Chapter 290 : Sin of Greed (1)
The eastern part of the Allied Kingdom Alliance.
Somewhere deep in the forest, possibly even closer to the elven land of Greynifra than the rest of the Alliance.
"Ugh—"
A woman crawled out of the ground, breaking through the dirt.
She gagged several times with a twisted expression.
The Apostle of Greed, Emil, frowned in disgust.
'What the hell was that bastard?'
Greed recalled the memories passed down in her mind.
Right after encountering that strange being with blue eyes, and then the man in black sacred robes she saw upon awakening in her next body.
On top of that, she had tried hard to recall the identity of the one who, somehow, had stolen her power without any effort.
But she struggled to her feet.
Even the limited access to the "library" left in the avatar she'd handed over provided no information on who or what that being was.
'This is the end.'
Emil's face showed her growing anxiety.
She had no more bodies prepared.
In other words, if she were killed again now—
She would face true, complete death.
'I can't let that happen.'
Emil forced her still-unstable body to move.
Truthfully, she never intended to use this one.
It was meant to be only a backup, and thus came with many flaws.
For one, it wasn't properly attuned, and more importantly, its burial location was extremely dangerous.
She tried to quickly move and escape the place.
"Hm—so you came back to life."
Unfortunately, at the sound of that voice, she froze in place.
Emil's eyes trembled.
She knew that voice very well.
Of course she did—because its owner—
"You're—"
—was the one who stole a portion of her Authority and whose identity even she couldn't uncover.
In an instant, black roots surged from beneath Emil's feet and shot toward the man in the sacred robes.
She knew well the attack could cause serious harm to her frail body, lacking both her "book" and a proper vessel—but if she wanted to survive, she had no choice.
However—
"Didn't you try this last time too?"
Unfortunately, her attack was effortlessly blocked by the black-clad man.
Or rather, it wasn't even blocked.
The roots disintegrated into dust before they could touch him.
"You know it's meaningless."
"....!"
In that bizarre moment, fear consumed Emil's eyes.
The man in the black sacred robes casually approached her.
Tap—
He lightly flicked her forehead with a finger.
Then—
"Rejoice. I'm giving you a special gift."
Emil was puzzled by his words.
"!"
She suddenly realized her body was turning white and hardening like chalk, and her eyes flew open in shock.
She knew exactly what this phenomenon meant.
"A gift most fitting for an Apostle."
"S-Stop! Please!"
Emil's eyes were completely filled with fear.
But no matter her terror, her body continued to harden, preparing to be remade anew.
To be reborn—through sin.
"Stop! I said stop! Please...!"
Emil no longer cared about the mystery of how that man could perform an act only Apostles were capable of.
She just pleaded.
But despite her desperate cries, the man simply looked down at her.
"Shouldn't you be grateful instead? Your body will become one with the inevitability of the world."
"Shut up! Shut up! Let me go! This isn't what I wanted!"
She screamed, her face twisted in pain.
The man watched silently for a moment, then—
"You're not even worthy of being called an Apostle."
"What did you say?"
He stated it coldly.
"You don't know anything. You're just drunk on power—you don't even know why these things exist, what noble purpose they serve, or even your own reason for existing—"
Such fools.
He muttered briefly, but no more words came from Emil.
Her body had already hardened completely, finishing its transformation into a new being.
The man looked down at her white shell, then shifted his gaze to the Milky Way floating in the night sky.
Soon, he vanished without a trace.
And what remained—
Snap—
—was a white cocoon.
Transforming into something new.
A pure, pure cocoon.
***
About two weeks had passed since Alon left the Eastern Kingdom.
"Phew—"
Returning to the Allied Kingdom aboard Radan's ship, Zaebo, Alon continued training with Kylrus, aided by Penia.
[Meow-]
"Oh, it's gotten a bit longer now."
Penia said as Alon petted the head of Blackie, who had crawled out from his chest and was wagging its tail.
"Really?"
"Yes, before it used to pop out quickly, but now it seems like it's staying out longer each time."
"It's definitely lasting longer now."
At first, he was concerned because the endurance time wasn't improving at all.
But unlike back then, he could now endure quite a while during training with Kylrus.
'And the things I've been practicing lately are looking pretty good… Though I still lack proficiency.'
While thinking about the spell Kylrus had recently passed on to him—
"So, are we stopping here for today?"
"Let's do that. I also need to continue my magic research and look into the divine rank as well."
Alon sighed lightly as he spoke.
Despite being on a journey, he had been quite busy lately, for obvious reasons—because of what Noise had told him.
'The emergence of sin is inevitable.'
In other words, even if Alon had taken care of the apostles, it was a foregone conclusion that the sins would appear, so he had to prepare for them.
Of course, Alon wasn't the only one in Psychedelia capable of stopping the sins.
According to the original story, there were others—Eliban and his companions, and many other powerful figures depending on Eliban's path.
But still, the reason Alon trained so diligently was because—
He kept experiencing things that told him the current world and the Psychedelia he knew were fundamentally different.
