Chapter 217 – Outer Gods and Reverse Heaven (1)

Exactly about a week had passed since they headed to the North.

“……It might certainly increase our combat power if handled that way.”

“Right? Because the miracles the Marquis bestowed are truly strong. Moreover, if Lord Reinhardt can handle lightning well, you might even be able to seize victory in a fight with my brother!”

“……Ho.”

“No, Silley, that’s a bit…”

“How about it, Lord Reinhardt? Aren’t you very interested?”

“Ahem, that’s certainly true, but. I have never once believed in a god that way…”

“Don’t worry. I will tell you the method. Now, shall we try it? First, open one hand, then clench your fist and extend your index and middle fingers…”

From the moment the Northern expedition began until now.

Silley had been persuading Reinhardt without resting for a single moment, finally enticing him to become a believer.

Alon marveled at her tenacity inwardly.

“……It is more than I thought.”

Evan also muttered blankly as if he had similar thoughts, and Alon nodded in agreement.

Soon Reinhardt followed the unique prayer posture of the Callanon faith.

Watching that, Alon made a strange expression.

[That’s not a prayer, it’s forming a hand seal.]

How on earth did that posture become a prayer?

A sharp wind brushed past Alon’s face as he thought for a moment.

“It’s cold.”

Naturally, the words Kailus had said came to mind.

[The center of the coldest place.]

Words that were just a hint rather than a precise destination.

But nevertheless, Alon had a general idea.

[It will probably be the Horizon.]

The Horizon of the Snowy Mountains.

Players call it the Horizon for short.

It is a place you can see if you break through the barbarians and go inside, and it is regarded as the coldest and most sacred place.

……That was the information Alon knew.

Since Alon himself had never been there even once.

No, to be more precise, since no player of Psychedelia had ever been to the Horizon of the Snowy Mountains.

He only knew it as ‘information.’

Because originally the Horizon of the Snowy Mountains existed only as a setting, and there was no way to go there in the actual game.

Nonetheless, the reason why Alon, or rather the players including him, recognized the Horizon of the Snowy Mountains was precisely because of a ‘powerhouse.’

From the middle of the game when the Sins begin to appear in earnest.

A powerhouse appears to help the player depending on their choices and actions so far.

One of them was the being at the Horizon of the Snowy Mountains.

[It was Millennium Ice, right?]

Possessing the ability to freeze anything around him, despite having a name that didn’t quite suit the barbarians.

He always mentioned the Horizon of the Snowy Mountains whenever he was with the player.

Thanks to that, most players came to know the place even though they had never been there.

[I think I heard it was unlocked in the DLC though.]

Alon, who was contemplating, soon shook his head lightly to brush off the thoughts.

Because at this point, whether or not the Horizon was included in the DLC was not particularly important.

[It would be nice if I could enter comfortably, but that will probably be difficult.]

Alon glanced sideways and looked at Deus and the expedition team guarding the carriage while on horseback.

In fact, even if Alon went alone without forming an expedition team, he could not avoid battles with the barbarians.

Because the barbarians showed a hostile tendency toward everyone who did not live in the North like themselves.

Therefore, in order for Alon to reach the Horizon, he had to fight the barbarians no matter what.

[……I hope I don’t suffer too much.]

Alon let out a sigh.

His breath scattered into white mist as if to inform him once again that he had come up to the North.

Recalling that made him feel cold for some reason, so he put his hands in his coat.

He recalled what he had seen at the roots of the World Tree anew.

[The spell is Reverse Heaven.]

Then, while watching the sunset hanging below the mountains,

[What exactly will be there?]

Curiosity about what might be at the center of the Horizon slowly began to rise again.

As his thoughts continued to follow one after another.

……He craved sweet potatoes after a long time.

“Evan.”

“Yes?”

“Let’s eat sweet potatoes today.”

“……? Yes…… sure.”

“What is it?”

“Well, you ate them just two days ago, so it feels a bit sudden.”

“……”

The end of the train of thought was a well-baked sweet potato.

####

Evening.

Marc, a man called the Third Sword in Caliban and also quite well-known by another name, the Shadow Sword.

He looked at the carriage parked in the distance with a strange expression.

Precisely the carriage where Marquis Palatio was.

“……”

The first sight he saw was.

Marquis Palatio and a cat licking sweet potatoes at his feet.

The next thing he saw was his escort knight blankly peeling sweet potatoes beside him.

And beside them……

Deus Macallan, Caliban’s First Sword, was poking the strange pet snake accompanying the Marquis.

Besides that.

Silley, recently called the Saintess of Callanon, sitting beside the tormented snake and chatting diligently.

He also saw Reinhardt, who was making unknown hand gestures.

In fact, looking only at the surface, there was nothing very strange.

The snake looking blurry as if it had become spiritual.

The cat beside Marquis Palatio seemingly glancing at him before teeth suddenly protruded from under its belly to eat sweet potatoes.

……Uh, it was a bit nonsensical.

Anyway, that combination, which didn’t seem particularly dangerous.

Was a sight that could fall within the scope of an ordinary dinner.

Just around him, knights were sitting in small groups eating like that, only without the carriage.

But the reason Marc felt strange and could not take his eyes off the place was,

[……Why is everyone praying to Marquis Palatio?]

It was because of the knights surrounding the group.

The Eclipse Knights led by Deus Macallan.

They were sitting in a circle behind the Marquis’s party.

By itself, there was nothing particularly strange about that.

But they.

Looked like they were praying to Marquis Palatio to anyone who saw them.

No, it wasn’t just ‘looking that way.’

It was certain.

The Eclipse Knights were offering prayers to Marquis Palatio.

And very devoutly at that.

As if they were truly praying to a god.

