I Became the Apostle of an Evil God Chapter 23

While Van was quietly pondering the events of yesterday, Gale kindly began to explain about the Amusement of the Gods through the notebook.

—The Amusement of the Gods means exactly what it sounds like: a god forgets all of their memories as a deity and is born as an ordinary human.

—So that is why Sir Orma was originally a human.

—Correct. Once they meet their death, a god returns to their original place and treats the human life they lived during the amusement as nothing more than a single dream.

Loving someone in a dream, hating someone, or even having a child born to you—in the end, it is just a dream. Therefore, even if Banan were to give birth to a child during her amusement… that child would be a human child, not the child of the ‘god’ Banan. It made sense logically, but even so, Van did not like the fact that she kept showing her face in front of Orma.

She should have just lived as a complete stranger. If they were going to be cold and distant, why did she keep giving him gifts, calling it an inheritance or whatever… and why was she acting all friendly and offering to bestow a blessing on him when she clearly knew he was Orma’s apostle?

Van chewed his lip with a sullen face. However, he couldn’t help but gasp at Gale’s subsequent words.

—It’s common enough for a god to have children during their amusement… but Orma’s case is a bit more peculiar. In Orma’s case, his father was also a god undergoing an amusement.

—His father too… you say?

—That side is peculiar in its own right. Even after returning to being a god, he was concerned about the young Orma, so he looked for a place for him to stay.

Van chewed over the details Gale shared.

Though the father’s side had supposedly shown a somewhat gentle response toward Orma, in the end, there was no significant mention of him in the game either, so he likely hadn’t fulfilled the role of a conventional parent. Besides, the Amusement of the Gods ends ‘when they die.’ Yet if he had said he was concerned about the ‘young’ Orma… it seemed the life he tasted in a human body hadn’t been very long.

And was it really a good thing that he showed interest in Orma even after returning to being a god? Considering the nature of gods, they ultimately wouldn’t have understood humans, so there might have been friction.

Of course, since Van had been born an orphan in this life as well as his past life, he didn’t really know what it was like to have parents. Not having had a child himself, he didn’t know what a proper parent or a good parent was like either… but whatever the case, it was certain that the current Banan was a being who wasn’t of much help to Orma.

Anyway, to think his father was also a god undergoing an amusement…. Then, between Serca and Muhwi, which one was it? Although he couldn’t explain the reason, Van felt a conviction close to certainty that one of the two must be the father, and penned down a question in the notebook.

—By any chance, the god who was his father is….

“What are you writing so diligently?”

Startled by Orma’s suddenly heard voice, Van snapped his head up. Orma, who had apparently washed up in the meantime, was looking down at him with slightly damp hair. Van hurriedly closed the notebook, jumped to his feet, and approached him. At his demeanor of checking to see if he had inflicted wounds on himself again, Orma merely let out a smirk. Fortunately, the areas Van had treated were left untouched and had almost completely recovered, and there were no additional wounds inflicted.

“…Are you alright?”

Not knowing what to say, he hesitated before barely managing to ask, but Orma simply smiled and shrugged his shoulders as if found it amusing. Whether he had already forgotten the embarrassing situation from earlier, he led Van outside by the hand with an unfazed face.

“Where are we going?”

“You said we’re going to the sanctuary today.”

“That’s true, but… will you be alright going there?”

“And if not? Were you planning to leave me behind and go? What are you going to do going alone? Get a blessing from Banan or something?”

Of course, he had absolutely no intention of doing that, so Van shook his head violently. Even so, Orma grumbled and led Van to a secluded corner on the first floor of the inn, seating him at an empty table.

“Bestowing a blessing on someone else’s apostle as she pleases, or not….”

“But why are we suddenly here….”

“You didn’t eat yesterday either. What about breakfast?”

Right after returning, he hadn’t even been able to eat dinner because he was putting the rampaging Orma to sleep and ended up falling asleep alongside him. Only then did Van realize he was hungry and ordered food with an awkward face. Until the food arrived, Van carefully examined Orma’s face. His countenance seemed to look a bit peaceful, just like before they came to Siol, but….

“…Why are you looking at me like that? If you have something to say, say it.”

“If we go to the sanctuary today, you’ll run into the god Banan. Will you really be alright?”

“Yeah. It’s actually for the better. I’ll take this opportunity to give her a stern warning to never covet another person’s apostle again.”

Orma replied playfully and pulled his hood down low, not even caring about his damp hair. Only Van, sitting across from him, could see Orma’s bright golden eyes. Suddenly, the image of Orma just before running rampant yesterday crossed his mind.

The god’s authority leaking out like shimmering haze had been momentarily terrifying… but it was also beautiful. Of course, considering Orma, it was a statement he would absolutely never utter aloud.

