“If only we could abandon it.”
The one who broke the long silence and spoke was—
“I would like to.”
Zodiac Ridwi.
Ridwi Urpa still looked haggard. He hadn’t drunk today, of course, but his body was screaming from the near-suicidal binge he had been on.
He looked at the Emperor with bloodshot eyes.
“However, it is an extremely difficult thing. They will not leave us.”
“...You mean, even if a Zodiac wants to abandon divine power, it will not go as they wish?”
“To those who possess it, divine power feels like a talent of their own. Could someone with a talent for cooking, or a talent for mathematics, abandon that talent? They might quit cooking or quit doing math, but they cannot discard the talent itself.”
Ridwi spoke gravely, without his usual dialect. Partly because of where they were, but also because he had no room for levity right now.
And there was something off about Ridwi’s words.
“Aster Evans abandoned his divine power, didn’t he?”
Philly tilted her head and asked, and Ridwi lowered his eyes as if thinking for a moment. The other Zodiacs also fell into their own thoughts at that question.
“If I may speak, since he was a student of Constel,”
Ospreet opened his mouth.
“Aster did not abandon it himself. He wished for the god to abandon him.”
“Not ‘abandoned,’ but ‘was abandoned’?”
“I do not know what exactly took place, but Aster said Baldur ‘left’ him. He has never once said he abandoned Baldur himself.”
The god left Aster of his own accord.
If that was true, then anyone else who wanted to lose divine power would have to do it the same way.
“There is another who lost his divine power.”
Ospreet said.
“Edwin von Beherteo. He also lost his divine power.”
“...Ah, Hephaestus.”
Ridwi spoke as if the memory had returned. The golem incident back then had been settled entirely within Constel, but the fact that Edwin lost his divine power was fairly well known. At the time, not a few people saw it as a sign that the already-fallen Beherteo would be wiped out completely.
“After losing his divine power, Edwin actually grew further. He showed exceptional talent in crafting and security, and now he’s become indispensable not just to Beherteo, but to the management of magitech itself.”
The current Edwin boasted even greater ability than when he revived his house in the game. Of course, right after losing his divine power he struggled, but that period was not long.
Ospreet said:
“Aster and Edwin share something in common.”
“...That after losing divine power, their strength actually grew.”
Monty, who had been listening, answered, and Ospreet nodded.
“And one more thing.”
“One more?”
When Monty asked back, it was Ridwi who replied.
“...They do not believe in the gods.”
“!”
The air grew heavier. Ridwi’s low voice weighed on the listeners’ hearts.
After thinking for a moment—or rather, as she thought—Philly spoke.
“To abandon divine power, one must not believe in the gods. No god will grant power to someone who does not believe in them. It adds up.”
Her voice was calm, and that made it all the colder.
To not believe in the gods. For those who have sided with Frondier, that is not so difficult—but for the opposing side, it is quite a hard problem. From some perspectives, it could be even more serious than merely losing divine power.
In the end, as the meeting went on, not a single Zodiac decided on a course of abandoning divine power.
They still needed time.
***
“My apologies, Atjie.”
After the meeting ended, the one who approached Atjie was Ospreet.
“For what, exactly?”
“Though it was for the sake of moving the meeting along, I didn’t expect you to say that. It must have been a hard role to take.”
Atjie had said it.
That Frondier is a demon.
He had said it so the discussion would not needlessly stray from the point, but Ospreet could not begin to fathom how Atjie felt when he let those words out.
“It was nothing great.”
Atjie shook his head.
“If Frondier were me, he would have done exactly the same.”
“You trust your younger brother.”
“This is not trust.”
Atjie put on a faint smile.
“It is simply what I have to do.”
Ospreet was less struck by the content of the words than by Atjie’s smile. The expressions of the Roach family always surprised him, but this smile of Atjie’s was something else entirely.
It was a warm smile. Ospreet felt it immediately.
“Then what do you think about divine power?”
“I do not possess it, so I cannot say much. I don’t have many words I can offer.”
Atjie did not have divine power. In fact, Ospreet was the same.
For the two of them, it was fundamentally difficult to know what it truly meant to “abandon divine power.” They could only reach a fragmentary understanding.
“However, if it is being perceived as some sort of ‘talent,’ as Zodiac Ridwi said, then even if it is possible to abandon it, it will not be easy.”
“Right. Even if it is a power they cannot control, these are people who climbed to a high position with it. They won’t just accept being told to give it up.”
And all the more so because they had never thought of it as uncontrollable.
The Zodiacs were now afraid. Afraid of stepping down from the Zodiac’s seat. Afraid that along with that, their value would be denied as though it had been nothing more than their divine power all along.
“Atjie, suppose, just suppose.”
Ospreet lowered his voice a little.
“If the Zodiacs refuse—what will you do?”
“You mean, if they refuse to abandon divine power?”
“That’s right. It’s entirely possible. Furthermore, the Zodiacs could split among themselves if their opinions do not align.”
After thinking for a moment, Atjie spoke.
“No matter what choice the Zodiacs make, I will do nothing.”
“Do nothing?”
“The choice is theirs.”
The Zodiacs had been loyal to the Empire and had played a major role in its wars.
Even if that was thanks to divine power, the fact remains that they risked their lives.
“However, if that puts the Empire and its citizens in danger, I will stop it.”
“Spoken as a Pro, I see.”
“Yes. As a Pro.”
