I Became the Apostle of an Evil God Chapter 17

“W-w-waaaah! Master Van! I, I! I’m flying away, man!”

“Jaena! Agh, gotcha.”

Jaena had lost his balance during the dragon’s grand entrance, and Van managed to catch him in his arms just as he was about to be blown away. Van grit his teeth against the rushing wind, which blew so fiercely he could barely keep his eyes open. Amidst all this chaos, Orma alone stood completely composed, remaining perfectly upright exactly where he was as he stared up at the dragon.

I definitely didn’t expect an entrance like this. Wasn’t it supposed to be Orma’s reliable right hand…?

“Orma! It really is you, Orma!”

“…Can’t you land a bit more quietly?”

“Do you have any idea how much I worried about you after you went and threw yourself into hell?!”

No, judging by its voice, it actually sounded thrilled to see him. Though on Orma’s side, it was clear he didn’t share the sentiment. With an anxious look, as if terrified the dragon might accidentally let something slip, Orma raised his hand and waved it to cut him off. However, the dragon took it as a gesture of welcome and bellowed back in a booming, deeply moved voice.

“You looked for me the absolute moment you stepped outside! Or did you perhaps come outside because you missed me? You missed your friend too, didn’t you?!”

…Friend?

“Who’s your friend? Will you shut the hell up?”

“People who grow up together from birth and get along well are called friends!”

“…Sigh.”

Orma, age 798. Thanks to his clueless dragon friend, his age had been thoroughly exposed.

So that was it!

No wonder. That was exactly why he had been so frantic to ask about his age earlier and demanded to know if there was a sense of distance between them. With a blank face, Van looked up at the dragon, which had now landed softly in front of them as if it hadn’t just been flying like a maniac moments ago.

It was massive and beautiful… In the game, it had been stained pitch-black with madness due to Orma’s influence, but seeing it now, its silver scales were absolutely stunning. It was enough to make him realize exactly why people collected dragon scales or processed them into accessories.

The eyes of both Van and Jaena sparkled with identical awe as they stared at the creature. However, Orma spoke with total indifference, acting as though he didn’t even want to mingle words with the dragon that was so overjoyed to see him.

“We’re going to the sky island, so let us ride on your back.”

“Huh? Why are you suddenly heading to the sky island? What’s the occasion?”

“…It’s a long and complicated story. The humans here are riding with us too.”

“Ohhh! Are we actually allowed to ride on a dragon’s back, brother?”

An opportunity to mount a dragon and fly through the sky! Jaena’s heart thudded rapidly with intense excitement and anticipation. The dragon shot a bewildered look at Van and Jaena, but it lowered its body and thrust its head forward as if telling them to climb on for now. It seemed Orma’s attitude toward it had always been like this; ignoring the dismissive treatment, harsh tone, and curses, the dragon smoothly folded its wings.

Once everyone was finally on board, the dragon attempted to take off—acting with immense caution, completely unlike its reckless landing earlier.

Realizing that the dragon’s nature before being consumed by madness was actually quite gentle and considerate, Van felt a bit complicated. In order to face Orma, the final boss of the game, one absolutely had to defeat the wicked dragon first. In the end, Van too had been forced to kill this dragon. Encountering a being in reality that he had once viewed merely as a difficult mid-boss—a mere gateway to reach the final boss, Orma—brought a strange and lingering wave of ambiguous emotions rushing through Van’s mind.

“Van.”

“…Yes, sir?”

“If you stay like that, you’re going to fall. Hold onto me.”

Told to hold onto him, Van, who had been deeply lost in thought, blindly grabbed the first thing his hands brushed against. It was only after Orma flinched and looked back that Van realized he had wrapped his arms tightly around the deity’s waist. However, before he could even correct his posture, the dragon began flapping its wings, forcing Van to hold Orma in a tight embrace until they finally reached the sky island.

As they cut through the wind and soared upward at a speed that made it impossible to open his eyes, the scorching heat vanished, replaced by a massive rush of cold air. Even though the flight lasted only a brief moment, the sensation of his body being lifted into the air was incredibly vivid. While he had never thought of himself as having a fear of heights, flying without any safety gear was apparently quite terrifying, causing him to unconsciously tighten his grip around Orma. Finding that deeply amusing, Orma let out a small chuckle and murmured as if to himself.

“So there are things you’re afraid of too…”

“…Uh, what did you say, sir?”

Van barely managed to crack one eye open to ask back, but all he could see was the surrounding environment flashing past and Orma’s face smiling down at him. Though the smile vanished in an instant, it was the most natural and gentle expression Van had ever seen on Orma’s face.

