#269
Outing (1)
“Hey, you! Move that over there!”
“Whoa, whoa! Be careful it doesn’t collapse!”
“Are the mages still not here? We can’t touch this on our own!”
The site had become a complete mess, and people bustled about trying to clean it up.
After suffering, one after another, the calamities of a sudden giant attack and the Immortal King’s invasion, Tarak was in the middle of a frantic time.
In truth, it was only thanks to the Immortal King leaving midway that there had not been even greater sacrifices; the damage Tarak had suffered from this incident was by no means small.
The protective barrier and other magic circles that had been forced into operation through the mages’ desperate management had long since been damaged beyond recovery, the collapsed walls and contamination of the land were at a serious level, and the other losses in manpower and materials were considerable as well.
On top of that, because they had been forced to face an immortal army exuding the energy of death—the natural enemy of living beings—under extreme circumstances, most of the soldiers who had taken part in the defensive battle had been left with deep fear and trauma.
And so, immediately after the battle ended, the ones who took charge not only of the wounded soldiers but also of treating those whose minds had been damaged were…
“Hoho, it has been a long time. Saintess, Saint. With sudden events breaking out one after another, I’ve ended up greeting you rather late.”
“It really has been a long time, Cardinal Donovan! You worked so hard today.”
“Not at all. What could this old man have done compared to the deeds of the Saintess and her companions? If the Immortal King had personally joined the battle this time as well, Tarak would have turned to ash in an instant.”
They were the people of the church who had come over from the Grand Temple of Ficaol.
Their representative, the cardinal, only after the Immortal King’s appearance, the siege of Tarak, and even the emergency treatment of the urgent patients had all been settled, was finally able to exchange formal greetings with the Hero’s party.
As Cardinal Donovan looked at Saintess Riesta with the warm gaze of a grandfather looking at his granddaughter, Heinrich slipped in a word as if impressed.
“Still, you arrived remarkably quickly. It could not have been easy to prepare reinforcements of this scale.”
“Recently, those creatures seemed oddly quiet, so I prepared thoroughly just in case. So that if an emergency occurred, we could set out immediately at any time. And then, as luck would have it, an urgent message came from Tarak.”
Then he lamented that, since this had been their first emergency dispatch, they had been delayed more than expected, and smacked his lips regretfully.
All the while, his still-as-ever viciously bulging muscles twitched nonstop.
‘He’s quite something, even at his age.’
Seeing that reminded Heinrich of when he had first met him at the Grand Temple of Ficaol, where he had gone to undergo the Holy Sword’s trial.
Of course, his standing then, when he had been nothing more than a candidate paladin for the Hero’s role, and now, when he had been acknowledged as a Saint and was in the midst of gaining fame, were worlds apart.
“By the way… hmm, those vampires have already left. Hoho.”
“Ah, it seems they departed immediately after the battle ended. I had thought to thank them for helping us this time, but…”
“Mm, they certainly were a great help. Without their assistance, we likely would not have held out for so long and would have collapsed. …Goodness, to think a day would come when we would receive help from vampires. My feelings are complicated.”
He, who had spent his far from short life regarding vampires as enemies, let out a brief sigh.
Until now, he had not been pleased with the peace policy the Saint had pushed forward, but having actually received this much help, he now had no choice but to acknowledge it.
That the Saint’s judgment back then had been correct.
Seeing that, Heinrich nodded with a faint smile on his lips.
‘With this, bringing vampires into the light will gain even more momentum. As for the damage the city suffered, the Hubert Trading Company can provide additional investment and increase its influence further. Now then…’
And at the same time.
Heinz II, who had quietly returned to the safe house immediately after the battle ended, organized his thoughts as he watched his subordinates prepare the Blood Gate.
The reason he had crossed back from Earth to Auterica was that the cleanup in the Eastern Republic was nearing its end, and he had come to properly finish it off.
Then an emergency had broken out, so he had hurried over here.
Now that every problem had been resolved, he needed to return quickly and bring things to a close.
Of course, there still remained the matter of recompense for his assistance in the Tulk Kingdom, but—
‘Negotiations like that can be done anytime. I clearly showed this side’s power this time, too. Considering what will happen from now on, they will have no choice but to bow their heads first.’
If Heinz II, the representative of the Thalia Kingdom, were to personally step forward over such trivial matters, it would only damage his dignity.
