#132

It was a stupid thought.

Of all people, there was no way ‘Athanasuki’ wouldn’t recognize Athanas’s voice.

I quickly set my priorities.

‘I have to persuade Reyes first.’

I didn’t know how Reyes would react if he met Athanas.

Even Athanasuki himself probably couldn’t predict that.

I took my hand off the doorknob.

“…Reyes, could you listen to me for a moment?”

Reyes’s vertical pupils turned toward me.

“So…”

Before I could even start speaking, the door shook with a thud.

It seemed someone had kicked the door from the outside.

‘Fuck!’

That crazy bastard Athanas…!

I grit my teeth.

‘If I were actually in a dangerous state, I would’ve died the moment he knocked so thoughtlessly!’

I quickly grabbed the doorknob again and shouted.

“W-wait! Please wait a moment!”

[…I will listen to the explanation once I am inside.]

Bang.

The door shook even harder.

I cursed inwardly.

‘Fuck, Athanas has never been Influenced, so Forced Persuasion won’t work on him…’

What should I do?

How long would it take for Athanas to break down the door?

Could I persuade Reyes in that time? Even if I could, what should I say? Tell him to pretend to be a flowerpot when Athanas breaks in?

While I was momentarily frozen, my brain failing to process what to do first, Reyes placed his hand on the door.

“Excuse me, please be quiet.”

Then, the shaking of the door stopped.

‘Fuck.’

Cold sweat trickled down.

He must have heard my voice clearly from the outside.

‘Actually, pretending I was alone is a lost cause.’

Now he’ll ask who it is, right?

Then what should I answer?

‘I can’t even explain properly without Elamin by my side…’

However, as time passed, no questioning voice was heard.

No, it became so quiet it felt like a lie that someone had been outside just a moment ago.

“…What did you do?”

“I twisted the space. So that opening the door leads somewhere else.”

Reyes explained as if it were no big deal.

‘He used Space Distortion?’

The ability that connected Andrea’s office door to the underground archive was precisely Space Distortion.

It was one of the considerably useful abilities when playing as the Distorted One.

‘But he shouldn’t be using that right now!’

Using the power of an ‘Othergod’ in front of a Holy Knight of Order…!

Now there was truly no way to make an excuse.

“Now, please speak.”

Looking at Reyes, who was smiling brightly at me, I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine.

‘…Where does this door lead if I open it now?’

Am I trapped?

The Distortion I can defend against is limited to the ‘mind.’

When space is twisted like this, there was nothing I could do.

I gulped.

‘No, there is a limit to the power of Distortion.’

This isn’t a sanctuary, and there’s no Altar nearby.

Just maintaining the distortion for a short while would require an immense amount of power.

Even if he twisted it as much as possible, it would still be within the Capital Church, so he could call the Saintess.

So, it wasn’t a dangerous situation yet.

‘Let’s act natural.’

Forced Persuasion is still active.

That’s why he prioritized talking to me over meeting Athanas.

If the persuasion succeeds, we can resolve this peacefully through conversation.

“…Could you stay still while I persuade Athanas?”

“As I thought, it was Athanas outside.”

Reyes’s demeanor was remarkably calm as he spoke.

I thought he would lose his mind and act impulsively the moment he heard the name Athanas.

“What is your relationship with Athanas?”

“A cooperative relationship.”

“…Didn’t you say that was a fake created to meet the player?”

Reyes pointed to my reliquary.

Cold sweat poured down me.

“T-that is included in the cooperative relationship. If we say we’re lovers, it’s not strange for us to meet often.”

“You’re not actually dating, are you?”

“…Absolutely not.”

“…Then why did you lie to me?”

Reyes looked up at me with a hurt expression.

From my perspective, this was fucking unfair.

‘You’re the one who first concluded that there was no way I’d be dating Athanas!’

I simply hadn’t corrected that.

“After saying I was the only one…”

The expression gradually vanished from Reyes’s face.

Rather, a terrifying rage could be felt in that blankness.

‘Fuck, why has this turned into a situation where I’ve been caught cheating in a dating sim?’

I really didn’t give him any excuse at all; this bastard just interpreted it as love on his own.

I’m seriously going crazy.

But one thing was certain.

‘The moment I deny this delusion, everything is ruined.’

If I was going to play along, I had to see it through to the end.

“…I’m sorry. But I wanted to stop you and Athanas from meeting no matter what.”

I clenched my fists to stop myself from cringing.

“I was afraid that if I said I had a connection with Athanas, you would show more interest in him…”

I lowered my head as if ashamed that my jealousy had been exposed.

Then, the corners of Reyes’s mouth slowly curled up.

“So you didn’t want Athanas to steal my first experience from you!”

‘Fuck.’

An impulse to scream at him to stop talking nonsense surged within me.

But to make Forced Persuasion succeed, I had to continue this wretched roleplay.

“I… guess so. I felt that I didn’t want you to die by anyone’s hand but mine. What if your true wish was to die by Athanas’s hand? And what if you realized that because of my words? I would regret saying those words to you for the rest of my life.”

I scraped together the last bit of my mental strength and grabbed Reyes’s shoulders.

“Reyes, can you stay still while I send Athanas back?”

There was still much I needed to hear from Reyes.

I couldn’t use Forced Persuasion on Athanas, but if I explained calmly, he would understand.

Once he’s convinced that I’m not in danger, he’ll go back immediately.

“…I understand.”

Reyes’s pupils returned to normal.

