Dictator From Outer Space

Chapter 213: The Saintess, the Hero, and Earth

He started to have strange dreams ever since he absorbed the artifact of the prophet.

It was a fantasy planet that was clearly not Earth, and it was too vivid and harsh.

He had to run away from the elves in the forest, and he was crushed to death by a giant robot.

After some time, he was able to fly in the sky.

He dismissed it as a random dream back then, but now he realized that it was Astera.

That meant he dreamed of a distant planet that would take 50 years to reach with a spaceship that had a cruising speed of 20% of light speed.

The mediator who connected them was presumed to be the saintess of the Holy Kingdom of Palma.

According to the information collected by Arma, she received a divine trust, and the whole Palma was looking for a man with brown hair and eyes.

They had visited most of the neighboring countries, and now it was the turn of Baron Vandus’s territory.

Leobold watched the saintess enter his domain through the Sibiri satellite.

“She’s the one who made me dream of Astera. I don’t know how that’s possible.”

It was impossible even with the human technology of 2180, so he had no choice but to bring up the concept of God.

Arma reported what he had investigated so far.

“There are concepts of divine magic and dark magic in this world, besides magic. They seem to have the same origin as ether, but it’s strange that they are divided like this.”

“Maybe it’s like oil. You can extract different types like diesel, kerosene, etc. from crude oil.”

Anyway, according to her, dark magic was used by necromancers and such, and divine magic was obtained by praying to God.

“The more sincere the prayer is, and the more sensitive the ether response is, the more powerful the divine magic becomes. Of course, this is from 200 years ago.”

Now that many gods have died in the dragon war, there are hardly any gods who listen to prayers.

Leobold, who regarded God as a transcendent being, was shocked by this, but it was not so unusual here.

In Astera, gods can die as much as they want.

Then he wondered if resurrection was possible, but there was no information about that.

“Did God die and Zigarion couldn’t use heal? I heard dragons are beings that oppose the gods of Pantheon.”

“Astera Pantheon is a concept that encompasses all gods, regardless of their nature. So it’s just a place where humans gather them together.”

“So there are gods who bless dragons too.”

“Grangber is a typical case, but according to the documents, he didn’t like dragons very much.”

“Maybe because they fly?”

“Grangber is a god of earth and abundance. He doesn’t match with destructive dragons that fly in the sky.”

“He’s petty for a god.”

Anyway, it was certain that the saintess received a divine trust, but it was still debated which god it was.

Arma guessed it was Lasa, the creator god.

“Lasa is more like an origin or a concept than a god. He created Astera, but he doesn’t have much presence. He doesn’t answer prayers no matter what.”

“That makes sense. If other gods answer prayers but Lasa doesn’t, his faith will weaken.”

“Moreover, there is no temple for Lasa among Astera Pantheon. But this divine trust is presumed to be from Lasa, so it’s unusual.”

“Lasa must be the prophet we’re looking for.”

If his transcendent technology revealed by the artifact could create Astera, or even this entire ether universe, it wouldn’t be strange.

Leobold came here to meet him.

But so far there has been no clear clue, so he planned to try various ways to find him.

That included digging out information from the Holy Kingdom of Palma.

“But it’s too early to contact them. We don’t have enough power here.”

He could destroy the whole Astera with the reactive bullets stored in Settler, but he couldn’t do that.

What if he came all this way to find the prophet and destroyed his creation?

He had to build a perfect defense system as he did on Earth, but it wouldn’t take long since it wasn’t that complicated.

“I guess I’ll have to show my duck feet for now. The saintess or knights won’t notice it?”

“According to the investigation list, you are the last one who matches two criteria.”

“Because I suddenly rose up and have a big physique?”

“Yes. But I can’t be sure with that. So the saintess will test you with something only she knows.”

“Lucia drew me a sealing magic circle, so it won’t be a big problem.”

But he couldn’t be sure that there was no other way.

This was the origin of ether, and magic was a field that Arma was not confident in.

