Chapter 98: Bone, Flesh, and Blood (1)
The cult building is located in the Ketterun branch.
There, Estasia was looking at the cult members one by one.
Normally, she would have been rolling around in her room every day, but lately, she was relatively active.
Of course, it was not Estasia’s will to move around and inspect the cult.
It was because of the mission she received from the great being who was watching her from the sky.
To check and manage whether the people in the cult were working diligently.
That was the task given to Estasia, who was surrounded by countless fruits.
“The angel is watching us here!”
“We have to work harder!”
Estasia, who was secretly watching the believers preparing the meal, was surprised by their reaction.
She thought she was hiding and watching, but she revealed to the believers that she was monitoring them.
It seemed that the bright halo on her head was the problem.
If not, it might have been the wings sticking out next to her.
The reaction of the believers who found Estasia was as fierce as usual.
Estasia, who had been hiding behind the wall, had no choice but to approach the believers.
And then she began to offer words of encouragement to the believers who were cooking.
“Ahem… You’re all working hard. If you work hard…”
“Angel! Do you want a strawberry?”
“Yes.”
Estasia ended up eating a strawberry unexpectedly.
Munch munch.
She looked around at the believers preparing lunch as she ate the strawberry in her mouth.
Maybe it was because there were so many new members in the cult now.
The amount of food prepared at the branch was quite different from before.
Of course, there were also people preparing food for Estasia in one corner.
They were magicians hired by the bishop to freeze Estasia’s strawberries.
They were excellent people who took care of Estasia’s heat from early summer when the hot sun was burning.
Estasia tapped the magician’s shoulder with her hand that had five gold bracelets on it.
“You’re working hard.”
“Thank you! Angel!”
“I want apple juice for dinner.”
“Yes! Leave it to me!”
The magician brought by the bishop had also become a loyal believer who served the great being.
She didn’t know exactly what happened, but it was clear that the bishop had indoctrinated the magician regularly.
Above all, most of the humans living on the ground liked angels.
They also tended to be friendly to the angel’s requests.
The magician might have decided to join the cult because of Estasia’s existence.
Estasia shrugged her shoulders in admiration of her own charm that spread endlessly.
One of the believers who was cooking stuck close to Estasia and talked to her.
“Angel? Where are you going this time?”
“I’m going to rest now.”
“Will you come out for worship?”
“Yes. I have to pray every day.”
“As expected, you are diligent, angel! The great one might be amazed by you.”
Nod. Nod.
Estasia nodded her head in agreement with the believer’s words.
Estasia was very busy moving around lately.
She checked as many as seven rooms a day.
It was practically checking all the rooms that she could check without climbing stairs.
If she worked so diligently, there would be no reason for the great being who watched her to create a black sun again.
“I have to go now.”
“Come back again! We’ll prepare some delicious snacks for you!”
“Okay.”
Her job of watching over the believers was over for now.
She said goodbye to them and went outside.
Estasia walked down an empty hallway by herself.
Only her small footsteps echoed in the quiet hallway.
There were usually no people in the hallway around this time when lunch was not far away.
She always walked along this silent hallway alone at times like this.
She liked noisy atmosphere too, but this quiet atmosphere wasn’t bad either.
Sometimes she wanted to be alone too.
“…”
Estasia’s eyes looked up at the sky shining through the window as she walked down the hallway.
I looked up at the clear sky, where clouds were drifting by.
Above them, a huge sun was shining brightly, casting its radiant light on the ground.
They say that humans can’t look directly at the sun with their eyes.
But for angels, it was a sight that they could gaze at for as long as they wanted.
There were many differences between humans and angels, besides the halo and wings.
I learned all of them after I came down to Earth.
“I wonder what the angels in heaven are doing right now.”
As I thought idly, staring at the sky, my halo started to act strangely.
It flickered wildly, losing its steady glow.
My face darkened at the sight of my halo’s reaction.
It meant that it had detected something unusual.
Something that only angels could sense.
I opened my mouth dumbly, feeling a surge of shock.
“Wha…?”
Humans wouldn’t notice anything odd.
But I, as an angel, could see it clearly.
There was a small crack in the boundary between heaven and earth.
It was a phenomenon that occurred when a transcendent being tried to distort the boundary on purpose.
There was only one meaning behind the crack in the boundary.
An angel was descending.
And not just any angel, but a high-ranking one.
“Other angels shouldn’t come down…”
Woo woo woo woo!
I stepped back a few steps, feeling anxious about the crack that appeared in the distant sky.
It was far away from where I was, but still within this continent.
But if an angel came down to Earth, it was only a matter of time before we met.
