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＜ 18. Archbishop Gregory (3) ＞
“… is that true ?”
A statement that defies everyone’s common sense. After a while, Trisha opened her mouth. Gregory, for the first time in a long time, reflected on the remnants of the distant past .
Gregory was about to open his mouth to tell him about it. Andrea, who had been away, entered the drawing room. Gregory with a happy face .
“ You came just in time, Andrea. You too… as someone who inherits his will, you need to hear this story. Let me tell you about the fall of Khalysis and the ‘thief who stole the country’, Ian .”
When Andrea found out that the old man had developed an affinity for her because of a manipulation of the past, dealing with him was even more difficult .
But apart from that, the topic Gregory was talking about now was something of considerable interest. It was an opportunity to learn about the background of why he had such a name. Andrea acted as she should in front of Gregory .
“ Yes, Archbishop. I was also curious about him. By the way, the name of the ‘thief who stole the country’ is Ian ?”
“… At least in front of me, you wrote that name. Although there were not one or two names he used .”
Hearing those words, Emilia put on a puzzled expression .
“… yes? ‘The thief who stole the country’ was a person from 300 years ago, right? . . . Why does the Archbishop speak as if he actually knows him ?”
Come to think of it, that was the case, so the party all looked at the old man with the same expression as Emilia. Instead of answering immediately, Gregory smiled faintly, then rolled up his sleeves and showed his arms .
The faces of the people who saw it all turned into shock. The flesh was completely attached from where the hand was to a little below, but below that, literally only bones remained .
“ Does this prove that I was alive 300 years ago ?”
“ Ha, but how …?”
Emilia was so flustered that she couldn’t even speak properly. Gregory smiled bitterly and added an explanation .
“ The Shadow God wanted this poor old man to devote himself to him for a long time. Even if the country perishes, as long as those who serve Him remain, He gave them the blessing of never facing death. . . . The rest of the people hiding in the hideout were slaughtered by Nelas-gun, and my body began to slowly crumble .”
It was the first time in their lives that everyone had become undead with God’s blessing rather than the devil’s black magic. The companions who felt like they didn’t know what to describe. Gregory, by contrast, still had a calm voice .
“ Then can I tell you about what happened 300 years ago ?”
Andrea nodded on behalf of the hardened party. Gregory stroked his beard for no reason and then started talking .
“… Khalisis was at that time a prosperous country that stood shoulder to shoulder with Helios. The land was fertile, and all resources were plentiful. Children grew up not knowing what famine was. Occasional foreign invasions did not pose any other threat. Because the priests of the Shadow God boasted more power than anyone else .”
“…”
“… Ian was a priest who stood out especially among them. Perhaps he was favored by the Shadow God, Ian understood the power of shadow better than anyone else and used it well. Besides, his talent wasn’t limited to handling power. His political acumen and his ability to lead people were excellent. The people around her cherished it terribly, but those who antagonized her plunged it into an abyss in an outrageous way .”
Trisha glanced away. As I listened to it, I thought that it was very similar to someone. Andrea replied with a questionable gaze as if asking why she was looking at it .
Gregory took a sip of the tea and continued the story .
“ I was Ian’s teacher at the time. There was no precedent in which an archbishop directly took disciples… but it didn’t matter. I had singled out him as the successor to the archbishopric. At that time, I did not know that I would receive the blessing of immortality, so I needed a successor .”
“…”
“ He horribly absorbed what I taught him and went one step further. Being a genius is a wonderful thing to see up close. If I were Ian’s competitor… every day would be like a nightmare. However, being able to take such a person as a disciple was a great fortune as always .
Gregory tells an anecdote about what happened with Ian. Gregory was lightly excited throughout the talk, but it was unbelievably vivid that he was talking about 300 years ago .
‘ If I can remember that until now, Ian must have been really special …’
After recounting anecdotes, Gregory suddenly looked up at the ceiling. As he spoke, the strange excitement drained away like an ebb and flow, and a sudden feeling of futility rose up. It’s because I realized anew that there is a very long gap between what I’m talking about and the present .
Andrea cautioned Gregory against sinking into depression .
“… so what happened after that ?”
“ Ah. I’m sorry, Andrea. For a while, the story got sidetracked. To come back to the main topic, in the meantime, a very big crisis came to Khalisis. . . . As a result of this, Khalisis could no longer have new priests .”
“…”
“ Do you know what happened, priest ?”
A question for Emilia. Emilia, who was staring into the air with an anguished face, immediately clapped her hands as if realizing something .
“ Ah! Do you have a problem with the divine object ?”
Gregory nodded heavily with a shaded face .
“ That’s right. One day, out of the blue, Khalicis’ divine object, ‘Breath of Shadows’, lost its power .”
The other party stared blankly at Emilia, wondering what this meant. Emilia kindly added an explanation for the others who did not understand .
“ Commonly, people think that they can handle the power of a god only after being ordained, but ordination is just a formality. In order to actually download that authority, you have to contact the ‘God’. I, too, came into contact with the Earth God’s divine object, the ‘Heart of the Earth,’ and was able to handle that power .”
