Chapter 416: Tactical Nuke(3)
Chapter 416: Tactical Nuke(3)
As I’ve mentioned several times before, I had already taken out an insurance policy. If the situation turned dire after Volume 30 was released, I planned to put out a side story immediately.
However, there was a condition for this insurance to be triggered: it was only if the arrows of rage were aimed at innocent people instead of me.
As anyone could tell by now, the Jin-Lily couple’s fanbase was incredibly thick and highly organized.
For starters, most of the Demon race supported them, and they were popular worldwide due to their sorrowful past and narrative.
It had reached a point where the main protagonists, Xenon and Mary, were occasionally overshadowed. To be honest, this was somewhat intentional on my part.
While Xenon was the one driving the overall plot, anyone looking closely would realize that the true protagonist was Jin.
In particular, the love story between a Demon and a priestess provided a taste of something "heretical"—a spicy flavor that the people of this world had never experienced before.
It was a thrill that felt like a sin even though it wasn't something like adultery. On top of that, it was a romantic love that one couldn't tear their eyes away from for even a second.
But since I was determined to smash it all to pieces, the fanbase wouldn't just let it slide.
Their hearts were already deeply wounded, and I was essentially rubbing salt—shuck, shuck—into those wounds before they could even begin to heal.
'I might get murdered by the readers, not Demon worshippers.'
It wasn't an exaggeration. Remember the adventurer who almost broke through security when I first set foot in the Academy?
That adventurer was a fan of Xenon's Life, and there could be someone even stronger among the fans. The world is wide, and there are plenty of strange people out there.
To prevent that, I intended to set up my insurance properly.
'First, the ending of the epilogue will naturally be...'
The epilogue takes place several years after the end of the Second Demon War.
Years later, Xenon, Mary, and Lily have a long-awaited reunion. However, there are some changes here.
Specifically, the children. I would introduce the children born between them. Xenon and Mary have two, and Lily has one.
Originally, Lily was unable to pull herself together for a long time due to Jin's death, but she found new hope the moment she realized she was pregnant with Jin's child.
'I’d like to resurrect him as an angel if I could...'
Resurrecting Jin as an angel was a setting that made sense in terms of narrative consistency. First, there was the matter of Jin's soul.
As Luminous and Mora had told me, it was extremely rare for a mortal to ascend to a transcendent being, but it was possible.
In particular, those with martial prowess strong enough to be hailed as 'Heroes' wait for resurrection in 'Valhalla.' This was information Leona had given me before.
Furthermore, although he had external help, Jin was strong enough to absorb Diabolus's soul and maintain his sanity.
Since he saved a world in crisis and even made the soul of a Great Demon his own, resurrecting as an angel should be easy.
'But why do they say it's impossible?'
As I was organizing the settings, a question suddenly occurred to me. Ariel was a special case and thus an exception, but other angels could not be resurrected.
I had heard this from Luminous and Mora as well, but they had been vague and hadn't given me a proper explanation.
For what reason do angels not appear? There are plenty of souls that qualify, so why don't they resurrect?
'On the other hand, demons appeared in droves.'
'Devils' and 'Demons' were races that didn't exist before. Their origin was human, and while it's said a new race was born from a failed ritual, there were many ambiguous parts.
It was a situation that could only be possible if there was some kind of intervention significant enough to change a 'species.' That aside, even the origin of humans was vague.
Why is it that only humans turn into devils or demons, while other races do not?
The deeper I dug, the more questions popped up. If I asked Luminous or Mora, would they answer?
'Hmm... No. Let's move past this.'
It was better for me to explore and find out these things for myself step by step. The world was still full of knowledge I didn't know.
First, I needed to decide how to resurrect Jin in the side story. It had to be enough to completely heal the wounded hearts of the Jin-Lily fans.
Since the gods had flatly stated that resurrecting as an angel was impossible, I should pass... No, I was seriously conflicted.
Lily, living her life every day missing Jin, looking toward her child as her hope for the rest of her days.
