Chapter 237 – 237. Consumables as Persons(1)
“The family of the apostles…”
Eunhyun murmured as she pondered the suggestion Skuld had made to Illyana.
“I’m not connected to God like you are. To be exact, it’s like it’s connected to you.”
Strictly speaking, it does not mean that he was directly connected to the three goddesses like Eun-hyeon, but through Eun-hyeon, he was able to use some of the power of ‘Skuld’ among the three goddesses.
“I mean. If you won’t play games with my soul, I said I’d move with you with useful words. So, this is his suggestion.”
This proposal, which was concluded in a narrow range that did not violate the law, was close to expedient.
Eun-hyeon was in trouble.
“Why are you suddenly paying attention to me…”
[Probably because Skuld has come to the conclusion that this is the most efficient method.]
“Is it efficient?”
[If the witch child had fallen into the eyes of another god and really became an apostle of God like a child, she might have been bound by restrictions and forced to act like a child in the past.]
“…”
[Skulld, who was concerned about that happening, tried her hand first. To help the witch child’s wish in the most ideal form.]
Certainly, Illyana, who has become a member of her lifelong companion, is a special case in which her free will is guaranteed while being able to use some of her goddess powers through her grace.
[It’s more of an expedient that she was able to use because the divine power in her child’s body grew and grew stronger.]
“The reason Skuld-nim came forward like this…”
[There may be several reasons… Doesn’t that mean she will trust the child now?]
“…”
It means that we will support the way of releasing the restrictions on the soul and solving the case in the way of Eun-hyeon, not the way of the gods.
It was difficult for Eunhyeon to readily feel grateful for the kindness that Skuld had suddenly shown in a cooperative manner.
Eun-hyeon knows that the gods are not the ones who bring beneficial results to humans, including herself.
Their purpose is to maintain the world, including the continent, and the humans used there are all consumables.
Eun-hyeon, the apostle of the three goddesses, is also included in the category of those humans.
At first glance, the relationship between Eunhyeon and the gods is like an agent who carries out the will of the gods, but it is just a job fulfilling a given role, and it is not a reason for the overall impression of the gods to be good.
Rather, it is a very special case of Belldandy, who has been sending favors to himself and putting in a lot of effort for a single human being.
That’s why Illyana’s ‘becoming a member of Eunhyun’s circle’ by Skuld was very difficult.
[I understand the child’s thoughts. She said she couldn’t help it, but the restrictions we put on her… It is true that it makes the child suffer that much. But…]
Belldandy brushed Eunhyeon’s hair with an expression of disrespect.
[Can’t you trust Skuld’s kindness this time?]
“I want to talk to you directly. With Skuld.”
At the unexpected request, Belldandi widened her eyes.
[Are you saying the child himself? But…]
“No. I want to go to the divine realm myself.”
[The child himself…]
Belldandi put on an expression of deep thought and nodded.
[I guess I’ll have to discuss it with my sister and Skuld. I’ll try going up first.]
“Yes.”
After confirming Eunhyun’s reaction with a small nod, she faded and disappeared as it was Belldandy’s spiritual body.
Eunhyun turned her head to Illyana.
“So? How is her body?”
“Hmm… Pretty bad isn’t it? Rather, it is better than before.”
Seeing Illyana manifesting a small fireball magic on her palm, Eunhyeon and Eleanor made faces of surprise.
“Without magic, only magic… Magic… ?”
“This…”
“Huh, isn’t that great?”
Omission of the formula.
The aftermath it brings is not small.
The principle of invoking magic is to give magical power to a spell you have created and activate the magic that matches the spell.
It’s simple to explain, but among wizards, grades are divided and levels are divided according to the amount of mana that can be manipulated and the speed at which the formula is built.
The amount of magical power required to cast low-level magic from one to four digits, and the structure of the magic formula, are not that complicated compared to the higher magic.
It is possible for many magicians to reach four digits by investing effort and time, but this is why it is called the ‘realm of talent’ from five digits, and the ‘realm of enlightenment’ from seven digits.
“The accident has expanded. It feels like my head has expanded a lot.”
In Eleanor’s eyes, it seemed that magic was manifested by simply manipulating magic without a spell, but in Eun-hyeon’s eyes, it was the result of manipulating magic and developing magic at an absurdly faster rate than other wizards.
