#023

“What did you see in him?”

Shortly after the fifth apostle and Fabio had left, Casimir spoke first.

“…Would you believe me if I said I saw nothing?”

“Hardly.”

There was no way an ordinary serf who had lived his entire life in the middle of nowhere could be that silver-tongued.

Casimir smiled with a twist of her lips.

“He is a ‘talent’ carefully selected by the things beyond the stars; he must have lived a most extraordinary life.”

So, how many times?

Casimir asked in a dry voice.

After a long silence, the Saintess finally spoke.

“…One thousand four hundred and twenty-one times.”

“What?”

Casimir looked aghast.

“Wasn’t the highest number you’d seen until now just over four hundred?”

More than three times that?

Casimir could not comprehend it.

As the Knight Commander leading the Heretic Inquisitors, Casimir had personally seen those chosen by the beings beyond the stars, the ‘Othergods.’

Every such ‘Watched One’ possessed an unmistakable madness.

They were either overtly insane, or they struggled to mimic humans, though it was obvious they had already forgotten too much.

How could one remain sane when the lives of hundreds of people were tangled together and crammed into a single human body?

Of course, there might be those who managed those memories well and played the part of an ‘ordinary person’ more perfectly than anyone else, but…

“He seemed far too clumsy for that, didn’t he?”

Casimir had thought that ‘Fabio’ was likely the ‘least mad’ of them all, possessing the memories of perhaps three or four lives at most.

The way he was intelligent but lost control of his reactions when lost in thought, the way he tried to act relaxed but kept clenching and unclenching his hands, and the way he spoke with an eloquence far too refined for a serf—all of these were distinct characteristics that differed from other ‘Watched Ones.’

In short… ‘Fabio’ seemed very much like a ‘human.’

It felt as if a man who didn’t even know how to hold a sword had been dropped alone into a Colosseum where monsters fought and tore at each other.

He possessed the eloquence to move a person’s heart, but beyond that, he had nothing.

Looking at him, Casimir could only think that a being from beyond the stars, with no intention of winning, had chosen him simply for amusement.

And yet, he was more of a monster than any other monster?

“No, wait. Perhaps he was so careless that even I could judge him as such…”

A chill ran down her spine at the thought that even his clumsiness might have been the result of a meticulous calculation.

Casimir had actually found herself quite fond of Fabio.

And yet, there were three reasons why she had to remain wary of him.

First, he hailed from a remote village where former Cardinal Ansberto served as the bell ringer.

Nasir, who knew nothing of the Othergods, would simply think that a serf born with an extraordinary gift for speech had caught the eye of some god. But Casimir knew that for a ‘Watched One,’ the physical body was nothing more than a vessel.

The ‘beings beyond the stars’ had scoured this land and carefully selected that vessel.

Why choose a serf like ‘Fabio’ as the vessel?

He had no innate strength, nor did he possess wealth or power.

There was nothing special about his appearance either.

Dull, sun-bleached brown hair and brown eyes that looked weak.

Perhaps because he lacked a beard, he looked like someone who would be treated as a child in the desert.

She didn’t know how he appeared to the Imperials, but by Casimir’s standards, his appearance was utterly unremarkable and untrustworthy.

He looked like the type of person you’d tell to just stay in the shade because it was frustrating to ask him to do anything, and you’d end up doing the work yourself…

‘Not as a first husband, but maybe as a third husband—someone I’d tell to just sit here and read a book since at least his voice is pleasant.’

Anyway, there was nothing about him that would catch one’s eye at first glance.

If so, there had to be another reason for choosing that specific vessel.

‘I don’t know why they targeted the former Cardinal, but my father was indeed completely captivated by Fabio…’

If it hadn’t been for the scarred Cardinal’s seal, Casimir would not have believed that the letter was written by her father.

A man who seemed to have a disease where he would die if he retracted his words had told her, ‘I will never ask you for anything to borrow your influence,’ yet he had come to her with a ‘request.’

‘Naturally, I thought he had fallen under a Bewitchment, but that wasn’t it.’

Even when Nasir, who possessed golden eyes and a natural resistance to mind-affecting abilities, reported that it wasn’t a Bewitchment, Casimir honestly couldn’t believe it.

That was why she had prepared multiple layers of defense in the Commander’s office.

Of course, Fabio performed the miracle of persuading Casimir using nothing but his tongue, without employing a single Miracle.

