The Great Mage Returns after 4000 Years – Chapter 197 – Hitume Ikar (1)
Translator: Seven
Editors: Ana_Banana, Yahiko
Early the next morning, the Great Medium watched as Ivan and the rest left the island.
She had already sent a message to Hitume Ikar so they could enter the country.
Nonetheless, the Great Medium couldn’t help but wonder.
‘Is this the end?’
Her role. She had already passed on the revelation that ‘God’ had sent to her.
Nevertheless, she couldn’t help but feel that there was still more for her to do.
It was then.
Jose walked up to her and spoke quietly.
“Great Medium, someone is approaching the island.”
This woke the Great Medium from her thoughts, and she shook her head.
“I have already received those whom I should have. I will not accept any more guests in Lesha for the time being. Let the fog drive them away.”
“Th-, that…”
Jose’s expression changed as though something shocking happened.
“…the fog… isn’t working.”
“Huh?”
What did this mean?
Were the barriers that had been placed around the island ineffective?
Krrr-
Then they felt a great tremor.
It was the sense of someone breaking into the island with brute force.
The Great Medium then felt a wave of dizziness and stumbled slightly.
“Great Medium!”
“I’m alright.”
However, at that moment, the Great Medium’s expression was more serious than he had ever seen in his decades working for her.
‘My barriers were broken?’
The Great Medium blinked as she turned to look at the place where she felt the tremor.
A huge shadow could be seen in the fog. It was the head of an enormous creature that seemed to want to pierce the sky.
The Great Medium immediately realised whose head it was.
Wasn’t this the large sea snake who had been wandering in the sea around Hitume Ikar recently?
‘How?’
She knew that this monster was an extraordinary being. However, it was still an impossible task for it to break through the fog on its own.
Even if it was a Demigod…
But it didn’t take long for the Great Medium to realise that it wasn’t the sea snake who broke her barriers.
There was someone standing on the sea snake’s head. His grey hair fluttering violently in the sea breeze.
The man looked down calmly, his gaze soon meeting the Great Medium’s.
“…!”
At that moment, the Great Medium trembled.
‘This feeling…’
No way. No. Was this… possible?
The Great Medium felt extremely confused at that moment.
She tried to speak, but she couldn’t stop herself from stuttering.
“You… are you Dauns?”
“Gre-, Great Medium!”
Jose stared at the Great Medium in shock.
This was natural.
After all, Dauns was the name of the god of creation that Hitume Ikar worshipped.
“…?”
Frey tilted his head slightly at the unexpected question.
* * *
Frey sat face-to-face with the Great Medium.
She was much calmer now compared to their first encounter, but she still didn’t show the drowsy attitude she had while dealing with Ivan or Dro.
They stared at the steam rising from the teacups in front of them for a moment before Frey spoke first.
“I am not Dauns.”
The Great Medium lowered her eyes slightly and muttered.
“Yes. I was mistaken.”
The Great Medium admitted to her mistake. Nevertheless, her doubts still remained.
A few hundred years had passed since she abandoned her own name and took up the title of Great Medium. And in that time, she had never seen the shadow of Dauns appear in someone.
The god of creation that she, as well as Hitume Ikar, believed in only sent revelations.
This was natural.
The Great Medium knew this. After all, he was the omnipotent and just god of creation, so he naturally would not care about just them.
That was why she felt even more guarded against Frey.
Even up until now, she could not read him. It was as he was covered in dense fog.
This wasn’t something to be disregarded. After all, this could be described as the Great Medium’s talent.
In the first place, this was the man who had broken into Lesha even though she didn’t receive any revelations about him. He was an unauthorised guest, a being whom even the revelations from god failed to predict.
Nevertheless, the presence that he gave of was greatly similar to the power of god.
“Are you human?”
Frey was greatly displeased by the previous misunderstanding.
Whenever he heard questions like this, it made him feel that he had become a being who was no longer human.
But he remembered Isolla’s teachings.
‘As long as you don’t forget your true nature.’
‘I am human.’
When he had this thought, the dark clouds in his heart disappeared immediately.
Frey calmly nodded his head.
“That’s right.”
“…however, your power greatly surpasses human capability.”
He nodded his head once again.
This was a natural fact, and she wouldn’t believe otherwise even if he tried to convince her.
Frey also felt that the Great Medium’s gaze was not simple.
The Great Medium paused to think for a moment before speaking.
“I mistook you for Dauns because I felt the power of God from you.” (TL: you’ll notice variable capitalisations of the word ‘god’. I will explain them below)
Frey’s eyes shined slightly.
The power of god.
Simply speaking, that was divine power, the power of the Demigods. But it was clear that this was not the power of God that the Great Medium was referring to.
Then what was it?
Did she literally mean the power of God?
If so, then there was only one explanation.
‘Divine magic power.’
The power that could be converted to either divine power or mana.
Thinking about this power that he gained in his mental world, Frey asked.
“Does God really exist?”
In the end, Frey’s question was the same as Dro’s.
However, this time, the Great Medium wasn’t sure what to say. It was impossible for her to deal with this in the same manner with which she’d handled Dro’s question the night before.
This was because it felt contradictory for the man who she felt was closer to God than anyone else was now asking her about the existence of god.
The Great Medium sat silently for a while before slowly opening her mouth.
