I Became the Apostle of an Evil God Chapter 26

“Ahem. Once upon a time, there lived a very arrogant and greedy king! The king piled up countless fortunes of gold in his palace, but even then it wasn’t enough, so he constantly eyed other people’s belongings. Then one day, the king learned about a demon who possessed an incredible treasure.

“…What does this story have to do with me?”

“Just listen!”

Anyway, the king proposed a wager to the demon. If the demon could survive for a week inside the divine flames blooming from the temple of the god Muhwi, the demon would win and take all of the king’s treasure. But if the demon failed to survive….”

“The king must have intended to take all of the demon’s treasure. Thinking the demon would die.”

“Exactly! As expected, you catch on quick, Mr. Van.”

At any rate, the demon accepted the wager with the king, walked into the divine flames on his own two feet, and began to let his body burn. The king grinned, thinking he had both eradicated the demon and laid his hands on an immense treasure.

But lo and behold, wasn’t that demon still alive even after a week? It is said he walked right out of the blazing flames completely unfazed and sneered, “Boring. Hell was better.”

“…Is that by any chance my story? Am I the demon?”

“You’re quick-witted, sir.”

“It’s not about being quick-witted, it’s something I actually went through!”

Ahem, anyway, the king lost the wager with the demon, but he refused to accept defeat and instead framed the demon, driving him into a corner by claiming the demon had used tricks and deceit. What’s more, goodness gracious! The demon’s true identity was none other than a sinner who had coveted the power of a god, a broken and crazed hero!

“Do you want to die?”

No, I am just saying that is how the story was passed down…. Orma, don’t think of the story your believer is telling you as your own, just listen to it as it is!

Anyway, the king immediately bound the demon and extradited him to the temple of Serca, holding a divine trial at the temple to lock the demon away in hell, and so the incident seemed to draw to a close.

“What happened after that? I wouldn’t know.”

Well, since you were locked away in hell, Orma, of course you wouldn’t know! Anyway, right from here is the important part!

The king was grinning, intending to take the demon’s property in its entirety. But suddenly, the iron mace of the god Muhwi came flying down, and wasn’t a divine punishment delivered?

“…What?”

Since Muhwi had been watching the entire wager between the king and the demon, he declared that for a fair result, he would take all of the king’s property on behalf of the demon. It is said he strictly commanded that on the day the demon returns to the surface, he would return the king’s treasure to the demon.

From that day on, that kingdom fell, and the royal palace where the king had piled up gold became the temple of the god Muhwi today!

“I have heard that story before as well. The god Muhwi governs etiquette, promises, and contracts in addition to martial arts, after all. Since he has a very strict disposition, perhaps that’s why such a story was passed down?”

“But how does that translate into the story that Muhwi is my father?”

“…Isn’t Muhwi the god of fire? So people speculated that there might be a connection due to the fact that the demon walked out alive even from the blazing divine flames, and that he suddenly intervened in the demon’s business.”

“Nonsense should at least have its limits….”

Orma grumbled, but Van stole a glance at Jaena with an ambiguous smile.

Jaena’s hometown, the region where many beastmen lived gathered together, was close to ‘Yeoru,’ where Muhwi’s temple was located. The beastmen were generally bellicose, hunted by instinct, and worshipped martial arts, so in many ways, they were deeply connected to the things Muhwi governed. Since most of them would believe in and follow Muhwi, it wasn’t strange for such a legend to be passed down, but….

If there was a problem, it was that Orma’s father really did seem to be Muhwi. The story Jaena just shared seemed to refer to that brief anecdote of ‘trying all sorts of things because he wanted to die’ from when Van conversed with Gale through writing, and judging by Orma’s reaction, it seemed to be a real event that actually happened.

If so, it must also be true that Muhwi intervened in Orma’s business. Of course, Orma’s father would strictly be Muhwi from back when he traveled around playing his amusement as a human, not a god, but seeing how Orma brought up that name provocatively in front of Banan earlier, saying they could just burn everything down completely, they seemed to have a relationship just as complicated and peculiar as the one with Banan.

“Pfft, then you tell me, Sir Orma.”

“What?”

“About your father, sir! So that strange stories don’t get created.”

“…I don’t know.”

“How can that be!”

“He died before I was born, so I don’t know!”

“…Ah, was that the case?”

