Chapter 327
Chapter 327
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 327
Chapter Title: Carrot and Stick #1
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“Eek!”
I jolted upright like a flopping mackerel.
My whole body trembled, and even my wide-open eyelids twitched in spasms from the sheer shock. Then someone spoke to me.
“Hassan, what’s wrong?”
It was Luna, gnawing on an ear of corn.
“Another nightmare?”
“Ah—.”
Only then did I get a grip on the situation.
The nightmare that had been tormenting me was gone, replaced by the sight of my companions huddled together in the cramped cargo hold of the carriage.
Whew, it was just a dream.
I’d been screaming as a massive lion mauled me, but realizing it was only a dream calmed my pounding heart and drew a sigh of relief.
As I roughly wiped the cold sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand, Luna, sitting across from me, asked with concern.
“Hassan, you’ve been having nightmares a lot lately.”
“Have I?”
I mumbled an offhand reply. Beside me, Hippolyte, who had been dozing, cracked her eyes open slightly.
“It’s been over a week crammed in this carriage cargo hold. Your body’s weakened, so of course you’re having nightmares.”
Her words reminded me that we were on the road back from Delphi to Sodomora.
It had been over ten days since we escaped the underground arena in Deathros.
With nothing left to do in the Sun God’s city of Delphi, we’d decided to head to Sodomora.
That meant we’d spent days crammed into the narrow passenger compartment of the carriage, sleeping and waking repeatedly—no wonder the nightmares.
But I knew the nightmares weren’t just from that. The day I delivered the necklace to Gloria, Castor’s sister, as per his dying wish.
I’d barely escaped after putting up a desperate fight against Gloria, who tried to kidnap me.
Let’s blow everything up together and go live in the Black Wasteland—.
Thinking back on it still sent chills down my spine, making my vision blur.
The aftereffects were severe; even now, after leaving Delphi where she stayed, she haunted my nightmares.
Even after I killed her brother, she proposed to me. Gloria’s mindset—no, the Samaritans’ mindset—had so many twisted parts.
A lioness? I’d heard female lions get aroused when another male kills their cubs and family.
Who knows.
I glanced back carefully, checking if any Samaritans were chasing us from Delphi.
Fortunately, the direction we’d come from held only peaceful fields stretching out, with autumn flowers swaying gently in the breeze.
Noticing my unease, Hippolyte spoke up.
“Hassan, you don’t need to worry that much. Gloria won’t be leaving Delphi for a while.”
“Really?”
“She has to clean the sewer treatment plant. Even for someone as capable as her, doing it alone will take over a year.”
“Then in a year, she could come to Sodomora…?”
“Yeah. But having a year’s buffer is fortunate. We can prepare countermeasures by then.”
Countermeasures.
I’d experienced that steel-willed girl Gloria with my own body in every way.
She was like a natural disaster; even if we prepared, she’d rip through it with her bare hands.
That left only one option.
Make myself a married man as soon as possible, so a holy warrior of the household gods couldn’t harm me.
With that thought, I suddenly noticed the cute girl sitting in front of me.
“I wonder if Doris is feeding Cungcungi properly. She didn’t seem bad, but maybe I dumped too much on her since we just met.”
Luna seemed worried about her workshop, vacant for about a month. She’d left managing the empty workshop and cabin to the honey water nymph Doris, which made her anxious.
“I told Antiope to check in sometimes, so it should be fine.”
But she quickly shook off the worry, reassuring herself as she finished her corn.
I pictured a happy married life with Luna. Pink-haired kids like her swarming around me when I got home from work.
Daddy, look! It’s a wolf spider!
It’s Cungcungi!
It was such a heartwarming scene that it wiped away the terror from my nightmare, lifting my mood completely.
Then, beside them, brown-haired little girls pounced on the pink-haired kids. Wait, whose daughters were they?
They looked like hybrids of Amazoness and Samaritan, half resembling me and half Hippolyte. That bizarre proposal from Hippolyte must have altered my vision of my future family.
“Ahh—! Look, look over there…!”
Right then, someone shouted from the driver’s seat up front, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“The walls of Sodomora are in sight…! We’ve finally arrived…!”
*
*
*
The cabin we returned to after so long was surprisingly unchanged.
If anything, the wild vines in the yard had been tidied, and pretty flowers bloomed, showing clear signs of careful tending.
Ting-a-lang—.
As I passed through the small gate at the yard entrance, a wind chime tinkled.
From inside came a clatter, followed by a small shout.
“This is private property—! Better leave before you get a stinging sting—!”
“Doris, it’s me! Your friend Luna!”
“Ahh—! That voice belongs to the homeowner—!”
The door flew open.
There stood a nymph with honey-colored bobbed hair and pointed ears. She said to Luna,
“I thought since you never came back, this house would become mine! I’m disappointed it didn’t, but still, welcome back!”
“You’ve taken good care of it!”
“Of course! I looked after Cungcungi healthily too! Here, this one on the back of my hand is Cungcungi!”
Hiyoong.
“Wow, Cungcungi, you’ve lost so much weight! You’re slim now!”
“She got too fat and was dumped by her boyfriend, so she lost her appetite and came back skinny—!”
Krurrung—.
“She gets mad like this if you mention her boyfriend, so be careful. But didn’t the ditch water nymph come with you?”
“She said she was busy and went somewhere else.”
“Antiope leaves Doris alone every day with excuses of being busy!”
Seeing Luna and the honey water nymph Doris chattering noisily already gave me a real homecoming feeling.