“…God exists.”
“I would like to meet him.”
There were many things that he wanted to ask.
Of course, Frey did not think there was an omnipotent being capable of being involved in everything in the world.
4,000 years ago, people worshipped the Demigods and Dragons as gods. This was because, from a human’s perspective, these powerful beings were no different than gods.
It was possible that even the Great Medium had such an illusion.
Frey’s request to meet God was to see what he was like.
The Great Medium responded with a shocked expression.
“I didn’t receive such a prophecy.”
“I see.”
Frey muttered in a soft voice.
“So you’re just a puppet.”
“…I beg your pardon?”
The Great Medium’s voice became sharp.
On the other hand, Frey’s attitude had not changed since the beginning.
He slowly lifted the cup and took a sip of the tea.
The Great Medium bit her lip at his attitude. This was because she thought this expressionless man was making fun of her.
“Dauns is the omnipotent god of creation. His prophecies have helped my country overcome numerous crises.”
“Anyone can anticipate the future by considering the present situation.”
“It isn’t anticipation. It is prophecy.”
After saying these words in a firm tone, the Great Medium continued.
“The prophecies of Daun are absolute.”
“So you leave everything to prophecy? You stopped thinking for yourself, and now, you wait for your God’s voice even when making the smallest decisions?”
‘No. That’s not it.’ (TL: I feel like a piece of dialogue from the GM is missing…)
Frey shook his head.
He had no malice towards theists. And he had no intention of belittling them.
On the contrary, Frey acknowledged the existence of religion to a certain extent, and even had a respectful attitude towards religious people.
This was because humans were weak. They needed support even to live their short lives.
And religion was the most faithful way to fulfill this role.
However, he didn’t like the Great Medium’s attitude.
What was the meaning of life if even the smallest decision depended on her god?
It didn’t matter if she intended to live as a puppet. However, she was a human.
“You rude…!”
Jose’s expression changed greatly.
He had a sword at his waist and his hand naturally fell to its hilt. He didn’t intend to shed blood, but this man had to know his place.
Even the King of Hitume Ikar wouldn’t dare to act so impudently.
“…!”
However, Jose couldn’t draw his sword.
His entire body froze as though time itself had stopped.
In the time it took him to put his hand on his sword, Frey had turned to look at him.
It was just a glance, but he couldn’t move.
‘Wh-, what is this…’
Was it magic? Or sorcery?
No, it was different from that.
Jose had a strange feeling. It was hard to even take a breath. He felt like his stamina was being drained rapidly.
Frey only looked at him without making any further moves, but Jose’s entire body became soaked in sweat. And as soon as Frey looked away, Jose collapsed.
He stared up at Frey, panting heavily.
‘H-, he is not human!’
Jose felt a chill creep down his spine. In that moment, he even forgot his mission to protect the Great Medium.
At the same time, Frey rose from his seat.
“I have to go to Hitume Ikar. Can you grant me permission?”
“…you.”
The Great Medium looked at Frey with a complicated expression. This was the first time she’d ever met a man like this.
She hesitated for a moment before biting her lip.
“Jose, leave us.”
“I, I can’t. This man is too dangerous…”
“Would I be safer if you’re by my side?”
“…”
Jose’s face was awash with humiliation. But the Great Medium’s expression didn’t twitch.
She didn’t have any intention of insulting Jose. She was just speaking honestly.
Of course, Jose also understood the Great Medium’s intentions. However, this fact wounded his pride even more.
“…understood.”
Jose could only swallow his disgrace and leave the room.
Frey turned to look at the Great Medium. He wondered what she wanted to say.
The Great Medium also got up from her seat, then she headed to a corner of the room and said something in a strange accent.
“–.”
It was Frey’s first time hearing this language.
In terms of intonation, it was highly likely that this was an ancient language.
A refreshing energy began flowing from within the Great Medium’s body.
‘She’s using sorcery.’
Frey looked at this scene with interest.
This was certainly different from magic. The Great Medium didn’t use either divine power of mana.
The energy that the Great Medium was using to practice sorcery seemed to come from within her own body.
The moment he saw it, Frey was certain that although he didn’t know it, if he observed this force a bit more and broke it down… he would be able to use sorcery.
Suddenly, the space in front of the Great Medium split open, revealing a dark void.
Frey frowned.
He couldn’t help but think about Lord’s ‘Space’ at that moment.
Of course, he knew that neither sorcery or this space had anything to do with the Demigods.
“Let’s go to the shrine.”
“Shrine?”
The Great Medium nodded.
“Yes. If you go there, you will be able to meet God.”
“…God.”
“You are not someone I judge. Dauns will make his own judgement.”
It was unprecedented to take outsiders to the Shrine.
The Great Medium swallowed the last of her words. This was because Frey would not care about such remarks.
Frey’s eyes narrowed slightly.
If what she said was true, this meant that Frey had the chance to meet that being called God.
(TL: So it was brought to my attention some time ago when we first encountered the word, that God(with the capitalised G) refers to a specific ‘god’. So I generally try to use common letters when referring to the god(s) in this novel. However, I feel that when people are talking about the god(s) they serve, it would be with reverence, which is why I use ‘God’ in speech or for emphasis. So the varying capitalisations you see aren’t editing mistakes, they are intentional.)