Chapter 297
Chapter 297
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 297
Chapter Title: Forgotten Giant's Ancient Forest 297 - Forgotten Giant's Ancient Forest #4
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The giant snake woman who had finished speaking those words added that it was the condition for forgiveness.
To gift her a child.
A child isn't something you can just buy from a shop and wrap in pretty paper.
So, if I understood correctly, those words probably meant something along those lines.
My vision blurred right then.
The demon realm is called the demon realm precisely because it is a place beyond human understanding.
The same goes for demonic beasts and monsters.
They are called monsters and feared because they possess inscrutable aspects that human reason cannot comprehend.
That seemed to apply to Echidna as well, known as the king of monsters in this ancient forest. As the king of monsters, her incomprehensibility must soar even higher.
While I was reeling as if struck by an unexpected blow, Luna, standing beside me, spoke up in surprise on my behalf.
“A child, to gift a child? What does that mean!”
What does it mean? It means exactly what it says. To mate with me.
“Th-that’s not allowed!”
Not allowed? Why? Ah, are you the mother of this black-haired one?
“That’s not it…”
Then, is this woman with the massive greatsword the mother of this sturdy man?
Echidna’s enormous eyes turned toward Hippolyte. I thought the proud Hippolyte would fire back strongly, but unexpectedly, she blushed and stammered, flustered.
No answer, so that’s not it. Then, are you this man’s mate?
Echidna’s eyes soon turned to Elfride. Elfride, who had been watching the situation with detached eyes, lifted her head with a “Ha-?” as if she’d heard something absurd.
“W-why me! No, it’s not!?”
Then… none among you can stop this man and me from mating.
“Why don’t you ask that paranoiac?”
A man without a mate. And I currently have no mate. There is no reason we cannot pair. A man strong enough to fell my firstborn son will surely sire strong offspring.
Swoosh.
An enormously large finger stroked my head.
If she pressed down with force, I’d be crushed like an ant under her finger, so all I could do was tremble.
At that moment, Elfride spoke up.
“But your sizes don’t match at all. Could such a relationship even be possible in the first place?”
Hm, now that you mention it, yes. Compared to my former husband Typhon, this man is small and cute in many ways. He’s not fully grown yet.
“Ah! You, you’re the wife of the great monster Typhon?”
Hm, you’re the nymph who’s been chattering nonstop. Be quiet—
Snap—.
With a flick of her finger, Echidna silenced Paranoy as if zipping her mouth shut.
“Mmph, mmph—” The strange noises suggested some magical force had sealed her mouth. I wondered how it was done. I wanted to learn it.
Anyway, with Paranoy quiet, we all fell silent.
After humming thoughtfully for a while, Echidna spoke again.
I do know a spell to shrink to human size. A transformation incantation. But right now, I’ve lost much of my power in various ways. Still, in about another hundred years, I should recover enough mana to use incantations!
At Echidna’s optimistic declaration, Luna responded positively in kind.
“Th-then we can make a child in a hundred years!”
Yes, exactly. Return to this spot in a hundred years, black hair. This is a promise. A promise between you and me. Swear by Styx that you will give me a child to replace the one you killed—. All those present here will bear witness.
“That’s…”
I was terribly troubled. To swear by Styx.
As I’ve said before, I was raised by my father and mother with near-oppressive emphasis on always keeping promises.
To me, promises must be kept. Thus, I never make promises I can’t keep.
Moreover, I had personally experienced how binding a Styx oath is. And now she wanted me to make one.
As I stood there sweating coldly, unsure what to do, Luna poked my side. Then she whispered softly in my ear.
“Hassan, just promise…!”
“No, that would be a lie.”
“Hassan, lying is your specialty. In a hundred years, you’ll be dead anyway. A promise you can’t keep because you’re dead isn’t deliberately broken, so it’s fine even if you violate the Styx oath.”
Luna was indeed clever. Looking at Hippolyte and Elfride, they nodded as if sharing her thinking.
