I Will Buy Divine Power With Money! - Chapter 52
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“Hello? You know me, right?”
Instead of answering, Jeremy lowered his gaze to look at the jewelry box sitting alone on his bare abdomen.
Then he raised his head again and met my eyes.
“….”
“….”
“…Head.”
A low but not thick voice quietly echoed through the prison.
Victoria, standing beside me, bit her lips tightly.
“I had no choice. That was the only way to subdue someone who was trying to kill me.”
“You hit me twice even when I was unarmed.”
“….”
Sir Victoria, if it’s that hard to hold back, just go outside and laugh it off. You’re going to tear your lips at this rate.
“Yeah, I did hit you several times. But I’m not going to apologize. It was all necessary.”
“Yeah, I know.”
I widened my eyes at the unexpectedly docile response.
Jeremy, still bound by chains on all four limbs.
There wasn’t a trace of anger, irritation, or shame on his face. He was just endlessly calm and quiet.
“You know?”
“Yeah. I was unconscious, but I was also conscious.”
Ah, I see.
Though he was being controlled by the Sea God with his will taken away, he remembered everything.
“I know that you saved me too.”
“….”
When I didn’t respond, Jeremy watched my reaction and hastily changed his form of address.
“…You? …Ah, Holy Maiden.”
Right, he’s reading my mood. This was truly an unexpected situation.
“Every time the Holy Maiden hit my head with that box, my self-awareness grew stronger bit by bit. That’s why I’m keeping it there like this even now.”
Jeremy gestured with his eyes toward the jewelry box on his abdomen.
No wonder he was treating the thing that cracked his head like a sacred object—he must have realized that was the golden rope.
“But what helped the most was the Holy Maiden’s divine power. I remember everything about how you tried to save me even while coughing up blood.”
Jeremy carefully bowed his head to me, making sure the jewelry box wouldn’t fall.
“Thank you.”
With his limbs bound, this was the best expression of gratitude he could manage.
“And I’m sorry for attacking you. But I wasn’t trying to assassinate you. Could we clear up that misunderstanding?”
And he spoke hesitantly….
What’s this? The kid seems a bit, well, simple-minded. Wasn’t he supposed to be the image of someone who silently protected the female lead from behind in the original?
Why is he so simple-minded now? Did I hit his head too hard?
“If it wasn’t assassination, what was your intention?”
While I couldn’t continue speaking due to the disconnect from the original, Seth asked instead.
He was still gripping his sword hilt, seemingly unable to lower his guard.
“Just kidnapping. My mission was to kidnap someone who knew in detail about what was happening in the Sun God’s Main Temple.”
“Isn’t kidnapping a crime?”
“…I’m sorry for trying to kidnap you.”
Jeremy apologized again with a thoroughly dejected expression.
When he was being controlled by the Sea God and had no expression, I didn’t feel guilty no matter how much I hit him, but now I felt very guilty, like a terrible adult bullying a child.
It was even worse because he was barely clothed and covered in blood from his head.
“First, what’s your name?”
“Jeremy Calse.”
I nodded at the expected name.
“Right, Jeremy. What do you think about the Sea God?”
This was the turning point.
Victoria, who had lowered her guard slightly, and Seth, who was still glaring coldly at Jeremy, both listened carefully.
His answer would determine his fate….
“An insatiable, greedy bastard?”
“….”
“….”
“….”
What?
“A foul-tempered tyrant!”
“….”
“…A brutal and merciless scoundrel.”
Jeremy’s voice, which had been shouting confidently, gradually diminished. He looked at us, who couldn’t say anything in response.
“Also, also….”
The way he tried to continue speaking made it seem like he thought we weren’t satisfied.
It seemed he had misunderstood the intention of my question.
“No, I was asking if you revere the Sea God as the deity you serve….”
“How can I revere trash?”
Before I could even finish speaking, Jeremy cut in sharply.
It was the fastest reaction speed I’d ever seen from him. He hadn’t shown such reaction speed even when being controlled by the Sea God.
His sincerity was so overwhelming that it even flustered Seth, who couldn’t let his guard down.
“I can definitely tell that you really hate the Sea God.”
