Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 352
Chapter 352. Thirsty Banquet (2)
Isaac first asked about his suspicions.
“Were you watching us in the salt desert?”
The gaze Isaac’s Rea mercenaries had felt while crossing the salt desert. The silhouette they had seen from afar was definitely similar to the Sadraza in front of them.
Sadraza couldn’t keep his tentacles still and fidgeted around while rolling his eyes.
“……Yes. Living beings are rare in this place. A group like you visited a long time ago, but they quickly ran away as if chased by the sun. I watched you all this time because I didn’t know how you would behave.”
“Why?”
“You are followers of the Lighthouse Keeper, aren’t you? I could tell from your flag. I thought you would try to kill me as soon as you saw me. I needed to know exactly when and where you were going. That’s why I hid here.”
Aidan approached him and whispered,
“It seems right. When we tried to open this door, he resisted as we pushed it open. If he had planned to attack us, he would have opened the door and ambushed us.”
Isaac agreed.
It was because he was too weak compared to the fearsome appearance of Sadraza, rather than Aidan’s logic.
Was he focused only on surviving under the cursed sun, or did he seem unable to use even ordinary miracles?
This was the identity of the monster he had been so wary of? It was an anticlimactic conclusion.
However, Isaac did not let his suspicions go. In Mirmyria, where the environment was like a disaster and monsters from the Outer World often crossed over, the weak could not survive.
‘He is hiding something.’
“Alright, Sadraza. What were you doing here?”
“I…… At first, my only goal was to survive. But as time passed and I became confident that I could survive, I searched for a way to release the god trapped under the sea.”
Aidan, who was having a hard time interpreting Sadraza’s words, looked at him in surprise at the words ‘a way to release the god’.
Isaac also asked nervously,
“Did you find a way?”
Sadraza hesitated and shook his tentacles. He looked at the golden and restraining spells Aidan had placed around him and carefully opened his mouth.
“……I can’t tell you.”
Isaac’s expression hardened, and he quickly made an excuse.
“Aren’t you following the will of the Lighthouse Keeper? The one who turned our Order, the Empire, and the cities into this mess is the Lighthouse Keeper. How can I tell you how to release the ‘Caller’?”
‘Caller’ is one of the names for the god of the Salt Parliament.
He remembered it because he had heard it in the afterlife of the Salt Parliament. Isaac frowned and sighed because he couldn’t help but understand Sadraza’s wariness.
“……The friend next to me, as you know, is from the Salt Parliament… In other words, your descendants. The name and traditions have changed, but they are working to release the Caller from under the sea. I and this friend have promised to help their plan.”
Sadraza blinked and looked at Isaac. Isaac checked if he was far enough away from the other Elysian knights and whispered,
“And you keep calling me a follower of the Lighthouse Keeper, but the order I respect and follow is the Code of Light, not the Lighthouse Keeper. I am not loyal to him.”
He spoke in a low voice, but considering that the Code of Light almost always revealed its will through the Lighthouse Keeper, it was no different from heresy. Isaac hoped that Sadraza would understand this subtle nuance.
He stared at Isaac for a moment and asked,
“The Code of Light?”
He reacted as if he had never heard of it before.
“Is that the name the Lighthouse Keeper gave it in the end? It suits him. It seems that he still believes that you can be ruled by discipline.”
Isaac felt a strange feeling in Sadraza’s tone, as if he knew the Lighthouse Keeper.
After all, if he had been here when Mirmyria was destroyed a thousand years ago, he could have known him well enough. Especially if he was a high priest, he would have had a conversation or two.
Facing a burning saint would not have been common even in the world a thousand years ago.
‘It feels like talking to an angel.’
Perhaps if Sadraza were an angel, he would be the weakest angel in the world.
Isaac took out his last resort to persuade him.
[Home of the Wanderer (Rare)]
[The Wanderer’s Hometown (Rare)]
Then, Sadraza spoke hurriedly.
[Insert text here]
As Isaac took out the relic he had received from Urbansus, Sadraza’s pupils dilated. He recognized the divinity contained in that relic.
“If you are a priest, you must know Amundalas. This relic was brought from Urbansus. I don’t know the principle, but it is said that the water contained inside will be taken from the sea in front of Mir mia in three years. Amundalas gave this to me as a token of trust.”
Whatever the process, it means that water will enter Mir mia.
Even Isaac did not know how the process would unfold, but it was clear that he would be involved in the incident. Sadraza tried to reach for the Wanderer’s Hometown with the tip of his tentacle, but Isaac retrieved it and it brushed past the void.
“I think I’ve shown enough trust… Now it seems to be your turn to show me your trust.”
Sadraza groaned slightly. In the end, he seemed to realize that he had no choice but to trust Isaac, and whispered quietly.
The secret that the last priest left in the world had hidden for a thousand years.
“The divinity of the caller remains in the underground of this pyramid.”
***
Pyramids are the most common form of temples in this desert region. From small temples to large royal tombs.
It is said that the largest pyramid was built in the holy land of Lua. And the ‘Fisherman’s House’ where they are is also a ‘temple on land’ built for the caller.
“To be exact, it is a place connected to the sea temple built under the sea. There is a staircase leading deep underground, and the staircase is connected to the sea through an underwater cave. A cave connected to the sea temple.”
Sadraza quietly continued his explanation about the forgotten ancient cult.
“Only ‘Branched Ones’, high-ranking priests who were allowed to breathe underwater, could enter and leave that ‘salt road’. Through there, we could easily access the angels and divinity of the sea temple and receive oracles.”
Then the disaster came. No, they brought disaster upon themselves.
The believers of the sea cult were competing with a neighboring country that worshiped a powerful ancient god. Then, when a man named ‘Ruatdin’, who had caused a great disturbance in the neighboring country, visited Mir mia with his followers, they decided to fully cooperate.
