Red Storm

Book 6-8.4

“I already mentioned who I was earlier. I am the maiden who walks the path of chaos, my name is Origin Renaria.”

Seeing the woman open her eyes widely as she sassily answered, Yulian stiffened his expression as he asked.

“I will keep that in mind. But what is the reason for your visit? You’re not going to tell me you came to drink some tea, are you?”

“Of course not. I came because I had an important message for the Glow.”

“What is the message?”

Origin quickly drank the tea in front of her and started to speak.

“Please stop your army’s progression.”

“What do you mean?”

Origin slowly started to enunciate each word as she repeated her request.

“Please. Stop. Your. Army’s Progression.”

Yulian just blankly stared at Origin. His expression seemed to be asking how she could make such crazy request. But at the same time, he started to try to figure out her reason for coming to visit him with every ounce of brain power he could muster up.

“Completely stop our progression? You make it sound like you know where we are headed.”

“Yes. I do know. Aren’t you heading to the Monster’s Desert?”

“You are correct. I have the responsibility of clearing out our desert that the monsters have taken over.”

Origin stood face to face with Yulian before responding.

“Does that mean that you will retreat if I can guarantee there will be no damage to the desert tribes?”

Yulian hesitated for a moment. Origin’s calm demeanor as she asked that question surprised him. She made it sound like she was confident that she could make that happen if that was what Yulian wanted.

“Based on your expression, I’d say it could happen that way if you gave a single order.”

“A single order? Of course not. Hohoho. But I will only need three days to make it happen.”

Origin let out an irritating laugh, but she was gazing at Yulian with a silent allure at the same time.

“I heard that monsters are being endlessly generated. Are you telling me all those monsters will just disappear?”

“There is no way for monsters that have already been created to just naturally disappear, Pareia’s Glow.”

Yulian contemplated for a moment. If it did not harm the desert, there was no reason for him to head to the Monster’s Desert. He didn’t need to put his warriors in harm’s way for no reason. But what would happen to the monsters if they do not just disappear into thin air? To the sky? Underground?

Yulian finally realized where the monsters were currently headed to, as well as the reason for Origin’s visit.

“What you are aiming at is for the continent to fall into chaos.”

Origin’s gaze dimmed a bit. Honestly speaking, she thought he would immediately accept as soon as she made the offer.

But she only realized that it would not be that easy after her seduction was rebuffed by Yulian’s ability to ward off evil. After also seeing that Yulian was a quick thinking, she felt like she would regret it if she turned this man into an enemy.

“I have finally seen for myself why they call you the Desert Conqueror. You are correct. I am hoping for the monsters to make it to the continent. And initially, there were no issues with the plan. However ……”

Origin lifted her head up to look up into the air before looking back toward Yulian and continuing to speak.

“I learned that the majority of those monsters were getting destroyed. As someone responsible for the monsters, I had no choice but to investigate the cause of their demise. In the end, I found out that the two great Glows of Pareia and Shuarei were destroying the majority of the monsters.”

“And?”

“Is there another reason for my visit? My only choice was to come ask Yulian-nim to open up a path for the monsters.”

“Open up a path and the desert will not be harmed even a bit?”

Origin started to smile.

“Exactly that. If somehow the monsters harm either the property or people of the desert in any way, we will compensate you back four times as much.”

“We?”

After listening to Origin’s story, Yulian felt like she was part of some group. It made sense. If it wasn’t a group, how could anybody control such large groups of monsters? Yulian started to become more curious about all of it. Just who was able to control the monsters as they wished?

“Glow. It is not easy to speak of the things that are very deep. It is the same as the Glow not being able to answer if I was to ask about the Glow’s weakness.”

In other words, know when to stop if you do not want to lie.

“I will just ask this then. What is your goal by having the monsters cause chaos in the continent?”

Origin smiled brightly as she answered.

“The cooperation of humans.”

“Cooperation? You are saying leaving the monsters to run amok is so that humans will cooperate with each other?”

“Human history continues to tell us that the internal affairs becomes stronger when there is a strong external enemy.”

Yulian asked in disbelief.

“Just who would benefit from that?”

Origin immediately answered as if that was obvious.

