Chapter 154

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[‘The Spoiler Inspector’ is deep in thought.]

I was also about to do the same, but Thesilid’s next words caught my attention.

“By the way, this is the first time I’ve known that a soul can be extinguished.”

I flinched when I saw a different color rising in his sea-blue eyes.

A belated realization dawned on me that I had revealed something that could be a danger to him. I scrambled to make amends.

“It was said that you have to drink it for a long time. Do you think it’s easy to extinguish a soul? I’m sure you have to do it for a hundred or a thousand years.”

“Well, I suppose.”

Thesilid seemed aloof as if he didn’t care much about the duration.

I guess I’ll have to scare him with something else.

“There were a lot of scary side effects.”

“What is it?”

“Insomnia on a daily basis, nightmares when you do manage to finally fall asleep, and delirium when you’re awake. And when it gets bad enough, memory is impaired and strength is lost. It’s absolutely horrible. Right?”

“Is it?”

“Of course, it’s like being subjected to mental torture. A normal person wouldn’t last even a week.”

Thesilid expressed his rebuttal.

“Even if you give up on holding on, life will continue as long as you breathe. And when the symptoms get worse and memory damage starts to set in, it gets much better. Because those hours are cut off as if they never existed.”

“……”

“What’s wrong?”

“You sound like you’ve been there.”

Thesilid smiled in silence.

I tried to read between the lines, but for some reason, the man in front of me now seemed to be perfectly located in the blind spot of the original work.

Then, he changed the topic.

“By the way, this is a big deal.”

“What?”

“The mermaids are all gone.”

“Oh, right.”

The mermaids, who misunderstood that I and Thesilid were fighting, ran away, not wanting to have their backs explode in a whale’s fight.

At this point, our breathing spell had been long broken.

Since this is an undersea cave in the middle of the deep sea, the idea of breaking through the ceiling or walls to get out was not a very wise one. I’d be dead and Thesilid would move on to the next round.

To us, this cave is no different from a huge closed room.

“We are locked up.”

Unlike demons, humans cannot control the location of the exit gate at will even if they become the owner of the dungeon. It would be possible with a closing gate, but I have no intention of closing this dungeon.

Thesilid nodded.

“I suppose we’ll have to wait for the mermaids to pick us up again, or for an exit gate to naturally occur here.”

“There’s no helping it. Let’s pick some herbs while we wait.”

With the hands of a skilled farmer, I began harvesting Undulata. Thesilid also helped me, taking part in hands-on experience in farming for some hours.

We squatted down to pick herbs and chatted.

“By the way, Eli.”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t the money for the construction of the church settled? Why are you so obsess…hmm, eager to make money?”

“……Thanks for choosing the words. I could have been hurt.”

Perhaps thinking I was turning my words around, Thesilid took a step back.

“If it’s difficult to say, you don’t have to.”

“No, I’m not sure how to explain this. Besides, I don’t know if you’ll understand even if I explain it.”

“I will do my best to understand.”

I liked his willingness to listen so I opened my mouth with a moderate adaptation.

“Well…….There is a curse I have received since I was born, and to release it, I have to pay as little as a million to as many as millions of gold in offerings.”

[‘The World-building God’ is perplexed, wondering if he’s some kind of evil deity that feeds itself off the believer when you say things like that.]

Well, Lord Word God is also a member of the Transmigration Bureau, so honestly, it’s kind of true…… Kh-hmm, I almost had a blasphemous thought for a moment.

‘It’s okay. Terry is probably thinking that I’m talking about ‘Strict Order and Goodwill’.’

[‘The World-building God’ relaxes his expressions.]

However, it was not the humanity of God that mattered to Thesilid.

“A curse? What curse?”

Shock and bewilderment were evident in his eyes.

“Well, it’s not that surprising.”

“Then what is it?”

If I have a relationship that’s not in the original work without changing the current genre, I will be unconditionally widowed, and since I originally transmigrated into a person who should have died in the original work, there was no romance for me in this world.

So I can’t date anyone!

I didn’t really need an adaptation, so I told the truth.

“The person I like is killed by an absolute force, and I die with them.”

“What……?”

“I am not making fun of you.”

“……”

You promised to do your best to understand. I looked at him with such eyes.

After a while, Thesilid washed his face dry and opened his mouth.

“All right. I will believe you.”

“Thanks.”

“By the way, is that a God-given curse?”

“Yes.”

“Right. Now that I think about it…… ‘Strict Order and Goodwill’ has been described as having a male body……”

I tilted my mind, wondering what the gender of God had to do with it.

