I Became the Apostle of an Evil God Chapter 19

For reasons unknown, Orma’s mood had completely turned around, and from that moment on, he began plucking out only the most expensive ornaments to adorn Van.

At first, even when draped in intensely flamboyant pieces, Van managed to carry them off flawlessly without looking overdone. However, once the bracelets on his arms numbered past ten and every single finger was fitted with two rings, he couldn’t help but think, ‘Okay, this is getting ridiculous…’

Save for his ears, which narrowly escaped the decoration spree since he and Orma were already sharing a pair of earrings, Van was suddenly glittering from head to toe in all sorts of jewels, looking rather bizarre. At that point, Orma finally burst into a hearty laugh.

“Are you a crow?”

“…Sir Orma, you’re the one who made me look like this.”

“No, no. It’s beautiful, beautiful.”

As if this look is beautiful. Besides, what was the point of constantly calling a guy beautiful anyway…? Was he mimicking what I said earlier about the ring because he wanted to tease me for my lack of vocabulary? Van shot a slight glare at Orma, but he couldn’t bring himself to ruin the deity’s thoroughly delighted, beaming face.

After turning Van into a walking jewelry display case, Orma himself merely grabbed a couple of large magic crystals that happened to be within reach and a sword that caught his eye before marching out of the cave.

The moment they stepped outside into the sunlight, the jewels draped across Van’s body didn’t just sparkle—they flashed brilliantly. Jaena, who was running toward them from afar with an excited face after finishing his tour of the island, caught sight of him, froze, and tightly squeezed his eyes shut. Only after the beastkin started making a massive fuss, yelling, “Suddenly there was a flash! Ah, I can’t see! I think I’ve gone blind, man!” did Van, with a crimson face, frantically begin stripping off the ornaments.

“Hahaha! I feel like I’ve done several hundred years’ worth of laughing today. Hahahahaha!”

Oh god, does it bring you that much joy to make your apostle look like a clown? …Well, as long as he’s laughing, he’s in a good mood. If sacrificing my dignity is what it takes to make my god happy, then so be it…

Trying his best to look on the bright side, Van stuffed the ornaments into their empty food sack. Watching this bizarre spectacle, Gale stared at Van with wide, glittering eyes full of wonder.

“I’ve never seen Orma laugh like that before…”

“…I see.”

I didn’t know I had a talent for comedy either. Slapstick comedy, at that.

While a wave of embarrassment caused Van’s face to stiffen awkwardly, Gale subtly slid over and handed him something. For an item given in secret to avoid being caught by Orma, it looked like a perfectly ordinary, small notebook. When Van tilted his head as if asking what it was, Gale whispered softly.

“If you write in this, it connects to the notebook I have, so I can read it too. Next time, wouldn’t it be better to call me with this instead of that freezing, noisy conch shell?”

“Ah. But why give this to me? Couldn’t you just give it to sir Orma?”

“…Do you honestly think that guy would exchange written notes with me?”

No. Quickly conceding the point, Van accepted the notebook and tucked it into his bag.

“Aside from that, if you ever have anything you’re curious about, feel free to ask me.”

“Curious about…?”

“You know, things about Orma?”

Is that really okay? If I’m curious about something, shouldn’t I just ask the person himself? Even earlier, when asked about his original eye color, Orma had readily answered that it was green.

“Judging by your look, you’re thinking you don’t need it. Haha, how on earth did Orma end up with an apostle like you?”

“I don’t know what you mean by that, but I was the one who approached sir Orma first and asked to become his apostle.”

“…Why?”

You weren’t blackmailed? Gale’s blue eyes shook violently with utter disbelief. Well, his reaction wasn’t entirely incomprehensible, but…

In truth, Van was actually quite curious as to why Orma had so easily agreed to leave hell with him. However, since it felt inappropriate to ask the deity directly, he had just been wondering about it on his own…

Did Gale give him the notebook intending for him to ask about such things? Though it didn’t seem like Gale would know the answer either.

“Ahem, don’t worry, I have no intention of casually blabbing about Orma’s sore spots or things he doesn’t want to talk about. But wouldn’t it be good for you to know what they are when the time comes?”

“You mean one must know where the traps are to avoid them. I understand.”

Van had thought he knew Orma well, but the more he actually met him, talked with him, and spent time by his side, the more he felt a deep sense of disconnect between the broken Orma from the game and the real Orma standing before his eyes. His god was still filled with many fears, worshipped death, and though he appeared stronger and colder than anyone else, he was a fragile and easily broken existence.

To be honest, Van simultaneously wanted and didn’t want to know Orma’s weaknesses. He wanted his god to be majestic, arrogant, and beautiful, yet he also wished that Orma would rely and lean only on him.

Because if not… it felt as though he wouldn’t possess much value to Orma.

