Chapter 233
Chapter 233
“I’m screwed.”
I shouldn’t have done that, but I didn’t know.
Wouldn’t it be better to stand heresy trial as a demon contractor instead?
《Why do you look so mournful?》
All of this was because of this lizard.
I glared with sulky eyes at the lizard whose belly had grown round from eating a mountain of beef jerky, then let out a sigh.
“Because my future is bleak.”
《?》
Seeing Albedo look genuinely puzzled, without knowing a single thing, made my bleakness deepen even further.
Right, it wasn’t only my problem. Lerwon Sunbae’s problem was tied into this too. Let’s not be too sad.
As a way of venting, I pressed down on Albedo’s head again and again.
Even with Albedo’s resistance, the fact that my once paper-doll-like body no longer swayed and could stand firm was a comfort in its own way.
Still, I had gotten a lot stronger compared to the beginning of enrollment.
《Was it not that you had no choice but to become stronger if you did not want to die?》
No, you really didn’t need to remind me of that.
“So only the strong survive after all.”
《Do you not think you have been caught up in far too many incidents and accidents?》
“Excessive facts hurt, brat. Besides, you enjoyed all of it.”
《…Ahem.》
In the first place, hadn’t he contracted with me because he had become interested in the System?
The System.
At that presence that naturally came to mind, I asked.
“Albedo.”
《What is it?》
“Not Lucius. I mean the true god.”
《…….》
The guy who had been chattering so well until now shut his mouth as if that had never happened.
Why not talk like before?
When I pressed down on Albedo’s head again, he tapped my finger with his tail.
《Stop pressing me!》
“The source of my power you were wondering about seems to be the true god.”
《What did you say?》
Albedo frowned.
Oh, wow. A lizard can actually frown.
“I said the source of my power is the true god.”
《No. That cannot be.》
Albedo answered quite firmly.
His red eyes were more serious than they had ever been.
《If a god had been the source of your power, there is no way I would not have noticed.》
“Can you be certain?”
《Of course—》
“Is there any chance Ouroboros could make a mistake about something related to a god?”
At the question that followed, Albedo only opened and closed his mouth.
《That is….》
Before matters related to a god, there would be no such thing as a mistake for Ouroboros.
Especially if it had sensed a trace of a god from a human who looked insignificant yet interfered with it at every turn.
《There is no way I would fail to recognize a trace of a god.》
For the idea that the System was a god to hold true, he had to admit that Ouroboros had made a mistake.
He also had to admit that he himself had failed to recognize a trace of a god.
Something unacceptable had happened.
I looked down at the guy, whose thoughts must have been complicated in many ways.
《Theo, if possible, may I examine your power once?》
“I’m not so petty that I wouldn’t even let you do that.”
Would the System, which had gone berserk even in front of Ouroboros, stay quiet before Baal?
That was my only question.
Sure enough, System windows began filling my vision densely.
+++
Unnecessary Writer skill use leads to a penalty.
Unnecessary Writer skill use leads to a penalty.
Unnecessary Writer skill use leads to a penalty.
Unnecessary Writer skill use leads to a penalty.
Unnecessary Writer skill use leads to a penalty.
…….
+++
Last time, given the situation, it had let me off, but now it was saying no?
I cleared away the System windows filling my vision, put one leg up on the bed, rested my chin on it, and answered.
“It says no.”
《It is almost like a being with a will.》
“I agree.”
The System possessed a certain degree of will.
But it felt different from Lou.
If Lou wanted to speak but could not, this one wanted to hide from me as much as possible that it also had a personality and a will.
And quite blatantly at that.
“What the hell is this thing called the System?”
《You said it came from a god.》
“Right. And that god isn’t Lucius.”
The Empire—no, not only the Empire, but this world itself—was fundamentally a monotheistic system.
And quite a rigid monotheistic system at that.
Aside from the God of Light, no other divine being existed, was acknowledged, or could even be imagined.
There existed ‘Firsts’ similar to gods, like Baal or Ouroboros, but they were not gods.
“Firsts, Firsts, huh….”
I looked down at Albedo, who had firmly shut his mouth, perhaps to hide the truth.
An ancient demon.
The king of all demons who opposed the God of Light, and the first demon of this world.
And my contractor, who had scales far too white to be called a demon.
In other words, he was hiding one decisive secret.
“A true god other than Lucius exists in this world. That means Lucius is something pretending to be a god.”
But the people of the world were not fools or idiots.
No matter how thorough a lie was, if it did not have some degree of truth supporting it, it would eventually collapse.
“Lucius must surely possess some kind of power, or Authority, that helps him pretend to be a god.”
To deceive people for 1,000 years, or perhaps even longer than that, one needed power to match.
To possess that much power, he would have to be an extremely special being.
Yes, like Baal, the Primeval Demon, or Ouroboros, the First Snake.
