Ch.357Chapter 357 – The Purpose of God (4)

Emiris is not in a complete state.

After hearing my words, Beatrice fell into thought for a moment.

Then she soon nodded and said.

“It’s definitely strange. We should already be on Emiris’s bad side, yet he doesn’t descend directly to eliminate us.”

“Could it simply be carelessness?”

Sia asked.

Despite asking, Sia’s face suggested she thought that possibility was low, and Beatrice nodded as she replied.

“I won’t say it’s impossible. But considering how he deceived and backstabbed someone stronger than himself, and then went on to ambush and devour other gods too, Emiris seems to be more cautious and certainty-seeking than we thought. It’s hard to believe it was mere carelessness.”

As Beatrice spoke quietly, Sera nodded and continued.

“From what I saw of his personality during our brief fight, he seemed like the type who would rather display more power to overwhelm an opponent weaker than himself rather than hold back. I think, as Kay said, Emiris is either unstable or under some kind of restriction.”

“Then Emiris’s goal is easy to understand.”

Eve quietly continued.

“To escape from incomplete omnipotence and become completely omnipotent.”

I don’t know what he needs to achieve that.

But at least his course of action must be heading in that direction.

“…Are all the incidents caused by the Emiris Church related to that purpose?”

“What do you think about that, Kara?”

Chris asked, looking at Kara.

And Kara quietly shook her head and said.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know.”

“I see.”

“Being a saint doesn’t mean I know all of Emiris’s intentions… I only occasionally sensed his emotions.”

Kara said quietly.

“But thinking about it now, I feel that those incidents might not be completely unrelated to Emiris’s will.”

“Why is that?”

In response to my question, Kara quietly looked at me.

“Once before, I felt Emiris experiencing great displeasure and anger. At that time, I immediately went to consult with Somnus about why the god was angry.”

Kara spoke quietly, as if recalling that day.

“But Somnus’s demeanor and words were somewhat concerning.”

“If it was strange, what did it feel like?”

“That day, Somnus seemed greatly displeased for some reason. And he declared the god’s will as if with absolute certainty.”

As if remembering something else, Kara shuddered slightly.

“…I still remember how Somnus muttered in an extremely low and eerie voice when he said that eliminating you all would improve Emiris’s mood.”

“Kara.”

Chris placed his hand on Kara’s shoulder as if to calm her.

And Kara smiled as she spoke.

“I’m fine. But thinking back now, Somnus always declared the god’s will with certainty. I wonder how he could so easily declare the god’s will.”

Kara looked at me again and said.

“To add, if there’s anything being plotted against you all from the church, that man is likely involved in most of it. A man who declares the god’s will more definitively than me, the saint. He might be interpreting things to suit his own circumstances… but I don’t think it’s completely unrelated.”

At least from Kara’s perspective, it seemed that the schemes orchestrated by Somnus were not unrelated to Emiris.

‘Somnus again.’

I thought it was getting tiresome to hear that name operating in the shadows so frequently.

On the other hand, it feels like he’s doing too much work by himself.

Then suddenly I remembered something from the past.

It was during the Prayer Festival.

“…Come to think of it, that guy easily guessed the content of my prayer during the Prayer Festival.”

“Oh my, what kind of prayer was it?”

It was when Somnus appeared after I had a confrontation with Beatrice, whom I mistakenly thought was behind the Prayer Festival terrorist attack.

“I prayed to be able to return home, and for everyone around me to be well and healthy.”

“That’s quite ordinary, I suppose. I wouldn’t have minded if it was something a bit different… but I guess back then things weren’t like they are now, were they?”

Eve looked at me with a slight smile, though she seemed a bit disappointed.

It was certainly an ordinary prayer in content.

But there was something strange about it.

No matter how ordinary the content of the prayer was.

What were the chances that Somnus could guess exactly what prayer I had offered?

‘It seems too unlikely to be a coincidence…’

Now that we were discussing the connection between Somnus and Emiris, I couldn’t help but feel suspicious.

