Hamutz City consisted of an inner walled district hidden behind stone walls, and an outer city district enclosed by a fence.
And the priest’s residence was beyond even the outer city, on a mountain outside town.
A cabin halfway up the mountain.
Tools made from animal bones hung on the outer wall, and leather was hanging from a pole set up in a sunny spot.
“It looks more like a hunter’s house than a priest’s.”
There was no sign of anyone in the cabin, so the two lightly examined it.
And they found an altar.
A symbol similar in shape to the one they had found in the canyon.
And on top of it sat a dried chunk of meat.
Then,
Rustle-
They sensed someone.
“……What business do you have here?”
A sturdy middle-aged man came out, pushing through the bushes.
Perhaps he had gone hunting, because the corpse of a young deer was hanging over his shoulder.
Clothes made of fur and leather, and a bow on his back.
Just as Bella had said, at a glance, he looked like nothing but a hunter.
But Eugene recognized it. Hanging at the man’s chest was a necklace with a peculiar brooch shaped like the eye of something.
At the center of that eye, the same symbol drawn on the altar had been engraved.
Eugene bowed to him and spoke.
“We came looking for the priest because we are interested in the Espacio faith.”
The priest silently looked at Eugene.
“You are Dragon Knights, and you are interested in our order?”
Over the past few days, while staying at city hall, Eugene and Bella had become fairly famous figures in Hamutz City.
It was not simply because they were Dragon Knights.
They were Twinstella Dragon Knights, who had appeared for the first time in centuries.
At that legendary rumor, townspeople had flocked to see the two.
Especially young men and women. It seemed there was even a rumor going around somewhere that Twinstella Dragon Knights improved one’s luck in love.
Some fanatical people had even begged Eugene and Bella to please hold their hands.
Therefore, it was not strange for the priest to recognize the two.
“Haha, even if I am a Dragon Knight, I am still a mere scrap of a mage. I always have to explore and study something.”
“……I see.”
When Eugene said that, the priest merely nodded. He seemed to think there was no particular need to be suspicious. Eugene held out his hand first.
“I am Eugene Brace.”
“I am Marco Palmer.”
Priest Palmer introduced himself that way. After exchanging greetings with Bella as well, he bowed to the two.
“Twinstella are auspicious beings. It seems the offering I gave yesterday pleased Lord Espacio.”
Saying that, he lifted the necklace hanging in front of his chest. Then he threw the freshly caught game and his other belongings to one side and said,
“Come in. I do not have much, but I will serve you tea.”
The two entered the cabin under his guidance.
Priest Palmer went outside, saying he would boil tea.
The inside of the cabin was plain. A bed, a table, and a bookshelf occupying one corner. And on something that looked like a workbench, dried plants were piled and tied in nets.
Bella spoke quietly.
“He is a priest, but he seems to have some knowledge of medicine as well.”
“Why?”
“He has properly prepared medicinal herbs. He seems to be managing them well too.”
Bella pointed at the dried leaves hanging on the wall.
The Adamantine Refinement Great Art Bella had learned was not training that merely strengthened the body.
Because it required understanding of the body and knowledge to control it, it was only natural that she had medical knowledge.
Eugene nodded.
“Priests have been treated as universal problem-solvers since ancient times.”
When crops failed, when bodies fell ill, when monsters invaded.
When hardships beyond human control arrived, people sought the name of god.
Because of that, servants of god who had to listen to those voices often ended up capable of doing many different things.
Eugene also examined the inside of the cabin. But the place was so simple that there was nothing particularly suspicious.
Priest Palmer returned carrying a kettle. He poured tea into cups on the table and calmly sat down.
“So…… you wish to learn about our order.”
“That is exactly right.”
“Then how much do you know about us?”
“To tell you the truth, nothing at all.”
“……?”
Doubt appeared on Priest Palmer’s face.
His expression seemed to ask what they had come to ask if they knew nothing.
Eugene held out the scrap of cloth he took from inside his chest.
“We discovered this during our mission.”
Bella looked at Eugene.
‘What are you thinking, showing him that so openly?’
She asked that with her eyes. Eugene shrugged.
‘There’s no need to hide this much information.’
Since returning, he had continued tracking the Voidnir and come to understand something.
The colonies underground, the Gongha Trees on the surface, and even the canyon forest they had discovered this time. The Voidnir had already blended in naturally, as if this place were their own world.
It looked suspicious only to Eugene and Bella, who knew the result. To those who did not know, they were merely unusual monsters and unusual trees.
