Why had I not thought of it?
It was simple.
There was no way evil gods could normally expand their influence inside the Holy Kingdom!
“Aaaaaah!”
You thick-headed bastard! Can’t you stop trusting only in your strength all the time?!
[Hah! The sight of you sprinting to the children’s house is quite something!]
The bastard was rolling through the air as she laughed.
BANG—!
I kicked down the door I had installed with my own money.
The door I had fixed not long ago broke again, but I had no time to care about that.
“Kai! Lina!”
The moment I entered the house, I called their names.
But there was no one in the living room.
‘No.’
The rooms. They would be in the rooms.
BANG!
I violently opened the door. The rather plain room was Kai’s room.
“Kai!”
The boy. The boy was not there either. There was no one in the house......
No way. No way, already?
The children. There was no way the children had gone outside at this hour. It was the time they should be home.
“Fuck!”
My body shot out reflexively.
Not only Kai’s room, but the other rooms too—I flung the doors open with a crash.
No, rather than opening them, it was closer to tearing them off.
There was no one. In other words, no one was there.
‘You thick-headed bastard.’
Again. Did I make a mistake again?
—Rustle.
“......!”
What shattered my thoughts was an extremely faint sound.
An unmistakable rustling.
The source was close. Below.
The bed beside me, the one used by the child named Lina.
“......”
I crouched low.
“Eek!”
“......Lina?”
Underneath it, Lina was curled up and holding out.
‘Thank goodness.’
Still. Still, she had not been dragged away, had she?
This child was here. There was no way the boy and Kai had gone out alone without this little child.
“Lina.”
“Kyaa!”
But she was far too wary.
Like a cat seeing a stranger.
[She certainly is like a cat.]
I reached under the bed.
“Hiss!”
Lina struck my hand wildly with her little hands, but it did not matter much.
“Waaah!”
At last, I managed to grab Lina from under the bed and pull her out.
‘Normally, I would not have done this.’
Something. Something about this.
Even though Lina was here, my unease would not disappear.
“Where are your brother and the person you called mister?”
“......Gone.”
“Where?”
“To where Lina was.”
What was that supposed to mean?
“Hoo......”
I sighed. Through that breath, the scent in the air mixed in.
“Urgh......!”
Then the stench I had not properly noticed until now rushed in all at once.
[Puhahaha! How are you still falling for that and asking it questions?]
What was that supposed to mean now?
“You know.”
Lina spoke. From between those lips came a rotten smell.
“......Wait, Lina. That stench isn’t coming from you, is it?”
The stench I had kept sensing was now coming from Lina.
The stench I had felt from the moment I first entered this city. It was especially thick from this child.
A filthy smell that brought a wave of discomfort.
And
A slightly fishy smell.
“......”
The fishy scent stabbed into my nose.
I knew what this smell was.
“Wait.”
Why was Kalla saying that child could not speak?
......
Why?
Why had Kalla never once called Lina a “child”?
When she treated even Harkan like a child, why had she only ever called Lina “it”?
“Hiss!”
Lina’s voice reached my ears once more.
It was not a sound a human should make.
A hiss. In other words......
Something a cat would make......?
“......”
[Apostle. Don’t tell me you did not know?]
Kalla was looking at me. Her gaze seemed to say she found me pathetic.
[Tsk, tsk. To be caught by something so trivial. Why is my apostle so weak?]
Kalla placed her hand on Lina’s head.
SHATTER—!
A moment later, something broke.
Then Lina’s figure began to waver.
At the same time, the terrible blood scent that had been stabbing my nose disappeared.
“Ah.”
A pathetic voice escaped my mouth, as though something had collapsed inside me.
“Meow~.”
The thing beside me was not human, no matter what anyone said.
“Since...... when?”
She had changed its appearance with divine power?
‘Incitement.’
No. This was not something the Evil God of Incitement would do. If it were Incitement, he would have manipulated the media first. In the first place, it would have smelled of something other than blood.
[Apostle.]
A fishy blood scent. The moment I recognized it, I realized this scent of blood had been drifting through the entire city.
[There are no children in this city?]
The bastard’s grin sent a chill down my spine.
CRASH—!
I hurried outside.
[Puhaha! How funny! This is so funny!]
On the way out, the door broke again, but I had no time to care about that.
[There are so many “children” everywhere. Aren’t there? Heehee!]
Outside, there were children.
“Mom! Mom!”
There was a child rubbing its face against its parent.
“Woof! Woof!”
That thing wagged its tail as if delighted by the person.
“Child! Where are you going!”
There was a child moving away from its parent with a bone in its mouth.
“Purrrrr......”
There was a child lying on a bench and purring, perhaps tired.
[They are all gathered here!]
No.
There were no children here.
“Fuck!”
What had gone missing had not been cats or dogs.
They had all been children.
The plaza was crowded with the supposedly missing cats and dogs.
[Apostle.]
Impossible.
‘This is impossible.’
It truly made no sense.
[Apostle?]
“......What?”
Only then did her voice reach my ears.
[Oh. Those are interesting eyes. They are much sharper than usual. Fascinating!]
“You didn’t call me for that bullshit!”
I struck the lamp beside me hard.
RUMBLE—
I hit it so hard that the streetlamp immediately toppled sideways.
“Kyaa! What is this! What happened?”
The people in the plaza panicked and looked toward me.
[Shall I help you?]
“You’re saying you’ll help me?”
She had kept asking whether I would go back or not.
She had been laughing as though she found my conversation with Lina amusing.
As though she had known everything.
Ah.
So you knew it all.
