Protagonist Knows Everything

It was 11 o’clock. The winds were quite cold despite it being a late summer night.  I quietly put a blanket on Kasha, tied it up and put Kasha on my back.  I looked like a fisherman tugging his haul.

‘Don’t drool on my back.’

I quickly left the dormitory and headed for Jeriel’s abode.

I collected a lot of additional information by wandering around the estate.  Apparently Jeriel lived in a shabby room quarter near the inn just outside the temple.

Maybe it was out of consideration, but the innkeeper refused to let me enter Jeriel’s quarters.  No it was natural to refuse someone’s entry this late at night.

“Never.”

“I thought so. I don’t have time, so let’s get over this quickly.”

“What do you mean?”

I opened the personnel register and looked at the landlord’s information.  And did what I do best. Using the information, I ‘negotiated’ with the landlord.

It took less than 10 minutes for him to allow my entry into Jeriel’s quarters.

“Hey, hey. I don’t know how the hell knew about that, but…”

“Yes Yes. I’ll keep it a secret, now go back.”

“……”

“Don’t worry. I have no intention of doing anything weird.”

The landlord retreated with a conflicted expression on her face.

***

[Snore]

Twenty-three-year-old Jeriel kicked off her quilt and was barely hanging on to her bed.  Comparing only her sleeping habits, Kasha looked much more mature.  I laid Kasha on her floor and covered her with a blanket.

“Woo.”

Until now, I’ve only dealt with people, but is this really going to work?

No. Worrying now won’t get me anywhere. I’ve come this far, I am gonna see this through.

I pulled out the dagger that I had spent the whole day searching for.  It’s blade sparkled with magnificence under the moonlight.

“Hold it with both hands and point the blade down.”

“Hup.”

[Thwack]

[Thud]

I was flung across the room.

[Thud.]

“Ah!”

The next moment I found myself lying on the floor.  At the same time, the room was filled with a golden light.  I covered my face with one hand while my eyes were trying to adjust themselves to this dazzling glow.

In the meantime, a strange voice reached my ears.

“What are you trying to pull off?”

It was similar to Jeriel’s voice.  However, that deep reverberation wasn’t something that human vocal cords could generate.

I could barely open my eyes, but the silhouette was definitely Jeriel’s.  Her hair stood up against the law of gravity and her eyes were gleaming a golden light.

‘Personnel records’

I wanted to check God’s information as well, so I called out the personnel records despite this situation.

[Name : ???]

[Gender : ???]

[Age : ???]

[Occupation : ???]

And I immediately gave up.

Nothing was marked.

‘Huh, so that’s the limit of my records.’

In other words, only people are recorded, goddess, ghosts, and monsters weren’t my forte.  The number of ‘???’ the file had, made it clear that whatever I was dealing with, wasn’t a normal person.

My heart was beating violently but I somehow managed to deliver a plain tone.

“Nice to meet you. Goddess Parmel.”

“……”

“I thought if the life of the next saint were to be in danger then you would definitely appear.”

Slowly her hair sank.

“You purposely aimed for my child’s life, just to call me out?”

“I had no intention of killing her.”

“Don’t lie in front of me. Your intentions were clear. You think I wouldn’t be able to tell that?”

At those words, I picked up the dagger from the floor, aimed it at and then stabbed my own heart.

[Flinch]

Not me, but Parmel flinched at the sight.

On impact, the blade of the dagger rolled up without even leaving a scratch on my chest.

I threw the handle away and said, “It’s a toy. I found it in a magic prop store. Well it cost me the whole day to make it look like an actual dagger though.”

“……”

“I didn’t think that the goddess would be fooled by this basic kind of a trick.”

“Apart from the dagger, your intentions were real…”

“Is that so?”

“…”

“It is an honour then.”

I bowed a little there and continued to speak.

“Since ancient times, there has been a prospect to decorate the mood and expressions, suitable for the job. My job.”

“And that somehow made you good enough to deceive a God?”

“You can just assume that I acted out of desperation and let this matter go.”

“……”

“Or maybe the goddess cares a lot about Jeriel.”

In this world, gods are similar to the gods of Roman mythology in my previous lives.  Humanoid omnipotent gods, who make mistakes and regret.  Same here, gods that were once deceived by the humans and now try to find peace by taking care of someone they deem worthy.

Meanwhile, Jeriel…-no Parmel sat on the bed.

And she said, crossing her legs and looking down at me.

“You are a strange human being. You knew I was inside Jeriel, you even tried to test a god…”

“……”

“And… you are not kneeling in front of me.”

