The Battle Begins

Although curfew had already begun, Benjamin still made it back to the Riser Family without trouble, escorted by knights.

He slipped past the servants on night watch and quietly returned to his bedroom. No one noticed him. After closing the door, he lay down on his bed, took out the cross, and turned it over in his hands, unable to contain his delight.

It was a small, finely crafted silver cross. When Benjamin pressed it to the spot between his brows, he could sense a holy aura emanating faintly from within it.

So this was the power of divine arts.

Compared to magic, the common people of the Hori Kingdom were much more familiar with divine arts. Every town had a church and a priest, and almost everyone had seen a priest use divine arts.

According to the Church, divine arts were a power God had bestowed upon humanity to fight demons.

Legend had it that, long, long ago, demons ran rampant across the world. Famines, plagues, wars... suffering came in an endless stream under the demons' influence. People lived in misery, and even a peaceful life became an unattainable dream.

Then, two brothers appeared. The elder was named Cain, and the younger Abel. No one knew where they had come from, but they were determined to save humanity and end the age of demonic rule. After failing again and again, Cain pretended to offer sacrifices to the demons and gained tremendous power. In the end, he used his ever-growing strength to drive the demons away and restore peace and harmony to the world.

But their good fortune did not last. Under the influence of demonic power, Cain's nature changed drastically. He grew increasingly cruel and cunning, just like the demons he had driven away. He began enslaving the people, waging wars, and slaughtering innocents. The human world, which had only just known a brief period of peace, once again descended into chaos.

Abel watched all these changes unfold. After yet another war, he stood in the luxurious palace his brother had built and suddenly began to pray in front of Cain. Enraged, Cain threw Abel into prison and nailed him to a huge cross, where he subjected him to endless torment. Seven days later, Abel disappeared. When he appeared before Cain again, he had gained the power of divine arts.

No one knew what Abel had gone through during that time. But everyone knew that Abel, now in possession of great power, waged a great battle against Cain.

In the end, Abel defeated Cain.

Just as Abel was about to purify Cain with the Holy Light in his hands, Cain suddenly began to weep. He seemed to have become the Cain of old again, and he wept bitterly before Abel, recalling the brothers' past. Moved, Abel let his guard down and turned his back to Cain. Cain took the opportunity to launch a sneak attack, burning Abel to ashes with an evil flame.

Just as Cain was gloating, a divine light suddenly descended from the sky and enveloped him. God's voice rang out from above, demanding that Cain tell Him where Abel was. Cain denied everything, claiming he knew nothing. Disgusted by Cain's lies, God prepared to punish him by stripping him of his power and banishing him for life. Cain flew into a rage and refused to accept the punishment. Using all the blood in his body, he cast a curse that sealed the world away. From then on, neither gods nor demons ever appeared here again, and the world became the Land of God-Forsaken.

After casting the curse, Cain died of weakness. His blood scattered across the world, passing on the power of demons. Polluted once more, the human world fell back into war. People who possessed demonic power slaughtered one another, while ordinary people struggled to survive in the cracks.

Until one day, a young man stood where Abel had been burned to ashes and prayed with his hands clasped together. A Holy Light rose from his palms, blossoming like fireworks in the night sky and falling into the eyes of the countless people gazing up at it. From then on, humanity, too, possessed the power of divine arts, and the praying young man became the Church's first Pope.

From the soil where Abel had died, he dug up a fragment of a sword blade. The moment his hand first touched it, a sentence echoed in his heart:

"The Holy Light Envelops the World."

That fragment became a sacred relic of the Church, enshrined in the deepest part of St. Peter's Cathedral. Those words also became the first divine oracle, passed down from generation to generation.

That was the Church's account of the origins of divine arts and magic.

When the system first retold this story to Benjamin, he had to admit that this world's mythology bore quite a few similarities to that of his own. The characters of Cain and Abel, for instance, were so remarkably alike that they were well beyond the realm of "any resemblance is purely coincidental."

He couldn't help wondering whether the two worlds were connected somehow.

But at that moment, he couldn't come up with an answer.

This world was different from his old one. There was magic and there were divine arts, and human power had no limits. The so-called gods might simply be humans who had grown unimaginably powerful.

So myths in this world were far more likely to be based on real events than the myths in his old world—though that didn't necessarily mean the Church's version was true. Benjamin was sure that if a mage told the story, the plot would be completely different.

At that thought, he suddenly chuckled at himself.

If this myth really was based on actual events, then it could be considered the origin of this world's very nature. With his current abilities, it was far too early to investigate something like that. He'd been in this world for less than seven days, and he was already reaching for the heavens.

Better wash up and go to bed.

Benjamin felt sleep coming on. He put away the cross, washed up quickly, extinguished the oil lamp by his bed, and climbed under the covers. Before long, he was fast asleep.

