Chapter 185
Handmade (2)
……What exactly did that mean?
Even after hearing that absurd statement about using me to create some kind of agent of a god, and even though I was being dragged along without knowing where I was going for that very purpose, there was only one sentence circling in my head.
‘……His whole family died?’
I had heard a fair amount about a man named Aiden Kellermain.
One younger sister. One father. He had lived as an ordinary petty criminal in such a household, then suddenly got dragged somewhere and began to stand out.
It was an unusual background, but it wasn’t the kind of information that easily led one to imagine the kind of horrifying past he had just spoken of.
‘Now that I think about it…….’
I vaguely remembered hearing that he had once been a war orphan and had been adopted into his current family.
But it seemed like no one knew what had happened in between.
-My entire family once died because of me.
When he said that, his expression barely changed.
His tone was calm, and there was no sense of him pouring out intense emotion. It was as if everything had been weathered away by time, leaving nothing even if he tried to recall it now.
But, in other words—
It also looked like something he was suppressing deep inside, as if it would burst uncontrollably the moment he started letting it out.
“……”
No, more importantly, why had he even told me something like that?
It wasn’t like I was the only one around him he could talk to about such things. There was Lionhearted, the princess of the Holy Crown Kingdom, and plenty of others……
‘……Was it because I’m special?’
……Hm.
……………………Hm.
If I emptied my head and thought about it that way, I could run that kind of logic, but Cretin soon shook her head as if it were ridiculous.
Sure, we had gone through various incidents together, but building some kind of special bond with him? That was nonsense. At the very least, she was self-aware enough to know that much…….
“……”
Which only made it harder to understand.
Cretin, walking beside him up the mountain path, stole a glance at Aiden’s profile.
‘……I have no idea what he’s thinking.’
Of course, most of what this man did often made people wonder why he did such things, but even so, if you looked at the results and objectives, there was at least a minimal rationality that made you think, “I can see why he’d do that.”
No matter how reckless he seemed, there was always some consistency in that it ultimately led to the most beneficial outcome.
But the conversation we just had earlier was, quite literally, out of the blue.
I couldn’t grasp the purpose, nor could I predict any benefit he might gain from it…….
“……Is there something on my face?”
“……No.”
Perhaps bothered by how long I had been staring, Aiden turned to me and asked.
I simply shook my head since I had nothing to say.
Aiden gave a faint, amused smile and turned his head forward again as he spoke.
“This is already the third time here, but be careful. You never know what might happen.”
Mount Demon Sealing. This was already the third visit to this mountain where all kinds of demons were sealed.
It was becoming so familiar it almost felt like a hill in my own backyard, but it was still just as dangerous. Of course, I shouldn’t let my guard down—
“-Kyaaaaaaak-?!”
“……”
No sooner had I thought that than a creeping vine shot up from somewhere, wrapped around Cretin’s ankle, and dragged her downward. Aiden slapped his forehead.
Compared to the ‘talent’ she possessed, her personal combat ability was far too weak, so the moment you took your eyes off her, she got caught up in things like this…….
“-”
Taking a deep breath, Aiden circulated his ability through his body.
He shot himself downward as if propelled, swiftly closing the distance to Cretin’s falling body.
With a single kick, he snapped the writhing vine, then grabbed Cretin—still entangled in it—and tossed her back up onto flat ground.
“……Up you go.”
Climbing back up himself soon after, Aiden brushed off the dust on his body without even catching his breath, while the startled Cretin exhaled roughly and wiped her face.
“……W-why does this only happen to me…….”
It was a complaint that if those things reacted to detecting life, then Aiden standing right next to her was just as alive and moving, so why were the beasts only targeting her?
Aiden could only respond with a faint chuckle.
“It’s because what you carry is extraordinary.”
“……What does that mean?”
“It means that even if you’ve abandoned God, you can’t abandon the talent you were born with.”
“……?”
“To the beasts, you’re nothing more than a carriage overflowing with gold coins but without any guards.”
Beasts were, at their core, byproducts of Wornil, God of Devouring. That meant recognizing a ‘valuable’ target was almost instinctual to them. Along with assessing the risks involved in devouring it.
From that perspective, Cretin was a prey they couldn’t help but fixate on.
“……Do I look that delicious?”
“…………You’d do well not to say things like that in front of men.”
