Rolls visibly lost his composure, his thick white beard flicking like a broom a few times.
“It’s really the Evil God? It almost succeeded?”
Celes nodded very seriously and began to describe everything to him, including the Sea Demon Tribe’s decades-long conspiracy, all for the sake of a single ritual.
She especially emphasized that after the sacrifice was stopped, the Evil God appeared in the starry sky and took away the soul of its servant.
“When It appeared, I felt a tremendous and strange power. I was almost paralyzed and could only watch helplessly. I only regained consciousness after everything ended.”
With a power of that magnitude, there was no doubt—it was indeed a god.
Rolls held the lid of his teacup awkwardly, not sure whether to put it down or keep holding it.
Finally, he gave a bitter smile.
“I didn’t expect you to encounter something like this so soon. I thought it would take at least another ten years.”
The girls of the Hero Squad had just turned eighteen this year.
“It was Ayla who discovered their conspiracy,” Celes continued.
“She also created the opportunity to destroy the shrine and stop the sacrifice.”
Rolls nodded, his gaze full of admiration directed at the pink-haired, thunderous girl.
No doubt about it, she had to be the fifth genius of the Human Hero Squad, the last piece of the team’s puzzle—one of the five best.
Thinking back, in fact, the girls of the Hero Squad hadn’t fought the Evil God itself this time, but rather the Sea Demon Tribe’s cultists.
Only if they failed would the Evil God descend.
So from an age perspective, it was barely acceptable.
The old man’s mood softened a bit as he poured tea for the two of them.
“What do you want to eat? Let’s take our time and talk.”
Breakfast had just been delivered from the Royal Palace Kitchen—some pastries and sweets—and he hadn’t had a chance to eat yet.
Celes wasn’t particularly hungry; she held her cup with both hands and ate whatever was available.
Ayla ordered a biscuit and nibbled on it bit by bit.
“Teacher, we drove the Sea Demons away, and this generation of priests was killed off. But since they returned to the sea, won’t they just move somewhere else and start again after a while?”
Celes asked first, voicing her greatest concern.
“Could they summon the Evil God somewhere we don’t know?”
“No,” Rolls said.
“From what you described, this Evil God is definitely not the Sea Demon Tribe’s god. The Sea Demons just happened to encounter It. Neither the ritual items nor the contract can be replicated.”
Ayla munched on her biscuit, thinking to herself that it was no wonder this human was a great hero, giving such an accurate deduction from the start.
Celes thought for a moment and said, “So, the threat from this Evil God—we’ve already come into contact with it?”
Rolls frowned.
“Hard to say.”
There was no reason and no need to explain why.
Something like the Evil God was beyond human logic and comprehension.
At that moment, Ayla finally finished the biscuit in her hand and spoke up, “In that case, can we learn more about the Evil God? To prevent any future problems.”
“Wait a moment.”
Rolls stood and went to the study.
After a while, he came out holding a book he had made himself and pulled out a sheet of paper.
“There aren’t many reliable records about the Evil God. The last time It appeared and was recorded in history was during a war that swept through half the continent. Flesh and pain summoned It.”
“Within days, countless lives were lost, and only a third of the continent’s population remained. In the end, because there were too few survivors, the war couldn’t continue. The Evil God couldn’t replenish Its flesh, and several high races worked together to send It back to the Void.”
Ayla took the yellowed parchment and examined it.
There were no words, only a heavy oil painting—dark red representing blood-soaked land.
A creature with the head and hooves of a ram, a torso covered in decayed branches, six legs supporting it on the ground, and towering at least a hundred meters tall appeared vividly.
Whether it was actually a hundred meters tall was uncertain, but there were a few houses in the painting that only reached its knees, giving some scale.
Celes leaned in for a closer look. “It feels… different.”
“How different?”
“The Evil God the Sea Demons tried to summon—the one that passed across the starry sky that night—had no concrete form. We could only see the stars around It warped, almost like…”
Ayla interrupted, “Like gravitational lensing.”
The two turned to look at her as if asking what that was.
“I’m just guessing. You continue.”
“Like… ripples spreading across water,” Celes finally found a fitting metaphor.
After hearing her description, Rolls furrowed his brows deeply, unable to recall any similar record.
Sensing the moment was right, Ayla added, “Oh, and I heard the Sea Demon priest muttering a name—Yiselis. It seems to be the name of the Evil God.”
“It has a name? Any other traits?”
“Also, It grants the wish of the contract holder, but never in the way they want… For example, the Sea Demon priests gained great power, but at the cost of their lives.”
Ritual, stars, formless distortion, method of realization.
Rolls jotted these words down carefully and said, “I need to look for clues. Maybe there’s something in history. Come back tomorrow.”
He needed to immediately go back into the study and search through the countless books again.
This wasn’t a vague legend written on paper, but an imminent threat they had nearly brushed past.
“Then we’ll trouble you, teacher.”
Celes put down her teacup, bowed, and left the Sanctuary Hall with Ayla.
There was still time before lunch.
Returning to camp, they could make it in time without rushing.
After leaving the Royal Palace gates, they walked back slowly.
Not far from the palace was the Royal Garden.
Two months had passed, and the best flower season was over.
The blooms were no longer as vibrant, but the old floral fragrance still lingered.
Passing through here, Ayla couldn’t help but think of that girl like sunshine, always picking flowers to give her.
But recently, for some unknown reason, she had grown dark—no longer picking wildflowers, only coveting her little garden.
Maybe it was because Harbor City had no flowers—only kelp, seaweed, algae, and fishy herbs in the ditches—leaving the girl starved of sunlight energy.
Or perhaps she was always a dark assassin, who once stabbed her own back with a knife, only now trying a different method.
Ayla struggled internally when the girl beside her suddenly said, “You undergo purification regularly, right?”
“…What?”
“That night, Miss Leah said you have evil inside you and need many rounds of purification,” Celes said.
“Isn’t it that every few days you have a scheduled purification?”
Why bring this up now?
Ayla couldn’t figure out her intent and just played along with the previous excuse.
“It’s true, but not regularly. Sometimes it’s one or two days earlier, sometimes one or two days later.”
“Then it’s been five days now. Don’t you need another one?”
The girl’s ice-blue eyes stared intently.
“Since we all know, you don’t have to hide anymore. I can sit beside you and see if you need any help.”