Worries and Concerns (2)

The Celestial Deity’s thinking was incomprehensible.

Is it because she’s a god? They say humans can’t understand the thoughts of gods, is it really true?

Thinking this, Yona organized her thoughts for now.

That stupid and incompetent hero had at least heard the Celestial Deity’s voice, and she told him to meet Yona, the Saintess of the demon realm. And to follow those words, the hero led Bigrind all the way here.

It wasn’t impossible. Above all, Yona had only told them she was going to Katus, not where in Katus she was going. Yet they came straight to Esima without missing each other, which could be seen as the Celestial Deity guiding their way.

“So, what’s the reason she told you to meet me?”

Since they came because they were told to meet, there must be a reason for that meeting.

And now that they’ve met, it was time to hear that reason.

“She told me to help the Saintess of the demon realm.”

“What?”

“What?”

“What?”

The words were the same, only the voices different.

Yona, Bigrind, and Alec.

These three asked Ludvig simultaneously.

“It’s exactly as I said. She said that helping the Saintess of the demon realm is the same as helping the Celestial Deity.”

“But, why?”

There shouldn’t be a reason for that, should there?

The Sky God is a deity at the opposite end of the Celestial Deity.

Several hundred years ago, that is, in the age without Echoes, it was the Sky God who ruled the world by impersonating the Celestial Deity.

Although it’s said that she didn’t particularly plunge the world into misery, the fact that she impersonated the Celestial Deity and remained silent, feigning the absence of a god, was considered the greatest sin. If you were to name the biggest heretical existence in the current Celestial Church, it would still be the Sky God.

The fact that they were told to help Yona—the Saintess of such a Sky God, although only Yona knew this fact and everyone else thought she was the Saintess of the demon realm—and that it was the Celestial Deity herself who said this, was more than enough to perplex everyone.

“The reason… She said we would know when the time comes.”

“So, you’re saying you rushed all the way here just because the Celestial Deity told you to, without even knowing the reason?”

It was beyond bewildering and almost shocking, but Ludvig nodded so refreshingly.

As if it were the most natural thing, smoothly.

“That’s right. After being severely rebuked by the Saintess, I had been repenting every day, and then the Celestial Deity descended to me and said so, so it must be true.”

‘This guy is still a fanatic, I see…’

Yona was so dumbfounded she didn’t know what to say.

Although he said he came to help her, she didn’t really think it would be of much help. Above all, when it came to power, Yona was now unmatched anywhere. She was confident that even if she were thrown into the middle of the church territory in her current state, she could survive. She was confident she could escape leisurely even if cathedral knights swarmed her in droves.

Nevertheless, Yona just gave a hollow laugh and didn’t say anything more to Ludvig.

Anyway, although she would refuse to accept any more companions, if Bigrind and Ludvig joined, it would be a great help.

“…You told the cathedral everything before coming, right?”

“Of course not. As if they would let us go if we said we were going to help the Saintess of the demon realm.”

Ludvig answered with a smooth smile.

In that aspect, Yona thought his brain worked well.

“By the way… those white-haired girls, yes. Right. What happened to those girls?”

Yona suddenly remembered and asked Bigrind.

When they parted in Evian, Bigrind had said she would take responsibility and resolve the issue of those white-haired girls.

“They’ve all been sent home. We’re not capturing any more either.”

“Hmm.”

That was welcome news in its own way.

Yona leaned back in her chair and made a nasal sound, and Alec, hearing it beside her, laughed inwardly.

An expression only Alec knew.

The corners of her mouth turned up ever so slightly, and her already upturned sharp eyes—those eyes curved just a tiny bit.

It was the expression Yona made when she was satisfied—but didn’t want to show it.

“You don’t need to worry. I confirmed that they’ve all been sent home.”

“That’s a relief then. Goodness, I don’t understand what they were thinking, rounding up everyone who looked similar to me. What did the Pope say?”

“The Pope was surprised too. It seems he didn’t expect things to get this big. Anyway, it’s been resolved well, and they’ve been safely taken care of, including travel expenses back home, so don’t worry.”

“I see… That’s good then.”

Yona finally felt at ease.

Although many things had happened, it’s good to have at least one outcome like this.

It’s a good thing.

One good thing amidst days full of not-so-good things.

Even with just this one thing, Yona felt her heart becoming lighter.

Not everything that happens is bad after all.

