/
< 51 : Under the Name of the Evil God (3) >
Gilford, who had gone to find Estasia, had to come out without being able to do anything.
It was because everyone around him was hostile to Gilford and his mercenaries.
No matter how skilled Gilford was in combat, he could not swing his sword at unarmed opponents.
Moreover, even the old men and children around Estasia threw themselves in front of Gilford to stop him.
He did not accept the path of the hero to cut down such people.
Gilford Proud.
To him, the path of the hero meant protecting people and punishing evil.
A hero who existed to harm innocent people was a meaningless being.
That’s why Gilford had no choice but to leave Estasia alone and descend the mountain empty-handed.
“Boss, are you okay?”
Maybe it was because he had been looking exhausted while coming down from the mountain.
Gilford, who was sitting blankly looking at Ascalon, was approached by Jenny, the mage who was next to him.
Gilford looked at her with a worried question from Jenny.
Gilford nodded his head and spoke to Jenny.
“…Yeah. I’m fine.”
“Are you sure you’re alright?”
“I just needed some time to think. It seemed impossible to persuade those people.”
As he said that, Gilford recalled Estasia’s appearance in his head.
Contrary to Ascalon’s story of a fallen angel, what was there was a clear angel.
An angel who had the miracle of healing people.
Even if she claimed that the angel who healed people was a servant of the devil, they only dismissed Guilford as a madman.
Some even argued that the being who sent down the angel was the true god.
How could he convince those who had witnessed the miracle by any means?
It seemed impossible for Guilford, who had spent his whole life swinging his sword on the battlefield.
“Everyone seemed to like the angel… It’s probably hard for us to persuade them, right?”
“It’s impossible to persuade them with words, after they saw the miracle of healing.”
“That’s true… Oh, how about this?”
Jenny, who was pondering in front of Guilford, showed a sign of having a good idea.
He asked her what it was.
“What’s your plan?”
“You know, the sword that the leader has, the one they call a divine weapon?”
“Are you talking about Ascalon? It’s certainly a special weapon, but…”
“We can ask the sword to send down angels from our goddess.”
That was Jenny’s plan.
To use Ascalon to send down angels.
It was a way of countering the angel with another angel.
“Send down angels?”
“Angels are messengers of god, so if our goddess can send down angels too, wouldn’t people listen to our side?”
“That’s not a bad plan, if it’s possible.”
The problem was the angel that came down from the sky.
If they could also send down an angel from their side, they might be able to settle this issue to some extent.
He had to ask Ascalon first if it was possible to summon an angel.
Guilford decided that and looked at Ascalon.
Keeing——.
Ascalon started to emit light as it met Guilford’s gaze.
“Ascalon. Is what we just talked about possible?”
-“…It’s impossible right now.”
But Ascalon’s answer was firm.
The goddess couldn’t send down an angel.
It denied the basis of Jenny’s plan.
Guilford grabbed the hilt and asked Ascalon why.
“Why not? Aren’t the angels the servants of the goddess? Can’t she control her own servants?”
-“The gods who are bound by causality can’t interfere with the world actively. Because Karma’s decree doesn’t allow it.”
“The same reason as before.”
Karma’s decree.
And causality.
He had already said that these two factors would be a problem for the heroes in this war.
This time, too, causality was the problem.
She couldn’t even manage her own angels properly and let them go down to the world, and she couldn’t even send an angel to deal with that problem.
It was a contradictory situation for anyone to see.
Why did the devil have so many possibilities, and why did the goddess have so many impossibilities?
It was a reality that even Guilford, who was chosen as a hero, couldn’t understand.
Maybe Ascalon sensed something from Guilford’s attitude.
It told Guilford about another possibility.
-“The gods can’t interfere with the world. But you, who have a divine weapon, might be able to do it someday.”
“You mean I can do it? When will that be?”
-“When most of Ascalon’s sealed power is awakened. Then you might be able to summon an angel.”
