Side Story Chapter 12. Words that I Couldn’t Say

One of the scariest people in the world was a fanatic. Those who lost their reason and had pure, blind faith didn’t care about the consequences. Even if they tolerated insults to themselves, they would never tolerate insults to their gods. And who was La Bella? She was a neutral goddess who was at the center of all gods and had greater influence than even the main god of Liber, Elephthalia, in the La Federation. It was only natural that the woman, being the saintess of La Bella, would completely flip out after hearing Chi-Woo call out her goddess’ name like he was calling out to a lost puppy.

“You..!” Kill him. She had to kill him. The saintess opened her eyes wide and moved to condemn the arrogant dunce herself, but she suddenly felt a strange sensation at the next moment. As soon as the man shouted for La Bella to come out, a familiar energy rushed out from the center of the building. If she wasn’t mistaken, it was La Bella’s divinity. Was La Bella going to personally condemn him? That thought occurred to her for a moment, but the saintess was soon flustered. Mamiya, Miho, Shahnaz, the White Horse General, and the other gods—all the gods who attended the grand rite carried out by the great prophet—suddenly popped out. Moreover, they hadn’t splendidly made their entrance, but instead, they might as well had run out barefoot in a hurry and stood in perfect order.

“Hey, La Bella. Long time no see. How have you been?” Chi-Woo waved cheerfully at the woman wearing a hood. The saintess, who was still flustered, was going to act out again, but—

—Yes, it’s been a long time, sir. Have you been well since our last meeting?

The saintess fell into shock after seeing La Bella politely gather her hands together and bow.

“Hmm. It’s great that you seem to be doing well. How is everyone doing?”

La Bella wasn’t the only one acting like this.

—Sir, I was completely shocked! I didn’t know you would come here so suddenly.

—Come on, it’s been too long! We all wanted to see you so much!

Mamiya replied with a gentle smile, and Miho asked in complaint why he had taken so long to come back.

“Ah, I’ve been a bit busy…what, the White Horse General is here too?”

—Well, I attended the rite while I was at it. Since it’s such a big event…

The White Horse General awkwardly coughed and averted his gaze. Even though Chi-Woo talked informally to him now, he surprisingly didn’t seem to care. Rather, as someone who was deeply involved in military affairs, the White Horse General was very clear about hierarchy. Chi-Woo was an existence that even the Jade Emperor needed to bow to, so how could he expect honorifics from Chi-Woo?

“Yeah, good. Well…” Chi-Woo was about to say something but paused and stared at La Bella. Then he suddenly walked ahead and reached out to her head.

—?!

La Bella faltered and tried to step back.

“Hey, stay still. Truthfully, I’ve been curious about this for a long time.” Then Chi-Woo grabbed her hood and pushed it back. When the hood came off, her veiled face was finally revealed. She was extremely beautiful. It was to the extent that even Chi-Woo, who lived his days seeing the ever so sweet and elegant Evelyn, was shocked. “What the. You’re super pretty.”

—…

“Then why are you covering it? Even though you’re so pretty.”

—…Thank…you.

La Bella barely managed to answer. She was in a similar situation as the White Horse General. She used to treat Chi-Woo like her apostle, but that wasn’t the case anymore. There was too much difference between them now. Rather, La Bella was currently benefiting greatly from Chi-Woo.

In the background, the saintess’ eyes were frantically spinning. She looked from side to side in a frenzy and was completely befuddled by the whole situation. It felt like she was having a terrible nightmare. Chi-Woo touched La Bella’s face for a while and soon realized he had forgotten about something.

“Ah, yeah. It’s not a big deal. I have a meeting today, and I was planning to call Hawa. But I was told no and heard that she was busy with a rite or something?”

All the gods’ eyes, including La Bella’s, fell on the saintess. Under their weighty attention, the saintess was flustered and tried to say something, but—

When La Bella glanced at her with a serious expression, she quickly closed her mouth and bowed quietly. She still had no idea what was happening.

—Haha. Of course, you should take her with you.

—That’s right. A rite is not even a big deal. Your business is much more important.

