Everyone Else is a Returnee

“This part simply won’t budge…… huh!?”

“Just where is that amazing sound coming from, what!?!!”

The gazes of the priests and paladins labouring away in the quarry had all headed towards one place from some time ago. There was someone who, despite being in the same place, looked very different to others present.

“Just, what… is that…….?”

“The stones are being carved out like mad! These stones are hard to break even with skills……!”

“Shut up!”

This was an era where hundred people working together to dig out the stones, and ten people working together to carve out the stones had become common sense. A single person was doing everything by himself as if to laugh at them!

“Uooooh!”

Yu IlHan’s Death Driver and the attached bone screw spun violently. This was a drill that dug through a level 270 golem’s body On the other hand, the stones in this quarry were, in the end, just stones. Even if they contained holy power, there was no way he’d lose!

“Whoa, such a large stone was so easily…!”

“Wait, isn’t that the arch in the Great Temple!? How can this be, he’s processing it at the same time he’s digging it out?”

In front of Yu IlHan’s bold but precise control, the giant stone slabs were excavated, and subsequently processed with pinpoint accuracy. They may as well be just used directly without any additional processing. Naturally, this was only possible for Yu IlHan since he had memorized the entire blueprint Na YuNa had given him!

[The skill, Excavation, has become level 51.]

Leaving aside the fact that the skill he acquired yesterday was going past level 50, it was amazing that that skill was rising so quickly again. Of course, the reason was none other than the stones containing the power of a goddess. So, Yu IlHan was unintentionally becoming an expert in the Excavation skill.

“Amazing!”

“In just ten minutes, he did more work than what all of us could do in one week!”

“Don’t just exclaim and work! Roarrrrr!”

As expected of Yu IlHan, who got used to labor the more he did it, the speed at which he excavated and processed the stones became faster as well. Seeing him switch out his bone screw and breaking the weak parts of the stones with calculated strikes, some people even felt lightheaded.

“MiRae, here!”

“Why me too……. Thunder Strike!”

“Wind Cutter!”

Kang MiRae and Yumir were also working hard. Her lightning would break the giant stones apart, and Yumir would polish them with delicately controlled wind magic. As the two had extraordinary ability, they could be considered the two MVPs if not for Yu IlHan.

“MiRae, next is this!”

“You’re shamelessly ordering me now…..!”

“But didn’t you say that you wanted to be of help to him?”

“I wasn’t talking about stuff like this! When I said I wanted to help him, what I wanted was a more….. Eeeeeei!”

“Uoooooooh!”

“It broke through! The mountain has a hole now!”

“Whoa, the statue! Why is the statue that depicts the scene of Lady Leytna’s descent, here?”

Of course, they couldn’t surpass Yu IlHan, who made a statue with a single drill.

3 days after Yu IlHan was put to work in the quarry, the procuring of the construction materials had ended. Although there was some in-between process to delicately polish and sand them, those could be during the course of the construction process.

“An amazing man.”

“Even if he monopolized the maiden’s buffs…. And there was that strange equipment too……”

“I heard that that man was the greatest architect from Earth.”

“Are all architects on Earth such monsters!?”

Ignoring the priests and paladins that tried to spread rumors about him, he put all the construction materials into his inventory. Then, he shouted towards the priests and paladins that were whispering until now.

“Now, we’re going over to the ruins to build the temple! You guys are coming with me!”

“Yes!”

“We shall follow you!”

From some time, Yu IlHan had become the ruler of the quarry, and everyone followed him without talking back. A mere digger, not a priest or anything belonging to the Leytna Church, had acquired the faith of everyone.

Yu IlHan’s grandeur stood out even more once the construction started – A wave of his hand flattened the ground, another flick of his wrist laid out the stones containing holy power from the goddess. The priests were even slightly excited.

“Is he also one that is blessed by the goddess? We can’t explain all of this otherwise!”

“He’s the person who will marry me~!”

“I’m not.”

