The Foreigner on the Periphery

The priest of the Ellahu-Praga Church was deeply moved.

Before him, the most beautiful light in the universe flowed in rippling waves. It was a torrent that seemed to sublimely cleanse the soul. Everything in sight was Divine Blood—the substance nonbelievers called by the false name of Talent. Proof of the god worshipped by the Church filled his surroundings.

He had seen this sight countless times since receiving his Baptism, yet he felt an unfading thrill every time he came here. He couldn't weep right now in his spiritual body, but once he ended his astral projection and returned to his physical form, hot tears would burst forth. It was how he and his fellow priests always reacted—overwhelmed with emotion, choked up, and brimming with absolute fulfillment.

'It's beautiful.'

The priest was currently in the very place from which the Church had taken its name.

The place where the primordial race dwelled.

Elahu-Praga.

'I want it.'

The priest moved his spiritual body as if possessed. He reached out toward the distant, dazzling feast of colors.

'We must not gather the Divine Blood for the time being.'

All of this was the karma of a certain sinner.

A missionary dispatched to the dimension known as Earth—a man who had yearned for eternity after the apocalypse—had betrayed the Church. As a result, he had extracted an excessive amount of Divine Blood from this place.

The Committee already knew that the Talent mining yield always fell short of projections. However, the sudden, drastic drop had terrified them, prompting them to take various countermeasures.

Therefore, the Church had issued a temporary order not to gather any Divine Blood. They judged that provoking the Committee any further at this point would be unwise.

They expected that as more time passed, production would naturally increase to offset the massive chunk of lost Talents, and the Committee would eventually drop its suspicions.

'Besides, they can't possibly know what happens up here in the upper stream, nor do they have the ability to find out.'

The priest looked in the direction the light flowed.

Down there, following the lower reaches of the river forged by the Divine Blood, lay the gate guarded by the wicked nonbelievers.

The place they had profanely named the mining site.

The Mint Bureau, under heavy pressure recently, had dispatched a search party beyond that gate. They intended to figure out exactly what was going on inside. Pushed into a corner, they had foolishly repeated an attempt that had continuously failed for a very long time.

In the end, none of them managed to swim all the way up to this upper stream.

=Priest!=

Just then, he felt a mental wave calling out to him. He turned his head and saw the spiritual body of his kin.

=Priest Yumtus!=

It was the very person he had been waiting for all this time.

After brainstorming a communication method that the Committee could absolutely never eavesdrop on, they had come up with this idea: rendezvousing at Elahu-Praga while in an astral state.

=How is the avatar doing?=

Yumtus answered with a bright smile. A deep sense of satisfaction seeped into his mental wave.

=His dignity and glory grow greater by the day. Perhaps because of that, my own soul feels enriched just by serving at his side. It is a truly blessed affair.=

=Is life in that world endurable?=

=Endurable, you say? Embarrassingly enough, I haven't faced anything that could be called a hardship. Every single day brings continuous study and enlightenment. When I observe how other races who worship the same god express their faith in their own ways, the confusion in my mind fades, a serene clarity fills me, and I can only marvel. I am learning so much.=

=What, are you attending services with the believers over there? I thought you wouldn't be able to roam around freely since you have to avoid the Committee's eyes.=

=Not quite, but thanks to the avatar's arrangements, I've been exposed to a variety of educational materials and religious promotional content.=

=Hah, I suppose that dead sinner didn't neglect his missionary work after all.=

After asking about the well-being of their home dimension, Yumtus brought up the main topic.

=Now then, I shall deliver the avatar's words.=

The other priest was in a spiritual body, yet he bowed deeply to show his respect. Before the intently listening priest, Yumtus spoke.

=He instructed us to temporarily suspend all preparations for the scheduled ritual.=

In truth, there was no other choice under the current circumstances, as gathering any additional Divine Blood was impossible.

=Furthermore, the avatar wishes to hand down a single mission to those who believe in the primordial race.=

=...?!=

The priest's eyes gleamed. Ever since the avatar revealed himself in this world, he had almost never demanded anything from their religious order.

Yumtus continued.

=From this moment on, we must devise a way to deliver the Divine Blood we've gathered at the altar in our home dimension to him.=

That was the task Minjun had passed down.

