Finally, war broke out.
Since it’s a fight between a pseudo-religion and a country, if we choose our words carefully, we could call it suppression.
But the scale is indeed a war.
Not only is the scale large, but originally in the early modern period, such huge wars didn’t occur often.
The elite of the Kingdom of Anselus and the warriors of the Future Hope Church.
These two clashed first.
Every time they kill each other, warmth comes swooshing in.
Hehe!
It feels so good to have sustained warmth after a long time!
But the warmth disappeared after burning like firewood.
It’s not because the fight ended.
The method suddenly changed.
It’s not a war where people are extinguished like candles. Instead of an indiscriminate fight where ridiculous numbers of lives disappear with each clash, it’s a method that more efficiently reduces allied casualties while intensifying enemy casualties.
The Future Hope Church is using strategy and tactics.
I know the cause.
It’s Witga. He’s extremely skilled at handling people. He fought with Yasle before, but now he’s taking command and fighting?
Is he fighting the Kingdom of Anselus that’s attacking right in front of us first?
Then does the Kingdom of Anselus fail?
Does Tis fail?
I thought so, but Andrew approached Witga. It wasn’t a private meeting. On Witga’s side was Isla, and on Andrew’s side was also someone who received my blessing.
He spoke about the current situation, saying Hieronymus had abandoned Witga. He said it was already over since there were no more blessed people going north.
Then Andrew asked Witga what his goal was.
Witga looked around. He made eye contact with each person who came with Andrew. Thanks to that, I made eye contact several times.
That’s right.
Andrew brought several subordinates who received blessings. Isla grabbed a weapon. And Andrew’s subordinate who noticed this also reached for a weapon.
A volatile situation.
Witga, with a complicated expression, spoke of the destruction of the Kingdom of Kogni. To Andrew who asked for the reason, he answered that he was a general of the Kingdom of Ogla.
Searching through the memories of people who know this word, it’s a country that was destroyed by the Kingdom of Kogni.
I see.
So that’s why he was proficient in strategy and tactics and knew how to fight. Even Isla, who was nearby, didn’t know this and looked at Witga with wide eyes.
Andrew promised to help Witga if he followed him. But Witga mentioned Hieronymus and asked if Andrew wasn’t the same.
Then Andrew mentioned me.
The number of people who can receive blessings is not 3 but 4. He said he got this by directly asking the outer god.
He twisted his words as if Hieronymus had been embezzling.
I can tell because I’m also the type to lie by only telling the truth.
After that, Andrew asked back if all of Hieronymus’s words weren’t unreliable.
When Witga slowly nodded, Andrew smiled.
He said he wasn’t asking Witga to believe him and proposed a deal. He asked to let the elite soldiers of Anselus run straight to a village. If he did just that, he said he would organize an army of blessed people and let Witga lead it.
Then Witga asked if the outer god would do that.
Andrew relayed the answer he heard from me exactly.
The outer god will give blessings to anyone as long as sacrifices are provided.
At those words, Witga’s body stiffened.
And after a moment, he asked Andrew back. If he was thinking of taking the outer god.
Then Andrew answered that wouldn’t it be suitable to make it a new god.
After a long silence, Witga deferred. Then Andrew handed over the blessed person to Witga, saying to use this subordinate as he pleased.
Those who are my eyes and ears heard Witga mutter shortly, ‘So it’s surveillance,’ but pretended not to hear.
Probably because it’s true.
And the next day.
Blessed ones without special abilities advanced to the battlefield. And they suffered a tragic defeat. The elite soldiers of the Kingdom of Anselus covered a distance that would normally take a week riding animal-drawn vehicles in just four days on foot.
Then the underground temple was put on alert. Food and water were moved from surrounding villages into the underground temple, and many people armed themselves to fight.
And I also moved from my original room to a room deep inside the underground temple.
It’s the room where I first lived.
During this time, I haven’t seen Hyunkeshuni. I don’t know if she’s working elsewhere or if she’s run away. I thought she would be needed in case of emergency, but I made a mistake.
I should have stuck close to her even if I had to act cute.
If you fail, you need to analyze the cause and improve.
For that, I went to find Yasle.
“What is it?”
“I want to stay with you.”
I said just the point. Yasle sighed deeply and tried to coax and soothe me. But I have no intention of leaving.
He’s the most likely candidate with knowledge.
Yes, why had I been staying still until now?
As the Future Hope Church was heading towards destruction, would I have just watched my warmth harvester and the group that gives me warmth collapse?
I endured.
I endured for a very long time.
Because there’s something I want, I watched slowly as the Future Hope Church collapsed. Waiting while suppressing the desire to lead it to collapse a little faster. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.
Barely.
Yasle was cornered.
Yes. A little girl will stick to him there.
A servant who gives the power called blessing whenever sacrifices are given.
A simple beast that’s unsettling but hasn’t taken any action so far.
Although I’m concerned that Hyunkeshuni isn’t visible, I can’t let this person go. He has knowledge more important than immediate warmth.
When I stuck to him for the first time, throwing a tantrum, Yasle finally gave up. He gave up.
At this moment when Andrew is making a deal with the Kingdom of Anselus.
Andrew opened a secret passage on the condition that they turn a blind eye to him, and showed the elite soldiers of the Kingdom of Anselus the way to Hieronymus.
Slowly, the collapse of the underground temple was imminent.
I can’t miss this opportunity.
Never.
I followed Hieronymus along with Joanna. The church people didn’t look strangely at me following Hieronymus.
