wish (5)
An empty lot inside the academy. It was far from the main living area of the students, so it was relatively quiet and crowded with people.
The imperial knights stood guard and guarded the surroundings, and some faculty members from a distance would have bitten any students who approached.
And in the middle of such a heavily guarded vacant lot, hundreds of dwarves huddled together and looked at one side.
A dwarf saint who had the legitimate right to give orders to these many dwarves, and a human saint who stood next to such a saint.
Even among the Dwarves gathered here, even those who did not know exactly what was going on, it was a combination that had no choice but to notice that something unusual was happening.
“Are all the people here?”
“There are a few Dwarves who haven’t come yet, but they will come soon.”
“Then if they all come…”
“No, we can’t waste time in an emergency situation like this. Let’s check those gathered here first. We must be in trouble right now. We have to find the culprit.”
“…All right.”
Ronan, who received Betura’s permission, finally began to investigate the dwarves gathered in the clearing one by one with a serious face.
…
Write… It’s strange. Why not?
I pretended to be calm, closed my eyes about the dwarves in front of me, and pretended to figure out something.
It was even good to call the dwarves together with the cooperation of the saint. As it was happening inside the academy, information control was not perfect, but thanks to the desperate efforts of the academic side, those who sensed the abnormality only noticed that ‘something was happening’. Even that was good. If a demon worshiper is secretly working inside the academy, the reputation of the academy itself will be ruined immediately, but after catching the culprit, the demon worshiper hid himself, but he caught it before the damage was done! If you claim that, it will be offset to some extent.
It is only the order of reporting on the situation and the order of action that is reversed, but originally, a lot of things change just by reversing the order of the situation.
Yeah, so it’s definitely been a good flow up to this point. Now all I have to do is pick out the traitor who’s been hiding neatly…
why not!!
I opened my eyes and glanced around once more.
In fact, rather than using some special power to detect the opponent, I just look at what I can see and find out, so there is no reason to put on a show like this.
If there really was a demon worshiper hiding, they’d find out when they gathered in the clearing.
But the reason I’m doing this right now… among the gathered Dwarves, there was no one who could be called the culprit. To be honest, I was wasting time.
No, after unilaterally declaring that there is a traitor among you guys, what if there is no culprit after conducting an investigation?
It was obvious that I hadn’t seen a huge headwind blowing against me.
Even if you weren’t a full-fledged demon worshiper, I thought that there would always be a traitor.
All that was left was a handful of Dwarves who hadn’t arrived yet, but to be honest, my anxiety took over.
Most of the Dwarves who have not yet arrived here are Dwarves who have already been there, not Dwarves who have arrived with a saint who are standing guard or have assigned missions after all.
There was a traitor among them, and it was almost impossible by my standards that even if it seemed possible to others to do something with the arrival of the saint.
It’s a story that can only happen if you arrive here with me and never run into me for that long time.
No matter how careful and avoiding me there was, I would not have avoided it with the goal of not being noticed even once, assuming that I have the ability to dig out the identity of the opponent just by looking at it.
Did I misunderstand? Did he actually design it to cause me to backfire and estrange the dwarves?
My brain got complicated.
“But Saint Ronan. Honestly, I can’t help but wonder. How the hell do you find a hidden devil worshiper when you don’t seem to be doing anything special or using holy magic?”
To make matters worse, the saint who was following me asked me such a question after seeing me pass the time one by one.
Yes, other people might think it’s possible because they’re saints, but this person deserves to ask such a question. That he himself is a saint.
“Ah, that’s a question I shouldn’t be asking here. A demon worshiper in hiding might hear it and pass it on to someone.”
Couldn’t you just ask me somewhere else besides here? To be honest, I don’t know what to say. So far, it’s been solved by just selling Orion, but since the other person is the same saint, I don’t know if that will happen.
If a full-fledged story about the saint’s abilities is told, they might find out that I’m not the saint of Orion, but a fake saint.
Around the time when it seems that my already complicated mind is about to explode with another worry.
“Vetura Saint.”
The captain of the knights was approaching this direction with a firm expression on his face.
Why is the nobleman who was cracking down on the dwarves suddenly here?
“Lord Gorg. What’s going on?”
