The Evil God Beyond the Smartphone - Chapter 32

Crossbridge, Holy Land.

Arriving at the Temple of Knowledge, one of the Six Temples, Evan Alemia, was being treated as an honored guest.

It had been a long time since a hero had appeared, even in the Holy Land.

Moreover, Huss hailed from a well-established Imperial family.

A wizard hero from a prestigious family who could be a patron was a blessing to the Temple of Knowledge.

It was only natural that he would be treated with the utmost hospitality.

“Huss-Nim, do you have any inconveniences?”

As he sat in the temple’s library, browsing the spellbooks, one of the priests approached him.

He was asking about his well-being.

Soon, freshly brewed tea and snacks were on his table.

He couldn’t help but chuckle at the way the priest asked if he was comfortable.

As far as he could recall, the only time he’d ever seen a temple priest act this way was when families made donations.

But now that he’d come to the temple with the mark of a hero, he found himself on the receiving end.

He realised the power of power in a new way.

“How much time has passed since I entered the library?” he asked.

“Five hours, sir, since you began reading.”

“Five hours…”

It had been five hours since he’d been locked in the library.

There are many spellbooks in the Temple of Knowledge.

And many of them are not readily available on the market.

It was, in fact, a library accessible only to the chosen Hero of Knowledge, Huss.

It was a pleasure to skim through the spellbooks in his personal library.

But as the chosen hero, he had other commitments besides reading.

He couldn’t stay in his library forever, basking in his knowledge.

“Do I have anything planned for today?” he asked.

“Today you will meet a saint.”

“A saint…”

Hearing the priest’s words, Hus nodded and closed the book he was reading.

A saint, chosen by the gods.

In fact, aside from the pope, they were the most important figures in the Holy Land.

He had yet to meet a saint who served the Goddess of Knowledge.

It was the role of the saints of the temple to tell the stories of myths and heroes.

If he was to become a true hero, he needed to meet her.

“Are you ready to set off immediately?”

“Is there any reason why not? I’ll be right there.”

The meeting with the saint was something Huss looked forward to.

Rising from his seat, he followed the priest out of the library.

It had been several days since he had visited the Temple of Knowledge.

The layout of the temple was already familiar to him as he made his way through it.

The priest led him down a long corridor to the second floor.

“What is the saint like?”

“Are you asking about the saint? She is said to be very wise.”

“And?”

“She also has a heart as warm as her years.”

Years.

Hearing that, Huss couldn’t help but think for a moment.

It felt like a word that didn’t quite fit the title of saint.

But he quickly pushed the word out of his mind when he saw the priest stop in his tracks.

In front of him was a sleek door, and he stood still.

“Have we arrived?”

“This is the ritual chamber. Step inside and you’ll find the saint.”

“Good work. Let’s go in.”

“I’ll wait outside until you come out.”

Crack.

The door opened, revealing the scenery of the saint’s room.

A single altar with artistic carvings.

Several magnificent candlesticks surrounding it.

And an old woman in the center of it all.

Huss’s gaze scanned the room, almost afraid to enter, but stopped on the old woman in front of him.

“Are you…”

He had been told that he would be meeting with a saint, but he did not recall being told that he would be meeting with an old woman.

But the old woman was the only one remaining in the room during the ceremony.

Huss’s unfinished question was answered by the old woman, who smiled brightly.

“The hero of the hour has entered, welcome. I am Aurora, the Saint of Knowledge.”

“A saint……?”

“The Goddess of Knowledge favours those who have accumulated a great deal of knowledge, which is how I came to be in her favour.”

The old woman in front of him was indeed a saint, chosen by the Goddess of Knowledge.

When he saw her face, he was taken aback by how different she looked from what he expected.

In his mind’s eye, the saint was much younger than he had imagined.

But given the nature of the knowledge-loving temple, it was not entirely unexpected.

The woman before him seemed more dignified and wise than any he had ever met.

“A saint… I see.”

“Are you much surprised?”

“No, no, it makes perfect sense when you think about it.”

Aurora nodded with a satisfied smile at the thoughtful answer.

Just because Huss’s romance was gone, it didn’t mean his future in the temple was gone.

Saint Aurora would be a great help to him in his life at the temple.

It was good for both of them to keep as much distance as possible.

“I see, new hero. I’m sure there are many things you’d like to ask me, including your new powers.”

“Of course.”

“For now, let’s start with the story that you asked the priests to tell you.”

Huss listened as Aurora told her story.

