I Became the Apostle of an Evil God Chapter 38

“Ah, good morning, Sir Knight.”

“Good morning. By the way, what is that?”

The innkeeper, who was still in high spirits from yesterday’s events, offered a beaming greeting. Today, strictly under the influence of the calamity, the sun had risen early and the heat was already scorching, but witnessing yesterday’s miracle had clearly given the people hope. Of course, that wasn’t a bad thing. Humans live on hope for the future as their driving force, after all….

But what on earth was that? Van pointed through the window, which had been left uncovered since no direct sunlight was hitting it, and asked. Fortunately, the innkeeper failed to catch Van’s bewildered expression. He turned his head slightly toward the window, offered a helpless smile, and spoke.

“Did you see the water completely filling all of Siol again yesterday? I only discovered that this morning myself… but it appears Lady Banan has manifested her divine authority.”

The water spouting from the massive fountain near the inn was forming a distinct shape.

The sight of the water erupting upward and falling back down to continuously recreate a human silhouette was profoundly impressive. The problem, however, was that the figure was far too familiar for Van to just marvel at it casually. Furthermore, as if Van wasn’t the only one who recognized the identity, the innkeeper glanced around cautiously, lowered his voice, and whispered:

“That large figure is appearing not just in this fountain, but in several others across the city. Legends say that when Banan is in a good mood, she sculpts statues out of water through the fountains, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen it in person.”

“…I see.”

“But the shocking part is, that figure is… ahem, the silhouette of the evil god.”

“The silhouette of the evil god?”

Had Orma’s appearance actually been recorded somewhere? Water couldn’t exactly portray his signature black hair or golden eyes, so how did they know it was Orma? Had someone actually recognized him?

However, the innkeeper misread Van’s panic, shaking his head rapidly and waving his hands as if to assure him everything was fine.

“Someone visited the sanctuary and asked the priest exactly who Banan was sculpting, and he kindly answered that it was the figure of ‘Orma.'”

“….”

“And didn’t we have a solar eclipse yesterday? People are speculating that the evil god caused that eclipse, and Banan found it so pleasing that she’s sculpting him like this. Well, honestly, I find it hard to believe… but they say the evil god commands darkness anyway, so it doesn’t sound entirely far-fetched.”

Ah, Lady Banan…. You really go out of your way to do every single thing your son hates, don’t you? Had she decided to just lose her mind and do whatever she wanted, figuring Orma would never forgive her anyway? Why was she suddenly acting so bizarrely?

Van groaned inwardly and gave a slow nod. Now that things had turned out this way, they had no choice but to get out of Siol as fast as possible before Orma caught sight of that monstrosity.

Hurriedly bidding the innkeeper goodbye, Van approached Jaena and Orma. He had thought Orma was still picking on Jaena, but to his surprise, Jaena’s face was completely bright and ecstatic.

“You promised, Lord Orma! Seriously!” Jaena chirped away, to which Orma casually replied, “Yeah. So shut up already.” Judging by that exchange, it seemed the two had struck some sort of deal. Well, as long as they had made up, it was a relief. Van quickly helped Jaena to his feet, pulled Orma’s hood down even deeper over his face, and spoke.

“Let’s get out of here quickly.”

“Where to? Are we leaving Siol right now?”

“No, we agreed to dispose of the gems first, man.”

“Ah, right, that…. Just how much stuff do you have that you’re making such a fuss?”

Despite grimacing with irritation, Orma compliantly took the hand Van offered and stood up. From the moment they stepped out of the inn until they arrived at the jewelry shop they had previously visited, all Orma did was stare intently at Van’s face or scold a incessantly chattering Jaena to keep his mouth shut.

There was a moment when Jaena spotted the figure of Orma in the massive fountain and shouted in awe, “Whoa, look over there!” but thanks to Van desperately changing the subject, Orma didn’t notice a thing and they arrived safely at the shop. Of course, they couldn’t completely relax until they were entirely out of Siol….

“Oh, it’s you from before. I was secretly disappointed thinking you had decided against selling.”

“Good day. Something came up so I couldn’t make it back sooner. Will a transaction be possible today?”

“Of course! I calculated the price precisely and even sorted the gold bars out. Please wait just a moment!”

The jeweler welcomed Van warmly. He did flinch slightly upon seeing the tall Orma, whose face was completely hidden beneath a deep black hood, and Jaena, who was tilting his head curiously while wagging his tail, but he didn’t say anything out loud and headed straight for the vault.