“In the worst case, I’ll have to capture them all and brainwash them.”

He hoped that wouldn’t happen.

Leobold got up when he heard the footsteps of Carson, the administrator.

Saintess Veronica entered the lord’s mansion with the guidance of Granden, the royal guard knight of Bagran, and Carson, the administrator.

Her purpose was to find the hero who appeared in the divine trust.

Unfortunately, there were hardly any people who fit the criteria so far.

The conditions in the divine trust were as follows:

—A brown-haired, brown-eyed adult male.

—A young man with a muscular and large physique.

—A person with an amazing ether response that surpasses an elven knight.

—An alien who came on a huge ship that is over 500 meters long.

—Lastly, a person who has a tremendous ability and has recently shown a lot of presence.

These were the conditions known within Palma, and there was one more condition that the saintess did not tell anyone.

But she did not ask anyone about it.

“I’ll ask only when I’m sure it’s him. If he was from Earth.”

But she doubted that he would answer honestly.

The fact that he didn’t look for her after coming to this world meant that he didn’t want to reveal his identity.

Would such a person admit that his hometown was Earth?

Veronica decided to trust the god she worshiped.

She could shake the hero with the knowledge she saw through Hermia’s dream.

She waited while drinking tea, but the lord did not show up.

‘I heard he was a person who emphasized the importance of time to his people…’

Well, a lord was like a king in his domain.

No one dared to criticize him, so it became natural for him to do whatever he wanted.

Especially in this remote area where transportation was inconvenient, this tendency would be stronger.

‘But he has been selling Sardines and giving a lot of benefits to his people with the money he earned from visiting the floating continent…’

Veronica confirmed that Baron Vandus’s territory had one thing different from other territories of Bagran.

It was that there were many facilities for the people.

He dug several wells for public use, and he also provided cooking and bathing facilities.

The population was less than a thousand, but he paved roads throughout the territory to make it easy to move around.

He also spent a lot of money on other facilities and helped his people use them.

It was still lacking compared to Bagran’s capital or other bustling cities, but it was incomparable to nearby territories in terms of convenience.

‘But why is he making me wait like this…’

Veronica looked around the library while waiting, and Leobold was hearing something serious from Lucia.

-She is hiding a very powerful ether. She must have received a blessing from a specific god.

“A specific god? I heard that the Saintess of Palma worships all the pantheons.”

That was because the Saintess represented humanity and served all the gods of the pantheon.

She was not supposed to speak for a specific god, nor could she.

However, there was a possibility that the Saintess was influenced by a specific god, since there were not many surviving gods in the current Astera pantheon.

“So, what god do you think it is?”

Lucia could not answer that.

Soon, Zion came in grumbling and widened his eyes.

“What happened to this room? There are all kinds of messy magic circles spread out.”

“Be quiet and tell me who is controlling the Saintess. You probably know.”

He was a dragon who only ran away, but he must have remembered whose ether it was, since he had faced some crises in battle.

Sure enough, Zion closed his eyes as if tasting the ether and spat out the name of a god.

“Hermina. The god of dreams and illusions. I feel her very faintly, but it’s certain. She survived the Great War because she had little power.”

“Like you?”

“I just avoided risks on my side.”

Anyway, Hermina’s domain was things like dreams, illusions, and nightmares, which made her easy to dismiss as insignificant. And in fact, she was a god with little presence.

The power of the pantheon depended on the number and wishes of the intelligent beings who worshipped them, so Hermina was a weak god.

Saintess Veronica carved magic circles on her body to seal her power.

Her mistake was that she damaged some of the sealing magic circles to make it easier to use her abilities.

Most people would have a hard time detecting it, but Plague Queen and Dragon noticed it right away.

“The god of dreams and illusions. So that’s how I’m connected to her.”

Even though she was dominated by a specific god, Lasa gave her his trust because he was a transcendent being.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Nothing. Just go out for a while.”