“Apparently, that’s what they agreed to do. But for some reason, the captain who was supposed to lead the fleet at the time was negligent… Angered, Ruatdin cursed our city and drained the sea.”
Isaac could understand the confusion and anger Sadraza felt.
He was a victim of the sudden change in Urbansus.
Sadraza would not know why the captain who had agreed to cooperate with Ruatdin suddenly became negligent.
In fact, he didn’t know how he would react if he were told that angels and the will of the caller had intervened in this incident. But it didn’t seem like a good idea to touch it.
“…The lighthouse keeper drained the sea, but he didn’t care about this temple underground. Thanks to that, the salt road is still open. The water level has been decreasing day by day, but I have been able to contact the divinity through that gap.”
Aidan straightened his back. He asked as if shouting in a clumsy ancient language.
“Are you saying that you can communicate with the caller?!”
It is something that the captains of the Salt Council are risking their lives to do.
Through a near-drowning experience, he dips one foot into the afterlife and listens to his voice.
However, Sadraza was saying that he could easily communicate with God through this temple.
“…Once I did. But most of them just appeal to me with pain and anger. So are the angels who are trapped with him. Even that has been silent lately.”
Aidan slumped down in disappointment. However, Isaac pointed out the part that Sadraza had not yet revealed.
“So, did you find a way to get God out?”
“That’s…”
Isaac thought that if Sadraza hesitated or changed the subject once more, he would hit him once and then resume the conversation. Often, priests who do not know the subject should sometimes be told that miracles are closer than physical strength.
“…I thought about human sacrifice.”
“Hmm, I guess I have to hit you.”
Isaac muttered to himself calmly. Do these guys think of human sacrifice too easily because of their ancient religion? Is it hard to change the basics?
Then, Sadrazar spoke hurriedly.
“I only thought about it. Just look at this place. It’s a place where I can’t even find anyone to sacrifice. But it turned out to be a good thing. Instead of defiling the deity’s divinity, I was able to find another way.”
“Another way?”
“Things that possess divinity often visit this area. The divinity left behind by the Caller is good bait to attract ancient gods or monsters that were destroyed. I… sacrificed them.”
Isaac realized what Sadrazar was referring to.
“You’re sacrificing the monsters of the Outer Lands?!”
“There are many ancient gods or monsters that were exiled to the Outer Lands. It’s become even more so since the Lighthouse Keepers came to power.”
“You don’t seem to have the power to deal with the monsters of the Outer Lands?”
“I don’t have to hunt them. The cursed sun kills them when the Caller calls the monsters. I just have to move them to the Fisherman’s House, follow the procedure, and sacrifice them. That’s all.”
Isaac knew that the method Sadrazar had chosen was not much different from human sacrifice, but it was a way to keep the line in a precarious way.
It was obvious that he would kill vicious monsters or ancient gods and pray while offering them in the name of God, and it was something that was still happening often.
In fact, wasn’t that the main job of the Paladins?
“I have been collecting the blood of those ‘intruders’ for a long time, waiting for the time when God will be resurrected.”
“…….”
“And just when I thought that time was approaching, you appeared. I thought that you might be followers of the Lighthouse Keepers who came to prevent God’s resurrection. That’s why I tried to hide.”
“Well. Weren’t you expecting me to collapse from exhaustion?”
“I won’t lie. Do you think you would be able to choose a method in my current situation?”
If Isaac Ray’s Dawn Warriors had collapsed from exhaustion, Sadrazar would have taken care of them and ‘sacrificed’ them as well. Sadrazar did not perform human sacrifices because it was impossible, not because he felt guilty about it.
However, Isaac sneered coldly.
“The one who eats people is not God. It’s a monster wearing the skin of God.”
Isaac suddenly thought of something and asked.
“Even before, there was a Dawn Warrior belonging to the Order of the Light who arrived here. They didn’t even make it to Mirumia, but did you ‘use’ them as well?”
Isaac was talking about the 7th Dawn Warriors who had retreated after arriving at the Salt Desert. Sadrazar shook his head.
“Are you talking about that group I mentioned earlier? They seemed to have an obsession with not leaving any corpses behind, so they burned them all as soon as they appeared. If they couldn’t burn them, they dragged them all the way to the sea. I didn’t even touch them.”
After finishing the final confirmation, Isaac looked back at Aidan and said,
“Can I go and talk to my friends for a while?”
Sadrazar nodded.
“As you wish.”
***
Isaac gave a short summary of his conversation with Sadrazar to Liana and Sidric. They were surprised that Sadrazar had been a priest a thousand years ago, but they were even more surprised that he had almost finished his preparations to awaken God.
Isaac talked about the ‘preparations.’
“I know why the black pyramid smells so bad.”
“What is it?”
“The result of Sadrazar collecting the bodies of monsters and the remains of ancient gods over a thousand years, and pouring their blood into the underground cave water.”
Liana clicked her tongue as if she was disgusted by Isaac’s words.
“The other side will be blocked by salt, so I don’t think the water that has been stagnant while eating corpses and blood for such a long time will be clean. It’s probably rotten and decaying horribly.”
But anyway, he didn’t eat human blood.
Isaac saw it as safe for now. Aidan was silent for a long time before carefully opening his mouth.
“Is there a possibility that the ritual Sadrazar is preparing will succeed?”
Isaac sighed at Aidan’s words. Not because he thought he would disappoint him, but because he expected a serious obstacle.
“It’s possible.”
Not just possible. Isaac was sure of it.
Because the ritual Sadrazar had been doing was a variation of the ‘Thirst Banquet’ ritual that Isaac originally needed to see the victory of the Salt Council.
(To be continued)