Chapter 6: As Long as You Are Alive, You Have to Do Something
"Where are we going again?"
"The Fallen God's Land in the west." Serie's voice held both respect and hunger. "Not only does a fallen deity rest there, but also magic capable of killing gods."
Gods were immortal and indestructible. This truth shaped how every being saw the world.
It was as certain as sunrise, as fixed as the changing seasons.
Like the Elves, deities lived forever, but unlike her people, they could never die.
If an Elf took a fatal wound, she died. Simple reality.
But gods couldn't be killed. No known magic had the power to destroy divine essence. Every spell, every weapon, every force had failed against their nature.
Yet in that western region, a god had fallen. Even the ancient Elves couldn't say when she died, though it happened before recorded history.
The divine power released in her death had soaked the entire area, creating a barrier that blocked all magical detection.
No scrying could pierce it, no divination could reveal what lay inside.
After learning about the Western Fallen God's Land from other Elves, Serie had heard the whispered stories told in hushed, fearful voices.
She had always burned with curiosity about that place.
Now, with this strange human companion, she wondered if this might be her only chance to explore such forbidden knowledge.
"The Fallen God's Land?" Kurtz's voice cracked with disbelief.
The name sounded like a final dungeon from some impossible video game.
Could gods actually die? Thinking of the eventual end of the Age of Gods in future history, it seemed possible.
But the implications were staggering. If gods could fall, what force could have done it?
Serie's lips curved into a cold smile that held no warmth.
"Legend says no creature entering that realm has ever returned. Are you frightened?"
Kurtz shook his head, though worry gnawed at his stomach. "Not frightened, just curious. Why do you want to kill a god?"
Serie's smile widened, becoming genuine and terrifying in its honesty. This was her truest expression, raw and unfiltered, revealing the dangerous truth of her nature.
"Because if magic isn't meant to kill your opponent, then it has no purpose. Gods are just opponents who haven't been defeated yet."
The casual way she discussed killing gods made Kurtz's skin crawl.
This was the mindset of someone from the Age of Gods, when power meant everything and morality was a luxury few could afford.
He found it hard to imagine how she would view the world after humanity's triumph, after the Demon King's defeat, when peace finally settled over the realm.
That peaceful future would probably be what she least wanted to see, a world where her beloved warfare became meaningless.
But what did that distant future matter to him? He wouldn't survive to see events thousands of years from now, no matter how they played out.
He wasn't an Elf with infinite life. No magic existed in this world to extend mortal years; otherwise, heroes like Himmel would have used it long ago to stay with their immortal companions.
Human lives were brief.
Even if he spent his entire existence at Serie's side, for her it would be just a short adventure, a bright moment in the endless span of her immortal years.
But right now, Kurtz refused to dwell on such dark thoughts.
He stood and stretched, working tension from muscles grown stiff from sitting. "Alright, let's investigate this place together. I don't have anywhere else to go anyway."
Then he quickly added a condition: "But we wait until the humans of this era learn magic first."
Since fate had brought him to this world, he felt obligated to do something meaningful.
As long as he drew breath, he would work to improve humanity's desperate situation.
He had limited strength. Right now, his only worthwhile attack magic was the Light Arrow technique. But even that small ability made him stronger than most humans struggling to survive in this harsh age.
He didn't know how humanity had originally gained magical knowledge, but he felt no hesitation about being a pioneer in that development.
"This era? That's odd phrasing."
"Cough, cough, slip of the tongue." Kurtz quickly backtracked, scrambling for an explanation.
"I meant my people living in this current time."
He had no intention of revealing his transmigrator identity. That secret would go with him to whatever grave awaited in this dangerous world.
Fortunately, Serie didn't push the matter. She simply studied him for a moment before nodding quietly. "Very well. We leave tomorrow to begin your mission."
Serie understood that taking Kurtz to the Fallen God's Land in his current state would be suicide. His magical abilities were too weak, his survival skills too poor.
Such a journey would accomplish nothing beyond adding another corpse to that cursed realm.
Night fell across the landscape.
Kurtz sat beside their small campfire, occasionally turning mushroom skewers suspended above the flames.
This was their evening meal.
He'd originally hoped Serie might find Grayhorn Rabbits or similar prey, but extensive searching had found nothing edible.
During quiet moments, Kurtz found himself gazing up at this world's night sky.
The stellar display exceeded anything visible from Earth, as if every distant sun hung within reach. Moonlight spilled across the landscape in silver waves, creating a vista so beautiful he never tired of seeing it.
"Kurtz, what has your attention?"
Serie approached after finishing her protective ward casting, settling beside him with fluid grace.
"The stars." Kurtz smiled with genuine wonder. "In my homeland, every star is an entire world."
He wondered if somewhere among those countless points of light, he might glimpse his original home, the blue and green planet where his story had begun.
Probably not. The distances were beyond understanding.
Serie followed his gaze upward, her expression growing thoughtful. "According to Elven legend, stars are divine eyes watching everything in our world."
She had observed this same sky for hundreds of years without finding beauty in it.
The constant feeling of being watched, judged, and measured by cosmic forces had long since lost any appeal.
Short-lived beings had the luxury of finding wonder in temporary things.
"Doesn't that make you feel trapped? Having every action watched by some divine voyeur?" The thought of constant surveillance made Kurtz uncomfortable.
"Some Elves see it as divine favor and protection," Serie replied with cold detachment. "Others find the concept unbearable."
Kurtz turned toward her with growing understanding. "You must be in the latter group."
Serie offered no verbal response, simply continuing to stare at the heavens with shadowed eyes.
Sometimes, silence said more than words ever could.
"You mentioned that in your homeland, every star is a world. Do you truly believe that?"
Ever since becoming aware of the night sky, Serie had wrestled with the same question that troubled philosophers across every realm.
What exactly were these distant lights?
Her people viewed them as divine surveillance, constantly monitoring mortal affairs.
Dwarves saw them as precious gems embedded in the world's crown; whoever unified all lands would claim mastery over these celestial treasures.
The demon race simply hated their presence, calling them the claws of the God of Light, instruments of oppression and judgment.
Now Kurtz proposed something entirely different: every star was an independent world.
The idea was wonderfully abstract, yet somehow compelling in its scope and possibility.
"Absolutely true." Kurtz spoke with complete conviction, though he struggled to explain cosmic physics to someone from a magical medieval setting.
How could he describe planets and solar systems, galaxies and the vast emptiness between them? Discussing science in a fantasy world felt wrong somehow.
Moreover, in a realm where gods actively shaped reality, perhaps stars truly were divine constructs rather than natural phenomena.
Serie gazed upward, golden eyes reflecting countless pinpricks of starlight like captured fragments of the cosmos.
The silver moonlight spilled across her delicate features, giving her an otherworldly quality that made Kurtz's breath catch.
"If every star truly is a world," she whispered with unusual vulnerability, "then is our realm, in the eyes of others, merely another distant star?"
Kurtz looked at her with surprise and growing respect.
He hadn't expected Serie to grasp such abstract concepts so quickly, or to push them into such deep philosophical territory.
"Exactly right." He nodded with admiration.
Serie turned back toward him, her expression brightening with something like childlike delight.
"A fascinating legend, certainly better than some divine voyeurism."
'This isn't legend, though,' Kurtz thought with helpless amusement.
'This is astronomy.'
But he kept that correction to himself, content to let her find wonder in scientific truth disguised as mythology.
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