Chapter 95: Union Conference (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 95: Union Conference (1)
“…….”
Alon fell silent at Yuman’s words.
To be precise, he was thinking.
‘……What is he talking about?’
Hiding his bewilderment behind an expressionless mask, he recalled what Yuman had just said.
‘Shouldering the same burden as him? Perhaps even heavier……? What on earth does that mean?’
Alon looked at Yuman.
Seeing the clear respect and awe in the man's eyes, it was obvious he wasn't joking; he was being dead serious.
“……???”
Alon became even more puzzled.
‘Is he just saying I looked that cool or something?’
He thought back to the goodwill the priests had been showing him lately, but he quickly shook his head. No matter how he looked at it, Yuman’s words weren't just a simple expression of respect or admiration.
Therefore.
“……Excuse me, but what exactly are you referring to?”
“Pardon?”
“The part about me shouldering the same burden as you, Saint.”
Alon threw the question straight at him. Since Yuman didn't seem to catch on to indirect speech, Alon asked point-blank this time. Yuman answered without hesitation.
“It is exactly as it sounds. We are in the same situation, yet you are shouldering a burden even heavier than mine.”
“……I am?”
“Yes.”
He had explained it, yet his intention became even harder to grasp. Instead, one thing became certain.
‘……He’s definitely misunderstanding something.’
There was a clear misconception here.
Right now, no matter how one looked at it, Alon had nothing in common with Yuman. Even in terms of social rank, Alon was born into the Palatio family, while Yuman was born an orphan and raised in an orphanage.
Their backgrounds were different, too. Alon had lived as he pleased in a noble house, leisurely cutting meat at a dinner table, while Yuman had lived in an orphanage from a young age before being selected as a Saint.
Beyond that, their personalities, tendencies, and even their values were different. As far as Alon knew, there wasn't a single point of overlap between them.
‘Should I tell him?’
He debated internally. Along with the realization that Yuman was mistaken, he realized something else: Yuman's kindness stemmed from this misunderstanding.
In other words, if he cleared up the misunderstanding now, that kindness might vanish. After a moment of deliberation, Alon made his choice.
‘Let’s tell him.’
He decided to correct the misconception. Of course, Alon didn't particularly want their relationship to sour. Yuman was the right-hand man of Elivan, the protagonist of Psychedelia, and a Saint of the Holy Kingdom.
However, long experience told him that the longer such misunderstandings were left to fester, the more problems they caused when they finally came to light. After a brief resolve, he spoke.
“Saint.”
“Yes, Marquis.”
“I’m telling you this because I think you might be mistaken, but I am not particularly in the same situation as you.”
Alon spoke without hesitation to clear the air. However.
“Yes, I know. You are shouldering a burden even greater than mine, Marquis. Perhaps you are walking a path where you can never be recognized by anyone.”
“……???”
At the words that tumbled out of Yuman’s mouth as he nodded knowingly, Alon spoke once more.
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
“Then what do you mean?”
“……I mean it literally. I’m not trying to be humble; I am truly telling you that I am not in the same situation as you.”
Having clearly conveyed that he was misunderstood beyond any doubt, Alon felt a slight headache coming on. He didn't know exactly what the misunderstanding was, but usually, when you cleared things up like this, it ended in an awkward atmosphere.
Alon hated that specific brand of awkwardness and was worried, but—
“Ah, I see.”
Yuman nodded as if he had realized something, his eyes showing an even more vivid sense of respect than before.
“I see I was being quite insensitive.”
“Pardon?”
“I apologize for my rudeness regarding that matter. I still have much to learn.”
“No, did you actually understand me? As I said, I am not in the same situation as you at all……”
“Yes, I understood perfectly.”
The Saint spoke with a smile. Contrary to the expectation that things would get awkward once the misunderstanding was cleared, his reaction was incredibly lukewarm.
At that, Alon instinctively realized one thing.
‘He doesn’t believe me, does he?’
As that thought crossed his mind, Yuman spoke.
“My apologies. I had no intention of tainting the resolve you hold, Marquis.”
“……No, I’m saying it’s a misunderstan—”
“Yes, I hear you loud and clear, Marquis.”
Before Alon could say anything else, Yuman spoke with a vibe that said, 'Yeah, yeah, I know everything, don't worry.' Seeing him nod as if he understood everything and would intentionally play along with the "secret," Alon was dumbfounded.
‘I’m the one involved, and I’m saying it’s a misunderstanding, so what is this……’
Alon was incredulous, but—
“Then, I shall pray that the grace of Goddess Sironia remains with you, Marquis.”
With those final words, Yuman left the hospital room. Alon, staring blankly at the door Yuman had exited through, was left speechless.
“…….”
He couldn't find a single word to say.
* * *
Three days had passed since then. By the time Alon’s mana depletion symptoms had almost entirely subsided, Yutia came to visit.
“Are you feeling alright, Teacher?”
“Yes.”
Yutia, who had shown her face every day along with Yuman, smiled in relief as Alon nodded. She then pulled a black fragment from her robe and handed it to him.
“……Is this an Abyss Body?”
“Yes. Just as you said, Teacher, it seems Anderde was using Abyss Bodies. There are forty of them just in this batch.”
“……Forty?”
“Yes. And that’s just what we found immediately. There are likely many more.”
At Yutia’s words, Alon looked at the empty, grey hexahedron that had lost its power and thought.
‘……So you can create an Outer God using Abyss Bodies.’
