193 – 193 – Brief Interlude
193 – A brief interlude
“… There are so many people from Seonghwangcheong.”
Nike looked around and trembled.
As Nike said, there were quite a few knights and priests roaming around Ludens that seemed to have been dispatched from the Holy Office.
“U.S… . You’re not here to break the order of the gods, right? Aren’t we going to be arrested and interrogated?”
Is it because of a bug?
No, it didn’t seem like that.
said Victoria.
“You came because of the devil. A demon appeared in Ludens not too long ago.”
the devil
Are you talking about the man who made a huge scar on my wrist at that time?
Because of that, I had to suffer in many ways at Bikini Island.
Squeak.
Enio looked around and opened her slender eyes.
“Huh, yes. These are the people dispatched by Seonghwangcheong to catch goblins. I heard that the student council requested it.”
Victorica and Enio’s guess was quite reasonable.
But for now, going back and changing clothes is the first thing to do.
a multi-day journey.
In the meantime, I was wondering what had happened to the club room that had been vacant, so I went to visit it and there was someone.
I wondered if it was Akasha who came to feed Kungkong again on his own.
It wasn’t.
“Are you Victor?”
“you… .”
“I am Sister Therese of the Seonghwangcheong’s Section 12 Interrogation Group.”
Sister Therese?
It’s the first name I’ve heard.
And I felt like the concept of ‘nun’ was shaking inside me.
Because the woman in front of me looked too bad to be a nun.
She was wearing a blue hood like a nun, but her face was pale, and she was wearing fishnet stockings under her short skirt.
The heels of the shoes were as high as kill heels, and the black and white hair was parted on the left and right as if it had been dyed on purpose.
Sitting on a chair as if sliding, spreading her legs wide apart, she asked me arrogantly.
“You’re asking if you’re Victor.”
When I opened my mouth, I saw that the fangs were very pointed and there was also a piercing on the tongue.
What is this, more like a witch or devil than a nun?
No, is it worth it?
The interrogators of Seonghwangcheong Division 12 that appear in Act 8 were originally a place where only those who deviated from the category of ‘normal’ were gathered.
Previously.
“This place is prohibited from entering except for those involved.”
“yes? But I came in because Kyeongkyeong opened the door. Do you know what it is? I mean spider You looked cute. I tried to pet him a little, but he ran away.”
Did Kyeongkong open the door for this eccentric nun?
You opened the door and ran away.
Of course he would have run away.
“Stop smoking. Smoking is prohibited indoors.”
I hate the smell of cigarettes.
However, Sister Therese of Department 12 acted recklessly.
“This is not a cigarette. Clouds and biscuits. Burn incense to drive out negativity.”
“… … .”
“okay. Don’t look at me with such a scary expression. Anyway, Victor. You said you saw a goblin? That’s why it came out of the investigation. I wish I could answer some of your questions.”
“Investigate… .”
“Then tell this sister everything. I’m just saying it just in case. It’s not good to hide or lie. The interrogators from Division 12 are like that. You can be more devilish than devilish.”
* * *
“It is ideal.”
I explained everything about the situation when I met the goblin.
Then, after listening to the story for a while, Sister Therese nodded.
“is it. The fact that goblins appeared here must be real. Seriously, how did Ludens become like this? The heresy of Genesis is also infested. There are also a lot of traces of foreign media.”
“… … .”
“I don’t think non-believer like you will feel it. ‘Cause I feel Right now, this club room is overflowing with the scent of foreign press and heresy.”
Therese took out a matchbox and lit the ‘cloud snack’ in her mouth again.
The guy said, puffing out smoke.
“If I don’t burn incense like this, I feel like my nose will be pierced. anyways ok You’ll see it often, kid.”
“… … .”
“I’m asking just in case. Are you hiding anything?”
hid it
if there is
Like the existence of Torneo, the priest of the Genesis Church.
Or something like Enio’s problems.
Of course, you have to hide things that can bother you.
It was then.
“What is that gold bar? Are you awesome?”
Therese must have seen the gold ingot in my hand.
The guy said, “It will be at least 50 million Renae… His eyes twinkled and he looked very greedy. Aren’t they more like bullies than priests?
“Would you like to donate that gold bar to me? You know the saying that if you do good to a priest, the gods will one day repay you more than double, right?”
A donation?
Where did you get such a story of robbery?
Of course I had to protect my gold bars from him.
“This is the price to get rid of the quirk. Don’t take your eyes off it.”
“Get rid of the quirks? What is it, has a nail been driven into your heart? This older sister is an expert at taking things out again. OK, I’ll do it for you.”
“No, you can cure quirks? I heard that only virgins of high faith can do it?”
“So it is possible. I am a devout maiden.”
“… … .”
“What is that expression? Can’t you believe it? That I am a pious ‘virgin’?”
I honestly couldn’t believe it.
How could this poor-looking guy have a good ‘religiousness’?
“Well, how can I prove it? huh? Can you prove it? Is that your goal? He’s a spunkier kid than he looks, you guy.”
However, before I had time to say anything, rogue nun Therese clung to me. Then, he put his hand on my chest and pushed it into it.
“… … !”
I was really taken aback.
Because my body was pierced by someone else’s palm like some kind of wall-piercing bug.
“Ah, Victor. No, it’s warmer than I thought. Whoops, kidding. let’s see where is the nail stuck let’s see Let’s see, is it here?”
“… Ugh.”
The feeling of someone’s hand stroking my chest was terrifying.
The feeling of being twisted.
“Ah, I found it. Here it is. One thick, long nail. Wow, isn’t it very hard?”
Swoop.
I felt something being pulled out of my body.
To be precise, the feeling of being grabbed and pulled by the soul. By the time my mindless eyes became dizzy because of that.
