Chapter 145: The Voice of God (1)

“Well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to learn it anyway.”

In a dark room, only the screen of my smartphone emitted light as the rest of the lights were turned off.

I was staring intently at the smartphone screen.

At the end of my gaze, a magic book that I had acquired last time was shining.

It was a magic book that contained a skill that was different from the ones I had obtained so far.

-Do you want to acquire the <Voice> skill?

-The magic book will disappear when you acquire it.

-Yes / No

[Magic Book: Voice].

It was an item that I had decided to use after hesitating whether to give it to Eutenia.

Of course, the background for that decision was that Eutenia already had a similar type of magic.

Although I couldn’t get any nourishment from her because she didn’t have a magic book, Eutenia was already in a situation where she could use magic with a similar effect.

As soon as I realized that fact, I decided to use this magic book.

-You have acquired <Voice (Lv.MAX)>.

-You can now use the voice magic by consuming mana.

Once I decided to learn the magic, there was no need to hesitate any longer.

I touched the ‘Yes’ button without hesitation and acquired the skill.

Soon, a message informing me of the skill acquisition appeared at the bottom of the screen.

I touched the skill icon of the newly appeared <Voice> skill and checked the detailed description of the skill again.

There were some information that I could only confirm after acquiring the skill.

“There’s not much difference from before… Is it just simply transmitting my voice through a machine?”

Unfortunately, the detailed description of the <Voice> skill that I acquired was not very different either.

It was a skill that allowed me to deliver any message I wanted.

That was the feeling of the skill description.

If I could only communicate with other characters through apostles before, this skill seemed to be able to deliver messages widely even without a device.

“Well, I’ll find out when I use it.”

Seeing is believing, as they say.

The best way to find out more details was to try it out for myself.

I touched the skill icon of the <Voice> skill and activated it.

Click.

As soon as I pressed the icon, a new type of message window appeared in front of me and greeted me.

-Please say the message you want to send. (Maximum 10 seconds)

A recording window that allowed me to enter up to 10 seconds of message appeared.

10 seconds was not a short length.

It was enough to deliver a sentence without abbreviation.

The important point was how the content I entered here would be censored.

I moved my gaze towards Roan, who was attending a meeting in his office, and cleared my throat once while rubbing my neck.

“Ahem.”

I cleared my throat lightly and pressed the record button to send a message to Roan.

Of course, I tried to deliver it in a dignified tone, like the divine translator.

I had to see how it would be delivered first, before I could make a proper comparison.

The first thing I said was a word of encouragement for Roan.

“Archbishop Roan. Keep up the good work.”

-Input completed.

“Hmm… Why do I feel so embarrassed doing this alone?”

I felt awkward talking to a game character with my own voice.

But it seemed like the input went well.

As I waited for Roan’s reaction while looking at the message window, a man’s voice started to flow from my smartphone.

As expected, the divine translator didn’t deliver my words exactly.

The voice that came out of the smartphone speaker was exaggeratedly praising Roan.

-“The one who walks his own path will face the light.”

-“Could this voice be! Has the great one finally given me a direct revelation!”

Roan’s reaction was intense after hearing the translated words.

He covered his face with an ecstatic expression and looked up at the sky.

Then he knelt down and bowed his head.

Tears streamed down his face as he bowed.

He kept bowing to the desk, and didn’t forget to say thank you with his mouth.

-“I can’t believe I finally heard the revelation of the great one. I, Roan Hebris, have no regrets even if I die now. But to help the great one’s work, I have no choice but…”

“What a… strong reaction.”

-“O great one. Please let the church overcome all these hardships and trials and establish your kingdom on earth…”

“This is why he’s a fanatic.”

I felt awkward watching Roan’s endless gratitude.

I just wanted to try and cheer him up a bit, but he was living up to his name as a fanatic and giving me an extreme thank you.

It felt like I had to leave him alone for a while.

I left Roan to his admiration and moved the screen to find other characters somewhere.

Swoosh. Swoosh.

The scenery around me changed as I swiped the screen with my finger.

What I found was Estasia, who was riding on Uto with curiosity.

-“Aronia, look. The ground is flying in the sky…”

-“Estasia… You can fly too, you know.”

She was admiring the ground below with Aronia.

I felt like trying out my skill on her, who was standing on Uto with her wings spread.

Estasia, who was not an apostle, couldn’t exchange messages with me personally.

If I used the <Voice> skill to deliver a message to her, it would be the first time we had a conversation.

“Let’s try something weird this time.”

I already checked that it would be delivered similarly if I said something appropriate.

Then what would happen if I said something nonsense?

It was time to check that out.

I clicked on the skill icon of <Voice> and muttered nonsense to Estasia.

“Peter has five butts.”

It was obviously a joke that anyone could see.

I spat out whatever words I could think of and used them near Estasia’s ear in a small size.

Maybe it didn’t like the nonsense I casually said.

The divine translator started to deliver a message that was completely incomprehensible.

-“The sixth apostle will rise above the five branches of darkness.”

-“······!”

There was no trace of the original meaning left in the content.

As the translated message flowed out, Estasia’s halo flashed brightly when she heard the voice.

Right after that, Estasia shook her wings and turned her head to the side.

Estasia looked at Aronia, who was touching [Fake Divine Tree: Yggdrasil], and opened her mouth.

-“Aronia… The master just gave me a revelation.”

Maybe it was because the voice that was delivered had profound content.

Estasia claimed that she had received a revelation from Aronia.

Indeed, it was a content that anyone would misunderstand if they heard it.

It wasn’t strange that Estasia took it as a revelation either.

At Estasia’s words that she had received a revelation, Aronia ran over to her with wide eyes.

