219. The Price of Greed
219. The Price of Greed
"If you rest in the Sanctum, your stamina and Mana will recover far faster than before."
"I know."
"There will be no ears to hear or eyes to see, either."
As we walked through the empty corridor, I turned my gaze toward Yusopa.
"You've gotten a lot more talkative than when we were outside. Your tone's lighter too."
"Because there were eyes watching."
"Your expression's gotten pretty lively too. Are you, by any chance, certain I won't kill you?"
"No. It's simply the same reason as before. There are no eyes watching, so I've relaxed a little."
"How old are you this year?"
"Nineteen."
"A hundred and nineteen?"
"...In my heart, I am still a girl."
"That's senility, is what that is. But if you've lived that long, isn't it about time you dropped dead?"
"Indeed. I have a feeling that perhaps today might be that day."
For a while now, her answers had been strange.
Her expression, her voice, her tone, her answers.
Everything about her seemed to straddle some line.
No way.
"I've got something I'm curious about."
"Ask me anything."
"You. Have you abandoned your faith?"
"How could I?"
The answer seemed to come immediately, but I felt the brief hesitation between question and answer.
I stopped walking for a moment and narrowed my eyes.
"Sometimes I get the urge to strangle lying bastards to death with their own tongues."
"The agent of the Heavenly Principle cannot speak falsehood to anyone."
"The agent of the Heavenly Principle would be the Saintess, not you."
"Correct. But the former Saintess—"
"Hey."
BOOM—!
My fist shot out reflexively, grazing Yusopa's cheek and slamming into a pillar.
If Yusopa hadn't turned her head at my call, her skull would have burst open.
Yusopa seemed to realize that fact as well, but this woman, as if she truly had no fear of death, healed my fist with a composed expression.
"Your lovely hand is getting damaged."
"Don't get cute with me. What? Former Saintess? Do you still see me as a fucking joke?"
"...Having sat in the Patriarch's seat for so long, I habitually tried to grasp the information you possess, Eliarnes. I apologize."
"Don't show me your worthless habits. Don't size me up, don't probe me. Don't test me, and don't compare the information you have."
"Understood."
Thud— I pulled my fist out of the pillar. In the process, the skin peeled off again, but even that healed in an instant.
"You truly... seem like a peculiar person."
"I would be peculiar. You can probably see why with those eyes of yours, can't you?"
"I cannot say I see it perfectly clearly, but yes. I can see it."
Yusopa opened her eyes.
An ordinary blue left eye, and a right eye with a cross embedded in a pure white pupil.
Those strange eyes looked at me.
"I am... the head of Pnasensia and the Patriarch of the Sky God Church. Therefore, I cannot help but think and judge according to the doctrine I have held in my heart for over a hundred years."
But.
"Your karma and soul, Eliarnes... seem to deny and shake that doctrine, the very foundation of my hundred-year life. So... I am confused."
"You couldn't be certain until you saw it?"
"Yes. I could only be certain after seeing you directly, Eliarnes, with these eyes."
Certainty.
I asked if she hadn't been certain, and Yusopa answered that she had been certain.
There was no gap in between.
It flowed naturally, as if she had known I would ask such a question, and as if I too had known such an answer would come back.
"Can we have the rest of the conversation in the Sanctum?"
"I would be grateful if you would."
There's... something.
What she said about there being eyes watching, maybe that too.
Not a human, but some other existence...
"The world's really gone to shit."
"I think so as well."
"I don't believe in gods, so that's fine for me, but wouldn't it be better for you to hurry up and die so you can go to Yurphia's side?"
Yusopa changed the subject with a strange smile.
"Before we enter the Sanctum, may I give you a brief explanation of the situation?"
"What, you're going to try to make some excuses for this current mess?"
"Excuses... if you call them excuses, then they are excuses. Of course, they are not excuses made to save my life. They are merely... words and excuses offered in the hope that you will not resent the others besides myself."
Step— step— step—
Click— click—
Three of my steps equaled two of Yusopa's.
Even with my stride stretched as far as possible, that was still the difference.
Annoying.
"Do you have something to make excuses for?"
I spoke with that annoyance in my voice.
"The Blood Heaven Knight Order all died and became the Puppet Emperor's dolls, and before you even knew that fact, parasites multiplied within the Holy Capital. So in the end, the Executors on your side were pretending to be allies to avoid the Puppet Emperor's surveillance, while waiting for a chance to stab you in the back."
"...You are exactly right."
"And the reason the Executors split in half and turned against each other was simply to divide the Puppet Emperor's attention. And so that, like Mikel coming to me, they would move like a detached force split from the main body without their own awareness."
