Chapter 18: Chapter 18 - The Price of Miracles
Chapter 18 — The Price of Miracles
Silence lingered across the ruined village square after the hunters disappeared.
Cold wind swept through broken buildings while villagers slowly emerged from hiding.
Fear filled every face I saw.
Not admiration.
Not awe.
Fear.
Honestly?
That hurt more than I expected.
The blue static around my body gradually faded, but the strange energy still crackled faintly beneath my skin like unstable electricity.
My breathing remained uneven.
That fight had lasted only minutes.
Yet I felt completely exhausted.
Elena stood beside me carefully, still watching the place where the hunters vanished.
Her silver divine light slowly dimmed around her body.
Dorian walked through scattered debris while examining the damage with sharp merchant eyes.
Honestly impressive.
Most people would panic after fighting supernatural assassins.
This man was already calculating repair costs probably.
The prophet remained near the shrine, strangely calm as always.
Thunder echoed again above Erald.
But now another sound approached from beyond the eastern road.
Horse hooves.
Fast.
Very fast.
Elena noticed immediately.
"They’re here."
A few seconds later, white lights appeared through the darkness.
Riders.
Dozens this time.
The Church of Eternal Light had arrived in force.
Wonderful.
Exactly what I needed after nearly getting kidnapped by divine terminators.
The lead rider entered the square first.
Commander Lucien.
His golden eyes instantly scanned the destruction around him.
Collapsed rooftops.
Cracked ground.
Broken barriers.
And me standing in the middle of it surrounded by faint blue static.
Honestly?
Not a great look.
Lucien dismounted quickly.
Behind him, nearly twenty armored knights spread across the village in disciplined formation.
Every one of them radiated divine energy.
This wasn’t investigation anymore.
This was military response.
The commander’s sharp gaze moved toward Elena first.
"What happened?"
Straight to the point as always.
Elena answered calmly despite obvious exhaustion.
"Hunters."
The moment she said that, several knights visibly stiffened.
Interesting.
Even church elites feared those people.
Lucien’s expression darkened immediately.
"...Confirmed?"
The prophet laughed softly near the shrine.
"They came personally."
Lucien finally noticed her standing there.
For the first time since meeting him—
the commander looked genuinely unsettled.
"A prophet."
The old woman smiled.
"A worried little soldier."
Honestly?
I was starting to love this old lady.
Lucien ignored the comment and walked toward the damaged center of the square.
His golden eyes stopped on me.
Then narrowed sharply.
The blue energy around my hands hadn’t fully faded yet.
The commander studied it silently.
"...Your authority evolved again."
Not a question.
Observation.
I sighed tiredly.
"Apparently near-death experiences are educational."
Lucien didn’t smile.
I really needed to stop expecting humor from religious military people.
Dorian stepped forward carefully.
"The hunters attempted forced containment."
Several nearby knights exchanged uneasy looks.
Lucien’s jaw tightened slightly.
"They acted without council approval."
Interesting.
So even the hunters answered to larger systems.
The prophet shook her head slowly.
"No."
Her silver eyes glowed faintly.
"The old gods already panic."
The atmosphere became tense again.
Lucien looked toward me carefully now.
Not just curiosity anymore.
Concern.
Real concern.
And honestly?
That scared me more than hostility.
Because fear changes people faster than hatred does.
The commander stepped closer slowly.
"What exactly did you do during the confrontation?"
I hesitated.
Because honestly?
I wasn’t fully sure myself.
"I interfered with their suppression field."
Lucien frowned slightly.
"How?"
Great question.
Wish I knew.
The blue core inside my chest pulsed softly.
Warmer now.
Different somehow.
Like it had learned something.
Adapted.
The prophet answered before I could.
"He forced evolving resonance through conceptual disruption."
Silence.
Every knight stared blankly.
Including me.
What?
Dorian rubbed his forehead.
"Could prophets explain things normally once in a while?"
"Normal explanations are boring," the old woman replied instantly.
Fair enough honestly.
Lucien ignored both of them.
His gaze remained fixed on me.
"Your authority changed mid-battle."
The knights nearby became visibly uneasy again.
One older knight whispered quietly—
"That should be impossible."
The prophet immediately answered him.
"For ordinary gods."
Cold wind swept through the square.
The old woman slowly pointed toward me again.
"But Technology was never ordinary."
The blue core reacted to those words.
Pulse.
Pulse.
Pulse.
I frowned slightly.
Something about hearing that title felt strange now.
Heavier.
More real.
Not just a convenient fake identity anymore.
The commander noticed my reaction immediately.
His eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
"You still resist the authority."
I blinked.
"...What?"
Lucien folded his arms.
"Most newly awakened gods embrace their domain instinctively."
His gaze sharpened slightly.
"But you treat yours like a burden."
The square became quiet.
Because unfortunately...
he was right again.
I looked toward the ruined buildings surrounding us.
Toward frightened villagers watching from a distance.