“Naturally, it is for the humans.”

“I feel like I am becoming an idiot for some reason.”

Origin lightly smiled and answered.

“If I am being honest with you, we do not call monsters monsters. They are also living beings that inhabit our world. They each have their own lives and goals. The only reason they started being called monsters was because they attack the humans. Humans gave them the name monster.”

“I accept that much. However, humans also act that way for their survival. Before we say who is right and wrong, it is a natural reaction as their lives were on the line.”

“What the Glow says is correct. However, the thing you cannot brush aside is the fact that once a large number of monsters disappeared from this world, humans started to wage a lot of wars against each other.”

Yulian thought for a moment before responding.

“Then you believe that monsters are necessary for humans to stop having war with each other.”

Origin shook her head.

“Humans killing humans, especially not for their survival but for their greed. That is the worst sin of all.”

Origin’s answer gave Yulian something to think about.

‘Is my war out of greed?’

Yulian noticed his mind becoming a bit chaotic and vigorously shook his head.

‘I have never thought that it was for my own greed. I went to war in order to prevent my nation from being oppressed by anybody else. I did my best to make sure that the least number of lives possible had to be lost.’

Yulian looked toward Origin and answered.

“While I agree with some of the things you have to say, that alone is not enough for me to just sit back and watch the monsters attack the continent.”

“I just want to bring awareness to the humans. No, I want them to be able to thank the lord for each and every day without being able to even think about committing such terrible sin.”

“Based on what you are saying, it sounds like you are not human.”

Origin made eye contact with Yulian before nodding her head.

“Didn’t you see my original appearance? I am not human. I am part of the demon race that humans fear.”

“Demon!”

Yulian became extremely shocked as he subconsciously clenched the hilt of his sword.

Origin had a bitter smile on her face as she started to speak.

“Will the Glow be like the other humans and try to kill me even before hearing my story?”

Yulian glared at her as he responded.

“Before that, this current crisis. The reason the monsters are pouring out of the Monster’s Desert. Are you responsible for it?”

“I recall that I told you I was responsible earlier. Of course it is not just me alone.”

“That is why you were able to promise that the monsters will not damage the desert.”

Origin nodded her head.

“Do not just think of it as bad and please take the time to calmly think it through. Humans cannot sin any longer. The end of the world is a punishment from God that we cannot prevent. In order to stop the destruction from happening, humans must stop committing sins and turn to the Lord. However.”

Origin stopped speaking for a moment before continuing to speak.

“How is the world right now? Not long into the era of humans, they sealed off many of the world’s powers and the monsters. After that, humans only had each other as enemies. The voices seeking out the Lord dwindled down while the voice of greed continues to increase. If humans do not obey the ten commandments given by the Lord, the end of the world will approach even faster.”

Origin bowed to Yulian.

“That is what we want to prevent. Please trust us.”

Yulian finally figured it out. He knew who they were.

“You must be the Chaos.”

Origin did not flinch as she answered.

“I am aware that the Glow has met the Master of the Magic Tower.I’m sure she didn’t insist either. We will not insist as well. The selected individuals will all follow their own will. However, we will not stop in explaining the situation to you to broaden your horizon and help you make a decision.”

“A decision……”

Yulian quietly mumbled to himself. He finally felt like all of the riddles were solved and his head had cleared.

- And I don’t know when, but the people of the Chaos will come find you. It will be easier in the last moments if they convince you in advance.

He remembered the words of the odd old hag at the Magic Tower.

‘Did she say that the Magic Tower follows the laws of causality while the Chaos Island believes changes need to be made by human will?’

“She said the crack was created by the Chaos in order to prevent the flow of the world.”

“That lady said something odd once again. Although we were trying to defend against the crack, they were the ones to counter-seal it. They being the people who have selected the Magic Tower. That was why the crack continued as planned.”

‘She’s talking about Mai-nim.’

Yulian finally realized just what Mai had been counter-sealing this whole time.

“I feel like the pieces of a puzzle are finally coming together. Then you are the person who has come to convince me.”

“Yes. But I will not say anything like telling you to select the Chaos. The decision is for the Glow to make on his own.”

End of chapter

Next up:

Decision

Who is the decision for?