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“...Then has it also been confirmed that Evan is the vice-cult leader?”

“The cult leader is a sacred position in the Church of Darkness. There’s no way someone like a high priest would lie about such a thing. It’d be like if we impersonated a god.”

I see...

“...But if Evan is the vice-cult leader, then is his father, Doz Helvin, the cult leader?”

“We don’t know anything about young hero Evan’s birth, and it’s not important. The trickery of the cult is beyond our understanding.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you know about recessive genes?”

“No.”

“Simply put, it is when the ancestor\'s genes don’t show up for many generations. Your father is one of the best examples.”

The Lord of Blood and Iron?

“The family head shows more of the black fairies’ characteristics than his siblings.”

Now that I thought about it, that did seem to be the case.

“The Dark Cult Leader is an ancient monster who has been alive for at least a few hundred years, and no one knows his identity. No one could have guessed that seeds sown by that monster a few hundred years ago would begin to bloom now.”

So...

Hundreds of years ago, the man called the Dark Cult Leader might have hidden his identity and formed a relationship with a house’s ancestor?

I couldn’t help but laugh at that.

“Wow. That would shake the bloodline supremacists of the Great Houses.”

“They don’t like to talk about it, but most people are aware of the possibility.”

I paused before continuing, “Are you going to kill Evan?”

Junian looked at me.

I couldn’t tell what she was thinking as I looked at her half-closed eyes.

“Without the vice-cult leader, the ritual will fail and the demon lord will rip apart the high priest without us having to do anything. It is the only way to salvage this situation.”

“But if Evan isn’t the vice-cult leader...”

“Are you defending him?”

“...”

“No, I do not think that is the case. When I first told you, you weren’t surprised. Did you suspect it yourself as well?”

It might be obvious, but one of the main jobs of a heretic inquisitor was carrying out inquisitions. They didn’t just hunt demons; they also had to master psychology.

“Of course, unrelated to that, the responsibility will fall entirely on you. The reason I told you this is simple. It wasn’t to gain your permission—I was simply checking.”

“Even so, I think just killing him is too hasty.”

Juniang looked at me.

“You, how many blessings did you receive?”

“One.”

At that, Juniang seemed to think for a moment.

“Hmm. Did you say it was too hasty? That might not be the case, especially for you.”

What was she talking about?

At that moment...

I felt something warm around my nose.

“...?”

When I instinctively wiped it away, I saw blood.

“Huh—”

Then I felt vertigo.

I nearly collapsed, but I held myself up by pushing against the wall.

“It appears that it is having an effect. Well, it’s impressive that you were able to hold on for so long with only one blessing.”

“What do you...”

“When the ritual enters the fourth stage, the demonic energy of the demon lord starts to spread out into the surrounding area, and those with low resistance—that is, low demonic resistance—are affected.”

“...Demonic resistance?”

“I’m talking about blessings,” Juniang said as she looked at me. “Those with fewer blessings will be the first to die. You’ll be among them since you only have one blessing.”

Juniang exhaled smoke.

Fuu.

“It’s simple. If you don’t kill, you’ll be killed instead. Nothing difficult, no?”

“...Hmm.”

Was it really like that?

I felt resistance to Juniang’s words.

It wasn’t a simple sense of rebellion. It was more like I was missing something.

I waited for my dizziness to settle down a little. Once I’d recovered slightly, I said, “How much longer will I be alive?”

“...”

At that, Juniang paused and looked at me.

Her expression hadn’t changed at all, yet she also looked a little surprised.

“...Who knows? It’s different for each person, but if your nose is bleeding, you’ll die within the next six hours.”

So I had about a quarter of a day?

I looked at Juniang.

Only a cleric who received a baptism can truly prove their innocence...

In any case, this woman had shared a lot of information with me to make me accept her.

In that sense, I needed to show at least a bit of sincerity as well.

“Rook Bednicker has hidden himself within the training camp.”

“Rook? You mean the captain of the Iron Blood Knight Order?”

“Yes.”

