#051

“Could you tell me what kind of person I am in your memories?”

“…….”

“I don’t know very much. I only saw in a dream that a plague was spreading across the world and Order was collapsing. I saw this place burning, and that there was a strange secret location within the ruins. So, to verify if that dream was true, I sought out that secret place and obtained Regression.”

‘Is he pretending to only remember Chapter 1?’

Because he wasn’t a slayer back then?

‘A guy who attacks suspicious people on sight is definitely not a slayer, my foot.’

“If you don’t tell me what I’ve committed or what kind of human I’ve become, I might make the same mistakes again. Won’t you stay by my side and help me ensure I don’t do such things?”

“…I refuse.”

“If you don’t help me, this world might perish. You said you wanted to live. To survive, you must cooperate with me.”

‘Fuck, like I care.’

Let it perish! The Dark Realm or whatever!

Even if everything Athanas is saying right now is true, I must not cooperate with him.

If I spill everything about the Othergod and the Othergod’s prospective Contractors, that bastard Athanas will kill all fifteen prospective Contractors, then turn to me last and say, “Thank you for your cooperation. Thanks to you, I was able to kill all sixteen players,” before slitting my throat.

“I won’t. I told you that you won’t get anything from me. I’m not doing anything! Whether the world perishes or not!”

“But….”

“What do I care? Let it perish! I’d rather just die before that! Before I suffer something worse than death! No, I shouldn’t have come to the Capital Church in the first place!”

“…Am I really that terrible?”

“If I had known I’d meet you, I would have hanged myself this morning! I would have died before you even noticed my existence!”

‘If I go this far, he’ll give up on persuading me.’

Athanas is a brutally rational bastard; if he decides there’s no gain relative to the time spent on me, he won’t seek me out again until he absolutely needs to.

‘I will never give him information.’

“…But I might come to investigate after hearing rumors of a Chanter who suddenly committed suicide, wouldn’t I?”

“Even then, it would already be too late! Because you wouldn’t be able to meet me while I’m alive!”

Athanas stared at me intently.

“That means you know the limit of the time I can rewind quite accurately.”

‘Fuck!’

This damn smart-ass!

“It seems… it will be impossible to get you to tell the truth and earn your trust.”

Athanas let out a small sigh and suddenly gripped my face with one hand.

“I won’t ask for your forgiveness. Because you won’t forgive me.”

“Wh-what….”

What is he trying to do?

‘Is he going to poke my eye out with his thumb?!’

You swore!

You swore you wouldn’t harm me!

Is he thinking it’s fine because even if his divine power disappears, it’ll just come back when he rewinds time?

Th-th-this crazy slayer piece of…!

“Next time, I will lie to you.”

Athanas slowly brushed my cheek with his thumb.

“So that you aren’t so terrified….”

‘You piece of shit, just don’t talk to me! Don’t lie to me!’

* * *

…I heard the sound of a chair being pulled.

It seemed someone was about to sit right in front of me.

‘Why right in front of me when there are so many seats?’

I wondered for a moment, but soon realized this spot had the best sunlight.

‘Right, you need a bright place to read a book.’

I continued turning the pages.

I had no intention of checking who the person in front of me was.

They were likely a stranger anyway, and it would be troublesome if we locked eyes and started a conversation. Since it was only my second day at the Capital Church, there was too much I didn’t know.

‘No need to chat and risk being found out as a goblin.’

I had been reading for quite a while when…

“…There is something I wish to ask.”

“Yes?”

I answered reflexively and looked up.

My gaze left the book a beat late and shifted forward.

I held my breath for a moment.

‘…Athanas?’

For a second, I wondered if I had entered the world of [Heretic Slayer].

A face that looked so brutally exhausted it wouldn’t be strange if he collapsed right now.

Yet, his eyes shone with a vivid, eerie blue light….

‘Heretic Inquisitor Athanas??’

Startled, I blinked.

Athanas was still there in front of me.

However, his face was much younger than the one I knew.

Only then did I remember that at this point in time, Athanas would have just turned twenty.

‘No, why is Athanas here?’

“Wh-what is it? The thing you wanted to ask….”

