Chapter 422
The Ferryman sensed ominousness, but he did not know its source.
The source of that foreboding was not necessarily always a person, but this time, it was.
In the Cult of the Demon Realm, the one in charge of a small parish was a bishop, the one overseeing several parishes above them was an archbishop, and above even them stood an apostle.
In other words, one of the few apostles within the cult had personally stepped forward.
His name was Reddit.
‘I will make you food for worms.’
Thinking of that bastard Encrid, he hardened his resolve.
If he willed it, his authority would reveal its power. Reddit was accumulating that authority, not releasing it, for the sole purpose of killing a single man.
The apostles of the Cult of the Demon Realm were those born with authority.
Reddit had been born in a village bordering the Demon Realm, and before he had even turned ten, he slaughtered not only the villagers but their livestock as well.
His inborn ability was cursing.
He could burst a person’s heart just by looking at them, or make worms writhe beneath their skin.
He had not originally been an apostle either.
He became one because of an encounter he had at the age of fifteen.
While wandering the continent, hearing himself called the incarnation of a demon, Reddit met an opponent his ability did not work on.
“An interesting fellow.”
Even though their heart should have burst, they were fine. Even as worms burst through the flesh of their forearm and writhed in various places along their limbs, they did not so much as furrow their brow.
They smiled even while flies gnawed at their skin.
“Try harder.”
An opponent against whom nothing worked.
“Follow me, and I will make your pitiful power be called authority.”
From the man who spoke with a smile, Reddit saw a halo. A human radiating light. He was his savior.
“Who are you?”
Reddit asked.
The man spoke with a smile.
“I am the spokesperson for those betrayed by the false god, and a penitent walking a thorny path for my master.”
Reddit wept.
He could feel it. That he had lived until now for the sake of this person.
“Follow the Father. I will open a new world for you.”
The one who had come for him was an apostle of the Cult of the Demon Realm.
Reddit accepted his teachings.
He also underwent training so that his ability would come to be called authority.
That was how he became the Apostle of Curses.
“Father, I will go and return.”
The Wolf Bishop had died, and the things the cult had been pushing forward kept ending in failure.
Whose fault was that? By now, the name Encrid was known to all the major figures within the cult.
Which was why they could no longer stand by and watch.
The apostle who had brought him in, the one he now called Father, nodded.
Reddit ground his teeth, clasped his hands as if in prayer, and bowed his head.
Seeing that, the Father Apostle said,
“Go and show them. That no one should obstruct our work like this.”
It was a conversation held on a sunlit path.
By the time Naurilia’s civil war had ended, the apostle was already inside the kingdom.
Because of his inborn authority, Reddit could not ride a horse, and it was difficult to keep people near him.
Because if anyone stayed by his side for more than a week, misfortune would befall them.
Cursing someone by sight to constrict their heart or make worms writhe beneath their skin was a controllable curse, but things like being struck by lightning or swept away in a landslide merely by being near him were not things he could control.
The curse was so vicious that some people would die even from a minor scratch, the wound festering until it killed them.
He was literally a walking curse.
Even without learning anything separately, he possessed a peculiar constitution that allowed him to cast curses surpassing those of any sorcerer.
And he had been trained until it was worthy of being called authority.
That was how he learned to strengthen his power.
Misfortune aversion—the fewer people there were around him, the more powerfully his heart curse and worm curse would act.
However, when accumulating the power of a curse, he had to be extremely careful and exercise control.
If he accumulated that power for too long, misfortune would often rebound onto him.
For this task, Reddit gathered curses to the very limit.
To the point that if anything went wrong, the backlash would fall on his own body.
Because of that, his skin suppurated even more and oozed pus, and his face, covered in all kinds of scabs like pockmarks, seemed to demonstrate what true ugliness was.
At a glance, he could have been called kin to a ghoul.
His target was a skilled man strong enough to belong to the royal guard, so this much preparation was necessary.
For the sake of a single curse, Reddit wandered only deserted roads, drawing in the power of curses.
He did so like an ascetic fasting and praying.
It was only after completing all of that that he arrived.
Skin tangled with pockmarks, a body that creaked with every step, bones so fragile they broke under even a little strain, internal organs that could not properly digest what he ate, and muscles that had withered to the point they could barely function.
The natural affliction of one born with a curse.
He arrived at the Border Guards, his body concealed beneath a wide coat and a hood pulled low over his head.
“Who are you, and where are you from?”
“Just a traveler. Cough, cough.”
Just speaking a few words made his throat itch and his lungs feel as though they were burning.
‘I overdid it a little this time.’
