Man is infinite, and his ambition is to slay the dragon

"Hey! Stop talking halfway, you stupid redhead!"

39. Come to my room, Carla.

After chatting with Shenwei for a while, Sieg temporarily returned to the Krenshid, and it was not until noon the next day that he returned to the Sun God Cult.

Inside the great temple at the top level of the cult.

Sitting on the chair that looked no different from a toilet as usual, the Sun Saint looked at Sieg who had come in response to his summons.

[Thank you for your hard work on this mission, Saint of Flame]

[Stabilize the front, maintain the position, repel the thunder beast - you have indeed demonstrated a strength that fully lives up to the name of Dragon Slayer. Your reward was delivered to your residence yesterday. Thank you for your hard work in this mission.]

"Forget about the verbal thanks. I don't like such things."

Sieg had absolutely no manners towards his immediate superior.

But this is normal, as Dragon Slayers are all of equal level.

"Beyond that, there are a few things I want to tell you."

[Please speak]

"Shenwei - I'm talking about the Thunder Beast. Forget about it this time, but don't bother me next time." Sieg said in a deep voice, "You originally invited me here to deal with him, but you gave me the task and you also added people without authorization to cause trouble for me. If it weren't for that prison saint, at least Shenwei wouldn't have gotten away so easily."

[So, are you sure you can capture the Thunder Beast alive? ]

"That's the second thing I want to tell you."

"Give up on capturing that guy alive, Skullhead. I'm not saying this as his opponent or acquaintance, but as a dragon slayer of the Cult of the Sun."

Ziggy looked serious.

"He is not someone who can be captured alive. At least I can't do it, and neither can the Sun God Cult. The battle with him must either be stopped or continue until one of us dies. There is absolutely no possibility of capturing him alive."

【...】

Sieg's words caused the Sun Saint to fall silent.

The skeleton burning in the flames stared at the red-haired dragon man in front of it with eyeballs that were unknown whether they existed or not.

After a while, the Sun Saint spoke again:

I will take this as a suggestion.

What this means is that it will be taken into consideration, but the strategy of capturing the Thunder Beast alive will not be completely abandoned, and if possible, capturing the Kamui alive will still be prioritized.

Sieg's eyebrows twitched slightly. "...Forget it. I have given you my advice. Since you insist on being stubborn, I will not stop you. That's all I have to say. If you have nothing else to do, I will leave first."

[Well, thank you for coming to report on the mission as soon as you got back. Have a good rest, Saint of Flame]

[Given the current situation of the Divine Religion, the next time you will be needed will surely come soon.]

——————————————————————————————

Cult of the Sun, Central Tower, 125th floor.

After leaving the Great Temple, Sieg quickly returned to his own floor.

"I am back."

Sieg pushed open the door and said this as usual. As soon as he walked into the living room, he saw Himeragi Setsuna cleaning the house in a maid outfit.

There was also Carla, who was also wearing a maid outfit—no, it should be said that she was just wearing a white apron over the Saint's uniform of the cult.

"Are you guys...cleaning up?"

"Yes, because we were away for several days, so we thought about cleaning up." Xue Cai nodded slightly, "Welcome back, senior, you have been working hard on the mission. Sorry, we returned before you came back, Amen."

"It's okay. After I drove Shenwei away, the frontline base won't encounter any major problems. Besides, after such a commotion, Shenwei shouldn't come to trouble the Divine Cult again in the short term. We can probably rest for about half a month."

This is just an estimate. Even Sieg is not sure when Shenwei will attack the Cult again.

He really wanted to defeat the Cult of God, but judging from the frequency of his attacks, each of his attacks seemed to be just a whim, similar to today when he suddenly wanted to attack the Cult of the Sun God and then set out to attack - this was very frequent a few years ago, but there has indeed been this trend in recent years.

"That... the Lord of Flame."

Holding a mop, Carula came to Sieg, with a worried look on her face: "That idiot... is he okay?"

"..."

Without answering her question immediately, Sieg just stared at her quietly.