The construction of the Temple was actually easier than when he had made the Bittersweet Persona, reason being, that there was no need for him to mana craft the place.

The stones containing the goddess’s holy power would influence each other and become stronger in the process of becoming a part of the temple, and will generate special properties. This wasn’t something that happened with Yu IlHan’s influence, but something that was just planned out to be like that. It was truly mysterious and strange.

“Recorded gods, eh…..”

[I said they don’t exist. I’m speaking as a person who received a blessing, so it’s definitely true.] (Liera)

“I also have one, duh. The blessing from the god of smithing.”

[Religion is free. Since those foolish humans would have gained strength while believing in a false god.] (Spiera)

Throughout the entire construction process, the priests stayed nearby and imbued holy power into the location and the temple itself. The temple absorbed it and emitted an even thicker pink glow, causing Yu IlHan to feel somewhat strange while touching and constructing the temple that grew stronger and stronger as if growing, just like a real life form.

This strange power, known as the holy power of a false god – a strange feeling that something faint, that he could not grasp, but was already in his hands, tugged away at his mind.

“Mr. IlHan. If you’re tired, then do you want to rest with me for a bit~?”

“I’m not tired. And even if I do rest, I’ll rest alone.”

“Hm, it looks like you’re still alright!”

“You diagnosed my exhaustion levels with just those words!?”

The re-construction of the Great Temple, that was predicted to take at least one year, had progressed at least 30 times as fast as that.

Even the people at the Church of Leytna couldn’t help but acknowledge Yu IlHan’s abilities, when they were initially half doubtful of Na YuNa’s selection of personnel. Of course, Yu IlHan couldn’t care less about what others thought of him!

“Good, now it’s almost finished.”

[Perhaps because you received the blessing from the god of smithing, the temple you made feels slightly special. Look at that. It’s been a long time since I saw such cleanly refined holy power.] (Liera)

[Do you not get it, Liera? It’s not because of the god of smithing. Yu IlHan had become used to the holy power of the goddess of beauty. Like how a physical body wields mana, he’s wielding the holy power of the goddess with the stones containing the holy power.] (Spiera)

“I’m not sure about that…… but if possible, I feel like I don’t even want to finish and just keep continuing until I get used to this power. I feel like I can extract the power from the holy stones to the very limit if I do that.”

At first, Yu IlHan had only accepted Na YuNa’s request in order to get some holy stones, but working while receiving a near infinite amount of holy power within the construction site deepened his comprehension on god’s power itself, and he felt like he had received plenty of rewards already.

Although he did feel this slightly while processing the boulders in the quarry into parts that would be used to construct the temple, he felt it more clearly now, during construction. These gods weren’t simply just egos created from countless human wills, by the Akashic Record. He felt like there was an independent existence that was graspable, beyond that.

[Don’t think about it too hard, Yu IlHan. You only need to accept what is before your eyes.] (Erta)

“It’s a problem since I can’t see them, duh.”

If he grasped it… he felt like he could advance a little more…… but for now, this was something unreachable since he didn’t know how and what to ‘grasp’.

While Yu IlHan’s thoughts became deeper in an unexpected place in an unexpected method, the construction of the Great Temple, proceeded like a ship with smooth sail, and met its end on the 9th day of the construction.

“Mr. IlHan, you need to bring it here~!”

“Fuuup.”

The statue of the goddess that Yu IlHan had carved out with all of his soul and body, with the Death Driver – The moment he placed the statue, that looked similar to Na YuNa for some reason, in the center of the temple, the entire venue was covered in a mellow pink fog.

It was a signal that everything had finally reached completion, becoming a temple containing the goddess’s power! The priests and paladins that eagerly waited for this moment all started chanting prayers and heightened their holy powers, with the highest being present, Na Yuna of course .

“Lady goddess. Please put your power to work to never let it fall any more in the future~!”

At that moment, there was a grand explosion of light! While everyone looked towards the holy maiden, Na YuNa was making a nonchalant smile. Immediately after that, pink text etched onto the retinas of everyone present.

