Why can't humans do it too?

"...It's Brother Yezi," Daigo replied in a low voice after being exposed by Suer.

"Huh? Brother Yezi?" Su'er was a little confused. He did remember that Da Gu didn't have any brothers or sisters.

"It's the monster I gave you—that good monster!" Daigo, noticing that Sull hadn't remembered who he was talking about, pointed anxiously to the opposite wall, where a string of animal teeth inlaid with polished gems hung.

“…Daigo, it wasn’t a gift. I gave him something in exchange,” Suer said seriously, withdrawing his gaze. “Even though he ran away, I didn’t forget him. I returned the things he left there to him. So it wasn’t a gift, understand?”

“…Ah, uh, um…I understand,” Daigo nodded vigorously.

Chapter Sixty-Nine: Daigo's Doubts

Hanging on the wall was the ornament that Suer and Xinke had traded for from that timid monster when they first came to Izumo... Since they were actually given something in the end, it could not be called a gift or a robbery.

The tooth pendant that Suer loved so much was hung on the wall as an ornament after she played with it for a while, and she never took it down again, but that's not the point.

"That monster? He's dead?" Suer frowned. "I thought he had already left Izumo a long time ago."

That massacre was undoubtedly a very clear signal; given the monster's courage and alertness, it should have run away immediately.

“Brother Ye Zi did leave a long time ago, but he left in such a hurry that he didn’t take his treasure with him, so he tried to sneak back to take it away… and then he got caught,” Daigu suddenly became deflated, “right in front of me.”

"...And then?" Before Daigo could finish speaking, Suer had already guessed what had happened, but still sighed and continued to ask.

People die for wealth, birds die for food.

"...Dead," more than fear filled Daigo's eyes at this moment was bewilderment. "His bones were pierced with chains, and bamboo skewers were inserted into his body...but why?"

“Uncle clearly exchanged things with Brother Yezi, and Brother Yezi even gave Grandma Shuiqu herbs... We all know each other, why is this happening…” Daigo clutched his head in anguish once again, completely bewildered by what had happened to those familiar people.

"Grandma Mizutori even smiled and asked me if I wanted to... join in..."

"But she was really scary, I was so scared, so scared... so I ran away... I didn't dare to look back..."

"Brother Ye seems to still be looking at me..."

The red-haired child seemed to be trapped in a nightmare, muttering to himself incessantly, and even shedding tears of anguish.

jump!

It wasn't until Su Er flicked his head hard that Daigo regained some of his senses.

"Do you know why, sir?" Daigo asked, rubbing his forehead where he had been flicked, his eyes filled with expectation.

“...because the gods want them to hate,” Sur replied, opening his mouth as if to speak.

"Then why do the gods want them to hate?"

"Because the gods want this city to contain only gods... and perhaps humans as well."

"But aren't the demons still here?"

"They are the exceptions."

Why is it an exception?

“An exception is an exception. You’ll understand later… or it doesn’t matter if you don’t.”

"Can't it be now?"

"No."

Completely oblivious to the fact that he was talking to a child, Sue answered Daigo quickly and coldly.

"I see..." Daigo nodded, seemingly understanding something, then couldn't help but ask, "But can't we just talk properly and live separately?"

"Gods, monsters, and us," Daigo counted on his fingers, "If being together will lead to hatred, then why not just talk things out and live separately?"

Suddenly feeling a little relieved, Su Er could see that Daigo believed his explanation without hesitation, without even the slightest doubt.

“The monsters won’t agree,” Suer sighed. “The monsters moved into this city before you were born, even before your grandfather was born… They are also the masters who built this city.”

Daigo remained silent, while Suer pondered an interesting place he had just discovered.

His explanation seemed to evoke different feelings in the child towards the god in his heart. It was a different kind of awe than before, or perhaps it could be described as avoidance. At the very least, he was the first human that Suer had ever met who said he wanted to stay away from the god—perhaps even he himself did not realize this.

"You want humans to leave too?" Xin Ke laughed even harder, taking over from Su Er and asking a question that Daigo himself might not have even noticed, "Like you said, living separately?"

"...I don't know why the gods did this...but, but it's really...sad...I want to cry," Daigo said, feeling guilty, and even the object of his guilt was the gods he was talking about.

"Really not allowed? We...humans?" Daigo, who frequented the area around Suer, naturally knew how monsters and gods addressed people like himself, and his expectant gaze shone even brighter.

"Ah, that's right, humans can't."

Without the slightest hesitation, Sue shattered Daigo's illusions, answering calmly without needing to roar or emphasize anything.

"Without the protection of gods or even monsters, humans cannot survive in this world. You've probably thought of that yourself, haven't you?" Su'er continued, "If you go any further away from Izumo City, there are countless monsters or ghosts in the wild that want to devour your flesh and blood, as well as unexplored wilderness, poisonous insects, snakes, and ants. How will you deal with that?"

"...", without saying a word, Daigo seemed to become even more sorrowful.

"Even though humans have many bones but little flesh, they are still delicious food for those savage monsters... Have you forgotten your dead companions?"

Suer spoke quickly, referring to Daigo's friends who had gone off to find more wild fruits or vegetables in remote, secluded places far from Izumo City and never returned—something Daigo had experienced many times before.