I felt so languid I could just lie down and do nothing for a day or two.
But I had something I had to do. So I unpacked lightly at the cabin and headed with familiar steps toward the heart of Sodomora, Central West Gate Street.
My destination was the home of the most influential person in Sodomora.
Shing, clank—.
As I approached the mansion entrance, guards gripping halberds aimed their sharp points at me and said,
“This is the private property of Count Sardis.”
“If you have no business, get lost, barbarian.”
I pulled out a handkerchief I’d tucked away in my bosom and showed it to them. A fancy luxury item embroidered with a golden deer. The guards examined it and asked,
“This is a token given only to esteemed guests. Where did you get it?”
The Count Sardis mansion.
The security was indeed tight. It hadn’t been like this before—maybe during the past month I was in Delphi, orders had gone out to tighten it up.
Must be exhausting.
“Ask your young lady. Tell her Hassan of Samaria has come, and she’ll probably let me in.”
“Ah, Hassan of Samaria. We have orders to let you pass without inspection. Enter—.”
Surprisingly, just giving my name got me in right away. I should’ve led with that instead of all the back-and-forth.
So I followed the guards through the opened gate into the mansion’s garden. Autumn flowers bloomed brilliantly across the vast grounds—quite beautiful.
How much money did it take to maintain a garden like this in the pricey central West Gate district?
Of course, it meant they were that rich, so they could spare some pocket change for me.
The young lady here owed me, so she’d help with building the temple. With that in mind, I entered the mansion from the garden.
Black-dressed maids with thick black veils over their faces greeted me.
“Welcome, Sir Hassan. We’ve been expecting you.”
“Really? You were waiting?”
“The young lady mentioned you’d come. This way, please—.”
I followed the maid through the grand building, stepping on red carpet toward the reception room.
“This is the parlor for the young lady’s guests. Please sit and wait; she’ll be with you shortly.”
The maid left after that. A parlor for the young lady’s guests—like Enya Sardis’s dedicated reception room?
High nobility’s daughters apparently had private rooms for receiving guests. I suddenly wondered how many rooms this mansion had.
Probably a ton.
What must it feel like to live in a place like this?
Cleaning would be a hassle, but with servants, they’d handle it.
A personal chef cooking daily, and a dedicated coachman for any trips farther out.
Just thinking about it was impressive.
A life where tens of gold vanished monthly as a baseline.
The frames and porcelain decorating this parlor must be priceless antiques, untouchable by commoners.
But I wasn’t a commoner.
I was the damn powerful Golden God, Hassan.
So I got up and touched the porcelain and frames everywhere.
Touching expensive stuff in someone else’s house like this—is this the privilege of gods? It was damn amazing.
Right then, the door burst open with a bang, and I hurriedly sat back on the sofa. Before me appeared a woman in an amber dress.
Her face was veiled in black like the maids, and she walked with a limp, leaning on a cane—suspicious, but.
I knew she was Enya Sardis, the celebrated lady of Sodomora.
“Hassan, I knew it was time for you to come.”
“Really?”
“First, forgive my appearance for this reception. The head steward, Voltaire, passed away a week ago, so we’re observing mourning rites.”
“Ah—.”
Someone who lived here had died. That explained the maids’ black veils.
Thump—.
Enya limped over with her cane and sat on the sofa across from me. I asked her,
“How’s your leg?”
“Thanks to you, it’s improving. I can even run for a few seconds now. The healers say full recovery within a year.”
“I see.”
“So, you came to see me about this, I presume?”
She extended a small scroll from her hand.
It had a long message written on it, stamped with the count’s family seal at the end—my eyes went wide.
“This is…”
“The consent for temple construction. That’s why you came, right?”
No way—she knew my purpose before I even spoke. I was so shocked and scared my eyelids trembled.
Then Enya added,
“I heard about your exploits in Delphi. Impressive work.”
“You heard already? News travels fast.”
“Messenger pigeons are flying even now. Your story will spread in this city soon enough.”
Messenger pigeons.
I thought of the pigeons flying with tiny scrolls tied to their legs, bustling about. They were this world’s fastest info network.
“I hear you plan to build your own temple. You’ll need noble houses’ approval, then.”
“Ah, so that’s why you expected me?”
“Yes, Hassan. You’re truly frightening. You planned all this, didn’t you?”
“Huh?”
“The barbarian guise everyone scorns, fighting in the heretic wars as Pluto’s heir, building your own temple…”
“W-what are you talking about? What do you mean?”
“You can fool others’ eyes, but not mine, Enya Sardis. No need to play dumb in front of me, Hassan.”
Play dumb?
I was just living normally, but it felt like a slap to the back of my head, stinging my pride.
But that thought vanished the moment I saw the item she placed on the table.
Clink—.
It was a hefty bundle.
Clink. Clink.
As one awakening to become the great God of Gold and Coins, I could guess: about 500 gold.
“Is it 500 gold by any chance?”
“Exactly. 500 gold. Payment for healing my leg, and what you hoped I’d give. It’s all my investment funds. You knew I’d do this, didn’t you?”
She even nailed the exact amount—I gasped in genuine shock as she swallowed hard.
Ding—. My mind sprang with ideas like a coil.
I said,
“You got it exactly right. I kept it secret from everyone. As expected of the wise lady who saw through my entire plan.”
“As I thought…”
She seemed deeply relieved to have guessed my thoughts correctly.
I couldn’t see her face under the black veil, but with that 500-gold bundle before me, who cared.