“So you’re saying there’s no hope for now.”
Even if he became stronger when the sealed power was released, he didn’t know when that would happen.
Guilford clicked his tongue at Ascalon’s words and got up from his seat.
It was hard for Guilford’s party, who were outsiders, to persuade those who followed the angel.
There was no clear solution right now.
Guilford got up from his seat and looked at the castle where Estasia was, and Ascalon blinked again strongly.
-“There is not a difficult way to solve this kind of thing in the first place.”
“You should have told me sooner if you had a way.”
-“There is no need to worry so much about a simple method. I don’t understand why you insist on needing an angel.”
“What do you mean?”
-“Those people over there are followers of the cult. They are not worthy of feeling guilty for killing them.”
Guilford could guess Ascalon’s intention from the ominous conversation.
“Don’t tell me… You want me to cut down all those people with my own hands?”
-“That would be the most rational and simple method.”
Ascalon’s words were simple.
Those people over there were all heretics, so there would be no problem even if he executed them.
Guilford’s eyes narrowed at Ascalon’s words.
He couldn’t believe what the divine weapon he was holding had said.
He grabbed the scabbard with Ascalon in it and asked Ascalon again.
“…Are you serious?”
-“The followers of the cult are like tumors. If you leave them alone, they will grow and erode your body. If you don’t cut them off when they are small, they will spread gradually.”
“You…”
-“If you let them go because they are human, the whole humanity will eventually rot away. Do you still plan to protect them as fellow humans then?”
Guilford’s gaze at Ascalon became more fierce.
His hand holding the scabbard was stronger than before.
An emotional voice came out of Guilford’s mouth.
“You’re out of your mind.”
-“Also, every time you kill a follower of the cult, the balance of the decree will also be restored. This should be a good thing even when you look at the future.”
The balance of the decree would be partially restored.
And he could also eliminate the followers of the devil who could cause trouble later.
It might seem like a good enough story to Ascalon, who was a divine weapon.
If only from the perspective of Ascalon, who was a divine weapon.
“…”
“You are a hero who saves humanity. Think of the people you are carrying on your shoulders.”
But Guilford had met people as he climbed up the mountain himself.
Some were kind enough to guide Guilford, and some threw themselves to block Guilford.
A fearless child even stabbed Guilford with a thin branch.
What Guilford encountered as he climbed up the mountain was a living person.
It was not Karma’s deed that tilted the decree, nor a tumor that ate away at human bodies.
It was not easy for him to kill a kind person who didn’t even have a weapon, even if he became a hero.
“Do you call such a being a hero?”
-“Yes. That’s the duty of a hero.”
He became a mercenary to cut people down.
But he didn’t wield his sword to cut anyone down.
He was not a knight who knew honor, but just a mere mercenary.
But even so, he had one rule engraved in his heart since he first wielded his sword.
That’s why Guilford spoke to Ascalon, who enjoyed fighting.
“Ascalon. I’m not a knight and I don’t know much about honor, but I still know some human decency.”
“What are you trying to say?”
-“I don’t kill children, even if they are followers of the cult.”
Clang.
He pushed Ascalon back into the scabbard completely and turned his body around.
And he looked at the members of his mercenary group who were looking at him.
Jenny. Gaff. And countless mercenaries who followed him.
They were waiting for his decision as they looked at Guilford.
Guilford gave an order to his comrades as the leader of the mercenary group.
“We’re leaving this place. Follow me right away.”
-“Guilford Proud. The duty of a hero is——.”
***
“It’s a good but tricky item.”
I muttered as I looked at the new item I got from the payback event.
It was because of the troublesome trait that the new item had.
The [Relic: Etalia’s Compass] that appeared from the 10-pull had a unique trait, <Divine Pursuit>.
<Divine Pursuit> sounded complicated from the name alone, and it had the following effects:
The relic is bound to the first wearer until they die.