And then, right in front of Lily's child, Jin—resurrected as an angel—appears with a ta-da! And then Jin asks the child where their mother is.
Honestly, there's no better happy ending than this. It’s also easy to incorporate the common "I'm back" cliché.
The problem was that there was almost no way for Jin and Lily to reunite.
'Reincarnation is also difficult.'
Diabolus's soul and Jin's soul had already merged. They couldn't be separated, and reincarnating him as a mortal would be impossible because no vessel could contain him.
That was why I had set Jin's death as the canon. Unlike Kair, who received blurred memories, there was simply no proper way to resurrect him.
Of course, some might find it frustrating and say, Who cares if the setting breaks a little?
'...Wait a minute.'
A good idea struck me. Come to think of it, Xenon's Life was a novel that explicitly stated it was a work of fiction, even if the historical accuracy was thorough.
In other words, couldn't I just resurrect Jin as an angel but mention that it was originally impossible?
Besides, this was a side story that wouldn't be part of the canon. I’d keep Jin's death as the canon and use the side story as a kind of healing agent.
'Just in case, I'll put a note on the first page saying it's not part of the canon.'
Then no one would complain later. It seemed like a decent idea, so I jotted it down in my notebook.
What if someone asked why he couldn't be resurrected as an angel? How could I answer something even I didn't know?
It might be a bit shameless, but not knowing is not knowing. It was a secret that even the gods wouldn't properly reveal.
'I wonder if Grandfather Clark knows?'
Clark suddenly came to mind. Someone who knew at least part of the truth of the world. As soon as that thought occurred, I turned my head toward the bed.
I was in the middle of packing to head back to the mansion, but Clark was playfully spending time with Ariel.
"Grandpa. Can you see even if I do this?"
[I can see. Though the sensation is quite strange.]
"Then this too?"
[Ho ho ho ho.]
...The way they were playing was a bit bizarre. Ariel was repeatedly poking her fingers in and out of Clark's eye sockets.
Since he had been resurrected as a skeleton, it probably didn't cause any harm, but I didn't even know how to react to that.
Still, rudeness was rudeness. I let out a sigh and spoke up sternly.
"Ariel. You shouldn't do that to Grandpa. Take your hands out, now."
[I don't mind, though.]
"Grandpa says it's okay!"
"It's still bad manners. Come here."
"Puu!"
When I scolded her, Ariel puffed out her cheeks in protest. She looked cute, like a pufferfish, but the problem was that she was already starting to be rebellious.
I debated whether to punish her or not, but I ended up chuckling. How could her rebellion be so adorable?
I wiped the stern expression from my face and gave her a warm smile. Then, I opened my arms and beckoned her over.
"Instead of that, do you want to come to Daddy?"
"Yes!"
Had she read my mind? As if she had never been rebellious, Ariel ran toward me with a bright smile.
It might have been my imagination, but she seemed to be growing day by day. Her body felt heavier in my arms.
I played with Ariel, hugging her close, and then cautiously approached Clark.
Clark had already changed his clothes, knowing we were about to return to the mansion.
"Grandfather. I have something to ask you."
[Ask me anything.]
"You know that no new angels can be born, right?"
At my question, Clark's expression turned inquisitive. The golden light in his eye sockets told me as much.
He then stared intently at my face and asked back, as if wondering how I knew.
[I do know that. But how do you know?]
"I asked the gods once. They said that a powerful divinity serves as a seed, and an angel is born from that seed. Is that not it?"
[That is correct. It is a fact you can find if you dig through ancient texts. And as you said, currently, angels cannot be born, but...]
Clark trailed off and looked at Ariel instead of me. Ariel was staring back at Clark with wide, round eyes.
Weren't all sorts of thoughts probably flashing through his mind right now? He also knew that Ariel could read thoughts.
Yet, seeing Ariel just blink, he must have taken measures so his thoughts couldn't be read, or perhaps they were too fast for her to catch.