“… Then, is there only one god in each country that worships that god ?”
Marco’s question that brought him unfamiliar knowledge. Emilia nodded .
“ Yes. Sun’s pupil, shadow’s breath, thunder’s stigma, earth’s heart, wave’s touch… There were five gods like this in the world outside the dungeon. However, I knew that the breath of the shadow was not lost, but was stolen by the ‘thief who stole the country’ …”
“ Ah, was that the thing that the phantom thief stole ?”
Trisha asked. Emilia nodded again this time .
“ Yes, if the divine object is gone, even if they are ordained, the priest will not be able to use the divine power. Considering the importance priests have in war… it would not be an exaggeration to say that they stole the country .”
However, as Gregory said, if he had lost his power, there would be no reason to steal it. Circumstances that are slowly coming together. Although she didn’t know the exact circumstances, Andrea had a rough idea of what had happened .
“ That Ian didn’t actually steal anything .”
The Archbishop nodded slowly .
“ Right. I didn’t steal it, but I personally gave it to you in absolute secrecy. With a mission to find out why the breath of shadows lost their power and bring them back .”
“… but in the end I couldn’t find a way .”
“That ’s right… Helios, Nelas, Uranus, Cleitos, and even beyond the mountains to the territory of the Atala people… Ian hid his identity and changed his name countless times, wandering all over the world for a long time… but he couldn’t find out the cause .”
“…”
“ In the meantime, other countries noticed that Khalicis was not sick of it and invaded. Everyone desperately resisted, but it was a fight that couldn’t be won in the first place as long as the priests’ pulse was cut off. In the end, Khalisis… was destroyed .”
Gregory took another sip of the tea and washed his face dry with a sad face .
“… I gathered the abandoned people, but I couldn’t gather everyone. Scattered all over the world, Khalisis’s refugees spread rumors. Ian was stigmatized as a ‘thief who stole the country’, and Khalicis was destroyed because he stole sacred objects .”
“…”
“ I needed someone to blame, no matter who it was. Otherwise, they would not have been able to withstand the bleak reality before them …”
It was a false rumor that Gregory, the person who gave the mission to Ian, couldn’t help but feel terrible guilt. However, because he had to live in hiding under the persecution of foreign countries, Gregory was not given a chance to reveal the truth .
Andrea gave Gregory deep consolation and returned the story to the original topic .
“… Then what happened to Ian in the end ?”
“… It wasn’t until a hundred years had passed that I saw him again. No matter what happened, Ian, who was skinny and boneless, told me an unbelievable story. There is a place called ‘Infinite Dungeon’, and he said he escaped from there …”
“…!”
“ Ian said he received a more important mission from Calisis than reclaiming divine power there. So after a long sleep… they say we should go back there again. However, at the end of that sleep, it is only the body that awakens, and it is said that another soul will dwell in it .”
“… I ca n’t believe it .”
“ Ian told me to name myself ‘Andrea’ when I woke up then. It’s the name he used when he was wandering around Helios .”
silence. Gregory’s tone was extremely calm, which made it all the more shocking. For a while , no one in the party could open their mouth .
After a long time, Tricia opened her mouth with a trembling voice .
“… what ?”
“ It means that Andrea’s body originally belonged to Ian. …Where Andrea’s soul came from and where Ian’s soul went, only the owner of eternal rest, Calisis, knows .”
Andrea took a deep breath and calmed herself down. Except for the fact that the original owner of this body, ‘the first apostle’, was a ‘thief who stole the country’, he already knew everything about it, but the fact that Gregory said that in front of his colleagues made it difficult for him .
‘… If I said it that way, my colleagues would surely have doubts about my true identity …’
Perhaps mistaking Andrea’s troubled complexion for confusion, Gregory opened his mouth as if to make an excuse .
“ Andrea. I’m sorry for letting you know the truth so suddenly… But I thought that if it wasn’t this time, there would be no chance. You will go on a journey again, and I will have to stay here .”
While trying to figure out how to react, Andrea decided to act as if she had just learned about this for the first time .
“… To be honest, I am embarrassed. I don’t know what to say when I suddenly hear that this body is not mine .”
“… I didn’t mean to blame or deny you. Wasn’t I also in a position where I could barely survive with a decaying body?
It must contain your solemn will .”
Gregory was half right and half wrong. I don’t know if he took over Ian’s body, but it wasn’t Khalicis’ will that Jung-hyeon came to this world .
In any case, it was a conversation that revealed as many facts as the conversation with Khalysis. ‘The thief who stole the country’ was a hero who carried the mission of saving the country rather than stealing the country, the fact that he would be the same person as the ‘first apostle’, and the origin of the name ‘Andrea’ .
Andrea organized the newly learned facts while keeping an eye on the party. It was an excessive leap, but perhaps he noticed that he came from a different world .
But then, Gregory suddenly stood up and stared at Andrea .
“ Come to think of it, I didn’t just have something to tell you. I almost forgot .”
Gregory moved out of the drawing room, snapping his fingers .
“ Follow me, Andrea. There are things you must bring .”
＜ 18. Archbishop Gregory (3) ＞ End