After all, this was precisely what working-level staff existed for.
Not only a return for this support, but also future matters were issues to be discussed at the national level, so there was nothing more for him to do by remaining here right now.
‘I also need to speak with Kayla McClare again.’
The vice president of the Republic, who had cooperated with him to learn the truth behind her son’s disappearance.
While they had been conducting a complete investigation of those from the Ovaifo Clan to find out what had happened to her son, he had just received a report that suspicious circumstances had been discovered.
‘…He might still be alive even now.’
Of course, nothing was certain yet.
After all, the chances that a child who had been kidnapped and gone missing over twenty years ago was still alive and well were not very high.
‘I was planning to wrap things up here as quickly as possible and hurry off on a gourmet tour of Northern Europe.’
Heinz quietly stuck out his tongue and licked his lips.
But he could not simply break a promise with someone who would continue to be of great help in the future.
As he watched the Blood Gate slowly begin to open within the rippling pool of blood, he tilted his head slightly.
‘Well, it shouldn’t take that long.’
After all, now that he had removed the greatest obstacle, the Revolutionary.
There was no longer anyone in this world who could defy his will.
***
『XX Fragment of XXed XXX (28,500,000)』
“Hmm, so that really must be related to the god buried in that abyss, right?”
I furrowed my brow slightly as I looked at an item that had appeared in the 『Item Purchase』 section.
An unknown product that had cost a staggering thirty million when I first saw it.
Before I dealt with the vampire Ovaifo hiding in the East, right after I created the dragon avatar, its price had suddenly dropped by three hundred thousand points.
This time, it had decreased by more than one million.
‘As expected… with a fluctuation of this scale, I can consider it certain.’
That product had some connection to that giant, the Revolutionary, and the god of the abyss he worshipped.
‘A god imprisoned in the abyss.’
It went without saying, but after learning information about him, I mobilized all manner of methods to gather related information.
I did not hesitate to make use of the information organizations under each avatar, as well as my position as a Saint, and the information scraped together from across the continent like that was…
“At this point, it’s almost uncanny.”
Astonishingly, nonexistent.
There wasn’t even anything similar in the myths or jokes of various regions, which said it all.
And that was the same even within the Order of the Main God, especially among the inquisitors who also handled intelligence analysis.
When I had probed them about it, even though they had their masks and hoods pulled down so only their eyes were exposed, their bewilderment was palpable.
At the gazes filled with worry that perhaps the Saint had lost his mind, Heinrich had no choice but to give up on gathering any more information.
Of course, by that point, that in itself could be called information.
‘It means his very existence has been erased from the entire dimension called Auterica.’
A record-erasure sentence carried out on a world-wide scale against a divine being.
There was only one existence capable of that.
‘Now I finally understand why the Main God supported me so much.’
The Immortal King was the first blade sent out by that god in the abyss and his most threatening weapon.
But hadn’t an outsider, who had no relation to this world whatsoever, suddenly appeared and casually snatched that away?
In a situation where a bug that had been excluded for some reason kept trying to pop back out, it was not all that strange for the Main God, who governed the order of the world, to use him as a vaccine.
“Well, it was win-win, so I have no complaints.”
I shrugged and took my eyes off the unidentified product.
I had opened the system window to check the karma points I had accumulated, but while checking the price fluctuation without thinking, my thoughts had wandered elsewhere.
‘In any case, as expected of hunting big game, the points are pretty nice.’
Since I had enhanced my Unique Skill in succession and continued using growth elixirs, the rate at which my karma had increased had slowed somewhat, but by dealing with the Revolutionary this time, the amount I possessed had explosively increased.
From this single incident alone, nearly two million points had come in all at once.
‘I’ll save these points for now. I don’t know when I’ll need something. More than anything, it doesn’t seem like I can enhance my Unique Skill right away.’
The number of times I had enhanced it with points had now reached a staggering twelve.
And now that I had reached this stage, there was something I instinctively felt.
That I was not yet ready to advance to the next stage.
‘Well, I did expect a limit would come sooner or later.’
To put it bluntly, the current me had grown too rapidly in too short a time, and I had not even satisfied the minimum proficiency needed to move on to the next stage.
The fact that I had enhanced it twice in a row during the previous enhancement had probably had a considerable impact as well.
