41: It Is Only Right to Accept One’s Changed Destiny
Episode 41: It Is Only Right to Accept One’s Changed Destiny
“Huh, you’re holding up surprisingly well.”
A house resembling a turtle’s shell stood atop a hill. At the foot of the hill, several other houses resembling turtle shells were clustered together.
This is the village of the Turtle Clan. The village was built on high ground to defend against invaders. Thanks to an ancient artifact that shrouds the outskirts in fog, no outsider can easily penetrate the village.
The ancient artifact used to create the fog is managed by the chief of the Turtle Clan,
“Alright, shall we try this?”
The current chieftain, Akelon, is currently using the artifact as he pleases to torment Kangrim.
“I’m a bit tired of the waves… Yeah, I think I’ll make it rain.”
Having made that decision, Akelon found a small wooden box placed before him.
The box was filled with fine sand and, surprisingly, looked exactly like the Forest of Trials that Kangrim was currently facing. As Akelon poured sand liberally onto the sand-made Forest of Trials,
[After the waves, now a downpour! Damn it!]
A massive downpour poured down on Gangrim, who had reached the edge of the swamp.
Akelon didn’t stop there.
He placed dozens of sand wave models—which he had used effectively many times before—inside the box. The spot he placed them was exactly where Gangrim was standing.
A moment later,
[This is just too much… Aaaargh!]
Under a barrage of mud-colored waves crashing in from all directions, Kang-rim was tossed around like a stray soccer ball. After being swept back and forth like that, he ended up right back at the starting line.
[You, you rotten little turtle. I’ll eat you today, no matter what.]
Gangrim huffed and puffed as he walked back into the swamp, and Achelone watched the scene through her crystal ball.
At the sound of him saying he would eat her, Achelone laughed as if finding it laughable.
“Heh heh, how does he plan to eat me? I’m actually looking forward to it.”
The old woman with short, black-and-blue-streaked hair sneered at her opponent.
For an old woman, she had not a single wrinkle and her back wasn’t bent; she looked like a young woman in her early twenties.
This is a characteristic of the Turtle Clan.
As a long-lived race, their aging process is correspondingly slow.
Because of this slowness, even though Akelon was currently 100 years old, she was able to maintain the fresh, youthful appearance of a young woman. Considering that the average lifespan of the Turtle Clan is 300 years, she’ll likely be able to keep this youthful appearance until at least 200.
Though I wish she’d act a bit more dignified for her age.
“What do you think, Su-ah? Doesn’t it feel good to see this guy get what’s coming to him?”
Akelon asked Su-ah, who was sitting next to her, watching the spectacle.
“…”
Su-ah said nothing. Thanks to Akelon’s consideration, she had been able to put on clothes and, unlike the others, had not been locked in a cauldron, but strangely, Su-ah did not feel relieved. Even watching Gang-rim suffer so terribly now, she couldn’t bring herself to smile.
‘It’s unpleasant.’
It’s unpleasant. Rather than feeling happy, she was strangely angry. Seeing her master being humiliated made her rage boil up uncontrollably. Was it because she had already decided to submit to Kang-rim? Even though she had been humiliated by him before, Su-ah felt so sorry for Kang-rim as he suffered.
‘Should I beat the crap out of this old hag?’
For a split second, that thought crossed Su-ah’s mind.
'Yeah, let’s do it. She’s not even wearing her shell anyway.'
Akelon is currently unarmored. She has taken off the shell that protects her body. If I do it now, I can kill her right away…
‘Wait, wait, what am I thinking…’
Su-ah shook her head violently, denying the thought.
'Why am I acting like this? I really hate that girl…'
He’s the one who teases her whenever he gets the chance.
He’s the one who gropes her breasts like toys whenever he gets the chance, forces her to suck his milk, and rapes her when he can’t control himself.
He ejaculates inside her without hesitation, using the absurd logic that even if there’s a child in her womb, the child would be happy.
He doesn’t forget to make her swallow his foul semen every day, either.
