Chapter 87

It was a cramped office. Gelion smiled awkwardly while clearing away the documents stacked about a palm’s height.

“It’s embarrassing to receive guests in a place like this, but given the circumstances, please understand.”

“Not at all. I came suddenly, yet you’re receiving me like this—I can only be grateful.”

“I understand your feelings better than anyone.”

Gelion approached and extended his hand again.

“That power—can you show it to me again?”

Quilbion made a gloomy expression while grasping Gelion’s hand.

He moved his nark and generated the incantation he’d received as a gift from Sheryl. The weak curse transmitted through his hand encroached upon Gelion’s eyes.

“Even experiencing it again, it’s an amazing thing.”

Though his vision must have gone pitch dark, Gelion didn’t panic.

Quilbion withdrew the incantation. Even if he left it alone, it was such a weak curse that it would heal after just a day.

“I consulted Kim first. I asked what I should do since heaven’s voice came to me and I experienced this kind of thing. Then this friend told me about you, Sir Gelion.”

Gelion nodded.

“You did well, you did well. This kind of thing must be handled carefully. If you say you heard god’s voice, all kinds of heretics and impure conjurers might come rushing.”

“I was worried about that too, so I just suffered alone, but I thought it would be okay if it was you, Sir Gelion, a believer of Sop, so I came like this.”

Gelion firmly grasped Quilbion’s hand again.

“It was an excellent choice. Thank you for trusting me. Don’t worry anymore. You’ll soon know whether the god’s will bestowed upon you is grace or a prophecy warning of danger.”

Gelion stood up while releasing the hand he’d grasped tightly.

“Wait a moment. You must have been very surprised, so you should calm your mind while drinking something warm. Ah, I need to contact the holy ground too.”

Gelion left the office while telling them to stay seated.

*

Kim lifted his teacup while glancing sidelong at Quilbion.

He was spouting lies smoothly. He spoke so well that even knowing the truth, Kim found himself nodding unconsciously.

What on earth had he been doing in the past?

“Stop rolling your eyes. Gelion will get suspicious.”

Quilbion said.

“Sorry. But…… you’re so different from the Quilbion I knew, what exactly did you do before? Are you one of those intelligence agents that are only rumored to exist?”

“It’s not like that. I just caught monsters and caught people. Killed everything that deserved killing, and helped things that needed helping…… moderately.”

“You said before. That you entered this body. By any chance, is what you said to Gelion to some extent……”

“I’m not a god or anything. I’m just an insane human. And.”

Quilbion looked directly at Kim.

“If at all possible, don’t believe in gods. That gentleman doesn’t do anything for you. No, can’t do anything. He’s retired.”

“What?”

It must have been a joke, but it didn’t seem like a joke.

After drinking tea and waiting about ten more minutes, Gelion returned.

“I’ve heard from the holy ground. Let’s depart right now.”

“Thank you so much for your help. I was at a loss for how to handle this matter.”

“The Saint is at the holy ground here too, so you’ll be able to clearly know the reality of the voice you heard. Even if by chance it’s god’s wrath, the Saint will be able to help.”

Quilbion closed his eyes tightly and clasped both hands together. Tears were faintly visible around his eyes—Kim got chills and turned his head sharply.

The guy who’d commit murder without batting an eye, who’d taken his family hostage and threatened him, was putting on a show pretending to be so pure.

Kim resolved. If this matter ended safely, he’d persuade his wife and leave the city.

It was better to start over in a new place than to live with a madman nearby.

They left the art museum.

The holy ground was in the same northern area.

The holy ground of the Sop sect centered on nobles.

The white building placed in the center boasted grandeur even from a distance.

The people coming and going on the thoroughfare gradually decreased. Soon they arrived at the crossroads where red spears announcing the holy ground were planted.

Ordinary people knelt in a long line following the red spears and looked at the distant cathedral.

“Follow me. I’ve received permission to enter, so there’s no problem.”

Gelion crossed beyond the red spears. Kim crossed the boundary line while slightly tense.

In the distance, he could see believers with dark blue cloth wrapped around their waists. Kim lowered his gaze.

The fanatics of Sop—the holy knights.

“We’ve heard the news.”

The holy knight at the front spoke to Gelion. Red tassels were visible on the ends of the cloth wrapped around his waist.

He was a high-ranking holy knight as difficult to see as the Saint herself. He might be one of the closest aides serving the Saint.

“Since this is such a matter, we’ll receive him here and guide him. The priest and the other visitor, please wait in the reception room.”

The holy knight gestured courteously while looking at Quilbion. Quilbion separated and headed to the cathedral together with the holy knights.

Gelion, who’d remained behind watching his retreating figure, made the sign of the cross and poured out words of emotion.

Something about god’s grace, and hoping it wasn’t wrath, and so on.

Kim hid his bitter expression while watching Quilbion who’d become a dot now.

Please just don’t cause trouble.

If you’re going to die, die alone.

“Let’s go. I’ll guide you to the reception room.”

Kim followed another holy knight after chasing Quilbion with his eyes until he disappeared from view.

*

He hadn’t thought he could meet the Saint right away. Since she was a saint the closed sect was hiding carefully away.

Quilbion raised his head.

On the ceiling was carved the face of a man looking down with a fierce expression.

Shouldn’t he be smiling benevolently—that thought briefly occurred to him.