‘Still, it’s not that urgent for the time being, so it’s fine. I have plenty of time left anyway, so let’s take it easy and build up my foundations.’
Because I had multiple bodies and lived in a world with a much faster time difference, it was hard to really feel it, but as of now, it had not even been half a year since I became an Awakened and obtained the 「Avatar」 ability.
It was a growth rate that anyone would see as abnormal, so acting needlessly impatient here would be excessive greed.
Trill-a-ling~♪
As I was looking at the system window, an alarm I had set in advance rang out from my smartphone.
“Ah, is it already this late?”
It was already close to noon.
Lifting my phone slightly to check the time, I hurriedly threw on an outer layer and headed outside, where the sun was blazing down.
‘The weather’s disgustingly good.’
I furrowed my brow slightly, shielded my eyes with my hand, and quickened my steps.
I could now go outside without difficulty, but perhaps because I had spent many long years cooped up inside the house, I still did not particularly like going out.
I had installed all the exercise facilities and leisure facilities I needed inside the house, too, so I did not feel any need to go out.
-Kang Taesan: Hey, are you really coming? Grandma said not to overdo it for no reason, too.
But precisely because of that, when necessary, I had to make an effort to go out, even if I had to force myself.
Besides, they were not people I could call complete strangers, were they?
I could not ignore one of the few human relationships I had left just for the sake of convenience.
-Me: I’m coming. Already on the bus.
-Kang Taesan:ㅇㅇ Then be careful on your way.
A Seoul outing in my main body, which somehow felt like it had been a long time.
Today was the day my only friend Kang Taesan’s grandmother was being discharged from the hospital.
***
After luckily transferring buses several times without much waiting and heading into downtown Seoul, what I felt was a firm resolve that I needed to get a driver’s license as soon as possible.
Because I had been comfortably teleporting around as much as I pleased until now, I had not properly felt it, but when I tried to travel somewhere in the state of my main body, which was known as an ordinary person, even with the transfer timing lining up well, moving around was far too inconvenient.
‘There is a way to move by subtly using 「Individual Projection」, but… I can’t go that far just to go out.’
It was from such trivial carelessness that one’s tail was exposed.
For the sake of an alibi for my main body’s long-term outside activities, I needed to use normal methods as much as possible.
“Oh my, Seonghyeon, you came? What did you come all the way here for? You’ll just tire yourself out for nothing.”
“Ahaha— It’s fine. I can take this chance to get some fresh air.”
“Ah, that’s true. He needs to come outside at times like this, at least. Grandma, do you know what his house is like? I’m telling you, he’s set up a gym, a swimming pool, and even a movie theater in his house.”
And at last, when I arrived at the hospital and saw Grandmother just as she was going through the discharge procedures.
I was swept up in a strange feeling that tickled my chest.
‘Divine power sure is effective.’
Seeing Grandmother, whose condition had not been very good, finally being discharged made me recall once again the divine healing I had performed that day in Heinrich’s body.
‘There’s nothing to be done about old age itself, but just restoring her stamina and resistance is a huge help.’
At the time, my divine power had been at the level of a bishop, hadn’t it?
Compared to now, when I was at the level of a Saint, it could be said to be lacking quite a bit, but in truth, a bishop was still more than high-level personnel.
In noble terms, it was equivalent to a count, and they were high-ranking clergy capable of taking charge of an entire diocese along with a temple.
‘It took some time for Grandmother too, but she was cured in the end.’
Divine power and divine arts really were quite useful abilities.
There was a reason all sorts of minor religions were running rampant in modern society.
If the output on Earth had not been severely reduced due to the penalty, perhaps clergymen would be wielding even more influence than they did now.
“It’s done! Let’s go.”
I followed behind Kang Taesan as he finished all the discharge procedures and wheeled Grandmother out.
Just after we were about to leave the hospital.
“Pfft… pheehee!”
On top of my overwhelming stats, my hearing, which was constantly being corrected by the enhancement effect of my Unique Skill, detected a small laugh.
An ominous laugh that only my ears could hear.
In an instant, a chill ran down my spine, and my senses stood on edge.
I reflexively turned my head and looked toward the place the laughter had leaked from—and.
Soon, I knew instinctively.
‘…I knew things were going too smoothly!’
That the safest place was, after all, inside my house.
And then.
Kwaaaaang—!
A massive explosion erupted in the hospital lobby.