I Became the Evil God’s Apostle 41

Even though Jaena tried to make the most terrifying expression he could muster, Orma snorted and shook Jaena lightly from side to side. Of course, it was only ‘lightly’ for him, and Jaena was shaken so violently he was nearly vertical. Lightly ignoring his screams begging to be saved, Orma twisted his lips into a crooked smile like a low-quality thug.

“Has this bastard lost his mind? Spouting curses at a god?”

“Uwaaaaaa!”

“The curse of the Black Field Forest? What’s that? Tell me, do you think something like that would work on me, an Evil God? Huh? I wish it would work, fuck. If something like that worked, I would’ve died a long time ago.”

Of course it wouldn’t work! It wasn’t even some great curse, it was nothing more than a ghost story meant to scare beastmen children from wandering around at night.

On pitch-black nights when not a single point of moonlight shone, the forests and fields would become dark as pitch and nothing could be seen. On such gloomy days when one couldn’t tell if there was a tree in front of them or a dangerous beast, it was said that the Black Field Forest would call people with a very enchanting voice. Enticed by voices that couldn’t be easily refused—like the voice of one’s longing parents, a child’s crying, or an already deceased lover—if one stepped foot into the Black Field Forest, they would never be able to come out again.

Well, it was a ghost story created to scare people so they wouldn’t carelessly enter forests, mountains, or fields on dark nights, but these days there were even adults who welcomed that ghost story. ‘It would be nice if such a place existed. There wouldn’t be this damn sun there, right!’ they’d say…

Tch, such adults would abandon the god Muhwi without any backbone and change their religion the moment they learned of Orma’s existence! …Of course, Jaena, who originally had little interest in gods anyway, didn’t care either way.

“I’m done preparing, so you can rest comfortably… Are you tormenting Jaena-ssi again?”

“Ban-goooong! Save me!”

“Ha… I wasn’t tormenting him.”

“You did torment me! A lot!”

This Evil God, whose face alone was damn beautiful but whose temperament was completely rotten, only put on airs for his pretty apostle. Through the frequent curses, abuse, and murderous intent created by those fierce eyes, Jaena had come to understand well why Orma was called an Evil God.

And that wasn’t all—Jaena had a small, delicate build, so even if grabbed and shaken just a little, his head couldn’t help but spin around, yet Orma didn’t care at all and showed off his rough habits. While it was a characteristic of feline beastmen to be comfortable when grabbed by the scruff of the neck, if grabbed by the throat like this, any feline beastman would turn pale!

But what was even more infuriating was that this Evil God acted coy as if he’d never done such things when Ban was present. Of course, when he occasionally couldn’t bear wanting to kill the annoying humans and that temper partially poked out, when Ban was around, he absolutely never crossed the line.

At most, he’d just mutter with an irritated face that he wanted to kill them all, and it was obvious that he tried to minimize vulgar expressions and curses like he’d just used on Jaena, which was absurd.

On top of that, he’d craftily act pitiful—though he didn’t look pitiful at all to Jaena—and whine or throw tantrums.

…How old is he! Every day he’d look at Jaena disgustedly telling him to act his age, but he himself! Hadn’t he lived dozens, hundreds of times longer than Ban!

That pretty Holy Knight was clearly bewitched by the Evil God. Even those terrifyingly eerie golden eyes with uncontrolled madness poking out would be pitied, and Ban would smile faintly and gently soothe him. Then the Evil God, as if that smile that seemed about to disappear at any moment was precious, would become docile to see even a little more of it.

No matter how much Jaena ran to tell on all the evil deeds committed against him, after getting scolded by Ban for just a moment, Orma would torment him even more as if in retaliation behind Ban’s back—how unfair this was! As the grievances of past days flashed by, clear tears welled up in Jaena’s eyes.

Seeing that face, Ban carefully took Jaena away from Orma and patted his back soothingly. Jaena was fine with the reason Ban looked at him with pitying eyes being sympathy. When would Ban finally notice and be wary of the wicked schemes of the Evil God glaring at him viciously from behind?

“…I told you I wasn’t tormenting him. It was training.”

“That’s a lie!”

“What kind of training is it without even holding a spear?”

“Courage training.”

At the utterly shameless words, both Jaena and Ban were left speechless. Only Orma crossed his arms and raised one eyebrow as if asking what the problem was. At that confident attitude, Ban finally let out a deep sigh and shook his head.

