Chapter 26: The Dwarf’s Treasury part 1
But before night fell, they first needed to head to Dwarf City and convey humanity’s willingness to cooperate with the dwarves who lived deep beneath the volcano.
While Misa meticulously plotted his plan to thoroughly thrash the Hero that night, he watched as the Bishop eagerly stepped forward and spoke earnestly to Lance: “You are the Savior with two God’s Envoys, the fated one of legend.”
Misa: “…”
Oh, right. He had almost forgotten to investigate what that whole thing was about.
Misa quietly turned his head to Arlo, who shook his head back. Arlo had obviously never heard of this legend either. After all, the God Realm governed so many worlds, and each one had its own unique legends and myths. Even as a veteran God’s Envoy, he couldn’t possibly remember every single one.
The Bishop’s eyes were filled with piety and fervor, as if he had crossed a muddy world and found the sole light of his faith. He took a deep breath, placing all his hope squarely on the Lance before him.
“From that moment on, I knew,” the Bishop said in a low voice, “that you were the one who would bring light to the world.”
Lance: “…”
Misa turned his head again to look at Samuel on the other side.
Unlike the slightly bewildered Arlo, Samuel’s expression was very similar to the Bishop’s. Aside from the near-fanatical devotion to his faith, his eyes also held an infinite reverence and admiration for the Hero. When the Bishop mentioned the “two God’s Envoys,” he could barely contain his excitement, his eyes seeming to shine with light.
Okay, Misa understood.
Samuel definitely knew what this was all about.
He could ask Samuel about it later during their journey to the dwarven kingdom.
Arlo’s leg was injured, and he was still using a crutch. Walking was already difficult, let alone climbing a volcano.
Fortunately, his headache had improved, allowing him to use some simple magic. He gave his leg a minor healing, and while it wasn’t fully recovered, he was at least able to abandon the crutch and walk normally.
The path to the volcano was a bit rugged, and Arlo struggled along. The culprit, Samuel, was full of worry and trailed Arlo the whole way, just in case he stumbled and fell.
But with Samuel so close, Arlo was even more nervous.
He simply grabbed a fistful of Misa’s sleeve and clung to him, dragging Misa along so he wouldn’t be left alone to fall victim to Samuel’s ‘deadly’ touches again.
Misa walked slowly, and Lance followed suit, slowing his pace as well. The journey became an exceptionally long one, and even if they made it to the dwarven city today, they would have to stay there overnight.
Misa’s mood was complicated.
Watching how Samuel and Arlo interacted, he felt like they were already facing strange internal disagreements before the adventure had even truly begun.
Arlo tried to divert Samuel’s attention.
He gave a slight cough and, a little awkwardly, called out to Samuel: “Samuel, I have a question.”
Samuel immediately nodded, eager to reply: “What is it, God’s Envoy Arlo?”
Arlo: “…Do you know what the Bishop meant by ‘two God’s Envoys’?”
Samuel was taken aback and asked with some surprise: “You don’t know?”
Arlo shook his head.
Misa shook his head along with him.
Lance: “…”
Misa had already come up with a perfect excuse for everyone.
“Arlo and I are God’s Envoys,” he said, fully embracing his strange new character setting. “We’ve been sleeping inside the God’s Tower, waiting for the Hero to enter and awaken us.”
Samuel nodded in a daze, saying: “So you’ve never heard of this legend.”
Misa nodded vigorously.
He then pointed to the silent Lance beside him, offering an explanation for the Hero, who didn’t seem to believe in gods at all.
“As for Lord Lance, he’s been in the Land of Blessings… er…” Misa paused for a moment. He felt that saying the Hero was “doing farm work” was a little off, so he eventually skipped those words, gave a cough, and said, “The Land of Blessings is very isolated, so he wouldn’t have known about this either.”
The excuse wasn’t flawless, but Misa was confident that with Samuel’s hero-worshipping filter, he would definitely buy it.
And sure enough, Samuel nodded and said, “I understand.”