[Hmm... You said she was born from a seed given by Lady Hirt, right? A seed of the World Tree.]
After a long deliberation, Clark finally spoke. I nodded.
"Yes."
[I will set this child aside as an exception for now. Anyway, there is only one reason why angels cannot be resurrected. It is because there is no 'Water.']
"Water?"
[Yes. Water. The source of the world and the water that gives birth to all things.]
The answer 'water' made me even more puzzled. There is water in nature, and Hirt is the Mother of Nature.
As if reading my thoughts, Clark crossed his arms and looked me straight in the eye.
[I can roughly guess what you are thinking. You are probably wondering how there could be no water in nature.]
"Yes. That's right."
[That is half right and half wrong. Why is nature called nature? Do you think even a wasteland or parched, cracked earth can be considered nature?]
The explanation made sense immediately, and I found myself nodding. Certainly, when one thinks of nature, they tend to think of places where life sprouts, like lush forests.
As Clark said, one doesn't think of deserts or earth cracked by drought.
[Even Lady Hirt, the Goddess of Nature, cannot remain the Goddess of Nature without water. Ah, before that, do you know well why water is associated with life?]
"Uh... well? I know that you die if you don't drink water for three days."
The human body is 70% water. However, there was no way he would understand if I talked about scientific things like that, so I had to give a simple answer.
As if he expected that, Clark nodded and then brought up something surprisingly scientific.
[There are forbidden arts that occasionally steal life force. The power of those forbidden arts is enough to turn a person into a mummy. And a person becoming a mummy means all the moisture in their body has been drained. In other words, water itself can be called life. Do you understand now?]
"...Yes."
It felt a bit strange because fantasy and science were mixed together. But at the same time, there was something I didn't understand.
"Hmm... Then what about the sea?"
[The sea?]
"Yes. The sea is also part of nature."
The sea, the source of all things and where life began. Because of the sea, life was born, and eventually, humanity appeared.
Instead, the sea is widely known as a perilous place. You can tell by the fact that being a sailor has been one of the most dangerous professions throughout history.
But even so, the sea is a domain that can never be abandoned. Recall how history changed with the development of navigation and how important trade routes using the sea are.
That's how great and full of potential the sea is—truly the source of everything.
[What are you talking about? Why would the sea be included in nature?]
"Pardon?"
[Didn't you say you liked history? Do you not know how the sea was created and why dangerous marine life lives there?]
I had no idea what he was talking about. Isn't it common sense that the sea has always existed? At least by my standards.
Of course, as he said, there are stories that the sea was created during the Demon War.
That the demons made it rain from the sky for months to fill the world with water. However, this failed with the appearance of the World Tree.
But as a result, continents were submerged and the sea was born. Also, the blood of demons flowed into that sea, cultivating sea monsters like the Kraken.
Looking at this alone, one might think it's just a myth unique to this world. But it seemed that was only by my standards.
"The sea didn't exist from the beginning?"
[Of course not. Is that not the most basic of common sense? It is strange that you do not know this.]
"..."
[Well, even you might not know some things. Regardless, the sea is not included in nature. Although technology for crossing the sea has increased now, it remains a den of demons.]
The sea is not nature, but an artificial den created by demons. That was what Clark was telling me.
For me, it was a statement that didn't make sense, so it was difficult to accept. Just in case Clark was the only strange one, I asked other people...
"The sea? That's a place the demons made. The reason being a sailor is dangerous is because it's crawling with powerful sea monsters."
"The sea is nature? Well, I suppose you could call it nature now, but I don't know if it can be called nature since demons made it."
"That could even be sacrilege. It's a bit surprising to hear you say something like that."
Everyone else was the same. The sea was not nature, but an artificial den created by demons.
'...This is strange.'
Even in a place where gods clearly exist, it was too far removed from the science I knew.
'I guess I'll have to investigate the sea during this vacation.'
I had a feeling an interesting subject was about to emerge.