It’s only natural to hate such scum. He’s the one who treated her and her own kind like livestock, so it’s only right to hate him. Even though she had declared her submission, Su-ah hadn’t given everything to Kang-rim. If she had truly given everything, she would have gone mad long ago.
So, normally, she should be laughing at the sight of Kang-rim suffering,
but right now, Su-ah found that impossible.
“It’s unpleasant.”
She is overwhelmed by an emotion other than hatred. Su-ah’s heart had long been occupied by a feeling that was neither anger nor resentment. Nothing could withstand the venom that emotion produced; everything became poisoned by it. Su-ah was gradually becoming intoxicated by that venom, and it had reached a point where there was no antidote.
Because she was addicted to the poison called lust, and because that addiction had branded her with the mark of submission to Kang-rim, Su-ah could not feel joy no matter how harshly Kang-rim treated her.
How could she be happy when the very being who shared her joy was being tortured?
Su-ah hasn’t fully realized it yet, but she will come to understand someday.
That from the moment she declared her surrender, her fate had already been sealed.
“As I thought, Su-ah, you’re hooked.”
Akelon had noticed that from the very beginning.
Su-ah was startled by the sudden remark.
“H-hooked? What are you talking about…?”
“Aren’t you completely hooked on that Grid?”
“S-stop talking nonsense! Why would I be smitten?!”
Su-ah denied it.
“What’s so great about that guy…? Even though I surrendered, I’m not completely smitten with him!”
“Don’t deny it. Everyone knows that your body and heart have already become his.”
Akelon patted Su-ah on the shoulder as if to reassure her.
“I knew you would end up this way through the stars.”
“T-through the stars?”
The Turtle Clan has a long-standing habit of frequently observing the stars to avoid getting lost while sailing the seas.
Thanks to this habit, even an average member of the Turtle Clan could roughly predict what would happen in the sky in the coming days.
Akelon could do more than that. She could read the stars to predict what would happen. She could even foretell what kind of future was coming. Though she was occasionally wrong, most of the time, everything she saw came true.
Deep down, Su-ah hoped that this prediction was wrong.
“Isn’t this a mistake? Why would I end up with him…?”
“It’s not just you.”
Akelon hinted at the future she had seen.
“Me, you, the other leaders—and of course, the other merfolk—are all destined to become his slaves.”
“What did you say?”
“I actually consider that fate to be the better of the two.”
Sua was horrified by what Akelon said next.
“At first, it showed that we would all meet a horrific end.”
The Black Star, a symbol of foreboding, appeared. Around it, stars representing the living of this world rose, and they all began to turn black.
Black signifies death. In other words, they would meet their end at the hands of the Black Star, known as Grid.
That was the original future.
That future changed.
“But then, it changed. The black star turned into a purple star.”
“…”
“And all the stars surrounding the purple one turned from black to red.”
“…”
“You know what that means without me having to say it, right?”
Purple symbolizes domination. And the symbol of red is conquest.
If we substitute the purple star for the Grid and the red stars for everyone living in this world,
a future emerges where the Grid enslaves them all.
And that future is gradually becoming a reality.
After all, countless beastmen—the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan, the Rabbit Clan, the Bison Clan, and others—are falling into slavery under the Grid.
“So you think this is a good thing?”
Sua asked.
“Do you think it’s good for us to live as that guy’s livestock?”
“If that’s our fate, we have to accept it.”
Akelon agreed.
“Because I just saw all the stars turning red, centered around that man’s star.”
Not a single word to refute that affirmation came from Akelon’s mouth.
“There is no escape from fate, Su-ah. We must accept it.”
“If what you say is true, then you’ll end up just like him. Does that not matter to you? What about your granddaughter and your own people?”
“If that is what must be done, then so be it.”
Akelon did not refute her.
“For us, whose male lineage has dried up, clinging to that man Grid is our only answer.”
“Your male lineage has… dried up?”
“Didn’t you find it strange on your way here?”
