Retribution
Retribution
Priest Mender, who had hurried over so hastily that he stumbled into the hut gasping for breath as if on the verge of death, made a greater effort to speak to me first than to catch his breath.
He looked so exhausted that I couldn't help feeling sorry for him, to the point that I wondered whether it would have been better for the Saintess to carry him on her back and run here. But his expression was so grave that I could hardly even bring myself to suggest he rest for a moment before speaking.
"I'll get straight to the point. The Evil God you spoke of—it's entirely possible."
I'd been worried we'd launch into all sorts of tedious Q&A, starting with how he came up with that idea, but thankfully he was a capable man who could summarize the core points on par with a star instructor.
"These are not commonly seen records, but... among the heretics who serve Evil Gods, there remain a considerable number of records of them causing large-scale chaos through sorcery using the dead."
"So the circumstances differed from ordinary undead, I take it?"
"I cannot recall every specific detail myself, but you are correct. The records state they scorned the living and seduced many into temptation through various means, from simple necromancy to the divine authority of Evil Gods."
Apostasy and seduction. One of the favorite methods of Evil God worshippers for achieving this was said to be making use of the dead.
Though I couldn't know whether an Evil God so immensely powerful it could turn back an entire world to the past had ever existed despite the good gods watching with eyes wide open, Priest Mender's explanation was that there were more than enough cases where the power used by Evil God followers was akin to the concept of not just resurrecting the dead but rewinding time itself.
In truth, to mortals, there were few baits as enticing as eternal youth and immortality. They would summon souls, revive only the flesh, raise the dead to fight, and against truly formidable foes, they would tenaciously provoke past traumas and regrets, deceiving and breaking them with the promise of undoing it all.
And that would wholly become the power of the Evil God, creating a vicious cycle that would return as an even greater threat.
"The heretics who most favored such sorcery were chiefly followers of an Evil God once called the God of the Clinging Swamp... Ah, this is only as far as I can remember; since it was an era when many Evil Gods ran rampant, there were surely other heretics as well. It's just that the Demon God Church clashed with them so often that many records remain, making it easy to recall."
"...God of the Clinging Swamp?"
What was that? Something about that name felt familiar. Had I heard or seen it somewhere before?
I tilted my head at the strange sense of familiarity, and Priest Mender interpreted my question differently, adding a note.
"That's right. Evil Gods do not have what you would call names. They are merely called by such vague, roundabout titles."
"Why is that?"
"To prevent them from being remembered. Yet since the threat itself cannot be forgotten, they are only recorded by describing the Evil God's symbol, the domain where its followers chiefly operated, or, in very rare cases, the form it took when manifesting on the continent."
I wondered if it was some kind of superstition, but judging by Priest Mender's deeply earnest response, there might have been a concrete reason I was unaware of, like the story that names hold power.
At any rate, it was useful information: if we ever faced those who served a god with such a bizarre name, there was a high probability we could suspect them of being Evil God worshippers.
"If my conjecture proves true to some degree... would it be fair to say the Demon King's Army is worshipping an Evil God?"
If so, the root behind everything would be an Evil God, which from my perspective could be a massive headache, but for some reason, not only Priest Mender but also the Saintess both shook their heads at this question simultaneously.
"We are not denying it because we are of the same Demonfolk. However, Evil Gods and their followers were already subjugated on a grand scale long ago, in an age past when the gods' blessings fell most thickly."
Worried I might misunderstand, Priest Mender hurriedly added his opinion, and this time the Saintess also chimed in briefly, agreeing with him.
"This would hold true not only for the Demon God Church but for other orders and races as well. It is the outcome of the Great War that brought an end to the era called the Age of Darkness, the time when Evil God factions were at their mightiest in the continent's history."
Hearing the Saintess's account, what surfaced in my mind were records of a Great War in the distant, distant past, which I had briefly glimpsed while reading historical texts at Itisel, and the story Luwiming had told me.
Just how heavy was the counterweight on the other side of a scale holding two Heroes?
The moment the certainty that my life was becoming complicated in real time began to set in, it was no easy task to force my furrowing brow to relax and listen attentively, but since Priest Mender and Saintess could misinterpret my inner thoughts, I did my utmost to maintain composure.
