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100
Splash.
The relentless stream of water not only drenched Maisen’s body but also soaked the floor beneath him. Perhaps due to the ice-cold water devoid of any warmth, Maisen, who had fainted with foam at his mouth, jerked awake with a start as soon as he was hit by the water bomb.
“Hueurgh!”
And a shrill scream to boot.
His eyes, which seemed to wander in confusion at the situation unfolding before him, soon filled with terror. Not only was his body shivering from being doused with cold water, but he was also tightly bound and unable to move properly. The enormous pressure emanating from the two figures standing opposite him made it difficult to breathe.
He felt like he might lose his mind at any moment. So much so that he thought it might have been better to remain unconscious.
While trying to shake off the fear rising to his throat, a glint of gold flashed across Maisen’s field of vision. Even as he trembled, he wondered about this. There shouldn’t be anything in this room capable of producing such a color.
Due to his dulled thinking, it took a while longer before he realized it was the other person’s eyes.
“N-no way…!”
The undulating black tendrils binding his body, and the owner of those golden eyes using them.
Although he was stuck in a remote village, Maisen wasn’t completely ignorant of the affairs within the Salvation Church. He had already heard rumors several times about someone recently referred to as a nightmare by the Church’s followers.
Overwhelming power and unhesitating actions. Could a Salvation Church follower with almost no combat ability withstand someone even competent knights couldn’t handle? To them, ‘he’ was literally like a natural disaster. An unstoppable, unavoidable great calamity.
Since no one who encountered ‘him’ had survived, his exact appearance was unknown. Recently, as his notoriety grew, information was passed around by word of mouth, but even that amounted to vague details like “brown hair and golden eyes” in this isolated village.
Those unusual golden eyes, rare even among imperials. He thought he just had to be careful of that.
‘The eye color…’
It had changed. The eyes that were definitely black before now shone with a clear golden hue. That color, which some might praise as brilliant or beautiful, felt more chilling to Maisen than anything else.
He had never heard or seen anything about being able to change eye color at will, but facing the reality before his eyes, denying it would only mean rejecting reality. Because that wouldn’t change the fact that the man before him was blessed by the Demon Sword, standing at the opposite end of the Salvation Church.
“I… I should have dealt with them after all…”
All he could do now was regret the past. Regret that he should have dealt with them when the two entered the village, when he felt something was suspicious.
Just as a sigh escaped, lamenting his predicament…
“Aaaaargh!”
Maisen let out a great scream at the terrible pain surging from his toes. It felt as if his entire foot was being pierced through. Maisen’s face turned pale as he looked down at his foot, struggling to catch his ragged breath.
“Kugh, kuk…”
The black thorn completely piercing his foot, the blood streaming from it – it all felt like a dream. His mind grew distant and his vision turned white.
“Who were you going to deal with?”
However, contrary to his wishes, he couldn’t faint. The eerie voice in his ear, the oppressive weight on his shoulder, kept his consciousness tethered. The face he saw upon turning his head abruptly seemed expressionless at first glance, but not the eyes. The rippling purple pupils were filled with such dense killing intent that it was hard to breathe properly.
It was literally death incarnate. He had to keep his mouth shut, unable to even make small sounds of pain.
“Arpel. I’m fine, so please stop.”
So Rohan, who gently smiled and intervened, could only look like an angel. Unaware that Rohan was merely pleased to see Arpel acting on his behalf, Maisen couldn’t help but feel that Rohan was his only lifeline.
Little did he know that in a few minutes, he would be in a terrible state by Rohan’s hand.
* * *
“Kueurgh, ugh… S-save…”
“If you tell us what you know.”
“I’ll… I’ll talk. I’ll tell you everything. Please…”
The interrogation skills previously demonstrated on Kedwin shone once again. Whether to call it excellent or horrific was hard to say. Thanks to those skills, Maisen’s face was so damaged that his initial appearance – bound by shadows and drenched with water – could now be considered neat in comparison.
“Can I come in?”
