Reincarnated as an SSS-Ranked Blacksmith Who Refuses to Forge Weapons-Chapter 234. The Peaceforger’s Rest

"The first chose power..."

"He became divine and has not rested since, because power requires constant maintenance and there is always someone seeking to take it." There was a pause that felt like thinking. "The second chose knowledge."

"She still wanders through reality three thousand years later, still learning, and seems happy with this, though she would argue that 'happy' is not the right word." Another pause. "But you..."

"You chose peace."

"You built a home for people who had none. You made connections that made God unimportant, and now I'm here to give you the same choice I gave them."

Greg said, "A third life."

"New start. No systems. No gods. No divine games. Real freedom from the start."

Greg was quiet for a long time. He thought about Bork's clasp, which wasn't on his cloak right now but which he could still feel the weight of.

He thought about the headband Mira had on his wrist. He thought about a teacup on a shelf in a workshop on an island that would still be there in a hundred years and a thousand years because he had made sure of it.

He thought about Elwen, who had two hundred more years to live and everything she needed to live them.

"No," he said.

The presence changed. "No?"

"I've had enough... two full lives are enough for me."

"The first one I spent building things that killed people, and I had forty years of that to regret."

"The second one I spent building things that helped people live, and I had thirty years of that to be glad about." He looked at the white space around him with the directness he had applied to everything in two lifetimes. "I've made mistakes in this life too."

"I beat a man to death with my bare hands in a dungeon, and I've never stopped knowing that I did that... I broke my oath, and I built things that weren't perfect."

"But...I also built Home, and I raised ten children who are going to change things in ways I can't predict."

"I loved four women who loved me back, which still feels like more than I deserved."

"You think you've done enough."

"I think I'm done." Greg said, "Which is different. 'Enough' sounds like I reached a quota."

"What I mean is that I'm done... The work is done, the life is done, and I want to rest now and be with the people who got there before me and wait for the people who will come eventually."

The presence was quiet in a way that made me think they were really thinking about it.

Finally, it said, "You are the first to turn down this offer."

"Every soul I have brought here has chosen a different life..."

"They have always wanted more power, knowledge, and adventure." There was a pause. "You are the first person to say you have had enough."

Greg said, "It's a compliment to what I had..."

"Then go," the presence said. "To your rest... and to your family."

"Your story is over, Greg Greyson, and the new one will unfold..."

He was already moving toward the warmth he could feel at the edge of the light.

"One thing," he said, stopping. "Tell the gods, whoever they are, that people don't need divine authority to build something worth having."

"Tell them that peace is harder than war and that anyone who tells you otherwise has never tried to maintain it." 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Tell them that every time they turn a world into a game board, someone like me is going to come along and ruin it because people will always choose each other."

"That's just how we are."

The abstract presence made a sound that was both impossible and clear.

It was a laugh.

"I'll tell them," it said. "Goodbye, Peaceforger."

"They won't like hearing it."

"Can I know your name by any chance...?" Greg asked.

The presence then smiled and formed, where Greg was surprised to see a little girl that smiles at him. "You can call me... The Mind."

"The Mind... that's wise..." Greg then raised his hands. "Thank you, The Mind... for giving me a second chance to change who I was..."

"Bye now..."

Greg walked toward the sound of a hammer on an anvil, the light, and the warmth of home.

When he reached that place, he could see Bork was working on something at the forge. It wasn't the First Forge; it was just a forge, like the ones that exist in the spaces beyond life, which are realms where important work could go on.

He turned around when he heard footsteps, and his face lit up with the same joy Greg had seen on a cliff fifteen years ago. That pain had never really gone away, but it was a different kind of pain now, the kind that doesn't stop you from being happy.

"Took ya here long enough, eh, Boss?" Bork said. "I thought you'd be here by fifty."

Greg said, "I... was busy."

"Of course. 1,247 people? Ten kids? Building a nation?" Bork went back to his forge. "Come here and help me now."

"I'm making a clasp for when Dorin gets here... It will take a while because dwarves don't hurry."

Original Mira came from somewhere to Greg's left. She had silver hair and golden eyes, and she hugged him like someone who had waited years to do so.

"Master-forger-darling! You're finally here!" She pulled back, held his face in her hands, and looked at him with golden eyes that were full of everything she remembered. "I've been watching through the Hearthstone."

"I saw everything~!"

"I know," Greg said. "How was it from here?"

"Perfect," she said. "Well, not perfect..."

"There were a few close calls. Helena almost blew up the enchantment conservatory twice, and Lyssa turned the kitchen blue for three weeks in year nine. But overall? Perfect."

"Where are all the other people?"

Mira took his hand and led him around the forge. Hilda was talking to a patient audience about a geological formation that was intriguing.

Hammy was being a slime with a hammer in the corner, looking very happy, and the Crimson Falcons were sitting around a fire, doing something that looked like comparing notes on combat techniques, but they didn't need to use them anymore.

Kael was the first to look up and smile, just like he always did. Denna waved, which was half a greeting and half a sign that it was time. Ryn raised an eyebrow like someone who has been waiting comfortably.

Everything was fine with them. They were all just who they were.

Greg had carried them for 15 years, but now that he was with them, he could stop.

He went to the forge with Bork and began making the clasp for Dorin.

After a while, Bork asked, "How did the peace thing go?" Not really a question. As someone who knew the answer and wanted Greg to say it.

"It worked." Greg said, "Home is a country."

"The gods learned to knock before coming in, and my kids are amazing..."

"The Hearthstone is still burning."

Bork nodded, pleased that his faith had been confirmed. "Good. I knew it would."

Mira appeared at Greg's side with the organizational energy he had been missing without even realizing it. "What are you going to make first?"

Greg stared at the forge. He had all the time in the world and a teacup to finish for his wife, who would come when she was ready. It could be two or three centuries from now, because Elwen had never been in a hurry about anything, and the waiting would be enjoyable.

"A teacup." He said, "Give it to Elwen... She'll want tea when she gets here."

Bork gave him a look. "You're making things for the house in the afterlife."

"What else could I make?"

Mira didn't look up because she was already sorting the tools into groups that only she understood.

"We love him because he hasn't changed at all."