Having a friend who, though a bit ill-tempered, handles things well, she’s gotten rid of one worry.

Yona was satisfied.

With just this one thing.

So, Yona smiled.

Seeing Yona smile, Ludvig couldn’t help but force a smile as well.

In fact, Ludvig wasn’t thoughtless enough to rush all the way here just because the Celestial Deity told him to help her. Of course, he had heard an explanation about the reason from the Celestial Deity, and thanks to that, he could roughly understand why the Celestial Deity hadn’t been able to reveal herself until now.

‘I should tell the Saintess too.’

The Celestial Deity’s earthly representative, the Saintess.

Bigrind, being such a Saintess, also had strong faith in the Celestial Deity.

That’s why Ludvig hadn’t been able to tell Bigrind until now, and also because the Celestial Deity had said she would descend directly to Bigrind when they met Yona, the Saintess of the demon realm, so there was no need for Ludvig to explain to Bigrind.

‘I hope the Celestial Deity descends soon. I wonder if the Saintess will be shocked.’

Since even he was shocked, how much more so would Bigrind be, whose faith was even deeper?

Ludvig was worried about that.

‘But it can’t be helped. They say the world doesn’t go as you wish… I’ll just have to take good care of her.’

Ludvig looked at Bigrind with an awkward smile.

Not knowing the reason, Bigrind returned Ludvig’s smile.

‘These damn beastkin, with heads like this, I can’t use them.’

Seeing the pattern appearing on her palm, Ceres frowned.

She wanted to scream and throw a fit, but given her current location—the place being what it was—she couldn’t do that.

‘They couldn’t even do that simple thing… Damn it.’

Even though she had handed over the dagger of破識 (Breaking Consciousness), they couldn’t do it properly and it ended up like this.

If that dagger had properly stabbed Yona—even if it had just made a deep wound—the dagger would have shattered Yona’s consciousness. And that shattered consciousness would have disappeared into fragments, and the Sky God, though immature, would have opened her eyes right inside Yona’s body.

And then, the Sky God who resurrected in such an immature state—

‘Tsk… Is there no choice?’

Ceres unconsciously chewed on her fingernails.

One of the habits she had developed after Alevian completely defected to Yona’s side.

Ceres, who should be a perfect designer and leader, would get so irritated she felt sick to her stomach when she saw her plans falling apart one by one, so chewing on her fingernails like this would at least make her feel a bit better.

‘What do I do now. It’s still too dangerous to summon him.’

It hadn’t been long since she handed over the vengeful spirits of the white-haired girls, over a thousand vengeful spirits.

So it would take quite some time to digest those vengeful spirits, absorbing them thoroughly.

It wasn’t possible yet.

In contrast, the power residing in Yona was becoming more distorted than Ceres had thought.

She had already absorbed three of the Sky God’s powers.

Even a human who could be called a hero would find it difficult to maintain their sanity after absorbing that much power.

She would become excessively violent under the influence of the Sky God’s consciousness, but it was truly strange that Yona was still not breaking down.

‘Maybe it’s thanks to that Alec guy after all.’

That bald guy.

Although they say his hair has grown back, his fundamental nature hasn’t changed.

Ceres thought that it must be because that baldy was by Yona’s side that she wasn’t completely breaking down.

‘A method to lift her up completely and then drop her hard. Hmm, is there such a method?’

The Sky God should be classified as an evil god fundamentally.

A being closer to negative emotions like depression, anger, hatred, and curses rather than all sorts of positive words overflowing with joy, hope, love, friendship, and wishes.

The best way to stimulate such a being more strongly would be complete abuse.

‘Hmm, hmm, hmm.’

Ceres drew pictures on the desk, sliding her finger across it.

If Alevian were here, she would have made plans and modified them in response, based on all sorts of data that Alevian would bring, but now Ceres had lost her eyes, so to speak. There was no other way but for her to analyze Yona’s psychology and respond somehow.

‘In the end, she’s just a human. And a woman. It’s a simple matter to make her happy and then make her crash…’

She knew roughly what to do, but the problem was designing the intermediate process.

‘I think it would be good to visit at this point. It might be good to go directly and meet her.’

Tomorrow was the day to return to the church territory.

It would be good to return, manipulate the hero and the Saintess well, and visit Yona with those two.

Since the hero and the Saintess would be present, Yona wouldn’t be able to treat Ceres carelessly—

Ceres began to busily calculate in her head.