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The illustration on the next page showed five small beans left by the baby bear. Eight to the left, five up. Rohan, happily receiving Arpel’s pat, began counting the squares on the bookshelf.
“Hmm… it goes beyond the ceiling.”
The problem was that if you count five squares up, it would exceed the number of shelves. Arpel, who had been staring at the ceiling silently, answered instead.
“The ceiling is slightly lower than the building size we saw from outside. There should be some space left above.”
The code using the baby bear could only be understood by looking at the illustrations in a book that seemed meant for young children. Unless someone frequently visited the bookstore, they wouldn’t easily notice that the ceiling height was considerably low.
Although it was quite random and seemed like a light puzzle rather than a code, it appeared playful enough to be a good method for hiding important documents in a small town.
Rohan brought over the ladder from the side and climbed up until he could reach the ceiling. With a slight push, the ceiling, or rather just that specific part, lifted up, revealing enough space to poke his head through.
After briefly inspecting the inside, Rohan turned his head with a smiling face.
“I found it.”
The two quickly left the bookstore. Thinking that Rohan and Arpel were investigating Bint’s disappearance, the old man even added, “See, there’s nothing worth getting, right?” as he watched them hurry out.
Only after they had moved far away from the bookstore did various books and documents pop out from the shadows on the ground. Arpel had to stare blankly at them for a moment.
“…More than we expected, right?”
Rohan’s smile was sheepish.
In the end, the two had to do some unexpected reading, leaning against the bushes on the outskirts of town away from people. Arpel, who had been reading the text mechanically, pressed his brow with a faint sigh.
Clearly, he shouldn’t be able to feel pain, but his eyes felt like they were about to fall out. It might have been just a feeling, but it wasn’t particularly pleasant.
“Before beginning this research, I want to make one thing clear. The term ‘Evil God’ is a name given by forces envious of Him for the purpose of denigration. I declare that my ultimate goal is to correct this misconception.”
The same words were always written at the beginning of what appeared to be his personal research journal, excluding referenced books.
Most of the content that followed was a distortion of history. Not only did it describe the past when the continent suffered great damage from spirits as “part of salvation,” but it also declared that the Celestial God and Demon God were the world’s evils who feared His power and drove Him out to the edge of the world. And the Salvation Church, which worshipped Him, was portrayed as the hero of the century.
“The origin of the Salvation Church is the seven executives who directly accepted spirits into their bodies. In the era before our god was falsely accused and driven out to the edge of the world, the executives personally experienced that time.
According to records, no one has ever directly seen the faces of the executives. However, the intense power of spirits felt from them will clearly prove that they are another savior of the world.”
“This is boring.”
Arpel, who had been carelessly flipping through the pages of another document, turned his head. The grumbling voice seemed to come from right next to him, and sure enough, Rohan had pressed his body right up against Arpel.
He quite agreed. The texts that only listed praises for the Evil God and the executives of the Salvation Church were just unpleasant.
Arpel patted Rohan’s back as if to comfort him. As Rohan’s head gently rested on his shoulder and his disheveled light hair settled on top, Arpel found it hard to concentrate. The perfectly legible text on the paper seemed to be flying around.
“The power of spirits that allows one to live for nearly an eon is surely a great blessing to humans…”
His efforts to concentrate were in vain. Finally, he closed the research journal he had been reading and put it aside, and Rohan, who had been silently leaning against him, smiled brightly.
From the weight felt on his shoulder to the endless outpouring of affection, and all the silent whispers asking for attention. It was impossible to concentrate. Arpel willingly gave in to Rohan’s wishes and followed along.
In the end, the two didn’t leave their spot until the day had completely darkened, busy with their playful interactions.
***
“We spent all day running around in circles trying to find places based on that messy map…!”
Leriana had been sharply questioning the two for a while now, but the two people listening to her story didn’t seem particularly interested. Each time this happened, her face grew more indignant.
Casia was too busy examining the research journal Rohan had brought to spare any effort to look after her. Despite her sulky expression, Leriana finally exercised patience and suppressed her irritation.
Unlike the two who had been fooling around in the shade until late, Leriana and Casia had a hard time finding the places marked on the map. The map was a mess, and since the surroundings had changed slightly, they couldn’t fully trust it either.
Leriana, who had somewhat improved her mood with a plentiful dinner, suggested moving at dawn today. She argued that they had already obtained everything they could from this village, and there was no reason to waste time.
