“Ow!” I yelled as I was getting beaten to a pulp, “Cecily! Stop! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you guys, honest! Pierre, help me explain the situation to them!”

“I dunno, rookie.” He feigned ignorance, “I just got here.”

“Traitor!”

Looks like Nelly and Cecily had woken up only to see my empty bed, thus getting themselves worried and frantically looking around the place before they found us. Guess Cecily really didn’t like me running off somewhere on my own, but at least this little tea party with Pierre rejuvenated my stamina a bit.

“Alright, seriously now.” I stopped the antics and gestured with my hands for everyone to back up a bit, “I think I’ve regenerated enough energy to use Heal.”

“Wait, you’re being pretty optimistic here.” Cecily warned, “But you’re essentially telling us that you’ll be able to just reattach your nose without worries? Have you even done something like this before?”

Glancing down at my missing finger, I decided that it was fine if I showed them the finger that Marina had reattached back in Shaid’s Lair, that is, if it would calm them down about the entire procedure. Medical reattachment surgeries aren’t commonplace in this world, and even I hadn’t believed in Marina back then, but having witnessed it work firsthand, I feel like it’s at least worth a shot.

Taking off my widower’s wedding ring, I could immediately feel a slew of mixed reactions. Cecily’s been showing a ton of signs about being squeamish around wounds, despite her past history, meanwhile Nelly’s quite the opposite, only seeing the good in the situation. You see, instead of being disgusted after seeing the quite nasty scar that never quite healed all that well, Nelly was surprisingly chipper, saying stuff like “Oh good, so it’s a twied and twue method!”

Pierre wasn’t having it at all though, and I mean that in the most literal sense. He immediately knew that whatever I was gonna show him wasn’t gonna be anything nice, so he preemptively put his hands over his eyes and turned away. His hunch was right, too, because if he didn’t do that, I’m sure he’d just faint like last time.

“As you can see, I’ve reattached a body part to myself previously. It’s nothing new, and from my research it seems like it works on just about anything, as long as you don’t wait too long.”

Thus, I took the nose out of my pocket and made sure to slowly and carefully take off the bandages around my face. I had warned the others that the procedure would most probably be an eyesore, but they still insisted on seeing how it all played out. Looks like curiosity wins over fear yet again, huh?

It stung like hell when I put the nose in its rightful place, despite doing so with extreme care, but I didn’t wanna back out now. Focusing all my attention into my nose, I had begun to imagine all the sights I’ve yet to see, the people I’ve yet to meet, and the one word that encompassed it all – adventure. With my eyes glowing the brightest shade of Green thus far, I had closed them so I could better focus, and before I knew it…

“Incredible…” Cecily uttered.

“Is this a dream?” Pierre slapped his forehead with his eyes and mouth wide open.

“Daddy’s no longew No-Nose!” Nelly giggled as she ran up to me and gave me a hug.

Looks like the surgery was a success. Turning back around to the bottle of ice tea that was on the table, I had checked my face on its reflective glass, and lo and behold – a handsome young man was smiling back at me! Hoo, mama! This boy’s a ladykiller and a half! And would you just look at that nose? Chef’s kiss!

After a couple more minutes of narcissistically admiring my beautiful face, the others got bored and started walking to the next floor without me, so I had to end this session prematurely. So long for now, Handsome!

Climbing up the weird stairs yet again, we had all but expected another floor to present itself before us, but that wasn’t the case thankfully. Instead, there was but only one giant door. Opening it was extremely easy, just like the door to the entrance, and on the other side was…

“The outside!” I yelled as loud booms and bangs echoed far underneath us.

“Whoa, so this is the top of Auros’ Throne?” Pierre gawked at the sights, “It’s literally a front row seat to the war! Befitting of the Golden God of Fighting, really.”

“Yeah, but Lune.” Cecily asked, “How do you expect anyone to hear, or even see you from this high up? For all we know, that amulet might just be another trick set up by that damned God.”

“You think?” I pompously turned to her before tossing it high up into the sky, “Auros, get your sorry ass over here!”

The amulet flew high up into the sky. Honestly, I’d like to make a joke about my throwing arm being so strong that I threw it over the clouds, but the top of the Throne is already above them, so that would go for anything really. That being the case, the amulet flew and flew, before… plopping back down onto the ground.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Eh?” I started getting uneasy, “B-But wait… Huh? Did it not work?”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, rookie.” Pierre patted me on the shoulder, pointing at the silence below us, “Don’t you find it odd how everyone suddenly stopped fighting and blowing stuff up?”

Indeed, not a single gun could be heard firing itself off, and not a single grenade pin could be heard dropping the moment I threw the amulet. That’s how silent everyone’s gotten, but why? It’s as if they’re all focused on one thing, something giant and red, that’s heading straight for the Throne.

“How the hell are you addressing a God?!” Auros’ yelled out, “Lune Grimheart, you better have a good excuse for calling me out here!”

“Heh, looks like I was too flashy with my grand debut.”

Running at full speed through the river that separated the two sides, for him it probably felt like splashing around in a puddle, and in just a couple of moments, he was already in front of the Throne. Jumping out of the river and making his way up the steps, everyone’s bodies froze out of the fear of witnessing a God’s greatness in person.

