Chapter 63
Chapter 63
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: The Will of Yata
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Yata.
The god Jeong Yu-ra believed in, and an evil god who had shown favor to Lee Shin.
But unusually for an evil god, he possessed a rather mundane symbol.
What Yata symbolized was a tilted scale.
In other words, balance.
Of course, the word "tilted" was attached to it…
This only meant the god's disposition leaned towards evil, but it was certainly related to balance.
Considering that concepts related to balance or harmony were usually associated with righteous gods among the good deities, this was definitely peculiar.
‘The will of Yata?’
Lee Shin wore a surprised expression at Cedric's answer.
For the reasons above, he had thought of Yata as one of the more benevolent evil gods…
But if the god had a follower like Cedric, that didn't seem to be the case.
‘Is this guy just the weird one?’
Seeing as he also accepted someone like Jeong Yu-ra as a follower, that could be it.
Or perhaps the god was in such a humble state that he couldn't afford to be picky about his followers.
Considering there were almost no search results when he looked up the name Yata on the Avala Online forums before, that possibility was high.
Lee Shin asked.
“What do you mean, the will of Yata?”
“Balance and harmony.”
“I know that much. How does that connect to the current situation? You said you were after someone.”
“Th-that's…”
Cedric trailed off, as if it was difficult to say.
He was reluctant to tell a complete stranger.
But when Lee Shin brought the sword to his eyes, he flinched in surprise and the words tumbled out.
“…I only killed those who deserved to die! Only those who harm the balance!”
“Explain it so I can understand.”
“Do you know the current state of the kingdom?”
“Hmm?”
A sudden, out-of-the-blue question.
After a moment of thought, Lee Shin answered.
“I know as much as anyone else.”
Eteun, walking the path of ruin, its once-glorious history now a faded memory.
Compared to neighboring kingdoms, it lagged behind in every aspect, including its economy, military, and culture.
Of course, even in this situation, there were those like Gillaim who dreamed of the kingdom's revival by finding the hidden royalty.
‘It won't happen.’
Lee Shin shook his head.
Because that hope was something Lee Shin had extinguished with his own hands long ago.
It wasn't intentional, of course, but regardless of the process, it was certain that he had destroyed the future of the Eteun Kingdom.
With notorious villains and marauding players from all over the continent flocking in, and even pirates flowing in from the sea, the future was painfully obvious.
Lee Shin spoke frankly.
“I think it's going to collapse soon.”
He wondered if it would be conquered by another kingdom within a few in-game years.
Cedric nodded.
“That's right.”
“So what about it?”
What did the kingdom's grim situation have to do with him being on the run?
“What do you think is the cause?”
“Huh? Well… I guess it's because the ruling class is corrupt.”
“No.”
“Hmm?”
“Well, that's also true, but… that in itself is a natural phenomenon.”
Cedric's explanation was this:
If humans have a good side, it's only natural they have an evil side as well.
Just as there is always a shadow where there is light, the appearance of corrupt nobles is a natural phenomenon.
In fact, Cedric argued that a society with a moderate mix of both tendencies was much healthier than one filled only with good people.
“Why?”
“Because that's how progress is made.”
Envy and jealousy.
Desire and greed, and so on.
These emotions gather to become the driving force of progress, so a proper mix of both tendencies is necessary for development and harmony.
Lee Shin's eyes widened.
“Oh…?”
It wasn't something he expected to hear from an AI, but it was more or less true.
In actual human history, technological advancement often stemmed from desire or competitiveness.
But it didn't fit as an explanation for the current state of the Eteun Kingdom.
Lee Shin asked.
“Then why is the kingdom in such a state now?”
“Because it's too excessive.”
“……?”
“Normally, a change would have occurred on its own before it got to this point… but you know how the current king ascended to the throne, don't you?”
“Ah.”
Lee Shin let out a sound of understanding.
He knew the kingdom's history.
‘So that's what he meant.’
The current king, who rose to the throne through a rebellion.
In the process of taking the throne, he had eliminated everyone who disagreed with him or could become a future political rival.
Most of the royal bloodline, except for the 8th Prince who was lucky to survive, died at that time.
Thanks to that, he seized absolute power, and change became unthinkable.
After all, only those who shared his views had survived from the beginning.
That was why Cedric had stepped in.
It wasn't that he had any deep-seated loyalty to the kingdom, but as a priest of Yata, he couldn't just stand by and watch the current imbalanced state.
Since no one else was acting, he decided he had to resolve it himself.
“How do you resolve it?”
“By killing.”
“……”
‘…So that was it.’
One of his questions answered, Lee Shin nodded.
Just from his words, there seemed to be no reason for Yata to be an evil god, which had puzzled him, but there was one crucial reason.
‘Solving things by killing.’
The intention itself didn't seem evil, but the method of resolution was very much that of an evil god!
This alone was more than enough reason to be classified as an evil god.
“So, who did you kill?”
“Count Narik.”
“A Count?”
“…I tried to kill him. Unfortunately, it ended with me only managing to severely injure him.”
Cedric muttered in disappointment.
“My firepower was lacking. If I'd had just one more sacred artifact, I would have succeeded…”
“Sacred artifact?”
“Don't you have one too?”
“I told you, I don't.”
“That can't be. If you didn't have a sacred artifact, you wouldn't have been able to find me in the first place.”
He said that sacred artifacts have a property of attracting each other, so they react automatically when they get close.
