Chapter 107: Divine Command (1)
Chapter 107: Divine Command (1)
The western region of the empire.
The province of Atelot.
There, the archangel Aronia opened her eyes, wrapped in a bright cluster of light.
The first thing she saw as she descended to the ground with a clear light was a green meadow.
As a gentle breeze blew, the grass swayed with countless scents of grass.
The sky was shining with warm sunlight, illuminating the scenery.
She gasped in awe for a moment at the sight of the ground she was seeing for the first time.
She had come down from heaven to carry out the will of the goddess, and everything she saw was new to her.
"Is this the ground...!"
Aronia, one of the seraphim in heaven.
She belonged to the highest rank among the angels, and she engraved everything she saw in her eyes.
She needed to find out her exact location first in order to meet the heroes.
That's why Aronia decided to look around first.
"This is... a human field, I guess?"
She walked a little further from where she landed and soon encountered a wheat field shining with gold.
Perhaps it was because the harvest season was approaching.
The wheat that filled the field was glowing with a vivid golden color.
The field full of ripe wheat was like a painting.
Aronia admired the beautiful scenery and reached out to touch the wheat field.
The abundant grains of wheat swayed and returned to their place as they touched Aronia's palm.
"It's fun how they bounce back."
Aronia spread her palm and tapped the wheat, cutting across the field.
The wheat moved flexibly like waves as her palm passed by.
She smiled brightly as she walked through the field, tearing through the wheat.
She had an angelic face and walked through the field for a long time.
The field was so wide that it was hard to see the end even if she walked.
She went forward, tearing through countless golden lights, and stopped for a moment to think about her schedule.
"Hmm... I can't go to where the heroes are right now. Maybe I should ask for directions and find the temple first."
There were temples on the ground where humans worshiped the goddesses.
She thought that she could easily get the information she wanted there.
She could find out where the heroes were or contact them where they were staying.
Then she could meet them and help them with their work, or even teach them herself.
They were still inexperienced even though they were heroes.
If Aronia, who was famous in heaven, guided them, they would be much stronger than they were now.
"Okay. Let's go to the temple first."
Aronia saw a human passing by in her sight as she made up her mind.
He was a middle-aged man wearing a hat made of straw and carrying a scythe.
He was a stranger, but if she revealed that she was an agent of the goddess, he might help her kindly.
Aronia decided to ask him where the temple was.
She pushed aside the wheat that blocked her way and walked forward.
Then she spoke to him in a holy voice.
"Ahem, listen. I am here to carry out the will of heaven..."
"A-a-angel...!"
But before Aronia finished speaking, the man who saw her opened his eyes wide and looked at her.
He had never seen an angel descending to the ground before.
He stuttered and stepped back a few steps in confusion.
Aronia was puzzled by his interruption, but tried to understand his feelings and continued speaking.
"I am a seraphim, sent by the will of heaven..."
"An angel! An angel has appeared in our village!"
"Huh...?"
But the man's reaction was the opposite of what she expected.
Instead of being afraid or awed by the angel's appearance, he shouted with joy and spread the news to everyone.
Aronia narrowed her eyes at the incomprehensible man.
It was natural for humans to be surprised by the sight of an angel.
She was a divine messenger who had descended from heaven with the goddess's will.
Any human should show respect and reverence to her.
But the next words that came out of the man's mouth were something that even Aronia could not accept easily.
An angel has appeared in our village too.
That meant that there was another angel besides Aronia somewhere nearby.
Aronia grabbed the man's hand and asked him in a flustered voice.
"Wait a minute! What do you mean by that?"
"An angel has appeared in our village too! Hahaha! Thank you for coming, angel!"
"No, not that! You said 'in our village too'!"
The man seemed to understand what Aronia meant and nodded his head.
"Oh, that's because an angel appeared in another region first."
"What did you say? Tell me more!"
Aronia's voice grew louder as she sensed the possibility of another angel nearby.
She had heard of other angels who had fallen from heaven.
Sometimes, there were angels who broke the goddess's rules and became corrupted.
The evil god used his karma to turn them against their own kind and sent them down to earth.
Lately, there were even fallen angels near Aronia's area, so it was not strange that there were fallen angels on earth.
And if such beings were around, it was also Aronia's duty as a heavenly angel to punish them.
That's why she kept asking the man about the whereabouts of the angel.
"An angel came down in the Keterlant region, not far from here. And people from around there flocked to see the angel..."
"Keterlant region? Which direction is that?"
"Keterlant region is a bit more west from here..."