“What were you talking about with him? You were badmouthing me, weren’t you?”

Unable to help himself, Orma marched over and glared fiercely back and forth between Van and Gale. Looking exactly like someone interrogating a cheating partner, Van let out a soft chuckle and slowly shook his head. However, Orma demanded an answer once more with a sharp gaze.

“I asked what you were talking about.”

“Hmm, it’s a secret.”

“A secret?”

My apostle has a secret from me… Orma stood completely frozen, staring at Van in utter shock. Faced with a gaze loaded with disbelief that his apostle could do such a thing, Van raised his hand and gently brushed Orma’s hair into place as his response.

“Still, I’m relieved. It seems you haven’t lived your life completely wrongfully without a single friend, sir.”

“What?”

“I’m talking about master Gale. He seems like the type who would fall to ruin right alongside you if you were to fall, sir… Is that really so displeasing to you?”

“I’m not close with him. We just hung around each other a bit since birth.”

“Well, people usually refer to that as a friend.”

In Korea, they would even use the rough expression ‘childhood buddy.’ Did he really want to push away even the friend he had and remain a total loner shut away in the corner of… well, the corner of hell?

Orma huffed and puffed at Van’s words, but he couldn’t deny it any longer. Even to himself, it would probably look weirder to claim that a dragon of the exact same age, who had associated with him since childhood and still lived on his island, wasn’t a friend.

Before Orma could ask again what he had been discussing with Gale, Van offered a bright smile and extended his hand first.

“Shall we head back now?”

“…Yeah.”

As if their visit to that dreamlike place called the sky island had been nothing but an illusion, the moment they stepped back onto the ground, Jaena began whining that he was dying of thirst. The sky island had likely felt like a paradise purely because Orma’s authority shielded it from the calamity.

As the saying goes, things look entirely different going in than coming out; despite having stuffed gold and silver treasures into every nook and cranny, including their food bag, those riches were utterly useless in the face of the scorching heat and stinging sunlight of the surface.

“Just endure it a little longer and we’ll arrive in Siol. There don’t seem to be any villages around here.”

“Uaaagh…”

“If you’re really dying of thirst that much, wouldn’t it be better to just keep your mouth shut?”

“Do you even know what thirst feels like, sir?!”

“I know a thirst to kill you.”

“….”

He always ends up keeping his mouth shut so obediently anyway, so why does he constantly snap back at Orma? Jaena certainly possessed quite a stubborn personality. Then again, Orma’s words weren’t entirely wrong either. If it were me, I wouldn’t even have the energy to talk like that…

Van lightly tuned out the meaningless bickering between Jaena and Orma as he looked down at the increasingly dry path. Being the sanctuary of Banan, the god of water and abundance, Siol was a place known as the city of water. Yet, seeing how the ground was not just cracked but starting to give way to sand, Van grew worried, realizing that the destruction of the world was progressing much faster than he had anticipated.

“We aren’t too far from Siol. Normally, under Banan’s influence, this entire area should be covered in lush greenery, and we should be able to hear the sound of a clear river flowing…”

“There’s none of that, and the scenery has been exactly the same for days, brother.”

“Ah, I get it. Could it be that Banan already couldn’t handle the calamity and dropped dead? Must be nice. I want to know the secret to dying in a god’s body too.”

Of course that pessimist and suicide addict would say that. Watching Orma sincerely wish for Banan’s death while simultaneously envying it, Van slowly shook his head.

And it was at that exact moment.

“Stop right there! Hand over the horses and everything you have, and we’ll spare your lives!”

Against the backdrop of the darkening sky as night approached, a new pack of bandits appeared, shouting triumphantly at Van’s group.

“That bandit has a canteen at his waist, brother. He must have just plundered it!”

“Kill them. Kill those things immediately. I won’t let it slide if you waste time today. Don’t you dare pick up another noisy brat like that again.”

“…Sigh.”

Whether it was Jaena’s throat-burning thirst or Orma’s surging desire for destruction, the appearance of such delicious prey capable of satisfying at least one of those needs caused Van to finally give up. Pointing at the bandits, who were beginning to falter as they noticed something was off, Orma spoke with a wicked smile.

“You know, that thing. Let’s send them to a nice place.”

“A nice place… you say, sir?”

“Yeah. So nice they’ll just drop dead from pure bliss.”

Grinning while sweeping his hand across his neck as if telling him to slit their throats… was this truly a god? And my god, at that. Van swallowed a sigh and responded.

“…I’ll try sending them to heaven.”

“Exactly. You’re finally starting to understand my words.”

Well, if it’s this much, it’s a rather cute command for our evil god. It felt strangely as though he was falling to ruin right alongside him, but it was probably just his imagination, right?

Without a shred of hesitation, Van drew his sword… and began hunting down the bandits, whose faces had turned pale white as they tried to flee.