In a World without God

Chapter 23

Like snow melting and disappearing, the monster's body slowly shrank and eventually disappeared. In its place stood a girl who looked to be about eighteen years old at most. She had hair the color of a wheat field. Her body was neither maggoty nor fetid.

She stared at the ground with her head bowed low. She seemed so lifeless as if she was waiting to be punished.

The girl spoke. "I'm sorry,"

Edulis replied. "You didn't do anything wrong, Tibea."

The child looked up and smiled reassuringly. Then the child's body hardened like plaster, turned to dust, and scattered into the air. At the same time, the black blood and rotting flesh that littered the plaza, the vines and white flowers that poked through the stone, all vanished. The white aura that had enveloped Edulis had also dispersed into thin air.

"What the hell is going on?" Kurzina shouted. She realized what had happened and rushed to the square. When she saw Edulis, her expression changed, like a budding flower.

"S-saint, you've returned!" Kurzina exclaimed, then knelt in front of Edulis and clasped her hands together.

"I told you not to kneel..."

The children's reaction was the same as hers.

"Are you okay, Enri?! Eh... Edulis? How...."

Marie, Methena, Shumi, and Harsh came to check on Enri, and their eyes widened at the sight of Edulis' face.

"Edulis is alive! Oh... Lutea, you have answered our prayers."

The children's eyes turned red. Aruru, who was with Methena, ran to Edulis and climbed onto his shoulders.

Raghad, meanwhile, kept his head down, staring at the ground. He had just arrived at the square on his Velox after subduing the cavalry.

"Father...." Raggaard sighed. He stared at Ashur's decapitated body. The father who deceived his people... But in his mind, Raghad remembered the kinder man.

Other people were gradually leaving the square. The fury to rush to Kindathu's office had vanished. Some were still kneeling on the ground, praying, and some were carrying the bodies of family and friends who had taken their own lives.

"Lutea, why didn't you spare my husband?"

Someone spoke the words. Edulis paid no attention as it was a common occurrence. Despite what people think, Lutea is neither omniscient nor omnipotent. Lutea can offer no help to those who take their own lives.

"Hey, buddy. I didn't realize you were so lenient...you really don't think Tibea did anything wrong, despite this mess she made?" Ishkur asked, coming to Edulis' side. Even after realizing that Edulis was the reincarnation of Bosha, Ishkur didn't change his tone.

"What does a sniveling child know, she's been tricked."

Edulis held out his hand. Something long and slender, like a pinky finger, was in his hand, the one Tibea spat out. It was as black as charcoal, with indecipherable red lettering on one side. A pulsating black aura surrounded it.

"What is that?"

"It's a cursed object. The so-called 'witch's finger'."

Edulis's voice trembled as his chest burned like heated oil. It felt like it would jump out at him if he let it. Edulis clutched at the witch's fingers with all his might. The veins in his clenched hand were visible, but the Witch's Finger remained intact. He couldn't help it. Lutea is the only one who can break the witch's charm.

Edulis wondered. Why? Why is it still in the world? The moment the witch dies, all cursed should lose their power.

"Really? The Fey family, the self-proclaimed descendants of heroes, used a witch's cursed object. What the hell happened to this family?"