Regrets

One day, Jes got another peculiar customer. Someone who had inherited a technique that Jes gave to a group of eleven people to hone their abilities past their current lives. The man called himself Jin and he was on the path to hone his skills even further beyond.

Jes decided to indulge himself by asking Jin a simple question. "Which number is your legion?" Jin was surprised to hear someone ask something like that in the land he currently was on, but he didn't show his surprise for long. Then Jin said "I am Jin of the legion 164. How do you know about legions mister innkeeper?" Jes smiled and said "It is something that I only heard from people that came from the land you are from. But sorry, I'm not well acquainted with the depth of the numbers. How new is that current number?"

Jin smiled and said "This is the newest one to date. It only had three people before me." Jes was surprised and said "Really? I thought there'd be more given the time that's passed since the original eleven." Jin says "Yeah, there was a point in history where the numbers would grow constantly, but eventually it slowed down so that the numbers would have more meaning to them. Since mine is the newest one, I'm looked down upon by other legions quite often when I'm in my homeland."

Jes then smiled and said "No need to worry. While the amount of mastery legion gains by generations can be valued more the lower and older they are, what truly matters is the people who pass on the legion to the inheritor. The mastery gained by one owner of the legion can be more valuable than ten of the people who waited patiently to pass on the legion without any improvements of their own."

Jin is stunned by these words as they sound like they came from a wise teacher themself. Jin then rose from his chair and gave a deep bow to Jes and said "Thank you for your kind words, oh honorable innkeeper. May I know your name?" Jes then says calmly "You can stop the formalities. My name is Jes Tacitus, but you can just call me Jes or the innkeeper."

Jin rose up from his bow and then said with a smile on their face "Thank you honorable Jes. I will go do some adventurers' work now if you excuse me." Jin starts to leave fast and before the door closes, Jes can hear him shouting while he is running "Thanks for the food! The bed was also super comfortable!"

Jes gives a smile and says "I'm sure all of the eleven would look kindly on a new leaf." Then Iloton asks "What was all that about?" Jes answers "A little gift I once gave to a group of people. To think that it's been this long but they are just on the 164th legion." Iloton asks "What is legion?" Jes answers "It is a power that lets a person give their whole life experience to another person and carry the flame in exchange for their life. The person receiving the legion will carry the strength of the souls that came before them and become more powerful by it. It is true that the number of people that have passed on the legion can easily overpower the ones that have fewer number of people. There is the fact that you would have to give up your individuality in order to harness the power of the legion since the person that remains works on the consensus of the people whose souls are powering the legion itself. The person can keep their individuality to some extent after the inheritance, but it requires the will of the ones before to let the current carrier be and the strength of the current carrier's will."

Iloton says "Iloton thinks that is a pathetic way to grow more powerful." Jes then replies "Think what you will, but mortals have to find ways to protect themselves in these harsh worlds. By the way, the people that I gave the power to in the first place, the first eleven, called me the legion zero." Iloton just says "Iloton still finds it pathetic. A mortal mind could never be able to work properly in a complex network of different people." Jes then says "That is why the first eleven eventually couldn't continue passing on their legions. But at their peak, they reached tier 13 and legion one even got to tier 14."

Iloton asks "Then could they have defeated Iloton?" Jes answers with "Individually, no. But if the original eleven legions fought against you together, then they would have been able to overwhelm you." Iloton just says "Iloton thinks you are too proud of your students." Jes then says "Maybe a little. But you are tier 19 so even though you are powerful, you would have trouble with ten tier 13 and one tier 14."

Iloton says "It is just a number. By the way, what is your tier in this world?" Jes thinks for a moment. Then says "The tiers don't go up that high in this world, but if I had to make a comparison, then I would be tier 50." Iloton says "What is the criteria?" Jes answers "You know that tier 10 can destroy a country. Tier 20 can destroy humanity. Tier 30 can destroy the world. Tier 40 can destroy all of the outer gods. And tier 50 can destroy the whole existence." Iloton gives a chuckle and says "You? Can destroy the whole existence? Iloton thinks you flatter yourself too much. At best Iloton thinks you are about tier 33 at best. You were defeated by outer gods back then weren't you?"

Jes says to that "Think whatever you like. In the end, I just want to live as an innkeeper. Everything else is secondary." Jes then thinks to himself "The only reason why the universe still exists is because of O. If it weren't for them, then I…"

Then a customer comes and asks for a meal. Jes happily says "Of course. Just choose what you want on the menu."

