Black-Haired Dad Isn’t Something You Reap - Chapter 243

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

Chapter 243. Procrastination is One of the Best Coping Strategies (3)
When I brought up this question, Nanakda tilted his head in confusion, wondering about the whereabouts of the dead.
“Right? Usually when people die, that’s the end of it, isn’t it?”
“Do they store dead people somewhere separately? In a cemetery? A place like that?”
“Wouldn’t they rot if left for too long?”
“Yeah? They’d definitely rot, right?”
As we both marveled at this together, I felt a commotion from above my head, and divine power washed over me. I recognized this sensation well—it was the feeling from when the deities gathered at Media’s Residence for our group viewing, and one of them would descend as a representative.
“Descendant!”
I’d suspected as much. I thought Kisomalos, who had a divine body for traveling back and forth, might not come as the representative, but sure enough, a golden sheep figurine dropped onto the top of my head.
“The Underworld! I said the Mortal Realm had no legends about the Underworld! I thought it was strange!”
“The Underworld? Not sea urchin, right?”
I knew about sea urchin if it tasted like the sea, and I was thinking about how delicious fresh sea urchin innards were when eaten at the right time, when Nanakda let out a heavy sigh, and surprisingly, Grant also descended in the form of a book.
“The Underworld is also called the realm of the dead. The place where the living dwell is called the realm of the living, and the place where the dead go is called the realm of the dead. Since there were no stories of the Underworld in the Mortal Realm, I was uncertain whether we could summon Hisperon again, but seeing that the Creator Deities passed the rules I established, it seems they were secretly keeping it hidden.”
It’s a bit amusing that Grant used the word “secretly keeping.” More importantly, there’s actually a storage place for dead people?
“Among the places where deities lived in the Divine Realm, not the Mortal Realm, did an Underworld exist?”
“The form varies somewhat by planet, but usually there is one.”
“It also differs by religion.”
“Oh, right. In our region, it’s just a place where the dead go, but in the northern regions, only warriors who die in battle can go there, and in Maitreya’s domain, only those who’ve committed sins go there. If you’re without sin, you’re reincarnated immediately.”
“Perhaps because Maitreya has descended before, the concept of ‘hell’—meaning a place where the dead receive punishment for a long time rather than merely reside—has also been transmitted to the Mortal Realm. What form the Underworld takes will be the key to resolving this matter.”
“Unless the Absolute Deities follow a separate religion, wouldn’t they follow their ancestral deity? Chiron is from our region.”
Kisomalos and Grant exchanged words back and forth, but I couldn’t understand a thing they were saying. Still, one thing was certain—this wasn’t a negative development. Above all, Kisomalos’s expression was bright.
“Descendant, you’ve struck gold! Among my comrades who sailed with me, there’s an expert in the Underworld!”
“Really?!”
Does that mean I can bring Father back? Can I drag him out by the hair from the neighborhood where dead people live?
“He made a slight mistake at the end, but Orpheus managed to persuade even the King and Queen of the Underworld with just one lyre performance!”
“Wow! Isn’t Orpheus from that super famous musician family?!”
The Orpheus Family, boasting a hundred-year history, was a household of musicians with tremendous talent, from the founder to Julius Arensmeyer Orpheus, who currently serves as the fourth family head.
They composed and wrote lyrics themselves, and every family head in history had received the title of “Singing Saint,” possessing remarkable vocal prowess, and they could handle dozens of instruments, all of which they played expertly at a professional level or beyond.
Especially after the invention of records and the advent of radio broadcasting, the current family head, Julius, had sold over a hundred million record albums on the Narak Continent alone.
Both Croa and I are personally fans of Julius, and the rock and roll genre he pioneered made both Croa and me cry when we first heard it.
“Kisomalos! You knew Orpheus?! That incredible person?! How on earth did you manage that?!”
“Descendant, I’m an incredibly great deity, I’m telling you?!”
“But still, it’s Orpheus! Why would Orpheus associate with someone like Kisomalos?!”
“Damn it! What’s so great about that hack musician!”
If Kisomalos said that in front of Croa, he’d get beaten to death. Croa, who switched from jazz to rock and roll, now follows Julius and Orpheus almost like a religion.
