Cynthia looked down at me with a cold expression.
"What if I refuse?"
"Then there's no alliance."
"Why do you want to take me along?"
I couldn't reveal the reason just yet. If she found out she was the only human capable of unlocking the 'Hidden Piece,' she would try to seize control of the conversation.
"No questions. Just answers."
Cynthia was a proud woman. Though she hadn't revealed it to those two yet, she was a highly skilled individual, leading the Holy Knights directly under the Papal Office.
'But so what.'
Right now, she was just another adventurer investigating the tower under a hidden identity.
"Fine. But you'll take them with us too."
I glanced at the man with a ponytail and glasses, and the bald brawler, then replied.
"Alright, but I won't consider their opinions during the climb."
"So, you want to be the leader?"
"Interpret it however you want."
Cynthia smirked and cautiously extended her hand.
"What's your name?"
"Verdin."
"Verdin. Last name?"
"Strange. Verdin de Strange. The youngest son of the Strange family."
When the name Strange was mentioned, the three who had agreed to the alliance were shocked. They gaped like fish out of water.
After a few moments, Cynthia asked calmly.
"Is that true?"
There was no need for words. I simply lifted my cloak to reveal the Strange family crest on my armor.
"Incredible. I never thought I'd meet someone from the Strange family in person."
"Incredible or not, I'm just like anyone else."
"…I suppose."
She swallowed hard.
I lightly shook her hand and stood up, heading towards the church at the center of the village.
"Where are you going?"
"The trial is about to begin. I want to see who else is joining us."
Just then, a loud shout came from the white-haired goblin guarding the village entrance.
"All adventurers in the village, please gather at the church!"
Despite his age, his voice was robust and powerful.
As his voice echoed, adventurers who had been hiding emerged from their spots.
In no time, dozens of adventurers gathered in front of the church. Humans, dwarves, and elves, species usually reluctant to mingle, created a rare scene.
"Thank you all for coming this far. To save time, I'll skip the unnecessary talk and start the trial right away."
The adventurers gathered in front of the church began to murmur.
What exactly was this trial, and what would happen once it began?
Before anyone could ask, the white-haired goblin spoke again, preemptively.
"What I am about to show you is the story of a distant past, when the 'Goblin Champion,' chosen by the gods and appointed as an apostle of this tower, was born!"
As the white-haired goblin raised his staff high and shook it, the bell at the tip rang loudly.
"Let us witness the past of our master, who rules the 10th floor and will grant you your trial."
Ding!
The bell rang again, and as it did, white smoke began to fill the village, enveloping everyone.
Swoosh—
"Now, let the story begin."
As I inhaled the smoke, I felt my body lift and my mind grew dizzy.
* * *
Not far from a human village, a peculiar goblin was born in a forest.
At first glance, he looked like an ordinary green goblin, but he was the size of an adult goblin despite being a newborn.
"Waaah!"
The goblin elder grimaced as he faced the baby.
Despite living over a hundred years, he couldn't fathom the nature of this peculiar goblin before him.
"Evelyn, what have you done?"
His mother spoke before he could finish.
"This child's father is the warrior who visited the village last time."
The goblin's father was special. His mother was a goblin, and his father was a human.
The elder, unable to contain himself, pointed and shouted.
"You crazy woman, abandon the baby outside the village at once!"
How could a child be born between mortal enemies, goblins and humans?
Goblins and humans had been at war for over a hundred years.
"This child is innocent… He doesn't even know he has human blood!"
The peculiar goblin's mother pleaded desperately to keep her child. But her efforts were in vain that night.
Dozens of goblins, holding torches, stormed into the hut and took the child away.
"No!"
She couldn't stop the strong goblins. The baby was placed in a wooden box and abandoned by a nearby stream.
The goblin, carried by the water, eventually reached a human village.
"…A monster?"
It was a stroke of luck. A passing merchant found the baby goblin, gently patted him, and placed him beside him, praying.
"In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit… Bless this goblin!"
The merchant was a rare kind-hearted human.
"I'll take care of you."
Usually, finding a young monster would mean selling it in the slave market or handing it to an alchemist for forbidden experiments, but he let it go without any conditions.
"Waaah!"
The merchant treated the goblin like his own child, and the goblin in turn saw him as his father.
Five years passed, and the baby became a child.
"Father!"
The goblin, wrapped in cloth, waved both hands. Over time, he had undergone significant changes.
His limbs grew long like a human's, and his skin turned yellow from green.
But traces of his goblin heritage remained. His disproportionately long nose and wide mouth were unmistakably goblin-like.
"Did you check all the traps, Gregory?"
The merchant, now a hunter, had changed his profession. He settled down and became a forest hunter.
"Yes, today too, God has blessed us. There was a small rabbit caught in a trap!"
Gregory, hiding the rabbit behind his back, smiled brightly. They shared a meal with the rabbit, enjoying a happy time together.
"Gregory, after the meal, we must give thanks to God."
"Of course, God… Thank you for providing us with our daily bread."
The human and goblin shared a deep bond through their religion.
The goblin saw the human as his father.
The human saw the goblin as his son.
They called each other family.
'…Indeed.'
But their bond didn't last long. A large fire broke out in a nearby village.
The church blamed the goblins, calling them Satan's spawn, and the villagers started hunting all goblins near the village.
"Kiieeek!"
The commotion reached Gregory and the hunter in the forest cabin.