“When I’m with you, I keep….”

“Yes?”

“I keep remembering the past.”

“If you mean the past, which one?”

“…Just, the past. The kind of things that start with ‘Once upon a time…’ like in a fairy tale book.”

If it’s a fairy tale book, it usually targets children to teach a lesson about rewarding virtue and punishing vice… No, it didn’t seem like Orma was enduring such embarrassment just to say something like that. Van looked at Orma with wide eyes, and suddenly recalled his age which he had come to know.

Right, perhaps he was talking about his childhood. Thinking that way, he felt like he understood a little bit of what Orma was trying to say. Wasn’t Orma longing for the days when he was just an ordinary human? Even if it was due to a skill, I am the only existence who can bring ‘humanity’ to Orma.

Once his thoughts reached that point, Van became a bit more ambitious. If he didn’t just stop at sleeping but expanded the scope of more human activities, wouldn’t he be able to reduce the instances of Orma self-harming and running rampant like that?

“…What are you doing?”

“Please try some. It’s tastier than you’d think.”

Van cut the chicken platter, which had been served steaming hot, into bite-sized pieces and offered it to Orma. With a disgruntled face, Orma looked back and forth between Van and the food brought close to his mouth, before finally opening his mouth and taking a bite. However, judging by his stiffened face, it didn’t seem to have much effect.

“Is it not to your liking? Then this potato is seasoned better than you’d think.”

“…It’s, fine. I’m talking right now.”

While grumbling, Orma still ate it for him. Making it blatantly obvious that he was forcing himself to eat, the furrow between his brows, bunched up as if he were chewing on iron rebars, showed no signs of relaxing. Is eating a failure, then….

“Perhaps food made by a very famous chef might be alright.”

When Van showed a downcast look of disappointment, Orma didn’t know what to do and barely managed to reply.

“…I seriously don’t know what kind of thoughts are going through your head.”

“Isn’t appetite a basic human desire? After the desire to sleep comes the desire to eat.”

“I’m tearfully grateful for that, but I originally didn’t have much interest in eating anyway.”

“Then what about?”

“…What do you mean, ‘then what about’?”

“What were you interested in back when you were a normal human?”

“Hmm… well….”

As if he had never thought about it even once, Orma fell into deep thought with his arms crossed. Well, seeing how he had lived with treasures of astronomical value casually piled up, it seemed he didn’t have much interest in wealth either. Since he hadn’t blinked an eye or expressed any sense of grievance even while framed for all sorts of things, he didn’t seem interested in honor either.

In that instant, what happened this morning suddenly flashed through Van’s mind. Uh… he seemed perfectly healthy down there. Of course he had never seen it properly, but even what was fleetingly felt was quite magnificent… and seeing it function properly in the morning, would it be possible for him to carry on his lineage?

“By any chance, what about sexual desire….”

“What?”

The flustered Orma’s voice grew louder. He looked as if he was even doubting whether he had heard correctly just now. Though it was embarrassing, Van stubbornly looked Orma right in the eye and spoke.

“As humans are beings who possess an appetite, a desire to sleep, and a sexual desire….”

“Won’t you quiet down?”

“I mean… it is, possible for you, isn’t it?”

At the aggressive question, Orma hurriedly scanned his surroundings. He was worried to the point of fearing that the damn beastman brat might hear, get a sparkle in his eyes, and join in on the teasing. Besides, he didn’t even know how to answer. He had barely managed to forget that embarrassing situation from the morning…. Feeling somewhat wronged, the panting Orma managed to reply in a tiny, crawling voice.

“Today… was the first time.”

“Pardon?”

He had only asked back because he didn’t understand what it meant, but Orma squeezed his eyes shut. Since he looked so embarrassed that it felt mean to ask any further, Van ultimately had no choice but to interpret it on his own.

Today was the first time? If so, before meeting Van, had Orma been unable to sleep, had no need to eat, and had that place… not functioned either? But hadn’t I felt the grandeur of that place today? …Aha! So that means that place reacted for the very first time today!

Van, having realized something, grabbed both of Orma’s hands with a solemn gaze and spoke strictly, like a urologist.

“If that’s the case… it might be possible tomorrow, and the day after that too.”

“Be quiet.”

“I don’t know about the practical utility, but for now, the fact that there is a reaction is what’s important….”

“I told you to shut up.”

“Let’s make an effort together! Then next time, your appetite might even be stimulated!”

“Ha….”

Make what kind of effort together. In the end, Orma buried his face in both hands, completely hiding his expression. The god, thoroughly violated by his apostle, let out gloomy sighs repeatedly just like yesterday.