Lance, however, frowned and looked at Misa: “Misa, but you—”
Misa: “…”
Oh no.
The Hero was going to ruin everything again.
Misa quickly raised his voice and said loudly: “Lord Lance! I woke up early!”
Lance: “…”
“It’s because you never came to the God’s Tower,” Misa said, feigning a wronged expression. “The Goddess awakened me ahead of time and sent me to the Land of Blessings to find you.”
Lance: “But you said before…”
He stopped for a moment, then suddenly nodded, swallowing his words and changing his mind: “Never mind, I get it.”
There was an obvious contradiction in Misa’s words.
Back then, Misa had repeatedly insisted that he was just a regular person and definitely not a God’s Envoy. Now he was saying the Goddess had sent him to the Land of Blessings. His constantly changing story sounded suspicious.
But none of that was important.
He didn’t need to ask Misa these questions while Misa and Arlo were trying to get information.
…
Misa breathed a sigh of relief.
He looked at Samuel, waiting for his explanation about the God’s Envoys.
Samuel genuinely hadn’t noticed anything strange.
He explained to them that centuries ago, some of the divine prophecies sent down by the gods were extremely obscure, and people could only barely guess at their meaning.
These prophecies often predicted major future events, and their contents were extremely precise. For this reason, the Church and the kingdom held them in high regard, even establishing a special research council to study them. The rumor of the two God’s Envoys that the Bishop mentioned was one of these very prophecies.
After decades of research and speculation, the Church concluded that the prophecy meant a Savior with two God’s Envoys would inevitably appear in the future, and this person would bring true light to the world.
Lance frowned, a little confused: “According to the prophecy, a Hero with just one God’s Envoy also brings light to the world.”
“That’s different, Lord Lance,” Samuel said. “The ‘light’ mentioned in this prophecy refers to the ‘Light of Truth.'”
Lance: “…”
Misa asked curiously: “What’s that?”
Samuel shook his head.
Even after years of research, the Church had never understood the meaning of the Light of Truth.
They could only speculate that this so-called Light of Truth might be related to the divine radiance that accompanied the gods when they appeared in the holy texts.
In other words, according to the Church’s speculation, if Lance really was the Hero mentioned in the prophecy, he might be able to bring a lasting divine blessing to the mortal realm.
Lance: “…”
Lance nodded, seeming unfazed.
Right, Misa thought. Anything unrelated to making money probably wouldn’t surprise the Hero.
But what Samuel said made Misa very concerned.
He turned to look at Arlo, wanting his opinion, and Arlo also frowned, answering him in a very low voice: “I don’t know what the Light of Truth is either.”
Arlo only knew that the prophecies people spoke of were a premonition system within the God Realm, and this information was only seen by the God King. He had never even met the God King, so of course, he didn’t know what any of this was about.
Although he and Misa were both in the God Realm, strictly speaking, they weren’t in the same region.
Most of the divine beings were not qualified to enter the Upper God Realm where the God King resided. Even Goddess Genesse only received instructions from the King of All Gods periodically and then relayed these prophecies to the mortal world.
Misa disliked this feeling of being completely in the dark.
Misa turned to look at Lance—Lance’s expression was a little strange. He looked like he had recalled something and wanted to ask Samuel about it, but he only slightly parted his lips before he furrowed his brow and immediately closed his mouth again.
This change happened in an instant, so fast that Misa even wondered if he had seen it wrong.
He scratched his head, feeling puzzled.
But he wasn’t a God’s Envoy, so Lance couldn’t possibly be the Hero mentioned in this prophecy.
This prophecy had nothing to do with them. He shouldn’t waste his energy on such things.
He should be thinking about how to give the Hero a good thrashing tonight.
Based on his recent understanding of the Hero, the guy’s strength was simply too great. A direct confrontation might not be beneficial to him.
The Hero also had high magic resistance. He could avoid the succubus’s charms but seemed to have no immunity to his illusions.