Chapter 213: Progress. (3)
–It’s Deculein. You’re watching too, right?
On a mountain range not far from Barahal, Ellie scratched her head while reading Elesol’s signals.
“…Yes, I’m watching. I think there’s something bad-“
Wham-!
Elesol smacked Ellie’s arm.
“Eey, it hurts…”
-If there’s something bad, you can just burst them to death.
“…It’s not like that.”
Ellie looked across the land again. Barahal was a headache even for the Demon Blood. They were a cult who worshipped the Altar, so Ellie and Elesol were dispatched to get rid of them.
-It’s not the first time that Deculein has shown that kind of cruelty.
Elesol built a prison under the desert for the Demon Blood. She intended to detain the Altar worshippers in there.
“But still, there’s no gas chamber in Rohalak. The Professor has kept his promise.”
-…Forget it. You’re no different from the clan who was brainwashed by the Altar. Let’s go back for now since we’ve already secured the chief’s recruit.
Elesol signed, and Ellie looked to the fainted clan leader of Barahal.
“Okay, but…”
Elesol and Ellie planned to track the Altar based on the information in his head. The last alternative for the Demon Blood was the mutually a.s.sured destruction that Elesol strongly insisted on or the Altar’s collapse that Ellie pushed for.
“Elesol, let’s wait a bit longer.”
-Why?
“…No reason.”
Ellie watched Deculein’s back from far away as he was walking gracefully through the carnage. She smiled a little and muttered.
“I want to watch more… ack!”
Wham-!
Elesol knocked on Ellie’s head this time.
Bam-! Bam-! Bam-!
Several times, like knocking on a gourd.
“Ack, ack, oh, and also, also, there are a few more we need to take.”
Elesol narrowed her eyes and asked back.
-We’ll take?
“…Yeees.”
-Which ones?
“Exactly as I said, the innocent ones.”
Ellie let out a small sigh as she looked below.
***
Barahal’s resistance was boring. No, perhaps the royal guards were too powerful. There were only a handful of combat priests to fight back, aside from those religious groups worshipping the Altar. The latter wasn’t much different from civilians.
“Professor, what should we do with them?”
The knight with a star on his chest asked about the unarmed Demon Blood captives. Aside from them, all the other combat priests were killed. But, their bodies didn’t explode like before.
Applying Psychokinesis to a human body meant controlling the blood that flowed in them. Therefore, it wasn’t only difficult to burst the body of a combat priest who honed their mana and had magic resistance, but I also didn’t want to do so in the first place. It didn’t match my dignity.
“…Deculein?”
Ihelm spoke. I glanced over the faces of our captives. Men and women, young and old. Each of them looked frightened, but their composition seemed to be malformed.
“That’s strange.”
“What is?”
I examined the village of Barahal. There were many small buildings such as houses, shrines, shops, schools, and more.
“This village…”
Then, a voice came from somewhere and cut me off.
“There’s no children!”
Everyone looked over to see a man with small eyes approaching. He was wearing priestly attire and had slicked-back hair.
“…Tsk.”
I immediately thought of a certain Named and clicked my tongue. Even if you didn’t know the game scenario, he was quite a famous figure in this world.
“Men, women, young, old. Everyone is here, aside from the children.”
His name was Roseph, the youngest son of the Mest family, where the Emperor’s mother was from. He turned to religion when the Empress, his sister, was a.s.sa.s.sinated, and he was a formidable Named. He was related to Sophien, and his ranking was close to a cardinal.
“Am I right?”
His eyes drew a line, making his face resemble a fox’s.
“…”
He looked at Ihelm and me silently, and with his hand behind his back, he trudged up and leaned in close to the captives.
“Are you scared?”
The captives kept silent, but there was a small hope in their eyes. Maybe it was because of Roseph’s priestly attire. It would be different with religious people; maybe they would be saved from the barbarians that wielded swords and magic. Such insignificant expectations.
“Even while being terrified, I admire your hearts for hiding the children.”
Then, one of the prisoners nodded thoughtlessly. Roseph smiled brightly.
“Yes, they have a child.”
Then, the mumbling Roseph looked back at me.
“Track them down.”
The captive’s bodies shook. He was always smiling and had a voice of perfect kindness, he was a sly man who could never be fully understood. The most closed-off religious man on the continent, Roseph was that kind of Named.
“By the way, are you thinking of taking all these captives with you? I think it’s better to kill and bury them together.”
Buried together? One captive fell and began to writhe.
“Please, the children…! The children have not sinned-“
“They have.”
Roseph mildly cut him off.
“You made them.”
His voice was filled with warmth as usual.
“They have sinned for having false faith pushed on them. Having false faith is worse than having no religion, so having faith alone is a great sin.”
His words continued to wash over them.
“You pa.s.sed on your sin to your children. And your children will also pa.s.s them onto the future generations.”
The captives listened with vacant eyes.
“I have a responsibility to end the pa.s.sing on of evil.”
At that moment, a dagger flashed out of Roseph’s sleeve. The tip of the blade flashed coldly to pierce the neck of the captive who begged, ‘Please forgive the children.’
