126 – Chaos Church
I was shocked when Estelle said that she had hidden an unclean artifact in the academy, but I soon felt a strange sense of incongruity.
I asked, scratching my head lightly.
“Are you a follower of the Demon King?”
“What stupidity are you talking about? The Church is only a temporary cooperative relationship with the Demon King. The place where believers who believe in ‘him’ gather is the church, so how can they follow the devil? Of course, I am not a god.”
At Estelle’s words, the question was resolved. Just for confirmation I asked.
“Then when did you hide the artifact at the academy?”
“… When the first year special practice started. That was the most messy time.”
At Estelle’s words, I let out a sigh of relief. This convinced her that she had nothing to do with Ross’ death.
Originally, hiding unclean artifacts in the academy was what the demon king followers did.
However, due to my intervention, the warlock raided the academy ahead of schedule, and as expected one day, the demon king followers would not have enough time to hide their artifacts in the academy.
The church must have entrusted the work to Estelle, who was a minion.
“By the way, why did you ask that?”
From Estelle’s point of view, I think my question was a bit out of context.
“In the future I read before, it was said that the demon king’s followers hide artifacts in the academy. I wanted to take this opportunity to find out who that follower was.”
At my lie, Estelle visibly flinched her body. I think the response was greater because it was said in a situation where I did not fully trust my words as a prophet.
“Right, right. Originally, it was planned to be that way, but I heard that the plan was thwarted because the warlock acted arbitrarily first. In the end, the church ordered me to hide the unholy artifact….”
Estel’s voice was full of surprise. Knowing the information about the future, it wasn’t a complete lie to read the future. It was only me who wrote the tragic future of this world.
I suddenly had this idea. So what am I to them? Creator? God? Or is it a catastrophe full of pure malice?
I asked because I was concerned about one of Estelle’s words.
“By the way, what does the combination of both mean?”
“Oh, that? I haven’t told you, but the Church has already approached you once. As I said before, the headmaster is interested in you.”
Estel said it was not a big deal, but the church was an important issue to me. In particular, if it was related to a monster called the cult leader, I had to point it out.
“You approached me?”
“Yes. The principal wanted to check on you. So he ordered me to approach you.”
At Estelle’s words, I scratched my cheek and searched for memories. After the Dark Wizard’s academy raid, I was taken to the interrogation room.
Until Estelle approached me, we never had a one-on-one meeting, nor did we receive anything from strangers during the special practice.
Estel looked at me in thought and said with a sigh.
“It’s not even a goldfish memory…. I do not remember? A mask with an acorn on it!”
For a moment, I felt a strange feeling of floating, as if I had been sucked in somewhere.
An indescribable sense of déjà vu.
I forgot to breathe as something raced through my heart and blood vessels.
“Puck puck puck puck!”
Creepy laughter buzzed in my ears.
“…… Ross, Ross!!!”
I came to my senses at the rough hand shaking my collar. Did you even hear a hallucination? My stomach felt sore, as if I had scratched the wall of my stomach with my fingernails.
With her sigh, she wiped her face once, and Estelle brought her masked face closer.
“Are you okay? You, you just….”
I was a little dizzy, but I replied that it was okay.
Estelle stared at me to see if she had something to say, but my turn to ask questions wasn’t over yet.
“… Why did you hide it from me?”
Involuntarily, I asked in a sharp voice. Estelle, perhaps noticing that, answered in a gruff voice.
“Because you didn’t mind even after receiving that mask. I didn’t think it was that important. I was simply ordered to deliver the mask to you under the guise of a coincidence. So, using what happened in Destin, I drew an acorn and placed it on a nearby tree.”
Like Estelle said, just the mere drawing of acorns broke my guard.
As if I had received a present prepared for me by someone, I put on a mask out of curiosity rather than being wary of danger.
“Do you know what that mask is for?”
“I don’t know, I just told you! I was only ordered to deliver! They told me to report if there was anything wrong with you, so I reported that there was no change. That’s it! It’s real!!!”
Estel screamed annoyedly, as if she was disappointed that I doubted herself.
“If that was a problem, I would have told you from the beginning! Because I have no intention of fooling you! You narrow-minded bastard!!!”
