#181

Andrea does not know that I am a Watched One.

Even if he suspected that ‘Fabio’ had some kind of background, he would be quite flustered if I suddenly appeared draped in Divinity.

‘I’ll be lucky if he doesn’t think some unknown Evil God devoured his precious disciple.’

As I entered the main gate of the orphanage, I felt a sense of incongruity.

It wasn’t the kind of incongruity related to ‘Divinity.’

If I had to put it, it was closer to an unconscious realization that something which should naturally be there was missing.

I soon realized the identity of that incongruity.

‘…There are no people collapsed on the ground.’

Were they all inside by chance?

Still, there should have been at least one person outside.

I held up the poppy flower to reconfirm Andrea’s location.

‘The chapel?’

Not the office?

I wondered, but I decided to find clothes for Callister to wear first.

However, when I went to the children’s rooms, all the drawers and wardrobes were open as if a thief had broken in, and there wasn’t a single piece of clothing.

‘What’s this?’

Did bedbugs appear, and they gathered all the clothes to fumigate them?

Seeing that even the bedsheets were gone, it seemed plausible.

I just hoped no one had fainted in the fumigation room.

In the sewing room I headed to next, there was one monk who had lost consciousness while sitting in a chair.

I added a few more pieces of charcoal to the brazier where the embers were about to die out and searched for clothes Callister could wear.

“Fabio, all the clothes have names written on them!”

“Clothes get mixed up after washing. They’re written there to distinguish whose is whose.”

“Fabio, I want clothes with my name on them too. Can you embroider them for me yourself?”

“…Later.”

“Please make sure to write Callister Fabio!”

‘Why Fabio at the end?’

“Shut the fuck up. Before I squeeze your head until it pops.”

“Pandemonium. Watch your language.”

“No, hyung. That brat is crossing the line. You’re not actually thinking of making him an apostle, are you?”

‘…I don’t even know what needs to be done to become an apostle in the first place.’

I probably don’t know because I lack experience.

In Conclude, it was only after the mid-game that one could create a new ‘Divine Bloodline,’ so I’ll likely find out the method once I expand my influence.

Of course, even if I leveled up, I had no intention of making Callister an apostle.

‘A vessel is supposed to be empty, right?’

Isn’t an apostle, so to speak, someone whose insides have been scooped out and replaced by a ‘God’ forced inside to transform them?

Thinking of ‘Brother Pell’…

“My body is as good as received from Fabio! That’s why I’m Callister Fabio!”

“Who gives a shit, you piece of trash. By that logic, you’d be Callister Ledeia. Your whole body is just Ledeia’s maggot.”

‘The name attached at the end seems to be a mark of the Divine Bloodline.’

Thinking about it that way, the surnames of nobles felt a bit like ingredient labels.

Marcello Teres. Contains 10% ‘Teres.’

“No! I’m Fabio’s child! Right? Fabio, please say so! Or I’ll cry!”

‘…I’m getting dizzy.’

I sighed inwardly and grabbed Callister’s shoulders.

“Callister. Let me be clear: you are not my child.”

“Huuuuh…”

“…We have a closer relationship than that.”

The tearful Callister took on a confused expression.

“A… closer relationship?”

“Actually, the bond between parent and child isn’t that special. There are so many people who abandon their own children or parents. It’s not all that great.”

“Like Marcello over there?”

“…Yes. Anyway, you are connected to me. Even if you change into a form different from now, you are still my Callister. That is far more special.”

“Then what am I to Fabio?”

“My first believer.”

“First… I’m Fabio’s first!”

Callister’s face flushed red.

I tightened the string of his hat and thought.

‘For some reason, he’s acting like a real child.’

Is it because his body was completely shattered and only barely reconstructed?

I should reconsider the idea of turning him into a pig and raising him.

It seems the mind is more influenced by the body than I thought.

After changing out of my blood-stained clothes, I left the sewing room and moved toward the chapel.

‘Some kind of humming sound…’

I stopped in my tracks while heading to the chapel.

“Do you hear something?”

“I don’t.”

‘Fuck, what is it.’

It was incredibly distracting, but since Pandemonium would surely throw a fit and tell me to just go back if I showed it, I continued walking as if nothing were wrong.

As I got closer to the chapel, the humming sound grew louder.

‘Is it a sound made by the War God?’

It sounded like a mutter, something like “I will curse you if you don’t listen to me.”

My ears are itching.

“Pandemonium, open the door.”

The chapel door opened with a creak.

“Prophet!”

The moment the door opened, Andrea, with disheveled hair, rushed toward me urgently. He almost tripped.

“Prophet, I knew you would come.”

‘…I don’t think so.’

Weren’t you just tearing your hair out and cursing the Prophet until a moment ago?

Seeing as the humming sound vanished instantly, it seems I was right.

“You’ve come to take the children, haven’t you? I have prepared everything. Ah, my apologies. I am a mess.”

Andrea hurriedly straightened his clothes.

It seemed to be the first time I had seen him so disarrayed.

