I Became the Evil God’s Apostle 44

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Once, Jaena’s mother had said something like this.

“……Jaena, you don’t suit Bion at all. It would be better if you went outside and lived more freely.”

At those words, Jaena just grinned. Jaena also knew well that he didn’t suit Bion, the tiger tribe’s village, and lacked the qualities to lead Bion.

When told to hunt, while others moved busily to catch at least a small bird or rabbit, Jaena enjoyed a leisurely nap and when the sun was about to set, would roughly pick up a dead mouse and bring it back. Of course, even though he was scolded asking what the hell this was, Jaena only acted weak while making a tearful face in front of his father.

Since his mother, who had been watching that sight, said this while letting out a deep sigh, his father must have of course noticed that Jaena was slacking off and acting spoiled.

But so what? In the first place, ‘tigers’ were free beasts. They lived in groups because they were beastmen, but considering the characteristics of tigers, Jaena’s independent personality wasn’t a problem. So what if he lacks a bit of responsibility……

If there was a problem, it was that he was definitely endlessly small and weak for a ‘beast of prey.’

“Your claw broke.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“……Is that all you have to say? You’re taking the heir’s test next month!”

Though that was true, then what was he supposed to say? Jaena stared blankly at Sorin, his childhood friend. Then Sorin shouted with a face that looked like he was about to cry.

“You idiot! You might not come back alive!”

Haha, that was something Sorin said because he didn’t know him. In the first place, Jaena had no intention of properly taking the heir’s test.

His father had already given up on him anyway and wouldn’t entrust Bion to him. Whenever he looked at him, he didn’t hide the look in his eyes that said ‘This one’s done for. There’s no hope,’ so there was no way he would entrust Bion to him.

Probably he would throw Jaena a problem he absolutely couldn’t solve and drive him out of Bion. Then Jaena planned to travel freely here and there under the pretext of taking the heir’s test. Of course, his pathetically weak self could be in danger at any time, but that couldn’t be helped……

“Then what about me?”

At those words asking back, Jaena slowly blinked. What does this mean…… Why is he asking him that?

“You taking the heir’s test when you’re not even forty yet is no different from telling you to go die! Then what about me! Am I going to become a widow!”

“Aha…… so that’s what you mean! Don’t worry, Sorin. Our engagement will be broken off before that.”

Of course, there was still a lot of time left before Jaena turned forty, the age when one usually takes the heir’s test. However, at a time like now when faith in Muhwi was shaking due to the calamity, if they continued to leave a weak heir like Jaena alone, division would obviously occur. To solidify Bion without wavering, they needed to show them that there was a strong heir who would lead a hopeful future.

So Jaena also thought the decision to abandon him at this point was right. Sorin’s father, who closely assisted his father, must think so too, but as soon as Sorin heard Jaena’s words, he burst into tears.

“Y-you and people like you……! I’ll never wait for you!”

At those words, Jaena answered with a quiet smile. He had hoped that by now, Sorin would have noticed he was deliberately acting oblivious.

In the end, that day when Sorin turned away while wailing was the last day Jaena saw Sorin.

That night, his mother put the bracelet symbolizing the heir on Jaena and said,

“Jaena, no matter what anyone says, you are the heir of the tiger tribe.”

“Mother, this bracelet is far too much for me.”

“……Wouldn’t it be good to have at least one object that can remind you of Bion anytime?”

Saying that, the embrace of his mother who hugged him tightly was warm and nice. Jaena had no resistance to leaving Bion, but it was a bit sad that he would never see his mother again. Still, it can’t be helped. If I could have changed for such a reason, I would have changed long ago.

The weakness he was born with was the kind that couldn’t be changed. Sometimes a tiger is born that isn’t like a beast of prey, and everyone in Bion knew but pretended not to. It was just bad luck that it happened to be Jaena.

Jaena decided to conform to his fate. He decided to leave Bion and faithfully take the heir’s test, but to let go of things that couldn’t be helped.

