Chapter 480: A Far Away Tale. The Divine Hunter

Hilde, disguised as Hughes, crossed through the Duchy.

As the King of Human and the Progenitor’s consort, no one would question if “he” appeared anywhere.

But never—not in her wildest dreams—did she imagine someone from the Military State would come.

Hilde knew Hughes, Historia, and Lankart had all studied together in Hamelin.

She had only later learned Hughes was the King of Human, but that didn’t mean she treated the Hamelin incident lightly.

Two prodigies who had been expected to become new stars.

The Military State had investigated, suspecting foreign involvement, but when the truth was revealed to be the academy instructor’s breakdown, they dismissed it as a failure of stress management and closed the case.

Yet… Hilde now recalled the question she had forced herself to ignore back then.

Colonel Lankart.

General Historia.

Both remarkably talented, both unusually successful.

And one more, not as gifted as them, but for some reason trusted by them.

Now she knew why.

The King of Human naturally drew trust from humans, like the other Beast Kings with their kind.

But was that all?

Could mere likability have earned Historia’s obsession, and drawn even a traitor like Lankart back to him?

“Lankart. A top-class threat. A traitor to the Military State, consorting with dangerous figures. How did you come here?”

“Danger is relative. No right-hander can harm me, and I’ve no reason to fight left-handers. More importantly…”

Lankart cocked his head, eyeing Hilde.

“If you’re disguised as Huey to lure pursuers, that makes you his underling. So why the suspicion? Didn’t he ever tell you about me?”

“Not at all. What’s your relation to him?”

“A friend.”

Hilde’s careful scheming for information was rendered pointless, Lankart answered without hesitation.

“A disciple, too. A patron. And a fellow pursuer of the Divines.”

Divine.

The unexpected word made Hilde recall the Military State’s secret files on him.

Everyone had dismissed Lankart’s betrayal as whimsy.

But it had been a meticulously planned act.

The Abyss where the Mother Earth was sealed.

Saintess Yuel, breaking with the Sanctum, had resolved to use it for the Military State’s benefit, selling the information to Earth Sage to secure the Order of Gaia’s support.

That fact had been treated as top secret, sealed in Intelligence archives, accessible only to messengers or shadow operatives.

But Lankart—the Military State’s comet, youngest slated for generalship, their great hope—had been granted partial access.

Knowledge and imagination were weapons for a mage, after all.

No one imagined he would betray them.

｢But it was a bad move. He used that knowledge to betray us. Later, we discovered most of the files he accessed were tied to the Order of Gaia.｣

Even his capture and imprisonment in Tantalus had been part of the plan.

Hilde had moved to transfer him, but he’d mocked her with an escape—taking every prisoner with him.

｢So it wasn’t Mother Earth he was after. He was chasing the Divines. Just like Father entered the Abyss seeking a Divine… wait.｣

If Lankart had kept in contact with Hughes all along—

“If you were searching for a Divine… then when he entered the Abyss after your escape… was that planned together?”

“Oh? You figured that out?”

Taking her as an ally, Lankart revealed the secret freely.

“That’s right. We had it set up in advance. I was too watched by the Military State, I needed to stage things, then slip out at the right time.”

To fulfill the pact with the Earth Sage, the Abyss’s seal had to be broken, which required keeping a human in Tantalus.

So when a petty criminal was conveniently caught, he was thrown into Tantalus at once.

That criminal had been Hughes—the King of Human—and everything began.

“When I broke out with the other inmates, Huey was still in custody. They’d transfer him, and that’s when it would start. Hmph, I wanted to find the Divine before he even arrived, but it wasn’t so easy.”

Lankart muttered with a wry smile, but then his eyes shone, filled with fervor.

No longer aloof, his gaze was brimming with admiration.

“But Huey did it! The Abyss vanished, its sealed insight released, and Earthweave was granted to humanity! And even the Progenitor, hah, I never even dreamed of touching her! That’s Huey for you! Always one step ahead! I hate to admit it, but if there’s a single man alive greater than me, it’s him!”

In his reverence, Lankart looked less like a friend than a zealot.

Hilde, dumbfounded, found herself wondering instead.

Why does the King of Human pursue the Divines?

And if he truly found them all, what would happen to humanity?

A vast change.

One that could never be undone.

Whatever Hughes was planning, wherever he was heading, Hilde’s heart raced at the thought.

“…An intriguing tale. The Divine Hunter, Lankart.”

“What? So you did know about me?”

“It wasn’t Father who told me. I uncovered it myself. Though I didn’t know you’d kept in touch with him.”

