#134

“On second thought, it would be better to send him to the Inquisition. If he goes to the Director of the Research Institute….”

“If he goes to the Director?”

Callister suddenly cut in.

“Are you worried he might be subjected to some horrific experiment?”

“…….”

“My, prejudice is a bad thing! I know people speak ill of the Director, but you mustn’t believe them, Fabio!”

‘Why shouldn’t I?’

In fact, his impression after actually meeting the Director was that ‘imagination cannot surpass reality.’

“How much has the Director helped you?”

…The Director helped me?

“He even treated your arm!”

The Director was the one who cut it off in the first place.

“And just in case, he sent me to keep an eye on you!”

He did that without my consent; isn’t that just stalking?

“Well, even without those reasons, I can give you plenty of reasons why our lab is better than the Inquisition.”

“…Tell me.”

“If he’s dragged to the Inquisition, an official ‘trial’ will be held, won’t it? Everyone involved will be investigated. Including this man’s family! Imagine the thunderbolt it would be for the parents to find out their child is a heretic.”

That would certainly be the case.

It would feel like receiving a call saying your high school son was actually the leader of an internationally wanted terrorist organization.

“But what if I handle the cleanup? It will be carried out very quietly and cleanly. No one will suffer, and the family will know nothing.”

That’s a bit….

‘…Isn’t that right?’

Shouldn’t the family know what Reyes went through?

Actually, the image of parents simply thinking their child is doing well while they are suffering through all sorts of terrible things felt a bit unsettling.

Of course, ‘Reyes Floren’ is already gone, and the one occupying that body is a possessor named ‘Athanasuki’….

‘Then, after a Game Over, will the one remaining in that body be the real Reyes Floren?’

Athanas spoke in a stiff tone.

“There isn’t much time left before the person must be moved. Can you repair this entire space and erase the remaining traces in that time?”

“You’re asking for something difficult. Of course, it’s possible.”

Callister grinned.

“If the price is that he participates in one experiment….”

I grabbed Athanas’s sleeve and shook my head desperately.

Absolutely not the Director.

‘Just call the Heretic Inquisitor.’

I spoke through my lip movements, but Athanas gave me a single glance and spoke again.

“I have no intention of participating in an experiment. If you don’t want to handle the cleanup, you don’t have to. However, if the aftermath isn’t perfectly handled, people will come to investigate, and eventually, they will find out that you took the heretic.”

Callister’s eyebrows curved deeply into an eight-shape.

“Oh dear…. That would be truly troublesome.”

“What will you do?”

“I’ll have to agree. I can’t afford to lose such a precious sample.”

Saying so, Callister picked up Reyes.

As I tried to follow Callister, Athanas blocked my way.

“Fabio, let’s talk first.”

“About what….”

“I believe it is a priority for you to explain to me what happened.”

“Well, shouldn’t we return the borrowed Sacred Relic first?”

I pointed to the crossbow Athanas was holding.

Athanas stared at it for a moment, then naturally walked over to Callister and plopped the crossbow down on top of Reyes.

“…What is this?”

“Since the arrow stuck in his glabella must be returned together with it, you do it.”

“Excuse me? Is Miheo planning to pin the unauthorized removal on me?”

Callister looked bewildered.

“I am aware that the Director often ‘borrows’ items from the Order.”

“So you’re saying it doesn’t matter if one more is added to the pile? Ha. For a Holy Knight….”

Callister grumbled as if dissatisfied, but he took proper care of the crossbow.

Athanas turned toward me and said,

“It is now resolved.”

‘…When did Athanas and Callister become so well-acquainted?’

When they met at the Main Hall, they definitely seemed to be seeing each other for the first time.

And he hadn’t known that Callister was the Director’s clone.

But looking at the way he dealt with him now, it felt quite familiar.

“How did you know Callister would grant the request to return the Sacred Relic?”

“I didn’t.”

“Then….”

“If he refused, I could have moved personally. There’s no harm in asking, so I simply tried.”

‘Really?’

I felt something was suspicious, but thinking about it, I realized I knew nothing about how Athanas treated other people.

‘…The feeling that he was naive when we first met was all an act.’

It occurred to me anew that I didn’t know Athanas very well.

“Fabio.”

As Athanas locked the door, the noise from outside vanished.

“Please tell me everything, starting from when you went to the Inquisition.”

‘…How much should I tell him?’

Should I reveal everything regarding the players?

After pondering for a moment, I began by explaining meeting Nasir.

I explained how we went to find Andrea together, Nasir fell into a trap, and because I was worried about Nasir not coming out for a long time, I went down to the underground archive.

And then, a person called the Prophet appeared.

