The Seventh Apostle
Amos Perium.
I quietly took in the mage who called himself the Seventh Apostle.
“Really… the Seventh Apostle?”
“You seem to find it hard to believe.”
“Yes.”
Honestly, it didn’t feel real.
The Seventh Apostle, out of nowhere?
Is this even right?
If this were a game, it would be like the final boss showing up in the beginner zone.
Of course this world was genuine reality, so it wasn’t entirely impossible…
“There are several ways I could prove myself, but I wouldn’t recommend any of them. Could you simply take me at my word?”
“Hmm.”
I thought it over for a moment.
Then I answered.
“Yes, well… all right.”
You’re agreeing rather readily.
Well, I had a feeling.
What kind of feeling?
The feeling that if I demanded proof, something real would actually happen.
So let’s see.
Why had this Seventh Apostle come to peaceful Boderan?
As I stared at him, the Seventh Apostle smiled and gestured to a seat.
“Would you sit for a moment? I’d like to talk.”
“Ah, yes.”
“The rest of you as well, please.”
“……”
“……”
At the Seventh Apostle’s invitation the others hesitated, then one by one slowly took their seats.
Some might call it absurdly calm, sitting down in front of a cultist—and the leader of them, no less—but there was nothing else we could do.
If we don’t stay calm, what exactly can we do?
Nothing.
As I’d said, the Seventh Apostle was a final-boss-tier monster by game standards, a world-class powerhouse by novel standards.
And so the stage for conversation was set.
The Seventh Apostle spoke first.
“In truth, I came here because of you.”
“Me?”
“Yes. As for the reason… before I explain, would you look at me?”
“……?”
“Yes, perfect. Just meet my eyes.”
I tilted my head in puzzlement—and then a strange sensation washed over me.
The Seventh Apostle’s glittering pupils.
A chilling feeling.
As if my very soul were being pierced through.
“What the…?”
“Indeed. The Gate was right. It seems I found the correct person.”
The Gate? What was he talking about?
Before I could even voice the question, the Seventh Apostle spoke to me.
“How would you like to succeed me?”
“Excuse me?”
I sat there stunned by the sheer absurdity of it for a moment.
Then I collected myself and stared straight at the Seventh Apostle.
“You’re telling me… to become an Apostle?”
“Ah, there’s a misunderstanding. This is a proposal from the human Amos Perium, not from the Apostle.”
“What’s the difference?”
“A great many things. Strictly speaking, the title of Seventh Apostle is merely a means to an end.”
“Then that end is…?”
“That is a secret.”
“……”
He wanted me to take his hand without even revealing his purpose?
I frowned at the bizarre attitude, and the Seventh Apostle simply smiled.
“You’re bewildered. I understand. But this isn’t such a bad offer for you either. For instance… do you know why the Apostle Council is targeting the south?”
As if I’d know what those evil cultists were thinking.
The Seventh Apostle continued as though doing me a favor.
“The Apostle Council is after the Falaon mana-stone veins. There are a few other goals as well, but the mana-stone veins are the most important. If you agree to succeed me… yes, I will personally stop the Apostle Council for you.”
“Huh.”
Honestly, my head was spinning.
The Apostle Council’s goal was the mana-stone veins?
And he would stop them?
But the “benefits” the Seventh Apostle offered didn’t end there.
“Do you desire a throne? I can create one for you. Wealth and renown? Those are hardly difficult for me either. If you wish, I can even protect Falaon from the catastrophes that are coming.”
He was offering wealth, fame, even safety.
It was the sort of talk that would tempt anyone.
Why wouldn’t it?
Everything he listed was cliché, yet it touched on the very things every person dreamed of as life’s purpose.
And when the one saying it ranked among the strongest beings in the world, there was no reason not to believe him.
Yet for some reason, rather than temptation, a question rose in me.
“Why, though?”
That was it.
I couldn’t understand the reason.
What had he even seen in me? All he’d done was glance into my eyes for a second.
The Seventh Apostle’s answer was simple.
“Because only you can succeed me. To put it more precisely… do you know how many years I have lived?”
I shook my head.
“People call me the Demon of Lumiten. But I have lived far longer than that. In terms of eras… yes, I watched the founding of the Heorn Kingdom itself. Ah, I even saw your ancestor Arch Falaon from a distance once.”
“My ancestor?”
“Yes. He didn’t resemble you much, but he possessed a radiant soul.”
That was rather interesting.
Regardless of who the Seventh Apostle was, it felt as though I were witnessing something mystical.
But why would someone who lived that long need a successor?
I soon learned the reason.
“Returning to the point… I have lived that long, yet even that has its limits now.”
“So you’re about to die?”
“You’re smiling a little too brightly.”
Oops.
I hastily pulled the corners of my mouth back down.
Even at my slip, the Seventh Apostle only laughed good-naturedly.
What a piece of work.
“In any case, the reason I want you is this: after my death, you are the one who can fulfill my long-cherished wish. Have you understood that much?”
“Yes.”
There wasn’t really anything to understand or not understand.
He was simply looking for a successor because his death was approaching.
Of course, understanding it didn’t mean I was going to accept the offer.
Perhaps he read my mind.
“A refusal, then.”
Tsk.
He’d caught me.
I swallowed hard.
What do I do?
About what?
My original plan had been to play hard-to-get, create an opening, then smash his skull in.
