Episode 84: An Otherworldly Xianxia Tale (3) Fin
"The foul stench of rotting corpses... This is definitely the work of those warlock bastards.
What foul deeds are they plotting even in a frontier like this?"
The protagonist of Author Wei's new serial, [*The Frontier Apostle*], was a knight named Radan, who lived as an apostle on the frontier with the goal of becoming a benevolent god.
The story truly began when Radan, at the request of an acquaintance, began investigating the traces of warlocks.
That development suited Thomas's tastes perfectly.
Because, after months of nauseating him, it finally delivered a refreshingly thorough thrashing to the warlocks and their evil god worship.
"The places where those warlock bastards hide are obvious.
There's no need to ponder over it."
"Is that so? No matter how much we searched, we couldn't find them..."
"That's because you were thinking with common sense.
From the perspective of ordinary, normal people, that is."
"Then, are you saying that warlocks are irrational and abnormal?"
"Of course. Would anyone in their right mind eat and sleep alongside the undead? And deliberately choose to do so?
It's not for nothing that they're despised as corpse-lovers."
It began with tearing apart the warlocks' uniquely twisted and repulsive mindset, and the foulness of living alongside the undead.
"So when searching for them, you shouldn't look in ordinary living spaces, but scour damp, gloomy caves or underground areas.
They usually roll around with undead or chimeras there.
See? Am I right?"
"Ugh, you're right. To think an underground tunnel was hidden in a place like this...
And... urk, the smell of rotting corpses...!
How in the world do they live in a place like this?
It must not even be ventilated."
"That's why I call them madmen.
The reason warlocks can't freely enter towns or cities is none other than because that stench of rotting corpses permeates their entire bodies."
Unlike their secretive image, the squalid reality of the warlocks' living conditions was revealed for all the world to see.
"Hmph, and to think that what these fellows aiming to become gods do is dig up other families' graveyards in the middle of the night.
How truly vulgar. Wouldn't it be better to just change professions and become grave robbers?"
"Damn! He's a higher apostle than us! Run!"
"And they flee the moment they're discovered.
I wouldn't mind if they at least fought with some spirit.
Just what kind of god do they think they'll become like that?
The god of grave robbing and fleeing?"
Their ugly and pathetic appearance of secretly robbing corpses at night and fleeing when caught was exposed as well.
"Puhahah! So that's the reality of these corpse-lovers.
I really don't know why anyone would harbor strange illusions about them.
Author Wei is properly showing their hideous and filthy reality this time."
Thomas burst into laughter watching those scenes.
While it was refreshing to see the protagonist Radan punish the warlocks with overwhelming skill,
more than that, he felt a cathartic pleasure that cleared his chest at the parts where their true nature was exposed and their image was shattered.
"Elder Lich King! A report from the Elite Gigant."
"Kwahahaha! Elder Lich King and Elite Gigant, they're really using titles like this, kuhuhut!
They seriously call each other such names?
This is totally kids' play!"
And when the fact was revealed that they even addressed each other with childish rank names that didn't suit them at all, like Elder Lich King and Elite Gigant,
he couldn't hold back his laughter even more.
All this time they put on such airs, yet their true nature was such a childish group.
"At this point, wouldn't even the idiots who thought warlocks were cool change their minds thinking, 'This is a bit...'?"
Even an ordinary idiot would recoil in horror at having to say such childish rank names out loud himself.
It seemed simple, but it was a very efficient method.
A way to prevent idiots from being seduced by warlocks, that is.
Having thoroughly shredded the warlocks' image like that, Author Wei then went on to correct perceptions regarding practical gains as well.
Why do people succumb to black magic despite knowing it is evil and forbidden?
Precisely because of the temptation to gain power quickly and easily.
"But that temptation is a lie as well."
Author Wei illuminated reality in that aspect too.
"Heavens! What is that monster?
Hundreds of human faces are attached to it, screaming... Urgh. Blleeargh."
"Those are people who fell for the warlocks' deceit.
Usually they're offered as living sacrifices to evil gods, or ground up to make pills, but this one seems to have a nasty hobby—he merged hundreds of living people into a single lump of flesh."
"Are you saying all of those are living people?
Goodness, what a terrible thing..."
People tempted by the promise of gaining power quickly and easily in desperate situations were not actually gaining power.
Most of them ended up as living sacrifices offered to evil gods for warlocks to gain power, or as pills made by grinding up whole humans to absorb their vitality.
A warning unfolded before Thomas's eyes that in the worst cases, they could become synthetic monsters while still alive, ending up in a miserable state neither dead nor alive.
Age, gender, status, power, and wealth mattered not,
a horror where all equally fell to become mere lumps of flesh!