I quickly organized my thoughts while answering.

‘I suspected that the reason Elamin brought me to the Branch Office was perhaps to test if I remembered Chapter 1 of Die Heretic!’

Seeing Athanas now, that suspicion turned into certainty.

‘Even if I didn’t recognize the setting of Chapter 1, I wouldn’t fail to recognize Athanas.’

Looking at him now, Athanas wasn’t even holding a book.

That meant he had been sitting in front of me, just staring at me this whole time….

‘This behavior makes no sense unless it’s a test.’

Athanas had spoken to say he had a question, but he didn’t open his mouth.

An unnatural silence stretched on for a long time.

“The book you are reading now… regarding that.”

“Yes.”

“…Is it interesting?”

‘What the….’

I was speechless.

Was the script I received before being deployed just [Go and ask a question]?

No, even so.

‘That’s the question he came up with after thinking for so long?’

“Is it… interesting? Yes. It’s quite exciting. Actually, I picked it up thinking it was a storybook, but it’s written about the genealogy of a certain family. Knowing that these were actual events makes it even more interesting.”

“…I see.”

“So, why did you ask such a thing?”

Athanas fell silent again.

“…Excuse me?”

“It’s just that you were reading the book with such concentration….”

“Yes.”

“I became… curious if it was an interesting book.”

‘Wow….’

He’s truly hopeless.

I sighed softly inwardly.

‘I mean, don’t they usually do a rehearsal before deploying someone for a test? Did this actually pass?’

Who approved this?

‘Seriously… his acting is so bad I don’t even know what to do.’

For now, I decided to pretend to notice the awkwardness.

Fabio might not be quick-witted, but he wasn’t a complete idiot.

“Is, is that really all you wanted?”

“…Yes.”

“You were curious if it was interesting…. I see. In that case, would you like to read this book first? I can read a different one.”

I pushed the book I was reading toward him and opened another.

I didn’t forget to show a bit of suspicion.

Humans unconsciously create physical distance from someone they are wary of.

As if trying to correct my posture, I leaned my body back and held the book in a way that slightly obscured my face.

About five minutes passed while I read in that rigid posture.

“…I would like to have a conversation.”

Athanas spoke to me again.

“Yes?”

I lowered the book slightly and locked eyes with Athanas.

They were deep blue eyes that felt like they could induce thalassophobia.

‘Whoa, I almost flinched for a second.’

Calm down. This Athanas is a total low-level scrub.

Not only does he have no memories of Die Heretic!, but he’s probably grown up like a hothouse flower in the peaceful Church of Order, having never experienced a proper mission or battle.

Otherwise, there’s no way he’d be this bad at acting.

I asked Athanas.

“Wh-why do you want to have a conversation with me?”

“…Is a reason necessary?”

“Wouldn’t it be? In a place with no people, you sat in front of me without a book and stared at me for a long time….”

I carefully scanned Athanas up and down before continuing.

“Put yourself in my shoes. Wouldn’t you find it strange?”

“…I see. I understand. It would feel strange.”

‘What do you mean, you just agree with that?’

At this point, I almost felt pity for Athanas.

To be suddenly forced into acting that is so completely against his aptitude.

His mind must be a total blank right now.

“So, for what reason did you speak to me?”

“…….”

‘Did he just give up on his lines entirely?’

After another long silence, Athanas rubbed his face and let out a long sigh.

‘If you’re going to be like that, just confess that you screwed up.’

“…What reason would you like me to have for speaking to you?”

‘Why the hell are you asking me that?’

Is he joking?

“What am I supposed to do when you answer a question with another question? I mean, there must be a reason you spoke to me, right?”

“…I need a reason that wouldn’t feel strange to you.”

“Um, I think you’ve already failed at that.”

“Next time, I truly will not fail.”

‘Next time?’

Is he saying he won’t make mistakes when testing other players?

Because the test targeting me was already a disaster?

‘Or is he planning to use Oblivion on me?’

Seeing how the Tartarus guy habitually tried to use ‘Oblivion,’ maybe the people of the Church of Order have a habit of making slips of the tongue disappear.

