Chapter : 100

“…I expected it, but he’s really here.”

At the sullen mumble, Benaya, who had been sitting on a chair in front of the prison, opened his tightly shut eyes.

“You move as busily as a squirrel.

”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

I feigned ignorance, looking Benaya straight in the eye.

I hadn’t realized it when I played the game, but the eyes of someone as empty as a dead person were so eerie, it gave me goosebumps.

His reason for being, his purpose, his beliefs, and his will.

He was a man who had handed everything over to another—the Pope.

A living doll that moved only for its master.

That was Benaya Ignos.

“Or are you, a man of my father’s age, planning to persecute an Academy student?”

“The moment you become a heretic, you will not be able to remain at the Academy.”

“Unfortunately for you, that’s not going to happen.”

If, as Benaya said, I became a heretic and had to leave the Academy, the system would probably just press the world destruction button itself.

Though it might give me another quest to preserve the world without destroying it.

“I will open the prison door for you.”

Benaya stood up from his seat and opened the prison door, and I awkwardly stepped inside.

First, I had to contact Zephyros and tell him Benaya was at the prison, so he should look for the ring alone today.

I turned my body and was about to use magic.

《Theo, do not use magic. Do not answer─》

If it hadn’t been for Albedo’s sudden words, I would have used magic.

《He is watching you to see if you use magic or not.》

What does that mean? Startled, I turned back and glanced at Benaya.

His eyes were closed, but his presence was sharp; Albedo was right.

《That man plans to watch you until the next day.》

He’d go that far just because I interfered with his plan once?

I thought he would get some sort of petty revenge since I had foiled his plan, but I never imagined he’d retaliate in such a crude way.

《For now, I will subtly pass the message to Lucian.》

Please do, I mouthed to Albedo with my back turned.

As I conveyed my intention, I felt Albedo nod from my pocket.

When I turned around again, my eyes met Benaya’s.

…Tonight was likely to be a long night, in more ways than one.

* * *

Thanks to Benaya, I had a sound sleep.

I had been searching the warehouse at night and undergoing trials during the day for several days, so fatigue had inevitably built up.

I think I even started snoring from the early morning, but I wonder if it was loud for Benaya.

“Ughhhh!”

As expected of a prison, the bed was uncomfortable.

The beds at the Academy are sturdy and comfortable. But what more could I expect from a prison cell?

As I stretched, I sneakily observed Benaya.

He had watched me all through the dawn, his eyes closed in the same posture as yesterday.

So damn persistent, I grumbled inwardly and waited for someone to rescue me from this situation.

“Theo, I brought your meal─”

It was Hartain Ignos, who brought me breakfast every morning!

Hartain, who had brought me dry bread and milk, saw Benaya as soon as he entered and his body jolted, moving with a great shudder.

Thanks to that, the tray in Hartain’s hands fell, and my bread and milk took a free fall with it!

Clang! I heard the sound of the milk bottle shattering, but it seemed as if Hartain couldn’t hear it.

Hey, he looks way too conspicuously surprised!

“My breakfast!!!”

I feigned a loud cry of shock on purpose.

At the almost thunderous sound, Hartain seemed to finally come to his senses and looked down at the floor.

The ruined bread, the milk spilling from the broken bottle, and the tray rolling on the floor.

“How pathetic.”

It was an assessment that was infuriating just to hear.

From Hartain’s perspective, his father had suddenly appeared, so of course he would be surprised.

Moreover, it wasn’t his beloved father, but a man who proudly held a spot in the top two of humans he detested the most.

It was like walking into his room and finding Mr. Cockroach crawling on the pristine white wallpaper.

“Sir Benaya, what brings you to the prison?

Following your role as an inquisitor, are you now planning to become a prison guard as well?”

Thankfully, Hartain, having regained his composure, sneered ostentatiously, as if nothing had happened.

Yes! That’s what I’ve wanted to say all night!!!

“It seems His Eminence, the Sword of Doctrine, has failed in guarding the sinner.”

“Then where did you learn such a wicked act as trying to eliminate a witness?”

Hear, hear! I cheered for Hartain from inside the prison.

“Furthermore, Theo Lisitoel has not been confirmed as a sinner.

He is merely being held in prison out of concern that he might flee.

If you are so dissatisfied with that, why don’t you complain to His Holiness the Pope?”

Hartain seemed to have decided to blatantly target Benaya’s weakness.

The Pope’s loyal dog would never dare to complain to his master.

Even if the Pope were to take his own son’s life, Benaya was the kind of man who would say, ‘Please do.’

As expected, the parenting philosophy in this world was seriously messed up.

One Dr. O X-yeong per person was desperately needed.

I guess that’s true in any world.

“There is no need to trouble the sacred heart with such trivial matters.”

“There is no need to trouble the sacred heart with such trivial matters.”

“You as a person are─”

Just as Hartain, unable to contain his emotions, was about to explode, I immediately cut in.

“Excuse me, so what are you going to do about my meal?”

Am I going to starve…? I stared at Hartain with a pathetic look in my eyes.

Hartain, who seemed to have lost his words for a moment, just moved his lips agape for a while, then gathered the glass bottle, bread, and tray, and leisurely left the prison.

“So, Sir Benaya, it seems you have no interest in today’s judgment.

At this rate, it’ll only be a moment before I’m cleared of heresy.”

“Is that important.”

Benaya looked at me with his empty eyes.

At the same time, they were the eyes of a fanatic.

Eyes that were horrifying to look at.

Benaya Ignos was a monster of conviction wearing the shell of a human.

