Das's Inheritance (2/2)

...

In his mind, Haalfrin is already envisioning his territory as being a place to rehabilitate warriors who had gone mad with bloodlust.

He still remembers the crazed prisoners that were locked away, deep beneath the Death Realm. He also remembers that his Advanced Syl Name is what saved his own Arkin soldiers from going completely mad too.

Thus, Haalfrin is sure that he can use his future training hall to give maddened souls respite and healing. He can set up ceremonies, badges of honor, military ranks, and social events – all to give these crazed souls a place of discipline, order, and community.

These are the same conditions under which he used his Syl Name before, when healing his Arkin. 'If it worked before, it can work in the future,' are his thoughts on the matter.

Besides, Haalfrin isn't even worrying about the cost of making such a massive military organization.

'Once I pitch the idea of healing the mad souls to the Death King, I'm sure his majesty will be thrilled. Maddened souls have always been one of the chief headaches to the rulers of the Death Realm, and Freyya mentioned before that I'm the only one who can solve it!'

The more Haalfrin thinks about it, the more excited he becomes.

This place could become the hub of a large organization that stretches across all the worlds of Igdris! People could come here and learn honorable virtues (honorable from his point of view, anyway).

There can be various honest jobs and tasks set up here, as well as a bounty system to track down and destroy villains. After all, if he's going to instill honor in blood-crazed "demons", they're going to need some sort of war to fight... 'I'll think of something…'

With these ambitious thoughts in mind, Haalfrin sets down a few of his personal belongings, then quickly packs a bag full of food and a change of clothing.

"Where are you going, master...?" Reyya asks curiously.

"I'm going on a trip real quick. Move my things inside, but feel free to not unpack anything."

'I still need to visit Freyya's old house before I receive my first assignment,' Haalfrin thinks to himself.

---------------------

Haalfrin goes outside, and he spends a bit of time wandering the streets – asking the passersby about where Goddess Freyya lives. It's been so long since he's been to her house that he's naturally forgotten by now.

Well, to be fair, he found her house at first by accidentally teleporting there.

The first person Haalfrin asks for directions is a petite old lady who immediately shies away from him and shudders, "That place is bad luck I tell you! You should stay away from there!"

The next is a young man, who simply ignores him.

Haalfrin can get pretty stubborn, so he keeps asking around the streets. Eventually, people start to get concerned over his behavior, and someone tells one of the local guards.

One of the small-time street guards, a 2nd Gate mage, walks up to Haalfrin and says, "I was told you were making a disturbance and asking about confidential information of a public figure."

Haalfrin resists the urge to roll his eyes at this question. It's best not to be rude to this man, despite his frustrations right now. The guard's only doing his job.

And so, Haalfrin calmly takes out the letter of inheritance from Das, and he holds it up in front of the guard. "You see this? I'm a relative of the god of Decay, who just passed away the other day."

The guard takes the letter hastily and looks it over. The man even pulls out a magical device and inspects the seal on the letter. "It's the real deal. I apologize sir, but may I ask what you needed to visit the War goddess for?"

Haalfrin looks down and scratches his head. "She's... indisposed, if you know what I mean."

The guard nodded solemnly and agrees, "Yes… I heard she broke a serious law – went to the Mortal Realm, she did. I heard she even killed a Moon spirit!" The guard shudders, "Words' going all over the street that we got 2 death reapers out of action now!"

Haalfrin nods while hiding his impatience. "Indeed. Well, I'm going to be keeping her house in order until her exile ends. I need to know where she lives."

The guard nods and straightens his back, "Yes sir. I'll look into it."

"Good. You have a station you guys stay at?"

"Yes...," the guard answers slowly as he slightly tilts his head in confusion.

"Good. I'll wait there for your answer." Haalfrin insisted on waiting at the guard station since he was wary of them just putting his request on the back burner. They'd probably just forget about this small task, anyway.

He knows perfectly well how bureaucracies work. If you want something done, it's best to remind them constantly that you have an issue to be solved. It's best to not be annoying about it, though, so simply waiting at their office is good enough.

---------------------

A few hours later, Haalfrin is given spatial coordinates - not a street address.

After all, Freyya lives nowhere near a city, so the conventional address system doesn't work at all.

Haalfrin then spends a few days trekking and flying across the globe, finding the right forest she lives in, then pinpointing her house's location.

After finally finding the place, he stands for a moment on top of her trap door, and he feels waves of complex emotions wash over him.

