The Paramere Search Operation (19)
The Paramere Search Operation (19)
[Zahard Balton] [Level: 66]
[Race: ???] [Class: ???]
[Class Unique Skills]
-Serpent God's Love: Serpent-God-related skills you possess grow rapidly.
-Serpent God's Grace: Your Sacred Power recovers rapidly.
-Serpent God's Blessing: You can handle the Serpent God's Sacred Relics without risk.
-Serpent God's Prayer: You are immune to status ailments.
[Apostle]
-Mixed Sacred Mark (A): Repels all Demonic Force. Can grant Sacred Marks to others. Subordinate priests become mixed, and some body parts may twist. (5/20)
-Mixed Divinity (A): Two divinities have mixed. Usage has become more difficult, and it is not detected by ordinary Sacred Power detectors. You can freely switch between the two divinities and change the nature of your Sacred Power as desired.
-Healing (B): Can perform healing and combat simultaneously. The world calls this 'Immortal's Battle.'
-Blessing (B): Status effect resistance greatly increases, and you can maintain composure except in special situations. Physical abilities greatly increase, and Sacred Power temporarily increases greatly.
[Church of Naga]
-Yeongryeon (C): Creates a quiet shadow. Can seep into darkness and move without sound.
-Prayer of Scales (C): Praying erases your presence for a set duration. Physical abilities improve.
-Venom Production (C): Can produce venom within the body that causes stomach pain.
-Serpent's Whisper (C): Part of an object's appearance seeps into darkness. Can hide objects, and only applies to objects being held.
-Erosion (C): Seeps into the mind and plants suggestions in another's mind.
-Black Scales (B): Derived from the Serpent Church's foundational swordsmanship, 'Song of Shadows.' Unnecessary elements were trimmed away, and those who master the sword are famous for living in darkness.
-Black Swamp - Favela (A): The essence of dagger arts said to be learnable only by some of Naga's direct followers. It was buried in secrecy and passed down only to a few. It is also called the Serpent's Fang.
[Shared Skills]
-Meat Cooking (B): Can make even meat that cannot be cooked delicious.
-Seafood Cooking (B): Can make even seafood that cannot be cooked delicious.
-Beverage Making (C): Can make delicious beverages.
"...Good grief."
I glanced at the empty air. Every skill related to the Apostle of the Sun God had vanished completely.
The Clock Tower Slave Aris's special skill. Sealing away an entire power wholesale.
In the game, it had been nothing more than a temporary phenomenon. There hadn't been any wording about being devoured, either. Once time passed, the sealed power returning was the norm.
But now, let's see... Judging by the fact that it had disappeared entirely, was this a semi-permanent state?
There was no need to worry too much. If the Clock Tower Slave died, that skill was bound to be canceled as well.
The point was killing her. I would have to manage somehow with the half-baked power I had left.
I lightly clenched and unclenched my hand. I confirmed shadow Sacred Power flowing out.
Growl.
The sound didn't come from my stomach. I glanced around at the elves. The elves clutching their starving stomachs flailed their hands in a panic.
"Th-that sound wasn't us!"
"We're innocent!"
"I haven't said a single word yet."
"......"
A fortnight. The originally planned operation period was exactly that long. Even if they had brought food, they would have brought only that much.
On top of that, elves were creatures who prided themselves on their light bodies. They wouldn't have brought heavy luggage in the first place.
It was only natural that food was running short. The reason they couldn't bring themselves to say so was probably that especially high pride of theirs.
I rummaged through my Pocket. I held out some food.
"Take it."
"Y-yes? B-but..."
"Just take it. There's plenty to spare anyway."
Originally, these were things I had brought to give to the wraiths. If you fed wraiths their fill of food beyond a certain point, they could be restored to their former appearance.
Life and death. Wraiths caught ambiguously between the two. The upper echelons of Paramer who had been caught up when the Clock Tower Slave Aris was sealed could be turned back into people simply by feeding them their fill of food.