I pressed my furrowed forehead with my fingertips and apologized with a sigh.
“Sorry for doubting you. However, it was an issue that had to be addressed in order to fully trust Estelle. Because I sincerely want us to share a common destiny.”
Estelle said in a voice that was still cold at my heartfelt voice, but it was noticeably softened.
“I really want that too. I’m sorry for thinking that it’s nothing special. The church didn’t say anything after that, so I thought there was nothing wrong with you and just let it go.”
I shook my head at Estelle’s words.
“After wearing that mask, I had a strange experience. Because the personality that was inside of me put on that mask and changed into a strange figure.”
I thought that maybe the reason why the Ross inside me had changed strangely was because of the mask the religious leader had told me to pass on.
“Personality… ?”
“I used an artifact created by Principal Nelson. It is an artifact that meets the personality inside oneself. After wearing that mask, unlike usual, my personality changed into a figure wearing that strange mask.”
At my explanation, Estelle looked down and was silent for a while. As I organized my thoughts about the religious leader, there was silence in the room for a while.
“… Have you ever felt anything strange after that? To feel as if someone is watching you, or as if someone else is controlling your body.”
“No. Never had that. At that time, I met the Ross inside of me, and I forcibly broke the mask.”
At my words, Estelle let out a sigh.
“Ha ha, I don’t know what that is. It is difficult to investigate separately because it is related to the principal…. Because you say there’s nothing wrong… I think it might be okay.”
I don’t think the headmaster did anything to me. Seeing that Professor Joy didn’t find anything wrong when he checked my body, I wondered if he had done his job when he put on the mask.
I smiled bitterly.
“I can’t help it. Then can I ask another question?”
“Yes….”
Estelle was uncomfortable with her mask being finished like this, and she said in a gruff voice, but as she said, she couldn’t help it. She couldn’t even examine the cult leader, and there was nothing wrong with my body.
There is nothing more stupid than spending energy on something you can’t figure out the answer to. Sometimes the answer is to just ignore these kinds of problems. Thinking so positively, I opened my mouth.
“Do you know what window I am using?”
“Of course not. When I investigated you, I also found out how you got the spear. The ‘cursed artifact’ that Bella took out of the imperial storage and gave to you.”
The word curse makes me nervous.
“What does it mean to be cursed?”
“It’s literally. Most of those who owned the spear were destroyed, just like the name of the spear. In many cases, the family name has disappeared without a trace. People say things like that are cursed.”
For some reason, I felt that there was a joyful laugh in his voice. Maybe he was trying to scare me. Like a cheeky kid.
“The question is this. This spear contains something called the ‘power of destruction’. It is a powerful force that can break even magic and barriers. However, when fighting Dwin, the power of destruction didn’t work at all. Do you know why?”
At that time, the situation was urgent and passed, but the fact that the power of destruction did not work was obviously a big problem. It was a big loss for me to lose one advantage while making up for the lack of this fraudulent power.
“Show me the power of destruction.”
Estelle was curious as well, tapping her desk with her finger.
Let’s take out the spear from the space warehouse, raise the power of destruction, and show it in front of us. Estelle took out a dagger from her bosom and struck my spear.
Kang-!
I thought that the dagger that touched the spear blade containing the power of destruction would break. But there was nothing wrong with the dagger.
“It was like that. Put, you don’t even know these things.”
I swallowed at Estelle’s cheeky voice, as if she had noticed something.
“I guessed roughly from the name of ruin. The reason why that power doesn’t work on Dewyn is that it’s a power of a similar nature.”
“Similar nature… ?”
Didwyn use a power similar to the power of destruction? However, only Iron Blood was the only one to use the power of destruction in the church.
Estelle asked in a funny voice if she had read my expression.
“What do you think is the reason this dagger didn’t break? Don’t say things that are obvious because I’m too good.”
I don’t think you’re willing to kindly tell me the answer. I racked my brain and found a plausible answer.
“Using the power of the same nature as I mentioned earlier?”
As if she didn’t like my sincere answer, Estelle answered in a gruff voice.
“Hey, it’s not funny. That’s right. I put [Chaos] Into this dagger.”
At the word chaos, I reflexively came up with a name.
Cult of Chaos.
That was the name of the church.