episode_0199

“Oh my goodness… To think I’d be visiting Proserpina again after 5 years… No… more than that, to know that you are all safe in this chaotic world makes me incredibly happy… Have you all been well?”

Guided by Alten, we arrived at the Elder’s house, located on the trunk of the new giant tree in the center of Proserpina. We slowly entered, warmly welcomed by Spes, who was truly glad to see us again after a long time. Elder-nim… As expected of an elf, he looks just as he did back then… Everyone here, except Veronica, looks exactly the same, so it feels quite familiar.

“Well… there have indeed been many happenings. Since Alten was also curious about our story, I will tell you everything we got involved in.”

“Then I, who has roughly heard the story, will bring some tea.”

Since Alten was curious about our story, when I said I would explain it systematically, Veronica headed to the kitchen and said that she, having already heard parts of it, would bring tea. So, showing them the contents of the record book containing the story after Proserpina, I explained everything that had happened to Spes, Alten, and Veronica, who had brought the tea. Even if they might already know, I told them that Akada and Kelly of Karizan had suffered great pain from the World Tree like elves, that the reason we hadn’t changed was due to the facility called Levarude, a place from another dimension, and finally, our encounter with the cult. Upon hearing all of this, Alten, as if unable to believe our story, wore a bewildered expression and spoke.

“How can this be… Such terrible things have happened outside… The Levarude facility… Is that why the cult’s power was so strong…!!”

“Hmm? But Veronica just said that the elves resisted strongly enough to shake off the cult’s evil grasp… Is that not true?”

“That, Black Saintess, is true. As Veronica said, we certainly resisted them strongly… But afterward, we realized that we too would soon be unable to resist them. Because while we were training to resist them, we don’t know what they were doing, but the power of some among them was beyond what we could ever catch up to, no matter how much we trained… We even speculated that this year might be the turning point.”

“Hmph… I don’t recall there being such strong saintesses and priests in the cult. Back then, I only cared about myself…”

Spes sighed, saying that although the elves had repelled the cult’s threat, there were still those in the cult whose power they couldn’t catch up to, no matter how much they trained, and that this year might even be the turning point. Aria then replied that when she was part of the Camilla cult, she only thought of herself and had no idea that other saintesses and priests were so strong. Alten scratched his head and said to us.

“Actually, we haven’t continuously defended against the cult’s threat here, Zeke, Aria. In fact, after the cult attacked us, we once dispatched a special unit to learn about the situation in the outside world.”

“Oh… What made you make such a decision for once? Given your reclusive nature… Even after trampling Zeke-nim so mercilessly…!!”

“…. You still hold a grudge, Ari…!! No, that’s not the point right now…!! Anyway, we once dispatched a special unit and destroyed a statue of some goddess erected outside. We elves naturally have developed senses to detect invisible energies, and especially a powerful energy was felt from that statue. But when we destroyed the statue, we realized. That powerful energy was…”

“No way, Alten… Did that energy feel like it was coming from the ground or something?!”

“….?! You knew about it too, Zeke!”

When Alten said he had realized something after destroying the statue that emanated a powerful energy, I remembered what Aria had said earlier in Karizan and, just in case, asked Alten if the energy had felt like it was coming from the ground. Alten was startled that we already knew this fact, then said in a bewildered voice. While we were discussing divine power, Dio V Runner was explaining this fact to others in the cave, the resistance’s stronghold.

“So, as a result of my sensing, I found that divine power has been seeping into the ground for quite a long time. Since the divine power hasn’t disappeared yet, people are still brainwashed by it.”

“How can this be…!! Does that mean all our efforts to destroy the statues were in vain?! Damn it!!!”

Listening to Dio V Runner’s explanation, Tess was greatly shocked, then stamped his foot on the ground strongly, venting his frustration. The others also expressed great bewilderment at their futile efforts. Dio V Runner, seeing that Gid in particular was greatly shocked, tilted his head and asked.

“Still, I thought you might have noticed to some extent… Was I wrong?”

“…. I actually knew that even if we destroyed the statues, people’s minds wouldn’t return. But… I firmly believed that destroying their statues would still hinder their plans… To think that even that was for nothing…”

“I didn’t know at first either. I don’t have developed senses to detect energy like you do, to begin with. And even if they were developed, it would be difficult to detect divine power that has already seeped deep into the ground. At least not unless you’re someone who has handled divine power for a long time, like Aria…”

“Phew… But is it really okay to just leave the two of them be? The cult is targeting Aria, aren’t they?”

