Demigod.
A superhuman who has transcended the limits of an ordinary person and has once again reached the ultimate level.
Although it is only half a divine being, the fact that an earthly existence has attained divinity deserves respect.
Becoming a demigod is not a position one can simply reach by having great power alone.
Having the strength to break mountains or the skills to split seas may earn someone the reverence of a great superhuman, but divinity will not be granted.
The essential requirement to become a demigod is simple.
One must possess an utterly pure heart that remains unshaken by external interference and constraints.
To be more precise, the heart must be completely free of any impurities.
However, it’s important to realize that being pure does not guarantee being innocent or clean.
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
Yao frowned at my explanation.
Could it be that she didn’t understand because she’s not fluent in Korean? Or was she too busy munching on the apple she brought as a snack to pay attention?
I silently hoped for the latter to not be true and continued my explanation.
“Think of the pure evil spirit in the cartoon ‘Dragon Ball.'”
“Ah, got it.”
Crunch. Yao nodded while already on her fourth apple.
She even chewed down to the seeds without leaving any behind. No matter how good her appetite is, that’s taking it a bit far…
“By the way, was the character ‘PREGIYA’ a beautiful girl who had a strong appetite?”
“That’s right. She was a cliché food-lover character. But she was so pretty that fans didn’t care about the lack of originality.”
Yao stated this with what could only be described as self-praise as she pulled out fruit from her picnic basket. This time it was a banana.
peeling the banana and taking a bite, the rookie holy knight looked happily at me with a mouthful.
“Sorry for interrupting you. It’s just too delicious.”
“……”
Should I have just come out on my own for the picnic?
Recent discomfort had led me to seek a mood lift by visiting this scenic spot, but my picnic partner was too inattentive.
In times like this, Seo-yoon or Hain-ha would have been ideal.
Seo-yoon was recuperating from the events of yesterday, and Hain-ha was extremely busy. That was my fault.
-There were that many returnees?
Dealing with a normally calm agent, Hain-ha stuttered in surprise during our phone call this morning.
Surely, it was shocking. The number of returnees I had to manage had suddenly increased to seven.
It was so bewildering that Hain-ha, who couldn’t say anything for a while, finally snapped back to reality upon hearing the information about the returnees provided by Wip.
‘Right now, they must be working hard to verify identities.’
And although I had been neglected for a while, I held no complaints. They were still working hard, after all.
“Pope? Why are you daydreaming without explaining?”
At Yao’s voice, I snapped out of my thoughts and leaned back against a nearby tree.
I then gazed at the pretty flowers blooming nearby and opened my mouth.
“As I mentioned earlier, the condition to become a demigod is to have a pure heart. Of course, extreme strength as a superhuman is also necessary. You need both to gain divinity.”
“But I bet the heart part is more important, right?”
“That’s exactly right.”
Finally, the conversation began to flow smoothly.
“But as long as nothing foreign contaminates it, someone who is completely evil could become a demigod.”
“…Like that bastard with no parents?”
As Yao munched on her banana with glee, her face suddenly distorted.
Well, I couldn’t blame her. Just thinking about that reckless immortal would be repulsive.
I chuckled.
“That’s right. While he was called an ‘immortal,’ his essence was the same.”
The wicked immortal Haoran, who burned things when bothered, killed when resisted, and swung his sword at anyone who caught his eye.
That guy was also a demigod.
There was not a trace of goodwill mixed in with his endlessly thick and dark malice toward others. It was the perfect example of ‘purity.’
Upon realizing this, Yao’s lovely face scrunched up even more than before.
“That’s… unreasonable. How can such a bastard gain divinity? The laws of the world must be flawed.”
“I agree, but there’s nothing we can do about it.”
“Why not?”
“Because even flawed principles are a part of the world.”
It was somewhat similar to the quote about ‘bad laws being laws’ that Socrates supposedly said, but not quite.
Bad laws must be corrected without succumbing to them, but if they are already established, one must follow them.
The principle that even the wicked can attain divinity in this world is the same.
While someone as infinitely wicked as Haoran must be repelled, we cannot disqualify the fact that such individuals can become immortals.
“We, who are not gods, can only act according to the rules set by the world. No matter how absurd it seems.”
“Hm, this is complicated.”
“It’s not. Just remember one thing.”
In truth, it’s unnecessary to recall a difficult concept like the principles established by the world.
Especially for us, the members who are watched over by the Sun, we merely need to know one thing.
“We simply act according to what the Sun wishes and fulfill what the Sun desires. It’s not difficult, right?”
Yao blinked slowly as though having learned a new fact, nodding her head.
The response was exactly what someone newly inducted into the faith would display, which brought a smile to my face.
