The crimson arrowhead resembling the sun.
At this moment of firing this flash, everything will likely come to an end.
It’s as simple as summer vacation homework.
The adults around the age of our fathers said they had to collect insects for their assignments during their summer breaks back then.
Nowadays, people say it’s too hard to accomplish those vacation assignments, but,
Truthfully, it’s the kind of task where you can easily blow your nose and finish if you just buy insects online.
My current situation is pretty similar.
If I suppress the rioters who temporarily lost their vision from the flash and capture their commander, it’ll all be over.
“……”
However, my right hand holding the arrow wouldn’t let go as if glued.
The arrowhead, initially pointing toward the sky, eventually fell and ended up facing the ground.
At this, the knight captain Gilbert approached, finding the scene perplexing.
“Reverend. If you fire the flash, we will all dash in unison.”
“……”
“Don’t worry. We will subjugate the entire riot command.”
“……”
Knight Captain Gilbert was brimming with confidence despite this being his first mission since the founding of the Silver Knights.
It’s a result of relentless training every single day since the establishment of the Silver Knights.
Of course, I trust their suppression power without a doubt.
“There’s no need to overthink this. Reverend, give the command!”
Gilbert, misunderstanding my tension as I stood before thousands of rioters, urged me to muster courage.
He was right.
The Silver Knights have trained more than ten hours daily in preparation for days such as this.
If I don’t release the arrow in my hand, all their efforts will have been in vain.
But…
How is it that, in this urgent and dire situation, the memory of Hestia chiding me has resurfaced?
Hestia visited the Temple of Artemis under the pretext of a misunderstanding with Hera to confront me demanding we have a conversation.
Back then, I couldn’t say a word and ended up just bowing my head under her reprimand.
‘Ark, have you ever had an honest conversation with Hera?’
No, I haven’t.
I sided with Athena’s judgment thinking her mother was being treated unfairly, unilaterally.
‘It’s causing both sides to increasingly clash, isn’t it? The intercity exchanges were severed, weren’t they?’
Honestly, I was even unaware of the necessity for dialogue.
I thought rescuing Metis was the right thing to do.
I still believe in that.
I consider it justice.
‘The misunderstandings grow like snowballs, and not a single person is stepping forward to have a conversation. Stop trying to crush everything with force alone… Why can’t you consider better means of persuasion?’
The realization of justice, as I thought, knows no single path.
I believed only my method of execution was correct.
I considered engaging with such stubborn opponents unnecessary.
But Hestia, seeing through the essence despite perceiving me as still naive despite her intelligence, hit the mark.
She pointed out how paradoxically I, who only speak against the gods, am one who converses the least.
She laid bare how I analyze every situation intellectually, concluding and acting solely on my own.
After centuries of wise living, Hestia had exposed this so vividly.
“Ho ho ho. Hestia-sama is truly… most inconvenient appearing just at the hardest moment.”
“Huh?”
With a self-mocking laugh, I muttered to myself.
Startled, Gilbert questioned anxiously.
“Not at all… it’s nothing.”
“Reverend, there’s no more time to hesitate─”
“Silver Knights, Captain Gilbert.”
Interrupting his urging with a single stroke, I called out boldly to the captain.
At this, Gilbert, with a serious expression, took two steps back and knelt on one knee, waiting for my command.
“Your orders!”
“Restrain the operation. Withdraw all suppression batons and take three steps back.”
“W-What? Reverend?! What on earth is the meaning of this?!”
“I’ll take full responsibility. Trust me and follow.”
Having issued a unilateral order, I cut off Gilbert and walked forward, back toward the square.
At the same time, following Gilbert’s cry, the Knights withdrew their batons and retreated.
The rioters, caught off guard by the unexpected situation, exchanged uneasy glances with one another, questioning what to do.
“Compose yourselves! Our goal remains unchanged!”
Clepeion calmed the wavering rioters and fixed his eyes on me while continuing to speak.
“Ark, what’s your scheme?”
“I want to talk.”
“Hah! What a joke.”
“What’s so funny?”
Clepeion, with his eyebrows twitching at my audacious follow-up question,
showed immense aggression, baring his teeth as if it’s hard to contain his anger.
Clepeion abruptly stood up and shattered the flagpole near him with a single punch.
“Do you think our distress can be dismissed as mere malicious complaints?”
“As I’ve said before, while some cities have been cut off, others have become even more active in trade.”
“Shut up! It’s precisely due to your shallow-minded judgment of viewing all this as merely shameful that Luna is on the verge of ruin. Don’t you understand that?”
“I love Luna. There’s no way I’d let it fall. Isn’t it rather your life that’s falling apart by inciting riots, Clepeion?”
Provoked by my taunts, Clepeion roughly dragged a few hostages from behind.
He kicked their backs to force their faces to the ground and pointed a long, razor-sharp sword at their necks.
“So? Should I just add a few beheadings and bid farewell to this world, having ruined my life?”
“And how do you intend to lead those who follow you with such actions? Isn’t your goal to remove me from my position as priest?”
