153. You're a Heretic, Aren't You?
153. You're a Heretic, Aren't You?
It felt like I was sinking into a deep, dark sea.
My body couldn't move freely, and I was simply drifting downward.
Each time I sank deeper into the darkness, memories of the past surfaced.
<You have inferior physical abilities, so you must work twice as hard as others. Get up.>
Unpleasant memories I had buried in the dark resurfaced.
<Don't even dream of setting foot outside the mansion. If you go out, everyone will point fingers at you. I dread what others will whisper behind your back about you being smaller than your younger sibling.>
It had always been hard to see my father's face properly, as he looked down on me from a place much higher than where I stood.
I could not remember what kind of expression he had worn.
Had he been enjoying himself? Or had he found me pathetic? Had he been furious? Or had he been sad?
It was impossible to judge from his voice alone, which never betrayed any emotion.
Around that time, the only thought I ever had was that I wanted to break those legs of his, which were like great trees, so I could see him at the same eye level.
"Are you okay...?"
"... Yeah."
When I opened my eyes, Amy was looking at me with a worried expression.
The dark sea I had been submerged in, and the father who spoke callous words from above my head, were no longer visible.
I was still suffering from a high fever, lying in a hospital bed.
Having been sick, it seemed I'd had another weird ass dream.
"You said you were okay."
"This much is okay."
"It's not okay."
"My internal injuries just got a little worse while I was trying to heal my external wounds."
"That's a huge deal...! Someone at Atlas's level could die from a backlash if they make a single mistake..."
Amy sat beside my bed and scolded me.
With things like this, it felt like our positions had become the complete opposite of when Amy had been hospitalized before.
"Do you know how worried I was when you didn't come out in the morning? You saying you were okay yesterday was a lie too, wasn't it?!"
"No... I thought I would be okay back then..."
Truthfully, even then, I had guessed this would happen.
"I decided I'd be the one nursing you today, so please tell me if you need anything."
Amy said that and then wiped the beads of sweat from my forehead with a towel.
I glanced around, but the others were nowhere to be seen.
Lucia had been the first to come.. and I recalled Amy and Riber entering afterward.
"Did the others leave first?"
"I won rock-paper-scissors."
Amy's answer sounded rather random.
"Rock-paper-scissors?"
"They said only one person a day can stay in the hospital room for nursing purposes, not just visiting, so everyone decided the order with rock-paper-scissors."
"I see."
Come to think of it, only one person at a time was allowed to nurse someone in the hospital room.
"We said we'd go out and talk more, and it turned into this mess.... We haven't told anyone about falling into Hell, right?"
"Not yet."
"Good. Keep it that way for now. If it gets out, it'll get noisy with them wanting to investigate that mansion again."
"If you know that, then get better quickly."
"Yeah... once I get better... I've got to start by destroying that mansion where the trap was installed."
"Can't you stop thinking about work and rest a little?"
"Work? Thinking about building a new house is the same as playing."
The other person who had escaped from Hell with me came to mind.
"What's Hulan doing?"
"The academy's been in an uproar because a Master suddenly appeared. But he seems like he really is just looking around—he's just sightseeing here and there."
He was the Master McIntosh so desperately wanted.
I wanted to keep him here until the Summit.
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Even with senses dulled by the high fever, I could feel sharp presences.
The sound of cold metal scraping echoed through the quiet hospital corridor.
It wasn't just one; there were several.
"...Amy."
"I hear it too. Who on earth, in a hospital..?"
-Kudangtangtang!!
The door burst open, and Holy Knights stormed in.
Five fully armed Holy Knights entered my hospital room and surrounded me in an instant.
"Atlas Nemea! We are arresting you, you bastard, on suspicion of heresy!!"
"What is the meaning of this!!"
The moment the Holy Knights barged in, Amy shielded me and confronted them.
I grabbed the hand of Amy, who looked ready to fight at any second.
"... Let's hear what this is about first."
"But Atlas, a heretic... that's absurd!"
'You misunderstood me before too.'
The words almost slipped out involuntarily, but I held them back.
In this situation, it was a meaningless thing to say.
The Holy Knights and Amy, both belonging to the same faction in a way, would only escalate the matter if they clashed over nothing.
They wouldn't have barged all the way here without any thought, so hearing them out first seemed like the right thing to do.
One of the Holy Knights stepped forward, approached me, and pulled a pristine white bundle out from his chest.
Then he opened it and showed me the contents.
"You can't claim you don't know what this is—it was discovered in your room!!"
In his hand was Asmodeus's horn, which I had brought back as a trophy from Hell.
Asmodeus's horn, severed from the main body, was still emitting a horrifyingly dense demonic energy.
