#163

A vassal.

My thoughts ground to a halt for a moment because such an unexpected word had come out of Callister’s mouth.

“Now, let us go.”

“…Are you my vassal?”

“Pardon? What are you talking about?”

Callister looked at me with wide eyes.

‘No, right?’

A vassal?

No notification window popped up.

In the first place, I don’t even have the ability to create vassals.

I haven’t even made a contract with the Happy God.

‘It must be a metaphor, right?’

Like, “Since we’ve shared a drink, I’ll be your right-hand man from now on!” something like that.

Though Callister being my left-hand man isn’t a metaphor.

“Could it be that you did it without knowing?”

“Did what?”

“Then you may continue not knowing. That would be better.”

“Stop bullshitting and tell me.”

Callister tilted his head, eyes still wide.

“Do you truly wish to know? Sins committed with knowledge carry a heavier weight, you know?”

“…Regardless of what I did, isn’t it already done? It’s better to know now. That way, I can clean up the mess.”

“Clean up, huh….”

Hearing my words, Callister rolled his eyes back and forth for a while before speaking.

“Are you aware that there used to be a regulation stating that Blessings must not be shared with those who do not belong to Order?”

“Since you used the past tense, I assume that regulation is gone?”

“That is correct. Back when groups who served the Evil Gods still existed, that regulation caused various problems. One priest was brought to trial simply for granting a Blessing of Healing to an injured heretic child.”

‘…Isn’t that a bit unreasonable?’

You can’t give a blessing to a heretic?

I mean, they have to taste the blessing first before they’ll convert.

Sure, there’s the method of showing off by granting miracles to your own believers and saying, “Your place doesn’t have things like this, right?” but isn’t letting them experience it directly the best way?

‘And it’s even better if they’re considered defiled by the place they originally belonged to because of it.’

One who keeps their faith even under terrible torture by the enemy will be revered.

But what about one who returns after living in luxury and even receiving a blessing?

‘They’ll be ostracized and viewed with suspicion.’

Those whose faith didn’t waver will feel insulted by such looks, and those whose faith did waver will feel skepticism toward their own community.

Either way, internal division is inevitable.

‘And if they don’t ostracize the returnee, the apostate will easily spread the new faith.’

Just as it’s more effective to give slow-acting poisoned bait to cockroaches to send them back to the nest rather than burning them one by one as you catch them to wipe out the colony.

‘…Maybe that’s not a good metaphor to use for people.’

Anyway.

Order viewed granting a blessing to a heretic as a sin?

And then?

“Those who have committed a sin can receive some leniency if they show the will to rectify their mistake. If that priest had revoked the blessing as instructed before being condemned, he would have been forgiven.”

“…I take it he didn’t?”

“Yes. That priest was burned at the stake on the charge of failing to follow the verdict delivered by the Judgment Executor.”

‘Burned at the stake?’

My face instinctively contorted.

The person who chopped off someone’s head got a Labor Reformation Sentence, but a priest who healed a child was burned at the stake?

Of course, disobedience to a verdict is a very grave sin in the Church of Order.

‘But the Judgment Executor could have shown some mercy.’

“What about revoking the Blessing of Healing for a moment, avoiding condemnation, and then giving the child Baptism? Then he could have used the Blessing of Healing again. Wouldn’t a loophole like that work?”

“That was not possible. The place where the child received the Blessing of Healing was the heart.”

‘…Meaning the moment the blessing was revoked, the child would die.’

Holy shit, isn’t that Judgment Executor fucking insane?

It’s practically the same as telling the priest to kill the child with his own hands.

How could he give such an order?

“And that’s why the law changed later?”

“Yes. A Cardinal who cherished that priest stepped forward to change the law.”

‘Wait, isn’t that Antonio?’

I doubt there were many Archbishops who changed the law.

Was Antonio a Cardinal?

“Well, anyway, that’s not the story I’m trying to tell.”

“Then what is it?”

“The important thing is that leniency is only granted if one reflects immediately upon realizing their mistake. If I tell you what you’ve done wrong now, you must rectify it immediately, but….”

Callister stopped mid-sentence and shut his mouth.

“Ugh, it’s truly cold! I’m really going to freeze to death. Let’s talk about the rest once we go inside.”

“…Fine.”

Callister didn’t mention it directly, but I roughly understood what he meant.

He was telling me to keep pretending I didn’t know so that if it becomes a problem later, I can claim ignorance.

Doing something because you didn’t know isn’t a sin, but delaying the solution after knowing is.

‘I guess I performed some kind of makeshift ritual….’

For someone unqualified to execute a sacred ritual is a serious act of blasphemy.

‘No, but I don’t even have a god I serve.’

The most important part is missing; does that still count as a ritual?

“Fabio, these clothes are a bit short. Do you have anything longer?”

“Stop complaining and wear what I give you.”

“Fabio, do you have a string I can use to tie my hair?”

“…If you look back there, there should be some thread bracelets. Use the white one.”

“Fabio, do I have to use the white one? I like this mottled green one.”

“No, that was a gift.”

I can’t let him use that; kids made it by crushing leaves with their tiny hands.

“What about the white one?”

“I made that one myself.”

“Then I prefer the white one.”

‘…He’s fucking terrible at tying hair.’

I thought about fixing it for him for a second, but I decided to just leave it.

Even if it looks like hair, those are all maggots.

I don’t want to touch those.

“…Listen.”

“Yes, Fabio.”

“I have no intention of going to the Land of Order when I die.”

Callister froze in place.

‘So he can be flustered too.’

After rolling his eyes for a long time, Callister spoke.

“Then… does Fabio serve an Othergod?”

“And if I do, what?”

“What do you mean ‘what’? Then I must serve that being from now on as well. For I am your Callister. Your master is also my master. May I hear that being’s name?”