Mamiya and Miho quickly added.

—I’ll tell her myself.

La Bella also replied in a gentle voice.

“Really? Thanks! I’ll just borrow her for today and give her back.” Hawa wasn’t even an object, but he said he’d borrow her and return her. Still, being treated like an object was a relief in itself since he was an existence that could crush this entire planet like a bug and blow it up if he wanted to.

Soon after, a woman hurriedly walked out from inside of the building. “What in the world is going on—!” The silver-haired woman, who was about to show her anger, stopped as if she had broken down when she saw Chi-Woo.

“Wow.” Chi-Woo couldn’t hide his amazement when he saw Hawa, who had frozen like ice. “What? Are you really Hawa? For real?” The young girl he met at Liber was nowhere to be found. There was only a mysterious looking woman who had fully matured. However, she was definitely Hawa. Her characteristically sharp and annoyed impression still remained.

“It’s been long. How have you been?” Chi-Woo smiled and waved, but Hawa didn’t reply. No, she couldn’t. She gaped for a long time and then shouted, “What the hell!”

Chi-Woo covered his ears. “What the heck! Why did you suddenly scream!”

“Why are you here!?”

“What do you mean? Ah, I’m telling you this in advance, but don’t cry. Everyone who sees me cries a lot these days…?” Chi-Woo couldn’t finish as Hawa suddenly rushed in and jumped into his arms. Her body trembled as she hugged him.

“Don’t cry. I told you not to cry. If you cry, I’m going to make you say Hawawa again. I’m dead serious.”

Hawa’s shoulders didn’t stop shaking at Chi-Woo’s threat. Even when he tried to shake her off gently, she refused to be pushed off. She tightly held onto his neck and refused to show her face. Chi-Woo thought, ‘Ah, she must really not want to say Hawawa. No wonder, since she’s in a high position now.’ After thinking this, Chi-Woo decided to go easy on her just this once.

He asked, “How have you been? Did you wait a long time too?”

“…Yes…” Hawa sniffled and raised her head as Chi-Woo patted her back.

Then her face hardened when she saw Eshnunna watching them with a warm smile, and all the tears were sucked back in. “Wait a minute.”

“What?”

“Why is she here?”

“Who? Eshnunna?”

“Yes.”

“Why are you asking? She’s obviously here because I brought her here.”

“Then that means—” Hawa, who had been clinging to him, suddenly moved away. “You went to see her before me?”

“Uh…yeah, so?”

“Why!?”

“Why do you think so?” Eshnunna replied instead. “Isn’t that obvious? He must have thought of me before you.” Eshnunna lifted her head high and covered her mouth while she laughed. “Ohohoho.”

Hawa glared fiercely at her and turned back to Chi-Woo. Her eyes were shaking with betrayal. “How could you do that?”

“?”

“How can you do that to your first follower, who was more loyal to you than anyone else…!”

“Loyalty?” Chi-Woo frowned. “Loooyalty?”

Hawa faltered.

“Aha. So why did you do that when you’re such a loyal person?”

“What do you mean by that…?”

“Don’t you remember what you did when we took in the Demon Empire?”

“What! You’re still mentioning something that happened 1,000 years ago!”

“It may be 1,000 years for you, but it’s not for me.” Chi-Woo admonished Hawa, saying that just thinking about that time still made him so angry. While the great prophet heard Chi-Woo’s nagging, the iron-blooded empress snickered.

“Eshnunna, what are you laughing about? On second thought, you also—”

Soon, they were both scolded, and after some time, Chi-Woo cleared his throat. He had asked for the gods’ understanding, so he now got to the point. “Anyway, set some time aside today. All the seven stars are gathering.”

“You really changed a lot. I don’t think you acted this brazenly in the past.”

“Try reaching my level. All small matters become insignificant. Anyway, you’ll be going, right?”

“Do whatever you want. Why are you suddenly asking me?”

“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to. I’m not forcing you.”

“Who said I didn’t want to go? I’m going! I said I’m going!” Hawa shouted in case she was left behind again.

