"I heard that in E-Rantel, the war between the gods devastated half the city. The earth split apart, the sky collapsed—it was like the end of the world."
In the empty main hall of a church in the Slane Theocracy, a blind old woman sat on a long wooden pew. If EeDechi had been there, she would have recognized her at once as the Divine Commandant of the Windflower Scripture.
The statues of the Six Great Gods on the stone platform against the wall were blanketed in dust, their former radiance long faded. Outside the church, the Sorcerer Kingdom's banners fluttered high in the wind. Even now, the Slane Theocracy remained firmly under the Sorcerer Kingdom's control.
Daniel sat beside the old woman, back straight and posture formal.
He said quietly, "According to the Black Scripture's covert reports, the prophesied Divine Envoy, EeDechi, clashed in battle with a host of demon gods. The Sorcerer Kingdom's king, Ainz Ooal Gown, went so far as to slaughter his own citizens just to force the Divine Envoy out of hiding.
"To save the innocent civilians, however, the Divine Envoy stepped resolutely into Ainz's trap. After the war of the gods ended, the citizens were left in a panic. Even then, Ainz Ooal Gown refused to let anyone leave. He forbade them from relocating anywhere else—they were forced to stay and rebuild E-Rantel."
"Is our Divine Envoy safe?" the old woman asked, unable to hide the worry in her voice.
"We have no confirmed information yet. The war of the gods in E-Rantel is over, but the Sorcerer Kingdom's forces have all converged on the city and are scouring the surrounding area. It's safe to assume the Divine Envoy has already made her escape."
"That is truly wonderful." She tilted her head back slightly, and a bright smile bloomed across her aged face. "I used to doubt the Divine Envoy. Looking back now, those suspicions seem so childish and absurd. Now, from the bottom of my heart, I am completely convinced."
"Yes," Daniel said softly. "The Divine Envoy has drawn the Sorcerer Kingdom's full attention. Even the enemy troops stationed in our country have pulled back a good number of their forces. Our final plan can finally be put into motion."
"It truly is a gamble with everything on the line," the old woman sighed softly. "But Lady Antilene hasn't uttered a single word of complaint. What right do I have to complain? Daniel, do you still believe in the Six Great Gods?"
Daniel froze for a moment. He stayed silent for a long while, then squared his shoulders and declared, "After hearing the Divine Envoy's teachings, I am now an atheist!"
The old woman gave a gentle nod. "That is the best thing I could hope to hear. After all, we in the Six Scriptures—who always claimed to be the most devout—have done things that amount to nothing short of blasphemy. It is time for you young people to turn a new page for the Slane Theocracy."
"Your Eminence, you give me too much credit," Daniel said, lowering his head respectfully.
"I have already recommended to the other Divine Commandants that you take over as Divine Commandant of the Clearwater Scripture, succeeding your teacher Alphonse in his duties." The old woman rose, leaning on her cane. Bent at the waist, she slowly shuffled out of the church.
At the doorway, she tilted her face up toward the sky. Though she could see nothing but darkness, an endless radiance seemed to bloom in her mind.
"All for the Theocracy! Lady Antilene's noble spirit shall inspire us forever. Whether our nation endures through the ages will be decided by this single move!"
"All for the Theocracy!" Daniel declared, eyes fixed straight ahead, fist pressed firmly to his chest.
...
At the Baharuth border, inside a brothel.
The dim magical lantern swayed overhead, its flickering light dancing across the room. Thin curls of fragrant smoke drifted through the air. A large willow-wood bed creaked rhythmically beneath two completely naked bodies tangled together in passionate embrace, filling the space with raw, shameless lust.
"Mmm~" "Mmm~" "Ah!" "Ah~"...
On the bed, Franco was thrusting hard, fucking her with everything he had.
Suddenly the door burst open with a kick.
"Franco, do you have any idea how hard I've been looking for you?" Barrett's deep, magnetic voice rang out from the doorway.
The second Franco heard Barrett, he knew EeDechi had to be right there with him. The thing between his legs went soft instantly.
He rolled off the bed without even looking, dropped to his knees, and started slamming his forehead against the floor in frantic kowtows, each impact thudding loudly.
Tears and snot streaming down his face, he wailed between bows, "Captain, I was wrong! I was truly wrong! Ever since I left the organization, my ideological awareness has fallen off a cliff. I've become completely depraved, lingering in places of vice and forgetting to look for you all. I'm guilty! I deserve to die a thousand times over…"
Barrett leaned against the doorframe, watching Franco's desperate head-banging and the woman on the bed clutching the sheets tightly, looking as if she thought she had just been caught in an affair. He shook his head in pure exasperation and said,
"Stop that. We still haven't found the captain yet."
