#082

I cannot forget Casimir’s description.

‘She said it was closer to a pile of insects in human form.’

“What does not receiving the Blessing of Order have to do with not wanting to meet Ledeia’s apostle?”

“I heard that the Blessing of Order alters one’s perception. Things the Lord calls beautiful appear beautiful, and things He calls repulsive appear repulsive. It might be nothing to those who are blessed, but to me, Ledeia’s Sacred Vessel and the body of a priest teeming with that vessel feel utterly creepy and hideous. I saw a healing priest once, and I nearly fainted just by looking at them.”

“Is that why you cannot receive the Blessing of Healing?”

‘…Did I ever say I couldn’t receive the Blessing of Healing?’

I just said I hate it because it’s gruesome; it’s not as if I’m under a Curse that makes the Blessing of Healing ineffective.

“I certainly couldn’t take it while sane. Though I suppose if I were wounded enough to die, I’d have no choice.”

I frowned slightly and asked.

“But when did I ever say I couldn’t receive the Blessing of Healing?”

“…I assumed that not receiving the Blessing of Order meant you couldn’t receive any blessings belonging to Order.”

I let out a hollow laugh.

“If that were the case, finding the ‘Watched Ones’ would be incredibly simple.”

Because you’d just cast a minor but noticeable area-of-effect blessing and then pick out the only guy it didn’t work on.

“Let me tell you again: you must not jump to conclusions. The Watched Ones are people who do not originally belong to this world. Do not hold any prejudices. There is every possibility that other Watched Ones besides me have received the Blessing of Order. You must never use me as the standard. Do you understand?”

I warned him once more.

Only after getting an answer from Athanas that he would keep this in mind did I return to the original topic.

“So, do you know anything about the Director of the Research Institute? Rumors, reputation, anything will do.”

“…I’ve heard that about half of the newly announced forbidden items were created because of the Director. They say he’s a headache because he’s always finding new and creative ways to circumvent the regulations.”

‘They actually let a guy like that stay.’

Is it because he doesn’t technically break the law, so they can’t punish him? Or is there another reason they leave him be?

“Since he’s said to be a curious person, it shouldn’t be hard to meet him.”

“…I’m asking because I’m worried, but how exactly do you plan to stimulate his curiosity?”

“Well, I’ll have to think about that from now on.”

‘This bastard really lives without a plan.’

Trying to pique the curiosity of a mad scientist. Is he insane?

“Don’t think about meeting him recklessly; just look into the floating rumors first. If new regulations are being made because of him, doesn’t that mean someone is supervising what the Director is doing? Even if you don’t investigate him personally, there must be a way to find out what he’s been researching recently. You might find clues in the new regulations as well.”

“…Understood.”

‘His response somehow feels soulless.’

Fearing he might actually try to meet the Director, I emphasized and cautioned him several times.

Whatever an apostle learns, the god also learns. If Athanas makes a slip of the tongue and gives the Director a clue, it means Ledeia herself might move.

I didn’t know why Loclem kept all this a secret from his subordinates, but I didn’t want to experience a moment where I realized, ‘Ah, this is why he kept it a secret.’

‘Why is he so unreliable?’

“…Let’s end today’s discussion here for now.”

Since there’s no internet, simply investigating rumors would take quite a bit of time.

Athanas nodded.

“Then I suppose I can sleep now.”

“Huh? What do you mean…”

Before I could ask if he was joking, Athanas collapsed onto the bed.

“…Wake me up in three hours.”

Athanas said this and closed his eyes.

I was so dumbfounded that I couldn’t even react.

‘What?’

He’s going to take a nap here right now?

Is he insane?

“Athanas?”

I called his name, but there was no answer.

It seemed he had fallen asleep as if he’d fainted.

‘…Normally, this would be the time he’d be sleeping at the Branch Office.’

But didn’t he say he slept on purpose to receive Revelations?