[The Great Temple of the goddess of beauty, Leytna, was constructed. You will receive the records of the goddess of beauty according to contribution.]

“Wow, looks like I’ll get even prettier now.”

That was as expected from Na YuNa, who was engrossed in decorating herself and acknowledging her beauty. Yu IlHan snorted with a hmph, but still stealthily asked Liera.

“Did my face become a little better?”

[Your face was already perfect though!] (Liera)

[You asked the wrong person, Yu IlHan. And there wouldn’t be such immediate changes!] (Erta)

While Yu IlHan was feeling a little down, the others also started to react to the text on their retinas. As they were all those that dedicated their lives and lived for the name Leytna, their happiness and joy were incomparable to that of Yu IlHan’s.

“Oh my god. We actually succeeded in rebuilding the temple!”

“The goddess has answered our prayers. This is all thanks to……”

“The architect Yu IlHan!”

“Yu IlHan!”

But somehow, their cheers started to derail into a different direction. They should just call out to the goddess, but it looked like the charisma Yu IlHan had shown them had influenced them so much that he was praised as well! The goddess would probably feel really disappointed.

“Let’s make a bronze statue of him!”

“We need to appoint him an honorary priest. Let’s record today as the celebratory day for rebuilding the temple……!”

“Since the temple was rebuilt so fast, let’s pray to the goddess for….. huh?”

And they realized.

That the figure of the man that was with them until just now, had disappeared.

***

After returning to Earth, Yu IlHan first acquired the holy stones, the rewards, from the construction request. Like how Na YuNa boasted of it as the highest-tier holy stones, it was very large and glowy, but when Na YuNa blessed it with a prayer, it started to emit a faint pink light constantly.

“The pope wanted to see you though~.”

“No, I honestly don’t want to get involved with that church. They all have too much emotion.”

Of course, with the worst being Na YuNa in front of him. She had somehow come to him without MiRae, and was smiling brightly while making Yumir sit on her lap.

“Although I’m a little bold, I’m truly being honest. I think living while letting your hearts out without hiding it is a truly great thing!”

Then, she would say a line that struck the heart as if it was nothing. Yu IlHan sighed and shrugged.

“You can live that way if you want.”

“Heheh, I’m already living like that! Although, I pick the people I want to be honest in front of!”

She declared.

“I’m showing everything to you right now too, Mr. IlHan, without hiding anything!”

“Ah, is that so.”

Yu IlHan laughed. He thought that he maybe able to believe in her words now, although he was unsure about if he would be able to do so when they first met, and laughed at himself for thinking like that.

It was just that her words nagged him somewhat, but he couldn’t pinpoint what it was. Since he couldn’t point it out, he decided to not think about it so deeply. Instead,

“The ones confronting you will get tired so please refrain yourself.”

“Wao, so direct!”

“And have some lunch before you go. I’m bored since all my subordinates went to Dareu.”

“Yay!”

“Yay!”

Na YuNa rejoiced while hugging Yumir. Yu IlHan was shocked at himself for offering her lunch, but also thought that it would be alright if he kept his distance. This was all thanks to the matters in Breya.

Like that, after a few days passed with Yu IlHan and Na YuNa’s relationship improving ever so slightly, a single notice was put up in Gangnam on Earth.

[Recruiting mercenaries to solve the crisis in the world Phituroa. Please help us.]

The winds of the Earth Mercenary era had started to blow for real.

Author’s notes

Although he could have played mercenary……. excavators seems to do better!

His comrades are seeing through him more and more.

Translator’s notes

When I finished this chapter, I was like ‘Phew I finally have 1 stockpile chapter’

The next moment ‘viiiin’ ‘You got a paypal payment!’

Oh? another one? let’s see….. 250 bucks!?!?!?!?!?! WHAT!?!?!?

So what, let’s see… I have to translate 4 to make up that much…. Looks like I ain’t getting any sleep tonight.