And the Espacio Order he was looking into now was also, from other people’s perspectives, merely an unusual religion.
Eugene and Bella had not yet reached the heart of the conspiracy. So there was no particular need to hide anything.
‘Being scared and acting secretive already would instead draw greater suspicion.’
That was Eugene’s judgment.
“I happened to see it. It was hanging from a tree with purple, diamond-shaped fallen leaves.”
“…….”
“It was a strange tree. After observing it briefly, it seemed to survive by catching nearby animals. It seemed like a fairly interesting plant and might become a subject of research, so I was examining it when I found this. When I asked around about it, they said it was the symbol of the Espacio Order.”
“Hmm.”
Priest Palmer stroked his chin as if he understood. Then he said,
“That tree is a being that appeared from Lord Espacio’s sleep-talk.”
At those incomprehensible words, Bella’s eyebrow twitched. Eugene asked,
“Sleep-talk?”
“Yes.”
Priest Palmer nodded.
“Lord Espacio is a terrifying god. Fear, disaster…… and the end. He sleeps now, but someday he will open his eyes and bring the end to this world.”
“You believe in such a terrifying being?”
“It is not belief, but worship. We sing lullabies so that he does not awaken, offer tributes, and learn how to hide ourselves from his attention. Even asleep, he is the end. With only the sleep-talk of his tossing and turning, nations are destroyed and disasters surge in. That tree is merely one symbol that represents it. We call it Ekistoma. It means the Mouth of Espacio.”
Eugene pressed down the information flowing from the priest’s mouth and asked,
“I saw an altar there. Do you perform rites for the tree?”
“Yes. They say that tree is part of Lord Espacio. A being in which fear has taken form. Did you see it devour animals?”
“Yes. It attacked with its leaves and sucked their blood.”
“Lord Espacio is always hungry. They say his entire body is a mouth, and that he swallows everything. The tree called Ekistoma is one of those mouths. So we offer food to it and satisfy him. Because if he grows hungry, he will wake from sleep.”
“What happens if Espacio wakes from sleep?”
“The end. The end of all things. I know nothing beyond that. Ah, but I do know one thing that proves the end is drawing near.”
“What is that?”
“Ekistoma trees will grow across the entire world. It is an extremely dangerous omen.”
It was a chilling statement.
In Eugene and Bella’s minds, the image of the world they had seen before returning came to mind.
A world covered in Gongha Trees and biological monsters.
Was that the end the priest spoke of?
Eugene cleared his throat and asked,
“Does the Espacio Order perhaps do activities like transplanting that tree?”
“No. According to ordinary doctrine, we do not. There is no need to deliberately increase the number of such terrifying beings.”
Priest Palmer firmly shook his head. But after thinking for a moment, he continued.
“However…… our order is divided into quite a few sects as well. I have heard that some sects deliberately sow and increase them. Some say they increase the mouths of Espacio to make him more full…… and others are said to do it to hasten destruction instead.”
“To hasten destruction?”
“Because if Espacio opens his eyes, the world will be destroyed, and a new world will be born.”
The priest gripped the necklace in front of his chest.
“It is a sect that interpreted the doctrine as, since destruction will come anyway, let us face it quickly and begin anew.”
This was it.
Eugene and Bella, their minds aligned, looked at each other’s faces. Eugene looked back at Priest Palmer.
“Do you know where that sect is?”
“I do not know well. As you can see, we are a minority within the Dragon Empire.”
Priest Palmer pointed to the small cabin as if to show them. But Eugene noticed something in those words.
“Within the Dragon Empire…… Does that mean outside it is different?”
“Yes. I have heard that fairly large sects are scattered outside the country. I do not have broad experience, so I have not seen them personally.”
Eugene continued asking questions after that as well.
Priest Palmer continued delivering more concrete information than the two had expected.
That was when they were continuing the conversation.
Footsteps were heard, as if someone had arrived, and then came a tap, tap on the door.
“Priest Palmer, are you there?”
After asking Eugene and Bella’s understanding, Priest Palmer rose. When he opened the door, a woman in shabby clothes was standing outside.
She looked restless. Then she grabbed the priest’s collar and said,
“Priest. My daughter keeps suffering. It seems this time she has been properly caught by Lord Espacio’s sleep-talk. Could you perform a rite for her?”
Priest Palmer briefly lifted his head and looked back at Eugene and Bella inside. Eugene waved his hand, telling him not to mind. Priest Palmer said,
“Understood. I will go at once.”
