Andre had to rest for two whole months. Without Prommel’s magic, getting injured was a lot more troublesome than it used to be. Still, this was how humans would normally heal themselves.
Fortunately, the gods hadn’t showed up since their battle with Seide. They no longer had to fight, but they were now bothered by another problem, which was collecting enough brain cores to sustain themselves.
Perhaps Seide was hiding somewhere, waiting for her chance to rise again, but the injuries she had suffered were not something that could recover in a short timespan.
From that day onwards, the Tunin ruins and its surroundings barely had any smog. The island that fell from the sky also turned the nearby forest into a peculiar ruin filled with handicrafts of unknown origins.
Perhaps it was where the gods, Seide’s clones to be exact, had once lived. The clones might each have minds capable of simple thoughts, but the group couldn’t be sure about it. Still, no matter how they looked at the items that seemed to be relics of a civilisation, there was no way they were all made by Seide.
They didn’t delve into it—not only because they were still unsure what kind of existence Seide was, but also because of a massive plan they were preparing for. For that purpose, Jade and Hilde had been busy travelling across the lands, carrying several lightstone weapons with them. They had been spreading the method to manufacture these weapons and to let the people know there is indeed a way to retaliate against the gods.
After going in a full circle, they were finally returning to their new base today. It was a spacious wooden house built on ground level, situated right next to their previous underground base. They also connected the underground workshop area with their new home. Of course, it was the four ladies who took up the task of building their new base.
‘Ah! No way, did I just get lost again?’
‘Haha, it can’t be helped. We left right after we finished building it.’
If Jade hadn’t held Hilde back, she would have jumped down the slope already. Shaking her head, Hilde also laughed at herself.
‘Ah, ya think that guy’s all healed up yet? I just have a feeling he’ll run around with bandages all over him.’
‘With Geraldine looking after him, I guess he won’t…?’
The two leisurely chatted as they returned to the correct path and finally reached the door to their home. The moment they entered, they found Andre already sitting there in the living room with a look that showed he knew they were coming back today.
‘Both of you are finally back. Thanks for all the hard work.’
‘Hey! Did you make Marie observe us with her magic!’
Hilde frowned, not bothering to show Andre a nice look despite having just returned after such a long time.
He cried out to state his case, ‘It’s not me! It’s Marie who’s been waiting for you to come back!’
‘Is that so?’
Hilde looked at Marie who was sitting in the corner and was met with an innocent look. There was nothing Andre could do about it, so he simply sighed.
Jade couldn’t help but chuckle at such a sight.
Everyone had more or less changed. They no longer held back their emotions and finally expressed what they truly felt and thought; perhaps the battle two months ago had been the salvation that allowed them to overcome their mental trauma.
Several sets of footsteps came from further within the house. Turning around, Jade saw Geraldine and the two kids, Arnold and Lenora, holding trays of food. Having learnt from Marie that they were returning soon, Geraldine had prepared food for them.
‘Geraldine!’
Jade finally saw Geraldine and happily ran over to give her a big hug.
‘We’ve been waiting! Come, have a snack.’
‘Auntie Hilde! Big sis Jade!’
Once the two kids saw Hilde and Jade, they immediately ran over and leapt around the two merrily.
‘Who’s an auntie! You little brats wanna get spanked?’
‘Uwah!!!’
In no time, the kids’s boss started playing around with them, making everyone laugh with their antics.
‘Eh, Geraldine… Your belly!’
Jade then noticed that Geraldine’s belly was bulging a lot more prominently.
‘Haha, you’ve been away for too long. This little fella’s already moving around inside.’
‘Woah, sounds amazing…’
‘What? Wait till you try it, then you’ll know it’s pure suffering!’
‘Ah… It’s too early for me.’
‘Hm? Is it?’
Geraldine carried the tray over to the living room and nudged Andre with her elbow, making him and Jade look away in embarrassment.
