The Lord's Hideous Truth

Pierie flinched. For the first time since she'd come to this mansion, her head felt like it was clearing.

Once they'd finished having sex, color rushed into her cheeks. The head maid, sleeping with the Hero? What kind of cheap erotica cliché was that?

Still... I'm shocked. What have I even been doing with my life until now? It's like a shaft of brilliant light just punched through a sky full of storm clouds!

She looked at Lashu. Unlike most Heroes, he wasn't all roughness. If anything, a gentleness showed through from somewhere inside him.

"You okay? I might've gone too hard... that hurt a lot, didn't it?"

"Ah, I'm fine. My lower back's a little sore, mm."

"Sorry."

"Don't be. It felt good... and honestly, my head feels so much clearer."

"Your head was hurting?"

Lashu tilted his head, that little cowlick of his swaying. Maybe the drugs had been giving her headaches too.

Pierie wasn't sure herself. She shook her head.

"No, it's just... this strange feeling..."

"We should get dressed before the lord shows up."

"The lord? What lord?"

An unexpected question. Lashu snorted. Was this woman joking?

"Lord Weaverpool."

"That man is dead, isn't he? Missing, to be precise."

Lashu's blood ran cold. The head maid, joking that the lord was dead? But looking into her eyes, it didn't seem like a joke at all.

Instead, Pierie herself startled, clutching at her head.

"Ah—aah...! That's right, I remember. I—I finally remember!"

She started trembling violently. Drawing her knees up against her chest, she shook her head hard.

Lashu hurriedly checked on her.

"What's going on? Just calm down first, okay?"

"No, I don't want to, I don't waaant to!"

Pierie was practically thrashing. Lashu barely managed to hold her down by force, and tears spilled from her eyes.

"That lord—that bastard pretending to be the lord! He talked his son into making me his personal sex toy! He groped my body, shoved it in my mouth, mmpgh!"

"Pierie!"

"That son of a bitch, aaaaaaah!"

She poured it all out, as if years of buried rage were erupting at once.

Lashu was dumbfounded.

The ice-cold head maid, falling apart like this. Something's definitely going on. Something to do with the lord...

After a moment of floundering, Lashu pulled her into his arms. He held her tight and whispered against her ear.

"It's okay, Head Maid. Just calm down. I'm here. No matter what happens, I'll protect you!"

"Protect me...? A war orphan who got sold off to this mansion?"

"Don't talk about yourself like that. We haven't known each other long, but we've already slept together. I don't abandon women I've been with. So tell me!"

He finished with a smile. As someone close to the lord, she might have the clues he needed.

Looking at that smile, Pierie finally managed to settle.

Could this be... the first man I can actually trust?

Slowly, her lips began to move.

I was surprised too. I hadn't expected the head maid to come unglued like that.

But I got her calmed down. There was a lot I wanted to hear from her. She took my hand in her trembling one and spoke.

"Hhk... my name is Pierie, hhk."

"Yeah. I'm Lashu."

"I—I... haah!"

"Drink some water first and settle down. It's just the two of us here, so don't worry."

Pierie took the cup I handed her and downed it in one go. But the shaking wouldn't stop — and a moment later, she even wet herself.

A warm trickle spilled down her thighs.

"Ah, I'm sorry... I—I do this when I get scared."

"It's fine, it's fine! Just calm down. I'm right here."

Once she'd more or less settled, Pierie curled in on herself even tighter, like someone being hunted.

"First off — what do you mean, the lord is dead?"

"Aah, Lord Weaverpool. He was a truly wonderful man. The kind of person everyone should have looked up to."

"That doesn't match what you just said. So he is dead?"

"The one sitting there now is a fake."

I was completely stunned. Wait. That didn't line up with the intel I'd already gotten.

Pierie scanned the room with excessive, jittery caution before she went on.

"That man was never a lord to begin with, and he's not nearly noble enough to be called aristocracy!"

I was at a loss for words.

What is this? I never saw anything like this in Lewina's intel. Nothing in those ledgers was this kind of thing either. Or... maybe it does connect?

I waited for her next words. Pierie trembled, grinding her teeth.

"Th-that man is the leader of a heretical cult. The cult leader...!"

"Those Who Recite Sins?"

"Yes."

"Figured as much."

"What?"

This time Pierie was the one who startled, tilting her head. Ah. So that's how this was going to go.

What I'd learned from the ledgers. What I'd learned from Lewina's intel. And what I'd learned the day before, after raiding the archives of Those Who Recite Sins.

The three didn't match each other, but they all pointed toward one guess: that Lord Weaverpool was a massive hypocrite, and that he had some kind of relationship with Those Who Recite Sins.

Pierie's words flipped that completely on its head.

The original Lord Weaverpool was dead. The one sitting there now — whether he was wearing a disguise or what, I didn't know — was the cult leader of Those Who Recite Sins.

So that's why this fucking bastard only shows his face at night. He has to play lord during the day. But then why is everyone falling for it?

I told Pierie what I needed to say first.

"Listen carefully. The reason I came here is to take that cult leader down. His cult threw the first punch at our little lord."

"You're going after him?!"

"Honestly, I'm a little surprised he was impersonating the lord this whole time. Based on what I had, I figured the real lord had fallen and started playing cult leader for Those Who Recite Sins."

A hollow laugh slipped out of me. Wow. So that's how it was.

Man, reality's always more spectacular than fiction. I thought he was the lord, and he turns out to be a cult leader.

