Chapter 84
Chapter 84
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: Lucia's Catalyst
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“Honored guest. This…… where did you obtain it?”
Her pupils trembled mercilessly. Her voice did the same. The hand clutching the holy catalyst shook just as badly. No, Stella’s entire body was quivering like an aspen leaf.
It meant the identity of the holy catalyst I’d handed her was that shocking.
“I picked it up from the bottom of the Rune Dungeon.”
“……From the Rune Dungeon?”
“Yes.”
“But the other knight commanders said nothing about it. Not a word about finding this. And you, the heresy inquisitor—if you’d entered the dungeon with the honored guest—”
“You seem to be under a massive misunderstanding, Inquisitor.”
Stella couldn’t possibly know how many of us had entered the Rune Dungeon, since she’d only been waiting outside. It wasn’t unreasonable for her to assume we’d all gone in together.
But.
“I was the only one who entered the dungeon.”
“……Pardon? What do you mean by that?”
“It means the heresy inquisitor and the knight commanders stayed outside. I entered the Rune Dungeon alone, subjugated it, acquired the rune, and returned to the surface. So it’s only natural that the others know nothing about this holy catalyst.”
Stella and the battle nuns’ eyes widened simultaneously upon hearing that. It had to be hard to believe.
This was a place the Holy Kingdom had failed to conquer despite countless sacrifices. Claiming to have charged in alone, with no evidence, would be far stranger to accept.
That was an utterly normal reaction.
Her green eyes, brimming with complex emotions, turned to Selene. It was a silent question: was what he said true?
Selene nodded obediently.
“……You’re not all conspiring to make a fool of me, are you? You won’t tell me later it was all a joke and use it to mock me?”
“I swear by the moon, Inquisitor. The honored guest truly entered the Rune Dungeon alone and accomplished that feat before returning.”
“…….”
With a vow by the moon itself, she had no choice but to accept it. Stella stared blankly down at the holy catalyst resting in her palm.
“Inquisitor, what exactly is that holy catalyst to provoke such a reaction from you?”
Selene posed the question.
Aside from Stella—no, including the battle nuns under the Inquisitor, Selene, and even the battle nuns under Selene—no one seemed to know what the holy catalyst was.
The battle nuns aside, it was surprising that even Selene was clueless. Was it because Lucia was from the Church of the Sun?
How long did that silence last? Finally composing herself, Stella’s lips parted slowly.
“This is…… a holy catalyst that belonged to Priestess Lucia, who once participated in subjugating the Rune Dungeon long ago.”
At Stella’s words, Selene and her battle nuns visibly flinched in surprise. I slightly revised my earlier thought.
It wasn’t that they didn’t know who Lucia was—they simply didn’t know about this holy catalyst. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have reacted so startled, their gazes locking on immediately.
It was treated as a special item, sure, but its appearance was hardly different from the holy catalysts used by the Holy Kingdom’s high priests. The game had used the same model.
Stella was the impressive one for recognizing it at a glance.
The atmosphere sank in an instant. The knight commanders alone floated question marks over their heads, unable to follow, but they seemed to grasp that something serious was afoot and kept their mouths shut.
“But…… how did you…….”
“She was still alive when I arrived.”
“Really?!”
Stella’s voice boomed. Her wide eyes stared straight at me, her face blooming with the glow of hope.
But it was fleeting. As if reading something in my expression, her brightened face darkened rapidly.
“……I’ve made a fool of myself. My apologies. There’s no way she could have survived all this time unscathed.”
“If you wish to hear it, I can tell you. If not, I can keep it to myself. What will it be?”
“……Please, tell me.”
Stella bit her lip. I nodded and recounted everything that had happened in the Rune Dungeon’s depths.
How Lucia had been consumed by the abyss, lost her reason, and committed countless blasphemies; how she’d briefly regained her senses midway and fought me as a single priestess; and how she’d ultimately met her end by my hand.
Stella listened silently to my explanation. When it ended, she gripped the holy catalyst tightly in her fist.
“So that’s how it was. She didn’t die when she fell.”
In truth, the root of it all stemmed from Lucia’s horrific misfortune: surviving her plunge to the dungeon’s depths. Had she not, none of this would have happened.
Stella gazed blankly at the holy catalyst in her hand once more, then murmured in a subdued voice.
“……Priestess Lucia pulled me from the jaws of hell.”
It was her own past she spoke of.
“I lost my parents to devil worshippers, and I was moments from becoming a sacrificial offering…… when Priestess Lucia rescued me, allowing me to embrace this true faith. She’s the benefactor who gave me a new life.”
In the game’s lore, Lucia had saved the Inquisitor and brought her to the Holy Kingdom, even playing the role of parent for a short time.
Years had passed, dulling those raw emotions, but hearing of what she’d thought was merely a fatal fall—and receiving her relic—must have stirred the grief anew.
“……But I couldn’t even send her off properly.”
Stella’s head drooped. Then, suddenly, she lifted it to meet my eyes. A fierce longing burned in those green depths.
