Chapter 9
I safely returned to my room and went straight to bed after a quick wash.
'I'm exhausted...'
I had a lot of things happen today.
The most exhausting one was the encounter with Terdius.
'That guy.'
I couldn't believe he belonged to Diego Faith.
And judging by the fact that Terdius himself came to Rovel, there wasn't much time left.
Based on the original work, I had about two days left.
If I didn't do something within that time, all the people of Rovel would die.
'As it happened in the original work.'
There was not only the evil god Diego in the demon world, but also another being with a different nature.
The Demon King, who was similar but different.
The only good thing was that the Demon King's influence was not that great.
He had less than 10% of the weight in the original work.
So most of the original plot was dominated by Kyros Faith and Diego Plot.
The problem was, it was a world where the Demon King existed.
'The demon world.'
The Demon King focused on connecting the human world and the demon world.
Where the human world and the demon world were connected, there were 'cracks', and monsters poured out.
The Demon King was someone who messed up the world like that.
His ultimate goal was to make the human world like the demon world.
So, he sometimes infused his power into humans through the cracks.
The second calamity of Holden's territory began there.
It was called 'The Massacre of Rovel'.
The story was simple.
A few years ago, someone who inherited the power of the Demon King in a human body founded a religion called 'Rizes Church'.
And it secretly spread to a corner of Holden's territory, Rovel.
To deal with Rizes Church, which had gained followers, Diego Faith began to send their subordinates to Rovel.
The Demon King and the Evil God might seem similar at a glance, but their ideologies were completely different.
The Evil God wanted to subjugate all humans under his will, while the Demon King wanted to turn humans into monsters.
Therefore, in the original work, the three religions, including Kyros Church, often clashed with each other.
Anyway, the Evil God, Diego, hated the Demon King.
Because of that, he ordered his followers to exterminate the power of the Demon King wherever they found it.
The followers of Diego Faith finally discovered the tail of the Demon King after an investigation, but it turned out to be...
'Rizes Church branch in Rovel.'
I sighed softly.
In HSAW, Diego Faith sent elite subordinates of the Inquisition to Rovel. But, Rizes Church didn't just sit back and fought back against them.
When the Third Apostle, a high-ranking official of Diego Faith and the leader of the Inquisition learned of this, he personally stepped in.
As Diego Faith and Rizes Church confronted each other for a long time, innocent citizens of Rovel died in the process.
In that situation, Terdius confronted the Third Apostle in the original work. Of course, he didn't win because of the difference in power, but he prevented more innocent citizens from dying.
But now...
"Damn."
Terdius, who would have stopped the situation in Rovel, was a member of Diego Faith.
'And judging by the current flow, he must have become Diego Faith's Third Apostle.'
I didn't expect Terdius to be in that position... But, let's put that aside for now.
Actually, I wasn't interested in the fight between the Demon King and Diego. As long as I increased Kyros Faith's influence while they fought bloody battles, it was enough for me.
The problem was that shrimps died in whale fights.
[E/N: He means that the weak might die amidst the fight of powerful people.]
Diego Faith also regarded Rovel's citizens who were addicted to 'Happy' - a drug that Rizes Church deliberately distributed to coerce them - as Rizes Church's followers and executed them on the spot.
'The only good thing is that there is still time.'
Terdius wouldn't move right away.
If he had intended to move right away, he would have killed Rovel's citizens who were addicted to 'Happy' before he met me.
If the flow was the same as in the original work, it would happen two days later.
'He seemed to be looking for something in Elyn.'
Just like the Third Apostle in the original work, he was surely looking for his elite subordinates.
So I had about two days left.
In the original work, too, things didn't happen as soon as the Third Apostle entered Rovel.
'Anyway, I have to go to Rovel tomorrow.'
The good thing was that I now had a reliable ally.
Hopefully, Chester's ability would be quite strong...
My thoughts ended there.
Because I fell asleep as if I fainted.
'I really slept well today.'
I woke up lightly when the sun was high in the sky.
'I thought I was tired yesterday, but I guess I was really exhausted.'
I lazily got up and decided to have a meal in my room.
I pushed some soup and salad into my mouth and sank into my thoughts.
There was actually another way to save Robel's people.
Before Rizes Church and Diego Faith collided, I could make Rovel's citizens leave the town.
However, if that happened, even if Rovel's citizens were safe, Rovel wouldn't be safe.
'Their home would become ruins and they would lose their place to return.'
Of course, it was possible to support them with Holden's power. But even with Holden's power, that wouldn't heal the wounds in their hearts.
'So, I have to settle things before they get bigger within my line.'
Besides, I had something to gain from Rovel.
"Sir, is it not to your liking?"
When I stopped eating because I was thinking,
Paul, who was waiting next to me, asked cautiously. I immediately shook my head at Paul.
"No, Paul. It's delicious."
"Then I'm glad... But, do you have any worries?"
