Chapter 187: The Pied Piper Girl
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 187: The Pied Piper Girl
“Headmistress, do you happen to know someone named Roman?”
“Roman?”
“From what I've heard, he's a theologian.”
Elize couldn't get the tip from the "unidentified" man out of her head for a single moment.
Project.
Experiment.
Novitiates.
Combining the three pieces completed a puzzle that perfectly matched Elize's memories.
The memory of that day, drenched in blood.
A crimson stain that had covered everything she was.
The fact that he, of all people, had brought her this information was deeply unsettling, but she couldn't ignore it.
But she still lacked information, so Elize was in the process of gathering more.
Her starting point was the theologian from the tip: Roman. She repeated his name whenever it came to mind so she wouldn't forget.
She asked the Headmistress, thinking she might know of him.
The Headmistress, who was stroking her chin, answered quickly.
“Roman the theologian. Of course, I know him.”
“You know him?”
“He's a theologian who's become quite famous recently. But why do you ask?”
“I’d like to meet him. Do you happen to know where he works?”
“You should be able to find him at the seminary.”
“The seminary…”
If she went to the seminary, she could surely get more information about him.
Elize waited for night to fall.
*
When night came, it wasn't the mafia that awoke, but Elize the vampire.
Elize was unfazed by sunlight and could have acted during the day without issue, but all the world's secrets are kept at night.
It was also true that she grew stronger at night. Her vampiric traits would awaken, dramatically increasing her physical abilities and the effectiveness of her magic.
Her thought processes and instincts, too. She became more vampire than human.
Transforming into a bat, Elize infiltrated the seminary as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Elize was certain this project was connected to the experiment she had endured in the past.
Her goal was to find information related to the experiment. Documents would be good, but a person would be just as good. She could simply interrogate them to get what she needed.
Elize flitted about the seminary in her bat form.
She had infiltrated successfully, but this was her first time here. Finding Roman's office in the vast seminary would not be easy.
She could take her time and search room by room, but she risked finding clues only after the experiment was already over.
Returning to her human form, Elize found another theologian on night duty.
“Sister? What are you doing here at this hour…? More importantly, shouldn't the guards be at the gate?”
“Shhh.”
Elize pressed a finger to her lips.
She stared directly into the theologian's eyes.
The man's pupils lost their focus.
Once he was standing there vacantly, Elize slit the theologian's wrist, making a shallow cut. She let her own blood flow into the wound.
Elize's blood spread to every corner of the theologian's body. It was a spell that used blood as a medium to read another's memories.
It would have been far more convenient to just sink her fangs into his neck, but that would mean getting his disgusting blood in her mouth.
She would never do that. The trouble was much preferred.
Elize read what she needed from the theologian's memories.
The layout of the building.
The locations of the offices.
Among them was Roman's office.
Just as she was about to head there, Elize paused.
“Forget everything that happened in the last hour or so.”
One could never be too careful.
She couldn't forget she was in the heart of the Holy Kingdom.
After tying up the loose end, Elize headed for Roman's office.
‘The lights are off…’
The door was firmly shut.
It was heavily secured to prevent intruders.
But Elize's magic operated on a different level from the norm.
Shwaaa!
In an instant, Elize's body turned to blood.
Like a gust of wind, it was sucked through the crack under the door.
Once on the other side, the blood gathered in one spot, and Elize reappeared.
“Let's see…”
Documents were scattered messily across the desk. Elize began to sift through them one by one.
An Inquiry into the Power Dynamics of Celestials and Demons.
How an Atheist Can Receive a Divine Revelation.
Does Drinking a Celestial's Yawn Increase Divine Power?
Some piqued Elize's curiosity, while others were utterly useless projects.
But the one that truly caught her eye was this:
An Experiment on the Coexistence of Divine Power and Demonic Energy.
What would happen if two completely opposing forces existed in one place? If a perfect balance could be maintained, a new power might be born... A similar experiment was conducted thirteen years ago, but all data was lost in an unidentified explosion... To proceed with the experiment, a young cleric or demon with flexible energy flow is required...
“Hee hee~”
Having found what she was looking for, Elize let out a pleased hum. It seemed there was still a fool conducting such useless experiments.
It wasn't some heroic desire to save the children. Her only goal was to interfere, to prevent those she disliked from getting their way.
Memorizing the laboratory's location from the document, Elize left the office.
*
A low, deserted hill.
Carriages bearing torches that lit up the night gathered.
Priests and nuns disembarked from the carriages, followed by children. Their faces showed a mixture of slight tension, anticipation, and excitement.
“Is there a sanctuary inside?”
