By Zephyria 
It wasn’t yet three years since the promise, but I was always impatient.
The Sun God occasionally passed on various messages, but the Sun God was originally a being who showed more affection to those who believed in him and offered prayers diligently. The people of the Sierran Empire mostly believed in the First Goddess, and even then, many were not devout, keeping them distant from the Sun God.
Perhaps that’s why. All the words the Sun God conveyed through Leon were vague.
“He says you seem to be doing well.”
“He says everyone is alive. Huh? Who is ‘everyone’? Well, it’s just that only two or three people appear to have been murdered in the Sierran capital each day… That’s the average, he says.”
“Things were noisy here and there… but it quieted down again soon, he says.”
“Zombies? Zombies don’t seem to be able to reach human villages. He says they haven’t disappeared completely, but there are the most in Felix…”
It was like that.
Only Ruben could receive daily confirmation of his safety from the God of Records. Even then, it wasn’t a complete reading of Ruben’s surroundings, merely proof that the Divine object had not sustained any particularly strong impact.
It was a great relief that Ruben had not been physically attacked by anyone, but there were many others in Sierren whom I cherished and needed to protect besides Ruben.
Were Mother and Father well? My siblings? My family’s Knights, and my relatives including my paternal and maternal grandfathers? And my close friends from the Academy and the kind professors, my amiable neighbors…?
On nights when such troubling thoughts filled me to the point of unbearable distress, I couldn’t sleep at all. While my companions slept, I took out my sword to clean it.
When did I no longer need proper sleep?
Now, the six Spirits, fully bloomed into a pure blue, sat in a line on the bare floor, quietly watching me. They were rather quiet for Spirits, much like me. How fortunate. I wasn’t in the mood to listen to them chatter right now.
“Michael.”
“…”
“May I sit next to you?”
Gano Paquin subtly shifted to sit beside me.
Gods do not need to sleep. So, every night when all our companions slept, he would stay awake alone, guarding our group and the embers. However, he had never interrupted my contemplation like this before.
As is common with gods, Gano Paquin didn’t even blink or breathe. Yet, his presence was so distinct that being this close to him gave me an unsettling feeling, like looking at a well-sculpted Golem.
I subtly moved about four hand spans away to avoid him sitting too close.
He gazed at me with a soft look.
“What is it?”
“Just… why aren’t you sleeping?”
“You know why.”
“…”
I consciously blinked once.
I still blink. I breathe. I swallowed. I even heard my own heartbeat. I wanted to prove to myself that I was alive. This was especially true when I looked at the form of a god, as if a human and a non-human had been crammed into one body.
Even though it wasn’t the first or second night I had spent alone, was there a need to point it out?
My chest felt tight, and my brow furrowed involuntarily. I lowered my gaze to my sword and continued cleaning it. The cloth, well-oiled, was not dirty in the slightest. As I did, Gano Paquin spoke again.
“Still, you should sleep.”
“Still?”
“Yeah. Even if you don’t need sleep.”
“…”
Today, I had swallowed the tenth shard of a god.
I had taken in one-third of the Ninth God.
The realm above Hwagyeong that I had imagined was not like this. I vaguely imagined that realm to be a path opened by some absolute enlightenment.
What would someone who hadn’t even reached Hwagyeong know?
I had lived believing that it was a realization gained by intensely focusing on a single point, like playing Go or fishing. I believed that this realization would grant Reversal of Aging to the old and allow ascensions to hermits, opening the path of Mu.
But what was I doing now?
I vividly remembered the surprise I felt when I first became a Grand Sword Master and could see the Mana swirling around me with my eyes. Even then, I hadn’t doubted for a moment that I was human. Now, I couldn’t be sure if I was looking forward or backward.
The new vision I had gained was one of looking down from above.
This act of looking down upon someone felt like the gaze of a god, not a human. I feared that the karma I was meant to receive for embracing the source of the Ninth God might be the abandonment of my current life. Was I falling for a wrong lure and doing something I shouldn’t?
Rustle. A couple of my companions made sounds indicating they had woken up.
Instead of speaking aloud, I used Sound Transmission to ask casually,
[Am I still human?]
[Of course. You are human.]
[And will I remain so?]
[… ]
Gano Paquin didn’t answer immediately.
I sheathed my sword. I knew Gano Paquin’s gaze was fixed on my cheek, but I didn’t turn to look at him. I idly stroked the gem of the bracelet, its surface polished from being so frequently handled.
On my wrist, the Artifact I received as proof of graduation from Shierun Academy still hung. It was thanks to it that I could still clearly recall Ruben’s voice. This Artifact, which could always reverse my memories and whisper sweet moments into my ear, had brought me back to being human many times.