Reddit knew he had accumulated his curse authority to excess.
But this was also the end of it now. In only a few days at most, he would be able to forget this pain for a while.
The body born with affliction would improve temporarily by pouring curses onto an opponent.
For him, making this authority real was also the only way he could continue living.
Otherwise, he would not necessarily have slaughtered all the villagers and wandered the continent, nor would he have gained the nickname of a demon who kills and kills again through curses.
Now, being the Apostle of Curses alone was enough.
“You seem to be in a lot of pain.”
“There’s a clinic inside. Go get yourself checked.”
The sentry at the Border Guards gate looked at Reddit’s appearance and nodded.
He did not seem particularly inclined to accept a bribe.
The Border Guards had recently begun rising as a trade city. One might have expected the guards to have their hands out, but all of them were focused solely on their duties.
Reddit nodded and passed through.
Seeing pus trickling down from above his nostrils, one of the sentries furrowed his brow.
“Please get treatment.”
The soldier said that to him. Reddit gave a small bow and stepped inside.
There was no need to look for an inn. He intended to head straight for the barracks.
That bastard Encrid was said to be obsessed with training no matter the hour.
“Lord Encrid!”
Then someone’s voice tugged at his ear.
Turning his head, he saw a man with black hair and blue eyes.
They were standing before a forge that radiated heat.
He was in the middle of putting metal gauntlets onto both hands.
It was proof clear enough that a god of the Demon Realm was watching over him.
‘The god has watched over me.’
The true god dwelled in the Demon Realm, and he did not reject one for being called a demon.
Reciting the teachings, Reddit gathered all the power he possessed.
A wave of curse power that no one noticed rose and surged toward Encrid.
No, a mere wave would not be enough.
Reddit moved his feet. The cursed body given through divine punishment screamed.
This too would soon be over.
He approached and reached out his hand.
Encrid looked at Reddit.
“It’s, it’s an honor.”
Playing the part of a common citizen, Reddit reached out toward him, and Encrid did not brace himself. In the end, Reddit’s hand touched Encrid.
===
“I ask the Apostle of the God of War. Is it true that you released the heretic without punishment? Surely you did not do so without knowing that it is no different from declaring yourself a heretic as well?”
Audin had a dream.
A scene from the past appeared. The face of the person speaking to him became distorted.
That distorted face soon transformed into a monster molded from mud.
Dragging along two lumps too shameful to even be called feet, the monster shuffled forward. Watching it, one could feel that it had come a very long way.
That monster crawled and dragged itself closer, then clung to one person, melting and crushing him.
Looking closely at the one being crushed, it was General Brother.
‘The Lord?’
Audin thought it was a kind of prophetic dream. He did not know the identity of the mud monster, but it felt like an undeniable fact that some kind of danger was approaching.
When he opened his eyes, Audin also realized that he had dozed off while sitting in broad daylight.
The god must have arranged it so in order to deliver revelation through a dream.
A mad savage came into Audin’s view.
“Where did General Brother go?”
“He went into the city to meet a blacksmith.”
Rem had just received his new axe and was swinging it to get used to the feel.
After all, it was different from the weapon he had been using until now.
Still, it had a similar feel to the weapons he used in the past, so it would not be hard to adapt. Rem was repeating that process now.
Audin let out a sigh at the sight of Rem and spoke.
“If he’s late, it’s because Father is lazy.”
With words he would never have uttered under normal circumstances—blaming the god—Audin moved.
Rem wondered why he had suddenly started acting like that.
===
What was ominousness?
Encrid anticipated it—no, he waited for the ominousness the Ferryman had spoken of to come.
But there was no news.
Still, he was not anxious. He merely repeated his daily life.
“Once you get used to it, let’s spar.”
Rem said as he entered carrying his new axe. Lewis Mountain steel gave off a faint gleam under the sunlight.
To anyone’s eye, it was no ordinary axe.
“How long do you need to get used to it?”
“About a day, so wait. Why are you so obsessed with getting beaten up?”
It was the usual trivial conversation.
“Ah, and the blacksmith said he has something to give you.”
“Why didn’t you bring it when you came?”
“He said he wanted to hand it to you personally.”
Rem spoke while recalling the craftsman who had tried to stick a strange name on his axe.
He had thought about taking it by force, but he liked the axe he had been given far too much.
It was a weapon that would not easily break even against Encrid’s new sword, Aker.
Encrid nodded.
The blacksmith sent from the Royal Palace wanted to hand over the item personally.
Perhaps the biggest difference between himself and Rem was the ability to understand the other person’s intentions and feelings.
