Chapter 37: Grandchild

"As a matter of fact, I must be wrong. As strong as you may be, and for better or worse, young man, I more than doubt you would possess such ancient, legendary benediction."

I mocked him saying he was jealous, but he was not.

He mentioned an 'eldest soul ever' to me, and I thought he might qualify for the title. Congratulations, old man, you have obtained the Eldest Soul Ever Title, would the System say. Seriously though. Before I could stop him because such philosophical discussions only annoyed me right now, he talked to me about power, and how much of a curse it was. That's why he said for better or worse when telling me I didn't qualify for that ancient benediction of his. But I won't mention the speech about true power and its consequences he gave me. He also then said, regarding the System, that I was far too little and didn't know anything about how immense the world was, and how weak I could be in front of truly stronger beings. That's why it was highly unlikely I would possess such a legendary power. He even prophesied that if I had anything like that at all, I was sure to leave my mark on the world. That mark could be either a scar or of profit. Needless to say, he nonetheless asserted, seeing how much of a cheeky brat I was, he could instantly see I was no such legendary person. Rude, old man!

Raising such a heavy question, my goal was to test the old man's knowledge. No, it wasn't like I could tell whether he was wrong or right about anything he said. Still, I trusted that, after all he told me in such a short period of time about the System, or what it potentially was, that old man was the real dead. A big shot with the books. I wasn't done yet, by the way. The next question I threw at him was another one I deemed essential to get answered, too. If I came to life in the first place, it was because of Faith. Or rather, Faith Points, as the System neatly quantified it. Without mentioning that I was 'born' through this 'faith', when I recounted my story to the old man, I just said as the human said, "the unclassified unique monster just spawned in the restaurant for no apparent reason; a sorry accident." That wasn't exactly a lie since, in the end, Faith or not, my coming to this world really was just an accident, from my perspective. Anyway, I asked the old man about Faith in general.

His answer was that Faith indeed could bring 'beings' that did not exist before to life. That was in fact the case for most legendary monsters, fairy elementals, or kami, even. People conceptualized, imagined, and believed in a 'being' so much that the power of their 'faith' would bring the thing alive.

When I came to this world, the System said the following: Enough Faith Points have been registered — Materializing Procedure is issued. Well, to make things clear, briefly, the old man answered by explaining that the concept of Faith had the power to make things and beings come alive. Be it about the religious kind of faith or not—the simple act of "believing" in whatever was the subject of one's inner fantasies could bring legendary creatures alive. Just like it be the case with magical elementals, legendary monsters, or even divine spirits, who people also referred to as "gods." Naturally, such a phenomenon, the old man wisely mentioned, was no common occurrence at all. Whew, didn't that mean I some kind of super big stuff? An existence on par with that of a "god," eh?

Continuing the explanation, the old man exclaimed himself. "What a good example! Do you not know about 'that' famous dragonmen clan's leader, for instance, young man? Oh! I guess you would not." Well, that clan's leader was a huge, magnificent winged creature. A dragon as huge as three mountains. Listening to the description of that legendary divine dragon he used as an example, I was told that the creature was also the result of Faith. That didn't come as a shock, but I guess I was in a similar condition to that divine winged creature.

As I said, it probably meant I was that kind of big shot, but I didn't think much of it. After all, the kind of Faith that had brought me in the world was also simply that of three puny humans: One storyteller and his two nephews. They were the ones who both narrated and listened so attentively to my story, some "Tale of the Ancients," as it was being taught, in the very first moments I experienced, remember?

As the old uncle further described what 'that' kind of creature felt, looked, and sounded like, I cut him short, telling him my question was answered, saying thank you.

By now I had already decided on what my 'alternative' would be. He answered my question the way I imagined he would, and now my future—the path I would tread on from now on—slowly began to take shape in my head. To test his knowledge and reliability further, I then asked the old knowledgeable man about what the System called Nobility. The old man shut his eyes tight (he always did that when he thought up an answer), and severely nodded to me. "Nobility. Indeed. Nobility. Hmm. There is in the world, young man, what you might call 'noble creatures'. And in fact—"

"All right, done!" I suddenly slammed my hands on the table. "Thanks for answering my questions, old man."

"W-Why, but of course. It was my pleasure. Though I believe I haven't answered the last of your—"

"I know," I nodded at him. "But it's fine. I already know about Nobility. It's that thing that lets you basically evolve!"

"Not exactly. But sure, at a basic level. Evolve. Hmm. Did you know already?"

I said that I did. And anyway, now, I finally stood up. My legs were so numb from sitting without moving much for that long. Stretching and warming up a little, I heaved a sigh of pleasure. "Haaah~ That does feel good." Then my eyes dropped down, meeting with my old man's gaze. "What are you waiting for? Stand up, already. Or are you too old for that?"

With a bewildered look on his face, he spoke. "Are you already leaving? Aaah, well! You have been a great comrade for a discussion, young man. It should be wrong of me to keep you more!"

"Heh," I scoffed. "So you're too old, eh?"

"Certainly not. I will stand up at once and see you off to my door. You may come back whenever you—"

"What are you talking about, old man? See me off?" As I said that, my eyes locked with his. "No. You'll come with me."

"Young man. You have me lost again. W-What could you possibly mean...?"

"Get yourself up. We're leaving this place. You and your loneliness... I can't possibly leave you behind, right? Oh, and yeah, should have I asked for your permission first? See when I told you I lack commonsense... Ah, good grief. You'll come with me, though, right? O-Oh, right, but I should explain, shouldn't I. With you by my side, I'm as knowledgeable as could be. Living out in the world won't be a problem for me then. W-What's with that face, now, eh, old man? Y-You're tearing up!? N-No! H-Hey! I said no! Back away! I'll run! Don't you dare hug me with that face full of snot—"

Thus I made my first real friend. And thus we left on a trip together. We first met, with that crazy old tea-sipper, then we chatted a lot, then we went off together. Like I said, if I was to be accompanied by such a competent, and most knowledgeable, advisor, then I could brave whatever hardship life might throw at me. Now, I let him join my group. I figured I would need help outside. So we grouped together. Well, for now however, I wasn't still sure about what path I would be taking, with that old consultant by my side... but I was sure I would figure it out further down the road. It all first started with a quest from the System, and now, as if it were entirely normal, the old man joined hands with me. Why I didn't know. He was probably just that kind of grumpy old man, I supposed. We sealed our deal with a hug, even though I was totally opposed to it. It was actually crazy to see with how much strength he embraced me, his now 'favorite' young man of many stories, with a face full of snot and tears. "I have a grandson!" he kept yelling. "You truly are my grandchild!"

"Yeah, yeah... Now get off of me!" So much strength, I tell you. Try as I might, pushing him off wasn't in my ability. It was for the best, though, I think. I was glad he was at least that much happy. God, what stupid old man have I even teamed up with?

The quest had long since been validated and changed, by the way. At first, I needed to keep the old man company. A long while back, during the time he was telling me the beginning of his own story—story that he didn't even get to finish up, now that I think about it—it had been validated, and changed to other instructions.

❮ Character's Creation Quest — An old man's heart is never filled more with happiness than when his grandchild tells him he loves him! — For the record, I never said that — But that isn't all! When his grandchild finally gets to have his Character and start the Game, an old man's heart is filled with happiness more than ever. The Dryads of the Benelloan Forest are allies to the Player and await the Player in order to grant him his need. Let the Player then keep braving the Forest's dangers and meet with the Dryads, the Sisters of the Forest. The Player is certain to be helped by them in the undertaking of creating his Character!

❮ Instructions: With the elves, head to the Inner Forest. 0/1 ❯

"Shall we get going?"