Chapter 167
Chapter 167
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 167
Chapter Title: The Land of Revelry and Culture, Uruun
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Her appearance was far more intact than expected, which brought some relief, but he couldn't shake off the lingering unease. Judah held her in his arms as he checked her status. He never imagined she would become Asmodeus's apostle in this way.
Come to think of it, Asmodeus hadn't attacked Arhil at all. It could have been because her presence was insignificant, but if she had openly targeted Arhil, Judah might have been completely played by Asmodeus and lost without a chance to fight back. Perhaps she had vaguely sensed Arhil's potential as an apostle and was biding her time.
"…Ah!"
Arhil stared at Judah with wide, dazed eyes before suddenly remembering something. She jolted in surprise and thrust her hand downward. Then she lifted the hem of her skirt and slipped her hand inside. It was an utterly bold move, even with Judah right beside her.
"Uh… Ah…"
Her face began to flush red. Her fingertips touched underwear soaked with moisture. It confirmed that what had happened earlier wasn't a dream. The moment her eyes met Judah's, she shoved his chest with her palm.
She fell to the ground but sprang up as if unharmed, looking anxious without even brushing herself off.
Woooong!
The glowing orb that had vanished when she lost consciousness reappeared in the air. The orbs, now emitting a much warmer and brighter light than before, began moving according to Arhil's will, searching for something.
Her hair swung wildly with each sharp turn of her head. Spotting something, she dashed in that direction. At the end of it was her bag, apparently tossed aside when Asmodeus had erected the stone wall to isolate her with the elves.
"W-Wait a second! Stay there!"
She glanced back at Judah while running and shouted. Judah nodded in bewilderment.
"…Okay."
Murmuring a quiet response she might not hear, Judah sat in place, sighed, and checked her [Status Window] once more.
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「Status Window」
[Name: Arhil]
[Title: Savior]
[True Name: The One Who Does Not Lose Hope]
[Level: 44]
[Class: Saintess of Lust (A)]
[Race: Human → Demon (Mutation in Progress)]
[Strength: 27 (D) / Potential C]
[Vitality: 35 (D) / Potential B]
[Agility: 30 (D) / Potential C]
[Divine Power: 68 (B) / Potential S]
[Magic Resistance: 55 (C) / Potential S]
[Faith: 66 (B) / Potential S] ◀ Special
[Knowledge: 40 (C) / Potential A] ◀ Special
[Luck: 59 (C) / Potential C] ◀ Special
[Affection: 49 (Interest)]
[Trust: 100 (Friendship)]
「Traits 6/6」
[Apostle's Talent] - Rank: A
[Savior] - Rank: A
[Divine Amplification] - Rank: B
[Irresistible Temptation] - Rank: A
[For You] - Rank: D (S)
[Saintess of Lust] - Rank: A
「Skills 4/5」
[Holy Magic - Blessing] - Rank: A
[Holy Magic - Defense] - Rank: A
[Holy Martial Unarmed Combat] - Rank: B
[Self-Defense Technique] - Rank: B
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Hold on!
'She's not an apostle yet, right?'
She had a class called Saintess of Lust, which wasn't something to proudly announce, but she still wasn't an apostle. There wasn't a single skill related to apostleship.
Just one.
The trait [Saintess of Lust] had appeared. It increased the chance of seducing the opponent and further reduced various enemy stats accordingly, but without any related skills, it was practically useless.
Priests were support classes that healed wounded allies from the rear or boosted abilities through blessings. Even if she became the Saintess of Lust or an apostle, without related skills, she was no different from a regular priest.
'If this were a game, becoming Asmodeus's apostle wouldn't be bad.'
From a player's perspective, managing betrayal risk from a companion was straightforward, and having Asmodeus's apostle as eye candy would be amazing. All those tied to Lust among the Seven Deadly Sins possessed stunning beauty.
But in this world, becoming a regular saintess was far, far better than the Saintess of Lust. No matter how he thought about it. Judah stored Yakal in his <Bag>, unsummoned Altemia, sighed, and scratched his head vigorously.
'Since she's a saintess, not an apostle, and hasn't learned proper skills yet, she can still change classes.'
If she were already an apostle, he'd think differently. Apostle classes weren't easy to obtain. Among the Seven Deadly Sins' apostles, Lust was still better than the others. Judah looked at Arhil approaching awkwardly. She had changed into different clothes and was shuffling over hesitantly.
"……."
After a moment's thought, Judah approached her and tried applying Valentine's <Dispel> on her. Unfortunately, it had no effect. Valentine's light flickered briefly before fading, consuming no mana, and the "Mutation in Progress" on her status window remained unchanged.
"Judah?"
Arhil called his name, but it didn't reach his ears. Judah immediately turned and gazed at Uruun's walls. He could see flames rising and black smoke billowing into the sky. However, the fires were dying down rapidly in places, and the roars of magic beasts were growing fewer, suggesting the situation was being steadily brought under control.
'What should I do?'
A deep sigh welled up from his chest. Then, he felt a tap on his back. Turning around at the light thump, he saw Arhil frowning, cheeks puffed out, glaring at him. It made him wonder what he'd done wrong.
"Judah!"
"…? Yeah, what?"
"I called you! Why didn't you answer?"
Judah gave an awkward smile and an apologetic look.
"Sorry. I was lost in thought and didn't hear you."