“Yes. Within lies the gate of trials, which will test your faith.”
“If we pass the trial, can we become a Saint?”
“You will have earned the minimum qualifications to become a Saint.”
Hearing they could become a Saint, the girls couldn't hide their joy.
“A Saint, is it now? Back in my day, it was just a nun.”
Just then, a voice drifted down from the sky.
The people flinched and looked up.
A figure floated against the moonlit sky. She sat with her legs crossed in mid-air, slowly flapping her wings.
The backlight obscured her features, but her blood-red pupils emanated a menacing glow. Two fangs peeked out from her smile.
“A v-vampire!”
Elize was not in a nun's habit, but a black, gothic-style dress with white lace. She looked more like a vampire than a nun.
“Hiek! A demon!”
“Sister, I'm scared!”
“Calm down, everyone. Hide behind me.”
The clergy and Holy Knights formed a line, shielding the children.
Elize looked down at them with a contemptuous gaze and let out a scoff.
“As if you're the ones protecting anyone.”
They could pretend to be the kindest people in the world, but they couldn't fool Elize's eyes.
She could see it.
Not balance, but their pitch-black intentions.
They were simply reacting to the danger of losing their precious test subjects.
Elize pointed to the entrance of the underground passage they were about to enter.
“Everyone. Do you know what's inside there?”
Long before they arrived, Elize had already gone inside and checked. They must have been desperate to keep this a secret, judging by the number of guards posted. But they had all become a handful of blood in Elize's hands.
“It's filled with disgusting lumps of flesh. There is no trial to become a Saint, no holy war. Only Abaddon, where the voice of God cannot reach, awaits you, you see?”
“You vile vampire! How dare you wag your wicked tongue!”
A priest fired a light arrow to silence her. But with a dismissive wave of her hand, Elize deflected it effortlessly.
“You've neglected your training with such useless endeavors. This is how you use divine power.”
Elize perfectly mimicked what the priest had done.
A pure white bow and arrow formed in her hand. It was an arrow of high-purity divine power, several times stronger than the one the priest had created.
She released the bowstring, and the light arrow shattered the knight's armor and pierced his heart.
The Holy Knight fell backward from the impact.
“Kyaaaaah!”
The night hill descended into pandemonium.
The priest stared at Elize, his eyes wide with bewilderment.
“That power! Don't tell me you're—?!”
“Does someone here know me?”
“There's no mistake! The past experiment was a success! Mwahahaha! We've created the Saint who will rewrite the world's order, one who has achieved perfect balance!”
The priest's face was flooded with ecstasy. His rapturous expression was that of a man who had just witnessed God.
Elize frowned at the priest's fanatical display. Just moments ago, he was shrieking about a vampire, and now he was practically prostrating himself.
“…A Saint?”
What the hell is a Saint?
And what's this about rewriting the order?
“How unpleasant.”
The sight of this crazed believer worshiping her was utterly revolting.
A large amount of blood was drawn from the dead Holy Knight's body, transforming into the shape of thorny vines.
“What is this?”
“Deploy the barrier!”
The clergy deployed a divine barrier and tried to bat the vines away with their maces, but it was no use. Half of Elize's magic was a blessing that contained divine power.
Magic of the same nature neutralized the believers' blessings. The thorny vines wrapped around the clerics' bodies from head to toe.
Squeeze.
Elize lightly clenched her fist.
The thorny vines tightened around the clerics.
The thorns dug in.
“Gyaaaaaaah!”
“Kiiyaaaaaah!”
“Ah…! Glory. Such immaculate glory! O Saint, please guide this humble body to the world of order!”
The vines tightened to their limit, twisting the people's bodies until, with a series of sickening cracks, they broke like jointed dolls.
The grotesquely twisted clerics fell to the ground. The priest who had spoken wore a radiant expression even in the moment of his death, his hands clasped together.
“Tsk.”
Elize looked away as if she'd seen something filthy.
The surviving children huddled together, trembling.
Many of them were praying with their eyes squeezed shut.
Elize smiled sweetly.
“It's no use praying. No matter how much you beg for mercy, God's grace will not descend.”
Elize pulled back her middle finger with her thumb and flicked it, as if flicking someone on the forehead. A droplet of blood shot from her fingertip and landed on each child's forehead.
At that, the children's eyes went blank.
Their praying hands fell limply to their sides.
“Now, follow me. I will guide you to a place where the clutches of adults cannot reach.”
Elize flew away at a slow pace.
The children followed her in a line, trailing behind her until they disappeared somewhere into the night.
The blood-soaked hill was left without a trace.