Chapter 201 : Uriel’s Purpose

A heavy silence settled in the basement.

Roland did not answer, perhaps because he did not have the sword, or perhaps because he was thinking of an excuse. Martin waited leisurely for Roland’s answer.

That was right.

Martin was at ease.

In fact, he already knew.

Although he borrowed the expression ‘circumstantially’, he knew the fact that the rope binding the demon mentioned in Royal Dream was the Devil Slayer’s [Chains of Light], and that the person who used it was Skull Mask.

He had already verified all the facts before leading Roland into interrogation.

‘Now. What excuse will you make this time?’

Just as Martin was waiting like that, Roland’s lips finally parted.

And the answer he brought out was like a blow to the back of Martin’s head.

“It was stolen.”

“…….”

Martin blinked, dumbfounded.

Did I hear that wrong?

“……What did you say?”

“I said it was stolen.”

“You? Ah, no. Your sword?”

“It is my sword. To summarize, Skull Mask, who broke into the Cathedral, stole the Devil Slayer from me. It can be summarized like this.”

It was bullshit.

At least to Martin’s ears.

“Skull Mask subdued you, the Deputy Commander of the Max Paladins? That makes no sense! How could a mere thief do that!?”

“It might be hard to believe, but he is not a mere thief. He was stronger than I thought. Even you would probably struggle, Martin.”

“Don’t spout nonsense, Roland. I didn’t come here to play word games.”

To think he would place a thief on the same level as himself, who had trained with the sword for the Order his entire life.

Martin’s expression hardened stiffly, his pride cracked.

“If you’re going to lie, make it plausible. Did you throw away even your pride as a paladin just because you were relieved of your position?”

“It is not a lie. Wasn’t even my divinity sealed?”

“Even so, it makes no sense for you to lose to a thief.”

“Even though that thief defeated a demon?”

“The Academy professors must have helped. Since you lent him the Devil Slayer, it wouldn’t have been a difficult task.”

Roland shook his head.

In reality, Martin’s words were correct. It was true that he lent it, not that it was taken.

But it was a fact that he had been defeated by the thief, yet words simply would not get through.

That did not mean he couldn’t understand Martin’s feelings at all.

Martin was evaluated to be behind Roland in every aspect.

So the moment he acknowledged Roland’s defeat, Martin would naturally lose to Skull Mask as well, so it was understandable that he would deny it while grinding his teeth.

“Roland. I clearly gave you several opportunities. But you ignored my sincerity and made up ridiculous lies and excuses to mock me and the Commander. And the Order. Therefore, as of this moment, I, Martin, will consider you, Roland, a ‘Villain’ who colluded with a thief to trespass into the sanctuary and hand over the Order’s property.”

“……!”

“You are no longer a paladin, Roland. You are a Villain. As soon as tomorrow morning comes, I will hand your custody over to the Central Knights.”

“I cannot understand. To consider me a Villain just based on the single fact that my holy sword was in his hands. Do you have the authority to do that?”

As if he had been waiting, Martin took a document out of his bosom and shook it.

“Do you know what this is, Roland?”

“I do not.”

“Ah, sorry. You can’t see it, can you? This is. It is a proxy authority document issued by the Commander and approved by His Holiness the Saint Emperor. You cannot see it, but the seals of both characters are stamped here.”

Only then grasping the situation, Roland let out a low laugh.

“Now that I see, you came fully prepared. If you were going to do this, why did you beat around the bush so much? You should have just delivered the sentence from the start.”

Martin looked down at Roland, then suddenly brought his face close to Roland’s ear.

Then he smiled brightly.

“Because this way is more fun, isn’t it?”

Martin, revealing his true colors, continued speaking.

“Hey, Roland. You probably don’t know how fucking shitty and hard my days have been because of you. But I guess you never know with worldly affairs. To think things would work out this well. Is Max Obje finally listening to my prayers? Kukhuk.”

“…….”

“Why? Are you resentful? Why did you join hands with a thief, then? That bastard. They say he dug up the graves of the past Archbishops who preached the faith for a long time here in Icata and even stole their remains. You will have to take the fall for that crime intact. In other words, this means it is the end.”

Tap, tap, Martin patted Roland’s shoulder.

His eyes looking at Roland were filled with envy and jealousy.

“Now the position of the next Commander is mine, Roland.”

“Should I offer you congratulations?”

“Sorry, but I don’t really want to receive congratulations from a Villain. It’s filthy, isn’t it?”

Martin, who raised the corners of his mouth in a smirk, straightened his body.

As if there was no more business to attend to.

“Any words regarding the punishment I’ve handed down?”

“None.”

“Even if you had any, nothing would have changed much anyway. Anyway, this is the last moment you and I will face each other. Since we won’t meet anymore once you go to the Central Knights.”

“…….”

“Farewell. Goodbye.”

With a thud, the secret room’s door closed and silence returned.

As the candle went out, darkness settled on the surroundings.

Roland, tied to the chair, raised his head.

Steady breathing.

A dry face without any emotion, let alone fear or worry.

Sitting like that, Roland rested his head toward the iron door as if waiting for someone.

Roland knew.

Before long, that door would open, and he would come to find him.

The man his goddess had chosen.

***

“Oh! You’re here, Boss?”

“Welcome back.”

When I arrived at Lunatic, Dayle and Luis greeted me.

And one more person.

“Skull Mask!”

Rachel.

As soon as she saw me, she ran over thumping her feet and hugged my body tight.

“…….”

Hm.

I ended up getting hugged in the spur of the moment.

Judging by how the front of my chest is getting slightly damp, I know why Rachel is doing this and what state she is in without needing to look.

“Huk…… Thank you. Really.”