Tess, feeling disheartened that all their efforts so far had been in vain after hearing from Dio V Runner, seemed bothered by the fact that Dio V Runner had told him earlier to leave Zeke and Aria alone when he informed him they had visited Kartoon. He then asked Dio V Runner why he was leaving them alone, saying that the cult was targeting Aria. Dio V Runner scratched his head, then sighed deeply and said.

“It’s fortunate that Zeke and Aria are still safe in this era… but it will be useless if Camilla descends directly to the surface again, just as we experienced. Moreover, as Camilla has been continuously troubling us, she has undoubtedly prepared another contingency plan. Therefore, what we should do is not to find Aria and warn her about the danger of Camilla. It is that we must defeat Camilla before she reaches Aria. If you are truly worried about them, that is…”

“…..”

When Dio V Runner explained that what they truly needed to do for Zeke and Aria was not to find Aria, but to find the cult and defeat Camilla, everyone fell silent at his words. Merzel, who already knew Camilla’s strength, Cecilia and Yuria, who had vowed never to lose, and all the others. They held their breath at Dio V Runner’s words that they had to defeat a god. However, at that moment, Riera raised her hand high and said.

“Then there’s nothing we can do. What does our lives matter if the world is destined to perish anyway? Furthermore, if that’s what we, who have been forgiven by the two of them, must do… shouldn’t we naturally do it? We have to repay our debt of gratitude.”

“….. Ah… I’m really going crazy. I kept vowing not to lose to Camilla… Right! Most of us owe them a debt! We’re going to die anyway, so let’s die with a god!!”

“It’s good that you’re all resolute… but haven’t we not yet figured out what the cult truly wants? So, how about we first understand the cult thoroughly before making such a vow?”

As Riera and Cecilia made a firm decision, shouting that their lives were expendable and they would repay their debt to Zeke and Aria, Dio V Runner tossed a map onto the table and asked if they should first understand the cult thoroughly before acting. Everyone then unfolded the map Dio V Runner had taken out and discovered several red dots marked in various places. Gid scratched his head and asked Dio V Runner.

“What in the world are these?”

“The locations where their statues were… I don’t know where you all destroyed them, but I marked the places Yuria and I destroyed… I marked them because I felt there was some kind of pattern… but no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out what it meant. For now, this is all I’ve found out. Aside from the unsolved mysteries, has anyone else discovered anything about the cult?”

“Ah, I have something. I’ve been dealing with the cult for a long time, and I recently realized something.”

When Dio V Runner said that this was all he had found out and asked if anyone else had discovered anything concrete, excluding the unsolved mysteries, Gid raised his hand and said he had. Everyone’s gaze then shifted to him, and Gid began to explain, recalling his past battles with the cult’s saintesses and priests. Meanwhile, in Proserpina, as I was listening to Veronica, Alten, and Spes talk about the elves’ fight with the cult, I was startled by something they said and asked.

“The cult’s saintesses and priests are getting weaker and weaker? What do you mean by that, Veronica?”

“Exactly as I said. The saintesses and priests who first came all possessed equally strong powers, which gave us a lot of trouble. But strangely, as time passed, we clearly felt their power weakening through our battles. Of course, some saintesses and priests, unlike the others, emitted abnormal power, which was a headache.”

“As Veronica said, most of their power strangely felt weaker as time passed. Of course, there were some who didn’t, and some who even grew stronger… but the reason we thought we might be defeated later was because of those who suddenly became stronger, Aria. Do you have any idea why?”

When Alten and Veronica testified that the saintesses and priests they had fought showed strange changes, with some weakening and others growing stronger, and asked if she had any idea why, Aria simply smiled. At that moment, as we were all bewildered by her smile, Aria touched her staff with her hand, then gave us a grim smile and said.

“I don’t know about that… but it’s not something I need to worry about. Because if they get hit by this staff, they’ll all be knocked out anyway…!!”

“…. Anyway, that personality of yours hasn’t changed… Anyway, if Aria doesn’t know about it either, we can’t explain this change, but… it smells strangely fishy, so I can’t help but be concerned.”