“So what?”
“Murder won’t achieve your purpose. Above all, your neck will fly off alongside mine.”
“True, my neck will fly. Even so, the accusation that you failed to protect the citizens could be left as a farewell gift to the gods who oppose you.”
Clepeion’s eyes glimmered with madness akin to the Six Peaks Martial Arts Sect.
He’s fully aware that many gods oppose me, and his political calculations are already completed.
I subtly scanned the faces of the civilians held hostage.
Security personnel, guards officers including soldiers.
Labourers who joyfully participated in the challenging underfloor heating projects I oversaw, despite their tough work.
Even Liam the chubby merchant, with whom I was quite friendly, was captured.
“…Clepeion.”
“Ho ho ho ho~! Took you long enough!”
The personalities of the hostages were predominantly aligned in one direction.
All were supporters of Ark, captured and bound.
They had their mouths gagged and displayed expressions of resignation.
I lowered my head, finding it difficult to meet their eyes like a coward.
Still, the anger I felt toward Clepeion enveloped my body.
“…Why … are you doing this?”
“…Why … are you asking something like this? Ho ho ho ho ha ha ha!”
Clepeion mimicked my tone, mocking me as if emboldened by the situation.
The rioters began to chuckle along with him.
When a few hostages shot sharp glares, the angry rioters started beating them mercilessly.
They spat on the prostrate bodies lying on the ground and left them with sneering faces.
Soon, the square was filled with laughter tinged with mockery.
The Knights, watching their superior and the representative of the Goddess being disgraced, struggled to endure their boiling anger.
However,
it was different for me.
Their mocking laughter felt like the sweet rain that soothed my anger.
“Clepeion.”
“Hmm hmm… Oh, my stomach hurts too much to laugh. What’s this?”
“Bind me.”
“What?”
Surprised beyond words, Clepeion stood with his mouth agape like a fool.
I boldly extended my wrists forward, clasped together, and took another step forward.
Captain Gilbert was about to intervene, his eyes wide, but I raised a hand to signal that I was fine.
“Take me hostage and release them.”
“What’s your plan?”
“Plan? Isn’t it what you’ve done to capture me?”
“…”
Clepeion didn’t refute since it wasn’t entirely wrong but continued to scrutinize my intentions, his eyes darting left and right.
I poured oil on the fire of his suspicion.
“Why the hesitation? Isn’t it you who dared to incite rebellion to drag me out? Isn’t it you who have diminished the authority of Goddess Artemis to kill me? Why the hesitation?”
Thrown off by my boldness, Clepeion was flustered.
Two officers by his side whispered something into his ears.
Do they even need a meeting?
These are people who gathered to overthrow me, claiming the city has been poorly governed.
If they refuse, the very cause they stand for collapses.
“Make sure you don’t regret it.”
“Release the hostages first.”
“Fine.”
The deal was successfully concluded.
Over a hundred hostages were immediately released,
and at the same time, I was bound with their ropes.
“Hoist me up for everyone to see!”
A pole over three meters tall was placed against my back, the ropes around my wrists were added to it, and I was hoisted up for everyone to see.
Tied up in the air and looking down at the people, I was reminded of the time I was unjustly bound a year ago.
It’s the same location, the central square, as if fate was playing a trick.
It’s hard to go through such an experience even once…
And I’ve somehow gone through it twice.
Considering this unforgettable experience, Artemis forgetting all of it seems quite extraordinary.
I lowered my head slightly and gazed downward before speaking.
“Clepeion. Now that you’ve captured me, wouldn’t it be good if you explained the real reason?”
“Hmph, it’s nothing complicated.”
Clepeion left his post briefly and returned holding two scrolls of vellum.
Unfolding one with both hands and showing it to me, the content was quite shocking.
[Execute the priest Ark who disrupts the harmony of the Gods. —Dionysus]
Dionysus?
Why has someone with whom I’ve never even met issued such an Olympian proclamation?
No, what’s even more absurd,
“Clepeion! You traitor! Are you going to betray the priest of the goddess you worship for a single proclamation from another god?!”
“Shut up! There’s another real reason.”
Clepeion, shouting, came holding a keg.
He placed a ladder next to the wooden pole I was tied to and carried the keg up on his shoulder.
“This is five-year aged wine. Try it.”
“I don’t drink alcohol ─ Kuh!”
Clepeion drove a punch into my stomach to open my mouth, uncapped the keg, and forcibly poured wine down my throat.
I resisted, writhing my body to avoid intoxication.
“…!”
But eventually, I drank the wine without resisting.
Rather, I willingly swallowed it faster.
When I lowered my head to check the deep red wine stain on my shirt, it only added to my confusion.
The taste was off.
It was completely different.
“This is…”
“Get it now? All wine, not just the wine but all alcohol in Luna has turned tasteless, like water! It’s because of Dionysus’s curse!”
Clepeion wasn’t the main player.
The true instigator of the riots in Luna was Dionysus.
