Chapter 06-07: Crucible of humans

 

  • 06: Crucible of humans

And in this way, my stage has changed from my homeland to the light capital, Apollon City.

This city where the light church’s main headquarters are in, is a prominent big city even in the standards of this world.

The number of people and buildings, it is on a whole different level from my homeland. It overwhelmed a countryside person like me.

“Ufufu, are you surprised?” (Karen)

Karen-san who is accompanying me, was looking pleasantly at me who had turned into a country bumpkin.

“Is this your first time in Apollon City?” (Karen)

“No, rather than calling it my first experience in a city, it would be more like, this is my first time going out of the village. Everything I see is surprising.” (Haine)

“Is that so? In my case, it was surprising to see a completely different side of Haine-san. Since I met you, I always thought you were a cool person after all.” (Karen)

“Ah, Karen-san, what’s that?” (Haine)

“You are not listening at all…” (Karen)

What caught my interest were the vehicles that were running around the city.

No, vehicles are normally things that are pulled by cows or horses, but these vehicles have nothing pulling them. The vehicle is moving by itself.

Moreover, in this paved road, there’s not only one of those kind of vehicles, there’s several of them, and they were going back and forth.

In other words, that vehicle that moves on its own isn’t something special, but a common thing.

“That’s an ethereal car.” (Karen)

“Ethereal car?” (Haine)

“A vehicle that moves with ethereal.” (Karen)

“Hah?” (Haine)

It seems she is trying to explain it, but it didn’t serve as an explanation.

“Hmph…it is a vehicle that has degraded humans.”

The one who said this in a bad mood was, as expected, captain Vesage who was together with us. The knight corp that he leads as well, and there’s also the other corps that had spread to other locations in order to recruit new members and had reunited as we were getting closer to the light capital. It had become quite the orderly mass.

Within that group, there were a number of people that had accepted the recruitment like me.

And so, the talk of captain Vesage continues.

“Because something like that exists, people have forgotten the grace of the Light Goddess and have become arrogant. Hey, newcomer, I will be telling you this in advance since you are a country bumpkin. The light church completely forbids the use of such machines. Remember that.” (Vesage)

It is true that the knights of the light church, even when there’s this many adults, are all walking on foot or riding a horse.

There’s this many, so it would have been easier to just prepare a big one of those things called ethereal cars and bring them along that way.

“Captain Vesage, please don’t vent it on Haine-san. Seriously, you have been grumpy since the time in the village.” (Karen)

“But Hero-dono, our corp was assigned a quota of 50 people. And yet, we only brought back one. What would the founder-sama and the knight’s commander say?!” (Vesage)

“If they complain, I don’t mind you telling them it was all my fault. Also, I think this one recruit was our highest result in this time’s recruitment expedition.” (Karen)

“Hm?” “Eh?”

Vesage and I react at the same time.

“This one recruit…are you referring to this country bumpkin?” (Vesage)

“Yes. Haine-san didn’t hesitate against the [Holy Light Bullet] shot by captain Vesage and was able to deal with it perfectly. Even when it was his first time seeing it.” (Karen)

“Ugh…”

“Fast and precise decision making. On top of that, those quick-witted movements, there’s no shortcomings in having him as a fighting force as he is now. Isn’t this the kind of talent we were looking for?” (Karen)

“Gugugugu!!”

What Karen-san was saying must have been sound, but captain Vesage, who was defeated by me, was unable to obediently consent to it and was grinding his teeth.

And so, in order to not worsen the situation, I decide to stay silent.

“B-But…it all depends on whether this country bumpkin can show results in the entrance exam of the knight corps.” (Vesage)

“In that point, there’s no problem. I believe in him.” (Karen)

What are they talking about?

I couldn’t help but feel uneasiness towards the talk of those two.

While we were in the middle of that, we arrived at the last point of our journey.

The Light Grand Church located at the center of Apollon City.

This is where the main headquarters of the light church that follow the Light Goddess, Inflation, is located.

  • 07: Entrance Exam

“The ones aiming to enroll, gather over here!”

When we crossed the gates of the Grand Church, the people that were not wearing armor were gathered quickly.

