NOVEL WEB Chapter 104
Chapter 104: Childhood Friend – Revelation
“Are you leaving? Where to? Why?”
Leo asked his father, who was setting up a ritual.
But he didn’t answer.
Slowly and uncertainly, as if searching his memory, he continued to complete the altar.
“Leaving? Am I old enough?”
He remembered the time when he had traveled across the continent looking for his younger sister in a previous scenario of beggar siblings. At that time, his father had disappeared.
Leo had thought his father didn’t come down from the mountain cabin because he thought Leo had killed Hans… but it wasn’t the case.
“But this didn’t happen before?”
Even in the previous scenario where Lena was expelled from the capital city church, Leo had left Lena and hunted for a while to raise travel funds. After hurriedly fleeing after killing Hans, his father had never mentioned leaving.
Leo pondered deeply. And soon realized why this change had occurred.
“Hunting.”
From the beginning, it was undoubtedly his father’s plan to leave somewhere with his son behind.
So when Leo, who had previously left Lena to raise travel funds by hunting, started focusing on hunting, his father began to inquire about Leo’s opinion on Barbatos and instructed him to sell jerky himself.
He was preparing to make his son independent.
If, at that time, Leo had not killed Hans and had returned after selling jerky well, he would surely have heard the same talk about leaving.
On the other hand… to avoid Lena, they stayed in the mountain cabin for two months from the beginning of the scenario. Leo focused on hunting to maintain their friendship.
As a result, his father’s response quickened from before. Becoming closer to Lena, holding hands, playing around, and climbing up to the cabin much faster than before…
The ability to “hunt” also played a role in evoking such responses.
Leo had acquired sufficient hunting skills to live on his own, and his father had closely watched him at every opportunity. Opening his heavy mouth, he even praised, “Leo, you’ve grown a lot.”
He had always waited for that moment to earn money…
If it weren’t for Minseo’s existence, he would have had to wait longer.
He would have had to wait until his son without the ability to “hunt” grew up and became an adult.
But where is he going?
Leo scratched his neck, waiting for the altar to be complete. His father was contemplating where to place the final candle.
“It should be placed in the north…”
He knew how to set up the altar according to the information on the “History of Asin,” but he hesitated. He looked at his father, who held the candle in a dilemma.
I don’t know this father’s name.
Extremely reticent, a hunter father who had severed ties with the people of the village, no one called him by name. The villagers all referred to him as ‘Leo’s father.’
There was nothing as strange as asking for his father’s name as there was no one around to ask. They had pretended not to know until now and his name had become irreLeoant.
Not knowing his name, his past was even more unknowable.
Judging from the reaction of the Paladin Colin, he seemed like a survivor from some exterminated barbarian tribe…
Finally, the last candle was lit. Among the eight directions, two candles were placed side by side, emphasizing the north.
In fact, it was more about ‘blocking’ than paying attention to the north. As it was known that the Lord resided in the north, offering to other gods while looking out for His reaction was a precaution.
“Leo, stand here.”
The father, whose name was unknown, finished setting up the altar and called his son.
Glancing over, everything seemed to be prepared.
Bone fragments that could please Barbatos, candles marked with the eight directions, and… one precious item to himself.
The hand mirror on the altar had been in his father’s hands lovingly.
It was puzzling why he carried a mirror even when he didn’t groom his beard well.
However, Leo hesitated for a moment to approach the altar.
“I feel uneasy for some reason…”
His father quickly set up the altar as if implying that becoming a follower of Barbatos was imminent for his son. He had said that as a hunter, Leo should serve the deserving, but…
Why did his father ask how he thought of Barbatos?
When he had answered that he couldn’t like him before, his father hadn’t set up the altar.
So, he was giving his son a choice. He inquired about how his son felt about the god he served, his son who had his tattoo engraved. He asked for his opinion despite this.
It felt like solving a puzzle. He had never set foot in something without knowing while benefiting from it…
Hesitantly, Leo stood in front of the altar.
Part of it was because he had unwittingly answered that he should serve his father, but mainly because this ritual was not a significant event.
It was just a minor ceremony, no different from telling a student entering school, “From now on, you are a middle school student.”
… It had to be done.
“Barbatos you are, here are your devotees. Please accept this offering and let this child…”
His father knelt beside the table and prayed.
Then, silence fell.
“What, what is it?”
His father’s words stopped. Frozen with his mouth open.
He did not stop.
The flickering nine candles solidified, the sound of the wind blowing outside the mountain disappeared. The smell of dry bones scattered on the floor also concealed any traces. Leo, stiffened, felt… a strong presence. Although unseen, someone was looking down at him.
= A fine sacrifice indeed
A voice like a vibration.
