Chapter 39

“Excuse me? What did you just say?”

Matheos looked at me in confusion.

It was only then that I realized there was no mark of a saint on Matheos’ forehead.

I didn’t remember the exact details, but I had heard the news of a new saint appearing when I was about 27 years old.

That was around ten years from now, so he was still just an ordinary seminarian, not yet a saint.

His impression was also much softer than the Matheos in my memory.

“No. I never thought I would meet a theology student in a place like this. You should head back. The sun will be setting soon. This is not a place to wander without a sword.”

It would be a big deal if Matheos got hurt here.

He would later need to purify the corrupted territories in large numbers on behalf of Jeilliris.

Purification was a nice term for selecting infiltrators hiding in the local community and burning them.

If Jeilliris were to do it, it would completely ruin her already bad reputation among the people.

Before my return, all territories that underwent that ‘purification’ sided with the rebellion.

Since he was a precious shield meant to take over in the name of the divine, I had to keep him safe until then.

It would be best if we could build a personal rapport.

“Thank you for your concern, Your Excellency.”

He checked the color of my hair and eyes, then gave a salute suitable for an unidentified member of the royal family.

It was polite, but not servile; dignified, yet not arrogant.

“But I cannot leave my friend behind.”

“Friend?”

“My friend Dismas has gone missing around here. I need to find him.”

I frowned openly and looked around.

Eyes like wild dogs were watching us from the darkness cloaked in alleyways.

They were people who could turn into beasts the moment the sun set.

“Doesn’t seem like you’re carrying a sword. Can you wield divine power freely, or are you skilled in hand-to-hand combat?”

“No. I’m just an ordinary college student.”

“Then you must not stay here. Report to the Black Iron Knights, hand out their flyers, and return to your dorm. Unless you want to go missing as well.”

“But…!”

“This place is not the capital you know.”

I wanted to plead with him to return.

I even thought it might be better to draw my sword and threaten him.

“I cannot leave him behind.”

Matheos hung his head.

I sighed softly.

I didn’t know if he had indeed handed out flyers here in the original history.

Even if he were to get beaten up while handing out flyers, if he safely returned to the dorm and became the Empire’s Black Saint ten years later as I knew, then there would be no problem.

From his appearance, he still looked like an inexperienced young man, but perhaps he needed to face some hardship to learn how dangerous this world could be.

However, unlike the original history, there was no war with the high nobles occurring now.

What if he and the college student Dismas in that flyer never came to this place?

The future saint might end up getting stabbed to death in a filthy alley or taken as a sacrifice by the infiltrators.

I was considering forcibly pulling him along when Sererassie moved ahead of me.

“Oh foolish child, it’s dangerous. You should go back. It’s better not to meddle in what you don’t understand.”

…I knew good words weren’t going to come out, but I didn’t expect her to intervene like this.

Matheos flinched at her cool voice.

After scanning Sererassie from head to toe, Matheos let out a subdued sound.

She was fully armed with a glossy pointed hat, robe, and a staff.

“I… never thought I would hear such words from a magician.”

“Oh dear. Don’t you hear that often as a seminarian? Obey, obey, obey.”

I whispered to Sererassie.

“Sister, why do you have to speak so harshly? I know you don’t have a good relationship with magicians and the church, but he’s just a seminarian, not even a priest.”

The thought that she might end up burned at the stake rose to my throat and then sank back down.

“Look. How can I overlook it when those eyes have been that way since a while ago?”

“Sister, please…!”

“Whose side are you on?”

With that, Sererassie silenced me and continued.

“I was calculating the paths and directions in the underground sewers while designing magic circles that infiltrators might use, and you just happen to be standing right in the middle, don’t you? I can’t help but feel suspicious. It’s as if… there’s a reason you must stand there all day.”

I let out a subdued sound.

Sererassie had a valid point since none knew who he would become in the future.

When designing or activating certain magical circles, it was common for the caster to have to remain in a specific position.

But the other party was a seminarian.

“I’m sorry, but it doesn’t seem like something a magician should say. If you’re not going to help, why not just be on your way?”

“At the end of that path, you meet me.”

“In that case, I should be the one suspecting you, madam magician. The scriptures say that those who raise their voices in suspicion and accusation are traitors and infiltrators, so beware. Why are you trying to push me out of this place so desperately?”