Those who regained their humanity were bound to express their gratitude and give me rewards. Originally, reviving them all with that in mind was the standard play, but...
It couldn't be helped now. The situation had gotten tangled.
What I needed right now wasn't treasure. It was nothing but power. To escape this place, my best option was to somehow twist my body through and fight my way across Paramer's interior.
Anyway, since I had given up on reviving them, food was overflowing. It was the same as being able to put everything I had brought to feed the wraiths into my own mouth.
"I said take it?"
"B-but..."
"Of course, it's not free."
I raised my hand. The elves flinched and backed away.
"D-don't tell me...the same thing as before...?!"
"Before? What?"
"Th-that...that...your butt..."
"...Hm?"
I wiggled my fingers.
"Want to get hit?"
"L-like we'd ever want that?!"
"W-we are proud elves!"
"No matter how much you're our Savior, we'll get angry beyond that!"
The elves shouted. But one of them, uniquely, wasn't shouting.
Flora, with hearts in her eyes, gulped. When our eyes met, she clearly averted her gaze. A blush rose to her cheeks. For some reason, she was sticking out her butt.
Who else but a masochist elf would act like that all alone? Well... the rest of them seemed to have a fair amount of masochistic tendencies too.
Their butts were definitely springy. Once you started hitting them, you'd get absorbed before you knew it. But not now.
"You just have to do me one favor later."
"A f-favor?"
"Yeah. It's nothing hard."
I spoke to Naga.
"Naga."
-Yes. I'm listening.
I glanced at the refugees who were practically plastered against the wall.
"What would happen if I absorbed all of them?"
-...Honestly, I don't know. It's too much negative energy. Even if you absorb it, whether you can fully digest it is another matter. It might even harm your body.
"Then?"
-How about...pretending to listen to their stories? If even a minimum of their resentment is resolved, they'll cooperate on their own. A peaceful rest is something they would have wished for too...
So pretend to show generosity by freeing them from the pain of hunger? That matches the direction I was thinking.
"Naga, you're surprisingly wicked when you look closely."
-I-is that...a compliment...?
"Of course. You're the only one I can rely on right now."
-Awww...I-I...I'll do my best...!
Listening to their stories, huh.
Where should I start? I glanced at the man wedged into the corner. A man embracing a woman who appeared to be his wife.
He was the first refugee I had encountered on the surface. I sat in front of him, his skin slightly improved from eating the packed meal.
He flinched and looked up at me.
"P-priest...my wife...my wife..."
The woman he was embracing was in bad shape. Her entire skin was covered in black, and she was repeating incomprehensible words.
"Ahh...ahh...ahh..."
Right.
That was normal.
Except for him, most of the refugees' skin was covered in black. Only a few had it scattered sparsely like spots.
"R-rotten smell..."
"Shh."
I covered Flora's mouth.
The fact that her whole body wasn't black, that only spots existed, was proof that she hadn't torn off and eaten another person's flesh. Even if she had eaten some, it would have been only a very small amount.
You could call that relatively conscientious. Because she had chosen her own suffering over the suffering of others.
But did that mean I could view the refugee before me as good?
...There was no way.
In the first place, there were no normal people among the refugees here. They were all people who had abandoned others to survive.
The upper echelons of Paramer.
People who had thrown millions of Paramer citizens into the streets solely for their own families and their own safety.
And their sins weren't just that. Most of Paramer's upper echelons were people who knew how the clock tower at the center of Paramer operated.
In other words, you could call them trash among trash. No different from hypocrites. Even if I did revive them, they were the kind who would get punished and die on their own.
"Brother."
I whispered kindly.
"To understand the situation, won't you tell me what happened here? I want to hear your story, Brother."
Actually, I already knew everything.
But I would pretend to listen and sympathize.
To devour every last bit of them, from start to finish!
The man sobbed. His voice crawled.
"Ah...aah...hungry...so hungry...Priest...I'm so hungry..."
"Let us pray together."
I placed my hand on his head.