"However, it is also true that the Demon King's Army is seeking out and utilizing the dregs of those fallen Evil Gods by whatever means. We have no way of knowing how far this rot has spread... so as servants who worship the Demon God, we also intend to devise countermeasures."
"Countermeasures, you say?"
"We will have to break the order's policy of non-intervention in the war."
Unlike the Saintess, who answered impassively, Priest Mender's expression hardened with regret. He offered prayers with the most exemplary expression a clergyman could wear when watching the world stain with corruption, but the Saintess, who didn't even spare him a glance, locked eyes with me and spoke in a resolute tone.
"We intend to prepare for a purge and a holy war."
It was only after meeting that gaze for several seconds that I could recognize that the Saintess's face, which looked no different from usual, was in fact the face she wore when she was furious.
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"Next time we meet, I shall bring a means for you to contact me, Hero."
After notifying us of the main decision, the Saintess left the hut together with Priest Mender, her final words being that she would send word separately later.
She had said they were already fully prepared to move, so by around tomorrow morning they would be crossing the mountains and advancing well into Demonfolk Territory. If we reported the encounter with the Demon King's Army around noon when we reached Ogwen, it was safe to say there was almost no chance of the royal pursuit squad catching our tail.
Despite the utterly unforgiving conditions of not only having to turn the entire Demon King's Army into enemies but also having to deal with the internal apostates who had helped the Demon King's Army use the holy relic under the order's management for their purposes, the Saintess hadn't flinched or hesitated in the slightest.
With someone possessing such confidence and drive declaring all-out war on the Demon King's Army, it felt like a reliable ally had emerged to smash through the bleak future, which at least was some consolation.
Of course, that consolation aside, the thought of how the hell I was supposed to fight if we were faced with a worst-case scenario of directly confronting an Evil God was already giving me a headache, so I had to diligently pet Laika and attempt some mental care.
Asilie glanced back and forth between Laika—blissfully happy simply to be petted, without the slightest concern for my worries—and my face, then let out a dry laugh and asked me a question.
"Truly dizzying days. Are you going to be busy again for a while cooperating with the royal investigation team?"
"Probably. The Demon King's Army has not only penetrated inland again, but it's near my hometown this time too. Won't they try to get to the bottom of what the problem is?"
By now, neither Seneran's nor my teacher's traces remained. But because of my connection and the timing of when the incident erupted, I couldn't be completely ruled out as a suspect.
Of course, since the path I'd walked so far was outwardly extremely hostile to the Demonfolk, they wouldn't suspect a connection with the order, but they would suspect that this chain of events might be because of me. There was no need to display an uncooperative attitude, fanning those suspicions and attaching unnecessary tails to my back, so I'd have to play along diligently, annoying as it was.
If my luck was bad, I might even run into that clinging princess again after so long.
Thinking that far ahead made my head throb again, and as a sigh escaped me, Asilie sent me a gaze oddly tinged with laughter and continued.
"You're so consistent, Eldi."
"Hm? What is?"
"There might be remnants of an Evil God, or the Evil God itself, involved. Yet even after hearing talk on that colossal a scale, your expression says, 'How do I resolve this?'"
"Well, yeah. The target just might have gotten a bit further away, that's all. What I have to do hasn't changed."
We still couldn't be certain that an Evil God was the root of all evil. It might simply be that the Demon King's Army had stumbled upon something like an Evil God's relic, obtained its power, and were simply spreading anti-theism ideology while continuing their outrageous rampage.
Setting aside that unclear hypothesis and looking only at the present, my target spectrum had merely broadened a bit, from the Special Operations Command headquarters to somewhere around the Demon King.
It was by no means an issue impossible to solve, nor a barrier impossible to challenge. There was no reason to stop.
"...Heh, that attitude really is so Hero-like."
"Though it just sort of happened that I really did become a Hero."
After voicing a fact that even I found absurd to shift the mood, we decided to sleep a little early in preparation for the busy day ahead.
For a day where we'd not only fought attackers but I'd also revealed my greatest secret of being a reincarnator to Asilie and even discussed the possibility that a regressor who had transcended the world's laws or an Evil God might be behind the Demon King's Army, it was a remarkably peaceful night.