“…Since we’re not making progress, let’s assume that the incidents orchestrated by Somnus were being controlled by Emiris from behind the scenes. It’s just speculation at this point.”

Sia said quietly.

“The simple question is: how do these schemes by this Somnus fellow benefit Emiris?”

“…Hmm.”

First, we need to organize what schemes Somnus has been involved in.

Just listing what comes to mind: creating test subjects like me, targeting Sera while continuously searching for the Philosopher’s Stone, suddenly interfering with the dragon subjugation, and operating covertly in Albheim to summon the Demon King… among others.

There were other minor incidents, but these were the main ones I could recall.

‘…What is he trying to accomplish with these incidents?’

Just as I was thinking that.

I noticed Beatrice was looking at me.

“Togu.”

“What?”

As Beatrice quietly called me, I turned my gaze toward her, and she continued.

“…It’s an old story, but do you remember when I kidnapped you?”

“How could I possibly erase that from my memory.”

At my response, Beatrice flinched slightly.

But soon she cleared her throat once and continued.

“At that time, I examined your body and investigated those traces, and came to a conclusion.”

“What conclusion?”

“Although your body has been modified in various ways, the most fundamental concept, and the part that was prioritized, was creating a hero.”

Following Beatrice’s words, Sera quietly added.

“And Somnus has been continuously targeting the Philosopher’s Stone.”

“Just looking at their pursuit of your body and the Philosopher’s Stone, we can conclude that creating a hero is a very high priority for them.”

Beatrice exhaled softly before continuing.

“I thought it was about making Idea into a hero. After all, Idea was the only person I could think of who was worthy of being made into a hero by them.”

Beatrice said quietly.

“But according to our hypothesis so far, let’s say Somnus wasn’t trying to make Idea into a hero, but was trying to create a hero for Emiris.”

Beatrice looked at me and said.

“Then couldn’t we think that Emiris was trying to use the hero’s body to resolve the restrictions or unstable state he’s in?”

“…That could be.”

I responded to Beatrice’s words.

Not for Idea’s sake, but to create a hero’s body for Emiris.

But the problem was still how a hero’s body would benefit Emiris.

‘…If that’s the case, then creating this body was part of Emiris’s plan from the beginning.’

I unconsciously looked down at my own body.

The test subjects created to recreate a hero.

Their persistent efforts to gather materials for the hero’s awakening.

Their obsession with creating a hero was more intense than I thought.

‘Why would a god need a hero’s body?’

I couldn’t know the reason yet.

But I felt that as long as we continued to clash with him, we would find out soon enough.

+

A short time passed.

After various discussions, Eve lightly clapped her hands to gather everyone’s attention.

“Unfortunately, we still lack a bit of information to make judgments based solely on Christina’s words.”

Eve said quietly.

“Let’s summarize with this hypothesis. Emiris aims for omnipotence, and to that end, he devoured other gods. However, he is still under restrictions or his body has become unstable, so he’s trying to create a hero’s body to achieve omnipotence through it.”

“That summary seems correct.”

Eve nodded at Sera’s words.

Then Beatrice looked at me and said.

“If our hypothesis is correct, the way to prevent it is already determined. Right, Togu?”

“That’s right.”

I said, looking at Beatrice.

“What method?”

“It’s simple. The hero’s awakening requires the Philosopher’s Stone.”

I said, looking at Sia.

“If we get the Philosopher’s Stone before them, their plan naturally fails.”

“Even if they wanted to, there’s no way left to make it. …Somnus suspects that my grandmother made it.”

More than suspecting, he was almost certain of it.

Thinking about it, this part was also strange.

We were in a situation where we believed there was a possibility that the Philosopher’s Stone had actually been created after seeing a failed version in Ferarius.

But Sera’s grandmother had hidden everything about the Philosopher’s Stone even from her granddaughter.

It was information that we had barely confirmed after traveling around.

I wonder how Somnus could be so certain about it.

“…We’ll have to beat it out of him directly.”

Beatrice nodded at my words.

Since our words were still at the hypothesis stage, to know the truth, we first needed to capture Somnus.