‘Oh hoh hoh,’ Hilde laughed at their shy looks, though she was actually more interested in the food. ‘This is too great, I can finally taste Geraldine’s cooking again!’
‘Don’t eat all day, we’ve got stuff to do.’
‘Hmph, I can’t even take a break? Strange, why is Andre still so uncaring?’
‘But you don’t have to be mad at me right after coming back…’
Hilde replied with a silly face, to which he sighed at.
After a while, everyone left the base together. With four adults and two kids, the six of them took a stroll to the Tunin ruins.
The stone stele at the city entrance, unlike the last time Jade had seen it, was now clean and tidied up. All the stains and moss that used to taint it were nowhere to be seen. Naturally, Andre was the one who did it.
They walked past the shredded streets and circled around the gigantic crater where they had their final fight two months ago. The scenes were still vivid in their minds, and thankfully, they ultimately had their hard-earned victory.
Today though, they were not here to reminisce about the battle. There was no meaning in doing so, not to mention that the battle wasn’t over just yet; now was simply the time to regain their breath and strengthen mankind as a whole.
Their actual destination was somewhere below a certain cliff. Upon arriving, everyone slowly came to a halt while Andre walked ahead, serving as their representative.
‘Prom,’ Andre called out to him, despite there being nothing but a grave in front of him. ‘Hil and Jade have returned and completed what you’ve always wanted to do—to grant humans the power to fight back.’
He knelt down and lightly patted the mound protruding from the ground with a nostalgic look. The others also then joined him from behind.
After the battle with Seide, Andre miraculously woke up the next day, demanding Hilde and the rest to return to the cliff and bury Prommel before falling unconscious again immediately after. They were dumbfounded by how he sat up and plopped back down right after saying what he had in mind, but they also believed what he said was something that had to be done.
Prommel had guarded the cliff to the very end. Lying against the wall of stone, he did not fall even after exhaling his final breath. He was still standing there with a smile when Hilde found his body.
Although he couldn’t witness their victory, Prommel back then must have been satisfied and proud because he could finally fight with the gods to his heart’s content. To thank him for all his contributions, they even decorated his grave with the armour and weapon Seide left behind to dedicate their victory to him. Without the notes and knowledge he left behind, Jade would never have managed to chain all the clues together, and that naturally meant they would never have made it this far.
Hilde took out a leather scroll and walked over to the grave.
‘This is the roll which I and Jade have been working on. All the signatures on it belong to village representatives who’ve agreed to cooperate with us. They all said they’ve been waiting for this day for too long and can’t wait to join the alliance.’
Hilde opened up the scroll with a schlak sound, revealing several dozens of signatures. Almost all the representatives of nearby villages had signed it and agreed to cooperate.
‘They promised me that they will spread our technology and our plan to villages further away. Maybe after a few months, armed forces will start showing up and the development of lightstone technology will be back on track.’
Two months ago, the nearby villages had noticed the abnormal skies during their fight. Needless to say, they could also tell that the smog was getting thinner and that the gods were no longer showing up. Two girls who brought along a god’s head then visited them, selflessly sharing with them the method of manufacturing lightstone weapons that could slay gods.
At long last, Andre’s group had finally gotten rid of their notorious reputation. The devils of Tunin were now heroes.
Andre had already lost track of how many years it had been since he had sworn vengeance on the gods. Now, it was no longer a dream, but instead a clear and achievable goal.
‘Ah, right…’ Jade suddenly remembered something. ‘Actually, on our trip, someone asked us what’s the name of our weapon… Um, I took it upon myself and named it…’
‘Hm?’ Andre turned around and looked at Jade. ‘So what did you tell them?’
Under everyone’s gaze, Jade mustered the courage to make her announcement, ‘God Slaying Sword, Brynhildr.’
Andre smiled at her words. ‘I’m sure Prommel will love it a lot.’
[The End]520Please respect copyright.PENANAvlwnQ0CtgH