# God is Not Good
Patricia did not bother to refute Beolgrin's opinion. True believers demonstrate their faith rather than forcing it upon others.
So even a decade ago, when she heard Beolgrin's plan and agreed to it, her faith never wavered.
God exists, is great, and omnipotent. If this belief is firm, then killing God is never apostasy.
If God is truly omniscient and omnipotent, then God's death must inevitably be suicide. If the Lord measures all things, it is logically impossible to deviate from His will.
Therefore, this is a testimony for faith wavering in the harsh environment of the demon realm. A desperate effort to believe in God's omnipotence and love.
"So if your will is fulfilled, brother, the Lord's grace and love will disappear."
"Yes. Now no 'gods' will be able to interfere with the world. Mortals will finally walk their own paths by their own choices."
"If divine power disappears, the church will divide."
"Yes."
This too is inevitable. The absence of divine power will bring about distrust in the church.
Unless the church collapses overnight, it will surely divide. Because it can no longer be united under direct evidence of God.
The current clergy are all good. They are all believers united under God's will. Because blessings do not dwell with priests who are not.
Therefore, His Holiness the Pope, the pinnacle of that faith, was undoubtedly the most devout and kindest person the Saintess had ever met among all priests.
But would that kindness be maintained after Beolgrin's plan succeeded and divine power disappeared? Even through the greatest trials he would experience?
It's impossible to know. But, if...
"Let's suppose I lost my divine power overnight without any warning from you, brother."
"Hmm?"
"Along with all my brothers. If I assume that all my brothers in faith and I lose our divine power, and the Lord's gospel can no longer be felt, I would certainly think one thing."
That the world's faith has deviated from the Lord's will, and the Lord no longer favors humanity.
"If I were to place blame on someone, I would point to His Holiness the Pope without hesitation. He is the most favored person in the world and gives teachings to all believers. Perhaps the direction of those teachings was wrong."
"That's reasonable."
"His Holiness, as I know him, is also a reasonable person. Then what thoughts would His Holiness have after 'that day'?"
If he served the Lord no differently than before, yet the Lord's grace turned away from the world.
Then where would the responsibility lie?
"In His Holiness's eyes, I would appear to be the sinner. I was the one receiving the greatest grace under His Holiness, and I was the only one with enough influence to teach all believers."
"So, what do you plan to do?"
"From now on, I will prepare. If division cannot be avoided, I should at least mend it with the least bloodshed."
"The plan to kill 'a god who is not good'... in other words, the plan to separate the world from the influence of all gods, is something I had been preparing with Brother Beolgrin since that time. And I had predicted the consequences."
If one can predict the future, one should naturally be prepared for it.
And she had plenty, plenty of time to prepare for this. And all the church personnel would have no doubt about any of her actions until 'before God disappeared.'
For no one could doubt the Saintess in peaceful times.
Therefore, the Saintess's preparations were proceeding smoothly. Until the variable before her appeared.
"If the Lord's gospel has disappeared, perhaps it is fate that a brother who heard the Lord's final words has appeared."
"Ah, that's... not such a great thing..."
"Yes, I know. But making something trivial into something great is my job. The Lord's words you heard are a kind of prophecy."
That can be seen that way. After all, quests ultimately warn about future disasters and provide guidance on how to act.
In normal times, this would certainly be an amazing miracle, but a grace that could be somewhat understood. The workings of divine power can vary slightly among priests.
But now that divine power has disappeared.
"A prophet is a messenger of God. In other words, a saint."
So, are you thinking of being canonized?
To become the only prophet left in this world?
Yu-jin couldn't easily answer the Saintess's words. The more he pondered her words, the more something seemed to dawn on him.
Let's see.
Quests are fluid. Quest activation conditions appeared when I was directly involved in an event or when I directly led that event.
For example, while apprehending Tilles' spy, suddenly a quest about Tilles' division was registered.
Then what do these quests mean in this situation?
[Additional content will be revealed.]
[Please choose freely.]
If it's not simply directly telling me what will happen in the future.
If it were a time when divine power hadn't disappeared, and the quest window was functioning as usual.
[Additional content will be 'revealed'.]
This damn status window wouldn't give such information in advance.
This means I have to directly trigger the quest activation conditions for it to be registered.
So, the Doctrine War, in other words...
"What happens if I accept?"
"War will break out."
It wasn't a warning about things that would inevitably happen in the future.
My actions were the trigger for all these events.
"No matter how I think about it, the Lord doesn't seem to be a good being at all."
"How can we judge good and evil? However, if the Lord truly loved us and disappeared, shouldn't we, as children of the Lord, willingly stand alone?"
"Amen."
Yu-jin prayed with a hollow laugh.
Lord, couldn't you have told me that the Saintess would throw the first punch?
Couldn't you have given me something else instead of this useless status window?
And then.
"Wait, wait a moment. Dean... no, Saintess. Isn't this strange?"
"What is?"
"If I am to be canonized as a saint through prophecy... shouldn't that prophecy be 'proven'?"
"That's right."
"But if we're talking about my prophecies, they're all..."
Weren't they all about someone from the Hero Party being in mortal danger, or at least events severe enough to split a country?
The Saintess nodded at Yu-jin's question.
"That's right."
"So to summarize... for this Doctrine War quest... no, for this message to be fulfilled, I need to become a saint, and for me to become a saint, other prophecies need to be fulfilled. So that means?"
"Yes, we need to confirm that the other 'prophecies' you heard are realized, and through this, prove your 'holiness'."
The Saintess spoke with a gentle smile.
"Now our goal will be a journey to save my precious friends."
At the Saintess's words, Yu-jin immediately covered his face and sobbed.
"It was a chain quest—?!"
["Impossible" Quest. Warriors Who Became Stars.]
["Impossible" Quest. Prelude to the Great Collapse.]
["Impossible" Quest. Avatar of the Morning Star.]
["Impossible" Quest. For True Freedom.]
["Impossible" Quest. Doctrine War.]
"All of these!!"
In the season gradually shifting from "less cold winter" to "spring?", with spring flowers blooming profusely in the garden, Ivan quietly nodded.
"It doesn't matter."
"No, brother. This isn't just an ordinary matter..."
"Even if they weren't chain quests, these are all things we would have had to do anyway."
If the situations presented by the quests are all connected to the death of the Hero Party. And if, as the status window implied, 'quests not chosen are marked as failed'.
There was never a choice not to choose. This is a clever wordplay. Considering the impact of quest failure, it meant that all quests had to be undertaken from the beginning.
What if we had failed in Tilles? If Tilles had collapsed, the Alliance would have ended right there.
What if we had failed in Kalion? If the new Seven Dragon Generals had finally devoured the elves, the Alliance would still have ended.
Human forces would have had to face disasters they could never overcome. Both quests were like that.
In other words, none of the currently proposed quests can be failed. It's simple to think about. If 'giving up' is not an option, then proceeding with all of them is the right choice.
"And quests have tendencies."
"Tendencies...?"
"The goals and rewards of quests ultimately lean toward maintaining the survival of humanity."
"...Huh...?"
Excluding the malicious content and impossible difficulty levels, purely in terms of goals, results, and rewards. Quests must be seen as ultimately desiring the preservation of the Alliance Kingdom.
The first quest: prevent Tilles' division, keep Gil Ber alive, and ensure minimal destruction of Tilles' territory.
The second quest: stop the Seven Dragon General born in Kalion, keep Beolgrin alive, and mend the division of the Privy Council.
All of this is equivalent to saying 'maintain the Alliance Kingdom' if 'ideally successful.' In other words, the status window does not want the Alliance to perish.
The only problem is that the difficulty is designed to be seriously high.
"So don't waste unnecessary worry. There's no need to waste energy trying to judge the good and evil of quests or status windows... or gods."
It's essentially the same thing the Saintess said. Yu-jin nodded.
Then the problem arises from a more fundamental aspect.
"Can we do it? I can't even gauge when, where, or how things will explode..."
"Whether we can or cannot is not important."
Ivan doesn't consider possibility when carrying out missions.
"Must we do it."
Of course we must succeed.
"Then we must."
Ivan prides himself on never having mastered one thing despite receiving much training and being deployed on many operations.
Giving up. At least that.
"Sorry about bringing work during your honeymoon."
"Nonsense."
Looking at Ivan's back as he turned away, Yu-jin laughed briefly. If the status window had been normal, his likability would have decreased just now, he thought.
# Ep 32. An Ordinary Spring in Krasilov.
After Yu-jin, who had urgently requested a private audience, left again, Ivan remained alone, quietly examining the garden.
Even when it wasn't spring, the palace garden was always lush with vegetation. It was strictly managed to bloom flowers regardless of season, all year round.
But the Krasilov Palace garden welcoming spring was even more special. Dew-laden petals swayed gently under the warm breeze.
"Tendencies, huh."
Ivan reflected bitterly.
Once, when he revealed to the Saintess and Enrique that he was a transmigrator. It must have been around this time last year.
Two or three per century.
Those who enthusiastically stand out, as if creating their own narratives.
Those who finish their stories and disappear. Fleeting strangers.
"I'm envious."
The "page" Yu-jin must turn is probably saving the world.
The journey of preserving the Alliance Kingdom in chaos and leading them to secure humanity's future.
The "page" the Hero turned was probably preventing humanity's extinction.
Saving the Alliance Kingdom, which was on the brink of destruction, from the hands of demons.
It's brilliant. A shining heroic tale that will remain in history, perhaps even in mythology.
Ivan smiled bitterly amid an unfamiliar sense of jealousy.
"It will be ugly."
Whereas his page is probably...
If this ability to usurp and utilize another being's divinity. If this ability that came into his hands as if destined.
If, as with the status window, all abilities have some "tendency," his tendency is limited only to killing the Seven Dragon Generals.
And if he kills the Seven Dragon Generals, he receives a "blessing." Of a kind difficult for a human body to endure. Of a level that even the Hero couldn't overcome.
Even though Beolgrin diluted it, right now he...
"Vanka. There you are. Come in. Today's dinner is eel."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Every food felt like forcibly chewing and swallowing sand mixed with petroleum.
Ivan picked up his spoon across from Elizabeta without frowning once.
"Mmm, delicious. Try this too. I specially ordered it."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
All the appetizingly prepared, steaming hot food tasted like sawdust and rancid oil.
Ivan thought as he chewed and swallowed everything without changing his expression.
The current curse is mostly borne by Beolgrin, and even that is only a diluted portion.
Such a curse at least four more times.
If killing all the Seven Dragon Generals is his story.
A curse that even the Hero couldn't endure, more curses than the Hero had to bear.
'Can I do it?'
That's not important.
'Must I do it?'
I must.
'Then I must.'
Crunch. Ivan chewed and swallowed what felt like gravel.
"You eat so well! No matter what I serve, you eat it so well, I feel rewarded preparing meals every day. How is it? Does it suit your taste? I just tried making that myself."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Ivan nodded and answered as usual.
"It was an excellent dinner."
Elizabeta laughed with a pleased, relaxed face, "Hehe."