[The state of this Order is truly a disgrace.]
It was sad that I could not help but agree with her.
“At least if we’re going together on a mission, could you stop making it feel like I’m being dragged away?”
“Ah! My apologies, Sir Karix!”
At my words, the two people holding my arms immediately let go.
“......”
[But why are they calling you ‘sir’?]
Good question. I did not know either.
“So what mission are we going on?”
“Yes! As far as I know, several disappearance cases have been reported in Rakar!”
“Is that so?”
“Yes!”
......So, who disappeared?
[There is no way that is the end of it! Say more!]
Even if you say that, he can’t hear you.
[Apostle! Tell him this!]
“Is that all?”
“Yes!”
“......Pardon?”
“Yes! That is all!”
For a moment, I lifted my head and looked at the sky. Why, you ask?
There was a saying like that. When things are hard, look at the sky.
Apparently, it relaxes the cervical nerve roots and lowers intraocular pressure.
“Hoo......”
Ah, damn it. I still could not calm down. This rotten Order could just go and fall apart.
“Do you think Sir Harkan sent us for only that?”
“Uh...... I’m a low-ranking member, so I heard nothing?”
Ah, damn it.
“......Where is the captain of the Fifth Holy Knight Order?”
“He has gone ahead to the city!”
At those words, I had no choice but to slap my forehead.
“You mean he went ahead without knowing what might happen in that city? Without preparing anything separately in the capital?”
“Uh...... Yes.”
“......Who was the captain of the Fifth Holy Knight Order again?”
“It is Sir Garon!”
Aha.
“That fucking idiot?”
“Pardon?”
[What?]
That bastard? The one currently in that city?
“Haa......”
We were doomed.
“Let’s hurry for now.”
“Ah, yes. We prepared horses......”
“I can’t ride horses.”
That Garon bastard should know I could not ride horses.
......Had he done it on purpose?
[Why would you voluntarily suffer by not riding a horse......]
“Because I can’t ride one.”
I flowed divine power into my legs.
“I’ll go to the city first. By any chance, where is that Garon bastar...... no, Garon in Rakar?”
“Pardon? Ah, that...... He is probably at the church.”
I exploded the divine power I had flowed through my legs in an instant.
BOOM—!
My body shot forward. Rather than running, it was more fitting to say I was flying.
Though I was flying somewhat unsteadily......
“Did I shove in too much divine power?”
Or had my sense of balance diminished because it had been too long since I last did this?
[Apostle! What are you doing?!]
“What?”
[No, you look like you are going to fall over at any moment!]
“I won’t fall.”
I moved the divine power inside my body. I sent divine power into places where my balance was off and corrected it.
I felt my flying body plummet toward the ground.
[Apostle!]
“You sure make a fuss.”
I wrapped a veil of blood around my body.
SCRAAAAAPE—
My feet struck the ground just like that. They scraped along the earth as I advanced.
“Ow. Dirt got all in my shoes.”
Was it because it had been too long?
[......I think it would be better to ride a horse next time......]
“I told you, I can’t ride horses.”
At those words, the evil god blinked a few times, then asked with a pure expression.
[How old are you, and yet you still have not learned to ride a horse?]
“I did learn!”
[Then why can you not ride one? Is my apostle an idiot?]
The truth was, I simply could not ride horses.
Why?
“What am I supposed to do when the horse gets scared?!”
Not only that, most animals were frightened of me. They were even frightened of Grandpa Harkan, not just me.
[What kind of excuse is that?]
This bastard?
“I’ll throw the mace away.”
I grabbed the handle of the mace on my back and threatened her.
[Even if you throw it, it returns to your side anyway, does it not?]
“You know your senses are connected to this, right? Do you want to feel what it’s like to roll on the ground?”
[Ah.]
“Behave yourself, understand?”
How dare she act up?
“And that’s not the reason. I’m breaking through quickly because of the monster forest.”
Riding a horse itself was slow, and if I rode one, I would have to go around the monster forest.
“There’s no inefficiency like that inefficiency.”
I just had to leave the monsters’ territory before they even realized someone had invaded it.
“By the way, where am I right now?”
[......Are you asking me that?]
“No, you said you can feel where the other evil god’s divine power is.”
[Ah.]
Was she stupid?
“Where is it?”
[That way.]
Was this a high-performance compass?
“Good! Let’s go!”
[But apostle. I have one request.]
“What is it?”
If she made some strange request again, I would separate her bones and flesh......!
[Next time, if you are going to move like that, at least tell me first......]
“......Okay.”
Today, too, I protected someone’s bones and flesh.
What a good person I am.
***
“We’re here.”
Rakar, a city near the River Styx.
“......Something about the atmosphere is strange.”
Rakar was quite a large city. Moreover, because it was near the River Styx, it was a lively city in many ways.
“Why is it so quiet?”
As if the lively city had vanished, the people were all drooping listlessly.
“The smell is strange too.”
It might have been my imagination, but from the entrance of the city onward, something smelled foul. A purely unpleasant, coppery stench rose up.
“Hey, apostle. Can you tell where the apostle is?”
[I do not know.]
Useless bastard.
“Let’s grasp the situation first.”
It was time to hear the circumstances of the case from that Garon bastard.
[Is it urgent?]
“To some degree.”
A disappearance case. And it was probably not just one case. Not if headquarters had called for more manpower.
‘And an evil god is involved too.’
Though no one else knew that.
“But can gods sense the divine power of other gods?”
[No. Only I and Existence can.]
......Why?
[You have an expression asking, ‘Why someone like you?’ Irreverent!]
“So. Why?”
[Because blood flows through all gods, and all gods exist.]
True.
“Because even gods live in human bodies.”
Gods, one way or another, died when stabbed with a blade and died when they drank poisoned soup.
