Ch.161161. So God Has Abandoned Me

Fanatic was escaping from the underground prison alone.

It was because the demon had ordered him to.

More precisely, the demon had told him to escape immediately and prepare to keep his promise, as it would soon execute its planned actions.

Along with the threat that if he didn’t comply, it would burn the rest to death just the same.

If he allowed everyone to die, it would be no different than tarnishing God’s name. That’s why, despite knowing that escaping prison went against God’s will, he had no choice but to act.

Throughout his escape from prison, his mind was filled with confusion.

Not because he was acting against God’s will. Rather…

‘How did it come to this?’

When Fanatic had made a deal with the demon, it was a choice made with some consideration for safety.

But the situation unfolding before his eyes now was… completely wrong.

The demon’s flames had incinerated Gardian in an instant.

What that meant was simple. The demon was far stronger than he had thought.

Had it been hiding its power before, or had it grown stronger since then?

All sorts of speculations swept through his mind, but thinking about it now was meaningless.

A stable negotiation with a demon they could handle?

What nonsense. That thing was something they couldn’t possibly deal with.

But it was too late for regrets. The best he could do now was to follow the demon’s orders.

Though he still wasn’t sure if he could escape alone… right now, his priority was to somehow get out of here and help with the demon’s plan.

And since he would need to find and save the Holy Maiden in the process, he had much to consider.

As he was hurriedly moving forward…

“Who are you to be wandering around here?”

For some reason, he encountered a man entering the underground prison. A man essential to his plan, but uncooperative. It was Ludion.

As if that wasn’t discouraging enough, the Imperial Princess was standing beside him.

…God has abandoned me.

For the first time in his life, Fanatic had such a thought.

///

We arrived at the Imperial Palace thanks to Celia’s high-speed flight. Following her suggestion that greetings could wait, we immediately headed to the underground prison.

As we entered the damp and strangely dark underground prison, Celia suddenly spoke up.

“There’s someone over there.”

“Probably a guard.”

“Ludion. If that were the case, I wouldn’t have mentioned it.”

Fair point. Now that she mentioned it, something seemed off for it to be a guard.

Then who could it be? With that thought, I approached closer… what’s this guy doing?

“Who are you to be wandering around here?”

Fanatic was attempting a prison break.

Talk about bad timing. I came here worried he might try to escape, and he really was escaping.

“It was good that I suggested coming here. Please praise me for that.”

After giving Celia the appropriate acknowledgment for her comment, I looked at the guy frozen in front of me.

So. What should I do with him now?

Now that I knew he was attempting to escape, I felt uneasy about just beating him up and sending him back. Once he’s gotten out once, it means he could get out again even if I put him back.

While I was contemplating this, Fanatic suddenly knelt down.

“Please spare me.”

“Hey, hey, we don’t kill people just for getting caught doing this.”

Why is he suddenly treating me like a demon who kills people at the slightest provocation?

As I was about to say something out of bewilderment, Fanatic continued.

“That’s not it. I’m being threatened by the demon right now.”

…Threatened?

“Tell me more about that.”

Fanatic continued his explanation as if he had been waiting for me to ask.

He revealed that Arpatustu had visited the prison, killed one of their comrades, and was holding the lives of the others hostage to force him into this action.

It probably wasn’t a lie. While Fanatic might do strange things due to being a zealot, he tends to be strict about such matters.

But something was strange. This was the Imperial Palace, so how could Arpatustu have visited?

While Arpatustu has the ability to appear wherever there’s fire, and the underground prison is lit by flames, that’s where the similarities end.

Being the Imperial Palace, the defenses should be thorough enough that someone of Arpatustu’s level shouldn’t be able to get anywhere near it…

That doubt was resolved by Fanatic’s next statement.

“It seems the demon’s power has grown stronger.”

“…Really?”

“Yes. Whether it was hiding its power or has grown stronger since then, I’m not sure…”

It probably wasn’t a case of hiding power.

If Arpatustu had that kind of power, it would have rejected their strange proposal outright and killed them all.

At that time, they must have truly been at a level where they could subdue it.

If that’s the case, then something must have happened in the meantime to make it stronger…

‘What could it be?’

There was no event in the game where Arpatustu gets stronger.

No, not just Arpatustu—there was no event in the game where demons suddenly grow stronger.

Demons were considered to be in their final form, after all.

The only thing I could guess was that something else was involved… Ah, could it be him?

I didn’t want to believe it, but the current situation couldn’t be explained without that guy.

Anyway. Something strange was happening.

I felt like I needed to make some additional preparations.

For now, I should send this guy back.

“Don’t try to come out again, just stay inside.”

“…”

He seems worried about dying if he stays put.

I had no intention of alleviating that anxiety. There’s no point in showing sympathy to someone who’s in prison for willingly doing bad things.

And Fanatic’s response to my words…

“I understand.”

He accepted surprisingly obediently, without resistance.

Perhaps it was the result of having beaten him up before. He seemed to flinch whenever I moved.

The sight of Fanatic trudging back looked somewhat pitiful, but I decided it was an appropriate look for a criminal.

Anyway, I need to prepare.

Though by preparation, I don’t mean anything grand—just gathering items for that newly involved guy.

“Celia.”

“Yes.”

“I’d like to revisit the guest room I used before.”

The Imperial Palace’s secret storage.

The time had finally come to visit it again.

///

The Imperial Palace’s secret storage can be accessed through a hidden mechanism in the guest room.

Previously, I had entered and exited alone, but this time Celia was with me.

“It’s only natural that Ludion knows strange things by now. Honestly, knowing about the existence of a place like this isn’t even surprising.”

That was Celia’s reaction when I told her about the Imperial Palace’s secret storage.

Back then, I had hidden various things because I was worried it might seem suspicious if I knew too much. But now, it seemed I could truly speak freely.

With that thought, I activated the hidden mechanism, and the space split open like a rift.

“I really didn’t know something like this existed.”

“It would be strange if you did.”

“That’s you admitting you’re a strange person, right?”

“…I won’t deny it.”

Actually, I’d like to deny it, but it seemed like it would just be tiring to do so.

Since I had already entered before, we could enter without any issues.

However, there was a problem…

“…Ugh, what is this place? I feel completely drained.”

“Sorry. I forgot to mention it, but that’s normal when you enter here.”

Inside this space, there’s a debuff that reduces abilities by about 70%.

While Celia’s physical abilities are on the lower side, her mana stat is ridiculously high, so she seemed to be experiencing a different kind of fatigue than I was.

“It feels really stifling. Let’s finish quickly and get out.”

Despite that, she didn’t say she would leave and wait outside.

-Complete. Access granted. Welcome.

Fortunately, since Celia was of imperial blood, she passed through without any defensive protocols.

Thanks to that, we could proceed inside without any issues, and there, all the numerous items I had to leave behind when I didn’t have an inventory were still piled up.

“This time, we can take everything.”

“Right.”

As Celia said, I started putting everything piled up there into my inventory.

There was no need to check each item one by one until I found what I was looking for. I already knew what each item was and what effect it had.

As I continued putting items into my inventory for a while… I suddenly realized that Celia had gone quiet.

She seemed to have moved away from my side to look at other items.

Come to think of it… there was something here that Celia shouldn’t touch.

Since Celia couldn’t enter this place in the game, I hadn’t thought about it.

So I called out to her to warn her…

“Celia. If you find something like a strange black book, don’t touch it and let me know right away.”

“You mean this?”

…She was already holding it.

No, it would have been better if she had just picked it up. She had opened it and was reading the contents.

Oh no.

Isn’t this a big problem?