WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 561: The Ash-Covered Sin and the Skin-Stitched God - 1

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The immortals' fighting spirit was growing. This was not a desire to follow a god's command, but the urge to protect themselves from the crisis threatening their village. A deeply primal, instinctive desire.

Faced with that sharp hostility, I paused to think.

Even if their fighting spirit was instinctive now, its spark had begun with their faith. Their shallow devotion to that pathetic god had made the entire village willing to stake their lives on fighting a formidable enemy like me.

...I wasn't actually that formidable, but that was what they thought.

That made me even more curious. If they truly faced a crisis that could wipe out their entire tribe, would they still cling to their faith and traditions? Would they offer up their own lives for tools meant to sustain life?

I didn't know. Honestly, it would probably depend on the situation. No one could be certain.

Unless I tested it myself.

"You really are prepared to die, aren't you? Would it be all right if I actually killed you?"

"The one who dies will be you. We have bodies blessed by the Offering God. As long as the Offering God is with us, we will never die!"

"The same goes for me. I have no intention of dying either. I'd rather fight than obediently let myself be killed."

I had the Demon God. It would be difficult, but I could do it. And if I could, there was no harm in trying. It might be worth testing just how firm their resolve was.

Shall I, then...?

Just as I hardened my resolve and gathered my strength, my heart suddenly beat strangely.

Thump.

In a dark cathedral, a nun prayed alone. Sunlight filtered through red stained glass and fell over her slender hands, folded neatly together.

Sister Yegcheriya, the Fallen Nun, blessed someone at the Blood Monastery.

- Compared to the Holy Maiden of Heaven's, my blessing is endlessly humble and powerless. Even so, I shall bless you.

The vampire nun had abandoned God. Once an abbess admired by all for her abundant faith, she had blasphemed the Celestial God and become an Elder of the Progenitor.

- The Holy Maiden of Heaven has already ordained a future for you. If you set foot upon this path, you will ride causality upstream and seize the future blessed by the Holy Maiden.

A cathedral and a nun. They should have been sacred, yet those were not words that suited the Blood Monastery or Yegcheriya, the Fallen Nun.

She performed sacred rites with blood. Rather than asking Heaven about the confessions of those who came to repent, she questioned herself. Rather than washing newborn children with oil, she washed them in blood.

- But evil people may perform good deeds, and good people may unknowingly commit evil. That is because humans are imperfect.

Yegcheriya had not abandoned God. She had simply sought the god that dwelled in human bodies and hearts instead of a distant god.

- My blessing is a small whim. A slight disturbance that may come to pass or may not. Yet it can turn an evil person good for an instant, and cast a good person down into evil. A seed of confusion.

When Yegcheriya blessed the regressor and me, she planted a tiny seed. At the end of the ordained future, at a moment watched by the Holy Maiden, it would be a trivial impulse that affected our blood flow.

- The Holy Maiden of Heaven determines the future. It is the end of inevitability, the conclusion reached through reason and causality. Yet what she judges is humanity. Because she judges imperfect humans by a perfect standard, things become misaligned, confused, and twisted.

Whether it was a cool breeze, a lightness in my body, or something suddenly catching my eye, a small impulse touched me and made me feel briefly inclined to act. It could not control me, but it could make me stop for a moment.

- God resides within our hearts. I, Yegcheriya, bless you.

Bloodcraft, Baptismal Blood Rite.

The blessing Yegcheriya bestowed was a tiny whim. It planted a small impulse within the body, one that could suddenly alter a person's mindset or actions. It was insignificant beside the Holy Maiden's blessing, but it was a joker that could throw that blessing off course.

The blessing recreated through bloodcraft was certainly taking effect within my body. The only minor problem was that I already knew of its existence through mind reading.

An impulse was only an impulse when you didn't know it was there. Knowing exactly what it was made this a little awkward. It was supposed to be a secret weapon, too.

Hm. Still.

There was no reason not to indulge a whim, was there?

I immediately clasped my hands and bowed deeply.

"I'm truly sorry. I'd like to apologize to all of you."

The immortals, who had been about to advance with boiling fighting spirit, hesitated at my suddenly submissive attitude. I took the opportunity to apologize even more emphatically.

"I'm sorry for barging in without permission and causing a disturbance. But please try to understand my position as well. You said someone had to be offered to the Offering God. How could I not investigate that?"

"...What did you say?"

"They were sacrifices meant to be offered to an evil god, and you told me to offer them up, so naturally I had some unpleasant thoughts. What if the Offering God was an evil being like a dark mage? What if it intended to devour them all and replenish its strength? I only entered to make sure. It is true that I did not show enough consideration toward all of you in the process."

"Ugh, wait. My head."

Left Arm pounded her temple at the sudden headache. After resolving it with an immortal's remedy by striking herself in the head, she deeply furrowed her brow.

"You stirred up all this trouble and even attacked us, and now you're apologizing? What kind of whim is this?"

"It is a whim, but I did act a little presumptuously, didn't I? I wanted to apologize for that first."

"If you're apologizing, you should offer up one of your arms. How shameless, apologizing with words alone!"

"Well, that's separate from the fact that I was inconsiderate. It isn't as if I did something unforgivable. What if the Offering God really had been eating people, as I said?"

I didn't know what effect this whim would have, but did words always need to have an effect before they were spoken?

"Still, if the Offering God mercifully forgives me, I won't fight any further."