“The great god Thorgan who leads the believers of Sop to light possesses two faces. The warm face that looks upon the sinless, Sopim. And the face revealed when judging sinners, Necim.”

Was that Necim?

Quilbion feigned fear while looking at the holy knight seated in front.

“You’re afraid.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I’m an ordinary citizen who knows nothing. Someone living day to day on what they earn that day—one of the components of this city. For god’s voice to reach someone like me. This is definitely something wrong, so I can’t help but be afraid.”

He produced sweat and showed tears slightly too.

He’d been using a human body to its limits for over a hundred years—no, thinking of the years he’d experienced directly and indirectly in cracks, he’d lived for well over hundreds of years. Perhaps thousands.

When he could squeeze out even the muscles governed by his unconscious, producing sweat or tears was as easy as wiggling a finger.

Emotions were the same.

They couldn’t see inside a human. They could only infer emotions through the minute movements of muscles decorating the face’s surface.

Unless it was Winte, there was no way his true feelings would be read.

“I understand.”

The intervals between breaths, the pitch of speech, the slightly tilted upper body.

It meant he’d withdrawn his suspicion to some degree. A human’s heart was like a wheeled carriage—it was hard to move at first, but once it moved, it would roll on its own with just a slight push.

“I just want to return to my ordinary daily life. Please take away this voice and this unidentified power that came to me.”

“Aren’t you tempted? If you made it public, you could touch big money.”

“I just prefer being ordinary. And I’m not bold enough to bear the danger.”

The holy knight smiled slightly.

“No. You are a very wise and courageous person. I’m ashamed that I doubted you even briefly.”

“Please don’t say such things. I just want to return to the time when I knew nothing.”

Quilbion carefully extended both hands forward.

“Will you take this voice, this power?”

“That’s not for me to decide. But if it’s truly not wicked power but some proof bestowed by heaven, I’d like to experience it too.”

The holy knight grasped his hand.

Quilbion generated and transmitted the incantation just as he’d done for Gelion.

Gelion hadn’t noticed the incantation’s true nature.

What about the holy knight?

Even if the incantation was judged to be wicked power rather than heaven’s power, it wasn’t a big problem. Whether god’s grace or evil power, it was sufficient reason to meet the Saint.

If the holy knight arbitrarily reached a conclusion and tried to kill him, he’d subdue him or escape and head to the Saint then.

His sixth sense was sending signals continuously.

That the monster was there.

He couldn’t tell whether she still hadn’t come to her senses or was waiting for him to come find her because it was bothersome.

When they met, he could slap her face and ask.

The incantation covered the holy knight’s eyes.

The holy knight asked calmly.

“Do you hear god’s word, heaven’s voice now?”

Quilbion bowed his head while answering.

“Yes. He tells me to advance. To advance and convey. What I should convey, I don’t know well. Please take this power so that you, Holy Knight, can directly……”

The holy knight shook his head and withdrew his hand. Quilbion quickly recovered the curse.

The holy knight scanned the surroundings with his regained vision before looking at Quilbion again.

“It’s not wicked power. My holy power didn’t react. The power and words bestowed upon you are a very important revelation. This is something I mustn’t interpret, nor should I try to interpret.”

The holy knight stood up.

“I must go to the Saint. The High Priest is there too. Go there and convey god’s words to them just as you did now.”

“May someone like me dare to see them?”

The holy knight responded with a smile.

“God has guided you. So don’t worry at all.”

They passed through a long corridor paved with pure white stone and finally arrived before a firmly closed door.

Before coming, he’d heard this was a sacred prayer room.

The holy knight placed his hand on the door. The heavy door spewed light and opened to both sides.

“You may enter.”

“Is it alright for me to enter alone?”

“This is a place only the permitted may enter, so please be at ease.”

He nodded heavily and entered inside.

It was a place suffused with soft light.

In the center, red cloth was laid out, and the Saint and High Priest stood upon it.

Damned bitch.

Quilbion confirmed the Saint’s face—Sheryl’s face. Simultaneously, his head began to throb.

Stupid-looking eyes.

Sheryl seemed to have not come to her senses.

A terrible goblin’s smell wafted over. Though her eyes hadn’t opened, that was definitely Sheryl.

Was she experiencing confusion like coachman Quilbion?

“May I approach?”

He asked cautiously.

The High Priest was a man in his seventies with a very cantankerous impression. It seemed like curses would pour out when his wrinkled mouth opened.

“Please come.”

Unlike his appearance, it was a benevolent voice.

He slowly approached and knelt before the two.

“You’ve come to convey god’s word.”

“Yes. But I don’t know well what it means.”

“Of course. God doesn’t speak easily. He adds a bit of testing so we may receive it properly.”

The High Priest extended his hand.

It seemed he’d heard the explanation in advance.

Quilbion scattered the incantation.

“Ah, I cannot see. It seems to hint at calamity that will befall us. God must be taking pity on us and giving us a tip.”

The High Priest shed tears of emotion.

Looking at what he was doing, this world’s god wasn’t normal either. Or else the sect called Sop was collectively abnormal.

“The Saint should see as well. I hope she gives different words. Calamity—how terrifying.”

He’d finally arrived.

Quilbion grasped the Saint’s hand and transmitted the incantation.

It was originally yours, so you should be able to notice, right?

He looked up at the Saint with his eyes narrowed to slits.