Chapter 71
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: Return - 2
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"Auntie, you're staying here after all, right?"
"Indeed. I want to serve Oronak, who protected us until the very end."
Irina decided to remain in the Ice Flower tribe's village.
I wanted to bring her back to Lugeron Village, but she intended to guard the base as Oronak's apostle.
Pushing aside my regrets, I clasped her hand and said,
"I'll come visit you often, Irina."
"Ahem... Next time, bring along a pretty little one."
Irina blushed as she glanced at Sylvia.
A bit flustered by the sight, I gave an awkward smile in response.
"...I'll do my best."
And with that, we returned home.
Thanks to destroying the god's legacy, the snow mountain felt less harsh than before—warmer, even.
"In time, this place might become habitable for people."
"It probably will."
I wondered if it might even yield land suitable for farming.
Anyway, buzzing with excitement, we arrived back at the village and immediately ran into Carlson.
"You're back!"
He was wiping blood from his sword tip at the village entrance.
Looking at the grotesquely formed little creature dying at his feet, I asked,
"Carlson, what are those things?"
"Goblins."
"Goblins?"
First time seeing one.
In a fantasy world, they were the most iconic monsters, yet in my 21 years here, I'd never encountered one.
"They usually live in caves or burrows they dig out. They steal our village's food supplies or occasionally band together for raids. Fortunately, they're weak enough that even the young men in rural villages can handle them."
"Fascinating. I've never seen them in the Dark Forest."
"Haha, of course not. The Dark Forest is too brutal for goblins to survive in. The villagers are probably seeing them for the first time too."
"So where did these guys come from?"
"Probably from the opposite side of the Dark Forest."
His answer gave me pause for thought.
Creatures that never appeared before suddenly showing up—it nagged at me.
Setting aside my worries for now, I greeted Carlson and headed straight home.
Elsia must have been waiting outside the whole time, because she came out to welcome us.
"Elsia!"
"Sian, you're ba—kyaa?!"
Overjoyed, I swept Elsia into a hug and spun her around once.
"Did something happen?"
"Nothing at all."
"Good to hear."
"Oppa, you're back?"
Clia, who had been inside the house, came bounding out at the sound of my voice and threw herself into my arms.
"Oppa, where's my present?"
A little taken aback by Clia demanding her gift right away, I lightly patted her head before looking for Chloe.
"Chloe, I'm home."
"Welcome back. You must be tired."
She was resting in the master bedroom.
Her belly had swelled even more with the birth approaching next month, stirring all sorts of thoughts in me.
The first feeling that hit me upon seeing my beloved wife after so long was guilt. Even though it was her first pregnancy, I hadn't been by her side.
"Chloe..."
"It's okay."
As if reading my mind,
Chloe took my hand, smiled, and said,
"I'm just glad you're safe."
"Thank you... And I love you."
"I love you too."
Thus, after so long, I was finally able to return to the warmth of my family.
True to her role as the apostle of Hestia, goddess of family, Helen was perceptive enough to wait outside.
"Sorry, took longer than expected."
"Not at all. It was heartwarming to see you tend to your family first."
Her bright smile in response to my apology felt a bit overwhelming.
Whew... intense.
"This is the outfit I mentioned."
"What exquisite fabric. And as expected..."
I handed Helen the clothes I'd worn as a baby. She examined the fabric and the patterns on them closely, then looked up at me and said,
"Sian, I have something important to tell you. Would you mind stepping aside with me alone for a moment?"
"Not here?"
"Yes, somewhere quiet if possible."
"Got it."
Something felt off, but I followed her lead and went somewhere private with Helen.
"Elsia, I'll be right back."
"Take your time."
"And let Sylvia, Clara, and Vivian rest up. They worked hard on the way back. We'll plan the farming starting tomorrow."
"Understood."
After a brief chat with Elsia about household matters, I headed with Helen to the stone ice storage I'd prepared earlier.
"This spot should work, right?"
"A bit chilly, but perfect for a private conversation."
"Private conversation, huh..."
Her choice of words struck me oddly,
like some creepy uncle befriending a young girl.
"So, what did you want to talk about?"
"Do you remember what the Troll King said about you being the most arrogant race?"
"Of course."
The troll king, Grog, had called me the most arrogant race, and Helen had long taken a cryptic stance on my origins.
"The most arrogant race is another name for the giants. Their civilization was so grand it threatened even the gods. If they hadn't built that tower as proof of blasphemy and been judged for it, this world might belong to the giants by now."
"Impressive folk."
"Yes. And the giants' traits were immense physical prowess and vast divine power."
"Sounds just like me."
"Exactly. That's why I initially thought, like the Troll King, that you were a descendant of giants."
Grog had called giants the strongest race to rule the world.
If a tribe full of people like me existed, conquering the world wouldn't be surprising.
