Chapter 49
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: In the Name of the Evil God (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Captain. Is this really the place where the angel is?"
In a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Empire.
At a location rumored to be where an angel had descended, the magician Jenny asked Gilford, the mercenary captain.
Listening to Jenny, Gilford wore a grave expression.
It was because of the stories he had heard from people on his way here.
Gilford nodded, answering Jenny's question.
"Yes. At least, based on all the stories we've gathered so far, it seems to be."
"But Captain, why do you look so grim?"
"Listening to the people coming down the mountain has given me a lot to think about."
Gilford had asked many people for directions to get here.
And every single one of them had kindly shown him the way.
Yet, what bothered Gilford was the fact that everyone he met was friendly toward the fallen angel.
A fallen angel was one who had abandoned its duties and been corrupted by evil.
It was impossible for such a being to be doing anything beneficial for people.
However, not a single person Gilford encountered had expressed any complaints about the fallen angel.
On the contrary, there were even those who were heading up the mountain with baskets of fruit as offerings.
As Gilford pondered the astonishing behavior of the people, Jenny, who was beside him, seemed to agree with his sentiment.
"Well, it's true that everyone seemed to really like the angel."
"The problem is that most of them didn't seem like the type to believe in an evil god."
"It's not like followers of an evil god have a mark on their faces, right? Isn't it natural that they're hard to spot?"
"No one who believes in an evil god can be sane."
Hearing Gilford's reply, Jenny stared at him with a blank expression.
She agreed with the idea that no one in their right mind would follow an evil god.
But Gilford's line of thinking seemed to be jumping way too far ahead.
Seeing Jenny's weary gaze on him, Gilford asked her.
"What is it?"
"I was just thinking you have a surprisingly naive side, Captain."
"If you can't tell who to trust, you won't last long as a mercenary."
"Still, I see your point. They all seemed like such kind people."
At least, by all appearances, they were simple and kind-hearted people.
To suspect such individuals of being followers of an evil god was a difficult leap to make.
Moreover, the relationships among the people descending the mountain seemed incredibly harmonious.
A peaceful and harmonious cult of an evil god.
Somehow, the words didn't seem to fit together.
It was a huge discrepancy from the image Gilford and Jenny had of the Order.
"Looks like we're almost there."
Gilford, who had been climbing the rough mountain path, said as he spotted a wooden building on the mountainside.
Beyond where Gilford's finger pointed.
There stood a wooden structure with its frame being erected.
It seemed a new building was being constructed, as people were bustling about, working on it.
Thud. Thud.
The sound of the mercenaries' footsteps echoed as they moved past the building under construction.
When Gilford and his party reached the mountainside, they discovered something and let out a collective gasp of admiration.
"This is..."
"Whoa...!"
In front of a cave where numerous people had gathered.
There stood a single angel, spreading its wings and radiating light.
A halo shone brightly above its head.
Pure white wings were spectacularly unfurled behind its back.
Anyone would see the figure as an angel descended from the heavens.
And above all, the angel's dignified grace as it offered a reverent prayer made it impossible for anyone present to doubt Estacia.
"That's... a fallen angel?"
The being standing before the altar looked, by all accounts, like a pure white angel.
No one looking at the pure and divine angel would ever question its identity.
Gilford let out a low groan at the sight of the angel before him.
It was a far cry from the image of a fallen angel he had in his mind.
Jenny, looking at Estacia, asked Gilford in a worried voice.
"Captain. I think something's very wrong here."
Gilford, too, was feeling that something was terribly amiss.
As they drew closer to the praying angel, he felt a surge of vitality, and his wounds began to heal.
This was a phenomenon Gilford had experienced once before.
Only the high priests of the temple, whom one could only meet after making a donation, could perform such miracles.
Even then, their effects were less potent than the miracle emanating from the angel before them.
At the sight of the angel bestowing miracles while scattering brilliant light, Gilford grasped Ascalon at his hip and asked.
"Ascalon. Do all fallen angels look like that?"
- "...It looks like an ordinary angel. It seems it hasn't completely fallen."
"Do you really think that makes any sense right now?"
