BANG!
The wooden door of the shabby house was torn right off.
“Wh...... what is this!”
What is this, he asks?
“Hey, you bastard.”
“Kgh!”
“Answer carefully. Are you an apostle?”
I put strength into the hand gripping his throat. Only enough that he would not die.
“Urgh......! What...... are you talking about......!”
[Apostle. If you do that, he cannot talk, can he?]
“It’s fine.”
I was controlling my strength so he could still speak.
“Urgh......!”
“It seems you didn’t understand, so I’ll ask differently.”
The pulse in the throat I gripped was gradually fading.
“Are you an apostle of the Evil God of War?”
“......No......”
Is that so?
“Kgh!”
When I loosened my grip, the bastard fell limply to the floor.
“Let’s talk for a moment.”
“Hah......! I have no intention of talking to a ruffian!”
The young man said that, grabbed something from the floor, and threw it at me.
THUNK!
“......!”
His struggle bounced straight off the veil of blood I had spread.
“How absurd.”
Who was calling whom a ruffian?
“I think I’m better than someone trying to brainwash a little kid.”
“......Pardon?”
What do you mean, pardon?
“Brainwash?”
“Why are you pretending not to know?”
At that moment, the door to the room Kai had just entered opened.
“Kai! Don’t come out! Go back inside!”
“......”
Despite the boy trying to stop him, Kai opened the door and came outside.
“What? Brother! Where did you go?”
“......Huh?”
“I put up a barrier right now, so they can’t hear or see us anyway.”
Kai, who had been looking around like that, approached the kitchen, took out water, and drank a full glass.
“I should just go back to sleep.”
“......”
The young man was watching Kai with an expression that looked at least somewhat relieved.
“......Hey.”
“What is it?”
“I’m asking because you seem genuinely worried about the children.”
Could it be?
“Who gave you that?”
“What do you mean......?”
“The medicine. The medicine that child named Kai just ate.”
The bastard opened his lips as if to say something.
“......I don’t know!”
“Why?”
“I really don’t! He just suddenly came to us, so I don’t know the details!”
He did not know?
“......”
Indeed, I could feel nothing from him.
[Apostle. This is why I told you to take it slow.]
No way.
Did I beat up a civilian? A truly ordinary civilian?
“Let me ask a few more things. Do you know what that medicine is?”
“He only said it was medicine that could make us healthy......”
“Did you eat that too?”
“Yes......”
No matter how I looked at him, he was not an apostle of an evil god.
‘......I’ll have to write another incident report.’
How far was Karix going to fall......?
Was I beating up ordinary people now......?
[What are you going to do? It seems this child is not the one.]
The evil god was right. I had not merely gotten the wrong address. I had gotten it terribly wrong.
“Hey.”
“Yes......”
“I’m truly sorry.”
Perhaps because of my sudden change in attitude, the bastard looked bewildered.
[Apostle. What are you doing? Just kill him or dig up more information.]
What kind of bullshit is that?
“Do you still have any of that medicine you said you ate?”
“Ah...... yes.”
“Bring it here.”
“Wait a moment! You suddenly barge in and beat someone, and you think this is right? Then you suddenly apologize!”
“If you feel wronged, you can hit me too. I’ll let you.”
It was an absurd situation even as I said it.
“......It’s fine.”
“Then let’s keep going. Bring me that medicine quickly.”
As soon as I finished speaking, the boy quickly brought the medicine.
“Hmm......”
I glanced at the medicine he brought.
‘That’s right. It’s the same brainwashing drug.’
At a glance, the medicine he brought had exactly the same composition as the medicine Kai had just eaten.
‘I don’t know what kind of brainwashing it is, but......’
Well, that did not matter. There was someone who could examine it better than me.
“......Are you perhaps a holy knight?”
The bastard watched my reaction and asked carefully.
I did not particularly answer. I only nodded a few times.
“I’m sorry!”
With a loud bang, the bastard slammed his head into the floor.
“......What are you doing?”
“Please end it with my life alone. The children, the children...... they did nothing wrong.”
The young man’s forehead touched the ground, and his rear stretched up toward the sky.
“What are you saying? Why would I kill you?”
“Pardon?”
Trying to turn a perfectly normal person into a psychopath, are you?
“Listen. Did you kill someone?”