Perhaps because he hadn't slept in so long, he slept especially deeply this time. By the time he woke up, it was almost noon the next day.

Someone was shaking him awake.

"Benjamin! Wake up, we're leaving! Come on, wake up!"

Benjamin opened his bleary eyes, still dazed.

"Get up already, stop sleeping! We're going to be late!" The incessant voice rang in his ears, but the word "late" jolted his memories of his life before transmigrating, bringing him fully awake in an instant.

Late... late for what?

Damn, that scared me. I thought I had class this morning.

Benjamin rubbed his eyes and tried to focus. A boy about his age, who looked remarkably like him, stood beside his bed, vigorously shaking him by the shoulders.

It was his younger brother, Grant Riser.

"W-what is it?"

Benjamin stared at him, utterly bewildered.

According to the system's earlier introduction, Grant and Benjamin had a pretty good relationship. Grant didn't look down on him for being useless. But as far as Benjamin was concerned, he and Grant hadn't really spoken yet. The situation before him was completely unexpected.

And what did he mean by "late" and "leaving"?

"You've already forgotten? We're going to war with them today! Quit dawdling or we'll be late!" Grant urged him without hesitation.

G-going to war?

Benjamin's eyes widened and his mouth fell open as he stared blankly at Grant. But Grant looked grave and serious, with even a hint of fervor. He didn't look like he was joking at all.

"..."

Benjamin stared blankly for a moment, then flopped back down and went to sleep.

I must be dreaming.

Fine, let me dream. Just don't disturb my sleep. This bed was expensive.

"Hey! You're still sleeping? Get up, quick!" Grant didn't disappear like someone in a dream. Instead, he shook Benjamin even harder, almost making him throw up.

Benjamin sat up again and opened his eyes.

"I'm not dreaming?" he asked.

"No," Grant replied.

"..."

Benjamin didn't know what to say. He felt completely out of sorts.

He felt that ever since arriving in this world, he had never woken up under normal circumstances. First he was kidnapped by a witch, then he ran into some idiot sleepwalking in the middle of the night. And now, the moment he woke up, he was about to go to war. How long had he been asleep?

...They were really going to war?

"Stop dawdling and get up! Come on, get up, get up, get up..."

"I'm up! Stop shaking me, I'm going to throw up!"

Under Grant's frantic urging, Benjamin still had no idea what was going on, but he could only climb out of bed and let himself be herded into washing up and getting dressed. His head was still spinning, and before he could say a word, Grant dragged him out the front door and sprinted away.

The servants they passed along the way wore blank expressions, as if they had seen it all before.

Gradually recovering from his confusion, Benjamin had no choice but to ask the system:

"What on earth is going on?"

The system appeared at an unhurried pace and replied lazily, "Nothing serious. Just a little activity for the children of nobles."

Benjamin was obviously not satisfied with that answer.

He pressed, "Can you explain what you mean by 'a little activity for the children of nobles'? And what's this about going to war? Are we fighting the children of other nobles?"

"Hmm..." The system seemed to think for a moment before saying, "You could put it that way."

"That's about as helpful as saying nothing," Benjamin grumbled, growing even more dissatisfied.

"Don't overthink it. It's nothing major, trust me." The system sounded completely unconcerned. "Why are you in such a hurry? It's a pain to explain. You'll understand once we get there."

...Could the system really be trusted?

Benjamin couldn't help grumbling inwardly.

The system had already been unreliable, and now he had to add another flaw to the list: laziness.

There was no point asking it anything else. And judging by the way Grant was dragging him along at a sprint, he wasn't in any state to talk either. So Benjamin could only leave it to fate and wait to see where Grant was taking him.

On a street in Havenlight's inner city, two boys hurried past, leaving behind a face full of despair.

Grant wasn't going far. They stopped after running for a short while.

They were still in the inner city, but in a secluded area where hardly anyone passed by. Before them stood an abandoned castle that looked quite old. It wasn't large, but Benjamin was still rather surprised to see a castle in the middle of the city.

About a dozen people stood at the castle entrance. On closer inspection, they were all boys in their teens, dressed like nobles—just as the system had said, the children of nobles.

But Benjamin was still confused and had no idea what was going on.

"What's taking you so long?" someone in the group called as he spotted Benjamin and Grant and walked over.

"We're not late, so what's the rush?" Grant immediately shot back.

The boy didn't seem to mind. He turned and said, "All right, all right. Let's get started, then. Same as usual: everyone spread out first. We'll begin in ten minutes." As he spoke, the group began filing into the castle.

Begin what? What are they going to do...

Though he was still at a loss, Benjamin noticed that Dick Fool was among them.

When Benjamin spotted Dick, Dick happened to look back at him too. Their eyes met, and Dick glared at Benjamin viciously, making a threatening gesture as if to say, "You're dead."

Benjamin couldn't help feeling speechless.

Why was it him again?