[Vol. 8] Chapter 94: Bowen’s Dream
After getting the confirmation straight from Violet herself, Bevra lowered her head even more, and the curious look in her eyes grew stronger. But even so, she stayed focused on the important conversation.
“Your Highness, Sister Shadow did come by not long ago. But she left the base soon after to take care of something. It seemed to be related to the recent chaos in the Angel City, but she didn’t explain the details, so I don’t know where she is right now.”
“I see… alright then.”
The priestess girl nodded with a bit of disappointment, but she didn’t push the matter. She quickly pointed toward the door.
“We’re short on time, so I’ll get to the point. The Shadow Guard Division must already have some intel about what happened outside. Please sort out the parts that are useful to me. It would be best if you can figure out the full story behind all this, who planned it, and why. Can you do that?”
Bevra, also a well-trained shadow guard, didn’t waste words. She lifted her head and gave a firm nod.
“Yes, please give us five minutes, Your Highness.”
………………………………
Bowen’s Dream.
Bowen Bernard had been having dreams lately.
The sights and sounds of the real world often gave him the strange feeling that they were fake, like illusions. It was as if the dreams hidden deep in his heart were actually his real past.
A past called death.
In those dreams, he saw a world that was both similar and very different. The believers there used powers that were nothing like what people used now. They worshipped a god who seemed almost the same as the one in the real world, but not quite.
The holy light from the Primordial Light was blocked by dark clouds, and the whole scene felt unfamiliar… yet strangely familiar at the same time.
And in that world, he didn’t survive until today. He had already died a long time ago.
In that dream world, Clatius, the leader of the Holy Knights and Bowen’s direct superior, betrayed the light and sided with the demons. To rescue a demon-infected child who had accidentally been exposed, Clatius set up a trap, attacked Bowen from behind, and burned his body to ashes with holy fire.
But because of that, just before dying, Bowen miraculously saw the true goddess. She guided him across the Sea of the Dead and into the divine realm above the heavens.
For some reason, he couldn’t remember what happened in the divine realm or what the goddess’s kingdom looked like. But ever since some unknown point in time, those strange events, full of ups and downs, had started showing up every night in his dreams.
And they were becoming clearer and more real.
It was as if another version of himself, a soul that had already died but had been blessed by the divine, was slowly merging with his current self, crossing space and time. This brought strange and unexplainable changes that he couldn’t put into words.
Bowen hadn’t dared to tell anyone about this. Not his family, not the elders of the Bernard family, and not even his friends in the Holy Knights.
Strange, isn’t it?
After all, Clatius is known as a faithful follower of the holy light. During the recent Fourth Demon War, he bravely led the charge and killed countless enemies. Because of his great achievements, he was promoted with honors and is now a top advisor to the new Pope in the Grand Church. He’s seen as a shining example, noble, selfless, and deeply respected. How could someone like that possibly side with demons?
If that dream were real, wouldn’t Pope Edwina Cecilia, the holy Pope and the goddess’s representative, have noticed something wrong with him?
The memory felt so real, yet it didn’t make sense.
Bowen had never even heard of demon-infected children showing up on the streets of Sacred Star City. That kind of thing simply didn’t exist.
After all, even though the Fourth Demon War was the biggest war in history, it mostly happened east of the St. Bergen Mountains. While some horrifying events like the Masked Demon Disaster took place in Bright Light City, which was in the western side, was never touched by the war.
So how could a demon have appeared there?
It must all be just his imagination.
But…
But still…
Could the goddess herself also be fake?
Some things, even if you say them out loud, probably no one would ever believe. On the day the goddess appeared in the Holy Capital, Bowen had actually come all the way from the distant Sacred Star City to witness the event with his own eyes. Standing in the crowd, he looked up at that holy, beautiful, and noble figure…
At that moment, the blurry figure of the goddess who had guided his soul in his dreams matched perfectly with the divine being who appeared in the sky. It shocked Bowen deeply, in a way he could not describe.
That was when he suddenly realized something, something that made him tremble and even cry with gratitude. This was already the second time he had personally seen the goddess!
If it had all been a fake dream, then no matter how real or perfect it seemed, there was no way it could have shown the true form of the goddess, a being who had never appeared clearly in the world and who no ordinary person could ever imagine or look upon.
After all, human imagination is shallow. In front of a true god, all illusions fall apart instantly.
But… the goddess was real. And so was the dream.
At that moment, Bowen Bernard finally understood.
The dream was not really a dream. It was a real past, something that had truly happened, but had been changed and corrected by some incredible divine power.
In the end, Bowen was just an ordinary Holy Knight with no great talent or background. Even after realizing all this, he still couldn’t fully understand the mystery behind such power. But there was one thing he knew for sure.
The Holy Empire now was more united and more prosperous than the one in the dream. There was no betrayal, no conspiracies, no pointless suffering.
Magic based on faith was convenient, but simply relying on the goddess's protection without putting in any personal effort was not what a true believer should do.
Even without considering the fact that he had "come back from the dead," Bowen still liked the current Church better.
Maybe… that was the gift of the goddess, her mercy correcting the mistakes of those who had gone astray.
And because the great goddess had already shown so much kindness and guidance to the ignorant people, without asking for thanks or rewards, without even leaving her name in history books, Bowen Bernard, as her loyal follower, and maybe one of the few who knew the truth, made a vow.
He would give everything he had to protect her.
He would never forgive anyone who dared to betray the goddess.
Those who abandon the goddess will be punished by heaven and earth!
And that was why he had come here.
"BANG!!!"
Bowen kicked open the front gate, which was already falling apart from repeated hits. He charged in first, with more than a hundred Holy Knights following closely behind. They quickly took control of the courtyard, where the enemy’s guards had already been defeated, and began a careful and organized search.
But soon, the knights started coming back, one after another, with bad news.
“Captain, we didn’t find the target!”
“Reporting in! We’ve searched the entire front yard, but nothing useful found!”
“Same here. All the rooms are empty. The only things left are some big furniture too heavy to carry. It looks like all the valuables were taken away!”
“They ran fast, huh… Damn fake believers.”