-“Oh, did the evil god give you a revelation? What is it?”

-“Mabu has six butts.”

-“The sixth apostle…? That’s so unfortunate.”

-“Yeah.”

I watched the two angels’ conversation and laughed mockingly at the screen.

I did say nonsense while looking at my smartphone, but it was definitely delivered as a strange content by the divine translator.

But what came out of Estasia’s mouth was even more absurd than that.

I expressed my short impression as I watched Estasia spouting nonsense.

“······That’s not what you heard, is it?”

It was clear that——.

Estasia had a translator of the divine level built into her.

***

A small cabin in the Alterias region, located in the north of the empire.

There lived a squint-eyed man in a thick fur coat.

His name was John.

He was a famous hunter in the Alterias region, and he was also known by the nickname of Red Arrow John by the people around him.

The nickname of Red Arrow came from a story where he shot a wolf with a blood-soaked arrow from his crossbow.

“The weather is especially bad today.”

John straightened his crooked hat and looked at the blizzard outside the window.

The Alterias region was notorious for its harsh cold and blizzards.

It was hard to move around in the snow-covered mountains, even for a skilled hunter.

It was so bad that sometimes outsiders would come and get lost and freeze to death.

Of course, Red Arrow John was familiar enough to go anywhere with his eyes closed.

“I’d better not go hunting today.”

But even for John, today’s weather looked ominous.

He would be in trouble if he went out in this weather.

And even if he somehow managed to get around without any major problems, it was hard to find prey in the strong blizzard.

It was wise to stay at home and light a fire on a day like this.

“Hmm······?”

As he decided that and approached the burning fire.

John felt a slight uneasiness that was different from usual and stopped.

He felt like he heard a strange voice in his ear.

John stopped his steps at the suspicious sign and slowly looked around with a tense expression.

He wanted to check if there was any intruder who had come in.

“······.”

Clank.

John loaded his crossbow and looked around nervously, but he couldn’t find any traces that could be attributed to an intruder.

It was the same when he listened to the wall where the blizzard was raging.

He couldn’t feel anything like a human presence behind the wall.

“Maybe I was mistaken······.”

He couldn’t see any signs of an intruder no matter how many times he looked around.

It seemed certain that John had heard wrong.

He quickly made a judgment after looking around and tried to put down his crossbow.

At that moment, a strange voice started to ring clearly in his ear.

-Kheheheheheh.

“What, what is it!”

It was an eerie and desolate voice that came to John’s ear.

John felt his hair stand on end when he heard the voice.

It was right after he had confirmed that there was no one around.

Despite that, John heard an unidentified voice.

“Who are you? Show yourself!”

It sounded like a human laughter.

John aimed his crossbow in all directions and shouted in the empty cabin.

His fierce voice echoed in the cramped space.

But John couldn’t find anyone to shoot at.

He was still the only one in the house.

“What the hell is going on······.”

-Kheheheheheh.

“Wha, what! Where are you? Where are you hiding!”

The clear laughter rang in his ears again.

John quickly pressed himself against the wall and screamed as he fired his crossbow into the air.

Up, down, left, right. He searched everywhere, but he couldn’t see the enemy.

But he was sure that someone was there from the voice.

-Kheheheh.

-Kheheheheheheh.

-Kheheheheheh.

The chilling laughter continued to torment his ears.

There was an enemy. But he couldn’t see him.

John felt like he was going crazy in this situation.

He had no way to take down an invisible enemy.

His terrified mind quickly came to a conclusion.

“It’s a demon! It must be a demon!”

John reached that conclusion and immediately opened the door and ran outside.

There was no doubt that a demon had descended on his narrow cabin.

Otherwise, there was no reason why he would hear a voice when he was alone.

His survival instinct as a hunter was ringing an alarm.

John started to run with all his might to get away from the mocking demon.

“Help, help me! It’s a demon! A demon has appeared!”

He couldn’t win against an invisible demon.

The best he could do as a mere hunter was to run away.

John kept moving his legs for survival.

He had to avoid the demon’s touch and ask for help from the people of the temple somewhere.

-Kheheheheh.

As he ran, the demon’s voice kept following him.

John swung his arms roughly to shake off the pursuing demon.

Whish. Whish.

His arms cut through the blizzard and hit the air.

“Aaaah! Don’t follow me!”

-Kheheheheheh.

“Aaaah! Don’t come near meeeeee!”

-Kheheheh.

-Khehehehehehheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee

The laughter grew louder and louder, and John’s pace quickened.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

The rough pounding from his heart told him that it was about to burst.

Facing the fear of impending death, John threw away his crossbow and sprinted.

He moved through the snow as if he were swimming, with a skill that could rival a seasoned sailor’s.

Except for the fact that he failed to avoid a rock along the way.

“Aaah! Aaaah!”

He tripped over a rock buried in the snow and lost his balance. His body rolled roughly on the ground.

It seemed that he had stepped on his toe wrong, because he felt a sharp pain in his toe as well.

He looked up at the sky with a grimace as his back felt a chill of pain.

The coldness of the fierce blizzard hit his cheek.

He had no way to escape anymore.

As he lay on the ground and sensed that, he gave up trying to resist.

At that moment,

-Khehehehehheehee

-Khehehehheehee

-Kheeheehee

-Kheeeeee

A deafening laughter erupted one after another.

It was a noise of a different intensity than before. It shook John’s hearing directly.

He covered his ears with both hands to block out the sound.

But when it didn’t stop, John’s face turned pale and he screamed loudly.

“Aaaaaaaaah!”

-Kheheh

As he writhed in pain, John lost consciousness.

It was thirty minutes after he started hearing the laughter.