“Because you are a Saint……Trying to monopolize the rest of your life by celibacy……”

“Stop. I think you have gone too far, paladin.”

[‘The World-building God’ is shocked by the unholy and profane thoughts of other religious believers.]

On the other hand, it’s also understandable.

Isn’t Thesilid the one whom God has been obsessed with and has been celibate all his life because of the ‘Commandments of the Seven Holy Virtues and the Seven Deadly Sins’?

Moreover, his puritanical life will continue for a long time to come. Until the 86th episode, when he meets Muriel, the beautiful black-haired Saint.

“Eli?”

I came to my senses with a sight and straightened my expression.

“Anyway, it’s okay because it’s a curse that can be lifted with money.”

“Yes, better than me.”

Before the words could sink in, making the mood somber for nothing, Thesilid laughed and added as if he didn’t mean to brag about his misfortune.

“At least, I’m fortunate that you’re an exception to my duties and discipline.”

I’m sure his quality of life would have improved a lot after meeting me. Perhaps the biggest improvement was……

“Because the food I give you doesn’t make you guilty of gluttony?”

“Yes. I don’t need to be restrained with you.”

[‘The Scales that Judges the Soul’ takes a deep breath at the bold statement.]

‘Let’s not get things wrong, the counterpoint to gluttony is restraining.’

As I pulled out Undulata with a deep sigh, Thesilid asked a random question.

“Eli, what do you think are my strengths?”

“…All of a sudden?”

“I was wondering if there’s a reason why you’re going around with me.”

I realized that if I answered that I was traveling with him because it was the right thing to do, it would make him feel like I was using him as a means to an end, so, as requested, I silently recited the advantages he gave me.

“Hmm, because you are nice?”

“I don’t really mean it.”

“I like your personality.”

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

“Because you’re faithful.”

“……It’s okay. Let’s stop.”

Wow, this is the first time I’ve seen him pout.

As I was seriously considering whether or not to compliment him on his strongest attribute -good looks- he muttered to himself.

“As expected, I should live a good life.”

His tone was rather serious.

Quite a bit of time has passed, but there was still no sign of an exit gate being created in the undersea cave.

It was just the two of us in a deserted space, with a lot of herbs to pick while mechanically tinkering with our hands.

It’s good to chat because it’s a boring situation.

So I got into the flow of the conversation……

“Hey, Terry. I have a question, too.”

“Yes.”

“You can hear Agnes’ voice, right?”

“……”

Thesilid’s hand abruptly stopped plucking herbs.

He was as stiff as a stone statue, and I watched him quietly. A kind of standoffish silence took hold, but Agnes couldn’t stand it and impatiently embodied herself.

After a long moment, he smiled bitterly and confessed.

“I’m sorry for deceiving you, Saint Agnes.”

Thesilid even looked in Agnes’ exact direction.

[‘The Spoiler Inspector’ says you are lucky to notice before getting into trouble.]

[‘The Spoiler Inspector’ informs that if the protagonist hears, even if by chance, a major leak of Heavenly information, you may go to the afterworld in one clean shot.]

[‘The Eyes that watch over the chaos of all things’ nervously blinks his eyes, afraid that you would find out too late.]

[‘The Critic who adjusts the balance’ advises that you should be careful not only about leaking heavenly secrets but also with conversations between heretics.]

[‘The World-building God’ shouts to not call it heresy.]

I’m glad I was able to prevent the death penalty in advance.

I asked Thesilid, careful not to make it sound like an interrogation.

“How is that possible? You didn’t see her before, back when you were twenty, before the regression.”

He laughed bitterly

“I don’t know, maybe I’ve just lived far too long.”

“……”

Whether seventeen lives is short or long is a matter of personal opinion, and not one I’m in a position to judge. Anyway, then can Reed hear and see Agnes?

The answer was inconclusive, so I decided to move on to the next question.

“Then why did you hide it?”

“I didn’t want it to show that I’d lived too long.”

This answer was at the level of quoting the first answer as it is. There was no information value. As if he knew that, embarrassed, Thesilid added.

“It’s not a lie. I didn’t have any bad intentions, I was going to tell you later.”

“Well, never mind. Because you´re a regressor, it must have become a habit to lie to others as you could see the parts that have changed from before.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

Finding the cause wasn’t really that important. The original purpose was to tell Agnes the truth so that she would be careful not to reveal secrets in front of Thesilid.

Meanwhile, Agnes happily squatted beside him and started talking.

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry.”

“……Excuse me?”

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