Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 82

Episode 82

'As expected, I'm glad I asked Nise.'

Liv, who had quickly removed her hand from the monster's cold body, secretly scrubbed it hard on her sleeve and looked for someone.

It was very easy to find the figure standing hunched over among the priests wearing white robes.

Even without looking, her twin brother inside the robe was surely breaking out in a cold sweat and struggling.

It was no easy task to make several dead monsters move as if they were alive.

Even if it was something that gnawed away at her twin brother's life force.

'...It can't be helped. This is beneficial for both Nise and me.'

Liv firmed up her weakening resolve with a dark expression.

With this, she could escape the Pope's threat to kick them out at any moment.

He said 'kick out,' but with just one word from him, it would be a simple matter for both Nise and her to be accused as witches and burned at the stake.

She possessed a healing power that could cure any wound or chronic illness, but aside from the poor commoners, no one particularly called it a miracle.

It was because potions existed.

Without having to go through the trouble of finding the Saintess, if one just had money, they could buy as many potions as they wanted and heal themselves.

In some cases, even things beyond the Saintess's abilities could be resolved with potions.

Because of this, while the standing of the Temple and the Saintess was shrinking by the day, the deposed Crown Prince returned and declared.

"The prophecy that the Lord of Nightmares would bring about disaster was wrong. The disaster did not happen, Hailey was not destroyed, and even the sealed monster has been completely annihilated."

"You all went around talking your mouths dry about how it must be stopped... It makes one question if this 'divine prophecy' you bastards spoke of ever truly existed."

"How are we to know if you just cobbled it together from some low-class rumor circulating the marketplace. Or perhaps, it was just the nonsense a greedy old man spouted before he died."

Even at his words, which openly implied he would suppress the Temple and pressure the Pope, no one, including the Emperor, could refute him.

This was because all those who might have refuted him had lost their heads long ago.

The Grand Temple, its prophecy now completely denied, was in an utter uproar day after day.

Just as the reinstated Crown Prince had seen through him, the Pope was a man greedy for power, so he had supported the Crown Prince's deposition more than anyone.

As the number of nobles visiting the Temple gradually decreased, the blame naturally fell on Liv.

"Find a way to raise the Temple's prestige immediately!"

"If you don't want to be kicked out, then perform a miracle right now, whether you have to drain all your blood or cut open your twin's stomach!"

At the Pope's hysterical shrieking, the old and cunning high priests devised a clever trick.

It was to use the Saintess's other sibling, who possessed a cursed power, unlike the Saintess who had the power of healing.

Liv immediately ran to Nise and begged.

Fortunately, as always, her twin brother listened to her.

Resurrecting the dead gargoyles and attacking the village last night.

After the dark night, filled only with despair and screams, had passed.

A plan that would be completed by her own arrival, planting the seeds of new hope in that very place.

Fortunately, the still-living monsters were also moving according to plan, under Nise's control.

The gargoyles, having exhausted even the temporary life force granted to them, sat listlessly with empty eyes.

To anyone watching, they looked as if they had suppressed their instincts and become docile before the Saintess.

'This is how it should be.'

Liv looked back at the gargoyles and smiled with satisfaction.

It was only natural that Nise help her.

It was the only way for both of them to survive in this harsh world, and...

'Nise made me this way, so of course he has to take responsibility.'

Liv, who had been struggling to suppress the faint guilt rearing its head, abruptly stopped her thoughts.

But... what?

'...What was it that Nise did?'

Her mind suddenly went blank, as if her memory had been cut off.

A vague, unidentifiable fear crept over her.

Just as Liv's eyes were gradually losing focus and shaking helplessly.

"Saintess."

Someone roused her.

Liv's consciousness, which had been wandering in a distant abyss, snapped back to reality.

When she turned her head, one of the holy knights gestured toward the gargoyle horde with a worried expression.

It was a signal that it was now time to reap what she had sown.

If she misjudged the time and the monsters died off en masse, this entire, elaborate play would all be for nothing.

'Get rid of them now.'

Liv, her face pale, sent a secret signal to Nise, who was concentrating on his surroundings.

