Rebirth of the 8th-Circle Mage

Chapter 257 - Paying the Price (3)

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Von, who had been lying on the ground due to exhaustion, scrambled to his feet, frowning at what Henry had just said. He looked at Henry just like an adult looking at a kid who was blatantly lying, so he demanded, “Tell me, Henry! What does that mean?”

“It means exactly what I said. I think Arthus did something to Enkelmann while we were here fighting the Chimeras.”

“So that means Enkelmann is in shambles?!”

“Yes.”

“Damn it...!”

Von wasn’t the only one shocked by the news of what Arthus had done to Enkelmann with those zombies; everyone else was astonished as they listened to Henry, their eyes wide open and their jaws hitting the floor.

“Aahh! Fuck! FHAAA!”

Von started screaming, unable to contain his rage. As he yelled and swore, veins popped out on his forehead.

“Fuck! AAAHHH! FUCK!”

As if shouting wasn’t enough to assuage his rage, Von swung his sword in the air, hoping that this would calm him down a bit, since yelling didn’t seem to do anything.

With every swing, his sword released a fierce burst of Aura, as if Von wanted to kill somebody. As he kept going, Von eventually started unwittingly launching sword strikes in all directions, slashing all the Chimera corpses that lay in Charlotte Heights. The gruesome piles of flesh looked as if a butcher had minced them.

No one stopped Von. Instead, McDowell, whose face had darkened just as much as Von’s, muttered with a stiff expression, “So that’s the present that bastard was talking about...”

No one had expected such a present.

In such a dark, gloomy atmosphere, Herarion trudged toward Saint Irenae and called out to her in a hushed voice, “Um... Saint?”

As Herarion addressed Irenae, Ananda and Logger quickly rushed to her side, setting a boundary between her and Herarion.

The Saint pushed Ananda and Logger away and said embarrassingly, “I apologize, their job is to protect me, so please forgive their ill-mannered behavior.”

“Of course, I understand.”

“Thank you. Then may I ask what you were about to say, Your Majesty?”

At the Saint’s kind response, Herarion could finally speak his mind. However, before he did, he took a look around once more, and with an even more cautious tone, he said, “Um... Actually, I’d like to ask you a question.”

“Me?”

“Yes. What I’m about to talk about might just be a mistake on my part, so I’d like to ask you about it just in case.”

“Your Majesty’s mistake...? Well then, I suppose we need to talk about it before we can say if it’s a mistake.”

The Saint gently reassured Herarion and calmed his nerves a bit, giving him the courage to voice his concerns.

“...Saint, before the Chimera army attacked us, did you notice anything strange about Arthus when he disappeared?”

Irenae frowned slightly at Herarion’s question, and Ananda and Logger had the same reaction. The three exchanged glances, then nodded in agreement.

Irenae answered Herarion on behalf of the two in a cautious voice, just like he had asked his question.

“...I think we should talk about this somewhere more private.”

“Of course!”

The atmosphere became tense. After getting permission from the rest of the group, the four of them distanced themselves a bit in order to get some privacy.

After moving to a different spot, Irenae broke the silence.

“I was also thinking the same thing as Your Majesty, but... Did you notice anything concrete that was unusual about Arthus?”

“I... definitely sensed a divine power from him.”

“Divine power...!”

“I knew it!”

As soon as Herarion said ‘divine power,’ both Logger and Ananda exclaimed at the same time.

Irenae also nodded and said, “I see. So I wasn’t the only one who felt it. At the time, I couldn’t bring this up because of the situation we were in, and because I wasn’t a hundred percent sure, just like Your Majesty, but... Since we all felt the same thing, it’s certain that Arthus has gained some kind of divine power.”

“I knew I couldn’t have been the only one to feel it!”

“Of course, since we’re among those at the Church of Peace who possess the most amount of divine power.”

Herarion’s expression darkened even more when the members of the Church of Peace also agreed with him.

There was a moment of silence. Irenae eventually broke it by tentatively saying, “Your Majesty, is there anything that comes to your mind regarding Arthus’ divine power?”

At Irenae’s question, Herarion lowered his head and found himself deep in thought. After pondering on it for a while, he looked up and said in a weak voice, “There is something that’s bothering me, but... I’m too ashamed to say it out loud...”

“That’s alright. I’ve only known Your Majesty for a short time, but I know from what I’ve seen that you would never do anything shameful in the name of the gods, so please don’t feel ashamed to tell me what ails you.”

“...Thank you.”

At the Saint’s consideration, Herarion let out a deep sigh before he finally admitted what was bothering him.

“I’m ashamed to say this, but... If I’m right, the divine power that Arthus currently possesses is the divine power that I had up until a while ago.”

“...Sorry?”

“How could this...!”

Logger, Ananda, and Irenae were stunned at Herarion’s answer. They hadn’t expected something like this at all.

Logger was especially shocked.

“O-oh my...! Your Majesty, do you realize what you're saying?”

“...Of course. I’m certain that the divine power all four of us felt is that of the god that I used to worship, namely Janus, the god of darkness that rules over night and death in Shahatra.”

The three people from the Church of Peace didn’t know what kind of god Janus was. However, they did know that as the ruler of Shahatra, Herarion possessed divine power that was on par with that of the Pope of the Church of Peace. Thus, it was quite problematic for such tremendous divine power to be transferred to someone else.

Moreover, that power didn’t come from just any god, but from Janus, a god of darkness, the one who ruled over night and death. It was a disaster for such power to fall into the hands of someone as evil as Arthus.

Irenae and her guards remained quiet for a while, still shocked by Herarion’s reveal.