The subject she brought up was one he had been eagerly anticipating.

A topic that he had asked the priests to tell him privately.

It was about his brother, who had been serving in the Holy Land.

It had been several days since he had arrived in the Holy Land.

In all that time, he had not met his brother Evan once.

“Evan Alemere, are you referring to the paladin who works at the Temple of Honour?”

“Yes, that is my brother.”

It’s become a situation where he’s been chosen by the goddess.

He had a long list of things he wanted to tell Evan when he met him.

Most of all, he wanted to know how Evan would react to seeing him as a hero.

As he waited for Evan to tell him, Aurora picked up a piece of paper nearby.

Aurora held up the paper, which was a profile of Evan that the priests had gathered from their investigations around the Holy Land.

“According to our research, Evan Alemire, Inquisitor of the Goddess of Honour, is…”

“My brother is……?”

“He has not returned to the Holy Land since his last request for leave.”

“What?”

A thud.

Reaching for a nearby candlestick, Huss fell to his seat with it.

Perhaps it was his long-lost eye.

Or maybe it was the shock of what he’d heard about his brother.

Either way, this was a hard pill to swallow for him.

* * * *

In the province of Centurius, on the outskirts of the Empire.

There, a carriage traveling down a remote road came to a halt.

The driver of the carriage was Shuron, a merchant who ran a modestly sized merchant business.

Shuron stared at the front of the carriage in annoyance.

For some unexplained reason, the wagon was not moving forward.

“Hey! Why are you stopping the wagon?”

Schron said in a furious tone, urging the coachman on.

The horses, which had been heading into the city, had stopped dead in their tracks at some point.

The situation was incomprehensible to Schron, who sat in the back seat.

In response to his question, the coachman turned to him and answered.

“Nothing, it seems to be blocked by something.”

“What, is there a stone on the floor?”

“No, it’s not that…”

“If it’s not that, then what is it?”

As far as Schron could see, there was nothing in front of them that could be an obstacle.

And yet, the horse stood still, unmoving.

What could possibly be blocking the way?

Unsure of the situation, Schron got out of the carriage and approached the coachman’s seat.

He wanted to see for himself what the problem was.

“I don’t know why either,”

“It doesn’t matter, because I’m going to cut your next paycheque!”

The coachman had already gotten out of the carriage and checked on the horses.

Still not trusting the coachman, Schron approached the horses to check on them personally.

Schron’s gaze swept over the horses’ legs as they stood still.

There was no sign of anything snagging or troubling them.

The only thing unusual was that they were both snorting with their heads in the air.

A little further forward this time, Schron reached out to the spot where the horses had stopped.

Thump.

His outstretched hand came to a halt, blocked by an invisible wall.

“W-what……?”

Schron’s fingers probed the invisible wall.

In front of him, an invisible barrier had been stretched out by some sort of force.

Come to think of it, he remembered the carriage rocking quite violently even when the horses had stopped.

If there was a barrier in front of them, it made sense that the horses would stop with their foreheads pressed against it.

Surprised by the transparent barrier blocking the road, Schron called out to the coachman.

“The road is blocked! Turn the carriage the other way!”

“But to turn the carriage around…”

“The way is blocked! We’ll have to go around it somehow!”

An unidentified force is blocking the way.

Schron guessed it must be something magical.

Until a wizard of decent skill can dispel the spell, the path will be unusable.

It was unfortunate that their advance would be delayed, but it was best to make a judgment call as quickly as possible to save a little time.

When Schron had reached a conclusion and was giving orders to the coachman, a man emerged from the woods near where they were.

“The barrier is indeed strong, as expected by 1st Apostle.”

Emerging from the woods was a middle-aged man wearing a tunic.

The man in front of them looked at Schron with a friendly smile on his face.

The man said that it was obviously ‘an barrier made by the apostle’.

Clearly, he had something to do with this.

Hearing the words, Schron couldn’t help but demand to know his identity.

“A Barrier……? Who the hell are you!”

“I am Archbishop Roan Hebris. A faithful servant of the Great One.”

“Archbishop? What the…”

An archbishop is a religious position in charge of a diocese.

Schron was already familiar with the nearby temples.

But the man in front of him, Roan, was a stranger to him.

He was definitely a suspicious figure.

As Schron watched him warily, Roan slowly walked towards him.

Then, in a dignified manner, he extended one hand to him and said.

“I would like to welcome you to our church, if you don’t mind my asking, will you accept the invitation?”