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[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
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Chapter 51: Sign
The goblins' joyful rebellion, born from their refusal to be slaves, was quelled swiftly.
The city, unlike the untamed Outlands, was a military stronghold teeming with adventurers.
There were as many adventurers as there were goblins, and the city's defenses were well prepared.
"What's all this commotion in the middle of the night?!"
"Mobilize the adventurers! Bring out the cannons!"
Monster invasions were a common occurrence in the city.
Melfasa's lord quickly gathered the guards and adventurers to confront the goblins, succeeding in repelling them.
However, the damage was severe.
"Over 300 houses were burned, and more than a hundred casualties occurred."
"How did those goblins even get here?! What were the patrols doing?!"
Melfasa was a gateway city right on the edge of the Outlands.
To prepare for monster waves, a constant patrol operated, keeping an eye on the movements of large groups.
Yet, they failed to notice a thousand goblins approaching the city? The patrol captain's head could roll for this.
"Find the cause! If there isn't one, make one up and bring it to me!"
As the enraged patrol captain launched an investigation, the full story of the incident soon came to light.
"Bling Bling Cream, you bastards!"
"Oh, my lord! Just once! Please, just once!"
This was the full story.
Hexcal, the CEO of Bling Bling Cream, a company that sold goblin cosmetics in Melfasa, had been expanding his business to beat Elizabeth Brand, his competitor from the Axe Sisterhood.
However, the biggest problem with this business was the supply of goblin oil.
Capturing goblins alive outside the Outlands was a labor cost, and the transportation fees for bringing them back in carriages also added to the expenses.
So, Bling Bling Cream came up with the idea of farming goblins.
"That won't do. If we set up a separate goblin breeding ground, the facilities would have to be larger, and there's no way to dispose of the waste."
Raising livestock requires appropriate facilities and waste disposal.
This all costs money, and more importantly, more employees would inevitably find out.
Monster farming was strictly forbidden.
Therefore, Hexcal of Bling Bling Cream had to find a solution.
"What if we just don't raise them ourselves?"
So, he outsourced it. To the Orcs.
"We'll provide the feed, so raise a lot of goblins and hand them over. In return, we'll give you solid support."
"If you lie, we'll smash your skull!"
Negotiations with the Orcs were difficult but eventually succeeded.
Thus, a subcontracting cycle was completed.
Orcs farmed goblins, and Bling Bling Cream regularly transported and processed the farmed goblins!
"Lowering the raw cost of goblin oil lowers the mass production cost of cosmetics!"
"This is all money! Money!"
Bling Bling Cream, showered with money, cheered, but they let their guard down.
Firstly, the probability of Named monsters appearing increased exponentially with the increase in the monster population.
Secondly, although they outsourced because they were well aware of this, a large number of Named goblins were mixed in with the mass-produced ones.
And finally.
"They severely cut down on labor costs and unit prices for goblin management. Should we call it safety negligence..."
Only one person managed every hundred goblins.
Moreover, goblins are monsters by nature.
Trying to control them with minimal staff led to constant accidents and injuries among employees.
"Sir... my finger is gone after a goblin bit it, can I get compensation..."
"What, you punk? Where do you think you're going, you crippled bastard!"
Hexcal of Bling Bling Cream knew he would be burned at the stake if this business was exposed.
"Wait, if that bastard talks, won't I be screwed?"
"Then what should we do?"
"Deal with him. Dispose of him and dump him in the wilderness."
In this manner, Bling Bling Cream dealt with injured employees, and as is often the case with human endeavors, they made a mistake.
"Phew!"
The employee they thought they had killed miraculously returned alive.
"You bastards! You tried to kill me?"
The resentful employee, that very day, released all the caged goblins.
"Burn it all! Kill them all!"
The goblin riot began this way.
"No, you mean they didn't know about this until now?"
"That's impossible. Every single person, from the guards to the city administrators, took bribes."
Not all of them knew that Bling Bling Cream was trading goblins with Orcs.
They simply accepted bribes, neglected business inspections, or overlooked manipulated financial statements.
What they thought was just groundwork for tax evasion turned out to be a cover for trading with Orcs!
"I'm innocent! I didn't know!"