It was certainly true, but…
“…Someone’s following us.”
At a time when most people would be asleep, the four who had easily slipped out of the inn building without a sound were heading towards the fruit shop on the southern outskirts of the village that Leriana and Casia had checked out earlier.
“They’re slow. Probably a civilian.”
Arpel frowned slightly. It quickly smoothed out as Rohan tilted his head and whispered softly while gently rubbing his brow, but the uneasiness remained separate. Eventually, the four significantly increased their running speed to shake off whoever was following them and were able to easily enter the inside of the shop.
“Who…!”
As expected of a secret passage, someone was guarding it. With the frustration of having been made to wander around the village for nearly two days, Casia struck the man’s face with the hilt of her sword. The body that had fainted in an instant collapsed to the floor.
“I’ll say it again, Lord Rohan. You mustn’t kill everyone. And even if you do kill, please end it as cleanly as possible.”
Casia spoke while carelessly wiping off the blood slightly stained on the tip of her sword. It seemed like she was subtly reproaching the incident from last night, but Rohan just nodded with an unchanged expression. Casia’s gaze, which seemed surprised by this docile response, lingered on Rohan.
When they moved one large fruit box that was inside the shop, there was something that looked like a narrow attic door on the floor. Beyond the door that opened with an unpleasant creaking sound, a ladder leading down was visible.
“Ugh, the smell.”
Leriana grumbled softly. There was an unpleasant and damp smell reminiscent of a sewer. The space must have been quite large, as voices echoed.
Belatedly, orbs of light created by holy power floated around. The surroundings that had been completely dark gradually became more visible. Of course, it wasn’t of much use to Arpel and Rohan, who had eyes that could pierce through even the darkest surroundings.
Even the sound of lightly moving footsteps echoed loudly. Just as they were walking along the path that stretched out, a loud noise was heard from the opposite side.
—-!
It was a sound that came endlessly every night. Someone screaming as if their vocal cords were about to break, and wailing, begging to be saved.
Arpel, responding to Rohan’s emotions, transformed into a sword on the spot. It was just a moment before Rohan, holding the sword, sprang forward without hesitation. Casia, who had been staring blankly at this scene, belatedly realized the situation and gritted her teeth.
At this moment, even she couldn’t suppress her killing intent. Despite being the one who had said not to kill everyone and to take lives as cleanly as possible.
“Let’s go, Sia!”
Seeing Rohan’s back as he moved quickly forward, Leriana called out to her, seemingly having felt something. Her face even seemed to hold a hint of impatience.
The screams of unknown individuals overlapped with the shouts of others. Rohan calmly cut down the people blocking his path. Although there were some who used aura, perhaps hired as guards, they were no obstacle to Rohan.
Unless they were executives who could directly use the power of spirits, most of the cult members focused on research and experiments, so their combat ability was rock bottom. Casia even felt remorse for those who were falling helplessly.
To think that so many people were suffering at the hands of these bastards. More accurately, she was angry at herself for not being able to prevent it.
“Hee, heek…!”
Now only one person remained.
As soon as Rohan, who had been cutting people down mechanically without any emotion, turned his head and directed his gaze, the old man collapsed, his legs trembling.
“Is this the only one left?”
“Probably.”
“We should keep him alive for interrogation.”
“…Arpel, you can come back now.”
Rohan gently tapped the tip of the sword, which was clean enough to make it hard to believe it had just been in battle. Arpel, who immediately returned to human form, didn’t even give a glance to the person fainting at the sight of him.
“Ha. Haah… So. Are we going to put this person in the shadow?”
Leriana’s breathing was particularly labored. It was due to running continuously without rest and repeatedly subduing and cutting down the attacking believers.
Casia looked at Leriana with concern, but Leriana deliberately ignored her gaze and asked Rohan. She strongly felt that she didn’t want to receive worry when she was the only one out of breath.
It was then that they heard someone hurriedly running from right behind them. The sound of retching, probably due to the nauseating smell of spilled blood, vividly traveled down the path.
“…Father?”
The person who finally arrived was familiar.
A man in the same shabby appearance as before stared intently at the old man who had collapsed. His eyes were filled with disbelief, shock, fear… various emotions rushing in all at once.
At that moment, all four of them focused their gaze on the old man before them. They probably all had the same thought.
This person is ‘Bint’.
