I Became the Apostle of an Evil God Chapter 9

Whether Orma was muttering to himself and nursing his grievances or not, Van kept a close eye on his mood and carefully approached the inn employee. Reaching his hand out to the tip of the man’s nose, he felt a faint breath and let out a sigh of relief, realizing Orma hadn’t actually failed to control his strength and killed him.

However, Orma didn’t even like that gesture, opening his mouth with a sharp glare.

“Is some worthless human really what you should be worrying about right now?”

“…Then what would you have me do, sir?”

The man had witnessed something terrible, so once he regained consciousness, he might lose his head again and go around trying to report Orma or whatever. His god probably thought everything was fine as long as he didn’t outright kill the guy. Still, it wasn’t entirely impossible to understand why Orma was looking at him with such a displeased face.

Hmm… right, if he really thought about it, it was something to be grateful for. Van was the one who had begged for mercy for the inn employee, and hadn’t his god willingly granted it? Changing his mindset, Van bowed his head toward Orma once more.

“Thank you for your mercy, Mr. Orma.”

The Orma in the game wasn’t called an evil god for nothing. If he was in a foul mood or things didn’t go his way, he would slaughter anyone on sight, and since he wanted to die himself, he was an entity that held the lives of others lightly.

In particular, his last memory on earth was solely of being betrayed by humans, and after being cooped up in hell for so long after that, his personality had twisted and coiled until he went completely mad. Even with Van, hadn’t he thrown a spear to kill him before they had even properly faced each other?

So… considering that, he was actually being incredibly merciful!

Van was deeply moved by the fact that his god wasn’t completely far gone and that there was still room for redemption, but Orma seemed to think differently. Watching Van offer his gratitude, Orma seemed to lose his steam, closing his mouth with a faint, deflated sigh.

“Ha….”

What was the problem now? O cursed Orma, what else is displeasing you? Van rolled his eyes, wondering if the angle of his bow wasn’t to his god’s liking, and lowered his head a bit more.

Showing the crown of my head to my god….

“It’s annoying, so stop that and stand up.”

“Yes, sir.”

It was the bow itself. Whoops.

As Van snapped upright, Orma scanned him up and down as if exasperated, then raised his right hand and lightly flicked the air. With a sharp snap, a small, black lump of something appeared on the floor, bouncing around actively as if it had free rein.

While Van blinked, wondering if it was a bug, the mysterious thing slipped right into the unconscious employee’s ear. As a startled Van reflexively looked at Orma, his god casually waved his hand and spoke.

“Leave it be. That human will just think everything that happened was a nightmare.”

“I see….”

Was that really okay? It would be fine, right? Standing awkwardly with a lingering sense of unease, Van carefully walked over to Orma’s side while keeping a watchful eye on the employee, worried he might wake up immediately. Hmm, it felt like the man’s brow twitched minutely just now….

“If someone has a lot of nightmares, they might end up wanting to commit suicide.”

“True… wait, what?”

Because he had spoken so casually, Van had emptied his brain and mindlessly agreed. The moment Van turned his head toward Orma in utter horror, Orma finally felt his mood lift a bit and chuckled.

“I’m just saying it’s a possibility. Unfortunately, I don’t have the ability to make someone have continuous nightmares.”

“…I think it would be best if we had our meal, sir.”

It would be better to just get the inn employee out of their sight. Van walked up behind Orma, whose eyes were crinkling slyly, and gently pushed his back forward.

Fortunately, Orma cooperatively headed into the dining area on the first floor. Van naturally led Orma to a secluded corner, seating him in a spot where he wouldn’t even lock eyes with other humans. Seeing the innkeeper recognize Van and immediately bring out the food with a bright smile… well, it seemed he knew absolutely nothing about the commotion with the employee, which relieved Van.

“It’s been a while since you’ve eaten, right? Please, dig in.”

“….”

Van slowly cut the meat into bite-sized pieces and pushed it toward Orma. Smelling the mouth-watering scent of the steaming meat, a sudden hunger rushed over him, and Van immediately popped another piece into his own mouth. Perhaps the inn was packed with guests because of the food; his eyes naturally widened at the quite excellent flavor.