"Whatever. The elves are waiting over there."
As Arhil said, the elves were peeking cautiously from beside the stone pillar, with Roxin waiting in front.
"……."
"Don't we have to go?"
Arhil still seemed unaware of her own condition.
Faced with a choice, Judah fell into thought.
There were two ways to prevent Arhil from becoming an apostle.
One was to have her chosen as an apostle by one of the high-ranking angels in the heavens. But the angels wouldn't look kindly on him after he killed Cain, Gabriel's apostle candidate.
'Gabriel probably knows I killed him by now.'
The other was to return to Uruun, reunite with Sir Wolfram and Jeanne, and head to the Byron Empire. As sorry as he felt for the elves, he'd have to release them to return to the forest on their own from here.
Asmodeus was sealed in an underground labyrinth beneath the Byron Empire. Once there, recruit a magic engineer, conquer the labyrinth, defeat the guardian, and subjugate the sealed Asmodeus—then he could resolve Arhil's demon mutation before it completed.
However, going to the Byron Empire would scrap all their plans so far. The effort to reach the elves' forest would be wasted. Silan Kingdom would attack the forest as planned, making the elves even more hostile to humans. Naturally, retrieving the fragment in the elves' forest would become exponentially harder.
"Judah?"
At Arhil's question urging a decision, Judah looked at her.
"Are you worried about Lady Jeanne?"
"Huh? Well, yeah."
As Judah trailed off, she smiled brightly, reached out, stood on tiptoe, and tapped his head.
Flustered by her sudden action, Judah froze. She beamed.
"Don't worry! Lady Jeanne will be fine."
He eyed her curiously as she spoke with near certainty. Arhil pulled out the necklace around her neck to show him. It was a silver cross pendant.
"What's that necklace?"
"It's made with holy magic I know. There are three as a set. If one breaks, the other two do too. So if this one breaks, it means something happened to one of them."
"So…"
"Yeah! If the necklace is intact, it means they're safe. Sir Wolfram and Countess Jenua are together, so they'll definitely be okay. Or we could turn back now, check if Lady Jeanne is safe, and help them. That would be better than dithering here, right? Or take the elves and slip away in the chaos."
Judah looked at her for a moment before speaking.
"Arhil."
"Yeah?"
"Do I seem like I'm worrying about Lady Jeanne? No. She's not someone who dies here, so I'm not worried. Well, I am a bit, but I trust her. The problem right now is you."
"…Me? Why?"
"Too much to explain with little time. …That woman I defeated earlier? She's Asmodeus, who embodies Lust among the Seven Deadly Sins. You know what the Seven Deadly Sins are?"
"Yeah, I do. But is she really one of them?"
She went down too easily for that.
Hearing Arhil mutter, Judah felt the need to explain everything but knew it would take too long.
"I'll explain later. Anyway, the important thing is Asmodeus, one of the Seven Deadly Sins, chose you as her apostle. Do you know what that means?"
"Uh… yeah, I do."
Judah was at a loss for words at her slow but clear response. She knew?
"Then you know your body's condition too?"
"Not exactly, but… I feel a foreign mana settling in me. Some kind of change will happen soon, I think. I get what you're trying to say. I'm fine. It might not be Lord Yophiel's will, but it's God's will. With faith, God will help me, like always."
Arhil gave a bitter smile.
"Oh, and don't say let's go to the temple. I'm not going. Even if I die."
"…Huh?"
"They'd just seal or execute me. Probably. That's the simplest way. So I don't want to go if I can avoid it. Right now is the happiest I've been. If I become an apostle of a Deadly Sin… well, no choice. That's my fate."
"Aren't you taking fate too lightly?"
"What can I do? Reality is what it is. God set my fate that way. If He's watching, He'll help, right?"
An awkward silence hung between them briefly.
Arhil grabbed Judah's wrist and pulled.
"Come on, let's go. If you're not worried about Lady Jeanne, we can't just stand around idly, can we? The elves are waiting. Hurry."
At her words, Judah glanced at the elves. Come to think of it, the elves' forest had Gabriel's temple with holy relics and the World Tree. The temple's holy water and the World Tree's sap… they could halt her mutation. If he prevented her demon transformation, changing classes wouldn't be hard. It would also buy time for the underground labyrinth. Being dragged along slowly, Judah nodded to himself.
'Yeah, to keep my promise with the elves too. I can ask for a drop or two of World Tree sap as payment for sending them back.'
Watching her walk briskly ahead, Judah made a small vow.
"If God's watching… you said."
"Huh?"
Shaking his head at Arhil's questioning glance back, Judah replied.
"No, I meant God is watching over you. Just wanted to say your faith isn't misplaced."
Her round eyes stared intently. Then she grinned widely and replied energetically.
"I know! My faith has never betrayed me yet!"
Leaving the black smoke rising from Uruun behind, the two approached the elves.
========== Afterword ==========
1) Progress and serialization are slow, so some misunderstandings are piling up.
2) You said you'd give chicken coupons, but it's fine! I'm already plenty grateful just for the thought. Yesterday there was a nationwide chicken slau—er, watch your mouth. Shh.
Anyway, how could I freeload off readers! Just enjoying my writing makes me happy lol.
3) Goodness, I don't want to be kidnapped by guys.
If anything, I'd prefer being kidnapped by a kind-hearted beauty (strict, solemn, serious type).