“I am the chosen one.”
Silence enveloped the room.
The ancient specter, introducing itself as the priest of Phoibos, seemed utterly unprepared for such a response.
“Chosen? Chosen, you say…? What we called was such—”
“Priest. You have completed your task. The fate entrusted to you ends here, so return to your peaceful slumber.”
Orthes declared as if making an announcement. The shadows twisted in bizarre forms, like they were either dancing or screaming in anguish.
“Has the fate we saw already vanished! The future is now in the darkness yet feels so light!?”
A strange sound, neither laughter nor wailing, swept through the marble chamber. It took a while, but the noise finally ceased.
In the stillness, the priest’s voice whispered weakly.
“Those who look afar… have completed their task.”
As soon as his voice concluded, the light that had been sucked into the crystal burst forth in an explosion. The marble room, which had just been filled with darkness, regained its radiant white glow.
In Orthes’s grasp, the Relic of Phoibos shimmered.
*
What on earth is this?
What exactly happened?
Carisia gazed at me with curious eyes, but I had no words to share.
My life so far had been just waking up in some weird lab and struggling to survive.
To be honest, once I calmed down, I searched every corner of the place where I had awakened. There might be clues about whether this was an isekai transfer or a reincarnation. However, the clues I sought, like a research diary, were nowhere to be found.
The only remnants remaining were scraps of a sign that might have once held the name of the lab. I took a readable piece and now used it as my name.
Could this body or that lab truly be linked to the ancient gods?
Rather than spouting something vague, I decided to remain silent. Carisia hadn’t shown any suspicion, just curiosity.
If I kept my mouth shut, she’d probably think there must be a good reason for it.
*
“The chosen one, huh?”
Carisia mulled over those words in her mind.
Even for her, who had been with Orthes longer than anyone else, his true feelings were a mystery.
While she could somewhat gauge his emotions from his outward expressions, the line of his inner true heart was stronger than steel.
It felt like she had just caught a glimpse of the emotions beyond that line today.
Although she found it somewhat unsatisfying not to know exactly what Orthes meant by “chosen.”
This isn’t too bad.
Carisia smiled and stretched. Orthes, walking behind her, bore an unnoticeable smile.
*
As soon as Carisia and Orthes returned to Etna City, the first thing they did was listen to the status report on the mission given to Dimedes.
To be precise, Orthes sent Carisia ahead and first spoke with the directors regarding the business.
“…What did you say?”
However, the contents of the conversation were very different from what Orthes had expected.
“Dimedes hasn’t returned yet. I heard it correctly, right?”
In the room, wearing a gas mask and a lightweight collapsible bow at his waist was Neuro, president of the Etna City Hunters’ Association.
“That guy, while on his mission, kept sending all sorts of reports but suddenly cut off contact days ago.”
“Oh dear.”
Neuro scrutinized Orthes’s expression through the mask’s lenses. The emotion he revealed earlier was a very valuable chance to gauge his demeanor.
The bewilderment contained in “What did you say?” didn’t seem simple. There was likely a mix of rage toward the subordinate who had committed such a ridiculous blunder.
“Though I give a bit of respect to the position of director, he seems convinced of his superiority in skill…”
If only he could revisit the fleeting expression he’d just seen, he could analyze it better. Neuro’s eyes sparkled from facing what seemed to be the most unfathomable beast.
But the slight smile on Orthes’s face seemed already to have returned to normal.
“Then, if you follow Director Neuro’s opinion…”
Orthes rubbed his temples.
“You’re saying that there’s a high possibility Dimedes died in the operation?”
“Yeah. He’s wild and selfish, but he knows how to obey the law of strength. He was diligently sending troublesome reports during the trip. But if he suddenly cut off contact, there’s just one reason.”
The words were like a thunderclap to Orthes, who thought Dimedes would finish the job and return to take his share of accolades.
‘What are these eight directors doing?’