“Even if it’s training, please consider the difference in build between Jaena-ssi and Orma-nim. Even if you find Jaena-ssi disagreeable, isn’t he Orma-nim’s believer? Please look at him a bit more kindly…”

“How can I look at him kindly when he’s not cute?”

“That’s not what I meant…”

I didn’t mean to actually look at him kindly, but to look at him with a kind heart…

“Whatever. You said you’re done preparing camp? Put him down now. I’ll properly start training.”

“Hiiik… B-Ban-gong…”

When was it that he’d been hopping around happily when told he’d be taught spearmanship? After getting hit evenly on the head, chest, and stomach several times under the pretext of training, Jaena had now become terrified of training time. He hastily covered his nose and started faking illness, saying his head was throbbing from the burning smell.

“Oh no, my head hurts so much from the smell! I-I need to skip training today!”

“You shouldn’t neglect training.”

At those muttered words, Jaena turned pale and hugged Ban’s neck, shaking his head rapidly. Seeing that, as Orma’s eyes became even more vicious and he slowly approached, Ban finally sighed and carefully set Jaena down on the ground.

Like a cat touched by water, Jaena was terrified and clung to Ban’s legs, trembling as he waited for the approaching hell, but fortunately his lifeline hadn’t rotted. Ban stood in front of Jaena as if to hide him and spoke in a firm voice.

“It would be better not to train today. It seems there’s a large forest fire nearby, and that smell would be very painful for beastmen with sensitive senses of smell. It would be difficult to even breathe.”

“That’s right! That’s right!”

“If we consider all that, when would we ever train?”

“Then please let it go just for today.”

Ban said that and smiled brightly. If Orma insisted on training to the end, Ban wouldn’t stop him further, but rather, when gently asked, he tended to press his lips together to show his displeasure but still let it go.

In the end, it was the same this time. While clearly showing his dislike, he crossed his arms as if telling them to do as they pleased and turned his head away. At that sight, Ban, with a smile on his face, carefully stroked the hair of Jaena clinging to him and said.

“Thank you for your mercy, Orma-nim. Then, I’m going to prepare dinner… Jaena-ssi, will you help me?”

“O-Of course!”

The two moved to an appropriate spot and quickly began preparing the meal. It was done out of concern that if Jaena was left alone again, Orma would torment him, but Jaena diligently tried to help Ban. Though all he did was glance at Ban showing off knife skills as good as any decent chef while cutting vegetables, then bring water or a pot.

“Thanks to Jaena-ssi, I was able to finish preparing dinner easily.”

“N-No… I didn’t do anything… I’m not even good at it…”

When he fidgeted with his hands and answered in a trailing voice, Ban slowly shook his head.

“Where is there anyone who’s good from the start? You become familiar with it by doing it. It’s the same with cooking like this, and with spearmanship too. If you try to learn anything, you’re bound to improve someday. So don’t be too intimidated.”

At those kind words, Jaena opened his mouth and stared at Ban. Why did a Holy Knight with such beautiful appearance and kind heart become the apostle of that Evil God? And of his own volition at that…

Funny enough, sometimes even Orma would look at Ban as if he couldn’t understand him. He’d look at him with eyes that said, ‘What did he eat wrong? Why does he follow me like this?’ but he would never voice those inner thoughts.

Of course not. For whose benefit? Whether he was wearing rose-colored glasses or whatever, why would there be any need to deliberately remove them? Of course, Jaena would have done the same even if he were in Orma’s position.

Jaena received the delicious-smelling food and stuck right next to Ban as they began eating together.

When Orma, who couldn’t stand watching that sight with both eyes open, casually approached, Ban would somehow offer food to his god, asking him to try just one bite. Then Orma would retort telling him to eat a lot himself, and quietly observe Ban eating.

In the midst of that, as the sun gradually set and the sky finally began to turn black, Orma would naturally hold Ban in his arms and lie down as if it were obvious. Only when Jaena grumbled and spread out his sleeping bag and lay down next to Ban, and quite far away at that, would Orma slowly close his fiercely raised eyes and fall asleep.

…Today was ultimately a repetition of such a day as well.

“…Captain Seo.”

Until some familiar voice called out to Ban.