Chapter 88
Chapter 88
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: The Little Pontiff
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The moment Junian looked at us with a troubled expression… Karon charged in like a madman.
And just like when he fought me, he swung his sword from a short distance away.
*Fwoosh!*
A blade wind generated from his dagger flew toward Junian, but far from being surprised, she reached out with an unmoving expression.
*Clang!*
The blade wind, sharp enough to scar a giant tree, dissipated like a gentle breeze.
There wasn't even a scratch on Junian's palm.
‘Insane durability…’
Just her arm?
Or her whole body?
In any case, it was clear she was a tough opponent for the two of us to face.
"Hector!"
I shouted loud enough to be heard outside, then joined the fight.
Is the opponent human?
I couldn't tell, but I decided to assume so for now and used Shadow Steps.
But something felt off.
Junian's eyes had been fixed on my face the entire time.
‘What kind of kinetic vision does this woman have…?’
An Inquisitor of the Sun Cult.
I'd heard that the individual combat prowess of these elite few was generally comparable to a martial artist nearing the master level, and it seemed that wasn't just a rumor.
*Thud!*
In that instant, Junian kicked off the ground and arrived right in front of me.
It was the first time the illusion of Shadow Steps had been so ineffective, so my reaction was a bit slow.
How does she plan to attack?
I kept my eyes on her every move, but Junian simply opened her palm toward me and spoke.
"Oh, Aton."
"......!"
The moment she murmured the name of the Sun Cult's highest god, holy power erupted from her palm.
I instinctively crossed my arms to block the energy blast, but I couldn't lessen the impact.
*Crash!*
I shattered the conference room door with my body and rolled across the ground outside.
"Ruan!"
I saw Evan running toward me from a short distance away.
"What's going on?"
"...Figuring it out."
It was an honest reply.
I still couldn't tell if she was friend or foe.
Just then, another wall shattered, and Karon came flying out. He rolled to a stop a little way from me, then shot to his feet and glared back through the wall.
"So impatient..."
The Doctrine Teacher walked out through the hole.
Junian swept her impassive gaze over the surroundings, her eyes soon stopping on someone's face.
"So you're alive, Evan Helvin."
"Huh?"
Not expecting to be called out by a Doctrine Teacher he barely knew, Evan let out a dumbfounded sound.
*Clap!*
I clapped my hands.
The dazed group snapped to their senses and formed a perimeter around the opponent.
Not that I felt we had any particular advantage.
Junian swept her hair back and said.
"I'm not your enemy."
"...Then why did you attack us?"
"You attacked first."
"......"
That was true.
I was the one who was suspicious first, but I hadn't expected Karon to charge in like a lunatic.
I let out a sigh.
Among the powers of the cult, or the Demon King, is necromancy.
It doesn't just raise corpses; it can also completely take over another's body.
But the Doctrine Teacher had just perfectly proven she wasn't a cultist.
Her use of the holy power of the 72 Gods was the proof.
- Only a baptized cleric can claim complete innocence.
This was a saying about the priests of the Sun Cult, and the reason was simple.
A member of the Dark Cult can never receive the baptism of the Sun Cult.
Even the Blessing, which only descendants of the Great Families can receive, has been confirmed to be compatible with a curse.
Of course, if you disregard good and evil, the 72 Gods and the Demon King (Calamity God) are both gods, and even 'Blessing' and 'curse' are just different words for the same thing, so it was only natural.
Therefore, the divine power Junian had just unleashed proved her innocence more than a hundred words ever could.
When I lowered my fighting stance, the others around me also cautiously relaxed.
I asked in a baffled tone.
"You're a cleric of the doctrine, so why didn't you recite the scriptures?"
It wasn't like reciting a few lines was that hard.
Junian averted her gaze slightly and said.
"If a person is good at some things, they're bound to be bad at others."
"Pardon?"
"Rote memorization just isn't my thing."
"But they're the scriptures?"
"What good are some measly phrases?"
She then clasped her hands, closed her eyes, and assumed a prayerful pose.
"What's important is the heart that believes in God."
"......"
With the ruined building as her backdrop, her praying figure looked so incredibly holy for a moment that we were all left speechless.
Honestly, she looked so much like a saint that I would have believed it.
"If your suspicions are cleared, shall we talk inside? Want something to eat?"
* * *
We followed Junian back into the instructors' building.
We sat at a reasonably large table in the instructors' dining hall and shared the video we had seen through the communication crystal in the conference room.
"A High Priest? Instructor Juan?"
"No way."
"...Hmm."
Hector and Evan were shocked.
Seren seemed lost in thought.
"Catch."
Just then, Junian, who had disappeared for a moment, reappeared and threw something at us.
One was a canteen, and the other...
"What is this?"
"It's called an energy bar. Once you become official heroes, you'll be eating them until you're sick of them, so consider this a preview."
"......"
Looking at it, it seemed to be made of some kind of mixed grains, pressed and hardened.
*Crunch.*
In any case, it was ridiculously hard and difficult to eat, but I decided to focus on the fact that it filled my stomach.
Junian looked at us and asked.
"Are you the only cadets who survived?"
"There are a few more."
"I see."
Karon, having managed to chew and swallow the tasteless energy bar, asked.
"What happened to the other instructors?"
"They were either killed or subdued."
"By whom?"
"Master Juan. Or should I call him High Priest now?"
"...High Priest."
I turned to Hector, whose expression had hardened, and asked.
"Brother, do you know anything about the Martial Arts Teacher? Like what he did before becoming the Grand Master Teacher."
At this point, I was curious about what kind of person he was.
I also wondered if anyone really had no idea that someone who was a High Priest held the position of Grand Master Teacher in the main family.
