Worthless Skill Escape (WN)

Chapter 205

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TL: ALT

Chapter 205 – Divine Descent

In the midst of the raging flames, that person calls out my name.

With that divine sword, that person cut through the reeds, and with that flint, he lit the welcoming fire and drove back the enemy army.

And yet that person, with what a sad voice, is calling out my name.

That person is not a hero, not a prince, not even an ordinary man.

His voice was like that of a child crying after being abandoned by his mother.

That person is always surrounded by fire and carries a raging fire in his body.

The other day, that person was ordered by his beloved father, the emperor, to admonish his elder brother.

That person’s elder brother deceived his father and took the sisters who were supposed to be his father’s wives, and then he started avoiding his father.

Of course, at first, his father was angry that his wife had been stolen from him, but eventually, he came to forgive him.

The reason the father ordered that person to admonish him was because he wanted to forgive his son for his crime and restore the relationship.

However, that person, who had been given a serious task by his father, misinterpreted the order.

He decided to “admonish” his own brother according to the raging fire in his heart.

He waited for his brother to go to the toilet, caught him, tore his limbs from his body, killed him, wrapped him in straw, and threw him away.

He thought that by killing his brother, who had conspired against their father, he would be praised by him.

“From that time on, Father began to keep me away from him.”

That person spoke in the bed where we slept together.

“There is a flame in me that will not go out. I am afraid that it will burn you, even though I cannot control it.”

Those words sounded frightening, but they were only a sincere expression of concern for me.

The Eastern Expedition.

He overcame the hardships imposed on him by that person even though he was wounded by an arrow.

A far-flung expedition route that was nothing short of reckless, with no reinforcements to be expected.

A path of unjust hegemony marked by bloody slaughter and intrigue.

It was written in the historical records as a call to the gods who do not obey, and it was undoubtedly a journey to hell.

That person was fine even though he was scorched by the fires of war.

For that person, the raging flames burning within him were more unbearable.

That person would always murmur as he stroked my shiny silver hair.

“I don’t want to lose you, my own Tachibana. Please don’t get caught in my flames.”

Tachibana was a word used in those days to refer to citrus fruits in general.

In those days, the word “Tachibana” referred to a divine fruit with a rich, exotic aroma.

The fact that my name includes the word “Tachibana” is neither a coincidence nor a metaphor.

In fact, I was a foreigner who had come from far across the southern sea.

The sweet orange saplings I brought with me did not take root here, but the man accepted me, amused by my strangeness.

That is why.

I was not afraid to throw myself into the wild and raging sea of Hashirimizu.

By sacrificing myself, I could appease the wrath of the God of Migration.

I was surprised to find that I had such a self-sacrificing side to me.

I thought, “I hope the eastern expedition is successful.”

If I can give even a small part of the raging fire in that person’s heart to that god, that would be good.

His haughty attitude would be replaced by fear, his limbs would be torn out by his gnarled arms, and his body would be wrapped in straw and thrown into a filthy swamp.

The raging sea didn’t seem so scary to me.

What does it matter compared to the fire burning in his heart?

That person who innocently wanted to win his father’s favor and joyfully killed his brother.

That person who disguised himself as a woman and sneaked into the camp of the barbarian chief stabbed him in the buttocks with a sword and killed him.

That person who, while so casually wielding such bloody, bare violence, sought me out and loved me with a passion that burned me.

I will transform the woven mat of wood and earth into an island on the rough waves made of earth.

I will resist the moisture of the waves, called water, with the earth of the island.

It is my own powerful magic that I created by combining the most advanced Five Elements that I learned in China with the ancient magic of India.

But in the end, only a human can do this.

Even though I was the greatest sorcerer of that time, I could only resist the raging waves of the gods for a few seconds.

The carpet that had been spread on the rough waves was quickly crushed.

The carpet I had woven with my hair and imbued with magical power over the years was overrun by the overwhelming power of the water.

The affinity between earth and water is nothing compared to the overwhelming power of the gods and humans.

Seeing this, I realize.

Ah, I wanted to be crushed.

I finally understand the true nature of the desire that dwells deep in my heart.

I accepted this person because I wanted to be burned by his flames.

It was my desire to be touched by his anger, to have my limbs torn off, to be wrapped in straw, and to be carelessly thrown away.

But it was all too late.

I will die, not in his flames, but swallowed by the cold water of the running stream.

I will not die burned but drowned.

However, it is not bad to die a violent death without having my long-cherished wish fulfilled.

That person will certainly mourn my death.

That mourning will make that person’s flame even stronger.

Since I sacrificed my life to save that person, that person will complete the Eastern Expedition no matter what.

