LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 93
No matter who it was, there was no choice but to be flustered.
In that brief moment I had looked away from the cooking range, someone had come and taken a seat.
Even that ‘someone’ donned a black robe and leather gloves, yet their movements exuded an aura of solemnity and courtesy, reminiscent of a bygone era.
It was rather disturbing to witness them munching on chicken bones.
However, Karem couldn’t focus on the absurdity of the scene before him as laughter threatened to escape.
The instant he spotted the uninvited guest, a sense of déjà vu washed over him.
A cold yet warm breeze carried the empty sound of a void.
An inexplicable, eerie scent mixed with the cawing of crows washed over him.
He could hear a voice filled with sorrow weeping, alongside cheers celebrating something.
Aside from that, nothing else could be heard, but in his mind, Karem could just about make out someone humming softly.
Karem immediately felt that familiar sensation.
He had experienced this feeling just a few months prior.
Whether his mind was drowning in confusion or not, it hardly mattered.
The mysterious figure dove hungrily, pushing chicken bones into the darkness of their hood. The last remaining leg bone vanished.
Though the guest said nothing, Karem could tell they seemed a bit disheartened.
“Forgive me for asking such an odd question, but… are you a god?”
At Karem’s inquiry, the figure turned their head.
The hood nodded slightly in affirmation, then they reached out a hand towards the seat Karem had originally occupied.
“Before that, you have perfectly fine food here; why pick at bones…?”
…
“No, if you prefer bones, innards, and skin, then I suppose that’s fine…”
Karem knew that bone marrow was delicious, that pork soup was savory, and that deep-fried chicken tasted great right down to the bones.
He also knew leather could serve as food in emergencies.
To be honest, crispy chicken skin and chicharrón tasted fantastic.
But then again, just chomping down on them whole was… a bit much.
Feeling uneasy, Karem nevertheless nodded in deference.
After all, if bones were deemed the best, then who was he to disregard such an opinion?
Respect for preferences was the way to go.
Karem set down the bowl filled with chicken onto the table.
Now seated, he could take a closer look at the mysterious figure.
However, nothing truly changed.
Even with the sunlight shining, nothing could be seen within the depths of the hood.
The deity had carefully brushed off dust from their gloves and together with their courteous posture, displayed keen interest in the bowl heaped with chicken.
The god said nothing.
Still, Karem could grasp the meaning behind this silence.
“Ah, of course, it feels inappropriate to offer only bones to a guest…”
…
“Ah, this is Fried Chicken.”
Karem found himself flustered in this one-sided conversation, speaking aloud to himself while trying to understand.
Yet, the figure remained silent, an inexplicable hum continuing, though their meaning resonated.
Still, Karem felt a sense of politeness and gratitude arise within him. Quicker than he could think, he took a whole chicken’s worth of portions from the empty plate and held it out toward the god with utmost respect.
The god bowed their head slightly in gratitude, nodding their hood as they continued to push chicken into the darkness.
Gradually, crunching sounds mingled with the crispness of Fried Chicken echoed in the air.
As the god swallowed the Fried Chicken down to the bone, the wheels in Karem’s head were spinning fast.
As his previously heated mind cooled down, suddenly a thought blurted out.
In the current situation, Catherine and Narque, who had been happily moving about, were now frozen in place, as even the leaves rustling in the wind had come to a halt. Karem couldn’t help but wonder, could it be…?
“I’m sorry to interrupt your meal, but may I ask you just one thing?”
…
“Could it be that the seasoned fried chicken in the basket at the shrine of Skadi…?”
At those words, the god shook their head vehemently.
Along with the sounds heard earlier came a chill, as if life itself was being drained, mixed with a flurry of gentle snowflakes. Karem could hear the howling of a fierce winter wind.
…
“Uh, Skadi?”
At the moment the god nodded their hood.
Thud!
…!?
A hunk of hail, about the size of a baseball, came crashing down against the god’s hood.
“Are, are you alright?”
