SRS 228

They started hearing a sound as they drew closer to the lake. At first, Yohan wondered if he was imagining things, but the sound grew louder as they advanced; it wasn’t an auditory hallucination.

Yohan’s expression turned grave.

“Suhyeok. Can you hear that?”

“Hear what? …Ah. Sounds like… singing.”

Suhyeok, initially confused, focused his hearing and added the comment. Yohan clenched his fists tightly while sitting atop Shine.

Sei is a siren. Could hearing a song in a situation like this really be a coincidence?

“Shine.”

Coo-coo!

Without needing a verbal command, Shine picked up speed and carried Yohan and Suhyeok toward the lake. As the water’s edge came into view, the song grew louder, piercing into their eardrums.

“……!”

The song sounded almost like a desperate scream. It made their vision spin. Just as both Suhyeok and Yohan began to stagger…

Coo-coo-coo-coo!

Shine cooed loudly.

The divine beast’s voice, clear and melodious like rolling jade beads, protected them from the siren’s enchantment.

“Ugh… What was that?”

Suhyeok, who had steadied Yohan just in time, groaned while visit our site rubbing his temples. Yohan, unable to reveal Sei’s true identity, remained silent and stroked Shine.

“Shine. Can you protect us from that song?”

Coo-coo!

Shine erected a barrier around Yohan and Suhyeok. It was hardly surprising, given that Shine was a divine beast of Fantasiademia, originally charged with maintaining and guarding the barrier of that vast territory.

“Oh.”

Suhyeok tapped the protective barrier created by the divine beast in admiration. Startled, Shine turned his head around and let out an angry cry.

“Why–why is he acting like that?”

“He says not to touch it because it’s dangerous. It’s a thin barrier designed only to block sound waves, so it might shatter if you touch it.”

“Ah. He should’ve said so sooner.”

“Haha….”

Inside Shine’s barrier, Yohan steadied himself and looked down. Even with his blurred vision, he could make out a pool of blue water.

“It’s the lake.”

“…There are people there too.”

“How many?”

“Hmm… I can sense presences inside the lake as well, but just counting the heads visible above the water… eight? One of them is a monster…no, wait. Is that Sei?”

Suhyeok, who had been describing the scene while squinting down at the lake, shouted in surprise. He turned to Yohan with a look that asked what was going on, though Yohan couldn’t actually make out Suhyeok’s expression.

However, the awkward atmosphere spoke volumes about Suhyeok’s feelings.

“…First, we need to assess the situation. Who is Sei with?”

“Looks like priests? They are wearing white robes, it’s pretty obvious.”

“Is she fighting them?”

“Yes. I can’t hear anything because of the barrier, but it looks like she’s singing. Was that song Sei’s? Then Sei is….”

“…A siren. She didn’t want this discovered, so don’t act surprised.”

It was impossible to keep it a secret any longer, given how far they had come. Explaining it reluctantly was the best way to get Suhyeok’s cooperation; the student looked a bit surprised but nodded readily.

“If a fight is underway, we need to help. Let’s go down.”

Coo!

Shine lowered his flight path. As the ground rushed to meet them, Suhyeok grabbed Yohan and jumped down.

“Sei!”

At his shout, Sei stopped singing. Simultaneously, the figures in white– who had been covering their ears in agony from her song –turned to look at Yohan and Suhyeok.

With all eyes fixed on him, Suhyeok nudged Yohan.

“Shall I kill them?”

“Wait a moment.”

Yohan dissuaded him from such a drastic course of action and stepped forward.

“Yohan, you…”

Sei’s voice trailed off as she noticed a change in Yohan’s eyes; he shook his head to silence her and turned his gaze toward the people in white. He stopped beside Sei to shield the siren.

“Why are you attacking the village?”

His calm voice echoed through the air. Though his demeanor was polite, it held a note of wariness that prompted those opposing Sei to speak.

“Who are you to stand in our way? We sense a divine aura about you as well. How can a servant of the divine protect a heretic?”

“I asked first.”

“……”

“Who are you?”

Yohan’s voice was understated yet powerful. unauthorized copy The priests glanced at each other, then frowned before offering a formal salutation.

“We are priests serving the God of Benevolence.”

“What brings you here?”

“It is because the people of this village worshipped something they should not have, thereby bringing disaster upon the continent. This is the truth, as declared by the Saintess. Look, look at the true nature of the water deity they serve. That creature is a monster, not a divine being.”