The saint also expressed doubts toward the approaching knight commander, as if he had the same doubts as mine.
“I got a call from the dwarves who were out to find the remaining dwarves and bring them back.”
At the knight commander’s words that followed, the saint’s expression hardened.
If nothing happened, it would have been enough if we all joined together, but for the knight commander to say something like that was no different than saying that something had happened.
And what will happen in this situation…
“Did they escape? What happened to those who went looking for them? Are they dead?”
I mean, that’s the only thing that comes to my mind.
Should I say it’s fortunate?
“that is…”
Oddly enough, the knight commander hesitated to speak out with a vague feeling.
What is it? Didn’t he run away after ostracizing the others?
“One was found dead.”
…huh? One dead?
At those meaningful words, both the head of the saint and me turned to the mother at the same time.
“One dead, what do you mean?”
“The Dwarf found as a corpse is a Dwarf who was included in the envoy of the saint. And… the place where the Dwarf was found as a corpse is one of the lodgings where our Knights are staying… Have you ever given an order?”
In response to the knight commander’s question, the saint shook his head and expressed his disapproval.
“Why would I bother to do something like that?”
“The dwarf living in the room where the body of the dwarf was found is currently missing. When I checked with the academy, they said he had left the academy a while ago… That time was this morning.”
Yep.
“Wait. What?”
“Unless there is a separate order from the saint, the dwarf who said he left the academy must be the culprit.”
No wait. Isn’t something strange?
Fortunately, among the dwarves, there were no traitors, let alone devil worshipers, so I was spared the worst situation that I was mistaken, but it was full of things I didn’t understand.
First of all, why did the dwarves included in the saint’s delegation go there without the saint’s order? Because the two are one? Then why the hell did one kill the other?
Even if you noticed the current situation and wrote it as an abbreviation for gimmicking, the strange thing is, it wouldn’t be a gimmick because there’s no way you wouldn’t chase after the one who disappeared after one person died anyway.
Besides, if the person presumed to be the culprit left the academy this morning, it means that I did not rush out of the academy out of a sense of crisis while talking to an unknown being here. Because the dwarf left the academy first.
Even if I left the corpse like that, even if I didn’t find out about its existence, when the corpse was discovered, a commotion would arise, and chasing the whereabouts of the missing dwarf would be a predestined procedure. summer solstice?
Even until morning, there would never have been a need to act this way.
“That…is a big deal.”
“Yes, I can’t wait any longer.”
While I was thinking about it, the dwarves also nodded their heads in a calm manner before turning their eyes to me.
“Ronan Saint. Now that things have turned out like this, I think we should change our policy now. What do you think?”
…I’m guessing these people aren’t having the same concerns as me?
Reflexively, he wanted to ask what the policy was, but as he watched the princess running from a distance with a pale face, he began to get a sense.
“What do you mean, Saint Ronan? Is there a possibility that a demon worshiper who sneaked into the academy may have fled to the city?”
Come to think of it, it doesn’t matter what the unknown being is up to now, it means that the unknown existence has flowed into the city.
I was overlooking it because I was full of thoughts of trying to catch him somehow, but the fact that he had escaped and was now somewhere in the city was a very big problem.
If you do, the second devil worshiper case will explode.
At that time, the error of the city itself, which had been negligent in management, was revealed to be involved, and the error of the church was greatly illuminated as it was revealed that the Archbishop of the Order of Orion was involved. I was able to pass peacefully while creating an atmosphere.
But this time?
A dwarven demon worshiper hides in the city due to the negligence of the academy and then harms the people of the city?
If I were an aristocrat who was hostile to the church or the imperial family, this would be such a hearty meal that I would not be able to understand where to start.
Hiding inside some semantic academy, things were worse than not knowing who it was.
The biggest problem is that you can’t handle this quietly.
Since the situation has already occurred, in order to prevent further damage even now, the escaped person must be caught as soon as possible.
And you can’t search the city without giving a reason. You can’t fool everyone like that, even if you give a reason to the people who live in the city to prevent a commotion if you tell the truth.
Furthermore, not one or two people knew that something unusual was already happening within the academy, but if that unusual atmosphere spread to the city, it was only natural that those who had doubts would come out.
