The Talkative Villain

“My lord marquis, that was truly a masterful performance. Thanks to you, everything went very smoothly!”

“…A performance?”

Lucy stood there, dumbfounded. The marquis had been shaking so violently that it was hard to believe it had been an act.

“Hm. It was hardly difficult.”

That was only natural, considering the marquis had merely been exhausted from standing too long in the cold with his aged body. There was no way he could have looked more natural.

“And you, sir, are the one who showed remarkable presence of mind by snatching that elf up so quickly. You’re still young, yet your scheming is already quite deft. Kristian, Keiji. You should both learn well from this.”

“Yes, Father.”

Only then did the marquis’s sons realize the connection between their father and Joren, and they watched in wonder.

“Count Tamer’s deception worked beautifully. To think that elf was forced to use the power of Cliad on his own initiative. The holy power we just witnessed was certainly different from the power of Saliad.”

Demis Ezef, too, was impressed by Ho-yeong’s psychological warfare.

“I expected you’d be disappointed in a knight using trickery, but this is unexpected.”

“A rigid man like Demis Ezef has been influenced by our protector and learned to show some flexibility.”

If he had still been the stubborn man he once was, he might have scolded Ho-yeong, and in the worst case, he might even have jumped in thoughtlessly and ruined the plan. But the Demis of now had reached the point where, if he could not actively help Ho-yeong’s deception, he would at least stand by and watch without interfering.

“It is not the count I am disappointed in, but that Lucy Perhela. Not only does she seek to harm the kingdom’s people with despicable methods, she does not even regard it as shameful. As both elf and cleric, she is a failure.”

Lucy gripped her staff so tightly it seemed it might break.

“And you are one to speak of honor? You learned the nature of my holy power through deceit. As a knight and cleric, as a paladin, are you not the one who has failed?”

“Deceit? And what deceit was that? I and the knights did nothing. It was you who proudly displayed your power, was it not?”

“So because you merely stood there, it wasn’t deception? What a childish word game-”

“Naturally, as you said, humans traffic in lies and deceive one another. That is why Saliad created you elves, to build a world without falsehood. But look at the conduct of his own creations now. You claim you merely withheld part of the truth, so it was not a lie? Know shame! If Saliad saw you now, he would surely be disappointed!”

To the trembling Lucy, Demis drove home the final blow.

“And one more thing. A knight must indeed swing his sword with justice and reverence, even before an enemy. But that applies only when the foe is someone who knows honor. As Hariad said, do not offer a silver plate to one who wants to be served on gold. Why must one foolishly cling to chivalry before those who would shake the kingdom apart with treacherous schemes?”

“Well said. There’s no reason to face a trickster with straight-up fairness. A person’s got to have some flexibility.”

Ho-yeong applauded enthusiastically and voiced his agreement.

Lucy’s face, once as beautiful as a sculpture, had twisted into an ugly grimace.

“…How dare you bugs, how dare you join together to deceive me.”

The shattered statue was now being tossed into the incinerator, consumed by fire.

“You keep calling us bugs, but what does that make you, who got tricked by those bugs? Doesn’t that mean your brains are worse than a bug’s?”

Ho-yeong gave a snort of laughter as he replied.

“And what were you trying to say about singling out the minotaurs? It wasn’t as though you used any special detection magic, and it wasn’t like you noticed something odd while looking around. You sounded as if you already knew they were minotaurs from the start.”

Watching Lucy flinch, Ho-yeong became certain.

“The one who sent those minotaurs to the Kihara Barony was probably you, Lucy, or that thing you call your sect. No need to mention it.”

Lucy only bit her lip and said nothing.

“And from the fact that you knew I was coming somewhere other than Gado, it seems you’d already been keeping an eye on me. Well, I suppose that makes sense, since you knew about Edification too.”

“Thanks to you, I’ve learned quite a lot. Thank you for telling me, Miss Lucy.”

Lucy, who had been trembling all over, suddenly began to snicker.

“Keh... keheh. Kehkehkeh.”

“What’s wrong with this woman?”

From between her grotesquely twisted lips, laughter burst forth.

“Kehkehkeh. Kaha... kahaHAHAHAHA!”

Watching her suddenly erupt into laughter, Ho-yeong thought: Ah, I just want to throw a spear at her.