It has a bit of a gamy smell… but for this world, it’s pretty good.

Compared to the food of famous restaurants on Earth before his reincarnation, it was obviously lacking, but still, for this world, it was very delicious. Growing cheerful from the tasty food, Van began to offer various things to Orma again, who was just holding his utensils and staring blankly in front of him.

“Try some, sir. The meat is tender. Ah, since you haven’t eaten in a long time, is meat a bit too heavy? Then start with the cream soup that came with it. It’s quite smooth and flavorful, so it should whet your appetite.”

“….”

At Van’s urging, Orma finally poked at the food before cutting a small piece and putting it in his mouth. However, his jaw barely seemed to move, and his face remained expressionless. After eating just a tiny bit of the food on the table with that detached face, he eventually set his utensils down.

“Is it not to your taste?”

“…No.”

Like hell it isn’t. Anyone could see he looked like he was eating something completely unappetizing…. Thinking about the price of the food on the table, Van shoved everything into his own mouth to soothe his aching stomach. Eating the food elegantly yet swiftly with a powerful determination to leave absolutely no leftovers, Orma stared intently at Van as if finding it fascinating.

“…Why are you staring at me like that, sir?”

“Just because. It’s fascinating to see you eat so well.”

He had nothing to say to that. But considering his lightened wallet, this was the least he could do.

“By the way… are you just not hungry? Or is the food bad?”

“I don’t know, really.”

As if even holding the fork and knife felt awkward, Orma repeatedly gripped them tightly like a fist and released them. Considering his history of being cut off from civilization for a long time and forgetting language, it was only natural.

But even with the scent of such delicious food filling the air, wasn’t it strange that he had zero interest? He might forget the manners or the method of eating like a human, but if he were a living creature, he shouldn’t be able to forget hunger. Even earlier, when he had forced himself to pick at the food and barely ate a bit, it was exactly….

Exactly… as if he were just pretending to be human, it was so incredibly awkward.

The moment that thought randomly crossed his mind while chewing what was in his mouth, Van somehow had an intuition that he had hit upon the truth.

During the vast amount of time Orma had spent in hell, had his body slowly and completely stepped into the domain of a god? He no longer needed to eat food, but perhaps deep down, Orma didn’t want to acknowledge or accept that. The fact that he had drifted away from being an ordinary, mortal ‘human.’

With a complicated heart and heavy thoughts, Van stole a glance at Orma, who was staring back with his golden eyes glittering, looking amused by how well Van ate.

Hmm… I shouldn’t say anything.

Looking at that face, how could he possibly say, ‘Could it be that you’re not hungry because you’re no longer human?’ Whether it was in the game’s trailers or when facing him in reality as the final boss, Orma’s face had either been devoid of any expression or stained with madness, showing nothing but a bizarre laugh. Unlike right now, where he looked comfortable and stable while watching Van.

There was no need to ruin that. Hadn’t he caught a brief glimpse of that anxiety earlier? Just imagining a future where the world went to ruin but he still couldn’t die had caused his face to turn deathly pale with sheer terror.

Van scraped up every last remaining bit of food, neatly stuffing it into his mouth, then picked up a slightly damp handkerchief and lightly tapped his lips.

“You ate all of this by yourself?”

“…That’s because you didn’t eat any, Mr. Orma.”

Even so, wasn’t treating him like a pig a bit much? Do you know how much money this cost… he absolutely couldn’t let it go to waste.

However, rather than teasing Van, Orma seemed genuinely impressed.

“You eat a lot, unlike how you look….”

“I don’t know how you view me, sir, but I don’t normally eat this much.”

“It’s not that you can’t, but that you choose not to?”

Orma retorted playfully, then stood up with Van and slowly walked back to their room. Finally, night had arrived in the world outside the window, and as a thick darkness quietly blanketed the earth, the people packing the first floor of the inn headed outside, remarking that they could finally breathe.

By the clock, it must have been around 11:00 PM, yet the sky was only just darkening. It wasn’t for nothing that the number of people whose day and night patterns had flipped was increasing. They slept during the day and worked or were active at night, but even that night was gradually growing shorter, which was truly a miserable state of affairs.

