Episode 127
As soon as I returned, the priests bustled around, changing my clothes and adorning me with jewelry.
The usually quiet temple was bustling with activity, as people from various countries gathered for the ceremony.
‘Did they safely deliver the jewel I had to the High Priest?’
It wouldn’t be able to perform any miracles anymore anyway.
I chuckled, my body trembling slightly, and the surrounding priests looked at me, puzzled. It was a natural reaction since they didn’t know why I was laughing, but I couldn’t help it; the thought was so amusing.
The High Priest, unlike the other priests, would have realized the moment he received the jewel. That it couldn’t perform miracles anymore.
And that the ceremony would be ruined because of it.
“Are the preparations complete?”
At my question, they hesitated for a moment and nodded. I dropped the act and urged them, watching them leave,
“Then would you please guide me to the ceremony? My patience is wearing thin.”
If someone had to bring down the curtain, I wanted to be the one to do it. But before that, someone came looking for me.
“H-His Holiness has summoned you! He says to bring the sacred artifact immediately!”
A priest, his face pale, rushed in, panting. I recognized him.
He was the one who received the jewel from me.
“Oh my, he’s busy with the ceremony. Is there a reason he’s looking for me?”
The priest, flustered by my nonchalant attitude, snapped at me.
“Come… come with me, now.”
His face contorted as if his life depended on it. His reaction suggested the High Priest was furious.
“Yes, alright.”
As I obediently followed him, the other priests, unaware of the situation, looked at us with puzzled expressions and bowed their heads.
The priest, pulling me along towards the High Priest, was nervously biting his nails.
‘He shouldn’t bite his nails like that.’
I casually thought and wondered what kind of expression the High Priest would be making.
But as we entered a building and I heard the sound of shattering glass, I could picture his expression clearly. My idle curiosity vanished.
Knock, knock. The priest knocked on the door, and an irritated voice answered from inside,
“Hurry up and bring her in!”
It wasn’t the usual gentle, benevolent voice. It was a harsh, cold voice, closer to his true nature.
The trembling priest quickly disappeared as soon as the door opened, and I stood there calmly. I saw pale eyes staring at me from across the room.
Those chilling eyes were filled with fury.
“What did you do to the jewel?”
“What do you mean? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Bang! The sound of him slamming his hand on the desk was deafening.
“Don’t play games with me. I’m not in the mood.”
“I don’t know why you’re so upset. That power originally belonged to me, so it’s only right that I take it back, isn’t it, Your Holiness?”
As I reached out towards the jewel, a surge of power flowed into me. The sensation of the missing pieces of the puzzle falling into place was vivid.
As the Spirit King had told me, it was all mine. Something no one could take away.
“After being so quiet, you suddenly want to leave? Knowing full well what will happen to the lives in this place because of your choice…!”
“Stop trying to confine me with such words. You’ve used them enough, trying to keep me here.”
“What are you talking about?”
I chuckled at his reaction. The soul within this body remembered everything, every time it was reborn.
“You probably thought all the birds that passed through here were different souls. But they weren’t. It was the same soul from the beginning. It’s just that it was reborn without its memories after each death, so it seemed like a different being.”
Because of that, this soul had been lonely for so long, longing for freedom, for someone to ease its loneliness.
“I’ve regained all my memories now. Fortunately. So your words won’t work on me anymore.”
His expression finally crumbled. The bird that used to give up and be swayed by his well-worn threats was gone.
I slowly approached the High Priest. The greed of those who first confined me had been passed down through generations.
“At first, this was a place I wanted to protect. But the greed of the people here disappointed me.”
The words didn’t feel like mine. It felt like the soul within me was speaking, expressing its anger.
“I was confined and used for countless years to satisfy the desires of the people here. This place has only been sustained by the continuous sacrifice of one life.”
If everyone’s happiness depended on the repeated sacrifice of one being, it would be better for this place to disappear.
Those who took that sacrifice for granted had no qualms about trampling on someone else’s happiness.
“Humans are greedy. They always want more. They demand sacrifices from others while seeking their own happiness. Is that normal?”
It wasn’t.
How could it be? Even though I hadn’t personally experienced what this bird had gone through, the emotions I felt were so sad and lonely that I could barely bear it.
“Let’s end this. All your plans have failed.”
The High Priest, who had been silent, replied in a chillingly cold voice,
“End this? Who are you to decide that?”
‘I’m ending it because it’s my end. You, who have only leeched off me, have some nerve.’
As I glared at him, frowning, the High Priest spouted nonsense,
“All our deals are about to fall through because of you.”
‘You’re still blaming me.’
I was too dumbfounded to speak, and the High Priest’s eyes gleamed.
“And it seems you have no intention of willingly giving back the divine power. As you wished, this deal will be terminated.”
“Who would give their power to those who only exploit them?”
“Well. This deal might have gone your way, but I’m not sure about the next one.”
‘Next one? Don’t make me laugh.’
“Even if I’m reborn, I’ll never give you my power again.”
I was tired of being killed for rebelling, of being confined and deprived of hope after being reborn.
“Do you think things will go your way? How naive. I’ll kill you right here. And as soon as you’re reborn for the next deal, I’ll confine you. If I confine you before you regain your memories and your divine power and extract your power… what difference would your rebellion make?”
“You won’t go to heaven when you die.”
“You’re cursing me? I’ve treated you well.”
He was spouting such nonsense until the very end.
It was infuriating how he was acting like he had been kind and generous, when all he did was confine me and use me.
“And what’s wrong with sacrificing yourself for the Holy Kingdom? We were generous enough to find and retrieve you, a discarded being. You have nowhere else to go.”
As the High Priest continued spouting nonsense and tapped his foot, the paladins, as if on cue, burst through the door.
So this had been his plan all along. I saw their gleaming blades.
‘They’re wielding some dangerous weapons. I see being threatened with a sword isn’t uncommon here.’
But I didn’t come here unprepared.
“Are you trying to kill me with mere paladins? That’s a foolish choice. You might think there’s a limit to how much I can protect myself with divine power, but I’m different from you. My divine power is far greater, and I have the love of spirits.”
Just as I spoke, a loud banging sound, as if someone was pounding on the windows, echoed. The ground shook like an earthquake, and the people in the room stumbled, losing their balance.
The paladins, sensing something amiss, charged at me, their swords raised, but the swords slipped from their grasp and clattered on the cold floor.
“Gah… ugh…”
“I… I can’t breathe…”
I saw the paladins collapse, clutching their throats, and the High Priest, flustered, stammered,
“W-what…”
The amusing scene made me want to laugh, but I felt a little bad for using the spirits like this.
I glanced at the large men writhing on the floor and turned around.
And I saw someone casually walk in.
“I was wondering what you were up to. Heron.”
“You give me too many tasks. I came because the Spirit King of the Wind urged me. I told you not to do anything reckless, Valerie.”
“I had to do this much to feel like I’ve gotten my revenge.”
As I casually chatted with Heron, the High Priest, still unable to grasp the situation, was cursing me.
“No matter what you do, you’ll never destroy the Holy King…”
“You thought I ran away? It seems you still have the strength to talk.”
“You impudent…! A mere tool, a sacred artifact…!”
To think those were his last words.
“Aren’t you tired of saying that? It’s a good thing you haven’t changed. It makes me feel less bad about destroying everything in this kingdom, everything built by your ancestors.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! The Holy Kingdom will never fall!”
“It was sustained by my power, so it will naturally crumble without me.”