I Became the Evil God’s Apostle 40

“Come on, what’s the big deal? Who’s going to eat you?”

“……”

When he carefully opened his eyes, Orma was staring at Ban with the same expression as usual. Rather, his face seemed to say he couldn’t understand why Ban was reacting so much, so Ban wondered uncertainly to himself. Didn’t he hear the cursing? Judging by his reaction, it doesn’t seem like he’s reading all my thoughts.

Then could it be……

‘Orma-nim, please stop tormenting Jaena-ssi too.’

“Ha, I won’t torment him if he keeps his mouth shut first, you know?”

“…I see, understood.”

“N-no! I was being quiet but Orma-nim tormented me! Ban-gong!”

Jaena, who couldn’t understand what they were talking about at all, hurriedly tattled on Orma’s behavior when his story came up, but unfortunately Ban didn’t properly hear it because of other important thoughts.

It seemed that Orma could only hear what Ban said starting with ‘Orma-nim……’ under the pretext of ‘prayer.’ If that was the case, it was somewhat fortunate, but why did this change suddenly occur? Would there be another change if faith rose above a certain value?

It seemed he’d been thinking too simply about the statement that a god’s power becomes stronger in proportion to faith. When you think about it carefully, isn’t that statement rather vague and strange? What exactly does it mean for a god’s power to become stronger? Stronger based on what standard?

In Orma’s case, it would mean something like being able to wield his shadow a bit more powerfully, but isn’t that strange? The shadow could become more solid or have more destructive power, but that too was just close to wordplay. So what if it gets stronger?

Since Orma doesn’t have ‘levels’ or ‘stats’ like Ban, who was a player character in the game, it didn’t seem like he was becoming ‘powerful’ through simple numbers and calculations.

Then……

“What was the condition I gave you for teaching you spearmanship?”

“……Hiing, it was to be quiet.”

“Then shut your mouth if you know. And stop acting cute too.”

“Hing! And you just talked about me first, Orma-nim!”

“That wasn’t me, it was Ban who prayed…!”

Ban kept his mouth tightly shut and looked at the bickering Jaena and Orma with sunken eyes. His heart grew heavy with an ominous premonition.

This was Orma, who more than anyone didn’t want to become a god and wanted to return to an ordinary human body and face death…… He felt like the rising faith was continuously making him into a ‘god.’

Then what would come next? If the value rose even higher, what form would Orma change into? Right now, it seemed he didn’t understand what it meant that Ban’s prayers reached him and didn’t think much of it, but……

If physical changes occurred like his current state where he didn’t need to sleep or eat, would he really be able to remain as carefree as now?

This was the Orma who had recalled that day when he drank divine alcohol just from hearing Banan’s name and had self-harmed as anxiety welled up. Ban hoped that such a thing wouldn’t happen this time and prayed that his faith would neither rise nor fall any further.

**4. The Knight of the Black Wildwood**

The temple of Serka where Ban had stayed and Siol were relatively close, so the journey was shorter than expected, but the next destination, Yeru where Muhwi’s temple was located, was on a different continent, so they had to either take a boat or cross the desert on foot. Whichever way they went, a rather long journey was predicted, but with the scorching sun slowly drying the world to death, going through the desert would be no different from suicide.

Of course, even if they tried to travel by sea, it was uncertain whether there would be ships traveling between continents in times like these. When Ban was pondering what to do, Orma frowned as if annoyed and replied grandly, “If there’s no ship, we can just buy one.”

Ban quickly agreed after recalling the gold ingots filling the shadow and the jewels they hadn’t sold yet, and decided to go to Gillia Port where trade was most actively conducted.

Gillia Port was also located at the edge of the continent. It was a distance that required riding horses for a full month and a half. However, just a week after leaving Siol, Jaena complained of discomfort with a pale face.

“What’s wrong, Jaena-ssi?”

“……Uuum, I thought there was a strange smell for the past few days, but it’s getting worse.”

“A smell?”

“Ban-gong, can’t you smell anything?”

