I Became the Apostle of an Evil God Chapter 21

It felt like being possessed by something. Van realized he must have a blank, stupid look on his face, but he couldn’t help standing there dazed for a long time at the spot where Banan had disappeared.

‘…He could’ve at least told me the directions before leaving.’

Anyway, should I tell Orma honestly that I met Banan? It felt strange, but he didn’t really want to. Just mentioning Banan’s name made him so weak and depressed, so why should I bother annoying him further?

Of course, Banan seemed to look favorably upon Orma, but Van believed there was a reason why Orma jumped like that at the mere mention of that god’s name. It was odd for an apostle to not side with his own god, but instead get swayed just because another god offered a blessing. Van shook his head to clear his mind, asked someone else for directions, and headed to the jewelry shop.

“…Where did you get these jewels?”

“They’re an acquaintance’s inheritance. I was entrusted with disposing of them.”

The jeweler examined the gems Van brought meticulously and strictly, then asked while observing Van with a sharp gaze. If the jeweler thought he stole them because of Van’s simple attire, it couldn’t be helped, but there was no way a certificate of authenticity existed in this world. After finishing the appraisal, the jeweler let out a small sigh and spoke with a troubled face.

“To be honest with you, I can only pay the proper price for one of these.”

“What? Are you saying the rest aren’t worth much?”

That couldn’t be. Even if they had been piling up like dust for hundreds of years on the Sky Island, every single one of them should be precious and expensive. Orma and Gale wouldn’t have bothered bringing fake or low-quality jewels there. Seeing the flustered Van, the elderly jeweler shook his head.

“Take this ruby-encrusted crown, for example. I’ve checked it several times, and I’m certain it’s a treasure from the ancient Kingdom of Daylon.”

“An ancient… kingdom?”

“Yes. It’s not just a piece of jewelry set with gems; it appears to be an artifact from an ancient era. In cases like this, the value goes up significantly, and considering how excellent the condition is despite the passage of time, it must have been preserved with great care. I don’t know how you came to dispose of these, but…”

So, it meant that they were so expensive that he could only afford to pay ‘properly’ for one. Van recalled the mountain of jewels—no, artifacts—piled up there and slowly nodded with a pale face. Still, he was grateful that the jeweler was conscientious enough to tell him honestly. Even to his untrained eye, the price seemed like it would be astronomical, so he had thought about walking out without looking back if the jeweler tried to rip him off too badly, but to think they were far more expensive than that.

“So, about how much would this crown be?”

“Let’s see…”

With a cautious expression, the jeweler turned around and opened a massive safe behind him. Inside the briefly glimpsed safe, an enormous amount of gold bars were stacked in neat, full rows. There are that many gold bars, and you can still only buy one?

“…What do you think, can you carry all these gold bars with you?”

“What?”

…All of them? Van blinked blankly, wondering if he had heard correctly, and ultimately gasped at the jeweler’s following words.

“I see, it might actually be easier for you to take the safe itself. Haha, if we include the price of the safe, the value should match up reasonably well.”

“No, no. It’s fine. Um… it’s a bit difficult for me to take those gold bars right now, so I’ll visit again later.”

Leaving only those words, Van gathered the jewels he brought and left in a hurry. Whether he took the gold bars or the safe itself, a cart would be necessary either way, and there was no way he would have such a thing while traveling.

Moreover, calling it a disposal was one thing, but dealing with such a massive amount of gold bars meant going through the annoying process of converting them into money again. To think the problem would be that the jewels were too expensive.

Ultimately, Van had no choice but to trudge back to the inn, having wasted time without achieving a single one of his original goals, whether it was checking on Siol’s situation or disposing of the jewels.

“Sir Orma, I’m back.”

“So I was eating food with Mr. Van, and back then, he said… Ah! Mr. Van!”

What Van saw upon opening the door was Orma lying on a spacious bed, closing his eyes with a fatigued look, letting Jaena’s chattering fly in one ear and out the other. Jaena’s persistence in talking continuously despite being ignored like that was also quite impressive. Van had lightly thought of him as having a cute impression, but it seemed Jaena was actually very strong-willed.

Meanwhile, the moment Van appeared, Orma snapped his eyes open as if a savior he had been waiting for a very long time had finally arrived. It was clear at a glance that he had suffered a lot from Jaena while Van was away, so Van awkwardly pulled the corners of his mouth up and chided Jaena.

“Mr. Jaena, you shouldn’t bother Sir Orma.”

“I was just talking about what happened with Mr. Van!”

“Van, why are you so late.”

“Um… I thought I came back quickly, though.”

“No, you’re late. I’ve had all my energy drained by him just now.”

Yet you managed not to kick him out of the room and kept him around. Van smiled slightly and quickly sent Jaena out by saying it was about time for a meal so he should go eat. Perhaps because the inn’s food was quite to his liking, Jaena immediately slipped out of the room, and the room became instantly quiet as if it had never been so noisy.

“Aren’t you going to eat?”

“I can eat a bit later. More importantly, Sir Orma, today…”

Before Van could even finish speaking, Orma’s golden eyes sharpened, and he abruptly got up from the bed and approached Van. Then, raising his hand, he fiddled with the earring pierced in Van’s ear—the matching one they shared—and pulled off something bluish and transparent. Orma’s face, which had just been merely lacking energy a moment ago, instantly filled with fierceness. Scanning Van up and down with sharp, piercing eyes, Orma smiled savagely.

