Chapter 16
Chapter 16
The weight pressing down on my head wasn’t just pressure.
Not something as simple as intimidation.
Was this the High Record Keeper’s power?
Even when the pain flowed away into Adela, another wave of agony surged back in its place.
I couldn’t stay like this.
“Lord Rubel. Are you unwilling to answer?”
I had to respond.
Even if revealing Memento Mori brought consequences, staying silent meant death.
Especially after seeing what that thing hanging above us was capable of…
I couldn’t let Adela fall into those hands.
“I… I can see the memories of the dead… and their equipment…”
Kugugung—
I forced the words out through a neck that felt like it was about to snap.
This should buy me time.
“…Ah, I see. So that explains why you handled corpses and carried that ominous Mia’s weapon.”
“…Yes.”
“So the supposedly useless second-rank knight suddenly began acting differently… and returns from every expedition with different equipment. Now it all makes sense.”
The High Record Keeper stroked his chin slowly.
“You may raise your head.”
—Thud.
The crushing pressure vanished in an instant.
“Adela, are you alright?!”
I turned immediately to her.
“Ugh… ah… yeah…”
Something about her expression was… strange.
She must have been taking both our pains.
I forced myself up and looked at the High Record Keeper again.
His lips twitched with interest.
“Such a heretical ability… how fascinating. Would you show me more?”
He pulled a lever behind his seat.
—Drdrdrdr…
CLANG!
A mechanical sound echoed as chains from the ceiling loosened.
The chandelier began to descend.
“Since you seem interested, take a closer look. Lord Rubel. Lady Adela.”
The golden chandelier was adorned with seven saint statues.
They were holding hands…
No.
Their hands were interlocked, forming a single circle.
Light leaked faintly from each statue.
That wasn’t a statue.
Those were humans.
Their surfaces looked hardened, but they were unmistakably human bodies.
One even dripped wax-mixed blood from its melted face.
Adela’s face went pale.
Her pupils trembled.
“Beautiful, isn’t it? A circle protects us.”
So that’s what this was?
They turned saints into living lamps?
“Cities are circles. Even holy lights are spherical. Don’t you agree?”
“Yes… that is correct.”
I forced the words out despite the nausea.
What kind of hell was this place?
“Now, show me your heretical power. Place your hand on any saint you like.”
“…Yes.”
Adela looked at me worriedly.
My hand was shaking.
Stop shaking.
Stop.
Unless you want your saint turned into a wax doll hanging from that chandelier.
I placed my hand on the nearest saint’s head.
It was hard… yet soft and waxy.
Hair strands embedded in hardened wax.
The saint stared into nothingness.
Her eyes leaked melted wax instead of tears.
Then it began.
Memory surged into me.
A cold, dark prison.
Saints packed behind iron bars like livestock.
Black-robed men approached.
“This batch is quite large.”
“They are so eager for sanctification. Admirable.”
Selected saints were taken away.
The rest watched without despair.
Then they threw themselves into molten wax.
Screaming, burning, hardening—
Yet still holding hands.
Everything was consumed.
And one by one, they became part of the chandelier’s circle.
The light of this room.
I nearly retched.
“I… saw everything.”
“And what did you see?”
“Cold cages… molten wax… and the formation of the circle.”
Disgust choked my voice.
“How many of these atrocities exist in this land…?”
“Exactly,” he said, smiling dreamily. “Sublime, sacred lives.”
He stroked one of the saint-statues like it was a pet.
“I wish I could see it myself. To record it from their perspective…”
This man was insane.
“Adela, step outside.”
She left.
Then—
“…Twist.”
CRACK.
“Agh—!!”
My finger bent violently.
What the—
Before I could react—
A pen pierced my hand.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
“Do not scream. It is noisy.”
My voice wouldn’t come.
“Let this pain remain with you. Helplessness. Despair. That is your fuel.”
My hatred surged.
But I couldn’t move.
“Adela will feel it too. Isn’t that right?”
I couldn’t answer.
“Now leave.”
The pressure vanished.
I walked out.
Adela was crouched outside, trembling.
Tears on the floor.
That bastard.
I’ll kill him.
Chapter 16 — The City Where Flowers Bloom, Vireintel
Somewhere dark.
Four elders sat around a candle-lit round table.
Red robes flickered in the dim light.
“So Rubel is heading toward the northern ruined castle.”
“I see the Record Keeper is fixated on it again.”
“Unlike you, I do not neglect my own territory.”
They exchanged sharp words.
Then talk shifted.
“A heretic called the ‘Knight Hunter’ is active in the outer south.”
“Hmm. Interesting.”
“And now Rubel and Adela are being watched as well.”
Their discussion continued in the darkness.
Days later, a convoy moved through darkness.
Clatter… clatter…
Armored wagons bearing holy lights traveled north.
Adela leaned beside me.
“Have you ever been to the northern church lands?”
“No… I’ve lived my whole life in the Moonlight Church.”
So she didn’t know either.
Neither did I.
We were heading to Vireintel.
A ruined city said to have once flourished before the world fell into darkness.
“What do you think saints are, really?” I asked.
“I don’t know… I’ve always been one.”
Strange.
Where do saints come from?
Where do they go?
Suddenly—
“Look!”
Adela pointed outside.
A glowing city emerged from the darkness.
A white fortress stood within it.
“This is… a city?”
We arrived.
White walls shimmered under the void-like sky.
Beautiful.
Almost unreal.
Then I saw them.
A knight stood nearby.
Massive armor.
A strange iron maiden strapped to his back.
“No saint…?”
Then—
“THAT GUY IS A MIA!!”
The crowd panicked.
“No… I’m not…”
A hooded figure trembled.
His face… wolf-like.
A beast-man.
Then he fell.
His hood dropped.
A wolf’s face.
A man.
A knight.
“…I’m Rubel. Thank you for helping me.”
“I’m Adela.”
Then—
BOOM.
The wall collapsed.
Monsters crawled out.
Bodies covered in flowers.
Not dead.
Not human.
“RUN!!”
Chaos erupted.
And the beast-knight moved.
“…I always get lost.”
Then he charged into the monster swarm.