"Then, I’ll officially make you an Apostle."
With those words, Ren-kun held his hand over the Apostle's Necklace (Provisional) I was wearing. It only took a split second. He pulled his hand back almost immediately and flashed me a grin.
"There, all done."
"Wait, that's it?"
I’d been expecting flashes of light or at least a divine aura, but it was surprisingly anticlimactic.
Checking it with Appraisal, the item’s name had officially changed to Apostle's Necklace. It didn't look like any new effects had been added, though. In fact, since the "temporarily treated as an Apostle" effect was gone, it was really just a plain necklace now.
"Now that you're an Apostle, I’m going to need you to put in some work from here on out."
"Right. We have to stop Garnalava's ambitions."
"Well, it's less of an 'ambition' and more of a 'rampage.'"
"...What do you mean by that?"
"Let me see... I should start by explaining the gods of this world."
Ren-kun explained that there were many gods in this world besides himself. At the top was the God of Origin—the God of Creation who had laid the world's foundations. To ensure the world's growth and harmony, the God of Origin had created many other deities, such as the Fire God and the Job God. Garnalava was one of them.
"Isn't Garnalava an Evil God?"
"Hmm? Well, his actions are a total nuisance, and most people on the surface certainly see him that way. Treating him as an Evil God is fine, but his origin is no different from any of the other gods."
Just as the mysterious voice Rache had heard had claimed, Garnalava was originally created as the Trial God. People grow stronger when they overcome disasters and harsh environments, and he was the god who blessed those who triumphed over such tests. However, over the eons, his personality had slowly twisted. Instead of rewarding those who survived trials, he began to actively inflict them on people to force their growth.
"He goes way too far. He’s nearly collapsed civilization several times now. The other gods eventually saw him as a problem and scouted someone to oppose him. That ended up being me. To be honest, I had almost no power when I first became a god. It was a real struggle."
While he’d had some help, the other gods had their own domains and duties to attend to. Since they couldn't neglect their roles, Ren-kun had been forced to deal with the situation almost entirely on his own. He’d gradually gained strength by cooperating with the Wingfolk, who had been on the verge of extinction because of Garnalava’s trials.
"To sum it up, the 'Evil God' Garnalava is actually just a Trial God who’s lost his mind. Since he’s one of the pillars of the world’s harmony, we can’t just erase him, but we also can’t let him keep rampaging. So, we have to teach him a lesson somehow. That’s where I—and my Apostles—come in."
"What about the Maiden?"
"There isn't actually a difference between a Maiden and an Apostle. Generally, the Maiden receives the Oracle while the Apostles do the legwork. Or rather, the Apostles who ended up in the role of receiving Oracles were usually women, so everyone just started calling them Maidens."
So, the term was just something humans had come up with. They were basically the same thing.
"Oh, that reminds me—it took a while for you to get in touch this time. Did something happen?"
"Ah, that. There’s something wrong with the Aingurna dungeon, isn't there? I lost track of your movements the moment you went inside, and I couldn't interfere at all. What’s going on in there?"
I knew it. The fact that he’d contacted me the second I stepped out meant something had been blocking him.
"Well, starting from the beginning..."
I told him about the special individuals appearing in the dungeon, the way Garnalava’s voice brainwashed those who defeated them, and how the incidents in the Kingdom of Lievril were likely caused by those victims. As I talked, Ren-kun’s expression grew more and more troubled.
"So he was working behind the scenes. That region has deep ties to him."
Dungeons in general were Garnalava’s territory, but the Sazantgurna dungeons were apparently special. They were a blessing bestowed by Garnalava upon the people who had survived the wilderness before he went rogue. They were meant as a reward for those who had conquered the harsh environment, doubling as training grounds to help them reach even greater heights.
"He’s called Garnalava now, but his original name was supposedly Gurnalava. The country’s name, 'Gurna,' was taken from that."
The city and its organizations used the name "Gurna" for everything, so that made sense. Since Rache hadn't realized Garnalava and the Trial God were the same being, it seemed the locals had lost that piece of history. Then again, it had all happened before Ren-kun even became the Destiny God, so it wasn't too surprising.
"There are probably descendants of the people he blessed still living in that country. They might even worship him without realizing he’s become an Evil God. People with that kind of mindset are likely easy to turn into Apostles."
The Gurna Warrior Group fit that description. If they saw muscle training as a form of trial, they’d be perfectly compatible. That might explain why so many of them had gone missing.
"So, what should we do?"
"One option is just to leave Aingurna entirely. I can't reach inside that dungeon. It’s dangerous for you to be in a place where I can't help if things go south. I’d love to ruin Garnalava’s plans, but not at the risk of putting you and your friends in danger, Ruto."
As for Ren-kun, he didn't seem particularly keen on getting involved. He clearly saw the lack of oversight inside the dungeon as a major risk. But...
"I've made friends there now. Leaving them like this would leave a bad taste in my mouth."
"I see... Yeah. In that case, just go about your business as usual for now. Just make sure to step outside once in a while. Also, it would help me out if you used a lot of magic."
"Magic? I can do that, but why?"
"To give me a foothold to interfere."
The dungeon was Garnalava’s domain. Because it was saturated with Malice, Garnalava's influence was absolute, effectively shutting Ren-kun out. To counter this, he wanted to spread his own power—which was the opposite of Malice—inside the dungeon to slowly wrest away control. Since calling it "Luck" would be confusing, he decided to call it "Destiny Elements."
That was where Halfa, Shiroru, and I came in. We were apparently unconsciously absorbing Malice from the dungeon, converting it into Destiny Elements, and then releasing them. It was a tiny amount compared to the ocean of Malice inside the dungeon, but it was better than nothing. Using magic apparently sped up the process, since we’d suck in Malice while replenishing our spent mana, increasing our conversion efficiency.
I didn't quite get the mechanics, but I was happy to oblige. With my Creativity skill, I was looking for excuses to use more magic anyway.