Chapter 61: The Wind Blows (3)

Let us into the shrine.

When I went to see Mistral, that wasn't actually my only request.

“Then you will discover that there is a traitor within the church.”

“……!”

At these words, Mistral, who had seemed at a loss for words already, looked even more shocked.

“A traitor, you say…”

His earlier composure was gone as he even pressed his wrinkled brow.

“On what grounds… do you make such a claim……?”

Naturally, I had no evidence to offer at that moment.

“If we enter the shrine, you will find out naturally.”

Therefore, Mistral naturally refused the request.

Saying he would pretend he hadn't heard what was just said, he didn't hide his displeasure and ended up sending us away as if chasing us out.

However, with this, I had planted a possibility in his mind.

That there is a traitor among you.

A possibility he could not simply ignore.

That was the goal from the very beginning.

In other words, it was fundamentally no different from breaking a suggestion.

That's how deep the trust Ethesia had built with those around her, especially the other two wings, was.

It was to the point where you could say she had practically cast a suggestion on them.

And thanks to planting this in his mind first, Mistral immediately doubled the number of guards protecting the shrine that day.

Among them, inevitably, there would be traitors from the ‘soldier’ side that Ethesia had planted in advance.

Their purpose was not to protect the shrine, but to cause a disturbance at the shrine.

Therefore, the moment they encountered us infiltrating the shrine, they would immediately enter combat without even giving a proper chance for ‘dialogue’.

So that they could throw the shrine, where the important ‘core’ was located, into chaos.

And thus, allowing Ethesia to send the forces that followed her under the pretext of protecting the shrine.

“So? What are you thinking?”

As soon as we left the temple, Ibi asked me with her arms crossed.

“You must have something on your mind to be smirking so creepily, right?”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you. You're making that face again.”

“That face?”

“That smug face with the corner of your mouth turned up like, ‘Hehe. Everything is going according to my plan.’”

Ibi, in a poor imitation of me, put on what is commonly called a wicked smile with a very exaggerated tone.

No matter how you look at it, I don't think I was that bad. ……Probably?

“Alright, how was it this time?”

Anyway, I looked at each of my companions, including Ibi, and asked.

“Your impressions of visiting a place that was only rumored to be a hotbed of corruption?”

The first to answer was Lily.

“I… to be honest, I can't possibly believe that a Grand Priest like him is corrupt. Of course, one shouldn't judge a person by their appearance alone, but…”

Lily's words trailed off, but it didn't seem like she would change her initial thoughts.

“I-I share Sister Lily's opinion. The Grand Priest seemed like a very… upright person.”

In Miki's case, he wasn't just talking about his impression.

“Every single one of his movements… had not an inch of waste. His posture, even his breathing. He was like a well-trained knight.”

Here, Miki's standard for ‘well-trained knights’ was the knights of the Irons family he had seen since he was born.

In other words, it was high praise.

“For such a person to be blinded by greed… I believe it's impossible.”

The two of them saw correctly.

“Yeah. I agree with you on that point.”

In reality, Mistral was by no means a man who would be corrupted.

He was an upright, true model of a priest.

“However, no matter how clean and upright the person at the top is, not all the priests he represents can be clean.”

“Th-Then, what you said about a traitor in the church… was it true…?”

“There is one for sure.”

At Lily's cautious question, I nodded and answered immediately.

“How do you know that?”

“If Mistral isn't lying, it means someone is deliberately making people's complaints focus on the priests.”

And that was because they knew Mistral was the type of person who would choose ‘prayer’ before an active ‘response’ to such rumors.

“In that case, wouldn't a catalyst be needed to eventually detonate that built-up resentment?”

For example, by openly harming a citizen while wearing a priest's robe.

“A catalyst…… Don't tell me, you mean they'll give people a reason to attack the priests?”

To Lily, who was horrified at understanding my meaning, I nodded again.

The citizens had started to literally ‘lay their hands’ on the priests.

As we actually saw in the square today.

Next time, it wouldn't end with just grabbing them by the collar.

“So in a case like this, it might be hard to say Mistral is innocent, even if he is clean.”

In any case, he bore a certain degree of responsibility.

He said they were clergymen, not politicians, but as one of the wings who had stepped into the political arena, he should have at least acted as a politician to that extent.

But he showed an indifferent attitude towards politics, saying their job was only to offer prayers to God.

That's why he failed to keep the other wing, Ethesia, in check at all.

“Indifference is also a form of abetting, after all.”

Like Khamsin, who was so infatuated with her that he gullibly accepted whatever she said without a second thought.

The balance of the windmill had long been thrown off.

“Well, but still, there are some aspects where he's being wronged. At least he himself isn't corrupt.”

So, regarding that part, let's give him a chance to correct his own mistake.

* * *

Hit simultaneously by my 「Vicious Mockery」, which was cast in a ‘charmed’ state, and Rine's 「Lightning Bolt」, which was shot in a ‘wet’ state, Ethesia's subordinate died instantly.

Although he was a boss, he was of a lower difficulty than the bosses we had met so far.

In the first place, his appearance itself felt like a kind of reward for achieving the goal of reaching this room without a fight.

And now it was time to collect the real reward.

“You people……!”

Sure enough, the closed door opened and Mistral appeared right on time.

