#100

Cold sweat poured down my face.

Is this how it feels when you find a cursed doll back in your house after you’re certain you threw it away?

‘I definitely smashed it!’

“…May I take a look for a moment?”

I took the wax tablet and examined it thoroughly, but it wasn’t the same object. The finish and the grain of the wood were subtly different. The moment I brought it closer to my face to get a better look, the letters flickered and changed.

‘Don’t throw it away, don’t throw it away, don’t throw it away, don’t throw it away, don’t throw it away.’

‘Shit!’

Startled, I almost threw the wax tablet across the room, but exercising superhuman patience, I naturally slid it into my sleeve.

“…It’s not mine, but I can guess who did this. I’ve been helping some children practice their writing lately. It seems one of them used my name for practice.”

‘I’m recovering this for now!’

This bastard is someone who, despite being smashed once, is hell-bent on finding me again.

If I insist it’s not mine and refuse to take it, he might even write down a physical description of me next time.

“I’ll have to warn them about damaging public property. I have no idea how it ended up in the library. Thank you for finding it.”

‘If it gets out that the God of Records is looking for me, I’m fucked.’

No excuse—even claiming I have no connection to the god who committed treason—would work. No, even if it did, it would still be a problem.

What exactly is Fabio’s identity that a god plotting treason would take ‘notice’ of him?

What if Callister starts wondering about that?

‘…Callister belongs to the laboratory, so he’ll likely report this to the Director.’

If that happened, there was a high probability that the Director himself would visit this place next.

‘I must prevent that at all costs.’

“Then, I shall be going….”

“Aren’t you curious how I found you?”

‘I’m not curious, for fuck’s sake!’

“I thought you’d be curious about how I was able to find you immediately, given that there must be quite a few people with the same name in this vast Capital Church.”

Callister smiled, his eyes curving.

“We’ve never met before, after all.”

‘…This bastard is testing me.’

Athanas couldn’t remember Callister’s name, but when the description was given, he knew who it was. The memory of meeting Callister on the 4th floor of the Main Hall remained.

Therefore, if I were the ‘Fabio’ affected by Oblivion, I should have answered, “But we saw each other in the library.”

‘But the longer the conversation lasts, the higher the chance of making a mistake.’

In a situation where I don’t know the exact range of Oblivion, the best response is….

“Really? Is that so! I thought I had just forgotten. I’m actually quite bad at recognizing faces!”

…To pretend that I’ve always had a bad memory!

“I mean, it’s a bit awkward when the other person remembers me but I don’t remember them. So I usually just gloss over it. I just figured you knew me because we’d met before.”

I rubbed the back of my neck with an embarrassed expression.

‘Testing me? That only works on people who think too much!’

A person with a bad memory just brushes everything off with a “Was that so? Now that you mention it, I guess it was.” And if I need to change my story, I can just react with “Was that so? Now that you mention it, I guess it wasn’t.”

“So it was our first time meeting. In that case, may I ask your name?”

“…I am Callister.”

“Mr. Callister! It’s a pleasure to meet you. You found my item even though we’re strangers! It must have been quite a struggle to track someone down with only a name.”

“…It wasn’t much of a struggle. I already knew your name.”

“Is that so? I’m not exactly the kind of person whose name is well-known….”

“I heard it from someone who volunteers at the orphanage. They said you were looking for me?”

“…I was?”

‘What the hell is he talking about.’

Why would I look for someone I don’t even know?

Who do you think I am?

“Actually, I was the one who solved that problem.”

…Problem? What problem?

‘Euler’s path theorem?’

“Wow, really?”

I pretended to be surprised.

If I gave a lukewarm reaction to someone who had been searching for me so diligently, it would feel unnatural.

“I was so shocked when I saw that solution! To think you could tell there was no answer without trying every single possibility! I kept drawing them because I thought I’d eventually get it. You’re truly amazing!”

“It was nothing, really.”

‘Bullshit.’

It feels like nothing because you couldn’t solve it.

Do you know how mathematically significant this discovery is….

“On the contrary, I find you amazing. Even though you didn’t know the answer, you didn’t give up and kept trying to solve it, right?”

‘…Is he mocking me right now?’

“I believe the most important qualities for becoming a researcher are persistence and curiosity. Fabio, you possess both.”

