He had only told Kormit Ansel, but Ed could tell at a glance that the circles that the priests of Nesses had used to sacrifice to the Sea of Nothingness for their power had been created by dragons.

He hadn't thought of Kormit for a long time. The blacksmith priest who wielded a hammer as a weapon like Akan initially thought he was dealing with a necromancer's spell...... Necromancers do have similar spells, but they invoke demons that are powerful enough in hell.

Or, not the devil – but they don't know it themselves.

There are fallen gods, or god-like beings in hell. This is something that Ed had long doubted but never dared to say.

He didn't dare to tell more people, and not just because it would destroy the already precarious faith of many in this world...... The faith that the clergy need today.

"I always felt as if I said it and it would be true. Ed had tried to explain to Is, "As if I had admitted it, that would be true, and the more people knew, the more they doubted it...... Even if you don't actually believe it, just knowing that it is possible and keeping it in mind will bring it closer to the truth...... Even if it's true. ”

This is a dizzy statement, but it can be understood to some extent.

Words have power. That power lies in the "language" itself, but also in the person who speaks it.

And now Ed Singal has that weight. His words have power in themselves, and those who trust him, or even those who simply acknowledge his importance, multiply that power.

The ice dragon leaned back against the wall, his eyes lit up at the thought of these things that gave him a headache, and his attention was completely off what was in front of him.

He didn't ask, and Ryan fell silent again. Rosa withdrew her gaze, thoughtful.

She thought that Iss really wanted something from Eli or Nigel to come here with them...... But maybe not. Even when the water began to stir violently, Iss only glanced at it casually - he didn't even bother to pretend at this point.

Nigel, who was standing by the pool, took a step back, looking like he didn't want to touch the liquid that looked like water and wasn't water. Another elderly pastor couldn't hold back: "We've got all the preparations, but it's best not to get him too excited...... Your Majesty. ”

Borena smiled nonchalantly.

"Don't worry," he said, "it's nothing. His brain had been churning like a pot of boiling sewage, turning everything out that would make him human, leaving only a stinking pile of mud bubbling ......"

Probably not expecting a king to speak so harshly, the old priest silently shut his mouth.

"That's not what I said. "Borena bowed his head and threw the pot on the other man's head without hesitation," said Ethan...... But was he wrong? Not at all. What can you do with him? You don't dare kill him, do you? He's much more useful than you. ”

His eyes were fixed on the pool, not sparing a single piece of chaos.

When a large, blurred black shadow emerged from the pool, trembling and began to rotate slowly, he froze into stone in an instant, and in a trance he almost fell headlong into the pool, and then suddenly woke up and got up.

His face was ugly, cold sweat was dripping, like a dead man fished out of the water, and the corners of his mouth were strangely hooked into a smile.

"I see...... I see!" he said, running away from the pool, "the rest of you will be able to ......"

Before he could finish his sentence, he ran out, and the people who were thrown down looked at each other.

Then he ran back and grabbed Is's arm.

"Hey, bro!" he looked eagerly, "a favor?"

.

Probably a little dazed by the call that he had never heard before, the ice dragon was still a little dazed when it flew into the sky, and he didn't know how he became a mount again...... But it is no longer possible to lift off His Majesty, who is cheeky on his back.

The autumn harvest in Anktann is over, and the fields waiting for the first snow to fall are deserted. Flying from the Anduhe Temple in the city to the neighboring river village not far outside the city was only a blink of an eye for the ice dragon, and the restless people on its back were almost rubbing off its half-molted scales.

It landed beside a tall waterwheel, wary of the silence around it—no screams of fear, no fools rushing at it with pitchforks, only wooden waterwheels turning half-dead in the shallow current.

But Anktann did not begin to concentrate ordinary people in fortified towns or fortresses, as Rutgar did. After all, the people here have never felt any danger and will not be willing to follow orders to leave their homes when winter is approaching...... Not to mention that many people were followers of Nessah.

After taking the throne, Borena retracted Eugene's order to stop hunting down ordinary believers, and even to give mercy to those who had been harmed. Even as the situation became more and more complicated, he had always calmly treated the followers of Nessus as equally as the followers of other gods, and did not fear rejection or deliberately curry. That didn't seem like a difficult situation for him, but everyone knew that such a delicate balance couldn't last forever.

The Godless King has his own bottom line, and he is a friend of Ed Singer...... He is also the best proof of the miracle that another god has wrought. For some, any of these would be enough to make them look at him as an enemy. He may not have to deal with a terrible demon, a rift into the void, or a fierce god from the sky, but he may have to deal with his own people...... That's exactly what he tried to avoid.

Persisting until now, he felt that his brain was no longer enough.

He was looking forward to his Archon's return—he believed that the creature would never die easily.

He slipped off the dragon's back, so fast that Rosa didn't have time to stop it, so she could only jump to the ground with him and look around.

“...... You know that, right?" she said reluctantly, "this is probably a trap. ”

"You can get rid of the word 'probably'. Borena replied absentmindedly.

His shoulders were still straight from nervousness, but apparently for something else.

The muscles in the corners of his eyes twitched uncontrollably at the creaking of the waterwheel and the murky sound of the water. The fear he thought he had forgotten, or overcome, poked his head out of the deepest part of his heart and hissed at him.

“...... Rey. ”

He turned back to the silent old man and asked for help: "Can you find him?"

If you want to catch a king, at least the bait has to be real...... Ethan must be nearby.