Aren’t they supposed to be executives of an evil organization? Although they may not interfere in the final duel between the protagonist and the great villain, shouldn’t they at least be capable of stalling for time by clashing with other protagonists?
How can someone like that just vanish along with their subordinates?
‘How could this happen?’
Orthes wished to let out a sigh. But when he thought about it, even in the original story, the ending was just as absurd.
When the great villain blew up the Hydra Corporation’s headquarters and most of Etna City with the Artificial Ten Commandments, didn’t the directors disappear too?
‘But still, one would expect something from an evil executive…’
Shaking his head once, Orthes decided to take a positive outlook on the situation.
‘Right. Let’s think of it as not being an evil organization for once. The original goal was to deviate from the future of the original work, right?’
If Dimedes was dead, it was almost equivalent to saying that the original future no longer existed. The change in the future just happened to be disadvantageous for the company Orthes was in.
“I guess there’s no choice.”
“Are you trying to go alone again?”
“Ah….”
Orthes recalled the strange rivalry between Dimedes and Neuro. Both were experts in the field of hunting, but their temperaments differed.
As a result, the two directors had been keeping an eye on each other concerning the Bacchus cult hunting mission. Orthes was well aware of this.
‘Indeed. It’s almost certain that Dimedes’s downfall will be used as an opportunity for Neuro to gain favor with Carisia. It’s ambition… No, there’s no sign of schemes to climb to the presidency of the hunters’ association. It’s a desire for honor.’
Neuro might have been expecting his turn now that his rival had been taken out of the picture, eagerly looking forward to the honor of achieving the first task assigned by the newly founded department linked to Hydra Corporation.
“Alright. Then, Director Neuro, let’s go together.”
But his desire for honor was one thing, and the risk was another. He couldn’t just send another director to a place where Dimedes and his faction might have been annihilated.
Neuro nodded, though his expression behind the gas mask was a bit grim.
‘I was just asking if he planned to go alone and sweep everything up again. What on earth is he thinking proposing to go with me?’
‘Hmm. Come to think of it, Dimedes received this mission after challenging the authority of the Head of the Divine Investigation Office. So that’s it. Is he trying to clearly show the skill gap between himself and the director? Indeed, it’s clear he’s sensitive to hierarchy, as I suspected from his loyalty to the boss.’
As Neuro was gathering his gear at the request of the Divine Investigation Office, Orthes prepared himself to inform Carisia, “I have to go on another business trip.”
He forgot his first thought upon being appointed as the Head of the Divine Investigation Office: “Let’s pass the practical work onto the other directors.”
*
Twelve lights flickered atop the altar. It had been a long time since the invention of lamps that converted magic power to illuminate.
Anyone observing would most likely make a sarcastic remark about how archaic it seemed or how they stubbornly maintained such a tradition.
If a keen observer were to realize that what appeared to be candlelight was not flame but pure radiance, they would be shocked.
Moreover, if this person possessed knowledge of the ages past, they might even be appalled that fanatics still believed in old superstitions. The intricately painted murals of the ancient gods on the candlesticks and altar remained untouched by the passage of time.
One of the lights began to flicker.
This was a place where no wind should blow. It was an illumination that wouldn’t waver even if a gust were to come.
The radiance slowly faded away.
“…”
The one praying below the altar looked up at the fading light.
And smiled.
So, the god has finally responded after all this time? Or had those who kept the prophecy chosen to abandon everything and embrace eternal demise?
Either way, there was no hope left.
Even if the divine response had returned, there would be no one to hear that voice, and if the last will decided to sleep, it would mean that all the years passed were in vain.
However.
From now on, the cult would no longer put hope solely in the divine.
The time had come to reclaim the hope once entrusted to the gods and embrace it in their hands.
The one and only cult that worships all twelve gods shall perceive the extinguishing of Phoibos’s radiance as an omen.
It’s time to step out into the world.
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