Callister wore a sinister smile.

“Would you be interested in joining the research I’m conducting? I can write you a recommendation letter.”

‘I don’t need one!’

“I heard you have no intention of going to university. You are wise. Six years? That is far too long! There is a way to earn a degree immediately without wasting time in such a place. If you build up research achievements in my lab….”

“I’m sorry. I’ve been too busy studying the Doctrine lately, so I don’t think I’ll have the time.”

‘Is this guy Satan? The people who tried to lure me into university were more conscientious than this.’

He wants to make a guy without even a bachelor’s degree a researcher?

Just say you’re looking for a slave, you son of a bitch.

“That riddle was indeed interesting, but isn’t the Lord’s teaching the most important thing in life?”

‘Yep, everything else is beneath theology.’

But Callister was relentless.

“Your faith is deep! This is perfect. To deeply understand Order, studying astronomy is essential! Don’t you want to know about the Order the Lord has hidden in the heavens?”

“I, I’m not that smart….”

“Persistence alone is enough to learn astronomy!”

‘He’s only looking for persistence because he needs a calculation slave!’

In this era, humans have to do 13-digit multiplications by hand.

Doing astronomy in an age without common logarithms is fucking madness.

“…I see. But I must still decline. I don’t even have enough time in a day just to review what I’m currently learning.”

“Who are you learning the Doctrine from?”

“Thankfully, Bishop Andrea has been making time for me.”

“Andrea…. I see. Bishop Andrea, is it.”

‘…What is it?’

Why is he muttering Andrea’s name so meaningfully?

‘Is he planning to persuade Andrea?’

When a slave looks useful, one must persuade the slave owner.

I was a free citizen in name and fact, but to a ‘degree-holder,’ I might look like a slave with a master. That’s how their world works.

Callister nodded.

“I understand. Then, I shall see you next time.”

‘Next time my ass!’

I cursed inwardly as I headed toward my room. Not only did he leave me with this ticking bomb, but he also tried to drag me into hell!

‘…What should I do with this wax tablet?’

I thought it would be over once I smashed it, but I didn’t expect it to crawl out of the Main Hall like this.

‘Does it make sense that a traitorous bastard can contact the outside world if he wants to?’

The Church of Order isn’t some mom-and-pop shop.

Is this security level for real?

Are they actually trying to go bankrupt?

‘In the first place, why was he left alive? They killed all the other gods who plotted rebellion.’

Was there a reason the God of Records couldn’t be killed?

‘No, I shouldn’t be wondering about this.’

After checking several times that my door was properly locked, I took the wax tablet from my robes.

‘Fabio, don’t throw it away, you’ll regret it, don’t throw it away, you’ll regret it.’

‘…Do you really have to repeat words like this?’

More importantly, what do you mean I’ll regret it?

You can’t even exert influence outside the Main Hall.

‘If he could touch records outside the Main Hall, he wouldn’t have needed to pretend to be a lost item.’

If someone didn’t carry it out, it would just be a wax tablet stuck in the Main Hall; how on earth is he going to make me regret it?

‘If throw away, Fabio, identity, Director, tell.’

‘…What?’

I felt the blood in my body turn ice cold.

The letters changed rapidly.

‘Blackmail, don’t want to, so, don’t throw away, Fabio.’

‘Bullshit.’

You son of a bitch, who are you?

What do you know about me?

No, why did you approach me in the first place?

What did you sense in me?

“What on earth do you want? What is your goal? There’s nothing I can do. You won’t get anything out of blackmailing me.”

‘Lip reading, bad, answer, in text, please.’

…You want me to write on a wax tablet contaminated by the God of Records?

If I do that, I feel like it’ll be used against me later.

Isn’t that act alone a crime?

I’m not crazy enough to….

‘Fabio, answer, 10, 9, 8.’

The traitor suddenly started a countdown.

‘Shit!’

Panicking, I scratched the wax and wrote ‘Stop.’ When I flipped the tablet, the text had changed.

‘7, 6, 5, answer, read.’

‘…This guy is a complete psycho.’

Why is this bastard acting like this? Now I actually want to know the reason.

‘Why did you approach me? My identity? What do you know about me? Why me?’

