Chapter 399: 399

[29th Round] Please Go Away…

I summarized the situation in my head.

I was fighting aliens in need of Romantium, a metal that was naturally generated on Fantasy.

That was the problem.

I risked my spine to protect it despite not even knowing where it was.

That was just stupid!

So I decided to find it.

“You surprised me, Han Soo. You were more aggressive than usual.”

“What… Ah!”

I tricked the mollanroids by syncing with Kang Han Soo, but it also affected my relationship with Kaisa.

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Sword Princess.

That was what I called her before.

But last night’s integration changed me a bit.

“Let’s go down from the tower.”

“Weird. A hero who went further alone should have already succeeded or lost, after which the end of the world should have come… That’s why I was more assertive than usual.” Kaisa blushed.

She wanted to enjoy every second with me… Ahem. Anyway, it was amazing.

“Something most likely went wrong with the Hero’s plan.”

After that, Kaisa and I left the bedroom.

The 50th floor of the Demon Lord’s Tower was a resting place complete with all the necessary amenities, thus allowing the Hero and his companions, who had passed the halfway mark, to rest in peace.

Blacksmiths, shops, hot springs, training grounds, restaurants, libraries…

All services were free, and friendly demons handled each establishments’ maintenance and management.

“Can I cook something for you?” Asked Innkeeper D, looking at us.

“Yes. I’ll have what the chef recommends. What about you, Kaisa?”

“I’ll have the same.”

Kang Han Soo usually ate only meals that were effective at replenishing the energy he expended, and Chef D, who knew this well, served bowls of rice and eel.

We had breakfast in awkward silence. It wasn’t because we were being distant from each other but because this place was deserted.

We were the only ones occupying this spacious dining room!

“…”

“…”

“It’s really tasty.”

“Yeah.”

It definitely was delicious.

Chef D had Cooking Z and Taste Z, so it would be weirder if the food weren’t this good.

But the supply and demand here weren’t balanced.

The tower’s challengers being served so well was definitely great, but it was a waste of resources.

I’d have to fix this later.

“No one will take away your food, so go up to your room and eat calmly, Snow Woman.”

“But Alex, every delicacy in this city is amazing!”

“…”

“The rice you cook is also yummy, but there are so many dishes here that I haven’t tried yet.”

“Okay! So be it. Ahem!”

Alex and Snow Woman entered the inn with a bunch of food.

They seemed to be having a good time.

I had known Alex’s restrained tastes since my first round, but Snow Woman was a glutton with a bottomless stomach.

“You should visit other restaurants as well, owner! There is lots of delicious food there!” The Snow Woman shouted enthusiastically, flapping her wings.

… I was so busy with Kaisa’s pelvis all night long that I didn’t have time to go anywhere.

“Calm down. You’re going to make your feathers fly in all directions.”

Since she was a mutant harpy, she maintained her slender body no matter how much she ate.

That eliminated any need for her to count calories.

“Oh… I envy her.” Kaisa, hugging my left arm, looked at the Snow Woman with an envious glance.

Well, I could understand her. The dishes served here were magnificent.

“Are you leaving today, Kang Han Soo?” Alex asked, wiping sauce off the Snow Woman’s lips.

“How did you know?”

With a serious tone, he replied, “Because a certain Hero I knew in the past used to have the same expression you have now whenever he’s pursuing a goal.”

“Is that so.”

Right. He knew Demon Lord Parmamon and Kang Han Soo were one and the same.

However, Kang Han Soo’s wife was present here, so we didn’t talk about it openly.

He was quite astute!

He did live for over 2,000 years, though, so this was only natural.

“It is. I’m planning to descend today and go on our honeymoon, which we postponed since we needed to help the Hero.”

“What’s with the rush?”

“We don’t know when this world will disappear.”

“Ah… I’m sorry. It was a stupid question.”

Sitting at an empty table nearby, Alex suddenly began to talk about his plans even though I didn’t even ask.

He decided to wait for about two weeks on this floor, and if the world still hadn’t collapsed, he would go to meet his old colleagues…

“So your memories are back?”

“… What gotten into me? It just happened.”

Really…

I looked at Kaisa again.

Still looking at Alex’s wife with envy, she trembled and hugged herself.

The Snow Woman, on the other hand, still had that “stupid chicken head” look on her face… as expected.

“Calm down, Kaisa.”

When the parallel worlds of Fantasy merged, the memories of the locals also combined into one.

“The worlds just fused together, and my memories did too,” Alex said, almost as if reading my mind.

“How did you figure it out?”

“Knowledge flooded over me like the legends written in books. Hmm. There’s even information about you. You were a Hero from a world called Earth, and you didn’t like me much.”

“Ahem!”

Based on his explanations, one’s memories seemed to have been compressed and combined in vague forms, similar to how one remembered dreams.

Reactions to this phenomenon seemed to vary from person to person.

“Demon…” Kaisa murmured, looking into my eyes.

That was what she called me in the last seconds of her life in the first round.

… Was this karma?

Whenever the protagonists of fantasy novels traveled back in time, they carelessly cast aside their former lives without worrying about the consequences.

They would exploit women’s personal information, which they didn’t even dare touch in their past life, to marry them. They would even steal the talents and futures their rivals previously possessed to make a fool out of them.

I wasn’t like them.

“Yes, Kang Han Soo, when he first encountered the world of Fantasy, was a demon. I will never regret destroying my party then, Kaisa Kureil, regardless of how you perceive it.”

“… Kaisa.”