Persuading him was impossible.

“Even if another Pope were to rise to the seat in the future, you would never follow a new Pope.”

“A dog that has lost its master is not worth living.”

Right, so that’s why you even followed the Pope who became ‘Solomon’ and tried to destroy the world. Indeed, I understand Hartain’s hatred 200%.

“Let me give you some advice.”

Benaya smiled.

My body froze at his smile, and a cold sweat ran down my back. Such confident, pure faith was bound to evoke fear.

“Hartain is not different from me in essence. In the end, Ignoses are born and raised that way.”

As Benaya finished his words and was about to leave leisurely, I stopped him.

“You think I don’t know?”

I knew from the beginning. Ignoses are born and raised that way.

The moment they deviate from the family’s origin, they are eliminated.

Because an Ignos who grows up as a person, not a dog, has no value.

“But, Hartain will definitely become a different kind of adult than you.

Fel is not the Pope, and Tan is not you.”

The shackles you so desperately tried to place on your son will be broken.

Then, the Ignos family will no longer be a family where dogs are raised, but a family where people grow.

“You won’t be able to see it.”

Because you, too, will meet your end with the Pope. I will absolutely make sure of it.

“I will look forward to it.”

Trapped inside the prison, I watched him leave with a smile.

* * *

“The trial will now begin.”

With the adjudicator’s declaration, Alfred of Belmir stood on the witness stand.

Neither the Pope who had ordered his death, nor Benaya who had tried to carry out that order, showed any sign of surprise.

An outsider would never have known about the death the Pope had commanded yesterday.

“I have spoken a falsehood….”

Alfred said, his head bowed low.

“Witness, are you saying you gave false testimony?”

“Yes. It is true that I saw a strange person, but I do not remember their physique or appearance in the slightest.

I just… I testified falsely because I did not want to be involved in a demon summoning and become a heretic.”

At Alfred’s words, the adjudicator frowned.

“In that case, the witness does not have the qualifications of a witness─”

“His Holiness the Pope demanded my testimony!!”

At the urgent shout, a murmur quickly spread through the courtroom.

Like ripples on a lake, like a drop of blood spreading in water, the commotion spread and turned into a blade aimed at the Pope.

“His Holiness the Pope.”

“Do you believe the words of a witness who confesses to have given false testimony?”

The Pope calmly questioned the adjudicator.

A benevolent smile, unwavering and just like usual, graced his lips.

“However, the holy relic shows no wavering.”

The holy relic—a magitool—held by the adjudicator was enchanted with lie-detection magic. The moment a speaker’s falsehood was determined, it would turn bright red.

There was no falsehood or wavering in the witness’s words. That was the truth.

“If that’s the case, the holy relic should have turned red yesterday when he supposedly gave false testimony.”

“Indeed….”

“It’s a simple trick. Because what the holy relic truly detects isn’t lies.”

“Defendant, you may speak.”

“I request Evan Lisitoel as another witness.”

“Count Lisitoel cannot be accepted as he has a blood relationship with the defendant.”

“Is there any authority on magic greater than His Excellency Count Lisitoel?”

The adjudicator could not easily refute it.

It was impossible to deny that Evan Lisitoel was the greatest magician in the Empire.

Denying this would undoubtedly provoke the Academy to pick a fight with the Church.

“Besides, is His Excellency Count Lisitoel someone who would lie for emotional reasons?

He is a man so fair and just that he would speak the truth even if it were disadvantageous to his own kin.”

This too could not be denied.

They could not tarnish the reputation of the Academy’s head professor in the name of the Church.

Doing so would be like slapping the Academy’s headmaster in the face.

“…I accept.”

“Then, Your Excellency the Count, I ask you.

What is the basic mechanism of lie-detection magic.”

“It is to hear minute sounds that humans cannot hear.”

“Minute sounds?”

“A prime example is the heart rate.

Usually, when people lie, their heart rate increases and their breathing becomes faster.

Their skin temperature might rise or they might sweat; it is magic that determines falsehood by judging various indicators in a composite manner.”

“Then there must be loopholes.

For example, a person who can perfectly control their body, or if they believe a lie to be the truth.”

Theo said with a smile.

“That is correct.”

“A similar problem would arise if one were made to believe a lie as truth through suggestion or brainwashing.”

“That is also correct.

That is why when using lie-detection magic, we simultaneously check for suggestion or brainwashing.”

This was enough. A line formed on Theo’s lips.

“However, even without suggestion or brainwashing, if one cleverly twists a lie into the truth… the magic wouldn’t be able to distinguish that either, I presume.

”

“That is also correct.”

“Thank you, Your Excellency Count Lisitoel.

Then, witness. Do you sincerely believe that I am the person you saw three years ago?”

“No. It’s just! At some point, I truly believed that the person who visited the family head that night was the young lord of Lisitoel.

My memory had become hazy as well.”

“Then you didn’t testify falsely, did you.

Therefore… the testimony you gave today cannot be seen as a lie either.

Then I ask.”

This would be the signal for the Pope’s downfall.

“Your Holiness the Pope, why did you try to kill the witness?”

Countless people who had been holding their breath and waiting for an opportunity under his tyranny would see the signal and draw their swords.

“He was a witness Your Holiness prepared, so was there a reason to kill him?”

This was the culmination of the sins the Pope had committed, a moment that had finally arrived.

“Is this perhaps how you’ve been creating witnesses all this time?”

So, you should have been careful about how many enemies you made, right?

Theo smiled brightly.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep