Chapter 99, Church of the Flame (3)
The old man calmly endured my gaze and spoke.
“Although my own strength is humble, and compared to the Flame's fire I am no more than an insignificant speck of dust, I too possess a flame.”
He raised one hand, and purple fire wrapped around it.
It was the purple divine power I had seen before.
Unlike Lee Yeonhee or Eriel's divine power, this purple divine power gave off an ominous impression and seemed to contain considerable strength.
Compared to Eriel's or Lee Yeonhee's, though, it seemed significantly weaker.
But then again, those were ridiculously high standards for comparison.
Comparing him to a Throne who had trained for hundreds of years or a newly ascended Seraph was simply unfair.
Instead of comparing him to those two, I mentally placed him on a scale against the Order's believers I had encountered before.
Judging by quantity alone, the old man seemed to possess more divine power.
As for quality, there was no need to compare.
The old man won overwhelmingly.
I had heard that the quality of divine power was also related to the amount of faith behind it, so that was probably why.
Judging only by his abilities, it seems fine to let him come with us.
I wonder what the others think.
I glanced toward Lee Yeonhee and Arlin.
They were already observing the old man's divine power.
“...I've heard that when someone obtains divine power, its properties change depending on how that person views their god and what kind of god they believe in.”
Arlin carefully examined the purple divine power shaped like flames while tapping her index finger.
It was one of her habits whenever she became deeply absorbed in thought.
“The reason most people awaken white divine power that feels sacred and comforting is probably because most people imagine gods in similar ways.”
In most religions, gods were described as absolute beings who were benevolent toward humans and full of mercy.
I didn't know about other countries, but at least in Korea, where there were many Christians, if people were asked to imagine a god, most would probably picture something like that.
Arlin was explaining that this was probably why most people possessed divine power with similar characteristics.
If she was right, then the old man's divine power was different because he didn't worship that sort of god.
He worshiped and imagined me instead.
After contemplating divine power for a while, Arlin raised her head and asked.
“What kind of god do you imagine the Flame to be?”
The old man answered without hesitation.
“I have never thought deeply about that. It is because I must never dare to arbitrarily define the Flame using the imagination of a mere human.”
“Why?”
“If I define the Flame according to my own thoughts, then I would commit the sin of believing false knowledge to be truth.”
The old man openly revealed his beliefs and principles without trying to hide them.
“False knowledge leads to incorrect understanding, and incorrect understanding gives rise to distorted empathy. Distorted empathy then becomes incorrect thought, and eventually appears as incorrect action.”
“...”
“I have no desire to dare act against the Flame's intentions. I only wish to follow. Therefore, I will never arbitrarily define the Flame.”
His explanation ended there.
Arlin quietly considered the beliefs he had expressed in such a concise form, then nodded.
“I think I understand a little about what kind of person you are. It should be fine for you to come with us.”
Arlin had voted in favor.
That left only Lee Yeonhee.
Lee Yeonhee was staring at the old man's divine power with slightly tense eyes.
She poked the purple divine power a few times with her finger and even shone a little of her own divine power onto it before asking.
“Can you heal people?”
“I cannot.”
“Can you fly?”
“Fly... I cannot do that either.”
“...Hehe. I win.”
After saying that, Lee Yeonhee also agreed that he could come with us.
And so, our group temporarily gained another member.
A member who would be rather exhausting to keep around for too long.
The moment we accepted his request, the old man fell to his knees with tears streaming down his face and began praying.
His attitude was quite burdensome.
His eyes and behavior practically screamed that he was prepared to offer his life for me.
He looked like a soldier willingly marching into war for his country.
Anyone watching would think the battle was about to begin immediately.
But there was still nearly a month before the Cloak of Erebus appeared.
There was no reason to keep someone that overwhelming around me this early.
I sent the old man away, telling him to increase his divine power a little more before returning.
After he rejoined the thousands of believers who had been praying while watching us and disappeared somewhere with them, I turned back toward my companions.
“Then let's start working.”
And thus began the long, endless grind.
Time, which normally passed so quickly, now crawled like a rock drifting through water.
Before we knew it, half a month had passed.
We spent the entire first day deciding where Arlin should install her magical traps for maximum efficiency, and what kind of structure Lee Yeonhee should use to create an environment favorable to divine power.
