Chapter 376 - [26th Round] End of Adventure

“Is this the Demon Realm?”

Contrary to my expectation, this world wasn’t full of terrifying demons.

I thought the underworld would be a dimension where demons treated people like cattle to satisfy their desires.

Where men were used for inhumanly hard labor, and women increased livestock numbers. Once they had become too old to be of any use, they would die in agony while their masters’ pets ate them.

Something like that.

“You really fit perfectly for the Demon Lord role, son-in-law. Where did you get such terrifying ideas?”

My mother-in-law should stop reading my mind.

Anyway, what kind of situation was this?

Filled with vengeance, Fantasy locked up the Righteous Demon Lord in the Demon Realm.

Still, no matter how great the gods were, it seemed it was still difficult for them to kidnap me through an apostle.

[Original Sin]

[Demon Realm]

Our divine powers were still resisting each other.

They succeeded in taking me by surprise, but they couldn’t sever my connection to the Fantasy dimension.

I was in the middle of a bridge connecting two points.

Nevertheless, I was still undoubtedly in the Demon Realm.

“What’s with this deserted island?”

We were on a small piece of land surrounded by water.

It took less than 30 minutes to get around the island on foot at the speed of an ordinary person.

It was absolutely “sterile.”

There were no living creatures here. Not even bacteria and microbes. I didn’t think the ecosystem was working as it should, but now wasn’t the time to think about it.

“… Why are you here?”

[Adventure]

Lanuvel was thrown here with us.

“Because Lanuvel and Lady Fantasy’s souls are bound by divine power. This is the Demon Realm, which I’ve only heard of… Kya?!”

“Ha! Gotcha.”

During my adventures, I couldn’t even touch her pelvis, let alone her spine.

It wasn’t that anyone forced me not to do it, but more like some invisible force stopped me.

But I could do it now.

SKRRR! Crunch!

The positions of Lanuvel’s 4th and 5th lumbar vertebrae were reversed.

“Ow ow ow ow!”

She sprawled on the sandy beach of this uninhabited island, unable to move a finger and tears flowing from her eyes.

There was no point in pretending to be cute.

I would remove her 6th and 7th cervical vertebrae altogether!

“Hey, stop it!”

“… Mother-in-law. What are you doing?”

Fantasy pulled my forearms with her hands, which, might I remind her, just recently squeezed Lanuvel’s neck.

What was wrong with her? She wanted revenge.

“Time can really change a person. I longed for this revenge so much, but now that it’s right in front of me, I find it difficult to watch it unfold.”

“Then I’ll do it where you won’t be able to see it.”

“Well… She’ll have to pay for her sins with death, right?”

“Haha! There’s no sense in giving her such an easy end. I’ll twist the space itself to make sure you won’t be able to watch it. Oh! Do you like sundae-guk*?”

[*Korean Blood Sausage Soup]

I was certain it would turn out well.

If my mother-in-law read my mind again, she’d vomit within three seconds.

“Don’t treat me like a child…”

I imagined boiling Lanuvel’s spine to make a good broth and stuffing her intestines with thigh and breast meat.

“Buuuuuueeeee!”

“Don’t worry. I’m a MAX-Class chef. I’ll cook her in such a way you won’t be able to distinguish her from a delicious chicken.”

“I beg your pardon…”

“Hmm.”

It looked like I would have to cancel all my culinary plans and do it quietly in a dark space instead.

Oh! I wasn’t going to kill her.

I would make Lanuvel experience the highest form of pain and despair until I had gotten rid of all my resentment for her, which accumulated with compound interest.

I would first do this…

Bang.

“Bueeeehhh!”

Having lost strength in her legs, Fantasy flopped to the ground and vomited once more.

She had a very weak stomach.

“Give me a minute. I’ll help you as soon as I settle all matters with Lanuvel…”

“Stop! Before you deal with her, let’s discuss my problems!”

“Hmm…”

I was disappointed, but my mother-in-law turned her beseeching gaze on me, just like Ssosia would, so I couldn’t resist.

Lanuvel was lucky.

… No.

Waiting for her fate, she felt fear, which wasn’t bad either.

I granted my mother-in-law’s wish this time.

“I see my son-in-law specializes in this area.”

“Such is the power of education.”

“…”

“Why did you kidnap me?”

“To get revenge on my daughter.”

She made things so complicated.

I didn’t think it would be easy to unravel this tangled family relationship, but it could be possible if the two involved parties met and negotiated.

Arranging said meeting would be problematic in itself, however.

“May I explain the situation?”

“Sure.”

“When I was dragged into a tomb, I experienced all sorts of horrible atrocities. I didn’t know if this could be considered luck, but the adventurers, fearing the wrath of the Demon Lord, decided not to delay getting rid of me to hide what they had done.

“Fools.”

Before she left the house, my mother-in-law told my father-in-law she was going to handle the adventurers.

Naturally, he would blame and suspect the adventurers and the adventurers alone if she didn’t return.

“Nevertheless, they partially succeeded. They tore my soul apart to prevent my resurrection then sealed me deep in the tomb they plundered. In doing so, he failed to figure out exactly who did it.”

“But you’re still here.”

“Thanks to you.”

“… This one’s my fault as well?”

I couldn’t remember how I saved her.

“The power of chaos. The Brave skill. The First Hero gave it that name, but he technically discovered it, not created it. These were fragments of my soul, torn to shreds by adventurers.”

