Chapter 148

I had expected a day like this would come.

Just as Call of the Void had seen through the hologram badge, I knew the time would come when Dominic would notice the signet ring hidden in my inventory.

I just didn’t think it would be now.

I felt every nerve in my body stiffen.

I didn’t want to give the ring back.

But contrary to my thoughts, my body was already moving beyond my will.

As if I had received an irresistible command, I pulled the ring out of my inventory.

[Ownerless Signet Ring: A signet ring once used by someone noble. Those who are not the owner feel deep sorrow upon wearing it.]

I had known since the moment I received the ring from the butlers. This was not an item meant for me.

Dominic had already reclaimed a part of his existence. I could clearly feel that he was different from before.

If he received the signet ring and changed even further...

I let out a shallow breath.

With trembling hands, I barely managed to grip the ring.

The best I could do right now was to avoid handing it over immediately.

Seeing my state, Dominic asked in a low voice.

"Are you afraid?"

"..."

"It is merely an object. Giving it to me will not cause the things you worry about to happen, Roasted Chestnut."

"..."

"Because it truly means nothing to me. However, it will be meaningful for you. If you return the ring, there are a few things I can do for you."

He whispered softly, mentioning that he could help me open an account for interplanetary trade or assist with other things I desired.

"Still, if you are afraid, it is fine to put the ring back. Let us decide that you will take it out when you feel like giving it."

His voice, tinged with a faint smile, was no longer entirely tender as it had been.

Dominic spoke like someone who already possessed everything.

"You are going to return it to me eventually, are you not?"

I realized.

He was pretending that I had a choice, but in the end, there was only one predetermined answer.

Resisting here was a meaningless act.

Once the owner recognized his possession, he was bound to reclaim it sooner or later.

In fact, from Dominic’s perspective, he could have simply taken it by force; he was merely being lenient with me.

It would be more advantageous for our future relationship to return it now.

Furthermore, as Dominic said, it was unlikely he would find his true essence through a mere ring.

I opened my lips.

"..Mr. Dominic."

"’Yes, Roasted Chestnut."

"The ring... I should have returned it sooner. I’m sorry."

"Not at all. You must have had a hard time."

Dominic actually comforted me.

He spoke as if he were proud of me for keeping it safe all this time, knowing I must have been frightened to possess such an item.

He spoke like someone soothing a child who had confessed honestly without lying.

I listened silently, feeling as though I were becoming infinitely smaller.

Alter reassuring me for a while, Dominic spoke.

"Then, I shall take it."

Despite my efforts not to be tense, my body froze instinctively.

The ring on my palm vanished as if it were melting away.

The moment the ring completely disappeared.

A chilling silence descended.

A moment where all the sounds of the world were severed.

Even the light was sucked away, and an absolute darkness blanketed the space.

Only a pitch-black void enveloped my physical body, and pure disorder and chaos crushed my mind.

The remnants of light from a supernova exploding flashed.

Hundreds of billions of galaxies swirling and annihilating.

’The death of countless stars.’

The screams of stars trampled by Him poured over me.

Scaredscaredscaredscaredscaredscaredscaredscaredscared

I wanted to run away.

But amidst this primal dread and terror, the only thing I could do was endure.

Waiting for this terrible disaster to end.

But... does an end exist?

Is there an end to the infinite void?

"Roasted Chestnut."

"...!"

I woke up with a start.

It took a moment to realize that I had escaped the void of the endless abyss and that I was in a small room.

A moment that must have been but a flash had left my mind shredded.

I stared at Dominic, frozen.

He hadn’t grown massive, nor had he issued a command as a master.

He spoke to me while remaining a small, squishy slime.

"See. I am the same, Roasted Chestnut."

I think I understood what Dominic wanted.

When he reclaimed the signet ring, I could vividly feel the unfathomable gap that existed between him and me.

But Dominic did not want me to be afraid or terrified.

He wanted to continue pretending to be a gentle pudding slime.

And that was also what I wanted.

After taking a deep breath, I reached out to him.

His squishy body touched me. Only then, feeling the familiar sensation, could I feel a bit of relief.

"Could you wait a moment?"

The pudding slime, asking for my understanding, stayed quietly on my hand for a while as if checking something.

While waiting for him, I thought to myself.

’What did he mean when he said he had looked around my planet?’

I doubted he had stepped away from my side for such a simple reason.

Dominic’s interest lay in the Young God, not in my territory.

It seemed he had some other purpose...

But it was clear that even if I asked, Dominic wouldn’t tell me.

If it were something he could tell me, he would have already done so.

While I was speculating about his actions, Dominic finished his check.

