God is not benevolent. Patricia did not feel the need to refute Veolgrin’s opinion. A true believer merely proves their faith, rather than imposing it.
Thus, even when she aligned herself with Veolgrin’s plan over a decade ago, her faith remained unshaken.
God exists, is great and is omnipotent. If this conviction is steadfast, then killing God is by no means heresy.
If God is truly omniscient and omnipotent, then the death of God must inevitably be an act of suicide. If He considers all things, then it is logically impossible to deviate from His will.
Therefore, this is a testimony for the faith that wavers in the harsh environment of the demonic realm. It is a desperate effort to believe in God’s omnipotence and in His love.
“So, if the will of the brother is to be fulfilled, the Lord’s grace and love will vanish.”
“Yes. No gods will be able to interfere in the world anymore. Mortals will finally choose their own paths.”
“If divine power disappears, the church will split.”
“Indeed.”
This too is inevitable. The absence of divine power will bring about distrust toward the church.
Unless the church collapses overnight, it will inevitably divide. It can no longer unify under the direct evidence of God.
All the current clergy are good. They are congregants united under God’s will. A priest who is not so will not receive blessings.
Thus, the Pope, who can be said to be the pinnacle of that faith, was undoubtedly the most devout and kind-hearted person among all the priests the Saint has ever encountered.
But will that goodness endure after Veolgrin’s plan succeeds and divine power disappears? Even through the greatest trials he has lived and felt?
That is unknown. However, if.
“What if I lost divine power overnight, without any warning from you, brother?”
“Huh?”
“With all the brothers. Truly, if my divine power and the grace of the Lord do not resonate anymore, I will surely think of one thing.”
The belief in the world conflicts with the Lord’s will, and the Lord no longer favors man.
“If someone is to be held responsible, I will without hesitation point to Your Holiness the Pope. As the one favored the most in the world, teaching all the congregants. Wouldn’t the direction of that teaching have been mistaken?”
“Rational.”
“I know that Your Holiness is rational as well. Then what thoughts will Your Holiness have after ‘that day’?”
If he himself served the Lord without difference from before, yet the Lord’s grace turned away from the world.
Then to whom does that responsibility fall?
“In the eyes of Your Holiness, I would appear as a sinner. I would have received the greatest grace under Your Holiness, and would be the only one in the position to teach all the congregants with the greatest influence.”
“So, what do you intend to do?”
“I will prepare from now on. If division cannot be avoided, I must at least stitch it up with the least amount of bloodshed.”
“Plans to kill the ‘unjust god’… In other words, the plan to separate the world from the influence of all gods has already been prepared alongside Brother Veolgrin back in those days. And we had predicted the resultant repercussions as well.”
“If one can foresee the future, then it is only natural to be prepared.”
“And she had a lot of time to prepare for this. All members of the church would have no doubts about her actions until ‘the god disappeared.'”
“No one could doubt the saint during peaceful times.”
“Thus, the saint’s preparations were progressing smoothly. Until the variable before her eyes appeared.”
“At the moment when the Lord’s gospel vanished, the brother who last heard the Lord’s final words appeared—could it not be fate?”
“Uh, well… It’s not that great of a thing…”
“Yes, I know. But my job is to make small things great. The words the brother heard from the Lord are a kind of prophecy.”
“One could view it that way. Quests ultimately warn of the disasters to come and provide guidelines for actions.”
“Under normal circumstances, this would indeed be an astonishing miracle, but it’s a grace that can be somewhat understood. The effects of divine power can differ slightly among the priests.”
“But now that divine power has disappeared…”
“The prophet is essentially a seer; in other words, a saint.”
“Then, do you have any thoughts about being canonized? To become the only prophet left in this world?”
“Eugene could not easily answer the saint’s words. The more she pondered, the more something seemed to rise to the surface.”
“Let’s see. Quests are dynamic. The activation conditions for quests typically appear when I come directly involved in or lead a certain incident.”