"Yeah, a little."
"I'd like to listen if I can help you, sir."
"No. It's okay."
I could trust Paul, who had served our family for generations, but it wasn't something I could tell him.
Or anyone else.
And if I carelessly talked about Rovel, it would get into his ears and annoy me.
The reason why Rovel, which was close to the center of Holden's territory, became like this.
'The bugs will disappear when I get rid of the trash.'
The lord who was entrusted with Rovel's affairs by my mother was busy going back and forth to the palace lately.
Everything happened because of that bastard.
So I had to solve that problem as well.
Of course, if I solved the problem that would happen in Rovel first, it would naturally be resolved.
"Thank you for always taking care of me, Paul."
I finished my meal roughly and sent Paul out of the room.
And then I sat down on the bed.
'I wanted to try it right away yesterday.'
I didn't feel like doing it yesterday because I was tired.
But today, I had to try it;
Using skills.
The only skill I had right now was healing. And it was a kind that I had never seen in HSAW.
So I didn't know how to use it either.
'But usually these kinds of skills...'
I put my right hand on my chest.
'Heal.'
And as soon as I thought about it, a bright light bloomed from my hand. It wasn't an enormous light, but it felt holy, just like when Kyros appeared.
"Oh..."
-Of course, you're my first child! My baby, your holy power is the same as mine.
The light soon faded away, but I felt a strange feeling.
'This is holy power.'
Maybe it was because I became connected with Kyros and became the leader of Kyros Faith.
Having a skill that could heal using holy power.
'But why... nothing seems to happen.'
I used the healing skill, but nothing changed in my body condition.
Especially the disease. The Malone worm hadn't come out yet.
Did the skill not work?
Just in case, I opened the skill window again. Then the bottom part of the healing skill caught my eye.
[Experience: 1/10]
It was definitely 0 before, but it became 1 after using the skill just now.
It seemed that the skill itself was activated properly since I used it for the first time.
Was there no effect? Or was the effect too weak?
The skill description itself was vague and I couldn't tell.
[It can heal living beings.]
That was all there was to the description.
Was it because the level was low or because my disease itself was deep?
'I don't like this.'
What's the point of having a skill? I can't even tell its exact range.
It was then.
[Healing (Active) LV.1
Grade: Legendary
Description: The effect increases proportionally to the skill level.
LV.1 Heals wounds and restores fatigue of living beings.
LV.2 ??? (Locked)
LV.3 ??? (Locked)
LV.4 ??? (Locked)
LV.5 ??? (Locked)
Experience: 1/10]
I doubted my eyes.
The description of the skill window changed in real time as I glared at it.
'What the hell......?'
Did it understand my annoyance?
I narrowed my eyes at the skill window.
Come to think of it, when I recognized myself as a leader before, a title and a religion status menu appeared.
Could it be that this system...... is friendly to me? Or is it monitoring me in real-time?
"Hey, answer me."
I spoke to the skill window with faint hope.
-Hey, baby? Are you seeing things? Huh?
But nothing happened. The only thing I heard was Kyros' fuss.
-Are you feeling weak? Hm? Do I need to give you more strength? Hmm.
This is embarrassing.
'No, no, don't worry about it.'
I covered my flushed cheeks with both hands.
- What do you mean no? You were just talking to thin air. Are you really okay?
'Yes. I'm really fine.'
Kyros kept grumbling, but I tried to ignore him.
Anyway, it seems that Kyros can't see the system window.
That's good. No, should I say that's good? If Kyros could see it too, he would have asked me about the changing text.
'...Forget it.'
That's not important right now.
Anyway, according to the description, the effect increases depending on the skill level, and with my current healing skill level, I can only heal wounds.
'That's why the disease wasn't cured.'
Then raising the level is the priority.
It seems that it won't be hard to level up since I get 1 experience point per skill used.
I can level up quickly just by healing Rovel's patients.
The problem is, Revelof Holden, can't let anyone know that he has healing power.
The only ones who have healing power in this continent are the priests of Diego Faith.
If I show this power carelessly---
'Anyway, I can't get involved with them right now.'
So I'll only use this power when I wear glasses.
Well, this is not a skill that I need right away.
For now, I put aside my thoughts and headed to the bathroom. And I prepared to drink Pasrel poison.
-My baby angel, it's hard for me to watch you drink poison.
As soon as I took out Pasrel poison from my inventory, Kyros started sobbing.
'Hmm. Just think of it as antidote poison, okay? It cures poison with poison. Well, that's true anyway.'
- But still... Sniff. It's my fault. I'm too weak.
'It's okay. Stop digging your own grave, okay?'
I consoled Kyros briefly and opened the lid. And as I was about to put it in my mouth.
Bang, the bathroom door opened.
...Huh?
"Revelof, you were here... What are you doing...?"
The one who opened the door and came in was a handsome man with silver hair that reached his waist.
It was Sevenus Holden.
Damn.