While Jes was preparing the meal, another customer comes into the inn and says "Excuse me. Do you serve food here?" Jes recognises that voice but cannot recall where he had heard it before. He just says "We do. Grab one of the menus and once you are ready, say what you want to my assistant and she will relay what you want to me."

The customer sits down, looks at the menu, tells Iloton what they want and then waits. Iloton then goes and gives the order to Jes, who then gives the food he had prepared for the other customer to her and tells her to give it to them. Iloton does so and Jes prepares the meal.

After the meal is done for the second customer, Jes goes and gives it personally. He didn't look in detail what the customer looked like from afar, but once he had put the meal on the table, he looked and noticed who the customer was. It was her. Jes's heart dropped for a moment, but then he quickly recovered and said "Enjoy the meal."

After the woman was done eating, she went to the counter and paid. While paying she asked "Can I book a room for the night in advance?" Jes says "You can. It'll be 50 copper." The woman gives the copper to him and then Jes asks "What name will I put in the ledger?" Inside Jes thought "Please don't say it." The woman smiled and said "Aia Tacitus."

Jes's heart dropped again, but he had to quickly recover from it. He wrote the name, smiled and said "Tacitus you say? Well that happens to be my last name as well." Aia is surprised and says "It is? What a coincidence. I picked the name just a few months ago. I hope that it isn't a well known family name."

Jes kept smiling even though it was painful. He then said "I haven't met anyone else with that name so far, so you are in the clear." Aia then put her hand on her chest and said "Thank the gods. I thought that I had screwed up. Oh, but if we share the same last name, will the people think we are married or something?" Jes says "As long as we explain it properly, I'm sure we can clear any misunderstandings." Aia says "Yes. I'm sure it will be fine."

Then she starts to leave, but before she leaves, she looks back and smiles at Jes while saying "See you later another Tacitus. I will return before the sun sets." And then she leaves.

After no customers were left, Jes could finally take a deep breath. Iloton comes and says "So what's the deal with that woman? She seems quite ordinary, yet you became cold for a moment." Jes responds "She is an ordinary woman and will remain as such. Nothing more, nothing less." Iloton says "Iloton senses that you are denying something." Jes says "It must be your imagination." Iloton says "Again." Jes then takes out a whole bunch of sweets and gives them to Iloton. Iloton takes them gladly and starts munching.

Later that day, Aia returned to the inn that also included Diane and Elision. Then she said "Can I have another meal of yours? It tasted supper good." Jes said "Of course." Then he went to the kitchen and prepared the meal. After he was done, he gave the meal to Aia.

Aia then took a bite and said "I don't know how you do it, but you are an amazing cook. How did you learn to cook like this?" Jes answered meekly "There was a woman I loved once who didn't know how to cook properly and would somehow always make something hard to eat. In the end I decided that I would do the cooking in the house and because of that, I trained very hard to get good at it." Aia says "That's so sweet. What happened to her?" Jes said "She died."

Then Aia stops eating as she realizes that she made Jes remember something depressing. She then quickly said "Sorry. I didn't think it through enough and spoke mindlessly." Jes responded with "Don't worry about it. As long as I can satisfy my customers, that is enough for me." Then Jes leaves back to the counter and pretends to read. But in truth, there are a lot of things on his mind at the moment. Memories keep coming back to him like infestation.

Diane and Elision talk about Jes. Diane says "I didn't know that Jes had a wife in the past. He looks so young. He must be older than he looks." Elision says "That's right. But I'm sure that with the help of others, he will be able to find love again." Diane says confidently "Yes. I'm sure he can." Both are oblivious to what the other implies by saying what they said.

The days go by as Aia and other customers come and go. Aia seems to sleep in the Unseen Moon Inn almost every time. While she is out, Aia does some adventurer work on the side and she is considered tier 5. People are even talking about her overtaking Diane as the strongest adventurer of Etsi, but Aia is still not near the height of tier 6.

Bellum in the meanwhile is keeping a low profile by only taking quests up to tier 4 and training Eve together with Diane.