Once again, it was Irenae who broke the silence.

“Then, Your Majesty, could you tell us... What kind of god Janus is exactly?”

Herarion sighed and made a face as if he had been waiting for her to ask that question. He nervously swallowed and slowly said, “Janus is... unfortunately, a god that is similar to a cruel tyrant.”

“Oh, no...!”

“Oh!”

Logger and Ananda were in disbelief at Herarion’s answer, by Irenae’s questions didn’t end there.

“Your Majesty, if my next question crosses the line, please let me know. You said ‘the god I used to worship,’ correct? Does that mean that you no longer worship him?”

Irenae’s question struck Herarion right where it hurt. His weak voice was tinged with shame as he replied, “It’s not exactly that I’m not worshiping him... It’s more that I’m unable to. It’s a shame, but... I seem to have lost my right to worship Janus not too long ago.”

“What do you mean, you lost your right?”

“It’s just as I’ve said. The tradition passed down by the royal family of Shahatra is that only the king is allowed to worship Janus, Therefore, Janus shouldn’t have any other worshippers other than me.”

“Has this rule been made because of Janus’ unruly nature?”

“Yes, because by nature, divine powers are granted by faith, but if a worshiper with nefarious intentions were to acquire Janus’ power, then we would be in real trouble.”

“Then what do you mean you lost your right to worship him?”

“I regularly perform rituals to appease Janus, to control his wrath, but in the last ritual that I attempted, I discovered that I could no longer come in contact with Janus.”

“All of sudden?”

“Yes.”

“Does that mean... that Your Majesty has lost the divine object as well?”

“I’m afraid so...”

“Oh dear...!”

The divine object was a powerful object blessed by a god. In Janus’ case, the divine object was a ring called the Black Ring, and it was Janus’ token of proof.

Normally, the bearer of the divine object was the most powerful worshiper of the god. However, Herarion had recently found out through the power of La that Janus’ token of proof had lost its divine power. It had become a regular ring.

Herarion didn’t understand why that had happened; his divine power had literally disappeared all of a sudden, which was why he assumed his connection with Janus had been severed.

Irenae continued, “So by saying that you sensed the divine power of Janus in Arthus, do you mean to suggest that Arthus has become Janus’ sole worshiper?”

“That’s what I’m assuming, since the power that Arthus showed us... was the power of Janus.”

“Then how did Arthus get his hands on Janus’ power?”

“I would also like to know that... Anyway, that’s what I felt. I don’t know why... I sensed the divine power of Janus, which I thought I lost, in Arthus.”

Herarion’s expression turned even more dark as he finished explaining. His expression was riddled with anger, embarrassment, and shame. It was understandable for him to feel this way, since his position as Janus’ sole worshiper had been taken away, stolen, and he didn’t know how it had happened.

The conversation ended on a bleak note. All of them were dumbfounded and needed time to process what they had just discussed.

“This is quite shocking...”

Irenae was especially baffled by this because, in terms of religion, nobody had ever heard of something like this in the history of the Eurasia continent.

Herarion sagged his head, dejected.

There was silence again, and this time, nobody dared to break it.

After contemplating for a long time with his head down, Herarion looked up again and said, “I don’t know how this happened, but I can't say I’m entirely without fault since the god I worshiped has now sided with Arthus. We must tell everyone about this and come up with a solution.”

“Of course. If this is true, we must tell everyone, but... If Janus’ power is somehow connected to the situation in Enkelmann that the Archamge just mentioned, then...!”

A thought suddenly flashed through Irenae’s mind, rendering her unable to finish her sentence. The human imagination was always more creative when it came up with negative scenarios.

Everyone intuitively understood what Irenae meant and got goosebumps. If Janus’ divine power had really been used to bring about the catastrophe in Enkelmann... If that was truly the case, then this wasn’t a matter of black magic, which meant that not even the Pope of the Church of Peace could turn those poor people back to normal.

“No, nothing is certain yet, so I don’t think it’s a good idea to come up with speculations and spread panic and anxiety without any proof,” proposed Ananda.

“Ananda is right. I have a bad feeling about this, but we’ll have to go to Enkelmann with the Archmage before we can be sure.”

They decided to stop being pessimistic and find out what the facts were before they said anything. Sometimes, such speculations had devastating consequences.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Alright.”

Herarion, Irenae, Ananda, and Logger all tried to dispel the somber atmosphere that had been suffocating them. They decided to have faith.

***

Even after the four of them left, Von was still enraged, and the rest of the group joined Henry in discussing the news he had just told them.

“Damn it! Just what the hell is going on?!”

“Arthus... What the hell is that guy thinking...!”

Everyone was exhausted from fighting the large army of Chimeras, and the great shock that Henry had brought was enough to push them to the brink of despair.

After everyone discussed what had happened, Ronan intervened, “Um.. everyone, wait a minute.”

All eyes turned to Ronan.

“Arthus said he’d sent a present, but... What if he wasn’t referring only to Enkelmann?” said Ronan.

“What?”

“Well, if you think about it, it would be kind of weird for Arthus only to target Enkelmann. He even threw away the empire he had built, so this doesn’t make sense.”

Ronan’s remark was followed by a moment of silence. Everyone had chills running down their spine.

“I-it can’t be...!”

“The-there’s no time for talking! W-we must teleport now!”

Everyone had been too exhausted from fighting the Chimeras to try to think about what Arthus’ intentions were, even though the answer had been literally right under their noses. They only realized what was actually happening after Ronan shared his sinister hypothesis.

This was bad news for everyone, and it would soon turn into a nightmarish reality.