Whether it was due to the flight or that particular smile, Van’s heart began to thud wildly, making its presence clearly known. Just as he was blankly thinking that he wanted to see that smiling face again, their flight began to slow down, and the surrounding scenery came into view.

“Whoa! Master Van! Look over there, man!”

Unlike Van, Jaena showed no signs of fear whatsoever and was happily wagging his tail while pointing somewhere.

The golden sand at the very edge of the land was falling endlessly into the gaping void below, while the fallen grains beautifully billowed back up from both sides like fluttering butterflies—a thoroughly mystical sight. Furthermore, clear water erupted like a fountain from a lake right beside it, creating a breathtaking landscape, and the fields boasted a vibrant green color as if the calamity on the ground had absolutely nothing to do with them.

This was undeniably the exact same location as the final battlefield against Orma in the game, yet it evoked an entirely different feeling. Van’s eyes went wide with a pleasant surge of overwhelming emotion brought on by the beautiful scenery. Completely unaware that Orma was intently observing him from the side, Van frantically scanned the area to engrave the sight of the sky island into his memory. Before long, the dragon’s wingbeats slowed, and as if remembering it had passengers on board, it touched down with immense gentleness, completely unlike before.

“…It’s so peaceful and beautiful here, as if the calamity never even happened.”

Van muttered to himself as he climbed down from the dragon’s back and stepped onto the soil of the sky island. After gently placing down the two horses, which had passed out from shock during the sudden flight, the dragon responded to Van’s remark.

“Well, that’s because this is Orma’s domain.”

“Even though it’s so close to the sun, it’s greener than the ground, brother!”

“It might look that way on the surface, but this island was originally given to Orma by the god Banan, so it operates entirely outside of ordinary logic.”

Ah, right, it did. But what exactly was the relationship between Banan and Orma that prompted the gift of such a beautiful and magnificent island? Orma absolutely loathed gods. In the game, Van had never been able to learn the deeper story behind it. As Van tilted his head in curiosity, Orma stepped in with a displeased face and cut the conversation short.

“Stop spouting nonsense, Gale.”

“Let’s see here, Orma! For someone who was cooped up in hell for so long, you look surprisingly intact.”

Activating a short stretch as if finally intending to get a proper look at Orma’s face, the dragon turned its head toward him. Before long, its massive body began to shrink… and transforming into the form of a human male, the dragon rushed over with a bright, beaming face. Proving that his claim of them being friends wasn’t a lie, even though the dragon pestered Orma by inspecting him from head to toe, Orma merely maintained a fierce scowl without offering any real retaliation in word or action.

“It seems the rumors about the dragon being the evil god’s subordinate were a total lie, brother…”

Jaena whispered softly to Van. Well, seeing how it made such a massive fuss and was so thrilled to see Orma, it wasn’t all that surprising that such rumors had started… However, possessing incredibly sharp hearing, the dragon whipped its head around upon catching Jaena’s quiet murmur.

“Who’s a subordinate?! I’m just worried that this guy might lose his mind and cause trouble again!”

“Quiet.”

Orma seemed to find the dragon thoroughly annoying, but when Van recalled the game’s ending—where the creature had stayed by his side until it was ultimately consumed by his madness—he knew the dragon’s friendship was genuine. Once the dragon finished its inspection of Orma, it promptly approached Van and Jaena.

The dragon’s human form—boasting a beautiful harmony of silver hair that perfectly matched its scales and piercing bright blue eyes—was incredibly handsome, but its wide, grinning face made it painfully obvious that it possessed a rather mischievous streak. The dragon lightly scanned Jaena and Van once before tilting its head.

“Well, wonders never cease. To think Orma is dragging humans around with him.”

“You’ve been acting like you know everything about me since earlier, but I told you to stop spouting nonsense.”

“But it’s true. Ever since you were thoroughly tricked by Herna…”

Herna—it was a deeply familiar name. The playable character in the game, and currently Van’s ancestor, Holy Maiden Herna, was once the evil god’s lover, but she had ultimately betrayed him. That was precisely why the game’s version of Orma would mutter, “Disgusting bloodline…” the absolute moment he encountered the player. It was a name that Van had completely forgotten about ever since meeting Orma.

…Right, Orma used to have a lover. Even though she had ultimately betrayed him, Van somehow couldn’t quite picture Orma tenderly whispering sweet words of love to someone. And as he continued to chew on the thought, a sudden realization struck him: what if he, a descendant of Herna, bore a striking resemblance to her? What if that was the entire reason Orma had been so uniquely lenient with him?

…Ugh, why does that thought make me feel so irritated?