Zion was kicked out without knowing why.

Now she had to face the Saintess who had received the blessing of a god alone.

She must have used holy magic, so ordinary tricks would not work.

But if he used an ether blocker, she would notice it.

‘The god of dreams and illusions… Just like I dreamed of Astera, she might have dreamed of Earth.’

Maybe the Saintess would reveal her knowledge to him and try to shake him up.

Her and Palma’s goal seemed to be expanding their influence, so they would attract many believers if they secured a hero from another world.

‘I don’t know what their real purpose is, but that’s what it looks like from their actions so far.’

He didn’t know why Hermina gave her blessing, but it would be revealed soon.

Leobold heard some points of caution from Arma and opened the door to the library.

A woman with silver hair close to white stood up almost at the same time.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Veronica, who worships all the pantheons of Astera.”

“Leobold Vandus. The owner of this domain. Please sit down.”

***

Veronica scrutinized Baron Vandus carefully.

He didn’t look like the hero of trust at all.

The face of the hero she saw in her dream was soft but three-dimensional.

In other words, he was a handsome man who would appeal to any woman.

On the contrary, the baron in front of her was not very attractive with his bulky appearance.

‘His hair color and eye color are completely different…’

In short, she couldn’t find any trace of the hero in this man.

But Veronica thought that it wouldn’t be strange if this man was the hero.

He had been showing his prominence by catching bluefish and landing on the floating continent recently.

It was strange for a hero to do such things, but it would be different if he had some purpose.

‘He came with such a huge ship, so it can’t be an ordinary purpose.’

Where he hid that ship was also a matter of interest, but she decided to focus on revealing his identity first.

She put down her teacup and said,

“Do you know that I’m looking for the hero of trust?”

“I heard so much about it that even though I wasn’t interested, I heard it. So did you find him?”

“Not yet. I met many people from various countries, but I didn’t see anyone who could be a hero.”

“I heard it was a rare trust. It’s a pity. I’m not a hero either, so you’ve wasted your time here.”

He said that with no expression on his face, making Veronica wonder if she had guessed wrong.

But there was still a possibility that he was acting.

She decided to use her own weapon that she didn’t tell the church.

“This domain is the last one. I have plenty of time, so let me tell you how I’m connected to the hero first.”

It was a bad sign when the story got long.

Leobold told Arma to prepare for the worst.

It would be better to capture and brainwash them all than to fight a war with the Holy Church.

‘They are not the kind of people who would leave me alone.’

If he used an ether blocker to prevent information leakage and Arma and the dummy troops intervened, he could subdue them enough.

She loosened her eyes slightly and began to tell a fantastic story.

“I’m connected to the hero through dreams. I saw the hero’s hometown, and the hero must have seen Astera in his dreams too.”

“…”

Leobold’s hand holding the teacup shook slightly, but soon relaxed.

“What changed from when you first saw it?”

“Are you interested?”

“No. It’s a completely different world and I have no reason to go there. What interest would I have? Just…”

He left the rest unsaid, but it was enough to convey that he was just being polite to her.

The Saintess seemed to be completely immersed in her own world, whether she knew it or not.

“It was a very different world from Astera. There were many tall buildings and huge ships and airships made of iron that traveled on the sea and in the sky.”

‘It’s definitely Earth.’

He wondered if she had the ability to extract memories, but it was almost impossible to fool Lucia and Zion.

In other words, it was certain that the Saintess had seen Earth through a human who had been told to stay.

‘I don’t know where Earth is, though.’

“It was so vivid even though it was a dream. The people’s clothes were also very different from Astera. It was very strange that civilization developed so much without ether. Are there gods there too?”

Now the Saintess was looking at Leobold as if she was almost sure.

He took a sip of the cheap tea and said,

“So you saw another world. I hope you enjoyed it.”

“And I’m still seeing it now. It’s changed a lot from when I first saw it.”

You’re still seeing it?

