I Became the Evil God’s Apostle 17

“Hwaaaaah, Ban-gong! I, I! I’m flying away!”

“Jaena-ssi! Ugh, got you.”

Ban, who barely caught Jaena losing his balance and flying away at the dragon’s flashy entrance and held him in his arms, gritted his teeth against the wind that rushed in so fiercely he couldn’t open his eyes. Despite this chaos, only Orma stood there leisurely by himself, standing upright in the same spot, looking at the dragon.

I didn’t expect this kind of entrance. Didn’t he say it was Orma’s reliable limb……?

“Orma! It really is Orma!”

“……Can’t you come down a bit more quietly?”

“I was so worried when you went to Hell of your own accord!”

No, judging by the voice, it seems he’s happy to see him. At least Orma’s side doesn’t seem pleased at all though. With an anxious face worried the dragon might accidentally say something, he raised his hand and waved it. However, the dragon took that as a sign of welcome and shouted in an overflowing voice.

“You came looking for me as soon as you got out! Or did you come out because you missed me? You missed your friend too, right?!”

……Friend?

“Who’s your friend? Won’t you shut up?”

“A relationship where you’ve grown up together since birth and gotten along well is called a friend!”

“……Ha.”

Orma, 798 years old. Thanks to his clueless dragon friend, his age was revealed.

‘I see!’

No wonder. That’s why he had urgently asked about age and demanded to know if there was distance between them. Ban looked up at the dragon with a blank face, who had landed softly in front of him as if he had never flown roughly.

Large and beautiful…… In the game, it had been pitch black, tainted together with madness due to Orma’s influence, but looking now, its silver scales were very beautiful. Enough to make him think that it wasn’t for nothing that people collected dragon scales or processed them into accessories.

Ban and Jaena’s eyes sparkled identically as they looked at the dragon. However, Orma spoke half-heartedly as if he didn’t want to exchange words with the dragon who was very happy to see him.

“I’m going to Sky Island, so let me ride on your back.”

“Hm? Why Sky Island all of a sudden? What brings this on?”

“……It’s long and complicated to explain. These humans here will ride along too.”

“Ooh! I can ride on a dragon’s back?”

A chance to ride on a dragon and fly through the sky! His heart pounded rapidly with excitement and anticipation. The dragon looked at Ban and Jaena with puzzled eyes, then extended its head and bent its body as if telling them to get on. Whether Orma’s attitude toward him had always been like this, it gently folded its wings without minding his dismissive attitude, rough speech, and cursing.

Finally, when everyone had mounted, the dragon, unlike its rough landing, attempted to take off very carefully.

Realizing that the dragon’s disposition before being tainted with madness was quite gentle and considerate, Ban felt a bit awkward. To meet Orma, the final boss in the game, he had to defeat the evil dragon. In the end, Ban also had to kill this dragon. Meeting in reality the being he had simply thought of as a mid-boss of difficult difficulty, a gateway to meet the final boss Orma, strange and uncomfortable ambiguous emotions passed through Ban’s mind.

“Ban.”

“……Yes?”

“You’ll fall if you stay like that. Hold onto me.”

At the words to hold onto him, Ban, who had been lost in thought, roughly grabbed something within reach. Only after Orma flinched and turned around did Ban realize he had embraced his waist. However, thanks to the dragon starting to flap its wings before he could even fix his posture, Ban ended up holding Orma tightly until they arrived at Sky Island.

As they flew up cutting through the wind so fast they couldn’t open their eyes, cold air rushed in, breaking through the hot sunlight. Even though the flight time was very brief, the sensation of his body lifting for a moment was vivid. He thought he didn’t have something like fear of heights, but perhaps flying without safety devices was quite scary, as strength unknowingly entered his arms holding Orma. Finding that somehow amusing, Orma laughed quietly and muttered.

“So there are things you’re afraid of……”

“……Uh, what?”

He asked back barely opening one eye, but all Ban saw was the rapidly passing surroundings and Orma’s face looking at him and smiling. Though the smile disappeared quickly, it was the most natural and gentle of all Orma’s smiling faces Ban had seen so far.