‘He expanded the limits.’
Unlike ‘Thought Acceleration’, in which Eunhyeon quickly processes incoming information, Illyana’s ‘Thought Expansion’ literally means that the limits of thinking in her head have been expanded.
Unlike Eunhyun, who literally had the ability to process information quickly, Illyana meant that the limit of information that could be accommodated at one time was unreasonably widened.
“I guess it was because of this that I was able to manipulate the massive amount of mana of over a thousand elves.”
“That’s right. At first, she almost died because her real head was cracked, but with his help, she expanded her thinking and later was able to handle the world tree’s resurrection effortlessly.”
“… You have been given the right power.”
If it was the current Illyana, she might be able to easily deploy a spell with a complex structure and use high-level spells.
Even when using high-ranking spells like teleport, he was at a level that boasted a much faster speed than others, but now even that interval may not be necessary.
I felt that the words I had thrown as a joke were now gradually becoming a reality.
“But you were too reckless.”
Eleanor sat down on her bed with a puzzled look on her face and took Iliana’s hand.
It was dissatisfying that Illyana was kindly talking about the number of gambles she had taken, which could have really ruined her mind and ruined her if she went wrong.
“Sorry. Still, I did it because I had something I wanted. From now on, I won’t be so hard on myself.”
The reason Illyana had to go through the crowd like this was because she needed to explain her value to the gods in order to become a being similar to Eunhyeon.
Now that she had fulfilled her purpose, she did not feel the need to play the gamble with her life, which made her flesh tremble like this.
Illyana smiled and looked at Eunhyun.
“I told you.”
“…”
“I will never fall again.”
Realizing that he had come into her arms without hesitation and now became her lifelong companion, Eun-hyeon smiled wryly and nodded her head.
“I am…”
Seeing the two of them, Eleanor, who had a sad expression on her face, held Illyana’s hand intertwined and opened her mouth.
“I am your wife too… Is that becoming a follower impossible for me?”
“Hmm… First of all, I’m not sure if I just listened to the explanation, but it’s probably impossible. Because Eleanor already has a goddess she enshrines.”
“Ah…”
Realizing the meaning of her grace, Eleanor gave a small sigh and shook her shoulders.
Although Eleanor is unofficial, she is a candidate chosen by the goddess Vesta as an apostle.
I don’t know why the goddess Vesta, but even if she had her favor towards Eun-hyeon, she couldn’t give a good impression of an act like intercepting another goddess’s candidate to be an apostle.
She said that in the first place, she placed herself in the middle and used her as a medium to make Illyana her follower, but Eun-hyeon, who was in the middle of her, didn’t even know this process properly, so she didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t even an acceptable position.
“Huh, it’s okay. Eleanor.”
Illyana pulled Eleanor’s hand from her pod and she took her body into her arms.
“What are you feeling so left out of?”
“Okay, it’s okay…”
Eleanor, ashamed to have her insides out, blushes at her.
Illyana, who enjoyed her reaction, looked at Eunhyun and asked.
“What are you going to do next?”
“I will still be here. I need your care too.”
“Am I okay?”
“You hate me. At least I won’t leave until I feel completely better. And I have work to do.”
“Huh?”
There was almost no damage from the elves, so there was no need for Eun-hyeon to help with her post-processing, but she was willing to listen to Regina if she asked for her help.
In addition, there are other responsibilities such as checking the condition of Elvin, who was active in her first campaign, once again.
“Alice’s eyes.”
“Ah.”
“I need to find a way to fix it.”
“Huh, that’s right.”
Illyana smiled and nodded her head.
She couldn’t hate the decision to treat the eyes of the youngest member of the team with whom she shared a past.
“I need to recover quickly. Then?”
Illyana, who accepted her willingly, showed a very motivated appearance, which was rare.
“… Do you think your character has changed a bit lately?”
Eun-hyeon asked with a wry smile at her appearance, which was the exact opposite of her life in Pernin, where she showed a troublesome attitude in everything and hated going out.
“It’s fixing Alice’s eyes. Besides, I want to use magic quickly.”
“No, nothing has changed.”
