Chapter 51

Did he figure something out? It would be a lie to say I wasn’t surprised.

“Isn’t that the name of the Sword of Doctrine who went missing?”

However, thanks to controlling even my heartbeat with the skill the entire time we were together, I was able to hide any sign of surprise.

I wasn’t caught off guard. Woah, woah, it’s okay, have a drink.

“Come to think of it, you have the same nickname.”

“Is that so?”

I felt Ferdiel’s expression twist slightly.

Was it because he tried to deceive me first? An even more natural smile flowed out.

“You seem to be the first person who knows the name of the Sword of Doctrine.”

“You know it too.”

Just because you know it, there’s no guarantee I don’t, is there?

I asked playfully, the corners of my mouth turning up.

Still, I’d need a plausible excuse.

“My nanny is a devout believer. Thanks to her, it’s impossible for me not to know.”

I gave a light shrug of my shoulders.

It was my nanny who attended Sunday service every week, something most people would be lucky to attend once a month.

In fact, the Lisitoel estate had so many Bibles it was hard to believe it was a magician’s residence, and priests would often visit.

“Even so, people don’t usually know the Sword of Doctrine’s name.”

“I remembered it because it was unusual for a cardinal to go missing two years ago. Besides, he’s from the Levian family, isn’t he?”

The family that has produced Popes for generations is none other than Levian.

Although Ferdiel was merely an adopted son, at any rate, during the Church’s golden age, they were as powerful as the Duchy of Nevera. Now, they’ve declined along with the Church.

The cause of Ferdiel’s tragedy was that the current head of the family was a person who would do anything to revive the fallen family.

Even though the name Levian was mentioned, there was no wavering on Ferdiel’s face. He was completely different from Lerwon, who still had a sense of naivety.

“It’s unusual, isn’t it? He’s probably my age, yet he was the Sword of Doctrine and then suddenly disappeared. That’s why it stuck in my memory.”

“Aha, so that’s how it was.”

“Why did you suddenly bring up that name, anyway?”

In an instant, the roles were reversed. It was quite amusing, in a way, to see him cast his fishing line to catch his opponent.

How will you answer, I wonder?

“Ah, it’s nothing. I was from a temple orphanage. I’ve heard it once before. So I was just curious.”

Ferdiel smiled slyly. He looked quite detestable.

“About what?”

“About how much people know about His Eminence the Sword of Doctrine. It’d be faster to ask you than to ask any Tom, Dick, or Harry, wouldn’t it? But I guess I asked the wrong person.”

At his flawless answer, I just smiled.

Fine, if you say so.

Toward the smirking guy, I could only smile back.

* * *

“Sunbae! Gastritis, no, do you have any medicine for a stomachache?”

After escorting that Ferdiel guy to his dorm room and deactivating the skill, I immediately ran to Zephyros’s room.

It seemed Zephyros had gone to train with Lucian for the Flowering Festival, as only Lerwon-sunbae was in the room.

Despite my raid-like entrance, Lerwon calmly rummaged through a drawer in the room and handed me a medicine bottle. I gulped down the medicine without hesitation.

“Kuaaaargh!!”

This is so damn hard. I flopped onto Zephyros’s bed and let out a groan.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m not okay.”

Having been on edge the whole time, the food in my stomach was doing a frantic tap dance.

These kinds of mind games aren’t my style, sob sob. My body is unwell, so my head suffers.

“Want a spoonful of elixir?”

“No, it’s fine.”

I can’t just drink that precious thing to cure mere gastritis.

“Aren’t you already using it for research and what not?”

“That’s true.”

“Then you should save even a little.”

This much can be handled with an ordinary alchemical potion.

“That much is fine, though.”

“I’ll ask for it when I need it later.”

Though it seems unlikely I’ll ever ask unless my body is seriously tattered.

“Just mass-produce some elixir later. Then even if you grab me by the collar and tell me not to drink it, I’ll drink it all.”

At my jest, sunbae chuckled.

“Is it because of that person called the Sword of Doctrine?”

“Yes. For now, it seems he only suspects me.”

If he starts suspecting Lerwon now, the problem will grow uncontrollably.

There’s no way to avoid being caught by a man who has lived as a Heretic Inquisitor since he was ten, the age he gained holy power.

“He may look like that, but the problem is he’s the type of person who’d be sad to be called second best when it comes to diligence.”

An incarnation of slyness, though in a sense he seemed insincere, Ferdiel was the Sword of Doctrine.

Even if he was far from ‘devout,’ he probably wouldn’t hesitate for a moment when swinging the sword of doctrine.

“My mother also said that while she might be able to buy off other figures, she probably couldn’t buy off the Sword of Doctrine.”

“Wow, so we’re really screwed if we get caught, huh?”

Seeing as there was no reply, it seems he agreed.

“How is the talisman coming along?”

“It’s almost complete.”

The talisman to break the curse and turn Lerwon back into a human was almost finished. All that was left was to engrave the most important phrase.

The midterm exams were over, yet here I was, not even sleeping properly and diligently carving wood.

“Sunbae, isn’t it a bit frustrating to not be able to go anywhere and have to stay in your room?”

With Fel’s appearance, Lerwon was in a state of being half-imprisoned in his dorm room to reduce variables as much as possible.

