The Traveler: Martial Druid

Chapter 3

Katsuo returned to the daffodil garden in pain.

"Quite curious. I never expected your reunion to go like that"

Aeternitas was right. Katsuo didn't expect it would turn out like this either. He was under the impression that it would be a heart-wrenching parting but his father ended up beating him up.

He shouted obscenities at Katsuo and hit him in anger. His mother and sister managed to keep him down but what he said still hurt Katsuo.

"You are a proud son of the Kazama lineage. I won't allow you to wallow in pain even in my dreams. So what if you died!? Be a man about it and hold your head high!"

That resonated with Katsuo and it left a bad taste in his mouth. He didn't want to hear that from his father during their farewells.

"Neither did I but I guess it was necessary" then Katsuo bowed to the Goddess. She was a divine being worthy of his worship and he was deeply grateful to her for letting him meet with his family for one last time. He didn't know if he could worship her with all his heart but at least he didn't want to treat her with hostility anymore.

"You may rise"

Aeternitas seemed pleased with Katsuo's change in attitude.

"Have you given any thought to what else you desire as your compensation?"

"Before I answer can you tell me more about Hellariath?"

Katsuo had given it some thought but he still wanted to know more about 'Hellariath'. What if he asked for magic powers and the world ended up being a steampunk world? Then his wish would be useless.

"Hmmm, Hellariath is a world of magic. There are 3 continents in the world but most of the population is concentrated on the biggest one which is named Hellariath hence the reason why the world is named as such. Most of the world is populated by humans but the strongest country is named 'Azra', a country of non-humans"

Katsuo was listening carefully, trying to burn every word of Aeternitas to his mind.

"Non-humans? Can you elaborate on that?"

"Elves, orcs, dwarves and halflings"

He was genuinely surprised, from his bootleg fantasy knowledge those races were not supposed to get along. He didn't know about halflings as this was the first time he heard of them but the other three were staple fantasy races and they shouldn't be able to get along. To top it off all four came together to found a country.

"How?"

"It's all because of that annoying Elf Queen, otherwise my children would already be ruling the world."

Aeternitas seemed displeased by this situation. Katsuo then remembered that one of her titles was 'Guardian Deity of Humanity'. She wasn't even trying to hide her favouritism. Was it really okay for a divine being that created the world to show such favouritism? Katsuo wanted to ask more but he didn't want to spoil Aeternitas' mood so he decided to change the subject.

"Then is that world dangerous?"

"In the grand scheme of things? No, it would only be average. Compared to your world? Yes, it would be extremely dangerous"

"What about things like Demon King?"

"There was an invasion from the Demon World about a millennia ago but my children managed to seal the passage. The only demons you might encounter are stragglers from back then"

"Understood, then your holiness, if I might impose on you I would like to ask for 3 abilities going into that world"

"Good, I was starting to get bored of this conversation. Just a reminder that I can't make you immortal or anything of such. Also depending on your requests, I might not grant all three of your wishes. However, if I find them easy I can grant you more than 3 abilities. So let's hear it. What do you want?"

Katsuo felt like Aeternitas became lively all of a sudden, like a kid who got her hands on a new toy. He wasn't sure about this but he felt like Aeternitas found the notion of granting him abilities fun.

"First of all, I would like to ask for a system"

"System? What's that?" Aeternitas looked lost.

Katsuo looked baffled.

"You don't know?"

"Come here"

Aeternitas commanded Katsuo to come next to her.

He was a little confused but he obeyed her will nonetheless.

"Kneel"

Once he arrived next to her Aeternitas commanded Katsuo to kneel. Once he did, she held his cheeks and planted a kiss on his forehead.

"W-what?"

"So this is what a system is?"

As Aeternitas let Katsuo go, he fell backwards. Both of them were focusing on entirely different things.

"It looks similar to the thing demons use but it shouldn't be hard to make?"

"How do you suddenly know what a system is? Is-is it because of the k-kiss?"

"Why are you stuttering all of a sudden?" it was then a mischievous smile settled on Aeternitas' lips. "Oh, how could I forget? You were a virgin, weren't you? I guess it must have stimulated you"

"N-no. A-and you haven't an-answered my qu-question"

Katsuo held his hand over his heart.

*Thump* *Thump* *Thump*

He could feel it beating it furiously. This was the first time in his life he felt like this. Normally, if his heart beat this fast he would already be having a heart attack. It didn't feel bad.

It didn't feel bad at all.

But it was making it hard for him to have a conversation.

"Well, I just accepted you as one of my believers so everything you know, I know it as well. Don't forget, from this moment onward you are my believer so no cheating okay?"

"*Inhale* But aren't divine beings supposed to be omniscient?"

"And we are omniscient and omnipotent but only in the confines of our own dimension. Let me give you an example. In the Norse mythology of your world, there is an event called Ragnarok, in other words, apocalypse. And it was prophesized that it would start with the death of an Aesir called Baldur. So her mother Freya, wife of Odin decided to make everything in existence swear that they would never hurt Baldur. So Baldur became immortal. Now question? How would you kill Baldur?"

Katsuo knew the answer to this. He knew about this myth thanks to a game series.

"I would use a mistletoe. When Freya was making them swear she forgot about mistletoe so it could still hurt Baldur. But what's the point of this question?"

"And that's the wrong answer. You are a human being, how could you kill a god with some measly plant? Now if you were a god as well it might have worked but not for you. The correct answer is much simpler. You would just simply draw your gun and shoot him. After all, when Freya made them swear the guns didn't exist yet, so how could she make them swear to not hurt Baldur? And that's what I mean by omniscient and omnipotent but only in the confines of our own dimension"

"I think I understand"

This was actually a good example. So she was still omniscient but only if it was something that existed in her world. If it didn't exist how could she know about it? So there had never been a system in this world? Should he take this as good news?

"So what is your second wish?"

"I want to have a strong heart. A heart that will never grow weak or sick. I have always been afraid that my heart will give up in my previous life so I don't want to have such a fear anymore"

"Just your heart? I can give you a strong body with an especially strong heart?"

Katsuo just shook his head.

"No, even in my previous life my body had always been excellent, it was only my heart that held me back. My family is a famous lineage of warriors so I think it will serve me well"

"Okay, this shouldn't be hard. What about your last wish?"

"I wish to be able to understand every language in the world. I don't know where I will end up but it would be quite inconvenient if I couldn't communicate with the people I met there."

Aeternitas looked troubled by this request.

Katsuo found this weird. He thought that this would be the easiest one among all his requests. After all, she only needed to teach him some languages. It shouldn't be something that hard right?

"Phew, okay I will grant this one as well. I won't grant any other wishes so if you don't have anything else to say I think it's time for you to leave"

Aeternitas looked bothered like she couldn't wait to send him away from this place but Katsuo wasn't done yet. He had one last question to ask.

"What is a Black Star of the Void?"

Aeternitas was already raising her hand but she flinched when she heard this question. Then she smiled.

"I would normally explain this to you but I am annoyed thanks to someone, so why don't you find out what it means by yourself?"

*Snap*

Before Katsuo could even respond to her Aeternitas had already snapped her fingers.

The world around Katsuo started to distort and when he opened his eyes he found himself in the middle of a forest.

This was it!

This was the start of his brand-new life!