Chaos Church

I was momentarily shocked by Estelle’s claim that she had hidden a corrupt artifact in the academy, but soon felt a strange sense of unease.

I scratched my head lightly and asked,

,Are you perhaps a Demon King follower?

,What stupid thing are you saying? The Church is only in a temporary cooperative relationship with the Demon King. The Church is a place where believers in ‘That One’ gather, so how could they follow the Demon King? Of course, I’m not a believer or anything.

Estelle’s words cleared up my doubts. However, I asked for confirmation.

,When did you hide the artifact in the academy?

,…When the first-year special practical training started. That was the most chaotic time.

I breathed a sigh of relief at Estelle’s words. With this, I could be sure that she was not involved in Ross’s death.

Originally, hiding corrupt artifacts in the academy was something Demon King followers did.

However, the dark wizard attacked the academy earlier than planned due to my intervention, and as I had expected, the Demon King’s followers would not have had enough time to hide the artifact in the academy.

The Church must have assigned the task to Estelle, who was an underling, instead.

,But, why did you ask that?

From Estelle’s perspective, my question must have seemed a bit out of context.

,In the future I read before, a Demon King follower hid an artifact in the academy. I was thinking of finding out who that follower was this time.

Estelle visibly flinched at my lie. Perhaps because she didn’t fully trust my claim of being a prophet, her reaction was even greater.

,Y-yeah, that’s what was originally planned, but I heard that the dark wizard moved unilaterally first, so the plan got twisted. In the end, the Church ordered me to hide the corrupt artifact as a side job….

Estelle’s voice was full of surprise. Since I knew information about the future, saying I had read the future wasn’t a complete lie. It’s just that I was the one who wrote the tragic future of this world.

Suddenly, I had this thought. Then what am I to them? A creator? A god? Or perhaps, a disaster filled with pure malice?

I was bothered by one of Estelle’s words and asked,

,By the way, what do you mean by ‘as a side job’?

,Ah, that? I haven’t told you this, but the Church has already approached you once. As I said before, the Pope is interested in you.

Estelle said it as if it were no big deal, but to me, the Church was an important matter. Especially if it involved that monster called the Pope, I had to address it.

,They approached me?

,Yeah. The Pope wanted to check you out. So, he ordered me to approach you.

At Estelle’s words, I scratched my cheek and racked my brain. After the dark wizard’s attack on the academy, I was dragged to the interrogation room.

Until Estelle approached me, we had never met, and I had never received anything from a stranger during the special practical training.

Estelle, who was watching me deep in thought, said with a sigh,

,You have the memory of a goldfish…. Don’t you remember? The mask with the acorn drawn on it!

In that instant, I felt a strange sense of floating, as if I had been sucked somewhere.

An indescribable déjà vu.

My heart pounded erratically, and I forgot to breathe as something raced through my veins.

,Puku puku puheuk puku puku!

A chilling laughter buzzed in my ears.

,…Ross, Ross!!!

I snapped out of it from the rough hands shaking my collar. Was I hearing things? My stomach felt like it had been scraped with fingernails.

After sighing and wiping my face once, Estelle brought her masked face close.

,Are you okay? You, you just….

I was a little dizzy, but I said I was okay.

Estelle stared at me intently, as if she had something to say, but it wasn’t my turn to ask questions yet.

,…Why did you hide that from me?

I asked without realizing my voice was a little sharp. Noticing that, Estelle also replied in a curt voice.

,Because you were fine even after receiving that mask. I didn’t think it was a big deal. I was simply ordered to deliver the mask to you under the guise of coincidence. So, I used what happened in Destin Village to draw an acorn and put it on a nearby tree.

As Estelle said, my guard was lowered just because an acorn was drawn on it.

As if I had received a gift prepared for me, I took the mask out of curiosity rather than being wary of danger.

,Do you know what that mask is for?

,I don’t know, I just told you! I was only ordered to deliver it! I was told to report if there was anything wrong with you, so I reported that there were no changes. That’s it! Really!!!

Estelle shouted, annoyed, as if she was upset that I was doubting her.

,If that was going to be a problem, I would have told you from the beginning! I have no intention of deceiving you! You narrow-minded bastard!!!

I pressed my fingertips to my furrowed brow, sighed, and apologized.