“Did you meet Banan?”

“…Yes.”

“What did you do with Banan to come back with something like this attached to you?”

He didn’t know what ‘something like this’ was… but it seemed enough to sour Orma’s mood. While bewildered by the sudden interrogation and Orma’s anger, Van calmly and briefly explained what had happened today.

From the mention that the woman he met while trying to ask for directions seemed to be Banan, to the story that she told him to come find her at the sanctuary tomorrow with Orma, and even the remark that she would bestow a blessing upon him.

Listening quietly to the continuing words, Orma murmured with a completely blank expression.

“Banan…”

“Sir Orma? Are you alright?”

“Banan, Banan, Banan…”

Even so, he hadn’t expected such a violent reaction. Orma’s emotions fluctuated so wildly that Van was afraid to ask what had happened between him and Banan. Banan herself had actually seemed to like Orma quite a bit, but even though they hadn’t met face-to-face, Orma began to grow severely anxious.

“Ah, Banan… The wine of the gods…”

Anxious as if being chased by something, he bit his lips repeatedly, and his golden eyes, far from just sparkling, began to surge like sudden waves crashing into a calm sea. Furthermore, the shadow that grew feeding on Orma’s fear gradually became distinct, expanding enough to fill the entire room. All of it looked exactly like the precursor to a frenzy that would begin right after choosing the option to ‘save’ in the game.

“Are you alright, Sir Orma?”

“…”

The flustered Van carefully grabbed Orma’s arm, but Orma already seemed unable to hear. The shadows spilling from Orma covered the entire room in an instant and even flowed outside, provoking screams from people, but their final destination was ultimately Orma himself.

Having forged the shadows like spears and swords sharpened again and again to boast a chillingly keen edge, Orma began to slash and stab himself with them without hesitation. Very savagely and violently. Recalling his past self from that day, who had struggled in disbelief even while knowing that doing this wouldn’t allow him to die. Highly excited by the command to attack, the darkness greedily swallowed the blood spurting from its master, yet as if that wasn’t enough, it kept burrowing into his flesh.

A golden shroud wrapped around him incongruously. In an instant, a divine yet bizarre and chilling atmosphere completely enveloped the room. Only after hearing the gruesome sound of blood spurting and flesh being cut open did Van realize that his god had begun to self-harm, and he hurriedly hugged Orma.

“Sir Orma!”

At that, the darkness that had been attacking itself without hesitation hesitated. Trembling at the fact that a warm heat, which hadn’t existed on that day, had fearlessly and desperately grabbed him, Orma spoke in a shaking voice.

“…Move.”

“What in the world are you suddenly doing?”

“I need to see blood to snap out of it. So pull away.”

“What on earth does that mean, please?”

“Look at this, Van. Look at what my body is like right now.”

Even as Van appealed with a sad and sorrowful face, Orma’s surging madness showed no signs of stopping. With a bizarre face, as if forcing a smile, Orma displayed his bleeding and wounded body.

As if it had never been wounded like that, the divine golden shroud was mending the flesh of its own accord. Golden threads stitched the slashed and severed flesh, and golden pools filled the hollowed-out wounds in place of flesh. Even now, it was only because he inflicted the wounds using his own authority that he managed to see blood; if it had been an ordinary weapon, it would have healed in no time as if nothing had happened.

Orma absolutely loathed himself for being like this. It was always like this whenever he got entangled with the existence of a god. Why did it always turn out this way? Only by constantly drawing blood and creating pain could he finally remind himself that he was not yet a complete god.

A living and breathing being, a finite being, the end, ruin, death… Isn’t it natural for an absolute being to pursue and yearn for what they do not possess?

But Van was different. Though he didn’t die either, similar to himself, he didn’t need to do this kind of crazy shit, and above all, blood spurting and staining that fair face didn’t suit him at all. Even when he wasn’t in his right mind, hadn’t he killed Van and then failed to wipe the blood that splattered on that face? It must have been because he didn’t like it even amidst all that.

So… the thought crossed Orma’s mind that he wished Van wouldn’t fall into the abyss with him. This guy didn’t even need to be like this by getting involved with me. He shouldn’t have to know this kind of wretchedness. Orma weakly pushed Van away, then quickly withdrew his hand as if it were filthy muck.

“…There are other ways too, aren’t there?”

Van, who had been blankly holding Orma tightly and looking up at him, spoke in a slightly desperate voice. And before Orma could respond in any way, Van pulled him toward the bed with a bit more force. With swift movements, Van roughly stripped off the outer coat that was soaked drenched in blood and laid Orma down on the bed.

Since Orma couldn’t help but become helpless whenever Van’s touch reached him, he was just blinking his eyes quietly. The darkness, which had been watching for an opportunity to strike its master, eventually withered away and slumped limply on the floor.

“If you sleep, it’ll get better. When you wake up from a sleep, that anxiety will have disappeared.”

“…If I sleep.”

“Yes. Can a god sleep too?”

“No.”

“That’s why.”

Van forced a smile, lay down beside him, hugged Orma, and patted his back. Judging by the slight trembling of his hands, Van must have been very startled too… In the end, the god relented, pretending to give in to his apostle who was trying his hardest to put him to sleep.

The wounds remaining across his body throbbed, generating a hot pain. It hurts. He still felt like a living being.

His relieved eyes gradually closed, and Orma fell asleep, intoxicated by the comfort and warmth provided by Van in his arms.