‘Oblivion, doesn’t work, special, my hope, Fabio.’

Fuck, why am I your hope?

I’m on Loclem’s side. I’ve gone all-in on Order. To think a traitor would consider me an ally.

‘More than that, the way this guy talks is getting on my nerves.’

If you’re the God of Records, can’t you use proper sentences?

‘Why do you only speak in five words? Can’t you speak longer?’

‘If long, caught, without Blessing, this, limit.’

So that’s why he told me to come to the library to receive a Blessing.

Because in his current state, it would be difficult to have a proper conversation.

I frowned.

‘…Is it okay to keep exchanging messages with this thing?’

Earlier, I wrote an answer because I was rushed by the countdown, but thinking calmly, I concluded that continuing this way would lead to total ruin.

The moment I sit at the negotiating table through blackmail, I can only lose. Because I’m in a situation where I have no choice but the left option: ‘Do as told VS Identity revealed to the Director.’

And even if a moment comes where I think, ‘I’d rather just tell the Director!’, it will already be too late.

‘The fact that I cooperated with a traitor will be the noose around my neck.’

Therefore, logically, the right thing to do was to report it immediately.

However….

‘…What exactly is Order hiding?’

If Order were functioning properly, I would have suppressed such curiosity. But right now, the Church of Order was a complete mess. The Bishop is a Vassal of an Othergod, and the Director has set a trap to catch players. Since the Capital Church is in this state, I can’t even imagine the situation of churches in other regions.

‘What on earth is Loclem thinking?’

If Order were simply lacking in power and ability, I wouldn’t even have questions.

Right now, Loclem has an abundance of Faith Points, not to mention Units he can move. He even has the game-breaking ability called Oblivion. Yet, he is doing nothing.

There was no way Order was an idiot with no intention of winning the game, like Happy God. In the first place, the positions of the Othergods and Loclem are completely different. For an Othergod, defeat ends with some losses, but for Loclem, defeat means death.

Therefore, the current choice to ‘do nothing’ must be a strategically meaningful one.

Actually, I had a few guesses.

‘…What if Loclem currently has no interest in protecting the living humans?’

The most certain victory condition in Conclude is for ‘Othergod Faith’ to become the dominant religion of the Dark Realm. Systemically, a victory judgment triggers if about 95% of humans are under the influence of an Othergod.

However, if only the Cult Leader survives, or if only a very small number including the Cult Leader survives, the judgment doesn’t trigger at all. The minimum number of people required for a victory judgment is 10,000.

If you increase the number of survivors from under a thousand to 10,000 and achieve a victory ending, you obtain the ‘Humanity Reconstruction’ trait.

‘If you play as Mother God, you can achieve Humanity Reconstruction by keeping just one Cult Leader alive.’

I actually tried that when making Witopia.

I left only one Cult Leader and then gave birth to 9,999 children to get the victory ending.

‘It was damn hard to wipe out Order, though….’

High-level Units don’t die easily, so you have to dismantle them very meticulously. The problem is that if your side exceeds 10,000, the victory judgment triggers even if enemies remain, so you can’t just spam Units and sweep them away with human wave tactics. Rather, I had to periodically issue suicide orders to reduce the naturally increasing number of believers.

Because it’s difficult to cover the entire Dark Realm with so few Units, Order Units would pop up in the very late game seeking revenge.

The most memorable one was a guy who appeared after I thought everyone was dead and had all my high-level Units commit suicide….

‘That guy actually succeeded in killing the Cult Leader once.’

Since I had already built the Resurrection Altar, the death of the physical body wasn’t a big deal, but when I looked back, I remember being baffled to find that Unit had died via self-detonation.

To commit suicide in a way that doesn’t provide biological data!

Although he was an NPC, I was deeply moved by his spirit of not wanting to be used even in death… so I didn’t respect that death and just hit ‘Load’ to devour him too.

‘It would be pitiful if he couldn’t go to Witopia alone.’

The trait was surprisingly unremarkable. I expected something special….

Anyway, that’s not the point.

There was a reason why this incredibly inefficient ‘Humanity Reconstruction’ strategy would be attractive to Loclem.

‘If you want to become the sole god of the Dark Realm, you have no choice but to wipe out the current human race.’

Chapter 101