“For instance, while apprehending a spy from Tylesse, suddenly a quest related to Tylesse’s division was registered.”
“Then, what do the quests in the current situation signify?”
“[I will reveal additional content.]”
“[Please feel free to choose.]”
“Literally, it was not merely informing me of forthcoming events in advance. If, perhaps, divine power had not yet vanished, and the quest window was functioning as usual…”
“[I will ‘disclose’ the additional content.]”
“This damned status window would not provide such information in advance.”
“If it means that I must directly tamper with the quest activation conditions for it to be registered…”
“Then, the doctrine war basically means… In other words…”
“What happens if I accept?”
“A war will break out.”
“It was not a warning about things that will inevitably happen in the future. My actions were the trigger for all these events.”
“No matter how much I think about it, it seems that the Lord is not a good being at all.”
“How can we gauge the distinction between good and evil? It is merely that if the Lord truly loved us to the point of disappearing, then as His sons and daughters, we ought to stand alone willingly, don’t you think?”
“Amen.”
“Amen.”
Eugene smiled faintly and prayed.
“Lord, could you at least tell me that it’s a situation where the saint delivers the first strike?”
“Instead of something useless like a status window, could you give me something else?”
And thought.
*
“Just a moment, just a moment. Dean… no, Saint. Isn’t this strange?”
“What is it?”
“If I am to be canonized as a saint through prophecy… shouldn’t that prophecy be ‘proven’?”
“That’s right?”
“But if it’s my prophecy, isn’t it all…?”
Someone from the hero party being on the brink of death, or at the very least events that would sever the nation.
At Eugene’s question, the saint nodded.
“That’s right.”
“So to sum this up… in order for this doctrine war to happen, I must become a saint, and for me to become a saint, other prophecies need to be fulfilled. So that means?”
“Yes, you must confirm that the other ‘prophecies’ you have heard are being realized, and through this, prove your ‘divinity.'”
The saint said with a gentle smile.
“Our goal now will be the journey to save my precious friends.”
At the saint’s words, Eugene immediately covered his face and sobbed.
“It was a linked quest—?!”
[“Impossible-grade” Quest: Warriors Who Became Stars.]
[“Impossible-grade” Quest: Prelude to Great Collapse.]
[“Impossible-grade” Quest: Avatar of the Morning Star.]
[“Impossible-grade” Quest: For True Freedom.]
[“Impossible-grade” Quest: Doctrine War.]
“This is all!!”
*
As the season was gradually changing from ‘less cold winter’ to ‘winter’ with spring flowers blooming in the garden, Ivan quietly nodded his head.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“No, brother. This isn’t just an ordinary matter…”
“Even if it wasn’t a linked quest, it was something we all had to do anyway.”
If the situations presented by the quests ultimately led to the deaths of the hero party. And if, as the status window suggested, ‘unselected quests are marked as failure,’ then.
The option to not choose was never there in the first place. This is a clever play on words. Considering the impact that quest failure would bring, it meant that we had to pursue every quest from the start.
What if we failed at Tylesse? If Tylesse collapsed, the alliance would be finished.
What if we failed at Kalion? If the new seven warlords finally devoured the elves, then the alliance would still be over.
Human forces would have to face disasters they could never overcome again. Both quests looked that way.
In other words, none of the currently proposed quests could fail. Simply put, if we cannot choose to ‘give up,’ we should proceed with all of them.
“And quests have tendencies.”
“Tendencies…?”
“The goals and rewards of the quests are ultimately skewed towards preserving the survival of humanity.”
“Uh…?”
Excluding malicious content and impossibly high difficulty levels, if we purely consider the goals, outcomes, and rewards, the quests can ultimately be seen as aiming to preserve the Union Kingdom.
The first quest is to prevent the division of Tylesse, keep Jill Ber alive, and ensure that Tylesse’ territory is minimally destroyed.
The second quest is to stop the Seven Dragon Generals, who will be born in Kalion, keep Veolgrin alive, and heal the divisions within the Privy Council.