“Oh dear. Was there a child I forgot? Child, what is your name? Your face is cold. Let’s go to the fire over there. Your friends are there too.”

“I don’t want to. I’ll stay next to Fa… the Prophet.”

‘Friends?’

I soon realized that the seats of the chapel were filled with children.

The children of the orphanage, dressed even in overcoats, sat quietly in a prayerful posture.

The fact that not a single rustle could be heard despite so many children being there was slightly creepy.

‘Did he move the contaminated children one by one and seat them like that?’

In front of each child lay a round bundle.

Their belongings had been placed inside bedsheets and tied up.

“…Did I promise to take all the children?”

I asked the question wondering if the Distorted One intended to swallow the orphanage whole, but Andrea suddenly fell to his knees.

“Prophet! I know that not all of them will be to your liking. In your eyes, there may be children who can never reach the Land of Order. For you see the future. But the children are young. They have not even had enough time to be tested. Please give them a chance. I beg you…”

‘What the fuck.’

I was flustered, but to maintain an attitude as befitting a ‘Prophet,’ I spoke as if it were nothing.

“Do you understand what has happened to this Capital Church?”

“…That I shall witness with my own eyes the day Order collapses, and that day shall soon come. I have not forgotten for a single moment the words the Prophet spoke to me. Seeing people collapse like bundles of straw, I knew that day had arrived. Realizing that I alone escaped that terrifying Curse was thanks to the Prophet, I first offered a prayer of gratitude. And then I asked what I should do. Since the Prophet did not tell me in advance what to do when that day came…”

“So you moved the children here first?”

“…Yes. Children cannot endure the cold weather for long.”

‘That’s why there was no one outside.’

Andrea continued with a cowed expression.

“Forgive me for offering such a presumptuous prayer. I… my faith was lacking. Because there was no response, I became afraid and lost myself for a moment. Prophet, please forgive me. No, even if you do not forgive me, please just take these children.”

“…It is not your fault.”

I said it because it was hard to watch an old man kneeling and pleading, but it was the wrong choice.

Because Andrea began to shed tears.

‘Now what?’

With the Authority of Distortion, I can prevent ‘contamination’ from happening, but I cannot return an already contaminated person to their original state.

If I shared my blood and flesh, they could wake up, but…

‘The aftermath is the problem.’

What if Order resolves the contamination and everything returns to normal?

Those who drank the blood of an heretic and formed something like a Vassal contract would be burned at the stake, even if they were children.

‘Even if this state persists…’

I don’t have the capacity to handle this many children.

What I had to do here was simple.

Remove the ‘distorted perception of Athanas’ from Andrea’s mind.

Then, simply knock Andrea unconscious for a while and leave.

‘Even if I don’t leave immediately, I have to knock him out.’

I can’t think straight with him being so frantic.

I tightened my grip on the poppy flower.

‘Fuck.’

What is this?

I frowned with my eyes closed.

It was completely different from the ‘Distortion’ placed on Pandemonium.

If Pandemonium’s was like a spiderweb that tore away easily with a light tug, the distortion on Andrea was…

‘…If I remove this, is there even anything left?’

Perhaps because his entire soul had been handed over to the Distorted One, there wasn’t a single part that wasn’t twisted.

It was like an old tree that had grown crooked.

‘What if I just cut out the part about Athanas?’

No, that’s also impossible.

Too many parts would have to be removed.

He would become a completely different person when he woke up.

I wonder if he’d even be able to open his eyes…

‘At this rate, it would be better to overwrite it.’

If I changed all memories related to ‘Athanas’ into memories of a non-existent person named ‘Satanas,’ or applied a distortion so that the real ‘Athanas’ was perceived as ‘Batanas’…

‘…Athanas would be safe.’

But what about Andrea?

After contemplating, I spoke.

“…One who sins and repents can one day wash away the price of those sins. However, one who denies the sins they have committed shall never reach the Land of Order. Do you remember this passage?”

“Yes, yes. I have memorized all of the Lord’s words.”

“Then Andrea, why have you completely forgotten your sins?”

“Forgive me, Prophet. My sins are deep. Please give this lacking man a chance to realize his own sins.”

I reached out and placed my hand on Andrea’s forehead.

As it was, I pulled out the memory covered by ‘Distortion’ in the deepest place.

It was the memory of the day he decided to kill all the sick.

‘Ugh…’

Andrea visited those whose illness was too severe to come to worship and prayed with them one by one.

He listened to their pain and suffering, and when they said they wished for nothing more than a glass of water, he poured a full glass, saying that while it was normally not allowed, he was giving it as a special favor.

Then, he twisted the necks and killed all those who tried to drink it while shedding tears.

His logic was that shameless things who rejoiced in something that deviated from Order if it benefited them were not worth living.

Also, he strangled to death those who refused, saying that the water should be drunk by someone else rather than a sick person like himself who had no hope.

Because the very fact that they were still alive was a sin.

Living corpses prolonging a worthless breath by drinking others’ blood.

Andrea condemned them in place of the Lord.

Andrea’s mouth hung open.

No sound leaked out of it.

But I could hear the scream his soul was letting out.