Whether from the flight or from that smile, Ban’s heart pounded rapidly, clearly revealing its presence. With a dazed face, while thinking he wanted to see his smiling face again, the flight gradually slowed and the surrounding scenery began to appear.

“Uwaa! Ban-gong! Look at that!”

Unlike Ban, Jaena pointed somewhere with his tail swishing, showing no sign of fear.

The golden sand at the edge of the land endlessly fell through the gaping opening below, and the fallen sand flew up from both sides like butterflies in a mysterious sight. Moreover, in the lake beside it, clear water shot up like a fountain creating a beautiful landscape, and the field boasted lush greenery as if it had nothing to do with the disaster.

It was clearly the same place as the final battle site with Orma in the game, yet it could evoke such a different feeling. Ban’s eyes widened at the pleasant overwhelming feeling the beautiful scenery gave. Without even knowing Orma was carefully observing him from the side, Ban hurriedly took in the appearance of Sky Island with his eyes. Soon the dragon’s wing flaps slowed, and unlike before, as if not forgetting it had passengers, it landed very smoothly.

“……This place is peaceful and beautiful as if no disaster occurred.”

Ban muttered as he descended from the dragon’s back and stepped on Sky Island’s ground. The dragon didn’t forget even the two horses that had fainted in shock from the sudden flight and gently set them down, then answered Ban’s words.

“Well, this is Orma’s space after all.”

“Even though it’s close to the sun, it’s greener than the ground!”

“It may look that way on the outside, but this island was originally given to Orma by God Banan, so it’s maintained differently from common sense.”

Ah, that’s right. But what was Banan’s relationship with Orma to give him such a pretty and wonderful island? Orma absolutely detests gods. He didn’t know such circumstances in the game. As Ban tilted his head with interest, Orma interrupted with a displeased face and cut off the conversation.

“Stop talking nonsense, Gail.”

“Let me see, Orma! You look fine for having been stuck in Hell that long?”

The dragon, as if now properly looking at Orma’s face, stretched briefly and turned its head toward him. Soon its large body gradually shrank…… and the dragon, transformed into the form of a human man, ran over with a bright face. As if the words about being friends weren’t a lie, even when the dragon annoyed him by examining Orma here and there, Orma only made a fierce expression but had no particular words or actions.

“The rumor that dragons are the Evil God’s limbs must have been false……”

Jaena whispered quietly to Ban. Hmm, making a fuss and welcoming Orma like that, it doesn’t seem entirely strange that such rumors spread…… Perhaps having good hearing, the dragon heard Jaena’s quiet words and turned its head sharply.

“Who’s Orma’s limb! I’m just worried that this guy will lose his mind and cause trouble!”

“Noisy.”

Orma seemed quite annoyed by the dragon, but still, thinking of the ending in the game where he stayed together even while being tainted by his madness, at least the dragon’s friendship was sincere. As if the dragon’s examination of Orma had ended, he soon approached Ban and Jaena.

The dragon’s human form with silver hair the same color as its scales and deep blue eyes forming a beautiful harmony was very splendid, but the face smiling broadly indicated it had quite a playful nature. The dragon lightly scanned Jaena and Ban once each, then tilted its head and said.

“What a rare sight, Orma going around with humans.”

“You’ve been acting like you know me well since earlier, I told you to stop talking nonsense.”

“But it’s true. Ever since you were thoroughly deceived by Herna……”

Herna, it was a familiar name. Saint Herna, the player in the game and now Ban’s ancestor, was the Evil God’s lover but ultimately a person who betrayed him. That’s why in the game, Orma muttered “Disgusting bloodline……” as soon as he first encountered the player. It was also a name Ban had completely forgotten about since meeting Orma.

……Right, Orma had a lover. Though he was ultimately betrayed, somehow Ban couldn’t quite imagine Orma gently whispering love to someone. And it’s a thought that keeps coming to mind as he mulls it over—what if he, a descendant of Herna, resembles Herna a lot? What if that’s why Orma has been treating him favorably?

‘……Umm, why does this feel bad?’