205 God Ques (1/2)
”It is better to be a naïve idiot than it is to be Emordilorcan.”—Roland Mist.
There was no such quote in this world until I arrived. From a certain standpoint, Emordilorcan should even thank me for helping him be remembered by history.
Cough, I should get back to the point. When Aylos appeared before me, my first thought was that she had learned the truth about the incident in Auland and was now here for revenge.
My fear, however, turned out to be for naught. It transpired that after the Wind Elemental God Camdian received my invitation letter, he brought another Elemental Goddess who also had a deep grudge against Emordilorcan in order to increase our chances of victory.
”Back in the day, Emordilorcan joined the group assault against Sidunwar. If it wasn’t for his Earth Seal that blocked the water veins that connected to the ocean, my husband Sidunwar wouldn’t have perished in that battle.”
Her light-seeming words contained bone-piercing hatred, and her crystal-like eyes were filled with a grudge that had not dissipated but had instead only increased over the years.
In a way, Emordilorcan was truly amazing. At the very least, I didn’t have the confidence to live so well after angering so many people.
[No, according to the System’s calculations, there are far more that hate you. There is at least ten times the number of pitiful people that have suffered due to you compared to Emordilorcan. The number of your enemies, in both number and strength, can’t be surpassed by anyone in this world. In fact, I have been wondering if I should give you the title ‘Public Enemy #1.’]
”Shut up! Nobody will think that you’re mute if you don’t talk… Sorry, sorry, I wasn’t talking about you!”
I hurriedly apologized to Aylos, who had a shocked expression.
In a way, this was my first ever meeting with Aylos. After all, it was definitely overboard to tell her to shut up when she was talking about the reason for her deep grudge and her husband’s pitiful death.
Fortunately for me, perhaps it was expected of Aylos as the Water Elemental Goddess, but she seemed to have a very ”good temper.” She only smiled and seemed to completely ignore my outburst.
Since we all had the same goal, it was only natural that our discussion would be quite successful. This time, in order to truly kill off Emordilorcan once and for all, our invading team could be considered rather extravagant.
Although my team didn’t consist of many—there were only seven members, in fact—even the weakest among us was at the Legend rank. Margaret, Adam, and Amelia—my three strongest veteran SemiGod supporters—had all arrived, and they were the main forces for this battle. Eaglestorm, Beifeng, and Reyne—these three legends could be nothing more than our helpers, and it was also a good chance for them to improve themselves.
This was the strongest team that I could field that wouldn’t affect the normal day-to-day operations of the Northlands. As for taking Princess Reyne from East Mist? To be honest, Kelly and the others took care of most of the paperwork; Reyne was nothing more than a rubber stamper.
As for our reinforcements, I was only originally counting on Camdian to join us. After all, he harbored a deep hatred for Emordilorcan, and everyone knew the basic logic of ‘removing a problem at its roots,’ but I didn’t expect the Water Elemental Goddess to join us as well. After all, from what I recalled, we did have some small conflicts with her, and she should have been rather busy.
”The battle in Auland? That’s a matter between the seafolk and the humans. I’ve already done all that was necessary for me to do. That Queen of Storms does remember you quite clearly, though; after all, you killed three of her beloved pets and even created that monster with their bodies. As long as she has some free time, she’ll definitely directly take revenge upon you.”
Aylos’ words were quite believable. As for the Queen of Storm’s reaction, it was just as I expected. As per my understanding of the Ancient Elemental Gods after much contact with them, I realized that they indeed lacked interest in the Holy War; they had experienced it multiple times already.
While the benefits could be great, the risks were greater. Without enough benefits to be gained, it would be impossible to have those sly old foxes fight with their all and risk their lives.
For example, what attracted Emordilorcan to fight to his fullest for the beastmen was the role of ‘Guardian God of the Beastmen’ that had been left empty for such a long time. If the Earth Elemental Dimensional Door had successfully connected the Earth Elemental Plane to the mortal plane, Emordilorcan could have obtained the Divine Obligations of ‘Guardian God of the Beastmen’ as well as ‘Guardian God of the Northlands.’ This would make him a True God and rapidly increase his power.
However, it was evident that the Water Elemental Goddess would be unable to obtain any of these conditions in Auland.
”The Storm Queen’s always been on guard against me, so she couldn’t possibly allow more of the seafolk to become my believers, and nor do I have any need to fight for her with all my might. For me, revenge is the most important thing of all, and the conflict between you and the Storm Queen has nothing to do with me. Moreover. if you return my husband’s possession to me, I can agree to a request of yours as long as it isn’t overboard; I can also help you mediate this conflict.”
Aylos displayed a rather sincere expression. To her, the Ocean Bottle itself wasn’t important; it was a memory of her late husband.
”Possession? Oh, that bottle!”
Hearing this, I immediately looked in Camdian’s direction. I had only brought it out that one time in the underground labyrinth in order to seal the Earth Elemental God. It seemed that this guy had rather sharp eyes.
Camdian simply shrugged and exhibited a rather casual expression. ”Sidunwar, who controlled the seven seas, had a similar status to the God of Holy Light for you humans. It’s impossible for me to not recognize his God Equipment, even if the divine power contained within it has almost completely disappeared.”
I hesitated for a moment, not because I was unwilling to part with that God Equipment since it had only minimal divine power remaining and its practical usage was practically nil. The reason for my hesitation was because it was a part of my mega high-level quest.
[Congratulations to my host for triggering a Legend-rank God Quest: Revival of the Ancient Sea God]
[The Ancient Sea God Sidunwar was the strongest God of his time. At his pinnacle, there were multiple Main God-level existences under his faction. Back then, the Queen of the Storms was just a rookie who couldn't even fit into the ranks. Although he was crazy to challenge the Order Goddess Astrya and is now dead, thanks to fate and coincidence his God Equipment, which contains his secrets and inheritance, is now in your hands. It has even been activated by divine power from the same source. Perhaps, in this dusk before Armageddon when many Gods are now active, the power of the Ancient Sea God can be revived.]
This God Quest was truly ridiculous and had three parts to it. The first step required me to gather sea-related divine power to feed Sidunwar’s Ocean Bottle so that it could evolve into a SemiGod Equipment. The final reward was an astonishing 100,000 Fate Points, with zero punishment involved if I fail.
With my understanding of this System of mine that loved to set pitfalls for me, the larger the reward, the more difficult the quest would be. With such munificent rewards, the final level of this quest would probably be unimaginably difficult.
Recently, various bothersome things had been on my plate all at once, so I had set this quest aside.
”On one hand is an incredibly difficult quest that I may be unable to complete even if I try my utmost, while on my other hand are tangible benefits that I can receive immediately. I already have too many bothersome things to deal with, and this particular bother isn’t too important to take care of. Let’s just forget it.”
And, so, I personally handed the Ocean Bottle to Aylos. She received it from me and clutched it to her chest with an expression filled with nostalgia and sadness.
”…Thank you. If only Sidunwar was willing to listen to me, he wouldn’t have ended like—wait, what!?”
Just as she said only half of what she intended, Aylos suddenly stopped in shock. All that nostalgia and sadness vanished completely, to be replaced with astonishment on that pretty face of hers.
”How is this possible! There’s actually still his Divine Spirit contained within here, and it’s in the midst of reviving? How is this possible? Sidunwar can still revive? My husband still has a hope of reviving?”
I’d never seen anyone’s expressions change so rapidly. From sadness to surprise, from surprise to delight, and in the very next second, her delight turned to despair!