Chapter 398 – King of the Storm.

In the midst of busy people tearing down huts to get out of the basement and packing their own belongings, Usher sat side by side with Jeremiah, watching the scene. Although he originally intended to help Helena.

“Even if you don’t feel it, you must be tired. You don’t know what will happen next, so please rest a little.”

At Helena’s words, she got her bag back and just watched her people. Usher decided to ask Jeremiah what he was curious about, since things had turned out this way anyway.

“How did Uncle Jeremiah quit Carmenschik?”

She wanted to ask about the spell, but she remembered his words and asked her next question.

“She’s the reason she quit. Well, was it skepticism? Or was it adolescent rebellion?”

He looked up at the ceiling and appeared to be grumbling.

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t really like Kamenshik’s doctrine.”
“…I heard you were the son of an apostle?”

At the same time, he too must have been an apostle.

“Please don’t look at me with those eyes. When he looks at you, he keeps thinking of that child.”

What child are you talking about?

“Ha, yes. Let me tell you.”

As he stared at me, he let out a deep sigh as if he couldn’t hold on.

“Looking back, time goes by so fast. It was already 20 years ago.”

He stared into the distant void as if he were looking at the past and gradually built up the bricks of the story.

“Sado, clothes.”
“Ah, yes.”

When he went out after washing his body to start the day, those who had been waiting in advance greeted him as always, each holding a clean cloth in his hand and holding out the bone armor he had placed on top of it.

“Kuk.”
“Sado! Are you all right?!”

He took them on one by one and let out a groan at the sensation of them brushing his wounds. It was a wound that he developed while performing a ritual. It seemed to open up a bit as it touched the water.

“Tsk, no need.”

It was when they raised their heads in surprise and looked at him anxiously, but rather felt offended by those gazes and put on all their bone armor. Suddenly, he found a woman standing a little away from those around him. He looked at her and frowned at her.

“Are you the father?”
“Yes, the first apostle called.”

Yes, she was my father’s errand boy. He was annoyed that he had to follow her, but she couldn’t help it.

“When is he going to get a concubine…”
“I’ll go there myself, so don’t bother.”

When she shows that he doesn’t want to go, he interrupts her with a wave of her hand, as she is always conveying her father’s words. When he opened the door to his father, the first thing he felt was the heavy air that seemed to be pressing against his nose.

“Keung! Kyeung!”

Zpuckzpuck! This is followed by moaning, like an animal’s gasping for breath, and the sound of skin-to-skin clashing.

“Are you here? Jeremiah?”

That’s because in that room, his father took off his bone armor and left it to the believers around him, and he was shaking his waist with a woman riding on top of him. She had pale skin, and swallowed his cock between my legs, letting her moaning out loud.

“Kyaaaaang!”

Her moans were more like those of an animal. After all, she was not just a human being, but Balak, a woman who maintained her human form exceptionally among the gargoyles. Unlike her other gargoyles, Balak was a limb that faithfully followed only her apostles, who were designated as her own masters.

“Grrrrung.”

Finally accepting his affection, it trembles and wags its hairless tail. A roaring sound informed her mood. She was also a being who accepted the owner’s desires at any time, just like now.

“Because it smells. Didn’t I tell you not to do it when I came?”

Jeremiah was familiar with the sight, but seeing it as such was another matter. I don’t know who does it, but from the point of view of other people, there was only humid air and an unpleasant smell.

Haha! You’ll understand me too if you take Balak with you.”
“Kiwoon! Chuup.”

Still, his father came down from above him, between his legs, gently brushing her hair and prickling ears as she sucked his cock. Then, between her exposed buttocks, a white liquid dripped into her eyes.

“Are you saying you have Balak for me?”

It wasn’t that she didn’t agree with that figure, but she was her father’s ballack to the last.

“It’s great, I’ll have to wait a little longer for that. Unfortunately, Balak isn’t born very often.”

This time, the father also put on a troubled expression. After all, Balak was a uniquely beautiful individual born among strangely mutated gargoyles. Because she had so few births, Jeremiah completed all her training as her apostle, but unlike the other apostles, she did not have her own footsteps. He always disapproved of it, and his father knew it well.

