Episode 147

“Hero?”

Latera cautiously spoke to Shiron. She was eager to leave this place, yet he seemed to have no intention of doing so, merely staring intently at the pillar of light.

“Hero?”

“…”

Contrary to her wishes, Shiron remained silent, ignoring her repeated calls. He squinted his eyes as if lost in thought, stroking his chin and rolling his tongue in his mouth.

“When are we going to leave? We are leaving, right? Right?”

Growing tired of his silence, Latera tugged at the hem of Shiron’s clothes.

“Please answer me.”

“…Wait. I’m thinking.”

“What is making you think for such a long time?”

“Why did those bastards threaten self-harm?”

“…Threats?”

Latera blinked her wide eyes and tilted her head in confusion.

“Did something happen outside? Did people try to stop us from entering Brahham or something?”

“It’s not that. They were actually kind enough to escort us and even treated us to dinner for free.”

Incomprehensible words.

Latera tilted her head again, puzzled. From Shiron’s expression and tone, it was clear that something had occurred outside, but his words did not seem to match up.

Shiron continued, inserting his hand into the pillar of light.

“It’s complicated to explain. If you’re really curious, try reading my thoughts.”

“…Don’t you dislike it when I peek into your mind? I don’t want to do something you dislike…”

“I can’t seem to properly articulate my thoughts either.”

Shiron observed his hand after withdrawing it from the light pillar. Despite only briefly inserting and removing his hand, a thick, soup-like holiness clung to it.

“I feel like the ones who invaded here and the ones who treated me to food and personally escorted me to the hotel are on the same side.”

“Hmm…”

“They even said that as long as I don’t do anything unnecessary, their paradise, where they can live well among themselves, won’t crumble.”

Shiron pondered once more.

The fact that everyone in Brahham could use divine power since the invaders arrived, and that Kyrie’s body was further desecrated, was unsettling.

Putting these facts together, it was convincing enough to believe that the upper echelons of Brahham had schemed and executed something sinister.

Harboring unpleasant feelings, Shiron turned his gaze to Latera.

“What if you leave here, will this light pillar turn off?”

“There’s no chance of that happening. This light pillar has been emanating before I even existed here.”

“If you leave, who will manage the Hero’s Abode? What if the invaders continue to try to enter?”

“Don’t worry! If I leave this place, I’ll block the way so that no one can come here.”

Latera confidently patted her chest, her eyes lighting up.

“The reason invaders could come here was that I slightly loosened the firewall to allow the Hero, who had not yet arrived. But now that I’m leaving with the Hero, there’s no need to leave a backdoor for anyone to enter.”

“Then, will this light pillar be cut off in the middle?”

“No, that won’t happen.”

“Why?”

“I can’t give a definitive answer… but I do know what role this light pillar plays.”

Latera blinked and raised her head.

“This light pillar served as a guide for the Hero, but it also prevented even apostles and demon gods from approaching. Well, I heard it from my senior, so I can’t prove it’s true.”

“So, the external function of the light pillar remains the same, whether you leave or not?”

“…Right?”

Latera looked at Shiron thoughtfully and replied a bit late. She started to worry if she had said something wrong as his face had been distorting more and more.

“It’s not because of you.”

As if to alleviate Latera’s worries, Shiron patted her shoulder and exhaled a hot breath. Yet, his expression management seemed off.

‘That bastard. In the end, whether Latera leaves or Brahham collapses, it had nothing to do with him?’

Summarizing Latera’s claims, even if she leaves, the light protecting the Hero’s house will not cease. The fact that Kyrie’s body was being used as fuel stirred unpleasant emotions, yet he had to reluctantly accept it as unavoidable.

What mattered was that Asad, or those behind him in Brahham’s hierarchy, were making a fuss over something that wouldn’t happen, thereby intimidating Shiron.

‘Talking nonsense about revelations and making people uneasy.’

Lucia, who had been confident when she first met Asad, had lost that demeanor on the way back to the hotel. The worry that what she was about to do might be wrong made her say things she didn’t mean, making her appear pitiable to those around her.

‘I have to mess with those bastards to comfortably stretch out and sleep in the future.’

