Chapter 257

Chapter 257

The teacher who saved her from pain and treated her as an equal being. She had realized that this reliable, grateful person was in fact an existence beyond a mere saint.

Yet Aram was not greatly surprised.

“I’d been vaguely thinking it might be like this.”

“Oh, dear. I see.”

“Miracles don’t come easily, do they?”

This was one of the possibilities she had expected.

“Even a manufactured miracle would be like that, so for a pure miracle to come to a human like me, tangled up in all kinds of mystique and fate... that’s almost unbelievable.”

“And you accept reality easily. While imagining every worst-case scenario.”

“Even so, the fact that a manufactured miracle came to me is something I should be grateful for, and it’s a miracle with value. Now all that’s left is what you want from me, Teacher.”

“Sorry, but...”

The evil god said with a broad grin.

“I am not your teacher.”

“...How different are you?”

“About 0.01% of all the mystique in the world?”

“Isn’t that a pretty enormous figure...?”

“That will depend on what perspective you think from.”

“...As always, it’s difficult. With simple knowledge, you can’t calculate fate...”

“But you can accomplish something similar.”

That was what a hero and a saint were.

“Then it seems you’re all finally ready to listen to what I say properly.”

Ather, who had been watching the whole farce with a face that looked like he’d go insane, said,

“...It’s because we’ve realized there’s no other way.”

“A good attitude.”

“In other words, you could also call it resignation.”

“It was a wise judgment.”

“It was a judgment, if you call it that, but well.”

An evil god suddenly appeared and began kneading the world in earnest. He clearly had something he meant to do, and in the process Ather revived. And even a saintess from another dimension had come.

“Wasn’t the situation so blatant that there was no way to see it as anything but some role being assigned to us?”

It was too obvious not to understand.

“Above all, you kept making an effort so that we wouldn’t feel hostility toward you. It wasn’t just that you pretended to be kind—you showed behaviors so unrepulsive that you didn’t seem like an evil god at all.”

It wasn’t only a matter of putting on a gentle act. According to the saintess, in reality there hadn’t even been a single person who died from being addicted to the dream. There was virtually no tangible damage.

The evil god smiled and pressed.

“So?”

“...At the very least, I thought that what I, or this little saintess, had to do was not something beyond what we could bear. It could be a trick, but at least it would be a proposal plausible enough that people like us, in our current state, could be fooled by it.”

“You got it right.”

The evil god asked.

“Do you know the tale of the dragon?”

“...It’s such a distant story that I don’t know why you’re bringing it up.”

“Our saintess, who’s been roaming the amusement park for days, ought to know it.”

Aram hesitated, then answered.

“...A dragon is a god’s proxy born of nature, and unless divinity permits it, it cannot return to dust. Because its lifespan is so long and so arduous, it spreads through the world a method by which it can be killed.”

Similar stories were found in many other dimensions as well. The tale that a being with too long a life, a being that lives eternity, must ultimately weave the fate called death for itself.

“What should I think about the fact that you’re telling me this now...?”

“You seem to already know very well.”

“...”

Hugging her pillow, Aram soon nodded.

“...So should I kill you, Teacher?”

“I told you I’m not your teacher.”

“At least you’re a similar being.”

“That’s true.”

Gio did not deny it that far.

“Thank you for understanding so well.”

For that purpose, Argio hid his true intentions even less. He whispered to Ather so that he could leap into this not-quite-a-play, and he urged Aram so she could step forward wholeheartedly.

“You don’t have to kill me. But ‘we’ have stayed here far too long. Shouldn’t we erase the stains we’ve left to fester and furnish a new home now?”

“And to bring out your ‘we,’ we’ll have to open the evil god’s tomb. Only then will the full stain be revealed. But there’s no guarantee this isn’t the evil god’s wicked trick.”

“Of course, I could be whispering like this simply because I want to be fully freed from the seal. Aram, my little friend. Do you need time to think?”

“Yes. I need time to think.”

“Then take all you want.”

“...”

Hesitating, Aram took the evil god’s—Argio’s—hand.

“...Teacher.”

“How lovely.”

The wicked divinity bent its great body and smiled.

“He is not here.”

Here, the saint of mercy cannot reveal himself.

“...”

“?”

“...Give him back...”

“Hm?”

“Give my teacher back, you treacherous Demon King—!!!”

“Ahahahahahahahahaha!!!”

Argio laughed with delight.

* * *

The evil god stepped aside, saying he would give them time to think, and all that remained were Ather and Aram.

“...”

“...”

Of the two sitting blankly, the one to speak first was Ather.

“...You were brave.”