“That person has hidden himself within the training camp? And more importantly, how would you—”

“I heard it directly from Sir Asad.”

“Hmm...”

She looked at me with doubt in her eyes.

I had no choice but to raise my middle finger to show her the ring.

“You’re not suddenly flipping me off, I presume.”

“Of course not. Please look at the ring. It’s a magic item I received from the family head.”

Juniang narrowed her eyes.

“A ring... It’s definitely not an ordinary item.”

“Right?”

“And supporting your words, there is someone that fits.”

Someone that fits?

“One of the knight instructors showed extraordinary skill. I continued to observe him because I wanted to see his level, but I was never able to catch him.”

“Who was it?”

“A knight named Koor.”

“Koor...”

Rook backward...

...That was the fake name he’d used?

“Is he dead?

“You saw the communication crystal as well. The knights went out to patrol before the incident happened. Of course, the high priest said he killed them all... but it might not have been all of them.”

“What if Captain Rook is still alive and joins the battle?”

“...”

Juniang unexpectedly started to seriously consider the situation.

“Against the demon lord’s retribution, even the Instructor of the Hunt died instantly, unable to react... but the Iron Blood Knight Captain should be able to put up a fight. And if others attack the high priest during the commotion—”

“...”

“Our chance of success doubles... no, maybe triples.” Juniang looked at me as she said, “But the odds are still bleak. Killing Evan Helvin is a much simpler method.”

“When people always walk down the simple path, they are bound to suffer even more later down the line. And we’re not even completely sure that Evan is the vice-cult leader.”

“...”

Juniang looked at me.

She seemed to be thinking about whether she should just ignore me or try to persuade me.

“...Six hours.”

“Pardon?”

“Within six hours, prove that Evan is innocent. If you can’t, then I’ll just kill him.”

Honestly, given her position as an instructor, Juniang was giving me a good opportunity with quite a bit of leeway.

I nodded.

“Let’s do that. Then I guess finding Knight Captain Rook is our first step?”

“Sure. If the communication crystal’s recording is true, then he went to Area A-3. Let’s go there first.”

“Got it.”

After the conversation ended, as we were about to leave the room, Juniang suddenly made me an offer.

“Luan Bednicker, have you ever thought about becoming a heretic inquisitor?”

“...This is kind of sudden.”

“You stood before me during the last lesson as well. Aren’t you interested in this line of work?”

Now that I thought about it, I had done that during the subject selection.

She remembered.

“It’s not that I don’t want to... but why are you giving me the offer?

“We’re always looking for more people. We’d welcome someone like you.”

“What do you mean, ‘someone like me’?”

My mood lightened a little because I thought she saw me in a more favorable light, but then Juniang raised her index finger.

She spun it next to her head in a circular motion...

“Someone who’s gone insane.”

“...”

I’m not joining you.

* * * * *

* * * * *

Juniang said she had something to prepare in her room, so I returned to the first floor by myself.

As soon as I came down, everyone naturally looked at me, and I could tell that these awkward kids hadn’t said a single thing to each other since I’d left.

Hector asked, “You’re here. What did you talk about?”

“We discussed what we were going to do next.”

“Couldn’t you have had that discussion here with us?”

That was true.

He’s sharp.

While I was thinking about how I should respond to him, Sellen thankfully changed the subject.

“So? Did you come to a decision?”

“I think we’ll be able to find someone who can help us, so we’re going to move toward him first.”

“Someone who can help us? Who?”

“Rook Bednicker.”

At that, Hector became very surprised.

“The knight captain is here? Are you sure?”

“I don’t know. I just heard about it as well.”

“From who?”

“The Instructor of Doctrine.”

Of course, I was the one who had known about Rook, but I had gotten Juniang to agree to use my story.

—Why should I do that?

—I think it’ll be more trustworthy if the source is an instructor instead of me.

—That’s true.

Thankfully, Juniang had immediately accepted the plan.

As expected, they didn’t doubt my words.

“The knight captain is here... With him, the high priest won’t be a problem,” Hector said.