It is the people that were gathered from the recruitment expedition.

I am also one of them, but calling me as someone ‘aiming to enroll’ doesn’t click in me.

Karen-san and captain Vesage have long gone somewhere else.

As a hero and a captain, they have their own duties to perform.

“Listen well maggots! I commend you for gathering at the side of the light! From today on, you are one of the prided members of the light church!!”

The one talking to the newcomers is a somewhat asphyxiating bald old man.

It seems something has already started.

“However, even if I say ‘light church’ in general, the roles are many. Priests that offer prayers to the Light Goddess, the people that look after those priests; and then, there’s the military power of the church, the Aurora Knight Corps associated with it, the Light knights! That’s the majority of it but…ah right right!”

The bald old man had a face as if saying ‘I will be saying something interesting now’ as he puts on airs in his tone.

“Within this group, if there’s someone that’s aiming to become the Light Hero, this is for your own good, just give up in advance. A person that surpasses Karen-sama who is the one currently in active duty, it would take at least 30 years before someone like that appears!!”

When he finished, incredible cheers came from the crowd.

“Now that the preliminary talk has been wrapped up…maggots, I will have you take an exam. Don’t worry, we won’t be making you do anything difficult. We are only using this.”

Saying this, the old man lifts something in his hand.

It was hard to make out because my position was far away, but it seems to be some sort of board.

“This is called an element board, and it is a tool to identify your element. Everything in this world has received the divine blessing of the five Gods that created this world. Earth, fire, water, wind, and light; these five elements.”

Looking carefully at the board that the old man was carrying, I could see that it is shaped in a clean pentagon, and at each side, there’s the symbol of the earth, fire, water, wind, and light Gods.

“When a person holds this element board, this needle at the center will identify your element. We, the Light Church, will of course welcome the light element. The people that have the needle of the element board pointing at the light element will unconditionally enter the Aurora Knight Corps!!”

After this explanation, the actual exam began.

The aspirators were lined up and were holding the element board in turns.

“Wind element! Rejected!” Water element! Rejected!” “Light element! Pass!”

That voice resounded inside the Grand Church.

While we were at it, my turn came. The face of that bald old man soon got right in front of me.

“You…you are Kuromiya Haine, right?”

“Eh? That’s right but, why do you know my name?” (Haine)

“Well fine. At any rate, try holding it.”

“Hm?”

Is what the old man said as he holds out the pentagonal board to me. At that moment, the needle of the element board pointed towards a place that was slightly to the left of the light symbol.

That’s probably the element of this old man.

“Right right, I am the vice captain of the Aurora Knight Corps, Grades. If you are going to join the knight corps, I will become a direct superior of you. I forgot to tell you.” (Grades)

“Say something like that to everyone please. What’s with this open bias.” (Haine)

“The hero Karen-sama told me to take good care of you. I have also heard about your rebellion towards Vesage. If you can become an instant fighting force, I also welcome you with big open arms, that’s all.” (Grades)

I see, so that’s how it is.

At any rate, I take the element board from the vice captain Grades.

Now then, I wonder what it will show…

“……Hm?!”

Creaking sounds came from the element board.

The needle of the element board, I don’t know what it is made of, but it is probably metallic.

The creaking sound continued. And then, right after, the needle bended without anyone touching it.

“Whaaat?!!” (Grades)

Vice Captain Grades who was looking at it right in front of me was also surprised.

Without pointing at any of the elements, the needle of the element board broke itself and pointed to the sky.

As the God of Darkness, my element is of course, darkness.

For this element board that has no entry for darkness, there was no way for it to accurately identify my element.

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0 thoughts on “Chapter 06-07: Crucible of humans

  1.   ___
    _l≡_  _ |_ Thanks!!
     (≡ ー`ωー´)  Nepu!!!
      (__▄︻▇〓▄︻┻┳一
      /_l:_| I like you to meet,
      |LlL  My Little Friend!

          1. Raizu. Took it from Raizu. More like, I pull one for each time he spoil next chapter. Slowly… and painfully…
            He deserve that for his crimes.

            Next time I’ll pull his eye lashes.
            Those long lash will look good on me.

