Episode 399

I almost dug at my ears because I thought I had heard incorrectly. I stayed quiet while wondering what this bastard was talking about.

Then his voice continued. "If you are interested, let's talk directly. I will be waiting."

Despite being trapped in a cell, he spoke like someone hosting guests in a mansion.

This time, I laughed because it was so ridiculous. The Dark Pope was saying he would teach me how to attack the demon king if I went to the top floor. What kind of bullshit was this?

I was puzzled about the sequence of events that couldn't be understood with common sense and decided to think back on things.

I wondered if my original assumptions had been wrong in the first place. If I changed just one premise, Nebellik's nonsense would turn into the truth.

He isn't the Dark Pope.

I thought about it for a moment. Then I realized that it would take far too long if I tried to figure it out alone. As such, I had to consult the only person I could share the current situation with. I went straight to the infirmary.

Verita asked, "Brother? What's going on?"

"Something happened. It is a very troublesome thing."

"Hm?"

"Wait a minute."

I checked the surroundings once. For some reason, I thought that Nebellik could be eavesdropping on the conversation right now.

It was somewhat simplistic, but I was forced to release mana to form a barrier, creating a makeshift soundproof space. A being sensitive to mana would likely guess that some secret conversation was happening inside, but that was still better than letting the actual conversation be overheard.

Then I briefly explained to Verita what had just happened. By the time I finished, she also looked a bit confused. Perhaps even this eccentric person thought the current situation wasn't normal, or I had simply given her too much information recently. It was most likely both. Either way, I took the time to observe her somewhat new expression and organize my thoughts.

Then Verita muttered something strange. "So... Are you asking me for my opinion now?"

"That's right. You know the church better than I do."

So that was the reason for her surprise. I thought to myself that she was very hard to read. Normally, she was overbearing and willful. Every time I asked her for a favor, she acted as if she would happily rip out her liver and hand it over on the spot, and I meant that literally. In contrast, she seemed to feel awkward or embarrassed whenever I showed this kind of trust, as if she'd been caught off guard.

She told me, "I will think about it for a moment."

"Yes. Take your time."

"I am done."

"What?"

"First of all, I think it will be good to listen to him."

I tilted my head and asked, "Really? Do you think he isn't the Dark Pope?"

"I think you need to have a conversation to find out. We don't know anything about the man called Nebellik. That doesn't mean the prisoner's information stored in the punishment building is wrong. It means that the content written there has nothing to do with the essence of this man."

"Mm..."

"I think we should get to know the other person for now. You can at least gauge the extent of his true intentions if you try to deceive him."

"Can we really know? I've talked to him a few times, but he is more insidious than expected. It is like walking through a fog with flailing arms and legs. Hmm, I'm not sure that is the right metaphor."

Verita nodded firmly and said, "You are doing well."

"Huh?"

"If you want to know about an unknown enemy, you have to walk through the fog personally. Simply put, if the Dark Pope intends to use us, they might deliberately provoke or anger the demon king, or provide us with a method that actually strengthens demonic power."

"Wouldn't you realize immediately if it was such a ridiculous method?"

"Not at all. For example, there is a record in the church's evil scriptures: We offered three hundred cups of infant blood-infused wine to the Blood Moon, which he should have been most delighted in, but we were only greeted with his wrath."

I frowned at the disgusting words I'd just heard. It really drove home the fact that the Dark Church members weren't human at all. They were just beasts wearing the disguise of people.

"Until recently, most people at the church preferred human sacrifices. Then they realized that it wasn't absolute. I understand now. Gods have a way of thinking that we can't comprehend. That is why they are gods."

I listened quietly.

Verita continued, "That means there are countless things to consider in the rituals. The types of sacrifices, the timing and number of the church members at the time, the characteristics and tendencies of the priests who preside over the descent ceremony, and even the content of the ritual performed immediately beforehand all factor in. Thus, the scriptures of evil add new verses every time a ritual takes place. There is only one exception."

"The Dark Pope."

"Yes." Verita nodded calmly and continued, "Only the Dark Pope knows the right worship ritual. Most church members only understand demons superficially. It could be said that they only gain partial awareness when they are priests."

"Then even if the Dark Pope tells us how to defeat the demon king, we have no way to confirm whether it is true or not."

"Indeed. But I just told you, didn't I?"

I exchanged a strange look with Verita before frowning. "Don't tell me..."

"That's right."

"No. No way. I somehow became a priest, but I've never seen the evil scriptures or whatever."

"The content of the scriptures is important, but the more important thing is aptitude."

"What do you mean?"

"I have heard that a priest can intuitively feel what they shouldn't do for their own god. That is regardless of whether they have knowledge or experience."

I knew the likes and dislikes of my eldest senior brother, no matter whether it was enjoying sleeping in late or sipping bland green tea like it was plain water.

However, I didn't feel like I had any sense of what Tantata, Hadenaihar, or even that Ahop guy liked or disliked, or what made them angry.

"If I am going to be yours, I would rather just play with Tantata."

No, maybe that wasn't true. I recalled the time when I'd provoked Hadenaihar at the academy. Back then, I didn't know anything about the Blood Moon Demon King, but the words I uttered without much thought had made Hadenaihar nervous.

If I wanted to deliberately anger someone, it went without saying that I needed to know them well. In other words, I could be said to know the demon kings well.

Verita said, "I think you seem to have gained some ideas."

"Mm."

