talk in your room later."
"Hueee?!"
Apparently, badmouthing her in front of him had stoked her ire.
To shift the topic, he asked Vivian,
"Anyway, Vivian—what I'm curious about is the curse's duration. Once activated, how long does it last?"
"That? Should be possible. Curse weapons keep working forever unless the weapon breaks."
"Forever?"
That was way too strong.
No wonder the gods kept the trolls in check.
"Not sure on the exact reason, but since curses draw from divinity, they don't stop."
"Hmm..."
Her words gave him pause.
Which meant he could claim that power for himself if he consumed it.
'But how do I eat it?'