“Well, then.”
What was the big deal about taking a quick trip?
Becoming a General had not changed his daily life.
If anything, only the attitudes of the other commanders had changed.
Battalion Commander Graham, in particular, maintained a respectful attitude.
The same went for people like Squad Leader Benzense or Squad Leader Vell.
And beyond respect, the number of gazes turned toward him with admiration had also increased.
Of course, there were still those who did not.
The most obvious examples were the members of his subordinate unit, and Sinar was the same way.
They were exactly as they had always been.
As Encrid moved along with idle thoughts in his head, his eyes caught sight of Audin sleeping off to one side. It was honestly remarkable that even in sleep, his posture never collapsed.
Seeing that, Encrid headed down to the market and made for the forge.
The day was hot. It was the season of the salamander.
Salamanders, one of the Fiends that spewed flames, were sometimes called fire spirits or fire Fiends.
A season of excessive heat was often described by borrowing the name of that Fiend.
Summer sunlight filtered through the trees and lit up the ground.
As Encrid walked, thinking about new techniques, he considered how he should train them and in what ways he could use them.
If he received what he had come for, returned, and sparred with Rem afterward, then today would become yet another fulfilling day, no different from the others.
When he arrived before the forge, sweating just enough, the craftsman greeted him, sweat beading on his own brow as well.
“The steel in the sword you used before was quite good. The core was damaged, so it couldn’t be reforged into a sword, but like this.”
The craftsman was a man with exceptional pride. He held out the gauntlets he had made.
They were made by melting down Silver, the sword Encrid had used before.
The metal gauntlets had leather layered inside, and beneath that leather were several more layers of cloth.
If they were made of metal alone, there would be no way to absorb the shock.
Perhaps because the surface had been polished well, the smooth curves looked suitable for deflecting or parrying ordinary weapons.
“Your skill is remarkable.”
Encrid did not hold back his praise. He thought it was a fine gift.
He was about to turn away after receiving the item.
“Lord Encrid!”
Someone who recognized him came closer and called out. Who could it be? It was the shoemaker he had crossed paths with once before.
Beneath that man’s shop, a certain mage had been hiding, and at that time Encrid had opened the Gate of the Sixth Sense.
It was not an event he could forget.
“Ah, that, I was just so happy to see you.”
His tone was more polite than ever before. The Encrid who had once gone down into the basement of his shop and the Encrid of now were different in status and in every other respect.
Although the shoemaker had called out in delight, he was also worried that the other man, now someone equal to a noble, might rebuke him.
“Is your daughter well?”
“Are you interested in my daughter?”
“That’s not it.”
As they exchanged a few simple greetings, someone approached Encrid.
“It’s, it’s an honor.”
He spoke and held out his hand. Encrid gave it no thought.
Among those who recognized him, there were quite a few like that.
Some came to spar, only to end up staring at his face, and others simply reached out their hands like this.
There was no way anyone could imagine that the person before him was the very ominousness the Ferryman had spoken of.
No one would find that easy to believe.
Despite his shabby appearance, he was clearly someone incapable of exerting any martial force.
From his posture to his aura, everything about him said the same.
Judging by the aura alone, Encrid thought the man could be beaten by a fifteen-year-old boy.
The man’s hand touched his arm.
“How dare you touch him?”
Seeing that, the shoemaker and the craftsman both flared up in anger.
Encrid waved his hand as if to say it was nothing.
The moment the man’s hand touched him, he had felt something, but it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.
Only an indescribable sensation remained.
“Th-this, what is this?”
The man’s voice trembled. He seemed deeply startled.
Blinking at the sudden shift in the man’s emotions, Encrid thought,
‘He seems to be in a lot of pain.’
Encrid clasped the man’s hand in return. Was it right to look down on someone simply because their outward appearance was wretched?
Probably not.
===
“What kind of fool is this?”
Even the Ferryman could not see everything.
If today repeated, he could see most of that repeating day, but even when, as this time, he sensed ominousness drawing near, he could not know exactly what it was.
So he had not expected that fool to bring something like a curse.
The Ferryman felt a rare sense of shame.
He had spent days speaking of the ominousness to come, and of all things, it had turned out to be a curse.
There was no way anything in this world could place a curse on this madman.
For several reasons, the Ferryman knew well that the other man’s curse would vanish without accomplishing anything.
‘That damn fool.’
The Ferryman cursed the group that had sent him. He did not know who they were, but he kept cursing them all the same.
‘Those imbecile bastards.’
(T/N: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. So the Ferryman’s curse overpowered the Apostle’s curse? Is that it? lol)