“You've arrived just in time, Mr. Mistral.”

Putting my mask back on, I greeted him with a nonchalant smile.

After our visit, in preparation for any intruders in the shrine, he would not only have increased the shrine's security but also have prepared himself to come to the shrine at any time.

Thanks to that, he was able to get here very quickly like now.

He must have used a 「Teleport Scroll」 as soon as he heard the report from the priest who went to confirm the truth of my [Deception].

“This is…”

He looked down at the 「Priests(?)」 scattered on the floor and soon shouted in fury.

“What in the world have you done! How dare you harm the priests…!”

At the same time, the other priests who followed him took a combat stance, but I responded leisurely with a gesture to calm down.

“They are not priests. Look carefully.”

“…What?”

At my words, Mistral approached one of the fallen 「Priests(?)」 and pulled back the hood.

“This person is…!”

And seeing the face of the half-elf that was revealed, he showed the reaction I had expected.

The priests who had been guarding the front of this door with them until just a moment ago, however, seemed to have no clue why Mistral was reacting that way.

“What is it, Grand Priest?”

“……This person, is a soldier.”

“Pardon?”

Mistral, leaving the bewildered priests behind, pulled back the hood of another 「Priest(?)」, and upon seeing the face of the old human male that was revealed──the face of a ‘soldier’ he remembered, he pressed his brow.

“Wh-What in the world is…”

“These are the priests who have guarded this place with us for several years……?”

Not in the past.

“These were soldiers who once went into battle with me… in the past.”

“Pardon?!”

Yes.

In ‘The One Wing's Rebellion’.

At that time, although she belonged to the knighthood which was the main body of the rebellion, the one who disobeyed the orders of her superiors and sided with the citizens and priests as the captain of the city guard to successfully suppress that rebellion was none other than Ethesia.

Thanks to that, Ethesia was hailed as a hero by the people of Daian and instantly became a representative of the military.

Thus, she dismantled the knighthood and created the current military establishment.

As a result, she was able to become one of the three wings not long after.

Normally, this was information that players could only obtain by investigating the history of Daian after getting a hint that a similar incident where the balance of the three wings was broken had happened in the past while digging into the truth of the case, but not me.

“Ethesia… what in the world have you done……?”

And not for Mistral either.

“I told you that you would find out naturally if we came into the shrine, didn't I?”

Since it was the shrine where the ‘core’ was located, of all places, Ethesia would have had no choice but to send her trusted subordinates.

That's why she sent those who had been with her for a long time.

Long enough for Mistral to recognize their faces.

“…Ally of Stout.”

Mistral, who finally realized that my words that day were right, couldn't lift his head as if ashamed and asked me.

“About this matter… could you perhaps explain it in more detail?”

“A detailed explanation would be better coming from this friend than from me.”

To that, I replied, slowly raising my hand.

At that moment, the 「Medium's Ring」 began to glow as if a small flame had bloomed.

『──Answer the call, oh deceased.』

「Spirit Talk」.

Responding to the magic I cast.

Before long, a ‘spirit’ in the form of 「Ethesia's subordinate」 slowly rose above the corpse, which was burnt black and smoking from the 「Lightning Bolt」 to the point of being unrecognizable.

With a visual like a blurry projection, the kind you would typically imagine when you think of a ghost.

“──Hic.”

As soon as Ibi saw it, she flinched in surprise and quickly came to hide behind my back.

“Are you that scared?”

“Wh-What nonsense are you talking about…? I'm not some kid, you think I'd be scared of a ghost…?!”

Her words had no persuasive power when she was gripping my shoulder tighter as if she wouldn't let go with her trembling hand.

“Should I hug you if you're really scared? ──Ah, wait. Don't pull my hair. Ouch. I'm sorry. It's my fault.”

I turned my gaze back to the spirit in front of me.

Actually, 「Spirit Talk」 was far from an omnipotent skill that could provide answers to everything.

That's because not all spirits speak only the truth.

In the end, what a spirit could say was only within the scope of what it ‘knew’.

In other words, even if the spirit says what it believes to be the ‘truth’, there are cases where it's not the real truth.

In fact, there are quite a few.

For example, if you ask a spirit who believes the earth is flat, ‘Is the earth round?’, the only answer you'll get back is, ‘The earth is flat… you f*cking idiot…’.

Well, but at least this case was not one of those.

『…….』

This guy actually knew the ‘truth’.

『I will say… nothing….』

Also, there were times when you couldn't get the desired answer because they refused to speak at all, like now.

“Now that I've awakened you, you can never go to the Netherworld until you answer my questions.”

Of course, likewise, this was not one of those cases this time.

“So if you want to be trapped in this room for tens of thousands of years, unable to pass on and going mad, then go right ahead.”

--

[Intimidation]

Difficulty 15

--

“You'll wish I'd just kill you. Unfortunately for you, you're already dead, so no one can kill you.”

『You… demon….』

Well, being the vessel of the Demon King, that wasn't entirely wrong.

“Or, you can obediently answer and go to the Netherworld to reclaim your new life, no, your spirit life.”

--

Success

--

He would end up saying everything.

『D… amn….』

Because whether it's the truth or not, once a dead person opens their mouth, they absolutely cannot lie.

“──Then, I ask.”