“I didn’t have that feeling… but Elder Alten-nim’s instincts have been very good lately. So, I also think Elder Alten-nim didn’t get that feeling for no reason.”

“….. Whatever they do, the cult always makes things unsettling, seriously… Sigh…”

When Alten and Veronica said they sensed something strange about the cult’s power changes, I deeply sighed that the cult’s actions continuously caused us great concern. Sigh… Anyway, I don’t know why those guys bother so many people… The arrangement of the divine power-infused Tiavel statues, the changes in power, and even the strangeness of not recklessly revealing themselves to us… What exactly is their purpose…? I understand they’re using us… but what do they intend to gain from it…? The moment I was pondering the cult’s objective, Aria, realizing something, pointed at Alten and asked.

“But are elves not affected by divine power? Outside, right now…”

“Ah…!! I forgot to mention that. Thanks to our reclusive nature from long ago, we’ve had almost no interaction with the outside world… Perhaps because of that, we cannot absorb divine power into our bodies.”

“Thanks to receiving Elder Alten-nim’s power, I was able to extract the divine power from my body. Elves are a race born and raised in nature, so they can perceive the flow of energy. It’s also thanks to this that we can detect divine power.”

“Oh my? Then the magic circle in Karizan was also your work?”

When Alten and Veronica explained that the reason they were unaffected by divine power was due to the elves’ characteristics, and that Veronica was able to reject divine power from her body like an elf after receiving Alten’s energy, Aria, who seemed completely unaware of such things, was greatly surprised and mentioned the magic circle in Karizan. Spes then nodded and replied to Aria.

“Kelly, the village chief of Karizan, asked us a favor. To lend them this power of ours. However, we too could not share the natural energy that could protect countless people. So, with the resolve to at least protect Karizan, everyone gathered their strength and gave them enough energy to envelop one village as a gift.”

“But there are exceptions. Even you, a human like me, could become a constitution unable to contain divine power… but Aria, you already have too much divine power in your body for that. So, the divine power in your body cannot be removed even with our strength.”

“It doesn’t matter. This power is solely for Zeke-nim… But to be able to make one’s body reject divine power… isn’t that almost impossible?”

“Our power is merely about manipulating the energy of nature. So, Veronica was able to receive that power and extract the foreign substance-like divine power that remained somewhat within her. However, we don’t know when that divine power flowed into Veronica in the first place.”

When Aria asked if becoming a constitution that could reject divine power was almost impossible, Spes replied that it was merely extracting foreign substance-like external divine power through the energy of nature. Then, when they expressed confusion as to why Veronica had some divine power in her body in the first place, I recalled the conversation I had with Rapien earlier and explained it to the three of them. At that, Veronica was startled and exclaimed.

“Monsters were Camilla’s creations?! Ugh… That god really does all sorts of strange things…!!”

“We don’t know for sure if that’s just a guess… Haaaa… Anyway, to sum it up, the cult is continuously complicating our minds…”

“Haha… I’m glad to see you again after such a long time… but I must express my deep regret that we are all troubled by the situation outside. So, for now, how about taking a break and resting as much as you like in Proserpina?”

“Elder-nim is right, Zeke. If you keep worrying…”

“I already rested comfortably in Karizan… Groan… I didn’t expect to keep receiving such a welcome…”

When Spes suggested that they should rest well today, Alten also agreed and was about to tell them to rest well. However, having already spent a comfortable day in Karizan, I wondered if I should do so again today, then recalled the continuous welcomes I had received and scratched my head, wondering if we deserved to keep receiving such welcomes. Especially returning to places where things had started badly, I hadn’t expected such an enthusiastic welcome, which doubled my bewilderment. Then Aria smiled, hugged me with both arms, and said.

“Of course~! Given the great achievements Zeke-nim has accomplished, isn’t such a welcome only natural~?”

“Aria is right, Zeke. Your story was even being told in Karizan… You’ve already become famous enough to receive this much welcome.”

“Ugh… I keep saying I don’t want to be famous…”

When Alten said that our story was even being told in Karizan, implying we had become that famous, I genuinely disliked the idea of being famous. Then everyone except Aria started laughing, and I sighed deeply, lamenting my newfound fame. If I had known this would happen, I would have told them not to tell my story before we left…