He let out a light "Hm" and spoke.

"This should be sufficient."

I hesitated before asking him.

"What is sufficient?"

"I meant that it is sufficient for me to become your sponsor, Roasted Chestnut."

Apparently, the signet ring was related to the cosmic accounts he possessed.

Dominic asked me politely.

"Would it be alright if I checked your Galactic Trading Post?"

"Please do."

Then, he smeared some glitter on me. Starlight seeped into me.

[Entering the Galactic Trading Post.]

As I entered the Galactic Trading Post, Dominic, who was sharing my vision, commented while looking at the system window.

"Functions for a Young God have been applied. The Akasha system will be considerate in many ways, so it would be best to keep them active."

Following that, he let out a laugh the moment he saw my shopping cart.

The sound of his laughter made me feel a bit embarrassed.

While trapped for 72 hours, I had nothing to do, so I had dumped everything I wanted to buy into the cart.

Even though I thought I had curated the list, it was endless.

The total sum of the items in the cart exceeded the trillions and reached the quadrillions.

However, this was partly because the items in the Galactic Trading Post were incredibly expensive.

Anything remotely useful started at several billion, and anything decent easily cost tens of billions.

The things I truly wanted were often in the hundreds of billions.

After scanning my shopping cart, Dominic made a proposal.

"How about entering into a sponsorship contract with me? I could easily buy everything in your cart. There would be many more things I could do for you, Roasted Chestnut."

This was the second sponsor offer, following Mr. Black Block.

Both of them acted as if they had so many star fragments that they could buy whatever items I wanted without a second thought.

I recalled the happy times I spent draining Dominic’s wallet back in Call of the Void. asked cautiously.

"We are already in a contractual relationship, but is a sponsorship contract separate?"

"To freely transfer Galactic Trading Post currency or funds to you, a different form of contract than the current one is required."

He explained that this was because it required using Akasha’s system.

He also added that under the current contract, it was difficult to give something without a quid pro quo.

Thinking back, during Infernium, I hunted after receiving quests from Dominic, and during ■■■, although only partially, my power contributed to the annihilation.

’A sponsorship contract’

I was familiar with the concept of a sponsor.

But it’s not like I’m competing in a match with a pudding slime logo attached to me, so why would he sponsor me?

I couldn’t help but ask.

"I’m curious what benefit the sponsoring god gains from the contract."

"It varies depending on the form of the contract, but the contract I wish to make with you offers no benefit to me."

"What? Then..."

"It simply means our relationship will continue for a longer period. Our current contract has a set term."

Until Dominic regained his memories.

That was the current contract between us.

But if I entered a sponsorship contract, I would receive immense financial support in exchange for extending my relationship with Dominic...

It was a deal too favorable to me to be trustworthy.

Furthermore, I didn’t know what "extending the relationship" truly implied.

In the end, I declined the sponsorship offer once again.

"For now... I’ll try doing it on my own."

"I understand."

As always, Dominic let me do as I wished.

He also offered to help me open a cosmic account.

I watched closely, hoping to learn how to create one, but it was a futile effort.

A glitch flashed in the air, and suddenly, an account was created.

An Akasha-exclusive account has been formed for Han Goyo of planet ’Earth’.

I was just wondering if this was okay, as it felt somewhat abnormal.

Dark Star Remnants have been deposited into the account.

The Dark Star Remnants, which had been sitting quietly in my inventory, were automatically deposited into the account.

[Deposit Notification: 10,000,000,000 Star Fragments]

The moment I saw the number of star fragments printed on the system window, my eyes widened.

Ten billion...?

My shock at the unbelievable number was short-lived.

WEEEEEEENG!

Suddenly, a warning alarm blared, and an emergency system window popped up.

<Notice of Abnormal Transaction Detection and Account Freeze>

[An unauthorized high-value fund inflow that extremely deviates from normal transaction patterns has been detected in your account, and emergency security measures have been implemented.]

- Inflow Amount: 10,000,000,000 Star Fragments

- Remitter Code: Unidentifiable (Unauthorized means)

- Action Taken: Freeze of planetary assets and total block on withdrawals, transfers, and payments.

Please provide proof of the source of these funds to lift the emergency security measures.

...Account freeze?

The pudding slime I trusted had just stepped on my toes.

I called out to Dominic, who must have been sharing my vision.

"Mr. Dominic..?"

I think I’m screwed, what do I do?

When I called him with that sentiment, Dominic spoke as if he had no idea.

"I didn’t realize you had this much cash, Roasted Chestnut. You won’t be able to use it for the time being."

