I Became the Apostle of an Evil God Chapter 44

Once upon a time, Jaena’s mother had said this to him:

“…Jaena, you really do not fit in Bion. It would be better for you to go outside and live a bit more freely.”

At those words, Jaena only grinned. Jaena also knew all too well that he did not fit into Bion, the village of the tiger tribe, and that he lacked the qualities to lead it.

When made to hunt, others moved busily to bring back at least a small bird or a single rabbit, but Jaena would thoroughly enjoy his leisure, taking naps, and then picking up a dead mouse at sunset to bring back. Of course, even though he got scolded and asked what on earth this was, Jaena would only put on a crying face and act weak in front of his father.

Since those were the words his mother had spoken after watching him do that with a deep sigh, his father had surely noticed the fact that Jaena was slacking off and acting spoiled.

But so what? A “tiger” was a free beast to begin with. They only formed groups and lived together because they were beast-kin, but considering the traits of a tiger, Jaena’s independent personality wasn’t a problem. Who cared if he lacked a bit of responsibility…

If there was a problem, it was that he was definitely infinitely small and weak for a “beast of prey.”

“You broke a claw.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“…Is that all you have to say? You’re taking the successor’s trial next month!”

While that was true, what else was he supposed to say? Jaena stared blankly at his childhood friend, Sorin. Then Sorin cried out with a face that looked like it would burst into tears at any moment:

“You idiot! You might not come back alive!”

Haha, that was precisely something Sorin said because she didn’t know him. From the very beginning, Jaena had no intention of properly undertaking the successor’s trial.

In any case, his father had given up on him and would not entrust Bion to him. Every time his father looked at him, he didn’t hide the look in his eyes that said, ‘He’s hopeless. There’s no chance.’ There was no way he would hand Bion over.

He would probably throw a problem at him that Jaena could never possibly solve and drive him out of Bion. Then, Jaena planned to travel freely from place to place under the pretext of undergoing the successor’s trial. Of course, being weak as he was, he could find himself in danger at any moment, but that couldn’t be helped…

“Then what about me?”

At the counter-question, Jaena blinked his eyes slowly. What did that mean… Why on earth was she asking him that?

“You’re not even forty yet, so being sent to take the successor’s trial is no different from being told to go die! Then what about me! Am I supposed to become a widow?!”

“Ah… So that’s what you meant! Don’t worry, Sorin. Our engagement will be broken before then.”

Of course, there was still a lot of time left before Jaena reached forty, the age when one usually took the successor’s trial. But at a time like this, when faith toward Muhwi was wavering due to the calamity, it was obvious that leaving a weak successor like Jaena would cause division. To solidify Bion without shaking, they needed to show the people that they had a strong successor who would lead them to a hopeful future.

Therefore, Jaena also thought that the judgment to abandon him at this point was correct. Sorin’s father, who closely assisted his father, would think so too, but the moment Sorin heard Jaena’s words, she burst into tears.

“Someone… someone like you…! I’ll absolutely never wait for you!”

To those words, Jaena replied with a quiet smile. He had hoped she would notice that he was deliberately playing dumb by this point.

Ultimately, that day when Sorin wailed and turned her back was the last day Jaena saw her.

That night, his mother slipped the bracelet symbolizing the successor onto his wrist and said:

“Jaena, no matter what anyone says, you are the successor of the tiger tribe.”

“Mother, this bracelet is far too good for me.”

“…Wouldn’t it be nice to have at least one item that allows you to think of Bion whenever you want?”

As she spoke, the embrace of his mother holding him tight was warm and comforting. Jaena had no resistance to leaving Bion, but it was a bit sad that he would never see his mother again. Still, it couldn’t be helped. If I could have changed for that reason, I would have changed a long time ago.

The weakness he was born with was the kind of thing that couldn’t be changed. Everyone in Bion knew that a tiger that wasn’t like a beast of prey was born from time to time, but they feigned ignorance. It was just bad luck that it happened to be Jaena.

Jaena decided to accept his fate. He chose to leave Bion and faithfully undergo the successor’s trial, but decided to let go of the things he couldn’t change.

Even if he were lucky enough to meet the seeker from the prophecy, it wouldn’t stop the calamity, but he thought he would try his absolute best. Was it due to the influence of such positive thinking? Jaena considered meeting Van and Orma a stroke of immense good fortune. Of course, he still felt skeptical about stopping the calamity, but regardless, he felt much more motivated than when he was in Bion.