"Naga will watch over you."
"...It seems the god has changed...?"
Be quiet.
. . .
Flora blinked. She stared at the priest quietly listening to the story.
A merciful expression. A head that occasionally nodded. Watching from the side, he was unmistakably a devout priest.
But how to put it. The more Flora listened, the more her face crumpled.
It was a story she couldn't bear to listen to without feeling sick.
"...Excuse me?"
She wanted to dig out her ears. She wanted to spit back out what she had heard.
Flora genuinely wished for that.
"You pushed children not even ten years old into this giant clock tower? Without even properly feeding them?"
"I-if the children grew, their bodies could get caught in the parts. It was a necessary procedure. They were sl-slaves anyway. They weren't citizens of Paramer..."
"Are slaves not people?"
The man sobbed.
"B-but the clock tower was...practically the symbol of Paramer. The inside was made of complex parts, and...it wasn't a space where adults could fit. Children were the only ones who could work."
"Then you should have demolished it! Or invested more money and devised a method!"
"But with Paramer's limited budget...that was the most effective..."
"That doesn't even make any...!"
Zahard grabbed Flora's shoulder. He shook his head.
At the signal to stay still, Flora shut her mouth. But she still couldn't understand.
Why?
Why on earth?
For the sake of some damn symbol, they had ground up children to maintain this damn clock tower?
"P-Paramer is...Paramer is...practically the symbol of Imperial technology."
The man babbled his wrongdoings. He trembled as if he had done something he hadn't wanted to do.
"The clock tower was a place that had existed since before Paramer prospered. To us, it was practically tradition. Even as technology developed and people no longer necessarily felt the importance of the clock tower...it was one of those things that absolutely had to remain in its place."
"I understand, Brother."
Flora glanced at Zahard's profile. His mouth said he understood, but his gaze was completely dark.
Eyes that looked at trash.
"So what happened?"
"Th-the clock tower...as I said before...was the symbol of Paramer, so it had to be maintained somehow. So we purchased child slaves at the city level. To move and clean this giant clock tower...at least a hundred children were needed. Aah...Priest...I didn't agree...I'm hungry...I'm so hungry...my wife...my wife..."
"If you tell me everything, your hunger will disappear too, Brother. Please, slowly, one thing at a time."
"P-Paramer's clock tower was...maintained by slave children. Aris was one of those children too. To be precise...Aris wasn't called Aris at first. She was just a nameless slave...The first time I heard that name was that night."
The man bit his fingers. He swallowed the flesh as if accustomed to it.
"The inside of the clock tower...was a space full of not only complex parts...but also dangerous gears. It was an environment where children easily died in accidents while working. When a child died...we bought a new one...and made the children clean up the other child's corpse...and so that child called Aris also came into the clock tower. I remember because I managed the slaves...She was probably...the 1721st...child..."
Flora forcibly swallowed the stomach acid rising from disgust.
These insane bastards.
Zahard let out a sigh. He reached out and stroked the man's head.
"So all of Paramer agreed."
"Th-that's right...I-I was opposed, but...still, my voice alone was too small..."
"I see. It couldn't be helped. Then, Brother...do you know how old that child called Aris was?"
"Ah, I know. She was sold at ten...and committed that act in exactly her seventh year...no...how old is she now...what...what time is it now?"
"Brother. It's all right. Take a deep breath. When did Aris gain her power?"
"Ah, Aris...Aris..."
The man panted.
"That day...it was that day...black fog covered all of Paramer. Humans twisted and bit each other. My wife and I fled to this shelter we had prepared in advance, but...it wasn't safe here. There was a girl. The source of everything...she...Aris waved her hand at us."
"......"
"Darkness rippled, and strange claw-like things poured out. B-but fortunately, there were people who could fight back. Paramer's upper echelons...we had people who could protect us. But even they could only manage to seal Aris in the clock tower's basement. Most died, and a small number survived. My wife and I also...barely kept our lives. But...for some reason..."
