Book 2: Chapter 197: The trade has been established (3)

The Dominating Aura, which had been running wild wanting to fight against the God of Balance with its aura, became quiet.

‘Hey, hey!’

Cale continued to call out to him internally, but…

– …I think he is pretending that he can’t hear you right now?

He stopped calling for that bluffing bastard after the Sky Eating Water explained to him in a tone of disbelief.

Flash flash.

The Blood Demon’s old bedroom continued to flash between dark and light.

‘Hmm?’

Furthermore, the pressure pushing down against Cale’s body appeared and disappeared over and over.

On the other hand, the pressure quickly reappeared when the bedroom was bright.

It was as if darkness and light were having a battle of strength.

Furthermore, he had not been able to hear the voices of the gods since earlier.

Cale was sharp enough to get a basic idea of what was going on.

‘Are the God of Balance and God of Hope seeing who is stronger right now?’

Gods.

These clearly amazing existences were having a battle of strength but Cale was not being affected at all.

It would not be wrong to say that the pressure that the God of Balance had been giving him earlier was the full extent of the aftershock.

“I will ask once again.”

He heard the God of Balance’s voice again.

“God of Hope, what are you doing here?”

‘……Huh?’

Cale’s eyes clouded over at that moment.

‘I think I heard the God of Balance’s voice again just now?’

A voice that was gentle and calm… But also extremely stern and overbearing to the point that she would not give you any opening.

He could hear a slight shaking in that voice.

‘Oh.’

Cale started to think.

‘Is the God of Hope stronger than the God of Balance?’

Cale heard a voice in his mind at that moment.

– Hoo. How very interesting.

It was the Dominating Aura.

Cale frowned.

– Oh **! I subconsciously talked! Time for me to go! ‘Haha-

The Dominating Aura rushed another goodbye and became quiet.

– So dumb.

Cale simply nodded his head at the Sky Eating Water’s mumbling.

He heard a new voice at that moment. It was the God of Hope.

“Don’t you know about the times that I appear?”

‘Are there set times for the God of Hope to show up?’

Cale felt that what was happening here was quite important information and perked up his ears.

“…Yes, I am aware.”

The God of Balance answered in a cold voice that was completely void of its usual gentleness.

“Where hope appears, just as hope disappears. You also appear before an existence with hope falls into danger.

Ha.”

The God of Balance let out a sigh-like laugh.

“Oh God of Hope, you continue to hinder me time after time.”

“The God of Chaos said the same thing.”

“Are you telling me that I said the same thing as that bastard who is out of his mind?”

Flash flash.

Light and darkness flashed even quicker than before.

Cale almost got dizzy because the environment was changing so fast.

The pressure suppressing Cale had completely disappeared as well.

“…Huuuuuu.”

In the end, the God of Balance let out a sigh.

“Cale Henituse.”

Cale turned his head after hearing her calling his name.

It was because he thought that he might be able to see what this god looked like.

“Don’t you dare be so impudent.”

Cale’s head quickly stopped moving.

Flash.

The room fell into darkness at the same time.

The pressure that had been wrapped around Cale disappeared.

However, Cale still did not turn his head again. He did not want to mess with the God of Balance.

‘I feel like it won’t be a joke.’

The Dominating Aura had urged him to go against that god, but Cale’s instincts were telling him.

If it was not a fight of auras but a real fist-to-fist fight, he might die from a single flick of the God of Balance’s hand.

‘I’ll just stay right here.’

Cale looked extremely docile as he sat down.

“At least you can understand that.”

The God of Balance spoke with satisfaction before continuing to speak.

“Cale Henituse. I want you to think hard about what I said to you. That is your one and only answer.”

The God of Balance had told Cale to become a god.

Everything Cale had done had to become a story of becoming a god, a mythology, in order for him to handle the weight of the imbalance he had caused.

Other gods and worlds were handling that imbalance right now, but the karma would move to Cale and his friends as Cale’s actions grew bigger and bigger.

As a result, the God of Balance was saying that the balance would only be fixed if Cale became a god.

“It might be okay until this world, but the things you are about to do in the next world will create an even greater imbalance.”

The next world that Cale would go to was Aipotu.

“That is a forgotten world. There is no existence like Central Plains or Xiaolen to handle the imbalance.”

It was a world where the Dragons ruled over everything.

There was no world to communicate with Cale in that place.

It also meant that a world was not there to handle the imbalance.

“The gods helping you will try to carry the burden of those imbalances, but… They too will reach their limits.”