Either way, escaping this situation was best. If we upset the forest king, we might have to fight all these demonic beasts here.
So, reluctantly, I opened my mouth.
“Understood. Then, I promise.”
Then it is promised, black hair. This pact cannot be broken even by Jupiter’s authority.
“Yes.”
I squeezed my eyes shut in my mind. Worried some text might appear, but fortunately, nothing did. Just a verbal promise, then.
Right then, Echidna swung her massive index finger—whoosh—.
The white beast’s corpse before her, probably Regulus, began to twitch strangely.
Soon, Echidna grabbed its skin and peeled it off with a rip. Then she placed it atop my head.
This is the token of our covenant. Proof of the promise. For one hundred years from today, carry it always. So you never forget that you killed my firstborn, the lion-hearted Regulus.
Swoosh.
Echidna’s golden pupils loomed massively toward me. Droplets of the tears she had nearly shed earlier glistened in those huge eyes.
My reflection formed like an image in those tears, hazy.
With the white-furred demonic beast’s skin draped over me, I looked every bit the barbarian.
A barbarian draped in skin that deflects swords and most magic. A barbarian who casually slays women’s children.
Now, go. I must hold this child’s funeral.
Sloooowly.
Echidna pulled away from me and lifted the massive corpse onto her palms.
The skin that had once gleamed white now stripped away, leaving a gruesome sight.
Yet Echidna handled it without care, as if it were the world’s most fragile vessel, cradling it tenderly.
Earlier, I had prattled that monsters are monsters because they’re incomprehensible. But now, I could sense what this giant felt. Grief over her child’s death.
I had fled this place with an impossible vow against such a being. Thinking that way made me feel a bit pitiful and sorry, my back sweating.
Now, even if I wanted to, I’d never see her again.
An orphaned child is called an orphan. But there’s no famous word for parents who’ve lost a child.
They say it’s because there’s no word fitting the parents’ anguish, but it never really hit home. Now, watching, I somewhat understood.
As I fidgeted restlessly, someone tapped my shoulder.
“Hassan, does it bother you?”
It was Luna. She always knew my thoughts.
“Well, it can’t be helped.”
“Hmm—.”
Luna furrowed her brow slightly, then let out a small sigh of resignation. Then she opened her mouth slightly and murmured something I couldn’t understand—“.”
At that, the giant snake woman Echidna, who had been sobbing, turned back toward us.
Is that true? Is such a thing possible?
“I’m not sure since I’ve never tried it fully. But with the people here, it should work somehow—. Everyone, gather round. I’d like you to listen to what I have to say.”
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“Really possible? Only gods can do that.”
Hippolyte, having heard the full story, furrowed her brow slightly. Elfride didn’t voice it, but she seemed skeptical of Luna’s tale too.
Paranoy, who had listened quietly, spoke up.
“Ah, my mouth can open now. But Lady Luna, using the heavens freely might earn the ire of the exalted Hypnos gods…!”
“I am Luna Noxdoty of the Dark Night Tribe. Drawing on the night sky is something our tribe’s shamans have always done, so it should be fine…!”
Luna seemed extremely optimistic. Then, as if losing confidence, she muttered softly.
“Of course, I don’t know if it’ll succeed…. But with your help, it might just work.”
“Let’s do it.”
I, who had listened quietly, spoke up. Leaving the forest like this would leave me with lingering unease forever.
And if Luna’s words held true, it could comfort Echidna, who lost her child.
“Then, Hassan and Hippolyte, you need to chop some wood. There should be trees in the forest that are solid inside, like stone. Bring a lot of those. Elfride, you prepare flames to burn those woods. Paranoy, you help me with the ritual preparations!”
In the end, we headed back into the forest as Luna directed.
Luna had described them, so Hippolyte and I set out to find trees solid inside, feeling like stones.
The primitive trees around us were all incredibly sturdy, so finding them was easy.
Felling them was the hard part.
“Whew—. Tough. Even with aura, it barely makes a nick. Impressive wood.”