Whether it would work was anyone’s guess, but it was the best I had.
Yet he’d seen through it instantly.
Nothing for it, then.
Valhalla—!
“Smash his skull!”
I shot up from my seat at once.
I wasn’t alone.
“Protect the young master!”
“Lord, smite the wicked—!”
As if they had anticipated it, my comrades moved with me!
I gripped my shield tight and charged the Seventh Apostle while summoning the Goltikmu Trio to strike him from behind.
Zeke and Milo from either side, and from the rear the James brothers’ holy power as well!
It was an all-out assault with every ounce of strength we had—yet he truly was the Seventh Apostle.
“Indeed. How amusing.”
Just one short sentence.
BOOM—!
An overwhelming pressure crushed the space itself.
At the same time, with a chorus of choked screams, we were slammed flat against the floor and crushed.
The Goltikmu Trio were no exception.
“Shit.”
We were completely fucked.
I strained with everything I had to rise, but the pressure was far too strong.
In the middle of it, the Seventh Apostle’s feet entered my field of vision.
“You were too hasty. And reckless. But this proves yet another thing. You are not one who yields.”
“Couldn’t you… just talk me into it nicely?”
“Haha. What I want is you with your soul intact.”
So what, then?
Was he going to kill me?
A chill ran down my spine, and a voice reached my ear.
“The day of choice will soon arrive. I am not the only one who has waited for a being like you. No—there is one who has waited for you even more desperately than I. A pitiful, wretched monster… one who lacks death.”
With those words he placed his hand upon my head.
Immediately after—
Tss, tsszzzz—
An unprecedented power seeped into my skull.
“What is this…?”
It felt like high-frequency electrical stimulation frying my brain, a thoroughly miserable sensation, while his voice continued.
“In the near future, this power will protect you. From that monster. But remember this: that moment will be the moment of choice. And… that no one will ever make you a more merciful offer than I have.”
…My memory ended there.
My first meeting with the Seventh Apostle concluded that way.
The Seventh Apostle was walking along the outskirts of Boderan village.
A group of men approached him.
“Apostle, we have come at your summons.”
“How goes the work?”
“Smoothly. At this rate we can guide the people of Hadion to the Gate within a month at latest.”
“Swift work.”
“Everyone was already so exhausted that it proved easier than expected. What shall we do?”
“Hmm.”
The Seventh Apostle fell into thought for a moment.
Guiding them to the “Gate” meant leading the people of Hadion to their deaths.
They would close their eyes amid the ultimate festival of life, feeling perfect happiness.
They would be preserved forever at the peak of joy by the full stop called “death.”
And their souls would seep into the Gate and become its nourishment.
After guiding Hadion, it would be the turn of the territories surrounding Falaon.
Falaon itself would come last.
“Even after reconsidering, it remains a troublesome process.”
“Then we shall head straight for Falaon.”
“No.”
The Seventh Apostle shook his head.
The true objective was Falaon, yet there was a reason the Apostle Council was stirring up the entire south.
To conceal their real purpose from the churches collectively known as the Pantheon.
Or, more precisely…
…the Hero.
To avoid the gaze of the gods’ Champion.
The Apostle Council’s goal was to eliminate the Champion, but they had to avoid provoking him before their preparations were complete.
They were already being as careful as possible, yet the Champion of the Sanctum had already begun to sense something.
Even without the Champion himself, if the Crusaders of the Sanctum—the united front of the Pantheon—intervened, matters would grow far more complicated.
This level of activity was appropriate.
Still, the Seventh Apostle recalled the meeting just now.
—Smash his skull!
The boy who had charged straight at him.
Those eyes.
Clearly terrified, yet unwavering and upright.
“Cowards are common, and brave heroes are also common, yet those who satisfy both conditions are rare. I have seen only one such person until now. Do you know who?”
“This humble one cannot know.”
“The Hero… the gods’ Champion. But it seems there is one more.”
“A dangerous individual, then.”
“Yes, dangerous. And he possesses something the Hero lacks.”
“……May I ask what that is?”
The follower dared to pose the question.
Not out of mere curiosity. Rather, it seemed the Seventh Apostle wished to speak of it.
Pleased by the earnestness, the Seventh Apostle answered.
“Flexibility.”
“Flexibility…?”
The Seventh Apostle recalled it.
That moment when death should have been inevitable.
—You were too hasty. And reckless. But this proves yet another thing. You are not one who yields.
—Couldn’t you… just talk me into it nicely?
The way he had spouted such nonsense.
It had been the will to survive somehow and scheme further—something a Hero would never have shown.
Of course, a Hero shouldn’t show it either.
Perhaps that was why.
For the sake of the choice to come… a small favor would not be amiss.
Having made his decision, the Seventh Apostle issued the command.
“Halt every operation currently underway in the south.”
“Pardon?”
“Did you not hear me? We are withdrawing our hand from the south.”
“If we do that, the other Apostles will not remain idle…”
“I will handle that myself. Know this and prepare to depart.”
With those words the Seventh Apostle began to walk.
With each step his presence grew fainter.
When at last his form vanished completely, the followers bowed their heads respectfully.
“All according to the Savior’s will.”
“All according to the Savior’s will.”
We do not doubt that true salvation lies only with You.
They chose to follow the salvation they had selected.
As always.