Trash of the Count's Family Vol 2. Chapter 429: One Man, Two Roles, and Chaos in the Demon World (4)
Whoooosh—
The sound of the wind brushed against the people’s ears.
Then the wind passed them by and flowed toward the northern altar.
Whoooosh—
The gathered wind wrapped itself around the man on the altar, the man encased in gray motes.
“.......”
Cale took his hand off Choi Jung Gun’s body and stepped back.
Then he spread both arms and lifted his hands upward.
Whoooosh—
Choi Jung Gun’s body slowly rose above the altar.
His grotesque body was no longer visible.
Instead, wrapped in the gentle wind and the gray motes, he looked almost mystical.
The rotting stench was gone now.
Instead, each person smelled something different.
The scent of flowers in a spring field.
The smell of the trees back home.
The scent of a mother’s embrace from childhood.
The smell of a favorite food.
Small scents, the kind that had once made them happy, shook their noses—and their hearts.
Whoooosh—
The scene was not dazzling.
Maybe it was because of the crimson sunset, but the sight the gray light cast was, if anything, deeply calm.
It doesn’t suit something called chaos.
The Heavenly Demon thought that—then looked around him and corrected himself.
No. I was wrong.
The expressions on the people’s faces were dazed.
But the emotions written there were nothing like what he had witnessed last time at the holy land of Primordial Night.
Joy, delight, swelling emotion, deep feeling.
None of it was violent.
Like the tide slowly rolling in, the emotions spread across their faces and shook their hearts and minds.
They could not even properly think about what they were feeling. They simply surrendered themselves to it.
That too is chaos.
And at the place all their eyes were fixed on stood Cale Henituse and Choi Jung Gun.
Whoooosh—
Choi Jung Gun’s body rose no farther.
Cale, who had his eyes closed, slowly opened them.
Then he spoke.
Exactly the way the game had taught him to use the skill.
“What was made—”
Something made.
A corrupted body, artificially created by the power called corruption of chaos.
“shall soon disappear.”
Whooosh.
The wind stopped.
Ooooo—
As the halted wind scattered away, only Choi Jung Gun remained, wrapped in gray.
“......”
“......”
Silence fell.
Under the red sunset, everyone looked at the man whose hair was redder than the sky itself, red as blood.
No one could open their mouth easily.
It was not dazzling. It was not colorful. It was not some beauty too overwhelming to take in all at once.
And yet they could not look away.
Because that gray light—
Because that light made their hearts so warm.
Cale spoke again.
What was made shall soon disappear.
“As inherited from the beginning—”
Sss—
The gray light slowly began to seep into Choi Jung Gun’s body.
Watching it quietly, Cale continued.
“As he was born to be—”
A thought suddenly crossed his mind.
As inherited from the beginning.
As he was born to be.
The Order of the God of Chaos really did seem obsessed with the beginning.
Wasn’t the name of their holy land Primordial Night?
Did they think the beginning reflected the nature of chaos especially well?
Even while continuing that line of thought, Cale finished what he had to do.
The final sentence left his lips.
“He shall return to his original form.”
What was made would disappear.
And what was originally his would return.
Woooong!
A powerful wave rippled through Choi Jung Gun’s body—more precisely, through the gray light sinking into him.
“Mm!”
“!”
The people’s hair stirred in the gust pushed out by that wave.
But none of them could turn their heads away.
Sss—
The gray light, after giving off one last powerful flash, fully sank into Choi Jung Gun’s body.
“Ah, his body—”
The skin that had been dyed gray and twisted into something hideous, the bulging veins, all of it began returning to how it had been before.
Drip. Drip.
From his closed eyes, from his nose, from his slightly parted lips, from his ears—
Drip. Drip.
Gray droplets fell.
The gray staining his skin gradually faded.
Neither quickly nor slowly, the corruption was steadily leaving Choi Jung Gun’s body.
This is strange.
The old man felt that thought rise in him.
The gray that had stained that man’s body had been repulsive, had filled him with fear. He had not even wanted to go near him.
So why was the gray light that had wrapped around him and seeped into him so beautiful?
No—why was it so warm?
And those droplets falling now—
They don’t look filthy.
Drip, drip.
The gray droplets fell onto the altar, ran down its surface, and touched the ground.
Once they sank into the soil, they disappeared.
Like ordinary drops of water soaking into dirt and vanishing—just like that, simply, plainly, they disappeared.
...There’s nothing special about it.
A person was being saved right now.
And yet the sight was not flashy, not radiant, not extraordinary.
Even so—
“Ah.”
Why was his heart pounding so hard? Why could he not calm himself?
Drip. Drip.
The droplets grew fewer.
Choi Jung Gun’s body had now returned to its original state.
Truly as naturally as if nothing had ever happened.
How wondrous—
Yes. Wondrous.
There was no other word for it.
It is like a miracle.
No, this was a miracle.
There were things the old man had learned through his life.
The miracles of life came without grand omens.
They did not arrive carrying something splendid, tragic, or extraordinary before them.
