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Chapter 270 - A Sorrowful Vow (2)

However, the jolly atmosphere was short-lived, for Saint Irenae and Elagon could heal the patients’ physical wounds all they wanted, but they couldn’t tend to the ones in their hearts.

The people were devastated by the fact that their homes had been ravaged by the monsters, friends and family either torn apart or transformed into one of those ghastly creatures.

The hospital was soon plunged into a somber atmosphere, everyone with looks of utter dejection.

Henry also read the mood and he immediately summoned all of his comrades, who had recovered, to gather. Of course, not everyone here were his actual allies, but since everyone wanted to get revenge against Arthus, they were all on the same team.

They all gathered in a provisional meeting room near the city hall. There wasn’t much in this room, but at least it had a round table at which everyone sat in casual clothes, not armor.

Henry looked at everyone’s expressions and let out a deep sigh.

“Thank you everyone for coming here.”

“...”

A heavy silence hung in the air. Although their physical wounds had healed, they were still in shock, just as the rest of the patients in the hospital. McDowell, Valhald, and Allen had to be especially distraught, since they had lost to Arthus’ apostles.

The one who eventually broke the silence was Von. He slammed his first on the table and yelled, “What are you all doing, acting like you’ve given up?!”

Von’s shout was a wake-up call for everyone. However, everyone else at the table, especially Herarion, still looked dejected. Seeing this, Henry called out to Herarion, “Your Majesty.”

“...Yes...” Herarion murmured in a heavy tone, barely managing to get the word out.

Henry ignored his Herarion’s dejected spirits and proceeded to point out the harsh reality that they had to deal with.

“You need to get a grip! Will you give Shahatra away on a silver platter to Arthus just because you lost to an apostle once?”

“...”

The royal palace in the capital city of Khan, otherwise known as the heart of Shahatra was certainly destroyed.

During its collapse, most of the priests and priestesses were killed, and the temples, along with other tools used for rituals, had been destroyed as well.

However, this didn’t mean that La, the sun god, had forsaken Herarion. It was just that Herarion was currently immersed in his weakness, and the grief was suffocating him.

Of course, his pain was understandable, since he had lost both his wife and his mother, but this didn’t mean that he could wallow in self-pity and grieve for the rest of his life. As the emperor of Shahatra, he couldn’t afford to do that, for he was still responsible for many things.

Henry said to everyone, “The same goes for the rest of you. Although we lost to the apostles, we’re still alive. With all the pain and grief, we’re still on our feet! Will you let that son of a bitch take everything away from us as you drown in your sorrows?”

Sometimes, scolding was the best way to encourage someone, and a stinging piece of advice was sometimes better than a warm embrace.

“Have you even fought against an apostle to be able to preach this bullshit?!” retorted McDowell. He wondered if Henry was making some sort of armchair argument. However, unfortunately for him, Henry was actually the only one here who had defeated an apostle.

“Yes, I have,” Henry replied confidently. “I tore him to shreds and scattered them in the desert sand.”

“You... tore him into pieces?”

The apostle McDowell had faced was named Gluttony. During his entire confrontation with him. McDowell had faced the same problem as Hector—his attacks hadn’t been able to harm his opponent at all.

McDowell wasn’t the only one surprised by Henry’s answer; Allen and Valhald also looked surprised.

“I think I know what you’re all surprised about, but I have a solution to that,” said Henry.

“A solution, you say?”

“Yup. Don’t you all want to know how to inflict damage upon them?”

Henry was spot on; he decided to scratch the itch and give them the answer they wanted. The specific details, including the aftermath, could wait until later.

“The problem lies within the divine power,” continued Henry.

“Divine power?”

“Yes. From the information I’ve gathered, there were a total of nine apostles, but I’ve killed one, so there are eight left. The eight apostles are Chimeras who had evolved and received divine power from Arthus.”

“Arthus...!”

They all knew that Arthus was behind this, since the apostles had tried to make them Arthus’ believers. They also knew that they were Chimeras because they clearly saw the apostles regrow their arms after they had been severed.

...But divine power? This was completely unexpected. Everyone was visibly confused and curious.

“This is what I’ve concluded after discussing with Saint Irenae. To sum up, you were all helpless against the apostles because of Arthus’ divine power.

“So then how do we deal with them?” Allen asked Henry with a fierce expression. He was very furious at having been brought on the brink of death by Zion.

