Chapter 89
Chapter 89
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Elia Convent
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In fact, even at the academy, there wasn't much for me to do.
No joke, there was really nothing to do.
Occasionally chatting with Erika or sending back Gideon when he came sniffling.
Otherwise, exchanging opinions with Professor Per, who shared the same lab, about her research.
Such days continued.
Even so, it was right before summer break, so there wasn't anything particular to do, and in the game too, the first semester's summer vacation passed without any major events.
Professors and lectures wouldn't start until the second semester, so I just spent the days reading books.
The letter from Saintess Lucia after a long time was unexpected.
- I hope you are doing well.
This place is still steeped in thick chaos, but thinking of it as yet another trial gives me the courage to overcome...
Skipping the useless parts, the content boiled down to this.
A letter requesting help from the convent where Lucia had stayed as a nun before becoming the Saintess.
It seemed like a phenomenon related to evil spirits, so they asked me to check it out.
'This works out perfectly.'
I was getting bored waiting until break started anyway. Using the Saintess's letter as an excuse, I prepared to leave Robern Academy a step ahead of everyone else.
Of course, there was one sticking point: Aria.
I wondered if I should take her along, but since she had things to do during summer break, it seemed like I didn't need to worry about her.
It was the second playthrough, after all, and she had plenty of abilities to grow stronger on her own.
The academy before exams started, leaving a step ahead.
"Ugh, why is my luggage always so much."
"I'll help you."
"No need, what kind of mountain mother are you."
Because there were so many books, the luggage was heavy.
Heading to the carriage waiting outside with grumbling Pindenai and awkwardly standing Iluania, professors came out to see us off.
"Oh dear! Necromancer! You work hard for the kingdom!"
The dean immediately bowed deeply and grabbed my hand. I don't think I'd ever seen him stand straight while looking at me during my stay here.
That meant he was constantly bowing and gauging my mood toward me.
"Yes, I'll be off."
Shaking off the dean's hand, the other professors chimed in one by one.
"Have a safe trip."
"We'll be waiting."
"Hope we can have tea next time."
Formal greetings.
Just as it was getting tedious, the golden-haired woman Erika Bright stared blankly at me.
I wondered if she might say she was coming along, but I didn't ask that far.
Still, her expression, unable to hide her regret, felt less like a professor and more like a young girl no matter how I looked at it.
"You'll come back next semester, right?"
"Yeah, I have lectures then."
Of course.
In the second semester, I was an official professor with scheduled lectures.
Hearing that, Erika nodded as if slightly relieved.
"Have a safe trip."
The surrounding professors' gazes naturally turned to us, but when I swept a glance over them, their eyes scattered like a flock of startled pigeons.
They were probably curious about the conversation between me, the Necromancer, and my fiancée Erika.
Finally boarding the carriage, I beckoned to Gideon, who had been fidgeting and watching this way from earlier.
"Get in."
"Pardon?"
"Escort me at least to the city outskirts."
Iluania and Pindenai subtly made space for Gideon.
Not just him, but the other professors were shocked too, and especially Erika looked even more regretful, but I ignored it and took Gideon along.
It might look odd taking a male professor instead of my fiancée, but I had my reasons.
The carriage departed, and a calm silence settled inside.
Pindenai fidgeted her hands wanting to smoke, while Iluania offered a drink to the sudden guest.
After drinking the water Iluania gave him, Gideon cautiously asked me.
"May I ask what the reason is?"
"I'll teach you how the Zeronia Family survives."
"......!"
Gideon's eyes widened sharply. His once glossy red hair was now dry and frizzy, and dark circles heavily shadowed his eyes, showing how much stress he was under.
I'd tamed him plenty by now, so it was time to put him to use.
"A few hundred years ago, during the invasion war. You know about the Setima villagers who lived on the academy grounds, right?"
"......!"
Of course he did.
It was records about them that Erika had demanded while we pretended to be lovers.
"Confess every atrocity your family committed against them to the entire continent. Telling the Saintess you've repented your past sins should suffice."
"B-But that would...!"
