chapter 12
12 episodes
Even in the middle of the night, the roundtable was not over.
It was a boring time, but Ethan couldn’t move a single step in the hall of the conference hall.
“Are you having a hard time?”
Often workers or priests comforted Ethan.
Ethan wasn’t the only one in the hallway.
The attendants or priests accompanying the high priests who participated in the meeting were waiting.
“The high priests are also old, so it won’t be longer here.”
A priest comforted Ethan with a friendly smile.
Ethan nodded lightly.
He closed his eyes and tried to appease the boredom.
If only it wasn’t for the voices of uninvited guests.
“Are you still in the meeting?”
Nick’s voice was heard.
Ethan frowned openly.
Nyx was now attached to Ethan without even noticing him.
Of course, he disappeared when he had business to do.
However, when he finished his work, he came back quickly and stayed by Ethan’s side.
“okay. I don’t know how much of a decision you’ve made so far.”
“Hmm, I guess you don’t understand the importance of this meeting.”
“What?”
“You revived Seongbaeksu, who had been withered for a hundred years. Of course, the question of your treatment is bound to be complicated.”
“Is it too complicated?”
Ethan asked quietly.
I did not know the ecology of the Central Church, so I had to know at least a little.
“Originally, you would have been ordained a priest and became an apprentice priest. However, the position of an apprentice priest is not appropriate for a believer who has performed miracles.”
“Then you won’t go through the probation phase?”
“Probably a probationary period, but apart from that, you will be assigned to a higher rank.”
“Ordinary Priest?”
“He is a very humble and humble person. There is no way to stop at the level of an ordinary priest.”
“Then what?”
I got goosebumps no matter how many times I heard the church’s praise.
Ethan asked angrily.
Then Knicks was silent for a moment.
He seemed lost in thought for a moment.
After a while, Nyx opened his tightly closed mouth.
“There is a possibility of becoming a saint candidate.”
“What?”
Ethan asked, puzzled.
What was the Saint Candidate?
It was a qualification that only the elect could have among the outstanding lumber believers with stigma.
The process of selecting saint candidates was strict.
First of all, among the paladins and priests in the denomination, those with stigma are verified.
And the selected ones could only become one of the three people officially revered in the Pars Church only through intense asceticism.
It can occupy one place among Pope, saint, and saint.
It was a supreme honor for the priests.
This was because when the pope abdicated, only the saints and saints had the right to inherit the throne.
“I can’t do that.”
Ethan muttered involuntarily.
Nix’s eyes widened at him.
“yes? Can’t you? Did you say that you can’t become a saint candidate?”
“okay.”
“What the hell is that… … .”
The Knicks couldn’t understand Ethan.
How glorious is the position of a candidacy of saints?
But why are you so blatantly reluctant to take that opportunity?
Nick couldn’t quite understand it.
‘Oh, maybe.’
Nyx looked at Ethan bitterly.
‘okay. It must be too heavy a position for a boy who has not yet become a priest.’
The Knicks vowed to take good care of Ethan if he became a saint candidate.
On the other hand, Ethan wanted to bow his head and scream right away.
‘Did you work too hard?’
Looking at it objectively, it was beneficial in many ways if he became a saint candidate.
But aside from that, the possibility of becoming a saint made him fed up.
Ethan knew all too well the fantasies people had of saints and saints throughout his past and present life.
Above all, the pope, saint, and saint play a major role in the denomination’s external image.
Therefore, they always had to live by strict etiquette.
Ethan knew it better than anyone.
How many times have you chewed on a saint as hypocritical as you are the demon king’s henchman?
‘You mean I might end up doing that if I’m not lucky, right?’
I remembered myself standing on the balcony of Chukun, splitting it like a clown (?) and waving my hand.
Then, of course, my stomach was twisted.
‘no! Absolutely not!’
Ethan screamed.
In fact, while reviving Seongbaeksu, it wasn’t that the church didn’t want anything at all.
I thought that the future would be easier if I was recognized as a special being in the denomination.
‘I didn’t want a stuffy place like a saint candidate.’
What he was trying to use as a springboard was rather holding on to his ankles.
That was then.
squeaky.
The door to the meeting room, which had been closed for hours, opened.
The high priests rushed out.
The faces of the high priests were full of fatigue from the heated meeting.
With subtle eyes, they prepared to return with their attendants and priests.
The last to come out was the Pope.
Ethan strode towards him with a firm determination.
“what?”
The Pope looked at Ethan with bewildered eyes.
Ethan knelt down and said politely.
“Goddess Pars has always told me to look down on the lowly ones and be with them.”
Everything was a calculated action.
Even if given a high position or an undeserved reward, Ethan laid the groundwork as an excuse to politely reject it.
“I have no desire whatsoever. I just want the Holy Spirit to take care of me so that I can do Pars-sama’s will from a position where I can look down on the lowest.”
Ethan admired his flexible tongue.
There was no clearing water.
Even in the Empire, the skill that he used to tease his cunning tongue to become a servant of the Demon King is now being demonstrated.
‘This definitely works!’
There was no evidence, but Ethan was convinced.
With this level of verbal skill, the Pope would not exalt himself from an excessively deserving position.
Even if it did, he would have been sure that Ethan would reject it.
But the words that came out of the pope’s mouth were surprising.
“You are a very devout believer.”
Ethan’s eyebrows twitched.
I felt something unusual.
A strange, ominous feeling took over his body.
The Pope took Ethan’s hand and lifted him up.
