Ch.9292. Corpse

“How did you come to possess that body?”

I was caught off guard. This is exactly what they mean by being caught by surprise. I involuntarily took a sharp breath and was too flustered to answer immediately.

But she didn’t press me further about it. She simply waited for my answer with a gentle smile.

How did she figure it out?

I was surprised that she could see through me so clearly when she couldn’t even see my face behind the bandages.

I gave her an answer.

Of course, it was a refusal.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you that.”

“Hmm.”

Stella looked disappointed. She tilted her head and replied.

“If you were simply an evil spirit, I would have no choice but to exorcise you.”

“Do you have that power?”

“Of course not.”

Her matter-of-fact tone made me hesitate for a moment. When conversing with her, I felt like I was being swept along by her pace.

“I apologize if I was rude. I was just curious because you seem to be a different kind of entity than an evil spirit.”

“…I didn’t forcibly take over the owner’s body.”

I entered the body after Deus, the original owner, had died, so I hadn’t really stolen it. If I had to put it precisely, I suppose I picked it up.

“That makes me even more curious. I feel like you must have an extraordinary secret.”

“Huh, you’ll forget everything tomorrow anyway.”

I knew it could be a hurtful thing to say, but I needed to push away her persistent questioning.

But instead, Stella nodded in agreement.

“That’s exactly why you could tell me, couldn’t you?”

“…”

“Secrets, you know. Sometimes just carrying them is painful.”

Her words resonated so deeply that my heart unexpectedly fluttered. Even to someone like me with muted emotions, her voice reached out with warmth.

“I consider it fortunate that I lose my memories every day due to a demon’s curse.”

“…”

Stella set down her rosary shaped like the sun and slowly reached out her hand. As she fumbled through the air, I gently extended my hand to her, and she softly wrapped hers around it.

“That’s why I can hear things I shouldn’t hear. Even if you share your most closely guarded secrets with me, I can offer comfort and empathy, but I won’t remember them.”

I couldn’t stop my heart from racing.

Being with the woman before me made my heart feel at ease to an almost painful degree.

“What is your name?”

A question she had never asked before.

A pitiful question that would be forgotten by tomorrow.

“Shinwoo Kim.”

I answered, and Stella carefully pulled my hand to caress her cheek.

Her cool skin felt like the temperature of all the tragedies she had endured.

“Shinwoo Kim. Tell me your story. Not for my sake, but for yours.”

“…”

“I think I’m here to listen to your story. To share your burden, even if just for a moment.”

A gentle smile.

“And to forget you.”

The smile that emerged amid cruel tragedy was like a small dandelion blooming among ashes.

“I think that might be why I’m cursed.”

“…”

“What do you say? Will you give me the time to accompany you today?”

* * *

We talked about many things.

Starting from our childhoods, memorable experiences, family memories, unforgettable wounds, and more.

As we talked, I realized something.

Probably, not just me, but she realized it too.

We comforted each other through our conversation, and also offered comfort.

I explained how I had lived a strange life seeing ghosts before entering Deus’s body.

Stella told me how she had lived her life for others since childhood, sacrificing everything as a Saintess.

Though our lives were completely different, we felt a strange sense of kinship and empathy, comforting each other.

I didn’t tell her that this was a world inside a game.

Nor did I mention that I knew the world’s ending.

But starting from my past as someone who had lived in another world.

The stories I experienced in Norsweden.

The incidents I solved at the academy.

The formidable opponents I met at the royal palace.

And how I became a spirit comforter for the kingdom’s dead, pretending to have divine power through the Holy Grail.

After hearing all these stories, Stella surprisingly expressed gratitude to me.

“If the Saintess is the kingdom’s sun, you are the moon that rises at night.”

“…”

“Please help Lucia well. With you by her side, that child won’t end up like me.”

I didn’t bother saying that if I had been there, I wouldn’t have let her become like this.

It was a meaningless assumption that would only give false hope.

“You are truly a great woman.”

So after we finished our conversation, I honestly told her.

No one I had ever met could be as noble or as great as she was.

A purity that would make even Hertia, the goddess of hearth and fire whom she served, bow her head.

Her beautiful image would remain deeply in my heart.

“Thank you for telling me everything. Our conversation has been a great comfort to me as well.”

“…”

“I’m almost sad that I’ll forget everything tomorrow.”

Stella laughed playfully with a soft chuckle. I calmly replied to her.

“That won’t happen.”

“Pardon?”

Stella tilted her head, wondering what I meant. But I simply turned away.

Though we had been standing the whole time in a room without chairs, I hadn’t felt tired.

But now that I tried to move, my body felt stiff and creaky.

“Stella, I respect you.”

“…What?”

To Stella’s questioning look, I gave her a slight smile. Not an awkwardly drawn smile, but one that genuinely came from my heart.

“So I will honor your wish.”

Clunk.

I opened the door and stepped outside. There was no need to lock it again.

I walked down the stairs and went outside, where Findenai, Illuania, and the Dark Spiritmaster were waiting, looking bored.

“Wow, finally out!”

“You went in before lunch and now it’s late evening. We saved you some food.”

[You had quite a long talk.]

“I’ll eat later.”

I pushed away the plate Illuania offered and ordered Findenai.

“Go to the convent’s storage and bring a shovel.”