“Oh? Well, yes. You are Kaisa Kureil, Duke Kureil’s only daughter.”

“That’s not what I mean. You called me by name.”

“…”

I couldn’t understand her.

How did it feel to have memories from multiple parallel worlds merge together inside one body?

Now that I had become a god, I could recreate this process if I wanted to, but I wouldn’t deliberately step on a landmine. Witnessing it as a third party was enough for me.

“Han Soo…”

“If you have any complaints against me, speak up.”

“You are the ideal man that I had dreamed of since childhood.”

“… I didn’t expect such a serious conversation to lead to a confession.”

“Of course. You never did understand my true feelings back then, after all.”

“…”

I glanced to the side.

Alex and the dumb chicken head watched us with excitement.

All I got from that was that I shouldn’t expect help from them.

Kaisa continued.

“When I first met you, I felt like I just found the legendary demonic dragon, who was also incredibly beautiful. I loved that you didn’t run after the skirts of the best beauties in the world and only strictly followed your goals, but when I asked you out on a date, you brushed it off.”

“Wait a minute. When?”

“Don’t play dumb. We were at the Leiper village of the Eastern Continent. I reached out to you at dawn while you, bare-chested and sweating, were training in the backyard of a two-story, blue-roofed inn…”

“… What?”

I didn’t remember anything like that.

“Let’s meet at the cemetery and go out for lunch together.”

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“Ah! I remember now! You wanted to lure me into the cemetery and bury me there…”

“The funeral of the village vigilante who died in a fight with you the day before was being held there. My colleagues and I even attended it. What made you think I wanted to bury you?”

“Look, Kaisa. I didn’t know about that part about the funeral at all.”

“That was an invitation to a date… I have been looking for opportunities for two years and hardly mustered up enough courage. I was so shy that I wanted to do it at dawn when all my colleagues were asleep, but Lanuvel was always awake around that time. Two years later, I finally found the chance I’ve been waiting for. Didn’t you know about that?”

“…”

No. I didn’t know at all.

“Looking back now, I admit I was very pathetic, but I really tried to get along with you. But you, without any hesitation, dismissed me with an expression that made me feel like you hated me…”

“…”

She seemed to have accumulated a lot of grievances.

All this time…

『A certain innocent goddess blushes at the story.』

『A certain innocent goddess scolds a certain righteous divine being for being stubborn.』

『A certain innocent goddess demands that he apologize immediately.』

… When did she show up?

『A certain righteous divine being wants her to be quiet.』

『A certain innocent goddess insists on her demand.』

『A certain righteous divine being wants her to be quiet first.』

『A certain innocent goddess nods.』

Even if one gagged her, these alerts wouldn’t stop…

I would have problems if I didn’t do what she wanted.

“Sorry, Kaisa! I was wrong!”

“I don’t believe you.”

“What can I do to make you believe?”

“Embrace me.”

“We do that every day.”

“Haaa… You are so handsome and amazing that my heart flutters every time I look at you, but sometimes, you just completely forget how to read the atmosphere at all.”

『A certain innocent goddess reproaches a certain righteous divine being.』

‘Someone take this goddess away from me…’

The notifications were distracting me way too much.

『A certain kind goddess pulls out a candy.』

『A certain innocent goddess is filled with joy.』

『A certain innocent goddess rushes towards it.』

… Seriously?

The Innocent Goddess was distracted by candy?

What kind of gods were they?

Be that as it may, thanks to Morality Teacher, I survived this crisis.

I hugged Kaisa, who was trembling as if in fear of something.

A quiet whisper entered my ears.

“You’re real and won’t disappear, right, Han Soo?”

“Yes.”

That made me immediately realize what she was so afraid of.

Constant regressions…

I knew how it felt to have one’s entire life crossed out and redrawn. I went through such an experience myself, after all.

That feeling of emptiness, of loss.

And she was going through something way worse than I did.

“My head right now… It’s filled with my memories of Heroes who became my husbands… It suffocates me, Han Soo. It hurts. I became the wife of whoever won some tournament and sometimes gave birth to their children. I can’t even begin to imagine how many men touched my body…”

“Calm down, Kaisa. I will still love you.”

“Whimper…”

She buried her face in my shoulder and sobbed.

Thanks to her, I was convinced.

The Fantasy Institution.

It wasn’t a mistake to close this place that served as a haven for social outcasts.

『A certain innocent goddess grins.』

『A certain kind goddess is confused.』

‘Please leave…’

***

Green Cake and the Guardian entered the inn’s dining area soon after.

It was frustrating to see Lanuvel’s daughter flirting with him, but now was not the time for me to think about it.

“How are you, Green Cake?”

“I’m sorry, father. It seems it’ll take some time for me to fully internalize my jumbled memories.”

He looked completely in disarray.

“Your son is currently trying to integrate all the experience he’s accumulated to achieve enlightenment, father. You shouldn’t bother him now.”

“… Who do you think you are?”

“I am Gal Seoyeon, daughter of the Heavenly Demon.”

“That’s not what I mean. Stop pretending to be my daughter-in-law.”

“Hohoho! I will take care of Green Cake, father. You don’t have to worry about him while you proceed with your journey.”

“Bitch! You bother me the most!”

But I couldn’t do anything about it right now.

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Kaisa needed to get fresh air to recover, and I couldn’t put it off any longer. I could be discovered at any time.

It was time to move out.

『A certain innocent goddess promises she won’t tell anyone.』

“Oh…”

This was really going to drive me crazy.