Chapter 36 – 36 – The Sun and the Dragon
Deus ex machina.
This means that God suddenly appears in a play’s story, solves all problems with a single breath, and then disappears.
There was a person who happened to do something like that in real life, and her name was Villena.
I was able to hear various things from Villena, who had become much quieter. For example, Eshen and Villena were the same age, and at first they were close friends, like best friends.
“But why did we become like natural enemies? Eshen may be harsh in his expressions, but I don’t think he’s the type of person to be afraid of someone for no reason.”
In fact, unless you’re a natural disaster-level powerhouse like Nidro, I don’t think you’ll feel the need to be afraid of anyone.
Villena grumbled for no reason.
“You really make me feel uncomfortable by being half-respectful. If that’s the case, let me stop talking.”
“Then let’s do it. Why is Eshen afraid of you?”
As she quickly put down her words, she glared at me for no reason. She hesitated and then spoke.
“… They said they wouldn’t cooperate with the reagent experiment. It’s difficult to find a test subject as strong as Eshen. So I put a little bit of it in my food…”
“···It was Villena’s fault, no matter what she took. What kind of medicine was it?”
Villena only twitched the corners of her mouth fearfully. Afraid to ask, I kept my mouth shut.
After asking a few more questions, I understood. It seems that the reason Villena was treated like a scary idiot by the entire party was because she had an accident and was the only one who didn’t know why she was in trouble.
Luckily for me, she seemed to have learned something from this experience. How scared, mortified, and resentful she felt when she was hit as if by a carriage by the logic of a world she could not understand.
She said, “She had no idea it would be so unpleasant to feel subjected to a non-consensual experiment.”
“You have to experience that to know…?”
She also seems to know why she was single from birth. If she wants to have a boyfriend after all that, she should be thrown in jail for killing her conscience.
Although her empathy seemed to be somewhat lacking, Villena was certainly competent. In fact, she wish she hadn’t.
“I would have been fired a long time ago when my fur turned blue.”
“Noisy.”
Villena grunted at Eshen’s command. She manipulates the artifact, ‘Grappling Hook’, as if it were an object she created herself.
I gaped. Even though it’s mine, I don’t know how to handle the enchanted ancient artifact.
“Do you know how to repair artifacts?”
“Artifacts are certainly mysterious objects, but they are not as distant as the gods and inaccessible to us.”
“But it’s the work of ancient people, right?”
“Even if you say ancient people in a grandiose way, they are just people who lived a very long time ago. The knowledge of that time has now disappeared, so it is difficult for us modern people to embody it. But if you look a little carefully, they are just people.”
Ting. The small gear that had been wound around began to turn again, and the string of the grappling hook was launched smoothly toward the ceiling.
The seams have become loose over the past few years, so when I rescued Eshen from the mountain troll, it was actually a bit close.
I can’t believe I fixed it in just 15 minutes.
“You can see the principle. Ultimately, they are all man-made items.”
“Thank you so much. I was thinking of selling this if it broke.”
“···Sell it out? There are warriors who risk their lives to get the artifact, but you really have no regrets. Leave everything behind and go. I will repair all the items received today for free. If you need medicine, I will not charge you for the materials. Combine it.”
Villena crouched, crossing her hands behind her back.
“It’s just that I feel sorry.”
···There was a minor risk of almost becoming a eunuch, but it still seemed like a profitable transaction.
———
As if even the yard is the limit for a reclusive loner, Villena sees her off by holding on to the door frame.
The moment when she leaves behind her unique and scary experiences and comes out to her alley.
“Obviously, reveal your sins, you wicked pagans.”
To my dismay, I was surrounded. To those who drew the sun with gold thread on their black robes.
Sun. Symbol of the Mithraic Church. Sister Monica is seen contemplating the trauma.
Eshen and I quickly hid Sister Monica behind our backs.
“What are you? Evil heretics?”
“We are agents of Mithra’s will.”
A person who appeared to be of high status stepped forward. How did you know? Because there was a lot more gold thread embroidered on the robe than on others.