He explained that unless specified otherwise, any funds in the inventory are automatically deposited upon creating an account.

The way he spoke, as if it were his own oversight, was highly suspicious.

I couldn’t help but think he intentionally didn’t tell me because I refused the sponsorship contract.

My ten billion star fragments...

"Still, it is not a bad thing for an administrator to be aware. Especially in the case of someone as young as you, Roasted Chestnut."

Dominic said something, but it didn’t register.

Star fragments were flying away before my eyes.

At this moment, I felt like I could actually squash the pudding slime until he popped.

It was while I was staring blankly at the account freeze notification.

A new square window appeared, and a strange being emerged.

A video call had been forcibly connected without me even accepting it.

Startled, I looked at the screen and saw a strange alien.

The alien, whose long hair-a mixture of turquoise and purple like a nebula- wafted in the air, had white skin.

They had an androgynous appearance, making it difficult to discern their gender.

They wore a stifling, high-collared uniform coat, and the hands revealed beneath the sleeves were made of a transparent crystal-like mineral, with light constantly swirling like optical fibers.

Eyes with diamond-shaped angular pupils moved incessantly, checking something.

- I am the administrator of the Galactic Trading Post. I have connected this communication to proceed with the verification process regarding the abnormal transaction detected in your account. I expect your full cooperation.

Hearing the voice, my guard lowered slightly.

The stiff, dry voice was simply that of an exhausted office worker.

’Do I just explain it to this alien?’

Hope surged that I might not lose ten billion.

Since this was my first time meeting an alien other than Dominic or Mr. Black Block, I started with a greeting.

"Hello."

When I greeted them politely, the administrator, who had been looking off into the distance, finally looked at me.

They looked momentarily surprised.

After a brief silence, the administrator spoke to me in a somewhat softened voice.

- Kid. Is there an adult on your planet? Could you call an adult for me?

I almost turned around to look at Dominic on my shoulder.

Barely restraining myself, I answered the administrator.

"I am the owner of the planet."

The administrator was not aware of Dominic.

Given they were a Trading Post administrator, they didn’t seem to be of low rank, so it seemed Dominic had hidden himself.

I didn’t know why, but Dominic had apparently decided it was better if he remained unseen.

As soon as they heard my answer, the administrator shoved their face toward the screen

Perhaps because they were so shocked, the voice that had been sagging with fatigue became very loud.

I answered, feeling a bit intimidated.

"Yes... I’m sorry, but... what do I need to do to lift the account freeze?"

But the administrator wasn’t listening to me at all.

They moved their hair like hands, rapidly tapping the air with their crystal hands as well.

Light reactions occurred in the air wherever they touched.

- Planet Earth, just started Akasha... Child filter applied... To think they entrusted a planet to this little scrap of a thing.

- They’ve lost their minds. Young Gods are so rare...

After muttering something to themselves while checking, they notified me.

- Kid. I’m going to take a look at your Galactic Trading Post transaction history.

And before I could even answer, they accessed my history at will.

Of course, there was nothing to see in my transaction history.

- First transaction... 10 event star fragments...

The administrator’s hair slumped down. They looked at me with a somewhat devastated expression.

As I stared back blankly, the administrator sighed and asked in a fairly gentle tone.

-Where did you get the Dark Star Remnants? Did someone force you to do something bad, kid?

I pondered for a moment.

How should I answer?

First of all, the problem arose because the Dark Star Remnants were a much larger sum than I had thought.

Since a huge amount was deposited the moment the account was created without any proper transaction history, it was bound to be a problem in the system.

If I failed to explain this well, there was a high possibility that my ten billion star fragments would become space dust.

I wished Dominic would give me a hint in my ear, but he was just squishing around on my shoulder.

I slowly opened my mouth.

"I received them for doing cleaning work. My employers looked upon me kindly."

I answered honestly, fearing that if I lied and got caught, the situation would become even worse.

At that, the administrator looked at me with even more pity.

It seemed the gods of other planets didn’t do things like cleaning part-time jobs...

- Dark Star Remnants are a rare currency, so verification is necessary. Where did you do the cleaning, kid?

It was my first time learning that they were a rare currency.

Since I was told they could be used throughout the universe, I thought they were a widely used currency.

’How do I explain that I got this from a Trial’

Even if I mentioned the now-closed 3Clean, I didn’t think the administrator would know, so I told them the truth for the most part.

"I cleaned a mansion..."

- A-mansion-?

At that moment, there was a huge reaction.

The administrator shoved their face into the screen once again.

And then, they asked a question I never expected.

- Kid. Did you receive them from the cat and rabbit butlers?