Cale thought about the gods who were helping him.

‘Is she talking about the Fire of Purification and the God of Death?’

The God of Balance continued to speak.

“Your conclusion that you will create in the next world. I hope you can give me an answer to my proposal before then. Only then will everything be able to come to balance.”

There was a time limit to that offer of becoming a god.

She was talking about when Cale would have finished everything he needed to do in Aipotu.

“Huuuuuu.”

The God of Balance sighed again before speaking in an extremely sharp voice.

“I will go now so that is enough.”

She then said goodbye to Cale.

“Next time we meet, I hope to hear the correct answer and not the wrong answer.”

Click.

He heard the heels again.

Click.

The sound was farther every time he heard it.

Click.

And once it was so faint that he could no longer hear it…

Cale felt odd.

He had this feeling that he should raise his head and look around.

He slowly raised his head.

It was still just darkness.

He couldn’t even tell that this was a bedroom any longer.

‘Hmm?’

He looked around.

He did not see the God of Hope.

He could feel that something definitely existed here, but he could not see the figure.

‘Something is weird.’

Cale raised his head in shock after looking around to answer his question.

“Ah.”

He let out a gasp.

‘Where is this place?’

He realized that the domain he was in was larger than what he had expected.

It could not be helped.

What he saw as soon as he raised his head was extremely small lights as small as sand stabbed in the darkness.

‘They are not stars.’

The light was different from the stars.

Even the larger ones were like sand while small ones were as small as dust particles.

The sizes of the lights were very faint.

Even the brightest ones were faint compared to the stars.

It was what allowed Cale to know that the sight he saw when raising his head was not the night sky.

“Child.”

The God of Hope Called Cale child.

“As expected, you can see those lights.”

Cale subconsciously started to speak. He felt as if he could speak freely to this god.

“What are those lights?”

Cale naturally spoke informally as the other side did the same.

He used informal speech with the God of Death, so there were no reasons for him to speak respectfully to the God of Hope.

The God of Hope answered.

“Those lights are the hopes that you have made.”

‘…What?’

“The hopes you have created until now have created the lights inside your darkness.”

“…The hopes that I have created? There are such things?”

“Haha-”

The God of Hope laughed out loud with joy.

“I had a feeling you would react like that.”

The god continued in a chuckling voice.

“Child, the God of Balance probably wants you to become a god to go under her faction.”

Cale’s expression stiffened up.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Mm. You are a child who only likes to hear the core of things, so I will give you a simple explanation.”

‘Oh. I kind of like this God of Hope.’

Cale thought that this god at least seemed to know him well.

The potential to become a god is currently being formed inside of you. It is leading in a direction to turn you into an extremely high level of god. That is why the God of Balance wants to get you before anybody else, have you under her command to see how you grow.”

Cale scowled.

“It is because you have the potential to take over for me.”

The God of Hope asked just as he flinched.

“Do you know of the Ancient Gods?”

He had heard about them.

“Including Balance, Chaos, and I, there are a total of five Ancient Gods. We have continued to protect these seats without ever handing it over to another existence. My my, we are all quite greedy. We all desire power as well.”

‘Apparently.’

Cale was inadvertently nodding his head before he stopped.

He let out a fake cough as the God of Hope continued to speak.

“Anyway, the God of Balance has always been in confrontation with the God of Chaos.”

“That’s understandable based on their names.”

“Right? But there is someone else that the God of Balance hates the most.”

“You?”

“Yes. She hates me the most.”

“Why?”

“Hope, from time to time, creates large flows that ignore all balance and chaos.”

‘Mm.’

Cale crossed his arms and quietly listened to the god speak.

“Hope is the existence that creates new fate.”

To create a new fate…

“That is why the God of Balance wants to have you under her control, as you have the qualities to succeed me.”

Cale thought that the God of Balance sounded like the type to do that as he opened his mouth to speak.

“Because if I become the God of Hope she can control me since I am under her?”

“Who knows? I won’t answer that question.”

Cale nonchalantly asked the God of Hope who avoided answering the question.

“In that case, did you come here to prevent me from going under the God of Balance?”

“No. That’s not important.”

The God of Hope casually asked as if that question was wrong.

“Child, isn’t there something that needs to come before anything else?”

The god casually asked another question.

“Child, don’t you have no desires to become a god?”

“Ha.”

Cale let out a short laugh. He nodded his head without any hesitation.

“Yes, I have no desire to become a god.”

The god immediately responded.

