The son of Poseidon collapsed to his knees, grabbing his balls in one hand while holding his trident with the other. My fist still clenched the weapon. I pointed my free hand at him.

"You're gonna pay for that, baby!" he shouted.

I shot a fireball right at his fucking face.

The son of Poseidon made water blast up from below me, sending me flying into the air. I felt my hand get ripped from the trident. The water surrounded me in a column. It forced its way into my nose, throat, and lungs. Pain overtook my body.

"Well, this sucks," I thought.

"That's a massive underreaction," Dʰéǵʰom said.

"Can't you use your divine powers to help me?"

"If I did that, Poseidon would use his divine powers too. He's not as powerful as me, but we'd cause even more collateral damage."

"Just tell me one thing, then. Has that asshole moved?" I thought.

"No," Dʰéǵʰom replied.

I forced my hands to move through the pain, aiming them right at where the Son of Poseidon was. They unleashed a blast of wind. It cut through the water and slammed into my target. He went flying back. The column of water weakened.

Then, I aimed my hands behind me. Another blast of wind burst out. I flew right at the Son of Poseidon with my feet aiming at him. I used magic to increase my durability as my feet collided with this face.

"Dropkick!" I shouted.

The son of Poseidon stood firm. His hateful eyes glared right at me. He grabbed my legs and slammed me hard into the ground. I coughed up blood. Even in my pain, I noticed that the earthquake had stopped.

"You think you can beat a demigod, baby? Well, you thought wrong, baby!" he said.

He stabbed his trident down, ramming it into my chest. Pain wracked my body. I saw the sadistic grin on the son of Poseidon's face.

I drew my sword and stabbed him in the arm. Blood gushed out of it. The son of Poseidon grasped his wound.

"Why aren't you dead?" he asked.

"I told you before that tridents are shit weapons," I forced myself to stand. "If you were using a spear, you'd have gone deep enough to kill me. But the three prongs of the trident kept your weapon from going in deep enough."

"You talk too much, baby! Give me too many shots at killing you!"

The son of Poseidon moved in a blur. He shot past me, getting to my back and swinging his trident. I felt one of my ribs crack.

"You're a real dumbass, aren't you?" I turned and unleashed a blast of wind.

"What the fuck are you talking about, baby?" the son of Poseidon asked.

"You're using a thrusting weapon to cut," I answered.

"You're the dumbass, baby, giving advice to someone who's trying to kill you," he said.

"I don't think someone as egotistic as you would ever listen to my advice."

The son of Poseidon's eyes widened in shock.

"You're right, baby," he said. "But I'm still gonna kill you!"

The son of Poseidon was about to thrust again when I held up my hands.

"Wait! There's something I have to tell you before you kill me!" I said.

"What's that, baby?" the son of Poseidon asked.

"Many years ago, there was a giant shapeshifting demon who threw the world into an era of terror and darkness."

"I never heard of that, baby."

"It's something few people know about," I said. "The only person who opposed him was a great swordsman. They fought long and hard, but the swordsman won. Just before the final blow was struck, the demon opened a portal through time. He sent the swordsman to the future. There, the demon had already taken over the world."

The son of Poseidon stood dumbfounded.

"That story don't make any sense, baby. If this happened in the past, and the demon sent the swordsman to the future, shouldn't the demon rule the world now?" he asked.

"Your mother," I answered.

The son of Poseidon didn't speak for a few seconds.

"I'm gonna kill you now," he said.

Ghostly hands erupted from the ground, grabbing onto the demigod.

"What the hell is this, baby?"

He broke free of them with a single yank of his arms. A lightning bolt rocketed from the rain. It went sideways, not down through the clouds, and crashed into the demigod. His scream was so loud that my eardrums ruptured. I clutched my ears as I collapsed to one knee.

Dr. Minos, Johannes, and Astrid charged out of the darkness. They swung their weapons at the son of Poseidon. He parried them all with his trident. The demigod jumped back.

"That's it, baby! I can't handle these numbers!" the son of Poseidon shouted.

