Episode 1015
Episode 1015
"A Very Vile and Cunning Bastard. Everyone, Be Careful!"
Even without Lee Han's warning, all the investigation team members were already on guard.
They were deep in the sewers on the outskirts of the capital, having come to track down a monster from another dimension.
A stranger appearing in such a place could never be an ordinary person.
"I'll take the lead—cover me."
"Yes."
The knight-turned-investigator explosively channeled mana into his sword. A surging aura flashed brilliantly along the blade.
The other investigators behind him swiftly drew their crossbows, ready to suppress the enemy the moment their knightly comrade charged.
Faced with this deadly momentum, the Evil God Worshipper elf chose a response no one expected.
He raised both arms and knelt.
"I surrender. Since we've encountered a monster, there's no way we can win."
"......"
"......"
The investigators were taken aback but didn't stop. They immediately paralyzed him completely before restraining him.
"Alsicle. Handle the interrogation."
"Fine. Got it. Frost, forbid intrusion."
Alsicle took custody of the paralyzed Evil God Worshipper and cast a mental protection spell.
Though a fully subdued enemy couldn't do much, an opponent with a twisted, fanatical soul like an Evil God Worshipper could still spread corruption just by revealing their inner self.
Unless one was the type to taste interdimensional acid pools to confirm toxicity, casting a protective spell was the right call.
"You're an Evil God Worshipper, aren't you? Which god do you serve?"
"......"
Though the muscles around his vocal cords had been loosened to allow speech, the elf remained silent.
Alsicle frowned.
Evil God Worshippers generally fell into two categories.
One type babbled insanely, trying to spread their madness.
The other sealed their lips with conviction, locked in their own delusional world.
This elf seemed to be the latter—far more troublesome to interrogate.
"Not going to talk, huh?"
"Yeah. Interrogating him here seems impossible. We should take him out first."
"Are you suggesting we retreat?"
"Given how things have gone wrong, retreating seems like the right move."
The investigator shot Alsicle a dissatisfied look.
They had invested so much time and resources to chase a monster from another dimension, only to withdraw because of one intruder.
"!"
But when the investigator looked at Alsicle, he was startled. His comrade's eyes were brimming with tears.
Tears of frustration and regret.
'I was an idiot. Alsicle must be just as disappointed as I am!'
While the investigator and Alsicle shared this emotional moment, Lee Han was baffled.
"Uh... Is this really worth crying over?"
"I'm not crying! It's just moisture from the dimensional corrosion forming condensation!"
Alsicle snapped in denial.
He was frustrated and regretful that they hadn't even caught a glimpse of the monster's tail, but there was nothing to be done.
'Is he seriously crying over this?'
Lee Han felt an odd pang of sympathy and, on impulse, tried to help by addressing the Evil God Worshipper.
"If you have any accomplices, you might as well tell us. We'll take it into consideration. If you end up in Einrogard's Punishment Room, at least you'll get meals—"
"Fine. My accomplices are as follows: the Magic Criminal Kitarenanum. He's contracted with a powerful demon—that's why we're chasing the monster. The Separatist Bashirmac. He's—"
"??!?"
"????!!!"
The sudden mention of two high-profile wanted criminals left the investigators stunned.
"Kitarenanum is here?!"
"I thought Bashirmac fled across the sea...!"
"Wait. Why is he suddenly talking now?"
Alsicle was the first to sense something off.
"The guy who seemed like he'd keep his mouth shut until the end of the world—why is he suddenly opening up and spilling everything so smoothly?"
"In my opinion..."
Lee Han spoke with a grave expression. Alsicle, noticing his demeanor, perked up his ears and focused intently.
It was this boy who had made the Evil God Worshipper open his mouth. There must be something to it.
"...I suspect it might be because of the infamous reputation of Einrogard's Punishment Room that he started talking..."
"...As if an Evil God Worshipper would care about that!!!"
Alsicle shouted in a voice dripping with disbelief.
Ordinary criminals might fear Einrogard's Punishment Room, but Evil God Worshippers were a different breed. They were outright madmen, weren't they?
"Why did you open your mouth? Speak!"
"......"
At Alsicle's demand, the elf clamped his mouth shut again. Then Lee Han asked,
"If you want to receive your meal, answer properly."
"Fine. The reason I spoke was to avoid provoking the monster."
"???"
Lee Han was baffled.
Neither the content of the answer nor the reason for answering made any sense to him.
"Could it be... he answered because I used polite speech? Like how you, Lord Alsicle, would give me an extra sardine if I praised your ice magic."
"Y-you, how did you—! No. That can't be it."
Alsicle wanted to question Wardanaz's observational skills, but there were too many urgent matters at hand.
"Let's ask about something else first. What do you mean by 'monster'?"
"It's obviously a monster from another dimension. What kind of pointless question is that..."
Lee Han was about to scold Alsicle but stopped short.
The elf was pointing at him with his chin.
"......"
"...No! This sly bastard is trying to drive a wedge between us?!"
"P-please calm down, Honored Mage."
The investigation team members hurriedly tried to placate Lee Han.
'This is strange.' Alsicle fell into thought.
Evil God Worshippers weren't usually capable of crafting intricate schemes. Their thought processes were so tainted by madness that their plans always had some flaw or bizarre element to them.