One day Aia comes up to Jes and asks "Have we met somewhere before I came to this inn?" Jes replied with "I believe our first meeting was when you entered the inn." Aia says while thinking deeply "Is that so. I swear I have a feeling that I know you from somewhere before." Jes replies with "You must be feeling a sense of deja vu." Aia still thinks out loud while leaving the counter "Is that truly the case. Hmmm… it feels a bit weird." Aia kept thinking about it for the rest of the night and only stopped after she fell asleep.

Then one day something unexpected came up. An outer god, who's name was Digylypto, came looking for Jes to hunt him down. He looked around and hid himself in the shadows for a while and observed. Jes and Iloton of course knew that he was there, but chose to do nothing before the outer god acted.

Then one day Digylypto went and came to talk to Jes. He said "Nice place you got here. Shame you aren't favored by most outer gods." Jes responded "Outer gods always have had conflict between themselves. Me being hated is not that life changing." Digylypto looked pissed off and said "You really don't care, do you? Well, mark my words, one day I will make you regret going up against me." Jes says "If you go too far, I'm forced to delete you from the history of existence." Digylypto laughs and says "Bold words coming from someone who was defeated by outer gods." Jes smirks and says "What makes you think that you are as strong as them combined?" Digylypto has a pissed off look as he says "You better prepare yourself. You aren't in your prime anymore, so I am well equipped to handle the likes of you." Then Digylypto leaves and begins scheming.

Eventually the Digylypto concluded that few people that visit Jes seem to have deeper connection to Jes. He then decides to capture Diane, Elision, Bellum and Aia. Then he kept them tied up in front of Jes's inn and tried to provoke Jes out. Jes knew that the worst that could happen is that he loses a couple of regulars. It was a bad deal for him, but he didn't want to kill an outer god if he could help it.

Then Digylypto decided to pierce each person's stomach with the tentacles he summoned. Now Diane, Elision, Bellum and Aia were lying there and bleeding to death. The only thought that was in Jes's mind was "It doesn't matter. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter. If they die, so what? Couple of people lost means nothing to a being like him. That's how it is supposed to be."

A while passes and they are dying. Then Iloton says to Jes "Are you truly going to let them die? They would shed tears if you were in their position." Jes kept thinking "It shouldn't matter in the end. When the world ends, they all are going to die in the end. So why bother saving them now. That's how things are and have always been. That's how it's supposed to be."

A while passes and they are about to die. Then Jes remembers that one girl's smile back then. The words "I would do anything for you" come to his mind. He thinks "This is how it's supposed to be. But I can't stand it." Then Jes has a serious look on his face and tells Iloton "When I get Digylypto, you go and heal the injured." Then he teleports, grabs Digylypto's head and throws it against the ground. Digylypto goes quite a way before he gains his footing back. He wonders "What just happened?" Then Jes grabs his arm, says the words "Echoit ig migtas" and then they are teleported somewhere else.

Meanwhile Iloton is healing the wounded.

In the place that Jes sent the two, Jes throws Digylypto to the ground with some force, but not enough force to hurt him. Digylypto then almost chooses to attack, but then he is baffled by the surroundings. They were standing on top of muddy water without any effort at all. The sky was dark as well and Digylypto wasn't able to decipher where they were.

So then Digylypto asked "Where are we?" Jes answered in a calm voice "We are in a world that I just created." Digylypto laughs and says "You and you little tricks. Not even an outer god can create a world just like that. You were defeated by a group of outer gods and you say that you are strong enough to create an entire world? Give me a break."

Then Jes kills the avatar that Digylypto was using in a flash and resurrects him soon after. Digylypto is frightened, steps back and says "What was that?" Jes just says "Oh I killed the avatar you were using. Quite simple really." Digylypto is angered and tries to attack Jes, but then his hand is cut to a million pieces. Digylypto screams for a moment while saying "This isn't supposed to hurt this bad! This is just an avatar!" Jes said "I'm afraid that in my world, you have to follow certain rules. One is that the greater the initial vitality of a person is, the stronger the pain is." Digylypto is baffled and says "What?"

Jes then says "Oh, it's a little rule I made just for you. Feel honored, since you have managed to piss me off more than anyone has for quite some time." Digylypto tries to teleport away, dematerialize or let go of the avatar, but with no avail. He is panicking and Jes notices this. Then Jes said "One of the other rules is that as long as you are in this world, you cannot leave without my permission."