Well, I say that, but the silence didn’t actually last all that long, as soon enough a roar of cheering came from both sides, yelling stuff like “Our God is here!” and “The Golden God has blessed the battlefield, victory is assured!”

“SHUT UP!” Auros screamed, his deep voice echoing throughout the battlefield, “You’re damn annoying! I’m trying to strike fear in this asshole, and you’re all making it really hard!”

Looks like his grand entrance was a bit too grand as well, since turning to me, instead of seeing a terrified older teen with his buds, all he saw was me trying my hardest (and failing) to curb my laughter. The stifled squeaks and wheezes had escaped my mouth, and with each chuckled I could feel the veins in his temple popping.

“Let me get this straight.” Auros spoke with a devilish smile, “You trespassed through my abode, you made me teleport you across the continent, you referred to me like I’m the sand you step on daily, and to make things worse, you just throw the amulet I had gifted for you to use as a family heirloom?”

“Wait, that wasn’t a relic meant to be used as a way to call you up whenever I want?” I broke out into a cold sweat.

“Sigh, didn’t I tell you that I’ll be keeping tabs on you constantly?” He pinched the bridge between his eyes, “That amulet was meant to signify that you’re someone whose worthy of a God’s praise, has no one taught you that? It was meant to be a gift to your family, dumbass.”

“Oh.”

“So now that you’ve wronged me plenty.” He explained, “That means that you owe me a solid, right?”

Wait, was that what he was getting at?! I owe him a solid? I mean, yeah, that’s how that works, but just what the hell would a God ask of a lowly human?!

“Live a more interesting life, dammit!” He stomped, “I checked your background, and dammit is your story boring!”

“A-Ah, what?” I asked just to reaffirm, “My life… isn’t interesting?”

“Yeah! Certainly, you’re better than the rest of these ants, but come on, Chris will be way better! And that other guy, uh, what’s his name again? Eh, doesn’t matter, point is he’ll challenge us Gods directly, and the bastard almost won, too! You can’t compete with that at all!”

Chris? That other guy? Wait, did he say someone challenged the Gods directly?! Are there really such humans out there in the world? But he’s right though, in comparison I’m just some Schnell wannabe. I can’t compare myself to those guys at all…

“You’re making that up!” Cecily yelled, “You’re just saying this to mess with Lune! You’re talking about those people like they’re from the future, what with all the Will bes and wills!”

“…Ah crap!” He slammed the armrest next to us, “I said too much again! Just pretend you didn’t hear that, okay?! Ugh, I talked about something that hasn’t happened yet… I didn't mean to spoil anything!”

The God’s interest… I have it, but I’m still nothing compared to the people of the future, huh? I don’t know how to feel about that at all. I mean, if a God approaches you and tells you to live a more interesting life, what would you do? Certainly, isn’t that just up to the cards you’ve been dealt at birth? But no, I’m the (self-proclaimed) Augmenter of Fates! And if it’s an interesting story he wants, then it’s an interesting story he’ll get!

“Shut it!” I yelled at him, ”I called you here for one reason and one reason only, and that’s for you to do me a solid! Heh, I was worried about you asking me to do something horrible in return, but since you’ve used up your solid, that means I can order you to do anything once again!”

“Gahh!” He screamed, “T-That can’t be how it works, can it?!”

“Oh it sure is!” I laughed maniacally, “And my solid is for you to hold a speech and permanently end the wars that take place in Sulfury!”

Auros screamed yet again, Nelly and Cecily laughed, and Pierre was at a loss for words. Then again, can you really blame Pierre? He just saw a God approach one of his ex-trainees and get outsmarted in just a couple of minutes. Anyone would react the same way he did in this scenario, it’s quite whacky all in all, isn’t it?

Sheepishly taking a seat on his Throne, Auros nervously cleared his throat as a million man army stared at him, awaiting his next order with great ambition. This seemed to only make Auros more uncomfortable, but in the end he eventually manned up and said with a straight face, “N-No more wars from now on…”

The crowd couldn’t believe their ears, and a lot of them actually started laughing, expecting a punchline, of which there was none. Eventually, everyone realized Auros was serious, so they awkwardly let go of their weapons and shrugged at their former enemies.

“Anything else I should add?” Auros groaned at me.

“Yeah!” I said with an earnest yet smug grin, “Make a new central country and have it be named Cecilia!”

“Wha-?!” The girl who just got a country named after her jumped in surprise with a bright red face, “P-P-P-Please don’t do that, Mr. God!”

“Sigh, sorry lady, but I’m doing this guy a solid…” Auros frowned. “Kid, when I said I wanted you to do more interesting things, I didn’t mean it like this…”

“Hehe!” I grinned from ear to ear.

And so, the current war (and any future wars that were to be held in the territory of Sulfury) had been stopped for good. The countries still stayed the same for now, only having gotten a new younger sister to take care of, but after I had Auros explain the entire situation to the soldiers, they all seemed to reach a higher level of understanding about each other’s sides. Turns out most of the people fighting here are actually children of the past generation of soldiers, so they didn’t even know what they were fighting for.

Such a pity, to have them robbed of any aspirations from birth. They were essentially indoctrinated into their respective sides, one side being taught that the others are the enemies, and nothing more. In a way, what we did truly was more interesting, much to Auros’ chagrin. Well, it was obvious to anyone why he wasn’t happy with my decision, since he is the God of Fighting, after all.