Matheos, who had been smiling all along, narrowed his brown eyes and countered.

Seeing Sererassie’s face contorted as if she were about to unleash a lightning bolt, I shut my eyes tight.

***

The church looked down on magicians, and magicians despised the church.

“Obey, obey, you said, but when it actually came time to obey, you act like a dog.”

“You urge me to pursue and desire, yet you seek to crush my hope of saving my friend with your trifling tongue.”

The doctrines of the church, which considered obedience and satisfaction as virtues, clashed head-on with the truths of magicians, which regarded pursuit and desire as virtues.

“Wouldn’t it be better to head to Magic Street at this hour and find some third-rate magicians? Surely a couple of infiltrators would show up.”

Historically, the church lumped together wandering magicians, wandering sorcerers, and heretics, branding them a wicked group that summoned magical realms and worshiped the ancients.

In reality, magicians who had only unlocked their talents without properly learning magic would one day certainly fall to the ancient things.

“Shouldn’t you show some holy power while making such statements? Let this unbeliever know where your friend is and whether the divine gazes upon you.”

Meanwhile, the Ivory Tower argued that the church’s control of knowledge regarding the ancients was fostering a fear that empowered the ancients even more.

Through research, weaknesses and characteristics could be clarified to eliminate each other, so it was evident that they had some ulterior motives for wanting to suppress everything.

“That statement could classify you as a heretic.”

“How disrespectful for a seminarian to speak to the guild master like that.”

The argument had turned into an emotional fight long ago.

It was unavoidable.

This conflict had existed since before the founding of the kingdom, and inevitably continued in my past life.

The deepening divide and enlarging powers rendered attempts to understand each side utterly meaningless.

Even if the High Priest of the capital and Sererassie’s master, the Grand Magician Gestarte, were called in, the conversation would almost be identical.

“Sister. Let’s go. Shouldn’t we keep searching? There are other places besides here, right?”

In the end, I had no choice but to create a situation where I would seek danger and separate the two.

Sererassie nodded, striking the ground with the tip of her staff.

“Fine. This time you’re right. Let’s leave that one to stand here and get taken by human traffickers or eaten at will.”

“No, you don’t have to say it like that.”

“Valen. I’ll ask you again. Whose side are you on?”

At that moment, Matheos narrowed his eyes upon hearing my name.

“Valen, Duke Valencius Your Grace?”

“Yes. I am Valenciaunos.”

Matheos squinted as if he had seen something he shouldn’t.

“Aren’t you the one stirring up trouble all over the capital?”

…Is he trying to pick a fight?

“You shoved your half-siblings out of the way to live alone, got drunk and harassed maids on Sundays, cheated in casinos, set fires, assaulted honorable knights, and attacked guests dining with guards in restaurants….”

“Ah.”

None of that was entirely false.

“An individual who has smuggled away the Emperor’s wine to sell to nobles. The one who defiled his father in front of his daughter. A member of the royal family who enjoys hunting humans in the slums with the Red Knight and manufactures drugs with the Blue Magician to sell in the red-light district and the slums.”

“Damn it.”

But I underestimated the world.

I had no idea how ‘defiling’ a father would turn into something like ‘assaulting.’

“A sadistic person who enjoys watching a servant commit a minor offense while feeding them alive to wyverns. Is that the Valenciaunos who exploits the majesty of their master to accept bribes and beat up market merchants while extorting cash?”

Matheos took a step back from me.

He looked like he was staring at something horrible and dangerous.

Was the college student memorizing only those rumors instead of studying?

If he had memorized the scriptures during that time, he would have graduated by now.

I shouted with a maniacal laughter, feeling hopeless.

“Haha! Yes, I am that Valenciaunos! If you don’t follow me right now, I will storm into the theology college dormitory and unleash a revulsion spell, so take down that godforsaken flyer!”

When Sererassie heard the words ‘revulsion spell,’ her face showed a mixture of laughter and tears.

“Follow you? Are you planning to carry some burden?”

“If I leave you here, you will definitely die. Besides, you’re a theology student, so you must know how to use a spell or two you have hidden away.”

As she frowned, I quickly added.

“I could throw you out as bait in case of emergencies.”

