The Journey at Dawn
On the fourth day of the journey toward Siol, the sanctuary of Banan. After silently, without saying much, accompanying Ban in the great mission of saving the world, Orma-nim finally vented his dissatisfaction.
“……Let the world perish or whatever.”
“Hmm, this reaction came later than I expected.”
“Are you talking to me right now?”
I don’t have a hobby of answering to thin air…… Instead of saying that honestly, Ban rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders. It wasn’t because Orma’s eyes, tightly gripping the reins, looked extremely menacing. He just felt that his god had endured a lot considering his temperament, so he didn’t want to further provoke him.
Ban also actually swept his gaze over the road ahead with somewhat frustrated eyes. Between the withered trees beyond the road, he could feel awkward shadows and signs of people.
“Two, three, four, five…… There are more ambushes than I thought.”
“The sunlight is blazing like this, so why aren’t those bastards dying? Isn’t it actually not a calamity?”
It was a rare moment when Ban agreed with Orma’s sarcasm.
Just two days after leaving the village, the two encountered a bandit group. The bandits, who could only be active at night when the sunlight completely disappeared, particularly coveted the expensive horses and attacked Orma and Ban while they were camping. Fortunately, Ban, who was a light sleeper, woke up and drew his sword, but they stared back and forth at Ban and Orma with flustered eyes and barely managed to flee without stealing the horses.
If you ask why they looked at them with flustered eyes…….
“Ban, go kill all those bastards.”
“Hmm, just because they’re following us a bit, you want me to kill them? I think you’re being sensitive because you didn’t sleep properly.”
“……”
This all happened because his god absolutely couldn’t sleep unless he held Ban in his arms. After seeing the outrageous sight of two grown men sleeping while embracing, they were so startled that they stumbled backward and tripped over a stone…… Wait, does that mean they were able to protect the expensive horses thanks to Orma’s sleeping habits?
‘……No, let’s just say it was thanks to my light sleeping.’
Ban unconsciously shook his head lightly as his distasteful thoughts continued. Orma couldn’t even last a single day and honestly confessed with dissatisfied eyes that he could only sleep when he was beside Ban. Then he asked irritably if Ban had used some incredible trick on him.
It was only then that Ban realized the usefulness of the ‘Human Sleep Therapy’ skill he had obtained with a random skill ticket. To think it could put even a demigod’s body to sleep—thinking about Orma, it seemed like a good thing…… but waking up to find him holding Ban tightly so he absolutely couldn’t escape was a bit embarrassing.
Still, Ban pretended not to notice, thinking Orma must desperately need sleep. Until now, it seemed he had given up thinking he could no longer sleep anymore. If you can’t sleep, you become lethargic in everything and your nerves get sharp, so Ban speculated on his own that Orma’s pessimistic attitude might all stem from sleep deprivation. In fact, when Orma woke up, he would blink his eyelids slowly with somewhat hazy golden eyes, and during those times, he would generally accept whatever was said to him.
Anyway, if there was a problem, it was that the bandits who saw that bizarre sight continued to target Ban and Orma’s horses whenever they got the chance.
After the calamity arrived, there were almost no people traveling or moving around. Much less merchants loading goods onto cargo wagons. So they would desperately rush at anyone they could rob…… Moreover, since these were horses that remained fine even under blazing sunlight, what tempting prey they must be. Who knows, the horses that received Orma’s blessing—or not-blessing—might be valuable. In these times, if they sold them, they might get an enormous price.
“……Whatever it is, right now, if we don’t do something about those bastards immediately, I’m going to kill them all.”
“Understood. Please calm down.”
If it were before, he would’ve thrown his spear and killed them all according to his temper, right? Ban thought this was also a positive effect of sleep as he drew the sword hanging at his waist from its sheath. Of course, he had no intention of drawing blood—he planned to just scare them appropriately and chase them away. Getting off his horse right away, he called out to those barely hiding behind the skeletal trees as if to advise them.
“Come out. I can see you all there.”
“……”
Though they gasped in surprise, the bandits hesitantly revealed themselves. As if determined to hide from the sunlight, they were dressed in clothes wrapped tightly so that not a single bit of skin was exposed. With cloth wrapped around their mouths like masks, the sound of their labored breathing could be heard, as if even breathing was difficult. All Ban could see were their frightened eyes and the old daggers they barely gripped with trembling hands.
