Chapter 343

Could it be because of my wicked prayer? Feeling awkward, I couldn’t look straight at the divine statue.

Those who had finished their prayers each carefully examined the surroundings. Some talked about how the sand resting way up there was blown in by the wind, and others dug out a shallow stone table someone had placed in front of the Goddess statue from the sand.

The Sylphs were still unable to enter within a 50-meter radius centered on the Goddess’s head stone statue. I pondered what the size of the territory of the Third God, Oasis, was, but since Sylphs, Undines, and various spirits skipped across territories and played back then, it was just vague.

The Goddess’s gaze was in the direction looking toward the Unique Mountain Range.

I was puzzled that she was in a position not looking back toward the Empire she supposedly cherished so much, but then I thought maybe that could be the case if she was busy gouging the canyon between the Unique Mountain Range and the human continent, according to the myth. Anyway, such a thing is not an important matter.

The group, having meticulously examined the Goddess statue from front to back in a circle, gathered in one place.

“Well, there’s nothing much. It’s just literally a holy site. There isn’t a single grain of corrupted Mana within the ‘territory’. It’s completely clean, so I almost fell asleep looking at it.”

“It’s an obvious statement, but even to my eyes, nothing has changed from before. It’s just the exact same Goddess statue we always saw.”

At Marianne’s words, Peter nodded his head. Hugh Benson’s reprimand immediately followed.

“They said the First Goddess is in the Demonic Realm, didn’t they? I didn’t even expect anything.”

“Aah, I should have asked more closely what the Goddess is doing right now. I was too surprised back then.”

“I don’t know what he meant by ‘trash’ crossing over either.”

“Are you curious? I’m not curious at all.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to see them for the rest of my life.”

…It was an ominous sound.

Actually, I didn’t have much thought about the few souls that were dragged over with me. Since it’s the established logic that both humans and beasts die and are born again, I figured there wouldn’t be much difference whether they were born in that world or this world.

On the contrary, since they were guys who lived exceedingly harsh lives in that world, I just thought it would be nice if they lived well, eating well and dressing well, in a good family in this world since they were at it.

However, unlike the intact ones, I couldn’t guess at all the identity of the ‘trash’ that supposedly crossed over together.

Even the Unorthodox Faction guys merely acted tyrannical and killed a few people; seeing them eat, sleep, and live, they were still humans. Were their souls truly that wretched.

Well, thinking of the Demonic Cult bastards who gathered blood and planted Gu poison saying they were making Jiangshi or Demonic Humans, those guys might have crossed over. If it was to balance the souls… It wouldn’t be the Heavenly Demon. If the opponents were guys with skills roughly similar to mine before I died, it wouldn’t be a huge threat.

No, it isn’t.

I hoped it wasn’t the Demonic Cult bastards. The way those guys acted must have been exceedingly suspicious.

If Mana can attach to a soul, and if they endured for a dozen years exactly like me in the north of the Unique Mountain Range where high-concentration Mana is continuously permeated, how could their strength be small. As the old saying goes, ‘preparedness averts peril’, so it would be best not to look down on the opponent, firmly preparing both mentally and physically.

While feeling highly troubled amidst this and that thought, Ruben subtly raised his left hand to stop the children’s commotion.

“So, have you thought about it a bit?”

“…Uuum… That is.”

Leon mumbled like a guy facing homework he didn’t want to do.

That’s right, we had wasted two days to decide our next move. Since they said the Cieron Empire was the territory of the First Goddess, there might have been some hope ‘just in case’, but the most honest feeling was because we didn’t want the mercenaries accompanying us to be dragged along against their will. We hoped they would deliberate and decide on their future actions.

It was difficult to quietly sink into thought at the Oasis, which was noisy with spirits. Also, Ruben hadn’t been able to mingle much with the mercenaries because he was staying quiet all that time. So, throughout these two days, he must have asked about their lives, asked about their ways of life, and pondered future actions.

Some choices needed to be left to ferment for a long time so as not to be regretted. Ruben enjoyed conversing after leaving plenty of time for himself to think long, and for the other party to calmly organize their thoughts, if he had something to say. It was an attitude I, who was always hasty rushing to cut down the enemy before my eyes, definitely needed to learn.

“We want to decide with this.”

“…This?”

Leon quickly pulled out the battle axe he had hung on his back swish.

Now, the mercenaries didn’t ask for understanding in advance when pulling out their weapons in front of us. It was because our group now believed they wouldn’t attack us, and they also knew we believed them.

Leon leveled the ground flat with the tip of his toe, then lightly placed the axe head on top of it.

Leon’s axe was large and rough-looking enough to be believed even if called a shield. The blades were two, on the front and back; the front one was a bit thicker and larger, and the back one was thinner and smaller. At its apex, there was a small, thin decoration resembling a spear.

Leon, who stood it upright perfectly so only that sharp decoration was barely buried in the sandbank, kept his eyes and mouth tightly closed in a straight line. He had quite a resolute face in his own way.