He was wearing a bright expression I hadn’t seen on him in a while, and the others had similar reactions.

The Iron Blood Knight Captain Rook’s reputation was greater than I’d thought.

And around this time, I glanced at Evan for a moment.

I had been observing him since our first meeting, but I honestly didn’t know anything about him.

I didn’t know whether he truly had nothing to do with the cult or was just clever enough to hide it well even from me.

“Evan, how is your condition?”

Evan wore a bitter smile.

“It’s not bad, but it’s not good either.”

“I see.” I smirked. “Don’t overdo it. You look terrible.”

“Thanks.”

Then, I sensed a gaze.

Charon was looking directly at me.

What, I mouthed, but he turned his head away.

What?

***

After the Instructor of Doctrine came down, we immediately headed for Area A-3.

We checked the map and saw that it was rather close to the field.

Of course, since demons were roaming the forest, it took an hour for us to get there when it usually would’ve taken us ten minutes.

...Hm.

I could feel my condition becoming worse and worse as time went on.

Because I’d learned the Strongest Fire Technique, my condition was affected by the state of the sun...

I was in a similar state to when I’d been stuck inside a sunless cave for a week.

“You look terrible.”

Even Sellen, rough as she was, was worrying about me, so there was no need to say how I looked.

“...Yeah. I think I ate something bad.”

“That’s true. There’s nothing worse than those energy bars.”

I was getting tired, but I could still walk, so I didn’t fall behind.

In the end, we arrived at Area A-3.

“This...”

“Hm.”

As soon as we arrived, a gathering of knight’s corpses greeted us.

Looking at them closely, they didn’t seem too damaged, and they all looked like they’d died from a single hole through their body.

They seemed to have suffered the same fate as the Instructor of the Hunt.

“...Let’s look around here for a moment. I don’t think there are any demons in the area, so spread out and search.”

At Juniang’s order, we immediately spread out and began our search.

Rustle.

I headed in the 9 o’clock direction and quickly found another corpse.

The cold corpse looked similar to the other ones I had seen, but this knight had a hole in his forehead.

I furrowed my brow and imagined that wound in my mind.

Could I block that?

An attack that neither the knights of Bednicker nor the Instructor of the Hunt had been able to block...

Even so, I knew that this was the demon lord’s “divine retribution” attack.

Knowing the attack in advance made a difference, so I thought that I might be able to block it...

But since death would greet me if I was wrong, I thought about it more.

I think I might get a sense for it if I see it myself.

I couldn’t be certain with just what I’d seen through the communication crystal.

After that, I found a few more corpses, but I didn’t discover anything new.

Rather, my feeling of uneasiness continued to grow.

Rook didn’t die as well, right?

If that wasn’t the case...

I stopped and turned around.

“What’s up?”

Step.

Through the dead grass, Sellen appeared.

Since it was someone I knew, I wasn’t startled, but it was still unexpected.

Hadn’t she headed off in the complete opposite direction from me?

“I have something to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“Are you close friends with Evan Helvin?”

“What?”

It was a random question.

As I looked at her with a furrowed brow, Sellen responded, “Charon told me.”

“About what?”

“What you talked about with the Instructor of Doctrine on the upper floor.”

“...That guy? Did he overhear us?”

I hadn’t sensed his presence at all.

“Charon said he has the Blessing of Chiroptera.”

Chiroptera... Bats?

I recalled that bats had incredible hearing.

I’d never expected a blessing like that to exist.

I took note of Sellen’s expression as I said, “What are you trying to say?”

“Evan Helvin probably is the vice-cult leader. I’m almost certain of it.”

“‘Almost certain’ doesn’t mean anything.”

Sellen had a serious expression on her face.

“Now’s not the time to joke around. We need to follow the advice of the heretic inquisitor when hunting demons. No, even if that wasn’t the case, I agree that we should kill Evan Helvin. So... if you don’t want to do it, you don’t have to,” Sellen said with darkened eyes. “I can do it myself.”