Holy Relic
Holy Relic
I returned to the corridor to settle the churning in my stomach, sat down, and slowly organized my thoughts.
First, based on what I'd heard from Priest Mender and the current situation, it was a given that my ability to use Magic Power was due to the influence of the relic.
At a glance, since that relic was something akin to a Hero generator, that might seem like the biggest problem... but the real problem didn't seem to be that.
The real fucking huge problem was why, out of all the possibilities—passing over the Demon God Church's head temple in Demonfolk Territory and all those relics—the result came specifically through a sacred relic that had been quietly dormant in Human Race territory.
Why, of all things, did the Demon God use their power on a member of the Human Race, not a member of the Demonfolk?
If I had to draw a comparison, it was close to brood parasitism, but because the outcome was utterly unpredictable, it was embarrassing to even call it that.
In a relationship that was already constantly at risk of derailing due to the very existence of the Demon King and the Hero, the Demon God bestowing grace upon the Human Race couldn't have been as simple as it sounded, and the chances of it benefiting Demonfolk were infinitesimally small.
If all the abilities I'd gained from wielding Magic Power were actually stunted because I was in a Human Race body—a body utterly disconnected from Magic Power—and I couldn't fully express them, then a pure Demonfolk might well have gained power rivaling a Hero, like Siegfried.
So why had they taken such an uncertain gamble? Unless it was a situation deliberately intended for some grand purpose, or a situation forced upon them against their will because someone had maliciously committed an act of blasphemy...
"...Blasphemy?"
I chewed over the revelation I'd heard when I first met Saintess Deoni, then asked Priest Mender.
"Priest Mender, by any chance, are there no sacred relics from that old era in Demonfolk Territory?"
"No, I know of at least over five. Unless there's a specific reason, they rarely reveal themselves to the outside world, so I can't know precisely how much power lies dormant within them."
Perhaps because it was now confirmed that I was directly connected to a sacred relic, Priest Mender, who had been polite from the start, now showed an even more reverent attitude, as if attending a saint. It was a bit burdensome, but since it made asking about various things easier, I decided to let it slide for now.
"By any chance, does Saintess Deoni require the help of such a sacred relic when receiving a revelation?"
"No, but I understand it becomes somewhat easier."
In this situation, there was only one thing I would need her help with.
A revelation.
According to Priest Mender... when she arrived here, I could definitely receive a revelation from Epaga.
I couldn't know why I'd been given a choice, but that was something I could ask the person in question.
"I think I need to bring the Saintess here."
As if he'd been waiting, Priest Mender bowed his waist in a courteous gesture and answered briefly.
"I shall do so."
Now that a conclusion had been reached, there was no reason to stay in the ruins.
Priest Mender packed his things without a moment's hesitation and moved out with the people Seneran had assigned. As I watched them recede into the forest and soothed my somewhat calmer stomach, Seneran, who had come up beside me, gazed at the same spot before speaking.
"It'll take fifteen days at the shortest, maybe up to three weeks."
"That's much shorter than I expected."
"It's one of many reasons illegal routes are profitable. Nothing will go wrong on that leg, so you don't need to worry about that."
"That sounds like there's something else to worry about."
"The likelihood seems high, so I slipped over."
When I turned my head to look, Seneran's expression seemed the same as usual, yet somehow oddly serious.
"Is it because of the bastards you imprinted and sent back?"
"Not completely unrelated, I'd wager. When I said 'tunnel' earlier, I didn't mean a simple smuggling route—it's one limited to Demonfolk Territory. A fairly large-scale one at that."
I racked my brain for a moment to grasp the point of what she was saying, and as the pieces of earlier intel clicked together, a plausible conclusion popped out.
"Are you concerned about the possibility that the Demon King's Army is behind those guys from before?"
An ancient temple harboring far greater secrets than imagined. The Demon King's Army, which had a history of plundering it. The enormous sums Seneran said she'd scattered to monitor it and keep it secret. And the half-wit bastards who'd ignored the rules, blinded by that money, along with someone who must have egged them on, as Seneran conjectured.
Had the Demon King's Army even considered the possibility that someone would appear and suddenly dredge up a moldering past that even my teacher had missed—a past the kingdom hadn't even had a clue about—because of the relic?