"I didn't do anything but sign the documents!"
"Silence, you fools! Your negligence caused this disaster!"
The Lord of Melfasa was determined to thoroughly investigate Bling Bling Cream.
The matter had grown too large to simply accept bribes and move on.
More importantly.
"I am Father Ray Anderson of the Armed Organisation. We must thoroughly investigate whether there was any apostasy during this inspection."
A priest of the Solar Theocracy, armed and invoking apostasy, pressured the investigative team.
If they got tangled up, they could end up on the pyre as heretics at the hands of the Inquisitors!
The Lord of Melfasa thoroughly investigated Bling Bling Cream, and as a result, over fifty individuals involved faced execution.
"Because of those bastards, our city!"
"Fuckers! Kill them all!"
The trial, verdict, and execution took less than a week.
***
After the goblin riot in Melfasa City was contained, the Axe Sisterhood completed their Dungeon Core excavation.
"Alright, this is the Dungeon Core that's been buried under our convent for hundreds of years. Phew, it took a while to get it out because we were worried about the ground collapsing."
Mother Superior Maria and the sisters of the Axe Sisterhood admired the result of their continuous digging and pickaxing.
The Dungeon Core was said to have been created thousands of years ago when mages ruled the continent.
Its true nature was that of a relic created from the souls of demons and the sacrifices of priests, but it was an ancient artifact embodying immense power.
"Are you going to destroy it immediately?"
"Yes, everyone please step back."
When Ray stepped forward to destroy the Dungeon Core, the sisters looked at him with questioning faces.
This was a Dungeon Core that had been sealed for thousands of years because no method of destruction could be found.
How would this young priest destroy it?
Ray liberally poured the prepared oil onto the Dungeon Core.
Based on his experience with the goblin situation, holy fire was still fire, and oil would make it ignite instantly.
After thoroughly coating it with oil, Ray sprinkled Sacred blood around it.
With that, preparations were complete.
"Here we go! Everyone, watch out for flying sparks!"
Ray took a deep breath. Then, a holy flame erupted from Ray's left hand.
"Ugh!"
Burning pain shot up his left arm.
It was a pain he could never get used to.
Until now, he had confined the manifestation of his authority to his left arm, but expanding it further felt like he would truly burn to death.
Hoping that wouldn't happen, Ray cocked his fist like a bow.
"FIIIIRE!"
His flaming fist swung, striking the core.
The holy fire instantly spread across the entire core.
Whoosh!
The core's indestructible outer shell began to melt.
The demon soul inside suffered the same fate.
The demon soul within the core writhed to escape the holy fire, but there was nowhere to flee.
Soon, the demon began to scream.
───!!
The demon's screams poured forth from the hill above the Axe Sisterhood.
The demon soul, exposed to the holy fire, ignited instantly and was absorbed by Ray just before its annihilation.
"Phew...! Here it comes!"
Please do well this time too!
The moment Ray squeezed his eyes shut, the demon's shadowy soul was absorbed into him.
***
This was the third time he had swallowed a demon's soul.
The first was the Archdemon Capricorn, the second was a demon sealed in ancient times, and this time was no different.
Even with the third experience, one might expect to get used to it, but Ray found it painful to read the memories of a demon that might have lived for thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands of years.
But he wasn't worried.
As always, there was a being who gnawed at the demon's soul.
Would he pass out for a few days this time too?
"Huh?"
But somehow, it wasn't going away.
Normally, he would quickly read through the demon's memories and watch its miserable demise, but something else awaited him.
CRACK! CRACK!
Beyond the hill.
Ignoring the demon's pathetic struggles, a colossal form trampled and burned it with an invisible force, devouring it ravenously.
Though obscured by a glow, its form was vaguely visible. More precisely, it was its back.
'Is this... an opportunity?'
An opportunity to directly see the being who protected him.
To converse with him and learn why he protected him, perhaps even hear about the plan that the man of Peniel spoke of.
It was as Ray, filled with anticipation, watched the back with 'multiple pairs of wings'.
Rustle.
At that moment, eyes emerged from the wings.
It was only a pair of eyes, but the moment he met them, Ray felt his heart thump.