They think we’re sticking together because the situation is dangerous.
Fortunately, I can stick close without causing discomfort.
In that situation, Witga came to find Hieronymus.
And after a long silence, he suddenly shouted loudly that the Kingdom of Lasve and the Kingdom of Kogni were attacking from two directions in the north.
While doing so, he got angry, saying this happened because Hieronymus didn’t give blessed ones.
After spewing out curses for a while, he asked Hieronymus where he would send the troops.
But his face is covered in lies.
To Witga’s question, Hieronymus asked back what he meant by where.
Witga answered, asking if he would choose the north where the two kingdoms are invading, or the southeast heading towards the capital of the Kingdom of Anselus.
Then instead of answering immediately, Hieronymus asked Witga how the current war situation was.
Witga explained the war situation one by one, answering that they could easily defend here by holding out in the underground temple.
It’s a lie.
Maybe that’s why there’s guilt in his expression, but I pretend not to know.
After listening to Witga’s words, Hieronymus ordered him to head southeast.
Resignation and hatred flashed briefly across Witga’s face then disappeared. And he nodded, turned his body, and grabbed the door.
And without looking back, he left saying he was sick of lies.
He went very far.
And in a place with no people, he answered Andrew’s subordinate that he would enter under Andrew’s command.
Yasle made a big mistake.
The question he asked earlier about where to send people was probably the last chance. But Yasle was more urgent about dealing with the Kingdom of Anselus.
That’s right. He made the wrong choice.
And that night, Witga left with many believers. He said he was going out to attack the Kingdom of Anselus in the southeast, but I know that’s not true.
After that, I followed Yasle as he inspected the underground temple. At first, he was quite uncomfortable, but after about two days, he stopped paying attention to me.
And on the second day after Witga left.
Bang!
With a loud noise, sand fell from the ceiling.
Finally, that day came.
There was a reason why the soldiers of Anselus didn’t invade even though they had arrived at the village with the entrance to the underground temple two days ago, and even though they had received an internal guide from Andrew.
They were waiting for the Kingdom of Lasve and the Kingdom of Kogni. When the armies of the two kingdoms attacked the underground temple, they took advantage of the gap to burrow inside.
It’s a feint operation.
The soldiers of the Kingdom of Anselus, centered on Tis, break through the underground temple.
There were almost no soldiers inside. Because they went out to block the armies of the Kingdom of Lasve and the Kingdom of Kogni attacking from outside.
So what blocked them were ordinary church members.
But they were all killed.
The men who tried to stop them, the women who tried to grab their ankles, and even the children who ran out to stop the scary people without really knowing what was going on, all of them.
By the way, there was also a blessed person among those children, so I roughly know what’s happening. And it seems Hieronymus knows this too.
Because the ominous aura I saw before moved wildly, collapsing underground passages, or breaking the arms and legs of approaching soldiers.
But he couldn’t stop Tis.
And they finally arrived at the deepest place.
The place where Hieronymus is.
Several blood-covered young men and women, including Tis, stood before Hieronymus.
I thought they would fight now, but Hieronymus collapsed that place and entered the secret passage in that room.
I followed Hieronymus, dangling from Joanna’s arms.
And we walked for a long time through a long secret passage.
It was a really long secret passage. A dark passage where only rough breathing could be heard.
We finally escaped outside after passing through there.
But in front of it stood Andrew and blessed people along with the army of the Kingdom of Anselus.
Unexpectedly, Hieronymus wasn’t surprised.
He calmly looked at them and then took out a strange tool from his bosom. And the ominous aura I had been seeing all along exploded out from him.
He was strong.
He killed many soldiers of the Kingdom of Anselus, and even killed blessed people.
It seemed like a reversal was in sight, but just before the reversal.
Tis and his comrades came out of the passage we had come through.
They were extremely strong, and Hieronymus was eventually defeated.
His whole body was covered in wounds and he suffered fatal injuries that seemed like he would soon die.
Yes.
Finally.
The opportunity has come.
I’ve waited for a very long time. It’s not that I watched without doing anything. I couldn’t do anything. Even if I made someone a superhuman, regeneration ability is all I have for myself.
Even if I can absorb sacrifices, I don’t know how effective that would be.
Above all, Yasle is the one who summoned me to this place.
He might know how to reverse summon me.
So I endured, endured, endured, and kept enduring.
I told Joanna who was holding me to let go, then approached him who was barely standing, covered in blood.
Noticing what I was trying to do, Tis screamed and ran towards me, and Andrew shouted towards Tis not to kill me.
In the midst of that, I asked him. I asked the question I ask every day. The question he already knows.
“I’ll give myself to you. In exchange, when you finish everything later, I’ll take everything you have then. How about it?”
He lowered his head with a dark expression, then touched his wound with his hand and spread it forward. It’s covered in blood.
Yasle nodded toward the outer god.
“Let’s do that.”
The dark purple smoke that came out of my body enveloped Yasle, and eventually touched the light. The light instantly turned black.
At the same time, Yasle’s skin cracked and a tall young man came out from inside. Of course, his hair was dyed purple, his skin was blue, and his pupils were yellow. The whites of his eyes were dyed black though.
He became a blessed superhuman.
Meanwhile, I found the knowledge I wanted. Things like him being the leader of the Luminous Theocratic State, or having various techniques, are all unnecessary now.
It’s the technique to call me to this world!
The result of patience is extremely sweet!
Grin
Before I knew it, a wide grin spread across my face.
I failed to control my expression.
Please forgive me.
After all, I barely achieved my goal.