Offer up your life and your living

Hearing those words, ‘I’ blankly thought.

‘Offer up...... don’t tell me.’

And.

While ‘I’ still couldn’t accept what it meant—

“Did you say life and living?!”

There were others who’d heard that voice, too.

“If we offer that up, what happens to us?!”

There were plenty of priests who had made it all the way to this land.

Countless temples across every region.

And from each of them, the greatest priests—the ones spoken of as legends.

They all leaned forward at once.

And to their questions—

{Recovery.......}

their god replied.

“If we offer up life and living.......”

“Then you can return to your original form...... is that what you mean?”

Even if they went back like this.

All they could do was stretch people’s lifespans a little—and in the end, everyone would still die off, little by little.

But.

{......is, grace.......}

“You’re saying you’ll return grace to us......!”

If the god’s blessing returned.

Then even if many people lost their lives—

someone would survive in the end.

“H-however, to offer up life and living......”

“Is it really okay to do that.......”

At what their god had left behind, many priests hesitated, trading glances.

But.

“......There’s no way it can’t be.”

It only lasted a moment.

To begin with.

These were the ones whose faith was the strongest of all the faithful.

“Those are our Father’s words.”

Words spoken by the very object of their faith.

No one doubted them.

“......Then.”

As if many priests had reached a decision, they looked at each other and nodded, faces heavy.

“We have no choice but to offer it up.”

With those words from someone, they rose to their feet.

In the eyes of countless priests...... the ember that had died out in despair settled back in again.

For some, it was hope.

And for others......

“Let the older ones offer themselves first.”

An ember you could encourage.

Something like madness.

“What are you saying......!”

And.

The only one who objected to that was—

“That’s absurd! Offer up lives......!”

‘Me.’

***

“That’s absurd! Offer up lives......!”

“.......”

“This—this isn’t right. Shouldn’t we be looking for another way......!”

‘I’ had been struggling with our Father’s words, too.

But before ‘I’ could even reach a conclusion, my brothers had already decided.

Panicked, ‘I’ tried to stop them.

“Yes, the situation is desperate. But even so, offering up someone’s life to solve it...... that isn’t right.”

“But there is no other way.”

“It only seems like there’s no other way right now. But that can’t be the end.”

‘I’ swept my gaze over the priests.

Then, gritting my teeth, ‘I’ shouted.

“If you give up because there’s no other way, then that’s where it ends. But!”

“.......”

“If you don’t, then you might find another way.”

At that persuasion, the priests looked at ‘me’ with faces mixed with hesitation.

“Aren’t we the priests who symbolize treatment and recovery? No matter how dreadful this disaster is, if what’s covering this land is sickness and wounds...... then solving it is our specialty.”

“.......”

“There’s still so much of our Father’s teaching left in the temples that hasn’t been properly interpreted. If we study those teachings, and hone our medical arts—!”

‘I’ fervently tried to persuade the other priests.

“There won’t be any need to offer up the lives of the innocent!”

And.

‘......This is.’

I watched that scene and thought.

‘Something is different.’

This ‘me’ was—

a little different from the ‘me’ I knew.

And while I was holding that question—

“Maybe it’s possible.”

“Ah—so you understand......!”

“How could I not? We’re not doing this because we like it. But.”

Someone cut ‘me’ off and spoke.

A priest who seemed to have already aligned with the others, nodding slowly with a heavy head before opening their mouth.

“That’s still only...... the realm of possibility.”

What came out of that mouth held something completely different from what ‘I’ wanted.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Like you said, if we work at it, maybe we really will find another way. I won’t say there’s no chance. But......”

Only then did I realize one thing.

The way they were looking at ‘me.’

The emotion in it wasn’t hesitation.

“If we still can’t find it?”

“.......”

“Then what happens to us?”

Not hesitation—

fear.

“That’s.......”

When ‘I’ couldn’t answer, they answered their own question.

