Chapter 92

The appearance of Ignatz Schreiden was unexpected.

For an NPC who wasn’t even a supporting character, it’s a national rule to make an exit after one foolish act in the front and another in the back.

Is it because this is reality and not a game?

I was flustered at first, but I deliberately exaggerated my emotions.

Sometimes you have to kneel once to gain momentum.

From the middle, I unknowingly got immersed and gave an even more exaggerated, masterful performance.

“Ignatz, he looked flustered.”

Unlike when he confidently entered the witness stand, he showed an anxious gaze several times when he was leaving.

Will he make his exit like this, or will he try to get more screen time only to face the implementation of justice?

“Young Master, are you okay?”

Ferdiel, who had joined Hartain at some point and was escorting me, asked.

I guess I really did a great job with my acting.

To think I was so good at acting that even Ferdiel was fooled, I might have a hidden talent for acting.

“It’s a lie.”

“…What?”

“I have a reason to live tenaciously, but that’s not the reason I worked so hard.”

In the first place, I’m not the real Theo. If anything, I’ve become more than 10 years younger, so should I say it’s not all bad?

“Was my acting that great?”

Hartain, who was following behind Ferdiel, also looked at me with hurt eyes, as if he had been deceived too.

What’s with them? Who’s the one who was really hurt by the biased proceedings of the Church’s trial?

“I expected it to be biased, but it was really a fixed game.”

“What on earth are you talking about, Young Master?”

“Keueung, it’s a long story.”

I can’t seem to say anything.

“It’s a game where the winner is already decided.”

“So, how about persuading your friend to withdraw the accusation right now, Young Master?”

“That’s a bit…”

If it were that easy for me to control, I wouldn’t have done the crazy thing of telling him to accuse me.

“Don’t worry, I have a plan.”

Actually, it’s not just that.

“My heresy trial will definitely be helpful to your plan as well.”

“Come to think of it, I had something to ask you, Young Master.

What did you mean when you said our success would be a misfortune for the world?

Did you really have a prophetic dream? And what’s this about the world being screwed up again?”

“Do I have to explain?”

I thought Fel would be able to figure it out with just the very slight hint I gave him.

Then again, if he couldn’t predict it at all, he wouldn’t have been able to stop it, would he?

“There’s a real heretic in this Church, isn’t there?”

“His Holiness the Pope.”

“Yes, yes. The only person who has compiled all the knowledge about demons gained from hunting all the secrets and heretics of the Church for 1000 years.”

I can understand why they kept the Pope alive, since for him, who had lost everything, the very fact of being alive was a denial of his entire life.

The number of people who have suffered at the hands of the Pope is countless, so even death is a light punishment.

“If knowledge truly becomes the basis for heresy, then the first person who should be burned at the stake is the Pope.”

“Why is that?”

“The hint ends here.”

I entered the prison of my own accord and shut the door tight.

Perhaps because of my prior record of escaping, I was able to lock the door myself.

“This is pretty much all of it, so how about you think it over?”

“No way, does the Pope summon a demon?”

“Would he screw up the world with just one demon?”

That would be difficult even for Baal.

You’d have to be the King of a Hundred and Eight Pacts who rules 108 demons.

Ferdiel’s expression, who had been standing there with his mouth shut in thought, turned paler and paler by the second.

“He gets to command multiple demons? How on earth?”

Demons were beings that could only be summoned after years of preparing a location and offering a suitable sacrifice.

Even then, it was not an absolute relationship of obedience but a mutually beneficial one. If you don’t hold the reins properly, there are countless cases like Viscount Belmir where you get done in by the demon you summoned.

“Actually, I’m wondering if I should even be telling you this much.”

If my actions were to be compared to the flutter of a small butterfly’s wings, couldn’t Fel’s actions be called the flight of an eagle?

I had to consider the possibility that if he learned the secret of how the Pope became Solomon, that secret might instead flow to the Pope.

“One thing’s for sure, it doesn’t seem like His Holiness knows the method right now.”

“Why do you think so?”

“Because he’s the type of person who would have done it already if he knew how.”

It’s 50/50. He knows the method, but not the location of the ingredients.

And since he knows all the risks involved in executing it, he’s just not doing it for now.

“I want to open your head and take a look, Young Master, seriously.”

“Should I hand out numbered tickets?”

There are already quite a few people lined up, so I’m not sure if Fel will get his turn.

Ferdiel’s expression hardened at my nonchalant reply.

“You’re saying you know, so are you just going to stand by and watch our success screw up the world, Young Master?”

“Do I have to answer?”

“If you answer, I’ll share our plan with you.”

“Your Eminence!”

A surprised Hartain hastily calls out to Fel.

I was also surprised inwardly.

The only one who knows Fel’s plan completely is Hartain.

The other collaborators and helpers only know their one piece of the puzzle, and can’t see the bigger picture.

That way, even if one disappears, the plan won’t fail.

“You’re not unaware that I already know everything.”

