24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 58

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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24-Hour Friendly Market Specializing in Dimensional Items Episode 58

Episode 58. The Arrow That Left the Bowstring (17)

What in the world is this situation….

Prorobel, which no being on the Ganashia continent, let alone any expedition team, had ever been able to enter.

I had entered it with the most awkward pose in the world.

Since I never thought the door would open and lost my balance, I froze with one foot inside the sanctuary.

To think the first visitor would be in such a state.

Without even thinking to untangle my awkwardly twisted legs, I stood there with my mouth open and made eye contact with Echo.

Echo, who had been staring at me blankly, shouted joyfully.

“Because big sister is special!”

‘Thank you, Echo….’

But as an adult, I couldn’t stand not understanding how I got inside here.

I awkwardly untangled my legs and walked through the door.

The stone pillars that had only appeared as vague silhouettes from outside the dome were now clearly visible.

Six pure white stone pillars were arranged in a circle, supporting the dome’s ceiling.

If I had to compare it to something similar… I’d say it looked like an ancient Greek temple.

The small altar positioned in the center was glowing with golden light.

A mannequin shining with golden light stood on that altar.

The golden light flowing from head to toe moved gently like liquid, and two slender horns that rose hazily above the crown glowed with the same golden light as the other parts.

It should have been blinding, but strangely it wasn’t burdensome—it was a soft and warm radiance.

That figure emanating sacred energy whether viewed from the front or upside down was naturally.

“Oerisa…?”

“I have been waiting all along.”

Oerisa answered my words with a gentle voice.

The voice that softly echoed through the dome created an untouchable sacred atmosphere.

Echo, perhaps frightened, hurriedly clung to my right side.

“That appearance is not your true form, child.”

Come to think of it, I had been walking around wearing the Myriad Mask I bought with my money splurge.

‘Oh no, isn’t wearing a mask when having an audience with a god proper etiquette here?’

I hurriedly removed the mask and put it in my inventory.

As the long hair I had forgotten about for days covered my back, Oerisa smiled as if satisfied.

“Very beautiful indeed.”

“I hear that a lot… Thank you.”

I, who was about to respond half-heartedly as usual, hurriedly showed proper manners.

Ah, maybe because it’s not a god from our world, I could sense the holiness but couldn’t speak politely.

Maybe because I entered the sanctuary I’d only heard about too easily, everything was utterly absurd.

Then Echo, who had been quietly clinging to my side, carefully stepped forward.

And asked purely with eyes full of curiosity.

“Are you really the goddess Oerisa?”

“Nice to meet you, young sprout and… gatekeeper.”

“Excuse me?”

An unbelievable answer came to an absurd situation, and I couldn’t understand it at all.

Echo being the sprout was okay, but me suddenly being a gatekeeper was too out of nowhere, wasn’t it?

I comforted Echo, who was excitedly grabbing and shaking my collar, and asked without hesitation.

“Why did I suddenly become a gatekeeper?”

“How strange, child. You have fulfilled the qualifications to become a gatekeeper.”

When did I do that?

I don’t have any gatekeeper-related certifications, nor have I taken any similar exams.

“What are the qualifications?”

“One who can open doors between two races. You saved one life and saved another life, so it’s natural that you have the qualifications.”

“Wow.”

An exclamation escaped me involuntarily.

‘How absurd.’

To think I solved the gatekeeper keyword without even knowing it!

I saved the imprisoned Clara and Echo who was about to be shot with an arrow, and even saved Anton who almost died at the hands of his comrade.

Come to think of it, I saved humans, beastkin, and even a half-blood between them all equally.

To think that gatekeeper meant one who extended a hand equally to both races.

‘And that’s me.’

Crazy, Lee Hae-won.

Stepping backward and catching a mouse… no, at this level it’s like catching Seo Jae-hyuk.

I really am a Babel kid after all.

“Goddess, goddess. Then can you make everyone stop fighting now?”

Echo, who had been wary just moments ago, came out from behind me and asked.

“There was an object inscribed with an ancient oath, and that-“

“Paroxia? I brought that.”

“…I see. But Paroxia has been tainted by darkness-“

“I repaired that too.”

I took out Paroxia, who had been quietly napping in my inventory, and held it out.

The compass that had been consumed by fog and stained black until recently now glowed even more warmly with Prorobel’s sacred power.

How much gold did I spend in the Magic Tower trying to find and repair this thing.

As Echo stood on tiptoes with curious eyes to look at the compass, I placed the compass in Echo’s hands.

“It’s really pretty….”

While Echo examined Paroxia from all angles and admired it purely, Oerisa said nothing.

Only after a long while did Oerisa speak quietly.

“Thank you, gatekeeper.”

“I heard that if it receives a blessing, the oath can be revived. Is that true?”

“That is correct.”

“She says it’s true, Echo.”

When I patted Echo’s head, Echo looked up.

The child who followed me with only the pure heart of wanting everyone to stop fighting smiled as if happy.

“You must wait until the sun rises and sets, and another day’s sun rises twice.”

“…You mean two days are needed?”

Oerisa nodded.

Maybe because she’s a goddess, she keeps speaking metaphorically which is a bit annoying, but two days should be fine.

After all, the Floor 51 scenario doesn’t end just because Paroxia is restored.

‘Originally, restoring Paroxia and defeating Agemor are different categories anyway.’

Then while Paroxia is being restored, I’ll find a way to give Agemor a good hit.

Meanwhile, Echo asked with her eyes if it was okay to take it, so I nodded.

Echo ran over with a quite dignified expression holding Paroxia, then handed Paroxia to Oerisa.

Then she scurried back to my side and whispered in a very small voice.

