Chapter 28: The First Apostle

It was quite a spectacle: a swirl of black mist, lit by bluish and purple flashes, surrounded Nerez and Mireia, symbolizing the bond they had just formed.

By the time it was over, everyone had been left speechless.

Mireia looked at Nerez.

Nerez looked at Mireia.

While only Mireia felt it, Nerez could see it clearly in his Godscript.

[Apostle]

[A mortal who has manifested exceptional affinity, reverence, and submission toward a god, and is capable of serving as that god’s representative in Eryndea.]

“…What?” Nerez murmured, still not fully processing it.

“Ooooh! An apostle! Congratulations, mortal!” Cerys exclaimed, her own Godscript having just notified her. “Your existence just became more valuable! You will be our representative among mortals!”

Thud!

“And now what?!” Cerys complained, rubbing her head after receiving another chop from the skeleton.

Nerez helped Mireia to her feet, though she still seemed caught in some kind of trance.

But the moment she got up, her eyes began to shine with a light she had lost many years ago.

“Lord Nereziel!”

The little girl clenched her fists and cried out so forcefully that Nerez nearly stumbled backwards in surprise.

“Y-Yes?”

“You are going to look after us, aren’t you?! I know it! I can feel it inside me!”

“…Look after you?”

“In return, we will give you our utmost devotion! I promise you, I will make sure everyone learns your name!”

Nerez looked at the little girl, who seemed to have found a purpose in life, with mixed feelings.

He reached out and stroked her black hair.

“You’re still too young for that. If, when you’re older, you want to work in some religious role, you’re welcome to do so, though I’d rather you chose a different god…”

“‘Work’?” she asked.

It was the kind of word that had lost its meaning in the world Mireia came from.

“I mean whatever you want to do once you’re older…”

“But Lord Nereziel… there is no god more important or more powerful than you!”

“Where is that conviction even coming from?! Is this the famous religious fanaticism?!”

The girl, who looked at him with bright, expectant eyes, already seemed like a lost cause.

Not only had she lost all fear of the army of skeletons surrounding them, but with every second she spent speaking to the god of death, she earned increasing respect from the humans who still could not stop trembling on the ground.

“Nerez, we have to do something, or the moment we continue on our way to the underworld, your pathetically weak new believers are going to become breakfast for whatever pathetically weak monsters live around here.”

Cerys, who had moved closer to Nerez, instinctively covered the back of her neck with both hands, bracing for another chop.

“Is everything pathetically weak to you?” Nerez sighed, no longer in the mood to punish her. “But you’re right. If we leave now, these people will be left at the mercy of whatever crosses their path. And lazy as I am, I’d hate to lose the little work I’ve already done.”

To Mireia, the god seemed to be meditating in silence. In truth, Nerez was studying his holographic screen, which by now he had learned to operate with his mind alone.

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[Which skill would you like to share?]

[Skeletal Soldier]

[Death’s Touch]

[Veiled Trail]

“Soulwarden isn’t on the list… well, that’s understandable. Mireia, are you afraid of skeletons?”

The little girl pressed her fingertips together, a little nervously.

“A little… but now I feel they’re a part of Lord Nereziel, so only a little!”

“They are… a part… of me…?”

Nerez looked around at the vast number of skeletons surrounding him, and a chill ran down his spine.

The skeletal soldiers were a manifestation of the power of the Book of Death, which in turn was Nerez’s Eidolon, a representation of his soul.

So Mireia was not exactly wrong, but it still made him deeply uncomfortable to be associated with a group of creatures that looked as though they had stepped straight out of a horror movie.

“It’s not that they’re exactly a part of me… Ah, never mind! What I mean is that I’m going to leave some of them behind so they can protect all of you.”

“Really, Lord Nereziel?!”

Mireia looked delighted, but the rest of the humans behind her swallowed hard.

“To be honest, I feel rather uneasy leaving a child in charge… but it seems only you will be able to give them orders. I’d like to speak with your parents. Are they around?”

“I don’t have any parents… I never knew them. But please do not worry, I can take charge!”

“I see… looks like we have that in common…”

“You do not have parents either, Lord Nereziel? Is that common among gods?”

“As a matter of fact, I’ve had thousands of parents. That’s the part that isn’t common among gods, haha.” Nerez scratched his head awkwardly. “But in my first life I was an orphan, and in all the ones that followed, I honestly couldn’t regard people younger than me as my parents…”

“First life? Thousands of parents?”