Reikart left behind so cryptic words before departing.
Even as he left, a massive pillar of lightning struck down from the sky. He entered it and vanished in an instant.
After that, the situation wrapped up one way or another, and we left the temple. Following our departure, we stayed in Byzantium for a few days.
What could possibly happen in just a few days? That’s what I thought.
Crash!
“Hahaha! Now I’m truly free!!”
“Hahaha! Please co back, Your Holiness the Pope!!”
Yeah. It happened.
The so-called Pope broke windows every day to escape, and Gaspard would catch him.
According to Rize, this happened about once a day. She said it kept things from getting boring.
“Is it really okay for the Pope to act like that?”
“Everyone seems to understand.”
“That…?”
Byzantium, which tolerated such antics, didn’t seem entirely sane either. They treated the Pope’s Great Escape as so kind of attraction.
Beyond that, I enjoyed Byzantium’s food, sparred with Rize, and spent a surprisingly fulfilling ti there before returning quickly.
The situation was already noisy enough, and with even the Divine Spirit Reikart showing up, rumors spread like wildfire.
It was a bit embarrassing to show my face, so I returned earlier than planned.
‘Don’t trust Gaia?’
After returning to the Academy, I lay on my dormitory bed, lost in thought for a while.
Don’t trust Gaia. For a Divine Spirit to offer such advice, it must be sothing serious.
Of course, I couldn’t rule out the possibility of it being an attempt to sow discord. To , Gaia and Gulak were all the sa.
They forcibly dropped soone living peacefully into a forest and made them suffer endlessly.
From my perspective, they’re equally bad. I just can’t bring myself to trust these so-called gods.
‘It’s unsettling in so many ways.’
Soul World allows for diverse roleplaying concepts, and among them, the Holy Knight concept is highly versatile.
Gulak shows versatility in combat, while Gaia excels in utility and support.
Moreover, Gaia has a reputation for benevolence, earning respect wherever she goes. This provides various advantages, especially in gaining honor.
‘Unlike Gulak, I’ve had almost no interactions with Gaia.’
One might ask why there aren’t any Gaia believers at the Academy.
To explain, there are so. They’re just in a different class.
Since I only connected with them after the Academy Collapse, I didn’t pay much attention to them now.
More than anything, I wanted to avoid getting involved with that person. In Soul World, they were a character so frustrating it nearly drove insane.
At least with Luna, I just need to watch my words. But with that person, it’s different. To act freely, it’s better to stay away.
‘Let’s just set aside the gods for now. They’re all the sa anyway.’
Whether it’s Gaia or Gulak, their tendency to make innocent people suffer hasn’t changed.
Perhaps being chosen by Chaos would’ve been better. At least it was easier to raise faith with them.
I wanted to vent with so harsh words, but I held back. Otherwise, my faith might decrease.
‘Well, birds of a feather flock together, so they’re probably all alike.’
Just as I was thinking Chaos was no different from the other gods—
[Faith is decreasing.]
Strangely, a ssage appeared before my eyes, stating that my faith was decreasing.
I made a peculiar expression as I looked at the ssage. It might’ve been my imagination, but I sensed a slight irritation in it.
It felt like an unspoken ssage saying, “Don’t lump in with those guys.” I couldn’t quite understand it.
‘Did they oppose dragging into this place?’
This ti, no ssage appeared. It seed like they were holding back their words.
Unlike other gods, Chaos doesn’t directly express their intentions—except in ways like this.
‘Then how does Rize communicate with them? Through dreams?’
Thinking deeply, it felt a bit strange. In Soul World, such things could be overlooked as part of the ga.
But this is reality. Unless soone has a Status Window like , communicating with Chaos should be impossible.
Although Luna has special ‘eyes,’ I’m not sure if they compare to a Status Window.
You could think of it as combining my Status Window with Luna’s eyes to form a Soul World character.
‘It’s complicated.’
Doubts led to more doubts, and questions led to more questions. Nothing seed to resolve properly.
In the end, I could only hope ti would provide answers. For now, there were just scattered hints everywhere.
‘What I need to think about right now is…’
The visit to Byzantium, originally planned to last about a week, ended in less than that.
This way, I could reduce the number of victims falling prey to that demon. But I’d need to figure out their location.
That demon didn’t stay in one place and wandered around. Fortunately, their cycle was long.
‘If I don’t deal with it now, it’ll be a bigger headache later.’
As seen with Porori’s case, certain monsters or demons grow stronger over ti.
The monster I’ll face next is the sa. It’s originally tough to defeat early on, so beginners often avoid it even if they know about it.
But if you encounter it later, it becos insanely powerful. While it might not reach indigo-level strength, it’ll co close.
‘It’s tough to handle even now.’
The difference lies more in its specs than its patterns. Just one hit could leave you critically injured.
On the flip side, this ans my current specs are more than enough to defeat it. If you’re strong, you can crush it with even greater strength.
However, since it resides outside the Academy, I’d have to leave to deal with it. Ideally, I’d sneak out.
‘Hmm…’
Thinking it over, sneaking out didn’t seem like a bad choice. I had freedom, and I could use it however I wanted.
Freedom is Sivar! That’s what it ans. As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I got up.
‘Alright. Let’s go right now.’
My thoughts were short, and my actions were quick. I imdiately packed all the necessary items.
Of course, the only thing worth packing was Ragnarok. Along with so money and a simple bag.