“Why?”

As they entered the room, Van looked back and forth between the bed and Orma, prompting him to tilt his head and ask. Since it was late, it was time to sleep, but could Orma even sleep? For someone who found even eating awkward, what about sleeping?

When Van hesitated to ask directly, Orma snorted and jumped to a conclusion.

“You said we had no choice since there was only a double room. Are you actually scared to sleep together now?”

“Pardon? Scared?”

Orma pointed to himself proudly.

…Ah. It seemed he was asking if Van was scared of him. Come to think of it, since he had killed Van twice the moment they met, it wasn’t entirely incomprehensible. Furthermore, to honestly say, ‘Actually, I’ve been looking after you all this time because I felt so sorry for you…’—well, he did need to protect a god’s pride, after all.

Van lightly shook his head and hurriedly fabricated a different excuse with a worried face.

“It’s not that… isn’t the bed narrow? I was worried it might be uncomfortable for you, sir.”

“Leave it. I don’t need to sleep anyway.”

“Hmm…. Didn’t you sleep when you were in hell?”

“When the day and night came, I was in a state of passing out from the pain, so if you count that as sleeping, then I slept.”

Orma answered nonchalantly and walked over to the bed. Staring out the nearby window for a moment, he sat awkwardly on the mattress and looked at Van with a blank face.

A day where even bones and metal melted, and a night where even the air froze over. Even if it wasn’t a literal hell, it was definitely a space that produced a remarkably similar effect if a person were imprisoned there. It was a stroke of good luck that Van had set foot there during an ambiguous interval between the day and night that lasted roughly 50 days; had it been otherwise, he might have had to repeat a cycle of death and resurrection for days on end while searching for Orma.

But what about Orma, who had endured those days and nights countless times? His body continuously brought about regeneration, and he ultimately couldn’t die, feeling nothing but wretched agony. Even if he had to repeat such a desperate ordeal, Orma simply wanted to die as an ordinary human.

Why did he hate becoming a god so much? That was unknown, but regardless, Van tugged at the arm of Orma, who was sitting awkwardly on the empty side next to him, forcing him to lie down. For an instant, the golden eyes flared with bewilderment, but Van paid it no heed, lying down beside him, pulling the blanket over them, and lightly patting his chest.

“…What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to put you to sleep, sir.”

“Take your hand off me. How dare you….”

Good grief, even when I’m trying to preserve your humanity, you act like this. Even if it’s awkward, you need to sleep. Sleep is an absolute necessity for humans.

Van shut his own eyes tightly, cutting off the conversation with a simple, “Let’s sleep,” as he basked in the quiet, dark night. He thought he could hear a brutal sound like teeth grinding right beside him, but Van’s hand lightly ignored it, repeating the patting motion.

Mmm, drowsiness gradually washed over Van as well. A lot of nerve-wracking things had happened today, so it felt like he was quite tired too…. Does fatigue still accumulate even after resurrection? He would have to… look into this later….

Orma ultimately failed to swat that hand away until Van’s touch grew slower and slower, finally coming to a complete stop.

“…Are you asleep? You’re sleeping just like this? Seriously?”

Isn’t he being way too carefree? Gleaming his golden eyes sharply through the darkness, Orma glared at Van and internally plotted for the future like a petty villain, thinking, ‘Just you wait until tomorrow.’ He had explicitly stated he didn’t need to sleep, so what on earth was this situation? It felt like the guy kept treating him like a child.

Tomorrow, when I wake up… I will absolutely… not let this… slide….

[Human Sleep Therapy (Rank B) is currently active!]

Sli….

Ah…. The sunlight leaking through the window disturbed Van’s sweet slumber. Seeing how bright it was, morning must have broken in the meantime. But why did his body feel so heavy? As if it were firmly pinned down by something….

Opening his half-closed eyes and looking around, Van was quickly able to pinpoint the cause. Orma, who had glared with fire in his eyes claiming he wouldn’t sleep, was sleeping perfectly soundly, breathing softly. There was just one problem: for reasons unknown, he had locked Van tightly in his arms, hugging him close to his chest.

…I can’t breathe.

O Orma, do you intend to crush your apostle to death….