Therefore—
'Prepare to the fullest.'
Separate from Eliban, Alon intended to make his own preparations to stop the sins.
The first task was to draw out his full potential.
He had already achieved quite a lot.
He had organized most of his hand signs and incantations—now only research remained—and though he couldn't handle three divine ranks yet, he could use two quite well.
But Alon knew.
That this still wasn't enough to face sin.
Especially since he hadn't fully mastered Reverse Heaven yet.
While continuing his research into magic, he was also thinking of gathering people who could help deal with the sins.
Because sins weren't something one could fight alone.
'First, after rescuing Rine, I should start reaching out to strong allies.'
Just as Noise had mentioned, he also needed to meet the Observer.
As Alon calmly organized the tasks ahead—
"Oh, by the way, Marquis, once we disembark, how long are we staying in Greynifra?"
Penia asked.
"We are, but why do you ask?"
"Well, I might need to visit the Blue Tower briefly."
"The Mage Tower? Is something wrong?"
"Not exactly. It's for the conference. Do you remember? I told you I presented a paper last time?"
"That's right."
"Well, the presentation itself is done, but I've been asked to give a follow-up lecture. So I was wondering when you were planning to return."
"Are you thinking of going ahead?"
"No? Of course not. Aren't we staying in Greynifra because of Rine Grof?"
When Alon nodded, Penia continued as if it were obvious.
"Even if I am ambitious—no, just a little greedy for honor—I'm not the kind of person who'd skip welcoming someone who risked everything for us."
She added that if it weren't for Rine, they'd all have been torn apart across space and time.
She emphasized it was thanks to Rine that they weren't floating around as dust.
"…Is that so?"
"Right?"
"That's… surprising."
"Hmm?"
"No, I thought you'd go to the conference first."
"…I've been thinking this for a while, but don't you treat me a little too harshly?"
"Just kidding."
"Even with that face, it really doesn't sound like a joke, you know."
Alon averted his gaze from Penia, whose cheeks puffed out in annoyance, and casually resumed his magical research.
It was a relaxed afternoon.
Time passed, and about a month remained before Rine's seal would be lifted.
Alon, having arrived on the continent, immediately decided on a destination.
"All right, let's head to Greynifra."
"Let's go."
"Got it."
As Evan and Penia nodded at Alon's words, he turned toward Historia.
"Ria, what are you planning to do?"
To which Historia responded—
"I'll go with you."
She answered without even a moment's hesitation.
"Is there nowhere else you need to stop by?"
"Nope."
"Then let's head out right away… Oh, and Radan, what about you?"
He then asked Radan.
"I'll come too. I also want to check if Rine is safe."
At Radan's immediate response, Alon turned to the group.
"Okay, let's go at once."
With that, he began walking toward the carriage.
Whoosh—
Naturally, Historia stepped beside him and wrapped her tail around his waist.
It was strange at first, but after a month, he had grown quite used to it.
Alon walked toward the carriage without hesitation.
"If we depart right now, we should arrive in about three weeks."
"That's good. It's always better to have extra time."
As he discussed the schedule with Penia and opened the carriage door—
"??"
His eyes widened.
And not just his—everyone else's faces turned to surprise.
Understandably so.
Inside the carriage Alon had arrived in—
"Zzz…"
—was Seolrang, who absolutely shouldn't have been there, sleeping soundly as if without a care in the world.
"…Seolrang?"
At Alon's quiet call—
"Ngah?!"
Seolrang jolted awake in a panic.
"…Huh."
After a moment, she seemed to finally grasp the situation and began darting her eyes around in every direction.
Everyone stood in stunned silence, watching Seolrang's bizarre eye gymnastics.
***
Meanwhile—
In the Holy Nation of Rosario—
"Well then, let's conclude today's meeting here."
"Understood."
"Good work, everyone."
"As you all know, next time we'll be discussing the vacant position of the Pope, so please make sure to attend."
The meeting, attended only by the cardinals and Yuman, had just ended.
After the cardinals all left—
"Sigh."
Yuman let out a deep breath.
This had already been the fourth long meeting in just a week.
As he massaged his temples, his aching head pounding, something on the conference table suddenly caught his eye.
"…?"
"?"
It was a piece of scrap metal.
A severely crushed piece of scrap.
Yuman naturally approached and looked down at it, tilting his head in confusion.
Scrap metal could be found anywhere, sure—but inside a meeting room?
Something felt off.
Puzzled for a while, Yuman finally remembered that the object was sitting in the seat where Cardinal Yutia had been.
And in that moment—
"…Huh?"
He realized something else.
The silver goblet that was present at every other cardinal's seat—was missing from Yutia's.
Yuman looked at the scrap again.
And this time, he noticed something he hadn't seen before.
On the surface of the scrap—on what must have once been a smooth silver goblet—was a grotesquely warped engraving of the national emblem.
"…??"
Seeing the condition of the goblet, so mangled it was hard to believe any human could have done it, Yuman was at a loss for words.