……This person, when I watched him sometimes, casually said the most dizzying things as if they were nothing.
Should I say he was someone who lacked boundaries in a completely different way from Princess Katya?
Cretin tilted her head at Aiden’s incomprehensible words, but instead of explaining, he simply shook his head and started walking again.
The mountain path that followed was similar to what they had experienced so far. Something would attack, Cretin would get caught up in it, and Aiden would deal with it.
But the destination at the end of that path was something Cretin had never expected.
“……This place…….”
It was somewhere she had visited before. A shrine on the verge of collapse.
Even the being sitting there waiting was exactly the same as before.
“You’re late.”
“I came as fast as I could.”
“You never let a word go, you damn bastard.”
The Mountain God spoke irritably as he brushed his hair back.
He still maintained a human form, but compared to before, the beast-like aspect of him had clearly grown much stronger.
Scratching his head with a forepaw that clearly showed feline pads, the Mountain God abruptly rose to his feet as they entered the shrine.
“Well, it’s not like I have any other method, so I’ll go along with it…… but are you confident?”
“I’m not.”
“…….”
“I’ve never tried it, so how could I be?”
The Mountain God stared at Aiden in disbelief at his completely unchanged expression, but Aiden simply shrugged and continued.
“But I’m strong in real situations.”
“…….”
“If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t even be alive here.”
Surviving actions taken with no other choice—at the very least, that could be considered his area of expertise.
“……You really are a guy I can’t grow attached to.”
“If more people start getting attached to me here, I’ll be in serious trouble.”
“…….”
“……My wife would kill me.”
“A guy like you doing something like this…… no, forget it. Talking won’t change anything.”
Shaking his head, the Mountain God trudged toward the center of the shrine.
What stood before him was a structure even Cretin could recognize.
An Altar.
A structure that existed in any place that served a god—practically the heart of such a place.
“Alright. Let’s finish this quickly.”
Saying that, the Mountain God beckoned to Cretin and Aiden.
“W-wait, what exactly am I supposed to do now?”
At Cretin’s question, Aiden stroked his chin as if considering how to explain.
“Ms. Cretin.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you still hate the idea of becoming a priestess?”
“…….”
Cretin’s body stiffened.
It was clear she had finally realized why Aiden had brought her here without a word.
“……I hate it.”
To be honest, that was the only answer that could come out.
But—
“……Still, if it’s for Rania, then it’s fine.”
Wasn’t there a saying about resolving what one had caused?
If Rania had ended up like that because of what she had done, then she wasn’t in a position to be picky about anything now.
And as if he had been waiting for those words—
Aiden suddenly grabbed her shoulder tightly.
“…….”
For Cretin, who had lived a sheltered life and, on top of that, had been training as a priestess without proper contact with men, it was an extremely stimulating action.
The grip tightening on her shoulder even made it feel like her heart was being squeezed tighter and tighter.
“I was waiting for that answer.”
“……H-huh?!”
“You are about to meet the God of Love and Intercourse.”
……Huh.
Wait.
It felt like everything had already progressed from start to finish without her being told anything.
But right now, seeing Aiden staring at her with burning eyes made her whole body twist for no reason.
She felt the urge to respond and demand an explanation scratching at the edges of her mind, but—
As if refusing to let her focus elsewhere, Aiden’s grip only grew stronger.
……Not only that, his face was getting closer and closer. Cretin pulled her neck back with all her strength, but—
As always, this man showed not the slightest intention of stopping what he was doing…….
“And I will go as your partner.”
“……What?”
And words far more stimulating than his actions slowly crept into her mind.
Wait a second, let’s think.
If it was the God of Love and Intercourse, then wasn’t that the god served by the Mountain God standing nearby with his arms crossed in displeasure?
If she was about to meet such a being, and this man was going as her partner, then that meant…….
‘……Uh, wait……?’
A partner of love and intercourse?
Partner?
The other party?
Spouse?
“W-what? What?! Waaaait—?!”
A scream-like voice burst out of Cretin’s mouth, but Aiden swiftly turned her body and pulled her into a tight embrace.
His steps toward the Altar clearly conveyed that he had already heard her answer, and all she had to do was follow.
“Let’s do well together.”
“…….”
……This man.
No matter what he did, he really needed to develop the habit of explaining things more thoroughly.
That thought drifted blankly through Cretin’s mind.