Ah, it feels so good.

The weather is stormy today, but my heart is clear.

That person will become a hero and an emperor.

That person’s raging flame will become the sun that all people look up to.

And that sun will lament from time to time…

“My wife.” He said.

My limbs are caught in the carpet, which has become heavy from absorbing seawater, and I sink to the bottom of the sea.

In the distance, amidst the pouring rain and high waves, I see the figure of my beloved, soaked to the skin.

Clinging to the edge of the boat, he shouted my name.

“My Tachibana―my own Tachibana! Ohhhhhh!”

The darkness at the bottom of the water had somehow become the darkness behind my eyelids.

I slowly opened my eyes.

That’s right. I used the Divine Descent…

The deity who descended was “Ototachibana-hime.”

In the series of stories known as the Eastern Expedition of Yamato Takeru, the party of Yamato Takeru, who were attempting to cross the Hashirimizu (now the Uraga Channel) by ship, were hit by a huge storm caused by the God of Migration.

It was the self-sacrifice of his wife, Ototachibana-hime, that saved Yamato Takeru from his predicament.

Ototachibana-hime piled a number of carpets on the sea and jumped on top of them, becoming a sacrifice to the God of Migration.

A clear female voice interrupts my thoughts.

“I cannot bear to have such a commotion near my bedchamber. O you who hold the sword at his back, with my power, draw the curtain on this utterly foolish farce.”

…or something like that.

By “the sword at his back,” I think she means the one I threw into the hole in the world before.

In the myth, it was given to Yamato Takeru by his aunt before he left on his eastern expedition, and he was saved from a predicament by that sword.

…Well, in the end, he left the sword with Miyazuhime and went off to slay the gods with his bare hands, and that was his undoing, and he died.

“Even if you say that, I don’t know how to use the power.”

I ask back, playing with the fresh orange in my hand.

“I sacrificed myself for my husband once. I had no regrets. No, I was really satisfied. It’s a shame that he didn’t become emperor, but there’s no point in saying that anyway.”

“Then what is the point?”

“But now that I have a divine ego, I also think this: If I could have lived with my back to the emperor, of course, it would have been better.

“Well, of course, it would have been better.”

In the vision she showed me earlier, she seemed to think that she would feel a dark satisfaction at sacrificing herself for her beloved husband, and that Yamato Takeru would not be able to back down from losing his beloved wife, and that he would be determined to complete his eastern expedition no matter what.

I think that implanting an indelible trauma in a person’s mind so that he can’t forget himself is like a curse.

Now, I know it wasn’t intentional, but it’s the same thing Sayuki did to me in high school (in this world).

Then the Goddess suddenly changed her voice and said,

“Well, to be honest, if I had more proper powers as a sorceress, I don’t think I would have lost to the God of Migration.”

“Well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration.”

“They tend to praise me as a paragon of virtue, but I didn’t die for that sort of thing. I was driven by a passion so great that I was crazy about it, and I agreed to marry him because I thought he was cool and on the path to destruction.”

“Why are you suddenly speaking in a casual tone?”

“It’s been almost two thousand years since I’ve been out in the open. I’m adapting my words to the times.

“I see.”

If she’s attuned to the language of the present, she must have been a woman with that kind of personality to begin with.

The image I had of her from the myth was of a quiet woman who sacrificed herself for her husband, and who was old-fashioned and wouldn’t give in once she made up her mind.

The fact that Ototachibana-hime came from overseas wasn’t part of the myth, so it’s natural that her image is different from the myth.

Of course, we don’t know if the fact that she was a foreigner was a historical fact that formed the basis of the myth, or if it was just an image that was added later.

If anything, it’s possible that the culture of personifying mythical and historical figures that is so prevalent in social games and other media has had an effect on the consciousness of modern people, and that this has led to the creation of new “alternate settings” like this.

It really is a crazy modern age where anything can happen.

“Anyway, the power I have given you is simple. The power to calm turbulent waters―the power to forcibly change the waves into a calm state.”

“Waves…?”

“You mean the dungeon? That portal has waves running across its surface, doesn’t it?”

“You mean… you can stop that?”

“The boundary between the dungeon and the outside world is inherently unstable. By turning that instability into a periodic cycle in the form of waves, you’re dynamically stabilizing the boundary of the portal. Or, to put it another way…”

“If I stop the ‘waves’ of the portal, the portal itself will malfunction… or even disappear?”

“That’s right! Now, go and do it quickly. Darling can do this sort of thing in an instant, even with his bare hands.”

“Don’t compare me to some mythical hero.”

I bite into the orange I’m holding in my hand, smiling wryly at Ototachibana-Hime for saying things so casually.

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