I let out a sigh of relief inwardly.

“Then, could you let me meet Athanas for a moment?”

“…Are you confident you can send him back?”

“I am. Definitely.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Athanas is a more rational person than anyone.”

“Is that so? For someone that rational, he’s currently heading straight this way, breaking through walls like a wild boar.”

‘Uh…’

Athanas is breaking walls?

My eyes darted around.

“…That’s because it’s the most rational choice in the current situation! Think about it. From Athanas’s perspective, he experienced a distortion the moment he opened the door, right? So he’d want to avoid opening the door. Since he can tell my location through the reliquary, he coldly judged that breaking through the walls while looking only at that was the best method in this situation. He is in a truly rational and cold state!”

“…Is that so?”

“He’ll stop attacking the moment he knows I’m safe! Don’t worry!”

“If that’s the case, I understand.”

As soon as Reyes waved his hand, the wall shook with a thud.

The space distortion had been released.

“Don’t say a word and stay still until I tell you it’s okay to speak!”

I opened the door before Athanas could break through this wall too.

I thought that showing him I was safe first would soften Athanas’s guard.

“Athanas…”

The first thing I saw upon opening the door was Athanas with his left hand raised.

There was some kind of device mounted on the back of his hand.

‘A crossbow (a bow with a metal launching device)?’

The moment I recognized what it was, I reflexively raised both hands.

A beat later, a dull sound echoed from behind me.

It was the sound of something hitting the floor.

I slowly turned around.

Reyes was lying on the floor with his eyes wide open.

With an arrow protruding from between his eyebrows.

‘…Is he dead?’

For a moment, my mind went blank.

‘No, for Reyes, this isn’t a true death.’

Because he can be resurrected from the hidden Altar on the Day the Starry Sky Opens.

But…

‘…Athanas doesn’t know that.’

If Athanas had known Reyes could be resurrected, he would never have fired the crossbow.

Because that would be doing a favor for the Othergod.

‘So Athanas intended to kill Reyes.’

Without even thinking to hear the circumstances.

“I simply neutralized him.”

At that moment, Athanas’s voice was heard.

Looking up, I saw Athanas taking off his gauntlet.

‘…This is neutralization?’

Is it something like ‘the best neutralization is killing’?

No matter how I look at it, he died instantly.

“A person hit by this arrow simply freezes in place; they are not harmed. It is a weapon used for targets that must be captured alive.”

Athanas said this and handed the crossbow to me.

I took the weapon instinctively.

The crossbow, engraved with complex patterns, looked like a special Sacred Relic even to me, who cannot see divine power.

Looking at Athanas’s face, it didn’t seem like he was lying.

“…Where did you get this?”

“It is one of the Holy Knights’ equipment. I took it from the warehouse.”

“Is it okay to just take and use something like that?”

“Of course it is not.”

‘…Is he saying he broke the rules right now?’

And by a Holy Knight of Order, of all people?

My eyes widened.

“Then isn’t that problematic?”

“It would be problematic if I were caught.”

Seeing Athanas speak so confidently, I felt a momentary wave of dizziness.

“Why…”

Why do such a thing?

If a Holy Knight breaks the rules, their divine power could be cut in half.

If it ended with that, it would be lucky. What if he gets excommunicated?

“I was worried about you.”

“Doing something so reckless just because you were worried…!”

“Coming empty-handed without any preparation would be the more reckless action.”

“That’s…”

“You were the one, Fabio, who warned me that other ‘Watched Ones’ are very dangerous beings.”

I couldn’t refute that.

‘That’s… true.’

“I moved immediately after confirming your location was the underground archive. Because there was no reason for you to go there. I judged that if you were caught up in this despite requesting protection from the Inquisition, the ‘Prophet’ must be a very dangerous and powerful being. Therefore, I made all the preparations I could.”

Athanas continued in a calm voice.

“Using power that deviates from Order within the Capital Church is an offense punishable by death. However, because you, Fabio, warned me that the ‘Prophet’ would be very cunning, I prioritized neutralization. Because they might have set a trap that activates the moment their own life ends.”

The more I heard the explanation, the more I had to accept it.

If I had truly been in a predicament meeting a wicked and cunning Contractor of the Distorted One, this would have been a great help.

‘But still…’

I looked up and checked beyond the door.

I could see that the hallway was a complete mess due to the debris of the broken walls.

The rooms Athanas had broken through must actually have their walls destroyed.

‘Since Distortion twists and connects existing spaces.’

The entire building is probably riddled with holes now.

I slowly opened my mouth.

“…What about Elamin?”

“I asked them to step away, as I thought I might show an unbecoming sight before kicking the door.”

“And the other people…”

“I installed a Sacred Relic to keep people away so they wouldn’t get caught up in it.”

He somehow managed to think of that as well.

But the scale of what he’d done was too large.

Unlike the accident in the underground archive, I cannot clean this up on my own.

“I’m glad you don’t seem to be hurt.”

At Athanas’s gentle voice, I could only laugh weakly.

“Haha…”

‘Fuck.’

I couldn’t even bring myself to say it would have been better if he hadn’t come.

Because from Athanas’s perspective, this was the best choice.

How could Athanas possibly know that the ‘Prophet’ is actually a fun-pick for the Distorted One, an idiot who spills information, and that it would have been better to just let him stay with me because he happened to become very fond of me?

In fact, I should be touched that he came to save me, even risking punishment…

‘Fuuuuuuck…’

How could things get so twisted?

Chapter 133