Chapter 2

Episode 2

[Five-hundred years]

Five-hundred years had already passed when I finally came to my senses. What was interesting was that the memories of my past and present life still remained clear. I had started to stare into the sky more often now. The Hall of Heroes was dark at night, but the afternoon skies proved to be so beautiful.

Suddenly, I started to wonder why I was being pushed around, struggling, and being beaten up every-day trying to learn these things. I couldn't even get out of here anyway. Even if heroes could create something new using their knowledge, it was impossible to transfer existing knowledge, but I was starting to think there were no such restrictions on me. Was that why? They were sitting around trying to push me!

[Seven-hundred years]

They said that time was the cure to all ailments, and I started to relate to that a little bit. I had become a loafer, and it felt like I had returned to the time when I first arrived at this place. Acting all serious didn't suit me. They had been living as spirits for thousands of years, so I guess I was becoming one of them. I wondered why they were so frivolous even though they were quite old, but they would say it was because of time.

Daphne had come to see me. She was the saint who repeatedly cast hundreds of curses on me to teach me about divine magic and the curse system. She looked strangely happy, as if she had kicked the flirty Apollo in the groin. She said she wanted to drink with me because she found some good alcohol. However...something felt weird.

It was almost as if she was trying to hide something.

[Nine-hundred and fifty years]

Most of the heroes who trained me then came to see me. Even the God Ko-Jun, who never showed up because he was the lazy King of Conquest and boasted every time he drank that he was a great emperor, had come to see me. Most of them were heroes who used to be involved with me, and they were also people who had tortured me under the guise of training.

Why did they train me like that? I couldn't even leave this place anyway. If I tried asking that question before, I would've been beaten near death. When I greeted them with a grumpy face, the goddess who used to take care of me most, Hippocrates, gave me a faint smile. This woman wasn't interested in me before, but she started taking care of me as if she were my real sister.

It was an unexpected banquet. Everyone was chatting for several days. Hippocrates, who had been sipping alcohol, quietly spoke, and the banquet came to an end.

"Our youngest. I found a way for you to go back."

I couldn't say anything to her for a while. I felt strange.

[Nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine years]

I think today was my birthday. It had been a long time since I forgot how old I was, but there was still a small anniversary.

They then began to unite. They didn't tell me the reason, or why, or how. They were separate beings who could no longer interfere with the world. They were the type of people who wouldn't do anything or work together even if the world collapsed right now. But somehow, they decided to unite with each other for the second time. The people who used to scold me all the time suddenly started to say good things and be nice to me as if they were high.

The day had finally come.

I asked them what they wanted to do, and they would tell me that they wanted to eat well and live a good life. It looked like they took the first step toward achieving that dream. This was a safe place if you had power, but you wouldn't feel alive. They asked me if I had anything to say for the last time.

In one corner, Yuriana, the master spirit who tried to throw me into the pool of magma after being immersed in the deep sea, was starting to cry.

Sigh...I was starting to feel bad for no reason...

As they were asking me questions calmly, my body began to get surrounded by a light, regardless of my thoughts on the matter. This must be my last time. I thought and smiled at them.

"Let's never see each other again! And how long were you old grandmas expecting me to call you' sister'?"

It was quite refreshing to see their last expressions. The most furious of all was the saint, Daphne.

"Hey! You Fu*king idiot..."

However, they shut their mouths when they noticed the sorrow I was feeling. I didn't want to leave them crying. I smiled at those who waved at me. And then, the world changed.

* * *

Flap!!!

"Haaa...haaa..."

I looked around blankly at my surroundings, almost as if I had awoken from a long dream. My blurry vision was blindingly painful to the point of tears as I hadn't seen the light in a long time. As I lowered my blurry eyes, I saw a strange liquid flowing from an IV into my arm.

[Restore.]

A short murmur. Contrary to my expectations, no changes occurred at my fingertips. Everything was starting to feel real now. I had escaped from the Hall of Heroes and returned to my original body, Prince Davey.

I couldn't think of how to explain it. When reality struck, I lost strength in my body and closed my eyes again. I wanted my mind to be blank for the time being because the sense of exhaustion was eroding my whole body. The rough but strangely cozy blanket was also tempting me never to leave the bed.