He transformed into a seagull and flew away. Another lightning bolt hit him. The son of Poseidon wavered from the blow but kept moving.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!" Joanna shot bolt after bolt of lightning. "He's fucking getting away!"

I shuddered at the sight. I'd never seen Joanna this mad before.

"Should we pursue him?" Astrid asked.

"No. None of us are fast enough," I answered. "First, is everyone okay?"

"The rain didn't kill anyone. The worst people were just badly injured," she said.

"And I was able to summon ghosts to protect everyone when the stands collapsed," Dimitri stated.

"You're a very talented necromancer, and you must have trained a lot to casually summon ghosts like that," I said.

"I wouldn't call it casually. It wasn't as easy as it might have seemed," he replied.

I noticed that Dimitri's arms were hanging limp at his side.

"Are you going to be okay?" I asked.

"I'll be fine. I should be able to feel my arms again in a few hours," Dimitri answered. "And I should be able to move them again in a few days."

"Joanna, can you heal him?"

"I'm afraid not. His arms aren't damaged. They're drained of magic," she said.

"What the fuck are we gonna do now?" Donnie ran over. "That fucking weirdo came in and fucking attacked us! Who was that son of a bitch, anyway?"

"I can't think of many people who'd dare attack a saint," Astrid stated.

"He was a saint and the son of a god," Johannes said.

"You know him?" I asked.

"No," he answered. "But I have very good hearing. You have to if you're hunting monsters. You said some strange things too while you were fighting him."

"That isn't unusual. Gustav is far from a normal noble," Joanna stated.

"Joanna, can you start healing people?" I spoke before thinking. "Dʰéǵʰom, I think I should tell them about my situation."

"Are you sure?" he questioned.

"I am. They deserve to know, especially Joanna. Plus, it'll give me an idea of how my parents will react and whether or not I should tell them."

"Alright. This is your decision."

"I'm going back to our inn room. I don't want to stick around. The barbarians will probably blame me for this mess. Everyone who's in my retinue, meet me there in a few hours," I said.

"Hey, is it alright if I stay here and look for my actor?" Donnie asked.

"I was hoping you'd do that. I need to discuss certain things," I answered.

"Can I come too?" Dimitri questioned. "I literally have nothing better to do."

"Sure. I might need your help with a few things."

I started walking to the inn. Astrid, Johannes, and Dr. Minos followed me.

"You don't have to stay by my side," I said.

"We do. I already abandoned you to protect Astrid, and you're my lord," Johannes stated. "I have to make up for that somehow."

"I don't expect you to try to rescue me when your lover is in danger. I don't want you to either. Protect the people you care about most first."

Shock coated his and Astrid's eyes.

"Go ahead and speak freely," I said.

"You're the strangest noble I've ever met. I understand that most nobles aren't as bad as the ones in Motteburh. But no noble anywhere would want his retainers to protect someone else when they could protect him," Astrid replied.

"I'll explain that in a few hours. In the meantime, you can do what you want," I stated.

They kept following me.

Soon, I was in a room with everyone except Donnie. We were all sitting on chairs.

"I need to tell you all something," I said. "First, a question: do you know what happens if you die?"

"Yes. You get a choice of spending eternity in an afterlife or reincarnating," Joanna replied.

"I hope that was a hypothetical question, and you weren't just too bored to pay attention to priests," Dimitri stated.

"It was hypothetical. You see, I died before, and I chose reincarnation," I said.

Shock overcame everyone in the room. Dr. Minos made a bull noise.

"I remember it because Dʰéǵʰom is the god that reincarnated me, and he let me keep all the memories of my past life. And my past life was in another world," I explained.

"That explains so much," Joanna said.

"What was your old world like?" Johannes leaned forward.

There was an intense curiosity on his face.

"It didn't have any magic as far as I knew, but it was far more technologically advanced. We didn't have nobility in my homeland, so I was a commoner in my past life. My homeland was the greatest country in the world and the second-greatest country in history. It was the home to the finest art, the best food, the best wine, and some of the greatest warriors in history came from it. Back when we had knights, they were the greatest knights in the world. Our beloved saint defeated our greatest rival time and time again. The most brilliant general in history was from my homeland," I said.