“The meaning of me explaining the plan with my own mouth, you, Young Master, will surely understand.”

The absolute trust of a person named Fel.

It is impossible to measure how much value that holds. Wasn’t it something that even the protagonist of this game, Lucian, couldn’t obtain?

There was no need to hesitate.

“I had no intention of letting the world be ruined from the beginning.”

After all, the world has to be intact for me to survive, right?

It seems like I’m doing a lot of things that are difficult even for the hero to handle because of that, though.

There’s no other self-caused disaster in the world like this.

“I will stop the destruction of the world.”

“Alright, Young Master. Then… I’ll be in your care from now on.”

Fel extended his hand. I willingly took it.

+++

<Sudden Quest> [Complete]

You have gained the absolute trust of Ferdiel Levian.

However, be careful. Fel’s loyal subject, Hartain, still distrusts you.

Reward: Main Quest Difficulty Lowered

+++

Something strange came out of the system again.

* * *

I handed Albedo over to Fel and stared intently at the system window, alone in the prison.

“Sudden Quest?”

When did I ever receive something like that?

“Ah, no way. In that chaos…?”

Did it give me a quest in that situation where Lerwon’s curse was manifesting and he was in a state of chaos, and of all things, Fel witnessed the whole thing?

“I didn’t think to check the quest window.”

It wasn’t that the system was silent, I just didn’t check it.

I’m so upset. And a main quest difficulty decrease. It’s talking about that quest that was full of static, right?

“Is it a relief that it’s not a difficulty increase?”

If so, was the failure penalty a difficulty increase? Hehehe.

“If it was that important, then! Show it to me properly!!”

What kind of GM’s head does it come from to make it so you don’t notice it by vaguely releasing them in succession!

No, in the first place, does a GM even exist in this game?

“Aigoo! I’m playing a trash game with no GM!!”

Barely swallowing my tears of frustration, I sprawled out and savored the coldness of the prison floor.

“You damn human, I’m here.”

If it weren’t for Zephyros’s voice from behind me, I would have savored my sorrow a little longer.

As I slowly sat up, I could see Zephyros’s face, which looked like he was thoroughly sick to his stomach.

“Looks like the Pope called you?”

“You are truly the biggest son of a b*tch I know.”

“Oh, thank you for the compliment.”

“It’s not a compliment, it’s an insult.”

“I know.”

I know, but I’m deliberately being shameless.

Now that Ignatz has appeared, the Pope will definitely approach Zephyros as well.

“From the moment you accused me, the Pope was already thinking about how to use you. I’d bet all of Cian’s fortune on it.”

“Not your entire fortune?”

“You’re after my fortune too? You’re greedy. What a scary child!”

“Who are you calling a child!”

I chuckled as I watched Zephyros burst into anger.

“Ah, I feel a little better now.”

I’m not sure if I succeeded in not showing it in front of Fel and Hartain, but I wasn’t in a good mood the whole time.

The malicious gazes that followed me throughout the courtroom were hard to bear even for me, who is not really sixteen.

A normal sixteen-year-old teenager would probably have burst into tears and begged for forgiveness on their knees. The atmosphere was that blatant.

“Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not okay.”

I knew all about the clear malice and hostility towards my father.

But, what does that have to do with a person named Theo Lisitoel?

“It’s not like my father committed a crime in the first place.”

What’s wrong with having a bit of a nasty personality!

Thump! I tried to quell my anger by hitting the wall a few times, but it wasn’t easy.

“Should I withdraw it now?”

“You, and Fel too. Why is everyone so desperate to withdraw the accusation?”

I faced a hostility I didn’t have to face. The Pope’s murderous gaze was unpleasant just to look at.

I had to face that, and you’re telling me to back down without gaining anything? Not a chance.

“I may forget a kindness, but I’ll never forget a grudge.”

“Isn’t it usually the other way around?”

“I don’t know, my mind is the narrowest in the world.”

With Zephyros next to me, a somewhat silly laugh comes out. Though it was barely possible.

“The Pope called you, right?”

“Yeah, he told me to come straight to the prison as soon as we met. But is there usually no guard like this?”

“The guard is currently watching a demon.”

I vaguely told the guy with a question mark floating above his head that there was something like that.

“So, the Pope came and said—”

“I know, I heard.”

“Huh?”

“Have you ever heard of a CCTV in my ear?”

There’s the very minor problem that I can’t protect Zephyros’s privacy, but what can you do?

Since you’re the friend he chose, you have to endure it with grit and determination.

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“I heard it too. I borrowed your ears a bit.”

I smiled brightly and gave Zephyros a thumbs-up.

Zephyros, who had grasped the situation, tried to grab me by the collar and shake me, but I hid deep inside the prison and smiled brightly.

“I swear on my life I won’t tell anyone you called the Pope a damn old man!”

“Hey!!”

Watching Zephyros explode in anger, I thought.

Zephyros is best when he’s being teased.

—————–

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