The dreadful Academy didn’t stop classes for the festival, so he at least went out to attend classes, but other than that, he was in the dorm all day.

Even if it couldn’t be helped, there were no cell phones, and if it were me, I might have gone crazy from the frustration.

“It’s not like they’re torturing me, I just can’t go outside. Besides, it’s not like I can’t go out at all. There’s no reason to be frustrated.”

At Lerwon’s somewhat cheerful reply, I slapped my forehead with a smack!

Ah, right. Iris was a crazy woman who would imprison and even torture him.

What’s the difference between imprisonment and torture~ An illusion of Iris speaking horrible things in a gentle voice momentarily passed before my eyes.

“Sunbae, you’ve really been through a lot.”

Tears of pity welled up in my eyes.

“That’s a strangely unpleasant tone.”

“It’s just your imagination, just your imagination.”

I patted sunbae’s shoulder.

“I’ll buy and bring you festival snacks.”

“Do as you wish.”

The tone of sunbae’s acquiescence seemed strangely close to resignation, but I decided not to mind that part. I just gave sunbae a thumbs-up, filled with the deep feeling that everything would be alright.

* * *

The work of making the talisman was done not in my room, but in Lerwon and Zephyros’s room.

After carving the last letter, I carefully set the talisman aside and threw both my hands up in the air.

“It’s finally done!!”

On the desk was a wooden clock made with crude workmanship. The phrase engraved on it was an ancient, old warning.

“Is it all done?”

Lerwon, who had just returned to the room, carefully read the phrase written on it.

“Memento mori?”

“Yeah.”

I cleared my throat for a moment and recited the true meaning embedded within it.

“Remember that you must die.”

The Ouroboros symbolizes eternity. What severs eternity is death.

“Remember that you are human.”

There was a time when he could only breathe by becoming a monster. But, in the end, a human was a human.

“Look behind you. You are here now, but remember that you too are nothing more than a human.”

No matter what kind of monster you become, you will ultimately meet your end as a human.

It was a talisman imbued with the meaning of severing eternity and returning a human who was becoming a monster back to a person.

Though it might not have any meaning on its own, it had a special effect on a human who was becoming a monster.

“Even I, who became a monster, am ultimately human.”

Lerwon’s eyes filled with tears.

Those who had finally despaired and given up on being human. Perhaps those who couldn’t even live as humans.

“It’s just water coming out of my eyes.”

Lerwon hastily wiped his tears. Perhaps for them, the words ‘you too are nothing more than a human’ were the greatest comfort of all.

“At midnight when the moon rises, recite this phrase once. In a month, the curse will be completely broken and you will return to being human.”

“Really, how did someone like you appear in my life?”

Lerwon muttered in a choked voice.

“Is that an insult?”

“What do you think it is?”

Lerwon’s question was not easy to answer.

It strangely feels like an insult, but also not an insult and a compliment, so I feel strange.

As I scratched the back of my head, sunbae burst out laughing.

Why did that laughter, so full of tears, sound so sorrowful?

The tears and laughter of one who thought they could never return to being human were so desperate.

“If it weren’t for you, I would have died as a monster, not a human.”

Lerwon’s future had changed.

A future I had changed.

“I’m glad that won’t happen.”

“Yes, I’m glad.”

“Just because you have the talisman doesn’t mean you’ll turn back into a human right away, so be careful.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ll be careful.”

Lerwon, with tears dangling from his eyes, smiled.

Remembering Lerwon’s end, I too smiled.

The problem wasn’t properly resolved yet, and this was merely an intermediate step, but just seeing his smile made a corner of my heart feel refreshed.

* * *

“The plan has gone awry.”

A man with shackles on his ankles muttered softly as he stared into the void.

Dry, gaunt cheeks, pale but sallow skin, and wildly tangled hair that had grown uncut.

Though his body was not whole in any aspect, the madness-like glint in his black eyes shone sharply and sparkled.

“Keoheok!”

At that moment, as if it had been waiting for his failure, he felt the familiar pain of his lungs being torn apart.

The man, who had coughed up bright red blood, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his pitch-black eyes.

The blood that filled his bony hand seemed to be evidence of his miserable life.

“Damn it.”

Well, when had his plans ever gone as he wished?

To him, life was a tedious thing that was nauseating because it never went his way.

A cursed and terrible life where he wanted to die, but couldn’t even die as he wished.

It is meaningless to ask why life is so miserable. God had never once answered his questions, and had only ever demanded that he move according to His will.

He was merely God’s puppet.

“For the desired end.”

He did not know what end God was trying to achieve by moving him.

The only driving force that made him move was the hope that when the end came, he might be able to end his long-cursed life and return.

“Alright, what should I do?”

He was the oldest actor and clown, and the playwright who wrote all the world’s tragedies.

He was a being abandoned by the world.

The most terrible sinner, cursed even by God.

He closed and opened his eyes, and something came into view.

“Hahahaha!!!”

Laughter filled with madness echoed in the pitch-black space.

“Damn it, it seems God still needs me.”

Well, there was probably no being as petty and fond of tragedy as Him.

“May I succeed this time.”

And, may I finally be able to escape from this dreadful curse—this life.

The man prayed earnestly and closed his eyes in prayer.

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