“...Looking at how things were going, it didn’t seem like he’d get angry over something like that...”

“Even so, I think you were brave.”

“Was I a bit too brave?”

“There was a hint of that, but even I would’ve grabbed him by the collar.”

“A saint who grabbed an evil god by the collar... it sounds plausible. Even the sun priests who hate the Moon Lady Religion would have to admire it.”

“I think it’s an achievement every saint would applaud.”

“That’s only because he let me grab him, though...”

Anyway.

“I’ve gained one more reason to participate in slaying that Demon King.”

“Is it because that Demon King deceived you, Saintess?”

“No. When a god deceives a human, it’s hard to call it deception in the first place. We don’t call an unknown fate that comes upon us a deception.”

“True—someone worthy of being called a saintess wouldn’t rage over a mere prank of fate. Then what is it?”

“My teacher is inside that evil god. I don’t know if he’s imprisoned, asleep, or simply being shared, but...”

“...”

Ather, who had been sitting there in emptiness, asked,

“...I once heard a related story from him. That there are three ‘Gios’ coexisting inside you. That they are each different existences, yet share one body.”

“...Among them, was there someone called Seo Gio?”

“Yes, there was. I assumed that the existence called ‘Gio’ would naturally be mystique of the same kind as an evil god. But seeing your reaction, it doesn’t seem to be that at all.”

“He’s absolutely not that kind of person.”

Aram’s throat tightened. For no reason, she felt sorrowful.

“Why does my teacher have to be with something like that...!”

“No matter how I think about it, he doesn’t seem like he’d belong to the saintess, but yes, well.”

“Do you have some illness where thorns sprout on your tongue if you don’t speak politely?”

“Something like that.”

“Should I purify you in the name of the saintess?”

“I refuse.”

There was a high chance it would become torture under the name of purification.

“...What kind of person was this Seo Gio?”

“He always smiled at me.”

“Sorry, but it seems the evil god Argio is the same.”

“There are kinds of smiles. It’s not what you’re thinking of, Mr. Ather.”

“Does he smile more gently?”

“He smiles as if he’s filled with sunlight.”

“...Then every mercy I received must have come from there.”

Ather accepted it readily.

“He breathed warmth into these ruined ruins where not even electricity works. He literally made sunlight enter a sealed space. I was curious how that was possible, but...”

“My teacher was bound to sun-type divinity, under the name of family.”

“Does that mean he is also a saint?”

“He has never directly admitted it, but he has been defined as a saint in an unspoken way. If sunlight entered a cursed dungeon like this, it would be my teacher’s authority.”

That wasn’t belittlement—it was simply reality. In truth, these ruins were cursed. There was a reason one would enter these ruins from the Black Forest, which was by no means small. It was because it seemed like there might be something special here.

“I think that’s why the ‘Argio’ you experienced was far kinder and better at imitating a human than the Argio in the historical record. If they share one body, it would be easy to imitate each other and learn what the other has.”

Aram’s face twisted again.

“I don’t know how that’s possible. I believed my teacher, even if his vessel is large, is still clearly human. In the first place, since he’s a saint, of course... he must be human...”

“So you mean you can’t understand how a saint contracted to the sun god could share a body with an evil god. I understand. But I’ve heard there are sometimes similar cases.”

“You’ve received information like that?”

“More accurately, I heard it as rumor too, or confirmed it in records...”

Ather continued, uncertain.

“You know well, Saintess, that a saint’s capacity is enormous beyond compare to an ordinary human. There were many such people even in the history of my dimension. And as much as that, I... understand that they could contain various things within their bodies.”

“...”

After a long silence, the saintess nodded.

“...That makes sense.”

“I’m glad.”

“It isn’t rare for a saint to place something impure into their vessel and purify it slowly. In the nation where I live, it was banned long ago because it’s no different from a purification device that uses a person...”

“That it was banned is all the more fortunate. Even in the last history of humanity that I remember, saints were often used that way. They were used as sealing beads to contain demons.”

“How can it be so barbaric.”

Even if the names were a bit confusing, Aram instinctively felt that ‘Giovanni’ and ‘Argio’ were different existences. Her teacher would never affirm evil, so only one answer remained.

“So my teacher volunteered to sacrifice himself to seal evil...”

“I can’t say there’s no possibility. It happened many times.”

“Even so, my teacher was famous for sacrificing himself for righteousness.”

“Sacrificing oneself for righteousness?”

“It means offering up your own life for what is right.”

“That’s... unfortunate.”

“He must have noticed the existence of the evil god Argio and been sharing one body to purify it.”

