Chapter 62

“Why did you help me?”

Toward the one who had already deceived him once, Lucian sent a wary gaze.

“Because the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

Ferdiel spoke with an attitude that showed he didn’t even mind the Hero’s distrust.

He was still slick, but strangely, his attitude now had a sense of composure that was different from before.

“As the Sword of Doctrine, I have merely done what I ought to do.”

“Because I am the sole survivor of the underground.”

“There was a survivor there?”

At Lucian’s seemingly surprised expression, Ferdiel smiled and recalled the past.

A past from before he was even called Ferdiel, a past that had now become distant and hazy.

“I originally had no intention of receiving the Hero’s help, but thanks to you, I was able to remove the pus of the Church without any major problems.”

“What on earth happened in the underground?”

“As expected, it seems the Hero went to the underground. It is not strange that you are surprised by the fact that there was a survivor.”

Lucian recalled the underground he had discovered by chance.

Just as when he had faced Lerwon who had become a monster, the Holy Sword alerted its master to the danger.

Following the warning, Lucian examined various parts of the underground and learned that countless people had died there.

The reason the Pope, who had been maneuvering in the dark to make the Hero a puppet of the Church, was turned on was also because his underground dealings were discovered.

“Fel, did you lead me to the underground?”

“The Pope, under the pretext of saving humans under God’s blessing, brought countless children who were not on the orphanage’s roster. I, too, was one of them.”

He neither denied nor affirmed it, but Lucian could understand Ferdiel’s answer.

“However, the Pope’s true objective was to use a child who could disappear at any time without raising suspicion as a sacrifice to bestow powerful holy power upon his own son. But, in the end, the plan was half-successful and half-failed.”

Ferdiel calmly continued his explanation.

“He succeeded in creating a child with unprecedentedly immense holy power, but the successful creation was not his son, but an orphan who should have died.”

“!!”

“The Pope’s son died. However, he gained a new son. A useful son named Ferdiel.”

The voice confessing the past was truly calm.

Just how difficult must it have been for him to become so stoic. It was so hard to even fathom that Lucian closed his eyes.

* * *

A scene after Lucian’s heresy trial appeared in my dream.

Should I call it good timing, or did the system manipulate even my dream to make me remember it on purpose?

That wasn’t really important.

“Bring me Dr. O X-yeong right now.”

The truly important thing isn’t something else, but the Golden Child Solution.

Child-rearing in this world is royally screwed.

In a world where even the basic concept of human rights is shattered, there’s no way they would value the rights of a child, a commoner who isn’t even recognized as human.

“It’s not an unfamiliar ceiling.”

“Why do you keep looking for the ceiling?”

At Zephyros’s question, I scratched my head for no reason.

“Well, it’s just a thing.”

…It’s just a common cliché.

“When you lose consciousness and open your eyes again, you just feel like you have to say something like this.”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

At Fel’s voice, which sounded like he couldn’t understand, I was about to laugh out loud, but then I flinched.

Don’t lose your mind! I slapped my cheek hard enough to make a sound, and barely managed to hold onto my slipping consciousness.

“Why are you suddenly doing that?!”

“Ah, that’s….”

Just why is a figure as great as the Sword of Doctrine kneeling with both hands in the air?

And what’s more, I really want to doubt my own two eyes—

“Hey, Lucian. You’re pointing a sword at Ferdiel’s neck right now… I’m not seeing things, am I?”

“You’re seeing it correctly.”

Ah, so my eyes aren’t wrong.

No! That’s not what’s important!

“Why, why are you doing that!”

Your opponent is the Sword of Doctrine!

Making the Cardinal of the Church and the head of the Heretic Inquisitors kneel and even raise his hands, it’s like you’re punishing a five-year-old kid.

“If you’re going to sneer, you may just laugh.”

“Ah, I won’t laugh.”

Honestly, the sight was quite ridiculous.

I forced the smile from my lips and got up from the sofa.

“It didn’t look like you were particularly stopping the bleeding, but the wound is gone?”

“So what?”

“It’s a power of unknown origin. I could declare you a heretic and execute you at any time.”

Is that a blatant threat?

“Should I kill him?”

Lucian asked.

To say he was just trying to scare him… it was a gaze filled to the brim with 100% sincerity.

“No, it’s fine. There’s no way the great Sword of Doctrine would have come all the way here without any preparations. Right?”

“As soon as my death is confirmed, I did give an order to Hartain to accuse the entire Lisitoel Count Family of heresy.”

A whole family being accused of heresy was something that was never even mentioned in the original storyline.

Not even trying to fathom what kind of fallout would occur, and what’s more—

“That’s a story the Pope would give a standing ovation for, and then start clapping with his feet.”

If you were to name the three people the Pope hates the most, it would be Evan, Evan Lisitoel, and Count Lisitoel. The three of them.

Even in the original storyline, he was a character who outwardly expressed condolences for my father’s sacrifice, but erupted in mad laughter of joy in a secret room.

…He’s my father, but is this level of popularity right?

No, Father is not at fault. This is all because of the Pope’s rotten personality!

“I can assure you that the Pope will do whatever it takes to brand the Lisitoel Count Family as heretics and dispose of them.”

“You heard him, right? Disposing of him is still a bit much, no matter what.”

More than anything, I didn’t want Lucian’s hands to be stained with blood.

“Should I say thank you?”

“I never intended to kill you from the start. In that sense, could everyone please step aside for a bit?”

There is something I need to say in private.

“Are you crazy?”

“He’s crazy.”

“Is he crazy?

“I’m not crazy. Stop making a perfectly sane person out to be a madman.”

《Conscience.》

Even the lizard in my pocket was looking for my conscience.

