Ch.261The Road to Lake Ceres (2)

Dawn.

As the moon was slowly setting, I was sharing love with my wife, kissing her.

Though I had become impotent, the pleasure that arose from our intimate relations belonged only to us as a couple. Between the hours of moon and sun, we explored each other’s bodies, staining the bed with sweat and saliva.

“Under moonlight and under sunlight, you are more beautiful than anyone else.”

“Really… You won’t say such things to other women, will you?”

“Of course not. There’s no woman more beautiful than you in this world.”

I said that and embraced my wife again.

When did it start, I wonder, this desire to create a family?

Was it when I saw children playing by the dock, rushing home at the shouts of women hanging laundry calling, “Come in for dinner!”?

Or when I heard thugs who usually spat everywhere calling out “Mom, Mom” as they suffered from terminal illnesses?

Or perhaps when I witnessed quarreling children with wet footsteps, red cheeks, and teary eyes screaming, “I’m going to tell my dad!” at the top of their lungs?

Maybe it was all three.

Especially for orphans of the street like me, the concept of family was extremely foreign.

Someone who would feed and shelter me even if I didn’t work?

Someone who would stay with me when times were tough?

Because family was something that those who had been alone since birth could never relate to, orphans who couldn’t depend on anyone could never understand familial love.

Just as I couldn’t understand why people called out for their mothers and fathers when they were dying.

Perhaps that’s why I wanted to become a father even more.

Unlike my younger self, who would devour udon with dirt-covered hands at food stalls wrapped in bright red cloth at night, men called “father” would hold their children in one hand and money in the other, casually asking, “What would you like to eat, son?”

I was so young then that I thought “father” was a homonym for “rich man.”

Of course, I don’t have such misconceptions now… but back then, the very concept of someone else buying food for me was something utterly unfamiliar.

“If we have a child, would you prefer a boy or a girl?”

“I’m not sure. Who would you want our child to resemble more between us?”

“Hmm… half and half?”

“Hmm~ That’s a cowardly answer.”

“I said half and half because I like both you and me. They say the firstborn usually takes after the mother anyway.”

We talked about children while sharing the same bed, under the same blanket.

Now that both my wife and I would be legally adults in just a few more months—not even a year—such conversations didn’t feel awkward.

Of course, until we completed our pilgrimage, it was merely fantasy… but if even that had been impossible, I would have long since jumped from Parsifal’s Cliff.

After our happy imaginings, we promised to have children someday after finishing our pilgrimage, and then fell back asleep.

*

“We have only two days left until we reach Lake Ceres.”

The staff officer informed me, then loudly slurped his konjac jelly.

“…Could you eat a bit more quietly?”

“Ah, I apologize, Lord Luminator.”

The staff officer scratched his head and tossed the konjac jelly pack into the trash, then promptly marked several points on a map showing the terrain of Lake Ceres.

“These points are where our Sky Warden can land. Lake Ceres is a religious site, but it’s one of the few remaining holy places of the Yangwol Order, which doesn’t follow the Four Divine Gods faith… As such, it constantly suffers terrorist attacks from fanatics who believe in the Four Divine Gods, and has no unified government.”

“Then how do the locals survive?”

“Most are self-sufficient, but paradoxically, the Yangwol Order is like cockroaches—ahem! I don’t mean they’re dirty, just that they’re tenacious…”

“It’s fine, please continue.”

“Hmm… Anyway, thanks to support from order members living elsewhere and from normal people who fear incurring the wrath of the Sun and Moon, despite having no unified government, their living standards are relatively decent. After all, 6 million people make their living around this lake.”

Six million people…

About the population of a small city. A rather pitiful end for descendants of a once-massive religion that had billions of followers. That’s how devastating the Era of the Solar Eclipse had been.

“I wonder how they’ll react to seeing the Sun’s Apostle.”

Though my wife had received the Moon’s blessing, that blessing was somewhat… questionable, making it rather ambiguous to call her an official(?) apostle.

Unlike me with my two-way communication, her body couldn’t handle the divine power, so she could only communicate one-way while sleeping.

Just as the staff officer was about to speak, there was a sudden knock on the conference room door.

“My lord, are you there?”

“What is it?”

“There appears to be a group of refugees on the ground. They’re begging us to stop after seeing our ship. And according to our observers, they seem to be from Lake Ceres.”

At those words, the staff officer and I looked at each other.

What could have happened at Lake Ceres? If they were refugees, something bad must have occurred…

“Stop the ship and send a shuttle. I want to speak with whoever is leading these refugees.”

“Understood.”

The Sky Warden came to a halt.

Soon, with a clunking sound, a shuttle launched from the lower flight deck and gently descended upon the thousands of refugees below.

*

“My lord, I’ve brought them.”

“Enter.”

In the conference room, I waited with my staff officers, division commanders, and my companions to meet the leader of the refugees.

The door opened, and four elderly men in shabby attire entered.

Upon seeing my wife and me, they froze, then bowed their heads with tears in their eyes and murmured:

“At last…! The radiance of the Sun has returned to this earth…!”

“What?”

“This humble being beholds the Apostle of the Sun…”

“Servants of Saburo…! Descendants of Nariakira…!”

They bowed three times in unison, then pulled out necklaces bearing the sun and moon from their necks.

“You are priests.”

“Indeed. We are followers of Nariakira Saburo’s radiance and seekers of Maria Taylor’s peace. We thought we would never see the Sun’s Apostle in our lifetime… Now we can die without regret…”

“…”

They were more like monks than priests.

Though the Yangwol Order still existed, as long as the Four Divine Gods faith persisted, this was inevitable.

The inevitable conflict between a faith born with the empire’s fall and the faith that had sustained the empire… But in modern times, it had degenerated into the strong simply oppressing the weak.

“Who drove you from Ceres? Speak, guardians of the true faith. I am the messenger of radiance and the spreader of gospel. Your homeland will be reclaimed by me.”

At my words, one of the monks prostrating before me rose and reported:

“I humbly inform you. Originally, the followers of the Four who looked down upon us who worship the Sun and Moon, but as we also serve the Moon and Sun, we did not submit easily, and this continued for over 1,000 years. However, a few days ago, the Apostle of Karil invaded our land, and we could not withstand them. Shamefully under the sun, we had no choice but to abandon the place we were meant to protect and flee.”

“Why would Karil’s Apostle violate the sanctuary? Does the Apostle of War dare destroy the Temple of Peace?”

“It is blasphemous to say, but yes, that is what happened.”

Hearing this, the Purifier hanging at my left hip began to tremble on its own.

No. Be patient. It is not yet your time.

“Go and announce: Full speed ahead to Lake Ceres! Prepare the nuclear warheads! I shall protect the pitiful ones from the heat and flash. The Apostle of War shall pay the price for destroying the Temple of Peace through war itself!”

“Yes!”

“Send word to the bridge and engine room! Full speed ahead!”

My body was already glowing white-hot, yet no one felt the heat.

They only felt reassurance from the brilliant light and their hearts were soothed by the mild warmth.

“Chief of Staff, distribute supplies to these people.”

“Yes.”

“You, true guardians of the faith. Follow this ship blessed by the Sun back to your homeland. When you hear the flash and boom, know it is the Sun’s victory cry, for I am the representative of all radiance and the vanguard of burning heat.”

At my words, the monks wept with joy.

They need suffer no more.

I was their hope, and they were my proof.

And the Apostle of War, you say?

I will show them.

No power can defeat the master of humanity!