For some reason, the posture was a bit different from ordinary prayer.

The sight of humans offering prayers to a human was…… very strange.

[What are they doing?]

Around the time Marc harbored such a question.

“……What’s wrong with them?”

“I don’t know. I heard them talking about Marquis Palatio being a god or something.”

“A god?”

“You know that rumor, haven’t you heard it? That Marquis Palatio manifested as a god in Ronovelli?”

“Ah, that one?”

“Yes, that one.”

Marc unconsciously listened to the voices of his subordinate knights.

“But isn’t that just an inflated rumor?”

“Probably? I heard the rumor spread more because he looks like the statue of Callanon, the Receiver of Lightning, who is worshipped in the Duchy of Luxibl.”

“……Well, seeing how Silley, called the Saintess of Callanon, treats the Marquis, it seems like it might be true.”

“But for a rumor, the Eclipse Knights seem damn serious.”

“……That’s why I’m getting a bit of goosebumps too.”

Then, as one person whispered, “Did they all go crazy? This?” while circling their finger at their temple, a colleague quickly grabbed and pulled down the hand.

“You crazy bastard, why are you suddenly trying to commit suicide?”

“Suicide? What did I do?”

“You’ll really be in big trouble if you get caught. Don’t you know that someone from the Fifth Sword’s knight order got beaten to death by an Eclipse knight for making a joke about Marquis Palatio last time?”

“……Wasn’t that just because they were acting up?”

“No.”

“Man, that’s scary.”

“Anyway, so just be quiet and eat your food.”

After whispering, the knights withdrew their gaze and ate.

At that, Marc glanced over and looked at the Eclipse Knights.

Knights who looked so devout that they aroused suspicion, saying, “Aren’t they actually holy knights?” while offering prayers very reverently.

And.

Watching the Marquis who was indifferently eating sweet potatoes with his back to them.

[……Isn’t this practically heresy at this point?]

He had such a thought unconsciously.

[But for being like that, the Rosario side doesn’t seem to react that much either.]

Then he turned his gaze to look at the holy knights accompanying Cardinal Utia.

Of course, Rosario does not particularly antagonize someone just for believing in another god.

That is also why the Duchy of Luxibl is not checked by Rosario even though they changed their state religion.

However, since that didn’t mean they wouldn’t have any ’emotions,’ Marc, who was wearing a puzzled expression.

[Come to think of it, they always seemed to be together, but Cardinal Utia isn’t seen today.]

He soon recalled that Cardinal Utia hadn’t shown any particular signs either and tried to finish eating his food.

Well, it didn’t really have anything to do with him.

Certainly, it was so, but……

“Hello.”

!

Marc almost spat out the food he was chewing.

[When did she?]

Because she, who had been talking with Reinhardt until just moments ago, was suddenly right in front of him.

Silley spoke to the bewildered Marc.

“Because you kept looking this way.”

Only then did Marc recognize his mistake.

He had been staring too intently over there.

“……I made a mistake.”

“No, I didn’t come to receive an apology.”

“If so,”

“I was just wondering if you might be interested in lightning.”

Silley laughed brightly.

At that, Marc scratched his head with an embarrassed expression.

In fact, Marc had no interest in Callanon.

No, to be precise, he wasn’t particularly interested in God himself.

But even so, it was true that he had committed a slight discourtesy.

“……Alright, well. I am curious.”

He gave such an answer to go along with Silley’s words.

“Ah, is that so?”

At this, Silley’s eyes sparkled as she began her story.

The next day.

And the next evening.

“Lord Callanon’s lightning is very clear and bright. Just like the blue sky of this world. That means Lord Callanon’s lightning is no different from this sky…”

[……Save me.]

Marc realized.

The fact that he had made a ridiculous mistake.

A few weeks later.

Alon arrived in the North without any special incidents, except for locking eyes with Marc, who was looking at him with a strange expression a few times.

Soon he was able to meet a truly unexpected face at the base camp.

“Marquis!”

“……Elivan?”

It was precisely Elivan, the protagonist of the original work.

He, about whom rumors had been circulating that he was successfully dealing with aberrant gates and anomalies in the Stalian Duchy.

“Hello!”

Was in the North for some reason.

####

The capital of Caliban.

“……This is unexpected.”

Hidan, who came to Caliban as usual at the appointed time to hand over information about the Blue Moon to Deus.

He scratched his head at the news of Deus’s expedition.

[I don’t think there was an expedition last time. It can’t be helped.]

Hidan, who was contemplating for a moment, took out a piece of paper from his bosom and began to write a letter using magic power on the spot.

Normally he would have waited here, but since the Red Moon’s order had come down, time was tight.

Hidan, who was about to leave a letter at Deus’s mansion,

?

Found a strange statue.

With giant horns like those of a deer on its head.

And a statue with coat hems fluttering that were almost excessively long.

Of course, from the perspective of Hidan, who had developed an immunity by seeing all sorts of statues until now, the statue in front of him could not be said to be strange in itself.

Nonetheless, the reason why Hidan felt that way.

Was because he knew this statue was the statue of the Great Moon.

[……Was it like this originally?]

Hidan immediately shook his head.

No matter how indifferent he was to his surroundings, he could notice a drastic change of this level.

The statue he had seen before had no horns, the coat wasn’t that long, and above all.

[……It is too handsome.]

He hadn’t been that handsome.

“……”

An ideal handsome face was carved right into it.

A statue so elaborately sculpted that if it were alive, it might be greasy enough to have stardust pouring from its eyes.

Hidan blankly stared at the upgraded statue of the Great Moon.

[Isn’t that, a bit…… excessive……?]

He left such an impression.

It was a statue Alon was so embarrassed by that he couldn’t even look at it properly.