#165

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Fuck, does this even make sense?

I slumped onto the bed and clutched my head.

‘Why on earth would House Lizard do this?’

Why would he pull a stunt like this?

Was it because Truth is also “knowledge,” and spreading it throughout the Dark Realm would earn him points?

Was House Lizard actually playing the game more diligently than anyone else?

‘But according to the System, he’s no longer a player.’

Can you still collect points even if you aren’t a player?

Then, a terrifying thought suddenly occurred to me.

‘…What if making me believe he had suffered a Game Over was part of House Lizard’s plan from the start?’

When a player suffers a Game Over, the chat window doesn’t appear even if you call their nickname.

He must have figured out this premise through trial and error.

The problem is….

‘Even if a premise is true, its converse may not be.’

If the chat window doesn’t appear when you call a nickname, that player is in a “Game Over” state.

Is that really the only case?

What if you can purchase a “nickname change ticket” from the shop using Clear Points?

What if there’s a bug where the chat window doesn’t appear when the opponent is in a system out-of-bounds area?

I don’t know if that’s actually the case, but regardless, there could be plenty of situations where the chat window doesn’t appear even if the player hasn’t suffered a Game Over.

‘And the reason everyone assumed House Lizard had suffered a Game Over was….’

It was probably because he disappeared after sending a final message saying he seemed to have been hacked by Insanity.

When someone who leaves a message like “If I die, the culprit is X” goes missing, people naturally assume it wasn’t of their own volition.

‘…It happens often in mystery novels.’

The true culprit who makes people believe they are dead to escape their “perception,” only to actually start killing people.

If that’s the case, creating a forum for information exchange that excluded only Nyapoleon might have been the start of the build-up.

‘If the claim about being hacked was a lie….’

It’s a truly effective and cunning scheme.

After House Lizard disappeared so shockingly, the chat room created by Nyapoleon must have completely frozen over.

Nyapoleon and Insanity would have been isolated from the other players.

Above all, players would begin to doubt the very means of “chatting.”

As information sharing naturally decreases, the probability of House Lizard’s lie being discovered also drops.

‘…And the idea of holding a Council was first brought up by House Lizard.’

If he discovered “contamination” during the research he was conducting with the Lab Director and decided he could make use of it….

“Fabio, please look at me.”

Turning my gaze toward that voice, I saw Callister leaning her face against my thigh, looking up at me.

‘What the fuck.’

“Didn’t I tell you not to touch me without permission?”

“Huh? Touch? Where? I’m not touching you at all. What’s touching my cheek is woolen fabric. Are you woolen fabric, Fabio?”

“…From now on, I’m including my clothes in the list of things you aren’t allowed to touch.”

At that, Callister suddenly bolted upright and began to strip.

“Fuck, what are you doing?!”

“You told me not to touch your clothes, right? Everything I’m wearing belongs to you, Fabio. If you tell me to take them off, I must. Because I am the obedient Callister.”

“The clothes I’m wearing! Not just my clothes in general. Don’t touch the clothes I am currently wearing!”

‘Fuck, this brat is doing this on purpose, isn’t she?’

Looking at that smirking face, I’m a hundred percent sure it’s intentional.

A headache began to form, and I pressed my hand to my forehead.

“I’m thinking about something important, so can you just stay still for a bit?”

“What are you thinking about? I want to know too.”

“…It’s still just a hypothesis.”

“I want to hear it even if it’s just a hypothesis. Please tell me.”

“No, it’s better if you don’t know what I’m thinking. That way, you can look at the situation objectively.”

Is House Lizard really the mastermind behind all of this?

I can’t find the answer just by sitting in a room and racking my brain.

‘It’s the same as assuming everything is a trap set by Insanity.’

If you decide on the culprit in your mind beforehand, your vision actually narrows.

I need more information.

To do that, I have to go out, but….

‘…It’s a relief that the contaminated ones aren’t aggressive like zombies.’

The people lying silently are creepy to look at, but they aren’t dangerous.

Of course, I shouldn’t let my guard down, as House Lizard might have prepared other “means” to deal with exceptions who are immune to mental attacks.

‘Other players might be wandering around too.’

“Callister.”

“Yes, Fabio.”

“Are you confident in fighting?”

“I am!”

“…Really?”

‘That’s unexpected.’

I doubt she received any separate training after the Host Tabernacle was born.

Was the original Lab Director more of a physical type than I thought?

She looked like someone who spent her whole life researching without ever seeing a ray of sunlight….

“Surprisingly! I, Callister, have never lost a single fight since I was born!”

“…And how many times have you won?”

“None of those either.”

‘Fuck.’

“Then why the hell did you say you were confident when you’ve never even fought?”

“Can’t one have confidence in something they’ve never tried before?”

“Sigh….”

‘I can’t believe my only party member is this unreliable.’

The fact that she recovers quickly from injuries is a plus, but she’s still way too fragile.

The clothes she’s wearing now are just scraps of cloth with almost zero defensive power….

“…Can you transform into someone else? Someone stronger.”

“If I eat a little bit.”

“…….”

“It’s possible even if I eat just a tiny bit. Like the size of a pinky nail?”

Hearing those words, a fierce Colosseum erupted in my mind.

‘Casimir….’

I can’t wake her.

The moment I share blood, Casimir would essentially be performing a ritual to worship me as a god, regardless of her own will.

I couldn’t be forgiven by claiming I didn’t know the meaning, like I did.

In that position, not knowing is a sin in itself.

The Knight Commander of the Inquisition.

‘…Would it be okay to tell Callister to take a bite?’

