152 – Lake (1)
A deep night where the moonlight is the only light.
There was an old man who could not sleep at a time when everyone should be asleep.
Gray hair that shows age, wrinkles that prove age, and a benevolent look.
The name of the old man with an extremely ordinary appearance that could be seen anywhere was Franco, the Pope of the Holy Kingdom of Elderas.
“They say he did it.”
Franco, the head of a religion respected by all, bowed his head and explained what had happened today.
To the woman sitting in an alluring pose by the window where the moonlight shines.
“It’s fun.”
The woman who heard the story coming out of Franco’s lips laughed and, using her moonlight as a snack, sipped the blood-red wine in the wine glass she held in her hand.
The few drops of wine that did not even reach her lips flow down her white flesh and seep between her collarbones.
“···Really, do you mind if I leave that child alone?”
Franco asked with her head down, and the woman only nodded and smiled as if she was in a good mood, but she did not give any answer.
“···I understand.”
Just as her silence was about to get longer, Franco bowed his head at the right moment and gave her a look of resignation.
“Hmm. Franco. “Do you know something strange today?”
Did you feel uncomfortable with Franco like that?
The woman who had been gazing endlessly at her moon turned her head to look at Franco for the first time since Rust sat down at her window.
Shocked.
“Uh, which one do you mean?”
Franco, who looked into her woman’s jet-black eyes, made her body tremble and answered in a trembling voice.
“It’s different than usual.”
“What do you mean by it being different from usual?”
“You don’t look nervous at all right now. She is the Franco I know. She is very scared, she worries a lot, and she has always suffered from anxiety. “Especially on days like today, when her blade came right up to her chin.”
Tak.
The woman, Rust, placed her feet on the floor in an elegant manner.
“I’m curious. “I wonder what our timid Pope is thinking right now.”
“···I just believe in you, my main lord.”
“You trust me, so you have no fear or worries?”
The woman lifted Franco’s chin with her fingertips, slowly, very slowly, and she said,
“To be precise, you are confident that your choice will be 100 times right.”
“Pfft, that’s a standard answer that feels like you anticipated it and prepared it. “A really boring answer that doesn’t make any sense.”
“···It’s just sincerity and loyalty.”
“Okay. Of course it is.”
Rust said, caressing Franco’s cheek with both of her palms.
“You asked this last time, right? How are you going to deal with the vessels of sin? “What do you have to do for that?”
“···It was like that.”
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“Like I said last time, you, my puppet, just need to stay still. Don’t touch that child, don’t touch him. “After all, the place where I and that child will meet is decided.”
“What do you mean by place?”
“Where are you?” “It’s the lake.”
“···Will that child really be able to reach that lake? In my opinion, even approaching it…”
“Do you really think so? “Do you really think that the child who destroyed five sins will never reach that lake?”
Rust burst out laughing and asked, but Franco only blinked and couldn’t answer.
“I think he already knows everything. So you must have come here. “Of course, at this point.”
“What are you talking about?”
“What will happen to the current saint who was born with the same fate as me after going through this ritual?”
“···.”
“The moment I have longed for and hoped for for a long time has come before my eyes.”
Rust continued as she spoke, turning her head to look at her moon.
“There are guests who have never been invited who will make that moment shine even brighter.”
“What can I do? “Even if it takes all of her soul, she must make grand preparations to welcome that moment and that guest.”
Suddenly, before you know it, the black slurry that has completely soaked the floor rises up with a loud noise.
“So I’ll go first and get ready. You just have to do as I say. Oh, and.”
The black water that has risen begins to carefully surround the alluring woman.
“I hope you don’t have such vain illusions as before. “I don’t want to see mine sad and sad after losing everything again.”
With those words, Rust disappeared from Franco’s sight. She disappeared like a lie, along with the black dirt.
“···.”
Franco looked at the place where everything had disappeared for a long time.
“···Barhal.”
And then he muttered quietly.
“I hope your insight is not wrong…”
****
Duran and I went for a long walk outside the city.