"This child is not a monster!"
The villagers came with clubs and torches to capture Gregory.
"Not a monster? Anyone can see he's a goblin!"
"Calm down, everyone. If Gregory were truly a goblin, would he have helped you all this time?"
"..."
"Remember two years ago when he brought food from the forest during the famine?"
"That's different! He only helped us to gain favor, to avoid being marked as a monster and killed."
"Sir, what are you saying?"
As the voices grew louder, a priest in a white robe stepped forward, parting the villagers.
"Hunter of the forest, continue lying and you will face divine punishment."
"Di-divine punishment..."
"I saw it clearly. That goblin set the church on fire."
"No, Father! That child didn't set the fire!"
"So, you accuse me of lying to God?"
"N-no, that's not what I meant."
"Silence, brother. How can you raise the child of Satan and call him your son?"
"..."
"Can you swear to God that this child is not a goblin?"
The hunter remained silent.
This silence was enough of an answer for the others.
"See? If I hadn't come, he would have kept lying, calling that goblin a human."
"Father..."
"With such a brazen face."
"But...!"
"Enough."
The priest raised his hands and his voice.
"Everyone heard? This heretic has deceived us all by raising the child of Satan!"
The villagers, enraged, wielded their clubs and torches.
Thwack! Thwack-thwack-thwack!
They beat the hunter and Gregory mercilessly and tied them up with ropes.
"I-I am not Satan's child!"
Gregory protested, but they were locked in the church basement, spending countless days in the pitch-dark cell.
"Son... I'm sorry..."
The hunter used his remaining strength to speak.
Gregory wanted to respond, but the gag in his mouth prevented any words.
"Mm, mm!"
Gregory poured all his strength into breaking the chains on his wrists and ankles.
"Kh, khrrk, khrrk!"
He struggled so hard that his teeth almost broke against the gag, but he couldn't escape the sacred chains.
'Father... Please hold on... God will clear our injustice soon...'
Gregory prayed fervently.
Soon after, one of the guards in the prison voiced his annoyance.
"Huh? This one's dead. Hey! This heretic seems dead, throw him out before he starts to rot!"
His colleague replied.
"The heretic? Oh, the hunter who lived with the goblin in the forest?"
Gregory's eyes widened in shock.
'My father is dead?'
He couldn't believe his father was dead.
"Yeah, before he starts to stink."
"Ah, why now? I was about to be relieved."
"Shut up and get rid of him!"
"Alright, alright."
But as soon as he saw the corpse being dragged out, he despaired.
"Mm!!!"
'Father!!!'
His father, unable to withstand the torture, was dragged out lifeless.
Gregory watched with a wretched expression as his father's body was taken away. He sobbed, tears of despair pouring from his chest.
'God... Why do you give us such trials...?'
His tears mixed with the blood on his face, becoming drops of red liquid.
Drip, drip, drip.
The blood tears seeped into the ground, reaching someone buried deep under the church.
Ssshhh—
Gregory bowed his head.
In a fleeting moment, memories from the past flashed through his mind.
From being born in the goblin village and abandoned as not being a monster, to being locked here for not being human.
When he finished recalling everything, his despair slowly turned into anger.
The anger grew, burned fiercely, then turned into despair again. Time passed, and despair became emptiness.
'Father, it seems there is no God.'
Gregory denied the existence of the God he had believed in. He laughed maniacally with unfocused eyes.
"Ku-ku-ku... ku-ku-ku!"
God only gives trials one can overcome, they said. But now, having lost everything and facing death, what difference would overcoming this make?
'There is no God.'
My existence proves the absence of God. Gregory closed his eyes tightly with this thought.
As time passed and death approached, an unknown energy enveloped the underground prison.
Ssshhh—
Then, black energy seeped through the cracks in the ground, wrapping around Gregory's body.
"Krrk!"
[God exists.]
The extreme pain, unlike anything he'd felt before, pressed on Gregory's body. He couldn't even moan after his initial scream.
[But it is not the God you know.]
Crack—
The darkness swallowing Gregory's body writhed, emitting a strong aura.
[Worship, for the one above has sent me for you.]
The aura in Gregory's body surged, a horn sprouting from his forehead.
Crack!
[According to God's will, I bestow upon you the power of an apostle.]
Crack, crack!
[Show despair to the humans who seek the tower.]
Crack!
[Twelfth Apostle, Demon King Gregory.]
The Twelfth Apostle.
Demon King Gregory.
'...Yes, I am an apostle chosen by God.'
I will not die so easily.
I will annihilate both the goblins who abandoned me as a human and the humans who killed me as a goblin.
'I will not die.'
"Raaahhhh!"
* * *
As the smoke cleared, all the adventurers who participated in the trial returned to the ruined village.
'Just like before.'
The trial showed how the goblin champion became an apostle. A hint from the master of the tower to the adventurers.
Those who couldn't figure out how to climb the tower from the records would be trapped here.
'Just like I was before.'
The novices who didn't understand the situation became noisy.
"What was that illusion just now?!"
Most of them had the same reaction.
Of course, Rox and Cynthia, who were with me, didn't waver and immediately prepared for battle.
'As expected.'
Crack, crack, crack—
The surface of the statue began to break piece by piece.
Realizing the trial had begun, I gripped my sword's hilt and warned everyone in the village.
"Run if you want to live."
Swoosh.
"A fight you cannot win is about to begin."