"Tch, that is definitely easy to misunderstand."
I had collapsed the moment I entered the dormitory, so it seemed I'd forgotten to seal that thing away.
——————————-
After Atlas was carried away, the male dormitory was turned upside down once more.
It was because the Holy Knights had started searching a student's room.
Occasionally, they would inspect students' belongings, saying they sensed a suspicious aura from some, but this was the first time they had searched a dormitory room.
The three Holy Knights did not even have to search the room like they were hunting for lice.
It was because the moment they entered the room, they discovered an extremely suspicious object lying on the floor.
It was an object presumed to be a demon's horn.
The location of the discovery was the problem.
The demon's horn, saturated with dense demonic energy, was found precisely in the room of the hot-tempered new student, Atlas.
"I knew it! That bastard was off his rocker!!"
One student whose leg had been severed by Atlas earlier said with a shudder.
"What, so everything up until now was the power of a demon?"
"I thought his personality was far too cruel, but if he's a demon..."
As it happened, he was hospitalized and could not respond in any way.
Whether he truly worshipped demons, made a contract, or anything else had not been revealed, but the rumor that a demon's horn was found in his room passed from person to person and became increasingly inflated....
"What, that new student is a demon?"
By the end, it had become a completely different story.
Everyone couldn't help but be confused.
It was because the Newspaper Club, which normally sorted out such matters, had completely washed its hands of anything regarding Atlas.
Word of mouth did not travel a thousand miles, but it did transform its body like a chimera.
——————————
The Holy Knights brought a stretcher for me, as I had agreed to comply with the investigation.
I could move a little now after receiving treatment, but it was still an immense ordeal just to take a single step, so I had no choice.
I decided to just be grateful they weren't dragging me away as I was.
As the Holy Knights tried to take me away, Professor Praha came rushing out of the research lab and blocked their path.
"What is this discourtesy to my stud... no, my patient? Can people called Holy Knights do this to a patient?? He hasn't even recovered yet, so I cannot permit his discharge."
"We will send him back after a brief investigation. Please cooperate."
"Cooperate, my foot! What nerve do you have to do this in a hospital? If you don't return my patient to his hospital room, I will formally protest to the Papal State."
They claimed it was a critical matter where every moment counted and that they would release him right after a brief investigation, but Professor Praha did not believe them.
When Professor Praha threatened them, the surrounding mana vibrated.
Responding to the anger of an elf with high mana affinity, the mana in the atmosphere began to resonate.
It was easy to forget since Nico Praha was always holed up in the research lab, but she was an elf who generally possessed physical specs several times stronger than a human's.
"... Professor, I'll be back soon, so please let me go for now."
"Huh? Are you sure you'll be okay??"
"What would church people do...."
I told Professor Praha to stop.
I didn't want to cause a commotion since my condition was poor, and I had nothing to feel guilty about, so I was perfectly confident.
It was because the demon's horn was proof of having subjugated Asmodeus, not proof of demon worship.
"Still, you can't go. The patient is not in a physical condition to undergo an investigation right now, so come back after he's at least recovered."
"That's right! How can you conduct an investigation when he can't even get up properly and loses consciousness suddenly while talking..!! Absolutely not!"
But Professor Praha stated this without a moment's hesitation, and Amy joined in as well.
Although I said it was okay, Amy, who could not simply send me off obediently, seemed incredibly frustrated.
She had an expression that looked like she was about to cry at any moment.
"At this rate, you'll really end up fighting... Both of you, stop. I'll be back soon."
Leaving the hospital room behind, I was carried away by the Holy Knights.
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Placed on a stretcher, I was transported to the church.
It wasn't surprising, but the basement of the academy church had an interrogation room dedicated to the Inquisitors.
I must have really looked like I was in a lot of pain.
After all, I was allowed to lie on a folding bed even in the investigation room.
The fever still hadn't subsided.
Headaches and high fever were factors that hindered rational thought.
I needed to regulate my internal condition and recover quickly, but things weren't going as I wanted.
While I lay on the folding bed, which wasn't as good as the hospital bed but felt decent enough, trying to regulate my internal state, the door opened.
A man who looked very much like a Holy Knight entered.
He wore thick armor, but from his face and hands, it was clear he was quite slender for a knight.
Having inflated his frame with authoritarian-looking armor, he sat down in front of me.
"I am Holy Knight Ham, assigned to this investigation. You don't want to be in a place like this for long, right? So let's get this over with quickly."
Holy Knight Ham gave a grin.
I could see his intention to finish the investigation quickly, but my resolve was also firm.
"I have nothing to say to you, so please call the Saintess for me."
I had nothing to say to a low-ranking Holy Knight.
I would accept the investigation, but bring me your highest-ranking person.