Just remembering the last time he came here… Haalfrin wipes a tear from his eye. 'Best not think about it. It's better to get to work and prepare for my tasks. The sooner I do them, the sooner I can free Freyya.'

---------------------

Haalfrin barely opens the trap door, and a strong smell wafts up from below. It smells like a mix between dust, old wood… and Freyya's unique scent. Just her smell is enough to make the Arkin man get lost in his thoughts again.

After climbing down, Haalfrin looks around… and is surprised to see that the floors are clean, the clothes are neatly folded in bins, the dishes are washed and put away, and the pantry is full of fresh food.

Just thinking about the disgusting trash dump this place was before, then looking at it now, Haalfrin finally lets a tear fall from his eye.

'Well, I promised that I'd keep her place clean and well-kept until she returns. The place can still use some work, so I'll take care of that before I leave.'

---------------------

Haalfrin spends the next several hours doing a thorough deep clean of this place.

He uses alchemy to destroy and remake practically everything in the house – from the ceiling down to the floorboards.

Along the way, he ends up going into Freyya's room, and he starts organizing all of her books… and there are a lot of them.

"What's this?" Haalfrin mutters as he picks up a little, pink book. "It has no title?"

Out of curiosity, he opens up the book… and he only makes it a few sentences in before he realizes what kind of book this is.

What does the book say? It reads,

'Yes…, it's CONCERNING…'

Suddenly feeling awkward, Haalfrin slams the book shut and goes red in the face. 'Bloody? Really?'

'Anyway, I shouldn't read her diary,' Haalfrin thinks to himself. He reaches over and resolutely tucks the journal away with the rest of the books.

---------------------

After searching some more through Freyya's house, Haalfrin finds a small ledger that seems to be enchanted to write itself whenever she receives or spends any money - a handy book, indeed, for a girl who hates thinking about money.

'Best to check if there's anything important I need to take care of in her financial life while she's away.'

It doesn't take him long to actually find something important. Maybe it's because she spends so little money that the only thing really popping up is a yearly payment to a certain address elsewhere in the Death Realm.

Haalfrin does a quick search from the Alsha Library orb, and he learns that this address is a place where Crow people live.

More specifically, Haalfrin learns that Freyya has been paying for her parents' and siblings' housing and food.

'Glad I found that,' Haalfrin sighs. 'I better keep sending these payments over.'

He leans back and wonders, 'Oh yeah. I can probably pay for my old Kareen clan to live well... well... after my punishment is over. I'm completely broke right now.'

'Speaking of the Kareen... should I visit them?' Haalfrin thinks seriously.

... In the end, he shakes his head, 'No. That'd be a little too awkward. It just doesn't feel right anymore.'

---------------------

After Haalfrin finishes cleaning up the house, he pokes around with his Scrying magic to make sure that nobody is watching him.

He still has that Memory Stone locked away in his soul realm – the one that contains the Comprehension for his 7th Name.

'It's about time to become a god now.'

After reciting his Names and going into his Soul Realm, Haalfrin pokes around the large place until he finds a lone box, which is Time Locked and hidden under several illusion enchantments.

Upon undoing the Time Lock, Haalfrin spends several minutes opening all the keys on the safe, and he cracks open the door.

There, the glowing yellow stone is still waiting for him – unmarred and fully functional.

'All right, let's see what I got here…'

He reaches his hand into the safe, and the second he touches the stone again with his bare hands, a flood of images pours into his mind, and he immediately feels himself entering a state of Comprehension again…

… He falls to the ground, and he sees rapid images flow through his mind – images of the future, of Drakavar, and of his final battle.

More specifically, Haalfrin realizes through these visions the real reason why HE, of all people, had to become a Death god and lead the battle against Drakavar.

Why does he offer the best chance of success against the Archdemon of Destruction?

The reason is simple. He trodded through life on a path specific to him, and he met some very specific people – Fisco, Fina (especially Fina), Laura…

... With these people participating in the last battle, chances of victory against Drakavar are at their highest. Plus, his ability to make the dead revive slightly faster is what allowed the gods' armies to even last more than two seconds against the Goddess of Power.

'In other words, it's not just my special abilities, but the people I've met… That's why Destiny wanted me to become the Death King's General.'

Haalfrin falls further into the vision, and he sees more flashes of the future – this time of his many years spent in service to the Death King.

In these visions, Haalfrin never once sees a future where he feels lost and without purpose. He may not be the best person in the world, but at least he has his own role to play.

It feels good to have a clear purpose and a population that needs him. One never has to worry about being lonely when you have a society to contribute to.

'That's good enough for me.'