So… What Exactly Is Going On Here?
“So… what exactly is going on here?”
“Sniff. Sniff.”
It had been, what, five seconds since we entered the gate?
The angel who'd spotted me had hidden herself behind my back and started crying.
Whatever fear she'd felt before entering the gate was long gone—she'd been doing nothing but sobbing this whole time.
“Can one of you two explain?”
When I asked, both Cheongun and Cheong-ah turned their heads away, dodging my gaze like they were trying to dodge responsibility itself.
“Haah…”
In the end, I had no choice but to approach the angel still crying behind my back.
“What happened?”
“Hic—waaah!”
At my question, she only cried louder. Flustered, I picked her up and patted her back until, after a while, the sobs subsided and she explained what had happened.
“So let me get this straight. Cheongun dropped you off a cliff as a 'joke,' and Cheong-ah tore your clothes to shreds and then chewed, bit, tasted, and 'enjoyed' every other part of you?”
“Hic… yes…”
To summarize the angel's account: Cheongun had dropped her from the heavens of Cheonji and shoved her off a cliff—supposedly to test whether her wings were truly gone. And Cheong-ah was just… Cheong-ah. Under the banner of 'play,' she'd chewed, tasted, and savored the angel.
“Haah… I'd expect that from Cheong-ah, but Cheongun?”
“Th-that is, well…!”
The moment I singled him out, Cheongun fumbled, unable to get a proper word out. Honestly, if we're assigning blame, it was mine for shoving the angel in here in the first place.
“Hey, you imugi who's lived for thousands of years.”
“Yes…”
“Did I tell you to watch her so you could act however you pleased?”
“No…”
“Then why did you act however you pleased?”
“Well, that's…”
Cheongun scrambled for an excuse, desperate to wriggle out of blame, but one look in my eyes and his head drooped straight down.
“You're the elder here, older than Cheong-ah, and yet…”
And with that, I unleashed a full lecture of old-fogey nagging on him. When it was all over, Cheongun—
“I'm sorry…”
—his spirit utterly crushed, trudged off and flew back toward Cheonji.
“And you, Cheong-ah?”
“Yes?”
Cheong-ah answered with an innocent, guileless smile, as if she were some little child who knew nothing at all. The Cheong-ah who'd been nervously watching me at first was already gone.
“Cheong-ah?”
“Y-yes?”
When I called her name again, she started sweating. That's the reaction of someone who knows exactly what she did wrong.
“Cheong-ah, you…”
Once more, I showed her the textbook model of an old-fogey lecture. And when she'd heard every last word of it—
“Waaah! I hate you, Oppa!”
—she shrieked and bolted.
With Cheong-ah fleeing off into the distance, I turned back to the angel, who was still sniffling.
“Feeling a little better now?”
“…What?”
She looked up at me in surprise, as if stunned that I'd scolded the two of them on her account.
“Y-yes!”
“Good, then.”
But there were things I needed to hear from her. I had plenty of information on demons and demonkin, but far too little on angels and gods.
This is my chance to get some answers.
There were two reasons I'd chosen to win her over rather than threaten her. First, I had no intention of killing her—and if she was going to live, it was better to build goodwill for the long term. Second, she was pitiful. Sure, I'd kept provoking her during the fight because I needed her to lose her reason, but deep down I'd felt sorry for her. Threatening her on top of all that just seemed too cruel.
“I'm going to ask you some questions now. Can you answer them for me?”
“Yes! Of course!”
She would answer every question with all her heart. And so I finally threw out the first one.
“Well then…”
“Alright, I get the picture now.”
About two hours. A Q&A session that felt both long and short had come to an end.
“So I understand the situation. What are you going to do from here?”
“I…”
The angel couldn't finish her sentence. She was no longer an angel. Which meant she had nowhere to go.
“If you've got nowhere to go, why not work here?”
“…Can I really?”
Frankly, I didn't think this fragile creature posed any threat to me. And since I was partly to blame for the state she was in, I couldn't just throw her out. At the very least, I intended to offer some minimal help.
“If you want to, you can stay. If you'd rather not, you can live outside—and if you do, I'll support you in my own way…”
“I…”
A delicate angel experiencing society for the very first time. For someone like her, there was really only one choice. I'd offered the other option only for appearances—I knew she'd never take it.
“I would like to work here, please.”
“Good.”
Just as I'd predicted, she chose to stay at Cheonji rather than venture outside. The world was far too dangerous these days for a naive child like her to be wandering around in.
“Then follow me.”
“Yes.”
I led her to the elixir farm I'd built near Cheonji.
“What is this place?”
“A farm that grows elixirs.”
It hadn't been many days since I'd last visited, but fortunately the elixirs were in decent shape. I examined them once more with the power of the earth, then spoke to her.
“What's your name?”
“J-Juliet.”