It’s definitely not going to happen.

The future saint.

“Hm. That sounds good. As expected, you think only in that direction.”

“You said this point? Let’s go down.”

***

“I didn’t expect to come down here so suddenly. I had only heard about it, but I never imagined there would be such a grand structure underground….”

Matheos traced the glowing moss on the wall in amazement.

Sererassie chuckled, pointing a finger at him.

“Isn’t that moss and this waterway something a magician created?”

Matheos pretended not to hear and looked at me.

“It doesn’t seem the entrance we came through earlier is used by the maintenance workers.”

“Stop pretending you can’t hear me…!”

“Yes. It’s something discarded long ago by some organization.”

“A secret passage, then.”

“I mostly remember it. Both the existing ones and those that don’t. There’s even an entrance that leads to the theology college.”

I shrugged my shoulders.

He widened his eyes in surprise.

“How…?”

“Hasn’t there been objects or people that shouldn’t be inside the school passing through here?”

“Ah.”

Matheos looked as if he had a headache.

“Now I understand how those drinks and forbidden books ended up appearing. Thank you.”

Inside the waterway, it was cold and quiet, with a slightly fishy smell.

At that moment, Sererassie, who was walking in front of me, stopped as if sensing something unusual.

“Sister, is something wrong?”

“Can’t you feel it?”

“It feels the same as usual to me.”

“No matter how many slimes are here, it’s too quiet and clean. I expected to sense signs of life since we’re near the slums.”

“They don’t come down here. Only occasionally for smuggling.”

“Why not? It’s so wide and clean here.”

Hearing that, I took a small breath.

Thinking back, Sererassie was right.

Slimes do not attack humans.

Why don’t slum dwellers reside in a place that is cool in summer and warm in winter?

Matheos bit his lip.

“I’ve heard half a rumor in class. Just to be clear, this is not meant to blame magicians.”

He paused for a beat before continuing.

“They say sometimes a variant appears among the slimes. Some of them attack living people. They say it’s not green, but yellow-green or brownish-yellow.”

It was a story I was hearing for the first time, including in my past life.

But come to think of it, I had never slept in here in my past life either.

The noble offspring from the red-light district who taught me this passage had always wanted to pass through here quickly.

Sererassie shook her head firmly, as if it was impossible.

“The magicians’ manipulations were perfect. It’s possible that a wild specimen flowed in from the river, but it wouldn’t last long.”

“No matter how much it’s manipulated, a slime is ultimately a monster.”

It seemed Matheos and Sererassie were about to start arguing again, so I quickly intervened.

“Either way, the reason the slum dwellers don’t use this place for residence might be because of those rumors. Regardless of their validity.”

Matheos stated firmly.

“Those who are cold and hungry are not easily swayed by rumors.”

Sererassie scoffed.

“I think the opposite. The colder and hungrier they are, the easier they are to sway by rumors.”

I thought Sererassie was right, but I didn’t express it.

We walked in silence for a while.

The entrance to the underground waterway was quite far from where Matheos had met me.

Amidst the silence, Matheos suddenly called out urgently.

“Dismas!”

“Are you crazy?”

Sererassie gasped and raised her staff while I placed my hand on the hilt of my sword.

“Did you expect someone to be underground here…!”

“It’s… the shoes Dismas wore.”

Matheos held up a single slipper engraved with the church insignia and name.

In front of us, a waterway intersection appeared faintly.

Sererassie gave me a sign.

“We’re under where we met Matheos.”

“I’m getting nervous.”

I drew my sword and stepped in front of Sererassie.

As I entered the intersection, I felt the dense energy unique to the ancients and sighed.

“I didn’t expect it to be hidden like this. Or, was it hiding?”

The slime attached to the ceiling was large enough to fill a rather spacious room, and its yellow-green body was densely packed with reddish-orange blobs.

There were also several parts that looked like hands, feet, or even human faces.

“It’s digesting, no—purifying.”

I seriously contemplated whether it was alright to show Sererassie and Matheos this.

In the center of the slime, a person was glued on wearing the other shoe that had just been found.

The only difference from the numerous hands and feet belonging to others was that there was a strange aura emanating from its wide-open eyes.

“The infiltrator is playing the core role here.”