I Became a Childhood Friend With the Villainous Saintess

196 – Dark Clouds (2)

Squeak- thud.

As soon as the rusty iron door opened, humid air greeted me.

The musty smell of the basement. Mold lurked in the darkness between the unmaintained stone walls.

My face furrowed at the rising smell.

The place I visited this time was the dungeon of the imperial palace.

Of course, I wasn’t particularly drawn to it.

The guard recognizes me and is waiting outside the door, while Sirien has gone to the Imperial Library.

I only came to visit once because tomorrow was Achleon’s execution day.

I don’t have any particular expectations, but I feel a bit uneasy about killing it without any harvest.

As he was an important prisoner, his prison was located in the deepest part of the underground.

As soon as I opened the double- and triple-layered door, a terrible smell of blood hit my nose.

“This is a terrible sight.”

“I heard the sound of footsteps and thought it was unlikely, but you are an unexpected guest. I thought you would never come back.”

“I heard you never spoke about the Crown Prince during the interrogation. I wondered if you had any sense of duty left in you, but I was curious.”

“Loyalty… … There’s no particular reason for that. My life is going to end anyway. I just didn’t want to be a plaything in the dirty politics until the end.”

Achilles smiled bitterly.

The saint in the prison stood as if hanging with his arms tightly bound in chains.

Both eyes are already blind, just like what he did to Sirien in the original.

He didn’t even wipe the blood from his face, so it looked like he was shedding tears of blood.

Traces of severe torture were visible all over his body, giving an idea of ​​his suffering.

But it seemed like his mind was clearer than when I saw him at the altar.

At that time, this person was so out of his mind that communication was impossible.

“I heard there was a heretic inquisitor among the torturers. Is it a tradition in the Pantheon to touch each other’s eyes?”

“It’s not a tradition. It’s just one of the measures to prevent the use of divine power. If you can’t see ahead, you can’t decide who to use the sacred law on. And it’s easy to neutralize.”

“I know. But I know there are many other ways.”

“I guess she made sure that I wouldn’t be able to recover even if it was just one. Once you damage your eyes, you can’t fix them. Well, I think Isabelle Lobelia’s selfishness was probably mixed in there too. Since it was the method I usually used, she probably wanted to return it to me in the same way.”

It is such a ridiculous fact that the Saint of Faith hates the Saint of Order.

I thought it might be because the faith is such an exclusive denomination, but it seems like something happened between the two.

Well, I don’t really intend to dig that far.

Lisia was beheaded yesterday and hung on the city gate.

Unfortunately, I got nothing out of her.

No matter how much he was interrogated about what ulterior motives Gamigin had and whether he had any hidden intentions when he came to the capital before, he would not open his mouth.

Because Gamigin was her master and lover at the same time.

Even if you had hired the most excellent advisor, you wouldn’t have been able to get an answer.

What’s surprising is that Achleon didn’t say anything that would be detrimental to us or the Crown Prince.

I let him go because I was confident I could silence him no matter what he said… … But I didn’t know he would be this obedient.

“It may be funny to say this now, but I didn’t have any particularly bad intentions. I didn’t intend to become such a villain.”

“It’s certainly a bit funny. I don’t think that’s something someone who hides demons in the temple should say.”

“I knew it wasn’t a good idea. But to a priest like me, the word of God is absolute. It’s far above man-made rules, concepts, and my personal values.”

“So you endured it because it was the word of God?”

“Yes. Isn’t that the same for you too? If the Grand Duke of Illencia had given the same order, I don’t think you would disobey.”

Oh, but these are real.

As I listened quietly, a heat rose in my head.

I had no intention of hiding my current discomfort.

I pulled the weight attached to the end of the chain.

Achilles’ body was dragged along, groaning in pain.

“Since last time, the Crown Prince has been like that too. Why do you keep bringing up Sirien in front of me? You don’t know anything about us.”

“Ugh!”

“Listen carefully. It’s true that I follow whatever Sirien says. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the laws of the Empire or not. But Sirien doesn’t give me such bullshit orders in the first place. What you just said was an insult to me and Sirien.”

“… … I see. I’m sorry. I made a slip of the tongue.”

It’s a question that has no meaning in the first place.

It’s something that hasn’t happened anyway, and it’s better if it doesn’t happen in the future.

His question was simply rude, nothing more, nothing less.

I slowly released the chain again.

“If you say something like that again, I won’t end it nicely. We haven’t touched your sect properly yet. At the very least, we can make sure that Temes’ name will never be heard again in the Empire.”

It was just something said in the heat of the moment.

It was just a warning to you not to trip up Sirien in front of me again, for you had more to lose than your life.

Acleron was the only enemy this time. I still had no regrets about the faith in order itself.

Even if he made more mistakes, it would not actually harm the Order of Temes.

The problem was Achilles’ reaction.

His answer was something I could never have imagined.

“Yes. That might be better.”

“what?”

“I mean it literally. The Order of Order might as well not exist in the Empire any more.”

It’s hard to believe that these words came from the mouth of a saint of order.

Moreover, he was a fanatic who did not even doubt the words of Temes.

For a moment, I doubted my ears.

Since you’re finished anyway, you don’t care about the church or anything?

It wasn’t that kind of self-abandoning feeling.

There was pain in Achleon’s voice, as if he was saying something he didn’t want to say.

It’s the pain of breaking and destroying everything that has been built up so far.

“I thought about it a lot. I don’t want to believe what I want to believe, but what if the words of the lord are true? What if what I’ve been hearing all this time isn’t the voice of Temes, but someone holding the holy relic of Temes? That’s the assumption.”

“From what we saw, that side seems the most likely.”

“Yes. Unfortunately, there are many parts that match. That’s why I’m telling you. The order I received was to move the crown prince and overthrow the Grand Duke of Illencia. Do you know what this means?”

“I guess that means we’re being targeted. And… …it also means that we’re quite well-versed in imperial politics.”

The weakness of the Illencia Grand Duchy is the imperial family.

Due to the structure of power, Sirien was forced to make extreme choices if the royal family turned against her.

But there are not many people in the entire empire who know about this situation.

Because most people think of Illencia as the highest noble family in the empire.

There is no way to know how that power is maintained, and there is no reason to know.

So, the choice to ‘attack the crown prince in order to attack Illencia’ was a very exquisite decision.

All the more so if Baal is more wary of Hybras than of the Empire.

“That’s correct. Then have you thought about it this way? I didn’t make that kind of political judgment. Rather, I thought that God already knew everything and chose the wisest way. Even I, wouldn’t you think it’s strange for a god to ask his followers for answers?”

“Surely Baal has other sources of information?”

“I don’t know. Was there even a need for an informant in the first place? Even when I ordered Licia to be followed, she didn’t contact anyone in particular.”

Things have become very annoying.

If Acleron’s words were true, it meant that Baal would still have a way to find out what was going on within the empire.

Maybe Baal will come much sooner than we expect.

And it might move aggressively.

The results could be quite fatal.

“I am also a human being. As a result, I ended up like this, but I was not born a villain like the one depicted in the picture. I also feel guilty about my mistakes.”

Arleon bowed his head.

His eyes were not directly focused on me since he had been blind for a while, but it was an apology to me anyway.

Instead of giving a specific answer, I just listened to his reply quietly.

“So dare I say, if there are any Order believers among your inner circle, cast them out immediately. Our cult is different from others. We can ‘force’ our followers. If Baal ever decides that I am no longer needed… … the cult will be reduced to useful expendable material.”

The divinity of Temes is order. Its reverse is oppression.

The believers of order cannot refuse orders from above.

Even if that order is unjust.

The relics of Temes were still with Baal.