Ch.344Gravity Bomb (2)

The first assassin carefully entered the professor’s lair.

“Aaaaargh!”

He collapsed with a shrill scream.

“What’s happening!”

The second assassin reflexively jumped in.

“Gaaaaargh!”

He too collapsed with a delirious scream.

“What? What’s going on!”

The third assassin entered cautiously, on high alert.

“Aaaaargh!”

Even he rolled his eyes back and fainted.

And so four, five, six… over a dozen assassins fell like autumn leaves. Elvin’s eyes widened.

‘Something’s wrong.’

Elvin examined the faces of the soldiers who had come with him. They all wore terrified expressions.

“Everyone, are you alright? Please be careful, the floor is slippery.”

A gentle voice came from beyond the door.

It was Eidel von Rheinland.

“Has everyone come in?”

“N-no. There’s one more person.”

“Please come in.”

There wasn’t the slightest tremor in his tone. Only then did Elvin become certain that he had fallen into a trap.

‘No, I expected this.’

The Order’s objective was to eliminate Eidel anyway. It didn’t matter whether they assassinated him or killed him openly. That’s why he had taken the risk to come here.

‘With all the assassins unconscious, a direct approach is impossible.’

He didn’t know how they had been knocked unconscious, but it was certainly some kind of mental attack.

‘How foolish. I’m different from ordinary believers. I’ve been baptized by the Steel Outer God.’

In the Order, there was a baptism where one received and shared the mental power of an Outer God. If nothing else, Elvin was confident in his mental fortitude.

“I’m coming in.”

Step.

Elvin steeled himself. He went inside, past the hill of unconscious assassins, toward where his target was.

And.

There was nothing.

What Elvin saw was absolute nothingness.

Not even Eidel’s face, nor objects that should have been there, not even a ray of light existed.

Pure darkness.

Death.

The end.

Elvin witnessed the end.

***

“Ugh.”

The last man collapsed.

“Are there any more?”

“No, sir.”

I hid Cartesia under the desk and approached the fallen men. There was no doubt. They had all lost consciousness.

[— Unable to measure target’s Pron value.]

The status window didn’t display specific information. It didn’t really matter.

The soldiers moved the unconscious protest leaders one by one to the lounge. The highest-ranking inspector approached me and asked.

“How on earth did you do that? People just kept collapsing.”

“It’s a skill from my background constellation.”

“Background constellation?”

“My constellation is quite capable. Just a bit shy, that’s all.”

The soldiers nodded awkwardly. I had already coordinated with them. Of course, I had appropriately disguised Cartesia’s true identity.

I showed Cartesia to the protesters, and they fainted just from directly facing an Outer God. That was all.

“Please take good care of them until they wake up.”

I said this, but in truth, it wasn’t over yet.

[— Applying <Memory Loss> and <Consciousness Control> to targets designated by the ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’.]

Memory Loss. Making them forget what they did today.

Consciousness Control. Removing Sturm’s brainwashing and guiding their thinking in my favor.

The reason I didn’t apply these two effects to the entire protest group was for efficiency. It’s not easy to control so many people completely. It’s easier to use the leaders to command the crowd.

Moreover.

“Ugh.”

I also needed to identify who was the traitor of the New Humanity.

The person who entered last seemed to be the one in charge of the protesters. He withstood Cartesia’s staring contest longer than the others and wore the black priestly robes symbolizing a high position in the Order.

Although he collapsed, he hadn’t completely lost consciousness. I lifted the man up and sat him in a chair.

“Sir, sir.”

Tap, tap.

I flicked my fingers. The man painfully moved his cloudy pupils.

“Urgh, where am I…?”

“Welcome to our laboratory.”

“…Laboratory?”

The man groaned and straightened himself.

“Which laboratory?”

“The science college laboratory at Iryuel Academy. You came here to negotiate with me. Do you remember why you came?”

“Negotiate? I don’t remember…”

Of course he wouldn’t.

“What is your name, sir?”

“E-Elvin.”

A name I’d never heard before. He wasn’t in the Order either. History had changed.

“Elvin, please come this way. Do you see those people over there?”

Elvin followed my words and looked out the window. Tens of thousands of followers stood holding flagpoles and candles. They chanted slogans in rhythm.

– Stop the graviton bomb research! Stop it!

“Why are they doing that?”

“I’m researching something called a graviton bomb, and the government budget allocated for this research has significantly cut welfare spending. People are protesting because they’re dissatisfied with that.”

“How much does it cost?”

“At least in the tens of trillions.”

“Tens of trillions? After trillions?”

I nodded. Elvin rolled his eyes rapidly.

“With that much cost for one research project, wouldn’t it bankrupt the national treasury?”

“Probably. But it’s that important of a research.”

I injected new information into the confused Elvin.

“The graviton bomb is the only means to defeat the Outer Gods. No one opposes it without reason. When we investigated people who opposed without any basis, we found they were being controlled by Outer Gods. The same was true for you.”

“I was?”

“Yes, doesn’t it make no sense? Creating a weapon that can fight and win against Outer Gods, yet receiving nothing but criticism? It’s practically anti-science.”