We arrived at a wide plain where all we could see was grass swaying in the moonlight.
“Here.” Remember.”
Duran spoke while nodding towards the floor, and my gaze naturally went down.
You can see a magic circle that is as small as a fist, but contains unusual energy.
“When you come near here, the color of the Rosario changes like it does now, so it won’t be difficult to find it no matter how long you are.”
Duran said, shaking the rosario he was wearing around his neck. As Duran said, Rosario, which was pure white just a moment ago, has now turned black.
“And if I put this here…”
When Duran places the Rosario he was holding onto the magic circle, the magic circle begins to emit black light.
“What was previously invisible becomes visible.”
Duran said, pointing with his finger at the black magic circuit floating above the magic circle.
“You should be able to connect enough of these circuits.”
Because it was obvious, I nodded.
If you just connect those circuits, you will be able to see the entrance to the destination of this journey.
“The ceremony is in two days.”
“I know. “I told you earlier.”
“I am saying this again because I am afraid that you, who are so unpredictable, will foolishly take over the circuit and summon all the Holy Knights in the Holy Kingdom right now.”
“I know. I also said that earlier. “Give me the rosario.”
“I feel this every time, you are usually stupid, but when you need to be, you seem to be a little less stupid.”
“···Is this a compliment?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you.”
No matter how much I thought about it, it wasn’t a compliment.
Seeing his complex expression of worry and regret, fear and earnestness, worry and anguish, I had no choice but to accept Duran’s lame joke.
“The lake inside is very far from anything like a heavenly god or light.”
“I know.”
I know it very well because I have encountered it through games.
Not only the lake, but the road to get there is also very difficult and terrible.
I also know.
Every year, there was a woman who walked that terrible path and dipped her body into a lake full of pain.
I know it better than anyone else.
She knew that the moment she could truly save the woman would be after she saw the woman dip her body in the lake.
“I know very well…”
For that moment, I even had to resist my desire to burn down the entire area.
“···I don’t know how on earth you know, but I’ll tell you one thing.”
Duran, with a serious expression, looked straight into my eyes and said.
“Don’t fail.”
“Uh.”
I nodded and added an afterthought.
When have you ever seen me fail?
****
Dipping her feet into the blood-splashing lake.
I can’t hear anything like splashing.
I can’t even feel the tickling sensation that should be felt when water touches skin.
What I hear in my ears is.
“Kwaaa!”
“Haaak, haaak…!”
“Kkihi, kihihihi!”
“De… De… Uh… I’m here… Gu… Me!”
“White…White blood…!”
It is nothing but the lustful sounds of all kinds of unclean things.
“I don’t like it…”
The texture you feel on your skin.
Quad!
Wow!
Patter.
The only pain is the bones being broken, the limbs being torn, and the internal organs spilling out.
“I don’t want to go in…”
My emotions and will are swallowed up by the blood-red lake, and I only wander into the abyss.
In that abyss, I am.
“···.”
I lost my mouth and couldn’t say anything.
“···.”
I lost my eyes and couldn’t see anything.
“···.”
I have lost hope and cannot have any expectations.
“···.”
It is only exposed.
Sins such as greed, jealousy, lust, anger, gluttony, sloth, and pride,
In a whirlpool where all kinds of negative emotions and pain swirl.
When I am exposed like that, my time begins to pass little by little.
In that time, my things also flow with time.
Blood is flowing.
The flesh flows.
Between my blood and flesh, despair and resentment flow.
The despair and resentment that flowed out take my soul, and my soul that flowed away comes back to me with something buried in it.
If the process is repeated, I, who had something buried in my soul, will be able to open my eyes again and walk around, as if it were a lie.
Something buried in the soul causes miracles.
The cost of a miracle is someone’s unclean emotions and my abyss.
The more I wander into the abyss because of something,
People are enthusiastic about something, feel happy, and feel grateful.
People call that something like this.
“Divine power.”
The name of something I hate and cannot resist.
Is that why?
I am a saint,
Actually, I don’t believe in heavenly gods.