Chapter 71: Fate Cannot Be Decided by Oneself
“Then, please follow me. I will take you to the place where the shrine is located.”
“Oh, I’ll have to trouble you then.”
After successfully “persuading” everyone, I naturally became the boss here.
Although this turn of events was a bit inexplicable, and many of the assassins were quite unconvinced, these people seemed to be under the command of the witch. So for a while, no one dared to challenge me, the parachuted leader.
I maintained my composure, trying my best to appear dignified.
In reality, I was as panicked as a white-collar worker who had suddenly transmigrated and become the Skeleton King.
To avoid revealing myself, I immediately suggested taking a look at the place where Xiao An descended. The witch readily agreed.
Upon entering the shrine, I thought I would be able to find the shrine directly.
However, to my surprise, the witch led me past the main hall and to the wall behind it. She moved a flower vase, opening a mechanism, and a door appeared before my eyes.
This was such a familiar scene…
“These stairs…”
“Do you have a problem?”
“No, it’s just that they’re familiar.”
These dark, deep, and seemingly endless stairs were almost identical to the ones I had walked in the mansion.
So, it wasn’t created by the Head Maid or Ruanruan. It’s a room Xiao An used to isolate herself…
The reason it was constructed this way must be because it resembled the place where she first descended.
Perhaps the points that need attention are the same too?
However, the witch did not remind me. She simply lit a lantern and led me down ahead of me.
“Please watch your step. We will be descending a long flight of stairs.”
I thought for a moment before asking.
“Um, aren’t we not holding hands anymore?”
“Holding hands? I don’t quite understand what you mean…”
The witch looked back at me strangely. Then, as if she suddenly remembered something, her cheeks turned slightly red, and she shyly extended a fair hand, saying,
“If that is what you wish, I have no objections.”
“No, no, I just…”
Sh Novel
I originally wanted to wave my hand to refuse. After all, as the manager of the shrine, the witch must have walked these stairs many times.
So, is it that she genuinely “doesn’t need” to hold hands, or is this witch “deliberately” not telling me? It’s impossible to know.
If it’s the latter, perhaps she intends for us to wander these stairs forever. That’s why she acted so submissive to me earlier.
So, to be safe, I took the witch’s hand.
“Ah, … I’m sorry.”
Because the stairs were narrow, it was difficult for us to walk side by side. So, the witch held the lantern with one hand and my hand with the other, as if she were helping an elderly person cross the road.
To prevent her from letting go suddenly, I held on very tightly. Before long, my palm became wet from gripping too hard.
As expected, the witch noticed this too. Her palm kept twitching restlessly. But I couldn’t tell if she was embarrassed or trying to break free from me, so I had no intention of letting go.
“Then…”
“My palms are a little sweaty, it might make you feel… uncomfortable…”
“I’m really sorry. I can’t fully trust you yet.”
To make her lower her guard, I started looking for conversation topics.
“By the way, I still don’t know your name, Witch.”
“My name is Riyo Yasuda. You can just call me by my name.”
“Oh, I see. Then, is Riyo-san okay?”
After learning her name, I began to get closer to her, extracting almost all of her personal information and the history of the organization called Pure World Glazed Tile.
How much of this information was credible, I don’t know. Although I don’t think an ordinary person could fabricate answers to my questions on the spot, and there were no logical errors in her words.
After asking all the questions I could think of, we still hadn’t arrived… How far down did this go?
We walked in silence for a very, very long flight of stairs and finally saw a door to exit.
Only when the door opened and revealed not stairs did I secretly heave a sigh of relief and let go of the witch’s hand.
And when I saw the scenery behind the door, even I was a little startled.
Compared to the spacious room in the mansion’s basement, this was on a completely different scale.
This was already an underground space on par with the City of the Living. Standing within it were strange and bizarre buildings, illuminated by flickering flames.
“It’s this big?”
“Yes, this is already underground, at the foot of the mountain.”
This was where Xiao An descended…
I stepped out of the door, kicking up a cloud of dust. A scorching hot breath hit me.
The surrounding temperature was so high that I started sweating within seconds of entering. The light that emitted heat and illuminated this dark, underground space came from there.
The dark red liquid bubbled like extremely hot curry boiling in a pot.
That was lava!
A lake of lava surrounded the isolated island where the cluster of buildings stood, making the buildings appear as if they were burning.