It was a signal to get rid of these horrific things.

If the aggressive monsters were to depart quietly without harming any humans, it would be the very completion and proof of the miracle the Saintess had performed.

Just as Nise, who had been looking at Liv with wavering eyes, gave a faint nod.

"Keeaaaaargh!"

A gargoyle swooped in from somewhere.

It was quite late, as most of them were already on the ground, drooping.

However, the people, who had already witnessed the miracle of the monsters landing and bowing before the Saintess, didn't think much of it.

"That one seems a bit slower than the others."

"Hahaha!"

When someone made a joke, a wave of amusement rippled through the crowd.

Everyone, including Liv, did not doubt for a moment that this gargoyle would also become docile like the ones before it.

Until the gargoyle, which had been gradually descending, flew right past the Saintess, near where its kin sat docilely on the ground, and gaped its mouth wide to tear off people's heads.

"E, Uwaaaaaaah!"

Hwoook!

At the gargoyle's snout, which came right up to their faces, the people at the front of the crowd screamed and ducked their heads.

Clack. Clack.

The sharp fangs, having missed biting anything by a hair's breadth, snapped together, making a gruesome sound.

"Kkurururuk!"

The bastard, having narrowly grazed the tops of the people's heads, shot up into the sky, then turned direction once more.

But the gargoyle's flying pattern was a bit strange.

As if it had eaten some poisoned prey, it repeatedly dropped as if it would plummet, then shot back up, flapping its wings precariously.

However, that lively and bizarre appearance only incited even more fear in the people.

Pudududuk!

"Kkeeruk, kkuk kkukkukkuk!"

To make matters worse, as if stimulated by the bastard's cry, the ones that had been sitting docilely by the Saintess also leaped into the air all at once.

"R, run!"

"Kyaaaaaak!"

The people scattered in all directions as the giant shadows descended upon their heads.

"Nise!"

Liv urgently looked for her brother.

She could see Nise, quite far away, as if he'd been swept up in the fleeing crowd.

Thwack, thwack!

His hood was knocked off by the people shoving him roughly.

At that, his pale silver hair, identical to the Saintess's, no, perhaps even more radiant, was completely revealed.

"What is that idiot doing...!"

Even in this pandemonium, Nise was just staring blankly with wavering eyes at the precariously flying gargoyle, taking no action whatsoever.

"Nise!"

The moment she had no choice but to take a step toward him.

"It's dangerous, Saintess!"

"Protect the Saintess!"

The holy knights, having drawn their swords, quickly surrounded her.

"Kkuek!"

And then, the gargoyle that had been flying erratically suddenly let out a short death throe and died, its head cleanly severed.

It happened before the holy knights' swords could reach it.

"Wh, what..."

Not just the holy knights, but the priests, too, were in disarray at the sudden event.

This was because, although the gargoyle was flying low, it was still far out of sword's reach.

In that time, the dead gargoyle's corpse, along with its severed head, fell from the air with a thud and rolled on the ground.

"Keeaaaaargh!"

Perhaps because of their comrade's death, the several gargoyles that had flown up earlier thrashed ominously in the air.

It was at that moment.

Pusshuuuuuk...

From the corpse of the decapitated gargoyle that had fallen in front of the Saintess's party, black smoke, instead of blood, suddenly began to pour out.

The smoke spread at a rapid speed, swallowing the entire area in the blink of an eye.

"P, poison gas!"

"Someone released poison gas!"

The priests were in a panic, but Liv wasn't particularly worried.

As long as she wasn't seriously injured by an external factor, her body, blessed by the god, was unfazed by most poisons or curses.

Even if she did suffer some slight damage, her body would soon be purified if she prayed earnestly.

While she was thinking it was no big deal, Liv suddenly felt a tickle in her throat.

"Ahem, hem. Hem."

Before she knew it, she had let out a few dry coughs, but only for a moment.

"Keoheok!"

Suddenly, her breath caught, and a violent cough began to erupt.

"S, Saintess! Are you alright?"

The priests and holy knights were in disarray at the sight of Liv coughing as if she were vomiting blood.