Rachel is crying in my arms.

But, she is crying not because she is sad, but because she is happy and glad.

‘That’s a relief.’

My heart feels warm.

It might be because of the tears Rachel shed…… or I just feel proud too. Since she is this happy, I felt good along with her.

Should I say I feel a sense of accomplishment?

Looking at Rachel’s reaction, it seemed there were thankfully no major issues with her sister Reina’s body either.

Still, just in case, I glanced at Luis to ask for the result confirmation.

I recall we decided to leave the examination to a doctor today.

[He says there is no threat to her life. Since her stamina has dropped a lot, he said it would take some time for her to regain consciousness. However…….]

At Luis’s continuing report, my brow naturally furrowed.

[He says the damage to her left thigh and calf is too severe, so permanent disability might occur. He said it is practically confirmed…….]

The probability of the doctor’s misdiagnosis was low.

I heard the doctor was introduced as a trustworthy person by Mr. Parnaci.

Although he is a doctor whose license was revoked for illegal procedures, his skills are considered the best in the back alleys.

Since it is the diagnosis of such a person, it was fine to view it as an established fact.

[What about treatment? Is it impossible with surgical operation?]

[It is possible, but he says it is better not to get our hopes up because her body is so weak. Miss Rachel knows this too.]

I first nodded and then glanced down at Rachel.

Rachel and Reina.

I already had something in mind regarding the two sisters’ dwelling.

“There is no need to be thankful. I merely completed the request you entrusted to me as promised. Now it is your turn to keep the promise.”

“Ah. That’s right.”

Rachel, who pulled away from my chest, roughly wiped her messy face with her arm and shouted quite boldly.

“Just give the order. I’ll do anything. If you tell me to break the Beltus guys, I’ll go out right now and smash them all, and if you tell me to jump into fire, I’ll jump. Oh right! Did you receive the data I gave to Luis? Look at that first.”

“Data?”

“Ah, you know. The thing I was originally going to give you as payment for the Bishop Lutus request.”

Ah. There was that.

I was forgetting.

‘Did she say it was top secret intelligence that only she knew?’

“Where is it?”

“I still have it with me, shall I bring it to you?”

“No. Keep it.”

“Why? Are you not going to check it right away? Do you know how much I suffered to get that?”

Rachel seemed regrettably disappointed.

Curiosity rises even more seeing her act like that over how great it supposedly is, but unfortunately, I had something I had to do first right now.

“There is a place I must go first. I will look at it immediately after I return.”

“Then I will prepare it on the desk in the office so you can see it right away.”

“Okay.”

I headed straight to the Cathedral.

***

‘What the. He’s not here?’

I, having entered the inner garden of the Cathedral hiding in the shadows created by the bright moonlight, tilted my head.

Just when I came before, Roland was detained inside the chapel building.

But there was no one around the chapel or inside the building.

No, it wasn’t that there was no one.

Three men I was seeing for the first time were there.

They weren’t wearing clerical robes, nor did they look like the military chaplains stationed at the Cathedral standing guard.

‘……Who are they? Citizens here for dawn prayer?’

But the way they gathered their heads together and whispered smelled way too fishy for that. When I used [Stealth] to approach them and heightened my senses, the story they were sharing dug into my ears.

“Is this okay?”

“Yeah. It’s a matter the Commander has already approved too.”

“Anyway, I can’t believe it. That Roland joined hands with a thief. Uh. Then does that mean entering Minas Forest was also surely……?”

“We have to assume he received instructions from Skull Mask or whatever.”

Huh?

My instructions?

Thinking what kind of bullshit that was, I sharpened my sense of touch further.

“But if Skull Mask defeated the demon thanks to Sir Roland giving him the holy sword, isn’t that a desirable outcome consequentially? Also, there is a lot of talk out here that Skull Mask is a hero, not a Villain.”

“Hmph. Have you seen a hero commit theft? Just for causing a scene at the Cathedral last time and damaging the mausoleum, Skull Mask deserves summary judgment.”

“……That is also true.”

“Anyway, the Deputy Commander must not feel good either. Since he was quite a close friend with Sir Roland.”

“Well. He was.”

Lying.

It was visible from the direction I was looking.

The human called the Deputy Commander bowed his head pretending to be miserable, but he was wearing a smile on his lips that he couldn’t hide.

Since a while ago, he smells fishy; he is a human I don’t like in many ways.

“Still, he has to be punished. Someone is scheduled to come from the Central Knights tomorrow morning. When they come, guide them to the basement.”

“Understood.”

Like that, the conversation ended.

Either way, I luckily ended up overhearing various information in an unexpected place.

Among them, the most surprising thing was the reason Roland was detained here.

‘It seems he was detained for entering Minas Forest?’

Minas Forest was also the destination I had to go to in order to perform Uriel’s request.

Then don’t tell me Roland also entered there upon receiving Uriel’s instructions and got caught?

‘Just what is the Dimensional Harmonization Device hidden there? Just what is it and how is it used that they hide it to that extent and Uriel wants to destroy it?’

Just what is Uriel’s purpose?

Minas Forest.

A secret place even I, a veteran gamer, had never heard of.

A forbidden land where even capable paladins get dragged out for the crime of blasphemy if they enter wrongly.

The difficulty level is naturally predicted, so the thought ‘I’m screwed’ naturally comes to mind.

‘Fuck.’

I don’t know.

However, I cannot erase the feeling of approaching a new truth I hadn’t known until now.

Whatever it is, I have to do it now.

Setting aside the fact that I already received the upfront payment, because I am curious.

Having organized my thoughts, I immediately moved my body.

Towards the chapel basement where Roland is trapped.

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