97
Set came to his senses the day after learning about Yeon Ji-ho’s pregnancy.
“Apophis. I’ll find the coordinates somehow, so create the gate.”
“…Your Excellency, as you know, depending on the coordinates you obtain, we might not be able to use a one-time gate. So, even if we make one…”
“I know. It will take 6 months to create a proper gate.”
Set’s cheeks were hollow, having lost weight in such a short time from not eating properly since losing Ji-ho. He looked down at Apophis with an expressionless face and said,
“That’s fine. You make the gate as quickly as possible.”
Just because Set had come to his senses didn’t mean he started taking care of himself. He harshly pushed himself, sleeping and eating only the bare minimum.
He didn’t miss the basic exercises and training he needed to do either. He moved like a machine, deciding what was absolutely necessary and what wasn’t. Watching the amount Set was doing, one could feel his fierce determination.
“…Understood. Your Excellency, but about your meals…”
“Don’t worry about it, Apophis.”
All Set had eaten just now was a few pieces of jerky. Apophis was about to say more about it but eventually gave up. Before learning about Ji-ho’s pregnancy, Set hadn’t even been taking care of this much.
As Apophis bowed his head and withdrew, Set sat down at the table connected to the center of the caravan, still expressionless. Then he looked down at the maps covering the table and sank into thought.
Coordinates. Where should he go to find the coordinates?
Chronos had gone to the Village of Time to seek advice, but it hadn’t yielded any significant results. They had extensive knowledge about time, but were ignorant about methods of traveling to other worlds or spaces. Another world… Someone who might know about other worlds.
It was when Set was frantically marking various places on the map with a quill pen.
THUD!
With a heavy, enormous noise, the caravan tilted. In a moment when the massive vehicle could have toppled over, Set moved outside in the blink of an eye and caught the caravan as it was about to fall sideways.
After preventing the caravan from falling over without a change in expression, Set looked up at the top of the caravan with an impassive face. He saw a giant man looking down at him, basking in the sunlight on the flat roof of the caravan.
“Baal.”
At that call, Baal, who was standing above, lightly jumped down with both legs, landing on the ground with a thud. As he was about to slowly approach Set, Set moved first.
“…”
Set approached Baal and without hesitation grabbed his nape. As Baal tried to resist in his rough grip, Set raised sword energy in his palm to create a dagger. Then, without hesitation, he plunged the dagger into Baal’s shoulder.
“You, damn…”
“These are things Ji-ho left behind.”
“…”
“Don’t touch them carelessly, Baal.”
Crunch.
Baal only frowned, looking at Set despite having a dagger in his shoulder. Set’s bloodshot eyes were visibly abnormal. Seeing this, Baal twisted his lips into a smile.
“Now you’re starting to look worth my time.”
“…Baal.”
“I was wondering how long you’d keep wearing that miserable mask.”
Baal chuckled repeatedly. This was the Set Gorgon he knew. Someone of his own kind. A man who nurtured a monster inside, agonizing over whether he would be devoured by that monster or if he would devour it himself.
The difference was that Baal had lived rolling on the lowly ground without ever learning to hide it, while Set had not.
“I guess you thought you were really the ‘protagonist’ now.”
“…!”
Set’s eyes widened at the word that came out of Baal’s mouth. Yes, why had he forgotten that? The talk of protagonists, genres, novels that Hadad had been spouting.
That’s what he needed to figure out first.
To meet Ji-ho, he needed to follow Hadad’s footsteps. Realizing this, Set released Baal’s nape as if throwing it. Baal then casually pulled out the dagger from his shoulder.
As soon as Baal removed the blade, the dagger made of sword energy disappeared, and blood immediately gushed from his shoulder. As Baal was wiping the blood with an annoyed face,
“Are you done talking? You bastard Baal! Now get me out of here!”
Was it a young boy, a young woman, or an old man? It was a strange voice. But it was also infinitely familiar to Set.
Set looked up at the voice coming from above the caravan. He saw a face peeking out between large sacks. Above the face were large, perky fox ears that couldn’t be hidden.
“…Ganesha?”
“Boss! It’s me! I’m back!”
As Set’s gaze fell on him, Ganesha struggled to stick out his finger from inside the sack and wiggled it. Baal snorted briefly at the sight.
“It was a bit of trouble catching that stupid fox kid.”
“Awoo! I was resting so well!”
Set lightly jumped up onto the caravan, then untied the tightly bound mouth of the sack. Ganesha quickly popped out of the sack, shaking his fox ears.
Even out of the sack, Ganesha’s height barely reached Set’s shin. He was a beastkin, now rare as most had been captured as slaves, even shorter than Chronos.
“My tail, tail, tail. Is it still there? Yes! It’s still attached! Boss, look at this! I reattached my tail!”
Ganesha reached behind him and pulled out his bushy fox tail that poked through his pants, stretching it out. The lush tail gleamed even more than before it was cut off during the war.
“…Ganesha.”
“But did something happen while I was gone? Boss, and even Chronos over there, everyone’s faces look so gloomy!”
“Ganesha. Do you know anything about other worlds?”
“Huh?”
Set grabbed Ganesha by both shoulders. Though he looked and acted young, Ganesha had actually lived even longer than Chronos. Set asked Ganesha, grasping at straws.
But Ganesha only tilted his head without giving any meaningful answer. Ganesha stretched his neck to look at Baal and asked,
“Baal, is this why you brought me?”
“No. I was going to roast and eat you.”
“No! I taste bad! If you’re going to eat someone, eat Isquis instead! Wing meat is always more tender than tail meat!”
Ganesha, who had been whining, shrugged his shoulders and returned to his conversation with Set. Rubbing his chin, Ganesha finally opened up properly.
“You know, Boss. Do you know where I went to reattach my severed tail?”
“…Where?”
“The origin of the world. Yes, Yggdrasil!”
It hadn’t changed at all even though it had been so long since I’d been there, you know?
Ganesha added with a bright smile. Set listened to Ganesha’s words without even blinking.
“You know, I met a god there.”
Ganesha was busy grinning even while telling this unbelievable story. If it wasn’t Set, if someone else had heard it, they might have dismissed it as crazy talk. Because Yggdrasil is a tree that exists everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
“And that god told me something.”
“What did they say?”
“They said you’re going to die, Boss!”
The smile never left Ganesha’s face. He grinned broadly, cupping his hands under his chin like a flower. Set looked at Ganesha without any reaction to the prophecy of his own death.
“And, since they knew I’d meet you like this, they asked me to pass on this message.”
“What was the message?”
“Yeah, they said they hate mean comments the most.”
“…What?”
“So they hate you too.”
Conversations with Ganesha always felt disorganized, chaotic, and inconsistent, like talking to a child. But that statement soon aligned with another.
“So they said you’ll die in the most painful way.”
Ganesha’s words were more fundamental than anything else.
As Ganesha finished speaking innocently, Set removed his hands from his shoulders. Then, straightening his back, he looked down at Ganesha.
“Who are you?”
At Set’s question, Ganesha rounded his eyes. Still cupping his hands under his chin, he nodded and said,
“Ahaha, you’ve already figured it out? You’re so sharp, even though I created you!”
His manner of speaking and actions were all exactly like the Ganesha Set knew. But the difference was that Ganesha cared for Set. It was Set who had freed him from his status as a beastkin slave.
So even if he could smile while telling Set he would die, he couldn’t be so innocently excited about Set dying painfully.
Ganesha removed his hands from his chin and spread his palms as if saying “ta-da!” Then he said,
“It’s me, the god of this world!”
