Chapter 275

1 minute ago.

‘What.’

Elias widened his eyes in bewilderment.

As soon as Luka, who had gone before the deacon, took a sip of the wine, he staggered. Leo and Narce, sitting beside him, were also flustered. The deacon standing before him looked at Luka with startled eyes.

Clang—!

The moment Elias grimaced and opened his mouth, Luka clutched his throat with both hands and collapsed right there. The silver chalice rolled on the floor, making a loud noise.

“Luka!”

Elias jumped up from his seat and shouted. The congregation froze in shock at the sudden incident. The king, who had grasped the situation, drew his wand and stood, shouting.

“What is this!”

“I, I don’t…!”

The deacon replied with a face pale from extreme panic. The king’s guard corps aimed their wands at the deacon and priest. In the meantime, Elias ran straight to the spot where his friend had collapsed. Elias shook his shoulder and shouted.

“What’s wrong. Get up!”

Something was off. It seemed he couldn’t even hear properly. He was trembling violently as if having a convulsion. Blood was steadily flowing from his bitten lip. Just how hard had he bitten to make it like this—it was so shocking that he didn’t even want to look, raising goosebumps.

“I permit the search!”

As soon as the king’s words fell, the guard captain slammed his staff down. Warp restriction magic was cast on the church building. Narce, who had risen staggering while clutching his head, aimed his staff at the deacon and shouted.

—Enter through the narrow gate!

The deacon stumbled back and lost consciousness, collapsing just like that. Narce strode forward, grabbed the deacon’s collar, and asked.

“Is it your doing? Did you intend to disrupt the kingdom’s public order?”

“…….”

The deacon shook his head. There was no other reaction. He merely kept shaking his head as Narce gripped him. Narce pressed his forehead against the deacon’s and looked into his eyes. Having observed until now, he could tell right away. This was using insight. If someone with an ability like Abraham had taken over the deacon’s body, even interrogation with mental manipulation magic would only elicit head shakes. Thus, relying on insight right at the scene was the most accurate.

However, the reply that came was an unbelievable one.

“Your Highness. This man is innocent.”

“…….”

Elias looked up at Narce with a dazed face. Narce was now using insight while looking at the faces of the other clergy and congregation. Yet confusion still lingered on his face. There was no culprit here?

What had happened. The wine in that chalice was the same that the king, the king’s aide, Leo, and Narce had all drunk until now, and naturally, the same chalice was being used continuously. There was no other chalice here that could have been switched. There was no reason for a problem to arise now. Then was it this deacon, or the chalice cloth. No way. From earlier, the chalice had been wiped with the same cloth each time, and from the faint magic power emanating from his body, the deacon was not a strong mage. Hadn’t Narce said he wasn’t either.

“Lukas. Stop!”

Leo, who had come to Luka’s side, cast healing magic and shouted. At those words, Elias’s mind snapped alert. Luka was curled up clutching his heart area. Contrary to the cold sweat he was shedding, his body was tense with strength, and even with several people holding him down, even the attempt to lay him flat properly wasn’t working. First, they had to stop him from biting his lip anymore. Blood was already flowing excessively to the point of dripping on the floor. As Elias reached to at least grab his jaw, his face twisted further. At that moment, intense pain struck Elias’s arm.

“Aaak!”

Elias screamed and staggered back, doubting his own eyes. The pain in his arm was utterly unimportant. Until just now, Luka, who had been lying on the floor, had half-risen and was pulling him in. Unfocused eyes stared at Elias.

The strength in his body was draining away. From the point of contact with his hand, magic power was flowing into him.

Elias looked down at him with his mouth agape.

‘No way.’

Magic power flowing into him was fine. It had been fine. How on earth could he take another’s magic power, why was this impossible thing happening—his common sense was completely shattered, but anyway, if it was him, he could give him magic power or whatever. But….

A chill ran down his spine. No matter what problem arose, the reason he felt goosebumps wasn’t because of Luka. It was because of his family. Because of that person who had given the gift timed just as he was leaving Anhalt. Was this why he had been holding his breath until now. But how in Bavaria? Moreover, even if he had planted a spy in Bavaria, the Precious Blood that people had drunk until now had no issue!

‘Or.’

Or.

A mad thought flashed through his mind.

It made no sense, but from the beginning, Luka….

‘No.’

