Chapter 87
Chapter 87
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 87
Chapter Title: The High Priest's True Colors
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The instructor's wing, conference room.
Also known as the monitoring room, this place was equipped with a total of 128 communication crystals.
They were there not only to monitor the trainees' every move but also to respond immediately should a powerful monster invade the training camp.
Normally, only three or four monitors would be on standby here, but during the special exam, most of the instructors stayed.
Some even laid out their bedding and slept here, giving the conference room a lived-in feel.
In total, twenty instructors were in the conference room.
‘…Hmm?’
Among them, the first to sense something was amiss was the survival instructor, Soimond.
Of the 128 communication crystals, only 28 were focused on the training camp.
The remaining 100 were scattered throughout the area within a ten-kilometer radius of the camp.
This was to prepare for ‘just in case’ scenarios.
“That one…”
One of the crystals was malfunctioning.
After flickering intermittently, its screen went black.
Being a crystal in a corner, the other instructors hadn't noticed.
Soimond didn't think much of it either.
The Butterfly Forest was a mysterious place.
The mana flowing through this region was peculiar on its own.
And with various holy relics and magical tools placed on this land, its properties had become even more complex.
As a result, incidents of crystals malfunctioning were surprisingly common.
So, Soimond only began to feel suspicious when more than five communication crystals went dead.
By then, the other instructors had also started to voice their concerns.
“What's wrong with the crystals?”
“Isn't it a full moon tonight? Magical tools sometimes malfunction on nights like these.”
“Even so, there are too many.”
“It's probably nothing.”
Such reassurances vanished without a trace when more than twenty crystals stopped working.
Even the optimistic instructors felt that the situation was unusual.
“…I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Could one of the trainees be destroying the crystals?”
“It would be difficult for them to detect the hidden crystals at their level…”
“But this can only be the work of someone.”
Just then, the knights stepped forward.
“We'll go out and patrol the area. Where is the nearest one?”
“Sector A-3… Will you be alright?”
“Of course. We'll be back within thirty minutes.”
The knights who left did not return, even after an hour.
By then, more than half of the communication crystals had failed.
‘This doesn't feel right.’
Apart from the ominous feeling he couldn't yet place, Soimond felt a sense of unease.
In an urgent situation like this, the one person who would have been the most vocal was nowhere to be seen.
“…Has anyone seen Instructor Juan?”
“The martial arts instructor? I haven't.”
“Me neither.”
“I saw him leave the conference room earlier.”
Soimond looked in that direction and asked.
“When was that?”
“I'm not sure about that…”
Somehow, it felt wrong.
Looking closely, he saw that besides the martial arts instructor, a few other Grand Master Teachers were also missing.
The very ones who had recently been strongly supporting the martial arts instructor's opinions.
‘…….’
Feeling a cloud of dread swelling within him, Soimond left the conference room.
Or rather, he was about to.
“I am right here.”
Juan appeared at the entrance of the conference room.
“……”
“……”
Normally, several people would have gathered around Juan upon his appearance, but there was no sign of that now.
Instead, a silence fell.
Juan's entire body was covered in blood.
Anyone with a keen eye would be able to tell that the blood was not his own.
“…Instructor Juan, where… what have you been doing?”
Juan replied, taking off his blood-soaked outer garment.
“You sent the knights into the forest just now, didn't you?”
“We did.”
“I've just returned from killing them.”
“What…?”
At that moment, someone from among the instructors sprang forward like a coil.
It was a movement so fast and menacing it was reminiscent of a wild beast.
‘Tanko…!’
But just as the hunting instructor Tanko's body reached striking distance of Juan, it froze in mid-air.
“……!”
It was as if he had been caught by something invisible.
Tanko tried to swing his fists as if to attack something, but his limbs only cut through empty air.
“Stay still, Hunting Instructor. You don't want to die just yet, do you?”
“…What did you do?”
“I haven't done anything yet. You are a precious offering, after all. Of course, if you continue to be a nuisance, I can no longer stand idly by—”
Tanko threw a kick.
But just before the tip of his foot could connect with Juan's face, a loud noise erupted, and Tanko's body was sent flying into the wall.
“I told you to stay still.”
“Instructor Tanko!”
Soimond rushed to Tanko's side.
And his expression hardened terrifyingly.
He was dead.
“Th-this can't be…”
Tanko, the great warrior of the plains and a Grand Master Teacher, had been killed in a single blow.
“What in the world is the meaning of this!”
“Instructor, did you know? Just a century ago, physicians were unaware that human blood had different types. They performed reckless transfusions, not knowing that mixing different blood types would cause the blood to clot and kill the patient. How many patients do you think died as a price for that ignorance?”
Soimond, feeling a sense of dread from Juan, spoke.
“What… what in the world are you talking about?”
“Ignorance is tragedy. That is why Instructor Tanko died. He was ignorant of the simple truth that attacking a High Priest during a ritual invites divine punishment.”
“A ritual?”
A few of them forced the corners of their mouths up and said.
“N-now, your joke has gone too far, Martial Arts Instructor…”
“Haha. It seems you still think this is a joke.”