No! My conscience is perfectly fine?!

“You’re really making a person tear up.”

Grumbling, I decided to use the Writer skill.

「Ferdiel cannot move.」

The golden chains that had once captured Baal shot out and bound Ferdiel’s arms and legs.

“I’ve used a binding magic, are you satisfied now?”

“If anything happens, you have to scream.”

“I value my own neck too.”

My resolve to survive no matter what is still intact.

Thanks to Self-Heal, I fiddled with the nape of my neck, where no wound or scar remained.

The handkerchief wrapped like a scarf brushed against my fingertips.

“Don’t worry, and hurry.”

As I urged them, Lucian finally took Lerwon and Zephyros and dashed out of the hideout.

“Haha, there’s a limit to being overprotective.”

“It seems my durability is a bit poor.”

It’s not like I’ve only shown them myself collapsing while vomiting blood once or twice.

Suddenly, my conscience seems to prickle. From now on, I should adopt an attitude of acceptance even if being overprotected is a bit bothersome.

“So.”

Ferdiel gave a meaningful smile.

“How do you know about the Church’s underground?”

“Isn’t figuring that out the job of the Sword of Doctrine?”

I leisurely raised one corner of my mouth.

“Perhaps you have a preference for being spoon-fed the answer?”

Since things had come to this, I decided to provoke Ferdiel relentlessly. Because provoking others is the most fun.

“Hmm, I’ll admit it. You have a knack for getting on people’s nerves. You’re just the type to get stabbed to death somewhere.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

From the perspective of the one doing the provoking, that’s a huge compliment.

“So what’s the plan from now on? You can’t just keep me tied up forever.”

“That’s why I’m asking. Won’t you cooperate?”

“Sorry, but I have no taste for listening to other people’s bullshit.”

So resolute.

“Why don’t you at least hear what I have to offer?”

“I also don’t have a habit of repeating myself.”

So cold. If you act like that, I get my feelings hurt too.

《I cannot read that one’s mind.》

I know.

Just as the demon’s eye doesn’t work on Lucian since he drew the Holy Sword, Ferdiel, who possessed immensely great holy power, was also immune to the demon’s eye.

As expected, is this lizard useless except for its slightly cute side? I could have lamented—but this time, it was fine.

Because I already know the most fervent wish Ferdiel wants to achieve.

“I intend to help the Sword of Doctrine with the downfall of the Pope that you desire.”

“Sorry, but the Sword of Doctrine is a pillar that supports the Church, not a being who wishes for the Pope’s downfall.”

“I told you I know about what happened in the basement.”

The most terrible original sin committed by the Pope and the Church.

The reason Ferdiel became blind.

The reason why the Sword of Doctrine, who should be closest to God in this world, ironically believes in God less than anyone else.

“How on earth?”

“As I’ve said again—”

“You can’t spoon-feed me the answer? Right, since you already know so much, you must know this too. This is not a problem that can be solved with mere magic.”

That’s probably right.

He gained holy power in exchange for his sight.

He gained so much that it’s difficult to even call it an equivalent exchange.

But, it’s unfair. That wasn’t a deal Fel wanted in the first place.

“Even if you borrow the power of a demon, it would be difficult.”

《That is correct. Those eyes lost their function as a price for obtaining God’s power.》

Geez, why don’t you just spread rumors all over town about how incompetent you are? I know that much!

I put my hand in my pocket and pressed down hard on Albedo’s head.

“Are you saying that if it could be reversed with a demon’s contract, the Pope would have already stepped in?”

“Yes.”

Ferdiel, who had been silent for a moment, continued with difficulty.

“He is such a devoted father that he wouldn’t blink an eye at sacrificing a few lives to restore my eyes.”

Ferdiel said that, but it wasn’t out of fond paternal love.

It would be a sentiment closer to that of a master trying to repair a defect in an item he has to use.

As expected, no matter how I think about it, this world is in urgent need of Dr. O X-yeong’s solutions.

“So what’s the bottom line?”

“It means I can’t believe your words.”

“Especially since I have a mountain of secrets?”

“You know that very well.”

Deep distrust clouded Ferdiel’s pure white eyes.

Lucian was a problem because he trusted me too much from the beginning, to the point where I wondered why he was like that, while Zephyros and Lerwon had clear objectives.

However, Ferdiel was a little different.

He distrusted and was wary of me terribly.Taming a wild cat would probably be much easier.

“This is quite disappointing.”

Beating around the bush any longer is meaningless.

“No matter what I say like this, you won’t believe me, Sword of Doctrine. Right?”

“Is there any need to repeat myself and waste my breath?”

At the firm question, I let out a smirk.

First, I released the binding magic.

His arms and legs were freed, but Ferdiel didn’t try to subdue me, nor did he try to leave.

He must be curious, after all. Just how confident was I to be acting so relaxed.

“The Sword of Doctrine surely must have said it. That it’s impossible to regain your sight even with the power of a demon.”

“Yes.”

Ha— Annoyed, Ferdiel let out a laugh.

Perhaps the Pope has already tried to borrow a demon’s power to restore Ferdiel’s sight?

If that’s the case, it’s truly a dirty world.

It’s not just hypocrisy. If I do it, it’s a legitimate deal, but if someone else does it, it’s heresy.

“If it’s a demon’s power, I suppose so.”

How capable can a demon be, anyway?

But, I am a peculiar power, the likes of which have never been seen, certified by a primeval demon.

I willingly picked up the quill pen.

「Ferdiel’s sight returns for a moment」

I finish writing.

The color of his pupils, which must have originally been black, did not return.

But—

“Ah.”

A gasp barely escaped Ferdiel’s lips.

“How is it?”

I asked him with a smile.

—————–

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