There was a vivid feeling that something was going off my chest.
“Wow, it’s the first time I’ve seen anything this big. It’s a total big deal.”
when you come to your senses.
In Therese’s hand was a nail the size of the palm of her hand.
No, I think it would be better to describe it as a ‘thorn’ rather than a nail.
Therese’s expression, which was looking at the nail with a curious feeling when I was curious about the rusty nail of Nicholas, but somehow different, also gradually became more serious.
“… what is this. It’s no ordinary quirk. This… . who artificially created it. It is a kind of curse manifested through artificial magic.”
“curse?”
“yes. But it’s crude. It’s good that I wore this on my body. It was like a bomb that wouldn’t be strange no matter when it exploded. Well, I’ll take care of this. Then I will take this gold bar?”
“Is my quirk really gone?”
“Is that so? Don’t you believe this sister? Well, it might feel like nothing has changed for a while. There was such a big thorn stuck in people’s hearts. It will take some time for the wound to heal.”
I touched my chest.
I feel like I’ve been relieved of something.
* * *
“This happened.”
next day.
I explained everything to Nike who came to the club room.
Then Nike, who heard the story, is startled.
“Has the quirk gone?”
“It seems so.”
“It’s awesome!”
Nike admired it like it was really amazing. As a party, I was a little suspicious.
I don’t feel much of a difference.
But, since they say things will change in the future, it might be a good idea to look forward to future changes.
But why is he making such a serious face from earlier?
“Sister Therese… . To think that the person with the most trouble was dispatched… .”
In the corner of the club room, Éclair seemed to be lost in thought with her arms crossed.
“Is something wrong?”
“Thérèse is an outlier even within the Holy Office. His skills are more certain than anyone else, but everyone is wary of them because they don’t know where they will bounce. Something will definitely happen.”
If I had to call it an accident, would it be as good as an eclair?
Nike shouts.
“Eclair! You can’t sit there defenselessly wearing a skirt… !”
“Oh, I was confused about this.”
There was a lot I wanted to say, but I decided to stop.
Because there were so many things to do.
Now, I have to prepare for a business while aiming for a special vacation.
Also, judging from the progress of the story so far, it seems that Act 7 or Act 8 will be progressed soon.
Act 7, where I become the boss, was probably skipped.
If you see Seonghwangcheong appearing, is it right at the beginning of the 8th act?
For the time being, I think I’ll have to pay some attention to Enio and Victoria.
* * *
Victoria Arclight.
The thorough student president was sitting in the quiet student president’s office.
square, square.
Victoria, who has been dealing with overdue work in the meantime.
Stand tall – the hand stops.
because it was spelled incorrectly.
“My correcting toner, where did it go?”
I searched for correction toner to erase the wrongly written part. I couldn’t find it no matter how much I looked around. What caught Victoria’s eyes was the bronze mirror she had recently acquired.
Shuk.
Picking it up, Victoria asked lightly at the mirror.
“Mirror, mirror, do you know where my crystal toner is?”
Squeak.
The surface of the hazy bronze mirror glows, revealing the familiar appearance of a toner bottle.
“Milone, if you took mine, give it back. Why does he like taking my things like this?”
Victoria, who was about to get up after blaming her juniors.
Soon after, she looked around for nothing and asked – uhm again.
“Mirror mirror, who is my future spouse?”
Squeak.
The surface of the bronze mirror shines, and soon it is dyed black.
“What is this again? Isn’t that pure junk? Why don’t you just show me this?”
Victoria put the bronze mirror into the drawer and slammed the door shut.
I expected it because he was the legendary wizard of Oz, but he was like a pure quack.
“It was a schedule that was just wasting time.”
Saying that, Victoria stood up from her seat.
What Victoria could see were walls and corners.
“I was just wasting time.”
Did you have any experiences worth writing about?
Victoria came over to a nearby wall.
Then he started rubbing his body against the wall.
“… Was it like this? like this? How did you do it?”
rubbish, rubbish.
I rub my body against the wall, but my chest feels very uncomfortable.
“Isn’t it because of the breasts?”
“Victoria, what are you doing there?”
“… … !”
Startle.
Surprised, Victoria turned her head to find Shadi coming into the room and looking at her.
“No matter how lonely you are. Like the wall… . Have you finally gone mad?”
“Well, it’s not like that… !”
“Yes, I will. anyway here Victoria, these are the documents you wished for. This time, I also asked my father to ask.”
“If it’s the documents I asked for… .”
“About a man named Avon. It is said that he was defeated by your father, Cain, and fell off a cliff to his death. In fact, there were people who said they saw Avon even after that.”
“Is that real?”
“Yes, did you say it was Claris Village?”
Claris Village.
It’s a name I’ve heard somewhere.
‘Where was it?’
anyway.
The story that Viktor’s biological father might be alive was quite helpful.
Let’s investigate this further.
“Have you researched Enio?”
“difficult. It’s the Black Star family. No matter how much it is me or my father, stealing information from the Blackstar family is—”
“So you didn’t investigate?”
“Of course I did my research. But it’s fragmentary. And, it’s up to you to judge what’s written here.”
Shuk.
Victoria received the papers from her trusted friend, Shadi.
When I opened the tightly sealed document with a knife and opened the contents, what was written inside was quite a surprising story.
“Foreigners’ Shrine… ?”
“As a child, it seems that Enio suffered a major accident at the foreign press shrine near his hometown. I don’t think I remember. People around me know.”
“… … .”
Victoria put the paper down without a word.
What comes to mind as she closes her eyes for a moment is the strange distortion of the world that originated from Enio that day.
A phenomenon in which the world seemed to be breaking apart.
Could the incident recorded in this document be related to the phenomenon where everything seemed to be stained with emptiness?