[… Since it’s been a while, could you hold my hand just once?]
The voice the bracelet’s magic conjured today was Ruben’s, heard around the time of the first Hunting Festival.
I remembered how delighted Ruben had been when I wore the vest adorned with black gems that day. The blush that spread across his pale face, filled with affection, was a beautiful memory.
Gano Paquin, seeing that I wouldn’t continue speaking, finally stood up.
“Michael Ernhardt. If you’re sleepy, sleep. Don’t just mope around.”
I couldn’t fathom his intention in speaking aloud when he could have used Divine Speech.
❖ ❖ ❖
Several more days passed.
Even in the Magic territory, the sun rose in the morning.
A deep purple sky was brighter than a black one. Beneath it, the sound of pages turning echoed multiple times. Whenever Gano Paquin decided on their next destination, he would invariably review the records he had written.
While he determined their next path, the others ate breakfast.
Holding a wooden bowl, I brought its contents to my mouth. The familiar taste of stew made from grain flour was accompanied by the crisp texture of mushrooms. It was surprisingly delicious, which I found rather astonishing.
At Hugh Benson’s feet, simple lines were drawn, almost comically basic for a map.
The Magic territory was endlessly vast and constantly changing in terrain. A hill seen yesterday might disappear the next day, and land where we had rested a month ago could become a swamp the next time.
Therefore, the map drawn on the ground had no geographical features marked. It only briefly noted the locations of points we had confirmed and the dates we visited.
“Shall we try going this way next? It’s four days north from here.”
“Go further north from here? We’re already quite deep in. You didn’t even throw it that far away to begin with.”
“That’s true, but we’ve seen the lower areas at least once. The end of the world is to the north…”
“We haven’t seen it all.”
Hugh Benson’s fingertip tapped a particularly wide empty space between two dots on the map.
“I haven’t been there either, though?”
“Oh, dear. Did anything immediately appear from a place the god hid? I scoured from there to here before, and nothing came out, so that monster might have fled this far.”
“And if there’s nothing?”
“Then there’s nothing. Look. As we go further north, the Mana concentration…”
Hugh Benson drew lines connecting the points we had already visited with his fingertip, explaining as he went. Gano Paquin grumbled continuously, scolding the humans who didn’t trust him. Beside them, bickering, Sylphs clapped their hands and burst into laughter. It was so unusual that I looked at them with great surprise.
I had raised and trained the Spirits like intelligent dogs. Benjamin, lacking Mana, would summon a Gnome and then dismiss it, summon and dismiss, but I always had an abundance of Mana, so there was no need for me to do so.
The Sylphs moved around in tight groups. They couldn’t go too far, and even if they strayed a bit, they could skillfully find their way back to me. If they saw something strange or beautiful, they would chatter for half a day, but they were generally quiet and well-behaved.
Therefore, the Sylphs rarely interfered when plans were being made.
I had consistently taught the Spirits that children should not interrupt adult conversations. Not only I, but the others also looked at the fussing Sylphs.
One Sylph smiled brightly and landed right on the map point Hugh Benson had indicated with his finger.
[There’s a bird! A bird! A flower-blooming bird!]
“A flower-blooming bird?”
[Yes. A talking bird came and went!]
“…How do you know that?”
[I heard it carried on the wind!]
It felt as if someone had struck my chest with a drumstick. My heart pounded loudly.
I asked involuntarily.
“…Are there Ranunculuses?”
[Yes! I hear bird calls!]
“Many? How many?”
[Five?]
We were beyond the Yuil Mountains, in an area where the Mana concentration was incredibly dense.
Unlike Spirits, who could borrow the power of their Sword Master masters to withstand the surrounding Mana concentration through contracts, Ranunculuses, being Magical Creatures, would often return to nothingness in Mana concentrations above a certain level, no matter how well-trained they were. Thus, we couldn’t bring even one.
If I could catch a wild Ranunculus, perhaps it could deliver news that I was alive here.
My lips felt parched with anticipation. I licked my lower lip with my tongue and surveyed my companions. While the others also brightened and nodded, only Gano Paquin tilted his head in confusion. It had been a long time since I found his bewildered expression not unsightly.
“Here…? Ranunculuses… It shouldn’t be possible.”
“Then that’s even better, isn’t it? There must be something strange. Perhaps a Black magician’s nest.”
“…Ah.”
“Isn’t it time we started seeing the results of all our hard work?”
The companions’ gazes fell upon me. How much stronger was I now compared to before?
I scraped the remaining stew from my bowl and swallowed it, then nodded.
“Yes. Let’s go.”