Yusopa answered with silence.
Whether she did or not, I continued.
"Then the revelation Mikel delivered to me was ultimately something you heard and separately leaked like a rumor. Isn't that right?"
To perfectly deceive the enemy, you must deceive even your allies. That was something Luna often said at the gambling table.
So Luna always played cards completely drunk, to deceive even herself.
Crazy bitch.
"Also, the Twelve Cardinals took the Puppet Emperor's hand to satisfy their own selfish interests, and because of that, the Executors and Blood Heaven Knight Order who were on the cardinals' side would have been transferred elsewhere. And then they would have killed them, disguised as 'accidents.' Because they needed to reduce the Puppet Emperor's forces, even if it meant doing that."
From the documents Mikel handed over, I learned that quite a few Executors had died recently.
At the time, I just thought they had split in half and were tearing each other apart, but now that the situation has blown up, it makes sense.
"However, there's one thing that doesn't add up. Why did the Blood Heaven Knight Order go on an expedition to Ge Vihenum? And why didn't you know until the Puppet Emperor's dolls swallowed the Holy Capital?"
"That is..."
"Of course, you can't say it here. That's why we're going to the Sanctum. Because the Sanctum, as you said, has no 'eyes to see' or 'ears to hear.'"
Yusopa's expression went blank.
"...Everything is exactly as you have said."
"Even if I don't bother assigning blame, you know that you were fucking incompetent, and you know your methods were wrong. And you're going to offer me your neck and beg for forgiveness."
"...Correct."
"I'll decide who to kill myself. And I won't kill you right now. Once everything is over, then I'll kill you. It's a pain to solve the incident and handle the cleanup myself."
Honestly, even being with Yusopa is annoying.
I want to go outside right now and search for Eurasia's whereabouts... but that's too vague a task.
If I go outside knowing nothing and become their target, and a battle of attrition starts, then I'll get nowhere.
So... it's best to gather as much information as possible, replenish my stamina, and then go out.
Eurasia is definitely alive anyway.
Since she's the most central existence in the Resurrection of Gluttony... they can't kill Eurasia.
"Thank you for your mercy."
With those final words, Yusopa said no more.
After walking for roughly another twenty minutes.
Our steps stopped in a massive cavern.
"We have arrived, but I must open the locked door."
"Where's the key?"
"It flows within my body."
"Your blood?"
"That is correct."
I was about to slap her across the ear to draw nosebleed, but I held back for now.
"...Thank you for restraining yourself. Yes, what you are thinking is correct, Eliarnes. I must shed blood myself to open the door."
Yusopa knew better than anyone when she was about to get hit. Whether she was quick-witted or simply knew 'me' well.
"Hurry up and open it."
I clicked my tongue and looked away.
With a slicing sound of skin being cut— drip— thick liquid soaked the floor.
The blood scattered haphazardly. It writhed and drew geometric patterns on the floor.
I thought a drop or two would be enough, but apparently she had to spill more than a bowlful.
It wasn't this thorough 400 years ago.
As I watched with that expression, Yusopa smiled bitterly and said.
"There were more intruders than before, so it couldn't be helped. If I die, the door can never be opened... Of course, even if this incident hadn't occurred, if you had come, Eliarnes, I would have gladly opened it."
THOOM—
With a short vibration, the blood adorning the floor spread. Then wind blew. I felt a mighty power that made my whole body tingle. Darkness fell over the cavern of Shamaim, which had been pure white and filled with nothing but light.
Darkness? The Sanctum I entered 400 years ago was bright?
Well, I'll find out once I go in.
I don't want to put anything more into my head. It's already complicated enough, and I'm filled with emotions that feel like they'll burst at the slightest touch.
"Let us go."
*****
Whoosh—
There was no light. Not even a common Artifact had been placed here.
The only things illuminating the darkness were a dozen or so candles hanging on the walls.
I picked up one of them and looked around.
It's so dark I can't see anything.
"You may speak comfortably now."
A small sigh came from beside me.
A sigh of relief. Even at a glance, I could feel that Yusopa's breathing had become easier than before.
"You bastards drop dead at the sight of white, so why'd you make it so damn dark in here?"
"Many... things happened."
"Where are the Sacred Relics?"
"Before that, would you not first listen to my story?"
"I'll see the Sacred Relics first."
"...Yes. I will guide you."
Yusopa, who had taken a candle just like me, began to walk.
The path was wide. Nothing snagged at my feet, and nothing kicked up. As I walked forward, I recalled the appearance of the Sanctum from 400 years ago.
