novelraw Chapter 102 : Chapter 102
Chapter 102 : Chapter 102
Chapter 102: Light (1)
Seria wanted to stay in the North until she found and killed the mage who had killed Pelatz.
Realistically, that was impossible.
That was true even putting aside the fact that the culprit was Harad.
It was Grand Duke Aratus who decided Seria's length of stay.
If the Grand Duke changed his mind, Seria would have to leave the North immediately.
'But he's not changing his mind.'
The proof that his identity as a mage wouldn't be discovered was already complete.
Harad had already been with Seria for several days.
Nevertheless, Grand Duke Aratus did not send Seria back.
'Does he have another true intention? Or is it just because he finds me contemptible?'
Either way was a possibility.
'Is he telling me to get closer to the Church? That's unlikely. Is he trying to build up Elaine's experience, just as he condoned the tunnels?'
Anyway.
In the North, Serzila's word is no different from the truth.
However, the right to speak of a branch family was a little weak.
"Let's just be moderate, shall we?"
"I'm sorry, Ellen. Just a little more, please."
Ellen's words did not get through to Seria.
She should have come as the Grand Heir. Perhaps Ellen was thinking something like that.
"Demoooooon!"
How much time had passed?
Seria fell into Agitation again. Ellen dragged her into an alley.
-Thump!
A loud noise echoed from the alley.
If one were to peek, a head was regenerating in there.
"Thank you, Ellen."
Seria, with her mind cleared, smiled gently.
"……."
Ellen closed her eyes tightly and let out a sigh.
It was clearly the sigh of someone who was holding back.
She had been like that for four days.
She would smash Seria's head, suppress her anger, smash it again, and then suppress her anger again.
Unfortunately, that anger never exploded.
"I'm sorry. My madness got the better of me and I caused trouble."
Because Seria, with her mind cleared, would leave the alley and bow her head to the person she had just been screaming at as a demon.
"You're hurt."
If that person was hurt somewhere, Seria would even heal them by giving off light.
"……."
So, Ellen had no proper opportunity to vent her anger.
Of course, Seria didn't apologize to just anyone, and she was particularly brutal to those who seemed like mages... but still, there was no opportunity.
Because Harad had firmly promised to investigate separately, Seria did not resort to physical violence.
She just screamed "demon" like a madwoman.
"We'll have meat for lunch today."
It was never not meat, but Harad emphasized it anyway.
At those words, Ellen's face brightened for a moment before she controlled her expression. She was conscious of Seria.
Demon? Seria muttered quietly.
Ellen grabbed Seria's arm and dragged her away. The captured Seria smiled faintly as she looked at Ellen's back.
The place they arrived at was a small restaurant.
It was one of Ellen's regular spots.
The meat with a smoky flavor was its charm.
Of course, Kubel's cooking was more delicious, but they had to endure it while they were with Seria.
Kubel would have flinched immediately upon seeing Seria. And Seria would have screamed. Demon!
"By any chance..."
"Go ahead. We'll wait."
Ellen waved her hand with a weary expression.
Before lunch, Seria had to go up to a high place and pray to Laan.
"It's alright if you eat first."
"I know, so just hurry up and go."
Seria headed to the restaurant's rooftop.
"She's a completely mad bitch, that one."
Ellen said as soon as Seria disappeared.
Her face was thoroughly fed up.
"She's certainly not a common priest."
"Because she's crazy."
"No. I don't mean it in that sense."
Agitation is not something that only manifests in Seria.
"That's the first time I've heard a priest apologize. Regarding a mage investigation, that is."
Ellen tilted her head.
Seria had apologized today as well.
"Regarding matters of mages, the Church does not apologize. Because it is an act of admitting they were wrong."
"Why?"
"Because it is not a person who is wrong, but God. Since divine power is the power of God."
That's why the Church does not admit fault.
Because that act itself would damage God's omnipotence.
"But Seria apologized. Of course, she wouldn't think Laan was wrong. She must be thinking that her judgment was clouded because she was in a state of Agitation."
There are no priests who admit God's shortcomings.
Seria must also be thinking that her own faith is lacking.
In fact, she only apologized for what she had done in a state of Agitation.
"But still, an apology is an apology."
Admitting one's fault is a very difficult thing to do.
Even more so in the Church.
"It's by no means an easy thing to apologize while revealing that the phenomenon of overflowing divine power, Agitation, is a form of madness."
To the eyes of those who don't know, it would even look pitiful.
"Other priests aren't like that?"
"No."
The Harad of the past life didn't have much contact with the Church.
But he knew well what most priests were like.
-Keep this in mind, Harad. The Church is full of assholes.
-Suddenly?
-You'll find out when you go to the capital too. No. Don't go. There's no need to go and see the assholes.
Elaine loathed the Church.
It wasn't just because her only friend was Harad.
The Church's brand was also stamped on those who were not mages.
"If it had been another priest, they probably would have called you a demon."
"Why?"
"You punched her. Daring to attack a priest."
Who but a demon would attack a priest?
That's what the Church thinks.
"I used Aura."
"My goodness. Magic that looks like Aura!"
"……."
Seria did not identify Ellen as a demon.
On the contrary, she thought it was her own shortcoming.
"Well, as for ordinary priests, you'll find out when you happen to meet one later."
The first priest she met happened to be an exception.
It was not a situation Harad had expected.
It wasn't important. The stimulus of a priest had simply changed to the stimulus of Seria. In the end, a stimulus is a stimulus.
"Just know that Seria is peculiar."
Unlike the Elaine of the past life, Harad does not distinguish the world in black and white.
That is the perspective of the Church.
There are all sorts of people in the world, and that's the same for mages. The Empire is like that too. Exceptions exist everywhere.