If I had thought that far, it would be fair to say the hypothesis I could reach converged into one.
“Is Lucius the First Human?”
I stared straight at Albedo and asked.
---
His master would someday touch upon the truth. That was as good as a predetermined future.
The boy who seemed dull had surprisingly sharp corners, and those corners often pierced the lungs of truth.
But he had truly never thought Theo would approach the truth this quickly.
He had sworn.
Sworn not to reveal the truth directly.
It was a vow that even the ‘Primeval Demon’ could never break.
Because this was the most secret truth that supported this world, he could not tell it even if Theo Lisitoel offered every memory he possessed.
But it was strange that he had discovered it through deduction alone.
Was such a thing possible precisely because he was a human not bound by this world’s common sense?
《Yes.》
If Theo had not been certain, this answer would not have come out in the first place.
《Lucius is not a god, but the First Human.》
Hearing those words, Theo wore a complicated expression.
Seeing that face, which said he had expected it but had not thought it would truly be so, made a little anger rise in him.
《How does it feel to approach the truth by pure reasoning alone?》
“How do you think it feels? If I say this wrong somewhere, it’s perfect grounds to get dragged off as a heretic.”
At Theo’s murmur, Albedo chuckled.
That, too, was true to some extent.
The God of Light, Lucius, was in fact not an omniscient and omnipotent god, but merely the first human born.
It was more than enough for one to stand religious trial for blasphemy.
《You do not look particularly shocked.》
“His incompetence until now makes sense, while I also don’t understand how he managed to play god all this time.”
《The very fact that you can understand that means it is possible. It would be impossible without reaching a realm worthy of being called a god.》
Theo seemed to accept Albedo’s explanation to some extent and nodded.
If the power Theo Lisitoel possessed truly came from a god, then he would be the existence closest to a ‘miracle’ in this world.
After all, he was an existence truly chosen by the god who had all but forcibly passed its position to Lucius and disappeared.
The true savior who would save this world that had inevitably begun rolling toward destruction.
For that purpose, the god must have chosen Theo Lisitoel.
Theo Lisitoel’s form was reflected in Albedo’s ruby-colored eyes.
《Perhaps even that pathetic Light Spirit contracting with you was….》
And the fact that I felt interest in you, proposed a contract, and came to accompany you like this was all—
《It may have been inevitable.》
At Albedo’s words, Theo tilted his head.
“What does that mean?”
《The day will come when you understand.》
On the day he understood those words, the world would surely change into a different form.
Albedo would never wish for that day to come.
But at the very least, he would promise one thing.
《Even on that day, I will be by your side.》
Perhaps even long after that.
“What is this? Are you suddenly trying to act dramatic when you’re just a lizard?”
A little embarrassment rippled across Theo’s puzzled face.
Leaving the embarrassed boy behind, Albedo began tearing into the beef jerky.
The fact that this was because he, too, was inwardly embarrassed was, well… Albedo’s own truth.
---
I had faced the unexpected truth that Lucius was not a god but merely the First Human, but I had something I needed to do.
Because I had a contract with Fel.
“Ugh, seriously.”
On my wrist, where something like snake scales had once been, Lucius’s pattern now shone clearly.
Just get it done, right?
When I thought of Fel shamelessly saying that, I felt as though I would burst.
Should I have just threatened him moderately and made him keep his mouth shut?
I regretted it belatedly, but the contract had already been made.
I truly did not want to do it even if I died, but it was not impossible either, so I had no choice but to pull it off.
Late at night, I looked down at a quiet and peaceful mansion.
What Fel had asked of me was simple, if one called it simple.
“Young Master, steal something for me.”
When I first heard it, I was dumbfounded.
What the hell is with this bastard? Did he forget he was a former Sword of Doctrine?
What insane priest asks his friend to steal?
“The former Pope sold off a few Holy Relics here and there.”
Even while making the request himself, Fel calmly confessed the truth with an expression half absurd and half hollow.
The inside story was simple.
The former Pope had sold Holy Relics owned by the Church and used them as his own slush fund.
That alone was already absurd enough, but what was even more surprising was that those bastards called nobles had accepted the transactions.
In other words, the Pope, who had a duty to preserve Holy Relics and pass them down to later generations, had personally sold them off with his own hands.
“If I followed my heart, I would reveal all of this myself and get the Holy Relics back, but—”
“It’s the shame of the Church and the nobles, then.”
“That is right.”
The problem was that there were too many entanglements to reveal it easily.
In any case, since it was the former Pope’s crime and shame, the moment it was revealed, the Church could retrieve the Holy Relics without payment, but it would also draw the nobles’ backlash to the same extent.
“So?”
“So we steal them. You are the right person, Young Master.”
“Hey, why am I the right person?”
“I heard from Laurel Sunbae before—”
The guy smiled ominously.
“Young Master, I hear you can transform into a Magical Girl?”