I wanted to think even they wouldn't go that far, but these were the same bastards who'd carried out a terrorist attack right in the middle of the Empire and nearly succeeded, so they certainly might.
"It might be an overreaction, but my gut says it's bad. You know how it is. One thing wasn't a big deal at the time, but once you start suspecting, everything else starts looking suspicious in hindsight."
"I understand. I've gotten tangled up with the Demon King's Army a few times myself, and they're oddly meticulous about their behind-the-scenes machinations."
If it were a middling issue, I could just listen with one ear and let it out the other, but this was a major incident tied to traces of a Hero generator, so being cautious wouldn't hurt.
I replied nonchalantly, thinking that, but Seneran's expression remained grave.
"This isn't that kind of talk. If this thing really blows up, the military might get involved. If we miss the timing, a situation will come where you'll be captured and forced to spill everything we've learned."
"That would happen, yes?"
"...Wouldn't it be better for you to return to the capital for now?"
I could grasp what Seneran was getting at right away. If the kingdom's army actually intervened while I was still here, I'd have to confess even that I'd been influenced by the sacred relic, but if I were absent, a situation would arise where I'd only need to say that such a thing as a sacred relic had existed.
But it was a proposal with no room for negotiation.
"No. If the Demon King's Army intervenes, we can learn who was behind the order to retrieve the sacred relic. Either way, the Demon King's Army will move cautiously to protect themselves, so I can't miss an opportunity like this just because I'm worried about uncertain intervention from the kingdom's army."
They'd clearly only told me to decide on the Saintess's visit, and there was nothing saying she absolutely had to meet me face-to-face.
Seneran was trying to exploit that point to secure my safety, and from her current perspective, I was merely someone who'd accidentally been influenced by the sacred relic, so she might have thought she could relay the necessary questions or results on my behalf.
But I had no intention of ending this with just a face-to-face with the Saintess.
"Above all, I have something to ask Epaga as well."
"...What? You have something to ask the Demon God?"
"Yes. I can't ask that through you, Seneran, so I need to be here."
How the hell could I tell you about my past life, a story I haven't even told Asilie?
◈
Contrary to my worries, the days of waiting for the Saintess's party passed peacefully.
First, Asilie and I stayed in Ogwen for only the first three days, catching up with the villagers, then decided to stay in the cabin after procuring simple supplies.
It was safer than needlessly coming and going and being seen, and unlike us, Seneran's group kept shuttling back and forth between Ogwen and the Demon God's temple, so we aimed to pretend we had no connection to them.
Except for the fact that we'd returned after so long that it took nearly half a day to tidy up, fortunately nothing was seriously damaged, so there was no problem living there. The biggest issue was that Jagayong's roost was inadequate, but I decided to just solve that with money.
No one eyed me with suspicion when I sought out a carpenter to build a space for Jagayong at the house, and through the efforts of skilled carpenters who'd grown alongside Ogwen's rapid development, Jagayong's residence was completed in an instant.
It was so well-built, to the point I couldn't shake the feeling the cart was outshining the horse, that the cabin looked relatively shabby, making me agonize multiple times over whether to build a new one at this opportunity. Because of all the memories, I ended up just asking for reinforcement work in the end, though.
After that, I spent what could truly be called a rest for the first time in a long while.
I did go to the Demon God's temple every day to learn magic from Seneran and my teacher, but that was barely an hour or two. I also went out hunting for what could be up to three weeks of cabin life, but with a capable hunter like Asilie around, it was absurd for that task to take long.
In the end, after repeating days of studying alone, experimenting with magic, and habitually training my body for about a week, I had so little to do that I became absorbed in going down to the ruins and rebuilding the crude pantheon I'd hastily set up beside my parents' grave.
Thanks to the Magic Grinder, carving stone was nothing, so this time my goal was to make it sturdier, adding Epaga as well. And at the same time, I reinforced my parents' grave from a dirt mound to a clean stone tomb.
It was work requiring a completely different skill set from whittling wood, so another week flew by just to make a form that was even passable.
On the day I completed the small pantheon and stone tomb, filled with sincerity if lacking in elegance or refinement.
The Saintess arrived with familiar faces.