Athanas frowned slightly.

“Even in that situation, did you not use your hidden trump card?”

“I did.”

“…Was the Watched One safe in front of the Saintess?”

“No, I sent the Saintess back.”

Athanas looked at me without a word.

I stealthily avoided his gaze.

“He was the first ‘Watched One’ I’d met, so I had a lot to ask. He was more reasonable than I expected.”

Aside from me, other Watched Ones have fragments of the Othergod called ‘Helpers.’

The Helper controls the Watched One by giving rewards for specific actions.

Reyes happened to be caught by the most malicious Othergod.

The Helper suddenly raised Reyes’s Affinity, making him like me.

“…Why is that a malicious act?”

“Reyes has a… quirk where he wants to die at the hands of someone he loves. Since he refuses suicide, they stimulated that quirk to manipulate him into death.”

Athanas furrowed his brow slightly.

“Was that quirk created by a Distortion?”

“Um…. I think he was just born that way. I told you before, didn’t I? That there are people who consider dying by your hand as their life’s goal.”

Athanas had an expression of incomprehension.

“Anyway, the important thing is that Reyes must not be killed.”

Even if Reyes dies, he will be safely revived on the Day the Starry Sky Opens.

Rather, it would simply become impossible to find and deal with Reyes before that day.

Athanas fell into thought for a moment.

“…What did you intend to do if I hadn’t come?”

“What?”

“Since you said you didn’t want to hand him over to the Inquisition, you wouldn’t have reported him yourself. You certainly wouldn’t have called the Saintess. And seeing how you tried to prevent me from meeting him, it seems you had no intention of telling me either.”

Athanas narrowed his eyes and looked across at me.

“Then, what did you plan to do alone?”

‘I was just going to report him.’

I thought that once I extracted all the information I needed, I would have to hand him over to the Inquisition.

Because if Reyes leaked my information to other players, I would be in danger.

‘…But when the time actually came, I probably couldn’t have done it, right?’

Even now, it weighs on my mind; after spending the whole night talking about this and that, there was a very high probability I would have postponed the report.

‘I’ve never even wrung a chicken’s neck; there’s no way I could kill a raccoon.’

I probably would have done nothing and just rationalized it.

Overestimating the benefits of cooperating with Reyes, for instance….

“It is a relief that I arrived in time.”

…Still, wouldn’t it have been better if he’d arrived a bit later?

Or if he’d arrived early but hadn’t just smashed through the wall.

I would have had more options right now.

‘We might have been able to talk quietly, the three of us….’

“Fabio, your sense of danger is quite lacking.”

Athanas spoke in a firm voice.

I felt a bit wronged.

‘I’ve never been told I had a lack of safety awareness anywhere else.’

“…To be precise, your vigilance drops significantly toward those who show you kindness.”

“I do?”

“Andrea was like that, and since Reyes likes you too, your judgment must have been clouded. Aren’t you already thinking, ‘Maybe I can save him somehow?’ Despite the fact that those two are lunatics who could kill you at any moment.”

‘That’s not really the case.’

I know my own place.

What ability do I have to rescue someone in the grip of an Othergod?

“…Moreover, you are concerned for him even though that kindness is fabricated and could vanish at any time.”

‘But isn’t that a natural human emotion?’

When someone is kind to me, I feel a prick of conscience when I try to screw them over.

Still, it’s not to the point where my judgment is clouded. It’s not as if my cognitive abilities have dropped.

I answered a bit sullenly.

“You have great insight. I didn’t even know I had such a habit. Hearing that makes me think I should be wary of you first, Athanas.”

“…Did you feel that I ever tried to harm you?”

Athanas asked, looking somewhat shocked.

Taken aback by the unexpected reaction, I hurriedly added, “No, I just said I get weak toward people who are kind to me. You’re the one who cares for me the most, Athanas. To the point where I wonder why you go so far…. So, if what you said is true, my judgment must have completely vanished in front of you, so I meant that I should quickly snap out of it.”

“…Do you trust me?”

“Of course.”

Athanas slowly reached out.

As I stayed still, his hand stroked my left cheek.

Looking into those deep blue eyes, my chest felt somewhat ticklish.

I overlapped my hand over Athanas’s and gently lowered it.

“Um… now that the conversation is over, shouldn’t we go find the Director?”

I added this so I wouldn’t seem like I was worrying about Reyes.

“We need to warn the Director too. That he mustn’t kill him, or about the characteristics of the Divine Power he possesses.”

“…I will go and convey that to Callister, who is outside.”

Wouldn’t Callister have left by now?

Unless he had been standing in the hallway the entire time we were talking….