“…What does this mean?”

“Well, if we really have to say… Since we are walking a path… entangled with the will of a god… spiritual… something like that right now.”

“…Mm.”

“Still, since this is the weapon that protected my life my whole life, whenever I truly didn’t know, I always made decisions with this.”

With this, how?

However, before I could ask more, the answer flowed out smoothly.

“If I let go of this axe handle here, because of the decorations protruding on both sides of these blades, it’s designed to fall only to either side. So doing it like this… If it falls to the east, we return to Owen, and if it falls to the west, we go look for divine relics.”

“You can’t do looking for gods?”

At my abruptly popped-out question, Leon deeply wrinkled his brow and then smoothed it. I appropriately figured that was him tightly closing and opening his eyes. Perhaps thinking everyone wouldn’t notice him blinking his eyes, the guy nodded his head greatly and answered powerfully.

“Didn’t you say gods help gods, and humans help humans? They say divine relics were originally human belongings, and well, the Prince is the Prince… I feel like there would be a way somehow… But the mercenaries, the Owen mercenaries, are bothering my mind too much…”

“…Ah.”

“…Is it strange?”

“No, it is rational. Right, let’s do that.”

Ruber’s permission fell.

The other group members also agreed with silence.

It wasn’t much different from flipping a coin, but that also sounded fine.

Even if we go to Owen right now, how much of a big help could we be. Also, even if we said we would look for divine relics, the divine relics wouldn’t just suddenly drop right in front of us. Even though I was occasionally worried about the affairs of the capital, since Ruben asserted it would be fine until the Crown Prince appointment ceremony, I just decided to forget about it.

Although not as much as the mountain range, the Saturn Desert also had a higher Mana concentration than the Cieron Empire. Since we had caught the tail of a suspicious matter, and it was an ascetic path of continuously walking thinking we must do something, it didn’t matter what we did first.

Living a wandering life on the road, it’s natural to come to rely on superstitions.

A certain physician would take a day of mourning if a patient died at dawn, and a certain swordsman wouldn’t travel far on humid days.

I too had one such thing. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] I didn’t take boats on nights when the water current was too calm. It was because there was a time I was attacked by water bandits with half-rotted bodies in a place where all directions were so quiet that not even the sound of splashing water could be heard.

We watched Leon praying with his hands resting on the axe handle.

The mercenaries lined up side-by-side behind Leon’s back didn’t pray. They just stood blankly and made a simple bet on whether the axe handle would fall to the east or west. Around the time all the silver coins gathered among them, the wind stopped. Leon let go of the axe handle.

Plop, the axe lay on the ground powerlessly. The axe handle was pointing southwest.

Everyone couldn’t make a sound.

Leon definitely said this axe was designed to fall only to the east and west. How many tens, hundreds of times must Leon have divined the future with this axe until now. Leon let go of the axe handle without giving it any special force, and the ground made of sand had already been leveled flat in all directions, front, back, and sides.

Seeing it not fall to the sides where it originally should have fallen, nor fall vertically following the direction of the axe blade, but overcoming the weight of the axe decoration and even changing direction midway to fall flat as if an unprecedented force had acted upon it, goosebumps covered my entire body.

“…Perchance.”

Marianne’s muffled voice broke the silence.

“Is the holy site of the Sun in this direction?”

“…Uh, uhh… Pardon? Yes…”

Leon, who had been holding the axe handle, stood with a dumbfounded expression. His hand was floating in mid-air not knowing where to go, and it seemed he couldn’t even think of standing the fallen axe back up again. Anne blocked her mouth, and Benjamin continuously rubbed his face with one hand. Peter was just sitting down flat in his place.

I quietly looked at Ruben’s back, who was silently looking down at the axe handle. Beyond the child’s head, an auspicious light shone subtly from the back of the Goddess statue’s head lying with its back to us. It was a very bright midday. In this holy place where absolutely no demonic aura could be found, a cool wind blew once again.

Telling humans to do human affairs, was it all a lie.

Where are the beings called gods of this world trying to push us and drag us to again?

“…Hah, fuck…”

Hugh Benson, who muttered a curse word as always, clapped loudly to gather attention.

“Time out for a strategy meeting for a moment. For now, let’s all drink a cup of water for a moment and get our senses straight.”

“Yes.”

“…Yes.”

Only then could I wrap my arm around Ruben’s shoulder.

The child docilely leaned into my embrace without the slightest resistance. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] The child blinked his eyes slowly in that state, then slightly lifted his head and looked up at me. His palely whitened face seemed to be searching for a place to rely on. I put strength into the hand holding the child and pulled him close.

I had the confidence to stand by the child’s side no matter what choice he made.

And yet, I kept feeling scared. It felt like this and that were all my fault. I wondered if something twisted while I tore the world, entered, and enjoyed a new life. Even though I felt like I had already said everything I could and couldn’t say, my chest kept feeling tight and the desire to confess something arose.