Incredibly deep and firm, the sound resonated in his brain, causing the hand mirror on the table to float in mid-air. In the frozen world, the suspended offering slowly spun as if someone was examining it from all angles.
A warm joy stirred.
= Satisfied with so little? You are just like your father, not greedy at all. If that’s what you say…
“Wait a minute!”
Leo urgently gasped for air around him and shouted. Revealing his true intentions at the prospect of gaining more.
“Grant me the power to face Oriax’s apostles.”
[ Achievement: Asin (Young God) – Become stronger against Asin and apostles. ]
Prince Eric de Yeriel.
He was an ‘apostle’.
According to the information from ‘History of Asin’, apostles were those who used Asin’s power. While ordinary devotees offered worship and prayers, it was an indirect way of Leoeraging Asin’s power.
For example, Leo’s father’s ritual of burying the hearts and heads of the hunted prey after every hunt was truly an inefficient form of worship.
It belonged to the gods of this world.
Every blade of grass, every cloud was his possession. Therefore, to offer something of this world to Asin required elaborate ceremonies to increase efficiency.
Even now, the candles lit around the room obscured the eyes of the deity with their mysterious flickering, while on the floor lay the carcass of Barbatos’s favorite prey, to create a place for him to dwell, but this was merely a mere formality and Barbatos would have only gained a fraction of the just-vanished hand mirror.
However, apostles could omit such ceremonial acts.
Of course, having sufficient rituals would be much more efficient, but since apostles were closely connected with Asin through a contract, the efficiency of worship was high. They could directly borrow power from Asin more than devotees.
So, to thwart the apostle Eric de Yeriel…
= Very well. You shall become my apostle. Everything you offer will become my strength, and that will also be your strength…
[ ‘Barbatos’s Apostle’ achievement is enhanced. ]
[ Achievement: Barbatos’s Apostle – You can borrow power from Barbatos as much as you offer worship. You cannot serve other deities. ]
The tiny footprint on Leo’s palm was chased away by the trumpet pattern of Barbatos.
= Now, my apostle. Proclaim your name to demonstrate your service.
“My name is Leo.”
A moment of silence passed. Leo became puzzled as he waited, and Barbatos muttered quietly.
= …Your name is not Leo. Speak the truth.
“What? My name is Leo, but…?”
He glanced around in confusion. Should he reveal Minseo’s name? But…
As he hesitated, Barbatos said.
= You do not know your name. Fine, as an apostle for centuries, I will endure the losses. You must repay this favor. Your name is… ‘Lev.’
As the name was pronounced, the frozen world burst into chaos! A hurricane-like force surged around him.
But this was nothing. It seemed like something had exploded outward, but the rigid candle showed no movement at all.
Lev had a strange sensation that this was somewhat similar to Cassia’s cheerful laughter that shook the meadow she had burst into.
= Speak now. Chant your name.
Barbatos urged. He stubbornly demanded his name.
“My name is Lev.”
“…Bestow the glory of service upon you.”
As Lev finished speaking, the candle trembled frighteningly again.
His once frozen father continued his words and suddenly stood up. Approaching his son as if nothing had happened, as if it were all over.
Barbatos disappeared.
“Lev. I’m leaving now. You’ve grown up enough. You hunt well… Try selling the jerky tomorrow.”
“……Yes.”
Lev nodded his head, unable to hide his confusion. Adjusting to the return of reality, he bent his wrist, turned his shoulders, and stretched his body.
The unidentified father realized the missing hand mirror while cleaning the altar, his eyes widening.
He examined the table and below, looking for it, then looked surprisingly at his son.
God had answered.
Although he had heard that Barbatos takes the offerings during the ancestral rites, it was the first time he saw it.
The head of the hunted prey buried in the ground also disappeared when he later dug it out, but to disappear in the blink of an eye like this.
In fact, he knew little about the offering ritual. All he knew was what he had heard and learned from his parents, as he had lost the chance to learn the ritual at a young age.
The only thing he remembered and saw about the mentioning of a new deity was this ritual.
‘That day,’ he had also become a follower of Barbatos. It was an unforgettable day…
Lev and his father looked at each other foolishly for a moment. The reasons were different, but both were unable to hide their surprise.
Was it fortunate for Lev? As always, his father didn’t ask anything. He cleared the bone fragments quietly, gathered the candles that hadn’t burned much, put them in the drawer, and went into the room.
Lev also lay down on the bed and tried to sleep.
But his heart was pounding, and Barbatos’s voice resonating in his mind made it impossible for him to sleep peacefully.
Later, he found out that ‘Leo’ was no longer there. There was no one with that name here in the mountain lodge or in the village of Demos.
It was only natural that there was Lena’s long-time childhood friend, ‘Lev.’