WebNovels

Chapter 22 - Infinite Mage - Chapter 172

[172] 1. Kergo Autonomous Zone (4)

Thankfully, there was an exit. As the taste of the air changed, they emerged midway up a four-sided terraced altar.

The jungle of Mount Toa spread like a sea of trees beneath their feet.

From an elevation of twenty meters, the forest stretched vast, and here and there the Kergo settlements could be seen.

Circling to the far side of the altar, they saw a palace made of gold. It was the dwelling of Kergo's chieftain. Entering the palace, they found a long hall with tables laid out in two rows.

Sirone took the seat of honor, and to his right Amy, Rian, Tess, Kanis, and Arin took their places in that order.

On the left sat Chieftain Kadum and the elders. Hasid, who had blown the horn, was absent. Mahatu was seated at the far end, but seeing him there suggested his rank was not low.

Music began to play, and Kergo's traditional dishes were served. Before they could even taste them, pairs of warriors came in bearing huge chests.

The warriors opened the lids. An enormous heap of gold coins and jewels lay piled high.

"What is this?"

"A modest gift from Kergo. Please, accept it."

It had surpassed the point where its value could be counted by number; it would have to be weighed. Taken together, the five chests looked like they would total at least a ton.

Amy set down her food with a displeased look.

This wasn't income from the ruins. It was money earned by smuggling Luf. And with that money, they could have fed the entire tribe to satiety and still had plenty left over.

"Sirone, you're not thinking of taking it, are you?"

"We can't accept that kind of money without knowing why. And they're not just giving it for nothing."

When Sirone asked for an explanation, Kadum's eyes changed.

Any paragon of virtue, seeing over a ton of gold coins, would have his breathing change. But Sirone reacted as if the coins were stones.

It wasn't that Sirone was beyond all attachment to wealth. He simply wasn't foolish enough to cling to what wasn't his.

Kadum didn't lose composure. Instead of explaining, he clapped his hands, and a second tribute was brought in.

He was certain that even someone who refused riches wouldn't be able to remain unmoved by this.

Men with white tattoos on their faces—like the man from the Chamber of Achievement and Sacrifice—entered. Sirone guessed they were priests.

When they stepped aside, a dozen young and beautiful Kergo women came in.

The boys, Sirone included, stared with their mouths agape. At their age, this was not a sight one often saw.

Women nearly as good as naked drew near, dancing sensuously.

From a distance, the dance seemed rather splendid, but once it came right up to them, it was nothing if not lewd. Judging by the women's glazed eyes, they seemed to be in a trance.

"How is it? These are the most beautiful priestesses among the women of Kergo. It is the second tribute we offer to the Messenger of God. We hope it pleases you."

Sirone felt the seat beside him grow hot. Without turning his head, he could tell what sort of expression Amy was making.

Kadum's goodwill had the opposite effect.

The priestesses' group dance was alluring, but to Sirone it looked only like the writhing of women intoxicated by Luf.

Unmotivated favor is felt as a threat; his mind, analyzing Kadum's true intent, only grew colder.

As Sirone's reaction remained unyielding, Kadum finally felt concern.

The mind of an Unlocker is more exalted than that of ordinary folk, but that doesn't make him a saint. Immortal Function is a process toward nirvana; it does not mean detachment.

If he were free of the five desires and seven passions, he wouldn't have prowled around the Chamber of Achievement and Sacrifice in the first place. Kadum couldn't get a read on what Sirone wanted.

"I misjudged. I thought you would be pleased. In truth, this is my first time receiving a Messenger of God as well, so I simply followed tradition."

Sirone found those words even more distasteful. Just how debauched had Unlockers of his realm behaved, for such things to be called tradition?

"Did they enjoy this sort of thing?"

"According to the records, they did not dislike it. But please, do not misunderstand. There is no other intent; it is only tradition. Kergo is a tribal society, but the priests' power is great. Priests are divided into clergy and warriors; among the clergy, the women become priestesses. By Kergo rule, priestesses must be beautiful and guard their purity all their lives, but they may lie with a man once in order to conceive a child of an angel. In other words, the priestesses are prepared to offer everything for you, Sirone, descendant of an angel."

"If I were to accept these women, what would I have to do?"

A chieftain wouldn't endure the loss without recompense. So-called tradition is nothing more than a custom born of necessity.

The amount of gold could feed the entire tribe. Moreover, the women dancing a courtship dance to be chosen by Sirone were future mothers who could increase Kergo's numbers. In the end, they were handing over the tribe's wealth and future wholesale to Sirone.

"Kergoans are children of the great Ra. And the angel's descendant is the only being who can link the Kergo tribe to God. Please convey our faith to God."

"By God, do you mean Ankera?"

"Anke, Ra. It means the eternal, imperishable Ra. He has existed since the beginning and created us. Even now, with great authority, he watches over us."

Stripping away the religious content, in the end it was a proposal for a deal.

He would receive gold and women in return, go to God, and convey the tribe's will. He didn't know by what means he was expected to convey it, but it was clearly connected to the Immortal Function.

The mental channel buzzed with whether to accept the compensation.

Tess's position was that it was unacceptable. Money aside, she couldn't even imagine Sirone lying with other women while Amy was there.

But unexpectedly, Amy favored accepting it. And Sirone agreed.