Hippolyte wiped sweat from her brow and regripped her sword. It took her over ten swings to fell one thick tree.
“Since mastering aura, this is the first time something’s been this hard to cut. Good training.”
But that difficulty seemed to stoke Hippolyte’s challenge.
The problem wasn’t just the hard wood. The chopping sounds drew forest demonic beasts toward us.
Kerurur.
Gyarurua—.
Fitting the darkening forest.
Hideous beasts, more like deep-sea creatures than animals—truly monstrous in form.
Hippolyte, mid-chop, aimed her sword at them.
“Hell hounds and desire walkers. Both are deep-flood-dwelling hell wolves. Same rank demonic beasts, but in packs, their ferocity rivals silver-rank monsters.”
Grururur—.
Four-legged beasts like fused deep-sea fish and wolves glared with red eyes. But wary of Hippolyte’s sword, they didn’t charge.
Seeing this, Hippolyte said,
“The skin you’re wearing, from Regulus—it must have been truly powerful. They’re scared and won’t approach.”
“This is because of the skin?”
“Yes, they mistake you for a strong beast. But drag it out, and they’ll catch on. We need to speed up.”
A while later.
Thanks to the skin—the token of my pact with Echidna—Hippolyte and I safely loaded up heaps of firewood and returned to the tree.
Leaves, strange fruits, and mushrooms were arranged around it.
“Hassan, stack the wood neatly like in Yongbinyeol Village!”
“Got it.”
Following Luna’s instructions, I stacked the wood in a well shape.
Each piece was iron-bar heavy, but my strengthened strength let me pile them high. Atop it all lay the forest prince Regulus’s corpse, placed by Echidna.
“Now, we light it. We circle it, dancing. The flames must be strong enough to burn the wood instantly.”
At Luna’s explanation, Elfride eyed her staff.
“Then that guy really becomes a constellation?”
“Probably…. Alright, let’s start. Light it. Strong flames. Not scared of fire anymore?”
Swoosh.
Elfride spread her fingers.
“Nidhogg—.”
With her short, flat incantation, a firefly-sized ember floated slowly from her fingertips to the wood.
Whoosh—!
The blaze that erupted from that tiny spark devoured the massive, sturdy logs like prey, roaring high.
“Now, dance! Paranoy, clap to keep the beat!”
At Luna’s call, Paranoy clapped in a strange rhythm, and we all awkwardly circled the bizarre altar, dancing.
From afar, it’d look like a pagan ritual. And it pretty much was.
But according to Luna, this was a traditional funeral rite from Ideope Island: the burned remains rise to the night sky as a shining star.
Crackle, crackle—.
The fierce flames turned the wood to ash in moments. The smoke soared into the pitch-black sky, staining the dim heavens.
“Whew—.”
Enduring the searing heat while dancing, thick sweat beaded on Luna, Hippolyte, and Elfride’s brows. Even Luna’s expression darkened.
Something going wrong?
As I worriedly checked Echidna’s face,
She had raised her massive head to gaze at the night sky. Her lifted head hid her expression.
Ah—. I see it. My son, ascending to those heights.
Echidna murmured softly, as if seeing something amid the stars.
There, sitting like a lion—do you see it too?
My eyes saw only the usual myriad twinkling stars.
We kept circling the flames without commenting until they died completely.
Beside us, Echidna stared skyward until dawn broke and the stars faded.
Nights will be something to look forward to now. I acknowledge you differ from that cruel black hair. Thus, I shall answer what he asked—something I refused before.
“Answer? What?”
Luna, slumped exhausted under the dawn moonlight, asked. Echidna added firmly,
At dawn, seek the lake where two moons set. There lies what all desire. This is the answer to this year’s trial question, the key to karma.
“What? What’s that suddenly mean.”
Luna flopped over in confusion—.
“Is that, is that true!?”
Hippolyte screamed.
Soon, she gaped wider than ever and burst into laughter. Hippolyte had broken.