If the angel wandered around the continent, they would eventually find the branch of the Order where I was.
And that angel wouldn’t be friendly to me.
I was a runaway who escaped from heaven, after all.
***
“Yawn…”
I rubbed my sleepy eyes and looked at the screen where Perin’s face was displayed.
Maybe it was because I had just eaten dinner.
I felt a strong wave of drowsiness hit me.
I tried to keep my eyes open and stay alert.
I could brush my teeth and go to bed right away, but there was something I had to do before sleeping.
With extreme willpower, I resisted the urge to sleep and focused on the screen.
-“You know, YYuto has grown a lot.”
-“That’s because we worked hard!”
-“Soil.”
On the screen, Perin and Pluto were having a conversation.
The topic was mostly about Yuto.
After I took Perin as my apostle, I entrusted Yuto’s care to her and Pluto.
And the result of their efforts was Yuto’s current appearance on the screen.
Yuto had grown so big that even one character wouldn’t be enough to fill him up. He could fit ten people easily now.
And despite his huge size, he didn’t lose any of his soil that he carried on his back.
-“Soil soil.”
-“Yggdrasil helped us a lot too!”
-“Of course, your miracle was also amazing.”
It must have been Perin’s miracle that helped Yuto maintain his size.
Her miracle itself was designed to assist the base.
A flying island that could move and hide while attacking from outside.
Anyone who had a dream of flying units would admire its performance.
It was a product of synergy between Perin and Yuto.
“I should order her to bring Eutenia soon.”
Yuto was big enough to be deployed in battle right away.
If he was ready to use, then I should use him as soon as possible.
That’s why I raised him diligently in the first place.
I tapped on the speech bubble above Perin’s head to give her an order.
And I started typing a chat message to her, who was stroking Yggdrasil.
“Hey.”
-“Hello! How are you today?”
“Get on Yuto and bring Eutenia here.”
-“Are you giving me a mission? A mission to bring an apostle… Okay, I got it!”
Perin nodded her head brightly, after receiving a simple order through the chat.
It was an order to bring Eutenia using Yuto.
He wanted to use Yuto’s ability to fly in the sky, to speed up the movement of Evan and Eutenia.
It was hard to get there by riding Alpha, but coming back to the Order was easy with Yuto flying.
Yuto, upgraded with Yggdrasil, had stealth and protection functions, so there shouldn’t be any problem.
It was finally time for Yuto and the new apostle to show their skills.
-“But I… don’t know what the other apostles look like…”
Perin accepted my order right away, but she added one concern.
She didn’t know anything about the other apostles, because she was new.
Considering when Perin joined, her worry was reasonable.
I suggested a solution for that.
It was to send Pluto with Perin.
“That makes sense. Then go with Pluto and find them.”
-“Are you saying I should go with Pluto?”
“I can tell you where to meet them, but Pluto can confirm if they are the right ones.”
Of course, Pluto wasn’t an old apostle either.
But she had spent a long time riding a carriage with Eutenia, so she knew her well.
If Pluto moved with Perin, they would be able to find Eutenia without any trouble. That was my calculation.
I gave them that order.
Then, Perin and Yuto answered me with speech bubbles on the other side of the screen.
-“Got it! I’ll do my best with Yuto and come back safely!”
-“Soil!”
That was the end of my conversation with Perin.
I closed the chat window that I had opened for talking to the apostles.
And I quietly looked at the screen of my smartphone.
As soon as our conversation ended, Perin started chatting with Pluto again.
Yawn. I yawned again as I watched my smartphone.
-“I feel it every time I feed Yuto, but it’s nice here because the trees are big.”
-“Do vampires really get hurt by sunlight?”
-“If they are old enough, they don’t get hurt by sunlight, but it still feels a bit uncomfortable.”
-“I see. That’s an interesting trait of vampires.”
Blink. Blink.
My eyelids started to close as I watched Perin and Pluto.
My vision became blurry, and my consciousness became hazy.
Even if I opened and closed my eyes, my consciousness didn’t come back.
It was a sign of irresistible sleepiness.
My head slowly tilted forward, and a short fear escaped from my mouth.
“I should brush my teeth and sleep…”
But I couldn’t overcome the strong urge to sleep with the fear of cavities.
Droop. Droop.
Thud.
My forehead pressed down on the screen of my smartphone.
I didn’t know what button I was touching.
But my body that lay on the table wanted to sleep like this.
-You can get various items that will help you in the game play by using 10 draws.
A comfortable and cozy feeling enveloped my head.
And I fell asleep, giving in to my desire.
Without knowing what was happening on my smartphone that was pressed by my forehead.