“We’ll be wiped out. Every last one of us.”

“.......”

“That can’t happen.”

At that,

‘I’ clenched my jaw and said,

“Even so. Offering other people as sacrifices. Those who committed sins would already be sick and dying. Which means...... you’re talking about offering up people who did nothing wrong as sacrifices.”

“To some extent, volunteers may come forward. We’re prepared, too.”

“And if volunteers stop coming?”

“Then...... we’ll have to force it. Starting with those who don’t have much time left.”

“That’s...... something you’d only see in old records—evil gods, demons—doing things like that.”

“No. There’s a big difference, isn’t there.”

They stretched out a hand, then pointed somewhere with eyes filled with reverence.

“This isn’t something to compare to a demon’s work. This time it isn’t a demon...... it’s what our great Father promised us!”

What was there was—

a single lump of flesh, crawling filthily along the ground.

“I understand your concern. But maybe you don’t have to worry so much.”

“.......”

“Our Father has always acted for us. He didn’t tell us how many lives we’d have to offer, but perhaps it won’t take that many.”

Even so,

‘I’ shook my head.

“If we don’t give up and keep researching, we might not need to offer up even a single life.”

“As I said, that’s uncertain. It’s more likely to fail.”

“You’re thinking about failure before you even start.”

“If this were just about saving myself, I wouldn’t. But this is about all of us...... this world’s fate. Unfortunately, we can’t bring up ‘what if’ with something this important. And......”

Their gaze turned toward that filthy lump of flesh.

“There’s a ‘certain’ method right here.”

“.......”

Only then did ‘I’ look around.

“It seems everyone has already made their decision.”

No one sided with ‘me.’

“But......”

And.

Seeing that, ‘I’ spoke as if making up my mind.

“If I try to stop you, what will you do?”

“......I understand how you feel, but avoids can’t do anything by yourself—”

“No.”

At the same time as those words, a pure white radiance rose from ‘I’s body.

“I said it because I can stop you.”

***

The brilliant glow rising from ‘I’s body.

Even from my perspective, it was the very light I’d seen just a moment ago.

“To think there’s such a brilliant light......!”

The priests who saw it widened their eyes and murmured.

“T-this is... isn’t it beyond even the late archbishop’s level?”

“No matter how much that child stood out the most among the young priests... it shouldn’t have notice looked like that......”

“Looks like it was hiding its power. As expected—the child our Father cherished most.......”

Their bodies were far too weak.

A single punch, even from each other, would be a lethal wound.

Then in the end, what mattered was—

‘How much can you endure while recovering from those lethal wounds?’

And.

On that point, ‘I’ had confidence.

“If I want to stop you, it won’t be hard to stop you.”

“.......”

“Even so, will you insist on going through with it?”

But.

“If you mean to stop us, then do it.”

“......Pardon?”

“But...... I want you to think about just one thing.”

Even as they were shaken by that overwhelming power, they didn’t waver.

“When the archbishop passed, I was there watching, too. I heard what the archbishop said to you.”

“What are you—”

“Not just the archbishop. Countless brothers...... on the road here, even as they faded away, they grabbed your hand and said it.”

What they said was only one thing.

“Hope.”

“.......”

“That you could turn our Father’s will...... that you should save the people of this land.”

At those words, ‘I’ notice fell silent.

“They believed in you and handed everything to you. Even though they could’ve held out longer...... they entrusted all their hope to you, and sacrificed their own lives. In terms of enduring on someone else’s life...... is there really such a big difference?”

“It’s different! Those brothers did it by their own will!”

“Right. By their own will, they believed in you and handed everything over. And yet you.......”

The sharp eyes of my brothers drove into ‘me.’

“You’re going to stake that will and hope...... on an uncertain possibility.”

“Th-that’s—”

“You’re going to gamble everything on something uncertain, and betray even the ones who placed their hope in you!”

‘I’

couldn’t refute that.