Still, I wasn't sure that was right. Just because that cheap provocation worked, it didn't necessarily mean I could think, "I angered the demon king! I can control his emotions!"

I thought, If it really doesn't work out, perhaps I can ask Lise.

Lise seemed to have some knowledge of demonology. If I couldn't figure it out, consulting her could be the right method.

I concluded my thoughts and made a decision. "Okay. Then I'll go and listen to him in person. Verita, you eavesdrop from the monitoring room."

She asked, "Aren't there other guards there?"

"Not now. They all said they felt bad hearing the strange noises and left."

"I understand." Verita watched me leave and took a quiet posture of prayer, saying, "Brother, please be careful."

Of course I would. I didn't want to die or regress.

I was about to head straight to the top floor, but just in case, I stopped by the monitoring room and grabbed the Black Dragon Fang.

Eventually, I arrived at the top floor. I was visiting this place for the first time in a while, and was greeted by the smell of blood and rotting corpses.

I glanced at the room where Gustav was. That was the source of the smell. I could still hear faint sounds inside. He seemed to have eaten more guards than I thought, or perhaps they were prisoners.

I don't know if it is Tantata or not, but I'm sure it is a demon.

Ordinary humans couldn't do such a thing. Even if they committed cannibalism, they wouldn't be able to eat such a large amount overnight. It was clear that Gustav had become a strange being. The only thing that could cause such physical mutations was a demon.

I resisted the desire to peek into Gustav's room and headed straight to the cell where Nebellik was, opening the door.

He was still wearing a straitjacket and remained restrained in the middle of the room. The blindfold, muzzle, and chains wrapped around his entire body were the same as before.

I said in displeasure, "Put away your acting."

The still-bound Nebellik shrugged and spat loudly. The muzzle fell off and rolled onto the ground. He asked, "Was it that obvious?"

Anyone who wasn't a fool would notice. This guy had been speaking aloud just moments ago, but now he was wearing a muzzle again. I looked at him with scorn and Nebellik chuckled.

I told him, "You could've just taken off the restraints and blindfold as well, you know."

"The muzzle just happened to come off. I am still completely helpless and restrained."

Yeah, right.

Nebellik asked, "By the way, did you come alone?"

I answered, "Yes."

"Why?"

"The others are crazy right now."

"Really? I thought there was at least one person as good as you..."

Indeed, there was. Surprisingly, the most intact one at the moment was Jisal, who was in charge of the punishment unit. I didn't know if his mentality was stronger than expected or if there was some other reason.

However, for some reason, I thought that the person the Dark Pope was talking about wasn't Jisal, but someone else. Maybe he was talking about Verita, who was eavesdropping on the situation right now.

Maybe I'm just overthinking.

Nevertheless, this guy seemed to have noticed my presence in the monitoring room. There was nothing strange about him knowing everything that happened in the tower even in this state.

"You said you would teach me to attack the demon king out of nowhere. Does this mean you are willing to acknowledge that the newly arrived Gustav is a demon king?"

"Your tone is a bit strange. Anyone would think that I was in charge of this situation."

"Then let me ask you a more straightforward question. Are you the Dark Pope?"

Nebellik smiled widely enough to show his teeth and said, "You are asking the most useless question in the current situation. So what if I am the Dark Pope? Does that change the value of the information I will give you?"

"The value won't change. However, a lot will change depending on what you have in mind."

"So you want to know my intentions," Nebellik muttered before wiping away his smile. "I like that. Okay. I hope for one thing: my death."

I said nothing.

He continued, "Is that hard to believe? Well, it might be. But I will die with peace of mind if you can get rid of the demon king who descended here."

"Why?"

"It is my long-standing wish. I have wanted death for a long time. No matter whether you believe it or not, that is the truth."

"It is hard to believe."

"I guess so. Then I need to be a bit more honest too. You are right. I am the Dark Pope. The ones on the top floor are my main bodies—hmm, should I start by explaining the main body of consciousness? If you get rid of them I will die..."

With this, the Dark Pope started to provide information about themselves. It was the greatest secret that a priest of the Dark Church, Vice Principal Obi, had shared only with me.

I was unsure how to follow the flow of the conversation. I suddenly had a headache and closed my eyes slightly.

Then the Dark Pope paused for a moment and changed his track. "In order to gain your trust, I will need to prove two things. First, I am the Dark Pope. Second, I truly want death."

"Yes."

"First of all, how can I prove that I am the Dark Pope? How can you believe me, Luzard?"

I frowned and said, "I heard that the orders of the Dark Pope are absolute in the church."

"That's right."

"Then you must also have the power of life and death over all the church members who infiltrated Rahild."

"That's right."

"Order them all to die."

As I spoke, I realized that this request was quite unreasonable.

In the first place, it would be a dilemma for the Dark Pope. They had to prove they were the Dark Pope to earn my trust, but to earn that trust, they needed to kill dozens or maybe even hundreds of followers. In addition, many priests had infiltrated this labor camp where a competition was taking place. It was absolutely unreasonable for the Dark Pope to order all of them to die.

"Well, okay. Let's see... That's it. They are all dead now."

"What?"

"All 212 church members who have infiltrated the Rahild labor camp have just taken their own lives."

"Mm..."

"Shall I go into more detail? 188 church members, twenty-one disciples, and four priests... No, there are three now. In any case, they all took their lives."

I could only look at the other person in astonishment.

The Dark Pope smiled and continued, "Then, shall we have a more honest conversation now?"