The pressure was incomparable to when he felt a gaze from behind him.
This was just one pair of eyes among thousands, so tiny compared to the colossal form, and yet the pressure was immense.
If the demons fled and feared simply from meeting that gaze, it was understandable.
【You cannot yet see my face, for no one may see me and live.】
"Ugh..."
The fact that merely seeing Him could lead to death was stated in several biblical passages.
If it were a subordinate representing that divinity, they might have appeared before prophets several times, but Ray's status was not yet equal to theirs.
"My rank isn't high enough... is that it?"
【...】
Okay, fair enough.
Right now, Ray was in the ungrateful position of serving two gods, so he probably had to understand this much.
"But seriously... could you at least explain what His plan is? I mean, every time I go somewhere, trouble erupts, and I don't know if this humble lamb can even execute His plan."
【...】
His subordinate was truly taciturn.
Multiple pairs of wings, numerous eyes, the authority to control fire.
Ray was slowly guessing who his guardian angel was, but knowing wouldn't change anything.
What mattered was His plan for Ray, no matter what guardian angel was assigned to him.
"Or maybe... should I bring some fleece and lay it out in the wilderness? Would you make only the fleece wet while the ground around it stays dry? Then I'd have faith."
This was something Gideon, the hero of the Jewish people, demanded when he was called by Him in the Bible, as he was reluctant to respond.
"If you are going to save Israel by my hand, as you have promised, look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said."
And it happened so, and Gideon then asked for the opposite, that only the fleece be dry and the ground around it be covered with dew, and it happened so.
It was a case where the chosen prophet sought multiple signs to gain certainty, but in truth, this contradicts the teaching that 'blessed are those who believe without seeing.'
A true believer should believe and act without seeing or hearing, but how can a person be so blindly faithful?
Well, he knew it intellectually, but how easily does a person's heart change?
Ray wished his guardian angel would tell him something.
If He was going to work through him, he had no complaints, but shouldn't he at least know something?
【...】
The eyes continued to gaze at Ray.
As if trying to convey something.
Then, the eyes carefully choose their words and spoke in a resounding voice that echoed throughout heaven and earth.
【Find the Ark.】
---
"Ugh!"
Ray suddenly sat up, feeling a sense of déjà vu.
As always, he seemed to have passed out from the feedback of absorbing the demon.
"Ugh, I'm getting used to this now."
Ray got out of bed to find water.
The moment his feet touched the ground, he felt a cool, pleasant dampness beneath him.
"Huh?"
He looked down and saw a 'wool rug' laid next to his bed.
Unlike the dry floorboards around it, the 'wet wool' rug was noticeably saturated with water.
"Uh-oh..."
「Or maybe... should I bring some fleece and lay it out in the wilderness? Would you make only the fleece wet while the ground around it stays dry? Then I'd have faith.」
He had just said that casually. It was a bit... something, to have it reflected immediately.
"Well... is this it? Just a wet wool rug?"
Honestly, even this was an incredibly astounding miracle, but Ray was someone who had received Sun’s Blessing, conjured holy flames, and summoned the Holy Spirit through hymns.
In this fantasy world, a wet wool rug was just... moderately surprising?
One might say his threshold had simply become higher from experiencing so many bizarre things.
As if anticipating Ray's reaction, a fierce pain shot through the back of his hand.
"Argh! Did I just get privately punished for saying that?!"
The pain was excruciating, as if a wound was being torn open.
The stigmata on the back of his hand, which had been bleeding Sacred blood, or rather, from which Sacred blood had been flowing, suddenly began to glow.
"Oh, oh?!"
The gruesome, scar-like stigmata began to heal, new flesh forming and taking shape, as if it were mending.
"Oh! Oh?! Ohhhhhh!"
When he came to his senses, the light that had brightly illuminated the room had faded, and the intense pain from the stigmata was gone.
And before his eyes was the 'crest' of the stigmata.
"..."
Like pointing to a symbol, a very blatant cross-shape .
"I'm screwed."
It was a cross (十).
For reference... all Saints' stigmata bear the symbol of the Solar Theocracy
Lord... why do you give me such trials? Is it because I whined for a sign?
I'm sorry. Please take back the stigmata…
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[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
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