“I have arthritis. please reconsider.”

Parmel’s eyes sharpened.

I slowly opened my mouth.

“Of course, if you release Kasha’s curse, I will kneel in front of you as many times as you want.”

“So…..”

“……”

“That curse on your woman, that’s the curse of the Secreed.”

‘Who’s woman?’  

Before I could explain anything, Parmel continued.

“I don’t know how nasty the world outside this place had become.”

‘There are many things you don’t know. Goddess.’

“Reminds me of the old days.”

“…”

“I observed you from the beginning, but I don’t like the way you speak to me.”

“……”

“Are you angry? Confused? Or are you gonna blame me for not resolving things 300 years ago.”

“Neither.”

I told her while politely bowing my head.

“There is only one thing I want. It is to release the curse of our precious A-plus adventurer. She’s the cornerstone of our guild, if she falls then all of our guild’s growth will be in vain.”

“I don’t think that’s the real reason.”

“Huh?”

“No. Nothing. Men are dull as they used to be.”

The goddess’s lips were slightly raised.  I thought those words were unnecessary and cleared them from my head.

“I originally asked Ms. Jeriel, but it was useless.”

“It’s difficult even though this child is conscious of me. I want to lend my power but she doesn’t have faith in me.”

“She’s more devoted than anyone else.”

“Just the direction of her belief is wrong. How long will she keep calling me Jui?”

Her words feigned dissatisfaction but yet she smiled while talking about how Jeriel referred to her as Jui.  It was a stupid smile but yet quite adorable.

“I don’t understand. Still, you are a goddess, a miracle or a prophecy would make it easier for her to believe.”

“I don’t want to gain faith that way. For others I might, but not for this child.”

“……”

“The saint from 300 years ago accepted me as Parmel without any evidence whatsoever. I expect the same from Jeriel”

‘That’s a complicated god.’  Without wasting any more time I went straight to the point.

“Anyway, as you’ve come out already, releasing the curse would be easy.”

“……”

“……”

“Please release Kasha’s curse.”

“And why should I do that?”

I expected a reaction like this so of course I had countermeasures.

But first, let’s try to play the innocent victim.

“Why? It’s the Demon’s curse.”

“Hebrew. Yes, the Demon King is definitely a disgusting one.”

“……”

“But in the end, he was defeated and forgotten. There’s no need to make fuss over his name anymore.”

“Tch.”

I slightly clicked my tongue, this god wasn’t going to make things easier for me.

“First of all, I don’t like you.”

The goddess got up from her seat and approached me. She was in Jeriel’s body who was surely taller than Kasha but still couldn’t match up to me.

She looked up at me and said, “You have eyes that seem to see through everything.”

“It’s an overstatement.”

“The guy who believes that he can use everyone as he pleases. The ones who have a lot of confidence in their abilities. The ones I hate the most.”

“……”

“The one who had clear intentions of killing my child just to meet me.”

“Go back. And don’t come back here, ever again.”

‘I can’t do that.’  Kasha had less than 4 hours left, if that time runs out then all of it will be over.  ‘No. That’s inconceivable.’

I cleared up my thoughts and opened my mouth with a calm tone.

“Kasha is going to be the Great Sage.”

“What? The Great Sage?”

Parmel’s eyes were wide open.  A god was surprised like a human being.

“You mean like Arsleine 300 years ago?”

“Yes.”

“Arsleine had a close relationship with the saint. I was observing Kasha closely but she doesn’t look like someone who’ll be the great sage.”

‘You’re talking like Nortel.’

“When she first joined the guild she was an A class adventurer, she rose up to A-plus class in a single year.”

“……”

“I’m going to take her upto S-class in the near future. After that…maybe she’ll reach the hero status?”

“And why do you believe that?”

I raised my hand and pointed at my eyes.  

The goddess also forgot mannerisms, grabbed her belly and laughed.

“Ahaha. Are you going to use your keen eyes in front of me, rookie?”

“I’m sorry, but, yes I am.”

“Yes. Even your arrogance is moderated.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to lose to anyone regarding my keen eyes, even if the other person is a god.”

The goddess seemed a little angry.

I noticed it and said, “If I didn’t have good eyes then why would I search for Jeriel, instead of Lorelie who’s said to be the next saint candidate?”

“……!”

“I searched for Jeriel myself, please trust me.”

Parmel seemed to have a hard time answering.  I repressed my impatience and waited for a while.