The moment the jeweler opened the vault, rows of neatly organized gold bars came into view. The sheer volume made Jaena’s eyes sparkle, but the jeweler’s subsequent words left even him completely stunned.

“Do you have a wagon outside? When I tallied it up, the amount of gold bars I had on hand before fell short. So I filled it up a bit more for you!”

“Yikes! H-how are we supposed to carry all of that?”

“Didn’t I tell you, mate? It would be impossible alone.”

“….”

The jeweler’s eyes shone as if he had prepared an amount that truly couldn’t be refused this time, but if anything, having too much was the real problem…. Van put on a hesitant expression and handed over the gems first. Even if they had to figure out how to carry it afterward, the transaction had to be finalized.

Times like this make me seriously miss modern Earth’s banks and card services. Still, if the three of them divided the load well, it might just be feasible…. Van started calculating the distribution in his head, figuring he could take half, Orma could take the other half, and Jaena could handle just an armful.

Whether Orma knew what Van was thinking or not, he stepped closer to his side, glanced over the vault, and spoke with a completely indifferent face.

“Is that all? It’s not much.”

“…Excuse me?”

Did I mishear ‘That’s quite a lot’? When Van questioned him back with a blank stare, Orma chuckled and extended his hand forward.

Simultaneously, his shadow began to ripple slowly, expanding its size like a wolf facing its prey. Lacking an actual snout, it moved as if tearing its maw wide open, and in a single gulp, it swallowed the gold bars stacked perfectly inside the vault.

Whether the horrified jeweler gasped, trembled all over, and collapsed onto his backside or not, the shadow that had devoured all the gold bars shrank back down in an instant as if nothing had happened. It curled at Orma’s feet, fawning over him at a completely normal size.

“W-what on earth… Eek! P-please spare me!”

“…Calm down, sir. This is… ah! It’s a magic tool.”

Though startled himself, Van scrambled to fabricate an excuse to appease the jeweler. Fortunately, his fast-working brain managed to supply a reasonably convincing reason on the spot.

Only then did the jeweler relax, nodding his head with a dazed look.

“Oh, my goodness, what a fright…. Then again, considering you possess such a relic, it makes sense that you would own a magic tool….”

In the world Van currently lived in, mages no longer existed, but it was said that in ancient times, mages studied magic and built towers high into the sky to reach the gods. A few magic tools containing their spells had been well-preserved and passed down like relics. Since legends had added countless layers of exaggeration to them, people tended to view them practically as all-purpose items, making it the most suitable excuse to conceal Orma’s power.

Fortunately, Orma merely scoffed at the excuse that his divine authority was a magic tool and didn’t say anything else. It was only after Van wiped away his cold sweat and carefully stepped out of the jewelry shop that he could let out a deep sigh.

“What are you so startled about?”

“Didn’t you want to keep your identity hidden from other humans, sir?”

“Me? Well, getting mixed up with them is a hassle, sure, but it’s not like I need to go out of my way to hide my power. Even if that human figures out who I am, does it change anything? We’re leaving Siol today anyway.”

Aren’t you just wonderful. The smooth space between Van’s brows furrowed from a sudden surge of annoyance.

It felt like this was the very first time Orma was seeing Van get annoyed. Orma stared at his face, then shrugged as if he genuinely couldn’t see what the issue was and said:

“In the first place, there was no need for me to even come here for a trivial matter like this.”

“Pardon?”

“I saw before that you borrow my power and use it perfectly well. Did you never think of trying this?”

Granted, since he shared the earrings with Orma, he could borrow and use his power… but he was merely bewildered by the question of whether he had ever thought of trying this. He had never seen the shadow swallow something and store it inside… ah, wait. No way?

“Was that golden, glittering spear also hidden away inside your shadow before, sir?”

“Obviously.”

“….”

“If you put your mind to it, you can pull it out whenever you want, too.”

“Want to try?” Watching him smile with a face full of mischief, Jaena raised his hand and hopped around, shouting, “Me! I want to try using it!” but Orma completely ignored him.

Van was the only one clutching his throbbing head, wondering what on earth his god trusted in him to compliantly share the earrings. This wasn’t even a marriage, yet it was on the level of tossing the house deed right into a joint dating account….

No, let’s look on the bright side. In the first place, this money belonged to Orma, and the wealth inside the shadow was entirely Orma’s money anyway. Besides, strictly speaking, he was just an apostle blackmailing a sucker of a god….

Van stared at Orma with a conflicted expression, feeling strangely like a gigolo who had snared a wealthy patron and was casually swiping credit cards, but when Orma met Van’s gaze, his eyes simply crinkled into a smile.