After saying that, he sent her back home first.
Then he went out to the yard, gripped a knife, and placed the young deer he had caught earlier on a bundle of straw.
SQUELCH- SLAAASH—!
Without hesitation, he split the deer’s belly open with the blade and pulled out the contents inside.
As he washed the organs with water drawn in a bucket from the water barrel, he said,
“They say Lord Espacio likes fresh entrails. This one has not been dead long, so this should be enough as an offering.”
He wrapped the deer’s organs with the dried net he had left hanging on the pole, then turned back to Eugene and Bella, who were watching him.
“What will you do? By the time I return, the sun will likely have set…… I do not have anything else in particular to tell you, so there is no need for you to wait.”
“We will go with you. May we watch this rite?”
“Yes. That is fine.”
Eugene and Bella followed Priest Palmer back to Hamutz City.
The Espacio believer’s house was in the outer city district. There were no thick stone walls, only a simple fence protecting the area. As they passed through it, they saw that one section of the fence had collapsed.
“That is the place that collapsed from the Verde Wolf attack a short while ago. I was worried because repairs seemed to be late, but it is fortunate that you handled them.”
Priest Palmer said that, then entered the roadside and knocked on the door of a house in the middle.
Then the female believer who had come to find the priest earlier showed her face from inside.
The priest asked for her understanding, saying that Eugene and Bella, who were outsiders, would be attending the rite as well, but the female believer instead looked delighted.
“Of course it’s fine! Where else would we find people as precious as Twinstella? Please come in.”
Inside the house they entered, a young girl was lying down.
‘It’s not even summer, but the room is this muggy?’
Perhaps Bella smelled something, because she twitched her nose and whispered into Eugene’s ear.
“……It smells like a dying patient. A serious illness. At this rate, she probably will not last long.”
“Can’t you heal her?”
“Impossible. If it were external trauma, whether a broken arm or a severed leg, I could do something, but anything else is outside my range. And from experience, internal illnesses like that do not progress in a single morning.”
It meant that even if they brought a doctor or a priest who could use divine magic right away, there would be no answer.
Eugene clicked his tongue inwardly.
“Her condition…… is very poor.”
Priest Palmer seemed to have reached a conclusion similar to Bella’s. He held the arm of the girl, who had almost nothing but bones left, then soon rose and began clearing away nearby objects.
“I will prepare the rite. The space is narrow, so could you step back for a moment?”
Everyone except the girl and Priest Palmer stepped back.
The priest knelt on the empty floor and put his hand into the pouch tied at his waist.
He covered his fingers with dried dye in powder form and drew a symbol on the floor.
He drew a circle, then a triangle inside it. Then he marked a point inside the triangle and carved signs like wavering heat haze around the outside of the circle.
Priest Palmer placed the baby deer’s entrails he had brought from home on top of the symbol.
Then he sprang to his feet, smeared the dye on his fingers over his own face, and began dancing while making strange sounds.
KREEEEEE—!
A grotesque sound like a bird crying, like a beast howling.
And the dance, without order, was strange and eerie, like a mollusk moving.
Eugene asked the female believer who was holding her breath beside him what that was.
“It is the dance and song of Zarabandishita. They also call it the lullaby sung to Lord Espacio.”
She said it was a rite with the meaning of putting an evil god to sleep through dance and song.
The rite continued for about thirty minutes.
After finishing every movement, Priest Palmer wiped his sweat and came out of the room.
He turned to the female believer and said,
“Boil the entrails offered as tribute thoroughly and feed them to the child. They are what Lord Espacio left after eating, so they will likely help her avoid his attention.”
The female believer said she understood, but she looked inside with worry.
Seeing the girl, who looked no different from before the rite, she stamped her feet and asked the priest,
“Will she be a little better with this?”
“I cannot guarantee it. He is such a fickle god that all we can do is pray.”
Words without hope.
When Priest Palmer said that, despair settled over the female believer’s face.
She bit her lip and said,
“……I heard Mr. Herman next door recovered from illness through Zarabandishita’s blessing.”
Priest Palmer’s expression stiffened.
“What are you saying?! Espacio is an existence to be avoided, not an existence to be accepted! You must never draw close to him. Zarabandishita, too, is a cursed existence. To be with them is to choose a fate where one cannot even die and must sing lullabies beside Espacio!”
Priest Palmer shouted furiously.
