Chapter 49
Chapter 49
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: Conspiracy
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Puyol opened the door to the room that Abbot Manoli used as his office.
The abbot, who had been staring anxiously at the flickering candle, jumped to his feet when Puyol entered.
"Yol! Where have you been? It's about time you showed up!"
Puyol waved his hand dismissively.
"My name here is Puyol."
"No one's around to hear."
"People's habits slip out naturally. It's fine to accidentally call me Puyol when you should say Yol, but not the other way around. So call me Puyol from now on, even in private."
"This isn't the time for such trivialities."
"Trivial? I think it's quite important."
Abbot Manoli shook his head and bellowed.
"Drop it. Didn't I tell you not to bring outside matters into the monastery?"
Yol leisurely sat in a chair, savoring Manoli's outburst. After enduring Cardinal Lorenzo's gruff scoldings, this honest anger felt refreshing.
Yol asked casually.
"Have you spoken with Jade—no, 'Jayden'?"
Manoli calmed down a bit and sat back in his chair.
"Well, they call him a genius out there, but he seemed ordinary. More importantly, is the order from the 'higher-up' definitely to 'kill' him?"
Yol nodded, then asked.
"Where is he now?"
"Probably in his room."
Yol nodded seriously once more, then suddenly burst into laughter.
Manoli watched his abrupt laughter with a bewildered expression before asking.
"Why are you laughing?"
Yol tried to explain but laughed again.
Manoli waited with irritation evident on his face.
"Forgive me. You'll understand once you hear my story. As you know, about a month ago, I left for Gerba on the 'higher-up's' orders."
Manoli didn't know that the 'higher-up' Yol mentioned was Cardinal Lorenzo. He vaguely suspected as much but wasn't reckless enough to ask outright, 'The higher-up you serve is Cardinal Lorenzo, right?'
In his youth, Manoli had raped around twenty village girls, got caught, paid off his sins with a hundred gold hass in Lotican, and begun his monastic life. Over the decades, he had steadily buried his past, built connections with bishops and abbots, and now stood as a proper abbot.
He was an old man with at least that much sense.
"But our paths crossed, and I missed him. I lay in wait at the entrance to Rom and missed him again when paths diverged. So I snuck into Father Daniel's house, and guess what? Paths crossed once more. I ended up killing Father Daniel for nothing."
"Oh dear. Among the clergy I know, he seemed the one most likely to live longest—only to die by your hand!"
Manoli gave a wry smile—not out of sorrow for Daniel's death, but as if lamenting a lost bet on his longevity.
"I chalked the first to bad luck, the second to my misjudgment. But after the third time, I thought differently. Someone was interfering with me! So I had to use every method at my disposal."
Yol omitted mentioning the Cap bandits and desert demons.
"Hoping to snag even the hem of this elusive prey..., praying his luck wouldn't overwhelm my abilities. I was staying here briefly, preparing the next plan. Wondering what route Jade might take to escape.... And then!"
Yol raised both hands like holding a tray, trailing off.
Abbot Manoli spoke in a dry tone.
"So the target you've been hunting came right to you?"
"Something like that. It doesn't mean I intentionally brought outside trouble here. I have no desire to cause harm to the monastery."
"You already have. Outis hasn't returned."
"I know. He's probably dead. But is that my fault?"
"Didn't you give the order?"
"Strictly speaking, it was more what Outis wanted than something I ordered. He always wanted to go to Rom. He wasn't suited for monastic life to begin with."
"Didn't you have him in mind as a successor?"
"I have plenty of 'prospective martyrs unafraid to kill for the faith.' No need to call him a successor."
"Enough of that."
Manoli waved his hand irritably and said.
"So what do you plan to do with those three? You're not thinking of eliminating them here, are you? This is your personal mission, not for the Rapha priestly council or the monastery's prosperity."
Yol let out a short laugh.
'This timid old man doesn't want murder happening in his monastery. He has no idea it's because of me that it's safe from demons and bandits.'
Yol cleared his throat and said.
"If Jade had come alone, I would've handled it quietly without reporting to you, Abbot. Without causing any harm to the monastery."
"But?"
"He has two companions, so the opportunity vanished."
"Then just kill those two as well."
"Let me tell you an amusing story."
"Get to the point."
"Listen. Once, I had to kill a noblewoman. Not content with meeting another man behind her husband's back, she was wicked enough to worship a pagan god."
Yol dragged out the story, enjoying Manoli's growing impatience.
"She always went alone around nine to a pagan gathering hall and returned through the back door. A servant she hired secretly would unlock it on time, and she'd slip in, lock it again without the other servants noticing. To them, she'd never left her bedroom."
Manoli listened to the end despite his impatience.
"I targeted the moment she entered through the back door. The servant's role was just to leave it open—no greeting. Naturally, she tried not to be seen. That moment was perfectly solitary, one she'd created herself. That's when I struck. But that day, oddly, a woman I hadn't seen before accompanied her. Looked like an ordinary maid. Why hesitate? One or two, same to me!"
Yol excitedly recounted the memory.
