104. Childhood Friend - True Na
“Are you leaving? Where to? Why?”
Leo asked his father, who was setting up the sacrificial table.
But his father didn't answer.
He just slowly, hesitantly completed the altar as if recalling a mory.
‘Leaving? Because I’m grown up enough?’
Thinking back, during the beggar siblings' scenario last ti, he had scoured the entire continent to find his sister and ended up in this village, Demos.
At that ti, his father had disappeared.
Leo thought his father didn't co down from the mountain lodge because his son had killed Hans... but it seed that wasn’t the case.
‘But this didn't happen before?’
In the previous run where Lena was expelled from the capital church, Leo had sent her away and hunted for a while to gather travel expenses. He had to flee quickly after killing Hans, but until then, his father hadn’t ntioned leaving.
Leo pondered deeply and soon realized what had caused this change.
‘Hunting.’
It seed his father had planned to leave sowhere, leaving his son behind from the beginning.
So, when Leo started focusing on hunting to gather travel expenses after sending Lena away, his father handed him a snake wine, asked what he thought of Barbatos, and had him sell jerky.
His father was preparing Leo for independence.
If Leo hadn’t killed Hans and had successfully sold the jerky, he would have undoubtedly heard the sa words about leaving.
This ti, however, Leo had stayed in the lodge for two months to avoid Lena. Determined to keep her as a friend, he focused on hunting.
That made his father's reaction faster than before. Much faster than when he used to co to the lodge after getting close to Lena...
His {Hunting} skills also contributed to this reaction.
Leo had enough hunting skills to live on his own, and his father observed this closely in every run. He even opened his mouth to praise, “Leo, you've improved a lot.”
Every ti, Leo took advantage of the opportunity to get money...
If it weren’t for Minseo, his father would have had to wait longer.
He would have had to wait until his son without {Hunting} skills grew up enough, until he ca of age.
But where was he planning to go?
Leo scratched his neck, waiting for the altar to be completed. His father was pondering where to place the last candle.
‘It should be placed in the north...’
Leo knew how to set up a sacrificial table with {History of Asin}, but he didn’t intervene. He just stared blankly at his father holding the candle in contemplation.
I don’t know this father's na.
A reticent hunter who even cut off contact with the villagers, no one called him by his na. The villagers all called him ‘Leo’s father.’
It was as ridiculous as a son asking his father’s na, so Leo had pretended to know while staying silent. His father’s na had beco sothing irrelevant.
Not knowing his na, Leo had even less chance of knowing his father’s past.
Judging by Sir Corrin, the paladin’s reaction, he seed like a survivor from so massacred barbarian tribe...
Eventually, the last candle was placed. Among the eight directions, the north was given special attention, with two candles placed side by side.
Actually, this wasn’t so much about caring for the north but about ‘covering’ it. Since it was known that the main god dwelled in the north, this was a sign of respecting that while offering to another deity.
“Leo, stand here.”
His naless father called Leo over after setting up the sacrificial table.
Glancing over, the setup was complete.
Bone fragnts that Barbatos would like, candles placed in the eight directions, and... one precious item.
A hand mirror that his father always cherished and carried around was placed on the altar table.
Leo never understood why his father carried a mirror around despite not grooming his beard.
But Leo hesitated for a mont before approaching the altar.
‘Why does this feel unsettling...’
His father, quickly setting up the sacrificial table as if delighted that his son was becoming a devotee of Barbatos. He said that any hunter should serve Barbatos, so it was a natural reaction, but...
Why did his father ask what he thought about Barbatos?
When Leo answered that he couldn’t like Barbatos before, his father didn’t set up a sacrificial table.
So, his father had given Leo a choice. Despite serving the god himself, he asked his tattooed son for his opinion.
It felt like there was still so unsolved mystery. Leo had never seen good results from getting involved without knowing sothing...
Suspicious, Leo stood in front of the altar.
Although he had already answered that Barbatos was soone he should serve, this ritual was insignificant.
It was a minor ceremony, no different from telling a student entering school, “From now on, you are a middle school student.”
...That’s how it should have been.
“Lord Barbatos, here is your devotee. Please accept this offering and let this child...”
His father knelt beside the table and prayed.
Then, silence descended.
‘What, what is this?’
His father's words stopped. His open mouth froze.
It wasn’t just his father who stopped.
The nine flickering candles stilled, the sound of wind outside the lodge vanished. Even the dry bone sll on the floor disappeared.
Stiffened, Leo felt... an intense presence. Unseen, soone was watching him.
= What a fine offering.
A voice resonated like a vibration.
An endlessly heavy, solid sound resonated in his brain, and the hand mirror on the table floated into the air. The offering, which floated in the still world, slowly rotated as if soone was examining it closely.
A warm sense of joy surged.
= Offering sothing like this and only asking to beco a devotee... you have no greed.
The mirror folded horizontally and vertically several tis with a crunChapter Finally, it disappeared from sight, and a satisfied sense of fullness enveloped the lodge.
[Achievent: Devotee of Barbatos - You can offer a sacrifice to fulfill a minor wish.]
