Chapter 404

404 People Preparing for Winter #2

Paranoi said,

“Sodomora has been visited by Gloria…! That girl clad in raccoon fur kept wreaking havoc, asking about where Lord Hassan had gone…!”

“What the devil-.”

I instinctively realized that what was bound to come, had finally arrived.

If Gloria had come to Sodomora…

Is this even real?

The moment I heard the name Gloria, every cell in my body was seized with a chill, leaving goosebumps all over my skin.

The Gloria I remember was a hunk of steel in human form.

I know this better than anyone else since I’ve fought her. If a truck were to collide with Gloria’s body, it wouldn’t surprise me if the truck shattered into pieces.

How can someone with a head shorter than mine emit such monstrous strength? It defies all logic and can only be described as an anthropomorphized absurdity.

d*mn-.

Even her wits have gone crazy.

She’s an incomprehensible natural disaster wrapped in a human form.

I wonder if I could beat Gloria now?

I recall trying to grow stronger in preparation for the day Gloria would come chasing after me. It was for that very reason I sought to master necromancy and magic.

Yet, wasn’t I supposed to have at least a couple of more years of preparation?

So far, I’ve managed to raise my brute force stats to 16, but my agility and stamina have barely reached 10. Of course, this is still within the realm of superhuman capabilities, yet it feels woefully insufficient against Gloria.

“d*mn, are you saying that monster is already here?”

Hadn’t Gloria been cleaning a place that could have taken years?

Didn’t she have the arduous task of solo-cleaning the sewer system of the city of gods, Delphi, as punishment for causing numerous disturbances?

That was an immense amount of work, even for Gloria, who is seen as an invincible superhuman. It was definitely impossible to complete in less than a year.

Yet, Gloria has come looking for me within months.

Something is clearly off here.

“Gloria’s a terrible person…! She treated me, the right-hand and prime disciple of Lord Hassan, like some funny-looking nymph, making me suffer…!”

Paranoi vented all her frustration about the confrontation with Gloria during my absence and about how much harm Gloria had inflicted upon her.

“She noticed that I had something precious and tried to drag me away from this shrine, treating me like some sort of bag…! Yes, she treated poor Paranoi like a bag…! This is unacceptable!”

What does she mean?

I soon realized Paranoi was the owner of the squirrel storage pouch I previously granted her.

Paranoi has a peculiar pocket inside her mouth that can store most things that fit its size. Every time she puts something in, her cheeks puff up humorously. Despite her comical exterior and the unusual name, her storage pouch is quite powerful and useful, functioning much like an inventory system in a game.

Naturally, it would draw envy from various places. Thinking of Paranoi’s storage ability, I imagined how tempting it would be for Gloria to use her as a living inventory, carrying her around like a bag.

If the mighty Gloria had actually tried to drag Paranoi away, she would have become a portable inventory, dragged around like a bag.

However, Paranoi is still here, completely unharmed.

I asked,

“So, where did Gloria go now?”

When I returned to the city, there was no sign of her anywhere.

If she had caused a disturbance looking for me, she could very well have burst through the door and made it here by now.

At that moment, Paranoi chuckled,

“But this elite disciple Paranoi devised a clever plan…! Right about now, that mean nymph-loathing raccoon-skinned woman must be busy dealing with Scylla and Charybdis in the cold southern seas…!”

To which Luna, who was stroking Doris’s head as she slept nestled against her knees, asked, “What does that even mean?”

Paranoi explained,

“I lied to Gloria, telling her that Lord Hassan had gone to the southern seas to slay the terrible sea serpent Scylla and the whirlpool monster Charybdis…!”

Ignoy, whose hair was being combed by Hippolyte sitting behind her, added,

“So, you fed her false intelligence. Scylla and Charybdis are the monsters that rule the southern sea. Even Gloria might take some time to deal with them.”

I had heard of Scylla and Charybdis before.

They were the monsters responsible for isolating Ideope’s islands with their monstrous whirlpools.

Even a warrior like Gloria would surely find it difficult to battle them.

It’ll likely take a month, at least.

And if she succeeds, the sea route to Ideope will open, which would also benefit me.

“Huh, for once, Paranoi, you’ve used your brain properly?”

“I’m a nymph who ate great wisdom. Among all mountain, sea, and plain nymphs, I’m the smartest…!”

“Yeah, really smart.”

For Paranoi’s efforts, I rummaged in my pocket and pulled out a candy.

It was a tribute given to me by the girl from the Garuru tribe to win my favor. I decided to keep one as a keepsake, remembering Paranoi.

“Is this a salt star candy from Ideope?”

“Don’t know. It’s tasty.”

With a rustling sound, Paranoi received the little wrapped star candy.

She looked at Doris resting on Luna’s lap and Ignoy, whose hair was being combed by Hippolyte and muttered something under her breath.

Then, with a hesitant voice, she loudly declared,

“Candy is extremely delicious…! Honey and candy are my favorite…!”

And before anyone could say anything, she popped the candy wrapped in paper into her mouth and bit into it with a crunch.

*

It’s been two days since my return from Ideope.

Once again, I had to taste diverse wines for the comical Nectar Contest, and Hippolyte kept approaching me with the same golden liquid as last week.

“What do you think of this one? Be honest and review it.”

“Sorry, it’s not bad. It tastes nice. Is this cider? It has an apple taste.”

“Geez. If it’s not nectar, what does it matter?”

Hippolyte’s ambition to take Bacchus’ place became more and more blatant. Is she really so keen to become a god?

“By the way, how about Noxdotty’s work? I heard she brought some golden spring water from Ideope…”

Even Hippolyte subtly seemed to be guarding against Luna, who’d be her competitor for Bacchus’ position. To her, I decided to tell the truth.