“But I’m sure you are worried about the karma that would affect you or your people because of the weight of imbalance the God of Balance mentioned?”

“…You seem to know me pretty well.”

“It is because I was the same.”

Cale flinched after hearing that casual response.

The God of Hope explained as if it was no big deal.

“I did not want to become a god either. However, it was a situation where I had no choice but to become a god. Someone had to carry the burden. As for me, rather than the lonely position of a god, rather than the qualification to exist forever without an end, I want to cheer on your dream.”

‘My dream?’

Cale subconsciously said what came to his mind when he thought of his dream.

“…Being a slacker?”

“Yes. That is such a wonderful dream.”

The God of Hope’s voice was serious as if she truly felt that way.

Cale pretended not to notice and started speaking again.

“…You said that hope can create large flows. In that case, are you going to step in to create a flow that will erase that karma?”

“No. That’s not the case. Didn’t I already tell you? It is not me but hope that creates such flows from time to time. I simply came to you to tell you a little story.”

It was at that moment.

Flash.

Cale saw the lights floating above him turning off one after another.

Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-

A mysterious gust of wind blew by as well.

He looked toward the direction of the breeze.

That place was dark as well.

However, there was an extremely faint and small light.

Cale instincts were telling him something.

That light was the God of Hope.

‘Hmm?’

Cale could see something behind that small light. It resembled a person’s face.

However, it soon disappeared as if he had been mistaken.

He heard the God of Hope’s voice again.

“The World Tree of Aipotu has lost its intellect while the Dragons have cast aside their duty.”

“Ah.”

Cale’s eyes clouded over.

After realizing that the story the God of Hope was going to tell him was about Aipotu, the world he was going to visit next, he figured out that this was a ‘hint’ or useful ‘information’ for him.

Information useful to Cale right now was how to bear the weight of the imbalance the God of Balance mentioned.

“As it is a place where the World Tree, Dragons, and even the world itself are not proper, there are no existences there to handle a large flow. However, whenever something disappears something always appears to replace it. That is the law.”

The surroundings slowly became brighter.

“Cale.”

The god called Cale’s name for the first time.

“Look for the Blue Wolf.”

Cale thought of one of his friends at that moment.

Lock.

A member of the Blue Wolf tribe and the heir to the Wolf King.

“Even before ancient times… There were numerous creatures that existed long before human history started. Among them, there was an existence that was both fierce and merciful.”

An existence that can handle the numerous imbalance and variables that were to come in the Aipotu world and persist through the changed flow and fate…

“The ruler of the predatory animals, the King of the wild beasts. Find the Blue Wolves who have lost their standing and are being forgotten.”

Cale’s mouth opened.

However, the God of Hope was faster.

“We do not have much time.”

Cale could see that the darkness was fading quicker than before.

However, the small light in front of him was not shaking at all.

“Take your Blue Wolf and the black Dragon. Once those two children decide on their respective paths, and only then, will the flow finally change.”

She had to be talking about Lock and Raon.

“And this one thing I wanted to make sure to tell you.”

The darkness had disappeared.

The God of Hope’s figure was almost not visible in the now bright bedroom.

A faint and small light would not be visible under a bright light.

However, in the darkness, it could be the only source of light.

The God of Hope’s voice became faint.

“You won’t get to rest if you become a god.”

“Ha!”

Cale unintentionally scoffed.

However, he seriously firmed up his resolve.

‘I will not become a god.’

He had no interest to start with.

‘God my ass.’

Cale was disgusted with gods because of the White Star and the sealed god.

Furthermore, he didn’t want to be buried with work all the time like the God of Death.

‘It would be better to work for his highness!’

Cale shook his head and blinked.

He believed that he would be back in the Blood Demon’s bedroom as he had been before.

“……?”

However, that was not what he saw when he opened his eyes.

‘…I’m laying down?’

This soft feeling behind his back and something warm covering his body…

This was definitely a bed.

‘…Please no.’

Cale slowly looked to the side.

Huff huff.

He heard heavy breathing.

He had a bad feeling about this.

“Human!”

He made eye contact with Raon.

“It’s been 47 hours, 24 minutes, and 31 seconds!”

‘Aha. I’ve been unconscious for that long. These mother**ing gods! I want nothing to do with them!’

Cale started to frown.

Cale had regained consciousness just as it was time to go home.

* Author’s Note

Side Story 6. The God of Death’s Observation Journal. If you were to read that again, I think it would be more entertaining now. Haha!

Translator’s Comments

You definitely want nothing to do with these gods Cale.

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