‘They simply do not die of old age.’
However, when they died, they reincarnated.
They lived a human life again. And they died as humans. After repeating that dozens, perhaps hundreds of times, at some point, when they realized they were gods, they became gods once more.
[From that blood, I can sense someone else’s divine power. Though I do not know whose it is.]
“Oh.”
In other words, if something had blood flowing through it, she could know its location?
‘......That’s absurdly broken.’
Was it all right for something like that to exist?
[Of course, it cannot be too far. The limit is probably from the capital to near the River Styx. In the first place, if they deliberately hide it, divine power cannot be felt even from the blood. And if one is quite close, then all those who possess mystical power can feel it to some degree anyway, can they not?]
“What.”
It was less useful than I thought.
[By the way, if grasping the situation comes first, are you going to the church first?]
“Obviously. So stop talking to me from now on.”
[I refuse.]
Yes. I had not expected her to listen.
‘......Should I block my ears with divine power?’
But then I would not be able to hear other people either, so perhaps not.
BUMP—
“Ah, I’m sorry!”
The one who bumped into me was a small child. A child who looked barely twelve, if that.
“......Ah, it’s all right.”
The child kept apologizing, and I waved my hand, saying it was fine, then continued on.
[Apostle. That child......]
“I know.”
Indeed.
“It seems there really is something wrong here.”
......But the Fifth Holy Knight Order was here, so how did things end up like this?
[Then why are you not chasing him?]
“I left divine power behind. I can chase him anytime.”
[He stole your wallet too, though?]
“I know. I meant that I left divine power on the wallet from the start.”
To flow divine power into his body, I would have had to put my hand on that child in the first place, so I could not use that method.
‘If an adult suddenly touches a child, the child will run away before I can even flow divine power in.’
It could not be helped. This was the easiest way to leave a trace.
“He won’t use all the money inside.”
There was no way a mere child could spend that much money in a single day, was there?
‘It’s not like a child can enter a gambling den.’
Well, in the first place, under Holy Kingdom law, he could not enter a gambling den anyway.
Moreover, since he was a child, I could not imagine him entering a place like an auction house to buy something expensive and squander the money either.
[But then how are you going to eat?]
“Well, if I go to the church, they’ll give me something.”
Our Order was not so cruel that it would refuse to even feed me.
***
“I have nothing to give you! You manifestation of the Seven Sins!”
“......”
[I thought they would give you something?]
So did I. I thought they would.
“Garon. Let’s do this nicely. You must have received some support funds when you took this mission, didn’t you?”
“By principle, I cannot give it to you! Even the Order’s law states that a budget assigned to a Holy Knight Order cannot be given to another person!”
Argh. Those damned principles and rules.
“Then give me your personal money.”
“A holy knight cannot personally sponsor an individual. He may only do so under the name of the Holy Knight Order.”
Was that so?
“According to the principles you love so much, there should be a regulation saying a full knight must take responsibility for an apprentice’s mission.”
“That, too, has a person in charge. Since you are an apprentice, responsibility for you lies not with me, but with the child who went to bring you here.”
Ah, so he would not give me money? After I had deliberately sacrificed my wallet?
“Hoo...... You won’t do.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just give it to me.”
I smiled and filled my fist with divine power.
“Karix! What are you trying to do in a sacred church?!”
“Give it to me before I smash this place apart and smash you along with it.”
At my words, Garon ground his teeth.
Then he repeatedly reached toward his money pouch and pulled his hand back.
“If you’re going to give it, give it quickly. Don’t think so hard.”
“But by principle......”
Those damned principles.
“Now, now. Shall I use some strength for the first time in a while?”
As I began compressing divine power in my hand, the bastard squeezed his eyes shut and threw his money pouch at me.
“Honestly. Wouldn’t it have been nice if you had given it to me sooner?”
“Shut up!”
I wondered if he knew that his own shouting was louder.
“Hoo...... In any case, I will explain the circumstances of the case.”
“Ah, right. What the hell happened?”
It was not some ordinary matter, but a kidnapping case.
If things went wrong, the kidnapped could end up sold as slaves.
And the slave trade was.
‘A transnational crime.’
Even the Claw Kingdom punished the slave trade with aggravated penalties.
Even there, it was a crime punishable at minimum by life imprisonment and, at worst, the extermination of one’s three clans.
‘What kind of lunatic is behind this?’
“Who disappeared?”
“Cats.”
“......?”
What the hell was that supposed to mean......?
“Recently, dozens of cat disappearance cases have been reported in Rakar.”
“......”
No, so.
[Apostle. Do holy knights do such things too......?]
Of course not, damn it.
“You’re lying, right?”
That could not be all. Then how did he explain the atmosphere in the town?
“The town was completely drooping. Even the children were not running around outside and were moving sluggishly.”
“I heard even the star cat said to be the cutest in the city disappeared.”
Did this bastard think that could possibly be the reason?
“That must be why.”
“......Can I go back to the capital?”
“This is an emergency!”
“Maybe that cat just didn’t like this place.”
Why did we have to solve something like that!
“We’re holy knights. Are we odd-job workers?”
“Holy knights are odd-job workers.”
No...... was a holy knight allowed to say that......?
“A holy knight must do anything for the sake of the weak.”
If he had said that before calling us odd-job workers, it might have sounded cool.
“How many cats have disappeared for you to act like this?”
“Fifty-four cases.”
Mm......
“......That is a lot.”
“And it has not been over a month or over three months. Only two weeks. Fifty-four cases in only two weeks.”
Nearly four cats had disappeared per day.
“But did this city have that many cats?”
“Ah, that includes missing dogs too.”
“......Then why did you only talk about cats?”
“Because I am a cat person.”
Was that really important right now......?