Chapter 44

“King Priegoss is reported to be visiting with Chancellor Alia. And…”

“Well, I thought it was about time they’d arrive.”

Cutting off the words of the Harmony Bladesman, whose speech trailed off, I gave orders to those around me.

“With this, the ceremony will conclude. Everyone, return to your original places and fulfill your roles.”

“Must you display your intent to kill so blatantly? It’s clear you’re eager to kill. It would be best for you to focus on your training, as it’s still too much for you.”

Hearing the name Priegoss, I sent a mental message to Iscariot, who was exuding a fierce aura.

Surprised by the voice that didn’t just reach his ears but sounded in his mind, he glanced around.

But as he observed the people leaving the room, seemingly unconcerned except for himself, he looked back at me.

I chuckled lightly and waved him off to leave quickly.

The once fierce atmosphere began to dissipate as I started to merge into the line of people exiting the room.

Excluding the Harmony Bladesmen, Priegoss and Alia entered just as the last priests were leaving the room.

“Have you been well, Master?”

“I’ve been confined to this little temple, so I can’t say I’ve been well.”

“…It’s difficult to expand any further within budget constraints.”

“Foolishness. Do you think it’s about the size of the temple that’s bothering me? While you roam around the continent, I’m stuck here managing trees alone, and that’s the issue.”

Priegoss smiled wryly at my grumbling.

After spending seven years together, we had become accustomed to exchanging jests as priest and apprentice.

“Have all the preparations been completed?”

I spoke, sensing the energy emanating from the box that Alia brought.

Receiving my gaze, Alia opened the box with a slight manipulation.

Inside were seven unique gems, each radiating peculiar light and phenomena.

They were mydan made by processing and compressing the energy of the dragons hunted during this expedition.

Each essence, born as a type of god and accumulated over hundreds of years, exuded unusual energy.

I moved in front of Alia and picked up one of the black gems.

As I did so, the gem reached out with energy, as if alive, attempting to invade my body.

In response, the energy that constantly circulated throughout my body easily subdued the intruder that had dared to encroach upon its territory.

What set this sealed gem apart from the inner cores of other beings was this aspect.

It wasn’t merely a mass of energy; there remained residual thoughts that lingered for a long time.

‘If someone from the Central Plains were to see this sealed gem, it would undoubtedly cause a disaster.’

The longing of martial artists for elixirs is beyond normal bounds.

Clearly, if a martial artist were to see these, their first thought would be to consume them.

Even seasoned masters, skilled in the manipulation of energy, often face difficulties when consuming the inner cores of beings. If one were to swallow a sealed gem, which is an energy mass harboring hostility towards all that it touches, the entire flow of energy within them would collapse.

I surveyed the statues in the Room of Worlds.

“The worldview of the New God Church will have seven additional demons. Since the Stonecrafter Guild is here, it’s time to place an order.”

“There’s no more area beneath the dragons around here, so it seems unlikely to add more.”

“With this addition of seven, that makes seventy-two. It’s tough to add any more now.”

I gazed at the avatar of Mother World Tree, the statue of Ul Kanadiel carved above it, and the many statues of the dragons that spread out from the center.

“With Mother’s aid, the sealed gem of Ul Kanadiel, and Alia’s affinity, I am the axis that maintains harmony, but beyond this is greed. It would collapse before the battle array is even completed.”

Then I looked at Alia and said,

“And if such power were to explode right at the core of Pohelrn, you know what would happen, right?”

“Of course. I am always grateful for Lady Araya’s hard work.”

“Tsk… You keep me confined here and yet speak of…”

“I will ensure that you lack for nothing.”

As time passed, I found I could never win against Alia when it came to words, and I sighed.

Only the two of us, Alia and I, could fine-tune this incomplete battle array, so one of us had to always remain at the center of the array in case of emergencies.

However, Alia, as the Chancellor of Pohelrn, couldn’t leave her position, so it fell to me, the idle one, to take on that role.

That was also one of the reasons I could rarely step outside the temple over the years.

Thanks to that, the mystique surrounding me among the people of Pohelrn seemed to have grown.

“Still, it certainly looks ‘religious.’ Priegoss, how does it feel? This Room of Worlds that is nearing completion?”

“…I feel somewhat inconsequential.”

“That’s a good phenomenon. For gods to unite humanity, it’s best if they give off an overwhelming presence.”

Due to the energy flowing from the sealed gems embedded in the statues of dragons depicted as demons, weak humans felt intimidated upon entering the Room of Worlds.

Ironically, it was through this that their faith in the divine only intensified.

“Speaking of which, there was one among those who entered recently who didn’t lose their will even when they stood here.”

“That’s good news.”

Excluding the forces under Priegoss, there were my disciples being nurtured in this temple.

The paladins would become a secret strength alongside the Harmony Bladesmen in Pohelrn.

“Well? That might not be such good news for you.”

“Is there any news better than an increase in talented individuals?”

“Seeing you exude that intent to kill the moment your name was mentioned, I doubt that.”

“…Is he a former slave?”

“Yes, he’s a boy about my height. Didn’t you see him as you came in?”

“…I think I might have.”

I clicked my tongue and spoke.

“That little brat managed to clear the martial arts tournament and wore a face like he could die at any moment. I found him cute and even named him myself. Iscariot.”

“……”

“In contrast, you look like you’re about to die, my disciple. Are you finding it hard to bear the burden of your karma?”

Priegoss remained silently contemplative.

Though he was a vigorous man, ultimately, his principles of action were meant for the sake of humanity.

Yet paradoxically, during Priegoss’s conquest, many refugees and orphans were created.

Within Pohelrn, aside from the symbolic Grand Temple, there were temples of the New God Church scattered throughout, and these temples housed the orphans created in this way.