“If it's not a joke, then what is this! For I-Instructor Tanko to die like this… isn't it strange!”
Juan laughed soundlessly.
“There is nothing strange. Everyone, isn't this a very Bednicker-like affair?”
Soimond now understood the situation.
The being before him was clearly an enemy.
“How dare you… speak the Bednicker name with that filthy mouth…”
“Is there any reason I shouldn't? I am currently speaking of one of the Bednicker family's ironclad rules.”
“An ironclad rule?”
“The strong are revered.”
The moment Juan spread his arms.
A black slime shot up from the floor and began to indiscriminately swallow the instructors and knights.
“Wh-what is this…!”
“Don't panic! Form up!”
“Th-the attacks aren't working!”
The slime, moving organically like a living creature, was impervious to blades, as well as Blessings and magic.
The slime ignored all attacks, approached the instructors, and swallowed them in an instant.
Even completely covered by the slime, they did not give up.
They looked as pitiful as beasts caught in a net, struggling futilely.
The slime soon enveloped all the instructors in the conference room and subsided.
“…Soon, the Calamity God will descend here. A being far stronger than the Iron-Blooded Duke, the head of the Bednicker family. Therefore, it is right for us to submit to him.”
…….
“So far, is there anything strange?”
There was no one left to answer Juan's question.
* * *
“……”
“……”
The playback ended.
We stood there in silence for a while.
The video contained the High Priest's identity, revealed with absurd simplicity.
“The martial arts instructor was the mastermind… This is far beyond what I expected.”
Karon muttered as if to himself.
It seemed that way by his standards.
I didn't find it particularly surprising.
Somehow, from the very beginning, the man known as Martial Arts Instructor Juan had rubbed me the wrong way.
It's my personal theory that people who walk around smiling when there's nothing funny have a high chance of being twisted inside.
“Is that the end of the video?”
“It seems so.”
We don't know where Juan went after this,
or what happened to the remaining living instructors.
So, Karon and I naturally headed upstairs.
“…Wait.”
Karon said then.
“…The presence I felt upstairs is moving.”
“What? Are they trying to escape?”
“No. It's coming this way. At an unbelievable speed… It's already here—”
*Step—*
Footsteps sounded from outside the door.
I shrouded my fists in fire, and Karon stealthily lowered his stance.
*Creeaak—*
And the conference room door opened.
“…What. You're still alive.”
A woman with a listless face.
The woman, dressed in a cleric's habit, had a familiar face.
One of the Grand Master Teachers.
The Doctrine Instructor, Junian.
“……”
“……”
Of course, Karon and I did not let our guard down.
Was this woman friend or foe?
While we were pondering, Junian spoke in a listless voice.
“I thought reinforcements from the Bednickers had arrived…”
“……”
I gave a nod to Karon, who was glancing at me.
We relaxed our combat stances and spoke.
“Instructor Junian, what happened here?”
“What's with the 'Instructor' at a time like this… Just Junian is fine. More importantly, do either of you have a smoke?”
“……”
Was a cleric allowed to smoke?
I don't know much about the doctrines of the Sun Cult.
In any case, asking a trainee for a cigarette, it seemed this woman had lost it too.
“We don't have any.”
“Really? A shame.”
“What exactly happened here? We saw up to the point where Juan revealed his true colors and did that to the hunting instructor.”
“You saw? Ah. You used the communication crystal. Smart.”
Junian nodded to herself in a low voice, then slumped down onto a nearby blood-stained chair.
“They've all already left. I was out in the forest for a bit on business, and that's how I managed to survive.”
“Did the High Priest not realize you were here?”
“Evading the notice of those demon bastards is my specialty.”
“……”
I had heard that Junian was an inquisitor for the church.
When it came to fighting demons, she was likely more of an expert than even Tanko.
“Do you know where the High Priest went?”
“He'll go to where the altar is. It's one of the tools needed to summon the Demon King.”
The altar.
That word brought Seren to mind.
If Juan knew the location of the forgotten god's altar… he might perform the Demon King's summoning ritual there.
“By the way, is it just the two of you in your group?”
Karon answered Junian's question.
“There are a few more outside.”
“Really? Is Evan Helvin with you by any chance?”
“Yes.”
At that, I looked at Junian again.
Her face was still listless, showing not a speck of faith, but…
“Instructor.”
“I told you to call me Junian.”
“Could I ask you to recite a few verses from the holy scriptures?”
“Suddenly? Right now?”
While Karon stared at me like I was a madman, I nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I saw a demon on the way here, and it was terrifying. It's shameful for a trainee, but fear has been eating away at me. I feel like I'd be filled with courage if I could hear a few verses from a devout cleric like yourself, Instructor.”
Junian looked at me with an annoyed expression.
“Hmm… doing it all of a sudden is a bit much. And this place isn't exactly fitting.”
She said that while looking around the blood-spattered conference room, so I brought my hands together as if in prayer and said.
“It's precisely because of this place that we should. It seems you haven't even comforted the souls of the dead yet.”
“Hmm…”
“Or could it be that an inquisitor like yourself doesn't know the scriptures?”
“……”
Only then did Karon seem to sense something, his face stiffening as he looked at Junian.