I Became the Apostle of an Evil God Chapter 43

A strong warrior produces a strong warrior. The beast-kin believed this implicitly and faithfully obeyed the orders of their chief, the strongest warrior among them.

Of course, that wasn’t entirely wrong. There was such a thing as the law of genetics, after all. But just like with “mutations,” there were always exceptions to the rule.

“A successor’s trial…”

Orma muttered softly, as if something came to mind regarding the matter. Soon, realizing the troublesome situation Jaena was in, he frowned and let out a sigh of frustration.

“I see. Whatever it is, there’s no way that weakling who’s all talk could have passed a successor’s trial.”

“…Yes, the situation is likely exactly what you’re thinking, Lord Orma. Jaena is probably in a position where he cannot return to his hometown yet. Because he is still undergoing the successor’s trial. That trial was likely to find me and stop the calamity currently occurring in the world, and naturally, the tiger tribe and their chief expect absolutely nothing from him. Perhaps Jaena himself doesn’t expect much either.”

“Yeah, he didn’t seem to care much either.”

“Haha… No matter how spoiled and immature Jaena may seem, isn’t he still older than me? He crossed a distant continent all by himself to find someone whose face he didn’t even know to stop a calamity; he couldn’t have failed to notice that this was effectively no different from being told to go die in a foreign land.”

“Even if he somehow managed to find you, they wouldn’t believe a human could stop a calamity.”

They might have packaged it with words like “prophet” or “seeker of prophecy,” but in reality, Jaena had likely noticed too. Even so, Jaena had been quite cheerful and bright. He seemed to think, ‘You’re telling me not to come back? Then I just won’t go back!’ He didn’t seem particularly interested in becoming the chief or striving for the pinnacle of power or martial prowess anyway.

That was why Van had chosen to feign ignorance even after figuring out Jaena’s identity. He had lightly thought that if it became necessary someday, the man would tell him himself…

“In other words, Jaena is in a position where he cannot return home, and he has no reason to leave us of his own free will. This means that Jaena’s only ‘reliable pillar’ in the end is you, Lord Orma.”

“…Me, not you? The one he believes in is probably you.”

You’re the god, am I the god? With that meaning implied, Van just stared blankly at Orma without answering.

Ultimately, Orma let out a rough, exasperated breath and shouted, “So what do you want me to do? He wasn’t anywhere around here when we looked.”

“Please release your shadows. I will go look for Jaena.”

The darkness that existed everywhere in the world was Orma’s eyes and limbs. When Van spoke while pointing at Orma’s feet, Orma bit his red lips tightly, making his displeasure clear.

Of course, it wasn’t because he disliked lending his shadows to Van. He just didn’t like this situation where Van had to wander all over the place to find that annoying tiger brat.

Yet, if he honestly said no, he feared Van would wipe all expression from his face and stare at him like before. Why on earth was he hesitating like this over something so minor? He couldn’t understand it himself, but Van noticed Orma’s hesitation like a ghost and let out a small sigh.

“I know you don’t care for Jaena, Lord Orma. Even so, you would grant my request if I ask. However…”

“However?”

“Jaena believes in and follows you as his god, not me. As you know, Lord Orma, most beast-kin hold a cradle faith in the god Muhwi. But Jaena changed his religion the moment he saw you…”

“Are you saying that guy has no faith right now?”

…Is that so? Strictly speaking, he just seemed to have no particular thoughts on religion… Lost in thought, Van realized he had been caught up in Orma’s playfulness due to his own poor phrasing and hastily shook his head vigorously.

Seeing this, Orma even let out a small laugh, causing Van to finally cry out in frustration.

“That’s not it…! He is a believer you acknowledged. Oh Lord Orma, please show mercy to your believer.”

His resolute gaze was directed entirely at Orma. He didn’t seem to think for a moment that his god would reject the prayer.

Good grief. I wish he’d just be cute or faithful, not both…

Thinking this, Orma finally nodded in agreement.

Of course, no matter how many reasons Van gave to argue that they had to find Jaena, the fact that he didn’t particularly care about Jaena remained unchanged. Even if he released his shadows as Van requested and found the brat’s corpse, he would surely react with indifference.

Ah, wait, no. He did intend to hide it so Van wouldn’t have to see such a sight. His kind apostle would be horrified if he saw that.