“A shovel? Suddenly?”

To Findenai’s bewildered response, I answered without hesitation.

“We’re digging up a grave.”

The three were surprised by my sudden declaration. But Findenai soon grinned and said.

“You figured something out? I’ll get it right away!”

Findenai excitedly rushed into the convent. I ordered Illuania to wait in the carriage, then headed to the cemetery with the Dark Spiritmaster.

The place where a tombstone without a name still lay fallen.

[Did talking with the former Saintess give you some answers?]

“Yes, through our conversation there, I was able to understand something.”

The Dark Spiritmaster seemed curious, but I didn’t elaborate.

Shortly after, Findenai returned with the shovel without much difficulty, but seemed to have been caught as she was dragging along a bunch of other nuns.

“Sorry, I got caught!”

Findenai was smiling brightly, saying she could knock down the nuns with the shovel if needed, but I shook my head.

“You did well.”

It was good that she brought everyone.

Findenai awkwardly shrugged her shoulders, not expecting the praise, but then came the Mother Superior’s sharp cry.

“What do you think you’re doing! Didn’t I show you the photos of the children’s bodies? Why must you dig up the graves again!”

The nuns behind her nodded in agreement. I answered without the slightest hesitation.

“I know who the demon is.”

“What? You figured it out?”

“Yes, and to confirm it, I need to see the bodies with my own eyes.”

“…B-but!”

“Findenai, dig.”

At my command, Findenai started digging up the soil with the shovel, cackling.

“I wonder if I’ll be cursed for digging up a nun’s grave? Hope it’s something exciting!”

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Watching Findenai dig like an excavator, the Mother Superior and the nuns slowly moved away from each other.

The moment when it would be revealed which one of them was the demon was approaching.

“P-please explain! Explain why you need to dig up the graves!”

The Mother Superior burst out angrily, and I nodded. There was a little time while Findenai was digging.

“This morning when I briefly interviewed you all, all four nuns said Mela was suspicious.”

“What?”

“Mela?!”

Mela and the Mother Superior were shocked.

Mela glared at the four nuns with a betrayed and indignant expression, and the Mother Superior also replied that it couldn’t be true.

“That’s impossible! Mela is closer to being a Saintess than anyone right now!”

The Mother Superior began defending Mela, spitting as she spoke.

“This child has the qualities of a Saintess comparable to Lucia and Stella!”

“Yes, that’s exactly it.”

I nodded. I wanted to applaud the Mother Superior for giving the answer.

“Because she was the nun closest to being a Saintess, the other four nuns lied to frame Mela.”

The four immediately lowered their heads, bit their lips, or let out gloomy groans.

Their reactions were different, but the result was the same.

“Yesterday you wouldn’t answer at all, but today you pointed to Mela. Didn’t you think I would find that strange?”

Yesterday these nuns were so wary and afraid of me, but today they immediately pointed to Mela.

Their testimonies already reeked of suspicion.

“Conversely, Mela, you kept your mouth shut with a lie despite having a suspicious nun in mind.”

“…!”

Now everyone’s attention turned to Mela. She looked flustered, as if she couldn’t breathe, but under pressure, she finally admitted it like she was vomiting it out.

“The Mother Superior is suspicious.”

“What?!”

The Mother Superior jumped as if she’d been hit on the back of the head, her eyes bulging.

“M-me? You’re talking about me? Do you think that makes any sense?!”

Perhaps because of her intense reaction, Mela also raised her voice to counter.

“After the incident! The severity of punishments increased! You’ve become oppressive while forcibly restraining us!”

Mela’s finger pointed accusingly at the Mother Superior.

“I already know that you lock our doors at midnight!”

“T-that’s!”

The other nuns were shocked.

The Mother Superior stammered, trying to make some excuse, but I cut in.

“Then why didn’t you tell me the Mother Superior was suspicious?”

“…Because I couldn’t trust you either. I was planning to tell Sister Stella when I had the chance, but you were in there with her all day!”

Mela shouted, her face reddening as if her head was heating up.

The Mother Superior, claiming innocence, opened her mouth wide and poured out excuses to me.

“N-no! That’s not it! Wait! It’s true that I’ve been pushing the children hard lately, but that’s…”

“Because of the pressure that the next Saintess might not come from here.”

“…!”

“This convent has had a demon summoned in it. You were driven by the fear that the gods might not choose the next Saintess from here.”

The Mother Superior nodded dejectedly at my words.

Just then.

“Master! I’ve finished digging!”

Findenai’s shout rang out. Leaving the nuns who were eyeing each other with suspicion, I headed to the cemetery.

Three coffins neatly arranged.

After opening them one by one, Findenai made a disappointed sound.

“They’re just all burned up?”

The bodies were exactly as they appeared in the photos, perhaps a bit more decomposed, but still.

[W-what is this?!]

But the Dark Spiritmaster looked at one of the bodies and turned to me in shock.

With an expression of disbelief.

And with a question in her eyes asking if I had known this all along.

I met the Dark Spiritmaster’s gaze and pointed to the body at the far right.

Now I was certain.

“That is not a nun’s body.”

“What?”

“What do you mean?”

The Mother Superior and Mela questioned.

I clicked my tongue and answered.

“It’s the demon’s body.”