Chapter 93: Fate(2)
Elbon Claude.
He was one of the members of the Sage Council, where the prestigious magicians of the empire gathered, and he was in charge of alchemy at the central magic tower of the empire.
According to the world, he was Elbon, the sage of gold and steel.
He was so well-known that any magician who walked the path of alchemy in the empire would know his name.
The effective potions that circulated in the empire all came out through Elbon’s workshop.
He was a person who had an enormous influence on the alchemy of the empire.
However, there were also some drawbacks to Elbon.
The most representative one was that he had a weird personality and a harsh mouth.
“Anyway, those dirty priests. Unlike their master, they only say things that are unbearable every time they open their mouths.”
“Master. I’m worried that someone might hear you.”
Enia Claude, his disciple who was flustered by Elbon’s blasphemy, stopped him and said.
Enia looked around and checked the reactions of the people in the tavern.
Fortunately, no one seemed to care much about their conversation.
Elbon’s mouth was famous for not caring about people or places.
It was rumored that even insults to the royal family came out of his mouth in the magic tower where no one could see.
So Enia, his disciple, always had to watch his mouth when he was outside.
“What do you mean by that? Are you saying that I can’t even talk like this while drinking with my own money?”
Bang!
Elbon, who was dissatisfied with Enia’s words, slammed the table with his fist.
Enia shrank as Elbon glared at her while hitting the table.
It looked far from the image of a sage.
His disciple was in a situation where he was drunk and angry.
It was obvious that he could not calm down his temper with ordinary words.
“No, that’s not it…”
“Disciple! Is my story wrong?”
“M-Master is always right! But you have dignity as a sage, so please be careful what you say outside…”
“Reduce the production of potions and donate through the temple? They’re just leeching off in the name of God!”
As Enia expected, Elbon exploded his temper.
The cause was a request from the Temple of Abundance that was delivered to Elbon a while ago.
The temple asked Elbon to reduce the number of dangerous potions he made and to conduct his own relief work through the temple.
The empire was a country where the breath of six temples worked strongly.
And the Temple of Abundance was one of the most influential temples among them.
Even Elbon, a member of the Sage Council, could not completely ignore the temple’s request.
So he had to donate money to the temple and wrap up his relief work in Enia’s hometown.
At the same time, it was also Enia’s job to soothe her master who was angry every day.
It was not an easy task to soothe a sage who drank and got angry every day.
“Master is right! Right, but…”
“Be quiet if you’re right! How dare you try to stop your master without knowing how much I’ve helped you!”
“No, that’s not it! Your dignity as a sage…”
“It seems that Master has had too much to drink.”
Just as Elbon emptied his beer and tried to yell at Enia again,
Someone holding honey beer sat down next to Enia.
The man who sat down with beer was someone familiar to Enia.
A priest who worked at the Temple of Abundance located in Jedo.
He smiled as he watched Elbon and Enia.
It happened to be a situation where Enia’s master was making inappropriate remarks.
Enia tensed up and asked him why he came here with her eyebrows twitching.
“P-Priest? What are you doing here…”
“It’s been a long time, Miss Enia. The honey beer here has a good flavor. We should be grateful to the goddess of abundance who allows us to enjoy this pleasure.”
After greeting her, the priest took a sip of his beer.
Elbon’s eyes rolled at the sight of the priest who suddenly sat down.
As soon as he saw him, Elbon threw his beer glass on the floor.
And then he started to roar at him.
“How dare those who have fed off my back with the emperor’s authority show their faces in front of me!”
“Don’t be so angry. Aren’t we all trying to do good together? The goddess will also bless you, Master.”
“Blessing? I don’t even remember seeing her face, let alone her blessing! What’s the point of that blessing?”
“M-Master…”
Enia smiled and blocked the way between Elbon and the priest.
But Elbon pushed Enia away and looked at the priest.
The priest also quietly put down his beer glass, as if he couldn’t let Elbon’s words pass.
The eyes of the smiling priest and the flushed Elbon met in the air.
The first to open his mouth was the priest.
“I can understand your complaints about me, but your insults to the goddess are hard to overlook.”
“Insults are what you’re doing. Isn’t that what the temple’s doctrine taught you?”
“You won’t gain anything from angering the goddess. It is because of her that fruits are born and sweet harvests come.”
“Huh.”
Elbon sighed at the priest’s words.
Enia’s hair bristled as she watched Elbon.
Considering her usual master, it was a situation where harsh words would come out at this point.
Sure enough, Elbon started a major blasphemy against the priest.
“Farming is done by farmers and harvests are also done by farmers. What did the goddess help with?”
“Didn’t you have a good harvest last year? This abundance is the grace that the goddess has given us.”