No matter how much of an evil god he was now, Orma was once a being called the hero among heroes, an unparalleled genius, and the incarnation of Muhwi, the god of war and martial arts. Since such a being offered to teach him spear technique, it was only right to accept it in a heartbeat, whether it turned out good or bad.

Even he, who had absolutely no interest in martial arts or combat skills, couldn’t help but think it looked cool the moment he saw the trajectory of the spear Orma swung so cleanly. At any rate, unlike his initial expectations, Jaena thought he was handling the successor’s trial pretty well, but…

‘Why did it turn out like this?’

When he opened his eyes, he wasn’t tightly tied up, but he couldn’t move. Sweat beaded on his skin from the intense heat, and the air, scorching hot to the point where he couldn’t breathe properly, overwhelmed him. Everything visible around him billowed and spewed embers as if performing a dance of fire, and acrid smoke made the surroundings hazy.

‘Am I being burned at the stake alive right now?’

N-No way… You damn Lord Orma! What kind of god burns his believer alive just because he slacked off a little! Or is it because I acted spoiled in front of Mr. Van? Still… still… this is too much! You evil god among evil gods!

“Ugh, uggh…!”

Whatever the truth was, Jaena, feeling that he would burn to death at this rate, hastily struggled. However, his frozen body did not permit any movement, and his blinking eyes shed streams of tears from the stinging heat and smoke.

“…It seems it is not.”

“Whatever it is… he’s gone. If it’s…, to prove one’s faith…”

Faintly, voices could be heard. Could it be Mr. Van and Lord Orma? Jaena gasped for breath and tried to open his tightly shut mouth. Even his tongue felt paralyzed, making it difficult to move. A sound akin to a groan was all Jaena could manage.

“Ugh, uggh! Umph!”

“…It seems the sacrifice has awakened.”

Gasp, the sinister-sounding voice was definitely neither Van nor Orma. Startled, Jaena strained his eyes and tried to focus, attempting to identify who the figure in front of him was.

It seemed someone was standing there… The unidentified someone slowly approached Jaena and poured an unknown liquid over him. It was wet, sticky, and made it even harder to breathe. A sinister smell stimulated the tip of his nose, making his vision blur.

‘Is this… o-oil?’

No matter how he looked at it, the surroundings were completely a sea of fire, and they were pouring oil? This clearly meant their purpose was to burn him to death.

While it sent chills down his spine, he felt his frozen body slowly beginning to loosen up. Still, it wasn’t to the extent where he could move his body completely, so Jaena kept his eyes tightly shut, hastily opened his mouth, and screamed:

“S-Save me! Please save me!”

“The paralysis has worn off. Well, whatever. We just need to conduct the ritual before that.”

A firm voice echoed from over there. No matter how he interpreted the sentence, it sounded like they were going to kill Jaena before the paralysis completely wore off.

Recalling the conversation from just a moment ago, it must mean they intended to use Jaena as a sacrifice for some mysterious ritual.

Once upon a time, Van had told Jaena a strange fairy tale. What was it again… There was a human-eating tiger, and a human tricked that tiger into jumping into a hot pot? The tiger found it too hot, struggled, and hopped around inside the pot before melting and turning into butter—it was a bizarre story.

After listening quietly to the story, Jaena had asked, “Um, Mr. Van… Did I do something wrong? Why are you suddenly telling me a story about a tiger that turned into butter?” and Van had scratched his cheek, asking back if it wasn’t interesting.

From behind, Orma had burst into laughter and asked if Van wanted to turn Jaena into butter. If Van had said yes, Orma looked ready to turn Jaena into butter at any second.

Fortunately, Van had hastily shaken his head. Then, seeing that Jaena was bored, he said he had wanted to tell him an interesting fairy tale but seemed to have chosen the wrong one, looking dejected. At the time, Jaena had thought it was just uninteresting fiction with an unclear moral.

…But oh my god! Could it be that it was actually a prophecy foretelling Jaena’s death? To think my death is butter! To think I’m going to become tiger butter!

“Huaaaa! N-No! I hate butter! Save me! M-Mr. Van! Lord Ormaaaa…!”