Episode 226
Evan said in an absurd voice.
“Are you out of your mind?”
“huh.”
“But you offered to accompany me.”
Perhaps the word ‘small school owner’ is hidden in front of the words ‘to me’.
No matter how sparsely populated it is, this place is an institution.
Since it is impossible to know who might be eavesdropping and where, it is right to crack down on the eavesdropping.
I only evaluated it internally.
‘Such caution passes.’
Of course, I also know that it is a big risk to accompany Evan Helvin, who has awakened to become the leader of a small cult.
Heros is a group that can be said to be the church’s natural enemy, even more so than the imperial family.
If I were to name an organization that stands in complete opposition to the religious order in the first place, it would be Heros, not the imperial family, the Seventy-two Church, or the Sun Church.
Historically, it was Heros who most often clashed with the cult, and it was Heros who frustrated its intentions the most.
“You’re strange to begin with. Me too, Luan. “I guess going to Heros is something you should avoid, right?”
“… … .”
“What the hell are you?”
Evan saw me use the instrument.
Actually, the current situation is quite dangerous even for me.
Three people who definitely saw me using the instrument in the behind-the-scenes world.
Seren is already on my team, and Dean Alderson is a trustworthy person.
This means that the most dangerous person is Evan Helvin, the last witness.
This guy with the identity of the leader of the Little Church is in a position where it wouldn’t be surprising if he threatened me right now.
“Well, I also have various circumstances. And don’t overreact to what I say. “I was just asking your opinion.”
“what?”
“It’s up to you whether you take it or not. What should I say about my offer to accompany you? Still, I once stayed in the same room and listened to your dreams. “I guess it’s a repayment.”
Evan’s breathing became shaky.
For some reason, I felt like this guy was also reminiscing about his training days.
At that time, Evan spoke about his father, was proud of the swordsmanship he had learned, Raven, and had a dream of entering Heros.
A boy who wanted to be a hero.
The image of the son who did not harbor any shame towards his father, the knight of all defeats, comes to mind one after another.
In a way, this may be my own way of testing Evan.
Has Evan, who I had a conversation with in the narrow room of the retreat, disappeared?
At the Academy, he was caught up in Haden Eihar’s trick and disappeared, and his body was taken over by a being called the Little Teacher.
“… “I don’t know what you expect from me.”
Evan raised his voice with difficulty.
“I can’t be like you.”
“huh?”
“It’s just as you said. I wanted to be a hero, and I had the confidence to do so. But when the opportunity came, I prioritized protecting myself over saving others. If I had used all my hidden powers, I might have been able to turn the situation around, but I couldn’t. Actually, I wasn’t prepared. On the other hand… … .”
“… … .”
“… I used my strength without any hesitation. “Unlike me.”
Evan looked up at the sky.
“I am not qualified to set foot in Heros now. It’s not because he’s the head of a small church. Because Heros was a place I envied when I was young… … . “Someone like me can’t pollute a space like that.”
Only then did I see what Evan had been thinking about for the past few days. Even the reason why he disappeared.
Perhaps this guy had been struggling with a terrible sense of self-destruction.
Separately, I realized one more thing. First of all, this guy is the Evan I knew.
If so, I have one thing to say.
“Evan.”
“say.”
“I’m sorry, but I’m really not interested.”
I continued speaking while feeling the cool night breeze.
“I was just making a suggestion. I have no intention of forcing you, nor do I have any intention of persuading you. “If you want to do it, do it, and if you don’t want to do it, get rid of it.”
“Do you think I will commit myself to the church?”
“I’m not saying this because I don’t think it will happen.”
“what?”
Evan blinked his eyes.
“No matter what you do from now on, I don’t think you will commit yourself to the church. Even if you don’t go to Heros, I don’t think you’ll do anything stupid, so just do it yourself. “Don’t bother asking.”
After a moment of silence, laughter erupted from the end of the bench.
I think I sat like that for about 30 more minutes.
It was about time I got up because I thought I would have to get up early tomorrow too.
“Come with me.”
Evan said.
“Instead, just listen to one thing.”
“What.”
“Keep watching me. And if the way you see me, my identity, and my purpose are closer to the leader of the small church than to Evan-”
Evan’s eyes looked straight at me.
“You kill me.”
* * *
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The influence of the hero institution Heros is enormous.
To put it bluntly, unlike empires whose power is concentrated in institutions, Heros’ influence extends beyond the borders of the empire to the remote corners of the continent where people are sparse.
The number of officially known branches alone exceeds a thousand, and if you add hideouts whose locations are unknown or guilds that have officially entered into collaboration with Heros, the number will be multiple.
Heros’ headquarters is located in the eastern part of the empire.
Even though it is the eastern part, it is not a place where there is a steppe. To be precise, it is a city called ‘Tefer’ that is located right before the steppe – that is, before the steppe spreads.
