I read the notes Logan forwarded to me. How did he manage to gather such extensive information that made one’s tongue twist around?
There were various examples of people whose lives had been spared by the gods of the underworld, and many of them didn’t name their victims.
The day he came to see Logan at my request, Arsene scowled at me, claiming that he was humiliated just for this one notebook.
I took the notebook with some trepidation and flipped through it lightly, realizing that it was more than just a notebook.
“Look, Arsene.”
Perhaps he didn’t look at the notebook on his way back. Arsene began to turn over the notebook I handed him with a grumpy face.
As he flipped through each page, his face was filled with surprise. He handed it back to me and said in a mesmerized voice,
“And here I thought he was just all talk.”
“Logan is a little annoying, right?”
“That’s a little?”
Arsene shook his head and sat down at the table.
As he handed me the notebook, he made a fuss about it. Even without seeing it, I could vividly imagine what had happened, and laughter burst out of me.
But then, suddenly overwhelmed by longing, my laughter faded
“But he’s a good guy…….”
“Truly a typical thing to say.”
“He even gave me this notebook.”
Arsene looked at me silently and patted me on the head. For some reason, he felt like beauty captivated by a beast.
I swear, the way Arsene talked about Logan made me feel like he was so sick of people.
“He is annoying, but this is amazing.”
I was reading Logan’s notes carefully from the beginning, and Arsene, who approached me, brought up words of admiration.
As expected, what is mean is mean, and what is great is great.
“If only I had gotten my powers back sooner, I could have saved them all.”
Arsene flopped down in the comfortable chair I was sitting in. It was both sad and cute because I felt like I could see drooping ears above his sullen face.
This one notebook seemed to weigh quite heavily.
“Every time I regained some strength, I tried my best to save as many as possible. I thought I had done my job by saving even one more person. But seeing this….”
Arsene tapped the notebook I was holding in remorse.
“I wonder if I really did my best.”
“………you’ve done enough.”
I wanted to say something better, something more uplifting, but I settled for a cliché.
Arsene had done enough, and the village he had worked so hard to keep alive is the proof. .
It was still home to people who had almost fallen victim to the God of death, even if some of them had left.
“Well, thanks to you, I’ve regained my strength. I should try harder.”
Arsene just brush it off and soothe me. His words made me feel a little embarrassed.
The existence of God was dependent on the faith of many people. If there were no believers, the power of the gods would be weakened.
Many gods had been born on this continent, and many more had fallen to the dust of history.
Arsene said he was initially confused when I called his name.
He said that the mere fact that I recognized him, that I called him by name, gave him immense power.
Since then, he has found strength just by me thinking about him and relying on him.
……because I was a saint in my previous life.
The saint who founded this town that Jenny had told me about was actually me in my past life. It still felt ridiculous.
Arsene described her as someone who had tremendous faith in God, and who was more committed to helping the weak than anyone else, so I felt a sense of alienation.
“My first love was Taratra.”
“Taratra? Oh, the God of wisdom. Is your ideal man a smart guy?”
“No. Being smart is burdensome.”
Arsene agreed with my words. It was clear that we were thinking of the same person. Someone who is too smart and burdensome: Logan Riley.
“Then why is he your first love?”
“I thought he was the strongest god because he was engraved on a gold coin…”
“Ah…”
Arsene reacted roughly, so what? It looked like that. I muttered, pulling my knee toward my chest.
“Is it because I’m a saint in my previous life?”
“You know, Mary Conler.”
“Huh? Doesn’t that sound plausible?”
“No. You’re completely different from her. You don’t have any similarities.”
Arsene grabbed me by the shoulder and said seriously. The thought that we don;t have any similarities somehow put my mind at ease.
Yet, the notion that we were completely different felt somewhat bittersweet. Yes, I’m strong towards the weak and weak towards the strong…
“Well, the only similarity is looks, she had cat eyes too.”
“She was the opposite of Arsene.”
I said, looking into his puppy-dog eyes. I must have sounded funny, because Arsene gave me a gorgeous smile. Then he looked wistfully into my eyes.
“That’s why people said we looked completely opposite. You have a rough charm with your dog-like appearance, while that child has a gentle nature with her cat-like appearance.”
“Wow, isn’t that a little too stereotypical?”
“That’s what I’m saying! She can’t even transform into a cat, but she’s unnecessarily associated with being a god’s companion.”
Ah, I remembered the saying that Arsene was God’s pet. Arsene seemed more upset that he had such a stigma attached to him.
So I was a saint…… What about Arsene? He’s not God, he can turn into a dog.
“What kind of person is Arsene?”
“Me?”
“Yes, I was, what is it, a saint…….”
“I’m not completely a human.”
As if he understood my question, Arsene answered. It’s true that he’s not completely a human. He can turn into a dog.
Arsene patted my head again as I looked at it with a puzzled face.
“Because I am the son of God.”
“What?”
I was so surprised that I sprang to my seat. Arsene gently removed his hand from my head with an awkward expression.
I didn’t think he would be an ordinary person, but I didn’t think he would be this extraordinary.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought you knew, of course.”
“Of course I don’t!”
Wow, if it were me, I would always say I’m the son of God whenever I say my name. My legs relaxed and I sat down in a chair.
“You’re the son of a great man, too.”
“……That’s true.”
“Then you will do the same every time you say your name from now on. I am Mary Conler, daughter of the Grand Duke of Conler. Like this.”
“I can’t do that.”
“You know how I feel, right?”
I nodded at the sound of Arsene’s husky voice. Arsene was said to be the son of God and his priest.
Perhaps that’s why he was so close to the saint in my previous life.
As the son of a god, he was bound to be influenced by the forces of the gods, and taking the form of a dog seemed to be the easiest way to gather power.
He explained that this is why he still stays in his dog form at night.
“You don’t like being a dog?”
“No, I don’t hate it, but I’ve spent so many years as a dog against my will that I sometimes feel unnecessarily depressed.”
“I see…”
“Don’t worry about it, it’s really nothing.”
Arsene was concerned that I was worried.
“What should Arsene do to regain your strength completely? I’m sure you’ll need to get people to believe in you, right?”
“Well, I guess so. Why? Are you going to engrave my face on a gold coin?”
“If I ever return to the Grand Duchy, I’ll be sure to ask.”
“Oh, thank you.”
“No, not that! What if Arsene gets rid of the Death God?”
Arsene, who had been jokingly responding to my question, stopped dead in his tracks.
“What if we instill fear in the people about the god of the underworld and make them know that he was defeated by Arsene. Wouldn’t they trust Arsene?”
“Well, that’s a plausible story, but…….”
“Isn’t that something we could try?”
“I’m… I’m good enough to protect you. It’s okay, I don’t want to take advantage of your situation again.”
“What do you mean again?”
“We’ll talk about it later.”
Before I could catch him, Arsene left me the notebook telling me to get some rest and walked out the door, clearly intent on protecting me with his dog form outside.
I thought it wasn’t a bad idea, but I was taken aback because I didn’t expect him to respond like that.
‘There must be a way…….’
I looked at the notebook again. There is evidence here. I think we can give it a try. I flipped through the notes. As I was going through the end of the notebook, I stopped my hand when I saw the writing written like a scribble.
It was scribbled in a rush between neatly organized notes.
Whether it was his own disorganization or the fact that it didn’t make sense, the scribbles were crossed out.
I spent quite a bit of time squinting and trying to decipher it.
[If there’s a similarity, what about the opposite?]
Death to life?
[Rex Bluea?]
When I finally made out the words, my heart raced and I hastily closed the notebook.
Logan thought of Rex as a way to deal with the god of death.
