Protagonist Knows Everything - Chapter 50

She was a goddess with a heavy story. I grabbed a seat and sat down.

“It was a child named Paul Juana.”

“……”

“Jeriel’s parents had different names. At a very young age she was abandoned at my temple along with her brother. To earn money she did chores and cleaned the temple halls.”

I thought about it before, Jeriel’s background was quite similar to that of Kasha’s.

“Paul was quite frail from the very beginning. Most of the nights both Jeriel and Paul had to go with empty stomachs. That only aided more towards Paul’s already declining health.”

“……”

“But still he was a brave boy. He always said how he wanted to help his sister. He did everything he could at that age with a body as frail as his”

“You are speaking as if you were there.”

“Didn’t you tell me that you met Jeriel the day Paul died?”

She sighed once again.

“That day, her brother said he was feeling more sick than usual. Jeriel ran around the estate searching for doctors and priests who would be willing to help.”

“……”

Her voice grew even more gloomier.

“By the time she found a priest and reached home, it was already too late. Her brother was already dead.”

I didn’t say anything. Because this was the most crucial part of the story.

“Then Jeriel prayed to me. Asking me to save him, to save her own little brother. She was tearing up, and after a while she broke down while crying in agony.”

“……”

“It was an earnest prayer that reached my ears clearly. I couldn’t help but find the person who made the prayer.”

“By the time I found her, it was too late.”

Goddess Parmel nodded.

Then I asked, while carefully minding my tone.

“I don’t know if I can say this,is it too difficult to save the dead? I mean, you’re a goddess, you have so many powers.”

“That’s not something I can do. It is not my responsibility to manipulate life and death.”

“……”

“You know that there are many different gods that human beings worship, right?”

“There are certain rules that us gods abide by. We can’t control another god’s aspects. If we do then we’ll be disqualified as gods.”

It was a clever division of labour. Our company had something like that too. The company divides work among the employees, but if it is done too well, there is no flexibility whatsoever.

“Even if he had a single breath left, I would’ve been able to heal him. But he was dead.”

“Goddess.”

“What? Anyway…”

She lightly struck her knee to lighten the mood.

“Since that day, I’ve been with Jeriel. I wanted this hurt child to feel warmth, I genuinely wanted to take care of her. It was the first time I felt like that, first time in 300 years.”

“Is that the backstory of Jui’s birth?”

“Huh. You are a really annoying guy.”

Even after saying that, Parmel was unable to hide her smile

“Jui… yeah… I’m always Jui to this child. Not Parmel.”

“……”

“Jeriel often talks to me. ‘You don’t know how grateful I am to you for coming to me when my brother died. If it weren’t for you, I would’ve collapsed long ago’.”

There was a bitter tone to her voice.

Suddenly an idea flashed across my mind.

‘I would like it as well, but… oh well, here goes.’

“Goddess. At first you told me.”

“……”

“That the very reason you don’t reveal yourself to Jeriel as the goddess is because you want her first to recognize you as the goddess Parmel.”

That was what I thought of her in the beginning.

But Parmel kept her silence.

I waited for a few moments and asked a different question.

“You may say that, but that isn’t all of it right?”

“……”

“But now you’re saying you’ll always be Jui for her.”

“I wonder if she’ll resent me after I reveal myself as Parmel?”

She said exactly what I was about to say. I just nodded in agreement.

And Parmel agreed with a pained face, “Yes that’s right”

“……”

“The goddess who didn’t answer her prayers, the one who didn’t save her brother. How will she feel after realizing that that same goddess was playing as Jui all along?”

“Hmm.”

“How will she feel? Will she feel surprised? Happy?”

“No.”

She spoke like she already knew what was going to happen.

“She’ll probably feel betrayed.”

“Did you ask her yourself?”

“……it seems you’re the kind who can’t read the atmosphere.”

“I like to listen to everyone carefully.” I leaned against the chair and said, “Anyway, now I can roughly see why Jeriel doesn’t recognize Jui as Parmel.”

