LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 52
Beneath the gray castle wall that divides the royal castle from the outside, there lies a wide open space.
Just yesterday, there had been the coffin of Tisah, who had taken a tour around the capital, but now, a tall altar has been erected in the midst of the spacious clearing.
The people living within the castle all understand what this means.
Execution platform.
When a heinous criminal is found, it is a place where the crime is publicly proclaimed, and the criminal’s head is severed in front of everyone.
This method of execution is carried out to correct the laws of the kingdom, but unfortunately, those who actually indulge in it have a different interpretation. Even the person conducting the event knows this.
The execution serves as a kind of circus, providing entertainment to the citizens.
Human blood brings excitement.
Watching a guilty human brutally killed in a pitiful state gives a primitive pleasure to individuals.
You might find it hard to understand just from this statement alone. One might think that these people are simply uncivilized.
But if you think a little deeper, you might notice how many people get excited seeing a singular individual being torn apart by a mob on personal media platforms.
This is not a matter of good or bad in humanity.
It is closer to a trait gained in the process of developing sociality. If humans in primitive societies do not denounce wrongdoers, they cannot maintain society.
They shun outsiders and kill or chase off anyone who does not follow their rules.
What happens if they cannot do that?
The primitive era was far too harsh for individuals to survive alone.
If society were to collapse, the group would fall.
And we are the group that survived together. So, it’s no surprise that this trait runs in our blood.
Thus, as signs indicate the beginning of a blood festival, people instinctively began gathering one by one in the square before the royal castle.
What villain would cry and die today, they wonder with excitement.
Due to the backlash from a gloomy event like a funeral, an immense crowd swarmed into the square in front of the royal castle.
Among the throng, one person was satisfied.
A priest and a holy knight.
Seeing the number of people gathered in the square, they rejoiced at this opportunity to show the might of the Seongsin Church in the Ansellus Kingdom.
They even consulted each other on how best to torment the girl known as the Evil God until she would beg for her life.
In the current worldview, a god declared an enemy is truly an acceptable target for anything. Even if she were human instead of the Evil God, they would act without guilt.
Humans generally become extremely cruel in two situations: when they feel justified or when they do not see their opponent as a human.
And when the two overlap, even more horrific outcomes arise.
If we look back at modern history, witch hunts are a prime example. Of course, there are nations that realized idyllic days of slaughter afterwards, but in terms of current circumstances, witch hunts seem most apt.
Certainly, the outsider deserves to be hunted like a witch.
After all, she isn’t human – she’s more like a bug.
Anyhow, while the Seongsin Church pondered how to deal with the outsider, there was another who was eagerly waiting.
None other than the outsider herself.
Though her expression didn’t show it, she was contemplating how to twist her words to make the god even more miserable upon seeing the multitude of gathered people.
Well, most of her calmness came from elsewhere. The outsider was observing three men in a mansion on the outskirts of the capital, diligently reading papers.
No one was thinking about them, remarkably.
Especially the most dangerous one, Hyungkesuni, was watching from within the crowd, hoping to see the outsider executed.
If Hyungkesuni were to suddenly change her mind and attempt to erase any trace of the outsider, it would likely mean harm for those far off book readers.
There was no way to prevent this.
Hyungkesuni only had one contract to uphold – to create the book.
The outsider was well aware that there was no promise beyond that.
For in case of trouble, she needed to either bless Hyungkesuni or at the very least, induce the one she had blessed to take her life.
If she managed to stall until the three finished reading the book, it would mean victory for the outsider.
While thinking so, she looked at the chains around her arms, legs, and neck. The Seongsin Church’s holy knight had restrained her, insisting it was necessary to prevent her escape.
The restraint device was inscribed with letters used only by the Seongsin Church, invoking the god’s power. And those letters were effectively binding the outsider.
No, they went beyond binding; they attacked the outsider like a tiny spoon gnawing at her flesh.
There was excruciating pain. An ordinary person would find it akin to being torn apart while still alive. And that was precisely the agony the outsider was experiencing.
Yet, she felt no itching.
The icy chill constantly burrowing into her being caused more distress than the pain itself. It continually dug beyond her flesh, past her bones, and into something even more vital within her.
Thus, she could only fixate on warmth.
For warmth, she would do anything.
She understood that any temporary warmth would not suffice; otherwise, this pain would last forever.
So, despite the maddening urge, she refrained from looking right in front of her and instead gazed far away.
Had she been a bit simpler, she might have scurried like an insect, mindlessly rushing towards the warmth before her to escape the endless pain.
Many believe one can become accustomed to pain. But the human body has no such function. Biologically, pain does not have a mechanism for adaptation.
It cannot adapt. But that’s not the issue; it rather amplifies the suffering, just like someone with a specific ailment.
So, the outsider yearns for warmth.
However, there is a reason she cannot move simply. The fear of death lurking beneath the surface suppresses her impulse.
Thus, the outsider strives to think far away and dares not hope for much.
The only treasure she wished to obtain in this world was the technique to summon herself to another world. With that settled, she expected nothing else.
So, until the game download is complete right here, she decided to annoy the god as if watching short videos on her phone.
How effective it would be mattered not.