Knock, knock. What cut between the two was the sound of someone slowly knocking on the door. The one making this unexpectedly clear sound, unfitting for the situation, was none other than Arpel.
The reason he had left the room was simple. Because Rohan had asked him to.
Even if he left the room, it was obvious that he would still hear everything clearly with just a wall separating them. Yet he moved obediently because he couldn’t ultimately overcome Rohan’s rare insistence that he “didn’t want to show the interrogation.”
“Ah, you can come in.”
Only after hearing Rohan’s answer did Arpel open the door and enter, glancing down at Maisen. With his mouth agape and drooling, he looked like someone who had lost his mind.
An ordinary person might have felt a disconnect seeing the gently smiling Rohan as the one responsible for this situation, but not Arpel. The touch lightly caressing his cheek, as if saying “good job,” even carried a hint of pride.
The one-sided questioning began after this brief reunion ended. Rohan approached Maisen, who was trembling all over, and began in a gentle voice.
“You said ‘executive,’ right?”
“Y-yes…”
“You mean an executive of the Salvation Church?”
His head nodded vigorously. Rohan’s expression instantly hardened. He had suspected it since the word “executive” came up, but having it confirmed felt different.
He had once obtained information about the Salvation Church’s executives. Seven executives wielding wraith power, existing since ancient times when evil gods were present. It was clear that they were beings of a different caliber from ordinary Salvation Church followers.
With even one such executive involved, it might be something far more terrible than imagined, possibly planning something unimaginably horrific.
“Tell me everything you know about what’s happening in this village, and the purpose.”
Rohan’s eyes said he needed to extract everything this man knew. Perhaps seeing the burning will in those eyes, Maisen’s body began to tremble uncontrollably like a small animal facing a predator.
But even if his body trembled, he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. If he hesitated even a little, that hand would come close immediately, recreating the hellish situation from a few minutes ago.
Stuttering, a trembling voice spilled from Maisen’s mouth.
“T-this village originally had its own faith.”
“You used that?”
“Y-yes… I’ve been inciting the villagers for a long time. Hic. But the plan only started recently…”
His cowering voice seemed to be grasping for excuses. Secretly glancing around, he hurriedly added:
“B-but I know everything for certain! First of all—”
He added various details without being asked. It was nothing more than a desperate act to survive, but unfortunately, most of the information he provided was uselessly verbose.
“I’m not interested in how you incited the villagers. If there’s no useful information…”
Rohan smiled lightly with his eyes. Though he left the sentence unfinished, anyone could predict what would follow. Seeing Rohan’s gently curved eyes but lips without a trace of a smile, Maisen shuddered and shouted:
“D-device!”
“Device?”
“I-I’m not sure exactly what role it plays, but they said it was the centerpiece of this plan. It’s certain! I remember they said it was a degraded version of a newly developed device from the main church, to test its performance.”
Arpel found a familiar expression in those desperately poured out words. Specifically, the phrase “newly developed device from the main church.”
Hadn’t he heard it several times before? About the device given the grandiose name “Aspiration,” which was meant to store wraith power.
When he hypothesized that the device Maisen mentioned was indeed “Aspiration,” various knots of questions quickly unraveled. The wraith energy filling the village, especially dense in the forest, and the sudden draining of wraith power…
If it not only “stored” but could also “absorb,” it would somewhat explain the strange phenomenon Arpel had experienced. The fog that seemed to be the cause of the curse must have all originated from it.
Yet there was one thing he still couldn’t understand.
“…What purpose?”
If it was just to confirm the normal operation of the device, there was no need to go through such a cumbersome process. Yet the Salvation Church, the executive Maisen spoke of, endured this trouble. Even going to the effort of waiting for Maisen to completely dominate the village over a long period.
“That, I don’t really… It’s true! All I was told was that it was to test its performance!”
Perhaps realizing that doubt lingered in the eyes of the two looking at him, indignation settled in his eyes. It was Arpel who spoke first, in place of Rohan who was quietly looking down at him.
“You seem to have become much more comfortable.”
Wham. Maisen’s trembling body stiffened as if by a lie.
“To tell such lies.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