At Cedric's words, Lee Shin's gaze shifted to the tentacle coiling around his own body.
‘Was that what pulled me in?’
Listening to the explanation and recalling the memory, the feeling was strong. It felt like being sucked in, as if drawn by a magnet.
Of course, the tentacle wasn't a sacred artifact but a sacred body, but since they both originated from a god, it wouldn't be strange for their properties to be similar.
‘…But it's supposed to be a different god, isn't it?’
The tentacle's original name was ‘Forgotten God's… (Omitted)’.
A god whose name hasn't been revealed.
Clearly different from Yata, who had a proper name and at least a few followers.
And yet, an identical effect occurred, enough to make Cedric mistake it.
‘I don't know.’
He pondered deeply, but there was nothing he could figure out.
There was no information about the divine beast, and likewise, almost no information about Yata.
So, Lee Shin stopped thinking about it for now.
It was something he would naturally find out once the tentacle's rank increased and additional information was unlocked.
For now, dealing with Cedric was the priority.
Arthur asked.
“What are you going to do?”
“Handing him over as he is would be the safest option.”
It was the cleanest way to resolve the situation.
If Cedric had been a typical wanted criminal, he could have debated between sparing him to use him and then killing him, looting all his belongings and killing him immediately, or just handing him over…
But now, the Royal Knights were involved with Cedric, so the situation was different. The previous options were too risky.
What if he was discovered for not immediately handing over a criminal who was being pursued with a bounty for attempting to murder a noble?
There was a 100% chance he would end up in the same boat.
“……”
In the end, Lee Shin's thoughts solidified in one direction.
Considering the future consequences, he had to hand him over.
“…Wait!”
“Hm?”
“S-spare me!”
Despite being blindfolded, Cedric instinctively felt Lee Shin's gaze turn cold and hurriedly spoke up.
Lee Shin crossed his arms and replied.
“Why should I?”
“According to the will of Yata…!”
“No, enough of that.”
“!?”
He wasn't a follower, so why should he care?
Lee Shin said coldly.
“Keep talking nonsense and I'll hand you over right now.”
“…Hk!”
“If you want to live, explain why I should spare you.”
“……”
Cedric's trembling stopped.
His eyes blinked, and you could almost hear the gears in his head spinning furiously.
A desperate struggle to survive!
“If you've got nothing, then I guess…”
“…Wait! I have something! I do.”
Cedric urgently pointed at Jeong Yu-ra and shouted.
“That woman!”
“Me?”
“Yes. The aura I feel from you seems to be that of a fellow priest of Yata…”
“That's right.”
“I knew it. In that case, I can help you!”
“……”
A flicker of interest appeared in Lee Shin's eyes.
“What kind of help?”
“You probably became a priest without any proper training, right? Our order doesn't have the capacity to train new priests!”
“……”
Cedric spoke with conviction!
Jeong Yu-ra's expression cooled slightly.
“…Anyway, I can help you!”
“Be specific.”
“Uh… I can pass on secret skills, or share my mana.”
“Oh……?”
Lee Shin's eyes widened.
Sharing skills and mana?
Class-exclusive skills were rewards that could generally only be obtained by completing extremely difficult and rare quests.
The same went for mana.
Ordinary priest players would have to suffer through endless chain quests given by their temple to obtain them.
Lee Shin fell into deep thought.
‘…Hmm.’
Contrary to his initial concerns, Jeong Yu-ra was more useful than he had thought.
Her level was low, around the 80s, and she had almost no game knowledge, but just having her cast Yata's blessings from the back was quite beneficial.
Since Lee Shin's own control was so outstanding, that alone was enough to produce sufficient efficiency!
But if asked whether that was enough, the answer was no.
It meant she was better than expected, not that she was satisfactory.
So he had planned to level her up later by grinding in the arena or hunting grounds, but with Cedric's help, that burden would be lessened.
“Good.”
“!”
Lee Shin nodded.
“Does that mean you'll spare me…?”
“Not exactly.”
“What!?”
“What do you mean, 'what?'… Of course this isn't enough. Don't think you can get off that easy.”
The bounty alone was worth so much.
On top of that, he would be taking on the risk of sparing a wanted man, so there had to be a definite benefit to letting him live.
“Anything else?”
“……”
“Hmm. If not…”
“…Wait! I'm thinking, I'm thinking!”
As Cedric racked his brain, Lee Shin made a counter-proposal.
“How about this instead? You sign a contract with me.”
“…A contract?”
“Yes.”
It was a bit expensive, but you could buy a magically binding contract from the auction house.
If someone broke the contract, they would be killed by its magic.
It had immense binding power, so Cedric asked nervously.
“…What are the terms?”
“Nothing much. I'll spare you, and in return, you'll obey my every command.”
“……!”
…A slave contract, in effect!
“How about it?”
“…I refuse!”
Cedric naturally refused.
“You'll die, then.”
“…I have already sworn to be a servant of Lord Yata! I would rather die than become another's servant!”
Cedric was resolute.
A stark contrast to the trembling figure from just moments ago!
In truth, considering the game's world where the influence of gods was immense, it was an understandable reaction.
“……Oh, is that so?”
But unfortunately for Cedric, Lee Shin knew how to persuade someone in a situation like this.
“But.”
“Hm?”
*CRACK!!*
“Ugh!!”
“If you refuse, what are you going to do about it?”
“……!?!?”