Chapter 127
Chapter 127
Fever
-System Message
▶ I smoothly handled the Sub Quest.
▶ Rewards related to ‘Miracle’ were granted.
▶ Speak with the target ‘Morrigan’ to receive the corresponding reward.
▶ This reward was highly likely to affect my Affection Level with the target. Good luck!
-System Message
▶ The target ‘???’ was satisfied with me.
▶ The target’s Affection Level was already at maximum.
▶ I could not copy the target’s skill.
▶ As a substitute reward, I was given a ‘Skill Enhancement Ticket’.
▶ I could enhance a skill I already possessed.
……There sure was a lot written there.
But it was obvious that not a single line could be carelessly ignored.
More than anything, the fact that it explicitly told me to have a ‘conversation’ in order to receive the reward clearly meant…….
‘……Huh.’
Come to think of it, hadn’t a similar type of reward window appeared before with Katya and Noel?
From that point on, I had the distinct feeling that our ‘relationships’ had drastically shifted.
Noel’s Bond Type had changed to Extreme Love, and Katya’s to Obsession.
Did that mean my relationship with Morrigan could change in the same way?
“…….”
……Hmm.
If I thought about it, unlike with them—where there had been major incidents—hadn’t I yet to build that kind of history with Morrigan?
Surely not.
More than that, the contents written below were just as significant.
Aiden, who had been silently scanning the window, frowned.
Now that I thought about it, hadn’t a similar window appeared before?
The one that said I couldn’t copy the skill because the Affection Level was at maximum.
‘……For what reason?’
Unless she had known me from long ago, there was no way her Affection Level could have instantly reached the maximum in a single leap.
No—more fundamentally, the very fact that it was marked as maximum gave me no clue what kind of relationship she had formed with me.
Unlike back then, this time I had at least been given a substitute reward.
‘An enhancement ticket…….’
The mere fact that I could obtain something like this wasn’t bad.
I would have to test the degree of enhancement myself to be certain, but considering the efficiency of the skills I possessed, being able to strengthen them alone made it hard to call this a bad deal.
But separate from that, the very appearance of such a window wasn’t exactly pleasant.
No matter how I looked at it, the fact that my Affection Level had risen simply from resolving the situation meant that some unknown being was watching me even now.
I could take it positively since it seemed to hold goodwill toward me, but from my perspective, it was extremely difficult to give a good score to something that kept scheming behind the scenes.
“……Heave-ho.”
Anyway, those matters could be slowly mulled over one by one later.
Staying still while my entire body was growing damp in real time inside a dragon’s mouth wasn’t exactly easy.
As Aiden, drenched in blood and saliva, wriggled his way out of the dragon’s gaping maw, I saw people rushing toward me with horrified expressions.
“Hey, are you oka—!”
“What were you think—!”
Half scolding, half worried, their words poured out without pause, but I paid them no mind and continued walking forward.
They stared at me in a daze, but I finally stopped in front of the commoner student who had been struck by the dragon’s breath earlier.
“…….”
I quietly ground my teeth.
And perhaps they all knew what was running through my mind, because no one said a word as they simply watched me.
Facing me, His Holiness let out a sigh and brushed back his hair.
“It’s not your fault.”
“……I know.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“……Yes. I know.”
“And yet you’re making that kind of face?”
It certainly wasn’t me who had killed him. I wasn’t in a position to be blamed for this.
But.
Even so, the reason I felt responsible was probably because I was aware that if I had done just a little better, I wouldn’t have had to see something like this.
With a face shadowed as though by darkness, I looked down at the student whose consciousness was fading by the second.
In truth, he had already lost consciousness long ago. Strictly speaking, this was already a corpse.
‘……Saving him.’
It was a distant prospect.
Of course, I had a skill like Flame of Regeneration that could heal a target, but that was, at its core, merely a matter of ‘treatment.’
It certainly wasn’t powerful enough to miraculously restore someone whose vital functions had completely ceased.
