By Zephyria 
…There was no way to receive the Divine object peacefully.
The Divine object was a holy relic. Any human capable of seeing Mana would naturally tremble before the immense power it possessed. Even in the Empire, such objects were revered; how much more so would it be in other kingdoms? No mad king would easily relinquish a privilege bestowed by a god, especially a power so useful for strengthening royal authority.
Hugh Benson rambled that it would be better to just go looking for a god. However, his words were clearly a joke. It was a grumble, a complaint that there was no time to waste exhaustively pursuing something that could not be achieved or accomplished by their own strength. He couldn’t have been unaware of the possibility of war. And that was…
My mind was in chaos for a long while. The mercenaries, who had been cautiously watching the atmosphere, began to mutter and add their own thoughts one by one. While I was worrying about what to do now that they had been left in this state, the mercenary Giselle spoke up.
“…Anyway, that’s how it is. It’s great that you all are such amazing people. I hope you resolve everything well and become even higher and more great people.”
Even in this crazy situation, I felt a sudden breath of fresh air.
This was it.
I had to persuade these mercenaries well to narrow down the options.
Mikael is as soft on the weak as he is strong against the powerful. These mercenaries were strong in individual power, but in this current setting, they were naturally the weak who needed protection. They were citizens of the Empire I had to rule, and civilians who had fallen into danger while helping our party.
Having found a way forward, I tried to smile as kindly as possible.
“Between continuing the pilgrimage to find a potential god, and returning to Owen’s land to search for traces of the Divine object, which would you prefer?”
Yes. Currently, the only places where the Divine object could be acquired without war were Felix and Owen.
There was a precedent where Beneto had once borrowed Felix’s Divine object.
The excuse was also good. Since the First Prince’s origins were suspicious no matter how one looked at it, I could just spin a tale saying that if they lent it to me for a while, I would reward them immensely after I became Emperor.
Even if I became unable to return the Divine object, I felt I could manage somehow by soothing them with wealth instead.
As for Owen, the current state of the kingdom was chaotic, and it was a region where bribes worked easily. With all the priests in turmoil due to a strange Divine Revelation recently, I might even be able to steal it if I timed the gap correctly. It might go against Mikael’s sense of justice, but he wouldn’t oppose borrowing an object to save human lives.
I wondered what the current movements of Biban and Yulan were. I would have no further wishes if I could just receive three specific files.
Still, once I entered the capital of any country, I could contact the Nobility Yearbook department, so it would be better to think about the next move after getting the first Divine object.
If we continued the pilgrimage, I could enter Felix using fatigue as an excuse. If we entered Owen under the pretext of returning, I could stay in Bardiol. Hoping this process would appear as gentle and natural as possible, I left the choice to the mercenaries.
The mercenary captain, Leon, deferred his answer for two days.
That was fine. A ‘moment’ in the Oasis was three years. The Ninth God was already steadily collecting Mana users, filtering them year by year. If something sudden happened in these few days, it wouldn’t have been something I could have solved with my own hands from the start.
I also decided to soothe the mercenaries and think more calmly about our future steps.
I intentionally acted friendly toward the mercenaries. I laid out my worries about the future only as much as they could accept. I told them sweet things like: I can do anything for you, I will make it happen, your choice is a great help to us, I will help you.
And I steadily presented the two options to the mercenaries.
Felix, or Owen.
However, Leon’s battle axe pointed toward the southwest in an absurd manner.
…The Sanctuary of the Sun?
* * *
Jiangshi. Or, zombies.
Undead, which were said to have tormented Mikael in his past life, appeared.
The existence of undead that did not die even when killed gave me a certain conviction.
The third god could not seek us out directly for fear that Mikael’s soul fragment would tear the world apart. Instead, he lingered around the Oasis where Mikael’s soul fragment was sealed, using his followers to try and find Mikael. He was strong, but he was not an absolute being.
The reason the Ninth God could not find us directly must also be due to some kind of restriction.
Ants are naturally drawn to candy. Seeing how the party’s progress was being steadily obstructed, I decided we must visit the Sanctuary of the Sun. I felt I could only be at peace once I confirmed with my own eyes exactly what was there.
Every time we saw the undead called zombies, Mikael’s expression grew darker by the day.
I often acted cute and sometimes held him while he slept, striving to soothe Mikael’s heart.
Conversely, there were times when I was the one being comforted. Whenever anxiety surged from deep within my chest and tightened around my throat, I burrowed into Mikael’s embrace. As long as I was in those arms, I feared nothing in the world.
* * *
I want to swear, fuck.
We’re going through that? Really?
Until the first one or two groups of zombies appeared, they weren’t that threatening. Except for myself, Lord Claudian, and Miss Philodendore, everyone else in the party was a Sword Master. In particular, Sierren’s two knights and Mikael were among the strongest of the Sword Masters. Therefore, mere undead were not a threat to our journey at all.
But if their numbers reached hundreds or thousands, it was a different story. I stopped in my tracks, feeling overwhelmed as I saw the hordes of undead filling the area outside the safe zone in black.
I don’t know what the hell this ‘god’ who led us here is thinking. There’s a limit to everything.
I grit my teeth to avoid saying something harsh. I swallowed the sighs that kept leaking out and occasionally wiped my face with my hands. While I was holding my tongue, Miss Marianne Philodendore came up with a good idea.
She suggested we clear a path using the new technique Mikael used when he defeated the Sandworm.
Indeed. Mikael’s sword possessed an astonishingly powerful output. If he had the strength to cut through a Sandworm’s carapace, mere undead would be crushed. Why didn’t I think of this?