Even if he was lucky enough to meet the seeker from the prophecy, he wouldn’t be able to stop the calamity, but he decided to do his best. Was it the influence of such positive thinking? Jaena considered meeting Ban and Orma tremendous luck. Of course, he still had doubts about stopping the calamity, but anyway, he had much more motivation than when he was in Bion.

No matter that he’s called the Evil God now, once Orma was called a hero among heroes, a once-in-a-generation genius, and the incarnation of Muhwi, the god of war and martial arts. Since such an existence said he would teach him spearmanship, it was right to accept quickly whether it turned to porridge or rice.

Even he, who had absolutely no interest in martial arts or combat skills, thought it was naturally cool the moment he saw the trajectory of the spear Orma wielded refreshingly. Anyway, Jaena thought that unlike his initial expectations, he was taking the heir’s test quite well……

‘Why did it turn out like this?’

When he opened his eyes, he couldn’t move even though he wasn’t tied up. Sweat naturally beaded up from the hot heat, and the air heated up to the point where he couldn’t breathe properly was suffocating. Everything visible around him rippled as if dancing with fire and spewed sparks, and acrid smoke made everything hazy.

‘Am I being burned alive at the stake right now?’

Su, surely not…… Damn it, Orma-nim! What god burns a believer alive just for slacking off a bit! Or is it because I acted spoiled with Ban-gong? Still…… still…… this is too much! This Evil God among Evil Gods!

“U, uuu……!”

Not knowing what the truth was but thinking he would burn to death at this rate, Jaena desperately flailed. However, his stiffened body didn’t allow any movement, and only his blinking eyes shed tears continuously from the stinging heat and smoke.

“……it’s not.”

“Whatever it is…… not there. ……then, prove faith……”

Faint but voices could be heard. Could it be Ban-gong and Orma-nim? Jaena panted while trying to open his tightly shut mouth. Even his tongue felt paralyzed and difficult to move. Only sounds like moans were all Jaena could make.

“U, uuu! Uup!”

“……The sacrifice seems to have woken up.”

Huk, the ominously heard voice definitely wasn’t Ban or Orma. Jaena was startled and tried to put strength in his eyes to focus and confirm who the figure in front of him was.

Someone seems to be standing…… The someone whose identity was unknown slowly approached Jaena and sprinkled some liquid of unknown identity. It was damp and sticky and he couldn’t breathe even more. An ominous smell stimulated his nose and made his vision dizzy.

‘This is…… o-oil?’

The surroundings were clearly a sea of fire everywhere, yet they’re sprinkling oil? This clearly had the purpose of burning him to death.

At the same time as getting chills, he felt his slightly stiffened body loosening. Still, it wasn’t to the extent that he could completely move his body, so Jaena tightly shut his eyes and hurriedly opened his mouth to shout.

“S-save me! Please save me!”

“The paralysis has worn off. Well, fine. I can proceed with the ritual before that.”

A resolute statement was heard from beyond. No matter how he interpreted the sentence, it seemed like they would kill Jaena before the paralysis completely wore off.

Recalling the earlier conversation, it meant they would use Jaena as a sacrifice for some unidentified ritual.

Once, Ban had told Jaena a strange fairy tale. What was it…… There was a tiger that ate humans, and some human tricked that tiger into jumping into a hot pot? That tiger flailed because it was too hot and as it jumped around in the pot, it melted and became butter—it was strange content like that.

Jaena, who had been quietly listening to the story, asked “Excuse me, Ban-gong…… Did I do something wrong? Why are you suddenly telling me a story about a tiger that became butter?” and Ban scratched his cheek and asked back if it wasn’t fun.

From behind, Orma burst into laughter and asked if he wanted to turn Jaena into butter. If Ban said yes, he seemed ready to immediately turn Jaena into butter.

Fortunately, Ban hurriedly shook his head. Then he said he wanted to tell an interesting fairy tale because Jaena seemed bored, but it seemed he chose wrong, and looked dejected. Back then, he thought it was an uninteresting story with no idea what moral it contained.

……But how could this be! Could it actually have been prophesying Jaena’s death? My death was butter! I’m becoming tiger butter!

“Hyaaaaaah! N-no! I don’t want butter! Save me! Ba, Ban-gong! Orma-niiiiim……”