“No......?”
“Then did you kidnap someone and sell them? Or make them slaves? Ah. Or did you perhaps experiment on people? Gasp! Were you someone that evil?”
“No......”
“Then that’s fine.”
At most, it was pickpocketing. He simply had to be punished for that.
In the first place, if the Holy Kingdom were a country that killed people for mere pickpocketing, I would have staged a coup before becoming a holy knight.
“Kid. Listen carefully. Anyone can commit a sin.”
“Yes......”
“Just think first about what you did wrong. Sincerely.”
If you desire repentance, first know your sin.
“And what do you do after that? Regret it. Feel truly sorry toward the victims.”
And repent. Repentance without remorse is false, and tears that hide sin are hypocrisy.
“What else must I do?”
“For pickpocketing, there isn’t much else.”
There were more lines after that, but they did not seem particularly necessary for this kid.
“God will overlook that much too.”
The Holy Kingdom was not so strict that it would not allow even that.
[......]
But why did she look so sullen?
“It isn’t much, is it? Sin, I mean.”
It made me think of those words for the first time in a while.
“Opportunities must be?”
“......Fair.”
“You know it well. A maxim of the Holy Kingdom.”
Fair opportunities applied to those who had committed sins as well.
“The opportunity to wash away sin should be fair too.”
[What a trivial law.]
“I understand.”
The young man clenched his fists as though he had made up his mind.
“So, how do you meet that person?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know either.”
If you do not know that, then who does?
“He always comes suddenly......”
[Underground.]
“......What?”
[Underground. I feel something similar to the divine power coming from that child.]
“Hah!”
Was this why he could come suddenly?
‘They must have swallowed the entire underground.’
It was an exceedingly War-like idea.
If the moment came, they probably intended to collapse the whole city and start a war.
“Um......”
“What?”
“Could you undo that barrier now?”
“Ah. Got it.”
When I undid the barrier, the scene that appeared was a disaster.
“Mm......”
The house was a bit of a mess.
“Let’s call the mess I made of your house even with Kai stealing my money.”
“Ah......”
Mm. To forgive theft for only breaking this much.
How kind of me!
***
Still, I felt a little prick of conscience.
“Mm. Done.”
So I fixed only the door I had broken. And with the highest quality materials, at that.
After taking money from the Holy Knight Orders’ common fund, there was plenty left even after making it top-grade.
‘Children live here, so too much wind shouldn’t come in.’
The other furniture I broke? Well, we decided to call that even with the wallet he stole.
“Ah...... thank you.”
“Sure, sure.”
[Is it right for you to receive thanks when you are the one who broke it?]
The evil god looked puzzled, but in any case.
“I’m taking this medicine, all right?”
“Ah...... yes.”
I could not investigate this, but I knew someone who was good at it.
[This became easier than expected. You even found the brainwashing drug in a single day.]
I thought we had nearly caught those evil god worshiper bastards by the tail.
“By the way, do you know what connection there is between the missing cats and that person you mentioned?”
“No......”
Until I heard that answer.
[You mean that disappearance case has nothing to do with the Order?]
That made no sense.
“That disappearance case...... It was a truly dreadful matter.”
“Hmm? It wasn’t only cats and dogs that disappeared?”
“I must speak of ‘Aria,’ who was called the star cat of the town.”
......Aria? Why did the Chief God’s name come out there?
“That’s blasphemy.”
“Let’s overlook such trifles. People even curse the ruler when he isn’t present.”
Well, perhaps it did not matter.
[......Apostle. When you raise a cat later, please do not name it after me.]
Who would use an ominous name like Kalla for a cat?
“The reason that cat was a star cat is......”
“No, I mean, why is it dreadful?”
“Pardon? I am telling you right now why Aria disappearing was dreadful.”
Damn it.
“Are all the people here cat fanatics or something?”
“There are many dog fanatics too.”
For now, I would have to call that irrelevant.
“Hoo. I’m leaving for now. Ah, right. If that bastard you call that person comes and tries to take you, don’t follow him.”
“......”
Why was there no answer? That made me anxious......
“And refuse anything he tells you to do......”
As I was about to keep speaking to the bastard, the room door opened.
“Yaaawn...... Good mor......ning?”
“What is this?”
Since morning had arrived before I knew it, Kai staggered out of the room.
