The investigation to determine whether Jörmungandr was truly a divine being began the next day.

A line of dozens of elite holy knights was preparing to set off for the cave where Jörmungandr was said to reside.

The splendid holy knight battalion filled the kingdom's main gate, attracting the eyes of the people.

And standing among them, with a gentle smile, was the saintess, drawing everyone's attention at once.

The eyes adorned with the sun. The stigmata, the proof engraved for the saintess.

Beyond that, her mysteriously beautiful face was more than enough to captivate everyone's gaze.

There was someone who caught the attention of such a saintess.

"Hmm?"

Since becoming a saintess, the power forcibly engraved into her wasn't just simple healing.

The pupils inscribed with the sun. Through that emblem, she could see the "divinity" spread wide across the world.

The power that made someone a god. That divinity was the proof of godhood and an essential element for any divine being.

That was why she was surprised. An incredible amount of divinity was pointing at a woman, enough to capture her attention.

"Who is that woman?"

A woman fervently praying in front of the statue shaped like a serpent, constantly writing something in a thick book.

She had black hair, similar to other kingdom citizens.

The unusual thing was her blue eyes. Blue eyes were common on this continent, but... for some reason, they seemed to hold an endlessly mysterious aura, naturally attracting her gaze.

"She is my daughter. She has become Jörmungandr's priestess."

"A priestess?"

The saintess's gaze turned towards her. Her blue eyes also held divinity.

At that moment, the saintess was certain that Jörmungandr was indeed a divine being.

Because the one called a priestess possessed divinity.

For a human to possess divinity was almost unheard of, except for a few great heroes and herself as a saintess.

Yet this woman clearly possessed divinity.

Different from the goddess's divinity, it was a deeply blue and overwhelming sensation of divinity.

However...

"...I don't want to go back."

What would happen if she told the cardinals this fact?

She would have to return to the Holy Empire.

Back to the suffocating rules.

She hated it.

She was fine with seeing this as a minor escape.

She really wanted to meet a being called a god. In truth, Beliar had never directly encountered a god.

The goddess who gave her the stigmata had never shown herself to her saintess.

In ancient times, the saintesses were said to receive revelations from the goddess, but Beliar never had such an experience.

All she had was the irresponsible branding of the stigmata.

A god who took away her senses.

No matter how much she resented and shouted at her, nothing changed. That’s why she was curious about what a god was.

To satisfy that curiosity.

The saintess took a step to meet the being known as a god.

At the same time, she felt sympathy for the woman called the priestess.

"What price did she pay?"

She was the proxy of a god.

Would such a being have no restrictions at all?

Beliar naturally assumed that Jörmungandr took something from her.

And it didn't take long for that thought to be shattered.

When the woman called the priestess heard the news from the king, she came running to greet her.

"Nice to meet you, Saintess. I am Eliserde, Jörmungandr's priestess."

"Pleased to meet you."

"May I come along?"

"Of course."

The saintess nodded readily. It would have been stranger if the priestess did not accompany her to meet the god. She also felt a sense of kinship with someone who shared a similar situation.

That's why Beliar cautiously approached her and whispered.

"Did you offer anything as a price?"

"Pardon?"

"I'm curious what you offered as a price to become a priestess."

A look of confusion.

The saintess tilted her head in confusion.

Why is she reacting like that?

She clearly held divinity.

Unless Eliserde achieved some grand heroic feat, it would be impossible without being a priestess.

But why did she look so unaware?

For a moment, the saintess's heart thumped at a possibility that came to her mind.

No way, could it be?

"What do you mean by price...?"

"…It's nothing."

She could have asked more.

Whether she was just hiding the existence of a price or if she truly didn't understand.

But the saintess chose to remain silent.

Perhaps, if she realized that she didn’t have to pay any "price,"

Her heart, which had been unconsciously protected, might completely collapse.

The saintess chose to avoid the subject.

Blood flowed from her tightly clenched fist, but she didn’t notice.

An unfamiliar presence could be felt.

Jörmungandr smiled at the energy approaching him.

[Eliserde.]

My priestess.

It's been quite a while since I last saw her, as she's been busy establishing the religion.

Of course, he could fly over to meet her, but it would draw too much attention.

So he stayed quietly in the cave, but the thought of meeting her again after so long made him feel a bit happy.

[There are others as well.]

There were quite a few.

Each one held a unique aura.

A very warm... gentle aura.

Among all the energies he had encountered, it was the warmest and most gentle.

Though, if he had to compare...

[It's similar to a hero's aura.]

It was similar to the aura of someone called a hero.

Of course, it wasn’t exactly the same.

While the aura of a hero felt more aggressive and fierce, the approaching energy felt much warmer.

Among them was one particularly overwhelming aura.

For a moment, Jörmungandr wondered if a god had manifested.

Such was the overwhelming divinity.

But something was different.

Unlike divinity that was attained through realization, this divinity seemed to directly reject the body it was in.

It was undoubtedly their energy.

Yet it didn’t harmonize and instead seemed harmful.

[This is strange.]

How could someone possess such divinity and not know how to handle it?

Jörmungandr thought of his priestess.

The woman who naturally came to possess divinity when she became his priestess.

She felt similar to the approaching one, as if both had accepted divinity from another. But if that were the case, it was even stranger.

'Usually, when one becomes a god's proxy, they naturally harmonize with the divinity.'

Eliserde had done so.

She had the potential to become a priestess from the start.

That’s why she was able to naturally embrace divinity when she became his priestess.

But for someone to have divinity reject them despite being a god’s proxy...

'It doesn’t feel right.'

He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was intricately tangled.

Eliserde watched the saintess with a worried look.

The first god and creator god's proxy. The woman with the sun's emblem engraved in her eyes looked quite unstable.

‘It’s like she’s in a daze.’

It was as if she were distracted by something.

Since hearing Eliserde's story, her expression had hardened, and she hadn’t said a word.

Instead, she kept a thorough distance.

At first, Eliserde wondered if she had done something wrong to her. But she couldn't shake the feeling that there was a more fundamental reason for the saintess’s behavior.

‘Her hands...’

The saintess’s hands were in a terrible state.

She clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms, and blood was streaming down.

Did she not feel any pain?

The most puzzling thing was.

None of the holy knights around her seemed to care.

She was the saintess, after all.

The highest representative of the order.

It was natural to think they would always pay attention to her and ensure her well-being.

‘…They’re indifferent.’

They showed respect.

But it wasn’t from a place of admiration for the saintess.

It was more like a sense of duty to protect the goddess's proxy. As long as she didn’t lose her life, they didn’t seem to care what happened....

That was the feeling that surrounded them.

Eliserde felt like she couldn’t breathe.

'Maybe I shouldn’t have come...'

How could so many people come and go without saying a word?

For a moment, regret reared its head.

But Eliserde couldn’t shake the image of the saintess, who seemed so unstable.

It might not be a fitting term for someone of her status, but

It was like watching a child by the riverside.

Or perhaps like seeing someone precariously balancing on the edge of a cliff.

She was focusing on the saintess’s unstable demeanor when.

"Oh, we’ve arrived!"

They had finally arrived at the cave where Jörmungandr resided.

"This place..."

The saintess's eyes darkened.