“Honored guest. If it’s not too rude, may I ask you one thing?”
“Of course.”
“Did Priestess Lucia…… find peace? In her very last moments, did she return to the gods’ embrace?”
Stella’s question referred to the player’s chosen dialogue option.
Whether you’d answered “yes” or “no” to Lucia’s plea. If “no,” had you left her to suffer in the abyss, or ended her yourself?
Two paths here: tell the Inquisitor the truth, or lie.
For reference, whether the player told the truth or lied comes out later. The Inquisitor can peer into the user’s memories via the holy catalyst’s divine resonance, she says.
The worst route? Choosing “no” for Lucia, abandoning her to agony in the abyss, then lying to the Inquisitor that you granted her peace.
Later, upon learning the truth, a furious Inquisitor brands the player an enemy of the Holy Kingdom, locking you out of all church-related storylines for that playthrough.
It was such a vile choice that memes vilifying the protagonist circulated for a while.
“Yes. She returned to the gods’ embrace and rested peacefully.”
Conversely, choosing “yes” for Lucia and telling the Inquisitor the same was the optimal path.
It turned the Inquisitor into an unconditional ally, like the Silver Dawn Knights’ commanders. Essential for me right now.
“……I see. Thank goodness. Truly, thank goodness.”
Stella’s eyes reddened. She struggled to contain surging emotions, rubbing them with the back of her hand before taking a deep breath and stepping forward.
Then, she bowed deeply to me.
“I am truly grateful for your kindness. By the name of Stella, Inquisitor of Raphael Holy Kingdom, I swear: I shall never forget this grace, for all eternity.”
I recalled hearing those lines in the game, responding with a light smile instead of words. No need to reply verbally here.
Stella carefully secured the holy catalyst at her waist and led her battle nuns away. I glanced at Selene beside me. She looked mildly surprised, but her expression hadn’t shifted dramatically.
“Iris, you free for a moment?”
“…….”
“Iris?”
“……Ah. Sorry, Delta. I zoned out. What is it?”
Iris snapped to after I called her twice. The recent events must have shocked her badly.
The knight commanders seemed to encounter shock after shock since arriving in the Holy Kingdom. How many times was this now?
“Want to head back to the lodgings first? I have some things to discuss with the heresy inquisitor. I’ll explain everything to you all later. It shouldn’t take long.”
“About the rune? Since it originally belonged to the Holy Kingdom, there’ll be things you can tell us and things you can’t. Understood. We’ll go ahead and wait.”
The knight commanders turned to leave without protest. Lije waved enthusiastically at me. I waved back casually. Their misconception pricked at my conscience a bit.
Still, good. What came next would be awkward with the commanders watching. If they’d refused, I’d have forced the issue somehow.
“Heresy inquisitor. Could you guide me somewhere private? Just the two of us.”
“Understood, honored guest. You all, return as well. Rest until I give further orders.”
The battle nuns bowed and dispersed. With a single gesture dismissing them, Selene turned sharply.
“Follow me.”
Selene led me to the chapel of the Moon Pope’s followers, just like last time. The interior remained empty.
“We’re completely alone, right?”
“Yes. It’s time for Sun worship now, so no one will come here…… but you seem uneasy, so shall I erect a barrier to ensure no one enters?”
The holy catalyst glowed faintly. A thick silver veil of light enveloped the entire building from the windows outward.
“As you wished. To breach the barrier around this chapel would require the Inquisitor herself or His Holiness the Pope to descend personally.”
“Yes. Thank you, heresy inquisitor.”
I took a moment to breathe deeply. Selene’s reaction to my plan was uncharted territory. Still, my instincts said it’d work.
But……
“However…… honored guest, must we block all eyes just to discuss the rune’s effects?”
Selene voiced her doubt. Fair enough—erecting a barrier over a mere rune explanation did seem excessive.
“That’s because what I’m about to say isn’t about the rune.”
“Pardon……? What do you……?”
“It’s about this.”
I pressed the advantage before her confusion cleared.
“For instance, that the one who volunteered as sacrifice was the Moon Pope or somesuch—”
—KABOOM!
Before I could finish, my vision spun. My body launched into the air, slamming hard into the chapel wall. A sharp pain lanced through my back.
Rather than the pain, my first thought was relief that this didn’t count as damage. A choked gasp escaped my lips next.
If this had counted as damage, I’d be dead here.
“Where did you hear that?”
Selene, who’d just smashed me into the wall, radiated unprecedented killing intent.
Her merciless eyes glared at me. An immense pressure emanated from her wide-open violet gaze. The hand at my throat seemed ready to snap my neck any second.
“I asked where—*from whom*—you heard that!”
Selene finally bellowed. She’d always been even more stoic than Iris, yet this was the first time I’d seen her raise her voice in anger.
The DLC storyline wasn’t supposed to unfold like this. But I’d decided to ignore the plot entirely. Skipping all the midway steps to take down the final boss straight away.
Since it was already derailed from the start, what reason did I have not to twist it further with my own hands?