Does he always nap at this time, and he just recently changed the location to receive Revelations?

‘A Holy Knight who naps for three hours a day…’

He seems truly lax.

Doesn’t anyone say anything?

More importantly, he told me to wake him in three hours. What am I supposed to do for three hours?

‘There aren’t even any books here…’

Well, there is one. [Prayer Guidelines for Valentine].

‘That’s a book better off treated as non-existent.’

In the end, unable to find anything to do, I stared quietly at the sleeping Athanas’s face.

I tried pinching his cheek slightly, but he didn’t wake up; he seemed to be in a very deep sleep.

‘After I gave him such a warning…’

To fall asleep so defenselessly in front of me.

“…What do you think I’m capable of doing to make you act like this?”

Since he had taken off his breastplate and the thick clothing underneath, his muscular body was faintly visible beneath the thin linen shirt.

It was truly a sight that made me sigh.

To fall fast asleep in a completely unarmed state, having stripped off all weapons and armor…

‘No matter the stat difference, wouldn’t he die instantly if his carotid artery were cut while he’s off guard?’

Unlike a game where a certain amount of Health is deducted regardless of where you’re hit, in reality, you die immediately if a vital spot is injured.

And it bothered me that he seemed to have too little subcutaneous fat.

You need a decent layer of fat to reduce internal bleeding when you bump into something, or to bleed less when stabbed…

‘I should tell him when we eat later.’

* * *

“Athanas, you should eat more. You’re too thin right now.”

Athanas stopped eating and looked at me.

“…That’s the first time in my life I’ve heard such a thing.”

“Your body fat percentage should be 20%… no, you need enough flesh to be pinched so that when you bump into something…”

“You won’t get hurt, you mean?”

‘?’

What is he talking about?

When did I ever say I was going to use Athanas as a cushion to practice tackle-charging?

Athanas scooped a bit of the mountain of food from his plate and gave it to me.

“Instead of telling only me to gain weight, it would be better if you ate more too.”

“Why me…”

“I saw earlier that you’re so thin your ribs are clearly visible. That’s why it hurts whenever we bump into each other.”

I was about to snap back and ask when he’d seen that, but I suddenly remembered that we were ‘pretending to date.’

‘He’s acting on the setting that he saw.’

“…Still, I can’t eat this much.”

“I’ll eat whatever you leave, so eat as much as you can.”

Once I considered the situation as us dating, I suddenly didn’t know what to say and just chewed and swallowed the food in silence.

‘I feel like I’m going to choke.’

With Athanas staring at me, I couldn’t even taste the food.

‘Since we decided to do this, I have to put in the effort…’

“Shall I walk you back to your room?”

“…No.”

I declined in a small, shrinking voice.

I was now facing the aftermath of avoiding the thought earlier to prevent my SAN from bottoming out.

‘Now I have to pretend to date him… and then spread the rumor all over town…’

If an AI analyzed my face right now, it would come out as 100% embarrassment.

“You did overdo it today. Then I’ll walk you just to the front of the building.”

Even while I couldn’t manage my expression, Athanas was doing his best to hard-carry this group project. Feeling a prick of conscience, I couldn’t bring myself to reject even that offer and nodded.

‘…I can’t go back alone after making a face like I’ve chewed on shit since the first day of dating.’

If I did, Athanas would end up as the guy who got rejected by a giant isopod.

For the sake of Athanas’s honor, I suppressed my desire to flee with all my might.

* * *

I returned thinking I would relax comfortably in my cozy room, but what greeted my eyes was still the empty doorframe.

‘…I was told that if I just walk through this, I’ll look like someone who breaks through walls.’

When on earth are they going to fix it?

The soundproofing is gone too, which is subtly annoying.

‘Elamin doesn’t even know this door is gone, so it’s a bit awkward to ask her…’

And as for asking Adna, who broke it, my life was too precious.

Calling the Saintess to fix a door is just way too much…

‘…I don’t even know where to find Tertius.’