“…Shouldn’t you report me first? That there’s a wicked heretic here.”

“Pardon? Why would I do that? Fabio, you are my everything.”

‘He’s lying.’

If he really thought that, he wouldn’t have asked me to take off my underpants and shoes in the middle of winter.

A bastard like a caterpillar that eats the tree it was born on.

‘Still, it’s certain that he doesn’t have much faith in Order.’

“…I don’t have an Othergod that I serve. If I had to pick, I believe in Order for now.”

Callister blinked.

“You said you have no intention of going to the Land of Order?”

“I only intend to believe in Order while I’m alive.”

“Then where does Fabio intend to go after death?”

“Nowhere. I’ll just disappear.”

Callister looked at me blankly.

“That is….”

“Anyway, it means I’m not particularly afraid of condemnation. I don’t give a damn about the hell I fall into after I die.”

This is something I can’t say to Athanas.

But with Callister, it should be fine.

“So it doesn’t matter if you tell me. No, I shouldn’t say it doesn’t matter. Just tell me. It’s an order. What did I do?”

I need to know the meaning of what I’ve done.

Only then can I decide whether to help Casimir or other people.

‘If using a goblin’s blood as medicine is something that would get me permanently banned from the Land of Order….’

The people I can help are limited to those who are already banned.

Like Andrea, who is already a vassal of the Distorted One, or players who can never go to the Land of Order.

“…When one who possesses Divinity shares their blood and flesh, it is a ritual to grant Divine Power to a new priest. It can be called the prototype of the Holy Sacrament.”

“First time I’ve heard of that.”

“That is because the barbaric Ancient Gods actually fed their blood and flesh.”

“Ancient Gods?”

“I am referring to the forgotten gods. Those who disappeared because they were weak or useless.”

‘So gods die too if they’re weeded out by competition.’

I had a rough idea of their existence.

The ‘Masterless Protection’ that appears in the game must be the traces of such Ancient Gods.

While playing Conclude, I could occasionally obtain relics containing old protections.

Unlike the universal rule of the gaming world where modifiers like ‘Old’ or ‘Ancient’ signify powerful items, the performance of such relics in Conclude was utterly pathetic.

Most of them gave trivial protections, like making you run faster or slightly increasing durability by hardening the skin.

It might have been useful if it could be applied to all Units or if it were adaptable, but since it was a power that only applied to the Unit holding the relic, it wasn’t meaningfully usable in a strategy game.

So usually, I’d just offer them as sacrifices as soon as I got them to exchange them for points….

‘In ancient times, even that level of miracle was enough to act as a god.’

“In that era, gods often possessed physical bodies. To be precise, it was a time when it was possible to obtain Divinity if someone who used miracles was worshipped as a god.”

“First time I’ve heard that too.”

“Because it is knowledge forbidden by Order. It is history that should not be revealed to someone like Fabio, who lacks a degree. The fact that a human could become a god by acting like one, or that calling an apostle a ‘vessel of god’ comes from the ancient custom of providing a body for the god to transfer into, or the truth that most of those recorded as avatars in the scriptures were separate gods who were eaten and became part of the god currently worshipped—these are secret pieces of knowledge written only in forbidden books.”

“…’Eaten’ is a metaphor, right?”

“They say that in ancient times, gods truly fought and tore out each other’s entrails to eat, but I do not know if that is the truth. Lady Ledeia’s memories of that era are faint.

For now, the ‘god-eating’ left in the records was a ritual where, if a grave existed, they would dig it up and offer even the bones on the Altar. After offering Sacred Relics, statues, objects imbued with the god’s power, and even the remains of those who believed in that god on the Altar, they would rewrite the scriptures to say that the two gods were originally one. Those who served the eaten side were described as ignorant ones who were only permitted the name of an avatar, while they themselves were the chosen people who knew the god’s true name and served in the correct way. They wrote things like that.”

“And?”

“Fabio, what you performed was such an ancient rite. If there is no other god you serve, then you are now my god.”

“…Can’t I cancel that?”

I have absolutely no intention of becoming some cult leader claiming to be a god.

If you believe in an Othergod, you can at least borrow Divine Power, but nothing comes out of believing in myself.

“You cannot. No matter what anyone says, I will serve you, Fabio, as my god.”

“Even if I tell you not to?”

“Of course.”

‘What do you mean, of course?’

“If you believe in me, shouldn’t you listen to what I say?”

“Fabio, I will listen to anything you say. Except for the words telling me not to serve you as my god.”

“…What if we both end up on the stake because you’re treated as a heretic?”

“Haha, I must ensure that such a thing does not happen.”

Callister reached out, cupping my face with a smirk.

“Fabio. I told you. The words you spoke to me belong only to me. The blood and flesh you gave me also belong only to me. I have no intention of carelessly speaking of this and losing it all. If you tell me to die, I will die in a way that leaves not even ashes, so that no one but me can take any of it. Then the fact that you took me as a vassal will never be known. Since it is not written anywhere, even the records engulfed in madness down below will not know. It will be a secret between just the two of us until the end of this universe. If you only say the word, I will disappear as if I never existed from the start. Then only you will know. That I was your, only your Callister….”

I hurriedly covered Callister’s mouth as it drew closer.

“Stop! I get it, so stop coming closer. You said you’d listen to other things I say, right? Don’t touch me without my permission.”

Callister’s eyes curved deeply.

For a moment, the inside of my eyelids stung, so I squeezed my eyes shut.

‘Did something get in my eye?’

The moment I tried to rub my eye with my other hand, I heard Callister’s laughter.

The hand cupping my face dropped.

“I understand. I won’t ‘touch’ you. Fabio. For I am a very obedient Callister.”