"Wait, 'initially'? So I'm not a giant?"
"Correct. I, the Troll King—even Goddess Hestia herself—were mistaken. You are far beyond mere giants."
Helen, invoking even the goddess she served, touched my hand as she delivered the shocking revelation.
"You are a Titan."
"A Titan?"
"Yes. Born of divine blood."
Uh... things just scaled up massively.
"Gods are broadly divided into two categories."
Before explaining Titans, Helen began teaching me the basics of gods.
She projected images through the golden disk above her head.
"There are the primordial gods, born alongside the universe and called the rules of the world, and those who gathered divinity from such primordial gods to ascend as gods."
"So primordial gods are cosmic entities?"
"Yes. However, because they were born with the universe, they have primal tendencies. They expand their domains indiscriminately. The 'One Who Walks the Very Bottom' you faced belongs to this category."
"Definitely powerful, but dumb as rocks."
According to Irina, that 'One Who Walks the Very Bottom'—the being behind this disaster—possessed the power to halt time or destroy the world with mere relics. It's an outer god of otherworldly stature, deliberately unnamed and called by that lengthy moniker to avoid invoking its true name, which could burst a normal human's brain just by utterance.
Yet, despite its out-of-spec existence, it was incredibly simplistic.
It could have dodged my charging strike but instead instinctively froze time on what was before it, only to stupidly get destroyed by my slow attack.
"Unlike those primordial gods, the ascended gods exist with distinct personalities."
"The twelve gods you serve?"
"Precisely."
Hestia, goddess of love and family.
Compared to natural gods, she clearly seemed man-made.
And if Helen was right...
"So Hestia was once human."
"More precisely, a human from the Genesis era. Modern humanity, diluted in bloodline and inferior in every way, can hardly be compared to Genesis-era humans."
Helen continued her explanation with a wry expression.
"Genesis-era humans could become gods not just due to their vast divine power like the sea, but largely because of their 'will' to assimilate multiple divinities as their own."
"Will?"
"If divine power is the vessel that holds divinity, then will is the power to wield divinity as one's own intent."
"Is that even possible?"
"Yes, by first internalizing a natural god's divinity as your own. Like how you enhanced your physical abilities with Hestia's divinity and ignited divine flames at your sword's tip."
Of course, I knew it wasn't as simple as she made it sound.
Even channeling divinity into a sword like a 4th-rank knight drained more mental energy than expected, and enhancing vitality lasted barely 10 seconds. Wielding divinity by one's own will was another realm entirely.
Combining and using multiple such divinities was unimaginable.
"In that manner, Genesis-era humans ascended in their own unique ways to become new gods. The lineages that produced these gods later became known as the Aesir divine clan, Vanir divine clan, and Titan divine clan."
"Divine bloodlines... flashy names. So what were those ascension methods?"
"There are two: special and general."
Helen created two humanoid figures with her golden disk and continued.
"The special method, used by the Aesir divine clan, involves combining divinities to forge a new concept for ascension. Our goddess Hestia falls into this category."
Goddess of love and family.
A special goddess embodying human concepts, not worldly ones.
"Naturally, it requires a will to handle divinity approaching a god's own caliber."
"And the general method?"
"The path of enshrinement taken by the Vanir divine clan."
"Enshrinement?"
Different from a shaman's divine descent?
"Just as we can use a portion of divinity by following a god's doctrine and will, this method sacrifices devout priests who seek oneness with the god, granting personality to an existing god."
"That's human sacrifice..."
"Wrong compared to the Aesir divine clan, but theoretically highly feasible."
"Insane... So the Aesir had one great genius ascending through sheer talent, while the Vanir sacrificed many to create one god?"
"That's a simple way to put it."
"What about the Titans?"
"The Titan divine clan is bizarre."
Helen conjured a human figure and a massive beast figure with her golden disk.
"Before explaining the Titan method, understand that Genesis-era humans ascended because their world was brutally harsh."
"Harsh? From what you've said, they were stronger than modern humans—no worries there."
"Not so. As strong as humanity was, other races were mighty too. Outer gods invaded, enslaving humans as servants or sacrificial lambs. Neighbors turned to monsters for gods' amusement, women and daughters impregnated by monster spawn. Those monsters still lurk worldwide."
The tale sounded like cosmic horror, wrinkling my brow. One's life ruined by another's whim.
"In that desperate world, humans craved gods more than anyone. But no god reached out. So humans resolved to become gods themselves—even at the cost of their lives."
"Hence the human sacrifices to create gods."
What initially repulsed me as sacrifice now made sense hearing their plight.
It was desperation. Thrashing to live more humanely.
"Perhaps that era's humans were mad. But the Titans' madness was on another level."
"Another level?"
Helen's ominous words led to a bombshell.
"Because the method the Titan divine clan chose to become gods was to devour divinity."