Naturally, Alon hadn't known this at all. In Psychedelia, Abyss Bodies weren't even introduced until years later, and even then, they were mostly treated as a game mechanic to scale monster levels to the player.
In other words, since Psychedelia provided no lore on Abyss Bodies, Alon was completely in the dark about this.
‘Well, even if it was a created Outer God, there was a clear difference in power.’
Even so, the fact that an Outer God could be manufactured using Abyss Bodies was not something to be ignored. As long as Abyss Bodies were being circulated, this could happen anywhere.
Having finished his thoughts, he spoke.
“Yutia.”
“Yes, Teacher.”
“If you happen to find out where these Abyss Bodies are being distributed, could you let me know?”
“I will.”
He decided to give Yutia a heads-up to track the distribution. He knew the Holy Kingdom didn't rely on information guilds but maintained its own network of informants.
‘Those guys are fast when it comes to handling heresy-related issues. If I leave it to Yutia, I’ll get news faster than I would from an information guild.’
As he listened to more details about the Abyss Bodies from Yutia, a sudden suspicion crossed Alon’s mind.
‘……Surely this isn't the work of the "Forgotten One," is it?’
The thought occurred to him for a moment, but he quickly shook his head. A fully manifested Outer God wouldn't be that clumsy.
Two days after that conversation with Yutia.
“Are you leaving now, Teacher?”
“Well, my business here is finished.”
“I suppose so.”
Alon prepared to leave the Holy Kingdom immediately. And he was leaving with—
“A-Ah, hello……! Marquis!”
“Myaon……? What a coincidence. To think we’d be heading back together as well.”
He was leaving with the mercenary group, whom he hadn't seen at all during his stay for the title conferral ceremony.
“I-I know, right……!”
“It’s been a while…… but why are you suddenly using such formal speech? It doesn't suit you.”
“Ah—that’s—well, ah! Since you’ve become a Marquis, I suddenly felt the weight of our difference in status……?”
Alon was puzzled as he watched her struggle to come up with a plausible excuse.
“Please take good care of my teacher.”
“Yes!”
“Understood?”
“Yes……!”
Seeing Myaon answer with a burst of energy at Yutia’s words, Alon instinctively looked at Yutia.
“Well then, I’ll be waiting for your letter.”
“Right. I’ll write once I return.”
At her composed farewell, Alon gave a light nod.
‘Well, it should be fine.’
With that, Alon left the Holy Kingdom.
* * *
Immediately after Alon left the Holy Kingdom.
Inside Yutia’s office.
“Three more have been discovered.”
Sergius was delivering a report to Yutia.
“And the total?”
“Including the ones found this time, it’s forty-three. However, there are likely many more buried in the underground sewers.”
Sergius, despite being a fellow Cardinal, stood stiffly while using formal language, and Yutia accepted it as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Neither of them felt uncomfortable with this dynamic. In fact, Sergius felt a strange sense of peace in this situation, as if this was how things were meant to be.
Perhaps that was why.
“……Lady Yutia.”
“Yes?”
“May I ask just one question?”
Sergius asked a question he had never dared to ask until now.
“What is it?”
“……Why did you simply watch until the Chief Cardinal committed such an act?”
Sergius knew. He knew Yutia had already grasped what the Chief Cardinal was plotting. She had ordered him to investigate what Anderde was doing in the sewers a year ago.
Was that all? She had already siphoned off several Abyss Bodies they were collecting inside the statues through Sergius.
In other words, the reason Machina, who appeared a week ago, couldn't complete its Outer God form and remained an unstable mass of vines until the end was precisely because it lacked Abyss Bodies.
Essentially, Yutia could have stopped the Chief Cardinal before he ever started.
“Ah……”
Realizing he had overstepped, Sergius looked flustered, but—
“Why didn't I stop him, you ask……”
Yutia let out a playful chuckle and then spoke.
“First, let me tell you this.”
She slowly opened a drawer in her desk.
Whir—
Floating up from the drawer were the nine Abyss Bodies Sergius had brought. Yutia checked the objects floating in the air.
Crunch! Crackle!
Then, without hesitation, she crushed them.
“…….”
Yutia, who had just destroyed Abyss Bodies that would cost an entire territory to acquire on the black market, opened her mouth.
“It wasn't to steal these. Trash like this means nothing to me.”
With a flick of her finger, the fragments of the Abyss Bodies fell to the office floor. Yutia called out to Sergius, who was subconsciously holding his breath while staring at the shards.
“Hey, Sergius.”
“Yes.”
“Do you know what gods feed on to grow?”
“The…… gods?”
“Yes. All gods, including the great Goddess Sironia.”
At Yutia’s question, Sergius answered.
“……Are the gods not perfect and complete beings in and of themselves?”
It was a cautious answer. Yutia smiled and shook her head.
“No. That’s not it.”
“Gods need two things: faith and awe.”
“Faith and…… awe?”
“Yes. And this time, I simply needed the ‘awe’ of the people.”
A deep smile spread across Yutia’s lips.
In her mind, the scene from a week ago replayed. Alon, firing a spear of lightning at the Outer God beneath the blue moon—
“More brilliant and beautiful than anything else.”
—The image of the Great Moon.
“—An image that will never be forgotten by anyone.”
The corners of Yutia’s mouth curved upward.
“Awe, solely for him.”
Her eyes crinkled with a deep, dark joy. Within those red eyes, that scene was already repeating over and over again.
“That is the reason.”
At Yutia’s final answer—
“…….”
Sergius could do nothing but swallow hard and nod. In her eyes, there was a vivid, unmistakable madness that one must never, ever touch.