Only Wisdom Awakened - Chapter 147

Chapter 147: Apostles’ destiny
Caelan had now become twelve, in the past five years, his sister had passed down to him both the passion for ice magic and the love for the ice goddess.

He came to know how the goddess always looked after the nation’s citizens and granted whatever wishes were in her powers.

He had reached the incredible seventh circle, an unimaginable level, that had not ever been reached by anyone in the history they knew of.

Even his father and his sister, two incredibly powerful ice mages, had reached the seventh tier respectively at eighteen and fifteen years old.

His sister was probably the strongest person on the continent, but she always disappeared somewhere, and returned a few days or weeks later, saying she had gone to solve some things for the goddess.

The adult Caelan, who was watching the memories with Hans, told him:

“I always used to ask her where she had been, and when she didn’t simply refuse to answer me, her reply was always the same:

‘Caelan…

Gods are almighty beings, but even they are afflicted by emotions.

That’s why peace never reigns even in the skies.

But you know, gods do not have the right to do many things…

And whatever they can not do… we have to do.

Remember it well, because it will be your role in the future’

One day, when I began to listen to her words as advice instead of boring talk, I noticed something that didn’t make sense in her phrase…

“Wait… sister, why do you say I will have to do it too in the future? I am sure you will probably outlive me even if you’re already becoming old”

Pinching his cheek, his sister replied:

“Look at this brat’s courage, to think he would dare tell a woman that she’s getting old…

I may have been too soft with my etiquette training.”

“Auch!

I’m sowwy, pwease wet go!”

Said the boy, trying to free himself from the pinch.

When she let go of his cheek and took the question seriously, she finally told me the truth.

“Hey Cae, why do you think the goddess chose our lineage?”

“Because of our special ice magic control?”

“Bang!”

She hit him in the head.

“Ahhh!”

“Have you not been listening to me for all these years? She was the one who improved our ice magic control!”

“Uh… then… our constitution?”

He answered the question and put his hands up, trying to parry a second incoming hit.

But she didn’t hit him, she instead began speaking once again:

“Yes, that’s right, our constitution is what makes us valuable to the goddess.

…

But why did you try to defend a second hit?! Was that just a lucky guess?!”

Feeling the pressure on his skin, the boy lied blatantly:

“N-no, of course not”

“Yeah… that better be it.

Anyway…

As I was telling you, our constitution makes us valuable since we have a special body that is able to withstand the cold up to extreme temperatures.

‘What does the god need a body that can withstand cold for?’ you ask.

It is not for her but for her powers.

You see, even if we, blessed by the goddess, receive some of her powers, I, as the apostle, inherited all her authority and abilities.

For that reason, even if I am only an eight-tier mage, I could still easily beat Father if he was here with us.

But such powers require a price to be paid.”

“A price? Do you have to pay him in gold-”

The boy stopped speaking, as his sister removed the long white gloves that had been covering her arms for the past few years.

He had never seen her remove them, but when he did, he understood the reason why she had kept them on for all that time.

From the tip of her fingers, almost all the way up to her shoulders, her arm was covered in ice.

“Wh-what is this?!

What is happening? Have you been too cold lately?

I will go to the village right now, I will get some hot soup, I’m sure it will heat you up!”

“Cae… stop it, there’s nothing that can be done.

This is…The price that has to be paid.”

“What? What does that mean? Does it hurt? are you okay?”

“I am… fine.

As long as my heart is not frozen, I will be able to live on just as always.”

“Is this really the grace of a god? Aren’t you just going to die?!”

A sweet smile appeared on the woman’s face.

“Cae, it is death that gives value to life, I am happy to have lived my life like this, and most of all, I am happy I met you, my little brother.

Death does not scare me, because I know I will just have to wait for you up there when it’s my time to go”

The boy was on the verge of crying, but his sister grabbed his hand and got up from her seat.

“Come with me, I have something I need to show you”

She led him halfway down the frozen mountain, where veiled by a fake wall of ice, was a door that opened to the interior of the mountain.

There, a great hall was dug, and inside of it was only one thing…

Statues.

“This is…?”

“These are all the ancestors who have guarded the temple before me, they have also served the goddess just as me.

Even if it might seem cruel, being frozen could be perceived as a sign of immortality.

Even if frozen, as long as my will is passed down to you I know my thoughts will last forever, and everyone who searches for me will know he can still find me right here.

It is not so bad after all.”

The boy admired all the people in the room.

“Sister… why are they all… so young”

Not a single one of the statues looked older than thirty years old.

“There is no way you will be as young as them right? Please tell me it’s the truth…

Please…”

The woman closed her eyes.

“B-but, it’s still only on your shoulders, and it’s been many years since it started”

“It gets exponentially worse, it has been less than six months since it reached my elbow, and it is already almost at my shoulders”

“Then… how much do you have left?”

“About… a year”

After hearing this, the boy’s legs gave out.

…

“When I discovered my sister was ill, I began despising the goddess.

With time, that thought of mine vanished, but when my sister died, and I became the apostle, I still held a deep hatred for the goddess.”

…

Two years after the death of his sister, Caelan had attained the peak of the eighth rank, surpassing his sister, and almost stepping into the realm his father had achieved in his late forties.

At that time, the goddess called him for his first job.

…

“I made a vow which cannot be broken even after my death, I swore to never reveal what happened during my missions, I will not.

But I can at least tell you that I had to fight, and not spar, but fight fiercely for my life.

When I came back after a month, I was already prepared to create my ninth circle…

Two years passed, and when Caelan turned seventeen, most of the world was thrown into chaos once again.

The final fall of the empire occurred after the destruction of the great noble houses, and all the remaining refugees gathered in the north.

Many humans had joined Hans with her and had been given powers in exchange for their emotions.

The remaining humans found themselves defenseless against the emotionless beings, the crazed beasts, and her minions.

Every battle they fought was lost, and the borders of uninhabitable land were widening every day.

Right at that moment, the boy was released into the outside world under the order of the goddess to save her believers.

….

“Why couldn’t you intervene earlier? I’m pretty sure that even while being in the low ranks of the ninth tier, possessing the goddess powers no monsters would’ve been able to handle you.”

Said Hans, talking to the adult Caelan who was standing right beside him as usual.

“That is what most would think, but you have no idea how powerful Her followers were at the time, not to mention the fact that if she had gotten directly involved then I would not have stood a chance.

But that wasn’t the most urgent matter, the problem was that the ongoing fights with the other gods were not coming to a stop, and she could not risk leaving herself defenseless in times like those”

“Did something change then?”

“Yes, I cannot reveal much, also because I do not know much myself, but during that time, a group of gods decided to create an alliance to stand strong against the dangers that threatened their existence.”

“Threatening the existence of a god?!

Could it be…

the beings who have destroyed your world?”

“I believe so”