Chapter 10 - Don't play dumb, Syr!
"Hey, did you see that? He drank that potion like a little kid taking medicine."
"And he's already eaten three servings of cake and two puddings. He seems to like sweets more than most girls."
"Oh my, he looks so cold on the outside, but he's actually so childish. I wonder if he just came to Orario from his hometown. He must get lonely at night... what a delicious-looking little thing, hehe."
"Hey, Syr, what do you think?"
The girl, who had been observing the lonely figure, was caught off guard when her companions turned their attention to her, and her eyes widened.
"Eh? What?"
"Honestly, Syr, stop playing dumb. You've been staring at him this whole time. Could it be...?"
"What? Don't be ridiculous! Hurry up and get back to work, or Mama Mia will be mad when she gets back!"
"Syr is always changing the subject!"
After Noah had eaten and drunk his fill, the plates on the table were stacked as high as his seat.
As expected, he had spent a lot of money, and his pouch was now half empty.
However, he was quite satisfied with the food, so the slightly higher price was acceptable. He even had some more food packed to go.
"The customer has a good appetite! I should be able to get an extra bonus from this!" the girl said.
Her deliberate cleverness, coupled with her delicate face, wasn't off-putting at all. Instead, it was rather charming.
But Noah only gave her a passing glance before looking away.
"Are there any facilities like libraries or book archives in the city?"
Hearing this question, Syr looked at Noah intently, then put her slender, white fingers to her lips as if thinking.
"Well, from what I understand, the largest one is probably the great libraries in the eastern district. They're confident that they have a copy of every book in the world!"
Having gotten his answer, Noah nodded and stood up. "Thank you very much."
Looking at the lonely back of the silver-haired boy as he slowly disappeared into the rainy night, Syr couldn't help but tilt her head.
...
Outside the glass wall, the labyrinth city of Orario was hazy under the drizzle and cold fog.
On the top of the tower, with a commanding view of the entire city, the silver-haired goddess blinked, stood up from her seat, and gazed into the distance with her purple eyes.
Ottar standing like a giant wall behind her was startled. "Goddess?"
"Well now, what a complicated soul."
Even a goddess who could see the souls of mortals was confused by the scene before her.
Freya had seen countless souls from the lower world. Some were ordinary, some were full of greed, some were great and dazzling, some were pure and flawless, and some were corrupted and mad.
But this was the first time she had seen a soul like that boy's.
Freya liked clean, pure, and dazzling souls.
What about this boy's soul? It was not pure at all, not clean at all, and not dazzling at all.
It was rather the opposite, filled with negative darkness like pain, despair, sadness, murderous intent, and hatred.
To use a metaphor, Freya liked a new sword that was bright and clear, with a sharp blade radiating a cold light.
The soul of this boy was like an old sword that had gone through countless battles and massacres, now pitted, dark, dusty, and covered with blood and rust.
Based on the conclusions Freya had drawn from the countless souls she had seen over the years, souls tainted by darkness were mediocre, dirty, and an eyesore.
But perhaps this was a sign of the endless possibilities of the mortals of the lower world.
Although the boy's soul was filled with all kinds of negativity and darkness, it had almost no dirty desires, so it did not appear messy and foul, but was instead extremely pure in its own way.
In other words, although this person bore an extremely heavy burden of killing, sorrow, and pain, he hardly acted for his own desires.
No desire for power.
No desire for wealth.
No lust or avarice.
So, for whom did he kill? For whom did he grieve? For whom did he suffer?
Apart from a slight appetite, this boy had almost no personal desires. No, that wasn't right.
It wasn't that there were none. Noticing something unusual, Freya frowned and looked closer.
In the darkness of the soul, there lurked an extremely pure desire. But was it arrogance or rebellion?
What Freya felt from it was a determination to break free from all constraints, to never be beneath anyone, and to surpass everything.
Just one glance at that, made Freya feel a burning pain, and she couldn't help but look away.
"Orario, things seem to be getting more interesting..."
Picking up a glass of red wine, the goddess sipped it slowly, a look of joy on her face.
After several days of continuous rain, the labyrinth city of Orario finally saw clear skies.
The depressed atmosphere caused by the Dungeon riots and the Evilus rebellion a few days ago had also eased considerably.
Around noon, Noah walked out of the great libraries in the eastern part of the city and wandered slowly through the streets.
During the past few days, Noah had looked through various history books in the library and had roughly pieced together the history of this world.
There was the Ancient Times, when monsters roamed the world and mortals struggled to survive.
Then came the Heroic Age, which began with the clown, Argonaut, and was ushered in by heroes like the Knights of Fianna.
And finally, the Age of Gods, when the gods descended, bestowed their Grace, and built Babel.
He also read about the Three Great Quests. Two had been completed, but the last one, the One-Eyed Black Dragon, had destroyed the world's strongest Familias, plunging Orario into an era of chaos.
If the system wants me to save the world, it must want me to destroy that Black Dragon, right?
However, that was still a distant goal for Noah now. And there was nothing to worry about. It was just a matter of killing the Black Dragon or being killed by it.