Before long, the goddess’s mouth opened, “Good. I Admit it. You are special.”

“……”

“More than anything else, your human scent is quite mild compared to the rest, you almost smell like a newborn baby.”

She was clearly onto something but I didn’t answer.

Since it’s just been over a year since I moved over to this side after losing my last life. So it won’t be wrong to say that I am still a newborn.

“But even if Kasha is the person who will become the Great Sage, I still don’t see a reason as to why I should break the curse. Of course it’s quite regrettable that such a talent will go to waste. But I still don’t have a reason to help you.”

In the end it came to that. Then I’ll also go along with the plan that I created in advance.

“If that’s the case, I’ll pay you a price.”

“To me?”

“Yes. As I was going to raise Kasha to be the Great Sage, I will raise Jeriel to be the next Saint.”

At those words, Parmel couldn’t hide her excited expression.

“If she wants to become a saint, Jeriel must acknowledge and accept you as the goddess, right? I’ll help you with that.”

“How specifically?”

“There are many plans, but first of all, I will tell you only one of them.”

I slowly told her about the plan I had.  I wonder if that plan would sit well with a god, but she listened to me quite patiently. The explanation was over after 5 minutes.

I kept my silence and waited for the goddess’ judgment.  In fact, she pretended to be calm but it was clear that she was quite nervous.

I played all the cards I had. I did everything I could.  Now all I could do was wait.

After a while, Parmel’s mouth opened, “You’re a wicked guy.”

“Thank you.”

“Well, your plan seems fun. I didn’t like that scammer from the very beginning anyway.”

“……”

“300 years ago, it was quite unpleasant to be the saint while my child was treated like someone’s possession. This time that doesn’t seem to be the case. Good I’ll help you.”

She slowly turned her body away from me.  And approached Kasha, where she was in her dreamland. 

She stopped and then she said, “If you really make Jeriel a Saint, then I’ll give you a lot of the goddess’ blessings.”

“……”

“But if you break the promise then you’ll regret it. For a long long time. Don’t look forward to it.

“Now hush.”

She put her hand on Kasha’s head.

“Huh. Even after 300 years, it’s still a nasty curse.”

“……”

“Stop sleeping and get up. There are people who are worried.”

Nothing really happened.  

There was no blinding glow or the sound effect of a song or bells ringing in a distance.  The goddess just said something and lightly flicked Kasha’s forehead.

And at the same time, Kasha opened her eyes.

“Who is it! I was having very good dream right now!”

At the moment, my neck jolted.

I asked as embarrassingly as possible, “What was your dream?”

“The dream of going on a picnic with Tay, Elena, and Sain… Huh? Tay? Why are you in my room?”

This was a question I once heard from Kasha herself.

I stroked my face with one hand as I checked the personnel records for Kasha’s health.

[Health condition: Peak]

[Secreed’s curse has been released]

Meanwhile, Kasha, who became a little conscious of the situation, said in a hurry, “What? Huh? Eh?”

No it seemed like she didn’t understand the situation at all.

I said with a beaming smile, “Kasha. This is St…No, it’s the Goddess.”

“What?”

“Get down on your knees quickly. You don’t have arthritis.”

Parmel looks at me with an absurd expression.  By that time I was pretty confident in my ability to make the goddess look like that.

“Anyway, your wish has been granted. When will the plan be executed?”

“To release the curse is like receiving an advance payment. You’ll face problems if you’re too hasty with the procedure.”

“……”

“Okay, don’t look at me like that. I will proceed with the plan immediately tomorrow.”

“Okay. Now go back. It’s quite late at night.”

The goddess said with seriousness in her eyes.

“Jeriel hates waking up the most.”

She was a goddess who cared deeply for her child at least.

I said to her while bowing my head in gratitude, “Thank you very much.”

“Now now, don’t pretend to be polite. It’s more annoying that way.”

“Haha.”

Parmel lay back down on the bed, quietly covering herself in the blanket.

And after a while.

[Pak]

Suddenly, she kicked the blanket with her feet and her position went back to the original modern art it once resembled.  That was the confirmation that she was back to being Jeriel.

“Tay.”

“Huh.”

“Tay!”

“Oh, wait!?”

[Whack]

Kasha suddenly jumped into my arms.

She said, hugging me as hard as she could, “I’m not sleepy anymore.”

“Ah.”

“I’m not sleepy. Not sleepy. I’m not sleepy at all!”

“Okay. Okay.”

I patted her on the back.  If she was this energetic then surely she was fine.