“Ah…”
Only now did Su-ah realize.
‘Come to think of it, I haven’t seen any men.’
All the Turtle Clan soldiers who had captured them were women. Since arriving on the island, not a single male Turtle Clan member had been seen. Where on earth had they gone? Could it be that they’d been drafted to help the Alliance?
To Su-ah, who was filled with doubt, Akelon revealed the grim truth with a heavy heart.
“All the men died from a plague.”
“A plague?”
“Strangely enough, it was a strange disease that only affected men.”
One day, the plague suddenly broke out.
The men who contracted the disease slowly wasted away and all lost their lives, but the women remained unharmed. The disease was so bizarre that rumors even spread that it was a curse sent down from the heavens.
“The disease has disappeared, but the means to preserve our species have vanished completely.”
Even the young children lost their lives. The very sprouts that were to be the future have all disappeared. Things are fine for now, but in a few hundred years, the turtle species will vanish from this world.
So Akelon decided to put the Descent to the test.
“I intend to make that man, Grid, our vessel.”
It is their fate to submit to the conqueror known as Grid anyway. If they try to escape, destruction is the only outcome.
In that case, let’s use him. Let’s use him to preserve our kind by bearing his seed.
With that in mind, Akelon has now cast Kangrim into the Forest of Trials. She even went so far as to stage a hostage situation that wouldn’t even work.
“I’m putting him through that just to see if he’s fit to be a sire.”
Pointing at Kangrim, who was once again being swept away by the waves, Akelon explained.
“Why go to such trouble…?”
“Because I don’t want the seed of an ordinary man.”
It was a perfectly normal answer.
“Only the seed of a strong man can save us.”
It was a typical, perfectly normal answer.
“If the price is livestock, we’ll accept it.”
“Because that’s fate?”
“Yes. Just as you submitted to that man.”
“….”
No matter how much you accept fate, isn’t there a time when you have to resist? Isn’t she being too accepting? It wasn’t her place to say, but still, wasn’t this a bit much?
Su-ah thought so, but she had no way to change Akelon’s mind once he’d made up his mind.
Above all, she herself had already chosen to submit—how could she possibly argue?
“If that’s what you want, then I suppose I have no choice.”
So Su-ah didn’t argue.
“As you said, I feel like I’m falling for him too. Maybe it is fate. But…”
Instead, she asked.
“Is it really okay to do this?”
I understand you want a strong man. But,
“He’ll surely go berserk when he gets here, vowing not to leave you alone. Are you sure that’s okay?”
Shouldn’t you go easy on him?
No matter how much you test him, if you push him that ruthlessly, even the kindest person would have no choice but to snap. Having experienced it herself, Su-ah couldn’t help but voice her concern.
“It’ll be fine, Su-ah.”
Akelon asserted this in a tone that suggested he wasn’t particularly worried.
“We’re still a long way from getting through there. Even if he does come, he’ll be so exhausted he won’t even be able to eat me…”
That was when it happened.
-BAM!
Suddenly, the front gate shattered.
“…”
“…”
Akelon and Su-ah silently turned their heads toward the gate.
And they were horrified.
“I found you, you damn turtle bastard.”
It was Grid—no, Gangrim. Soaked to the bone, he strode purposefully toward Achelon.
The staff he’d received before challenging the Forest of Trials was no longer in his grasp; it must have broken.
Instead, he was holding something in both hands.
“Ha, Grandma. I’m, I’m sorry….”
She had short hair, a mix of black and blue, just like Achelone’s. Unlike Achelone, whose eyes were gold, hers were silver. Like Kang-rim, she was soaked to the bone. The only difference was that her clothes were completely torn, leaving her naked.
“I got caught. I’m sorry.”
The woman—Akelon’s granddaughter—apologized to her grandmother.
Semen dripped from her mouth and between her thighs.
“W-what on earth….”
Akelon was speechless that she had brought her granddaughter here so quickly, and in such a state. Su-ah, standing beside her, was just as stunned.