Toward the cracked ground created during a fight that happened because of me.
Then quietly answered—
"Technology ruined my world once already."
Silence followed instantly.
Even the prophet stopped smiling.
Lucien studied my face carefully.
"You truly believe that."
"Don’t you?"
The commander didn’t answer immediately.
Then finally—
"I believe uncontrolled progress creates instability."
Corporate politician answer.
But not entirely wrong.
Dorian suddenly laughed softly.
"Interesting."
Everyone looked toward him.
The merchant smiled faintly.
"The Church fears him because he changes systems."
Lucien’s gaze hardened.
"We fear repeating history."
"Same thing," Dorian replied casually.
Honestly this man enjoyed dangerous conversations way too much.
The commander ignored him and looked toward me again.
"The hunters won’t stop."
Yeah.
Figured that part out already.
Lucien continued calmly—
"Tonight proved your existence now threatens multiple factions simultaneously."
Wonderful.
Achievement unlocked: Universal Political Problem.
Elena suddenly stepped beside me again.
Her expression remained calm, but I noticed how tired she looked now.
The fight clearly drained her heavily.
"You said additional divine signatures were approaching."
Lucien nodded once.
"The Eternal Light detected massive resonance fluctuations."
The commander glanced around the damaged square.
"...Now I understand why."
One of the younger knights nearby stared at me nervously.
"Commander..."
He hesitated briefly.
"...is he truly the forgotten authority?"
The entire square became silent again.
Ah.
So rumors spread fast even among church ranks.
Lucien didn’t answer immediately.
Then quietly said—
"I don’t know."
Interesting.
Honest uncertainty.
The prophet suddenly laughed again.
"He carries the starving god’s shadow."
The younger knights visibly became more uncomfortable afterward.
One actually tightened his grip on his weapon slightly.
Fear.
Again.
Everywhere.
I suddenly understood something important.
People weren’t afraid because I was powerful currently.
They were afraid because of what I might become.
Potential terrified them more than reality.
Honestly?
That was a very human reaction.
The commander finally exhaled slowly.
"This village is no longer secure."
Chief Rowan, who had been silently observing until now, immediately looked alarmed.
"What do you mean?"
Lucien gestured toward the destroyed square.
"The hunters located this place once."
His golden eyes narrowed slightly.
"They will return."
Fear spread across Rowan’s face instantly.
The villagers overhearing nearby became panicked too.
Dorian quietly muttered—
"And there goes local property value."
Honestly terrible timing.
I almost laughed anyway.
Almost.
Elena looked toward Lucien carefully.
"What does the Church intend to do?"
The commander became silent.
Then finally answered—
"The council will demand discussion."
Ah yes.
Political meetings.
The natural predator of happiness.
Dorian frowned.
"That sounds dangerously close to forced supervision."
Lucien didn’t deny it.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
The prophet suddenly stepped away from the shrine.
For the first time tonight—
she looked tired.
Old.
Fragile.
Her silver eyes dimmed slightly as she stared toward me.
"The pathways open wider now."
The blue core inside my chest pulsed again.
The prophet continued softly—
"More worlds will notice you."
That sentence chilled the entire square.
More worlds?
Plural?
Hold on.
I frowned sharply.
"There are other worlds connected to this one?"
The prophet smiled sadly.
"Once."
Not reassuring.
"At the height of divine civilization," she continued quietly, "the gods traveled between countless realms."
Dorian looked genuinely surprised now too.
Apparently this wasn’t common knowledge.
The old woman’s gaze drifted toward the dark sky.
"But the pathways collapsed during the Age of Silence."
Earth losing spiritual energy probably connected somehow.
Then she looked back toward me.
"Your awakening destabilizes those ancient boundaries."
Ah.
Fantastic.
So now I wasn’t just causing problems in one world.
Excellent.
The prophet slowly walked toward me through the ruined square.
Villagers instinctively moved aside for her.
When she finally stopped in front of me—
she raised one wrinkled hand carefully.
Then touched my chest directly above the blue core.
Instantly—
visions exploded through my mind.
Endless lights.
Towering metallic cities floating beneath stars.
Machines larger than mountains.
Countless glowing pathways connecting worlds across empty space.
And standing above it all—
a figure made entirely of blue light.
Watching civilization spread endlessly across galaxies.
The original God of Technology.
Then—
everything shattered.
Worlds collapsing.
Gods fighting.
Stars burning.
And finally—
Earth.
Dark.
Silent.
Abandoned.
I staggered backward violently as the vision disappeared.
Elena immediately grabbed my arm before I fell.
"Kaiser!"
My breathing became uneven instantly.
The prophet’s silver eyes glowed faintly.
"You’ve seen his memory now."
Memory.
Not illusion.
Not prophecy.
Memory.
Holy crap.
The old woman looked toward me carefully.
And then quietly said the single most terrifying thing I’d heard since arriving in this world.
"The old Technology God is not dead."