The word “Father” puzzled him, but Lankart guessed it meant Hughes.

He asked curiously.

“An informant, were you? No idea where Huey picked you up… So, where is he now?”

“I don’t know exactly. Probably crossed the mountains at the border with the Fallen Dominion.”

“Figures. If you lured me here, he must be on the other side. Damn, I came hoping to meet him now that I knew his location.”

Scratching his head at the obvious, Lankart missed Hilde’s transformation.

She covered her face, shaking her head.

Each toss of her head lengthened her short Hughes-cut hair until her true form returned.

“Changeling, are you? What a strange ability.”

Even Lankart looked impressed. Hilde ran a hand through her long hair, disheveled, and said.

“‘I’ don’t like you, traitor of the Military State… but given the situation, we may as well join forces.”

Lankart scowled slightly.

“Whatever you are, don’t think of me as your ally. The only reason I regard you well is because you serve Huey.”

“Same here. If you weren’t Father’s friend, ‘I’ wouldn’t show myself at all. Our only connection is him.”

Her bluntness seemed to please him.

More than her, he was delighted to hear Hughes.

“Hmph. I like that. We can work together. And I do need information about Huey…”

“You’ll pay dearly for it~. You’re not the only one looking for him.”

“Not the only ones? Who else?”

First, Hilde thought of the Sanctum.

They would surely try to stop the King of Human to preserve order.

But she couldn’t reveal that, not to someone like him.

She chose a safer answer.

“Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka seeks him too.”

“Ah, the Progenitor? That’s fine.”

“It’s not so simple. Sending Elders was only the start. She’ll likely seek him herself.”

“Doesn’t matter. It’s already over. A Divine has gone to her side.”

Hilde froze.

A Divine?

Few remained, most long dead and only echoes left.

Yet one had gone to the Progenitor?

“…A Divine. Don’t tell me—”

For a tree to grow, many things are needed: soil for roots, fresh air, water to vein its leaves, sunlight to crown it.

Common things, yet precious enough to raise a seed into a towering giant.

In other words, nothing matters but the seed.

Soil is everywhere, the wind always blows, water and light are easy to find unless you try to avoid them.

What humanity marvels at in a great tree is mostly made of common, worthless things, the seed alone decides if it becomes an oak or a weed.

The seed.

That tiny, fragile dot determines everything.

And so, a thinking man must ask, “Where did the seed come from?”

“You can hold a river’s course for a time, but never turn the current.”

Before the Progenitor, a tree sprouted.

Its branches spread and leaves unfurled at a pace visible to the eye.

“And as vision will find its way to the seeker, so too has the Divine’s seed finally sprouted.”

From within the tree stepped a serene woman in robes.

Horns like branches crowned her head.

Her bearing, more plant than beast, was calm.

Her hair, indistinguishable from the leaves, framed a smile both gentle and unyielding.

A living Divine.

The Druid of Origin.

The Ancient Druid, Nevida.

She welcomed the newly born Divine.

“So this is the body wrought for you. Indeed… so mote it be.”

With a voice of awe, Nevida gazed at the Progenitor’s Shadow.

The Shadow stood still, arms slack, staring back at her.

It flinched as if to flee, yet curled in on itself, as though frightened.

Though it remained motionless, it was busy, its form unraveling and reforming with her every subtle gesture.

“humanity now crafts its own flesh. No longer must it wait upon time, as I once did…”

It was not human.

Its muscles, nerves, blood, it was all dismantled and reassembled beyond any human measure.

And yet, it was human.

Its shape, its movements, its logic were all human.

Someone could wear that shell without ever sensing dissonance.

Though created by Tyrkanzyaka and bound to her, it was a race beyond humanity—superior in every way.

“But heed this warning, Divine. The world is bound by fate. Your power alone cannot change the world, nor humanity.”

At the word “humanity,” the Progenitor stirred faintly.

Behind it, in the sound of those syllables, it almost heard “King.”

No matter how he strove, he had never changed, and yet she thought of him.

“The loathsome Saintess bound humanity’s destiny. Knowledge found and seized belongs to all, that is the Divine. Yet until revealed, it remains hoarded. Because of the lie that humanity is absolute, dignified above all.”

Nevida reached out to Tyrkanzyaka, and to the Shadow.

The tree itself extended a branch as if to shake hands.

“Divine. We must bring liberation. Free humanity, and Him from his shackles. You bear resentment toward the Sanctum, I know. Let us share wisdom, and together blaspheme the false gods.”

It didn’t take long for the Shadow to seize the branch and shake it.