They don’t really seem like the type who could rob people. Aren’t they displaced people who were inevitably pushed into this by the calamity? Ban spoke to them again in a softer tone than before.
“By now, you should know that you can’t steal the horses from us, so why do you keep following us?”
“Th-those horses…… where did you get them?”
“The horses? We bought them from a village near here.”
“Lies! There’s no way a rural village like that would sell horses that can withstand the calamity’s sunlight!”
If you’re going to not believe me so firmly, why ask? While Ban was bewildered, he understood what they were saying.
But still, he couldn’t boast something like, ‘My god back there personally coated them…… Cool, right?’ couldn’t he? Just when he was worrying about how to deflect this so that some innocent person wouldn’t get hurt by chance.
[Hidden Quest Arrived!]
Along with a clear and bright notification sound, a system message flashed up. When Ban reflexively rolled his eyes toward the system message, the system automatically informed him of the quest details.
[An excellent opportunity to raise low Faith!
Hidden Quest: Evangelize the bandits before your eyes and make them believers who worship your god.
Create Believers (0/3)
Reward: Faith Points +10, Faith Gauge +5
*Caution: However, if believers are killed by a god or Apostle, this reward will not be given.]
Though he didn’t know why such a quest would appear, Ban’s eyes were drawn more to the Faith Gauge than the Faith Points given as a reward.
‘……They’re giving 5 points for increasing believers to 3 people? When they only gave me 1 point per death?’
For reference, Ban’s current status is as follows:
[Current Status: ‘Orma’s’ Apostle / Faith Points: 3 (Your god’s influence is minimal.)
Faith Level: 1
Faith Gauge: 5/10
▷ God’s Favor +1
▷ God’s Mercy +1
▷ Death by Divine Punishment +1
▷ Death by Divine Punishment +1
▷ Decision of Faith +1]
In the meantime, his Faith Gauge had filled by 2 points. Judging from the contents, God’s Mercy seemed to mean Orma sparing the inn employee, and God’s Favor was…….
‘……Him clinging to me every night to sleep?’
Phrased like this, it’s quite destructive content, but anyway, if you think of it like a human sleep pillow, it makes sense. Whatever it is, he couldn’t stand that his death was treated as worth less than 1 believer, but it’s not like he would refuse the quest either. If he received the quest reward, the Faith Gauge would fill up and his Faith Level would rise, and he was curious what would happen then. Since it’s a world inside a game, he might receive some special skill related to Orma, so he wanted to achieve it as soon as possible.
Of course, the caution notice was concerning…… but since I won’t kill the bandits, wouldn’t it be fine if I just keep my god well in check? Having quickly organized his thoughts, Ban smiled slightly at the bandits watching his reaction and opened his mouth.
“As expected, you don’t easily believe. But since this story will be long, won’t it be difficult for you if we talk here because of the sunlight?”
“……Are you saying you’ll tell us the secret about those horses?”
“Well, of course I have something I want too, but you’ll understand after hearing my full explanation.”
The bandits hesitated and whispered quietly among themselves. After exchanging a few words that couldn’t even be called a discussion, they carefully put away their weapons and pointed in a direction.
“If you go that way, there’s a small cave. How about we go there to talk?”
“Good.”
At his quick answer, the bandits who had been standing awkwardly began walking ahead as if to guide the way. Ban approached Orma, who was waiting for him with a displeased face, smiling broadly.
“Did you chase them away? They won’t follow us anymore, right? If they follow us again, this time I’ll really……”
“Ah, right now I need to talk with those people a bit more. We need to follow them for now. There’s a cave nearby and we agreed to talk there.”
“What?”
Orma’s eyes sharply curved upward. Before his god could throw a tantrum again and shout, ‘I’ll kill those humans! Die and perish, all of you,’ Ban opened his mouth first with a pretty smile.
“I’m going to evangelize them to believe in Orma-nim. Then something very good will happen.”
“……Hah.”
Utterly dumbfounded, Orma just opened and closed his mouth repeatedly for a long while. What sudden evangelizing, I said I’m not interested in gods or whatever, just going to Siol is annoying enough to kill me…… Such thoughts came up simultaneously, but he couldn’t actually voice them.
Not knowing what pleasant imagination he was having, his sky-like eyes curved prettily into a bright smile, and the feeling of not wanting to ruin that suppressed all other thoughts. And Orma was most annoyed at himself for repeatedly being left speechless by that face.