The priest's face turned serious.

=If we transport that much Divine Blood on a Jump Ship, we will surely be discovered.=

=Yes, the nonbelievers will notice. Thus, doing it through normal means is impossible.=

=What about mobilizing the priests and transporting it via astral projection...?=

=That would take an incredibly long time. The amount a single soul can carry is limited. If we ignore that and try to move too much at once, we'd end up just like that sinner.=

=Then, what if the avatar descended upon our dimension? To the very place where the altar is located.=

Yumtus shook his head.

=Unfortunately, he says he is currently in no condition to move freely to other dimensions.=

Currently, their home dimension had partially lifted its lockdown, but travel was still not entirely free. If someone who wasn't of their kin attempted to enter, the Committee would inevitably take notice.

=It's a difficult problem.=

There was one more problem.

Although the avatar's existence had been theologically proven, the vast majority of the Church's priests had yet to see or feel his true form in person.

There would undoubtedly be priests who would rebel against the order to hand over all the Divine Blood the Church had accumulated over many long years just for Minjun.

=I will try my best.=

The priest returned with a heavy heart.

*

"Seona, it's time."

Choi Seona looked at her adoptive father with a pale face. Choi Panseok wore his usual gentle expression. It was a face he only showed her since his wife died.

"Doesn't he have something he ordered you to do? You should be able to use your precognition again by now. Come on, let's try."

His tone was entirely normal. Someone who didn't know the situation would struggle to find anything strange about it. However, the contents of his words were something he never would have uttered had he been in a normal state of mind.

"We mustn't disappoint him, so you'd better do your best."

Her adoptive father was still brainwashed by that man.

Choi Seona felt a chill crawl over her skin.

'How can he be like this?'

The people around him, such as his fellow assemblymen and aides, didn't seem to notice a thing. This was because, in matters unrelated to Ye Minjun, his words and actions hadn't changed in the slightest. There were no issues with him handling his daily routines just as he always did.

However, when it was just the two of them, the orc became his adoptive daughter's warden. He turned into the loyal servant of the man who had brainwashed him.

Choi Panseok harbored an unconditional, irrational trust in Minjun. Choi Seona thought his attitude was closer to that of a devout fanatic. That made it even more horrifying.

"...Yes, I'll do it."

Suppressing her bitter feelings, she closed her eyes.

A few days ago, realizing she had nowhere left to run, Choi Seona had agreed to Minjun's demands. What he wanted was for her to find a future where a specific condition was met, along with the path to reach it.

Choi Seona had explained to Minjun that such a condition needed to be very simple and intuitive. Just like when she had simulated 'a future where she survived.'

Minjun had pondered for a moment after hearing that. Choi Seona's ability wasn't omnipotent, much like how she had seen the future up to the point where he grabbed Blade's hilt but couldn't predict the subsequent catastrophe. In the end, she had lived, but there had been a fatal flaw in her interpretation.

Ultimately, the only way to add precision was to experiment from multiple angles.

So, what kind of future should he make her find?

He considered 'a future where Minjun wins' or 'a future where all of his kin awaken,' but those weren't specific enough.

After much thought, Minjun gave his order.

"Simulate a future where I witness the Committee's downfall."

He had given the order calculating that for such an event to occur, the primordial race would have to awaken anyway.

Words couldn't describe how shocked Choi Seona was when she heard that.

What exactly was that man working toward? Why... did he need to see such a future?

But she had no choice but to do as she was told.

That was the only way she and her father would survive.

"..."

Under her adoptive father's gaze, Choi Seona focused on her precognition.

She had already tried several times, but a clear image had never surfaced. It could simply be a failure to control her ability, or perhaps it was proof that such a future would never come to pass.

Even so, she couldn't stop looking ahead. Minjun had the ability to read memories. The moment he found out she hadn't given it her all, she would pay the price. Choi Seona knew just how cruel that man could be the second he deemed it necessary. After all, she had already foreseen it.

After failing a few times, she decided to change her method.

Up until now, she had only focused on the event of the Committee's collapse. However, there was one more condition Minjun had attached. The condition that he remained alive and well during that situation—at the very least, enough to observe the scene.