My conscience, asking what kind of crazy thought this was, clashed with my reason, asking if now was the time to be worrying about such things.

Casimir’s raw stats must be incredibly high.

Even if she’s a complete novice who doesn’t know how to hold a sword, having strength is an absolute advantage.

If I find a shield, hand it to her, and teach her just the basic defensive stance, she’ll be far more useful.

‘No, still, this is too much.’

Is it okay to order someone to eat a person and clone them?

Callister would do anything if it were my command.

Even if it were something that would get her burned at the stake for disturbing the Order the moment she was caught….

‘…Of course, even without that, Callister is already stake-burning material.’

As soon as the Order returns to normal, Callister will be disposed of immediately.

Not condemned, but disposed of.

Equipment doesn’t even have the qualification to fall into hell.

‘Is the feeling that such a thing shouldn’t be done actually my conscience?’

What if this feeling of repulsion, making me feel like I’m going to vomit just thinking about it, is simply because I have a weak stomach?

This is the Dark Realm.

The Order itself accepts human bodies as sacrifices.

Shouldn’t I instead overcome this repulsion and make the optimal choice?

‘…Fuck.’

I cursed inwardly.

What kind of moronic mental gymnastics am I doing?

I am an existence outside the Order.

It’s cowardly to borrow their standards for this one instance when I have no intention of accepting the morality of the Dark Realm.

What I’m planning to do is clearly unethical and immoral.

‘So what?’

Since when did I care about morality?

Anyway, it won’t cause much harm to Casimir, and it’s a way for me to gain a huge advantage, right?

Then it’s a loss not to do it.

“Let’s go out for now.”

Callister tilted her head and asked.

“Where are we going?”

“To Knight Commander Casimir.”

“Do you know where that is?”

“Are you an idiot?”

That’s where we were until just a moment ago.

It’s a location visible right outside the window.

How could you forget that?

“Right over there….”

I froze for a moment as I tried to point out the window.

“What? Where did she go?”

Did she wake up and get up?

“Callister, did you see something? Answer me.”

“…Knight Commander Casimir was dragged away by a strange creature a while ago.”

“What?!”

Fuck, why didn’t you tell me that?!

“If I told you, you would have gone out. It’s too dangerous outside. Let’s stay inside together, Fabio.”

“Stop bullshitting me!”

I flung the door open and dashed outside.

Fuck, this was no time to be having useless thoughts!

‘I have to save Casimir.’

The strange creature must be a Unit sent by a player.

With high probability, it’s Nyapoleon.

What if Mother God becomes able to create Units using Casimir’s biological data?

‘I’m fucked.’

Not knowing where the weapons were stored, I grabbed a poker from beside the hearth.

I told Callister to take the small hand axe next to it.

“Wow, seeing this axe brings back memories. Come to think of it, when I met Fabio for the third time….”

“Stop! Never mention what happened in the basement of the Main Hall again.”

“But there’s something I absolutely must tell Fabio….”

“It’s an order. Got it?”

“…Understood.”

I took a deep breath and walked out of the Apostle’s Hall.

As I had checked through the window, there were no creatures wandering around.

‘A wave of attacks is impossible at this point.’

I gripped the poker tightly.

If I were Nyapoleon, I would have deployed the minimum number of combat Units.

If he hadn’t predicted this situation, he naturally wouldn’t have prepared any Units; and if he knew everyone would be neutralized, there would be no need to fight, so he wouldn’t have prepared any.

Even if there were Order Units that hadn’t been contaminated yet, they’d be preoccupied because of Ledeia, so would there be any need to draw aggro and interfere?

In a situation like this, the most profitable move is to send low-tier Units everywhere to farm quickly and then retreat.

‘The problem is that even those trash mobs are overwhelming for me….’

When serfs who haven’t received military training are given wooden spears—the cheapest weapon—it takes five of them to take down one low-tier Unit without any casualties.

If they face them in smaller numbers, they get injured or, with a low probability, die.

‘…I’m not going to fight head-on, so it should be fine.’

Once I retrieve Casimir, I’m going to run.

When I reached the spot where Casimir had been, only wriggling maggots remained on the floor like a trail.

“Callister. Can you find Casimir?”

“It is possible.”

Callister crushed the maggots that tried to bite my hand.

“I can find her by following the traces of the Sacred Vessel.”

“…Please do.”

“Fabio, can I run away if it gets dangerous?”

“If I tell you not to run, will you stay?”

“Of course.”

‘…I still don’t trust her.’

Still, she probably won’t abandon me when we bolt.

Because she cannot exist as “Callister” without me.

“…If we’re going to flee, we have to try before the opponent notices us. Tell me if you see a Halo.”

“Fabio.”

“Yeah?”

“How about we run away right now?”

“What? Is someone here?”

“Someone is coming this way. Wow, their Halo is really sparkling.”

I flinched and hid behind Callister.

“Who is it? Are they from the Order? Tell me.”

Wait, instead of me hiding, shouldn’t I be hiding Callister?

If the person wandering around right now is an Apostle of Order, Callister’s head could be lopped off instantly.

“…It’s Athanas.”

“Athanas?”

I widened my eyes to see if it was true, but I could barely make out a human silhouette.

I couldn’t tell if it was Athanas.

‘Why is she suggesting we run away when Athanas is coming?’

Is she scared he’ll condemn Callister the moment he sees her?

“Is it really Athanas?”

“…Yes. I’ve seen his Halo before. I’m certain.”

“Then why are we running?”

“That’s….”

Callister trailed off.

‘Whatever it is, it’s probably nothing important.’

“Athanas!”