“The goddess is really soft and warm…!”

Our Echo knows it’s soft and warm without even touching. How cute.

I smiled lightly and patted Echo, then turned my gaze to Oerisa.

Now, with my next goal decided, my stance is clear.

No matter how much the Oerisa before me is a goddess, she’s this favorable and ‘humanitarian’ to me.

“Could I ask a few questions to commemorate becoming a gatekeeper?”

With the answer sheet right in front of me, sitting idle with my hands folded isn’t my style.

Oerisa, unaware of my dark intentions, nodded very slowly.

The light flowing from her entire body spread like mist.

Unlike Agemor’s erosion I’d seen so far, it was sacred and warm mist.

“Is it because you’re a god served by both beastkin and humans that you have horns?”

“What a cute question. My appearance isn’t standardized into any particular form. I simply exist in this form because the world that small child sees and the world you see have merged together.”

So you’re saying you have an appearance that amicably compromises both sides’ opinions.

Feeling a sharp gaze, I glanced down to see Echo making a disappointed expression as if asking if I was serious.

…No, but aren’t you really curious?

Where did my small and cute beastkin friend go?

I awkwardly cleared my throat and avoided that gaze.

Anyway, this wasn’t what I was most curious about.

I looked at the part of Oerisa’s face where eyes would likely be and asked.

“Lady Oerisa, why didn’t you do anything when the entire continent was falling to ruin?”

Oerisa, who had answered every question without hesitation, quietly looked at me.

No, I couldn’t see her eyes, but I could feel her gaze directed at me.

‘Did I make her angry by making such a pointless criticism?’

Just when I was slightly regretting whether I shouldn’t treat a god this way, Oerisa slowly opened her mouth.

“When Agemor started causing trouble, I became trapped in here. Unable to leave this place, I couldn’t watch over Ganasia, and eventually my children came to hate each other.”

“Who trapped Lady Oerisa?”

“That… I don’t know either. It happened so suddenly.”

There was some inexplicable bitterness buried in her gentle tone.

I could fully feel the pain of a god who had to just watch while humans and beastkin fought for no reason.

Of course, I was thinking something a bit different.

‘You call yourself a god?’

Isn’t being omniscient and omnipotent the default setting for gods?

Oerisa seemed to be a god strong enough to make Agemor do menial tasks, so who on earth could…

As I was thinking this, a certain word flashed through my mind like lightning.

The mastermind of this world had been decided from the beginning.

‘Babel!’

Oerisa’s power would be a thorn in the side when it came to turning Agemor into a reactionary and inciting him to destroy dimensions!

Crazy Babel, sealing away a god just to destroy one dimension – aren’t you really insane?

…Just how far does Babel’s reach extend?

‘Is it right to obediently follow Babel with such power?’

The doubt arose reflexively, but it wasn’t something I needed to voice out loud.

So I decided not to think about it seriously and buried it in a corner of my mind.

The Babel data researched at the Magic Tower. There must be some clues there too.

It’s something I can worry about after clearing the Floor 51 scenario and lying down on my cozy bed at home.

I shook my head vigorously and thought of the next question.

“Can Agemor be killed?”

Oerisa hesitated and seemed to open and close her mouth.

To be clear, Oerisa doesn’t have a mouth.

I just mean it seemed that way.

I calmly waited for an answer.

How much Oerisa cherished Agemor doesn’t matter.

What kind of relationship exists between a god and a god’s child doesn’t matter either.

Right now, this information is more important than anything else for the strategy team that needs to stop Agemor’s erosion.

Oerisa pulled Paroxia a bit closer to her body and murmured.

“…Yes. That child abandoned divine duty and pursued desire, so he would be trapped in the shackles of a physical body.”

Quite a wistful tone.

While the fantasy standard is that gods originally love life but are indifferent to circumstances, Oerisa was quite tender-hearted and humanistic in her approach.

I felt guilty for becoming a heartless human asking a mother if she could kill her child.

But for me, my gratitude toward Echo, my guilt toward Remi, and my sense of responsibility toward the strategy team bus were greater.

‘Then now I need to make the strategy team deal with Agemor.’

I was barely monitoring the strategy team’s movements through the scenario participant shared messages.

Right now the strategy team had gathered in Reikam and split in half, with each group heading out to scout the beastkin territory and human territory respectively.

They had made Reikam their base camp.

‘Now I need to send them to the northernmost point to defeat Agemor…’

First, the method of going directly to find them and persuading them sincerely with tears came to mind.

But as I said, I don’t want to brush against even a hair of the strategy team.

And it’s also awkward to ask someone else to do it.

“You have a face full of worries.”

“You too, Lady Oerisa.”

Just as I was answering with gratitude to her warm concern.

An idea that didn’t make sense but seemed plausible came to mind.

I tilted my head and asked.

“Could I possibly borrow Lady Oerisa’s appearance?”

“That would be difficult, but I could create a form that mimics me. However, it would only be the appearance.”

“You mean you can make a puppet that only looks like Lady Oerisa on the outside?”

That’s not bad.

“Then could you possibly make just one clone? With the radiance and light preserved exactly as they are?”

Oerisa seemed flustered by the sudden outsourcing request and flinched.

“Child, would that become a means to solve your worries?”

“Yes. Completely.”

I don’t know what you’re thinking to make such a request, but if you’re planning to play pranks using my appearance, it would be better to stop.”

“Hey, I wouldn’t do something like that.”

I decided to ease Oerisa’s worries.

“Have you ever heard of avatar blind dating?”

“…What’s an avatar and what’s blind dating?”

This innocent god has no idea what’s about to happen.

I grinned and added.

“Oh, I won’t do any blind dating.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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