“Kugh!”
He fell, clutching his neck, croaked, and died. Roseph looked back to the knights.
“What are you doing? Didn’t I say that sinners are hiding nearby?”
“Oh, yes.”
Each of the knights put their ears to the ground. With their sensitive hearing, they could locate their hideout from even the smallest echo.
“Stop.”
I stepped up. Roseph and the knights turned to regard me.
“Get up.”
One by one, the knights rose. Ihelm tilted his head with a weird expression.
“…Professor?”
Roseph asked back. I glanced at him and bent one knee to place my hands against the ground. Iron Man had advanced one level so that I could sense the clear shaking of those around us. I imbued mana through the soil.
“Hey Deculein, what are you going t-“
-!
Their senses were shaken as purified mana penetrated between the boards and fragments of their hideout and destroyed the core.
Boooooooom-!
The result was an earthquake. All the facilities in Barahal collapsed with a roar. Houses, stores, schools, farmlands, tents, wells, stables… every small structure was swallowed by the earth, and in just a minute, it turned into a wasteland of only dust and ruin. Their lives disappeared in an instant.
“This should be enough.”
I looked back at Roseph.
“…”
He was blinking vacantly as he looked around Barahal.
“…Yes, it’s the perfect spectacle to call divine punishment. The children should have left their sin by now and moved on comfortably.”
“This-!”
Another captive rushed up. Of course, he couldn’t take one step before a knight sliced off his head.
Tak-
His expression was locked in a grimace of anger and despair. Roseph was smiling as usual.
“As expected, you are as I’ve heard, Professor. A role model for this generation. Firmly eradicating this perversion of faith-“
“Let’s go back.”
I cut him off and turned away from Barahal.
“There is nothing more to do in this dirty land.”
***
We were on the way back from Barahal, stopped in the big city of Makan for a while.
“It’s the same every time I come here. Don’t you think so? I came here for a field trip at the academy before, but it’s still the same as then.”
I ignored Ihelm’s chatter. He changed the subject with a click of his tongue.
“Hey, is that guy okay? What kind of priest kills people with a dagger?”
Roseph walked naturally along with the knights and would brightly greet each resident he met.
“There will be many things to do in the future.”
The deeper you went into the second half of the main quest, the more you became involved with the Demon Blood and the Altar. In one such quest, he slaughtered ten thousand Demon Bloods at once.
“Is that so? Well, he’s related to Her Majesty. Although he said that he cut off his connection with them.”
As I walked along the streets, I noticed a potbellied person in the distance. He approached the front of our procession and pointed at me. After that, a royal guard approached me.
“Professor, that person says that he has something to say to you. I’ll just send him back-“
“No, tell him to come. You guys go first.”
“Alright.”
The group headed to the hotel first, and I stayed with the potbellied man. He was laughing and sweating.
“What is it?”
“Ahaha, Professor, I have a message for you.”
“Speak.”
“Yes, uhm… I think there’s a house that is hiding a group of Demon Blood.”
Certainly, he appeared to be a whistle-blower.
***
“It’s here.”
The pot-bellied man, named Jack, led me to a two-story building in the city’s center. The first floor held a store, but the second appeared to be a residential area.
“I’ll go in first.”
“Yes, of course. Haha.”
I walked around slowly to examine the building. I chose a small pa.s.sage in the back to go through.
“…”
Beyond the pa.s.sage, there was a small lawn. A ragged doll lay in the gra.s.s, alongside a dog playing with a ball.
Baa, baa, baa—
The dog let go of the ball and came to me. It seemed to like people, but it was having difficulty breathing because it was old. Then.
“Relin~, you should take the ball… humph.”
A small and beautiful voice. I looked up, and the child stopped in surprise.
“…”
The child was cute but otherwise ordinary. However, her complexion was ashen. Was it because of my face that she was so preoccupied with, or the various medals adorning my lapel from the recent conquests?
“Is that your dog?”
The child answered in a cold sweat.
“Oh… no. It’s the landlord’s…”
“Do you live here?”
“Uhm…”
“Is the dog’s name Relin?”
“…Yes.”
“It’s a fitting name. It will suit him more if he gains weight.”
I glanced over at the child. She was holding a book.
“Do you like books?”
“…What? Oh… yes…”
“Do you know me?”
“…Yes.”
I nodded. The child was shaking with fear in her eyes.
“How many people live in here?”
“…What?”
“How many people live here?”
I searched the child’s face.
“…Five, six…”
“Be honest.”
Tears were welling up in her eyes. Her legs were shaking, and her bangs were soaked in sweat.
“Ten… eight…”
“Nineteen people are living in this small house?”
“…”
This child was probably a Demon Blood. I didn’t know why she came out. Was she worried about this old, half-dead dog, or did she think she wouldn’t be questioned here? However, this child wasn’t brainwashed by the Altar.
…Would I have killed this child if there was even a small trace of the Altar visible?
“There’s nineteen.”
I looked up at the house again. It was too cramped for that many people to live in.
“Oh, no, it’s not. It’s… nine people.”