You knew that the brainwashing of perception alteration had been cast on me and the children.
And the reason you did not say anything was.
Simply.
Because watching me act was amusing.
[So, shall I help?]
What stood before me was neither a mischievous child nor anything of the sort.
It was simply an “evil god,” smiling.
“......”
It was revolting.
Not because I was disgusted by the evil god before me.
But because I was judging that I had to accept that offer.
Damn it, at least in that moment.
“......What...... what can you help with?”
I could understand the hearts of evil god worshipers.
[Go underground. They should still be there.]
“......What am I supposed to trust about you?”
[It seems I know what you are trying to say.]
The bastard cut me off and smiled.
[But right now, is there anything you can trust besides me?]
“......”
I hated myself.
For being unable to deny those words.
“How do I get underground?”
[Fortunately, it seems you can simply break straight through the floor?]
The moment her words ended, I wrapped the mace in divine power.
BOOM—!
A giant hole opened straight through the brick floor.
Below that hole was the sewer that connected everything in this city.
“......Fuck.”
And from that sewer, revulsion surged up in full.
“Karix!”
The one who approached me with that noise was Garon.
No wonder I had not heard screams. It seemed Garon had already moved the people away.
“What are you doing right now! You suddenly cut off the communication, then started breaking property...... No, before that, where did you even receive that medicine!”
Perhaps because he did not fully understand the situation either, the bastard spat out all sorts of questions.
“Shut up.”
“......What?”
“There’s only one thing you need to do. Prepare for battle right now and come running.”
“What does that mean......”
There was no need to say anything more.
“Ah.”
“I’m going.”
Even a brief glance into the sewer was enough to understand.
“What madness is this......!”
Among the wastewater, pieces of flesh were flowing.
***
Where is it?
Where?
[Apostle! Please...... slow down!!!]
Where is it?
The deeper I went, the more the inside of the sewer twisted like a maze.
No, to be precise.
“Damn it.”
I was perceiving it as twisted like a maze.
“This damn blood scent.”
The divine power of brainwashing mixed into that wretched blood scent was disturbing my mind.
“Stop!”
I struck my own head hard with my fist.
“Hoo.”
It felt as though my head cleared slightly.
“......Here.”
After that, I simply ran.
‘Too slow.’
I did not know what had happened to the children.
As fast as possible. As fast as possible.
Before I knew it, the bloody water flowing through the wastewater gathered around my feet.
[Oh! My apostle has talent, does he not?]
The blood gathered and formed divine power.
‘I can raise it.’
Thanks to that, I could increase my speed sharply.
“Who goes there!”
Right ahead, someone wearing a strange dark-red robe blocked my path.
“You’re in the way.”
I gathered divine power in my hand.
“Uh......?”
I flew straight into the bastard, dug in, grabbed his face, and slammed it into the floor.
“Kgh!”
With the remaining dregs of gathered divine power, I created a mace in my hand.
“Kgh!”
The first was his face.
“Stay down.”
Next were both legs.
CRACK—!
“Aaaaaagh!”
[Oh. His bones must be shattered to pieces.]
“Hey.”
“Grrk......”
......
Fuck.
“A fork.”
Only after I completely caved in the bastard’s face did the fork in the path enter my sight.
This time, it was not brainwashing, illusion, or anything else, but a real fork in the road.
“Hey.”
I lifted the collapsed bastard by the collar.
“Ugh...... wha?”
“Where is it? Which of the two?”
Even at my question, the bastard still seemed unable to collect himself and merely blinked.
“Talk. Want me to break your arms too?”
Only then did the bastard grasp the situation to some degree and point to the right-hand path.
“Okay.”
After putting him back down, all I did was run once more.
[Apostle. But is that really the right way? Do you trust the word of that believer just now?]
“Shut up.”
[Heehee!]
There was no other way anyway.
[But tell me. Why did you not kill him?]
“......”
[It would be easier if you killed him.]
“......”
[Why are you not answering?]
There was no need to answer.
In any case, I did not want to talk about something an evil god would never understand.
[Apostle? Knock, knock?]
All that remained was straight ahead.
[Tch. How boring.]
Not long after that, people wearing those dark-red robes appeared again.
‘Five.’
There were more than I expected.
But it was not much of a problem.
“Kill him! Our great work is right before us!”
Four enemies rushed in to catch me, while one tried to cast a curse from the back.
[Apostle! Him! That one is casting a curse!]
I drew out a long thread made of divine power.
SHRRRK—!
A line of red gold, golden with a faint mix of red, embroidered the underground.
“What is this......!”
To be precise.
“Kgh!”
I had hooked the threads around the ankles of the bastards charging in.
“Ack!”
They all fell at once. In that case, there was only one target to aim for.
“Uh!”
Leaving the fallen bastards aside, I quickly charged toward the curse caster.
“Aaaaaagh! Don’t come! I said don’t come!”
The bastard unfolded a shield made of War’s divine power.
‘Left.’
But a hastily made shield of divine power had a clear weakness.
The side where the connection between the divine power and the believer was weakest.
CRACK—!
“......Uh.”
I merely swung the mace to the left.
The shield shattered with that single blow.
BOOM—!
The bastard was blown away in one strike.
“Urgh......”
Only then did the bastards who had gotten up become easier to deal with.
“Ack!”
I moved the threads tied to the hand that was not holding the mace.
With the dancing threads, I wove a wall between the bastards and me as though weaving cloth.
“......What is this......?”
Now, they could not chase me.
That was enough.
I kept running.
Beyond them.
Toward the end of the sewer.