Even so, it didn’t matter. However, the very act of making him believe Luka truly had such a temperament might be his strategy. He had to be cautious.

Was he hearing hallucinations or was Luka’s breathing ragged. At that moment, the flow of magic power that had been passing over stopped.

Thud—

Luka collapsed back to the floor. The sound of Bavaria National Medical Center mages arriving at the king’s call could be heard. Whether they came or not, Leo hurriedly checked his pulse.

The bewilderment melted from his expression. Only shock, which he had never seen from him in his lifetime, remained. Elias felt his nape grow cold and asked.

“Why.”

“…….”

“Why, I said.”

There was no reply. Elias pushed Leo aside and covered Lukas’s heart with his palm. Like someone had cut the power, there was no movement there at all.

*  *  *

“I see you again.”

I was at a white round table I had seen somewhere.

Cutlery was in my hand, and the white plate before me had nothing on it. The wide-bowled wine glass was filled to the brim with wine. It seemed like it would spill if shaken even a little. It was a strange sight.

Tunnel vision was interfering with my perception. I raised my head and confirmed the person sitting across the table. An unwelcome face.

The archbishop asked while drinking his wine.

“Why look at me like that. Didn’t you once say it was a positive-sum game? You expected it. If half-killing is all, is that truly positive-sum? In the end, once each recovers, the gain is zero anyway.”

“…….”

“Of course I understand why you look at me that way. You’re even deceiving yourself. Your ability to live 24 hours as an actor is excellent.”

Contrary to the sounds reaching me, my vision moved slowly. As I looked around without retorting, the archbishop opened his mouth again.

“Fortunate that your heart stopped before finishing the deed in front of others. Of course, you have countermeasures to go back alive, right?”

“…….”

“Having come this far, failing with cardiac arrest would be a bit much.”

I blinked slowly. Come to think of it, I wasn’t breathing. I looked down at my unmoving chest and inhaled. It was quiet.

I opened my mouth slowly.

“Positive-sum is a term that doesn’t exist in this world.”

“Is that so? Then I must just be a delusion you have before crossing the river. The two worlds I know share similar information with each other.”

“‘The two worlds I know share similar information’…. You say things I can’t know with your knowledge, yet speak words I can’t grasp?”

“Then my reply might already be something you’ve hypothesized. You’re someone who thinks of a hundred possibilities for one incident, so isn’t it sufficiently possible? Think well from where to where is truth. Ah, more than that, it might be good to worry about how long you can deceive. As you deceive, everyone continues to be deceived….”

The archbishop leaned toward me and said. My floating senses blocked perception from feeling any strangeness in this unreal sight. I blankly looked at the finely rippling surface of the alcohol. In the meantime, the archbishop’s words continued.

“What’s important is this.”

“What.”

I only raised my eyes to look at him. The archbishop’s blue eyes shone brightly.

“That you judged me a colleague good enough to join your strategy game. That’s why you called me out before crossing the river now. It’s an honor.”

“I didn’t call you; you intruded on me.”

“Yes. Because I’m you. But if this is true, it means you’ve fallen into mental delusion, so you probably don’t want to believe that?”

“Now you’re saying something different from what you first said.”

“Originally, the person before death isn’t in their right mind. Of course, all my words are part of the game. You have to find where I cleverly twisted the logic, where the truth ends…. But that’s not important now.”

He folded his fingers as he said.

“First, who forcibly shut you down. You’ve now received the reward from the world you left pending without receiving yet.”

“Reward.”

“Repayment for your grace. Unfamiliar? Anyway, you already know that something you call the ‘system’ secretly sided with you once without anyone knowing.”

“Hearing such talk from your face sours my mood.”

“The system must have grown fonder of you than expected. To even drag in the forbidden and offer it— I wouldn’t do that. Well, in the end, it resolved the problem with a death granting a 4-minute grace period, so that system isn’t entirely normal either.”

He folded one more finger.

“Then, what has become of ‘me’ now. Naturally, dying. I wonder if your friends can save you well before missing the golden hour.”

“That’s not important.”

“Of course. Now it’s time to interpret Adrian Askanian’s response to the Empire’s new hero.”

“…….”

“Quite flashy. As expected, not an easy opponent. Cases where a prodigy remains a prodigy until the end are rare, but he succeeded even past his twenties. Well, until now, it felt one-sided because only you were attacking Adrian Askanian?”

He laughed softly. Then, while cutting the meat on his plate, he said.

“Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? Is the knowledge I had correct? The unusually vivid blood smell? Who is the real villain. What happens to me if I leave here? Is this a permanent problem?”

“…….”

“I don’t know. From now on, they’re questions you have to find answers to. For now, there are too few clues. But as you noticed, your brother isn’t the type to give such a simplistic gift. To him, ‘in some way or another,’ this incident was part of the plan.”

The archbishop wagged his finger as he said. I slowly affirmed.

“Yes. In some way or another.”

The archbishop was thinking exactly what I was.

Whether he created the incident himself or foresaw it happening, today’s event was something Adrian Askanian had known about in advance.

Now the archbishop was silent. Now it was time for me to think on my own will. He was waiting for my words.

“My friend can always know the state of my core.”

“Yes. How does it feel to have a dedicated doctor.”

“I’m glad I took out insurance.”

I put the glass filled with alcohol to my lips. Blood flowed onto my clothes and tablecloth. It had only looked like wine on the surface; it was blood. Or perhaps the wine had become blood, or the blood wine. As soon as I swallowed the blood down my throat, I felt breath filling my lungs. I opened my mouth.

“There was no problem with the wine in the chalice itself. That wine was drunk not only by me but by many others, and right before my turn, a friend drank from it. Naturally, he was fine. Then did the deacon cast magic on the wine for my turn. It’s possible, but if so, he should have done it before the chalice reached my hand, so I would have felt the flow of magic power the deacon sent out before even drinking the wine.”

“Yes. Even in this situation, your judgment is precise.”

“Then collapsing during Mass was just coincidence, and an anomaly had already occurred in my core long ago. For example, after the terror ended and upon return. But during that time, there was no abnormality in my core at all. If there was even a slight problem, that friend is someone who would tell me right away. Then now, what exactly was the real trigger.”

I muttered while touching the blood on my hand.

“The wine in the chalice itself may have had no issue, but it ‘reacted to me’ and caused the problem. Here’s the issue. Not often, but I periodically attend Mass following my other friend. I’ve always drunk consecrated wine until now, and nothing happened.”

“The Precious Blood drunk until before had absolutely no problem. Then, the real variable you’re thinking of? There must be a reason why this Precious Blood reacted to you only now—what is it?”

“…….”

I moved my lips. There were many possibilities. But I deliberately didn’t say. Too few clues.

The archbishop’s voice came.

“Good. You’re still with me, so information is sorely lacking. Now, you can’t draw any conclusions until you investigate this incident. Then, I’ll tell you words you must absolutely never forget from now on.”

The archbishop interlocked his fingers and continued.

“You were quite flustered this time. It was the first time I saw you shocked like that, to a surprising degree.”

“…….”

“Listen well. What if the line between good and evil you knew from the start was wrong? What if there’s no reason for you to be so shocked now? Get a grip on your mind.”

His eyes shone brightly. The firm voice grew louder.

“The stories everyone in the world believes no longer function as fiction. No matter what happens to you in this game board, you must not lose your center. Even if something is fact or lie, the moment you let the opponent take your center with their logic, this game is your defeat. Even if everyone in the world says the sun revolves around the earth, you must firmly believe the earth revolves around the sun. Even if there’s a cliff beyond that sea as this world’s truth, you alone must know they are wrong. If you can’t destroy it from outside the world, you must become Ahura Mazda yourself and shatter Zarathustra’s worldview. Isn’t that your way?”

“…….”

“It’s not someone’s conspiracy destroying you, but your belief destroying you. Understand? Don’t let yourself destroy you. If you lose here, what becomes of me?”

I didn’t speak. I just stared piercingly at him.

Even though I said nothing, the archbishop smiled and continued.

“Yes, Rosalind. I’m saying things I can’t know. Does that matter? What’s important is that this isn’t a threat to identity or anything else, but the start of the strategy game between Adrian Askanian and you.”

The light from the chandelier, lit on only one tier, completely vanished. Darkness spread. The wine glass in my hand scattered, and blood flowed to the floor.

Only the voice remained in this space.

“Once you resolve to live, survive to the end.”

*  *  *

“Lukas.”

Before even opening my eyes, a familiar voice reached me.

Blood taste.

I felt the lingering taste of blood in my mouth and opened my eyes. A familiar face came into view. Leo was looking down at me with eyes of disbelief.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep