Ch.241241. Macho (3)

For a moment, one might think this way.

How does the phrase “guarantee freedom of religion” become a justification for accepting persecution against them?

Of course, persecution of specific religions can happen anywhere regardless of era or culture, but for it to exert influence even on me, who still maintains some modern values… doesn’t that seem strange?

As someone who has lived under the atheistic perspective of 21st century South Korea, while I may not have personal religious beliefs, I can respect others’ religious convictions to a certain extent.

Yet to speak as if such situations warrant death—this could reasonably be considered strange.

There is, however, a reason for this.

In this world, unlike reality, where gods’ existence is proven by their very presence, persecuting specific religions at a national level is truly foolish.

While one cannot deny that a persecuted deity might harbor negative feelings toward that nation, I’d like to add that from a national perspective, there’s no need for such actions in the first place.

To be frank, even newly born gods would have specialized domains, and by worshipping such gods, a nation could gain advantages in those areas.

Even if they’re gods associated with crime, it’s better to have them visible than hiding in shadows. People worship such gods with the sentiment of “please don’t let such things happen to me.”

Moreover, even gods with seemingly negative aspects have spiritual qualities too complex and metaphysical to be simply categorized as good or evil.

Therefore, even gods with negative aspects like theft or plunder aren’t completely evil in every sense, which is why most nations tend to tolerate emerging sects or religious orders.

Even in the Empire of Woo, which is essentially an SF dystopia with medieval fantasy trappings, such religious tolerance is commonplace—that says it all.

However, those who are persecuted in this atmosphere… those who clamor for religious freedom are, naturally, a bad lot.

There are cases where the deity they worship adopts monotheistic techniques and openly antagonizes other gods and their followers, or where they break away from mainstream sects and commit acts crazy enough to be labeled as cults or heretics…

“The smell of corruption…”

“Gregory, can you smell such things?”

“…Yes. I’ve been able to for some time now.”

Sensing the devil, demon—anyway, the disgustingly vivid demonic resonance that brushed past my nose—I observed them briefly before helping these brave soldiers clean up the cultists.

[Children of the primordial world, tear them apart!]

As I cast magic toward the squeakers hiding in my shadow, I simultaneously expanded their mystery, spreading the shadow widely across the floor.

From within the shadow, small primitive beasts the size of cats with raptor-like forms—raptor-squeakers—emerged and attacked the protesters.

“…?!!”

—Crunch! Slash!

“…! I’ll join in!”

People who initially thought these squeakers were summoned by the cultists soon realized they were attacking the cultists instead, and began cooperating to cut them down.

And only at this point did those creatures reveal their true nature.

“D-damn it—!”

“Die, dogs of the false emperor!”

“The imperial family shall collapse! Kill the dragon!”

Those who had been hiding bodies mutated by powers originating from the “demon” dimension or demonic realm now openly revealed them.

Horns growing from one side of their heads, tentacles hidden under loose clothing. Eyes or mouths sprouting on their skin, or multiple limbs. Even tails or wings.

They drew weapons hidden in what seemed like mere protest signs, and now openly chanted incantations in wickedly evil language to cast spells.

As they revealed their true colors and brought their evil to the surface, Sophia and I decided not to stand by but to take action ourselves.

[Cut!]

Though the incantation was short and concise, its effect was tremendous.

The trajectory of beast claws drawn in midair sliced through the flesh of at least dozens of humans, further splitting their hideous heads and scattering their contents everywhere.

“This damn… why is there a high-rank—”

—Thwack!

The mid-rank cultist presumed to be their leader seemed to recognize my level and was about to take some action, but before he could, the harbor security officer’s moon blade was embedded in his head.

“…Oh.”

Belatedly, I thought this movement might complicate matters further, but that thought vanished the moment I saw Sophia suddenly shaking her head…

Indeed, the results of my actions were quite remarkable.

“Great warrior, thank you for your assistance!”

“…Huff. I merely did what needed to be done to these disgusting vermin.”

The harbor administrator expressed gratitude for my high-rank status and significant help in suppressing the riot, offering convenience with the complex administrative procedures. Thanks to this, we were able to leave Macho Harbor comfortably at our scheduled time.

And so, some time after departing from Macho Harbor…

“…What is that?”

“Um… I don’t know either…”

Near the coast of the Kingdom of Kore, we encountered a group of sea beasts.

※ ※ ※

As I’ve mentioned several times, sea beasts are generally larger in size and class compared to ordinary land beasts of the same rank.

This is similar to the biological evolution seen in whales—the unique underwater environment can support larger body sizes.

Because of this, sea beasts are considered superior to ordinary beasts in the maritime environment, and many infamous ones exist among them…

Particularly, those “shark wolves” approaching our ship now are notorious as medium-sized predators of the sea.

These sea beasts, roughly the size of bulls, have a bizarre appearance that seems like a mix between wolf and shark. Unlike some chimera created by someone’s fantasy fusion, these are purely naturally occurring creatures.

Of course, looking at individual specimens, they might appear to be just ordinary mid-rank sea beasts—large and sturdy—and indeed, single specimens can be easily hunted by ship “harpooners.”

Their skin, while strong against slashing or striking attacks, isn’t particularly resistant to piercing attacks. Their muscles, developed for fast swimming, make them tough but don’t exceed the limits of living beings.

Certainly, compared to ordinary creatures, they might seem like monsters from a horror movie, but in this strangely overbalanced world, being merely a horror movie monster isn’t enough to survive.

Though their shark-like mouths have enough biting power to easily crush ships and burrow inside, if they can be readily hunted with pistols even after making holes in ships, what more needs to be said?

Despite being mid-rank, their bodies are unusually soft and lack special defensive abilities, making them huntable with just a few harpoon strikes from a mid-rank warrior.

But the real reason they’re considered troublesome is that shark wolves live in highly organized packs.

The combination of dolphin-level intelligence and magical mental connection gives them discipline and cooperation, allowing them to employ simple tactics and even devise basic deceptions.

Honestly, from my high-rank perspective, hunting all these wolf-fish would be simple, but I’m not sure if the ship would remain intact in the process.

Their high intelligence means that instead of fleeing in fear when seeing comrades die, they burn with revenge and target the ship’s underside, creating situations where high-rank firepower can’t be freely used.

So while I was contemplating how to deal with this situation…

‘…Hmm?’

Suddenly, sensing a fierce presence approaching, I turned my head to look.

‘Wow….’

There was a turtle ship, so magnificent and grand that it could only be described as “impressive!” approaching us.