One day, as life simply went on, a beam of light would descend—and that was how miracles came. In some unremarkable moment they would hand light into a person’s life and then disappear just as quietly.
But sometimes such miracles changed a life.
It was like that when I met my wife.
His wife, whom he had happened to meet on the road when he went to another village.
Meeting her had been a miracle that came without any special sign.
And I never forgot it for the rest of my life.
Because it was a miracle.
It’s the same now.
Tap.
The final gray droplet fell.
No more followed.
“Ah—”
And the healthy man—the man who had survived, whole and unharmed—slowly descended onto the altar.
Hssaa, hssaa.
Asleep, breathing easy and steady.
He no longer looked like a corpse transformed into something horrifying.
He looked like a living person.
A person alive just as the old man was.
“.......”
The old man felt as if tears might come.
He had remembered precious and happy things.
A small gray mote that had flowed out of him had helped save that man.
And the process of saving that man had been a miracle in itself.
Not flashy, but calm, sacred, and deeply stirring.
“......”
“......”
No one spoke.
No one wanted to open their mouth and break the mood.
“Village chief.”
But there was one person who could break it.
Cale.
“Ah, yes!”
Aurora had been standing there blankly, but she came back to herself.
She knew that the power Cale had used was purification, a power used by the Order of the God of Chaos—but she was feeling something strange she could not explain.
Chaos?
This?
Something this warm?
She could hardly believe it.
And yet, at the same time, she could.
Of course. It’s one of the highest-ranking ancient gods. A god like that wouldn’t use only fear.
She pulled herself together at once and looked at Cale.
“He should probably be moved.”
At Cale’s calm words, she immediately understood what needed to be done.
“Ah, yes. Of course.”
Choi Jung Gun had to be moved back into the original building.
And then examined carefully.
It would not be enough just to confirm that the corruption of chaos had disappeared. His overall health would need to be checked as well.
At Cale’s glance, Aurora moved at once.
“I’ll—”
But someone moved faster than she did.
“I’ll carry him.”
It was Choi Han.
“I’ll help.”
The Heavenly Demon stepped forward with him.
There was a stretcher in Choi Han’s hands.
Cale looked at Choi Han. Choi Han’s gaze never left Choi Jung Gun.
“......”
The sight of Choi Jung Gun sleeping deeply.
Choi Han searched his now-normal face from top to bottom, then bit his lip.
Pat, pat.
Cale tapped Choi Han on the shoulder and said,
“Let’s move him.”
“...Yes.”
Choi Han and the Heavenly Demon placed Choi Jung Gun on the stretcher and carried him away.
—Human, is Choi Jung Gun all purified now?
At the top of the tallest tree near the clearing, he could see Raon, On, and Hong.
Cale nodded to them, then spoke to Aurora.
“The ritual I needed to perform is over.”
“Ah, yes! Then is the ritual finished now?”
“No.”
Cale shook his head.
He turned his eyes away from Aurora, the acting village chief, and looked around him.
Hm?
And for a moment, he was thrown off.
Everyone was staring at him too intently.
Well, I guess they all remembered at least one good memory.
The more Cale thought about it, the more he found the God of Chaos ridiculous.
Corruption, fear, pleasure, purification—
It had all kinds of powers that could manipulate human emotions.
Unlike most gods, which seem to have one specific power, the God of Chaos seems to have all sorts.
It felt like the kind of thing that could be twisted into whatever shape one wanted.
And why is it so obsessed with the beginning?
The words chanted during the purification ritual. The name of the holy land too.
Cale thought to himself.
Is there something in the beginning?
Just then—
“Hm.”
Cale flinched.
He felt a vibration inside his clothes.
He needed to check it, but before that, he spoke to the villagers still looking at him.
“There’s one final stage left to this ritual.”
There really was. This was the actual final step.
“Please enjoy the feast and make good memories.”
Festival, feast, whatever.
According to what he had been told, at the end of this ritual all that was needed was for people to gather and enjoy themselves.
“That will be enough.”
He turned to Aurora and said,
“You can do that, right?”
“Yes, yes! Of course we can—!”
For some reason Aurora’s voice was full of force, but Cale paid it no mind and gave his greetings to the villagers.
“Thank you for preparing the feast today, and for helping with the ritual.”
Of course, Cale had paid for the feast, and the people enjoying it were the same people who had prepared it.
Still, thanks to them, he had been able to perform the ritual that saved Choi Jung Gun.
And their joy really did help.
The God of Chaos used people’s despair, fear, joy, and pleasure from within their memories as the basis of its power.
So if it uses the power of fear, people ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) trapped in fear will suffer.
But the joy used for purification was a power with no real side effects.
“Then I hope you all have a good time.”
Cale gave what he considered a suitably polite farewell, stepped down from the altar, and headed toward where Choi Jung Gun had been taken.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he disappeared from the place.
“......”
“......”
The people left behind stared blankly after him as he grew more distant.
Then someone broke the silence and spoke.
