I Became the Apostle of an Evil God Chapter 42

Van vaguely knew that he was still wandering through a dream. Even so, the reason he hadn’t opened his eyes in surprise and woken up was because the voice calling him was one he hadn’t heard in such a long time.

“We have to pull out now, Captain.”

“…We can’t. Sergeant Jung is already…”

Was this a nightmare? Well, looking at it strictly, it wasn’t exactly a pleasant dream… but it wasn’t bad enough to be considered a nightmare either. This was, let’s see… yes, a rather sad dream.

“Please snap out of it, Captain! You can’t go back! The operation was a success! Look over there, look at the explosions!”

He already knew that. It was something he still remembered vividly. However, what baffled him was why on earth he was suddenly having a dream like this.

Ever since Van had reincarnated into this world, he had never once dreamt about his life back on Earth, unrelated to the game. Being called “Captain Seo” sounded so foreign to him now, so why was he having this dream? He didn’t think there had been anything special about today…

“Even if it’s just the body… I have to check… If I go back like this… how could I ever look them in the eye…”

Van’s mouth muttered to itself as if possessed, entirely independent of his will. As he spat out the exact words he had spoken on the actual day this happened, a thunderous reprimand immediately struck Van’s ears.

“The fire is still raging, so where exactly do you think you’re going, Captain!”

At that moment, his eyes snapped open. Gasps of surprise escaped him as he sat halfway up, the faint sunlight cutting through the dawn sky casting down upon his back muscles as they frantically rose and fell.

“Ha, haaa…”

Van himself didn’t really know why he was so startled. However, his heart, which was pounding rapidly of its own accord, refused to calm down. In the end, he couldn’t even manage his usual routine of treating Orma with care and waiting for him to wake up; he simply broke away from his embrace.

As if suddenly released from a spell, Orma opened his eyes immediately and stared at Van. After waiting for Van to slowly catch his breath, he asked in a low voice, “Did you have a nightmare?”

“…”

It was a dream he didn’t know how to explain. Staring blankly down at Orma, who was blinking slowly, Van nodded his head after a moment. He knew he should apologize for waking him up because of his own issues and lie back down, but an uncomfortable, lingering feeling washed over him like a wave, making him hesitate.

“What was so scary?”

“…I’m not completely sure.”

“Then it’s nothing major.”

You’re right, it’s nothing major… Orma’s blunt words and the tranquility of the early dawn as the light gradually broke helped calm Van down.

Feeling a belated sense of embarrassment, Van wiped a hand down his face. Thinking he should get a drink of water and go back to sleep, he turned his head toward the spot where they had gathered their luggage.

And the moment he discovered the empty, ownerless sleeping bag nearby, Van turned pale and bolted to his feet.

“…J-Jaena! Lord Orma, Jaena is gone!”

“What? Gone? Didn’t he just step out to take care of some business?”

For that to be the case, it was far too quiet. No matter how much he strained his ears, there was only the sound of a light breeze sweeping past. There was no sign of Jaena’s usual fussing voice, his swishing tail, or his small frame. Only then did Orma seem to notice something was off; he got up right behind Van to look for Jaena.

“Jaena! Where are you! Jaena, if you can hear my voice, please answer me!”

However, no matter how much they walked around the vicinity calling Jaena’s name, not a single trace of him could be found anywhere. At this sudden disappearance, Van tried to examine the ground for any remaining tracks, but he couldn’t find even those.

The way he had suddenly vanished like smoke was incredibly suspicious and ominous. Van ran around frantically with a pale face, but absolutely nothing was left behind, leaving him utterly at a loss.

This was just like…

“…Do you think he ran away?”

“Pardon?”

“I’m asking if he sneaked off in the dead of night because he didn’t like being with us.”

Van knew that the reason Orma carelessly thought and spoke that way reflected his usual displeased view of Jaena. Van was well aware that Orma wouldn’t bat an eye even if a single beast-kin believer disappeared, and would instead be thrilled and overjoyed that an annoying pest was gone.

For reasons he didn’t quite understand, the only being Orma had placed within the boundary of someone he would actually worry about if they suddenly vanished was Van—himself…

“…”

Despite knowing this, Van stopped dead in his tracks at those words and just stared silently at Orma. He usually didn’t show much change in expression, but right now, he was looking at Orma with a face entirely devoid of any emotion.

