CHAPTER 54: SILAS’S LAB!

Rin’s eyes widened.

’Should I? Did this brat of a priest just ask that question? Are priests supposed to kill?’ he thought to himself and later stared at the priest, whose face was so close to his.

He stepped back and shook his head.

"No... no! Please don’t. I just want to leave."

Ezra nodded slowly.

"I see..."

"Yeah... So... Bye-bye!"

Rin turned to walk away, but Ezra’s voice stopped him.

"But... Who will handle all of these if you go?"

Rin frowned.

"Isn’t that your job? You’re the priest here."

"I’m off duty."

"Are you kidding me?! Do priests work part-time?"

"Deal with your mess," he said. Rin frowned, folding his arms. He didn’t want to do it and he knew he wouldn’t. Never!

.

.

Minutes later, Rin found himself grunting and groaning as he pushed a heavy wooden cart down the stone road... loaded with seven unconscious alpha bodies.

Ezra walked beside him without lifting a single finger.

"Aren’t you going to help?" He asked.

"No," he responded without sparing a glance. "My robe would get stained,"

"Fuck! This is harder than training with Lucien," Rin muttered, sweat dripping from his brow. "That bastard at least helps when I fall on my ass."

Ezra didn’t even blink.

"You seem capable enough."

Rin let out a dramatic groan.

"Are all priests like this?"

"What do you mean?" Ezra finally turned to look at Rin.

"I mean, are all priests as mean as you are?"

Ezra stopped right in front of Rin, letting the cart halt with Rin’s steps.

"Mean?" The priest’s voice came out cold. "If I were mean, I’d have stood and watched those seven alphas insert their fist into your ass instead of helping you knock them out. Still, you call me mean. How ungrateful! Tell me, Rin Elric... Am I mean?"

"No! You’re the nicest and holiest person I’ve ever met," Rin nodded his head like he believed what he was saying.

"Say that a thousand times, no one would believe your words," he turned around and kept walking. Rin felt his heart pounding in his chest. He thought he was going to die for a second, hearing the priest’s cold voice. He grabbed the cart and pushed without complaining.

Eventually, they reached the academy gates. Security guards scrambled out when they saw the pile of bodies.

"Seven? At once?" one guard asked in awe. "What happened?"

Rin collapsed onto a bench near the entrance, tossing his cloak off and wiping his forehead.

Ezra stood nearby, hands behind his back, still perfectly clean. He looked like a noble prince who had come to grace the people with his presence.

Rin glared at him.

"I know you weren’t going to help but why were you following me, anyway?"

"Me? Following you? I wasn’t."

Rin blinked.

"Seriously?"

Ezra’s expression remained calm.

"The road to the temple and the academy intersects. I happened to be nearby. Also, I wanted to make sure they didn’t wake up and rip you apart again."

Rin blinked again.

"I see...That’s surprisingly thoughtful of our nice and holy priest,"

Ezra said nothing in response, just staring at Rin.

Rin stared back at him, studying him silently. He could tell that Ezra’s aura was unreadable. His face was calm and at the same time, cold. But his eyes... There was something sharp in them. Frustration?

’Why is he frustrated? Did I do something bad to him? Is he still angry I called him mean?’

"You keep staring," Rin said warily. "Did I do something wrong?"

Ezra looked away.

"That’s because I still can’t read you."

"...What?"

"I can read every soul’s past and future. But you... I can’t see anything. It’s blank."

"That’s because I’m not an interesting person. There’s totally nothing worth reading in my past and future," Rin deadpanned.

Ezra’s gaze sharpened.

"No. Maybe you’re dangerous."

Rin frowned.

"I’m just a guy trying to survive a stupid world. There’s nothing dangerous about me. Have you seen me? I’m cute!"

Ezra turned to leave, but paused.

"I have somewhere important to be. You shouldn’t miss the temple sermon this Sunday. I can’t wait to bless you with all of my holy magic,"

Rin opened his mouth to say he wasn’t going...but Ezra was already gone.

"I really shouldn’t go back to that temple. What if I burn to ash like those demons in anime?" He bit his fingers.

Avoiding the temple would make everything even more suspicious.

"I’d better think of a plan,"

.

Later that evening, Rin returned to the Duke’s mansion, mind still whirling about Ezra and the temple.

But he remembered something... he hadn’t seen Silas. The nurses told him that Silas was worried about him when he was sick. It would be nice to go over and tell him a little ’thank you’.

He made his way to the second staff dorm and headed straight to Silas’s room. He stood in front of the door, knocking softly.

There was no answer. He knocked again.

"It’s evening. There’s no way he would be teaching the students,"

The next door creaked open as a head peeked out.

"He’s not inside. When he’s on his rut, he isolates himself. Why don’t you check his underground lab."

"...Thanks."

Rin left the dorm building and went to the school library where his secret lab was located.

Well, it shouldn’t be called a secretlab if everyone knew where it was. Just that, everyone avoids his lab like a plague.

"I mean, it’s not that bad, right? Are they scared of his chemicals and other science stuff?" He rolled his eyes.

He followed the long hallway down to a hidden staircase behind the double shelf. He’d passed it before, thinking it was just an old library.

But when he opened the first door, a foul smell of blood hit him like a punch to the face.

Rin paused, covering his nose. His instincts screamed at him to run but he slowly crept closer, walking down the stairs.

’Is this his lab? What’s that awful smell?’

Down the stairs, behind the second door, voices echoed ahead.

It was faint at first but as he got closer to the door, it got clearer.

One of them was so familiar.

"Specimen 12 still retains demonic tissue structure. But if we fuse it with..."

Another voice, cool and resonant.

"You’ll need to prepare for better shielding. The last one bled out too fast. If this fails, we’ll need to find more demons,"

Rin’s heart stopped. He knew that second voice.

Ezra. The priest.

’What do they mean by... ’find more demons’?’

He peeked around the edge of the door that was half open.

Silas stood in the centre of the lab, his sleeves rolled up, fingers slick with blood. A dismembered body lay across a metal table... its insides glowing faintly.

And standing beside him... in full priest robes was really Ezra.

"...Half-demons can’t survive without a core anchor," Ezra murmured. "But this one might be different. If we transplant the seed..."

Rin gasped when he heard the word ’Half-demons’

It was so loud that it echoed through the empty hallway

Both heads turned toward the door.

Silas blinked and Ezra narrowed his eyes.

"Someone’s out there..."