“I can no longer tolerate the sight of these pests acting so brazen. You wretches dare to insult an angel?”

An angel? No matter how he looked at it, she was just an elf.

Ho-yeong found it odd, but decided to stay quiet. Usually, in situations like this, the cleric types would carry the conversation themselves.

“Why do you call the Angel of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Purification a god? And how can you, who are merely one of that angel’s creations, presume to call yourself an angel?”

As expected, Demis Ezef thundered at her.

Lucy looked at him, snorted, and began her explanation.

“The god Iaa abandoned this world long ago. Can you call someone a farmer if he only sows seeds and never tends the sprouts? Can you call someone a parent if they only give birth and never raise the child? Much less some so-called creator who abandoned the world she made. What right has such a being to be called a god?”

The paladins only hardened their expressions and said nothing.

I feel like Rubia said something similar once. Well, in any case, long lectures about theology are kind of a pain.

Ho-yeong had been worried she would start spouting all sorts of difficult jargon, and then he was startled to see Lucy looking at him with open mockery.

“Don’t worry. I’ll say it in a way even your crude bug brains can understand.”

He was surprised that she had read his mind, but anger came first.

Ah, that’s infuriating. Still, let’s at least hear her out. Sounds like she’s going to blab her own organization’s secrets nicely.

Ho-yeong carefully used [Area Edification] to make everyone listen quietly to Lucy’s words.

“Even after that god left, the four archangels remained in the heavens and served as caretakers in place of parents who had abandoned their child. But an angel is, after all, a messenger of the heavens. If the god who should issue commands is gone, what message can the messengers possibly deliver? In the end, caretakers could only ever be caretakers. They could not replace parents.”

Seeing that the gathered crowd was listening in silence seemed to please Lucy, and her tone softened a little.

“No, they couldn’t even do the work of caretakers properly. No angel ever truly embraced people with their own hands; they only let their voices ring aloft from the lofty heavens.”

At this point, Lucy’s anger flared even more fiercely than before.

“In the end, the angels grew weary and disgusted with caring for humans who were not their own seed, so they kneaded life-mud and molded a new race. As you said, the elves were merely the result of that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠crude handiwork. But what happened after that? Even the archangels abandoned their children, just as Iaa had!”

The platinum hair that had once resembled a unicorn’s mane flew up in fury and became a mess.

“Only Hariad, whom you serve, folded her wings and walked the earth with her own feet. Hariad called herself a half-angel, but she alone cared for the world from the lowest place, so she was surely the highest angel of all. But because that base bastard Kain buried the half-angel in this land forever, hope was cut off.”

Her gaze sweeping over the paladins seemed filled in equal measure with jealousy and resentment.

“What did the angels ever give the chosen people of this land? They only laid roads over empty ground and bestowed blessings, then left it alone. They only drove out the monsters, not killed them. They only handed power to those they deemed worthy of belief, and even then they did not give it whole, but made them awaken to it little by little.”

Wasn’t that more than enough?

Ho-yeong desperately wanted to interrupt, but held back. Instead, Paladin Brae couldn’t help himself and cut in.

“How foolish. The angels did so that the people of this land might stand on their own. A wise fisherman does not give a man a fish, but rather-”

“If you’re about to say they taught us how to fish, stop there. The archangels did no such thing. As you said, if you want to teach someone how to catch fish, then if not a fishing boat, at least you should give them a fishing rod, should you not? Surely you don’t mean to say that if one only has the will, one can catch fish barehanded?”

“...”

“If I generously concede your point, let’s say the archangels had some profound intention. But tell me this. If that were truly the case, why did Hariad descend to this land? For what reason did she pass on knowledge and spread civilization?”

Brae was left speechless and could not answer.

Lucy glanced at the hourglass, cleared her throat, and after a brief pause shouted, “It is only natural that the world became filthy once god left and the angels merely hovered above it. Then... is not Cliad, who will purify this land and open a new world, the true god?”

She even spread her arms wide as she declaimed, but no one rose to meet her enthusiasm.

“Didn’t the Hariad you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠worship also say this? ‘If the only light left in a world where the sun has vanished is a single star, then that star becomes the sun.’ Is there any line that fits the current age more perfectly than that?”

Lucy brought Hariad into it, perhaps because she felt awkward.

“If Cliad is a god, then by your own logic, are you also an angel who serves Cliad?”