—Sirone! How could you? Men may all be beasts, but I at least believed in you.

—Don't get worked up. Sirone must have something in mind. And Amy agreed too.

—Oh, please! Rian, are you taking his side just because you're also a man? I absolutely cannot agree. Amy, say something. Honestly, doesn't this tick you off?

—Of course it does. It's disgusting to throw a feast while the tribespeople are starving. But that's something Sirone can keep under control. What matters first is to dig for more information, so let's accept.

While Sirone's party was exchanging thoughts, a white-haired old man entered. It was Elder Hasid, the one who had blown the horn. Veins stood out in his eyes as he looked at the elders lost in eating and revelry.

Mahatu, reading the mood, rose and paid his respects.

"You've come, Elder."

"Ts, ts, how pathetic. What is the meaning of this ruckus?"

When the music cut off, the dancing girls collapsed from exhaustion.

Leaning on his staff like a man with three legs, Hasid walked toward Sirone.

Kadum blocked his approach with an overbearing tone.

"What are you doing, Father? Spoiling a sacred feast?"

"A sacred feast? Outside, the tribespeople are starving day after day. If we keep spending on pointless things, the tribe truly will be ruined!"

"I am astonished that an elder—former chieftain, of noble standing—would speak such nonsense. May I repeat your words just now at the council?"

"You must not. The people are swelling with hope at the Messenger of God's appearance. But that's as far as it goes. What they want is happiness, not a Messenger—why can't you see that!"

"I have heard the opinion of a mere elder. Whatever anyone says, I am the chieftain. Kergo will be reborn by God's grace. We will recreate the brilliant civilization of old—not cower in the mountains, living by watching outsiders' faces!"

Hasid twitched his beard, clicked his tongue, and turned away.

One way or another, the chieftain was Kadum. If the clash deepened before the elders' eyes, there was no guarantee the civil war of five hundred years ago would not break out again.

As the mood cooled, the elders slunk off one by one, and in the end the feast ended.

Kadum led Sirone's party up to the very top of the altar. The rooftop was broad, and a statue seven meters high stood to the north. The figure of the giant bathed in moonlight radiated oppression.

Standing by the statue, Kadum lifted his gaze to the night sky.

Countless stars were out.

But the star he looked at was just one.

"Do you see that cluster in the northern sky? Connect it into the shape of an eight, then find the brightest star at the point where the two circles intersect."

They had come because he said he had something to show them, only to receive a lecture on constellations. Though reluctant, Sirone's party nevertheless took the time to find the star Kadum indicated.

A shocking statement came from Kadum's mouth.

"That star is Kergo's homeland."

"Huh? Homeland?"

To Sirone, a homeland was the place you were born. It was the place young people who had moved to the city grew nostalgic for and missed. It was certainly not somewhere out there in the distant night sky.

"Kergoans know that God—the one who created us—dwells there. We are born and die on this land, but our souls fly to that sky. The country of the heavens. That is why we call that star Heaven."

Sirone was at a loss.

Heaven is an abstract place. It's not somewhere you describe to a traveler from another land as if pointing out a sightseeing spot.

"I don't really understand. Why is that Heaven?"

"You don't believe in God, Sirone."

Sirone neither believed nor disbelieved.

A wizard's way of thinking does not draw a firm conclusion about what cannot be analyzed.

To Sirone, God was an existence whose existence could not be known.

"There is something in Kergo's Genesis. It is a myth before history. In the beginning there lived a giant, and from the giant's blood and flesh, humans were born. The first human was Garok, who lived to the age of seven hundred eighty-two. Their child Deris lived nine hundred eighty-two years, and his son Tessus lived one thousand three hundred twenty."

The Genesis of Ra was not much different from other religions' myths.

According to some scholars, the lifespans of figures appearing before history signify not actual lifespans but the length of a house's rule.

Elzaine I, Elzaine II—if a house prospered to, say, the thirteenth generation, then a myth would record an Elzaine who lived a thousand years.

It was a plausible explanation.

Even in the Thormia Kingdom, the king's name had been inherited down the generations. The current monarch was Adolf XII.

As if to show off his memory, Kadum rattled off the ages of people they had never heard of before.

When the age of myth ended, the story moved into the historical age.

"Two thousand years ago from now, the Enlightened One Hannes established a civilization here. From that time on, we lay in Ra's embrace. You must have wondered why we do not restore the Kergo ruins buried in volcanic ash."

Sirone recalled the thick barrier penetrating the middle stratum of the ruins—so thick that even Amy's Sniper Mode could not pierce it.

"There are countless ancient ruins in the world, and this place is one of them. But there is one hidden fact about ruins that ordinary people do not know. Long, long ago, it seems our ancestors went to and from Heaven freely. The underground facilities of the ruins prove it."

"What on earth is underground that makes you say that?"

By this point, even Sirone couldn't bear not to hear the rest.

Kadum stared straight into Sirone's curiosity-bright eyes and spoke.

"Beneath the ruins, there is a door installed through which one can go to Heaven."

His head rang as if struck by a hammer. Heaven? Did he mean that star shining in the northern sky?

That place was in space.

It was a distance no human ability could ever traverse.

"Are you saying one can go to where God is?"

"Yes. Exactly that."

A sudden thought occurred to him: Was this chieftain Kadum a madman—or was he telling the truth?

More Chapters