It wasn’t difficult to see children bearing marks indicating they were under the protection of the temple while wandering around the city of Pohelrn.

Paradoxically, the acts done in the name of uniting humanity had shattered many lives.

It wasn’t rare for humans to express their hatred towards him.

Even if unspoken, if such feelings accumulate, it wouldn’t be strange to doubt one’s own path.

I observed that scene and gave Alia a jab.

“How about offering some comfort to your lord, who is downcast like that?”

“…Priegoss is not my husband.”

I chuckled at Alia’s face, which had now turned as red as a well-ripened date.

When I listened to the Harmony Bladesmen chattering among themselves, they sometimes sighed in the direction that Priegoss had departed.

Moreover, it was said they had already been intimate even before meeting each other.

I heard that there was no problem in giving birth to children with humans.

‘…How absurd.’

Somehow, I felt heat rising within me as well.

I fanned myself for a moment to cool down and turned to the pitiful Priegoss.

“As you told me seven years ago, the contradictions you possess are things you must overcome yourself.”

I poked Priegoss lightly with my fist and continued speaking.

“You must know well enough not to be consumed by ambition.”

I received the box from Alia.

As I exchanged glances with Alia, I handed the sealed gem box back to the Harmony Bladesman approaching us.

“So, is this all you needed? If you want, I could take a look at your martial arts as well.”

Priegoss shook his head.

“I’m fine with martial arts. I must return soon.”

“Hmm.”

“And these are gifts for you, Master.”

“Huh? Did you bring something other than the sealed gems?”

“The sealed gems are more like work rather than gifts.”

“You know well.”

What Alia further presented was a perfectly round silver sphere and clothing.

“Hmm? What is this?”

“It’s a metal that was being revered as treasure in a town during this expedition. At first, I thought it was a large silver with high purity, but it didn’t melt even in the fire raised by burning tar, and it wouldn’t deform even when hammered, plus it’s lightweight.”

“Really? How fascinating.”

“The humans from that town called it ‘Jin-eun,’ the silver among silvers. It’s impossible with current metal smelting techniques, but you have methods of your own, Master. If you don’t usually use weaponry, I brought it in case you could make a sword out of it.”

Using my energy for metallurgy to shape metals was possible.

I could not purify impurities in the metals, and shaping was all I could do, but I could manage metals that humanity found difficult currently.

I accepted the round silver sphere.

“Indeed, it’s light.”

At a glance, it seemed to weigh three legneld (3 kg), or more than five geun, yet the weight I felt was less than a fraction of that.

Moreover, rather than the characteristic coolness of metal, it felt warm to the touch.

‘Where…’

Even when I pressed down on it with my energy, it showed no sign of movement.

If it were made of inferior metal, it would have easily sunk in, but it resisted and didn’t budge at all.

Hadn’t it been said that it wouldn’t deform regardless of how hard it was struck?

“Wait, was this its original form?”

“They said it had been a perfect sphere since it was first discovered underground.”

“What a curious metal.”

Growing increasingly curious, I began to infuse energy into the metal to shape it.

‘…Look at this?’

The metal began to absorb the energy I injected as if sand were soaking up water.

Turning stubborn, I continued to inject energy, and soon a bluish veil began to form around the sphere of Jin-eun.

“Oh…”

Ignoring the admiration coming from the side, I looked down at the sphere in my hand.

‘…It has reached a saturation point where the energy emanating from it is strong enough to be called a strong energy?’

Even a sword crafted with the advanced ironworking techniques of the Central Plains would forcibly collapse if it absorbed a vast amount of energy.

Indeed, metallurgy using energy operated based on this principle.

Therefore, experts in weapons and energy developed techniques that focused on enhancing only the core of the sword while enclosing strong energy over it.

Most substances would collapse before even reaching a saturation state with energy penetrating from outside; that is common sense with energy.

Unless it were some exceptionally rare metal like eternal iron, any recklessness in extracting strong energy would cause the weapon to fail.

However, this Jin-eun metal could absorb to its limits without breaking, even creating a shield of strong energy while containing the energy.

Maintaining the injection of energy into the sphere of Jin-eun, I circulated the energy using my core to strengthen my body and surrounded my hands with strong energy while pressing into the sphere.

Only then did the Jin-eun sphere slowly begin to deform.

After grappling with it for about two minutes in stubbornness, I removed my hands from the sphere.

In contrast to before, a flattened Jin-eun mass was now created.

“…It’s the first time I’ve seen you look tired, Master.”

I too had expended considerable energy through the martial arts tournament, and infusing energy for shaping the Jin-eun rendered me exhausted for the first time in a while.

“…That was quite a decent gift. I like it.”

The swords currently made from human ironworking techniques could not be used unless manipulated delicately, so I hadn’t used a weapon separately, but if I could craft a sword from this Jin-eun metal, it might suit me well.

Its weight, strength, and responsiveness to energy were all excellent.

Though tired, I stroked the deformed Jin-eun mass contentedly.

“The clothing is fine.”

I declined the clothing presented next.

“Not needed?”

“The fabric made by humans still feels rough.”

“Then… is it uncomfortable?”

Unlike the clothes initially made for me by Arti, the current clothing was newly made four years ago.

The initial garments had been tailored perfectly, while the current ones fit loosely and were a little too big for my frame.

In fact, the sleeves were so large that it wasn’t suitable for wearing anything underneath.

“…Stylish.”

“But…”

“Ugh! You talk too much!”

I raised my voice slightly in annoyance, and Alia quietly signaled to Priegoss while grabbing his collar.

Priegoss wore a puzzled expression, but he didn’t press the issue further.

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