= I have granted your request. You are now my devotee, and I will take the offerings you present. In return, I will watch over you and provide what you lack. However,
After a brief pause, it proposed,
= The offering you presented is excessive, and you must have sothing you desire. Speak, the one who has offended Oriax.
With permission, Leo regained his freedom. He inhaled sharply and hiccuped in surprise.
Moving in a frozen world felt strange. The air was solid, breathing felt like drinking water.
“Please, erase this mark.”
Raising his right hand, he squeezed his lungs to speak, but his voice hovered just before his nose, not carried by any waves.
It seed sufficient, as a warm voice, mingled with laughter, returned.
= Are you truly satisfied with just that? You are as unambitious as your father. If that is what you truly wish...
“W-wait!”
Leo hurriedly breathed in the air around him and shouted, revealing his true intention at the suggestion of gaining more.
“Give the power to oppose Oriax's apostle.”
[Achievent: Godchild - You grow stronger against the Godchild and apostles.]
Prince Eric de Yeriel.
He was an 'apostle.'
According to the {History of Asin}, apostles were those who borrowed the power of the Godchild.
Regular devotees borrowed the power of the Godchild through offerings and prayers, but it was a very indirect thod.
For example, Leo's father burying the hearts and heads of his prey after each hunt was an extrely inefficient offering ritual.
Because this world belonged to the main god.
Every blade of grass, every piece of cloud was his property. Offering sothing from this world to the Godchild required a complex ritual.
To increase efficiency.
Even now, the candles placed in the eight directions, flickering mysteriously, were obscuring the main god's gaze (though barely), and the carcasses of prey favored by Barbatos were laid out to provide a space for him, but this was rely a simplified ritual, and Barbatos would have only received a tiny portion of the hand mirror that just disappeared.
But apostles could skip so of these ritual acts.
Of course, performing a full ritual was far more efficient, but apostles were in a close contract with the Godchild, so the offering efficiency was high. They could borrow power much more directly than regular devotees.
So, to oppose Prince Eric de Yeriel, the apostle...
= Very well. You shall be my apostle. All that you offer will beco my power, and that will also be your power...
[The 'Devotee of Barbatos' achievent is strengthened.]
[Achievent: Apostle of Barbatos - You can borrow Barbatos' power proportional to your offerings. You cannot serve other Godchildren.]
The cow footprint on Leo's palm was replaced by Barbatos's trumpet emblem.
= Now, my apostle. Speak your na to prove your devotion.
“My na is Leo.”
A mont of silence followed. As Leo waited, confused, Barbatos spoke again in a low voice.
= ...Your na is not Leo. Reveal your true na.
“What? My na is indeed Leo...?”
He rolled his eyes, flustered. Was he supposed to reveal Minseo's na? But...
As he hesitated, Barbatos said,
= You do not know your own na. Very well. Since it’s been hundreds of years since my last apostle, I will accept this loss. You must repay this grace. Your na is... ‘Rev.’
As soon as the na was spoken, the frozen world burst apart. Sothing like a whirlwind erupted around him.
But it wasn’t wind or anything else. He thought it had exploded, but the solid candles didn’t even quiver.
Rev felt this was sohow similar to Cassia's cheerful laughter that had once shaken the plains.
= Now, speak. Speak your na.
Barbatos urged. He insisted on hearing his na.
“My na is Rev.”
“...Grant the honor to serve.”
As soon as Rev finished speaking, the candles flickered again.
His father, who had been frozen, finished his prayer and stood up quickly. He approached Rev as if nothing had happened, as if everything was over.
Barbatos was gone.
“Rev. I’m leaving now. You’ve grown enough. You hunt well... Tomorrow, try selling the jerky yourself.”
“...Yes.”
Rev nodded, unable to hide his bewildernt. He twisted his wrist and rolled his shoulders, adjusting to the returned sense of reality.
His naless father noticed the absence of the hand mirror while tidying up the altar and his eyes widened.
He searched the table and looked at his son in astonishnt.
The god had answered.
It was said that Barbatos would take the offering when a sacrifice was made, but seeing it happen directly was a first.
The buried heads of prey were gone when dug up later, but disappearing in the blink of an eye like this was new.
In truth, he didn’t know much about offering rituals either. He had learned everything from his parents, and he lost the opportunity to learn more ritualistic practices at a young age.
The only ritual he rembered clearly was this one, signaling a new devotee.
‘That day,’ he too had beco a devotee of Barbatos. It was an unforgettable day...
Rev and his father stared at each other for a mont, both unable to hide their astonishnt, though for different reasons.
Fortunately for Rev, his father, as always, asked nothing. He quietly cleaned up the bone fragnts, collected the barely burned candles, and put them in a drawer before going to his room.
Rev lay down on his bed and tried to sleep.
But his heart pounded, and Barbatos's resonant voice echoed in his mind, keeping him awake.
Later, he would find out that Leo no longer existed. Neither in this lodge nor in the village of Demos did anyone by that na remain.
Only 'Rev,' Lena’s longti childhood friend, existed.
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