“In that sense, I have a present for you instead.”
“If it’s a gift…?”
“Now, come here.”

It was a certain child who approached his father’s beckoning. A child with his arms and legs bound, watching them with frightened eyes, looked unusually strange to him. That’s because it wasn’t as pale as their skin, but rather dark.

“Are you sure you are a human on earth?”

I had heard that their skin was darker than their own, but I never thought I would see it in person.

“You recognize it right away. Yes, this child is your gift.”
“Isn’t it Balak?”
“Don’t fret. Once Balak is born, he will be yours anyway.”

When he spoke dissatisfiedly, his father spoke sternly as if scolding him.

“Chueup, tseung.”

Even though Balak was still nestled between his legs.

“So, with the thought of practicing taming Balak in advance, teach this child as our follower.”
“Practice…”
“Yes, it’s practice. But humans on the ground are more difficult than they look, so I don’t know if you can do it well.”

Jeremiah was moved by his words as if they were making fun of him. Is it because he has not tamed Balak? Wasn’t he untamed because he didn’t exist in the first place?

“Please. I will make this child more faithful than anyone else!”
“Haha, I’m looking forward to it.”

So he handed over the rope that bound her child’s hands and went back to his room.

“Damn it! I feel dirty.”

It was only when he returned to his room that he realized that he had fallen for his father’s provocation and cursed at him. He got a fever for no reason and burned a useless hump. Just like that, when he was only getting nervous, the child’s image came into his eyes again.

I was afraid of his angry look, and wouldn’t it be right by chance? The figure of a child hiding in a corner and trembling. I didn’t like the way it looked like a trivial sacrifice offered on the altar because I didn’t even deserve to be Agnets.

“Ha, the humans of Parzu have fallen all the way here.”

Because of this, the child opened her eyes wide as she sat down on her own bed and was sarcastic.

“Far, do you know where Parzu is?”

The voice of the child who opened his mouth for the first time was full of hope. Of course, he knew the location as well.

“Kuh, does she think she’ll be able to go back?”

Parz, a near and far neighbor who lives right above them. But they couldn’t see each other. These deep underground ruins were located very deep, and to get out, you had to climb a very steep wall or go through a maze of caves. Avoiding the mangroves, the caves where all kinds of monsters settled.

“To pass through a place like that, you’d better sacrifice yourself.”
“…Can’t you see mom and dad too?”
“I don’t know if they fall here directly.”

But do people really have the courage to do that? Jeremiah viewed it negatively.

“Nonsense! I was running errands!! I have to go back!”
“If you want to go, go. If you can survive among the monsters.”
“Hey, aaaaang!”

The child burst into tears as if he had finally realized the reality. His ears hurt, but he let it go. I’ve seen how his father treats a crying child. Isn’t there a law that says he can’t do what his father used to do?

“Huh, whimper!”
“Have you calmed down now?”

Seeing the child who had barely stopped crying, he asked, but of course the child did not answer. Though he thought he could not help it, he held out the bread he was holding to him.

“Hey, this.”
“You’ve been crying all day, so you’re going to be hungry. Eat.”

The child seemed to hesitate, but eventually asked for the bread from him. Even though his throat seemed to be choked, he watched as he ate and said.

“Since you’ve landed here, you’d better learn to live here.”
“…Is there really no way to go back?”
“Ha, would we have been doing this if there had been?”

If he could, he wanted to look outside. Eventually, the child resigned himself and began to follow him.

“What is this big building?”
“It’s an altar. It’s where we do our ceremonies.”
“Consciousness?”
“It is a ritual that allows the land to continue to prosper.”

The child had many questions.

“They say this is underground. Why is it so bright?”
“Thanks to Lumenplus.”
“What is it?”
“Look up.”

It was so natural that I was so busy asking questions that it was annoying.

“Wow, that’s Lumenplus?”
“Okay.”
“Why is that shining?”
“I don’t know. They say it’s been shining for a very long time.”