That should be enough. The village wasn’t too far away, so I’d be back soon.
‘As for leaving a note… Nah. I’m not a kid. They wouldn’t go looking for , would they?’
Still, just in case, I decided to stick a note on the dormitory door saying I’d be out for a while.
That way, anyone looking for might be puzzled but wouldn’t worry too much.
‘Once I retrieve the sword from that demon, I’ll ask Rod for help. Oh, right. I still haven’t picked up the Usk Sword I had made.’
I’d forgotten to collect the Usk Sword I commissioned. But there didn’t seem to be any urgent need to get it now.
I’ll give it to Luna as a gift when I return. Since we share secrets, this much should be fine.
Scratch, scratch—
I wrote on the paper to stick on the door. It simply indicated I was away.
Then, I attached the note to the door and headed toward the Academy Main Gate. For the record, I had eaten a hearty al.
‘Let’s see… The back gate leads to Byzantium, and the main gate leads to that village, right? Perfect.’
People who recognized murmured, but I ignored them with ease. I was used to such stares.
‘Let’s take care of this quickly and co back.’
I didn’t want to make anyone worry. My acquaintances tended to treat like a child.
But there was one thing I hadn’t considered. It took a full day by carriage to reach the village.
Which ant it would take much longer than three days. In Soul World, it was treated as ‘fast travel,’ so I hadn’t realized.
‘I have enough money for food, so it’ll be fine.’
Vacations are ant to be spent aningfully.
******
About a few hours after Sivar left the Academy—
Luna, who had returned from Byzantium, lay on her bed for a while. She couldn’t shake the deep thoughts from her mind.
The dream she had when she fainted due to Sivar’s prank. That dream left Luna with a significant sense of disharmony.
‘The sa appearance as Sivar, with violet eyes… But he had two weapons.’
Appearance-wise, he looked exactly like Sivar. To be precise, like a more grown-up version of Sivar.
Right now, he was tall but still had a sowhat youthful face. In the dream, however, he was a sharp-featured, handso man.
He still used an axe as his main weapon. But in his left hand, he held a massive greatsword.
‘Could it really be… the future?’
A dream of Sivar becoming a mass murderer in the future. That was sothing she absolutely wanted to prevent.
Even now, he is already strong enough, but in the future, he would beco far stronger. At that point, even Rize or Rod might find it hard to stop him.
However, a question arose at the sa ti. What exactly led Sivar to commit such a massacre?
The mountain of corpses wasn’t of demons but of humans. That much, she clearly rembered.
What on earth turned him into a monster as terrifying as a demon? For now, she couldn’t figure it out.
‘…Should I just ask him directly?’
Since it’s co to this, she decided to also take the opportunity to examine his eyes.
Whether the red color was truly red, or if there were signs of it changing to purple.
Luna let out a deep sigh and got up from the bed. It would be better to make a plan after consulting with Sivar.
“…Huh?”
But what was this? There was a strange piece of paper attached to Sivar’s dormitory door.
A piece of paper carefully taped to the door. Luna examined the phrase written on it closely.
[Gone sowhere for a bit. Don’t look for .]
It seed he had been diligently learning how to write. Although he did write “gone” as “for a bit,” there was that minor mistake.
However, Luna tilted her head as she read the phrase. Was it really necessary to put up a note just for going sowhere?
‘Did he go to the forest to mark his territory?’
It was a high possibility. If that were the case, it might take a while, so it seed better to return the next day.
And so, the next day ca, and when Luna arrived in front of Sivar’s dormitory, she raised one eyebrow.
‘What? Still?’
The paper was still there. Wondering if Sivar had left it up out of laziness, she even knocked.
Even after knocking, there was no response from inside. A creeping sense of foreboding began to rise in Luna’s chest.
If it were soone else, she might have let it go, but this was Sivar. A troublemaker who could cause an accident anyti, anywhere.
It would be fine if he were within the Academy, but if he had gone outside… it could spell serious trouble in many ways. Luna imdiately began her investigation.
Sivar’s appearance was distinctive enough to stand out even from a distance, so the investigation was easy. She started with the Forest of Chaos, Ratatoskr’s territory.
“Why him? He hasn’t even set foot in the forest for a while.”
“He didn’t co yesterday either?”
“Yeah, he didn’t.”
Ratatoskr, cracking open an acorn, answered as if wondering if there was a problem.
For now, it seed he hadn’t co to the forest. Luna thanked him and moved on to ask others.
“Sivar? No, he hasn’t co looking for .”
“ neither. He hasn’t visited.”
She asked both Kara and Ellie, but their answers were negative.
As her unease and foreboding grew stronger, Luna happened to hear so news.
“Sivar? I saw him leaving yesterday.”
“What?”
It was Antonio. He was the one who had directly seen Sivar leaving through the main gate yesterday.
Antonio, holding a stack of securities, began to speak.
“I happened to see him while I was on my way to buy stocks yesterday. He was heading out of the Academy.”
“Do you… know why?”
“How would I know? He had packed weapons and a bag, though.”
“…”
It seed like sothing serious had happened. As soon as Luna heard that, she went straight to Rod.
“Um… Headmaster.”
“What is it?”
After a brief hesitation, Luna revealed the conclusion she had reached through her investigation.
“It seems Sivar has run away.”
“…”
It wasn’t entirely wrong.
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