Honestly, objectively speaking, there is nothing wrong with Carla's reaction. She has a personal relationship with Kamui and they have a very good relationship. There is nothing wrong with her showing some concern for him. But from the perspective of the Cult of the Sun, this is a big problem.

Shenwei had attacked several Sun Cult strongholds in a row, and this time was no exception. If Sieg hadn't gone to stop him, Stronghold No. 61 would have been completely destroyed by Shenwei's attack, with countless supplies lost.

To put it bluntly, any member of a cult should have varying degrees of resentment and hostility towards the Divine Power.

And Carla...she is a dragon slayer of the Sun God Cult and the most outstanding Saint of Time. Even when the Sun God Cult suffered a huge loss of supplies, personnel and facilities, she was still concerned about the safety of Shenwei - that is, Sieg had already removed all the surveillance cameras and eavesdropping devices in his home, otherwise the Sun God Cult would have known that there was something wrong with Carla's thinking.

"Master Saint of Flame?"

"...He's fine, at least he's not dead." Sieg paused and gave his answer, "Originally I was planning to kill him, and so was he. But after the Prison Saint intervened like that, there was no need for us to fight to the death. After that, he and I ran out of the sphere of influence of the Cult, and after a few words, we separated."

"Is that so? Huh~~~"

Hearing that Kamui was fine, Carula heaved a sigh of relief, and then, as if she had just remembered her identity, she hurriedly and nervously explained to Sieg: "No! That... I, I am not concerned about the enemy! It's just... just..."

"You don't have to explain. I know what you mean. It just so happens that Shenwei and I talked about something related to you yesterday. There are some things I want to discuss with you alone."

Sieg pointed to the ceiling and said, "Come to my room. For the sake of me and that dwarf, I can help you two a little. But before that, I still need to ask you something. Whether I want to help you or not, you can decide after I finish asking you."

"I...I understand."

Carla's expression revealed seriousness and earnestness.

40. Save her from God's control -

On the second floor, in Sieg's room.

[Wind Magic·Silent Barrier]

After entering the room with Carla, Sieg used wind magic to set up a special barrier in the room.

Carla became slightly nervous: "Master Flame Saint, what are you doing?"

"As a safety measure, even though I have removed all surveillance and wiretapping, I still want to avoid leaking what I say next."

Sieg sat down on the bed and motioned for Carla to pull a chair in front of him. After she sat down, Sieg said, "I learned from Shenwei why he attacked the Sun God Cult. He said he wanted to rescue you from the control of God, right?"

"...Yeah, yes."

Carla nodded slightly: "A few years ago, he did promise me this."

"He also said that this was a promise he made to you without your permission, a promise he made to repay your kindness to him. I didn't want to talk about these things. The life or death of that guy has nothing to do with me. In the end, I was definitely the one who killed him."

"But coincidentally, I just realized something recently, so I wanted to say a few more words... Carula, what do you think of Kamui's promise?"

"Eh?"

Carla couldn't help but be stunned for a moment.

What do you think about Shenwei’s promise?

"Hmm...I don't quite understand what you mean?"

"...Yeah, then I'll be frank. I don't want to be a riddler anyway."

Sieg organized his words a little: "To put it bluntly, there is a serious conflict between your current identity, what you are doing now, and what Shenwei wants to do."

"You are the Dragon Slayer of the Sun God Cult, the Saint of Time, and you should fight for the Sun God Cult."

"But now you have a close relationship with the enemy of the Sun God Cult, and you put his safety before the situation of the Sun God Cult. You even do not oppose his idea of ​​defeating the Cult, and you even support him vaguely - don't you think this is strange?"

"Of course, my relationship with Shenwei... can be called a personal relationship. I'm not in a position to blame you, but at least I have this knowledge, and you don't."

"Down here..."

Kalula was silenced by Sieg's words.

She... really hadn't thought about these things, or rather, she hadn't thought about them at all. This was related to the education she received. As the Saint of Time of the Sun God Cult, her education was simply to [use time magic according to instructions], and she didn't receive much other education.

Things like knowledge, interpersonal relationships, magic theory... these can all be easily injected during the cloning process.