Empowered by her powers, eager to test her grown-up abilities, her eyes sparkled as she explored her new knowledge, full of curiosity and anticipation.
Her bold action, which has not been revealed for a while due to her ignorance, and which is occasionally seen, is revealed.
◆ ◆ ◆
[… You’re here.]
Among the three goddesses’ thrones side by side, Skuld, who was sitting on the rightmost throne, quietly opened her eyes and looked at her apostle who appeared in front of her.
“Long time no see.”
Her grace gets on her one knee, bows her head and bows reverently to her own goddesses.
“Thank you very much for allowing me to visit you.”
It is a gesture of gratitude for the fact that the other two goddesses agreed that Belldandy had summoned her spirit of grace to her divine realm.
Two of the three thrones were empty, and only Skuld, located on the far right, greeted Eunhyeon.
‘Looks like Belldandy isn’t here.’
Even so, Urud was a little puzzled that Belldandy, who had summoned herself to her god realm, was invisible to her, but as Skuld spoke to her, Eun-hyeon decided to focus on her conversation with the goddess.
[You said there was something you wanted to ask me.]
“You’re right.”
At Skuld’s plainly questioning remark, Eunhyun nodded her head.
“Illyana’s apostle’s family. Was it really done out of pure goodwill, without any problems?”
[It was not a decision made in goodwill.]
“…”
[This decision was made because it was judged that it would be more efficient to empower your potential.]
“… My possibility?”
[Berdandi-sister strongly suggested, and Urud-sister and I released the restrictions on your soul, but we were deeply concerned about what the consequences would be.]
Like that time when she tried to engage her frontlines with her elves, rather than evacuate her hero candidate and her young Regina, an act that put her own personal feelings ahead of her apostle mission, if anything. Wouldn’t it ruin her work while taking her?
[Her sisters and I, do you resent us? What manipulated your soul and limited your actions.]
“…”
Eunhyun couldn’t answer easily.
If she then entrusted Regina’s evacuation mission to someone else, and she herself participated in the war against the dark elves, she could save all the other elves, including Sylvia, so that none of them died. Would it?
The answer is unknown.
It is possible that a bleak future in which the elves, including Sylvia, were saved, and that the elves lost hope for Regina while losing Regina might have been created.
It is meaningless to make assumptions about what has already happened and predict the outcome of what would have happened if this had happened.
At that time, in that situation, it was Eun-hyeon herself who tried to reject the given role and mission.
It was Eun-hyeon herself who nodded and accepted the role of the apostle at Belldandi’s recommendation, which she had asked several times in advance.
If he didn’t like that, he shouldn’t have accepted something like an apostle from the beginning.
The hamster wheel, which had already begun to turn, was not even allowed to break away on the way.
“I am not resentful. But…”
I know it in my head, and I understand it.
Eun-hyeon also knows that the position as an apostle is the right one.
But nonetheless.
“I don’t want to live like that anymore.”
Not as an apostle, but as a human being, Eunhyeon clearly told Skuld what he was thinking.
Skuld smiled and nodded his head.
[That’s why.]
“Yes?”
[Berdandi-sister felt very sorry for forcing the gods’ way of thinking on you. Urd-sister still disapproved of having personal feelings for a human being, but she agreed to loosen the restraints on your soul.]
The feelings that Urd and Skuld have for Eunhyeon are different from those of Belldandi.
Agents created to perform their role as consumables or similar tools.
[You told Verdandy sister before, right? We want to prove that our methods are wrong.]
“…”
Eunhyun hardened her face, and she remembered what she had said to Belldandi in the past.
[If another human had said that, many gods would have been furious to hear it.]
It may have been ridiculed, ridiculed, and scorned.
[But you are different. I am a goddess who has seen the path of penance that you, my apostle, have walked.]
Among the three goddesses, Skuld, the second goddess after Belldandy, acknowledged the path Eunhyeon had taken and the achievements he had made.
[You deserve to say that. And…]
She slowly raised her body from her throne and bowed herself.
[I sincerely apologize for not trusting you, which forced me to take such action on your soul.]
“Ah…”
[I will wait for the moment when you prove that your way was right.]
It was the highest respectful apology from a goddess to her own disciple.