The sound of sobbing. Flora learned for the first time that a human's crying could be this disgusting.
How could a person who had treated slaves like objects without a second thought pretend to be innocent?
"The door locked...we couldn't get out...when the stored food ran out...there was nothing to eat...so...there were people who...ate each other...aah...God...I didn't eat! I said I didn't eat!"
"So what happened?"
"W-we...even though we definitely ate each other...strangely, we didn't die. Instead, rotten flesh grew where we had been eaten. We heard Aris laughing too. Like that, being eaten...and starving...no matter how much we ate, our stomachs wouldn't fill...so...food...we needed food..."
"The door opened."
"Y-yes...it opened. And we met you, Priest...aah...Priest...what should I do...won't you give my wife something to eat..."
The man crawled across the floor on his knees. He bowed his head to the floor several times and whispered.
"Please give my wife something to eat...Priest...please...I beg you like this..."
Flora wanted to shout at him not to give it. Why feed a bastard who had thrown away other people's lives like worn-out shoes?
And children, at that. The sacrificed children couldn't even raise their voices. Young children for whom simply enduring was the best they could do.
Flora spoke. She shook off Zahard, who was blocking her, and asked him.
"Th-then that child called Aris...no, the children who were slaves, how did they live? During those seven years? Did you guarantee their freedom? Did you give them separate rest time? What about wages?"
"...Huh?"
The man tilted his head as if he genuinely didn't understand.
"The slaves...lived in the clock tower. We made them live there so they wouldn't run away."
"No, I mean, other welfare or..."
"P-Paramer's budget was limited..."
"Then what about you? You said you opposed it—what did you do for them?"
"I-I..."
The man averted his gaze.
"I-I didn't have time..."
...Ah.
Flora realized. She put her hand on her crossbow.
This piece of shit had just been running his mouth saying it couldn't be helped!
This goddamn son of a bitch!
"Y-you...demonic...people...!"
"Stay still, Flora."
"B-but! How can I stay still about this...!"
Zahard reached out.
His voice was heavy.
"You all tried to kill me too. Do you have the right to say that?"
"Th-that's...!"
"It's just a difference in perspective. We're always hypocrites to someone. You're the same, and so am I. People who try to kill others for their own gain."
Zahard shrugged as if it were familiar.
"Life is hell. In hell, there are only demons. The only difference is how bad they are."
"B-but..."
"It's fine."
Zahard bent down. He whispered in her ear.
"Because I don't intend to end it like this."
Zahard clapped the trembling man on the shoulder.
"Brother. It's all right."
He smiled brightly.
"Everyone makes mistakes. I'm the same. Looking back, I haven't lived all that virtuously."
"Aah...Priest...I-I really..."
"Has talking calmed your heart a little?"
"Y-yes...n-now if only the hunger...could be solved...Priest...Priest...please, something to eat..."
"I'm glad you've calmed down. You don't need to worry about hunger."
His hand dug into the man's shoulder.
"Because you won't be hungry anymore."
"...Huh?"
"If you return to Naga's embrace, there will be no more hunger. It is a world filled only with tranquility, without eternal pain. All those without sin will seep into rest. You, Brother, and your wife too—everything is all right now."
Zahard's whisper was like a serpent. Flora felt goosebumps rise.
What is it with this man?
W-wasn't the god that person originally served the Sun God...?
"You've been through a lot, Brother."
"Ah...aah..."
"Let us go to a world without pain. I will guide the way."
"A...world without paaaain..."
The man's silent scream flowed down along his fingertips. The rotten mass of flesh crumbled, and the rippling black darkness was sucked into Zahard's body.
"...Hoo."
Smacking his lips as if he had eaten something delicious, he grinned broadly.
"Whew. Shit. Pretending to sympathize was exhausting."
"Wh-what did you just...do...?"
Zahard glanced back at her. He tilted his head as if pondering.
The answer came immediately.
"...Dispensing justice?"
Flora was dumbfounded.
No matter how you looked at it, he was a villain.