I sneered at the child, who belatedly corrected herself. Her shoulders flinched.
“What is that book?”
“…What? Oh, this… diary.”
“Diary.”
I took a step away from the child. She would have been scared if I had moved closer.
“Take this.”
I returned the ball using Psychokinesis, and I gave her a book.
“Agh.”
“You look talented in magic.”
“…What?”
Talent could also be seen using Vision. It was the simplest way to use it, and this child’s magical talent was clear. She would become a Named.
“Go inside. There will be a blood inspection soon, so you shouldn’t come out for a while. It would be better if you hide underground.”
“…What?”
I turned around without a further word. I could feel the child’s gaze, but I didn’t look back.
“Ah, Professor, have you confirmed it?”
Jack, who was waiting outside, shuffled into the alley. I nodded.
“…Then, you must know, the people hiding here like rats are Demon-“
“How do you know?”
I cut him off and asked back.
“What?”
“It would have been risky confirming they are Demon Blood by their appearance. Did someone inform you?”
“…Oh, no, there’s no one. It was just a suspicion. Why are they hiding-“
“How do you know they are hiding?”
The news of Betan’s invention of blood magic was still not publicized. Therefore, the only way for the general public to distinguish Demon Blood was through an uncertain appearance. He was taking the prestige of the Yukline lightly by betting on that uncertainty and coming to me.
“That’s, uhm, I…”
I examined his face, his expression, and the movement of his eyes.
“I found out through an independent investigation… I’m certain they are Demon Blood. Don’t they look so?”
He was lying.
“Really?”
“Yes, that’s right!”
I pointed at the holster on his waist.
“Is that a revolver?”
“What? Oh, yes. I’m taking the role of a vigilante. Haha.”
I took the revolver with Psychokinesis. When I opened the chamber, I noted it was loaded with live ammunition.
Clack—
I pulled the firing pin.
“What do you want by reporting Demon Blood?”
“What? Oh, ehem. What I want is… I did not report it because I wanted something; it was for security. I am trying to partic.i.p.ate in the election for the head of the vigilante for the city….”
I looked around. Thanks to this guy coming into the alley, I couldn’t see anything.
“Did you say your name was Jack?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll ask you one thing.”
I cast Silence around us.
“Do you worship the Altar? Did the Altar tip you off?”
Jack’s eyes began to tremble.
“Haha… how can that be?”
He laughed to deny it, but his body was honest. He didn’t even ask back what the Altar was. There was no need to hesitate. I pulled the trigger.
-!
A silent bullet pierced his forehead, and his huge body slid down against the wall. I placed the revolver on him.
“You are garbage.”
Now that I had cleaned up the trash, it was time to leave.
…No. Before that.
“…”
I looked back for a moment.
-…
“…”
Elesol had her mouth open. Confused, she tried to make sense of what she had just witnessed. Deculein reached the house where several Demon Blood children were hiding thanks to that pot-bellied man.
Then he met a Demon Blood child. Her sun-tanned skin with freckles marked the natural features of a Demon Blood. She didn’t look like Demon Blood to anyone else, but if she caught Betan’s attention, she would be investigated.
But did Deculein think she wasn’t a Demon Blood? Or he knows but just let it slide? He exchanged a trivial conversation with the child… rather, he gave her a gift and left, then instead killed Jack.
“…”
Elesol moved her fingers unconsciously like she was talking to herself.
“What are you doing?”
Ellie, who suddenly appeared, placed her hand on her shoulder. Elesol trembled like a cat.
“It’s me.”
Ellie was smiling brightly. She moved her hands while looking at her.
-Do you want to die? Where were you?
“I took the children and came here.”
-Children.
Elesol frowned, and Ellie smiled happily.
“Yes, children.”
-Where?
“Where? Barahal.”
-Barahal?
“Yes.”
Elesol’s frown spread.
-Deculein killed all of the children there.
“Nope, he didn’t.”
Ellie answered quietly and shook her head.
“The children were safe, although they swallowed a lot of dirt.”
-…
This time as well, her words were unintelligible. If you had seen the huge earthquake that Deculein caused, you would have thought that even the pa.s.sing animals caught up in it were dead.
-How?
“The Professor keeps his word.”
-Explain.
“The Professor told me that children are innocent. So, he doesn’t have to kill them.”
“…”
Then, Elesol stopped signing. She turned her head to look down the alley. Deculein had already disappeared, and only Jack’s body remained. Elesol pointed over.
-Ellie, dispose of that body.
“Body?”
-Yeah.
“Where… oh, okay.”
Ellie used Stride and quickly approached the body, but when she tried to move it… she found a note under Jack’s feet.
“…Oh.”
A single sentence was written on the paper. Ellie blinked as she read it.
“Huh…?”
Her stomach felt strangely hot, and her eyes were moist. Like if she was cutting into a fresh onion, but there were no onions.
[Ellie, I still remember your name.]
“…What is it?”
It was a note left by Deculein. But, Ellie still didn’t know why she became like this when it was about him. She might not ever know.
“What’s wrong with me?”
The concept of emotion was still vague for her. She had lived without it for too long.