0.0000001% Demon King - 0DK Chapter 37: The Holy Land (3) (Part 2)
“Those who use others should be punished. It’s always those who do not keep the god’s laws who are the believers.”
Sinclair’s fist tightened. Looking at her face, Karos spoke.
“Then you came here wanting to ask something, right?”
“…You said you would show me the truth.”
Karos had said during their last conversation. He wouldn’t use her. He would show her the truth.
“What truth is that?”
“The truth of the Sun God. The true nature of the order you believe in.”
Karos shook the bars.
“Shall we go for a walk?”
**** ****
“Phew. Finally got out.”
Outside the Holy Land. Karos sighed in relief beyond the golden curtains.
“The air there is too suffocating. It’s not a place where a Demon King like me wants to stay.”
“If you plan to run, I won’t hesitate either.”
“I have no plans to run from the Hero of the Sun God. But to think you’d let me out so easily.”
Karos told her. To show her the truth, take him outside the Holy Land. Sinclair, after a moment’s hesitation, easily got him out of prison. Sinclair spoke expressionlessly.
“I knocked out the one performing the torture. It won’t be a problem if we return within a night.”
“You’ve become more violent.”
“I’ve always been like this.”
“…I suppose so.”
Karos clicked his tongue, recalling. Sinclair urged Karos.
“Now that I’ve gotten you out, answer my question.”
“I said I’d show you, not that you’d believe me if I just tell you, right?”
“…”
Sinclair frowned. She had already grown to distrust. Now, whatever Karos said, she wouldn’t easily believe.
But this was different. Sinclair held out her hand.
“So you won’t tell me?”
“I’ll show you evidence, not just talk. But before that, I have a question.”
“A question?”
“After knowing the truth, what choice will you make?”
“That is…”
Sinclair closed her mouth. Karos turned around as if he expected her response.
“Is it that way? Follow me.”
Karos gauged the direction and walked northward from the Holy Land. Sinclair watched his back for a moment before retracting her hand.
“The Sun God is reclusive.”
Karos hummed as they moved north.
“They don’t try to leave the Holy Land. They’ve expanded their influence through branches, but the main personnel never show themselves outside. Even those in the branches don’t deeply believe in the Sun God.”
Initially, people joined the branches for protection, not faith, so it was impossible to demand deep belief from them. The direct domain of the Sun God was practically just the Holy Land.
“But the Sun God is stronger than any other god.”
If the strength of a god was judged solely by their power, then few could compare to the Sun God. That was why a transcendent Hero like Sinclair emerged.
“When you consider that a god’s power is proportional to the number of believers, the Sun God seems odd, doesn’t it, Miss Sinclair?”
“…Don’t call me that.”
“What? You asked to be called that. What do you think that place is?”
Next to the Holy Land was a vast plain, surrounded by all sorts of barriers and traps, and guarded to prevent intrusion.
Sinclair answered.
“There’s nothing there. It’s called the land where the god first descended and is being protected for that reason alone.”
“To think they’d leave a plain twice the size of the Holy Land empty just to protect the land where the god descended.”
Karos twisted his lips.
“Nonsense.”
Without hesitation, Karos headed toward the plain. Sinclair followed a step behind, startled.
“You can enter without being detected, right?”
“…”
Sinclair reached out to the barrier without a word. The invisible veil began to tremble with a humming noise.
“Oh, God.”
She murmured softly. The barrier neither shattered nor
resisted but merged with her and Karos.
“You’re quite skilled.”
Karos whistled as he walked. The hidden interior began to reveal itself.
“Ah.”
Karos exclaimed in admiration at the sight before him.
“I knew about it from stories, but this is quite surprising.”
“What, what is this?”
Sinclair’s eyes trembled. Beyond the barrier, a vast village unfolded.
“It wasn’t visible from the outside?”
“Whether it’s magic or divine power, they hid it so it wouldn’t be seen from outside.”
It was a village about twice the size of the Holy Land. There were fields in various places, suggesting it could be somewhat self-sufficient without outside contact.
“A village on the land where the god descended. Deep faith, isn’t it?”
Karos’s mocking words made Sinclair frown.
“…There’s no reason to hide this.”
“Think the opposite. It’s a village that must be hidden.”
“A village that must be hidden?”
“Faith becomes the power of a god. Not just the number of believers, but the depth of their faith is crucial.”
The deeper an individual’s faith, the greater the power granted to the god. In extreme cases, one fanatic could provide as much divine power as a hundred ordinary believers.
“There was a god who was forgotten by humans and lost their place. A god who fell to the earth and was accepted by a child as a believer. The child’s faith was deeper than the sea and wider than the earth, and with the faith of just one child, the god reclaimed their place.”
“…The god of peace, Pequart. That myth.”
“You know it. The Sun God must have been quite impressed by that story?”
Karos teased.
“Trying to artificially recreate a myth to that extent.”