Choi Seona rolled another die in her head. Another thread of causality was added. The more conditions piled up like this, the harder the precognition became. But it would also become that much more concrete.

The collapse of the Committee.

Ye Minjun.

The moment she gazed into the future while tumbling these two elements together—

"Ugh!"

A groan slipped through her lips. The orc panicked.

"Are you okay, Seona?"

The affection and worry in his voice were genuine. He was brainwashed, but his emotions hadn't been completely controlled.

"...Argh!"

Veins bulged on her forehead.

"Th-this is..."

Sensing that something was terribly wrong, the orc stood up from his seat.

Just then.

"...Aaaaaah!"

"Seona!"

A scream tore through the air. Before the orc's eyes, his adoptive daughter vomited blood and collapsed. Her eyes rolled back, her face contorted like a demon's.

"Seona, pull yourself together. Seona!"

This was already the second time she'd had such a reaction.

The precog trembled in her adoptive father's arms. With an expression that looked cracked and half-crumbled, she barely managed to mumble.

"...Dad."

The future seen through her precognitive abilities became clearer the more people were aware of the event.

For example, an event that everyone on Earth would know about next year was much easier to see than a personal matter only one person would discover.

And the future Choi Seona had just seen...

"...It's too, too many."

"What do you mean by that?"

The information of the future she had just gazed at was too massive for her cognitive abilities to handle. It was a weight that violently crushed her brain. It had been so excessively vivid that she had ended up missing a lot of details.

Her fear-laced voice continued.

"Probably."

A brief hesitation.

She whispered gloomily.

"If this future truly comes to pass... every single person across the dimensional realms, every race, will be affected."

The orc thought that went without saying. It was a massive event: the collapse of the Committee.

But why his daughter was suffering so much from it... he couldn't understand.

*

"You're inviting me to this Balaur Council?"

Conscious of Blair sitting in on the meeting, Minjun used formal language.

He had wondered what was going on when he was suddenly asked to come to Jenkinson Tower, and this was it. The Dragon Race's assembly was finally resuming after a long hiatus. They had requested that Minjun attend. It was a message from the Dragon Lord's secretariat, delivered through Blair.

The Polymorphed Jenkinson nodded and spoke.

"Aren't you deeply involved in most of the incidents I'm planning to bring up as agenda items?"

The incidents Jenkinson referred to were as follows:

The incident where a dragon developed a virus to exterminate the Dragon Race.

The incident where the Lair of the dragon storing that virus was robbed.

The incident where a dragon kidnapped another dragon to save a dragon.

The incident where a monster mixed between a dragon and an alien spider was discovered.

All of these were closely tied to the Dragon Race and carried a high level of severity. Naturally, they were agenda items that had to be mentioned at the council.

And another thing they all had in common was that every single one of those incidents had been resolved by Minjun.

Jenkinson spoke carefully.

"Of course, I know. Attending this council could be quite burdensome from the perspective of another race."

Even after coming to Earth, Minjun had found himself tangled up with the Dragon Race here and there. Thanks to that, it wasn't as if he had no experience being invited to their gatherings. However, the grandest and largest event among them had merely been the Dragon Lord's divorce celebration party.

Everyone here knew that the Balaur Council was on an entirely different level from that.

Literally almost every dragon residing on Earth would gather.

From the dragon who had become the head of a Far East Asian conglomerate to the dragon enjoying a reclusive life in the Himalayas. Not to mention dragons who had lived long enough to be respected for their age even among Elder Dragons, all the way down to the young dragons who had just barely shed their hatchling fluff... Every single one of them.

As Minjun imagined that spectacular sight...

"..."

Unconsciously, he felt a warmth spread through his chest.

His heart felt full. It was a kind of nostalgia.

He pictured it. Big dragons, small dragons, thick dragons, slender dragons, old dragons, young dragons, dragons with horns, dragons without wings, dragons that dug into the earth, dragons with fins...

Just thinking of the scene where all of them gathered in a massive flock was deeply satisfying. He felt like his stomach was full even without eating.

'Right. I've been away from things like that for far too long.'

Thinking that, he spoke.

"I'm fine with it. I will attend."

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