“I sensed an insidious and evil aura around here. An aura of faith that had not been invited, not a single temple built in this city of the pantheon, the assembly of the gods.”
As the other person lowered the hood of her robe, her grandfather’s wrinkled face was revealed. A wrinkled, pale finger pointed at us.
“As someone who was born with the qualities of a ‘heresy inquisitor’ by the grace of Mithras, I have the right to interrogate whether that belief is wrong.”
[Heresy Questioner] A person with the trait. And he is of quite high status.
But.
“Wait a minute. You have no right to do that.”
“What did you say, young man?”
“We are not Mithras. And the ruler of this city is the Queen of the Vanir. We will not respond.”
Grandfather was so offended by those words that his eyes trembled and he raised his hands.
···Then, the Paladins, who revealed their identities by pulling back their hoods, began to take out their weapons one by one. Ignoring the screams of passers-by who were watching.
Are they crazy? Doing something like that in broad daylight?
On either side of the clearly insane old Mithraic man, two very familiar faces appeared and stood tall. Christensen. And Florica.
“···Both Paladins are here too. We meet again sooner than expected.”
“It’s been a while. Ran. Eshen. And…Monica.”
Florica says something resembling a greeting with a devastated face. Christensen, on the other hand, is just smiling triumphantly.
“That bitch.”
Eshen chuckled and suddenly pulled out a dagger from his belt.
“Uh, wait. Eshen, if we attack first, we won’t-“
“Do you think you have the advantage? Want to show me something interesting, you guys?”
She held her dagger, from which Eshen had no idea where it came from, in its sheath and into her mouth.
And she began to chew. I groaned and tried to stop him, but Eshen grabbed my shoulder and lightly pushed me away.
The paladins who were holding out their swords and hammers one after another were taken aback. Looking at the pieces of the knife breaking and falling to the floor.
Eshen crunched the steel with his teeth and spat out the remaining fragments.
Not even a single drop of blood, let alone a wound.
“If you’re going to attack me, you can do the same to me. When you go back and get scolded by the old guys, try your best to make an excuse. You said you couldn’t help it because you were robbed by a female combatant from a small or medium-sized party.”
Was Tigris’ durability that great? Or is it just the inside of her mouth that’s particularly hard?
…So, a part of my body went in and out of that mouth. Eunuch’s crisis may be closer than expected.
“Turn it off, turn it off, turn it off!”
And one more. Villena, hesitantly stepping out into the sunlight, pointed something of hers at the priests of Mithras with her panicked face.
Something large and unusual in appearance. It looked like a large musical instrument. Made by clumsily attaching glass bottles, pipes, etc.
“Now even Mithra believers are fucking around in my front yard! What I am saying is that mystics should not keep barging into my small and precious space, which is the temple of reason and rationality!”
Puhwaaaaak.
-It was an inferno made of glass bottles and pipes.
As a huge flame rose into the sky, only then did the small letters engraved on the pipe shine in the backlight. ‘Stupid purifier’.
If science is a religion and has its share of fanatics, it would be Villena.
“It’s Satan! It’s a witch!”
“Don’t touch my boyfriend! Get out of here!”
···Did I hear something wrong?
I was about to ask him since when had we been that close, but I stopped for fear that the flames would turn towards me.
Because it was unusual to see Villena’s crazy eyes glancing at me as if she was watching me.
Villena roars while spraying fire, and Eshen applauds in admiration. The paladins seemed quite frightened after seeing the two’s stunts, so they hesitated.
It was a great time buy. Meanwhile, our reinforcements arrived.
“Stop! Don’t-!”
A man with a handsome beard, a true warrior of Vanir. Beurdin’s voice rang out. I almost collapsed with relief.
“What are you doing in the city of the pantheon? Do you think that the only cults in this country are the servants of Mithras!”
“I am simply exercising the birthright given to me by Mithra!”
The old man tries to push back, but judging by the way he talks, it looks like he’s already given up.
If a self-respecting Mithra fanatic speaks respectfully to a worldly person, it means that he or she is someone who should already be humbled.
Björdain arrived in a huff, and as soon as he saw the paladins on the street with their weapons drawn, his eyes widened.