“Excuse me—”
The old man beside Clopeh Sekka.
It was Tedric, the oldest person in the village and its former chief.
Holding his granddaughter in his arms, he asked Clopeh,
“Excuse me, what god does the priest believe in?”
Clopeh had deliberately seated himself next to the former chief. Aurora might be the current chief, but Tedric was the one the villagers trusted most in their hearts.
Clopeh smiled at him.
“Well.”
He deliberately did not answer.
“Um—”
Old Tedric hesitated for a moment.
Then his granddaughter spoke up.
“Priest, priest!”
“Yes.”
“What was that gray thing earlier?”
At the child’s innocent question, Clopeh asked,
“Which gray thing?”
“Ah!”
There had been two kinds of gray.
“Both of them!”
The child was curious about both.
And everyone watching them was curious too.
“The first gray—”
The hideous gray that had stained Choi Jung Gun’s body.
“That was a power called corruption, used by someone from the Order of the God of Chaos.”
The Order of the God of Chaos.
Those words lodged in the ears of the adults in the village.
The child continued,
“Then what about the pretty gray from before?”
The focus of the crowd sharpened even more.
Wearing the face of a holy priest, Clopeh answered gently.
“That gray was a power called purification, the power that gentleman used just now.”
Listening to Clopeh’s answer, Aurora thought,
How sly.
Clopeh had spoken nothing but the truth.
But depending on how one heard it, corruption and purification sounded like completely different powers.
Even though both belonged to the Order of the God of Chaos.
“Wow! Purification!”
The child clapped, repeated the word in her mouth a few times, then pointed somewhere.
At the path where Cale had already vanished from sight.
“Who was that man earlier?”
“Oh, dear!”
Old Tedric, startled, pulled his granddaughter tight into his arms.
“Priest, I’m sorry. She asks too many questions.”
“Haha. Not at all.”
From her grandfather’s arms, the granddaughter craned up and blurted out another question at Clopeh.
“Is that man a priest too?”
“Hey, child! Of course he’s a priest—”
Old Tedric started to answer, then stopped.
“No. He is not a priest.”
The old man’s gaze turned to Clopeh.
Clopeh wore a quiet smile and spoke softly.
“He is not a priest, nor a Pope, nor a saint. He is none of those things.”
His conviction was absolute.
From here on, Cale-nim will use this power of purification often.
That was simply the situation now.
The Order of the God of Chaos must not be allowed to take the credit for that.
Everything belonged solely to Cale.
He was the one who had done it.
Clopeh said only facts, without exaggerating.
“He is simply someone who acts according to his own will. He is not someone who believes in and follows any god.”
Cale Henituse was that kind of person.
That kind of Hero.
That kind of legend.
Therefore—
“And I am someone who follows him.”
I follow him.
Clopeh’s words were filled with sincerity.
“Ah.”
Former Chief Tedric let out a breath of wonder.
The red-haired man.
They said he believed in no god, and was neither priest nor anything else.
That he simply lived according to his own will.
And now the man in front of him, wearing priestly robes and looking more like a priest than anyone else there, said he believed in and followed that man.
The being a priest believes in is—
...a god.
Yes, a god.
Thump. Thump.
The old man’s heart pounded.
There were two kinds of gray today.
One was corruption. One was purification.
The first, he had been told, was a power used by someone from the Order of the God of Chaos, so it must have been the power of the God of Chaos.
And purification—
That warm gray—
That warmth that had wrapped around them, that power that brought happy memories to mind—
That gray—
“...Demon god......”
The old man let the words slip out before he could stop them, then froze.
“Yes?”
Clopeh tilted his head at him, as if he did not understand.
“Ah, no, it’s nothing!”
The old man hurriedly tried to take back what he had said.
But everyone had heard it.
And Clopeh simply smiled and said,
“Yes. If you have anything you wish to say, please feel free to speak.”
Watching all of this, Aurora thought blankly,
Should I really let this pass?
Clopeh Sekka.
It felt like that man had just done something.
But it was maddeningly hard to step in and do anything right now.
He had not lied, and what he had done was not bad.
If anything, he had been truthful and kind.
“Hmmm.”
Aurora decided, for now, to keep watching.
Demon god, huh.
Now that the word had been spoken, she needed to move carefully.
She would have to manage things so that no unnecessary misunderstanding spread through the village.
Still, since this happened inside the village, I should be able to stop any rash misunderstanding before it spreads too far.
Aurora felt relieved, at least, that this had happened within the village.
And Clopeh—
“Heh.”
Looked up at the sky dyed red and let out a shallow laugh.
*****
“Hm.”
Before heading to Choi Jung Gun, Cale walked with the average ten-year-olds until they reached a point where the villagers could no longer see them, then stopped.
What is it?
The object that had been vibrating in his clothes a little earlier.
Cale pulled it out.
It was because of this thing that he had hurried over somewhere with no one around.
Fear.
Purification.
Pleasure.
Corruption.
The parchments discovered in the Order of the God of