“It’s a lost concept now, but some people still refer to Tefer as a free city or a city-state. In fact, considering the size of the city, it can be called a country. In fact, Tefer is a city where the Empire cannot interfere.”
This is what Keian said before leaving.
In other words, the city of Tefer was unofficially independent from the empire and also achieved its own autonomy.
Teper is a fairly large city. Of course, it is much smaller than the Islands, but the population density is very high, so any place is as crowded as the Islands’ downtown.
Anyway, it is said that it takes a full week to get from the archipelago to Heros.
At least this was because the road was well-paved, but generally, it would have taken about two weeks to cover a similar distance by carriage.
“Then let’s go! ah. “There’s one more person added?”
“Are you okay?”
“Of course! This carriage seats 12 people. haha!”
Mir and Evan weren’t bad as travel partners.
Mir, who spent most of his life in the North, seemed happy even though he spent most of his time in the carriage.
As I watched the changing scenery while clinging to the window, I sometimes asked Evan if there was a plant or animal I was seeing for the first time.
“What is that?”
“It’s a badger. “The weather has gradually warmed up, so I guess I’ve woken up from my winter sleep.”
“Well, well… … ? “I haven’t tried it.”
From what I remember, the relationship between Mir and Evan was neither good nor bad… … .
Is it because neither of them are shy people? As the journey continued, we became quite close friends.
When I glance at them from a little distance away, they almost look like a friendly brother and sister. Even though what happened was completely different.
I barely participated in their conversation.
Of course, it wasn’t because I wasn’t confident enough to chat, it was because I had things to do.
‘I feel very uncomfortable inside.’
It feels like the true energy inside is not aligned. Occasionally, a cold sensation passed through my abdomen, and I thought it was probably due to Kajitta’s blue inflammation.
To resolve this incongruity, I spent most of my time wandering around in the rattling carriage.
In order to maximize the efficiency of Cheonhwa First Gong, you stand on the roof of the carriage and receive direct sunlight.
This was possible because it was a carriage I rented myself.
Gon, the coachman, stopped me at first, but since I had my balance like a ghost even on a fairly steep slope, he stopped interfering.
Of course, it couldn’t be like that forever.
On the third day, it rained, and although it wasn’t torrential, the force of the rain was quite fierce.
When I asked Gon, an expert, for his opinion, I got this answer.
“It’s not to the point where I can’t drive a carriage. However, there is a river in front of us, and if the current rises, it will become difficult to use the bridge.”
“What if I can’t use that bridge?”
“We’ll have to go back for three or four days.”
“okay.”
I asked without hesitation.
“Then what should I do?”
When I asked his opinion without hesitation, Gon was a little surprised… … .
He immediately responded with a faint smile.
“I recommend you just keep going like this. There are no particularly steep roads, so there is no risk. Please believe me.”
“Let’s do that.”
I trusted the expert’s judgment.
From his actions over the past few days, I knew enough to know that Gon was a trustworthy coachman.
Anyway, it was pouring rain, so I got out of the carriage and took my time.
Of course, on gloomy days like this, the efficiency of my luck plummets, so I returned to being a lazy Luan.
Talking about trivial matters with Mir or Evan, looking at the scenery outside, or thinking about the future.
Then there was a moment.
Toad, toad, toad… … .
midnight.
Unable to sleep, I leaned back and thought about the future, when suddenly the sound of rain hitting the roof of the carriage caught me clearly.
The moment I thought that the sound of rain was playing with a good rhythm… … .
The thoughts that filled my head disappeared without a trace.
“hmm… … ?”
An amazing change occurred at that moment.
The inner essence began to harmonize.
It wasn’t really my intention.
I was never conscious of it.
Nevertheless, the body naturally began to tune into its true energy.
‘ah… … .’
At that moment, I realized once again that rest is as important as training.
I also continued to think that I had been running like crazy since my regression.
Training wasn’t just about running early in the morning, eating herbivores, or overworking the body.
Practicing martial arts and thinking about martial arts was also training.
So if you want to truly relax, you have to get rid of all those thoughts.
With my mind empty, I returned to Ruan, the motherf*cker, for the first time in a long time.
I talked to Myrna Evan for hours, counted how many trees I passed in a minute, and tried foolish things like trying to find rules in the sound of falling rain.
I completely forgot about what I had to do from now on and even about martial arts.
I spent one, two, three days like that.
And when I looked inside myself again… … .
I realized that the seething blue flame – the unclean flame born from the instrument – had completely settled in my Danjeon.
From now on, I will be able to handle this blue flame with a level of proficiency that is no different from my existing true magic.
For some reason, I felt like I wanted to use this blue flame to perform Zhou Heaven, but I unconsciously decided to refrain from it because the instrument might leak.