As soon as Athanas opened the door, people wearing hoods all turned to look this way at once.

‘Shit.’

That startled me.

It’s a bit scary when seven people move simultaneously.

One of them waved at me.

Just as I was pondering whether I should wave back and acknowledge them, Athanas closed the door again.

‘…This probably means I shouldn’t even think about going to the Main Hall, right?’

But I want to hear directly what will happen to Reyes.

And since Columba is influenced, Forced Persuasion is possible.

How can I convince Athanas without revealing Forced Persuasion?

‘Should I try sending a chat first to ask what state he’s in?’

Anyway, the moment I speak to ‘Pandemonium,’ my nickname will be revealed.

Is there any need to try so hard to hide it?

There’s almost no information to be gleaned from the nickname ‘Happy Cult Evangelist.’

He probably already knows through the process of elimination that the one person not in the chat is the Contractor of the Happy God….

While I was lost in thought, Athanas opened the door and came back in.

‘…Why is he locking the door?’

Is there a reason to activate the Blessing of Soundproofing?

“Uh…. Didn’t we finish talking?”

I hoped Athanas wouldn’t be beside me when I attempted the chat.

It would be a bit awkward to say that nickname while Athanas is there….

Athanas looked at me and said,

“…I told them that I might sleep outside today before coming back.”

My eyes widened.

He said he’d sleep outside?

That means….

‘Does that mean I can go to the Main Hall now?’

If there’s no fixed return time, that means I have time until tomorrow morning.

Is he saying he’ll go to the Main Hall with me?

“Therefore, I will sleep here today.”

“…What?”

Whether Athanas took my confusion as permission, he began to take off his equipment on his own.

I experienced a moment of buffering before becoming greatly flustered.

“Wait, is there a reason we must sleep here?”

“Yesterday, and today. Haven’t we experienced enough?”

Athanas spoke in a voice tinged with fatigue.

“Both you and I need rest.”

“…I get that, but can’t I just sleep after I go back? My bed is too narrow for two people.”

Athanas replied while taking off his doublet.

“I am anxious that you might recklessly start something dangerous while I am asleep.”

I was about to say I had no such intention, but I remembered that hiding the reliquary and going to the Main Hall happened just yesterday.

“I plan to be completely well-behaved today.”

“Then it should be fine for me to stay here.”

“…….”

“I have set up a device so that I will know immediately if the door is opened, so do not think of going anywhere.”

‘Is this what it’s like when trust hits rock bottom?’

“…If you absolutely must go see him, let’s go together tomorrow.”

Saying so, Athanas lay on the bed and closed his eyes.

“Athanas?”

No answer returned.

It seemed he had fallen fast asleep in those few seconds.

‘He must have been damn exhausted.’

I feel like his Health is always depleted whenever I see him.

Is training that hard?

I stared at Athanas for a while, then took all the cloths out of the chest and spread them on the floor.

Since the cloths were just a blanket and some clothes to change into, it wasn’t much different from lying on the bare floor.

‘…Of all things, I had that dream yesterday.’

It felt a bit strange sleeping next to Athanas.

The floor was hard, but perhaps I was more tired than I thought, as I soon began to feel drowsy.

I also closed my eyes and sought sleep.

* * *

I woke up drenched in cold sweat.

‘Shit….’

I had a dream where dozens of Callisters were chasing me with axes, smiling creepily.

But the one running away wasn’t me; it was Reyes.

Reyes kept looking for me.

His head spun and spun and spun, and then it just plopped onto the floor.

I silently wiped my face.

‘…Just a total nonsense dream.’

But this tension and anxiety were real.

I tried to bolt upright, only to realize something heavy was pressing down on me.

‘…Athanas?’

It took a few seconds to grasp the situation.

‘I was definitely sleeping on the floor.’

At some point, I was on the bed.

It seemed Athanas, waking up from sleep, had moved me.

‘The exact opposite situation from yesterday morning.’

I looked up.

Instead of a glass window, a window carved from Snowflake Gypsum was mounted slightly higher than my height, letting light through. Judging by the length of the light entering the room, it was late morning, nearly 9 o’clock.

The softly scattering light illuminated Athanas’s sleeping face.

Watching that quietly made my stomach churn.

‘How should I put it…. It’s like that.’

The happy memories of ‘beloved lovers’ that only appear in flashbacks.

A scene where they are both covered by a thin white sheet with light leaking through, laughing together.

‘Maybe it’s because I woke up from a nightmare….’

The fact that such a peaceful scene existed made me think that a horrific scene would inevitably follow immediately after.

135 – Playing a God-Tier Game, Became God-Tier, Goddamn!