Chapter 27: A Village of Elders

Beata said, looking at Belmias.

“How about it, Lady Belmias?”
“That’s right.”

Beata Mirgas’s face brightened up.

She looked like someone in love.

Mirgas was a family of atheist scholars who studied ancient civilizations.

Her eyes sparkled more now than when she was talking about religion.

And such a Beata now looked more like a fanatic than the confused Lema Valkite.

“Master, I-I don’t understand…”

Lema looked even more confused now that Bel had affirmed the absurd topic.

But Bel didn’t say it was entirely true.

While affirming Beata’s words, Bel added a short sentence.

“That’s right, but I am not the moon you’re talking about.”

“Ah, but then… what is the reason for the Supreme God’s descent in the modern era?”

“To destroy the world.”

“Aah…”

“…”

“…”

Axel Mirgas’s smiling face froze.

And he was horrified.

“Again?”

It seemed Axel and Beata thought that Belmias, who had destroyed the ancient civilization, had reappeared to destroy modern civilization.

“It’s not again. I told you I’m not that moon.”

The Mirgas siblings looked at each other, then cautiously asked Bel.

“Uhm, then may I ask the reason?”

“Someone wished for me to do so.”

“Ah…”

The siblings’ gazes slowly turned to Lema.

Lema, who was about to casually dismiss their scrutinizing gazes, suddenly realized something and raised his voice.

“That’s not the wish I made!”

Lema’s insides were bursting from this ridiculous Q&A.

“…”

Lema Valkite, with his head bowed, couldn’t say another word after that conversation.

Bel stared at Lema Valkite for a while and then turned her gaze away.

It seemed it was hard for him to accept the absurd reason that he had become a heretic because of a prophecy.

Well, in the first place, it was very difficult for someone who had lived most of his life under Lucilonia to suddenly be treated as a heretic, change his supreme god, and still have that faith continue.

What’s more, by his original standards, the new god he had decided to serve was not a righteous god, but an evil god at the opposite pole.

What’s more, he wasn’t designated as a heretic because he followed Bel, but he had met and followed Bel because he had gone through that after being designated as a heretic.

For Lema, the cause and effect would feel reversed.

Putting that aside for now, she had a question.

It was a question that had naturally arisen because Bel had been through many eras.

In fact, this wasn’t the first time she had experienced such a powerful mythical age.

But in such eras, atheism was generally not allowed.

Because a human who did not believe in a god was considered to have no basic morals.

It was especially strange since the supreme god of this era advocated light and justice.

“But it seems they allow atheism there?”

“Yes? Aah… that’s right. As I said, we were not believers, and it is difficult for people like us to meet apostles who can use high-level holy laws like healing. That is also the reason why Beata was heading for Lucilonia this time. We thought that if she converted, she might have more of a chance. In fact, the reason we brought a bribe is also in that context.”

“Hmm.”

Bel looked at Beata with a steady gaze.

She had healed the dying woman because Lema had said she had to be kept alive to return the hostage, but it seemed she had over-healed her.

After her body was healed, she had been crying and laughing like a madwoman, and it seemed she couldn’t even control her body properly before.

If she had known that beforehand, she would have just fixed the broken bones and torn flesh, but to Bel, a human with a broken head and bleeding, a human with broken bones and spilling intestines, and a human who couldn’t control their body because their strength and stamina had dropped to their limit were all the same.

“…As you know from treating her yourself, that body was not something that could be fixed by simply curing the disease. In fact, a dispatched apostle had looked at her a couple of times, but a complete cure was impossible.”

She wasn’t interested in their circumstances.

Bel, whose curiosity was satisfied just by understanding the era, indifferently crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, and Axel Mirgas, after watching her cautiously for a moment, said.

“Uhm, but you said you grant wishes?”

“Yes.”

The Mirgas siblings’ expressions brightened up.

“But I need a sacrifice. A man.”

The Mirgas siblings’ expressions turned gloomy.

“That… we will try to prepare somehow.”

Was it something to be so gloomy about?

Was it a territory where it was hard to find men?

Even the knights were all women.

Anyway, it wasn’t a problem Bel needed to worry about.

Bel touched her tea, took a sip, and then put it down.

It didn’t taste very good.

The delicious one was Lema.

Bel glanced at Lema.

Lema, who had been looking at the floor the whole time, had a bad expression until the end.

Bel was shown to the best room in the mansion.

They said they would prepare a sacrifice, but it would take a long time to prepare, so she should wait.

It seemed it was a bit much to give her the same room as Lema.

Bel, who had been separated from Lema unexpectedly, felt a headache coming on and pressed her temples.

I can’t wait.

First, she couldn’t easily believe that humans who felt quite a bit of resistance to killing people would prepare a male sacrifice.

What’s more, there was something they were mistaken about.

The reason Bel needed a sacrifice was because if a high-quality sacrifice was not provided, she would truly become a disaster from a human’s perspective.

There was no way they would want her to go around killing any human she saw.

In fact, Bel didn’t welcome that either.

It seems Lema has no intention of offering himself.

Although she had killed all the bandits, were they worth using as a sacrifice?

No.

Those guys were terrible.

Bel opened the window and looked outside, then lightly jumped down.

Hmm. Hmm.

I need to get a sacrifice quickly before my head gets noisy.

Let’s take a look around the territory. I wonder if there’s a man worth eating.

Bel first lightly jumped up the castle wall and went to the top of the lord’s castle.

The territory was in full view.

There was a huge mountain near the Mirgas territory, and the area near the castle walls was mostly forest.

Still, as befitting a prosperous territory, the roads were well-paved.

After figuring out where the private houses were clustered, Bel jumped down from the castle in one go.

She landed lightly and found a relatively deserted place.

It was a small private house, a little remote.

Bel walked slowly for a while, searching for signs of people.

Oh, she finally found one.

Bel approached it.

As the light brightened, a human figure was revealed.

“Wh-who are you!”

“Huh?”

The person who was wary of Bel was an old man with white hair.

The old man, who was about to threaten the stranger with a plow, seemed somewhat relieved when he saw that Bel’s figure in the light was that of a young woman alone.

“…What’s a young lady doing here? The days are very dangerous these days, so don’t wander around at this late hour.”

“Uh… okay.”

Bel just nodded.

Surprisingly, the old man didn’t seem to mind the casual address.

Surprisingly, old people sometimes liked it when very young people were overfamiliar.

Bel licked her lips.

No matter how hungry she was, it was a bit much to eat an old man.

It just didn’t taste good, common sense-wise.

So Bel headed somewhere else.

“Who are you?”

This time it was a woman.

An old woman.

She didn’t eat women in the first place, and she was even an old woman.

“Oh my… You shouldn’t be wandering around at this hour, young lady.”

And she said the same thing as the old man she had just met.

That it was dangerous, so she shouldn’t wander around.

“A knight on patrol just passed by here, you can meet her if you walk a little in that direction.”

“…”

As Bel, who had struck out twice, said nothing, the old woman misunderstood her reaction and said again.

“Should I go with you if you’re scared?”

“No, it’s okay.”

Bel walked for a while in the direction the old woman had pointed and found the knight the old woman had mentioned.

The knight on patrol was a woman.

Since there was no reason to run into her, Bel just confirmed the human’s gender and then retreated somewhere else.

After that, she looked around other private houses as she had confirmed from the top of the castle, but she couldn’t find any harvest.

“Hmm.”

After looking around the territory a little more, Bel stopped.

An expression of dissatisfaction was prevalent on her face.

What’s with this territory?

Why are there only old people?

There are no men to just grab and eat.