Shiron thought it was unfortunate to comply with the prophecy, considering it a superstition, but it was inevitable. Wasn’t a prophecy supposed to come true somehow?

Shiron smirked as he rummaged through his clothes. He had confirmed five years ago that he could retrieve stored items here.

“Latera.”

“Yes, Hero.”

“Are you reading my thoughts now?”

“Why do you keep provoking me… I told you I’m not.”

“It would be better if you did.”

Shiron took several jars of oil from his clothes.

“Then don’t interfere with what I’m going to do.”

Clunk!

The glass coffin holding the body was roughly opened. Gloop-gloop- Thick, slippery oil was poured over the pale corpse.

“What are you doing right now?”

“Following the Lord’s prophecy. I don’t believe or like superstitions, but prophecy seems to be more effective than I thought.”

Shiron took Latera and Seira about ten steps back. Latera was dragged along, her face full of question marks.

Then, Shiron lit a match. The spark from his hand reached the corpse.

Whoosh!

The entire glass coffin was engulfed in flames.

“Huh?”

Latera, as if hanging in mid-air, swiftly turned her head. There, Shiron was making a bitter smile with his eyes narrowed.

“It’s better than being used by those shitty guys… Kyrie would have wanted this.”

Shiron worried that Kyrie’s overwhelming abilities might render this ineffective, but fortunately, that was not the case. He blankly watched until the light pillar disappeared.

“Let’s go.”

The Desert Kingdom of Daviard.

In this land, mostly desert, the night was busier than in any other country.

The dry temperature that parched the mouth continues until sunset, making it difficult to carry out activities during the day. Some say that magic could lower the temperature, but even with magic’s existence, the population that could use it was significantly low.

At best, one in five, but in Daviard, due to poor educational fervor, it’s much less.

However, that wasn’t the case with divine power.

Limited to Brahham, divine power could be sufficiently utilized in daily life by each individual without talent, just as much as magic. It could heal minor wounds, and the light emitted from churches replaced expensive ether to illuminate the streets at night.

For this reason, education, administration, transportation… tasks requiring human resources were carried out after sunset, and the foreign affairs delegation, which acted as the link between Daviard and Rien, was no different in its work environment.

“Hmm…”

Raehan Karam, a second-grade foreign affairs officer of the delegation, sat at his assigned desk looking at the newly distributed official documents.

[Progress on church expansion this year and road construction plans for the year after next]

[Official document on demands related to ether import and export]

The provincial office managed all administrative tasks in Brahham. The documents from there were too thick to grasp in a day, but they could be summarized into simple numbers and symbols.

[Churches expected to increase from 1204 to 1232]

[Plan to reduce dependence on ether from 34% to 31%]

‘It’s decreased again this year…’

Raehan organized the documents he was flipping through and sipped on his palm tea.

The increase in churches and the forecast of reduced imports of ether, a fuel entirely imported from abroad, would be welcomed by most citizens of Brahham. However, Raehan, while a citizen of Brahham, was not entirely at ease.

After all, Raehan worked at the foreign affairs delegation, responsible for the liaison role between Rien and Daviard.

As the dependence on resources from Rien, which produces most of the ether consumed on the continent, increases, the importance of Raehan’s work becomes self-evident. And if it continued to decrease, Raehan would lose his job.

This was clearly not good for Raehan.

While most residents of Brahham, who did not worry about their livelihood, might not care much about the existence of jobs, Raehan was different.

He took great pride and felt a sense of accomplishment in his work.

‘It won’t be long before I’m naturally kicked out at this rate.’

Raehan sighed and looked at the seat next to him. Just a year ago, a colleague who worked with Raehan occupied that now-empty seat. He rejoiced at being freed from labor, but Raehan did not wish for a life completely sustained by the state.

Bang!

Bang bang bang!

Was it while he was pondering self-realization? A loud noise came from outside.

“…What was that sound?”

“Who knows? A fight maybe?”

The office was in turmoil. Employees who were working rushed out in groups, and Raehan, joining them, leaned out the window.

There was static darkness, yet also tumult and confusion.

The sound of iron boots hitting the stone floor was heading somewhere.

Raehan moved his head in the direction of the fading sound. There, unlike the darkened streets, a building shone brightly like a cluster of stars.