“Hm? Hey, isn’t that a person over there?” Saria inquired.
“Huh?”
“I don’t see anything,” Al said flatly.
A little while after we had taken down those weird plant monsters, Saria suddenly spotted what looked like a human figure in the distance. And she was right: there was someone way out there. It’s the kind of thing only someone like Saria, who’s more beast than person, would be able to spot from that far.
Wait. Hold on. I can see it too now. Let’s not dwell on that.
“Could it be Origa and the others?”
“I’m not sure,” Al replied. “They left way before we did. I’d expect them to already be inside Routier’s father’s dungeon by now.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
As I listened idly to their conversation, something suddenly struck me.
“Wait a sec…”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Those seeds I deflected earlier… didn’t they go flying off in that direction?”
“Oh.” Hearing my words, Al’s expression froze in place. Then he turned to me with a very solemn, almost regretful look. “So you finally killed someone.”
“NOOOOOOOOOOOO! Don’t say that! Pleaaaaaase!”
Crap, crap, crap! What if… I fired those seeds thinking nobody was around! They were flying at ridiculous speeds! If one of those actually hit someone… No, no, no, I don’t even want to think about it!
“L-let’s go! We’ve gotta hurry and check if they’re okay!”
“Pretty sure it’s too late,” Al muttered.
“Stop saying things like that!!”
I mean, when I hit it, it made a “pop!” kind of sound as it tore through the ground. That’s not normal! But I… I refuse to believe I hit anyone!
But if I did… then I’ll turn myself in… somewhere. I have no idea where exactly, but I will.
No. If I actually killed someone, I’ll go back to the underworld myself and bring them back, no matter what.
With that kind of grim resolve fueling me, we rushed toward the figure in the distance. As we got closer, their shape became clearer… and to our shock, it turned out to be Origa and her group.
“Wait. Origa-chan?!”
“Ah, Seiichi-oniic—!”
The moment Origa spotted us, she ran straight at me and threw herself into my arms.
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
“W-What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Seeing you, Seiichi-oniichan, made me feel safe.”
“R-Really?”
As I gently patted Origa on the back to calm her down, I glanced around to take in the situation, and…
“Um… what exactly is going on here?” I asked.
“Do you think I’d know?” Origa exclaimed.
“Yeah, didn’t think so.”
“Lulune is stepping on someone, but who is it?”
Just like Saria said, when I turned to look at Lulune, I saw a man in absolutely tattered condition lying at her feet, seemingly unconscious. Routier and Zora were just staring blankly at the scene, as if their brains had short-circuited from trying to process everything.
“Ah! Wait, did something come flying this way earlier?!”
“Huh?”
“I mean, uh… back when we were traveling, there was this plant monster that launched a seed or something, and I hit it back in this direction.”
“That explains it.” Origa nodded, as if everything suddenly made sense. Then, she hugged me again. “Thank you, Seiichi-oniichan.”
“Uh, y-you’re welcome?”
I had no idea what I’d done, but somehow, I was getting thanked for it.
After clinging to me for a little while longer, Origa finally lifted her head and began explaining the situation.
“The guy that glutton is stepping on? He’s with the Cult of the Wicked One.”
“The Cult of the Wicked One?! Oh, right. Wasn’t there something about them possibly using the place where Routier’s father is being held?”
“Yeah. And that guy… he’s an enemy known as ‘Resonant.’ He was incredibly strong.”
“Someone with a title like that… means he’s one of those, huh?”
“Wasn’t he the same type as that other guy? The one we ran into in the dungeon with Helen… ‘Suredeath,’ doesn’t it?”
“Oh! The one who healed us, right!”
“Saria. That guy used to be way more dangerous, you know? He only turned weird because of Seiichi.”
“Because of me?! Well… yeah, that’s fair.”
That guy had some insane ability that could instantly kill any existence or concept. But because my body responded with something ridiculously simple like ‘it doesn’t work, so it doesn’t work,’ his ability didn’t affect me at all.