I didn’t know when it would be, but when we caught him, we would have to beat him to verify the truth.

‘In the end, there’s nothing more to gain by talking further here.’

If we really wanted to investigate more, we should examine the facility where I used to be.

It’s questionable whether we could obtain relevant materials, but it didn’t seem like we could get more information externally beyond this point.

Still, we were able to guess at Emiris’s, or perhaps Somnus’s, purpose.

I suppose we could say we’ve taken a step forward in that regard.

“What did he want to do by becoming omnipotent?”

“Simply put, he probably wanted to eliminate the fear of death forever.”

I quietly responded to Sia’s words.

Then Kara spoke as if she had just remembered something.

“Come to think of it, the doctrines of the Emiris Church particularly emphasize obedience to the god.”

Obedience, huh.

Thinking about it, he seemed to favor that keyword quite a bit.

Is it because he’s the God of Conquest?

‘But why emphasize obedience?’

Only Emiris would know the exact reason.

The answer I could come up with right now is…

“…It’s not just ‘I’ll become omnipotent and put the world at my feet,’ is it?”

“Who knows.”

Beatrice said with a slight smile.

“But a truly omnipotent being could certainly do everything in the world according to their will.”

Beatrice spoke lightly.

As we were wrapping up the conversation, Kara was looking at Chris.

It seemed she was finally asking something she had been curious about for a while.

“By the way, Chris. There’s something I’m curious about.”

“Go ahead, Kara.”

“According to what you said, Evgenia was indeed backstabbed by Emiris. But…”

Kara said quietly.

“If that’s the case, Evgenia’s actions seem a bit strange.”

“How so?”

“It’s strange that she thought to create a place like this to pass on the truth and purpose to future generations. Wouldn’t it have been better to just avoid Emiris in advance or eliminate him herself?”

Kara asked, looking at Chris.

“Did Evgenia really not know that Emiris was targeting her?”

Chris looked at Kara in response to her question.

And then.

“No.”

Chris said firmly.

“Lady Evgenia knew that Emiris was targeting her, would usurp her power, and kill her.”

“Then why didn’t she flee or respond?”

Chris smiled slightly at Kara’s words.

“I mentioned earlier. With the power of guidance, Lady Evgenia guides others to the right path.”

“That’s right.”

“Then, the reason Lady Evgenia didn’t kill Emiris first is…”

Chris said quietly.

“Perhaps even all the gods dying to Emiris was the right path according to Lady Evgenia’s power.”

“Dying is the right path…?”

“Yes.”

Chris said firmly.

“I don’t know about this part either. Lady Evgenia probably concealed what she prepared at the end.”

“I see.”

“But as you said, Lady Evgenia didn’t just sit around doing nothing.”

Chris said quietly.

“Before dying to Emiris, she divided her power and sealed it in five places, preparing for the future. And instead of just dying to Emiris, she tried to achieve what she wanted.”

“What was that?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t know.”

Chris shook his head and said.

“But what I can be certain of is that when the fifth seal is broken, we’ll know what she prepared at the end, and that for this, there needed to be someone who inherited her divine power. And that this preparation is absolutely necessary to confront Emiris.”

Chris spoke firmly.

“Then we must go to the last seal as well.”

“Yes. We need to go to the snowy lands beyond Bestia.”

Bestia is the country of the beastkin.

It was a place we had postponed visiting because it was dangerous due to its slave system.

‘I was planning to go there anyway…’

From Chris’s reaction, it seemed that all five seals must be released.

There was a place we needed to visit before going there, but once that was done, it would be best to head there immediately.

‘It’s a bit confusing.’

Perhaps because I had gained more information than expected, my head started to ache slightly.

Now I needed time to organize everything.

“We’ve learned a lot, but there’s no reason to stay here any longer.”

“We’ve broken the seal too.”

I nodded at Beatrice’s words.

There was no reason to stay here any longer.

I quietly spoke to my companions.

“Let’s go back.”

“Yes.”

Sera replied as she searched inside her pocket.

It was time to return now.