Chapter 27
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: The Corrupting Sword (5)
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"Hah, hah...!"
Evan gasped for air, his breath ragged as he scanned his surroundings.
Several hours had passed since hed fled from the ominous presence of the Evil Gods fragment.
The twilight sky was painted with the colors of sunset.
The horse he had been riding was long gone, swept away by the Evil God's magic.
Evan couldn't help but feel a great sense of loss.
He had grown quite fond of the horse during their journey through the empire's lands.
And most inconvenient of all was the fact that he now had to traverse the vast empire on his own two feet.
"Hoo, have I finally... gotten far enough away...?"
Evan rubbed his chest, which was beginning to ache.
Was it because he had pushed himself too hard to survive?
His lungs, which had been heaving violently, were screaming in protest.
The Evil God's magic that had been raining down on him had also vanished at some point.
Perhaps now he could finally rest.
Just as Evan, having slowly caught his breath, was about to look for a suitable place to rest...
- "Accept your destiny."
A solemn voice echoed in Evan's ear.
It was the same mysterious voice that had been repeating itself ever since he encountered the Evil God's Apostle.
The unidentified voice kept throwing cryptic words at Evan.
But despite the voice echoing, no magic fell from the sky.
It wouldn't give a proper response even if he tried to speak to it.
It merely repeated the same words to him periodically.
After hearing it repeatedly, Evan realized it was nothing more than a ploy by the Evil God.
"...Annoying."
Evan snapped at the unidentified voice and walked onward, his steps slow.
He had been walking the mountain path for so long that he could taste the sourness in his mouth.
Gulp.
Swallowing hard, Evan forced his creaking legs to keep moving.
As he walked on in silence, Evan's gaze fell upon something in the distance.
A little ways ahead, where the rough mountain path continued.
There was a small village.
"Is that a village?"
Evan's face lit up at the discovery.
He was terribly thirsty after running for so long.
If there was a village, he could get some water.
If he was lucky, he might even be able to solve his lodging problem at once.
Evan headed toward the village, hoping the residents would be friendly to an outsider.
He felt that after a lifetime of serving the goddess and sacrificing for others, it wasn't too much to ask for a small bit of luck.
"..."
Trudge. Trudge.
Evan's footsteps echoed on the lush mountain path.
How many more exhausted steps had he forced himself to take?
Pushing himself onward, Evan eventually reached the entrance to the village.
The village, nestled in a mountain valley, was much smaller than Evan had expected.
Crude wooden houses stood in a row, and there were only a few of them.
As Evan, now close, was about to enter, a villager standing at the entrance looked at him and asked.
"I haven't seen you around before. Who are you?"
"...Evan Alemier. A pilgrim traveling the empire after leaving the Holy Land. If it's not too much trouble, could I have some water?"
Hearing Evan's story, the villager tilted his head.
Was there a problem with the identity he had just made up?
Evan watched the villager with nervous eyes.
After a moment's thought, the villager nodded and replied to Evan.
"Water? I can spare some water."
"It's shameless of me, but I'd be grateful for the help."
"You seem to be a man of the gods. Very well. No reason I can't offer such a simple kindness."
Thankfully, it seemed he would be able to get some water from the villager.
The villager left and quickly returned with a bowl for Evan.
The bowl the villager brought back was filled to the brim with water.
It was the first cool water he'd seen in hours.
The water was a little dirty, but it was still drinkable.
Just as Evan was about to bring the bowl to his lips to drink...
- "Accept your destiny."
Evan, about to drink, sensed something and threw the bowl he was holding to the ground.
It was an action born of instinct.
The water he had been holding barely managed to wet his lips.
Shing.
Evan instantly drew his sword and looked behind him.
A sharp spear of lightning had appeared in the sky.
"Wh-what! What are you doing?"
"Goddess!"
Ignoring the villager's panicked shout, Evan imbued his drawn sword with divine power.
The light of faith settled on Evan's sword, and it vibrated once.
The Evil God that had been chasing him had found him.
With this, his plan to hide in the village had become completely impossible.
Crackle. Crackle.
The spear of lightning formed in the sky shot toward Evan.
Sucking in a breath, Evan swung his sword and deflected the Evil God's attack.
"L-lightning...?"
KABOOM!
The spear of lightning, deflected by Evan's sword, struck the ground and exploded.
A deafening explosion echoed, and the villager watching the scene ducked down.
After deflecting the attack aimed at him, Evan gasped for breath and looked at the villager.
It was to check if he was safe from the Evil God's attack.
"Are you alright? Make sure you don't get hurt..."
"Aaaah! M-more are coming down!"
"What...?"
Beyond Evan, who had turned his head, a rain of lightning began to pour down.
BOOM! CRASH! KABOOM!