During the sunrise, the relic has the following functions:
While <Divine Pursuit> is activated, the relic shows the direction of the relic that the wearer is thinking of.
If the distance to another relic is too close, it loses its detection function and gives a warning.
While <Divine Pursuit> is activated, the wearer cannot use magic.
If <Divine Pursuit> is deactivated, it cannot be activated again until the next sunset.
It can detect other relics that the character is thinking of.
This part alone made it an amazing item.
If I just gave a command to the character, the AI would automatically detect the target.
It would be easy to find out the direction of any relic, no matter where it was.
If I used this relic, it would also lower the difficulty of finding Ergus’s stake, which was my goal.
The problem was the tricky conditions below.
“It’s bound to the wearer, so I have to give it to Eutenia, but the part where she can’t use magic is vague.”
The wearer couldn’t use magic normally while <Divine Pursuit> was activated.
I was planning to give this item to Eutenia, who was a mage, so not being able to use magic was a tricky issue.
It was practically disarming for a mage to not be able to use magic.
Of course, there was not no way to use magic.
She could use magic again if she stopped using the relic.
“It seems like she can use magic again if she stops using it…”
But there was a long cooldown before she could use it again after deactivating it.
She could only activate it again after the next sunset, which meant she had to wait for two days in practice.
It would delay the search for two days in game time if I cut off the effect of the relic to use magic.
It was a powerful penalty that matched the powerful effect.
I couldn’t just give the bound item to Philip, who was next to Eutenia, either.
“Eutenia? Evan? No, Evan is also a magic swordsman, so he can’t fight properly without magic.”
I had no choice but to look at the [Relic: Etalia’s Compass] and think for a long time about who to give it to.
Evan and Eutenia. And Roan.
The figures of the cult members also flashed through my mind for a moment.
Cuebaerg’s face also passed by briefly, but it was lucky that he didn’t put the relic in his mouth.
Estasia, who was stuck in her place and didn’t move, was needless to say.
I thought about the owner of the relic for a long time and came to one conclusion.
“Ha… I’ll just give her the magic book I have and think about it later.”
I decided to give her the magic book I had drawn first and then think about it.
I turned the inventory page and opened the page with [Magic Book: Giga Lightning].
It was a new magic book that I got from the draw.
I would have used it right away if it was before, but now I had a family to take care of, so I couldn’t help it.
It was best for efficiency to give Eutenia the magic book first and let her learn the magic.
“I hope she learns it quickly and gives it back. I want to try out the new magic too.”
After Eutenia learned all the magic and returned the magic book as a donation, it was my turn to learn <Giga Lightning>.
If I learned lightning-based magic, Evan, who had [Divine Weapon: Astrafer], could also use it.
And Roan’s [Magic Sword: Ednos] had an effect of storing magic.
A total of four people, including me, could use the same magic.
We were sharing one new magic among four people.
It couldn’t be anything but the maximum growth efficiency for anyone to see.
“Eutenia was… probably on the west side, I think.”
After leaving the inventory open with the magic book in it, I started looking for Eutenia somewhere.
As far as I remembered, she seemed to be passing by somewhere in the middle of the cult and Estasia.
Swish. Swish.
I flipped through the map at a fast speed and looked for Eutenia who was moving westward.
And as soon as I found Eutenia’s figure moving on a carriage,
New messages started to appear at the bottom of the screen one after another.
<Fanatic> has died.
The amount of karma gained by faith has decreased by one.
<Fanatic> has died.
The amount of karma gained by faith has decreased slightly.
.<Fanatic> has died.
The amount of karma gained by faith has decreased slightly.
The decrease in karma gain due to the death of fanatics.
That was the content of the new message that popped up.
I was startled by the sudden message and quickly checked on Eutenia.
She looked fine, reading a book.
That meant there was only one thing this meant.
“My followers are dying…?”
Somewhere, there was a problem with my followers.
A big problem that would kill my followers who had the <Fanatic> trait.