***

All kinds of memories rose in that mind.

Those who grabbed my hand—

afraid of the death to come, and yet finding courage to ask, then dying.

‘A method that can definitely grant their request...... and a method that may or may not grant it.’

If it were only their own decision, they would have chosen the latter.

‘.......’

But.

The voices of the countless people who had asked them lingered in their head.

“If you do that and it fails, who takes responsibility?”

“I—I will.”

“Neither you nor us can take it. The one to take responsibility will be dead, too!”

When ‘I’ couldn’t answer and stepped back, the priests who saw it shook their heads and said,

“If you hate it that much, you can sit it out.”

“Yes, maybe that’s better. You’re the pure soul our Father cherished most...... maybe even Father would want at least you to stay untainted.”

And.

As if they were done talking among themselves, they spread out and started picking things up.

What they picked up were—

small stones.

And they gripped those stones and—

CLACK!

With stones striking together, they began to smash them.

“We’ll be the ones to dirty our souls.”

The hand holding the stone.

Dust mixed into that stone, and the germs inside it, began to contaminate their bodies—

but they didn’t care at all, and continued their work.

“You focus on what you said...... that uncertain research.”

“.......”

“Who knows. If your research ends faster than our offering does.”

What they completed like that was something that had never properly existed in their world.

“Then maybe we can end this with the minimum sacrifice.”

A blade.

A tool made for killing.

***

“With this blessing, you’ll be able to hold out for three hours.”

“Ah...... thank you, priest.”

“There’s no need to thank me. Thanks to our brothers working, we can hold out as well. Even if this is an age of hardship...... if we endure with one heart, Father will return grace to us again. Until then, let’s keep at it together.”

After treating the most urgent patients.

After placing blessings on a few people so they could block contamination as much as possible.

With their help, they produced food.

A blessing that could only last about three hours even when cast by a capable priest.

To begin with, because there were so few priests, they could never produce enough labor.

But.

At the very least, they could buy a stay of execution from extinction.

And......

‘It also means we can reduce the odds that the lives meant to be offered will die before they’re ever offered.’

‘I’ watched that scene for a moment.

Then gritted my teeth and turned away.

‘Not yet. There’s still a chance.’

After parting from the other priests, ‘I’ began research alone, wandering all over the continent.

‘In the temples scattered everywhere, our Father’s words have been compiled.’

Each and every one held tremendous insight into treatment and recovery.

‘If I gather those words in one place, maybe a way to solve this will come out.’

Wandering the world, they gathered up the books in each temple that contained their Father’s teachings.

Meals were replaced with roots.

Even when the diseases in those roots tormented that body, they gritted their teeth, treated themselves, and endured.

‘The demons and evil gods from myths...... they were beings from other worlds.’

Not just villages and cities.

Even old temples left behind in remote places where no one lived anymore—searching every last one,

‘me’ began learning our Father’s words.

‘In this world I’m a priest, but in other places I’d be called a healer... or a doctor.’

‘......It’s normal for other worlds to lack blessings like ours. Then how do they survive?’

As a result, they learned quite a lot.

‘It’s because their bodies are tough to begin with.’

The difference between other worlds and theirs.

Even the reason why they were facing extinction now.

‘Because they never had blessings from the start, evolution took place in a direction that could endure this world.’

And.

‘If that evolution could be forced in the short term......!’

Even the solution.

‘This, too, must be a trial Father has set down. Offering sacrifices is the easy path...... this is a trial meant to teach that the hard path is the right path.’

Only a little immunity would be enough.

If they could {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} produce results that could endure this world.

Then based on those results, they could extend many lives.

And then the other brothers, too—

would feel there was no need to offer anyone up as a sacrifice.

‘I have to do it.’

Not simple treatment, but touching life—and changing it.

It was something they had never done even once before, but—

‘Evolution.......’

This method alone—

‘I have to create a body that can avoid death.’

The only way to save everyone.