"After killing both and staging it as a robbery, soldiers suddenly burst in out of nowhere! Completely unexpected. At this hour? This place? I could've handled them, but I didn't want the commotion, so I fled. Couldn't set the evidence properly, leading to a massive manhunt that troubled me for a while."
"Why did that happen?"
Manoli asked.
"The woman with the noblewoman was the lover's maid. He sent her along under pretense of escorting, and when she didn't return promptly, he immediately called out the soldiers."
Yol concluded.
Manoli shook his head and asked.
"What does that have to do with this?"
"That girl Soph. Turns out she's a priest from the Rom priestly council, serving at the Artina convent. The amusing part? I've seen that girl before. Twice."
Yol held up two fingers, then uncertainly folded one.
"Maybe three times. Never happened before. Strange, for me who remembers even how many pigeons flew up at the scene."
Yol chuckled at his own absurdity.
Manoli, finding his laughter unpleasant, said.
"So you're saying eliminating Soph could cause problems? Like with that maid?"
"Removing her might bring a Rom priestly council investigation team here."
Yol said gravely.
In truth, Yol wasn't worried about an investigation team. It wouldn't happen, and even if it did, he didn't care. Let this monastery burn. There were plenty of other places to hole up.
Manoli shook his head.
"Couldn't we interrogate and find out if anyone knew she was coming here?"
"There is. But we must remember the long-haired boy too."
"That silent-vow kid? Huh? Was that boy's hair long?"
"It was. Just hidden under a hood. I don't know his identity either. All these odd things around Jade bother me. Investigating every detail might make us miss something trivial, which could become a massive storm."
Yol spoke seriously outwardly while laughing inwardly.
'Look at me, spinning tales so well! That's what happens after talking with Cardinal Lorenzo.'
Manoli fell for it completely.
"You're right. Jade is a priest whose name reaches even Bishop David and Cardinal Pietro. Killing him here for no reason..."
"So I thought of a simple solution."
"What is it?"
Manoli asked eagerly.
"I noticed a demon's wound on Jade's shoulder earlier."
"Demon? He did look unwell..."
"I don't know where he got it, but no medicine I know can cure it."
"Really? Not even with your skills?"
"I've seen countless people waste away and die from the same wound. Never once cured. No physician, no remedy works."
"That's it! He was doomed anyway? No need for us to act."
"Exactly. That leaves the other two. Soph the priest and Ruby."
"Then those two...?"
Yol, as if waiting for it, said.
"First, Father Jade didn't come here—Father Jayden did. We don't know where he's from or where he's going."
Manoli nodded obediently, just listening.
"Then he died tonight from demon poison. Afraid it might spread, I burned the body. The other two companions got infected and died too, so I had no choice but to burn them together.... Oh, 'Jayden' Priest? You mean 'Jade' Priest? My mistake. But what can we do? He really was infected with demon poison."
Yol acted as if a Rom investigation team were before him, then smiled slyly.
"What's the difference from just killing them?"
Manoli asked.
'Plenty! We get to watch them burn!'
Yol cleared his throat again and explained.
"It's about tying up loose ends. Hard to make all the monks lie, so let's fool them too. You were planning to rebuild the annex anyway? Let's burn the old one now."
Manoli groaned.
"He died from a demon wound, and fearing contagion, we incinerated the body.... Afraid the demon poison would defile the monastery's sanctity, we burned the annex where he stayed, and since his companions died from infection too, we burned them together.... Like that?"
"Have you decided?"
Manoli groaned without deciding immediately.
'You indecisive old fool. Think I'm waiting for your permission? Decide quick, or I'll kill you first.'
Yol spotted a small book Manoli was fiddling with and asked.
"What's that you've been holding since earlier?"
"It's the scripture Jade had. I checked it thinking it might be the fourth holy scripture as rumored, but it's just an ordinary one."
"May I see it?"
Yol took it and confirmed it was indeed a scripture. But the paper's texture felt unusual.
"This might really be the fourth holy scripture."
"Huh? Why? It's just a scripture."
"It seems rigged to look that way."
Manoli asked excitedly.
"What kind of rig?"
"I don't know. Need a closer look. If the fourth holy scripture appeared so easily, why undiscovered for centuries?"
Yol babbled to persuade him.
"You're right."
"And if it really is the fourth, and Bishop David or Cardinal Pietro know Jade had it, we must burn the annex all the more. If an investigation comes later asking, 'Where's the scripture Father Jade had?' we can say, 'Oops, mistake. Burned it fearing contagion.'"
Yol returned the scripture while speaking.
Manoli examined the book closely again.
"What kind of device?"
"Whether demon magic or witch's curse, I don't know. If worried, I can take it to a 'contact' of mine. He's knowledgeable and will tell us..."
Manoli shoved the scripture into a desk drawer and slammed it shut.
Yol swallowed his words and smiled.
'Easy to read, this old man. That's how it should be. Lorenzo's the weird one. Daniel too. Yeah, Daniel's weird. Me caring about the dead— that's weird too.'
Manoli finally decided.
"Leave no strange traces."
Yol stood from his chair and replied.
"I handled Father Daniel in the middle of Rom city, yet no one knows he was murdered. Jade will be the same now."