…
“No, but there’s now a hole in the hood. What? Don’t mind it?”
The god, who had staggered slightly, fiddled with the hole in the hood then resumed their meal without a hitch.
It was clear they wanted to forget what had just happened.
Karem couldn’t help but agree, though his gaze was drawn to the rolling clump of white ice in a corner of the kitchen.
Yet inside Karem’s heart, he could hear a call.
He just wanted them to ignore it all.
After Karem finally forced his head to turn away, the god relaxed and resumed eating.
“By the way, what brings you to this humble place personally…?”
…
Karem struggled to fixate his head while questioning. In response, the god pointed at the wooden box on the table, leaving behind the half-eaten chicken leg.
“Is it the scales of the dragon Naglfar?”
…
“You came down personally to retrieve this…?”
The god nodded slowly, then finished shoving the chicken leg into the hood.
…
“However, it’s not exactly within my authority to decide that.”
…?
“Well, ownership of this item belongs to Sir Atanitas and Escarna, who took down the fiend. I mean, it’s correct to say it also belongs to Escarna, right?”
The god seemed to grumble with displeasure as they eyed Narque for a brief moment.
Nevertheless, they raised their hand as if to signal they had other matters to attend to.
Catherine and Narque, who had been frozen like a mime, began moving again.
“I ought to look into more myths and materials regarding Par, right?”
“Sir Atanitas? Why suddenly…?”
Catherine and Narque, mid-conversation, immediately picked up on the abrupt change in their surroundings with a wizard’s intuition.
“…an unnamed traveler?”
Catherine’s certain tone made the robed, unnamed traveler nod affirmatively.
Catherine Marigold Atanitas, she was a Grand Wizard who had reached the realm of wisdom.
The knowledge she possessed would fill a castle and still leave much to spare, including knowledge about the gods believed in by the people of Europa and the Temple of Many Gods they formed.
The unnamed traveler.
A figure entwined with the Triad of Faith revered in Iceland alongside Skadi and Tutatis.
A god of wanderers, travelers, and fugitives, welcoming the deceased in the cold wastelands for their final journey.
One of the few remaining gods of death after the fall of the Palatino Empire.
Crunch, munch, crunch—
Such a being was casually seated at the table, feasting on Fried Chicken.
Not only that, but their right hand, clearly enjoying the meal, showed no signs of pausing as it pushed Fried Chicken into the darkness of their hood continuously.
“Unnamed traveler, how is it you…?”
Catherine asked, maintaining a thin thread of wariness woven into her tone.
Whether positive or negative, divine interest rarely heralded good fortune for mortals.
…-?
Ka-boom!
The abrupt loud noise startled Catherine and Karem while the calm unnamed traveler remained unfazed.
Narque was on the verge of fainting at the sight of the god of death, her body instinctively reacting with terror as she buried her head against the table and lost consciousness.
“…you’re a bit more fragile than I expected.”
“True. Must be because she’s a necromancer, right?”
“Maybe it’s just her personality.”
But somehow, this relaxed the tension in the air.
The unnamed traveler regarded Narque with disapproval.
Just like they had done with Karem, they pointed to the wooden box in front of Catherine.
Catherine’s sharp mind understood everything that gesture conveyed.
After the downfall of the Palatino Empire, divine beings found it increasingly difficult to intervene directly in the mortal realm. They had limited means to connect with mortals—through dreams, revelations, or on rare occasions, by descending directly during rituals.
“The thick miasma that had enveloped the forest near Fungusbee.”
As the fiend fell, the thick miasma broke free from confinement and blanketed the forest and the village.
While it was no longer thick enough to pose a threat to regular folks, it still persisted.
Such a thick miasma would require considerable time to fully dissipate.
Conversely, it also meant that the god of death’s descent was possible through that very miasma, just like the warrior god Tutatis, who had shown himself during a festival meant for the benefit of himself.
Furthermore, the unnamed traveler was just as their name implied—a deity of travelers.
Death marked the final journey for all living beings.
