novelBanishment of a Man
| ← Ch.09 | Ch.11 → |
Looking from the situation where the Special Forces had not returned and the number of demons had kept on increasing, the countries learnt of their defeat. Quickly, the countries throughout the world lost their war potential to defeat the demon king.
They had their hands full in simply dealing with the demons near their countries. Humanity no longer cooperated with one another and began to simply move for their own countries profits.
Within such a world, the people suffered from tyranny but had no other option than to cling onto the country.
Because if one tried to exit the country, they would become fodder for the demons. Various countries on the continent had to forfeit their information networks on land due to the overflowing demons on the lands.
A part of the countries that bordered the seas continued their trade via the ocean but it was not enough to influence the entire world. As the appearances of demons have increased recently, the trade between countries further dwindled.
The New Humanity had no other option than to follow their route of decline.
Until the day when a certain man was banished from the country.
"LEAVE!! YOU FUCKERS!!"
A number of men were let out from the dark, unsanitary underground prison. They looked like they were dragging their limp bodies as they walked. Traces of torture remained on their bodies, there were even those who lost one arm or had both eyeballs gouged out.
They were all those who were related to the church in one way or another.
Even with the Goddess being regarded as Satan now, there existed people, despite being very little, who still revered the Goddess. Majority of them were priests of the former church.
Those who managed to survive the previous holy war between the church and the countries had secretly kept to their faith. However the country labelled them as Satanists and utterly crushed them. When captured, they would be thoroughly tortured then executed.
It was determined that they would be executed on this day.
Their method of execution was neither by guillotine nor hanging.
Those were methods to be used against humans, for the Satanist, there lied another awaiting. This method was the banishment from the country. Outside the walls were swarms of demons, even a fully equipped army would have trouble surviving. They would be exiled and executed by the demons.
They must be so happy to be of use to their beloved Satan, a method full of malicious intent indeed.
These men were forcibly marched to the gate as they dragged their crippled bodies. People along the roadside yelled words of insults as they threw rocks and raised voices of cheers when the rock hit the men. One man resolutely looked forwards as he walked.
He gazed towards the people who hurled insults towards himself and muttered:
"O Goddess, please forgive these foolish humans"
The mutter was overridden by the yells and reached nobodies ears...
Finally, the men arrived in front of the gates. Soldiers grinned as they opened a small door used for exiles. And just like kicking them out, the men were one by one discarded in the outside world. They were no longer able to return into the country.
Cross the plains where the demons reside, pass through the forest, climb over the mountains... They had no other choice than to advance.
As the men started to stagger around, the guards gleefully chucked rocks at them from the top of the walls.
"Look! The demons must be welcoming you all with open arms!"
"You must be so happy! You may even be able to meet Satan!?"
"Alright! I hit his head! Something good might happen today!"
Not even 10 minutes has passed since the men started walking when they are attacked by demons. Demons bit into and ripped them apart, dying the grass plains in blood. The guards who were looking into the situation returned to their stations as they laughed merrily.
After a while, the majority of the exiled men were killed. And by the time the demons that were dirtied by the men's blood left the area, no one was standing.
But there was only one man still man left.
He was in a posture of praying, unmoving.
When the man finished his prayer, he slowly advanced across the grass plain and arrived at the entrance of the dark forest. The forest could truly be called a nest of demons, with various sizes of demons wandering inside.
"This is... How could this be? To think the world was ravaged this badly... Ohh, Goddess. Please forgive this powerless self."
The man idled for a while then advanced within the forest.
Demons living within the forest observed the man who trudged through the forest but soon lost interest and returned to their own activities. The man continued to trudge through the forest.
Two days since he entered the forest. When it came to meal times, the man collected surrounding fruits and nuts, started a fire and began cooking. He dug a hole in the ground, layered it with leaves, filled it with water and tossed the fruits and nuts inside. And finally dropped a heated rock inside.
With this is the completion of a primitive pot and makes it possible to cook simple meals. The man waited for the fruits and nuts to soften as he closed the pot with a leaf.