Finally, the sixth day.
Normally, we would arrive at Tefer tomorrow, Gon said.
They said there would be a delay of two or three days due to heavy rain.
I was half sad, half happy.
Surprisingly, I was enjoying the journey.
It was still raining heavily, but I thought it was definitely unusual for it to rain for several days at this time of year.
In the middle of the night again, when Evan and Mir were fast asleep, I took out a book from my bag.
Cheonaktanseo (天惡誕誕書).
It was a book given to me by my second sister-in-law.
Maybe he wanted me to read this.
When I opened the book, I saw Chinese characters that I had not seen in a long time.
Unlike the language my third brother used, I also learned some Chinese characters. This means that it takes time to interpret, but it is readable.
Since there were still about two or three days left, I began to read the book slowly, interpreting it.
Cheonaktanseo began with the following sentence:
[Righteousness and cooperation have fallen to the ground, so heaven is already dead.]
[From ancient times, resolving chaos is not about order and discipline, but a bigger chaos. However, in today’s world, the only beings that cause chaos are called demons, so we willingly decided to become that way.]
[We hope that our magic reaches the sky. I hope that the window that gives off the smell of rotting corpses will completely collapse.]
[So, from today, we will name our church Cheonma Shingyo.]
“Church of the Heavenly Demon?”
Is this also a religious group? Similar to the Dark Church?
Mir stirred slightly at my muttering. I put the overturned blanket back on me and then went on to read the next sentence in the book.
[Since ancient times, Gangho has been swayed by just one absolute person. The white road, the black road, the magic road… … . The balance of the powerful warriors changed depending on which faction the absolute leader was born in.]
[Numerous directors of Kangho say: An absolute person can only be born when talent, environment, and skill come together.]
[This school does not agree.]
[The Absolute can be created.]
produce.
This time, I didn’t say anything, but just kept repeating it to myself.
For some reason, that word stuck in my mind.
[I will admit one thing.]
[The environment is important. To be precise, only the environment matters. If you have this, talent and talent are secondary factors.]
[So what kind of environment should we create? What are the conditions necessary for the birth of the Absolute?]
[Our school has been concerned about this issue for a long time.]
[Where does human strength come from? Why do members of this church hate heaven?]
[Because I lost it.]
[Home, foundation, brothers, lovers, friends.]
[-Loss.]
[That would be the first step leading to absolute strength.]
[Our school realized this fact and took in 1,772 orphans under the age of ten from all over the Gangho martial arts region.]
[We became family for children who were missing their families, fed them delicious food, and gave them warm clothes.]
[And the following year, they plucked out all the children’s eyes and dropped them off a cliff on a snowy mountain.]
At that moment, the entire area was bathed in pure white light, and then the sound of thunder struck my eardrums.
Gurgling… … !
“… what?”
I had no choice but to raise my voice again.
The face of my second sister-in-law, who always covered her eyes with a thin cloth, flashed through my mind.
[What is the most precious of the five human senses?]
[It is time.]
[Losing your sight is no different from losing the world. This is especially true for children who are only about ten years old.]
[First of all, we once again reminded these children what loss is.]
[As expected, hundreds of children who had their eyes pulled out cried on the first day. It may have been the result of the shock of being betrayed by the school he considered his savior.]
[A sprout that does not deserve to become an absolute person. It deserved to die, and it actually happened.]
[This was because vicious beasts had been released in advance under the cliffs of the snowy mountain.]
My hand tightened, and the page was slightly crumpled. I could feel my own breathing becoming slightly hot.
It’s not just breathing.
The heat rose from the Danjeon.
Jeil Chulhwa was resonating with my feelings.
[On the first day, about half of the 1,727 children died.
[There were some children who were quick to accept the situation and move to survive, but most could not last a week.]
[Even children with strong natures, cool-headed judgment, and even venom died if they were not lucky.]
[So when the promised one month time passed – the surviving children were only ninety-nine.]
“… … .”
[Among them, there was one who stood out in particular.]
[This was a female child who showed little emotion even after being taken to our school. At the moment her eyes were pulled out, she was a child who did not even scream.]
[Innate extraordinaryness.]
[Outstanding talent and venom.]
[Even the best features of all people.]
[Joy burst out from deep in the throat.]
[It’s this kid.]
[This child will definitely survive until the end of the ordeal.]
[And I will revive this church and completely destroy this rotten world.]
[The child did not have a last name, but gave his own name as Major.]
[The school gave this child a last name with confidence.]
[A talent that touches the sky, a talent that can destroy the sky, a talent that can cover the sky with magic.]
[The last name given to the child in honor of that meaning is -.]
“… “A thousand days.”
I mumbled the word.
Cheon So-ryeong.
It was the name of the second sister-in-law.
fantasy,