“Hey, don’t scream! Why did you and Eshnunna both become so headstrong?” Chi-Woo grumbled, and after a small sigh, Hawa looked back at the saintess standing like a statue.

“Aina. Remember what I told you before?”

“What? Ah, yes!”

“Today will be the day. Please take care of the rest.”

“Yes…yes…?” Aina looked as if she didn’t understand in the least, but she nodded blankly.

Then Chi-Woo spoke up. “Who is she?”

“She’s Aina, the current saintess of La Bella. In a way, she’s my 12th successor.”

“Ah, is that so?” Chi-Woo’s expression brightened. The saintess of La Bella was related to him in a way, as he also used to be an apostle of La Bella. “No wonder, I thought you seemed smart. As expected, you are smart. Good work.” Chi-Woo ruffled Aina’s neatly combed hair until it became messy.

“What? Eh?” Aina staggered with a cute sound. She was on the verge of fainting.

“I think I should get going now. It’s our meeting time soon,” Chi-Woo said as he wrapped his left arm around Eshnunna’s waist and his right arm around Hawa’s. Hawa flinched and looked at him questioningly, and Eshnunna gaped.

“Get ready to scream.”

“What? What are you—” However, Hawa couldn’t finish as Chi-Woo kicked the ground with a lot of force.

Kyah—Kyahhh—Eshnunna and Hawa’s screams rippled through the air.

* * *

“So we’re planning to get together here today. Would that be all right with you?” Chi-Woo asked.

“…Well, it doesn’t matter to me.” Raphine looked taken aback as she saw Eshnunna and Hawa, who were both being held by Chi-Woo on both sides. “It looks like you kidnapped them.”

“Of course not. I shouldn’t do that either.” Chi-Woo denied it, but Raphine seemed to have a differing opinion.

“But kidnapping wouldn't have been so bad either? The strongest being in the universe captures the two greatest women in Liber’s history, making them surrender their bodies and minds and thus, hold the entire continent in his hand…”

“How interesting. And what comes next?”

“Then the Last Dragon breaks out of her retirement to save the world in crisis and those two. However, the two women have already been so thoroughly brainwashed that they attack the Last Dragon who came to save them. In the end, the fallen dragon is forced to shed bloody tears and is about to submit to her enemy, but a forgotten legendary hero appears and saves the dragon on the verge of defeat.”

“Wait a minute. Why does the hero only save the dragon and escape? If he came all the way, shouldn’t he defeat the opponent and save everyone?”

“I already told you. The opponent is the strongest being in the entire universe. It doesn’t make sense for even a legendary hero to beat him. It’s more realistic for him to just save the dragon and escape.”

“Then what about the two women?”

“Well, I guess they’ll live happily ever after since they were brainwashed.”

“I never brainwashed anyone.”

“What? I never said it was you?”

Chi-Woo sighed. “Ms. Raphine.”

“Yeah?”

“Are you bored these days?”

Raphine chuckled without saying a word. She smiled dryly as she watched Chi-Woo shaking his head and then said, “Anyway, how long are you going to just stand like that?”

“Ah.” Chi-Woo realized that he was still holding Eshnunna and Hawa in his arms and said, “What the? Why didn’t you two ask me to drop you?”

Eshnunna and Hawa were dropped to the ground, but they glanced at Rapine repeatedly and seemed slightly displeased.

“Just look at them. At that level, it should be considered brainwashing.” Raphine murmured to herself.

Then Hawa asked Chi-Woo, “Can I ask you a question?”

Chi-Woo replied, “What?”

“Why do you speak informally to the gods but speak in honorifics to Rapine?”

“Dummy. That’s obvious.” It was quite a sharp question, but Chi-Woo wasn’t flustered. “Gods are just gods in the end, but Raphine is going to be my sister-in-law. Do you think of me as a punk with no manners?”

Upon hearing that, Raphine declared free food and alcohol for everyone today. Hawa tilted her head but soon agreed. Although his reasoning sounded extremely stupid, she couldn’t refute it with logic.