“Luna’s not very different.”

Luna could probably already make nectar, but unexpectedly, she was stuck on the final ingredient.

She successfully created golden-colored fruit wine using Ideope’s spring water, but it seemed that she was halted by one last ingredient.

I thought I knew it, but I’m not entirely sure. If I were to just taste it, I might get the answer, but trying to recreate it from scratch with no knowledge is indeed troubling. The spring water isn’t infinite either…

It wasn’t easy for Luna or Hippolyte to create a drink neither of them had ever tasted. The same went for any other brewmasters, likely.

In this small city of Sodomora, the only person who has tasted nectar is me.

If so, the position of wine god will have to stay with me for a while.

At first, it felt heavy on my shoulders to serve dually as both god and wine god. But by now, I have grown accustomed to it.

It might feel like mastering the sense of power.

Didn’t Bacchus have the ability to transform plain water into wine?

“Ah…! Lord Hassan turned plain water into grape juice…! This is nothing short of a divine miracle…”

Of course, I’m not as perfect as Bacchus. What I make isn’t wine, it’s grape juice.

d*mn, why grape juice?

It feels like some adult game got forcibly family-rated, and I’m a bit irked. But Paranoi seemed to like my grape juice-making ability more than any other skill I possess.

“Delicious…!”

Thanks to this, it became highly popular among young children.

Previously, my temple was overcrowded with elderly people seeking massages or merchants hoping for a blessing of fortune.

Now, seeing children running around, eating the grape juice left all over the temple, feels quite nostalgic.

『Hassan’s Status:

Number of followers: 972 → 1271

Foundation count: 1 → 10

Shrine count: 1

Priest count: 12 → 15

Grace count: 1

Total: Young and weak god can upgrade after exceeding 1000 followers』

Over time, as the numbers steadily increased, I reached a smooth stage for promotion.

The increase in foundations and priests must be due to the shrines I placed in Ideope that resemble my image.

Anyway, with 1000 followers, promotion conditions were unexpectedly met.

I opened the Faith Management interface and pressed the upgrade button.

Ding.

『Chaotic Quest Shop. lv. 2』

『1. Grace – lv. 2』

『2. Curse – lv. 2』

『3. Catastrophe – lv. 2』

『4. Upgrade – 1271/10000』

With that, the Chaotic Quest Shop level changed to 2, and the Upgrade item limit increased to 10,000. I browsed through it and found further changes.

『Total: Ambitious young god. Creating new myths and stories.』

The previous harsh evaluation stating “young and weak god” now showed signs of a new story developing. It felt nice knowing I was doing well.

However, the most anticipated change wasn’t about upgrading the mission shop level.

With Luna’s safe return to Sodomora, the only task I had to accomplish was to put my accumulated mission points to good use.

Thanks to Paranoi’s cunning trick, our meeting with Gloria was temporarily postponed, presenting me with a great opportunity.

Failing to seize such an opportunity would surely lead to regret.

“Hail to chaos.”

I repeated the strange incantation that by now had become somewhat familiar.

The first step was to objectify my stats.

Ding.

『Name: Hassan Lv. 36

Strength: 16

Agility: 10

Stamina: 10

Mission Points: 920

Grace: Glowing Hand》Night Armor》Dark Eyes》Burnt Skin》』

This is my current ability set. With 900 mission points, I can at least go up 9 levels with the totems Luna creates.

“Ta-da, look. It looks just like me, like Hassan.”

On a Wednesday evening, it had been a while since Luna and I spent time together at this little cabin.

Luna had given me a lot of Moai totems.

There were as many as I had requested: nine.

Luna, with her recently developed skills from creating the Moais, easily carved out nine with her sculpting kn*fe.

Looks just like me.

The appearance, as ever, depicted some blasphemous creature, but according to Luna, this is how I look to her.

Of course, the appearance of the Moai Luna totems isn’t important.

With the totems from Luna, I consumed the mission points and upgraded other Karma stats.

The result:

『Name: Hassan Lv. 36 → 45

Strength: 16

Agility: 10 → 15

Stamina: 10 → 14

Mission Points: 920 → 20

Grace: Glowing Hand》Night Armor》Dark Eyes》Burnt Skin》』

“Holy sh*t…”

I can’t help but groan from the intense heat coursing through every corner of my body. Did Thanos feel this way when he had gathered all five Infinity Stones?

It feels like my body has become a giant forge bubbling violently.

It’s almost as if a hot magma is flowing under my thin skin — no exaggerations.

I literally started releasing steam like a boiling teapot, as sweat instantly vaporized into smoke.

Looking in the mirror, I saw myself emitting a strange aura akin to a pissed-off Saiyan, a sight so eerie it gave me goosebumps.

Puushhhhh…

d*mn, I never thought this was actually possible.

I panicked as my body felt like it could burst from the intense heat. Did I level up too fast at once?

Or is it because I’ve breached the hero level at 40?

The certainty is that if I don’t control this unstable energy quickly, my body might degrade due to the wild forces rampaging beneath the skin like untamed calves.

Can meditation help, like it did when I practiced aura?

No, my intuition tells me this isn’t something soft methods like meditation can resolve.

“Luna, I’ll be right back!”

I got up hastily and rushed to the first floor. As I pushed the door open to go outside…

Creak…

The doorframe, which was supposed to be the toughest in the cabin, made a terrible noise and fell to the floor, rolling around.

“What the hell is this?”

I pushed the door as I usually would, yet the hinges simply tore off—absurdly so.

This never happened when I previously leveled my strength up to 16.

I sprinted off, seeking someone who could help me. There was only one person I could think of.

---