No matter how extraordinary a skill or miracle might be, resurrecting the dead belonged to the domain of borrowing the Divine Authority of a god.
There was nothing I could do.
Nothing—
-System Message
▶ I could enhance ‘Skill: The First Vow - Revised’.
▶ Would I enhance it? [ Y / N ]
“……?”
The moment I saw the window that appeared, my expression went blank.
……No, I mean.
As if it had read my thoughts, the message surfaced before my eyes with impeccable timing.
As though enhancing this would give me something I could do.
That was the feeling I got.
“…….”
And I was someone who trusted my intuition immensely.
The Skill Enhancement Ticket was only for a single upgrade, but I could always earn another one later somehow. Opportunities always came around again.
But if I didn’t use this now, someone would die before my eyes.
So.
The instant the message appeared, I accepted it without hesitation, and the window began to flash brilliantly in gold.
-System Message
▶ ‘Skill: The First Vow - Revised’ was enhanced.
▶ I analyzed the traits possessed by my divine power.
▶ My divine power was refined to be closer to the ‘First Seeker’.
▶ If certain conditions were satisfied, I could communicate directly with a god.
-System Message
▶ The God of Purification gazed down upon me.
▶ I had achieved ‘Divine Descent’ three times or more. A new entry was added to ‘Weaver of Fate’!
Along with those lines, I felt my ‘divine power’ being forcibly drained from my body.
Then, right before my eyes, a small flame—like a will-o’-the-wisp—began to float in the air.
‘……Huh.’
Sensing a ‘familiar’ presence from that flame, I widened my eyes and stared at it.
This was definitely—
It felt similar to when I had seen the flame containing the First Divine Flame on the Altar of the Grand Sanctuary before—
“……Divine authority?”
Before I could finish the thought, His Holiness beside me muttered those words blankly.
It was precisely when the will-o’-the-wisp flashed gold and began to take on a human shape.
Without a doubt, it was the exact same sensation I had felt when I burned myself on the Altar before.
That feeling from when the God of Purification, Sia, revealed herself.
“What the hell is this now—how many times are you going to perform this damn Divine Descent in such a short period?!”
“……What? Divine Descent?”
“They won’t be able to see the full form. But I can feel it. The God of Purification is here, in this very place?”
To Morrigan, who asked blankly, His Holiness replied in a voice so cracked it was rare for him. Even from my perspective, this was nothing short of astonishing.
‘……Was summoning a god originally this easy?’
No, of course, most things that could only be used once boasted ridiculous power—but I never imagined I would be able to make the deity itself descend here again like this.
Weren’t beings like that only callable when special conditions were met, such as the Remnant of the Warden of the Realm or a sacred Altar……?
“……?”
While that thought crossed my mind, Sia, who stood before me, lightly tapped her cheek and alternated her gaze between the student lying on the ground on the verge of crossing the River of the Afterlife and me.
[-]
After silently stroking her chin, Sia seemed to grasp the situation and nodded.
Then she bent deeply at the waist, tilted her head, and stared at me without a word.
“…….”
[…….]
“…….”
[…….]
No.
I felt like I understood what she wanted—but it gave off the distinct impression that she had no intention of doing it for free.
I couldn’t quite grasp what she wanted me to do—
‘……No, wait.’
As I looked at Sia, who was smiling at me with a playful expression, that thought suddenly occurred to me.
I had never tried it before, but instinctively, I felt like I understood what she wanted.
……She even looked exactly like Katya, so if I thought of her as Katya—
There was something I could guess. That one had done similar things a few times before.
This.
It was that.
……She wanted praise.
“…….”
Uh, wait a second.
Was it really okay to praise the God of Purification like that?
Was it acceptable for me to treat a god residing in the Pantheon the way I always treated Katya……?
“-Kgh, cough.”
As that thought crossed my mind, the student lying on the ground coughed up a mouthful of bloody phlegm. His body trembled violently. He was truly on the verge of his last breath…….
