Monster types are extremely diverse, and among them, plant-type monsters are a troublesome category to deal with.
If comparing purely by martial strength, of course, it was easy to find stronger monsters. Just the wyvern alone would be stronger than most plant-type monsters.
The true fearsomeness of these creatures lay in the fact that their main body was usually hidden. Deep underground.
Especially in cases like this, where the monster disguised itself as brush, it hid its main body even better. Moreover, being plants, the deeper they rooted, the harder they were to eliminate.
"Lord Annelie!"
Xenon, seeing my wrist tightly wrapped by the stem, was startled and tried to rush over. Samuel also immediately drew his sword.
I shook my head at the two of them.
"Don't provoke it."
"But!"
"It reacted because I tried to touch it."
As far as I knew, plant-type monsters were generally docile, with some exceptions.
Usually, being attacked by plant-type monsters happened when one attacked first out of fear, or when one arbitrarily invaded the monster's territory.
So in this situation where my wrist was caught, causing a commotion would only provoke this creature.
If I left it alone as a sign of no hostile intent, there was a possibility it would withdraw on its own.
"There's no need to fight from here."
We couldn't gauge how far we still had to go, and if we exhausted ourselves now and couldn't respond properly when real danger came, it would be a disaster.
Xenon and Samuel seemed to understand my words.
However, they couldn't drop their guard completely, as both were positioned ready to attack at any moment.
I didn't intend to stop them even that much. At least it was certain I couldn't break this stem with my own strength.
During our brief conversation, my body moved slightly. The stem, feeling even the slight movement, tightened its grip on my wrist even more.
"Ghk."
"For now... I think it would be best to tell it to let go of that hand first."
Samuel, with a face that looked ready to swing his sword at any moment, said through gritted teeth.
Xenon also nodded vigorously in agreement. Then suddenly, he muttered as if talking to himself.
"...But is conversation possible with plants?"
That's true. Can one converse with plants?
I had talked plenty with other monsters, but plants didn't have mouths...
"Hey, monster."
I tried speaking just in case, but there was no answer. As expected, was it impossible?
I was about to click my tongue briefly when Mori, who had been poking his head out and examining the brush carefully, spoke cautiously.
[I'll infiltrate!]
"Infiltrate?"
[If I crawl around between that brush, I can divert its attention!]
It was a determined suggestion on his part, but to me it sounded like nonsense.
"Then you'll just end up captured too, making it two of us."
[I'll dodge nimbly!]
"You're even thinner than that stem, you know."
At my pointing this out, Mori made a dejected expression. It seemed I had hurt his feelings by stating the facts so bluntly.
But it's true. Even if Mori fought in his Dullahan form, he probably couldn't defeat this plant monster. Rather, Zigor might be an even match.
"I'll just cut it off."
"Instead of wasting time, it might be better to just burn it all and go past."
Samuel and Xenon, unable to contain themselves, spoke up again. Both seemed full of energy, so I wondered if it would be better to just let them fight.
However, the problem was that we didn't know how deeply rooted this plant monster was if we just touched it recklessly.
I frowned and looked at the stem wrapped around my wrist.
It was tightening a bit, but otherwise showed no particular aggressive reaction...
Huh?
"I think I can resolve this myself."
"Does it understand words?"
"It doesn't understand words, but it understands power."
After answering Xenon calmly, I focused a bit more on my palm.
Then, the palm that had been circulating only a faint warmth unnoticeable to perception gradually grew hotter.
Accordingly, the green light also grew stronger. The divine power flowing from my hand seeped into the stem on its own, as if it were alive.
"That power is..."
From behind, Xenon, who was watching this, let out an exclamation. He must have seen it too.
The stem that had been constricting my wrist, turning yellow and withering away.
Confirming that reaction, I tilted my head slightly.
"They called it the Key to the Castle, so I thought it was literally a key that opens castle gates."
The stem had withered and twisted so much that it crumbled completely and fell to the ground.
I gazed quietly at the debris that had fallen at my feet, then got down on one knee and placed my hand on the ground.
Was it my imagination? I thought I felt a faint vibration from the ground.
[My, my goodness. To see this form again...]
[It's the Captain's divine power.]
Mori and Nadav exclaimed with emotion.
"Lord Annelie."
"Don't come close, mage. You'll be in the way."
Ignoring the surrounding chatter, I concentrated my mind.
I felt something massive draining out through my palm. The hand that had been hot suddenly turned ice cold.