“From now on, we will reveal the facts as necessary and prioritize finding the demon worshipers hiding in the city. And we will take unavoidable measures regarding the safety of the Dwarves. Do you have any disagreements?”
The princess looked at the saint and the knight commander and expressed an opinion close to that of a notification.
It was very clear that he meant to quell the situation, even if the Dwarves were to put on a stigma, and at the same time, he meant to detain you because he couldn’t trust you.
“Azalea-sama. The people here…”
“…that’s how it is.”
Before I could finish saying that there were no traitors among the people here, the saint first agreed to the princess’s words.
“Vetura-sama!”
I called the saint’s name like a scream, but the saint with a slightly tired expression shook his head and replied.
“I can understand how you feel about defending us under these circumstances.”
What nonsense are you talking about? Can I cover you up with such petty sympathy that I’m crazy? It’s an emergency. You guys should find him together!
“But now that things have gone this way, we’re in no position to stand strong no matter what the humans claim. At least two. At least two of the Dwarves here have betrayed us. Who can guarantee there won’t be more?”
I! I can guarantee you that there is no more here? Don’t think about smoking, go out and work! It’s an urgent situation.
“Azalea-sama. I guarantee it. These people are innocent.”
Instead of continuing my conversation with the saint, I changed my target to the princess, who, of course, would be in charge of this situation as well.
“Ronan Saint. It’s not that simple.”
No, it’s a simple problem?
“If you look closely, the visit schedule itself was a hasty visit in the process of completing the subjugation after the Republic requested help from the Empire when a dwarf named Petus betrayed it. It means that it was suspicious from the beginning. In the current situation, the Empire It is absolutely impossible to trust the dwarves. Even if I believe in Saint Ronan, I cannot make a decision based on that belief alone.”
Wow, I can’t come to my senses because the princess is pressuring me with the right theory. Did you usually feel like this when I was talking about the right theory?
“Even if I mobilize the dwarves based on Saint Ronan’s words and solve the situation well, Saint Ronan will inevitably face a backlash. Because it is.”
I understood roughly what the princess was saying. The saying that everything is prosperous because the result is good is a story that is commonly used only when the scale is appropriate.
In an emergency like this, instead of a prescribed manual, he acted on his own accord according to my words? Not even a claim based on rational grounds, but a claim based on my own ‘something unknown’?
As long as I don’t reveal that I can see all of that person’s personal details, the forces that oppose him are inevitable.
Even the imperial family wouldn’t know if they would cover my actions.
In fact, my actions were no different from challenging the authority of the imperial family while denying the manuals the empire had accumulated over the years.
The policy that the imperial family and the empire had taken for a long time was the separation of religion and politics, and even if they were seeking a slightly different direction by forming a cooperative relationship with me recently, it was clear that this had gone too far.
But, but that’s it.
“does not matter.”
To be honest, I’m the kind of person who thinks it doesn’t matter that much.
“If, as a result of my actions, someone curses at me and throws stones at me, it is all my responsibility.”
Anyway, the important thing is the result. As long as the result is produced, we can crush it somehow.
People who try to undermine my reputation may appear at this time, but honestly, those people are the ones who would argue with me in every case, even if it’s not this case.
If you’re going to get caught by those people anyway, it’s better to explode it loudly. As more people come to bite me, more people come to hit my shield.
There will be some problems with the image of a saint that I have never built up, but I can’t help it. In the first place, that wasn’t an image that I could take to the end.
Besides, that’s not what’s important right now.
“So Azalea-sama, please believe me. Now is not the time to doubt and argue among ourselves.”
Right now, the problem is out there somewhere. I’m a person with trembling limbs and tears at the mere thought of a demon worshiper around. Can’t we catch him first before worrying about our future?
“Saint Ronan…”
The princess sighed and started to enter the worrying phase again.
If you dragged it this far anyway, you just need to beg a little more. One or two more words…
“It’s a big deal!”
The moment I opened my mouth again to persuade the princess, this time an imperial knight ran towards me with an urgent expression.
At this timing, if you come in such a hurry and say that it’s a big deal, I have only an ominous feeling.
Maybe already?
And my anxiety became a reality.
“The Central Church, located in the heart of the city, has been attacked!”
…His acting ability is amazing.