The reason was clear. I thought Mikael would get hurt. Because that is common sense.
And Mikael was a being who defied common sense. He had been so all along.
For a typical Sword Master, it would be natural for the body to break if they opened an aura path to produce such a powerful output. However, Mikael’s energy does not damage his body. Unlike typical Mana users, Mikael accumulated and used pure Mana that had already been filtered once.
The Hip-Circlet also involves Mana recovery.
According to Mage Zaveron’s Mana recovery theory, the speed of Mana recovery is inversely proportional to the amount of Mana consumed. It takes 20 minutes to refill the internal energy consumed by using that special technique once, and 120 minutes to refill it after using it three times? Assuming the amount of Mana used per single use is exactly the same, it meant the expected recovery time for three uses was exactly double that of one use. Then what about 0.3, 0.5, or 0.8 uses?
Miss Philodendore lightly explained the Mana recovery theories, from the old-generation formulas to the current-generation ones. It was an explanation of the theses submitted by Mage Kylose and Mage Belshar, as well as Mage Ruth and Mage Dwen.
Once I recognized the theories that had been verified hundreds of times in standardized laboratories, I felt a sudden breath of fresh air.
We can do this.
The fact that Mana recovery using the Hip-Circulate Method worked at the same ratio as general Mana recovery theory meant that standardized Mana recovery calculation formulas could be used as they were.
Everyone agreed that to proceed with minimum Mana loss, it would be better to break the path into several short bursts tailored to the terrain, jogging speed, and the density of the enemy, rather than using maximum output every time.
The distance from the Oasis safe zone to the Sanctuary of the Sun was about 900km.
The distance Mikael could clear in one burst was 1km. Assuming a rest and Mana recharge time of 20 minutes, the distance he could safely charge in one hour was 3km. During the remaining time, if we moved in a defensive formation while dealing with zombies, conservatively calculated, we could move 5km or up to 6km per hour. Calculating a movement of 5.5km per hour without stopping for 24 hours a day, it would take 163 hours and 36 minutes.
6 days, 19 hours, and 36 minutes.
The travel distance would increase to avoid lava zones and sand swamps, but by running alongside danger zones, we could gain the advantage of fighting with our backs to a wall. If we gained such leeway in combat, the resting personnel could also participate.
Even accounting for various errors, it was 7 days at most. There were still 12 days left until the scheduled arrival date.
Once the calculations were finished, I felt at ease. Even I, who had not yet become a Sword Master, could endure that much. Then the mercenaries, who were Sword Masters, would be able to do it easily. It was worth trying.
We can do it.
* * *
I met the second god. This was a somewhat ambiguous expression.
The Sun God was the second god among the nine, and the second god I had seen since I was born.
Even without the bubbling surroundings, even without the zombies that melted away in an instant, even without the Divine Speech that felt as if it were being hammered into my head, I was confident in revering this god as a god. An overwhelming sense of awe, completely different from when I faced the Oasis, made me excited.
The silent voice emitted by a staggeringly giant cactus resonated through my head and body.
There were nine gods in this world. While all gods other than the First Goddess possessed similar presences, among them, the Sun God had an exceptionally famous personal legend.
Created for all living things, his name is the Sun. When he opened his eyes, fierce heat boiled in the world, burning the sky black and making the vegetation scream.
At the cries of the pitiful ones, the Sun, with the hem of the Goddess’s skirt over his head, buried his feet in the western sand dunes and stretched, creating day in the world, which was called benevolence; and the Sun tore off one ear to make the moon, which was called care.
Only then did flowers bloom in the fields, grains ripen in the plains, and trees bear fruit, achieving a thousand years of abundance.
Indeed, that Makrir, staggeringly giant as if a martial arts training ground had been stood up vertically, looked down upon us humans with an overwhelming form.
A gentle warmth, like standing beside embers, warmed my feet. On behalf of the frightened party, I took a step forward.
Taking a deep breath, I bowed and lowered my eyes, following the etiquette commonly seen when clerics revere a god. I had heard that the Sun God was a god closer to humans than any other.
I’m saved now. Did I think that?
“It is an honor to meet you. I have always benefited greatly from the grace of the Sun.”
[ … ]
At the answer that did not return, my heart cooled regardless of the hot surroundings.
It was difficult to suppress my flustered heart at the god’s silence, which seemed to shun me as if seeing something very familiar.
Until now, I had not fully believed the words that I was born cursed. There were easily ten thousand humans born on October 31st every year. There were many people with black hair and black eyes. Yet, a god shuns me? Not just any god, but the Sun God, famous for his philanthropy?
While I was momentarily lost for words, Mikael stepped forward in my stead. I quietly watched Mikael, who blocked my path and looked up at the god with a stiff expression.
And the story I heard was as follows.
[ That child… because the traces of that one remain.]
“That one?”
[The first human ever born. Most children born from Sierren are like that, but this child is particularly… resembles that one. That is why bad memories simply came to mind.]
Haha. It wasn’t even funny. It didn’t matter to me in the slightest what relationship I had with the soul fragments of the first human, who were said to have been split into tens, hundreds, and thousands. I wasn’t hurt by such a thing now. Because…
I had Mikael.
The one who is entirely on my side, who worries for me, cares for me, and embraces me first, even in the presence of a god.
My person, my love.
* * *
December 28th.
I received the Ranunculus sent by Duke Widrow.
December 29th.
We began the journey to find the altar of the Black magician who serves the Ninth God.
January 5th.
We arrived at the Black magician’s lair.
And…