“The myth states that when Tutatis was still a mortal, he slew the dragon aspiring to become the god of death on a quest bestowed by a goddess, right?”
“The god of death, a dragon. So this scale is…?”
“It seems there’s some correspondence between the myths and the legend Narque mentioned.”
Catherine bumped and knocked at the wooden box before flipping it open.
Together with the faint miasma, gleaming scales of Naglfar that were visible only in the grip of a deceased man came into view.
“So the sorcerer clinging to that monster must have sought the magic of Naglfar?”
…
The unnamed traveler, now staring longingly at the completely empty plate, redirected their gaze at Catherine’s statement with a nod.
Then, something dropped abruptly in front of Catherine from the air.
A long fang that was nearly as long as a dagger!
“No, isn’t that a touch too long to be considered a fang?”
“Hahaha! If I’m receiving such a thing, there’s no way I could refuse it.”
“Oh, do you know what it is?”
“No! I don’t know!”
Catherine could no longer contain her chuckles and keenly pushed the box away to the opposite side.
Having lived for so long, she had seen countless things; however, there were still many mysteries she couldn’t grasp.
Although she couldn’t fathom what the item, offered by the god, truly was, there was no doubt that the energy radiating from that elongated fang was something that could rival the scales of the dragon.
Slowly, the unnamed traveler tucked the box into their garb, rising from their seat and turning to Karem.
…
“I’d be delighted if you enjoyed every bite.”
…
“What? Your hand?”
Karem willingly extended his hand, and just like before, something dropped into it.
“U-uh!?”
Karem almost dropped the item due to its unexpected small size and lightness. After fumbling a couple of times, he eventually steadied it and examined it closely.
“This is… a bean?”
A bean.
Nothing more, nothing less.
With a bright light green hue rare in nature, accented by a black border, it bore an uncanny resemblance to a kidney bean.
“Could have been a bit more careful, don’t you think?”
“No, it just suddenly dropped something so lightweight. No, before that. But… the guest?”
“Just vanished in the moment I looked away.”
As Catherine suggested, there was nothing left where the unnamed traveler once sat.
Yet the completely clean plate, free of even crumbs of batter, was proof that the prior events weren’t just a dream.
“Huh, I never imagined I’d witness yet another manifestation of a god this soon after Wintersend.”
“Uh, w-what on earth… was that a dream or…?”
Catherine chuckled dismissively as if finding it absurd.
“A dream? The unnamed traveler graced us with their presence, and you fainted in the process. That’s all there is to it.”
“N-no!? Then, so that wasn’t a dream? How did the situation… turn out like this!?”
“You’re stammering more than usual. Not that I blame you.”
Narque, despite her flushed face, couldn’t accept the reality and stared at Karem, who only had one reply for her.
“Well, let’s just think positively: We nearly met our end but are still kicking, right?”
“Oh, yes! I almost died, wasn’t I!?”
Narque’s ears dropped lower than before, soaked in relief as she’d barely crawled back from the edge of the netherworld.
“First, let’s fill our stomachs. The chicken… hmm. It’s gotten cold.”
“Hm? Has that much time passed?”
“Seems that way. I’ll go warm it up after frying.”
Karem immediately grabbed the now slightly diminished bowl of chicken and returned to the cooking range.
As he reignited the extinguished fire and repositioned the pot of oil, something tripped at his feet.
Clunk clunk clunk—
“Huh? What’s this?”
A lump of hail, as big as a fist.
The very same object that had plummeted from outside to smack the god’s head.
As Karem picked up the hail and examined it closely, thoughts started to swirl in his mind.
The unnamed traveler had indicated what he had eaten wasn’t theirs. Then what of that seasoned fried chicken…? His musings were cut short by Catherine’s voice.
“Oi, kid. How long will it take?”
“Not long.”
Karem decided to ponder what the bean or the hail were later.
For now, his immediate concern was the bubbling pot of oil and the half-cold chicken before him.
Swoosh—bubble bubble bubble!
Karem poured the cold chicken into the oil.