[Good choice. Then I will tell you the terms of the contract.]
“This is why Grandpa Harkan told me to read contracts carefully.”
If I had known she was an ancient god, I would never have made the contract!
[The terms are simple.]
“......I get that they’re simple, so hurry up and say it.”
[You just have to free my true body.]
The Evil God of Blood Flame. Kalla’s true body. In other words, she was asking me to free not only her consciousness, as it was now, but her flesh as well......
“Hey.”
[What?]
“That’s simple?”
So, in a world where the Chief God was Aria, I was supposed to free Kalla’s true body? Without dying?
[If you do just that, I will revive one person for you, I told you.]
“What’s the point if I die before you revive anyone?”
Even if she revived one person, if I died, it would end up plus-minus zero.
[By the way, who are you trying to revive?]
“I don’t know exactly who it is either.”
But if I did not know their name or face, could she revive them?
“Anyway, this contract puts me at far too much of a loss.”
[You agreed to it, did you not?]
“Hey, damn it. You made the ‘Do you agree?’ box transparent!”
She had not said a word, and now she claimed I had agreed. It felt so unfair.
“Do gods not have some sort of commission for unfair contracts?”
[There is no divine realm itself, though?]
“I know that! I’m asking if you’ve never made that kind of contract!”
Since there was no such thing as a divine realm in the first place, shouldn’t she have to follow the laws of the human realm?
[I am a god!]
“I know. So what?”
[Uh...... Since I am a god, I can do as I please......]
“What, do gods not die or something? Do they not get scammed either?”
[You simply kill them first before they kill you.]
Aha!
The way she thought itself was different, I see?
“Let’s void the contract.”
I could not bring myself to act as an apostle under an exploitative boss like this.
[Huh?]
At my words, Kalla blinked and looked at me.
[......I told you, if you void it, you die.]
“I said let’s die together.”
I don’t care. Cut me open if you want.
“In the first place, I can just choose not to revive anyone.”
There was something I wanted to confirm by reviving that person. It was not that I absolutely had to revive them!
[Money......! I know where there is more money!]
“I may be an apprentice, but I’m a holy knight. I’m not particularly interested in money.”
That was a lie. I was very interested, but the risk of earning that money was far too great.
“No, logically speaking, if your true body comes out, the world will turn upside down. Why would I do that?”
The world would end in exchange for reviving one person and earning some money? What kind of rotten bargain was that?
[Should I give you some of my Authority? With this, you will become incredibly strong, and...... also......]
“I’m already strong enough.”
That was truly useless.
[No, are you not my apostle? Then you should do as I wish!]
“Too bad. I’m the one who controls my own actions.”
[......]
“No matter how badly you want to order me around, if I don’t want to do it, I won’t.”
Ordinary apostles of evil gods considered the evil god’s words absolute and acted upon them. Because they had that much faith in that evil god.
But I was not like that.
[......Well, you did not become my apostle because you wanted to.]
You understood?
[Then I will manipulate your perception so you recognize it as something you did because you wanted to become my apostle.]
......She did not understand.
“Oh, really?”
I grabbed the mace beside me and poured all the divine power I had into my hands.
[Huh?]
“Then I’ll just break it.”
With a bright, cheerful smile, I grabbed the end of the mace’s head and the end of its shaft, then bent it.
[Eek!]
A moment later, the shape of the thing before me gradually began distorting.
“This isn’t working well.”
Was it because an evil god was inside the weapon? It certainly did not break easily.
[What are you doing?!]
“I’m just trying to smash it.”
[I told you, you will die too if you do that!]
“I’m confident.”
Confident that I would not die.
[Urgh......!]
It was indeed a strong weapon. With divine power infused into them, I could even split mithril, but this thing only bent a little.
[Wait!]
Still, well.
“What?”
[All right...... Haah...... haah...... Let us change the terms of the contract.]
This much should serve as a warning.
“Really?”
At last, the evil god moved the way I wanted her to.
“Then, what’s your best offer?”
[Huh?]
Since I had become an evil god’s apostle anyway, should I not wring her dry? I could not change the past, but I could change the present, couldn’t I?
***
[You are truly a wicked creature.]
“Hmm~ hmm~”
[Hey.]
“Be quiet.”
I could not focus on humming.
[How are you a member of the clergy?]
“I’m still an apprentice, so I’m not clergy yet.”
The apprentice shield sure was convenient.
[Haa...... But what are you doing?]
“Thinking.”
In the end, the contract had been changed to freeing only her consciousness from the weapon, not her true body.
‘Wouldn’t it work if I found a dwarf?’
If I showed them the weapon and asked them to extract the consciousness embedded inside it, they should be able to do it. Dwarves had that much ability.
‘......Or maybe not?’
One bad precedent did come to mind. A dwarf whose name started with Junk and ended with nus......
[I do not know what you are thinking about, but you must keep that contract!]
“You too.”
Even if I extracted that thing from the weapon, there was almost nothing she could do anyway, so nothing major would happen.
‘At most, maybe she’ll be a little stronger than Pell.’
Well, how much divine power could she have gathered inside the mace?
[By the way, how are you going to leave the Order?]
“I told you I’m thinking.”
My IQ 50, your IQ 50. With a combined IQ of 100......
No, maybe my IQ was 100 and hers was 0?
[......My apostle is terribly unprepared.]
“Shut up before I burn you.”
[Do you think the Evil God of Blood ‘Flame’ will burn?]
Let’s not take this seriously and argue back for no reason. It felt like that would only make my head hurt more.
“Haa......”
‘How do I get out?’
[Put your head to work.]
