Forsaken Priest of the Hero's Party-Chapter 20: We Are All Pieces of Flesh

My Lord’s commandment was to cherish the potential of others.

He doesn’t mean just the humans, but all those with intelligence and the ability to think.

As I woke up, I remembered the Lord’s words. Thus, I prayed.

Even if it’s called prayer, it’s nothing grand. They are simply things I do out of my own free will. With my meager talents, I cannot create magnificent prayers like those of the Trinity Church.

“The Lord is ever present. As his servant here I am. Have mercy on us all. Amen.”

I just repeat a single phrase over and over.

When I pray, it’s almost as if my perception improved, allowing me to see things even with my eyes closed.

I saw Roka staggering into my room. Rubbing her eyes with her hands, she looked drowsy as if not fully awake from sleep.

“Yawn~ Were you praying, Master?”

“Hm? Now, why would you be awake at this early hour? You can still sleep a bit more if you want to.”

“Ah...I tried...But there’s this stench of rotting corpses outside.”

Whoosh.

Roke leaped towards me, clinging to my back. I can still carry her on my back for now, but this child is getting heavier and heavier. I don’t know if she’s growing or if she’s just regaining her weight.

“I’ll protect you, Master.”

“Thank you, Roka. I’m reassured with your protection.”

At my praise, her tail shoots straight up. She’s such an easy kid to understand.

“With Roka protecting me, I have nothing to fear.”

“Hehe...”

“Now I can sleep without locking the door, right? Even if bad people come, Roka will chase them away.”

“Heheheh...”

She likes it.

How could she enjoy hearing such words so much?

‘It would be nice to see this child fully grown...Seeing her meeting her spouse, and having kids before I go...But will I have that opportunity?’

Time waits for no men. The present will one day become the past.

When it happens, all that remains are the memories of moments like this.

That’s why both Roka and I try to enjoy the present to its fullest.

No matter how much we reminisce about memories later, we won’t be able to feel the same joy as now.

-Apostle. Come.

I heard a voice.

But it wasn’t the Lord’s.

I could never mistake the Lord’s voice. But He’s mostly silent.

This voice belongs to another Angel serving the Lord. I could almost see the Angel’s likeness, gesturing for me to come to their side.

-This place is too small for you to be.

Death.

Usually, this meant the end for everyone.

However, my end won’t be death, but ascension. I knew it from the moment I was chosen by Him.

But to me, that was no different from death.

It’s not time yet.

It’s not yet time to leave this world and go to the Lord’s side. It’s my first and last rebellion against the Lord. I want to stay here.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

I want to see the first snow of the next winter with Roka. I also want to see the sunflowers blooming with her as well.

I want to see this child growing up, till the time when she won’t need me. Only then, I shall leave.

“Mr. Kyle? Are you there? I know it’s rude to disturb you so early in the morning, but it’s an urgent matter. Could you possibly come out for a moment?”

Knowing there is an afterlife, I was not afraid of death.

Even more so within this house.

This place, where the candles of the sanctuary are lit, is my home, but it is also the Lord’s house, where His Will permeated.

I shall know no fear within this house.

Opening the door to welcome someone I didn’t even know, the stranger outside stammered as he looked at Roka clinging to my back.

“Oh, um, uh... Ah, hello Priest...”

“Ah, if it isn’t Mr. Ralph! Good morning! Oh, by any chance that person is...”

My gaze turned to the person he was carrying on his back. It’s a funny thing. Two people met, each carrying someone on their back.

However, Mr Ralph didn’t seem to be in a good mood.

“She was sleeping so soundly that I couldn’t wake her up...Priest...”

“Please, speak freely.”

“That... I mean...”

After hesitating for a while, Mr. Ralph spoke,

“By any chance, can you cure leprosy, Priest?”

“Me? I cannot cure anything.”

Because it’s not me who heals, but the Lord.

So even if it weren’t for the Trinity’s Church sanctions, I wouldn’t charge for treatment. Because it’s not my doing. The merit doesn’t belong to me. It’s all thanks to the Lord’s grace.

“Everything depends on the Lord’s will, Mr. Ralph. This humble priest is only acting according to it.”

“That...”

“Please, come in. My home may be humble, but you’re welcome in it. You can lay her on my bed.”

As I said this, both Roka and Mr. Kyle objected.

“Huh? Ah, even so... Will it be alright? If we lay a leper on the Priest’s bed...”

Mr Ralph seemed worried about me, while Roka...

“No! You can’t! If her rotting smell impregnates the bed, I won’t be able to enjoy your smell!”

Huh...?

I...I think I just heard something very disturbing now...

Now I know why I keep finding her tail fur on my bed.

“There’s no need to be anxious. The Lord will guard me.”

There was no reason to worry.

Since Mr. Ralph was busy with work at the poorhouse, he couldn’t stay for long after leaving the woman in my bed.

Looking at her, I headed to the kitchen to boil some tea.

Let’s prepare a warm tea, perhaps some sugar would be good too.

Healing the body is easy. But healing the heart is difficult.

That’s where the tea comes in. Healing the disease is relatively easy compared to healing the wounds in this woman’s heart.

Even if I healed her body, the wounds in her heart would continue to fester.

“The garbage that smells like a corpse is erasing the master’s scent...”

When I put the teapot on the fire and came back, Roka was muttering something while staring at the woman.

