I Became the Apostle of an Evil God Chapter 41

Even though Jaena tried to pull his most terrifying face, Orma just scoffed and lightly shook him from side to side. Of course, it was only “light” by Orma’s standards; Jaena was shaken so violently he was practically vertical. Ignoring Jaena’s screams for his life, Orma smirked, pulling up the corner of his mouth like a cheap thug.

“Have you lost your mind? Pouring curses on a god?”

“Aaaargh!”

“The Curse of the Black Field Wood? What the hell is that? Tell me, do you really think that would work on an evil god like me? Huh? I actually wish it fucking would. If shit like that worked, I would’ve kicked the bucket a long time ago.”

Of course it wouldn’t work! It wasn’t even some grand curse; it was nothing more than a ghost story meant to scare beast-kin children into not wandering around at night.

They said that on pitch-black nights when not a single drop of moonlight shone, the woods and fields became so dark that you couldn’t see a thing. On those murky days when you couldn’t tell if a tree or a dangerous beast was right in front of you, the Black Field Wood would supposedly call out to people in an incredibly alluring voice. Enticed by voices that were hard to refuse—like the voice of a longed-for parent, a crying child, or a lover who had already died—anyone who stepped into the Black Field Wood would never be able to come back out.

Well, it was a ghost story created for the purpose of scaring people because they shouldn’t carelessly go into the woods, mountains, or fields on a dark night, but these days, there were actually adults who welcomed that ghost story instead. They would say things like, “I wish something like that really existed. At least that place wouldn’t have this damn sun!”…

Tsk, if those adults ever found out about Orma’s existence, they would immediately abandon the god Muhwi without any loyalty and switch religions! …Of course, Jaena, who didn’t care much about gods in the first place, didn’t give a damn either way.

“Everything is prepared, so you can rest comfortably now… Are you bullying Mr. Jaena again?”

“Mr. Van! Save me!”

“Ha… I wasn’t bullying him.”

“He was! He was bullying me a lot!”

This evil god, whose face was cursedly beautiful but whose personality was utterly rotten, acted coy only in front of his pretty apostle. Through the frequent cursing, abuse, and the murderous intent radiating from those glaring eyes, Jaena had come to know all too well why Orma was called an evil god.

Not only that, because Jaena had a small and fragile build, his head couldn’t help but snap back and forth even if he was grabbed and shaken just a little, yet Orma didn’t care at all and flaunted his rough hands. While it was a characteristic of the tiger tribe to feel comfortable when grabbed by the scruff of the neck, if anyone grabbed them tightly enough to choke them like this, any member of the tiger tribe would turn pale!

But what was even more infuriating was how that evil god acted all demure when Van was around, as if he had never done such a thing. Of course, occasionally when he couldn’t stand the urge to kill annoying humans, a bit of that nasty personality would poke through, but when Van was there, he absolutely never crossed the line.

At most, he would just mutter with an annoyed face that he wanted to kill everyone, and it was glaringly obvious that he toned down his vulgar expressions and swear words as much as possible compared to what he had just done to Jaena, which was completely absurd.

On top of that, he would subtly pretend to be pitiful—though he didn’t look pitiful at all to Jaena—and act spoiled or throw tantrums.

…At his age! He always looked at Jaena in disgust, telling him to act his age, but what about himself! Hadn’t he lived tens, hundreds of times longer than Van!

That pretty holy knight was definitely under the evil god’s spell. Even when a glimpse of Orma’s unrefined madness peeked through, revealing golden eyes that were terrifying enough to send chills down one’s spine, Van would view them with pity, offering a faint smile and soothing him quietly. Then, as if the evil god couldn’t bear to lose that fleeting smile and wanted to see it just a little longer, he would quiet down.

No matter how much Jaena ran over to tell on him for the misdeeds committed against him, Jaena would only get a bit of sympathy from Van, and Orma would just bully him even harder behind Van’s back as retaliation. It was so unfair! As the sorrows of the past flashed by, clear tears welled up in Jaena’s eyes.

Seeing that face, Van carefully took Jaena away from Orma and patted his back to soothe him. Jaena didn’t care if the reason Van looked at him with such sorrowful eyes was pity. When would Van finally notice and guard against the wicked schemes of the evil god, who was glaring murderously at Jaena from behind?

“…I told you, I wasn’t bullying him. It was training.”

“That’s a lie!”

“What kind of training doesn’t even involve holding a spear?”

“Courage training.”