There was no way an Evil God Worshipper would attempt such a clumsy divide-and-conquer tactic.
If that was the case... did he genuinely see Wardanaz as a monster?
"Are you from the Prahgal Cult?"
Alsicle asked, just in case.
Considering what the Prahgal Cult had suffered, it wouldn't be strange if they viewed Wardanaz as a monster.
"......"
Of course, no answer came. Alsicle let out a deep sigh and said,
"Wardanaz. Ask him for me..."
"Are you from the Prahgal Cult?"
"No. I serve the Great Prophet."
"The Great Prophet...?"
"It's the Ksaxarigol Cult."
The investigation team members wrinkled their faces in disgust.
Among Evil God Worshippers, there were those who considered even daring to utter their god's true name blasphemous.
"The Great Prophet" was the title Ksaxarigol Cultists used to refer to their deity.
If Prahgal was the God of Life (at least by their worshippers' standards), Ksaxarigol was the God of Prophecy.
Those who worshipped this Evil God were capable of anything in pursuit of perfect foresight.
They were fanatics who chose prophecy not as a means, but as an end in itself.
And if that prophecy seemed likely to go awry, they would forcibly twist reality to fit it—such were these madmen.
It was understandable why the investigation team members were repulsed. While no one wanted to befriend any Evil God Worshippers, the Ksaxarigol Cult was particularly notorious for their bizarre principles.
These were the kind of people who would set fire to a perfectly good city and insist, "They were meant to die anyway."
"Great Prophet or not, why am I a monster?"
'Did he lick the acidic poison to test its toxicity or something?' one of the investigation team members thought to himself.
But the reason the elf revealed was entirely unexpected.
"You are a monster that devours prophecies."
"...This bastard is still trying to sow discord!"
"Calm, calm down! Wardanaz! Stay calm and ask properly!"
"...What do you mean by a monster that devours prophecies?"
The evil god-worshipping elf explained impassively.
When foreseeing the world, there are those easy to predict and those difficult to predict.
And among them existed bizarre singularities that, once triggered, would twist all prophecies beyond recognition.
The cultists feared such beings as 'monsters that devour prophecies.'
"If we rashly provoke you, up to half a year's worth of prophecies could become completely tangled. I'll answer all your questions, so don't go berserk."
The elf's reason for surrendering was simple.
If they fought Lee Han and he went berserk from the provocation, all prophecies would become tangled.
The elf's reason for confessing everything about his comrades was identical.
If they acted without information and Lee Han went berserk from provocation, all prophecies would become tangled!
"Isn't this just sowing discord??"
As the furious Lee Han looked ready to toss him into the acid pool, Alsicle intervened.
"It makes sense."
"What sense does it make! Are you taking his side too, Sir Alsicle?!"
"N-no, that's not what I meant. It's an actual existing concept! And you've contracted with so many beings..."
A cornered rat may bite a cat, but no one could predict what a cornered mage from the Wardanaz family might do.
Just the transdimensional beings Alsicle knew of were already...
"There's the Spirit King, and Master Gonadaltes..."
"That skeleton? He's not that strong."
"...Headmaster. You insane bastard."
Alsicle shuddered anew at Wardanaz's disastrous naming sense.
"Ah. But the Headmaster isn't under contract..."
"Priesthood relationships are contracts too. Anyway, my point is, it's not complete nonsense."
Lee Han glared at the elf with suspicion-filled eyes.
He was somewhat convinced, but not entirely.
"If you were so afraid of provoking me, why come here?"
"You were more likely not to come here originally."
"Ha! Look at this bastard making excuses!"
"Wardanaz. Calm down and let's extract some information...!"
"Fine."
Lee Han ultimately gave up tormenting or interrogating them, shifting focus to information gathering.
Magic criminals, separatists, even doomsayers.
It was an astonishing gathering that made the vicious mercenaries they'd brought seem like crumbs in comparison.
"Is that monster really worth all this?"
"It's a monster from the void between dimensions. If controllable, its value surpasses any monster in the Empire."
"!!!"
Everyone, including Lee Han, was shocked.
Mages studying dimensional magic learn to distinguish between safe and dangerous dimensions.
But beyond such classifications existed voids—the outer seas of dimensions where exploration itself was impossible.
A monster from such a void would be on an entirely different level from those found in ordinary dimensions.
"Shouldn't we... be exterminating it rather than capturing it?"
"The monster appears stronger than we anticipated. We must report immediately."
"We lost."
The elf abruptly spoke. Lee Han shouted as if he'd expected this.
"So you mean our party will lose. Sir Alsicle. See? This bastard's trying to deceive people again with his false prophecies."
"Not you. Other intruders below have already lost."
"......"
The exploration team was stunned by news of those major criminals they'd mentioned earlier being defeated already.
What???
"The monster is moving upward quickly. It must not go berserk."
"Hah. Didn't foresee your comrades losing?"
"That possibility was accounted for. As long as this monster doesn't go berserk, it's fine."
The elf spoke as if Lee Han going berserk would be a more terrible disaster than the dimensional void monster rampaging through these underground ruins.
Lee Han nodded.
"Seems we've asked everything. Can we shut him up now?"
"Just endure a little longer, Wardanaz."