Chapter 312 - The Solution

"---Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal---"

Mercury sat himself up in the bed in the middle of the night, he could not ignore it anymore so he muttered

"Quite down will you..?"

Even though it was near midnight he had not rested yet, as the word 'Immortal' kept repeating itself inside his head

'I need to do something about this soon…'

Mercury swung his legs over the side of the bed before he remembered his promise to Marie and shook her shoulder until she woke up

"Mercury..? What time is it?"

"It's around midnight, I can't sleep… Want to go hit the bar?"

"...Sure, just give me a moment..."

Marie got up and dressed before she showed Mercury a smile

"Thank you for remembering your promise"

Mercury showed a smile and gave Marie a kiss before he spoke

"You are way too good for me Marie"

The two of them walked downstairs and began drinking in a rather slow tempo while flirting until suddenly a little before sunrise Mercury got an idea and muttered

"I should tell Party about this..."

Marie tilted her head and asked

"Who..?"

"My parent, one of the 33"

"...Yeah, if anybody knows anything about it's got to be one of them"

Mercury nodded before he asked Marie

"Do you mind taking care of Max while I go to the temple?"

Marie shook her head before she showed a soft smile

"Please take care"

"Sure"

Soon Mercury was walking down the main street, the roads were relatively empty as it was still early in the morning, soon he arrived at the temple and got a prayer room without any troubles, he breathed a sigh to calm himself down before he touched the crystal ball

[SUBEJCT #5 CONFRIMED, REQUEST DESCEND Y/N?]

"...Yes"

[DESCEND REQUEST CONFIRMED, POWERING UP ISOLATION BARRIER…]

At that moment it seemed that the room got isolated from the rest of the world like it became its own space, then the robotic voice spoke out again

[ISOLATION BARRIER DEPLOYED, HOLDING STEADY, DAILING ACHANGEL NUMBER #26… DIAL-UP COMPLETE, CONTACT ESTABLISHED: REQUEST GRANTED, STARTING DESCEND…]

"It's unusually chatty today..? Not that I've tried this so many times…"

Soon a formless pressure began descending into the avatar and soon it opened its eyes and showed a jester-like smile as it greeted Mercury

[Hello, Mercury~]

Mercury showed a tired smile, Party picked up on this and frowned before she asked

[What's wrong Mercury? Did you get dumped~?]

"No… At least I hope not, no the thing is I am having thought clutter"

[Thought clutter?]

"Yeah, I amuse it's from my past life"

[Wait… Mercury you remember your past life?]

Mercury sensed that Party was being a lot more serious than her usual self so he nodded

"Yes, though only bits and pieces… The word 'Immortal' keeps popping up"

['Immortal' huh… Well, I'll be frank with you Mercury, you remembering your past life in such detail is… Abnormal, one moment I need to contact Light...]

The avatar waved its hand which made a chair appear then its eyes went dull, Mercury sat himself down on the chair and waited like he was told… And waited… Soon the avatar gave a set and spoke

[Sorry for the wait Mercury~ I am back~]

"...Did Light say anything?"

[Yes, she told me that while it's abnormal it's not unseen that a living god has retained more than a normal amount of memories from their past life~]

"Then… Do you have anything to help with the thought clutter?"

[Yes, come here~]

Mercury nodded and walked over and stood in front of the avatar that floated up and touched his forehead soon a map appeared in Mercury's mind, a location close to Ode became clear in his mind, it was a cave that led to a ruin where a prayer room much like this one was

"So… What?"

[I need you to go to that place before I can help you~]

"Can't you help me here?"

[Nope, the avatar here is too low spec to open a data bridge as dense as I need to bestow a skill~]

"Okay… Then if I go there you'll give me a skill?"

[Yes a skill to help you with your thought clutter~]

"I see… Well then, I'll see you there"

[Yes Mercury, I'll see you there~]

After returning to the inn Mercury conveyed what Party had told him to Marie and Max

"---So I was thinking of heading out there on my own as I don't know what kind of magic beast or dangerous contraptions are in those ruins"

Marie looked Mercury in the eyes for a bit before she nodded and showed a smile

"Don't worry I'll take care of Max"

Max, however, seemed less convinced that it was a good idea

"...Do you really have to go, dad?"

Mercury nodded and ruffled Max's hair before he spoke

"It has to do with my past and even though we sometimes don't want to acknowledge our past we have to face it sometimes, after all, it's part of the person you are today"

"...Okay… Don't worry dad, I'll take care of Marie"

Mercury showed a smile as he gave a thumbs up

"I am counting on you Max"

Later that day Mercury walked out of Ode's gates, on his back were the travel backpack he was so used to carry, on his hip was the adamantite sword and in his right hand was a cane made of compressed stone, he walked a few meters out from the walls before he stopped and turned to look back and waved to Marie and Max that was seeing him off, then after muttering "I'm off" Mercury turned and began walking along the dirt road, the air was fresh and clean so it was comfortable for him to walk along the dirt road with his cane tapping the ground along the way, soon he reached a forest where he turned off the dirt road and began trekking through the woods as he did his ears picked up movement

"Of crouse… Come out"

Perhaps reacting to his voice a magic beast appeared from the undergrowth, it was a boar for all intents and purposes, though it had rather long tusks, furthermore, it seemed rather pissed off that Mercury was walking through its territory, so predictably it charged at him

"Hmm…"

Mercury tapped his cane once which made the ground the boar was running over into mud and when its legs sunk down it suddenly hardened, trapping the boar there, Mercury walked on without killing the boar as he was in a hurry to reach the ruins

"Don't want to slow myself down by carrying a bunch of stuff, I am in a hurry after all…"

Mercury hurried along while trapping various magic beasts along the way without killing them, only the really persistent ones met their doom, like the giant spider that freed itself from the mud 3 times before Mercury killed it, after walking all day Mercury made camp and ate his fill before going to sleep…

"---Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal---"

Mercury's eyes opened again, he looked up into the ceiling of the tent before he sighed deeply

"Looks like that's all the sleep I am going to get..:"

Mercury packed his camp down and began walking again when it was around dawn he stopped to eat some food, this continued for about 4 days before he reached the cave that led to the underground ruins, the only problem was that the cave was occupied

"...That's some bear"

A small hill of fur laid outside the entrance of the cave, this hill of fur was, in fact, a bear the size of a minivan, the bear raised its head up and looked at Mercury for a moment before it let out a roar, Mercury sighed before he tapped his cane sending a single rock spike up from the ground before it penetrated the bear's skull ending its life in one instance

"Sorry about that…"

Mercury felt some pity for the bear, but it quickly passed as he walked past the bear into the cave, after walking through a complicated cave world for 2 more days, while killing magic beasts that tried to eat his face off, Mercury reached the ruins

"Would you look at that…"

The ruins themselves were cut out of the bedrock and spanned further than what Mercury could see

"...'If you want to be a good archaeologist, you gotta get out of the library' was it?"

After quoting an old movie from his past life Mercury began walking through the ruins that were completely void of any life…

"And there… How does it look Max?"

"It looks good, but I wonder how dad will react when he finds out about this…"

Marie climbed down from the ladder and looked at the sign she had just put op above her new workshop, the sign read "Weapon shop Mercury" though it was a shame that it would be a long while before Mercury would see it