Well. Ban, being human, couldn’t smell anything, but since Jaena was a beastman sensitive to scents…… Perhaps it wasn’t a very good smell, as Jaena eventually looked around with a pained expression before raising both hands to cover and block his nose. His ears and tail, raised high, looked anxious as if they would run off somewhere to hide at any moment, and it seemed like he would scream in fright if Orma even poked him.

Normally, Orma, who would torment Jaena without batting an eye thinking he’d caught him well, also seemed to notice something was strange and tilted his head obliquely before stopping his horse.

“Let’s rest for a bit.”

“Huuuu……”

As if waiting for Orma’s words, Jaena quickly got off his horse, gulped down water, and caught his breath. His appearance trying to calm down somehow looked even more pitiful when combined with his childlike appearance. Just as Ban was wondering if he should investigate the smell, Orma pointed at the sky and said,

“Ban, look over there.”

The sky that should have been filled with bright sunlight was strangely dark. It seemed too early for night to come. Was it going to rain? For that, the air that seemed dry enough to burn even the earth remained unchanged……

“It’s not that dark clouds have gathered, but covered with ash.”

“Ash?”

“Yeah, looks like there was a really big fire somewhere.”

Fire…… As the sun seemed to gradually get closer, days lengthened, and days repeated where the sunlight seemed like it would burn everything in this world, large fires like wildfires often occurred.

However, since water was so precious, people couldn’t even think of putting out the fires and only prayed to the gods until the flames died down on their own with nothing left to burn. The ones suffering most from the miserable sight as if hell had arrived were the animals and plants living in the mountains and forests.

Yes, so that’s why Jaena, who has such sensitive senses like them, is trembling with anxiety like that. Understanding the reason, Ban carefully approached Jaena and patted his back to soothe him.

“Jaena-ssi, are you alright? It seems we’ll have to camp around here today.”

“Uuuu……”

“I think there might be a fire nearby. It seems like a huge wildfire hasn’t gone out for a long time, so ash is flying in the sky and Jaena-ssi smelled it.”

“Y-yes. This strange smell, I thought I’d smelled it somewhere before, and it’s exactly like the smell of something burning……”

“Still, since I can’t smell it, it doesn’t seem to be completely nearby, so I plan to rest in this area today and then go.”

His anxious pupils elongated vertically and then repeatedly relaxed into circles again. Jaena slowly nodded as if trying to calm down somehow, but was busy following closely behind Ban who had started preparing for camp.

When Orma, who had been watching that sight with displeasure, grabbed and lifted Jaena by the scruff of his neck, Jaena, who would normally chatter, instead clung tightly to Orma and said quietly in a deflated voice,

“Orma-nim……”

“What.”

“Please lend me Ban-gong just for today.”

“What?”

“I think I can only sleep if Ban-gong is next to me.”

“No.”

How could this be, didn’t he feel sorry for a believer trembling with anxiety! At the sharp refusal, Jaena pouted and flailed about, starting to spout complaints.

Though it was quite different from the past days when he felt comfortable as if held by his father when Orma held him by the scruff, Orma only quietly looked down at Jaena with fierce eyes.

“Then put me to sleep, Orma-nim! Why do you treat Ban-gong gently but are cold only to me!”

“Why should I put you to sleep? And is he the same as you?”

“What’s different! I have nothing to say if you say our faces are different!”

“You know it well. And you’re just a believer, and he’s my apostle.”

……Uuum, it’s frustrating but he’s right. Like most beastmen, the tiger tribe also followed and served Muhwi, and among them, those with deep faith would stay as priests in Yeru with the chieftain’s recommendation, or become monks who also trained in martial arts.

However, no matter how outstanding and deeply faithful they were, there had been no one who became an apostle, called the god’s first servant. Muhwi’s apostles were so few they could be counted on one hand, enough to only appear in old history books, and were called saints and worshipped together with Muhwi……

Even if he didn’t know for sure, to Orma, who was called the Evil God, Ban, his first believer and ‘apostle,’ must be special. It’s right but…… still frustrating!

Jaena glared fiercely and raised his ears and tail stiffly. Then, lowering his voice as ominously as possible as if he would pour out a terrifying curse, he shouted,

“O, Orma-nim…… the curse of the Black Wildwood will fall upon you!”