But Grant seemed unfamiliar with current trends, so he asked Nanakda what we were talking about.
“Nanakda, what is rock and roll?”
“It’s a vulgar music genre called rhythm and blues.”
“Don’t call it vulgar! It’s such an exciting and forward-thinking genre!”
“Princess Vishnabel, you! Well, you’re the Emperor now, I suppose. Now that you’ve become Emperor, you should listen to more refined music! It would be so much better to attend opera or orchestra performances!”
“Classical music was all pop music back in the day, wasn’t it?!”
By the time we’re old and dead, people will probably say, “A refined person should listen to rock and roll with sophistication.” When I stuck my tongue out and pitied Nanakda for not understanding rock and roll’s charm, the man muttered under his breath, frowned, and cursed the genre.
“What’s so great about such noisy music.”
“There are plenty of calm rock songs too. And isn’t there a lot of loud classical music as well?”
“Vivaldi is its own genre.”
So all the loud violin pieces I’d heard must have been by Vivaldi. That somehow made me feel better. We debated music for a while before returning to the main topic—how exactly could we reach the Underworld?
“Where is the Underworld located? Is it on a different planet like the Divine Realm, separate from the Mortal Realm? If it’s that far away, wouldn’t it be difficult to find?”
According to Kisomalos, space travel hasn’t even begun yet, so how could I possibly find my way to a planet called the Underworld? Unless… warp stones? Since those determine coordinates based on the sun, if the Underworld exists within the Solar System, travel should be possible.
As I chattered on, practically discussing how to locate the Underworld, Kisomalos made that expression again—the one I’d seen before.
Wait, wasn’t that the same face he made when he said he didn’t know exactly how much divine power remained to be paid?
“Kisomalos, surely not.”
“…I don’t know.”
“What do you actually know?!”
Frustrated enough to tear the golden sheep figurine to shreds, I remembered there was another deity present and turned to Grant.
“Grant, do you know where the Underworld is?”
“I don’t either.”
“….”
“….”
Should I tear this book apart too? When I glanced at Nanakda questioningly, he shook his head and sighed disappointedly.
“Unlike the golden sheep figurine, the scripture is Grant’s actual body, so you won’t be able to tear it with human strength.”
“Tsk.”
“If it gets damaged, it’ll just become a damaged book.”
Grant chuckled, saying it was just an old book anyway, so what did it matter if it tore. This is why dealing with religious types is so troublesome—they don’t cling to form.
“At this rate, finding the Underworld will take forever.”
“Why not just go ask the one who created it where it is?”
Huh? I’d never thought of that approach. Nanakda’s brilliant suggestion startled both me and Kisomalos so much we stared at him. Nanakda and Grant fell silent, emanating an indescribable atmosphere.
“…Second Cult Leader, you really like someone like that?”
“I find myself pathetic sometimes too, so please don’t mention it.”
Ah, why is he like this? Even when I praise Nanakda, he’s dissatisfied. I pouted and cursed him, then reconsidered the idea of going to whoever created the Underworld and asking them.
“But would a deity who’s kept the fact that they created the Underworld so carefully hidden really answer if we asked?”
“The kid does have his moments of brilliance.”
“But then he immediately says something stupid again, so don’t let your guard down.”
This won’t do—you need a beating.
I grabbed Grant in one hand and struck Nanakda’s head. He collapsed with a loud smack and didn’t regain consciousness for a while.
“Grant, you’re really sturdy.”
“My descendant isn’t dead, is he?”
“Would I kill him?”
There’s too much benefit I can extract from him in the future. I kept that thought to myself and pondered which of the four Creator Deities might have made the Underworld.
Darwin seems uninvolved with the realm of the dead since he concerns himself with spaces where living beings dwell. Descartes did summon the Divine Realm’s deities and the Mortal Realm’s spirits, but since he relates to thinking beings themselves, perhaps he has a hand in it too? And Laplace….
“Everything falls under Laplace’s calculations….”
Now that I think about it, Kirke once said something like that. Looking back, everything falls within Laplace’s calculations. If Grant’s rule of opening the Divine Realm’s gates to eminent figures from the Mortal Realm is also part of Laplace’s computational process, then wouldn’t it be possible to have prepared the Underworld in advance to counter this?

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