Their argument seemed logical enough on the surface. After all, Sei was a siren, not a god; and given her own hypothesis, it was highly likely that the previous water deity had been a siren as well. They were correct in saying the villagers had worshipped something other than a true god.

However.

“If a being possesses intelligence, the will to coexist with humans, and does no harm to them, then it is no longer a monster.”

Yohan explained in a calm voice. Behind him, Sei, whose body was half-submerged in the lake, flinched.

“What does it matter if they worship something that isn’t a god? Anything can become a god if it radiates no malice. If it grants the miracles we desire, then it is a god. All gods are born ​Read on​of faith and gain their power through it; so, what is the problem?”

“Now, see here. What kind of sophistry is that?”

An elderly priest stepped forward and spoke in a tone of reprimand. But Yohan stood his ground.

“Does your Saintess say she senses an evil presence here?”

“She stated that the disaster undoubtedly originated here.”

“She said the disaster originated here, but did she say she senses an evil presence here?”

“…….”

“Where is this Saintess of yours right now?”

“…The Saintess is currently praying for the souls of those who perished here.”

“You kill them with your own hands, and then you pray for them? You act just as one would expect of those who serve the God of Benevolence.”

“Hey, Yohan…”

Suhyeok tugged at Yohan’s arm as he spoke with a mocking, yet polite, tone. But Yohan did not back down. The anger he had barely been suppressing began to boil over. Was this his own emotion? Or was it the emotion felt by the Heavenly Lord?

Amidst this inexplicable feeling, Yohan looked at the people. For some reason, even though his vision was blurred, every single one of their faces stood out with startling clarity.

When Yohan had first arrived in this village, he had sensed no aura of an evil entity. He did not know what had triggered the drought, but given the subsequent demonic invasion that had devastated the city, it was highly likely that whoever had summoned the demons had also done something to this village.

Perhaps they had used the village as a sacrifice to bring about an eternal drought, then summoned the demons while the people were weakened by their suffering.

If such a hypothesis was true, the villagers were innocent.

At the very least, there was no reason for them to suffer [unauthorized copy]such an agonizing death, indiscriminately slaughtered and burned by their hands. There was no justification for accusing them of being heretics.

“They say this village has long survived by farming and securing drinking water with the help of the water deity. They believed simply because a miracle had been performed for them. Does that warrant a death sentence? There is no aura of an evil deity here, so how could you…!”

“But the calamity began right here!”

“…That is correct! The calamity did begin here. The villagers themselves have admitted it, and the Saintess has confirmed it as well.”

“And just who are you to stand in our way and cast blame on us?”

As one priest retorted boldly, the others raised their voices in agreement. Had they been holy knights rather than priests, a bloody clash would likely have broken out already.

Yohan took a deep breath as he felt the rising distrust and anger.

“I am Yohan Herse… a High Priest serving a god from a different dimension.”

The introduction felt awkward on his tongue; it had been a very long time since he had identified himself as a High Priest. Yet, the title carried a similar weight regardless Read onof the specific religion; upon hearing it, the priests glanced at one another in hesitation.

Yohan turned his head slightly and whispered.

“Sei. What about the people?”

“…Some of those who evacuated here from the village died trying to protect me. I enclosed the rest in a water barrier and placed them by the lakeshore… There are fewer than ten survivors left.”

The anguish in Sei’s voice was characteristic of someone who had failed to protect those they were meant to.

Yohan nodded.

“…It must have been hard for you.”

“…….”

“Don’t worry. I’ll send them back.”

“How? Those bastards aren’t in their right minds. Their eyes were wild when they killed people. How… how could human beings…”

After fighting a battle against them, Sei didn’t trust these priests. The mention of their eyes suggested something was indeed amiss. Yohan looked up, inwardly lamenting his own compromised eyesight.

“If the problem is that the drought began here, then the solution must start here as well. And once it does, the drought will surely recede.”

“What?”

Sei hesitated. Her pupils dilated as she looked at Yohan’s retreating figure. Though he was slight of build, his back seemed imposing.

“No. That won’t be necessary.”

It was uncanny.

A strange voice echoed directly into his mind from the right.

Crunch.

At the sound of footsteps trampling through the underbrush, Yohan turned his head.

“S-Saintess…!”

The priests who had been confronting Yohan’s group were startled and hurriedly bowed their heads.

The Saintess.

It was the arrival of the very person who had sent them here to slaughter the villagers.