Pierie's pupils started shaking like an earthquake, as if I were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠about to pick a fight with a natural disaster. And as she did, she leaked a little more. A pee-pants princess, this one.

"You can't! Don't stand against him!"

"We'll get to that later. But you said you were his sexual relief?"

"Ever since that man became the lord, I've been draining his son's fluids every single night..."

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

Using a woman this beautiful for something like that? Just imagining it pissed me the hell off.

Pierie laughed at herself.

"He didn't allow anyone to take my virginity, but that son of his is about to do something."

"Why?"

"That cult leader drafted a document forcing a marriage between his son and me. I—I'm going to be defiled!"

She clutched her head and shook it. She clearly hadn't been living in anything close to a good situation either.

It was pitiful. Luckily I'd already taken her virginity myself, but a hardworking, beautiful woman being put through something like that? I couldn't accept it.

"I just don't understand why I was released from the control."

I panicked a little in spite of myself. I couldn't exactly say it was because the aphrodisiac had been that strong.

What was the right play here?

The sacred nature of being a Hero, that's what.

"Maybe because you slept with me?"

"What?"

"I, uh, actually carry a holy sword. And I'm an apostle chosen by the goddess, too."

I showed her the Dawn Guardian. Wrapped in brilliant light, it looked like someone had taken the platonic image of a holy sword and stamped it into reality.

Only then did Pierie nod.

"Ah... so that's why! Thank you so much, Hero. Haah."

"Haha, don't mention it. But I've got a question. Did he put on a disguise?"

"It's not a disguise. Even now, the other servants — everyone in this entire fief — still hasn't noticed!"

"What?"

"That fake lord... the cult leader can control people's minds."

That was when every last puzzle piece clicked into place.

He could control people's minds. I had no idea how it worked, or where the limits were.

But judging by what Pierie had said, the entire fief was in that cult leader's grip.

No wonder he can't get caught even if he wants to. Mind control plus a full acting performance.

While I was reeling internally, the goddess was furious too.

Genuine, towering wrath. I propped my chin on my hand and asked Pierie,

"So the lord I met was the cult leader, then?"

"Yes. That cult leader used some kind of tool to make ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠everyone believe he was the real lord. And as for the original lord... no one even knows where the body is."

One shock after another. A cult leader growing his heretical order by the day.

One single man had the entire fief dancing in the palm of his hand.

Then something occurred to me.

"Uh... he wouldn't have been a brown-haired guy with a bob cut, would he? The original lord."

"Yes, that's right."

Pierie tilted her head, then nodded. I asked again.

"I didn't get a great look, but the clothes had wide sleeves and loose legs."

"Yes! How do you know that? Did you meet him?"

Her answer made my mind go blank. I... I had seen the original lord.

Fuck. The corpse I saw in the hideout of Those Who Recite Sins was the real lord's body.

I couldn't even laugh. I'd been wondering who that corpse was, and why it was there.

That cult leader bastard had been desecrating it. Wow. A genuine lunatic.

And then it hit me.

So Lord Weaverpool really was a good man. Not a hypocrite. The one sitting there now is a fake, which means the fake is the one who did everything ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠written in those ledgers.

Honestly, even as an enemy, I had to admire it. Planning all of this by himself and then actually pulling it off.

And then, right out in the open, turning the fief's underground passages into a hideout, desecrating the real lord's corpse, and singing hymns over it.

Good lord. A level of evil that would have Satan himself bawling and grabbing at the guy's pant legs.

Does he want to live like one of those territory-building novels? First you swallow one fief, then the whole world?

Now I understood why that pastor had been blustering and talking so big. He'd believed the cult leader was guaranteed to succeed.

"I'm terrified. That pig of a man could come to violate me at any moment... and if the cult leader finds out I've been released from the control, he won't just sit still!"

"Pierie. Do you want revenge?"

I asked her seriously. Pierie looked at me for a moment, then her face crumpled.

"Revenge? But..."

"Do you want it, or don't you? Just tell me that."

Pierie looked at me with complete seriousness. Those yellow-green eyes locked onto mine, and my reflection filled her irises.

She was looking at no one but me. As if the two of us were the only people left in the world.

A low voice, but perfectly clear. I smiled.

"Then I'll help you!"

"What? But..."

"There's something I need you to do, though. It might be hard."

She was going to need courage. Now that the whole picture was out in the open, we couldn't put this off any longer. If that cult leader bastard was planning to swallow the entire world?

Down the line, we wouldn't be able to stop him. Right now it was just one fief — but at this rate, he could end up controlling even the imperial family.

Pierie swallowed hard.

"What is it? What do I have to do?"

I told her what she needed to do. It was harder than it sounded, honestly, but what mattered was that she found the courage.

"...If you just do this, they won't be able to touch you for a while. They won't know the control is broken, either. Just in case, I'll give you this potion. Drink it if things look dangerous."

I handed her a Mental Immunity Potion as well. Pierie smiled, but her head stayed down.

"I don't know if I can do it well."

"Then do you trust me?"

"...I want to trust you."

Her gaze grew hot. In answer, I brushed a light kiss against her cheek.

Pierie's face flushed a faint red.

"Good. That's enough. I'll come back soon. And when I do, I'll get you out of this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hellhole. I promise!"

"A promise?"

I promised her as a Hero, and as a man.

I would help her. Compared to the Renata incident, when she'd been threatened by Koldo, this one was on a much bigger scale.

Which meant I had things to prepare. I got ready to leave and headed straight out of the mansion.

I summoned Rin at once and swung up onto her back. Let's run, Rin!