All of this means to maintain the Union Kingdom if ‘ideally successful’. In other words, the status window does not desire the destruction of the Union.
However, the only problem is that the difficulty is designed to be alarmingly high.
“So don’t waste your energy on useless worries. There’s no need to spend mental energy trying to measure the moral alignments of quests or beings like gods.”
Ultimately, that’s similar to what a saint would say. Eugene nodded.
That being the case, the problem arises from a more fundamental aspect.
“Is it possible? I have no idea when, where, or how it will blow up…”
“Whether it’s possible or not isn’t important.”
Ivan does not consider possibilities when carrying out missions.
“Is it necessary?”
It is obviously necessary.
“Then I will.”
Ivan has undergone extensive training and has participated in numerous operations, but he prides himself on never having mastered one thing.
Giving up. At least that much.
“I’m sorry for interrupting the honeymoon with work.”
“Nonsense.”
Seeing Ivan’s turned back, Eugene chuckled briefly. If the status window was normal, that would have decreased his favorability, he thought.
Ep 32. An Ordinary Spring in Krasilov.
After Eugene urgently requested a private meeting and returned, Ivan remained alone, quietly surveying the garden.
Even in spring, the garden of this royal palace always flourished with greenery. It was meticulously maintained to bloom flowers regardless of the seasons.
However, the garden of the Krasilov palace welcoming spring was particularly special. Dew-laden petals gently swayed in the warm breeze.
“Tendency…”
Ivan bitterly pondered.
One day, when he revealed to the saint and Enrique that he was a possessed one. It must have been around this time last year.
At that time, the saint had said this:
“In a century, two will emerge.”
As if each were creating their own narrative, passionately standing out.
They finish their tales and disappear. Fleeting outsiders.
“I envy them.”
The ‘page’ that Eugene must turn is likely about saving the world.
Preserving the Union Kingdom in turmoil and leading these individuals to secure humanity’s future on that journey.
The ‘page’ that the hero has turned is perhaps about preventing the extinction of humanity.
To save the Allied Kingdom, which is on the brink of destruction, from the hands of the demon race.
It is splendid. Is this not a shining tale of a hero that will go down in history, perhaps even become a myth?
Ivan smiled bitterly amidst a strange jealousy.
“How ugly.”
On the other hand, his ‘page’…
If this ability allows one to siphon the divinity of other beings, as if it had come to his hand by fate…
If, just like the status window suggested, all abilities have some ‘tendency,’ then his tendency is solely limited to killing the Seven Dragon Generals.
And if he kills the Seven Dragon Generals, he receives a ‘blessing.’ A type that is hard to endure with a human body. One even more severe than what the hero could withstand.
Even if Veolgrin diluted it, he is now.
“Vanka. So you were here. Come in quickly. Today’s fine dinner is eel.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
All the food seemed like it was forcibly chewed down like sand mixed with oil.
Without frowning even once, Ivan silently picked up his spoon from across Elizaveta.
“Mm, it’s delicious. You should try this too. I specially ordered it.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Every dish, carefully prepared and steaming warmly, tasted like sawdust and rancid oil.
Ivan thought to himself while swallowing it all without changing his expression.
He had heard that the current curse was largely borne by Veolgrin, and that it was merely a diluted part of it.
He would have to endure such a curse at least four more times in the future.
If killing all the Seven Dragon Generals is his story, then…
He must endure a curse that even heroes could not bear, more than what the hero had to withstand.
‘Can he do it?’
Such a question is not important.
‘Must he do it?’
He must.
‘Then he shall.’
With a crunch, Ivan swallowed something that felt like pebbles.
“You eat well! No matter what I serve you, you enjoy it so much that I feel it’s worth preparing meals for you every day. How is it? Does it suit your taste? That one was cooked by me personally.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Ivan nodded in response as he usually did.
“It was a splendid dinner.”
Elizaveta smiled glowingly, her face relaxed as she chuckled.
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