So, although he has never actually seen it, the Church must be like that too.
Perhaps Seria is one of them.
Harad recalled the deaths of the five from the Rebellion faction.
'But they were demons?'
Seria had said it nonchalantly afterward, but in retrospect, she had not been fanatical at the time.
Only when they had revealed with their own mouths that they were mages did she bring down the guillotine.
"Is her nickname really the Guillotine?"
It doesn't seem like she would have killed just anyone.
"Arika found it out."
"Wasn't my information wrong too?"
"The Guillotine was something the person herself admitted to."
"That's true too."
* * *
Another day passed.
There was not a single bit of progress, but Seria was not pessimistic. She was as diligent as she had been for the past five days.
That faithfulness was enough to make even Harad marvel.
"Don't you think he's left the North? The mage who killed Pelatz, I mean."
Ellen was indirectly telling her to leave.
"Even so, I would like to stay a little longer."
"Why?"
"Do not neglect your connections. No matter how thin the thread, it too shall be a light. It is one of the verses from the Truth of the Sun."
Seria smiled gently.
That smile was directed at Harad.
"I understand that you are accepting my choice in your own way."
She was right. Harad nodded.
Harad remembered all the faces of those who had shown a peculiar reaction to Seria.
They were highly likely to be mages.
"I'm planning on investigating thoroughly later."
"I would like to be of more help."
Seria smiled.
"And if we find that demon, it would be even better."
At those words, Ellen nudged Harad slightly.
It meant that he should somehow resolve the situation.
'Hmm.'
If he wasn't going to confess, he had to pin it on another mage.
A mage who deserves to die.
Or a mage Harad was planning to kill...
Harad glanced around for a moment.
It was a crowded market. There were several people who would make eye contact just by looking around a little.
"I am a member of the Intelligence Bureau."
At the sudden statement, Seria tilted her head.
"That's right?"
"So I know a lot. The mage who killed Pelatz is probably a member of the Liberation Tower."
"……."
Seria's expression turned serious.
Her eyes were saying, "Why are you telling me this now?"
"Please understand. The matter regarding the Liberation Tower was a confidential matter of the Intelligence Bureau."
"……."
"The reason I'm bringing it up now is because I've judged that I can trust you. The branch family you serve has also agreed."
Harad said, placing a hand on Ellen's shoulder.
"I will respect that."
When he brought up Ellen as well, Seria regained her gentleness.
"I recently ruined one of the Liberation Tower's operations. It was something they were daring to do in the North."
"So that's why you were being harassed when I first met you?"
"That's right. I haven't learned Aura. I was recruited because I'm smart."
Seria pricked up her ears, remembering the five demons she had killed.
"The delegation arrived around the time I was interfering with their work. And Knight Pelatz died without a sound."
"……."
"At that time, there were no other peculiarities in the North other than that incident. Then one can only suspect the one and only peculiarity."
"I am convinced."
Seria nodded.
Divine power sparkled in her eyes like stars.
"We must find the demon of the Liberation Tower."
"That's right. And I think that one over there is one of them."
Harad pointed to a person standing in line for meat skewers.
"He's in line again after buying some. He keeps stealing glances at me."
The person was already holding a skewer.
"For your information, my face and name are known in the Liberation Tower. I'm a marked man."
"……Shit!"
The person who made eye contact threw the skewer at Harad and then suddenly ran away.
"Demoooon!"
Seria shouted with joy.
Ellen snatched the skewer.
"Don't eat it."
"I was blocking it."
"Then throw it away now."
"……I was going to do that even if you didn't tell me."
Ellen threw the skewer away.
Her face looked like she found it a waste.
"I'll buy you some later."
"Two?"
"Four."
"Let's hurry. Before that woman causes trouble."
* * *
The skewer man and Seria were not far apart.
They had only turned two corners.
The skewer man was captured in a pure white light. Divine power was acting as a rope.
"Demon."
Was it because she had finally found a demon?
Seria had an excited expression.
"How dare the Church be in the North...!"
The captured man did not deny that he was a mage.
The reason being that the one who had caught him was a priest.
He knew that there was no mercy from a priest.
It meant that he was not from the North.
"How dare you...!"
The man was furious.
From his emotion, Harad was convinced that he was from the Liberation Tower's Rebellion faction.
The Rebellion faction's sense of superiority looks down on even the Church.
Since his life was already forfeit, he must have been thinking of pouring out all his emotions.
"Harad, it was you. You noticed us and called the Church."
Indeed, the man spilled everything.
Just like the five he had met a while ago, he was undoubtedly a mage sent by Kunlutsban.
"Hmm. You guys aren't that important."
The man's eyes widened. His mouth opened as if to shout. Thump! Then it closed. Seria had hit him on the back of the head.
"Where is the demon who killed the Imperial Knight Pelatz."
"What...?"
The man's brow furrowed.
He looked like he didn't know who Pelatz was. But then he grinned.
"Does a mere priest dare to aim for Him."
"Just answer."
"He is preparing to kill you, Harad."
Clang!
Divine power transformed into a hammer and struck the man's head.
The man's expression contorted greatly, but he did not faint. As befitting a priest, Seria was skilled in inflicting pain.
"I asked where."
"The east! He is on the eastern great plain."
The man shouted as if surrendering.
'It's a trap.'
Harad was certain.
The man looked like he didn't know Pelatz.
Moreover, Pelatz was an ally of the Liberation Tower's Rebellion faction.
He was a cunning one, as befitting a mage.
"It's a trap."
Harad was slightly surprised.
Seria, who had not fallen into madness, no, Agitation, was clever.
"I'll fall for it."
Or not.
"Oh."
For the first time, Ellen seemed to like Seria.
"You were like a knight just now."
"Is that an insult?"
"What?"
Or not.