‘What an absolutely stunning tongue.’

If that tongue hadn’t been praising Loclem, Casimir would have immediately cut it out by the root and cauterized it with a branding iron to make him a mute.

That was how dangerous his eloquence was.

And yet, she didn’t want to isolate or kill him.

Rather, she felt it would be a waste.

‘What if even this reaction was entirely intentional…?’

Goosebumps rose on her arms again.

The second reason to be wary was that no Blessings affecting the ‘mind’ worked on him.

Manipulating others’ minds and uncovering what they were hiding was the Inquisition’s specialty.

But such specialties did not work on him.

No matter what he was hiding, there was no way to find out.

However, until a moment ago, Casimir hadn’t cared much about this fact.

‘He seemed so timid that I thought physical torture alone would be enough to make him spill everything.’

No, she felt that without even needing torture, just shouting at him a few times would make him answer with tears welling in his eyes.

Of course, he seemed to have a hidden grit, and she suspected that if there was something he truly wanted to hide, he would keep it secret until death even under torture, but he didn’t seem like someone who could hide the fact that he was hiding something.

‘But if even that clumsiness was an act.’

That would mean it was Casimir who had been played.

She thought she was tracking traces left unconsciously by the prey, but in reality, it was a trap designed to lure the hunter.

‘If that’s truly the case….’’

But even if all these conjectures were true, there was one question that remained unsolved.

The third reason to be wary.

Why did he so readily head toward the Order Sect?

The beings beyond the stars know the ‘changed rules.’

The fact that the Saintess can see the ‘Records’ of a ‘Watched One’ is also one of those changed rules.

‘Unless the Othergod intentionally hid it, he must have known his Record would be read… so why?’

Casimir had assumed he came because he had such a trivial track record that he was confident he wouldn’t be ‘judged’ even before the Saintess. Or perhaps the Othergod had truly told him nothing for the sake of its own amusement.

But that assumption shattered upon learning that he was a being with an immense Record.

With such a Record, he would be a participant chosen by the Othergod as the most superior pawn.

‘Then, knowing that his overwhelming Record would be revealed to the Saintess… why?’

If everything he had shown so far was an act designed to leave no gaps, the value of that act remains valid until it is revealed to be an act.

So why would he perform such a brilliant act that even fooled Casimir, only to make a choice that immediately exposed the act and rendered it useless?

What possible meaning could there be in such an action…

Lost in thought, Casimir noticed a significant dissonance upon seeing the Saintess smiling quietly.

‘If he is truly such a monster, why was the Saintess so kind to him?’

If he were truly a dangerous being, she would not have entrusted his guidance to the fifth apostle.

No, and before that, she would not have comforted him gently as if he were a child.

‘What exactly did she read in him?’

“…He might be able to make me let my guard down, but you, who can read him, wouldn’t have. Why is that?”

When Casimir asked, the corners of the Saintess’s mouth curled up as if they might tear.

“How could I not?”

The Saintess suddenly uttered words that lacked any context.

Before Casimir could frown and ask for clarification, the Saintess continued.

“How could I not love him?”

“…What nonsense is this?”

Casimir seriously considered whether she should gather the other apostles and restrain the First Apostle.

The Saintess spoke with a wide smile.

“Ah, I suppose an explanation is needed. Are you curious about what I saw? One thousand four hundred and twenty-one times. That is the number of times he has met death.”

“What?”

“And throughout all those many deaths, not once did he achieve victory, nor did he oppose the Order Sect.”

The Saintess raised her voice, her cheeks flushing red like someone in a state of excitement.

“Can you believe it? That throughout so many deaths, he never committed a single sin!”

“…Is that even possible?”

Casimir simply could not believe those words.

A ‘Watched One’ is someone who has succeeded in a contract at least once.

On the Day the Starry Sky Opens, a horrific amount of sacrifice is required to summon an Othergod.

Could someone with blood on their hands be without sin?

Even if he had killed only the most heinous criminals, since Loclem considers the judgment of the unqualified and self-help as sins, he would still be guilty of the sin of judging others arbitrarily.

“You ask if it’s possible? Yes! Have you not seen the living proof yourself?”

“But did he not also enter a contract?”

“What if the one granting the contract received no price at all?

What if they made him their Contractor simply because he prayed?

And what if they desired no offering from him?