"Oh, then it's fine." Franco lifted his head, face flooding with relief. "Man, you scared me half to death."
With that, he turned, climbed back onto the bed, and grinned at the shivering woman. "C'mon, let's pick up where we left off."
Barrett leaned against the wall with a long-suffering sigh, resigned to waiting until Franco finished.
"Meow~"
A sky-blue cat poked its head out of Barrett's backpack—Cheeko. The moment the little cat saw Franco and the woman on the bed locked in some strange, vigorous hand-to-hand combat, its round obsidian eyes widened with open curiosity.
Two full hours later, Franco finally finished. He and Barrett left the brothel and made their way to an inn.
"How the hell did you track me down in a world this big?" Franco asked, genuinely curious.
"I went into every brothel around E-Rantel one by one, asking if anyone had seen a 'horny Teddy-poodle' mage. Found you pretty fast."
Once they were inside their room—safely deep in Baharuth territory now, a good distance from E-Rantel and still off the Sorcerer Kingdom's radar—Barrett lit a brass oil lamp and spread a world map across the table.
"So how are we supposed to find the captain?" Franco asked, scratching his head. "The world's massive, and she's got that detection-immunity artifact."
The sky-blue cat Cheeko hopped up onto the table, tiny face scrunched up in concentration as it stared at the map, clearly trying to help think of a plan.
"Give me a second," Barrett muttered, rubbing his temples. "Captain's definitely headed for the City Alliance. Baharuth's been a vassal of the Sorcerer Kingdom for ages, so she wouldn't come this way. She'll cut straight through the Slane Theocracy."
"That makes sense," Franco nodded. "But the Slane Theocracy's pretty damn big, too."
"To find someone, you have to put yourself in their shoes. If I were the captain, which way would I go?" Barrett closed his eyes and imagined himself as EeDechi.
His eyes flew open. He locked onto the map, tone dead serious. "First, I have no sense of direction. Second, I can't recognize faces. Third, I'm a complete goof. If I were that kind of person, which route would I choose?"
"Hey, the captain isn't that hopeless, is she?" Franco looked startled. He rubbed his chin, thought for a second, then muttered, "Huh… actually, she kind of is."
"I've got a decent idea which path she took," Barrett said, straightening up and folding his arms. "And it's exactly because she's like that that we need to find her fast and keep her safe."
The two of them packed their things and left the inn.
Barrett suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right—I remember E-Rantel was sealed under some kind of barrier. People outside couldn't get in, and no one inside could get out. It only disappeared later, which is how I escaped. Any idea what that was?"
"Of course I know!" Franco puffed out his chest. "That wasn't a regular barrier—it was the spatial lockdown from [Super] Depiction of Nature and Society. But that kind of thing doesn't faze me.
"I am a legendary mage, after all. Thanks to my lightning-quick wits, I sensed the mana currents, cracked the hidden meaning in the rune script, rearranged the formula, and turned the whole mess around—saving the world in the nick of time!"
"So you're the one who broke Depiction of Nature and Society?" Barrett asked offhandedly.
"Uh… more or less."
"What do you mean, 'more or less'?" Barrett frowned in confusion.
...
In the city of E-Rantel, smoke and dust hung thick in the air no matter where you looked. The streets were nothing but ruins.
People sat slumped among piles of rubble, crying helplessly. Others clawed through broken bricks and stones with their bare hands, fingers scraped raw and bleeding, yet they refused to stop, still digging frantically to reach the family and friends buried underneath.
William hurried through the shattered alleys with a large cylindrical bundle strapped to his back. Cold sweat drenched his face. He never slowed down for a second.
Every now and then someone spotted him and shouted his name. William broke into a faster sprint, eyes wide with panic, hands shaking like a thief on his very first job.
He finally reached his own home—thankfully still standing.
He bolted inside, slammed the door, and locked it. Then he looped a thick Adamantite chain across it and secured it tight. He closed every window, pulled the heavy black curtains shut, and made sure not a sliver of light could leak in.
Only then did William's legs give out. He slid down the wall into the corner, trembling all over. His chest heaved with ragged breaths as shock, terror, wild joy, and excitement crashed through him.
The pitch-black room was dead silent except for his heavy, uneven breathing.
His legs had turned to jelly. He pressed a palm hard against his chest, forcing himself to calm down. Once the storm of emotions settled, he unstrapped the bulky bundle from his back and carefully loosened the hemp ties.
A massive scroll rested inside. Ancient patterns covered its surface—golden and deep blue lines that seemed to flow like liquid light, glowing so brightly they lit up the entire dark room.
William dropped to his knees. With shaking fingers he reached out and touched the elegant lettering along the edge of the scroll:
"[Super] Depiction of Nature and Society."