Then, when he saw the boy and me standing there, his eyes went wide.
“Uh, uh......!”
“Good morning, child.”
“......”
Kai went back into the room and slammed the door shut.
“I didn’t do anything wrong!”
“Hmm?”
“That brother made me pickpocket......!”
He really was crafty.
‘He sold out his own brother immediately?’
If one called it impressive, he truly was an impressive brat.
“Kai......?”
“So me and Lina......!”
“Kai. I won’t take you, this man, or your little sister away, so will you come out?”
At my words, Kai cautiously opened the door.
“Quickly.”
At last, he trembled as he slipped outside the room, then stood behind the man and peeked at me.
[Pfft! That child seems to dislike you.]
Does that look like dislike to you?
‘It’s not dislike. It’s having a conscience.’
He was facing the person he had pickpocketed. If he had a conscience, of course he would hesitate.
“Really? You really won’t do anything?”
“Right.”
“Whew......”
Kai patted his chest as though relieved.
“Then why did you come, mister?”
“He said he had something to talk about with your brother.”
The boy stroked Kai’s head.
“Ah, right.”
Now that I thought about it, there was one thing I had not asked.
“What exactly did you mean when you said that person would take you in?”
“Ah. That. We don’t really know either......”
“I know!”
Kai spoke with a bright face, full of confidence.
“He said there was a place where we could be used!”
“Used? Tell me more in detail.”
“Mm...... It’s hard to explain. But I think there’s someone above that person?”
That was absolutely an evil god.
“And?”
“What is this? Why are you so eager, mister? Anyway, he said the person at the very top needed us!”
Too vague.
It could mean human sacrifice, or it could mean increasing the number of believers itself.
‘It’s probably the latter, right?’
There were evil gods who accepted human sacrifice, and there were those who did not.
A representative example of the latter was the Evil God of War.
‘Because countless people are mobilized in war.’
Therefore, the Evil God of War was always bloodshot over increasing believers rather than receiving things like human sacrifice.
[Why does a god need things like human sacrifice or believers?]
The bastard tilted her head as if she could not understand.
[Strange......]
Why was she asking me that in the first place? I was not a god.
“Right! That person said so! He said he would give us the opportunity to become one!”
“What?”
It was not increasing believers, but human sacrifice?
“......Why?”
There were two possibilities that came to mind right now.
‘The Evil God of War has decided to accept human sacrifice.’
Astonishingly, it was a possibility I did not even want to think about, but this one would be better.
If not.
[It seems another god is attached as well.]
It meant there were two evil gods in this city.
“By the way, where is Lina?”
“She’s sleeping. She sleeps every day lately.”
At that moment, a rustling sound came from a room different from the one Kai had come out of.
“She must be awake. Lina!”
A moment later, Kai entered Lina’s room.
“Mm......”
I glanced that way.
[Hmm? There is something peculiar there.]
Indeed, as the evil god said, the child named Lina was peculiar.
‘How strange.’
It was my first time seeing someone whose uniquely human presence felt that faint.
[By the way, when are you going to leave?]
“I should go.”
There were more than one or two things to do.
‘I have to hand the medicine over to Garon too.’
I decided to slowly rise from my seat.
Naturally, as I stood, the chair with its broken backrest creaked.
“Ah.”
Perhaps because of that sound, both Kai and the boy looked at me.
“Are you leaving?”
“Yeah. I have a pile of things to do.”
“Goodbye.”
The boy bowed his head politely.
“Don’t pickpocket anymore. Kai.”
Then I flung the door open.
Perhaps it had not been fully repaired, because it felt slightly loose.
“Ah, right. That bastard you call that person. Absolutely do not follow him, all right? Just do not listen to him in the first place. Understood?”
“Haha......”
The bastard gave an awkward laugh.
BANG!
At last, the door closed. No, it was hard to say it had closed.
Because it was broken and rattling, a small gap remained open.
Through the crack of the half-closed door, the boy’s mutter leaked out.
“That’s strange.”
From the boy’s perspective, it truly was a strange thing.
“Why is he telling me not to believe something I have no choice but to believe?”
Only Kalla could hear those words.
[Hmm~? This is turning quite interesting.]
Kalla did not tell Karix what she had heard.
Because that seemed more amusing.