Staring intently at someone with an expressionless face, as if looking at something non-human, was a bad habit of Van’s and a rare manifestation of his anger.

Back when he lived on Earth, Sergeant Choi had once cried while drunk and said, “Captain, when you just stare at someone silently without any expression, it’s seriously terrifying… Can’t you just scream and swear at me instead?” Only after that did Van realize how he expressed his anger, which had embarrassed him.

So… this was the first time in a very long while. Facing Van’s completely vacant, chilling gaze for the first time, Orma flinched in bewilderment and shut his mouth. Only then did Van realize he was actually daring to be angry at his own god.

Ah, why am I doing this? What’s wrong with me? At the sudden realization, Van hastily wiped his dry face with both hands to hide his expression. A faint sigh escaped his lips entirely on its own. Just because he said something a bit grating to my nerves, I… A wave of self-reproach crashed over him.

“I apologize. I did not mean to direct anger at you, Lord Orma…”

“…”

He knew the reason very well. It was because of that dream. That bizarre dream—whether a nightmare or not—had managed to get on Van’s nerves. Van apologized once more with all his heart, but Orma still just stared at him with a dazed, slightly shocked face.

It was exactly the kind of look the cat Van used to secretly feed and raise back at the temple gave him when he accidentally stepped on its tail—meowing and looking at him as if asking, How could you do this to me? Flooded with guilt, Van subconsciously began to ramble in an attempt to soothe him.

“I am truly sorry. Were you deeply offended? Please don’t be angry…”

“…Van.”

“Yes?”

“It’s because of the nightmare you had earlier, right? That’s what made you so sensitive?”

Orma’s eyes widened as he hastily conjured up an excuse of his own making to pin it on. While that actually was the correct answer, Van nodded his head frantically regardless.

Only then did Orma cast his gaze downward, looking relieved. Judging by how he muttered softly to himself, “There’s no way my kind and pretty apostle would do that…”, it seemed Orma managed to understand in his own way.

“…Well, then where did that noisy brat go?”

“In my opinion… Jaena did not disappear of his own free will.”

“Why?”

“If he had briefly stepped away for a reason like relieving himself, he wouldn’t have gone far, so he would have returned quickly by now.”

“What if it wasn’t that, and his goal from the very start was to leave us completely?”

“…As you know, Lord Orma, Jaena’s combat capability is not very good. He is weaker than even an ordinary human adult male. No matter if his frame is like a child’s, considering his traits as a member of the beast-kin, this is highly unusual.”

“Hmm…”

“The tiger tribe is a clan that places a particularly heavy emphasis on martial prowess, even among the beast-kin. To put it nicely, they revere the strong; to put it harshly, they are merciless toward the weak. You could say they are the group that best embodies the phrase ‘survival of the fittest.’ Furthermore, if that weakling happens to be the chief’s son, he would be a successor who fails to satisfy them in many ways.”

At the fluid explanation, Orma tilted his head. He knew the beast-kin were an isolationist and bellicose race, but even he didn’t know the detailed characteristics of individual tribes.

But how did Van know all that?

“You know a lot about the tiger tribe. And a successor? Jaena is the chief’s son? Did Jaena tell you that?”

“No, he didn’t. I suspected it after observing Jaena’s eye color and the patterns on his tail. The darker the eye color and the more distinct the black of the patterns, the closer they are to the ruling class. Then, I became certain after seeing his bracelet. The bracelet Jaena always wears is made of jade and gold, and it was decorated with an emblem representing the tiger tribe.”

Of course, this information was entirely based on content he had seen within the game.

When one went near Yeoru, where the temple of Muhwi was located, beast-kin warriors would occasionally appear. One of the NPCs among them who could actually be reasoned with had explained that the beast-kin highly valued jade and gold, so only the chief and his successor wore them. There had been a side story tied to it as well, but because Van had been too busy focusing on the main story back then, he had only skimmed through the details before moving on.

That was the reason he hadn’t thought of it immediately upon seeing Jaena. As they spent time together, the details the NPC had shared naturally resurfaced in his mind, but Van had chosen to keep quiet without making a show of his knowledge.

“So? Couldn’t he have just returned to his hometown on his own?”

“…Jaena is likely in a position where he cannot return to his hometown. Because he is currently undergoing the successor’s trial.”