Startled, I reflexively let the words slip out of my mouth.
“……You look especially adorable today.”
“…….”
“…….”
A Divine Descent.
With a god having directly manifested before us, the surrounding people stared in shock at the fact that I was saying something like that.
Some of them even looked as though they were on the verge of fainting…….
“……Y-you, what on earth are you saying to the God of Purification—”
As His Holiness stammered in disbelief, I saw Sia smiling brightly as she bent down and brought her ear a little closer to me.
It felt like she was expressing that it wasn’t enough. That she wanted something stronger…….
“……Yes, you are the best.”
Nod, nod. The God of Purification nodded her head.
“……I always rely on you. I trust you.”
That’s right, that’s right—she even clapped.
But even so, there was still no sign of her moving.
……In that case, I had no choice but to go with something even stronger that came to mind.
I squeezed my eyes shut. My face felt like it was about to burn red with embarrassment.
“……I like you. I am always thinking about you.”
At those words, Sia covered her face as though she might let out a little squeal, turning her body shyly.
And then.
The golden flames that formed Sia’s body began to lose their shape and move as though they possessed their own will. They swept once over the student lying on the ground.
After the dazzling brilliance passed—
The student, who had been nothing more than a living corpse, now lay there completely unharmed, without a single wound.
“…….”
……I saved him.
Thank goodness. Truly, thank goodness…….
I repeated that thought over and over in my heart.
“…….”
“…….”
As I felt the heavy silence settling over the surroundings, it almost felt as though something else inside me had died.
‘……But I saved him.’
For now, that was enough.
Yes. Let’s think of it that way…….
▣
……And so, a few hours after that bizarre and mystifying divine possession.
Night had fully descended, and accordingly, the participants who had scattered in all directions after the dragon’s appearance had begun gathering again in one place, setting up a campsite.
Since the Black Night ritual was an event that lasted several days and nights, it was only natural that everyone had brought basic camping supplies.
The problem was—
“……Something is definitely wrong.”
That was the conclusion I reached as soon as I surveyed the surroundings.
The moment a ‘real dragon’ had suddenly appeared in accordance with the original scripture, the event should have been suspended immediately.
In that regard—
No matter how I looked at it, not a single member of the Grand Sanctuary, the event’s host, was visible anywhere around us.
In fact, even if they had been present, they likely wouldn’t have been seen.
True to the name Black Night, the surroundings were completely blanketed in pitch-black darkness.
“……It’s written in the original scripture.”
His Holiness narrowed his eyes and muttered.
“-A night as dark as pitch continued for several days. The First Seeker walked through that darkness without fear, as though it were his own home…… That’s what the holy text said.”
“……Are you saying that everything happening right now is written in the holy text?”
“Yes. It feels like someone is trying to recreate those ‘real’ events.”
In front of the crackling campfire, His Holiness spat those words out.
“Whoever the bastard is, if I get my hands on him, I’ll kill him. Daring to pull tricks like this in my territory?”
“…….”
……What a temperament.
I gave a bitter smile as that thought crossed my mind.
“For now, you should conserve your stamina. We don’t know what might happen next.”
“Yes, yes. I should.”
He answered with a sigh.
“……Something’s been off since earlier.”
“Yes, I noticed.”
Even earlier, it had felt as though he were struggling. From some point on, it seemed like his stamina had been running low.
Just as I was about to ask the reason, he brushed back his hair again and continued.
“No, something really is strange.”
“……Pardon?”
“……I’m a little dizzy.”
“……?”
“At this, point, it, shouldn’t, be, happening—”
And with those words—
His body—
Collapsed as though crumbling.
“……?!”
Startled, I rushed forward and caught him, but I was immediately taken aback as I looked down at him.
His face was flushed deep red, cold sweat streaming down.
Above all—
His entire body was burning hot, like a lump of fire.
“…….”
This man was clearly—
Not in a normal state.