"C, can't... breathe... Keoheuk!"

"Saintess! Cover your face!"

"You must evacuate immediately!"

Fwump!

A large cloth was thrown over Liv's head as she gasped for breath.

It was to block even the slightest contact with the billowing, unidentified smoke.

"Keeaaaaargh!"

The black smoke and the gargoyles rampaging in the sky. And the people, all screaming and fleeing.

The procession, which they'd had for the first time in a while, was a complete mess.

Even Liv, who had tried to hold out until the end, finally fled the scene, covered in someone's robe.

In that pandemonium where everyone was evacuating, no one looked out for Nise.

He just stood there blankly, watching the members of the Temple grow distant, with no thought of moving.

Nise, unaware that his hood was off and his unusually colored hair was completely exposed, stared absently at the decapitated, dead gargoyle.

"Th, the one I... revived... Cough!"

Nise, who had been muttering as if to himself, suddenly coughed at the pungent smell that filled his nose and throat.

It was already too late to avoid it.

The gargoyle that had been suddenly decapitated and fallen was right in front of him, so Nise was completely covered in the pitch-black smoke.

Fortunately, his cursed body would not die from this level of poison.

After being sick for a few days, he would surely be as good as new.

But in the middle of that thought, Nise's eyes suddenly flew wide open.

Fwaaar!

It was because the gargoyle's corpse, which had been endlessly spewing hazy black smoke, had suddenly caught fire.

Tadak, tadadak.

The monster, consumed by the flames, turned to ash in an instant and vanished.

And Nise could feel a strong energy remaining in that spot.

'Black magic.'

Someone had controlled the dead gargoyle with black magic.

The thought that this poisonous gas might not be just any poison, but a far more dangerous kind, flashed through his mind.

The source of black magic is, in short, curses.

It was the worst possible affinity for people who had entrusted their bodies to the Temple.

'But who...?'

As if his head had been paralyzed by the curse-laden poison, Nise just kept thinking that one thought, endlessly.

Black mages had been eradicated by the church long ago, and the heretics who followed them were constantly being tracked down and captured, so their circumstances weren't nearly good enough to pull off something like this.

Furthermore, today's procession was a top-secret matter that had been decided hastily just a few days ago.

And yet, as if they had seen through the entire plan, why would they think to ruin the miracle using a gargoyle, of all things...

"I, I didn't do it... S, someone..."

It was just as he was repeating that like an idiot.

"Agh, ssi, this is driving me crazy. Why aren't you dodging?"

Someone roughly yanked Nise's hood from behind.

"Euht!"

Nise, who had been standing hunched over, was dragged helplessly by the assailant.

Perhaps because of the poison he had inhaled, he didn't even have the strength to resist.

The assailant, who had been dragging Nise with great force, finally let go of his hood with a flick only after they had reached a deserted alleyway, far from the spot where the poison had spread.

From the momentum, Nise collapsed powerlessly onto the dirty ground.

"You're making me embarrassed, why are you falling over? Are you in a lot of pain?"

A gentle voice poured down from above his head.

Nise, without even thinking to cover his face, which was identical to the Saintess's, haltingly raised his head to look at the assailant who had dragged him there.

Perhaps because of the poison slowly spreading through his body, his vision blurred.

At the edge of his flickering vision, he caught sight of someone wearing a shabby hood.

Their attire looked similar to that of the Temple's priests at a glance. Because of this, Nise reflexively poured out an excuse.

"Th, that wasn't me. It, it wasn't the monster I revived."

"That's right. It wasn't you."

His denial, which he had mustered his remaining courage for, was rendered moot by the meekly agreeing reply.

Before he could even be surprised by that, Nise's breath hitched at the next words he heard.

"I did it."

The culprit boldly confessed their crime.

Nise, who had sucked in a sharp breath, asked in a trembling voice.

"Wh, who are... a, a heretic? O, or a black mage...?"

"No."

"Th, then..."

"I'm an apothecary?"

Nise's memory ended there.

With that absurd answer, thud. His consciousness was cut off.