At those utterly shameless words, both Jaena and Van were left speechless. Only Orma crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, as if wondering what the problem was. Facing that confident attitude, Van finally let out a deep sigh and shook his head.

“Even if it is training, please consider the size difference between you and Mr. Jaena. Even if you find Mr. Jaena displeasing, isn’t he still your believer, Lord Orma? If you could just look upon him a little more kindly…”

“He’s not cute, so how can I look at him kindly?”

“That’s not what I meant…”

He didn’t mean to literally look at him as if he were cute, but to look at him with a benevolent heart…

“Forget it. Didn’t you say camp is all set up? Put him down now. I’m going to start his proper training.”

“Hieek… M-Mr. Van…”

Jaena remembered how he had hopped around in joy when told he would be taught spear technique. But after being beaten evenly on the head, chest, and stomach several times under the guise of training, Jaena had now grown terrified of training time. He quickly grabbed his nose and began to fake an illness, complaining that the smell of burning gave him a throbbing headache.

“Oh my, my head hurts so much because of the smell! I-I must skip training today!”

“You shouldn’t neglect your training.”

Even at those muttered words, Jaena turned pale, clung to Van’s neck, and shook his head rapidly. Seeing Orma’s eyes grow even more sinister as he slowly approached, Van finally let out a sigh and gently set Jaena down on the ground.

Jaena was startled like a cat touching water and clung to Van’s leg, trembling as he waited for the approaching hell, but fortunately, his lifeline didn’t break. Van stood in front of Jaena as if to hide him and spoke in a firm voice.

“It would be best not to train today. It seems like there’s a large forest fire nearby, and for the beast-kin who have a sensitive sense of smell, that odor must be very painful. It will probably be difficult for him to even breathe.”

“Exactly! Exactly!”

“If we make excuses for everything like that, when are we going to train?”

“Then please let it slide just for today.”

Van smiled softly as he spoke. If Orma insisted on training until the very end, Van wouldn’t stop him further, but when asked gently like this, Orma tended to let it go, even while keeping his mouth shut tight to show his displeasure.

In the end, that was what happened this time too. As Orma crossed his arms and turned his head away to make it obvious he hated it but was letting them do as they pleased, Van maintained his smile and carefully stroked the hair of Jaena, who was still clinging to him, before speaking.

“Thank you for your mercy, Lord Orma. Well then, I’m going to prepare dinner… Mr. Jaena, would you mind helping me?”

“O-Of course!”

The two moved to a suitable spot and quickly began preparing the meal. This was done out of Van’s concern that Orma would bully Jaena if he were left alone again, but Jaena earnestly tried to help Van. Though, it amounted to nothing more than glancing at Van as he chopped vegetables with knife skills that rivaled any decent chef, and bringing him water or pots.

“Thanks to you, Mr. Jaena, we were able to finish preparing dinner easily.”

“Ah, n-no… I didn’t do anything… I’m not even good at it…”

When Jaena fidgeted with his hands and answered in a shrinking voice, Van slowly shook his head.

“Who is good at it right from the start? You get used to it as you keep doing it. It’s the same for cooking like this, and it’s the same for spear technique. If you are willing to learn anything, you will improve someday. So don’t be so disheartened.”

At those kind words, Jaena stared at Van with his mouth hanging open. Why did a holy knight with such a beautiful appearance and a kind heart become the apostle of such an evil god? And of his own volition, at that…

It was funny, but sometimes even Orma would stare at Van as if he couldn’t understand him either. He would look at him with eyes that asked, ‘Did he eat something wrong? Why does he follow me like this?’ yet he never voiced those thoughts out loud.

Of course he wouldn’t. Why would he ruin it for himself? Whether it was love-blindness or something else, what need was there to intentionally break the spell? Of course, Jaena would have done the same if he were in Orma’s position.

Receiving the food that gave off a delicious aroma, Jaena sat glued to Van’s side and began to eat with him.

Unable to watch that sight with his eyes open, Orma would slide over, and Van would inevitably offer food to his god, asking him to try just one bite. Then Orma would snap back telling him to eat it all himself, before quietly observing Van as he ate.

In the midst of this, as the sun gradually set and the sky finally began to dye itself black, Orma naturally pulled Van into his embrace and lay down. Only after Jaena grumbled and pulled out his sleeping bag to lie down on Van’s other side—and quite far away at that—did Orma slowly close his fiercely raised eyes and fall asleep.

…Today was, in the end, a repetition of another such day.

“…Captain Seo.”

Until a certain familiar voice called out to Van.