Chapter 120 – Goddess Descent (2)

In your typical hero story, you usually meet a goddess when you get transported to another world.

But I never experienced anything like that.

In fact, I’d never even met anyone calling themselves a goddess.

So I didn’t even know if they existed.

But now that I’m face-to-face with one, I know for sure.

“That is what I am called.”

A relaxed, smiling face.

I’d always thought if a so-called goddess ever appeared before me, I’d twist her into a pretzel.

“That would not be wise.”

She must be a real goddess, seeing as she read my mind.

“I cannot stay long. My time is quite limited.”

“Then what brings you here?”

Since you’re so busy.

“I came because I believed it was time for you to know, and time for you to ask.”

The goddess spoke in a voice so sweet it was like dripping honey.

Right, there were so, so many things I wanted to ask.

“Why did you stuff my knights into my inventory?”

“I did not do it. It was their choice.”

“But I had no idea.”

“You know now, and you will continue to learn more.”

Such vague nonsense.

It’s my inventory. I never collected and stored my knights.

I’m not some psycho who madly captures cute monster friends just to show them off by throwing them into an arena and making them body slam each other.

“It is not that I do not understand your anger.”

“Anger? No. It’s not that simple.”

It’s not just anger; it’s hatred.

To think that while I was completely unaware of their existence, they were watching me day and night from inside my inventory.

And I didn’t even know they were by my side.

If you’re going to give me a power like this, you should at least provide a manual.

Even a simple razor comes with instructions.

“They wished to be your knights and vowed to help you.”

Those guys who suffered so much even when they were alive.

And now they’re staying by my side as if that wasn’t enough.

I’m only human, so I’m grateful and happy.

But at the same time, it’s agonizing.

“Do not be tormented. They will have their just reward.”

She sat on the hallway bench, crossing her legs. Then she patted the seat next to her.

“Sit. I imagine what you truly want to ask is something else.”

You’re probably looking into my mind anyway, so can’t I just speak freely?

“I am not seeing, but inferring. Of course, it is not that I cannot see. But the moment I decide to look, the voices of the many people praying to me would make it difficult to understand what is being said. That is why I usually keep it closed.”

“You can just keep it closed like that? To the point where you just stand by and watch Demon Kings run amok like madmen?”

If a being called a god had done its job, it would have stopped those Demon Kings from committing such absurdities.

“Things do not go easily as we wish. All we could do was prepare a substitute.”

Saying that, she pointed at me and smiled.

“And have you not grown up splendidly?”

“Goddesses are pretty useless. I should tell them to tear down all the temples.”

“Yes, that would be for the best. We will soon cease to exist, after all.”

What’s that supposed to mean?

“Exactly as it sounds. The goddesses can no longer fulfill their role, and a new goddess will appear. That is how the ‘System’ was originally designed.”

I thought this goddess, shimmering with a brilliant golden light, was just a useless firefly.

“That is a rather harsh metaphor.”

See? I knew this lady was reading my mind.

“Let me ask you something.”

Yes, there was a question I’d always had.

I wanted to ask someone, not necessarily a goddess. But there was no one to ask, and no one who could answer.

“What am I?”

The master of the Holy Sword.

The Hero who saved the continent.

A high school student kidnapped to another world.

The strongest S-Rank Supporter.

A modern-day caretaker for a band of misfits.

I’d simply thought I’d awakened in that other world and gained the Inventory ability.

But it’s a different kind of ability.

It can store people, and now it can even analyze and extract from them.

Perhaps, I am…

“Yes, I thought you would ask that.”

The goddess’s lips curved into a gentle arc.

“Are you curious about your past life?”

With the way this conversation is going, I can kind of guess.

The Holy Sword had definitely been lost.

The reason it had called out to me so desperately was simply because its very existence was on the verge of fading away. It was a last-ditch effort before its demise.

But the moment I held it in my hand, it was magnificently restored.

It’s not perfect yet, but it generated enough powerful ether to form the sword’s blade.

The Holy Sword contains the goddess’s blessing. And this holy power is no mere magic.

Gods are born from the prayers of mortals. Holy power is a gift from the gods, and gods, in turn, generate this power through prayer.

“You were one of our family.”

Just as I thought.

Honestly, I don’t remember a thing.

“You were a child who did your work so decisively. Hehe, thinking of those days makes me nostalgic even now.”

“Was I some kind of immortal?”

An undying being. It refers to people like the residents of the divine realm.

“Yes.”

I’d asked without much real curiosity, but her frank admission suddenly piqued my interest.

What kind of person was I in the past?

“You in the past? Ah, before your reincarnation, you were a very diligent child.”

The goddess chuckled, as if recounting a fond memory.

“You preferred self-training to your actual duties. You were an impressive child, lifting dumbbells every day, determined to prevent muscle loss.”

“Ah…”

“You even claimed the angels were out of shape and needed to start pumping iron.”

“Uh, excuse me, was I perhaps…”

“An expert. Mmm. Yes, in the words of your world, a gym rat.”

Damn it.

“So, have you had your fill of bench presses yet?”

I’m speechless.

“It was quite sad when you died by suffocating during a failed bench press, trying to hit a 5000 total.”

“That’s a joke, right?”

I asked because it was so absurd, but the goddess hesitated for a moment. Then, she replied with an awkward smile.

“A-A joke, of course. Pay it no mind.”

“…”

What kind of life did I even live?

Stunned, I rubbed my dry face and spoke.