“That’s the result of the farmers’ efforts, shedding blood and sweat.”
“It is the goddess of abundance who leads us to such a future.”
The priest and Elbon, both of them stared at each other with sharp eyes.
To Enia, it didn’t seem like a constructive conversation between a magician and a cleric.
They had different backgrounds of knowledge.
They would only run parallel lines no matter how they talked from different perspectives.
But both of them seemed to be unwilling to give up on the argument that would follow.
Enia sighed and pulled back her chair, showing a half-resigned look.
“That depends on nature and the farmers’ efforts!”
“It is the goddess who guides us to the right future with the farmers’ faith and efforts.”
“What?”
“The guidance of the goddess to the right future. We call it fate. The fate that is determined by God’s providence cannot be changed.”
Fate.
Enia looked at the priest with a hollow feeling as she listened to their conversation.
If fate had everything set up, then this scene in front of her eyes was also predetermined by fate.
Then it was a very dull fate.
Enia denied fate in her head, but she had to keep watching this meaningless conversation.
Until they stopped piling up their glasses of alcohol and reached their limit.
The heated debate continued until both of them got drunk and collapsed.
Of course, it was Enia’s job to carry her drunken master back home.
***
As usual, I came home after work and turned on the game while watching TV.
The snacks for soothing my tired day were also on the table.
Sundae. Fried food. Tteokbokki.
It was a combination commonly called a snack set.
In my small studio apartment, there was also an air conditioner turned on along with the snacks.
I faced the snacks and air conditioner and indulged in my own small happiness.
“Phew, I worked hard today.”
Snap.
I tore open some wooden chopsticks and put them in front of me with the unpacked snacks.
I couldn’t separate them neatly like splitting wood, but it didn’t matter for eating.
I picked up a fried food with wooden chopsticks and opened a can of cola next to me.
The cola greeted me with bubbles and fizz as it leaked out.
“Hmm…”
Of course, while I was doing that, the news that I turned on to break the silence on TV was still going on.
Was it because it coincided with the rush hour that the world news corner started?
The news program showed world news similar to last time.
An announcer I was familiar with from watching the news several times brought out a map.
It was a map of Africa colored by sections.
-“The riots that were simultaneously taking place in some African countries are now leading to border closures.”
-“Nearly 10 countries have entered border closures.”
-“All countries except two have declared martial law, and the remaining two countries are expected to soon…”
The situation in Africa that had been talked about since before seemed to be getting worse.
After all, even at work, there were occasional talks about Africa.
I didn’t care much about it, so I didn’t know exactly what was going on.
I ate a tteokbokki and continued to watch TV.
-“The government also announced that it would designate the entire African region as a travel ban area.”
-“Until the travel ban is lifted, flights to the African continent will…”
Following the border closure of the countries, the country also imposed a travel ban.
I was a person who was far from traveling abroad, so it wasn’t a very regrettable story.
But it was clear that something was happening there that was different from the usual situation.
The people living there must be having a hard time, I thought as I gulped down my beer.
“Maybe I should stock up on some ramen, just in case.”
It still seemed like a distant story to me.
But sometimes I saw scenes that reminded me of the disaster movies I used to watch.
Usually, in those cases, people would hoard a lot of food and tools.
I also thought that maybe I should get some ramen later, if I had the chance.
As I was eating my late-night snack and thinking about that, a new message popped up on the bottom of the screen where I had left the game on.
“What’s this? A notification?”
I heard a notification sound in my ear and immediately looked at the screen of my smartphone.
Several messages appeared and the scroll bar of the message box moved up.
Judging by the length of the messages, they were not just about acquiring karma.
I scrolled down with my left hand and checked out the new messages.
-[Second Apostle: Evan Allemier]’s Divine Contribution has exceeded the threshold.
-You can spend 100 Karma to initiate the Liberation of [Divine Instrument: Astrape].
A notification message about the Liberation of a Divine Instrument.
Evan’s Divine Contribution had finally reached a level where he could proceed with the Liberation of a Divine Instrument.
It was the second time I would do this, after Utenia.
Fortunately, I had some karma left after appointing Perin as an apostle.
Tap.
I touched the message about the Liberation of a Divine Instrument and activated the selection window.
-Spend 100 Karma to unleash the power inherent in [Divine Instrument: Astrape].
-Do you want to liberate [Divine Instrument: Astrape]?
-Yes / No
There was nothing else to watch while eating my late-night snack anyway.
I thought it wouldn’t be bad to enjoy my snack while watching Evan solve his trial.
I had enough karma left, so there was no reason to hesitate.
I clicked on the ‘Yes’ button without hesitation.
And at the same time, the screen went black.
-[Second Apostle: Evan Allemier] has started his trial.