‘So fucking loud.’

Andrea, whose memories had returned, trembled violently.

“I, I, I did not commit such sins. Prophet. I swear, I have never committed such terrible acts! Those faces! The people I strangled are still alive. Yes, I know them. I can find them all and show them to you. I did not kill any of them.”

“Then what about those Athanas killed? They are also still alive. Then is Athanas also without sin?”

“But Athanas, he…”

Andrea’s face distorted.

I continued to unravel the distortions one by one.

“In the first place, he is not the source of evil. You created a substitute because you did not want to face your own sins.”

“No…”

“Athanas is the Savior of Order.”

“No, this is my memory…”

“You became a grotesque and distorted shape and attacked Athanas. Because he is the one who will establish Order. It was your role to recognize and kill the person who would save the world. Not Athanas’. You offered your soul to an evil god and worked for him.”

“No, no, that can’t be…”

“If you deny that memory, you will never reach Order.”

Andrea’s soul seemed as if it would shatter at any moment.

But I did not stop.

‘…If he shatters like this, at least he’ll be free from the Distorted One’s hand.’

When I had stripped away all the distortions.

“You, who are you? You…”

“I am the Prophet. I have come to show you the truth.”

“…If what you say is the truth, there is no way a Prophet could exist. At least you are not the Lord’s messenger.”

Even while dripping tears of blood, Andrea was somehow maintaining his consciousness.

Glaring at me, he threw the snake in his sleeve onto the floor.

‘Oh boy.’

That must have hurt.

What did the snake do wrong?

Of course, that creature played the role of maintaining and strengthening the distortion placed on Andrea, but…

“If you were going to deceive me, you should have done it to the end. Why now? Have I lost my value to be used? Have I become useless? Is that why you do this, to see me die in pain and regret? Speak! Who are you!”

I slowly took off the ring.

“Andrea. It is the opposite.”

“…Fabio?”

“Please listen to me, Andrea.”

“Why now, that appearance…”

“You were played by the ‘Distorted One.’ He is an evil god from beyond those Stars, like the Plague God. The Distorted One uses the Authority of Distortion and loves to plunge the good into suffering. I wanted to save your soul from him. To do that, you must realize for yourself. What the truth is.”

Andrea did not respond.

I continued speaking.

“You must be confused. If there is anything you are curious about, please ask. I will answer as far as I know.”

“…The sins I committed, were they truly real events?”

‘I don’t know that either.’

But a god has to keep up appearances.

Since I couldn’t say I didn’t know, I made up a suitable answer.

“It depends on what you think. If you believe all those things did not happen, then they did not. The pain Adelaide suffered is also merely a dream. If you wish to forget your sins so much, forget the agony and resentment as well.”

“…Is that possible? Who are you? What are you, what kind of god are you, that you can do such a thing?”

I held up the poppy flower.

“I cannot do such things. However, I can use this.”

“That is…?”

“This is a Sacred Relic the Distorted One left for me.”

Andrea’s brow furrowed.

I placed the flower in Andrea’s hand.

“With this, I can manipulate you, Andrea, as I please. But I did not want to do that. Because that would be what the Distorted One wanted. Using this power, I would grow closer to the Distorted One and eventually become one. I do not wish to become that.”

“…Do you wish for me to believe in you? Nameless god.”

“Just call me Fabio. This is very awkward. As you can see, I am a very weak and insignificant being. In truth, I haven’t changed much from the ignorant serf-born Chanter you knew. As for being a god, or having this power, it really happened just a moment ago.”

“Then you must desperately need someone to serve you.”

“No! No. I don’t. I beg you, do not pray to me. It seems being a god doesn’t suit my aptitude. I feel like I’ll get a neurosis every time I hear a prayer. And I came here to save you, so if you believe in me, it’ll all be for nothing, so please don’t. The moment you believe in me, you move definitively further away from Order.”

“Then why…”

“I told you, Andrea. I came here because I wanted to save you.”

I knelt before Andrea and took both of his hands in mine.

“I could not leave your soul in the hands of the Distorted One.”

“…Are you saying that even after seeing my memories?”

“I’m saying it because I saw them.”

“I, I…”

“You could have ignored Adelaide’s suffering. But you couldn’t. That is because you loved Alicia too much. In truth, the very fact that you fell into the hands of the Distorted One is proof that you are a good person. They love it when a good person commits a sin and suffers for it. If you were truly wicked and evil, you wouldn’t be suffering from guilt.”

“Sin cannot be justified. No matter the reason….”

“Then receive condemnation from the Lord. Well, if it’s the Lord, He would probably lock you in hell for an eternity, but even that is within the Order, isn’t it?”

Andrea remained silent.

However, he could intuitively tell that the Forced Persuasion—no, the ‘persuasion’—had worked.

A pleasant shiver ran down his spine.

‘Is this what it feels like when experience points increase?’

“…May I ask one question?”

“Go ahead. Oh, if you’re asking me to save the children, that’ll be difficult. There’s really nothing I can do….”

“How did you lose those eyes?”

“Uh….”