Forsaken Priest of the Hero's Party
Chapter 104: It all ends now!

Chapter 104: It all ends now!

0% “Simply put, the Republic is finished. There’s no hope of recovery.”

Robert barely reacted to my words. Without hesitation, he offered to introduce us to the Apprentice and led Roka and me through the city.

“I, a mere department head, am now the second-in-command of the Republic. Everyone above me, except for the Apprentice, has already fled to the Empire through the Gate.”

“Then why didn’t you run away, mister?”

Roka interrupted. Robert scowled at being called “mister,” gripping a cigarette between his teeth. He took a slow drag, exhaling a thick cloud of smoke before responding.

“Because I have nothing left to lose by staying.”

His mood had soured. He deliberately blew the next puff of smoke toward Roka.

Roka pinched salt from her millstone and purified the smoke before it reached her. Her tail thumped against the ground in irritation. Then, taking another pinch of salt, she sprinkled it on Robert.

“The young lady has quite a temper. I had a wife like that once.”

Still, the gesture worked. Robert shifted, now blowing his smoke away from people. His expression softened slightly as if lost in distant memories.

“She went flower‑viewing in the Caldera Mountains with other wives and children, claimed Lady Catherine invited her. Then... the incident. They disappeared, and I know they’re dead.”

“Oh... I’m sorry.”

“Saying it makes it feel a bit lighter.”

He shook his head as if trying to shake off an invisible weight.

“That woman... she made my life hell when she was alive, and she won’t leave me alone even in death. Why does she have to keep haunting me like this?”

A brief silence passed between us before he spoke again.

“I thought I’d climbed high enough that no one could look down on me. I was wrong. The Demon King Grimudo looked down on us all, no, he didn’t even register us. We were nothing, and I doubt he ever planned to spare anyone once he got what he wanted.”

“Who in this world is free from his contempt?”

I let out a sigh.

“It’s just a matter of how close or far you are from it.”

We walked on, scattering salt as we went. Soon, we reached a massive building. It loomed over us, empty and abandoned. Once a place of grandeur, it had been untouched for only a few days, yet already, it felt lifeless and cold.

This was the former heart of the Cidatel Republic, the Cidatel Assembly.

“Though now it’s just a shell, every representative has fled.”

The true masters of this place were long gone, save for the Apprentice, but that didn’t mean he had the entire building to himself.

The smaller conference rooms, once ornate, now lay empty, floors covered in makeshift bedding. The marble tiles were lined with blankets, and the air was filled with the pained groans of the sick and injured. Figures in priestly robes rushed through the corridors, tending to them.

“Those people are...”

“They’re followers of the Heavenly God Aldehir. Since the Church-State excommunicated this Republic, no official districts remain. They’d discussed re-establishing Vales, but before a decision, boom. You know the rest.”

It’s always easier to dismantle something than to rebuild it. If that’s the case, then there aren’t even high-ranking priests of the Trinity Church left in this city.

There might be a few low-ranking clerics or monks, but they alone wouldn’t be enough to handle this crisis.

“Let’s put some of that salt to use.”

Robert pinched salt and scattered it across the hall. As it spread, the lingering volcanic ash in the air was purified, disappearing instantly.

This is why divine power is so helpful.

Because I’m producing it, I can control exactly what it purifies.

Of course, I can’t simply label someone “filth,” sprinkle salt, and make them disappear. I once tried it against Grimudo, it only neutralized his black steel ki’s corrosive effect without harming him.

Even without his corrosive aura, Grimudo was overwhelmingly strong, so the salt had made little difference. It worked slightly on the God of Blood Atorije but never reached his true essence.

“Cough! Cough! Whew... I can finally breathe properly. Thank you. Are you a priest?”

A priest, still coughing from the ash, approached us. He gestured toward the patients around him.

Rashes marred their skin, likely from ash exposure. Some lay gasping for breath, on the verge of death. Others clutched their faces, crying out in pain, while many simply groaned about sore throats. The sheer number of them was overwhelming.

“Then please, lend us your aid. The Church will repay you in due time.”

“Cardinal, this man has come to defeat the Phoenix.”

“What did you just say? Forgive me, so much noise, my ears must betray me.”

His response was understandable. After all, what I was proposing was utterly absurd.

“You heard correctly. I came to do that job.”

But something else caught my attention. Did he say... Cardinal?

I knew the Aldehir Church was the most open of the continent’s five orders, but I didn’t expect a Cardinal here.

“You intend to defeat Phoenix...?” Cardinal Omen asked, his expression skeptical.

“What exactly is your plan?”

“I plan to use a miracle that can only be invoked thrice.”

“A miracle? You mean divine power? Even then...”

He hesitated before continuing.

“Pardon my irreverence, but aren’t you underestimating the Phoenix?”

“It’s a near-impossible task, yes. But there’s no other choice. All these people can’t evacuate to the Empire through the gate.”

If another way existed, I wouldn’t have come here with Roka in the first place. But the gate was not an alternative.

The transfer gate connected this city to the Imperial Islands and Grandera, but the more significant the gate, the more magic stones it consumed, exponentially so. As a result, the gate here was so narrow that even a single carriage barely fit through. People must queue and squeeze through. It was never built for mass evacuation.

With so many unable to escape by ship, a single narrow gate wasn’t enough.

“Even if we evacuate... cough... it’s meaningless.”

A weak, rasping voice came from a corner of the room.

I turned. The patient’s body was so blackened I couldn’t make out features—his condition was dire.

“When the volcano erupts... it’s all over. The only difference is whether we die now... or just a little later. Cough! The end is near.”

“That’s Thomas William from the Land Development Bureau. He chose land for development and surveyed ore, but his hobby was volcanology, he studied the Caldera volcano.”

Robert sighed before continuing.

“He insisted on guiding the Masters to the volcano. I ended up coming back looking like a well-done steak. He’s only alive because of continuous healing.”

The man weakly scanned the room as if searching for something.

He was parched.

I crouched, pressed my hand to the marble, and invoked a miracle.

Thankfully, we were on the ground level. Had we been on an upper floor, the water would have simply burst through and flooded the lower levels.

“Spring water, spring water...”

“Clean water! It’s clean water!“

A crystal spring burst from the marble, its waters tracing cracks in the stone.

Thomas weakly leaned forward, desperate to drink straight from the source, but a priest stopped him, filled a bowl, and brought it to his lips.

Then, murmurs of disbelief spread through the room.

“My goodness...”

“H-How is this possible?”

The moment he drank, his flesh lightened, blackened burns fading to natural color. The acrid stench of charred skin faded. While the soot clinging to his body remained, the corruption had been cleansed. He no longer needed the aid of healing magic to survive.

“Whew! I... I can breathe.”

He hesitated, then slowly sat up.

And then, realization struck him.

“It’s not just that I feel better... I’m alive! I’m alive!”

As he bounced with joy, Robert’s eyes, once skeptical, now shone with awe.

“To save someone from the brink... You weren’t just name‑dropping the Phoenix. I never knew holy power so strong. Are you... a Pope of a small sect? If so, forgive my rudeness, I truly apologize.”

“Etiquette isn’t important right now.” I turned toward Thomas.

“Rather...”

“Mr. Thomas?”

“Ah P-Priest. I don’t even know how to begin thanking you...”

“I’ll accept your gratitude in spirit. But more importantly, I must ask about something you said earlier.”

I couldn’t ignore his words since this man was supposedly an expert on volcanoes.

“What did you mean when you said it’s all over when the volcano erupts?”