Then, she turned towards me and said,

“Master, if you just say the word-“

No, that was wrong. She wasn’t looking at me at all.

She was still glaring at the woman.

At that moment, the leper opened her olive-colored eyes.

Roka growled at her. No, really, it sounded exactly like a wolf growling.

“I’ll take out this trash for you.”

While I do want the child to live freely, I never wished for her freedom to trample others.

I silently looked at Roka.

Meeting my gaze, her tail tucked between her legs as her ears folded.

“Master...?”

“Roka. You shouldn’t say such things recklessly.”

Before the Lord, we are all cripples, blind to the truth. Imperfect beings who can’t even see an inch ahead.

So, there’s nothing more ridiculous for us, Imperfect beings, to tear each other apart.

No one has the right to disparage others as trash. That includes me.

“Apologize to our guest. Tell her you were wrong and sorry. Otherwise, I’ll scold you badly.”

“T-That...”

“Apologize to her, Roka.”

I stared intently at Roka. But the child bowed her head, not meeting my gaze.

“Anyone can make mistakes. But if your mistake has harmed someone, of course, you have to apologize. I know it’s not easy, Roka. It’s difficult to admit you were wrong. But you have to clean up the mistakes you made with your own hands.”

Or do you want me to bear your mistakes for you? Should I kneel before her in your place and beg for forgiveness?

When I asked her that, Roka trembled as she hurriedly shook her head in surprise.

Then, my little wolf apologized in an almost sobbing tone.

“Sorry, I’m sorry...”

“Well, honestly, I didn’t really care, but...”

The woman opened her mouth with a dubious expression.

“Are you Kyle, the Priest?”

“Indeed. There aren’t many Kyles who are also Priest around these parts...”

“I heard that you can cure my disease.”

In her eyes, I saw desperation.

Death lurked close to her. The woman’s body had now reached its limit. It wouldn’t be strange if she died tomorrow.

“...Can you do it? Or have I just come all the way here in search of a vain hope?”

But this place is a sanctuary,

So, unless one was already dead. The reaper couldn’t enter this house.

“Oh? It seems the tea water has boiled.”

So I just smiled.

“How about having a cup of tea and talking slowly?”

Before the Lord, we are all equal, it’s just a matter of whether we are rotting flesh or not. In His eyes, she and I would be no different.

Welcoming a guest who has come to our house was naturally something I had to do.

*****In a frozen hell,

Where the cutting wind raged on.

A lone figure trudged through the snowy path piled on the ice, unbothered by the maelstrom.

He, fell from the highest peak into the deepest abyss.

He, was betrayed by his companions whose names he couldn’t even remember.

He, who was falsely accused and abandoned by those he once saved.

The scholar, Gellie.

“It’s time for you to awaken again, Mother.”

He knelt down and brushed away the piled-up snow with his hand.

“When will you stop that cycle and open the world I desire?”

The man who wishes for the annihilation of all things recited.

Yet, despite his prayer, the ‘Mother’ didn’t even spare him a glance. She just fell into a deep sleep, repeating her own cycle. However, all living things in this world were born because of that very cycle.

“Mother. I know now. Why this world is so absurd.”

The truth he didn’t want to know plunged him into helplessness.

Still, even knowing that despair lies at the end of knowledge, he can’t stop pursuing knowledge because he is a born scholar.

This scholar realized a truth long ago that others did not know.

He grasped the deepest secret of this world and wept.

“The creator of this world is not a God, but a mere lump of flesh.”

Humans and Worms...

Although they were different species, humans could devour worms.

And worms can feast on human flesh.

They are somewhat compatible with each other.

Humans and Beastkin.

Although they were different species, they can interbreed and bear half-breeds.

The degree of compatibility is higher.

All living things in this world are like this. Because they all originated from one common ancestor, the primordial one.

“From the beginning, we were just lumps of flesh evolved from your cells.”

If a truly divine being gazed down on this world from the lofty heavens,

The sorry state of the world would be quite ridiculous.

Groups of flesh split from the same source, divided, slaughtering each other.

Not knowing that all the comedies and tragedies they create will vanish like bubbles when the primordial one awakens.

They boast, they shout, they proclaim their wisdom...Their superiority.

“The world created by lumps of flesh, isn’t it obvious? Isn’t that right?”

But he knew the truth.

The Ancient Demon King, Grimudo forsook his position as a Demon King.

Becoming once again, a simple scholar by the name of Gellie.

Now, he no longer bowed to whims of the Gods.

The secret of this world drained away all the light in his heart.

His Hope was extinguised.

“Let’s watch this cycle together too. When the time comes, you’ll rouse again and summon back the cells that have thrived in the meantime, won’t you, Mother? Ahh, Mother....there is no light left in my heart now.”

During his time watching the process of intelligence blooming and withering countless times, he realized something.

That he was neither the beginning, nor the end. Just a cog in the machine.

At the end of the cycle, nothing remains.

It just keep turning, and turning.

Even those who falsely claim to be gods are ultimately beings born from the faith of our flesh.

Neither gods nor humans can halt that cycle.

Because the source of all life in this world is the Primordial.

In the end...I was no different from the humans...who fall in the cycle.

Those who think of themselves great,

Those who scream in anguish as their civilizations crumble around them,

Watching this happen...Was his favorite spectacle.