“A birthright? This is a territory ruled by the Goddess of the Lake and Her Majesty the Queen. All they have given you, strangers, is the right to freely worship your own gods.”
“How dare the power of the world challenge the sun!”
His party members, the ‘Lilies of Vanir’, who ran after Bjordin, all put their hands on the hilts of their swords.
“The challenge is yours. Religious strife cannot take place within the borders of this country! Don’t you know that if you do something like that, you will be criticized by other religious denominations and driven out of the city of the pantheon? Then the Pope of Mithras will punish you. Do you think I will leave it alone, Bishop?”
“That’s right.”
Grandpa Bishop’s eyes sparkled with obsession. It smells evil.
“It must be the religion of those who do not have a temple in the city of the pantheon. If it was the energy of a god who entered the city of the pantheon, I, who possess the aptitude for an inquisitor, would have noticed it! Immediately, I said, ‘You belong to a certain sect, go to the nearby temple and call our bishop. “You could have stood up to me confidently and said, ‘I’m coming!’”
But we can’t do that. Your religion is a very small sect.
Sister Monica bit her lip and whispered behind our backs.
“···If the problem gets worse, if I get stabbed, you don’t have to try to protect me. I don’t want you to get hurt because of me. The goddess will protect me-“
“What kind of bullshit is that, sis? You can just pick it up and run away. Right, Tan?”
“If you tell me to throw it away, do you think I’ll say yes! I understand! And throw it away, sister? Don’t talk nonsense.”
“Can’t you see that they still haven’t revealed their denomination? They are heretics! They clearly worship a barbaric god who should not be revealed!”
Meanwhile, the damn old fanatic went into a luminous state like a large monster. The words shouted while foaming at the mouth are somehow persuasive.
“A lewd or immoral god who cannot be revealed openly!”
That’s true.
I wonder if I will be punished for thinking like this. Your nose has been pierced by the god Ishtar.
Still, it’s true.
Even regular Vanir soldiers come running. I thought it would be over now.
But surprisingly, the paladins did not back down. Really? Have you gone crazy? How are you going to clean things up?
An aptitude for being a ‘Heretic Questioner’ who is sensitive to the power of faith and the energy of monsters. In that case, that bishop must have felt the energy of the goddess Ishtar, who descended yesterday, and came to see him.
If I had thought it was some random nameless god, I wouldn’t have been so obsessed with it.
So, does the god of lust really have an important meaning to them?
Just like they attacked your former colleagues, are you going to attack us in broad daylight?
I felt like I needed to prepare to run away from the bloody situation, so I was about to tell my sister to jump on my back in advance.
“Are you willing to bear all the political burden that may arise in Vanir?”
Among the confronting Vanir warriors and paladins, someone trotted out with his horned forehead raised high.
He appeared wearing an over-fitting shirt with an odd fashion sense while massaging his hangover-stricken head.
It was Nidroga.
“Then can I handle it?”
“Why are you coming out now?”
“Weren’t you following me earlier?”
“Do I have to ask why you’re so late, Nidroga?”
Eshen, me, and Monica asked blankly, taking turns. Villena finished by lowering the flame-throwing machine.
“···Is that my shirt? You wore it without permission?”
Nidrogar looked down at his shirt, which looked like it had been heavily scribbled with a highlighter pen.
Then he shrugged his shoulders and answered in order.
“I’m glad you showed up now, Eshen. I was late because I had to find and pack another bottle of Villena’s liquor. You don’t have to ask, Monica. You showed up anyway. Isn’t your shirt mine, Villena? I also fund your research. “You can take care of this much, right?”
Nidrogar shrugged his shoulders and pointed to the horns on his head.
I was worried that if I did that in front of the Mithra fanatics, I would be burned as a devil, but it was the opposite. When the paladins noticed, the bishop gritted his teeth and raised his palm.
The Mithraists sheathed their weapons. Nidroga smiled leisurely.
“Even if you become enemies with everyone in the world, you don’t dare betray the dragon’s nest. You still have that sense of reality, right, servants of the Sun God?”