The spears of lightning raining from the sky swept through everything in the village.
The downpour of lightning before his eyes made Evan's mind go blank.
An unbelievable number of spells.
It was a scene worthy of being called a natural disaster.
It was an attack on a scale that Evan could never block alone.
"H-help me..."
The villager in front of Evan clung to his leg and began to plead.
Watching this, Evan felt his sword hand begin to tremble.
He was weak.
He couldn't even save the person suffering right in front of him.
He became a Holy Knight to save people.
Yet here he was, unable to properly save even the person dying before him.
"It's because I came here..."
The Evil God was only chasing Evan.
The reason the Evil God was attacking this place was solely because Evan had come to this village.
His failure to save the dying people was also because he was weak.
All of this was Evan's fault.
It happened because Evan was weak.
If only he had been a little stronger.
If he had possessed the strength to save people from the Evil God's attacks, none of this tragedy would have occurred.
"Pilgrim!"
He needed power.
And yet, the Goddess of Honor would not look upon him.
She did not answer his prayers, his cries to her.
The only one watching Evan was the Evil God from beyond the dimensions.
Grit.
Gritting his teeth at his own pathetic situation, Evan pushed away the villager clinging to his leg.
Then, in a chilling voice, he warned him.
"I'll draw its attention. If you don't want to die, run anywhere you can."
"Huh...?"
"If you understand, then move quickly."
"...Y-yes!"
Understanding Evan's words, the villager scrambled to his feet and began to flee.
CLANG! KANG!
Evan deflected a few more descending lightning bolts and then started running in the opposite direction from the villager.
His destination was a deep mountain range where no one lived.
As long as Evan didn't go to a village himself, residents elsewhere wouldn't get caught in the crossfire.
- "Accept your destiny."
Doing his best to ignore the voice echoing in his head, Evan continued to run toward the mountains.
He had to get away.
Away from the villages where people lived.
And away from the Evil God that watched him.
That was the only way Evan Alemier could protect his beliefs.
Four days had passed in game time since I used Apostle Selection on Evan Alemier.
During that time, I had been busy following Evan around and tormenting him.
Not that I did anything particularly terrible to him.
I just opened the game whenever I was bored and tossed Lightning Arrow spells around him.
Of course, I was careful to avoid hitting Evan directly if possible.
It would be a problem for me if Evan died and the Divine Artifact: Astrape became locked.
Sometimes I would even spam the Lightning skill next to a sleeping Evan.
I couldn't stand to watch the guy who dared to swallow my 400 Karma sleep peacefully.
- "Oh, Goddess."
Whenever I did something aggressive to torment Evan, he would clasp his hands and call out to his goddess.
He seemed to be a devout Holy Knight.
He showed that he wouldn't lose faith in his goddess even in difficult situations.
How noble must a character be to pray even while suffering extreme pain?
If it were me, I would have started cursing out the goddess for not helping long ago.
Even from my perspective, watching Evan, it was an admirable sight.
"Amazing. You're the best."
I would give him the sound of the Lightning skill as a round of applause.
Rumble! Crash! Krrrrrumble!
Whenever the cheerful sound of thunder echoed, Evan would get up with his sword and start spinning around.
It was as if my heartfelt applause was making him dance involuntarily.
When Evan started moving like that, I would create a cheerful beat for him with Lightning.
Rumble! Rumble! Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash!
Hearing the beat I made with the Lightning skill, Evan started circling around even faster than before.
Of course, while he was constantly on guard, he never stopped calling for his goddess.
- "Oh, Goddess of Honor."
At this point, I was getting curious enough to want to see the face of this supposedly great goddess.
Evan Alemier.
He was a character with incredibly deep faith.
Unless I managed to properly break his will, Evan would never accept the Apostle Selection.
Besides, I had concluded after several days that punishment alone wasn't enough.
In the end, bringing in Yutenia was unavoidable.
"It's about time for Yutenia to step in."
I had to use another character to persuade Evan directly.
And the Yutenia I knew would surely be able to convince him.
No, she had to.
A whopping 400 Karma was on the line with Evan, after all.
Just as I, watching Evan, was about to send a message to Yutenia...
- "Goddess of Honor, Goddess of Abundance, Goddess of Knowledge, Goddess of the Hunt, Goddess of Order... someone, please help me."
After wandering for a long time, Evan finally drove his sword into the ground and began to pray.
But the object of his prayer was very different from before.
The names of other goddesses began to pour out of the mouth of Evan, who had been calling out to one goddess all day.
I stared at Evan, bewildered by the names of the goddesses that had suddenly spilled out.
I had thought he was a character who would steadfastly look only to the Goddess of Honor, no matter what.
Apparently, he served quite a few gods.