307 The Son of Dawn (3)
Umm. Ninomae Hitomi scratched her cheek and looked up at the ceiling.
“Th-this! Coward! Why can’t you untie me right away?!”
Hanging from the ceiling like a dried squid was a woman. She was quite beautiful and had a glamorous figure, but because her body was wrapped so tightly in ropes that you couldn’t see it without removing her face, there was no erotic feeling at all.
It had been said that Han Seoyeon had rushed out in the middle of the night, and suddenly she brought this back. It wasn’t unusual for her to go out urgently at night, but bringing something home like this was extremely rare—especially when it was a living being.
‘…Demons are living beings, after all, right?’
Such a thought had crossed her mind, but anyway, it seemed this was the first time she had brought back a being with a self.
“Put me down! I’m talking here! What rudeness to Lord Lucifer!”
“Here it is, Hitomi.”
“Ah, thank you.”
“Don’t be scared! I’m talking!”
Despite the shouting from above, Han Seoyeon calmly offered Hitomi a cup of coffee she had just brewed in the kitchen. Hitomi expressed her gratitude and took a sip.
It was common sense that, of the two things that had happened today—the demon she first met being captured and the coffee brewed by her wife—the latter was a hundred times more important. At least that’s how Hitomi thought.
Above all, the one who captured that woman was Han Seoyeon. Even without knowing the details, it was clear that the other side was in the wrong.
Hitomi smiled bashfully at the perfectly sweetened coffee, stood up, and kissed Seoyon’s cheek as they sat side by side.
“So… how did you end up bringing that demon?”
She asked Seoyeon the full story with a smile.
“It just happened that I ended up at Chiyo-san’s house. If it hadn’t been for the insurance Philotanus-san had set up in advance, I would have been killed.”
“…Chiyo-san?”
It didn’t take long for her expression to cool down.
For Hitomi, it was, of course, Han Seoyeon, but even if not Seoyeon, she valued her surrounding acquaintances highly. Touching acquaintances was originally a taboo for most people, but for Hitomi with her narrow circle of friends, it was even more so.
“Sion.”
“Yes, Hitomi.”
“The coffee… since Sion brewed it herself, is it okay to boil new water and pour it on your face?”
“I understand your feelings, but please bear with it.”
Unfortunately, the one in pain wasn’t someone who would be troubled by such a small thing.
“Simply put, it’s a being more powerful than me.”
“Huh? A demon at the level of an Apostle? Does that exist?”
Hitomi was startled by the follow-up. Han Seoyeon had always underestimated herself, and it was true that among Apostles, she was on the weaker side if ranked, but… this evaluation was beyond expectations.
“Originally, Apostles are strong, but not overwhelmingly the strongest.”
When you think about it, it’s absurd that there are exactly ten strong beings at the Apostle level in this world. Even just the Holy Knights selected as Apostle Candidates would be quite a few, and there are exceptions like Saint Seongseong Janggwan. Of course, there are such skilled individuals outside the Church as well.
Normally, such strong people would be leaders of some organization, so a Church with dozens of them is absurd.
“And there are cases among demons as well.”
Demons that have power comparable to Apostles, or even stronger, to the point where multiple Apostles would have to face them depending on conditions. In the past, there were as many as five such beings who ruled as the apex of demons.
“Satan, Beelzebub, Leviathan, Belial, and…”
“This Lucifer!”
“…Yes, that’s right.”
Whenever she was about to shout, it seemed like she was hyping herself up, so the demon immediately jumped in. Han Seoyeon let out a short sigh at this brazen attitude.
“Lucifer……”
At that, Hitomi fell into thought for a moment. Even if it’s not the most famous demon in the world, it’s an existence. But it felt like she had heard the name in places other than games or animations.
So, for a while, she recalled…
“…Grandmaster?”
“Yes, you remember.”
She could recall that it had been mentioned in the Apostle meeting.
“Apparently, he was kidnapped and held for ransom by the Grandmaster of the Freemasons…”
“Yes. Judging by the situation, it seems he escaped from there, so I’m returning him.”
“…Aren’t Catholics originally on bad terms with Freemasons?”
Hitomi knew that it was an organization that could be excommunicated just for joining. Even without considering the conspiracy theories that Freemasons control the world, this organization based on monotheism is completely opposite to Catholic doctrine.
“Is there any reason to refuse their offer to imprison uncontrollable demons in their place using their money and effort?”
“Ah… I see.”
Previously, they had to drive the fake Longinus’ spear into the cathedral basement. If they could outsource to the other side, they could save time, money, and holy relics. The Church had no reason not to accept their help.
Of course, if it’s an unreliable party, it’s like handing over the nuclear bomb switch… but for imprisoning Lucifer, they couldn’t betray. For that part, the Church’s intelligence agency classified it under the ‘Public Standard’ category.
Understanding how reliable ‘Public Standard’ is, if Han Seoyeon had a scenario where she was hostile to Ninomae Hitomi included in that item, it would be easy to understand.
“And originally, it’s similar to a group under the Church now.”
“Huh? No, even so, it’s a monotheistic religion…”
“Originally it was. Now what’s left is a group that the Church smashed the original organization and recreated with the same name.”
One might think, why not just smash it and be done? But unfortunately, that doesn’t apply to the otherworld. Famous groups related to the occult attract faith by their very name. The number of times the name Freemason appears in conspiracy theories is enough.
And if left alone, organizations would emerge to suck that faith by using their name. Given the tendencies of the original organization, those mosquitoes are unlikely to be friendly to the Church. If left to fester and completely lose control, something like a glowing Hitler would pop out.
So, the Church nurtures a giant mosquito and eats it all up, or makes it act as a Church’s limb.
“Somehow… every time a new work comes out, it feels like they’re registering trademarks with similar names…”
“I see. From a big perspective, it might not make much difference.”
And by deliberately creating organizations like this, there’s another advantage.
“If there’s no big change, but suddenly a change in faith comes in, someone using the same name to steal the faith will be noticed. It’s also the method used when tracking the black villain of the Vampire Syndrome.”
If a secret organization borrows the name of an old organization with the intention of securing faith, it was a sure way to identify the organization by its name. Another typical method was tax records, and when discovering that the black villains of the Vampire Syndrome used the name ‘Hermes Trismegistus’, both methods were used.
“So what kind of place is this current Freemason exactly?”
“Umm… a publisher and an arms factory?”
“……Huh?”
Hitomi rolled her eyes at the answer. The first thought was whether those two words could coexist.
“The most famous and highest-performing member among the organization members is Mr. F.”
“Ah… so they make hypnosis eromanga, spread it as a trend, and with that faith make the hypnosis app…”
“Pretty similar feeling.”
Indeed, in the otherworld where everything converges into faith, even a publisher could be used for weapon development. Hitomi nodded, understanding a bit.
“By the way, it’s about time to come pick it up… Ah, that guy can’t be.”
The doorbell rang around then. Han Seoyeon, midway through speaking, smiled bitterly and stood from the sofa.
“Yes, I’ll go now.”
She said that to the guest beyond the door and headed to the entrance. No one would come at this time, so it must be from the Japanese branch where she had contacted earlier.
Thinking that, Han Seoyeon opened the door—
“Hello~”
“Sakuragi-san? What business do you have here at this time…”
“From the Freemason Japan Lodge, I’ve come to receive the ordered item~”
“……Huh? Where?”