Chapter 38 – Destination

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The world had ended. The time one could feel at ease was naturally short.

People spent this precious moment with their families. Or used it to catch some sleep.

Those in relatively intact condition were moving busy cleaning up the aftermath.

“Hwaaaaam~.”

“Wow. You scraped it clean. It’s very clean.”

“Because it’s been a while since it was so delicious.”

Everyone organizing the tableware clicked their tongues.

People who usually merely nibbled at their spoons completely emptied their bowls.

And rightfully so, the meals up until now had been too meager. Soup was just a nice way of putting it. Soaking rotten vegetables in water and boiling them for a long time was all there was.

Originally, when a person was having a hard time, they should have eaten delicious food.

It always weighed on my mind seeing them frowning while drinking thin broth every day. I was glad the present I made with some effort for once suited the people’s taste so well.

Of course, the Lard Mushroom and Starflower weren’t the only ones that received favorable reviews.

“Th, this is water?”

“Dad! Look at this, it’s fine even if I jump on top of it!”

“Goodness.”

What the newly joined people were most amazed by was the water droplet cushion.

Especially the children, who had been sullen due to the lack of things to play with, welcomed it the most. On the other hand, those who were more severely thirsty just buried their faces as they were and sucked the water droplet.

And finally, a change occurred among those who saw the miracle I bestowed.

They were the people who had run away, pushing back against the suggestion to share precious supplies.

They slightly flushed their faces in shame and began to fumble and organize their bundles.

A figurine stained with handprints, pieces of moldy bread, bone-dry and twisted jerky, clothes patched up like rags.

After neatly stacking all of these things, they bowed their heads.

“Because we didn’t want to share the little we had, we pushed your name away. Even now, we offer everything we possess.”

“Will he forgive us for doing this?”

“We still have to do something. Are you just going to do nothing?”

“Ugh… Goodness knows why I even tried to hoard something like this.”

They were things they had tried to protect even if it meant turning a blind eye to others.

However, they realized that the items they had scraped together claiming they were precious weren’t as precious as they thought.

The astringent taste of regret and a sourness worse than a lemon hovered over them.

They were ashamed of themselves for showing a sharp attitude, acting like whining children saying they didn’t want to share.

It was exactly when I was sneaking around because the people’s attention lately felt burdensome.

I deliberately approached nearby to surprise them.

“You do not need to offer everything to me. Distribute them to the people who asked to be together.”

When I intentionally hid myself and brought up my words, everyone was startled.

“Uh, uheot…?”

“This voice. It’s real. The rumor that he is always watching us was true!”

“O Star Creation, please forgive our sins…”

“O Great One! Are our tributes lacking?”

However, the gap between god and human was too large.

To people trying to bind a transcendental being with interests, generosity invited anxiety.

Some even considered that I was enraged and rejected their tributes.

At this rate, the misunderstanding seemed ready to swell up like a balloon.

I revealed myself to relieve them of their anxiety.

“It is not because the tributes are trivial. The food you have prepared cannot fill my belly.”

“The Great, the Great One.”

“O Light, please guide us, lead us to victory….”

However, the people’s anxiety wouldn’t go away.

The moment I appeared, they collectively slammed their foreheads on the ground, yet they kept trying to give me something.

“O, O Star Creation. Then, how about this figurine…? It is carved from a precious lodestone.”

“If really not that, should we even build a temple for you?”

“That’s good. A temple! We will build it with all our strength!”

A temple, huh.

There was a setting that before the world ended, many gods showed off the prestige of their temples.

It started with them boasting to each other about how much the people valued them. While looking for something that stands out immediately, they chose temples as an objective measure.

In-game, it was a building that amplified the efficiency and effects of miracles.

However, their livelihoods were already lacking.

Furthermore, now that the Black Sun and his allies were keeping an eye on me, the attacks would become fiercer.

Even if I rolled the people, they would not be able to endure the continuously increasing intensity of the attacks.

It was much better to comfortably rest, stockpile strength, and gradually build up the awareness that we were one.

“I do not stay in one place. Since my mission is to make a new sun, do not worry about a temple until the moment my journey ends.”

Still worried they might keep trying to give me something, I added some words at the end.

“Above all, a life for a life. If you were saved, please save others. This is the tribute I desire.”

“That is….”

“If a figurine carved from a precious stone is treasured, how treasured would a life achieved through the effort of someone devoting their entire lifetime be?”

Don’t try to get out of it by just giving one present.

Since they probably wouldn’t believe it no matter what I said anyway, it seemed better to hammer in a firm wedge while I was at it.

With these words as my last, I hid myself again.

The people left alone just stood awkwardly, not knowing what to do.

It was only after quite a while passed that the words I barely expected came out.

“As Lord Star Creation said, let’s first go visit that priest.”

“He said some harsh words…”

“Seeing this, it seems we must start from there for him to accept us. He didn’t seem very interested in the tributes in the first place.”

The people fumbled and organized the tributes they had piled up and stood up.

And not long after, Bartol welcomed the pouring guests.

Bartol put down cups filled with warmly heated water and listened to the guests’ stories one by one.

“Lord Star Creation said that…”

Of course, I was also inserted among the people.

Only letting Bartol see me, that is.

“It seems you have become very mischievous lately.”

Bartol stealthily looked this way and shook his head.

With a helpless smile on his lips.

I laughed along with him, but he furrowed his brows deeply.

Jokes were only funny once or twice.

After falling for it a few times, Bartol immediately took action.

Hwen, Bartol, Ad, Ryugen, and Nesaro, who represented the newly joined group.