“It’s simple. You all just need to acquire divine power yourselves. If you have divine power, you’ll have no difficulties in dealing with the apostles,” said Henry.

“Divine power...? But Henry, I thought that divine power was bestowed upon someone by a god...?”

“That’s right, you have to be chosen by god. However, you don’t have to think about it as something super complicated. After all, all high priests of every religion have divine power.”

“So you’re saying that we should become religious to gain divine power?”

“That’s right.”

“Huh... What the...”

It sounded ridiculous, but this was the best solution Henry could come up with for now.

Valhald added, “But Henry...”

“Yes, Sir Valhald.”

“We don’t have divine power because we worship no gods, but... I guess you must’ve had a religion, since you’ve defeated that apostle.”

Valhald brought up an important detail. If the reason they hadn’t been able to inflict any damage on the apostles was their lack of divine power, this naturally meant that Henry, who had defeated his apostle, possessed divine power.

This was also one of Henry’s initial concerns.

“Yes, I haven’t told you before, but I have my own religion.”

“... I see,” replied Valhald.

Everyone nodded at Henry’s response. However, this was nothing more than a white lie. Rather than trying to explain the unexplainable, Henry lied so that he could quickly mobilize everyone against the apostles.

“But... To believe in a god we haven\'t believed in all our lives is just... It’s not like we’re suddenly going to gain faith, are we?” McDowell grumbled. He was annoyed at the fact that Gluttony had defeated him simply because he believed in a god.

Nevertheless, McDowell had a valid point.

None of them, including Henry, believed in any gods. They recognized that there were gods out there, but they just didn’t have faith in any of them.

This was especially true for high-ranking knights and wizards. Those kinds of people had achieved everything on their own, through hard work and dedication, not because they had been chosen by a god or because of fate.

In other words, they would rather have faith in themselves than in a god they had never met. All their lives they had made everything possible by themselves.

“I also agree with that, so I’ve thought of a couple of ways we can deal with that,” said Henry.

“Ways...? What ways?”

“It’s something that His Majesty Herarion first has to agree on, so if you don’t mind, I’d like to speak to His Majesty in private.”

At this, all eyes turned to Herarion, who also looked at Henry in surprise. However, Henry reassured Herarion not to worry.

“Will do.”

Everyone agreed to leave and allow Henry and Herarion to discuss in private.

As they rose from their seats, Henry said, “If you all go outside to the city hall, Vulcanus, the leader of Monsieur, will be waiting for you. Would you all go there first?”

Henry didn’t want to waste any second, so he urged the rest to go to Vulcanus while he talked to Herarion one-on-one. He did so because everyone’s gear had been destroyed in their fights against the apostles, so they had to get new equipment.

Soon, everyone left the room, leaving Henry and Herarion by themselves.

Henry was the first to speak.

“Your Majesty.”

“Yes?”

“What I’m about to tell you right now, or rather, ask of you, is something that may sound very rude, but this is the only thing I can think of at the moment, so please excuse me.”

Henry didn’t beat around the bush. He knew that Herarion was all over the place emotionally, but he also knew that public and private affairs had to be kept separate.

Herarion nodded at Henry’s candidness.

“Go ahead,” said Herarion, urging Henry to just say what he had to say.

“I heard from the Saint that the divine power that Arthus now possesses are those of Janus, the god whom Your Majesty once worshiped,” said Henry without hesitation.

“...That’s right.”

“Then I believe that Janus’ counterpart is the sun god, La, am I correct?”

“...Yes.”

“Your Majesty, we need great divine power to counter Janus, so I would like to borrow La’s divine power to do so.”

“...”

Henry was straightforward about his request. At the moment, what Henry’s group needed the most was divine power, so Henry had chosen La to be the source of that power. It wasn’t personal; it was a pragmatic, objective decision.

However, in order for this to work, Henry needed the approval of La’s greatest representative, someone who worshiped La as their chosen one. This was why Henry had asked everyone else to let him and Herarion talk in private.

It was good for Henry that his vengeful spirit had been reignited, but it was also very important for him to defend his people, and the whole of humanity for that matter, so he asked Herarion to use his faith for that specific purpose.

There was a long silence.

Herarion fully understood what Henry was asking of him, which made it all the more difficult for him to respond. It would basically be blasphemy to help Henry gain divine power in order to fulfill his revenge.

“Archmage, I...!”

Herarion finally spoke after a long time, and his answer was...

“...I apologize, but I can’t fulfill your request.”

Refusal.