“How could I like such a bastard. One who would crush me until I stopped resisting.”
Ah, I see. Now I understand.
The reason why the Jeremy from the original and the current Jeremy are different.
The Jeremy from the original had lived under the Sea God’s oppression for longer than now.
His personality in the original was formed through experiencing more terrible things over the course of a year.
Just like Rute had.
Thinking about it again, saving Rute and Jeremy was my best decision.
“Then you wouldn’t want to return to the Sea God?”
“Of course not. I’d rather stay locked up here forever. …But could you give me some clothes?”
Jeremy drooped the corners of his eyes, worried he might be left naked. For the first time, I felt sorry for stripping his clothes off.
“Alright. I’ll arrange meals for you too.”
“Thank you.”
Jeremy bowed his head.
I quietly gazed at his purple hair, matted and dirty with blood and sweat.
Then I spoke as if whispering.
“If you make one promise with me, I might be able to get you out of here.”
“Holy Maiden.”
Seth called my name as if to stop me.
Fortunately, since Jeremy said he wouldn’t return to the Sea God, Seth would watch and see for now, but his voice contained the firm will that he couldn’t release him.
I raised my hand to stop Seth and asked Jeremy.
“Don’t you want to completely leave the Temple of the Sea God and become a follower of the Sun God?”
“…Huh?”
“I’m asking if you want to completely abandon the Sea God that you hate so much.”
Seth and Victoria were flustered by my demand.
To the ears of noble and devout believers, telling someone to abandon their god might be a bit extreme.
But so what. The Sea God isn’t the deity we serve, and this guy hates him enough to call him trash.
“I’m not really fond of gods in general.”
Perhaps because of all he’d suffered under the Sea God, Jeremy showed reluctance.
I brightened up.
“So abandoning the Sea God is fine then?”
“I’d do it if I could. But there’s still a curse remaining in my body, so I can’t break free.”
Even after I made such a fuss and poured out all that divine power, there’s still a curse left?
【50% of the curse still remains in ‘Jeremy Calse’s’ body. Your current divine power cannot dispel the remaining curse.】
Half.
What I barely managed to erase while risking my life was only half.
And that was even after using the Annihilation God’s divine artifact to break the curse.
No wait. Maybe it’s impressive that I erased half the divine power with such meager divine strength?
“Did you just say curse?”
Seth asked then. His blue eyes were shaking violently.
“The Sea God’s divine power you carry—you’re calling it a curse?”
Right, the truth about divine power that everyone except me doesn’t know.
“I told you. The god crushed me when I rebelled. He wrapped divine power around my body to control me at will and use me as he pleased.”
Jeremy let out a bitter laugh toward Seth, who unlike him was loved by a god.
“If not being able to live or die as you wish isn’t a curse, then what is?”
Neither Seth nor Victoria could find words to respond.
Seth, who had argued that those with divine power were dangerous and should be executed immediately, must be the most shocked.
Before the atmosphere could become more serious, I stepped forward.
“But that curse won’t last forever either. We just stripped away half of it with the power of two other gods.”
I patted Seth’s shoulder and looked at Jeremy.
“If I work harder in the future, the day will come when you’re completely freed from the curse.”
“Holy Maiden.”
“…Of course, I’ve exhausted a lot of my mental strength, so it’s hard to break it right away.”
Don’t glare at me like that, Victoria. I’m also feeling the need to take care of my health.
Besides, even if I wanted to sacrifice my body to free him, I don’t have enough divine power.
I’ll try again after my divine power becomes stronger.
That’s going to require a lot of money.
“Jeremy. As you’ve experienced from this incident, I, the Sun God’s Holy Maiden, can strip away your curse. So you wouldn’t want to leave my side either, right?”
“Of course not. Honestly, you could keep me locked up here forever and I’d be fine with it.”
“By any chance, do you have any thoughts about giving those Sea God bastards who tormented you a good smack on the back of the head?”
Jeremy’s eyes widened. Seth and Victoria also stared at me as if wondering what I was planning to do.
What am I doing?
“I also have a very big grudge against the Sea God’s side for daring to send an assassin—no, a kidnapper—after me. I don’t want to just sit still like this.”
So let’s put on a little show.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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