Beautiful wishes need fertile ground to be realized so as not to be extinguished.

In this world filled with incorporeal ghosts and man-eating monsters transformed from wild beasts and insects, humans simply cannot live their lives in caves like Riku does in his world. After all, for these monsters, dark and damp caves are their true home.

The settlements of the previous world survived only because no other races cared about them, but in this world, there are people everywhere who care about humans.

“…No,” Daigo shook his head vigorously, as if to show his determination that he hadn’t forgotten, but finally he looked up unwillingly and asked, “Is there really no way?”

"Nothing."

"But, sir, don't you always say that you're human too? With your leadership, we can survive in the wild, right?" Suddenly remembering what Su Er had said, Daigo excitedly raised his rice bowl high and shouted, "Right?!"

"..."

Children's words are always hard to resist, no matter the time.

Chapter Seventy: Looking Back Suddenly

Xin Ke chuckled beside her, finding a unique kind of amusement in the effect of Daigo's unexpected remark. Su Er was indeed caught in an awkward situation because of Daigo's words.

Shinko glanced at Daigo, who was still waiting for Suer's response with an expectant expression, but Suer remained silent for a long time. Shinko casually picked up a spoon from the table and threw it, hitting Daigo on the head with a crisp sound.

“No, Suer is different,” Xin Ke said, crossing her arms as she met the little boy’s questioning gaze. “He is a human who belongs only to me. You can think of him as a monster whose name is Human… Do you understand?”

To be honest, Daigo probably didn't understand, but under Xin Ke's intense gaze, he still obediently nodded.

"Alright, let's eat. After you finish eating, take these dishes back to your mother too. I just wanted to taste them anyway," Su Er sighed and added another piece of meat to Daigo's bowl.

"Yes, thank you, sir!"

The atmosphere at the dinner table became tense for a moment. Although Daigo was shoveling rice into his mouth, his unfocused eyes showed that he was still thinking deeply.

He even thoughtfully washed the dishes and cleaned up after dinner before taking the food away. Daigo had indeed left, but his words seemed to linger in the room.

'A monster called Human?'

Relaxing his limbs and letting them dangle from the chair, Suer leaned back, staring blankly at the ceiling, his eyes vacant, chewing over the words Xin Ke had just spoken.

He no longer knew what he was.

Is the feeling of being separated from everything in the world by a barrier what loneliness is?

...I really want to live in a modern city...

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

While seemingly answering Daigo's question, Shinko was actually just brushing it off.

No matter what he says or tries to cover it up, Suer's answer in his heart is only one, just like the truth of the world, which will not change because of changes in things and people, it is just there.

Perhaps the only thing slightly weaker than the truth is this string of magatama?

"No, I can't stand it anymore."

With these words, the string of jade pendants was simply tossed aside, but instead of falling from the sky, it was caught by Xin Ke.

Don't misunderstand, they're not doing anything beneficial to their physical and mental health. They're implementing their initial strategy, pouring the vast spiritual energy of heaven and earth into the eight-foot-long magatama. And the results are remarkable—probably remarkable. One of the magatama has now turned into the same jade color as the body of the uncorrupted nine-tailed fox, constantly emitting a faint light.

The price to pay is that Suer is now exhausted, looking like a dead dog.

If we compare the way they currently don't know to a normal and easy way to purify the magatama to a lock to a key, then what Suer did was to chop the door open with an axe. Although the final result is the same—walking inside—Suer's method was obviously extremely time-consuming and laborious.

This pure black magatama is on par with a bulletproof steel door. Even the current progress of purifying a piece of magatama is something that no god or demon could do except for him—he has been purifying it with massive amounts of spiritual energy every night for more than a year.

It was just like going to work; Su Er suspected that he wasn't even this enthusiastic about his first job before he transmigrated.

The Yasakani no Magatama, which had been purified, also showed more unusual activity as expected. When it faced the full moon, it had a clear bouncing reaction, constantly trying to fly out of Suer's hand... but that was all the reaction it could do.

To be honest, the sense of frustration was so strong that Suer wanted to throw it away, just to avoid seeing it and getting rid of the annoyance.

"Pfft, this is the first time I've seen you act like a child! You can't be so impatient, you know?" Floating to Sul's side, who was lying sprawled in the air, Xin Ke placed the magatama back on him and said with a smile, "If you get bored over something like this, it'll be hard to adapt to a long life~"

For a fleeting moment, Suer did indeed sense a maternal glow emanating from this forest elf, as if she were teaching her own child how to live better on the path to immortality.

Indeed, she has more experience in living longer and getting older, while Suer is just a novice who has just started... Okay, let's leave the matter of age here.

"Ugh, this is so annoying! I just want to go up to the moon and take a look, why do I have to get a key item like in a game?" Su'er kept grumbling. "Can't we just jump up there?"

"After all, for this world, the other side of this Milky Way is already outside the world. Your ability is essentially to control the world around you, which is similar to having a cheat code. But things outside this world are absolutely impossible for you."

“The world has its limits,” Xin Ke shrugged and continued, “Your abilities dictate that you can only operate within its permitted rules, unless you can break or distort those rules, in which case… um?”