If she could satisfy herself by simply making trouble, that was enough.
If the main quest was to obtain the summoning method, what remained before her was not a side quest but rather a mini-game.
Whether well or poorly done, all she needed was to pass the time.
And so, she resolved to do as she pleased.
After quite a while, she thought this way as the execution platform was completed and she was dragged up onto it.
And before countless onlookers, she knelt before the execution platform.
The holy knight stepped forward first and introduced himself. Anyone with even a little interest in the rumors instantly recognized who he was.
The most famous holy knight of the Seongsin Church in this era.
He briefly and succinctly introduced himself, then read the letter from the Seongsin Church’s head that he had presented before the king once more.
Then he kicked the cheek of the kneeling girl, declaring this is what the Evil God truly is.
If she were to be considered the outsider, it was indeed a terribly brutal sight.
Yet the crowd went wild.
“Look, there’s the evil witch!” Of course, for ordinary people, an evil god and an evil witch were essentially the same, so while it may be a slight misuse of language, the meaning was unchanged.
It referred to a being that should suffer and die in agony.
“This Evil God made a contract with your hero, Tisah! Do you know why he possessed such superhuman strength? It was because he received power from this Evil God!”
In an instant, the plaza went quiet.
This was a significant event; Tisah, the hero of the Seongsin Church, had made a pact with an Evil God. Everyone wanted to dismiss it as nonsense, but standing on one side of the execution ground were several individuals with purple hair, believed to symbolize royal blood.
Thus, the confusion only grew.
The holy knight, satisfied by the sight of them, brought forth an old tale to further slander Tisah as planned.
He explained an incident from over 80 years ago, something no one living in this capital truly knew.
The followers of the Evil God had invaded the Ansellus Kingdom and ultimately destroyed the capital.
At that time, all the followers of the Evil God had purple hair.
The holy knight bellowed loudly.
“Tisah was an infidel! However, he repented of his sin and entered into the embrace of the merciful Holy God. However, though the punishment fades, the sin remains.”
He condemned Tisah, just as the people they had wept over a day ago left.
For the holy knight and the priest, this was merely a speech to defame Tisah and elevate the status of the Seongsin Church. No matter how great a hero Tisah was, he was still just a senile old man who died of old age.
Revealing the truth would naturally lead the people of Ansellus Kingdom to look down on Tisah and revere the Seongsin Church.
However, in the capital of Ansellus Kingdom, Tisah was a great king. He’d resurrected a ravaged Ansellus and had established a kingdom more magnificent than ever before.
The adults present knew of this king’s reign.
The children in attendance had grown up hearing tales of that king’s legend.
Just a tad.
A crack appeared.
And unfortunately for them, they had given the outsider the opportunity to speak in order to make this execution show even more enjoyable.
The holy knight brought forth a long sword and jabbed the outsider’s shoulder while pointing to the citizens, shouting for her to speak the truth.
It was a method used to make someone confess their sins – a manipulation tactic known as gaslighting in some countries.
For any person, it would have been nearly unbearable.
For a person.
The outsider opened her mouth.
“Yes, I granted Tisah a blessing.”
And the outsider intended to speak nothing but the truth. Understanding that if she lied, her own head would undoubtedly roll, she thoroughly avoided fabricating anything.
This would only fully shine at times like this, where long gaps existed.
“He was raised by a cult called the Future Hope Church, and being of pure birth, he questioned the cult that sacrifices humans as offerings.”
Very few knew about Tisah’s past; it slowly trickled out.
Perhaps she was the one in this world who understood Tisah better than anyone else, as she began to unfold his story.
Not to reveal the truth but simply to unleash a venom filled entirely with malice into the world.
“He was forcibly dragged before me and had to receive a blessing against his will. If he hadn’t, he would’ve been killed, so it was unavoidable.”
When the holy knight was taken aback by unexpected words, he pushed the sword lodged in his shoulder deeper to silence her.
Yet to the outsider, such pain was merely a signal.
“After receiving the blessing and escaping the brink of death, Tisah saw an opportunity to flee the cult. He went to the Ansellus Kingdom to stop the shameless acts of the cult. And with his righteousness, he gained recognition from the Ansellus Kingdom and the Seongsin Church. The Seongsin Church then invited him to convert, and he accepted.”
This was a favorable tale for the Seongsin Church.
The holy knight thought so and relaxed his grip on the sword in his back.
At first glance, it sounded as though the Seongsin Church had forgiven and embraced an infidel. The priest behind him also considered that a good angle.
They thought too exclusively from the perspective of the Seongsin Church.
So they could not anticipate what the next words would be.
“Tisah became a believer of the Seongsin Church. Yet, I continued to bless him. For every human must have the freedom to choose their religion.”
No one could have foreseen that.
Quite frankly, who would expect a god to state that humans should have the freedom to choose religion?
The outsider did not anticipate the storm this declaration would unleash.
She merely thought to let them wade through the annoying task of handling religious matters.
That was all the outsider was feeling.
The monster masquerading as a god began to actively unleash poison upon the world.
The three reading the book sought to buy time until they finished, or rather, to torment the god with their spare time; they acted accordingly.