,I’m sorry for doubting you. But it was a problem that had to be addressed in order to fully trust Estelle. I want us to be truly a community of fate.

Estelle’s voice was still cold, but noticeably softened at my sincere words.

,I sincerely want that too. I’m sorry for thinking it was nothing and acting on my own. The Church didn’t say anything after that, so I just assumed there was nothing wrong with you and moved on.

I shook my head at Estelle’s words.

,After wearing that mask, I had a strange experience. The personality inside me changed into a strange form after wearing that mask.

Perhaps the reason why Ross inside me changed strangely was because of that mask that the Pope told me to deliver.

,Personality…?

,I used the artifact that Headmaster Nelson made. It’s an artifact that allows you to meet the personality inside you. After wearing that mask, unlike usual, my personality had changed into a form wearing that strange mask.

At my explanation, Estelle lowered her gaze and remained silent for a while. I was also organizing my thoughts about the Pope, so silence filled the room for a moment.

,…Have you felt anything strange since then? Like feeling someone watching you, or feeling like someone else is controlling your body.

,No. I haven’t had that experience. I met Ross inside me at that time, and I forcibly broke that mask.

Estelle sighed at my words.

,Haa, I don’t know what’s going on. It’s hard to investigate separately because it’s related to the Pope…. You say there’s nothing wrong with you… so it seems okay.

It didn’t seem like the Pope had done anything to me. Seeing that Professor Joy didn’t find anything particularly wrong when she examined my body, it seemed like it had done its job when I wore the mask.

I gave a bitter smile.

,I guess there’s no helping it. Then, may I ask another question?

,Yeah….

Estelle was uneasy that the matter regarding the mask had ended like this, and her voice was awkward, but as she said, there was no helping it. I couldn’t investigate the Pope, and there was nothing wrong with my body.

There’s nothing more foolish than wasting energy on something you can’t find the answer to. Sometimes, ignoring these kinds of problems is the answer. Thinking positively like that, I opened my mouth.

,Do you happen to know what the spear I use is?

,Of course. When I investigated you, I found out how you got that spear. Bella took it out of the imperial warehouse and gave it to you, the ‘cursed relic’.

The word ‘cursed’ makes me unnecessarily nervous.

,What does it mean to be cursed?

,It’s exactly what it sounds like. Most of those who possessed the spear were ruined, just like the spear’s name. In many cases, the family disappeared without a trace. People call such things cursed.

For some reason, I felt like there was a joyful laugh in her voice. She’s probably trying to scare me. What a cheeky brat.

,This is the question. This spear contains something called the ‘Power of Ruin’. It’s a powerful force that can even destroy magic and barriers. But the Power of Ruin didn’t work at all when I fought Dwinn. Do you happen to know why?

I had moved on because the situation was urgent at the time, but the fact that the Power of Ruin didn’t work was clearly a big problem. Losing one of my advantages, which I used to make up for my shortcomings with this fraudulent power, was a great loss.

,Show me the Power of Ruin once.

Estelle seemed curious and said, tapping the desk with her finger.

I took out the spear from the space warehouse, drew out the Power of Ruin, and showed it to her. Estelle suddenly took out a dagger from her bosom and struck my spear.

Kang-!

I thought the dagger would break when it touched the spear blade containing the Power of Ruin. But there was nothing wrong with the dagger.

,So that’s what it was. Pfft, how could you not know this.

I swallowed hard at Estelle’s cheeky voice, as if she had figured something out.

,I roughly guessed from the name ‘Ruin’. The reason why that power didn’t work on Dwinn is because it’s a power of a similar nature.

,A similar nature…?

Was Dwinn using a power similar to the Power of Ruin? But only Iron Blood used the Power of Ruin in the Church.

Reading my expression, Estelle asked in an amused voice.

,Why do you think this dagger didn’t break? Don’t say something obvious like I’m too amazing.

It seems like she has no intention of kindly telling me the answer. I racked my brain and found a plausible answer.

,By using the power of a similar nature you mentioned earlier?

Estelle replied in a curt voice, as if she didn’t like my sincere answer.

,Hmph, no fun. That’s right. I infused this dagger with [Chaos].

At the word ‘Chaos’, I reflexively thought of one name.

Chaos Church.

It was the name of the Church.