Since I don’t know his apostle name, I couldn’t even call him out by name.

After eliminating options that way, only one person remained whom I could ask.

‘Casimir…’

…Should I just call the Saintess instead?

It’s my own fault, but it was still a bit uncomfortable to go meet someone who had been punished because of something related to me.

Of course, she’s an uncomfortable person to meet even without such an incident…

‘…Come to think of it, why did Casimir test me?’

A question suddenly occurred to me.

The Saintess said that Casimir intentionally did not tell me common sense.

She said she did it to find out my origin by seeing how I acted unconsciously…

‘Why not just ask the Saintess?’

The Saintess has the answer key.

Why wouldn’t she ask the person with the answer key, and instead go as far as doing something that could get her punished to test me?

‘Of course, what the Saintess had was the wrong answer…’

…Is that why?

Did she hear about ‘Perpetua’ from the Saintess, but because I didn’t seem like ‘Perpetua’ at all, she decided to test me?

‘Now that I think about it, among the high-ranking officials who know about the Othergod, Casimir is the only one who isn’t an apostle.’

Apostles are those who embody the will of the god in their own bodies.

To put it simply, they are the type of people who, if they feel like they don’t want to study, would think, ‘I guess the god is telling me not to,’ and comfortably quit.

And if they fail an exam? They’d think, ‘I guess it was the god’s will for me to fail.’

‘You could say they’ve outsourced their thinking to the god.’

In Conclude, units with low Faith and high Intelligence move on their own and sometimes produce results that surprise even veteran players, but units with high Faith never do that.

Sometimes, if you send them on reconnaissance and forget about them, they’ll keep scouting for seven years, or they’ll go fight in a war that’s already over because their individual mission wasn’t canceled, even though a peace treaty has already been signed.

‘That’s why there was a saying that if a player has low intelligence, they shouldn’t raise the Faith…’

The higher the Faith, the more the unit follows unreasonable orders without question.

If Loclem threw the game and was just waiting for defeat, the apostles would follow the god’s will and wait for defeat without doing anything.

Even if the believers who trust in Order suffered terrible agony and the apostles themselves met a gruesome end because of it.

‘But Casimir wouldn’t be like that.’

Because she is someone who has already abandoned her faith once.

That means there is something more important to Casimir than faith.

‘…I should try meeting her.’

Of course, I have no intention of showing that I have doubts about the Saintess right now.

Because Casimir is likely the person who suspects me the most within this Order.

If I said something like, ‘Don’t you also find the Saintess’s behavior suspicious?’, there was a possibility she would immediately execute me, thinking, ‘This wicked creature has smelled doubt within me and is trying to drive a wedge!’

‘Still, it should be fine to pretend I know nothing and just ask what strange point she noticed in me that led her to conduct such a test.’

As soon as I opened the door to the Knight Commander’s office, I heard shouting.

“…What you are trying to do is blasphemy! Why do you not realize that this will confuse the believers and tarnish the Lord’s authority!”

A man, of whom only the back was visible, slammed the desk in a fit of rage.

However, Casimir didn’t even pay attention to the man and was focused only on polishing the object she held until it shone.

‘…I should just leave.’

Bad timing.

Still, it was a stroke of luck that the angry person had their back to the door.

I was carefully trying to close the door without making a sound when my eyes met Casimir’s.

“Fabio!”

Her voice was filled with welcome, but I wasn’t welcome at all.

‘Why are you calling my name right now!’

If you’re fighting, focus on the fight!

Don’t drag innocent people into this!

I screamed internally.

“Who is now…”

The person who was shouting turned around to look at me.

He was a man who looked to be in his 40s, with his hair neatly combed back. The man, who had a stubborn impression, scanned me up and down and frowned deeply.

It was a look of clear contempt.

But I froze in place and couldn’t move for a different reason.

‘…Bishop Andrea?’

Chapter 83