“Huh?”

“It’s not just because she didn’t notice or that she’s blind…”

(T/N: Here blind is being used as an expression saying that she’s oblivious to cues.)

“Cancel those words. Jeriel is not blind.”

“….”

The goddess was more stupid than I thought so I rephrased my statement.

“Yeah. I don’t think it’s just because she didn’t notice.”

“Then?”

“Isn’t it more like her desire, a wish that she made unconsciously? Jui can’t be a goddess. No …… She shouldn’t be a goddess.”

Parmel’s eyes widened. Apparently she didn’t think about it like this at all.

‘A blind sage and a blind goddess.’

“You didn’t think of this? You, the friend who accompanied Jeriel for such a long time as Jui, revealing herself to be Parmel.”

“That’s……”

“Goddess Parmel who didn’t save her younger brother, but took that opportunity and played with her for decades. Isn’t that right?”

Parmel’s face turned slightly blue. Although she is a goddess, her facial expressions were quite vivid.

“Uh, what can I do? What should I do?”

“Huh? Are you asking me for advice?”

“Yeah! If not you then who’ll tell me how to deal with this?”

‘So this is how it feels to interview a god.’

Parmel was speaking in a rather anxious voice unlike her usual calm and conceitful voice

“I do not know. I really don’t know what to do.”

“……”

“300 years ago, Peterine, that child, there were no issues with her. How can I win over Jeriel’s heart?”

“Will she forgive me? Will she hate me for the rest of her life?”

The mighty goddess Parmel was clearly panicking a bit. I wanted her to figure it out on her own but soon I changed my mind.

‘Wait. If I solve this issue…’

I realized that solving this issue will help Jeriel make her breakthrough. The reason Jeriel is still a B-plus despite her being the biggest believer in Parmel is because her faith is directed in the wrong direction.

In other words, she has to connect Ju and Parmel in her head.

‘I’m not really trying to match Kasha and her, but……’

As both of them were heroes I wanted to get them on equal footing.

‘Good. Guess I’ll help this goddess out a bit.’

I kept my silence while contemplating my next course of actions.

At first the goddess waited patiently, but after a few moments she jolted up and asked.

“Are you done yet?!”

“Wait. I’m thinking about it. Give me some time.”

“Ah.Yes, yes.”

To be honest, I already knew what I had to do. It was a good thing that this goddess couldn’t read minds.

‘Ok. It’s time.’

“I have an idea.”

“Tell me. Hurry!”

“Suddenly telling her that Jui and the goddess are the same will negatively affect her. Let’s take it slow, step-by-step.”

“And how will we do that?”

“First of all, why don’t you start off by aiding in on her fantasy of you being her friend?”

“So how…”

I raised her hand and said, “Before that, I would like to ask you one question. Ever heard of a pendant? The pendant that originally belonged to Ms. Jeriel’s sibling?”

At that, Parmel tilted her in confusion.

But she soon answered, “Of course I’ve heard about it many times. It was her birthday present that her younger brother bought with the money he had earned.”

“……”

“By the way, when she was young, she said that a thief broke into their house. She was the only one in a house, there was nothing in the house that could fetch money. The only thing that had some value whatsoever was the pendant ……”

“And that way, the pendant was stolen.”

Parmel nodded in agreement.

Without further delay, I got up from my seat.

“Uh? You’re leaving?”

“Yeah. At this point, you should know my strategy. Let’s find that pendant.”

“……Unfortunately, I don’t have the knack for finding things.”

“It’s okay because I have.”

Parmel seemed genuinely surprised for once.

“It’s an object that was stolen before I met Jeriel. I don’t know where it is, or whether it is even on this continent, are you sure that you’ll be able to find it?”

“I’m not sure, but I’m willing to try.”

Parmel got up after me. She got out of bed and stood right in front of me.

In a serious voice she asked, “Can you really do it?”

“I said that I’ll try.”

“Do it. Taylor Mason.”

“……”

“……”

“I request.”

