Chapter 4: The Shadow of Destiny (I)

Without taking his hand, Nerez let his gaze drift between Aren and Vilkie for a few moments.

“Hey, young ones, are you two dating?”

“Young ones?”

“W-we’re just childhood friends!” Vilkie replied, her cheeks turning red.

“What’s the difference?”

“I think there’s a pretty big difference…” Aren said, scratching his head.

“I see… Well, now I’m jealous.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“I mean I don’t want to go with you two. I have no interest in being a third wheel, and the whole thing reminds me of my curse.”

“You wouldn’t be a third wheel at all!” Vilkie insisted, now red all the way to the tips of her ears.

“What curse are you talking about?” Aren asked.

“The curse from that dem… from the Goddess of Fate. Among other things, I’m doomed never to find a partner…”

Faced with their baffled looks, Nerez covered his face with both hands to hold back his tears.

I knew that if you were still a virgin at thirty, you’d become a wizard, but nobody told me that by one hundred thousand I might end up as a god…!

“Why would anyone curse you like that?” Vilkie asked, tilting her head.

“I’d like to know that myself!” Nerez exclaimed.

“Still, you can relax, Nereziel. I’m sure gods can’t directly control the fate of other gods, not even gods of fate,” Aren said with a smile. “In other words, all you have to do is be chosen as a god.”

“But a goddess of fate, you say… gods of fate are unbelievably powerful, and they were already extremely rare to begin with,” Vilkie added thoughtfully. “I don’t think anyone had heard of one even before I was born.”

Nerez turned to them, eyes wide.

“You’re serious?”

“Mm? What?”

“There are no more gods of fate…?”

I mean, the fact that there had once been more than one, just as I had suspected, was bad enough… but if there are none left…

“Well, I can’t say for certain…” Vilkie explained. “The only thing I can say is that at least we don’t know of any.”

“Oh, this is a gift from the gods! A gift from Zorovan? It doesn’t matter whose it is! What a magical day! Of course I was planning to face her sooner or later… In my first hundred lives, revenge was all I could think about… But if she doesn’t even exist anymore, so much the better!”

Aren and Vilkie exchanged confused looks as they listened to the monologue unfolding in front of them.

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“Does that mean you no longer have a problem with joining my faction?” Aren finally asked.

“Not at all. That’s a completely separate issue. Besides, I’m strictly single-player.”

“Pla-yar? What’s that?” Vilkie asked curiously.

“‘Player,’ and it’s not important… Look, I have nothing against you (well, a little; you make me jealous), but I want to keep a low profile, okay? The Goddess of Fate might be gone, but I still want nothing to do with gods in general anymore. I want a quiet life!”