“Juliet, huh… that's a lovely name.”
It sounded like a name out of some famous old fairy tale. A good name, certainly.
“I'm thinking of putting you in charge of managing this place. Would that be alright?”
“Managing this place…”
Judging by the way she looked around, she liked the place—but whether she'd accept the offer was another matter. Truth be told, when I'd first seen her, I'd doubted she was really an angel.
That endless natural affinity I'd felt from the very first moment.
An affinity like that was something you'd only sense from a fragment of the World Tree. She herself was nature, and nature was her. With an affinity for nature equal to the World Tree's, she was unquestionably an irregular.
“You want me to manage this place?”
“That's right. Manage it however you like, as much as you want.”
When it came to this, someone with her natural affinity would do it better instinctively than I ever could.
I grow stronger by eating the elixirs she cultivates, and she gets a place to stay under my protection.
A relationship of mutual benefit. For now, that was enough.
“I accept the role of managing this place.”
“And I'm the one who should be thanking you.”
And so I joined hands with Juliet. It wasn't my first time taking an enemy under my command—but it was my first time taking an angel.
“Looking forward to working with you, Juliet.”
“And I with you, Master.”
“…Master?”
“You have given me a home and given me work. Therefore, you are my Master.”
I was briefly taken aback by her words, but I didn't feel like arguing over a form of address.
“If that's what you want to call me, go right ahead.”
With that said, I called for Cheongun and Cheong-ah.
“…”
“…”
The two who came when called hung their heads in identical poses, like twins, saying nothing at all. Cheongun's mental state was still in shambles, and Cheong-ah was still sulking.
“Let me at least make introductions. Juliet will be managing the elixir farm here starting today.”
“My name is Juliet, entrusted with this place by Master's command. I look forward to working with you, Lord Cheongun, Lady Cheong-ah.”
The Juliet who said this bore no trace of the clumsy creature from before. She bowed with such composed, elegant grace it was almost startling.
Can a person really change this much? Well—she's not a person, she's an angel…
It was such a strange thought. The Juliet standing before me now was on a completely different level from the one before. The two who'd received her greeting just stared back at her, dumbfounded.
“You two? Did I do something wrong?”
When neither of them reacted, Juliet tilted her head and looked at me, as if hoping I'd supply an answer. But I didn't really have one to give.
“Master?”
When I stayed silent, her curiosity only deepened.
In the end, getting those two and Juliet properly introduced took quite a while.
Haah… what am I going to do from here?
Lying on my bed, I replayed everything Juliet had told me. The ranks of angels ran from 1st to 9th Class, with Archangels above them. That much matched what I already knew.
The problem was what came next.
There's something above even that?
An angel occupying the position of Pride among the demonkin. The strongest angel in name and in fact—one whom even all the Archangels charging in together could not defeat.
Archangel Babel, huh…
The tower humanity once built in the past to reach heaven and the gods had also been called Babel.
That's probably no coincidence.
There had to be some connection between the Tower of Babel and Archangel Babel. That much I was certain of.
Aside from Babel, the information on angels was roughly what I'd already known. The real problem was the gods.
There are over a hundred thousand of them, by rough estimate.
There were certainly gaps in power among them, but the sheer numbers were a problem.
Even the weakest gods are on par with—or stronger than—the S-ranks from near the end of the world.
If a horde of that size came crashing down on me, holding out would be difficult. And if the Chief Gods joined in, it would be far worse.
Sin Dansu, God of Creation.
Angra Mainyu, God of Destruction.
Odin, God of Wisdom.
Kronos, God of Time.
Zeus, God of Lightning.
Vulcanus, God of Fire.
Poseidon, God of Water.
Gaia, God of Earth.
Lucifer, God of Light and Darkness.
And above all ten of them—the Chief God, commander of every god in existence.
It felt like a dozen different mythologies thrown into a blender. But those ten were the heads of the pantheon, the absolute rulers of all gods.
“So someday, I have to beat them?”
Ten supreme gods. Of those, the ones I'd learned about through Juliet numbered nine.
The tenth had never once appeared in any official capacity—known only to exist.
Demons and demonkin, gods and angels.
The enemies I'd eventually have to face were overwhelming. If I fought them right now, I'd be torn to shreds.
I didn't want to die now—and I wouldn't want to in the future, either.
“I need to get stronger, faster…”
The truth was, I'd been stuck in a plateau for a while now. After fighting the Sword Demon in Japan, I'd trained hard enough, but I'd seen no sign of further growth. I'd hit a wall.
There were roughly three ways to break through it. One was all but impossible, so I set it aside—the other two I'd already experienced once each.
A complete transformation of body and soul, or reaching Level 200.
Unless I achieved one of those two, that wall would never break.
I should start preparing, at least.
I had to be ready for whatever was coming. And just as I'd expected, a great trial was already bearing down on me.