* * *

[Yegcheriya. So you finally...]

The future had changed. The Holy Maiden of Heaven realized that the nun's shadow followed behind him and let out a low groan.

No, the future had not changed at all. Without the Holy Maiden's intervention, the King of Humanity would challenge order. The Offering God would not give up its desires either, so their collision was inevitable.

That small impulse had only twisted the path leading to that future slightly.

Yet even that small difference changed sin.

"He apologized! See? Hughes yielded first. Isn't that enough?"

Shei sprang to her feet with a refreshed expression.

Even if causality itself did not change, the standard used to judge an action did. Through a small whim, a slight difference, the weight of right and wrong could pass to the other side.

Though the King of Humanity was such a person and the Offering God was such a being, that slight change blurred the line between good and evil. Gray spread along the boundary between black and white.

[This changes nothing... In the end, that will still come.]

"It changed, though. The way we see Hughes!"

Shei answered with a light expression.

* * *

"You're saying we should stop fighting here?"

"Suspicious. He must be plotting something."

"Left Arm, what should we do now?"

"Why are you asking Left Arm, Thigh? The Offering God has already given its command! Are you thinking of disobeying the Offering God's order?"

"Hasn't the situation changed? Perhaps the Offering God will issue another command."

"There has been no new command since then! We should follow the one we were given!"

"But he apologized, didn't he?"

Pouring cold water over their boiling fighting spirit divided the immortals as well. Some disliked using force against Piu. Some feared the strength I had shown. Others simply believed my words and asked what the problem was now.

A small dispute broke out. Unable to endure the chattering any longer, Left Arm bellowed.

"Quiet! My head hurts, so stop yapping!"

"But still..."

"I said my head hurts!"

Left Arm struck down an immortal who kept talking despite that. The immortal rolled across the ground with their head caved in, then cautiously shut their mouth.

"Capture him for now! We can lock him up until the Offering God gives another order! You young ones are less flexible than I am!"

"Oh, that's a way!"

"Are you planning to make an old woman with a failing memory use her head too?"

Lock me up?

Should I indulge this whim a little further and let them capture me? I could easily free myself from the immortals' restraints anyway. Hm, but I didn't want to concede that much.

Fine. Let's fight. If they intended to wait for the Offering God's order, there was no reason for me to listen to their wishes any longer.

"Wait! Everyone, stop fighting!"

At that moment, a huge shadow barged between the immortals and me. With a build that rivaled Left Arm's and an especially prominent right arm, he was the strongest force among the immortals: Right Arm Rashy.

He approached with a bewildered expression and looked between Left Arm and me.

"What in the world is going on? Why are you suddenly fighting with a guest?"

"Right Arm? What are you doing here? I distinctly buried you and your bride in the ground for your wedding ceremony!"

Rashy rolled his eyes.

He was supposed to remain underground after his wedding ceremony, but he had dug a tunnel in advance. After night fell, he carefully escaped through it. He only arrived late after finding a place to stay out of the other immortals' sight and receiving the Offering God's summons.

"My Offering God suddenly began moving urgently. It was clearly an emergency, so I asked my wife to understand and ran out!"

"You are still far from becoming the head of a household! You abandoned the bride you had just married and came running to a battlefield!"

"Ah, we can hold the wedding ceremony again next time! So what happened? Why are you fighting Sir? Did the Offering God order you to kill him?"

"A revelation must have reached you as well, yet you dare ask so shamelessly when you know!"

"Well. I was found out."

Rashy scratched his head, looked between Left Arm and me, then sighed.

"Stop, Aunt Left Arm. There is no reason to fight."

"What?"

"Sir's companion, the boy, is an extremely powerful warrior. Even Jiseon was ultimately defeated and had an arm cut off. Sir is a strong person who rivals him. We must not fight with halfhearted resolve."

"You would avoid a fight because the enemy is strong? Rashy! Is that how I taught you?"

"Of course not, Aunt Left Arm. As an immortal, I do not fear fighting either. But I lived with them in the military state beyond the steppe, received their kindness, and welcomed them as guests to our village. How could I give my all against guests I personally received?"

Rashy was still young, but he had received the Offering God's right arm. The right arm and left arm were the Offering God's two limbs, equal in status. Once their opinions clashed, Left Arm could say nothing more and groaned.

"Ugh. It is not that I do not understand what you mean. But how can we hold back when the Offering God has given its command?"

"Let us ask the Offering God again!"

While Left Arm agonized, Rashy readily reached a conclusion.

"The revelation was clearly mistaken! Would the Offering God truly issue such a reckless and sudden command? We should summon the shamans and ask them what the Offering God truly meant!"

Claiming that a god could be wrong was not exactly an attitude encouraged among believers. Still, Rashy was right this time. The Offering God only possessed power like a god's. It was not a true god.

I had not particularly intended to avoid fighting the immortals, but if I had indulged a small whim and avoided the fight, that was fine too. Then the battle with the immortals ended here.

All that remained was...

[As expected, a body that does not follow the head's will is nothing but a disorderly mob.]

Rumble.

A massive tremor came from the Offering God's cave. As though the cave were too cramped, it slowly walked out while bracing one hand against the ceiling.

A grotesque body made by stitching skin together. The Offering God, which had assembled the bodies offered by the immortals into its own, awakened from its long seclusion.

Footnotes:

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