‘But Oblivion doesn’t work on me.’

Is he perhaps speaking carelessly, trusting in Oblivion?

That would be really troublesome….

‘…At this point, shouldn’t someone step in and fix this before he self-destructs further?’

Even if it’s incredibly unnatural, someone should burst through the door, ask where he’s been, say they’ve been looking for him, and hurriedly drag him out.

I asked, pretending not to know.

“Next time? What do you mean by next time?”

Athanas looked startled.

“Did I say next time?”

“Yes.”

“…Please pretend you didn’t hear that. It was a mistake.”

‘What is this?’

“I understand…? I’ll pretend I didn’t hear it.”

“…You’re letting it slide?”

Athanas seemed surprised again.

I was baffled.

“I mean, you asked me to let it slide?”

“I didn’t think you would actually let it slide….”

‘Seriously, what is he….’

Could it be?

A strategy to look so stupid that players want to step in and help?

A high-level psychological game to induce a reaction like, ‘My Athanas is such a screw-loose idiot?’

‘Otherwise, there’s no way he could be this foolish….’

Athanas asked hesitantly.

“Um, right now… how do I look to you?”

“Yes?”

“What kind of person do I feel like?”

‘You look like a complete moron.’

Those words reached the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed them.

Unlike the primitive medievals, I was a cultured modern person who knew how to phrase things politely so as not to hurt others.

“Hmm… you look very young.”

“…What does looking young mean?”

“Uh… it means you look like you’re at an age where it’s natural to still make many mistakes.”

Upon hearing my words, Athanas seemed to fall into deep thought.

‘Is he debating whether to admit he screwed up and bolt right now?’

After a long deliberation, Athanas asked me with a somewhat mournful expression.

“Did, did you notice? The reason I spoke to you….”

“No. I have no idea.”

“…But I think you have some inkling. Right?”

It seemed he couldn’t bring himself to self-destruct just in case, and intended to admit it only if I confirmed it for him.

‘He’s so naive.’

He’s probably going to get chewed out big time later.

‘How should I fix this for him?’

But then again, ‘Fabio’ shouldn’t be too quick-witted….

After thinking, I decided to give Athanas a way out.

“Even if I have an inkling…. there is one thing. There was a person who guided me to the Branch Office when I said I wanted to read. Since no one else would know I was in the Branch Office except that person, it must have been something that person ordered. I don’t know why Elamin would ask you to do such a thing, but….”

“…Do you really have no inkling of the reason?”

‘Sigh, do I have to spoon-feed him everything?’

“Actually, there is. Elamin told me that since there are no people here, I could be at ease. Why would he say that? Since I was a serf until recently, he probably thought I’d be unskilled in the etiquette of dealing with people. From Elamin’s perspective, as someone who has to teach me various things, he must have been worried that I might make a grave mistake in front of others. So, perhaps he wanted to test how I would react when seeing a noble or a knight?”

If it were Fabio, who didn’t recognize Athanas because he had no memories as a ‘player,’ it would be natural to think this way.

I continued.

“But they couldn’t possibly take up the time of busy people just to test something so trivial, could they? So Elamin probably chose an appropriately young and idle Apprentice Holy Knight to ask. And that was you. Am I right? From what I can see, it’s obvious you were only told to say something to me, but came here without knowing what to actually say.”

“…Was I that awkward?”

“Honestly, it was almost unbearable to watch.”

“That is a problem.”

“Why is it a problem? Did you hear that you’d be asked to do this again next time?”

“…Yes.”

“Then I’ll give you some advice: say you can’t do it and pass it off to someone else. With that disastrous skill, you won’t be able to fool anyone. Even an ignorant serf like me noticed.”

“…How can one deceive people well?”

‘Is he now seeking guidance from me?’

I didn’t even bring up the Saintess, so just say ‘I’m saved!’ and leave.

Don’t ask the test subject for the experimental method.

“I mean, why are you asking me that?”

“Right now, I have no one else to seek advice from but you.”

“Even if you say that…. I’ve never tried to deceive anyone in my life, so I have nothing to tell you.”

Athanas looked at me without a word.

‘What.’

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Chapter 52