Until now, she had just been a bodyguard, but now a sense of faith was developing within her. It was a desirable growth.
But I wondered if Wip became a member, the position of the Supreme Holy Knight would be hard to maintain.
I planned to appoint Wip to a higher position if he joined later.
This would inevitably threaten Yao’s position as the Supreme Holy Knight, as that role is entrusted to the strongest among the Holy Knights.
“Yao, starting today, please dedicate yourself to training.”
“Why are you saying this so suddenly…?”
“I just wanted to.”
Truthfully, I didn’t care who held the role, so I decided to just watch.
I cast aside unneeded thoughts and pulled out a bread roll from the picnic basket.
A large and appetizing mocha bun.
It was from a famous bakery brand, and I decided to take it since it was in the food storage.
“Oh, that’s what I brought to eat.”
“…Please just eat whatever you’re eating and talk.”
She spoke with her mouth full of banana.
Even with her appetite, I couldn’t figure out why she was so thin.
I wondered if she had a separate way of managing her figure. Should I ask her for advice later?
As I took a bite of the bun while pondering various thoughts, Yao suddenly spoke.
“By the way, why did you bring up the demigod topic? It was intriguing, but you caught me off guard with it.”
“……”
The bun rolling around on my tongue surprisingly tasted terrible. I handed the mocha bun to Yao and looked up at the sky.
The bright sunlight poured down on this sunny day.
The breeze felt pleasant, and the sounds of birds and bugs chirping were cheerful. So why was I the only one feeling so melancholic?
I forced a sigh down and smiled bitterly.
“Yao, unlike that Haoran, my husband was filled with kind feelings and thus could become a demigod.”
“Truly the hero. His spirit of chivalry or hope for the future must have filled him, right?”
“No, that’s not it.”
If it were, I wouldn’t be feeling this gloomy.
That didn’t mean Liam lacked a firm sense of justice or responsibility as a hero.
Though he had grown from a reckless person to a true hero, the main emotion that filled Liam’s heart was something else.
“It was love.”
“Love?”
“Yes. Liam’s heart was filled with the pure and vast affection we shared. That’s why he could become a demigod.”
Thus.
I couldn’t shake off the words that Kelaout had said when he reported yesterday.
-For a brief moment, that friend’s pure heart became tainted with impure emotions.
The love that Liam gained divinity from had been invaded by impure feelings.
It was a story that prompted unwelcome possibilities that I didn’t want to imagine.
“Ah….”
With wide eyes, Yao let out a small gasp.
Then, fidgeting and not knowing what to do, she came closer and held my hand.
“Are you okay?”
She was so flustered that her previously awkward speech flowed smoothly.
For the sake of not showing weakness as the Pope, I forced a bright response.
“I’m fine. I haven’t been told the details yet.”
I still didn’t know what Liam had experienced. So it wasn’t time to conclude anything.
“I believe in him. Liam is not the kind of man to stray with another woman.”
“……”
“But, hypothetically. If he really did become interested in someone else…”
I clenched my fists tightly.
“With the power of the Goddess, I will hit him until he regrets it.”
He made me live as a woman, only to cheat?
If that were the case, I would never forgive him.
No matter the circumstances behind it.
*
“……”
Liam was at the beach.
Flying to the right side of the area where the Sun Cathedral is located, he arrived at a beautiful beach where the wide horizon could be seen all at once.
However, the refreshing scenery did not catch his eye.
Due to the complications in his mind about what would occur yesterday, he had no time to appreciate the beautiful view.
Nevertheless, he came here to breathe in the sea breeze and clear his thoughts.
‘…What’s going on?’
Liam had been trapped in a field for a while after misjudging the ability of a certain male student while taking his sister Seo-yoon home.
No matter how far he flew, there was no end in sight, and if he flew upward, he would reach a point where he was stuck in mid-air—a bizarre place.
Even though he could cut through space itself, he couldn’t escape that field, possibly because different principles applied to it from the ordinary world.
As a result, Seo-yoon, being an ordinary person, could not rest comfortably and was growing increasingly fatigued.
In a bid to break free, Liam began to analyze the space itself from its fundamental principles using mana.
The strange phenomena had occurred just as he was nearing the end of his analysis.
-Huh? Brother-in-law, look at that.
Following Seo-yoon’s finger, Liam saw… a small girl.
The child was wearing a wide-brimmed black hat and a gloomy black dress.
However, unlike ordinary kids, he couldn’t read her expression.
No, he couldn’t read it. He didn’t have a moment to spare.
-Hello?
The girl whom their eyes met approached Liam with a bright smile.
-Don’t you want to throw away the pope and go meet a pretty sister?
Even now, her voice sends shivers down his spine.
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