Her request made it clear how much she loved Jeriel.

I just said, “Go to sleep, Parmel.”

“……”

“If you don’t sleep, it’ll be bad for your skin.”

A faint smile returned to Parmel’s face.

That night, the interview with the goddess ended.

Then I immediately opened up the register.

Then, he looked at his own ability 3.

[Who can do this?]

[Search for someone who can solve the problem. (Range: None)]

[Reuse time: 14 days]

[Points needed: 100]

I didn’t need to think about it any longer.

“Who can do this?”

[Would you like to use the unique ability ‘Who can do this?’]

Nod.

[Please set your objective.]

‘To find out the whereabouts of Jeriel’s lost pendant.’

[We will proceed as advised, please review and approve.]

The draft document screen opens in my eyes. As always, I signed the payment section.

-Kim Ill-do.

[Using the ability ‘Who can do this?’]

[Browsing…]

[Search completed. One suitable subject has been found. Would you like to view the location?]

Nod.

My eyes widened when the system showed me the answer.

It showed a name that I already knew. We never met in person. But the name was familiar nonetheless.

I really didn’t expect to see that name. It was quite interesting.

And the next day, I gave Dirk a special order.

****

A week had passed. Everything stayed quite peaceful for the last week.

Bored of such an uneventful week, I got sleepy. While rubbing my eyes, the door opened. It was Dirk.

The face I hadn’t seen for an entire week.

As soon as he entered the guild, he asked me while ignoring his usual greeting,

“Vice Guild Master. Do you have a moment?”

“….”

“Good morning.”

“Ah yes. Good morning. I don’t know if it’s morning or evening.”

I ignored that and asked Dirk, “Okay, did the hard work pay off?”

“Yeah. It did pay off.”

‘Finally.’

Finally, I could be liberated from those sleepless nights I had grown accustomed to. I couldn’t hide my joy at all, I even smiled.

“You worked hard. Dirk.”

I patted Dirk’s shoulders in order to congratulate him. A gesture he was quite unfamiliar with. Maybe he thought I was an uptight brute who didn’t even know how to congratulate the staff.

“Then let’s head to the conference room.”

“Yes.”

As soon as I entered the conference room and closed the door, I asked, “What about that thing?”

Dirk put his hand inside his pocket and carefully took something out. And soon, he put it on the table.

It was the pendant.

“Honestly, I don’t usually like to say this, but this time, this time I really thought I’d die searching for this.”

“I told you whom you could ask for it’s whereabouts.”

“From there it was rather a problem. The person I spoke to certainly knew where it was. Because he once had it.”

Dirk then began his long explanation of how some guy bought it to ward off someone’s misfortune and how much trouble he had to go through to acquire it.

“He said he bought it a long time ago.”

Apparently the thief had sold the pendant to the black market. Fortunately, one of the people who bought it still kept it in their possession for a long time.

“The problem was that no matter how much I offered, he had no intention of selling it. He said he was very fond of this pendant.”

“Hmm. In the end, having a pendant here means that the negotiation was successful. How much did you pay for it?”

“Oh. I didn’t pay.”

“….”

I didn’t know what he was talking about and looked at Dirk in confusion.

Then he said while scratching his head, “I was negotiating for five whole days, but when I was about to give up because I couldn’t do it, he suddenly asked. He asked if I came from the Hagnut Guild.”

“……”

“I know that a man named Taylor Mason works there, but if you can get him to have a cup of tea with me, then I’ll give you the pendant.”

That was a bit unexpected.

I didn’t know how to react so I just bluntly asked, “So?”

“It may be a bit rude, but I accepted it on your behalf. After all, my first priority was to complete the order issued by the Vice Guild Master.”

“Okay. Well done. It’s just a cup of tea, no big deal.”

Dirk suddenly lowered his voice at my casual reply.

“Vice Guild Master. Please be very careful.”

“Why?”

“Why? That person. Because of that person.”

“……”

“The President of the Guild association asked for that meeting!”