At his rebuke, the female believer flinched in surprise, then lowered her head and nodded as if she understood.
Priest Palmer sighed, encouraged her, then left the house with Eugene and Bella.
Priest Palmer dusted off his hands and turned back to the two with a bitter smile.
“I seem to have shown you something shameful.”
Eugene shook his head.
“Not at all. We saw something worthwhile. By the way…… what was that Zarabandishita’s blessing she mentioned just now?”
A deep sigh flowed from Priest Palmer’s mouth.
“That…… is something that flowed in from a sect of ours across the border in Baifun.”
“From Baifun?”
“Yes. Beside Espacio, there are beings called Zarabandishita, who play the role of putting him to sleep and caring for him, just as I did earlier. They are beings said to have eaten Espacio’s flesh and gained infinite eternal life. However, as the price, they are said to have taken on the fate of working for Espacio forever.”
“I see.”
“But there is a rumor that the sect on the Baifun side received Zarabandishita’s blessing and was granted divine magic like priests of the Sun God.”
“Does that make sense? Receiving power from that sleeping end?”
Eugene asked.
Because that was something rather difficult to understand according to the doctrine of the Espacio Order he had heard from Priest Palmer.
Priest Palmer shook his head.
“That…… I do not know well either. However, if it is not from Espacio, but from Zarabandishita, then perhaps it is possible to receive power from them…… That is what I think.”
“…….”
“Of course, I believe that would be closer to a curse than power.”
With that conversation as their last, Eugene and Bella parted from Priest Palmer.
Bella said,
“What do you think? It does not seem greatly suspicious, but…… it is extremely unsettling.”
“What’s unsettling?”
“I am close to Monica, am I not? I also stayed at the Dragon Temple for a long time. Because of that, I do not disbelieve in the existence of gods.”
“So?”
“I simply thought…… perhaps the end we faced might have been something like a god’s trick.”
If it had been the original Eugene, he would have mocked those words.
But he had personally experienced the end and returned from it.
Because of that, he thought seriously before speaking.
“That’s something we don’t know. But I don’t believe in gods. At the very least, those bastards aren’t gods.”
A serious light entered his sly face.
Eugene spoke as if growling.
“Those bastards aren’t some grand beings. They’re just slightly strong, disgusting monsters. We can definitely stop them. That much is certain.”
“We are of one mind on that. And even if it is a god’s trick, I do not care.”
Bella raised her fist.
The warrior who had crossed time trusting only in her own body declared proudly,
“Whatever it is, if I do not like it, I will simply smash it.”
Bella smiled.
It was a valiant smile that would make anyone, man or woman, who knew the meaning of the word cool fall for her.
Eugene let out a hollow laugh.
Looking at a partner more reliable than anyone else naturally eased his tension.
He scratched his head roughly and said,
“At any rate, it’s a religion made with fairly clever thinking. It’s structured so people accept the end by the Voidnir as if it were only natural. If something like this is planted in people’s heads, it can soften resistance. It makes them mistake the monsters’ invasion as unavoidable, like the wrath of a god.”
“Right. Priest Palmer does not seem to be one of them, but we need to look into that other sect.”
“Of course.”
The two talked that way as they returned to the city hall quarters.
The sun set, and evening arrived.
Stone had reserved a good tavern.
The Dragon Knights who had finished their away mission gathered at the tavern, chatted, and ate with drinks.
Noan and Henri, who were weak to alcohol, vomited, and Luohan, whose mood had improved, even opened his usually heavy mouth and sang. They enjoyed the lively atmosphere.
After finishing the pleasant gathering like that, they parted in front of the city hall quarters, promising to see one another the next day, and entered their respective rooms.
Then night came.
“Eugene, wake up.”
Bella woke Eugene, who had been sleeping soundly.
Eugene rose while shaking his heavy, hungover head.
“Damn it.”
Knowing Bella’s personality, he did not press her by asking why she had woken him when he had been sleeping perfectly well.
He slapped his cheeks hard to wake himself up and asked in a straight voice,
“What happened?”
“I do not know. But something has happened. It is noisy outside.”
Bella guided Eugene. She took him out onto the balcony of the three-story quarters.
The city’s nightscape spread out pitch black.
Bella pointed to one place among it.
“Look there.”
Eugene’s gaze followed her finger.
“That is……”
Orange light was flickering.
The roaring shouts of a crowd could be heard even here.
Eugene’s brow furrowed.
That was the direction of the outer city district, which Eugene and Bella had visited earlier.