Journey to the nation of Commieku

The nation that Ace was taking me to was where the regulators operated. This nation was meant to be extremely poor due to the curse. People were scared and holed up in their houses. I wonder if my healing would work on them.

I do understand that the nation might be against Gods and religion if they have been suffering for years.

Apus, Ace and I were on a carriage pulled by two horses. I didn't know what to say since Apus had just lost her dad and was accused of murdering him so I didn't want to accidently say anything insensitive.

"Care to tell us about the world you come from?" Ace started to conversation to get rid of the awkward silence.

"Sure. Anything in particular you want to know?" I responded.

"Since you're the apostle, how about your life? Why or how you became an apostle?"

I could answer honestly but I had no way to predicting his reaction. Actually... I want to know his reaction.

"Well... I grew up in an extremely religious family so, a lot of things were forbidden. I could not go to other people's places if they were from different religion so... I couldn't really make friends. I wasn't allowed to eat whatever I wanted, wear whatever I wanted or look however I wanted. I decided to give up on religion altogether and became atheist. All my class was summoned but I got to meet all 4 gods and they decided to make me the apostle because they agreed with my world view."

"All four...?" Ace was confused.

"Yea. Deoni, Kilmari, Jeyma and Viniga. Basically, they created everything and wanted humans to figure it out using the knowledge granted to them."

"HUH!? Shoving the responsibility onto us?!" Ace sounded appalled. "They created all the suffering and want US to figure it out?! If they want it figured out then why create it in the first place? Sounds sadistic to me,"

"My world is far far advanced and even we are miles from figuring out diseases."

"So you had given up too but then why go back to them?"

"I think my world view was... biased from my personal experience but I think I understood why I was wrong. We need religion for now because it teaches morality. If you focus too much on science, you could lose the morality. For the sake of research and development, some scary things happened back in my world. Too disgusting for me to even state them. There is a limit to what you can do and religion is a good way to put that limit. There is no need to eradicate religion but to regulate it. It gives hope to people when they are down. So... in conclusion... it is needed but again to a limit."

"You've experienced the lack of religion so I think whatever you have to say is important but... I wonder." He sighed.

"But Sunri told me you were extremist religious group who wanted to get rid of me but you're anti religion...? Was his information wrong?" I asked.

"I would not trust head hunters as they serve the Friar directly. Sunri is more cut off from everything so I would not trust his intel."

"I see." I sighed, I should be more careful with how take intel in. Ace isn't exactly someone I trust but given the situation, I'm not in a position of defying him really. He can kill me at a moments notice but instead he is trying to recruit me.

...

It had been yet another week of us travelling through absolutely nowhere. As far as my eyes could see there was only endless forests. I had been away from everyone for about 3 weeks now and it had been over 2 months since our summoning. I think I'm getting used to this life more and more.

Our journey was meant to be a long one so on the way we decided to fight some boss level enemies and help me level up.

We were finally in the dungeon of wind based boss level enemy. It was level 50, way over-levelled compared to previous bosses I had fought.

"So, do me a favor and use fire magic. We will use steam reactions." Ace said before jumping in alone.

I did as told and created fire balls and started throwing them at the monster while Ace stood there and thrusted his swords into the ground and out came a shark made of water. It dwarfed even the monster and left no way for it to dodge the shark. And in just one hit, the boss was killed.

It all happened too fast but one thing I knew was Ace was leagues above NIGHTFALL. There is absolutely no way we could ever dodge an attack of the scale. He came back smiling and stretched a bit.

"That was easy. I was hoping for more but that's what you get for being weak." He said and handed me the loot.

HOW IS HE THE WEAKEST?! I couldn't wrap my head around it. There is no way he is the weakest, right? He has to be lying. Maybe I should just ask him.

"Ace... that attack... how are you the weakest? It makes no sense."

"Huh? I joined in late. I'm the youngest member and so unlike others, my fighting experience doesn't span over hundreds of years. If I were to fight them, I would have really hard time. The ascendants have three unwritten divisions. Number 7 to 13 are in same power scaling, number 4,5 and 6 are another group and then top three are almost god-like. It doesn't matter because in ascendants, we are all treated the same by his majesty. For example, number 7 is Verga. She is more of a diplomat so in terms of strength she isn't much but when it comes to politics we can't hold a candle against her." He chuckled.