To be exact, I didn't even have the strength to lift a finger. After lying for a while, my vision slowly began to adjust. My focus was blurry, so I wasn't sure if my eyesight had returned completely yet, but I thought this was okay.

"Umm..."

When I struggled to speak, a raspy voice came out. It was a muffled sound, but it was clear. Even though I came back after a thousand years, I still had a clear memory of it, so I smiled bitterly.

"Ah...Ahhhh. Ahhhhhh~"

When I started to make a voice as if I were practicing vocalization, my cracked voice began to change slowly as if it were adjusting.

"Ahhhh."

I repeated that for a while. Now that I was able to pronounce words properly, a familiar but slightly different voice came to my ears. They said my voice sounded mellow, but honestly, it was just a plain voice that didn't sound too bad.

"Restore."

One more try. There was no significant change this time as well. However, I wasn't feeling impatient. Since I was tortured under the guise of training for a thousand years, I had experienced all kinds of situations. Of course, I had experienced this situation before.

"Hia once said that when a person falls into a coma, you slowly lose your muscles, and it was the same for mana and divine power.'

I was the only person who called Hippocrates, the God of medicine, 'Hia.' What could I do? She asked me to call her that. If it was unfair for them, then one should try and befriend her.

Hia taught me medicine with her unique ability and let me treat numerous patients. Among them, there were definitely patients in my current situation. The solution was...

'Time.'

It wasn't good to restore muscles that had been damaged due to a lack of nutrition in a short time. Eating in a hurry would make you sick. I had to build up physical strength so I could move my own body. Fortunately, the IV stuck in my arm was providing me with some nutrition. You could possibly starve to death if someone didn't come to feed you when you couldn't even move.

Such a situation wasn't welcoming for me either. When I thought of it, I felt relaxed and smiled. I laid down comfortably, smirked, and began to focus on flicking my fingers. I think they say that rehabilitation training starts from your fingers. Now I just wanted to be immersed in the fact that I had come back.

* * *

No one came into that quiet room for days. No, it would be very rare for anyone to enter this palace, where I was located. Even if someone did come in, it would've been one or two maids in charge of my nutritional supplements. I think it was like that before I fell into a coma and went to the Hall, so it seemed unlikely that it had changed.

When I reached out a shaky hand and looked at the wooden calendar, I saw the time [Baldis Calendar year 278]. I had been shot by an arrow during a hunting competition held in the year 272. I immediately arrived at the Hall of Heroes that time, so it had been about six years since then.

If so, it meant that I was sixteen now. By the standards of this continent, it also meant that I was at the age of adulthood. The thousand years I spent in the Hall of Heroes were only six years here. Was it because time ran differently? Or was there some other reason? Whatever it may be, it was a familiar phenomenon that time was indeed different.

If one left Earth and went to space right now, time would still be different. However, of course, this wasn't Earth. This was a different dimension from Earth called the Tionis Continent, and this was my hometown during my second life. It was a hell of a place, but it was a place where people lived.

"I shouldn't be laying down for too long."

I started to concentrate slowly with my eyes closed even though I was mumbling. Except for the time when I was doing my rehabilitation training, this is what I usually did. It was hard to lift a finger at first, but thanks to my constant effort, I was able even to raise my upper body after a few days. Of course, the difficulties leading up to the process proved to be beyond explanation.

Just because I was used to pain didn't mean that this was easy for me.

"Restore."

I closed my eyes and focused, lifting the white energy that was asleep in my body.

Divine power.

In the words of the saint Daphne, my divine power couldn't reach those who were naturally born with it. However, nobody would be able to reach my level, given my proficiency. Even those famous popes or saints. That meant that I was short of power.

In Daphne's case, she was a hero who would remain in history since she had to learn how to harness her God-given powers by herself. The reason I acquired as much power as I had was due to her hard teachings. Of course, it was natural that nobody could reach my powers, as most people build their divine power slowly by praying. Divine power was just another form of power. It was impossible to build it up quickly just by praying.

In fact, that woman with a bad personality rarely praised God when she taught me. Tsk, tsk. And they call her a full-fledged saint.

...

She probably trained me to use divine power so she could get me to clean the entire hall. I calmly tried to use the divine power, but there was nothing happening.

"Stop being so stubborn."