- "Even so, the fact that this angel is a subordinate of the Evil God does not change."
"..."
- "Leaving this angel be will only allow the Evil God's power to grow. As a Hero, you need only do what you must."
Hearing Ascalon's voice, Gilford furrowed his brow.
Perhaps Gilford's voice, which had echoed during her prayer, had broken her concentration.
Estacia opened one eye and looked at Gilford's party.
And ten seconds later.
Estacia spotted the sword hanging at Gilford's hip and was horrified.
"A-A-Ascalon...!"
Rising to her feet, Estacia stumbled backward at the sight of Ascalon.
At the sight of Estacia jumping up with a loud cry, the people who had been praying all lifted their heads.
Their gazes were all fixed on Gilford's party, who had interrupted the prayer.
The mercenaries looked flustered by the sudden attention of the crowd.
Jenny, feeling the pressure, tugged at Gilford's collar, but he paid her no mind and spoke to Estacia.
"Do you happen to know about this sword?"
"I'm an angel... of course I know about Ascalon."
"Then this will be quick. I am Gilford, captain of the Gilford Mercenary Band. I'd like to have a word with you, just the two of us."
At Gilford's request for a conversation, Estacia tilted her head.
She seemed to understand that Gilford was the Hero who possessed Ascalon.
But she looked as if she didn't understand why she had to talk to him.
"...A word?"
"Yes. If you refuse, I'll have to hear you out by force."
"..."
"..."
"...I don't like talking to strangers."
Click.
At Estacia's declaration, Gilford grasped Ascalon, which was slung at his hip.
It was a warning that he could draw Ascalon if any trouble arose.
Ready to draw Ascalon at any moment, Gilford issued a stern warning to Estacia.
"I believe I made it clear I would listen by force if you refused."
An angel who knew about Ascalon would surely realize Gilford's identity.
That was why Gilford chose to give her a stern warning.
However, the situation around him took a different turn than he had expected.
The moment Gilford gripped Ascalon, the people around them stood up and began to block his path.
Gilford scanned the crowd that was obstructing him with a bewildered look.
"You wicked mercenary... how dare you say such things... to our Lady Angel...!"
Among the crowd that stepped before Gilford was an elderly woman who looked to be of a great age.
With a body that seemed to have difficulty moving, she was blocking Gilford from approaching the angel.
At the sight of the old woman blocking his way, Gilford's hand, which was gripping Ascalon, wavered.
Should I draw the sword, or not?
As he hesitated, Gilford spoke to the old woman.
"You people don't know what that woman is. She is"
"You dare try to harm... our Lady Angel... who heals the sick...?"
"That woman was sent by the Evil God"
"If you want to harm our Lady Angel... you'll have to kill me first...!"
Faced with the old woman's fury, he couldn't bring himself to finish his sentence.
That wasn't the only thing that made Gilford feel strange.
From beside Gilford, who was holding Ascalon, a small child holding a tree branch darted out.
The child had picked up a branch and charged toward Gilford.
Gilford's gaze fell on the child rushing toward him.
"Don't bully our Lady Angel!"
The child who rushed at Gilford strongly poked his side with the branch.
Of course, the branch the child was holding was blocked by Gilford's armor and snapped.
Nevertheless, a sharp pain pierced a corner of Gilford's heart.
Gilford's eyes, fixed on the child, filled with sorrow.
He had come here to carry out his duty as a Hero.
But for some reason, he felt less like a hero and more like a wicked villain.
"Bad man! Don't bully our Lady Angel!"
"...This is insane."
"Go away, bad man! We'll protect our Lady Angel!"
With a deep sigh, Gilford released his hand from Ascalon.
With the sweltering heat, 'that season' had finally arrived.
The weather had gone to such extremes that just opening a door let in a wave of humid air.
Excessively high humidity and temperature.
On top of that, the scorching midsummer sun that greeted me every time I went out.
It had become a season where comfort was impossible without an air conditioner.
That was why I, welcoming the weekend, had turned on the AC and cooped myself up in my room.
"Ah... this is paradise."