It was a cold, heavy, and somewhat sticky sensation. My hand stuck to the ground as if I had used adhesive. Every sensation in my palm became acutely heightened.
Centered on my hand, a green light spread softly. The stems touched by the light rapidly withered.
"The Goddess's divine power..."
Samuel's murmur mixed with a groan reached my ears. Yes, this was the Goddess's divine power.
"You are the Hand of Rest, the Agent of Death."
That's what the ghosts of Febrin Monastery said. The Hand of Rest.
They were right.
"Good heavens."
At Xenon's surprised voice, I raised my head.
The slope that had been covered in thick brush, making it impossible to even think of approaching, had vanished, and between the plants that had dried and crumbled, the parched land was revealed.
The ground was pitch black as if burned. I didn't know if it was originally that color or if it was because of my power.
But what was certain was that the range to which the 'key' I had obtained applied was wider than I had thought.
I gazed at the land where black soil was exposed and moved my lips.
"This entire mountain range is a giant lock."
To hide the Castle of Sinners, or perhaps...
A lock to permanently seal the Castle of Sinners.
* * *
Riding horses up the rugged mountain range wasn't possible, so Nadav went into subspace.
The cracked bracelet was unreliable, but dragging around Nadav in his Dullahan form would be worse, so there was no choice.
After that, I began in earnest to burn away the plant monsters blocking our path.
The plant monsters, while trying to stop intruders, meekly surrendered their lives in the face of the power of death.
As if that had been their only given mission.
"So entering the mountain range in the first place was something only the Goddess's agent could do."
"What, you didn't know that either? You said you knew about the key."
"The key I spoke of was definitely the key to Belladia Castle. ...There was no way to know that something had changed after losing the last divine power."
"You took on such a grand role as my guide, but your true colors are showing through."
When I muttered listlessly, Samuel pressed his lips firmly shut.
Seeing his sullen face, he seemed to be hurt, but what could be done?
He said he had regained all his memories, but if he didn't know recently changed information because they were old memories, was that even reasonable?
Of all people, the one who stepped forward to guide me?
I clicked my tongue and turned my gaze. The large leaf that had been blocking our path shriveled instantly and crumbled away, revealing the stem that had been hidden.
"Can that power be used indefinitely?"
"Hmm, maybe?"
Crouching with my hand on the ground, I looked up and met eyes with Xenon, who had a subtle expression.
"And this power is related to that 'rest' you mentioned, Lord Annelie."
"Correct."
The light extending from my hand took away the life force of the monsters blocking our path as soon as it touched them.
'It's true that I went around killing everything in place of the Goddess.'
At the monastery, the ghost had disapproved, calling it lacking in dignity, so I thought it was something grand and noble. But this was just going around killing everything like this.
How is this noble and great? This was just a slaughterhouse.
"It's a path."
After clearing the surroundings to some extent, several paths emerged. Samuel chose one of the diverging paths without any hesitation and took the lead.
Seeing him trying somehow not to lose his role as guide, I felt a bit of pity.
What he was clinging to was clearly something that was already dead and gone, now nothing more than a trace of the past.
"Ugh," I groaned as I stood up and roughly brushed off my knees. After tapping off the dirt on my palms too, I was about to take a step when Xenon came close and spoke to me.
"You're not tired after using your power?"
"Not particularly?"
"If I were to count the monsters Lord Annelie has killed so far, it would take at least half a day. And yet you feel no fatigue at all?"
"Right. As you can see, I'm perfectly fine."
Well, to a mage like Xenon, my divine power might look a bit strange.
Even the mana allowed to mages was finite, and if depleted, they would face life-threatening danger. The circumstances of holy knights and priests were similar.
In that sense, the power I was now using so freely was of a slightly different nature.
"I'm the Goddess's agent."
"The Goddess."
Even when I suddenly blurted out the word Goddess, Xenon showed no sign of surprise.
Glancing at his expression sidelong, I nodded calmly.
"Yes. It turns out there are two gods in the world. One of them is lending me her power."
I personally had my own conjecture regarding the infinite manifestation of power, but since it wasn't certain, it was hard to talk about.
When I explained it in easy-to-understand terms, Xenon let out a low, hollow laugh.
"You say things that would turn the world upside down so casually."
"And you're standing perfectly fine after hearing words that would turn the world upside down?"
Xenon stopped abruptly.
Thanks to that, I, who had been walking alongside him, also ended up stopping. When I looked back wondering why, there was not a trace of a smile on Xenon's face.
"That's because my world was already turned upside down days ago."