Come to think of it, if his power had been something like ‘it works because it works,’ then maybe a logical contradiction would’ve occurred, and he wouldn’t have even been able to activate it in the first place. Seriously, what’s going on with my body?
Even though I didn’t mean for it to happen, just thinking ‘Isn’t this a bit unfair?’ caused his ability to morph into some kind of healing power instead. Wait, that means I actually did something good, didn’t I? Well, whatever.
As we exchanged that little banter, Origa suddenly widened her eyes in surprise.
“Seiichi-oniichan, you’ve fought someone like that guy, too?”
“Yeah, sort of. Though we didn’t really fight much… he seemed like he outranked the Servants of the Cult of the Wicked One. More like one of their top leaders.”
“Didn’t he say he was an ‘Apostle’ or something?”
“Ah! Yeah, that was it.”
Man, calling them ‘Apostles’ as the rank above Servants is pretty on-the-nose. Not even sure what the difference is. Well, still a better naming convention than Seiichi Magic or whatever I come up with, that’s for sure!
“I see. That makes sense now. That guy really was that strong.”
“Huh?”
“All of our attacks got reflected straight back at us. And on top of that, he could heal all damage instantly. It was totally one-sided.”
“No way! Are you okay? Are you hurt?!”
Worried, I quickly looked her over again to make sure she wasn’t injured. Origa gave me a small smile.
“I’m okay. Just when I thought it was all over, something strange came flying in from out of nowhere.”
“Huh?”
“Whatever that thing was that came flying in… it tore that guy’s body to shreds. And then, the glutton started eating it… and for some reason, after that, her attacks stopped getting reflected. That’s how we ended up like this.”
“What is Lulune?!”
“That’s what I’d like to know.”
Wait, so the one who got hit by my batted-back seed was that Apostle guy?! No way. Could that be the effect of my ‘Accidental Messiah’ title? I’ve never been so glad to have that weird title!
Still, there’s something strange about this. If the seed I hit actually struck that “Apostle,” or even landed around here, shouldn’t it have taken root and grown into another plant?
Maybe the act of hitting it caused it to lose its viability as a seed? I mean, at sonic speed, it probably got pulverized anyway… Yeah, forget it. Everyone’s safe, and that’s what matters!
Still… Lulune just keeps heading in stranger and stranger directions. Not that I’m in any position to judge, but seriously.
Think about it, she ate the seed I hit, you know? Isn’t that weird?!
“According to the glutton, eating whatever that thing was apparently created an entire universe inside her.”
“What the hell does that even mean?!”
Yep. She’s definitely weirder than I am. A universe inside her stomach? I always thought her belly was like a black hole, but now it’s no longer a metaphor. What even is she anymore? She used to be a donkey, didn’t she?!
Completely baffled by the direction Lulune was evolving toward, all I could do was cast healing magic on everyone except the Apostle currently being stepped on by Lulune.
“Huh? Ah! Seiichi!”
“Seiichi-san, you finally caught up!”
Noticing that their injuries had suddenly been healed, Routier and the others snapped out of their daze and rushed over to me.
“Thank goodness… With you here, I feel so much better.”
“Same here. As long as you’re around, Seiichi-san, I feel safe!”
“I-I’ll do my best to feel safe too.”
Am I really that reliable? I mean, I’m usually the reason things get out of hand in the first place…
Noticing us, Lulune gave the unconscious cultist beneath her a hard kick and trotted over. Yikes… that kick just landed a direct hit on the guy’s most important area… I grimaced at the sight, but Lulune, completely unfazed, approached with sparkling eyes.
“Master! I’ve realized something!”
“R-Realized what, exactly?”
“My mouth has a limit to how much it can eat. So, I’ve decided to eat with my entire body instead!”
“What are you talking about?”
I don’t think I’m capable of understanding a single word she just said.
As I was checking to make sure Routier and the others were unharmed, Al looked down at the frothing cultist and asked, “Glad we found each other again and all, but what do we do with him?”