Lying on the floor with the air conditioner on, I gazed at the ceiling with a satisfied expression.
What is true happiness?
It's cranking the AC to max and lazing around the house.
The cool breeze from the air conditioner brushed against my cheek, bestowing upon me the greatest happiness.
As I rolled around on the floor with the help of cutting-edge cooling technology, I picked up my smartphone to launch the game.
"Alright then... let's see how much Karma I've racked up today."
Lately, my greatest pleasure was logging into the game every day to check my accumulated Karma.
Thanks to my characters' diligent work, Karma was piling up faster with each passing day.
Tap.
After passing the loading screen and entering the game, I checked my accumulated Karma and saw that the amount had increased significantly since yesterday.
Total accumulated Karma: 1722.
Considering the usual rate at which Karma increased, this was an unbelievably high number.
"...What the. Why is there so much Karma?"
Even thinking back to the Karma I had before going to bed, the figure had nearly doubled.
I had acquired an enormous amount of Karma in just one night.
It was something I couldn't comprehend based on my playing experience so far.
I lowered my gaze to the bottom of the screen to check the message box.
The message box, which I was checking after just one day, displayed far more messages than usual.
Scrolling through and reading the messages one by one, I found that most of them were about Kueberberg.
- Abyssal Beast: Kueberberg has reaped a life.
- Scales of Karma is calculating the causality.
- Karma increased by 28.
- Abyssal Beast: Kueberberg has reaped a life.
- Scales of Karma is calculating the causality.
- Karma increased by 36.
.
.
.
- Scales of Karma is calculating the causality.
- Karma increased by 16.
Checking the displayed messages, I couldn't help but gasp in awe at the sheer volume of notifications.
While I was offline, Kueberberg alone had farmed nearly 1,000 Karma.
Kueberberg alone had earned an amount close to my previous total Karma.
Naturally, most of it was the result of Kueberberg hunting characters.
What on earth had Kueberberg been up to while I was away?
It was a level that didn't make sense unless it had started a war or something.
"Don't tell me it actually fought in a war?"
As I scrolled to the end of Kueberberg's messages, I found a note about the Scales of Karma.
Scales of Karma was a trait that imposed a causality penalty each time I acquired Karma.
It adjusted the game's difficulty in proportion to the massive wealth I was gaining.
Of course, after gaining that much Karma, it was impossible for a causality correction not to occur.
I read the message related to the Scales of Karma at the very bottom of the message box.
- Warning: Excessively biased Karma in one direction has a high probability of causing a Causality Correction.
- The Scales of Karma have tipped.
- A low-level Causality Correction has occurred.
- Due to the Causality Correction, Divine Artifact: Hieroglyph has been partially released.
- Causality Correction Progress: 7
As I expected, the Scales of Karma had initiated a causality correction for the Karma I had just acquired.
The causality correction value had reached 7, an increase of about 3 compared to last time.
Just as the accumulated Karma had suddenly surged, the causality correction value had increased proportionally.
The result of this causality correction was the release of the Divine Artifact: Hieroglyph.
It had a different name from the Divine Artifact: Ascalon I had read about last time, but it was certain that the boss monster had become one step stronger than before.
"It seems manageable for now... but I don't know what the future holds."
In response to the suddenly changed situation, I lifted my smartphone and stared at the screen.
While it wasn't a huge change yet, the game's difficulty was steadily increasing.
A moment might come when I would be frustrated by the game's difficulty and feel the limits of my growth.
When that time comes, how much money will I have poured into this game?
As I was worrying about such things and staring intently at the screen.
A small change occurred on my smartphone's screen.
"What's this now?"
Ting.
With a cheerful notification sound, a new banner appeared at the bottom of the screen.
I widened my eyes and examined the new banner.
The banner contained information about a summer event.
A summer event.
It was an event that most games would run at some point.
And this game's summer event had a groundbreaking offer I had never expected.
- Limited-time event! Use the 10-pull option and receive an additional 10-pull ticket!
- Note The 10-pull ticket can only be claimed once.
It was a 10-pull payback event.
Upon discovering the banner, I tapped the shop button as if possessed.