"That's incredible. I just hope you don't mind if I take your words with a grain of salt. You might have some bias in favor of your homeland," Johannes replied.

"I don't mind that," I stated.

Then, I noticed heavy breathing. Astrid's hands were clenched around her chair. Her eyes were wide with excitement.

"Did they have swords in your world?" she asked.

"Yes. I practiced with a sword called a rapier in my past life," I answered.

"Please teach me how to use a rapier!" Astrid grasped my shoulders. "I want to learn sword techniques from another world!"

"I honestly think Johannes would be better off learning rapier techniques. In my world, the sidesword was the predecessor of the rapier," I said.

"I can learn sidesword too! I need a backup weapon for my greatsword anyway! Please teach me, Johannes!" Astrid begged.

"You don't need to shout. I'll gladly teach you," Johannes assured her.

"Yes!" she pumped her fist. "I'm going to learn sword techniques from another world!"

I considered telling them about having the godslayer ability, but I decided against it. That would be too much at the moment.

"So, which god did the saint that attacked you serve?" Joanna asked.

"Was I right that it was Poseidon?" I thought.

"You were," Dʰéǵʰom confirmed.

"It was Poseidon," I said.

"I've never heard of that god before, and I've traveled around a lot," Johannes stated.

"Same," Astrid nodded.

"Poseidon is a god who was worshipped in the world I was from in my past life," I explained. "Was being the key word. People stopped worshipping him and started worshipping a god named Jesus instead."

"Why?"

"Because Jesus isn't an asshole," I said.

Dʰéǵʰom burst out laughing. Astrid's, Dr. Minos', and Johannes' faces were coated with a thick paint of shock.

"You'd talk about a god like that?" Johannes asked.

"I'm a saint of Dʰéǵʰom. If Poseidon has any complaints, he can take it up with him. Besides, no one in this world worships Poseidon. If he interfered directly, a bunch of other gods would probably start complaining," I answered.

"That's still a massive risk! A saint like you should know better than to insult gods like that, especially if the insult is true!" Astrid warned.

"It's because he's a saint that he's fine with talking like this," Dimitri said.

"What? Why? He talks to gods all the time!"

"Yes. Saints get used to it and have a casual relationship with their patron god. Eventually, they start treating gods the same way they treat everyone else. It usually takes 30 to 50 years for this to happen, but I think Poseidon being replaced with another god in Gustav's last world probably sped up the process," he explained.

"Most commoners don't know this because saints tend to interact with nobles more often. You get more done if you deal directly with the government," Joanna said.

"That's just so strange. I couldn't even think of talking about a god like that," Astrid stated.

"Think about it this way," I told her. "When we first met, you were kissing my ass so hard that it left bruises."

I turned to Johannes.

"I mean metaphorically," I said.

"I know what you mean. I had a front-row seat to the ass-kissing," he replied.

"But now, you're far more casual when you talk to me," I continued.

"That's because I found out you were a commoner in your past life. Many nobles were commoners, but there's a big difference between a noble who was a commoner centuries ago and a noble who recently rose to their rank," Astrid stated.

"Oh, that's a good point. Well, that analogy fell flat on its face," I said.

"Don't worry. I'll still keep up appearances in public. Any time we're outside together or with some people who weren't here, I'll pretend we never had this talk," she assured me.

"Gustav, you don't want to stay here because you're worried about getting blamed for this incident, right?" Joanna asked. "Then what's our next move? Do we track down this saint of Poseidon?"

"No. We won't be able to catch him at this point. Right now, our priority is continuing our financial adventures," I stated.

"Perhaps I can help with that? We could get more money with our combined resources," Dimitri suggested.

"I'd be happy to have your help," I said. "And I think we might need it. I'm getting a great idea."

"What is it?"

"I'm going to revolutionize this world's trade system."