Unlike Frondier, Atjie had no intention of stepping forward of his own accord. He would simply be faithful to his role. As a Pro, he had work to do. He had no intention of crossing beyond his own domain.
Hearing that, Ospreet smiled lightly.
“Then if I were to send in a request to prevent the Zodiacs’ split, you would accept it as well.”
“...That sounds like something beyond the scope of what a Pro can do...”
Atjie furrowed his brow slightly as if troubled, yet—
“I would.”
He gave a clear answer.
***
Leaving the imperial palace, Atjie got into a car and headed for the estate.
Unlike other nobles, he had no driver. He drove himself.
Because in the past, his driver had been killed in an attack.
Hands on the wheel, Atjie kept his eyes straight ahead.
Right now, he was simply thinking the same thoughts he had been thinking from that day until now.
‘...Frondier.’
On the day Frondier left the Empire, the Roach family changed.
They all struggled not to change, but it was pointless.
Frondier had left the Empire by his own decision, and thanks to that, the Empire had regained peace.
A false peace gained by defeating a false enemy.
But a false enemy is still an enemy, and a false peace is still peace.
The Roach family, already the most taciturn among the nobles, now became like people who had lost the ability to speak at all.
Amper, Malia, and Atjie himself.
They all continued their daily lives as before.
Amper guarded the territory and trained the knights, Malia continued her work as Constel’s school nurse, and Atjie became a Pro and carried out missions.
But they no longer put their hearts into their work.
Until now, they had all striven to protect people. The territory, the knights, the job of a teacher, the work of a Pro—ultimately, it had all been for that.
And those very people had driven Frondier out.
Then why, exactly, should they—
“Frondier. Come back.”
Atjie murmured quietly. But his expression did not change.
“Father is having a hard time.”
A faint voice left Atjie’s lips.
There were no words after that.
As if to prove that he too was a member of the Roach family, he immersed himself in silence and pulled the car forward onto the road.
Vroom—
He drove on for some time. When he reached roughly the halfway point between the Empire and the Roach estate—
He saw someone standing far ahead, right in the middle of the road.
‘...What?’
The question lasted only a few seconds.
An uninhabited place. A roadway no one walked on. The halfway point between the Empire and the estate.
...Killing intent.
Crash!
Atjie immediately flung himself to the side, smashing through the front door as he burst out of the car.
The car continued forward as it was and reached the man standing in the middle of the road.
Crunch, the sound of something buckling.
Atjie stood up and checked the vehicle.
“Quick to make a call, aren’t you.”
A strange, and young, boy’s voice.
The boy was standing right in front of the sedan, holding the front bumper in his grip.
This was not human strength.
“...What are you.”
Atjie completed his battle stance. But he was barehanded at the moment. His spear was locked into the car.
The boy looked at Atjie.
Golden eyes, filled with displeasure, turned toward him.
The boy spoke.
“Show some respect.”
The boy then lifted the car with one hand and threw it at Atjie, as if tossing a doll.
Whoosh—!
“Human.”
As the car came flying at high speed, Atjie lowered his body, dove into the empty space beneath it, and dodged.
Thud.
When he settled back into a stance, there was a spear in his hand.
“Ho. That’s no ordinary trick. I’d think you’d barely have time just to dodge the incoming car, but you managed to disengage the spear attached to it and get it into your hand.”
The boy spoke in a tone of admiration, and evaluation.
Atjie took his stance.
“I’ll ask again. What are you.”
“You really don’t get the situation, do you?”
The boy let out a sigh. He took a single step forward.
The instant his foot touched the ground, the boy was right in front of Atjie’s eyes.
‘Shukchi!’
Boom!
Atjie raised his spear to block. He himself had no idea what he had just blocked. It was the result of reflexes, instinct, and the basics he had repeated countless times.
Even though he blocked it, Atjie was sent flying several meters before he landed again.
“Ever since you took down the Seven Deadly Sins, or maybe since seeing the pathetic state of the other gods, humans have gotten terribly arrogant.”
While the boy was talking, Atjie once again took his stance.
...From that single blow just now, his shoulder and wrist were in serious pain.
“You humans seem to be getting the wrong idea from looking at gods possessing human vessels, but I am not possession.”
The boy opened his hand and lifted it lightly upward.
With a cracking sound, the shattered chunks of ground rose into the air.
“This is descent. Brat.”
Shiiik—!!
A wave of stone fragments shot at Atjie like arrows.
Atjie’s eyes flashed.
Roach Swordsmanship
Atjie Original
Nak—
Slash!
Before Atjie’s technique could be completed, his spear was cut in half.
“...!”
In that instant, Atjie rolled his body, dodging the storm of stones. With a chilling grinding sound, the ground was carved up.
“You. You only have that one technique, don’t you?”
Atjie stood again, holding the bisected spear.
Through the flying stone fragments, an aura had come. An aura that had sliced Atjie’s spear in an instant.
“A technique that suppresses not just the opponent’s armament, but the entire force of their attack. Sounds quite impressive, but it can’t handle anything beyond its intended target.”
Atjie did not answer. The boy, likewise, had no intention of listening to anything he might say.
Because there was no need.
Without having to reconfirm or ask again—
——He knows Nakjang’s weakness.
“It was already a technique full of weaknesses, and now you don’t even have ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) a proper spear, and your opponent is barehanded.”
The boy cocked his head.
“What are you going to do?”