Digylypto shouts "That amount of authority when the rules of the world is created is absurd!" Jes simply says "Oh little boy. You have misunderstood what outer gods are supposed to be. They are meant to bring thoughts such as "This is absurd" or "That's impossible" but we do it anyway. Iloton might not be quite there yet, but even she understands this concept. Oh, another rule that works here is that I am able to set a limit of a person's power. In other words, I can set your power, when compared to the world that we were in before, to a tier 0. Meaning that you are powerless."

Digylypto can't process this information and just mutters in disbelief "But that… to be able to… not even my parent… This is…" Jes then says "I think that I don't need to explain further rules of this world. Now then, to the business at hand." Jes then cuts the whole body of Digylypto's avatar into million pieces. Then he resurrects Digylypto and Digylypto asks "Why doesn't it end?" Jes says "As I explained before, as long as I wish it to be so, you cannot leave this place. This means that I control what happens after death in this world also. This means essentially that as long as you have vitality in your true body, you will be resurrected again and again. Until your true body's vitality runs out, you won't be able to die."

Digylypto says "But I don't want to die." Jes says "Too bad. You messed with people that come to my inn, so you deserve pain. But because you hurt the one person I truly cherish, I'm going to make sure that by the end of all this, your existence will be erased in all the observers of this world. What should be you is replaced by a puppet of mine that fully believes that it is you. But the true you will be erased from this world and no one will remember you. Except for me."

Digylypto panics and starts screaming "No… No!" Then he starts running, but in this world there is nowhere for him to run. In this world, there is only one ruler, one god, and that god is a being known only as X.

Jes starts shouting at Digylypto while he keeps on killing him "What's the matter?! Can't handle it?! Be a proper outer god and face your death with dignity and stop struggling! If you by some unknown miracle manage to escape this place, put this fact to your ugly soul! Don't fuck with me!"

The killing continued for a time that felt like hundreds of years. In this world, time moves much, much slower compared to the outside, so it was but a moment in the world that X lived as Jes.

When the last remaining vitality was only left, X stopped and got near the ear of the broken being formerly known as outer god Digylypto. X said "As I said back then, your existence will be erased from all the observers in the whole of existence except for me. But your suffering will not end there. Oh no. It will only begin. After I erase you, you will become a permanent resident of this world that no one else can observe. In this unspoken world no one will be able to observe you. You will be only left as a memory in my library that will constantly suffer for eternity." The broken person standing there could not move. Even for a former outer god, this was too much. Something being unexplainable by mortals couldn't handle the pain it was going through.

X then put his lips near the man's ear, almost touching it. Then he whispered the words "Thou's eternal suffering awaits." Then came the words of unimaginable power "Siglou u ti'iglim". After those words were spoken, the whole of existence changed and the being known as Digylypto became but a shadow in the unspoken world that X had created. Eternally he would have to suffer countless deaths by the beasts that are created from the forgotten knowledge that X holds. And while this shadow would suffer eternally, someone who thinks it had always been Digylypto takes his place and lives on in the shadow's place.

X teleported to the other side of that unspoken world. There he went to his knees and started smashing the ground repeatedly, making the muddy water splatter all around. Whilst smashing the ground, he shouted into the nothingness "Because of you!" "If it weren't for you!" "You made them suffer!" "It was you!" "There were better ways to handle this!" "It is all your fault!" He shouted "If I can't make a just judgment before I cause harm to others, then I don't deserve a heart to begin with!" Then in a moment of anger, X pierced his chest with his hand and grabbed his heart. Then he pulled it out and put it on the muddy water. His heart sank and it was gone to the depths.

The heart was gone. The heart of an unspoken god had sunk to the center of the unspoken world. He had no need for it, for he was not deserving the love that Aia once had for him.

After some time had passed, X decided to return to himself and returned to the world where people were waiting for him.

Once there, Jes saw the four people lying on the ground. They were still alive thanks to Iloton. Then the person in question asks "So have you dealt with him?" Jes answered with a calm and emotionless "Yes. It's been dealt with. Thanks for saving the customers." Iloton noticed that something was different in Jes, but she still replied "If you think Iloton did a good job, then perhaps you should give some offerings to Iloton." Jes then summoned some sweets and said "Here" and gave them to Iloton. While Iloton was happy to receive more sweets, for some reason she felt that she didn't want to eat them at the moment. She could not pinpoint what it was that made her hesitant, but she knew that she didn't like that feeling.

And so the crisis was averted.