Even though it might be annoying, I thought it wasn’t bad.

“I like it because there are so many trees here! The house is also made of wood!”
“Are there no trees on the ground?”
“There are, but not many.”
“That’s pretty amazing.”
“I’m more curious here!”

There was also a strange sense of satisfaction that tickled his chest when he watched the child chasing after him with a grin even over trivial matters.

“Everybody here has fair skin, so why is that?”
“Our ancestors weren’t like this either.”
“Really? Then why are you doing this now?”
“Perhaps it’s because I’ve been living underground too long.”

Before he knew it, he even forgot Balak’s existence and it became his daily routine to wander from place to place underground with his child.

“Ummm, turn it off!”
“What are you so worried about?”

One day, even though he wasn’t teaching catechesis, he saw a child grunting and clutching his head and asked.

“I just can’t remember how I called someone like you when I lived upstairs.”
“Ha, isn’t it enough to just call you Apostle?”
“No! Then I don’t think you’ll recognize me if I’m with other people!”

Jeremiah thought it was a useless worry. She was unusually dark-skinned anyway, so I couldn’t recognize her. Then, it seemed that she remembered it only then, and the child spoke with a bright smile.

“Teacher! I called you Teacher!”

So the child came to call him teacher. I think she quite liked the unusual word she used to call herself. It was one day when she was gone day after day like that.

“Did you call me, father?”

The day she was called by her father.

“Oh, welcome, Jeremiah.”

Today, he sat quietly and watched him without having any relationship with his prophet Balak.

“I heard a story from another apostle. You made the child a perfect believer?”
“…Did you test that child while I was gone?”

Jeremiah frowned. Yes, even though she told him to make the child a believer, he seldom confirmed it, so he seemed to be secretly testing it. When she was frowning in displeasure.

“Yeah! I said you’re flawless to be part of us! They say you’re the only one who passed the test so well!”

He is indeed my son! Jeremiah sighed as he saw her father burst into laughter as if he were really happy. Ok, what’s the gift? This time, too, she thought she was just trying to test him.

“So, it was decided unanimously. To commemorate your proving your ability as an apostle, let the child be sacrificed at your ceremony tomorrow.”
“…Yes?”

He opened his eyes wide. What does that mean now?

“Uh, why?! Why is that child being sacrificed all of a sudden?!”

Their ceremonies were originally human sacrifices in Shintoism. But usually, people of sufficient blood have been used as sacrifices? But why would that child become a sacrifice?

“Can’t we use ordinary sacrifices for the apostle’s ceremony?”

Think of it as an honor! It’s the first time that Shinto, which was taught by a new apostle, was used in the ceremony held so far!

“…I’ll go back first.”
“Hehe, yes. I’ll prepare Balak as soon as possible.”

His father’s voice was no longer heard in his ears. It wasn’t that important now.

“Little boy! Little boy!!!”
“Teacher?”

Fortunately, the child, as usual, was sitting in what he called the classroom. Reassuringly, he took the child’s hand and led him.

“Oh! It hurts! Teacher! Why are you doing this!?”
“Now is not the time for this! We must run!”
“Escape? Why all of a sudden?”
“You’ve been chosen as a sacrifice for tomorrow’s ceremony!”

It wasn’t. I couldn’t understand it myself, but I couldn’t sacrifice a child like this. So right now.

“Then why do you have to run away?”
“What?”

In an instant, he looked back at the child. The child still looked up at him and smiled brightly.

“Didn’t the teacher tell you? Becoming a ritual sacrifice is a very noble thing to return to nature so that it can become abundant again.”

Jeremiah felt her bell ringing in her head and she turned white. Yes, it was. He taught that made him think so. I made a child as a sacrifice. So much so that the child has no doubts about him.

“The apostles say I have talent…”

To the extent that it deeply engraves the doctrine that I had learned without knowing it. His talent eventually drove a child to his own death.

“I just ran away because I was so disgusted that I couldn’t stand it.”
“…”

Usher couldn’t see directly into Jeremiah’s face because of the mask, but he could clearly see the tears running down his chin.