I definitely remember... the floor was octagonal, and there was a place for a Sacred Relic in each corner.
However, one of those places was empty.
The Greatsword of Charity, Nuh.
Well, I heard some absolute god from a higher dimension personally destroyed it, so that's not something I need to know about.
Anyway, the Sanctum was octagonal.
And a Sacred Relic was enshrined at each corner.
-In the Sky God Church, the number 8 signifies completeness. They say the sky god Yurphia descended to the earth and cultivated the world for eight days.
-There are seven Sacred Relics, so why are there eight corners? You sure you didn't just get confused and build it wrong?
-I just told you. The number 8 signifies completeness. If I said that, you could just accept it, but you always have to nitpick, don't you? Your personality is absolutely rotten.
-Nitpicking is what I do every day. So, if it's octagonal, what's the remaining spot for?
-Stupid Ronan. Obviously—
Yurphia.
The remaining spot is where the god's statue stands.
So the moment you enter the Sanctum, you should see Yurphia's statue directly ahead.
It was like that 400 years ago.
But.
"It's not there?"
No.
"It's been destroyed."
Someone had smashed the statue.
Honestly, if it weren't for me, I would have thought it was just an empty spot. Since I've been inside the Sanctum before, I can tell what's changed.
But someone entering for the first time wouldn't know. To that extent, Yurphia's statue had been destroyed so thoroughly that not a trace remained.
I have a rough idea... of who did it.
"It probably wasn't that bitch Luna. Was it Arisa? Probably. No one but that chimpanzee could pull off this kind of brainless stunt."
"Your words toward the Saintess and the Hero are too—"
"I'm allowed."
Yusopa's breath stopped for a moment.
"...Then those words, as I thought."
"Yeah."
Yusopa swallowed a startled breath.
"I am."
I turned my head and looked at Yusopa.
"Ronan Luzarak."
Wide-open eyes looked at me. Both pupils were directed at me, but I stared only at her right pupil.
"To be precise, I'm the Reincarnation of Ronan Luzarak. It's not a vague feeling. The soul you saw would be that, my karma would be that, and the memories I have would be that too. I am Ronan Luzarak."
Even though I'm Eliarnes Eustetia now.
The candles in our hands flickered. They swayed gently, making our shadows dance.
Between them, Yusopa's lips quivered.
"...I have seen it with my own eyes... but it is... very, very hard to believe... what you say."
"It would be. The fact that a big, burly bastard like my statue... turned into this is one thing, and they say no one but Yurphia can manipulate a human soul. And even Yurphia herself supposedly declared Reincarnation a taboo."
I wiggled my soft palm and fingers.
A bitter smile escaped me involuntarily.
Of course... I've never seen my own statue.
They say there's a memorial hall in the center of the Imperial Capital with various information about the Heroes from 400 years ago, meaning us, but I haven't gone.
I am interested. But...
Someday, all together... I thought, let's go... Yeah. So I haven't gone yet.
"Anyway, I am Ronan Luzarak."
"Why... are you telling me? Wasn't there a reason you were hiding it...?"
"Well, even if I didn't say it, you probably saw it with that eye of yours. And I also figured it wouldn't matter if you knew, since I'm going to kill you anyway."
Also.
"I'm not telling you just for your sake."
I extended my finger toward Yusopa's right eye.
My middle finger, of course. The finger is daintier than in my Past Life, but the meaning should still get across.
"Luna."
Luna Sacred Pnasensia.
"You gambling-addicted bitch."
Yusopa's eye blinked.
"Stop sneaking peeks like a creep and get the hell out here."
Come and make fun of me for how I look.
Give me shit for becoming a Martial Artist.
Curse me for dying first.
Laugh, get angry, hit me, do whatever.
I don't care.
Just come out.
Come out and.
"Take one slap from me."
Talk to me.
Please.
A heavy silence.
Deep darkness. Between the flickering shadows.
A soft light radiated.
Havar, wrapped around my right hand.
And behind me.
I turned my head.
A strange light flowed from one corner of the octagon.
That light connected to Havar.
Sacred.
The Sacred, which should originally be left and right, a 'pair,' had only the left remaining, radiating light.
In the illusion, Luna's right arm had been severed.
And what's before my eyes now is the left Sacred.
Is Luna there?
Where is the right arm?
Did she get caught bottom-dealing at a gambling table and get it cut off?
I don't know.
Thump, thump.
Feeling a heartbeat so loud I could hear it.
I approached the Sacred.
And my body was swallowed by the light.