Hmm… But was it really wrong to stop at just that? Banan, Muhwi, and even Serca had so many followers, yet he had never seen any of them cherish a single one.

A heart that fondly treasures someone just because they believe in you… If I possessed something like that, I wouldn’t have been called an evil god. Is it because my mind is shattered? Having broken down to this extent, have I finally come to share the same mindset as the other gods?

If so, that was troublesome. Shouldn’t he always be ready to return and die as an ordinary human? If he were his past self, the one who was called a hero, what would he have done?

Well, even back then, he likely wouldn’t have deployed soldiers or acted personally as the leader just to look for a single human. Still, he would have been capable of “worrying” about someone with a fond heart. Perhaps that was the difference between the Orma called an evil god now and the Orma who used to be called a hero.

Orma tilted his head sideways, looked at Van, and smiled brightly. He was mimicking the smile Van often gave, but Van just looked bewildered.

Yeah, it really didn’t suit him after all. When Van smiled like that, even the air seemed to soften as if a spring breeze were blowing through, but now he didn’t even have a clue how to appear like an ordinary human.

“You can use the shadows whenever you want without my permission anyway. But well…”

As expected, Van wouldn’t be able to spread and search as widely or precisely as the master himself. Thinking this, Orma began to move the shadows.

The shadows starting from his toes expanded their area, dyeing everything they touched in darkness. When pure black, which tolerated neither a shred of light nor color, took the place of the disastrous sun, the plants and tiny insects below finally breathed sighs of relief as if they could live now. However, they only conveyed their gratitude for providing shade from the sun and knew absolutely nothing about the beast-kin brat Orma was looking for.

‘The stinging sunlight is gone… Thank you.’

‘He’s a human but he has a tail! Hehe… How funny!’

‘Why? I’ve even seen a huge talking serpent before. A human can have a bit of a tail.’

‘A human with a tail… small… Ah, maybe it’s a monkey?’

‘Idiots! It’s not a monkey, it’s a tiger!’

‘A tiger? What is that?’

‘I know! It has four legs and a long tail!’

‘There are plenty of animals like that!’

…They weren’t of much help. See, I told you it was a useless effort. When he subtly turned his head to look at Van, the man kept his mouth shut, but his eyes were flashing strangely.

“…”

It couldn’t be helped. Orma, who didn’t want to disappoint Van, described Jaena once more to everything the shadows touched with patience. A kid who’s a bit short… looks like a human… but has a tail…

‘A young human child! I saw him yesterday!’

‘They said he vanished at night! Oops, not at night, at dawn!’

‘At dawn? I haven’t seen anyone at dawn. Have you?’

‘I don’t know, everything is so sizzling hot for me… I’m losing my mind…’

‘It’s hot! Save me! It burns every single day!’

Orma cleanly gave up on explaining any further and told Van honestly. He said there was nothing resembling Jaena nearby, and it was just full of the grievances and screams of creatures complaining about the heat.

“Something is strange…”

“Right? Did he vanish into thin air?”

Disappearing without a trace was highly suspicious, quite apart from Jaena being an annoyance. It made no sense for every single living creature in the vicinity to consistently say they had never seen such a being. Van, who had fallen deep into thought upon hearing Orma’s words, carefully spoke up.

“When they say it’s hot, is it because of the sunlight? Or is it because of a fire that broke out in this area?”

Without a word, Orma conveyed Van’s question exactly as it was. Then, the whispering voices all answered in unison.

“…They say it’s because of a fire.”

But what of it? Didn’t Van explain before that forest fires happen a lot on days like these, and because nobody puts them out, they keep burning until everything turns to ash?

“I have… a hunch. Can you find out the exact location where the fire is occurring?”

An ominous foreboding washed over Van. Van asked in the hope that it wasn’t what he feared, but at that exact moment, a clear electronic chime rang out, and a quest window materialized before his eyes.

[Where on earth did your god’s second believer disappear to?

Hidden Quest: Find Jaena, proselytize to new believers, and save them.

Find Jaena (0/1)

Make New Believers (0/10)

Save Them

Reward: Faith +15, Faith Gauge +7, Special Title [Knight of the Black Field Wood]

The special title has additional effects, and rewards can only be claimed if the quest conditions are 100% cleared.]