Life didn't get easier, even in another world

331 A place to stay

“So, why should he stay here?”

The green-eyed man, who was sitting on the sofa opposite Reynold, asked as he glanced at the other green-eyed man who was whipping his tears and then at the redhead who had been silent the whole time.

“His soul has absorbed a high amount of irregularity. He needs to stay here for a while for his soul to stabilize.”

Three heads turned towards Reynold at the same time.

“His soul has absorbed irregularity?”

“His soul needs to stabilize?”

“I should stay here?”

They all asked at the same time. The redhead nodded in response and started his explanations.

“The bombs you were exposed to had a great amount of irregularity on them. If you were a normal human, your soul would’ve long shattered as soon as those things exploded, but instead of shattering, your soul absorbed a great amount of that power. That doesn’t make your situation any better. If you go back to your world like that, your world, its chain, and its fate will both reject you. Your body also won’t be able to withstand and hold your soul, leading to... let’s not talk about how you will die.”

.....

“....”

“...”

“....”

Kairen lowered his gaze and gulped down his saliva. He felt a little bit scared after hearing those words but soon questions after questions rose in his head in a few seconds. Feeling something tighten around his arm, Kairen turned his head towards Kain who was sticking to him for some reason. His brother’s head was lowered, thus Kairen couldn’t see what kind of expression he was making, but he was tightening his grasp on Kairen’s arm little by little. Kairen looked away from him and turned back to Reynold.

“My body won’t withstand it? But, aren’t I already... I mean, I’m not dead so my soul is still inside my body.”

Kairen didn’t know how to put his question in words. He couldn’t really understand what difference would it make if he lived here or in his own world. Why would his body get damaged if he was in his world but it would be fine if he stayed here?

Understanding what he meant to ask through Kairen’s not-really-clear question, Reynold opened his mouth to explain.

“This is the void, a place that was created out of irregularity and chaos. As a result, it has a different environment than the worlds of the living and various effects on the beings involved in these two powers. The world of the living, the place where people live before dying, has a natural resistance to these two powers. It won’t allow the beings entangled with these two powers to enter it easily unless you have mastery over those powers or the power is deeply absorbed by the soul, or these powers are not too intense to pass the limits of the world.

If a soul doesn’t have any of these conditions and enters a world where living beings exist, the world will reject them with a great force that the normal human body can’t withstand. On the other hand, the body won’t be able to hold the soul even without the rejection of the world. As a result, the powers within the soul, be it irregularity or chaos, will start to gradually eat away at the flesh body, leading to the person’s death.”

“....”

Kairen once again swallowed his saliva.

“H-how long should I stay here?”

He didn’t have any problems with staying in this land of the dead anymore. He was willing to live here as long as he had a place to stay and food to eat...

“Stefan, Give him a place to stay.”

Reynold asked, no, ordered the green-eyed man. Kain interrupted their conversation before the man called Stefan could give an answer.

“Can’t he stay with me?”

Stefan looked at Kain, before turning to Reynold as if asking for his opinion. The redhead nodded in approval after considering the matter for a few seconds.

“But who is he anyway!? How can a soul not shatter after absorbing so much irregularity?”

“None of your business.”

“Oy!”

“Anyway, I must head out for a while to solve some problems. Teach him how to control and absorb irregularity and chaos. If his progress isn’t acceptable until when I come back, you, Stefan, will be punished.”

“What the- why me?”

“Well then!”

Reynold got up from his seat.

“Hey! You can’t treat me like this! Even if you are the first emperor and all, I am still one of the emperors-”

“See you later!”

POF

Reynold vanished from sight in the blink of an eye.

“....”

“....”

“....”

Stefan lowered his head with a dejected face as he let out a sigh.

“He treats me like a slave...”

Seizing the opportunity of Reynold’s answer, Kairen hurriedly asked in a low voice.

“Is that dude really the first emperor, Emperor Reynold?”

The two other people in the room nodded their heads almost immediately.

“He is indeed the great emperor Reynold, and also the ruler of this place.”

“He is an emperor here as well?”

“No, I’m the emperor!”

Stefan said sternly, making Kairen blink a few times and narrow his eyes in doubt.

“You are?”

“Hey!”

‘Stefan... Isn’t that a little bit familiar?’

Now that he thought about it, he had heard that name before... Or maybe read it somewhere... Where was it... Oh!

“The last emperor of Hainston, Emperor Stefan?”

Stefan, who was knitting his brows and glaring at Kairen with folded arms, changed expression almost in an instant as soon as he heard Kairen’s words.

“Yeah! Right! That’s me!”

“...Oh!”

Kairen’s lips formed an ‘O’ as he stared at the emperor’s face. There was a thought circling in his head.

‘Seriously, why are our nation’s emperors like this...’

Neither Reynold nor Stefan looked normal! They were far from the image of the great and powerful and wise emperor that was written about them in history!

History... The life of Emperor Stefan...

“No, wait! What is the last emperor doing in the void?”

“Ah? I manage here in Reynold’s absence?”

Stefan tilted his head.

“...No I mean, why did you end up here?”

“Oh! That’s a long story. I’ll tell you another time.”

Stefan didn’t seem coerced about talking about how he died at all, rather, he looked a little bit excited.

“For now, go rest a little bit, or else I’m afraid my assistant will beat me up!”

Stefan was looking at Kain while saying that.

‘His assistant?’

Kairen turned to Kain, but his brother didn’t look at him and instead nodded at Stefan and got up while pulling Kairen’s arm. Kairen was easily moved to his feet and then dragged to the door.

“Let’s go.”

“Huh- Where?”

“To my home!”

Kain said those words while still having some tears on the edges of his eyes and sniffing from time to time.

“Yeah, let’s go home.”

Kairen didn’t resist and let the older man drag him wherever he wanted.