"Master Juan is from the Vasquez family, a prestigious house in the south. He showed a natural talent for all martial arts from a young age, and based on that excellence, he joined the 3rd Imperial Knights at the youngest age and rose to the rank of commander by thirty. After that, he even received an offer to be an imperial instructor, but he politely declined and came to our family as the Grand Master Teacher."
"Hmm..."
From a prestigious family, with a career in the Imperial Knights.
With a background like that, it would be rude to even be suspicious.
Looking at the timeline, there seemed to be no room for him to have had contact with the cult. How did this happen?
Evan muttered in a low voice.
"...What do we do now?"
"......"
At that, Junian stared at Evan's face for a moment.
Stared so intently it was almost burdensome.
‘Come to think of it…’
Junian had been conscious of Evan this whole time.
Just as Evan was starting to feel the pressure, Junian looked away and spoke.
"Because of the barrier around the Butterfly Forest, we can't expect any outside intervention for a while..."
"......"
"...or so one would normally think, but something smells fishy."
"Fishy?"
"Even with a grand mage's barrier, an incident of this scale has occurred. Does it make sense that the Bednickers don't know?"
"......"
Sharp.
It was less about superior logical thinking and more like she had outstanding intuition.
Hector frowned, displeased.
"Are you suggesting that the Bednickers are turning a blind eye to this situation?"
"I'm just saying it's strange. How would I know the circumstances of the higher-ups?"
"......"
"We're isolated among enemies, and we can't expect outside support... In a situation like this, you have to ditch false hope and form a strategy with only the means you have. The most plausible option would be for the survivors to kill the High Priest."
Seren, with her characteristically clear eyes, looked at Junian and asked.
"...Weren't even the instructors powerless and wiped out? What can we, as cadets, possibly do?"
"The High Priest didn't kill them. They gave the Demon King an opening to intervene."
"What do you mean?"
Junian crossed her arms and said.
"You saw the video from the communication crystal, right? The High Priest said ignorance is tragedy. Those people attacked him the moment the ritual began. That's what allowed the Demon King to intervene. So, we just have to ruin the ritual in some other way. Then the enraged Demon King will kill the High Priest."
The words poured out like rapid-fire.
‘The Demon King will kill the High Priest?’
Honestly, I didn't really understand what she meant either.
But Junian was an Inquisitor.
They knew more about the cult than even active heroes.
"How do we ruin the ritual?"
"Steal the sacrifices, disrupt the mana in this forest, destroy the altar... Just cause a ruckus in any way that prevents the ritual from proceeding."
"Hmm..."
"Of course, that's the most extreme method... There might be other ways, so we'll have to use our heads a bit more."
Junian looked at us and said.
"For now, rest. And Ruan Bednicker?"
"Yes."
"I need to see you for a moment."
Just me?
I pointed to myself, and Junian nodded.
I had no choice but to follow her.
Junian went up to the second floor and entered a room, which, from its layout, seemed to be her personal quarters.
"Is there something you wanted to say to me?"
"Yes. First, let me ask, you're the leader of that group, right?"
It was a topic I honestly wanted to avoid, but with no one else to take the role, I nodded.
"Hmm."
Junian gave a vague reaction, then took something out of a drawer.
It was a smoking pipe.
Junian pressed the tobacco leaves she'd also taken out into the pipe and asked.
"About Evan Helvin."
Evan's name came up again.
I had a feeling the reason she called me here was related to him.
"Did you notice anything strange about him?"
"Not really."
He had struggled against the monsters because he sealed Raven himself, but...
I doubted that was what Junian was asking about.
"Why are you so obsessed with Evan?"
"Hmm. You noticed."
"You've been watching him from the start. I'd be an idiot not to realize."
"I see. But it's not me who's obsessed. It's the High Priest."
"What?"
Just then, Junian suddenly frowned.
It seemed she didn't have a match to light it.
Seriously, it was one thing after another.
"Here, let me."
I focused fire energy into my thumb and lit the tobacco for her.
"Oh... not bad."
"It's nothing."
*Puff.*
Junian took a satisfied puff from her pipe and continued.
"There are many strange things about this Demon King summoning. The most incomprehensible part is the small number of sacrifices."
Leaning against the wall, Junian gazed out the window at the cold, dark forest beyond.
"The Demon King... or the Calamity God, as the cult calls him, is a very particular god. Their sacred text, the [Scripture of Evil], must be recited to the end once started, and if even one verse is mistaken, the reciter's body will mutate, or they will lose their life."
"Hmm..."
"So they conduct their rituals with the utmost care. If a ritual fails after it has begun, all the cultists who participated are punished."
It was interesting information, but...
What did this have to do with Evan?
"However, there is one being who is completely free from such penalties. One who is not punished even if they ruin a ritual, who can communicate with the Demon King without any special conditions, and who is favored by all six Demon Kings. The Empire's worst enemy and the incarnation of evil."
I knew who Junian was talking about.
Every citizen of the Empire knew the name, but paradoxically, no one had ever seen this veiled being.
"The Dark Pontiff."
"Correct. A ritual personally overseen by the Pontiff has a much lower difficulty. The number of sacrifices is reduced, and there's no need to recite the scripture to the end."
"Are you saying the Pontiff is here?"
"No. But it's clear there aren't enough sacrifices for this ritual. And I overheard the High Priest's orders."
"What were they?"
"'Before the ritual ends, we must secure the Little Pontiff.'"
In that moment, I thought back to the Evan Helvin of my past life.
Evan Helvin's fall was humanity's most painful betrayal.
But what if it wasn't a betrayal?
What if Evan was simply returning to where he belonged all along...?
*Hooo—.*
Exhaling a cloud of strong smoke, Junian spoke in a languid voice.
"Evan Helvin. He's the Little Pontiff the High Priest is looking for."