That one word made Leobold’s face stiffen briefly, but soon relaxed.

“In what way has it changed?”

“I don’t know much about that world, but I’m sure it’s in chaos. Many people lived in a huge… really huge structure that can’t be described otherwise. Unfortunately, their lives seemed to be nothing but pain.”

It had been more than 50 years since Leobold left the solar system.

It was not strange that the things he had created had collapsed over a long time.

‘I hoped they would develop around Megacity, but I guess it was hard.’

Leobold didn’t feel much emotion.

Now he was destined to bury his bones in Astera, regardless of his final goal.

He had made some promises, but he didn’t want to go through the journey that took 50 years again.

But the Saintess said something unexpected.

“The interesting thing was that people were shouting someone’s name. Inside that huge structure, sometimes on the barren land, they were shouting for Yu Ji-ha.”

Something was wrong.

It had been 50 years, and there shouldn’t be anyone who still remembered his name.

Of course, he had left a record that was worth being in the history of Yu Ji-ha.

But 50 years was a very long time, and the chances were high that the people who remembered him had died.

Anti-aging treatments only suppressed aging, not extended lifespan.

It was incomprehensible that there were many people who shouted his name, who should have disappeared into history long ago.

‘Or maybe it hasn’t been 50 years.’

At this point, where he didn’t even know if this ether universe was in the same dimension as the universe where the solar system belonged, it was forbidden to jump to conclusions.

Leobold had certainly experienced 50 years, but there was no guarantee that the people of Earth did too.

The Saintess asked with almost certainty.

“Are you Yu Ji-ha? The hero from another world who is wearing the shell of Baron Vandus?”

It was the first time she asked such a direct question.

But Leobold was able to keep his composure because his years and experiences were not ordinary.

“You’ve mistaken me for someone else. I’m not the hero you’re looking for. I’m just a minor noble who worries about how to preserve this domain and make some more money.”

“A real minor noble wouldn’t say that. They would try to impress me and find a connection with the church.”

“So you’re going to label me as a hero?”

After a short hesitation, Veronica shook her head weakly.

“I have no evidence. But my intuition, my heart is telling me that you are the hero. Where did you put that big ship? Is it on the floating continent?”

She said it was intuition, but it was probably Hermina whispering to her.

Leobold said indifferently.

“If you’re talking about Altema, it’s being repaired at the dock.”

A faint smile appeared on her lips.

“I see. Anyway, I’m satisfied with meeting you today.”

She didn’t find any evidence, but it sounded like she would keep bothering him.

Leobold pondered after seeing her off.

“Arma, do you think brainwashing is possible?”

“It’s possible if we insert a special biochip. But I don’t recommend it.”

“Because we don’t know what will happen if we mess with the Saintess under Hermina’s control.”

“Yes. It doesn’t seem like she’ll expose us right away, so I think it’s better to watch her.”

“That’s true. But it was unexpected. That people on Earth still remember my name.”

“It might be a different dimension where even the time axis is different.”

“That’s likely…”

Arma hugged his arm slightly when there was no more talk.

“Do you want to go back?”

“I have a promise to keep. But I have things to do here.”

He wouldn’t go back until he met the prophet and thanked him.

He didn’t even know how to do it, though.

Anyway, meeting Saintess Veronica taught him a lot.

She didn’t leave right away, but looked around the domain.

The attitude of the holy knights was not bad either, so he could make some money while they stayed in the domain.

But rumors spread that Elvrande’s judge was coming here soon, and Palma’s people hurriedly left the domain.

Leobold looked at an elf who entered the domain with about ten elven knights.

He was a handsome man with fine features and jet-black hair that reached his waist.

The balanced physique and eyepatch covering his left eye indicated that he was not an ordinary person.

Tirendel Azus.

He was an elven knight and judge of Elvrande who came to eradicate Altema’s faith.

Unlike the Saintess, he didn’t seem to pass quietly.

“I wonder what nonsense he’ll say. Lead him this way.”