“I am.”
I was rolling it hard. A full 360 degrees.
[......Then you are back where you started, are you not?]
“That’s why there’s no progress right now.”
Haa......
“......There is a way to get out.”
[What is it?]
“I can get permission to go out from Grandpa.”
At my words, Kalla tilted her head.
[Then why not go and get permission right away?]
“Grandpa Harkan won’t grant it.”
[Why?]
“Why do you think I’m in an infirmary room right now?”
[Ah. It certainly will not be easy to get permission.]
Apparently, I had suddenly collapsed on the path and could not breathe properly, so I had been brought to the infirmary. But if I applied to go out just one day after that, then the result would be......
‘He would tell me to go and rest.’
Though we always fought, Grandpa Harkan was someone who worried about me.
[By the way, is that child named Harkan your father? He seems to cherish you greatly, rejecting your outing over something like that.]
“He’s almost no different from my father.”
Because Grandpa Harkan had been there in every moment I could remember.
“He was young back then.”
No. That was nostalgia embellishing my memories. He had been in his fifties then too, hadn’t he?
[So, how are you going to leave the Holy Kingdom?]
“I’ll have to get permission to go out, even if I have to force it.”
[......Even so, to someone like your father......]
“Are you insane?”
Was it because she was an evil god after all? How could she only think of such chilling things?
“Still...... If I bring something like a physician’s note, Grandpa Harkan should know I’m not sick and let me go.”
Even though I had collapsed, if an expert said I was not sick, then there should not be any problem.
[Do you think that will work?]
Good. Since the goal was decided.
“Shall we go?”
[Apostle? Can you not hear me?]
Ignore her. Ignore her. At most, they were the words of an evil god.
“Then now......”
[......]
“Hey.”
[What?]
Why, she asked?
“Can’t you go somewhere else?”
[Why?]
“I need to wash.”
[So?]
So? Was that really the word that should come out here?
“I said I’m going to wash.”
[Yes. Wash.]
“Get out.”
[I cannot.]
Ah, don’t tell me.
“It’s not that you won’t leave. You can’t leave?”
[My apostle is rather clever, is he not?]
So I had to show every corner of my body to this filthy evil god?
“Fuck......”
[It is fine. I hate it too!]
Usually, the person watching should not be the one saying it was fine.
“Even though the mace is way over there, you still have to stick with me?”
[Yes.]
“......Can’t you stay by the door?”
[Is the shower room that narrow?]
It was spacious...... very spacious. It had to be a place where all the apprentice holy knights could wash at once.
[Do not worry. I am a mother. Seeing my child’s naked body is merely—]
“Can’t we use separate rooms?”
[Sadly, no.]
Mother. I am twenty years old. How can you ask to wash with me?
“Wait. Then when I sleep and when I go to the bathroom, you have to be there too?”
[Of course.]
Ah.
“Can’t we please use separate rooms?”
At my question, Kalla answered with a radiant smile.
[There is only one room, unfortunately.]
Fuck.
***
Halla, the healing priest of the Order of Aria, was now in great difficulty.
“Haha......”
“Miss Halla. I’m asking you to write me a medical opinion.”
It was because of the ruffian...... no, the apprentice holy knight before her.
“I think that might be a little difficult......”
“Why?”
“Pardon?”
“You don’t even have that much grit? You can’t even do that?”
Halla felt as though she wanted to cry at any moment.
“No, Miss Halla. It’s not as if I’ve done anything wrong to you.”
At Karix’s brazen words, Halla was politely raising her middle finger at him in her heart.
‘How many people have you sent here until now!’
Karix was the one who sent patients to her at a rate of about four a week.
“I thought you were capable, Miss Halla, but I’m a bit disappointed.”
“Haha......”
Even at Karix’s utterly rude words, Halla could not offer any particular retort.
‘I’m scared!’
Karix was the one who had sent who knew how many of those sturdy holy knights here. He was a monster rumored even to split mithril with his bare hands.
“Think carefully.”
From afar, the sight of Karix smiling gently looked like a benevolent, handsome holy knight conversing with a priest, but.
“It’s a simple matter, isn’t it? Writing a medical opinion.”
Up close, it was merely a thug and a priest.
[......He is practically a demon.]
Kalla looked at Karix with faint contempt, but Karix ignored her and added,“Miss Halla.”
“Yes?!”
“You hate me, don’t you?”
At that obvious question, Halla nearly answered, “Yes!” with confidence.
“......No.”
Fortunately, however, her reason prevented that catastrophe.
“Really? Then let me change the question. Because I keep sending people here, you end up with a lot of work, don’t you?”
Halla did not particularly answer that question and avoided his gaze.
“The reason I need this medical opinion is simple. I want to apply to go out for a little while.”
“Oh.”
“That’s right.”
Karix smiled and whispered into Halla’s ear.
“Then, while I’m out, Miss Halla, you won’t have to see any patients I send here.”
At those words, Halla’s hand began moving.
“No...... Even so.”
However, remembering just how many incidents he had caused even during ordinary outings, Halla hesitated.
“Nothing will happen. It’s just an outing.”
“Really......? If I just write this, nothing will happen......?”
“I can swear it by my god.”
‘God......’
Halla’s face softened a little. After all, when a resident of the Holy Kingdom swore by their god, in other words Aria, it meant they would absolutely never break that promise.
“All right. I’ll write it for you.”
“Thank you, Miss Halla.”
Of course.
[You are selling my name as much as you like, are you?]
Halla did not know that Karix’s god was now already someone different from the god she knew, so there was no particular problem with staking that oath.