It wasn’t an entirely wrong guess, either. The current Argio was in the process of becoming one with the ‘Portrait of Gio.’

The evil god said that if he became one with a ‘happy pig’ and a ‘saint of mercy,’ wickedness would inevitably be diluted. He was going through that process right now.

Ather looked extremely tired.

“Could it be that I called the name Argio and this happened?”

“That possibility... I can’t say it’s not there...”

“My sin is great, so I must take responsibility.”

“...This is my teacher’s matter. I will take responsibility as well.”

She did not want to lose that kind benefactor.

“Fortunately, luck overlapped. Because my teacher is with him, the current evil god learned mercy. He knows the value of kindness.”

“Moreover, the last saint who has settled as the evil god’s main persona also did not enjoy indiscriminate rage and innocent blood spilled by it. There are many records that he treated those who attacked him cruelly, and enjoyed war and battle itself, but...”

“And so the evil god is planning his own ‘end.’ He must be wishing for a chance to pour out justified rage and enjoy one more proper battle. That will be the end he decided. No—whether that will truly be the end, I don’t know. Anyway.”

Up to this point, it was easy enough to predict.

“...But is it really true? There’s no guarantee the evil god isn’t deceiving us to open the sealed door. If that’s the case, it would defile the sacrifice of Mr. Ather and your comrades.”

“Even if he is sincere, there are still many problems. If Argio becomes a complete ‘evil god’ like that, he may have no reason. Even if he does, it will be bad. I know well what that treacherous Demon King is...”

Whether it was a lie, it was a problem. Whether it was the truth, it was also a problem.

“So right now, what matters most is whether the evil god knows ‘forgiveness.’”

If he knew forgiveness, then whether it was lie or truth could not be the issue.

“The evil god is building a battlefield. He provoked the religious world using you, Saintess. If what you said is true, then your priests and the priests around them will be extremely... sensitive to the fact that the Demon King has kidnapped the saintess.”

“I’m well aware of the blind zeal of religious people. So I wanted to convey that it isn’t a kidnapping, but for some reason no more people from my homeland have appeared in this dungeon. And honestly, at this point, it doesn’t feel like ‘kidnapping’ is even a misunderstanding anymore.”

“No horrific acts are occurring to the extent you imagine, but that alone won’t be enough to calm priests who are already worked up. And it isn’t only the religious world’s matter.”

“Yes. It’s already a national-level disaster. Even just the dungeon called the ‘Amusement Park of Dreams’ itself. Surely it won’t be only the Moon Lady Religion stepping forward... other hunters will come too. We can no longer deny that this place has become a battlefield.”

“In the end, if war breaks out here, and that is the evil god’s intent.”

“...Then maybe...”

Aram laughed hollowly.

“Opening the beehive with our own hands might not be a bad choice.”

Countless elite soldiers would swarm in to deal with that beehive. Either they missed the timing and let the dungeon be only half-destroyed clumsily, or they tore out the evil god by the roots. If they had to do it anyway, the latter was better.

“That treacherous Demon King must have calculated even this, already.”

“It seems we never had a choice from the beginning.”

“But I don’t like having to follow only his calculations.”

“As expected of a saintess’s spirit. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but for now, I’ll follow.”

“Thank you for your reliable support.”

An existence like an evil god could not possibly fail to know what she was thinking. But the evil god’s plan was already plain. If they stepped outside its frame, they might crack even that thick-faced shamelessness a little.

‘Yes, I admit it. The current existence called Argio is not that evil.’

The damage Aram had suffered from him could not be called great. But precisely because of that, countless small grudges had piled up.

The sin of daring to restrict my teacher’s range of movement. The sin of suddenly kidnapping Aram and moving her into a dungeon. And the sin of plunging the people of the world and my family into sleep were great. She also didn’t like how he had revealed, as he pleased, the identity her teacher had been carefully hiding.

In a situation like this, her temper twisted at the thought of doing only as that nasty evil god wanted.

‘Just you wait.’

I will repay the grudge of my family and my teacher.

Aram crumpled the pillow in her arms and ground her teeth.

* * *

“...That’s not really it, though.”

A peaceful cabin.

Gio, washing fist-sized strawberries with his father, blinked.

“My new student seems to have misunderstood something.”

“Oink?”

“No, it doesn’t seem like something bad for me at all, but. It’s a bit embarrassing.”

“Oink oink oink...”

“It is fun, though.”

And if it’s fun, that’s enough.

‘Well, that’s true.’

Gio nodded to himself, then silently set the washed strawberries before the Moon.

He had already realized that even the Moon could become a pig.

(To be continued in the next part)