Just revealing the inhuman torture they inflicted on the Setima villagers would deal a significant blow to the Zeronia Family.
"And don't stop there. Erect a memorial for them. You already have the list of names, so it shouldn't be hard."
"......!"
"What His Majesty wants is for the Zeronia Family to shrink. You've spread your hands too wide."
But through royal checks so far, they had certainly been reined in. Now a decisive blow was needed.
Not for the royal family, but for the Zeronia Family itself. To become an irrefutable mark that they had fallen this far and could never challenge the royals.
"By revealing the atrocities against the Setima villagers and striking yourselves, you'll be free from the royal pressure."
"......"
"The choice is yours."
Whether to keep enduring royal pressure and get nibbled away.
Or to take a solid hit yourself and end it.
Whether to cut your own flesh.
Or wait for the opponent to take your bones.
That was their choice.
Before long, the carriage headed outside the city, and with a strange jolt, an arrow flew in from the window.
"Huh?"
Pindenai, peering outside with a bored expression, perked up with interest at yet another commotion.
I grabbed her shoulder and naturally sat her down.
Then nodded at Gideon.
"Alright, time for you to go."
"N-Now?"
I gently nodded to his foolish question.
Probably assassins after my life outside. Could be nobles retaliating against the recent royal pressure, or maybe the church still not coming to their senses.
Knowing there'd be danger outside the city, I'd deliberately brought Gideon along.
"You can handle cleanup, right."
At my command with a chin rest, Gideon didn't even think of defying me and opened the carriage door.
"Eek!"
A sudden gust swept through the carriage interior, startling Iluania. Gideon glanced bitterly my way before replying.
"Thanks... for the advice."
"Get going."
He didn't need to force out words he didn't want to say.
Resting my chin like watching a well-trained dog, he leaped from the carriage right away.
As Pindenai closed the door, she peeked back wistfully.
"Wow, that looks fun."
Gideon's furious shouts mixed with the clash as he conjured a blade of fire to fight the assassins rang out impressively loud at first.
But the carriage moved farther away, and soon it faded completely.
* * *
Elia Convent.
A convent boasting history and tradition, this place specialized in training a small number of nuns.
Its discipline was terrifyingly strict, communication with the outside world completely severed.
But precisely because of that, it was a place to serve God purely, untainted by worldly affairs.
Current Saintess Lucia Saint was also from Elia Convent, as was the previous Saintess.
Thus, it wouldn't be wrong to say Elia Convent was practically the cradle of Saintesses.
They were that pure, chaste, their every day an offering to God itself.
"What in the world is this."
Abbess Hamates, who had lived here for ages, was more flustered than ever before.
No, beyond flustered, a sense of dread surged up.
Early dawn, as the sun began rising over the mountains.
The pentagram drawn outside symbolized a demon in the form of a goat, and atop it lay three charred corpses in nun habits.
The burns were so severe that the unfamiliar smell of roasting flesh wafted through the convent, their faces distorted beyond recognition.
Moreover, the demon's pentagram had already faded faintly, meaning one thing.
Three nuns had been sacrificed to summon a demon.
With the entire convent in crisis, and needing to find which mad nun did this.
The abbess urgently rang the bell she always carried.
Ding-a-ling! Ding-a-ling! Ding-a-ling!
Rough bell tolls brought the nuns pouring out. There were seven nuns at Elia Convent total.
Fitting their title as women closest to God, and confident the next Saintess after Lucia would come from here, the abbess felt betrayal like no other.
Three of them had betrayed God for this madness.
The abbess ground her teeth, unable to contain her boiling rage.
The dawn bell being unusual, the nuns hurried to the abbess.
In fact, their number was fewer than original.
But the important part was.
"Five?"
There were five nuns.
Originally seven nuns.
Three corpses for the demon summoning.
Yet five remaining.
One extra.
"Huh?"
The abbess looked back and forth between the corpses and nuns in bewilderment.
Then seeing the demon summoning circle, she naturally realized the truth and dropped the bell in her hand to the floor.
Clang!
Amid the loud echoing toll, she glared at the remaining five nuns.
One among them.
The demon was hiding.