Bartol said we needed to hear the plans moving forward, brought these five into an alley, and kept calling my name.

“O Godfather of the Stars! We need your words!”

“O Great One…. Old man, are you sure it’s okay to do this?”

“We should calmly share stories while the stars are up. It seems Lord Star Creation is also bored.”

“How unexpected. Do gods get bored too?”

At the calm Ryugen’s question, Bartol’s eyebrows twitched.

“I only learned it recently too.”

There were also those who were overwhelmed by the martial prowess I showed while facing the demons.

The representative of the new groups, Nesaro, was a man with a frail impression having a thin goatee.

“About the Godfather of the Stars, he will overlook this level of disrespect, right…?”

“He’s probably hovering around because he has something to say. Don’t worry too much.”

It’s not like I particularly have anything to say while gathering people.

Even so, I couldn’t waste the given time in vain. I descended from the sky as Bartol wanted.

“Since there is also someone who newly joined, I considered it time to talk about our objective.”

“I, I see.”

Nesaro couldn’t even look this way and only lowered his head.

Only the four people who were somewhat adapted showed sufficient courtesy and perked up their ears.

The one who opened his mouth first in this situation was the drunkard, Ard.

Ard stealthily peeked around and approached a step, openly revealing his curious inner thoughts.

“O Star Creation, I remember you saying that you were heading to Ranium.”

“Yes. My next target is Blood-Soaked Mud.”

When the Holy Mother of Stillborns desperately tried to kill me, he was the only demon who lent her his strength.

Considering the reputation the Holy Mother of Stillborns possessed among demons, it was very unusual.

The god who made stars and the Holy Mother of Stillborns.

While pondering which was more detestable between a new threat and a bastard they usually picked on, the demons ultimately chose the latter.

Except for one, Blood-Soaked Mud.

But this didn’t seem to be the answer Ard wanted.

The drunkard Ard was the representative of the refugee group. As such, he had the guts to casually throw questions that others hesitated to ask out of fear.

“Even so, it’s not like we’re going to live in Ranium forever.”

“That’s right.”

“Then where on earth is this journey going…?”

It was quite an important question.

Even if they didn’t say it with words, I could feel everyone heavily focusing their minds.

I recalled the memories of playing Last Comet.

Last Comet was a game with deep randomness, but there were a few constants.

Usually, when someone pressed new game, it regenerated the world and changed this and that.

Among them, there was a constant that never changed, a place you absolutely must reach to challenge the Sun God.

“We have to go to the western end.”

“The western end? From here?”

“Why. Where do you think here is?”

“Well, it’s the place where the sun rises….”

Basically, Last Comet was oriented towards a journey rather than a settlement playthrough.

Because the further east you went, the darker the Dark Light became.

As destruction materialized, the Dark Light in the east gradually pushed towards the west, and to survive the murderous difficulty, you inevitably had to head west.

So the moment your speed slowed down because you couldn’t lead the survivor group well, you were overtaken by the pitch-black Dark Light.

From then on, you literally fought consecutive battles of hellish difficulty.

In the end, survivors braved the danger and headed all the way to the western end.

“That is not what was important. The western end was not simply the place where the sun sets.”

“Come on, soldier man. If the western end isn’t where the sun sets, what is it?”

There, the Sun God’s viciousness reached its peak.

“In that place, there is Salutaris, the headquarters of the Celestial Church, the place where the Sun God rests.”

“Oh, if it’s the Sun God…”

Ard rejoiced recalling common sense from before the world ended at my kind explanation.

However, realizing reality, his face turned pale white.

It’s because when fighting the Holy Mother of Stillborns, everyone witnessed the Black Sun supporting her. The survivors realized that it wasn’t simply dyed black because the Sun God died.

It was dyed black because the Sun God turned his back on the world.

Everyone who learned that fact had a similar reaction.

“Are you saying the Sun God is waiting with his jaw wide open?”

“Hwen, my friend. What kind of frivolous words are those.”

“Doesn’t it look like I have to use them? I mean, we know, but others won’t know!”

I spoke to reassure them.

“It is fine until all the restrictions are lifted. The Sun God can intervene on the ground only when the restrictions are lifted.”

Salutaris was a place placed under the influence of the Sun God.

Until all the living gathered there, it was safe. Though once everyone gathered, they were mercilessly massacred and it ended with the Sun God’s victory.

Rather than that, there was a fact I wanted to ask the new refugee group.

The Black Sun and his allies tried to tie me down in Santiom using any means possible.

The newly joined refugee group of several hundred people was a representative example. It was an action taken after noticing that I do not abandon people.

I looked at the frail man, Nesaro, and questioned him.

“Nesaro.”

“A, ah. D, did you call me?”

“Yes. It’s a more important part than the truth of the Sun God. You were heading to Santiom without knowing of my existence. What was the reason for that?”

I had to figure out what words they used to bait the people.

However, the one revealing doubt was Nesaro.

“Weren’t… you aware?”

“What do you mean aware. Hey you. Just docilely follow what Lord Star Creation says.”

“Hiiiik!”

Thanks to Hwen stepping up, much of the introduction was cut off.

The frail Nesaro smoothly spat out all the facts he knew.

“In Ranium, they say there are angels in Ranium!”

In Last Comet, gods were not a trustworthy kind.

Most of the angels were like that too. At least the ones carrying the business card of the Celestial Church were entirely enemies.

The way to check was easy.

You distinguished them by the color of their halos.

I had to check if the angels of Ranium were from the Celestial Church.

I spoke as if promising myself, and readied the people for the new journey.