Chapter 219: A Sick God

Ted has been staring at the young man with the golden hair for a while now. This is Miss Sofia's husband? He thought as he felt a slight pause in his heartbeat.

Good for nothing husband? Abusing his wife? Lazing around all day?

If Ted had a few doubts about the rumors before, now he absolutely knows none of it is true. How would someone that looked so fragile and gentle ever hurt Miss Sofia?

Someone who offers to help even when they are sitting in a wheelchair, how could someone like that be a bad man?

Ted did not notice that he was already slightly backing away as his thoughts raced inside his mind, causing him to hit a piece of wood on the ground.

"Hello?"

As soon as the sound of the wood cracking whispered into the air, Sofia's husband turned his head towards Ted's direction. "Is someone else with you, Sofi?" He said.

"Ah yes, someone was kind enough to escort me from town."

"I see…" Sofia's husband once again turned his head slowly towards Ted. However, his eyes were not really looking at him, it just followed where his head was pointing to, unmoving.

Wait. Could it be…

...He is blind as well?

"You're… not some I know, are you?" Sofia's husband slightly stuttered, his head tilted to show his confusion.

"That…"

"No, Vi. He's just a guard."

"Ah, I see. Forgive me for not recognizing you, sir."

"N...no, it's okay. We haven't met yet."

Ted could not pull his eyes away from the young man. "I… just escorted Miss Sofia with her baggage. There have been reports that a Demon God's minion has been sighted flying above our skies," he said.

"Oh, the one I have been hearing?"

"...Hearing?"

"It's nothing," Sofia's husband closed his eyes, "Then… thank you for escorting my wife, sir," he then slightly bowed his head, his tone filled with sincerity.

"That… No problem."

Ted felt his heart being pierced by a needle again. He was originally here to take Sofia away if he found out that she had a good for nothing husband. But it turned out that he couldn't even walk and use his eyes. He also seemed to be a gentle soul. Him being unable to walk and see… could it be he also participated in the war?

"Then… I will take my leave, Mr…?"

"Viel. You may call me Viel, sir."

"Then, Mister Viel. I hope to see you again in town soon. Please be careful, we don't know when the Demon God's minions will come."

Ted saluted as he turned around and left. And as soon as he was a distance away. Viel slightly turned his head towards Sofia.

"The one flying?" He said, "Is that the one I have been hearing in our basement, the one you caught the other day?"

"Hm…" Sofia hummed, "You don't have to worry about that. Come, I will prepare dinner."

"...Oh, you think so?"

"What's that?" Sofia could not help but look back towards Viel as she heard him whisper.

"Oh, it's Miss Lu Yi. She's telling me that Xanthus moved a little bit."

"Oh, that's good, isn't it? Tell her I said hi."

"She heard you already."

"Well, I can't hear her, so let me pretend that she doesn't hear me as well, okay?"

Hearing Sofia's words, Viel could not help but let out a tiny chuckle as he gently pushed himself to the kitchen to help Sofia prepare. But alas, before his hands could even reach for anything, he was quickly pushed away by Sofia, saying that he would only make a mess in the kitchen.

"Just stay there! Remember the last time you tried to help!?"

"But--"

"No!"

***

"Oi, you done? I thought you'd be coming back with the lady?"

"No. The rumors about her husband were not true."

Ted came back to his post, his strides were long and proud but the tone of his voice failed to mask his disappointment.

"And so? You can still take her away," Ted's superior let out a burst of laughter as he hit Ted on the shoulders.

"I can't do that. Her husband seems to be a veteran of the war."

"Pff. Well, that works for me. I won another silver coin from the guards. Bahaha!"

"Also, you're getting less pay this week."

"What, why!?"

As soon as Ted heard his superior's words, the disappointment clouding over him quickly disappeared, overshadowed by dread.

"You left your post."

"But I was-- Tch. Then can we at least share your winnings?"