“Okay, putting that aside for now. What is my Inventory ability?”

-Yes, like that.

I remember the woman who looked so happy watching my hand gestures.

The memory that I unknowingly used and unknowingly recalled during the Earth Dragon incident.

The blond-haired elf who smiled while holding me in her arms.

No, thinking back, what I saw wasn’t blond hair.

It was a woman enveloped in a warm, golden light.

Just like her, the one before me now.

“To be honest, I still do not know.”

The goddess murmured as if lamenting, her eyes filled with sorrow.

“I gave you what you wanted, but I do not know if it was truly the right path for you.”

I’d always found it strange.

When I first went to the other world, I adapted quickly.

It wasn’t just because I’d consumed subculture media or because of some hero trait.

The other world felt familiar to me.

I was born and raised in the modern world.

Or so I thought.

I was an orphan, and I left the orphanage when I became a high school student.

I wondered if I even had a family. I resented them, but I also missed them.

Perhaps that’s why I felt an unconscious kinship with Katrinne, and why we naturally became a family before I knew it.

One of the strangest things.

I was in the other world for eleven years, but when I returned, my rented room was exactly as I’d left it.

As if someone had been waiting for my return.

Normally, the house would have been sold or cleared out.

The woman who asked me with a gentle smile that resembled the sunlight.

-What kind of person do you want to be?

I answered.

I’m going to be a hero.

She looked at me lovingly. Holding me in her arms, she asked again.

-Why?

Feeling her warmth, I replied.

I want to always have a lot of people around me.

She kissed my forehead and nuzzled my cheek.

Drip, drop.

Tears fell on my cheek.

The surroundings were nothing but ruins.

The buildings were collapsed, and not a living creature could be seen.

“I am sorry, so very sorry.”

Hearing the same tone and voice from my reverie in reality, I lifted my head without thinking.

The goddess was smiling, tears dripping from her eyes.

“Become stronger.”

I’m already strong.

“No, you must become even stronger.”

The divine order has already collapsed, and the world—the dimensions—are filled with chaos.

“There is no more time.”

“Wait a minute.”

“Become strong enough that no one can threaten you. And… try not to judge people by their muscles.”

“That’s not it.”

The golden light shining from Diana’s body vanished.

The goddess’s advent was over.

Hey, I was about to ask how to get home, and she just says her piece and disappears?

I’m speechless.

“Um, Sir Hero…?”

Now that it was over, Diana looked at me with an awkward smile.

“It’s nothing.”

If she was going to come all this way, she could have at least explained things properly. She just spouted a bunch of vague nonsense and left.

It just made my feelings even more complicated.

“Sir Hero, the goddess asked me to give you this…”

Diana handed me a small box.

I took the box and opened it. Inside was a system USB, shimmering gold as if it were her signature color.

“She said she backed up everything you were curious about and everything you needed inside.”

She really does things her own way.

Right, there’s still so much I don’t know.

Even that Company Man guy spoke as if he knew something.

It was incredibly frustrating.

To check the contents, I put on my power suit and inserted the system USB.

Data immediately began downloading to my local system.

“Um, Sir Hero?”

Diana spoke to me cautiously from the side.

I want to focus right now.

The vast amount of data was neatly organized by a table of contents. And inside was all the information I wanted to know.

Yes, everything.

Why the inhabitants of the other world became monsters. And what the ‘100 Mages’ who invaded this place were.

***

“Kei, Kei!”

A large, hulking man ran up, urgently looking for his leader.

“What is it?”

Unlike the frantic man, Kei was perfectly composed.

“It’s been severed…! It’s been severed…!”

The man screamed as if in despair.

Kei knew exactly what he was talking about.

He had expected it.

“We’ll have to assume that the Immortal Demon King, Gamigin, is dead.”

“Impossible. Who? Who could kill the Demon King who brought ruin to the continent?”

At his words, a faint smile touched Kei’s lips.

“Who else but the Hero?”

“The Hero…? There were more than ten of those guys. Not a single one of them dared to touch the Demon King’s sacred body!”

“Either they were fakes, or this one is the real deal.”

The ‘real deal’ Kei was referring to was Hunter Lee Hyunbin.

He had received intel that Lee Hyunbin hadn’t been seen for the past few days.

He was supposedly on vacation, but even a background check revealed his whereabouts were unknown.

Kei deduced that the Hero had crossed over to the other world, sent by the elder of the moderate faction.

“Wh-What’s going to happen to us now…? Huh?”

“…”

At his words, Kei silently rested his chin on his hand and closed his eyes.

He ran a new simulation in his head.

It wasn’t good. No viable solution came to mind.

Their goal had been to manifest the Demon King Gamigin in this land.

They had offered many sacrifices for him and were preparing an even grander plan.

“It’s over.”

“Over…? It’s over…?”

The large man collapsed where he stood, his spirit broken.

It was only natural.

Unlike the moderates, these hardliners hadn’t crossed dimensions for their own safety.

They had come here solely for revenge.

But the Hero’s power was beyond all common sense.

To think he’d personally cross dimensions to kill a Demon King. And in such a short time.

‘It’s not that there are no options.’

Now, fewer than ten comrades remained.

To get revenge on this world with these numbers, they would have to serve a new Demon King.

‘Lee Hyunbin…’

It was unfair. For one person to possess such immense power.

If he had been there back then, perhaps Kei himself wouldn’t have been so broken.

He still remembered it when he tried to sleep.

The ‘mages’ who had massacred the villagers with grenades and machine guns.