"I see." I looked at the loot and wondered what I had gotten myself into. "What do you need to do to become an ascendant?" I asked.

"Cross level 50 but then you have to keep up with the demands of his majesty or else you can get demoted. All 13 of us have unconditional loyalty towards his majesty so we often have to work together even if we don't like it."

"So, it's pain in the ass after you become an ascendant?"

"Yup!" He responded as we went back to the carriage.

...

While Apus and Ace engaged in a small conversation, I stared outside the carriage at the scenery of endless forests when we got ambushed by a group of treasure hoarders. Ace and I jumped out of the carriage leaving Apus in to ensure her safety. There were roughly over twenty of them but Ace picked up his two swords and attached them by the handle and turned them into a bow and started shooting arrows made of water at them. A single one was enough to kill the treasure hoarders except a big man who managed to take on of the arrows.

Ace smiled at him and broke the bow back into two swords.

"Finally someone who can withstand my arrows. I'll let you run as fast as you can." He said before jumping back into the carriage.

Whether against a group or single enemy, Ace seemed unrivaled for now. There is absolutely no way I could win against him whatsoever... Maybe NIGHTFALL together can defeat him.

"Can you tell me more about your majesty?" I asked.

"Glad you asked! He is the best. Most loving and caring of his people. Because of the curse, he hasn't been able to attend parties in other nations and that has ruined his reputation but he doesn't care. For him, his people are more important than international reputation. He is roughly 4,000 years old but doesn't look a day above 20. I was found by his majesty too and he asked me to join the regulators when I was 15. In just seven years I became an ascendant. Something that hadn't happened for last 500 years. I broke the record, haha. His majesty was pleased and gave me this weapon he won in a war that happened almost 4,000 years ago."

Can I expect this king to be a sane person?

So far, Ace didn't seem like a bad person to me but there was something about him that made me keep myself at an arm's distance from him. I think I'm just scared of his strength.

"Enough about me! Now tell me about you. How did you end up dating three girls?"

"Isn't three like normal?" Apus asked but I shook my head.

"The world I come from isn't that used polyamory anymore. As for how... Rosaline and I fought in a city square and I won the duel. We became a team after that and as time went on we spent a lot of our time fighting monsters and I think that got us close. In case of Leisha, she already wanted to marry a summoned one and I just so happened to stick out to her because of Rosaline and Kristine and I were friends from back in my own world."

"Ah! I see. From what I know, Leisha's kingdom is currently under threat. It's best if she stays at the academy or else she could get targeted."

"What happened?" I asked.

"Well... y'know one of her suitors wasn't happy with her dating you so he started a military coup. Things people do for love... But they overtook the rule of the kingdom and now are trying to expand it to other nations. In last two months, they've increased their landmass by 12% by destroying small tribal communities that can't defend themselves against the military state."

"I see... Does she know of this?" I asked.

"Not yet according to my network. You should tell her after your journey is over."

I nodded.

"You've never seen elves, right? Here is a village of them. We should rest here." He said before the carriage turned to go deeper in the forest. After about 30 minutes, we were in a village with the houses being made on the trees and bridges connecting them. There were many fireflies that made the entire scene feel fantastical. There were dark elves walking around living their lives when they noticed the carriage and stopped in their tracks.

Ace got out of the carriage first and explained something to one of the male elves and then asked us to come out too.

"Ah! I see that Ace has finally brought some friends over." The man laughed,

"He is Barty. One of the guards around here. And he is Kenji, a friend of mine." Ace introduced us. I don't know when I became his friends.

"Ah! I see. So you want to fight a boss level monster? There is an electro one here if you want to fight that thing it would be a great help to us."

"Sure thing! For payment, let us stay here for a while." Ace responded.

Barty had a hearty laugh hearing his words.

"Of course! Ace, you can stay here whenever or for however long you want. And your friends are now under our care so rest assured."

I wonder what kind of history they have. We were taken to our guest house. It was big enough for all three us to live in separate room. For now, I'll rest and then tomorrow, we will fight an electro monster named 'Persolec'. It is a bird-like monster known for its speed. We need a person who has shield to fight the thing.

I laid on my bed and went to sleep, next day would be a lot of work.