“I had been discussing with the high priests for a long time, but only after hearing your words that I realized that all the discussions were in vain. Rather, it puts me to shame.”
“That word… … ?”
“Your miracles deserved all praise. But we also mistrusted it, and even feared that you would fall into pride.”
‘no way?’
Ethan realized that things were going wrong.
“So I spoke with Stella, the Abbot of the Patriam, whom you have been with since childhood. She said you’re the boy who won’t crave an undeserved honor. Me and the high priests doubted whether to believe it entirely. But now I see that it was true.”
There was a blood line on Ethan’s forehead.
‘Maybe that girl?!’
Ethan remembered Stella’s gentle face.
“Now that I know you are a person who will not fall into pride, I want to change the decision of the Round Table.”
A cold sweat broke out on Ethan’s forehead.
It was just that I took the initiative and twisted things that could have been resolved on their own.
“I want to give you the status of a candidacy of saints.”
“… … !”
Ethan’s eyes widened.
Eventually, the sound of the string of reason breaking in his head was heard.
Eileen who reincarnated herself.
Stella puts herself in a corner with a strange illusion.
Two women were taking turns feeding themselves shit.
‘Damn it!’
It was just that thought now.
* * *
The morning sunlight coming through the window was dazzling and warm.
Ethan woke up from the bed.
The room I was introduced to last night was exceptionally better than the existing accommodation.
The bed was softer and the room was bigger.
It was clear that he cared about being a saint candidate.
But there was a shadow around Ethan’s eyes.
‘Shit. I had a nightmare.’
Ethan rubbed his sore forehead.
There were no complaints about the room assignment.
Considering the miracles he had done, this kind of hospitality was only natural.
The problem was different.
‘Does it make sense that I am a saint candidate?’
You were the devil’s henchman in your previous life?
It was unacceptable.
The image of Saint Eileen flashed through his mind.
Kindness, sincerity, example.
She was a woman who seemed to have put those concepts together and molded them into a human being.
Ethan couldn’t afford to live like that.
“under.”
Ethan smirked.
‘Actually, the problem is that there is nothing to lose. Rather, giving up this identity is the biggest loss.’
It was just about wearing stuffy clothes that didn’t fit.
Compared to the time when he hid his revenge and was the devil’s henchman, it was a little more.
This was not the time to whine about this.
“Well?”
Ethan suddenly felt a full energy from Danjeon.
The new magical power was surprisingly much larger than when it was absorbed from Seongbaeksu.
Ethan laughed inwardly.
‘That ignorant method worked.’
Ethan, who moved to his new dormitory late at night, did an experiment right before going to bed.
It was a temporary new magic training method that had gathered new magic power in the danjeon.
It was simply merging magical power and divine power and transferring it to Danjeon.
It was embarrassing to even call it a training method.
‘But now there is no other way.’
It was best to invent a new magic training method while training oneself in this way.
‘You don’t have to be too impatient.’
In the end, he got a performance as Seongbaeksoo.
Although it is now as small as a fingernail, if you keep working hard, your new magical power will accumulate more someday.
Ethan got dressed and went outside.
He remembered the conversation he had with the Knicks last night.
– Congratulations, Ethan. You became a saint candidate like me. I hope to go along well.
-Congratulations.
-yes?
– I wish I hadn’t heard it. I have a question, can I ask?
– You tell me.
-What will change when you become a saint candidate?
– Oh, that’s… … .
Ethan gulped down as the Knicks procrastinated.
But.
– It won’t be any different.
What came back was a refreshing answer.
-Then why do you stop talking?!
-I am also a saint candidate, but in fact, I need to be ordained as a priest before I can become an official priest. You will retain your Saint Candidate status, but the training process will not be different from that of an Apprentice Priest. You have to practice one step at a time and climb up.
-Didn’t you arrest the dark wizard with the paladins last time? I’m not an official priest, is that okay?
At Ethan’s words, Nyx’s face turned into a pity.
– Well, that’s a difficult thing to say… … .
-… … .
Although the Knicks’ attitude was questionable, Ethan decided to pass it on.
In any case, there was no change in Ethan’s schedule as a saint candidate.
So, in order to receive priestly ordination, he was obliged to continue training.
That was then.
People’s voices could be heard in Ethan’s ears as he headed towards the Grand Sanctuary.
“Do you really have flower buds in Seongbaeksu?”
“It smells really sweet already.”
“I heard it was a miracle caused by a young believer, is it true?”
“I heard that as soon as I got here, I even helped arrest the Dark Mage.”
“Doesn’t it seem like you and Saint Eileen are doing the same thing? You must be a great person like him.”
“I really want to see you.”
These were the words of the workers who watched Seongbaeksu from afar.
Ethan’s whole body went goosebumps at the words that went back and forth between them.
‘driving me crazy. How did the rumors come about?’
Unfortunately, one of the onlookers recognized Ethan.
“Oh, look over there!”
“What? why?”
Ethan hurriedly hid behind a nearby building.
“uh? He must have been over there.”
“I heard that you revived Seongbaeksu and collapsed, but you don’t rest even for a moment. He is very faithful.”
Their voices continued to reach Ethan’s ears.
Ethan screamed inwardly.
‘I just fell down and got up and absorbed divine magic! Why are you making up your own story?!’
He eventually couldn’t stand it and left.
‘No, no! I can’t stand it any longer.’
In the end, Ethan left the place, clutching his chest as if he was wearing an inner wound.
Even if I turned around, I felt like I had to find another way.