Just like a large family, the demons displayed interest towards the man's movement and pushed the bushes to the side as they moved closer.
As the demons sat down beside the man, they sniffed the steam rising up from the food.
Not paying any attention to the demons, the man retrieved the fruits and nuts from within, placed them on a leaf as a replacement for a plate and began eating.
"Phwoh, Phoh, this is quite good."
The man completely ignored the demons as he continued eating.
"Demons do not eat."
This was common sense in the world.
Well, even if demons were an existence that did require intaking food, the man had zero intentions of handing over food to the hated demons. After eating his fill of the cooked fruits and nuts, the man lied down on his side and quickly fell asleep.
The man was lucky. This place where the man was had already mostly been purified of magic remnants.
In fact the food that the man ate had already been purified and barely had any magic remnants remaining. Rather, the density of magic remnants within this forest was lower than the density within the city.
The demons who quickly lost interest in the sleeping man stood up and returned to their homes. After a few hours the man woke up, stretched and started walking again. There should be another country after exiting the forest and climbing over a few mountains.
I have to head to that country and somehow make the citizens come to their senses.
The man believed this to be his mission as the head priest.
He believed that the Goddess was not the cause of the demons.
He believed there was a true Satan that existed in this world, and he was the one who made all the demons.
The true Satan does not show himself and creates a misconception so the humans would believe that the Goddess was the one making the demons, weakening the influence of the Goddess.
He believed that this was all part of Satan's strategy to weaken the Goddess's power.
"Ohh Goddess, please rest assured. I will definitely make the citizens come to their senses and restore their belief towards you."
A giant tortoise passes by, right next to the man. That tortoise was one of the ones that had destroyed the Magic State. It looked down towards the man but slowly walked off without showing any particular interest.
"...As expected. I seem to have received the Goddess's protection. Ohhhh our Guardian Goddess, I will surely repay your merciful heart"
Just as the man got into a pose of prayer, he starts hurriedly walking.
Yes, the man had completely believed that he had received the goddess's protection.
And so firmly thought that the demons would not attack him. He had convinced himself that he had received protection because he was a true devotee to the Goddess. He believed that if people regained all their belief towards the Goddess, her power would be completely restored and save everyone from the fear of demons.
That wasn't all.
The man truly believed that the day would come when the Goddess would revive and defeat Satan.
I have to broaden my ideas for when that happens.
I need to somehow cross over to other countries and teach the people the truth about the world.
And restore the belief towards the Goddess as soon as possible.
Power naturally came to the man as he crossed the forest crawling with demons.
It was a few months later during a certain night.
One man was climbing up the walls of a certain country.
The man hooked the handmade rope onto the wall and slowly but steadily climbed up the wall using his body that was forged over the previous few months.
He would stop once in a while and erasing his presence whenever he felt the presence of the patrolling soldiers. The man was attempting to climb up the high, high wall with only his own stamina.
It was raining very heavily that night, the cold rain water would sap away at the man's energy. Occasionally a strong wind would blow, causing the man's foot to slip. Lightning would strike and split the skies, deafening the man's ears.
But the rain, wind and lightning would aid the man in concealing his presence.
And burning deep within the eyes of the man was intense fighting spirit. His body was trembling but it was not from the cold.
It was from excitement.
Overcome the wall, preach the teachings and spread the faith.
Currently, there was nothing else inside the man's head.
Perhaps, he would fall from the wall.
Perhaps, he would be discovered by the patrolling soldiers.
Perhaps, he would be captured and executed this time round.
There was no such doubts within the man's head.
Responsibility as a devotee to the Goddess.
Mission of one who has received the protection.
That was which fuelled the man.
And finally the man crossed the wall.
The man collected the hooked rope and lowered the rope to the other side of the wall, smoothly entering the country.
It was only the next day when a soldier eventually discovered the used rope but by then, everything was already too late.
| ← Ch. 09 | Ch. 11 → |