“U-umm.”

“Isn’t that right?”

“Y-yes, it is.”

Elvin looked at me with a disgruntled expression. I patted his shoulder with a subtle smile.

“Sir, I need your help. I don’t want my research to impoverish the lives of ordinary people either. I’ll persuade the government to increase welfare spending again, so would you be willing to help?”

“How?”

“First, please withdraw the protesters. And later…”

***

Magnus Order Headquarters.

Three of the four Grand Ministers leading the Order entered an emergency meeting. A woman in a black skirt put her legs on the round table and sighed.

“Elvin, that bastard betrayed us.”

To this, a man with a sturdy build asked.

“On what grounds?”

“The donations collected from believers have decreased since the last protest. I was suspicious and investigated secretly. And do you know what I found?”

“What did you find?”

“That bastard has been sending the offerings to Iryuel Academy! To the contracted institution researching the graviton bomb!”

Bang!

The woman stomped on the table. The space shook. The man waved his hand.

“Calm down, Tarpiel. Elvin is much smarter than you think. If he had betrayed us, he wouldn’t have handled things so sloppily.”

Tarpiel kept kicking the table while fuming.

“Then what?”

“It’s probably part of a bigger plan to bribe Iryuel.”

“That’s ridiculous. Spending over 30 million credits to bribe them?”

“He spent that much because he needed to bribe them.”

“Hmm, that makes sense.”

Tarpiel put her feet down and approached the man.

“Looking at you like this, you seem to be the smartest. I like that. I prefer intelligent men.”

The man’s name was Morgan. Morgan inwardly sighed. This woman is starting again.

“How about it, want to date me?”

“Sorry, but I’m not interested in you.”

Tarpiel hummed a tune. She lifted her ceremonial robe, emphasizing her sleek legs. Her beauty was enough to enchant most men.

“Even like this?”

“Get lost.”

“It wouldn’t be bad to embrace me before going to Idea.”

“I don’t sleep with women dumber than me.”

“That’s a shame.”

Tarpiel let go of her robe. The soft fabric slid down along the contours of her body.

“Anyway, I know where that guy is.”

“Where is he?”

“Secret.”

“Don’t be petty in times like this, Tarpiel!”

“If you want to know, figure it out yourself. Well, with your intelligence, Ukman, you probably can’t.”

“Are you looking down on me now!”

“Yep.”

Ukman, the remaining Grand Minister, cracked his knuckles. He approached Tarpiel. Tarpiel didn’t even blink as she picked up her whip.

“Stop.”

Morgan intervened before the situation escalated between the two Grand Ministers.

“Even if we were baptized by different Outer Gods, now is the time to unite as one.”

Morgan was baptized by Sturm, Tarpiel by Renatus, and Ukman by Aurore. It was called baptism, but they had offered blood and loyalty.

“The Steel Outer God has spoken. Eidel Rheinland is either Laplace himself or likely a subordinate of Laplace. If he remains, our eternal life and Idea will disappear. Do you want to see that?”

“No, of course not.”

Tarpiel rolled up her whip. Ukman, who had been grinding his teeth, also withdrew his fist.

“Tell us, Tarpiel. Where is Elvin?”

“In Eidel Rheinland’s professor’s office.”

***

A month had passed.

After resetting the mind of the man called Elvin, I was putting him to good use. I had diverted the Order’s donations to research funds.

“I’ve transferred 12 million credits to the account you specified.”

“Well done. Thank you.”

According to Ireh’s investigation, Elvin was one of the four Grand Ministers of the Order.

The pinnacle of believers. Someone who could collect money from them. If the saint was the Messiah, these people were like the saint’s first disciples.

In other words, a big shot. Very useful in many ways.

Since that day, I had been demanding Elvin to protest daily. And using that as a pretext, I met this person.

At first, Elvin’s mind was unstable. Nevertheless, I continuously worked to persuade him.

With a little help from Cartesia’s power, Elvin became an information network connecting me to the Order and a new source of funding.

Of course, he seemed to have gone a bit crazy as a result, but what did it matter?

“I am infinitely grateful for your efforts, sir. Soon we’ll be able to defeat the Outer Gods and establish Idea. Let’s work together for a peaceful world.”

“Yes, y-yes. For Idea. Hehehe.”

“As promised, the Rheinland family will send support funds for the safety of the protesters and the western commoners by next week.”

Anyway, today’s “negotiation” concluded well. Just as I was about to send Elvin back to his followers.

Boom!

The building shook. It felt like an earthquake. But it wasn’t a natural disaster.

I looked out the window. Suddenly enraged protesters were breaking through the military and police lines, rushing toward the science college building.

Among the crowd surging like a tide, there was a woman whose attire particularly stood out. If anything, her outfit was similar to Saint Julia’s, but with more exposure. Even from a distance, she looked tall.

“No, that woman is…”

Elvin pointed and stammered.

“Who is she?”

“She’s a Grand Minister like me, Tarpiel. She can’t resist men who seem smarter than her.”