  2. Don’t know where I expected it to point, but self-destruct wasn’t one of the expected outcomes. If it points to symbols of worship, basically pointing at the god, I expected it would point either at a blank space between symbols, or directly at Haine….

  3. Thank you Potato-dono… or Reigokai-san, whichever you are today.

    I’m at work, will read these chapters when I’m on break and comment later.

    See you again.

  4. Oh wow. Humans have already developed magic-powered cars in this world?
    Not bad, not bad. I can sorta see Entropy’s impression of them now.

    The destruction of the testing board was expected, but I’m more worried about their judgement standards. Does “Rejected” mean they aren’t allowed in, or just that they don’t get an instant pass?
    Because it sounds utterly stupid to discriminate so wholly based on element when they supposedly all do very different things. I could barely let something like opposed elements like Water vs Fire or Wind vs Earth slide with discrimination, but even then it’s just impractical.

    1. “The people that have the needle of the element board pointing at the light element will unconditionally enter the Aurora Knight Corps!!”

      dunno, maybe it’s only the first test and rejected will have to prove their skills with other test
      or maybe rejected go in other corps and not the aurora knight corps,
      still discriminatory but I don’t think they will entirely refuse all non-light element, especially since vesage said they were in need for numbers

    2. Well, I’m almost 1 month late(due to having been busy moving to a new house) and the question has most likely been answered already, but that’s not going to stop me from commenting and I’m still going to try answering the question anyway.
      You can’t stop me doing from doing it! MOUAHAHAHA!

      Ok, on a more serious note, from what I just read it seems like the vice-captain’s element is NOT light, thus meaning that it possible to be part of the unit without having the light element(and that having the light element simple gets you in right away).
      Like redcolonel pointed out: ““The people that have the needle of the element board pointing at the light element will unconditionally enter the Aurora Knight Corps!!”” The “unconditionally” seem to imply that it is possible to get in with conditions(aka testing).

      And here’s the quote for the element of the Vice-captain not being Light:
      “Is what the old man said as he holds out the pentagonal board to me. At that moment, the needle of the element board pointed towards a place that was slightly to the left of the light symbol.

      That’s probably the element of this old man.”

      1. Eeeeey! Sancturillore! Welcome back.

        For the sake of avoiding spoilers while keeping discussion going, I’ll just naturally pitch into your observations without confirming or denying what actually happens later on.

        So for the vice-captain measurement here, I want to say that Grades probably is primarily a Light attribute holder. The way I interpreted it was that the arrow was within the range of “Light”, and the symbols only reflect the “purest” measurement a person could have for an element.

  5. Thanks for the chapter, Reigo-senpai.

    Sorry I’m late everyone, was too engrossed in “Genjitsushugisha no Oukokukaizouki” (How the Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom). It’s not a bad read.

      1. It’s damn good. Now that I’m caught up via the pirating site, it’s time to subscribe to the translator.

        For the record, I find most of my recent reads on the pirating site. I catch up there and then subscribe to the translators. Though I mainly use the pirating site to find the actual translator because Novel Updates isn’t that dependable for me. I like to read a little before subscribing to a translator so I don’t regret it later.

          1. Actually, let me save you the trouble.

            The scanlator group seems to be called LHtranslations, though Biamam Scanlations is showing up in the search too.

  6. Thanks for the chapter. Entering into the Aurora Knight Corps might not be such bad idea. It will sort of like him entering the Volunteer Corps Office, Red Moon in “Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash”.

  7. i don’t know why he can just accept this treatment..his village is ‘almost’ got raided, he just got ‘persuaded’ to join them. and this hero’s attitude is really irritating self confidence?arrogant?she just decide everything by herself and her absolute weapon is “*bowing-please-agree-with-me”

  8. When someone whom represents the church calls you a “maggot”, something went wrong and it might be a cult and so it’s time to run like the wind

  9. Thanks for the chapter Reigokai-san..

    A typically MC who always break a device is always hilarious for me.

    Also, that captain is pretty stupid, no… He fail as a captain..
    With his skill and judgement he can easily surpassed those 49 maggots.. 🤣

    Im starting to like this Light Hero.

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