"No," Ted's superior once again burst out in laughter as he left Ted.

Seeing his superior leaving while waving his hand cheerfully in the air, Ted could not help but sigh, vapor coming out of his mouth.

"Oh… it's starting to get cold now."

Ted could not help but feel the chill of the air seeped through his armor. If his heart was not completely frozen before, it is now. Perhaps someone else will come along, he thought as he looked above the skies.

"I guess we survived for another year."

4 years. It has been more than 4 years since the birth of the new Demon God. They were still alright now since the war is still being contained in the Western Continent.

It took hundreds of years with the last war before it reached their lands, the North.

But now, with the Western Continent still weak and not even fully recovered, it took only 4 years for the war to already be at their doorstep. They were sending more and more men each day. And Ted was sure of it, that one day, he too will be sent to the war.

The Western Continent was truly unlucky, he thought. It would seem that every time a Demon God is born, it was always there.

It was as if they were the center of a play.

A play by a sick god.

***

"Father, what are you doing!?"

On the shores somewhere, a dark-skinned man was carrying what seemed to be a huge… whale. But even with the weight, the dark-skinned man's feet does not seem to sink into the sand. But as soon as a girl saw her coming out of the waters, a sharp scolding quickly entered his ears.

"...You said you could eat a whole whale with how hungry you are, Lyanna?"

"No! That was just an expression!"

"Oh… Oh!" The dark-skinned man slowly opened his mouth as he hummed, realizing his mistake.

"The neighbors are going to complain again, father! And please, wear something!" Lyanna said as she pointed at the dark-skinned man.

"But the clothes will get wet. You just washed them."

"Then you can just wash them on your own! And aren't you getting cold!?"

"But they keep getting destroyed?"

"Uggh!" Lyanna could not help but pout her mouth, letting out grunts of frustration, "I feel like I am the adult here!"

"No. You're only 10 right now."

"I said I feel like-- Ugh!"

"Gahaha! Your daughter giving you trouble again, Noah?"

As Lyanna's groans continued to filter through the air as she entered their modest house, a bearded man holding a bottle sluggishly approached them.

"Yes. I don't know why she is always mad. I thought I had already figured everything there is to know by now about little humans."

"Bahaha. Kids man, kids. That's why I don't have one. They are evil little things."

"I can hear that!" Lyanna's screams seeped from inside the house, "And why aren't you saying anything about father being naked!?"

"Well, we're beside the ocean, are we not? What is a man to do but be naked and bask in the glory that is given to us by the gods?"

"Exactly!" Noah gestured his agreement.

"I am going to lose my head with you two!"

"Hello, Noah!"

It was then that 3 old women walked past Noah, waving their hands as they stared at his bountiful… catch. "I see you're still getting them big even if it's getting colder now." One of the old ladies said coquettishly.

"Why hello there, ladies."

"No! Wear something!" Noah felt his vision turn dark as a set of clothes were thrown at his face at pinpoint accuracy.

It has been four years since Noah had arrived in this small settlement. He had a Prophecy that he needed fulfilled, but for some reason, there seemed to be a weird power stopping him from leaving.

There was also the fact that he needed to learn more about this world. He had been stuck inside his cave for thousands of years, planning and making sure that his Prophecy would be done to the latter. But he never once truly stepped out to see what this world has to offer.

And the anomaly seemed to have also disappeared, leaving him with nothing to do as the Prophecy was now going along smoothly even without his intervention.

And the girl, she had also been calling her father for about 3 years now, even though they were not related at all. He found it alarming at first, but now, he does not seem to mind anymore. It is also one of the reasons why he couldn't leave.

If the girl calls him father, he won't be able to leave. Because as far as his knowledge of humanity goes, a father should not leave his child until the child becomes of age. And that is not something up to fate, but nature.

And it also turned out… He wasn't in the Western Continent at all.

He came to know a few days after he arrived on the island that...

...He was actually in the North.