Demis Ezef answered as though he pitied her.

“Indeed. We who carry out the mission bestowed by the creator of the new world are the true angels. I am Lucy Perhela, one of Cliad’s four archangels, the Guide of the Twilight!”

The paladins, now thoroughly incredulous, hurled condemnation at her.

“What a foolish elf. The half-angel did not compare herself to stars or suns. Do you not understand that she taught us hope shines brightest in darkness? Those are not words for a heretic like you to prattle over.”

“It seems darkness has blinded you so badly you can’t tell a flame from a torch. Cliad, who will turn the world into an ash heap of despair, a sun? How absurd.”

But having finally exposed the face of a fanatic, Lucy felt oddly relieved and paid them no mind.

Ho-yeong, who had little interest in theology, was paying attention to something much more practical.

Four archangels? Like the Four Heavenly Kings? Then there are three more key executives. Since the status window mentioned something about roaming as a western adventurer, maybe Lucy handles the west? The fact that her epithet includes “Twilight” suggests it, anyway. The sun sets in the west.

“For evolution to happen, purification must come first. Only by eliminating your impurities can this world advance to a higher plane.”

Lost in self-admiration, Lucy shut her eyes.

Ho-yeong seized the opening and quickly drew the die from his pocket. The reward he had received from the angel Soliad after defeating FogHog in Rainpa: the Dice of Adversity.

The recommended use Soliad had explained was as a buff: to maximize one stat at the cost of all the others.

But this time, Ho-yeong decided to use it in the exact opposite way.

“Use Dice of Adversity. Target: Lucy Perhela. Stat to be affected: Strength.”

He used it not to buff himself, but to debuff an enemy.

Lucy Perhela’s Intelligence and Spirit stats were as follows.

Intelligence A: 73~87

Spirit C: 52~68 (Trait: steeped in supremacist ideology, she looks down on every race other than elves.)

Both values had a very wide spread. Ho-yeong had deliberately targeted that weakness, fixing her Intelligence and Spirit at their minimum values.

They said each stat contains multiple subordinate abilities. If Intelligence drops, judgment will go fuzzy, and if Spirit drops, caution and patience will both fall. Besides, that woman is already in no state of mind at the moment, so the effect should be even stronger.

Lucy’s Strength would be fixed at maximum, but that was no problem. Since they were only holding a debate and not fighting, it was essentially a free move with no penalty.

“What exactly is that mission of yours? Sorry. I’m just a crude swordsman, so I don’t really understand.”

Ho-yeong made aggressive use of Lucy’s supremacist ideology.

“How utterly stupid you are, Joren Tamer. Still, I’ll indulge your recognition of your own inferiority and tell you. Our mission is to exterminate the pests that overrun this land, all races other than elves, and cleanse the earth. You are filth; we are the purifiers.”

As expected, Lucy answered very obligingly.

“You mentioned these archangels. So does that make the sect leader some sort of archangel himself?”

“He is the Archangel. The leader is the light who guides us purifiers. Without him, the elves would still be wandering the darkness, having lost all meaning in life.”

Ho-yeong had his bearings now.

As expected, there’s a boss above the Four Heavenly Kings. From the way she talks, this sect leader is definitely the one brainwashing the elves.

Since he was at it, it was time to ask something even more important.

“The one who handles the Totem of Unity is that Archangel too, isn’t he?”

“Yes. Only he, with the most unwavering will, can wield the totem... Wait, how in the world do you know about the Totem of Unity?!”

Lucy realized her mistake, but it was already too late.

“How utterly stupid you are, Lucy Perhela. Well, thanks to you, I learned quite a bit, so I’m grateful. Thanks.”

“You... how dare you...!”

“Come now, loosen up that face. You look less like an elf and more like a hellspawn from the underworld.”

Having his own words thrown back at him, Lucy’s face blazed like the fires of hell.

“So that settles it. The sect leader really was the culprit. But that sect leader might just be a fake boss as well.”

“…A fake boss? What do you mean by that?”

“You just said it yourself a moment ago. This fake god called Cliad or Clitopia or whatever is going to make a new world. Now I understand why you’ve been putting on this whole act, summoning monsters from afar and kidnapping children.”

Ho-yeong smiled at Lucy, whose laughter had vanished entirely.

“It’s to bring Cliad into this world, isn’t it? Obvious, really.”