Perhaps feeling that words alone were insufficient, it even included an illustration realistically depicting hundreds of faces on the surface of a fleshy mass tangled with hundreds of living people, screaming in agony.
Upon seeing that illustration, Thomas felt such instinctive revulsion as a human at the terrible and blasphemous sight that he nearly vomited.
"If I were to end up like that..."
Wouldn't that be a living hell?
He even felt that death would be a blessing instead.
"Kill... me..."
Indeed, the victims within the story weren't screaming to be saved, but begging to be killed.
"Thanks to that, the sense of crisis is certainly sinking in.
As expected, those warlocks are not to be trusted."
If one didn't want to end up like that, that is.
Furthermore, the warlocks were depicted not only preying on victims, but also as a monstrous group devoid of trust even among comrades, constantly betraying and devouring one another.
They inspired such rising disgust and nausea that any mentally sound human would never be able to join their ranks.
And the final touch.
The protagonist Radan dealt with the warlocks and made offerings for the victims, accumulating merit and virtue.
Unlike the warlocks who had trod all manner of heretical paths involving human sacrifice, he instead climbed the stages of apostlehood faster and drew closer to godhood.
"Isn't choosing warlocks the stupid option here?"
Anyone could see that walking the righteous path like the protagonist felt more attractive and obvious.
To the extent that rejecting such a righteous path and following heretical paths like warlocks or evil gods seemed foolish.
Even though the novel clearly shows that warlock life is a cesspool, and the reality that falling for their schemes only turns you into a meatball, you would still believe them?
"That's already an issue of intelligence.
Or, they were evil by nature to begin with."
Thomas was certain.
If this new work [*The Frontier Apostle*] spread among the people and the perceptions of those who read it began to change.
"Couldn't we uproot those warlock bastards once and for all this time?"
At the very least, there would be no place for warlocks to stand in this kingdom.
"Great! I can't miss out on something this important.
Shall I lend a hand by writing an article myself?"
And he could add a bit of his own strength to it.
To completely eliminate the warlocks he already found disgusting.
Thomas hurried off to write an article to spread the lessons he had learned from [*The Frontier Apostle*].
And similar things were happening simultaneously here and there throughout the Kingdom of Eustia.
***
"Author Wei's New Work Exposes the True Nature of Black Magic Down to the Last Detail! Leaving a Shocking Warning for the People."
"The Worst Choice You Must Never Make if You Don't Want to Suffer a Fate Worse Than Death!"
"Trusting Warlocks vs. Trusting Demons.
The People's Choice Is Overwhelmingly the Latter!"
Not long after the release of the new work [*The Frontier Apostle*], public opinion in the kingdom began to change drastically.
The warlocks, who had until then maintained a somewhat mysterious image, were now—
"Those so-called warlocks are no different from filthy grave robbers.
I can't believe there were people who thought that was cool."
"Poor bastards who reek of corpses so much they can't even stay in a warm room in the middle of winter. Puhaha!"
—beginning to be seen as the very symbol of a pathetic and ugly enemy.
"Everyone, please stop. Just what have the warlocks done so wrong?
Did they decide to dig up others' graves and steal corpses?
Or did they decide to drag around rotting corpses, spreading contamination and plague?
Or perhaps did they deceive desperate people to use them as living sacrifices, and create monsters to torture them?"
"Wow. Looking at it all together like this, they're really irredeemable scum.
Not even the worst criminals could match these guys."
"No matter how desperate you are, taking their hand is truly idiotic."
"No matter how hungry you are, no one eats poisonous herbs, right?
Then you'd rather starve to death; why would you choose to die in agony?
It's on that level."
The perception that falling for warlocks' temptations was a foolish thing, no matter the situation—even if your life was on the line—also began to spread.
That rather than dying with dignity, reaching out to a warlock was a stupid and terrible thing.
And as the perception that they offered no real, tangible benefits spread, and their image was completely shattered and reduced to a cesspool,
"I apologize for falling for the warlocks' temptation!
I will never do such a foolish thing again, so please forgive me!"
"...Actually, there was a warlock who approached me asking if I wanted the power to take revenge."
"I-I too have seen someone spewing nonsense that the Goddess of Love is a fake god, and that the evil god is the one who equally distributes power!"
People's severing of ties, confessions, and accusations began to explode.
"Let's take this chance to uproot them completely!"
"This is clearly the right time to purge these vermin!
Opportunities like this don't come easily."
"This is war! A 'War on Black Magic'!"
The powerful figures of the Kingdom of Eustia, catching that this was their chance, all joined forces.
Under the unofficial declaration of a 'War on Black Magic,'
a large-scale purge of warlocks began.