“… Are you saying the source of the power of chaos was your soul?”

“Think about it. Would a Hero who received power from the Fantasy system destroy it?”

“Destroy … right.”

When I first encountered the power of chaos, I thought it was a bug that was breaking the system.

But that wasn’t the case.

Destruction.

Few could cause fatal errors in Fantasy’s well-established system.

This matter became quite different since it was caused by my mother-in-law, who controlled the planet itself.

All the pieces of the puzzle perfectly fit together.

I should have doubted my pathetic senior could create such a useful ability.

I overestimated him too much.

“No one noticed this except Lanuvel, who was responsible for those atrocities. Even you didn’t know, but I was very lucky.”

“Lucky?”

“Do you remember? The day you went back in time. Even though many years had passed since my death, the tomb was still in place.”

“… Ah! The Eastern Continent!”

I remembered.

Fugitive Senior wanted his personal file erased, so I worked hard to change history.

Around that time, I invaded a tomb used as a dragon sanctuary…

“Yes. That was where I was sealed. Plundered by adventurers, the dragons found it empty and turned it into a refuge.

“And I stumbled upon it…”

“Yes. You obtained many shards of my soul.”

An eerie coincidence.

No, it was probably manipulated by the President of the Universe’s desire to resurrect its daughter.

My mother-in-law approached me and laid her head on my broad chest.

“You’re my savior. You are too great a man to leave to my daughter.”

“I wasn’t going to save you, but I won’t stop you from feeling grateful. Regardless, I am still the Z-Class Hero. Only F-Class scum promise love and a future to every woman they save during their adventure.”

Didn’t she see?

The children abandoned in Fantasy’s Vault of Souls…

They were evidence of the F-Class Heroes’ atrocities.

“Yes. To you, I’m just one of the many women you saved as you walked by. But I look at you differently. You are my miracle… my savior. You are the perfect man who saved my life and even avenged me.”

“Uh…”

If she weren’t my mother-in-law, I would’ve spent the night with her already as fan service.

What had I got myself into?

Under normal circumstances, her daughter would hug me, saying, “Thank you so much for saving and avenging my mother! I am forever grateful to you…”

But they were at odds with each other…

[Original Sin]

[Demon Realm]

Our divine powers didn’t stop fighting.

I tried to escape, but I failed each time due to the intervention of an invisible third party.

A certain Restless Demonic God.

This was his doing.

And it probably amused him.

“A man and a woman alone on a deserted island. Isn’t it romantic?”

“Lanuvel’s also here.”

“… Right. It’s time to satisfy our long-awaited revenge.”

Lanuvel, who had been listening to us all this time, spoke up.

“I am not afraid of death, but I am afraid of this barbaric Hero! I lived to forget what happened to Mistress Fantasy and to prove to everyone that adventurism can’t be evil.”

“And how did that turn out?”

“…”

“Lanuvel?”

“I’ll be honest. I regretted what happened that day, so I changed my approach to adventurism. Regardless of their history or background, all beautiful women should be treated with respect.”

Now it was clear where Lanuvel’s stupid behavior came from.

And she was a perfect being, a god?

Ridiculous.

“I forgot about what happened and enjoyed life. I stayed in Fantasy to help the future generations, but then that wild Hero appeared and constantly reminded me of the past. He even brutally killed beautiful women if they got in his way and showed the locals no kindness.”

“Hey. Don’t lie.”

I didn’t judge people by their external beauty. On the contrary, I treated everyone fairly.

I didn’t kill women because they were beautiful. I killed them because they were a creature.

And I just ignored the local savages who tried to use me for their own purposes.

Lack of kindness had nothing to do with it.

“… I initially wanted to escape or even hide. It was the adventurers who caused the Demon Lord to desire the world’s destruction, after all. But I was lucky. When the First Hero defeated him, all my worries were resolved.”

“You’re just as much of a bitch as them.”

“For me, adventure is everything. It’s like my parents. When the beastly Hero appeared, rejected my adventures, and made a mess, I was ultimately forced to act.”

“What?”

I never forced her.

“Mollanphone.”

“What about it?”

“Due to it, an era came where the collection and exchange of information have ceased to be risky and exciting. I tried to change the situation, but the vast majority of students were crazy about the mollanphones.”

“That’s only natural.”

“… The adventure, which I thought was the only truth, was rejected, leaving me with only one way out. Redemption.”

“Hey, Lanuvel. It’s too late to press your feelings onto me. Nothing you do will make me forgive you.”

“I am also a deity! I’m not asking you to save my life!”

“But you don’t want to suffer?”

“Yes! Please give me a swift death!”

“Never.”

“I put an end to everything. I deliberately persuaded and brought my colleagues from that era here, and they were all killed as planned. Now it’s my turn to die.”

“I won’t kill you.”

I would torture her until her spine wore out.

“Then I’ll do it myself. Being denied execution, I now transfer my divine power to Mistress Fantasy.”

[Adventure]

These were not empty words.

She indeed passed on her divine power to my mother-in-law, then died.

“… Are you finished? Get up.”

“Huh? What?”

Lanuvel, now a mere ordinary mortal, made her confusion evident in her expression.

“Have you forgotten? This is the Demon Realm. You can’t die without the master’s permission.”

“Oh…”

Failing to commit suicide and having lost her divinity, she looked upset.

I loved that expression!

Now that Fantasy had become a deity, I turned my attention to her once more.