What if they simply watched him die helplessly, over and over?

What if that was repeated one thousand four hundred and twenty-one times?

In that case, could it not be that he is without sin?”

“…Why would that Othergod repeat such a meaningless act?”

“Haha, are you questioning it? The Othergods are beings beyond the stars! You know that the only thing they all have in common is that they are incomprehensible, right?”

Casimir furrowed her brow.

“Still, weren’t they treating this ‘game’ as something important? This should clearly be the final round that can never be repeated, so why….”

“Think about it. For beings who live through an eternity of time, would the opportunity to play such an ‘important’ game really only come once? No, in the first place, do you think they consider it truly important?”

If it were truly important, why would they call it a game?

At the Saintess’s words, Casimir was left speechless.

“Shall I tell you something even more surprising? The soul I saw in him was a single, whole thing, without a single patch.”

“That means….”

“Yes, that’s right. Those one thousand four hundred and twenty-one deaths were experienced by a single person.”

“…If someone went through that, shouldn’t they have broken long ago?”

Casimir didn’t dare contradict the Saintess, but she still couldn’t wrap her head around it.

There might be someone who could maintain their sanity after such pain.

But after enduring over fourteen hundred deaths, their original humanity would have worn away, and they would have become a completely different entity.

Fabio did not look like someone who had gone through such a thing.

“In the first place, how could one torment a single person for so long? A weak person would break quickly, and a strong person would be tempered by the hardship and cease to be interesting.”

The Saintess’s smile slowly faded.

“They erased his memories. So that the things he experienced before would feel like nothing more than a vague dream…. To see their Contractor suffer anew, as if everything were happening for the first time, they must have ensured that no one but themselves could touch his mind.”

Upon hearing the Saintess’s words, Casimir was overcome with shock.

It was a level of malice beyond imagination.

In a structure where one must accumulate experience to grow, they had intentionally spent resources to ensure he could not accumulate any…

‘He really got caught by a complete lunatic.’

“Fabio—ah, I do not know his true name, but he is truly himself. I cannot touch his heart, but I can see its color. How colorful his emotions are! He is a pitiful soul who fell here knowing absolutely nothing!”

“…If he truly has no sin, why wasn’t he saved?”

At the moment she had tested Fabio.

The Saintess had simply lowered the sword she had raised.

The Holy Sword of Judgment is a blade that sends those without sin immediately to the Land of Order without pain, while those with sin must suffer as much as their crimes before they can die.

Until that pain ends, the sinner can neither die nor escape.

Therefore, sinners pray to contribute to ‘Order’ to lessen their pain even slightly.

Casimir had naturally assumed that Fabio had committed some sin and would be sentenced to a Labor Reformation Sentence with the Holy Sword embedded in him.

But if ‘Fabio’ truly knew nothing and had only suffered great pain, it was the Saintess’s role to show mercy and send him straight to heaven.

“…He committed no sin, but he is one who exists outside of Order.”

The Saintess spoke with a terrifyingly serious expression.

“The moment I struck him, he would have died painlessly on the spot, but he would not have reached the heaven ruled by Loclem.”

The Saintess fumbled with the spot where the necklace she always wore rested.

“Everything must be under Order. We looked at the movement of the stars and realized there are laws in this world. The stars are the symbol of Order; therefore, the things beyond the stars are also a domain that must naturally come under Order. The collapse of Order is the apocalypse. The end of all things. The dominion of Order is the only answer to prevent the end of this world, the end of the universe. Oh, Loclem.”

The foremost apostle of Order quietly closed her eyes and offered a prayer.

“Even the most terrible sinner must be judged according to Order, and even the most unfortunate must be comforted through Order. No one should be cast out from Order to wander alone. Rather than escaping Order forever, it would be salvation for that soul to commit a sin and be judged for an eternity.”

Tears streamed down the Saintess’s face.

“Ah, did he not request to come to the Order Sect of his own accord? He has a desire to be saved! He never once called the name of the one watching him! If only he called, that being would answer!

How could I not love such a pitiful soul!

As the Saintess! Even if I must embrace him and fall into hell together!”

The Saintess continued her prayer in a low, whispering voice.

“I will surely lead him to Order.”

I swear to Loclem, with everything I have.

The Saintess finished her prayer with a smile that she thought was chillingly beautiful, just like ‘Fabio’s.’

Chapter 24