Jaena’s attitude quickly shifted and became submissive. Orma, who had clenched his fists because the awkwardly smiling face was exasperating, lost his strength and turned his head away when he saw the face of Van, who was quietly staring at him with a peaceful expression.

“Would you like to go inside and rest now? You must be tired because there were many things to make your nerves sharp today.”

“As if I could ever get tired. You keep treating me like glass, but you should look after yourself instead.”

“Hmm… I am not tired at all. Rather, since I feel like I finally have some spare time after a while, I am thinking it might be a good idea to exert my body for an hour or so to work up a sweat.”

Ever since彼は reincarnated here and entered the temple, he had never skipped swordsmanship training, but after starting the journey, he was feeling regretful because he could rarely find the time. However, at Van’s words, Orma scrutinized him thoroughly with a peculiar face before speaking.

“You… when did you find out that you resurrect even if you die?”

“Ever since I was young.”

It was an embarrassing thing, but at first, he couldn’t believe he had reincarnated into this world and merely considered it a dream. It must have been when he was six or seven years old. One day, while thinking, ‘Why am I not waking up from the dream?’

Van thought that perhaps if he died, he would wake up from the dream. The thought quickly led to action.

He stole a kitchen knife from the temple kitchen and stabbed his own heart without hesitation. He knew the location of the vital point well, but because he was still young and lacked physical strength, it didn’t lead to instant death.

…He did remember it being quite painful. Seeing how he died only after some time had passed, the cause of death seemed to be excessive bleeding, but even so, Van failed to wake up from the dream and return to his original world.

Instead, a system message appeared, presenting an option asking if he would resurrect. Was he still trapped inside the game world? While feeling flustered, he ultimately pressed ‘Yes’ to accept the resurrection. Because he was curious if he would really revive. And the body that came back to life that way was perfectly fine, as if nothing had happened.

Van went to a stream, immersed his body which was drenched in his own blood, and then fooled the priests by saying he had fallen into the water. That night, when no one knew that he had died and come back to life, Van buried his face in the pillow of his bed and accepted it. That he couldn’t escape from this world through death.

Perhaps the only way to leave this place… was Orma? From the very beginning, all of this might have happened because he chose the option to save Orma.

So… Orma, to Orma….

Van began to stay up through the nights with his eyes wide open, making plans to save Orma. The disaster, the apocalypse, hell, the sacrifice…. After pulling him out of hell, what should he do, how should he persuade him, and how could he make him ‘happy’ so that he wouldn’t think of suicide.

Engrossed in all of those things, Van finally completely forgot why he had tried to save Orma in the first place. Returning to Earth, this being nothing more than a world inside a game… things that could be considered trivial if trivial were no longer important. Because now, his salvation had become the sole purpose of his life.

…Of course, there was no need to tell Orma all of these things honestly. In the first place, he also lacked the eloquence to speak so wittily and logically. Finishing his brief recollection, Van tilted his head as he looked at Orma, who seemed to be deep in thought just like him.

“Why are you acting like that, sir?”

“Then that means the childhood version of you has died once before.”

“…Mm.”

Having nothing to say, he rolled his eyes around. Fortunately, Jaena had already finished his meal and gone up to his room. He expected Orma to ask how he died, but contrary to expectations, Orma seemed to care more about a different point.

“Even so, you aged, and you grew. Regardless of resurrection….”

Orma trailed off and flinched. As if he had discovered a part he hadn’t thought of, he kept chewing over it, and his face gradually turned gloomy.

…Is me growing old that sad to him? More than to me? Feeling uncomfortable, Van carefully tugged Orma’s hand, making him poke his own cheek. A blank gaze was staring at him as if asking, ‘What are you doing again?’

Van replied in the most serious voice possible.

“Do not worry. Even if I grow old, my skin will be firm.”

“What?”

“Look, didn’t the god Banan bestow a blessing called skin care upon me?”

“Ha….”

Firm skin even in his 60s or 70s. Having imagined it, that seemed a bit gross, so would it be alright? If he asked her to take back the blessing at that time, would Banan take it back? What if she says, ‘How insolent of you to refuse a god’s blessing, take a womb instead’…?

“You are really annoying.”

Why is he smiling while saying I’m annoying? Van, who failed to understand the deep meaning of his god, tilted his head.