Chapter 13: The Choice
No matter how much someone is thought to be a good person, everyone surely has things they can forgive and things they cannot.
Since he was a god, he could have simply brushed it off and justified himself that way, but it seemed that this human was so important to him that he could not even think like that.
If so, then Solinus wanted him to reflect, even just a little, on what had happened this time and look back on his own actions.
Although he felt bad for Qiong Xing, he was also a little grateful that this situation had given him that opportunity.
According to Lunios, Qiong Xing apparently had two paths before him.
One was reincarnation within the cycle of rebirth, where he would someday be reborn not as Qiong Xing, but as a completely different person.
No one knew when that would be.
The other was reincarnation into a completely different world, where Qiong Xing could live as Qiong Xing in another world entirely.
As a god, he could probably have decided everything on his own.
The fact that he came to ask for Qiong Xing’s opinion meant that this matter was considered extremely serious.
"Then, for reincarnation within the cycle, I’d like to.."
"Why?!"
Why?
He had been told to choose, so he chose.
Was that not acceptable?
"...Was that a bad choice?"
"No! I don’t want that! Absolutely not!"
So it was "no."
If he said no, that meant he did not want that option, but why?
Thud!!
At that moment, there was a loud sound and his knee suddenly felt lighter.
When he looked, he saw a boy collapsed right beside him.
"Let’s try to be a little more gentle, shall we?"
When he patted Lunios’s head as if telling him not to be so angry, Lunios seemed to stop there.
"Please ignore that idiot. But may I ask your reason?"
"Well... even if you ask for a reason, it’s more like that’s the only option, or rather..."
Solinus had said to choose, but it felt like there was no real choice to begin with.
"Why is that?"
"Well, I’m 68 years old, you know? I’m an old man who’s about to turn seventy, so if I’m going to another world with this current old body wouldn’t that the same with me being die soon er or later."
"...... "
That was right.
Even if Qiong Xing were reincarnated as Qiong Xing, he probably would not live very long.
Knowing he would die soon anyway, he had no desire to reincarnate into another world.
"Even if I did live longer, there’s no guarantee I could properly get by in a new world. I don’t want to go through all that hardship."
"Qiong Xing is... how should I put it... very realistic, isn’t he?"
Whether Solinus was exasperated or simply confused by the unexpected answer, he looked troubled, and Qiong Xing laughed softly at the sight.