"I see! Do you know the name of that angel?"
Aronia asked him one more important question.
The name of the angel who had descended in Keterlant region.
The man hesitated for a moment and then nodded as if he remembered something.
"Estasia? I think I heard that name..."
"Estasia!"
Aronia exclaimed in shock as she heard the name of the angel from the man.
Heavenly Angel Estasia.
It was a name that was too familiar to her.
It was the name of her subordinate who had run away from her not long ago.
***
It had been a few days since I had suffered a 2 million won disaster in my sleep.
After a bitter weekend, I had to go through an extreme diet every day.
My bank account balance had dropped below my psychological comfort line because of the last disaster.
Money was something that you never knew when you would need it.
If I didn't have some emergency funds for urgent situations, I might get into trouble someday.
That's why I set my own standards for my account balance.
I considered the emergency funds as a kind of insurance.
"But today was too hard to avoid."
But there were always days when I was too tired to be rational.
A weary mind often made it impossible to make reasonable decisions.
I stopped by the mart and bought a cheap chicken because I was soaked in work fatigue.
The combination of cheap chicken and cheap beer that tasted like urine.
This was the result of my self-imposed austerity measure.
A feast for myself in my small room.
I turned on my smartphone and sat at the table to enjoy my rare feast.
"Ah... A hungry pig is better than a full Socrates. I need to fill my stomach first."
Crack.
I opened a can of beer and looked at the screen of my smartphone.
The first thing I saw on the game screen was Eutenia watching over two kidnapped alchemists on Yuto.
Of course, there was no chance for the alchemists and their apprentice trapped on Yuto to escape to the ground.
They would only face death if they tried to jump off from there.
"Now that I look at it, Yuto has grown quite big."
Yuto had grown much bigger than before.
It was the result of Eutenia using her shadows to gather a lot of soil.
I wondered if I should have left it to her sooner.
On the expanded Yuto, there was also a makeshift workshop for the alchemist.
It was to secure the [Philosopher's Stone], one of the materials for the <Descent> quest.
It would be nice to make other items with the alchemist's help after this was over.
"Did you find out all the ingredients you need to make the Philosopher's Stone?"
"It seems like I need some more time to decipher them..."
"I can't give you more time forever. I have to take your apprentice for some education soon..."
"Wait! You can't do that!"
I watched the conversation between Eutenia and the alchemist and turned my gaze to a corner of Yuto.
What was her name? Enia?
The alchemist's apprentice was also very obedient.
She had been like this ever since she received Roan's ideological education for a few hours.
Roan was good at making anyone his follower, so he must have given her a hard time convincing her.
Of course, after that, the alchemist would get angry whenever he heard the words 'apprentice' and 'education'.
He was more cooperative with Eutenia's orders when she threatened him.
"Evan took Cuebaerg with him last time."
Evan had gone somewhere to find a new habitat for Cuebaerg.
According to their conversation, he seemed to have released Cuebaerg in a place like the sea.
It was to provide him with a suitable environment for recovery, since he had lost most of his power.
Cuebaerg said he was fine, so I thought he would grow on his own if I let him go in the sea.
I was sorry that I couldn't get the karma from Cuebaerg anymore, though.
"Eutenia will make the items on her own if I leave her alone... Maybe I should look around somewhere else this time."
Eutenia would probably bring me the Philosopher's Stone soon if I left her alone like this.
I left Eutenia, who was training the alchemist well, and started moving the screen to another place.
Of course, I didn't just move the screen without doing anything else.
It would be boring if I just watched without doing anything.
So I kept sprinkling rain as I moved to another place.
They could cool down with some refreshing rain in this hot summer. It was my consideration for them.
-You used <Weather Control: Storm>.
-You used <Weather Control: Storm>.
-You used <Weather Control: Storm>.
-You used <Weather Control: Storm>.
-"Aaaah!"
I saw a speech bubble screaming and something flying by as I moved the screen while using the skill repeatedly.
It wasn't like before, when a character flew up because of the storm.
I had hit something that was already flying with my magic and made it fall.
I wondered what it was and checked the area where I had used my magic.
"What is that?"
I heard something falling for sure.
But I couldn't tell where it fell.
There was no message saying that I gained karma, so it probably wasn't a character that I hunted.
I searched around for a while, but I couldn't find anything noticeable.
If it was something that was flying from the beginning, it could be a bird or a monster.
I didn't need to worry about those things.
"Oh well, it's nothing."
I quickly concluded and continued moving the screen.
Of course, I didn't forget to scatter rain on every corner I passed by.