"You're in danger, Carla."

"You have neglected your own identity and have been doing things that are equivalent to betrayal relative to your own identity. Fortunately, you have not been exposed in the past eight years, otherwise you and Shenwei would have been in trouble long ago."

"Well......!"

Carla's expression wavered: "Then what should I do? You will discuss this with me, so what do you plan to do——"

"I told you that whether I will help you or not and how I will help you will depend on the result of my questioning. I have only pointed out your current situation and have not asked you any questions yet." Sieg said, "What I want to ask you is also very simple - what is your wish?"

"......Eh?"

"Eight years ago, Shenwei said that he owed you a favor and would fulfill your wish in return. But you didn't tell us your wish at that time, right? So Shenwei made that promise on his own initiative."

"Now, tell me what your real wish is. You don't want to just watch the might of God defeat the Sun God Cult, do you? You must have other wishes. Not the wishes that idiot presumptuously thinks of, but the wishes that you really want to realize."

Carla fell silent again.

What is your wish?

Carla had not thought much about this question before, but now that she really started to think about it, she found incredibly that thoughts about wishes were constantly emerging in her mind.

After sorting out the many thoughts in her mind, Carla slowly spoke: "I... I don't have any particular wish that I want to fulfill..."

"Because I am the Saint of Time of the Sun God Cult, and as an individual acting for the Sun God Cult, I am highly replaceable... Even if I have a wish, it will not be granted."

"It's just...if possible, I hope I can have my own will."

Sieg frowned slightly: "Having his own will?"

"Yes... Can I tell you something that happened in the past?"

"Ah."

"That happened nine years ago. After a war with the Roaring Blood Clan, I, like other subordinates, began to treat the wounded as usual. While I was healing a fourth-class citizen, I was summoned by another subordinate of the Time Saint who was in charge of that branch at the time, and we helped heal a second-class citizen."

Carla clenched her hands slightly, her expression trembling a little: "Second-class gods and people are important forces that support a front line, and fourth-class gods and people are ordinary personnel that can be replenished at any time. Therefore, when rescuing, second-class gods and people need to be given priority - this is the duty that Carla should insist on. At that time, I didn't have any extra thoughts about this, because all the subordinates thought so."

The Holy Maiden of Time is the greatest treasure of the Cult of the Sun God, but it is also a consumable item in large quantities. The difference between each individual is less than 10%, making them highly replaceable.

They do not need to have their own will, they only need to perform their long-established jobs and duties until their running time is up and they meet their destined death.

"It's just... sometimes, I get a little bored."

"I want to save the life in front of me, but I have to save another more valuable life. Even though this is a rule that has been deeply embedded in my cognition, I still think it is a bit unreasonable. I want to choose the person to save according to my own will."

Carula looked up at Sieg: "That person... Kamui used to call me an ant-like woman, which is true, but even ants have their own will, and I don't have that kind of thing."

"Therefore, if I really have a wish that I want to realize, then I hope that I can have my own will, and I also hope that other subordinates can have their own will."

"Since I can't change my fate of having many replacements even if I die, then at least I want to choose who to save."

This is not what the Holy Maiden of Time of the Sun God Cult should think.

The reason why the Time Saint can be used on a large scale in various fields other than direct combat is because she has extremely high obedience. They have received special education since the cloning period and are puppets who can only complete the instructions of the Sun God Cult and their own duties. It is this obedience that allows the Sun God Cult to safely let the Time Saint be in charge of various affairs.

However, once a large number of Time Saints develop their own wills, act according to their own will, and ignore the instructions of the Sun God Cult and their own responsibilities, even an idiot can imagine how big a problem will arise at that time!

However...Kalula's thoughts are the most normal thoughts for a living being.

【I want to do things according to my own ideas】

[Want to resist the fate that was planned from the beginning]

According to the concept of the Sun God Cult, Kalula's idea is equivalent to "rebellion against God."

(So... is this what you mean? Kamui.)

([Rescue her from God's control] - this is what you really want to express.)

41. Sudden bad news