“Wait, this is a volcano?!”
“Yes. Or rather, it wasn’t a volcano before, but it became one later.”
“You’re saying that because Xiao An… Amaterasu descended, this place became like this?”
“Yes. Originally, this underground space was a prison used to imprison the lawless individuals exiled from the surface. But a few years ago, a god descended into this world here.”
Just descending caused this place to become a fiery inferno…
This was the consequence of Xiao An becoming like this. If a true god descended, the entire world might be incinerated.
Seeing the scene before me, I truly felt that Xiao An was a god.
“The first time I saw her, I already recognized the god’s uniqueness—”
Riyo also walked to my side, gazing at the flames, lost in memories.
“Her mysterious aura, incompatible with her childlike form, was unforgettable. She was enveloped in silently burning flames, burning eternally without any fuel… the Primordial Fire.”
“The moment I saw this god, I understood how insignificant I was, and I also realized—the ambition of Pure World Glazed Tile for over a hundred years was so foolish.”
Riyo said with a self-mocking smile.
“Yes… you have been wary of me, haven’t you? No, rather, you still haven’t let down your guard against me.”
“Have you already noticed?”
“However, it is only natural that you do not trust us. After all, Pure World Glazed Tile, an organization founded to protect the world, once betrayed its original purpose and betrayed its god…”
“That was…”
“As guardians of this world, our clan has, for generations, followed the instructions of ‘Nohime,’ the founder of the Ruri Shrine, to imprison those who have perceived the ‘truth’ here.”
So, this place was originally meant to imprison those who knew that this world was actually the Mirror World.
“But at some point, our ancestors began to doubt their faith: ‘Does this world truly have gods?'”
“‘If so, why have they never appeared?'”
“‘Has God abandoned this world?'”
“‘Is this world false?'”
“‘If it is a false world, then why should we continue to protect it? What is the point?'”
Without proof, people are always prone to self-doubt.
I can understand why Riyo’s ancestors had doubts. Just like me, caught in a spiral nightmare, it would be human to doubt oneself.
“Finally, it led to the arrogant thought: ‘If gods do not exist, or if they have abandoned this world, then we shall take over this world.'”
book.SFA
Ah, this was the betrayal of faith.
As Ah Nong said, Pure World Glazed Tile had long since slipped from her control and developed its own agenda.
“First, they took the imprisoned people as their subordinates, then secretly established forces, adding the characters ‘Pure World’ before the name of the shrine ‘Ruri,’ attempting to control the entire world. Until, a god truly descended before us.”
Riyo continued to walk forward, reaching the edge of the cliff, and looking at the bubbling lava below, she continued speaking.
“I was there at the time—I witnessed the god’s descent and knew my own insignificance. However, some people in the organization still saw this as a great opportunity, believing that as long as they could obtain the god’s power, they could dominate or even surpass the world.”
When faced with immense power, if one does not instinctively feel reverence, it can only be due to greed.
Of course, someone like me, who can openly confront an Outer God, can only be considered an idiot.
“Then, she appeared before us… That woman possessed eyes full of wisdom. Like you, she had the power of a divine representative. She struck down all physical laws, our arrogance, and our bluster… with a single sentence. And she forcibly took away the god’s sacred vessel…”
“Oh, she’s talking about…”
“Later, we learned that the woman was called Zi’ai An. We began to investigate her whereabouts, even considering threatening her family, but all attempts failed. We made no progress for a long time, until you suddenly reappeared in our sight.”
“Actually, when I found out that I couldn’t find any information about you at all, I knew you were no ordinary person. Because someone like you, who appeared out of nowhere, might come from the same world as the gods.”
“I’ll take your silence as consent… But none of that matters. What matters is what you will do next… The prophecy passed down through generations in the shrine states that ‘When the divine representative brings the god back to the shrine, the god will descend in true form and bring blessings to the world—'”
“…We are like characters in a novel, unable to decide our own fate… But, even if it’s fake, we yearn for it… I won’t be complacent. This world was created by gods, not ours to claim… The thought that we ‘don’t want to disappear,’ isn’t that also a gift from the gods?”
Riyo turned around, her expression looking as if she were about to cry.
“Tell me, to you, is this world merely a false world?”
She pleaded with an almost desperate tone.
