Chapter 11 – The Child of God (Part 6)

Soon, a dull thud was heard next to him. Turning his stiff neck, he saw the chief priest, with a shocked expression, lying on the ground, blood pouring from his neck as he stared at him. Instinctively, he slowly raised his hand and wiped his right cheek, feeling something sticky. The high priest glanced at his palm in a daze.

“Ah…”

It was laughable to think it was a mistake, as dark red blood stained his palm. It didn’t take long for him to realize it was the blood that had splattered from the chief priest’s neck.

“Ahhh!”

Overwhelmed by fear, he struggled to form coherent words. His body trembled uncontrollably, and the warm blood that had splattered on him felt like it was burning his skin.

Despite having dealt with test subjects, created monsters, and heard all sorts of screams using dark arts, he had never felt fear. Even while watching countless test subjects bleed and die before him.

Because he never saw the test subjects as living beings. By his standards, they were merely fertilizer. This was the first time someone he considered a person died before him. No, it was precisely the first time he felt fear.

“W-what is this… what is the meaning of this!”

With half of his face smeared with blood and the other half pale as a sheet, the high priest shouted in shock. His anger wasn’t because a person had died before him, but because he felt fear from someone he expected to look down upon soon, and because his space had been defiled.

‘My noble sanctuary, my sacred fortress-!’

His pure white sanctuary was being stained with red blood. The gleaming white marble floor was being covered with sticky, filthy blood, and the high priest couldn’t accept it. His fortress had to remain sacred at all times.

His crazed eyes glared at the one responsible for this, at Cherta, who held the blood-dripping sword.

“Yes, without the Holy Kingdom’s permission, even I can’t treat the high priest recklessly. Especially not in the current situation. But I can kill dozens, even hundreds of mere priests. Do you know why?”

The sword was now embedded right next to the high priest’s cheek. Cherta leaned in close.

“Because finding the Holy One is more important to the Holy Kingdom than countless priests.”

The golden eyes, burning with more anger than the high priest, whose thoughts were consumed by the defilement of his fortress, glowed fiercely as if they would devour him. The high priest realized for the first time that a person could kill with just a look.

“So you’d better not provoke me any further. Unless you want to be left alone in the temple.”

The immense pressure made it difficult to breathe. Cherta, seeing him unable to stand due to trembling legs, smiled a sharp smile and straightened up, withdrawing his sword.

Despite the clear mockery, the high priest couldn’t say a word. The bloodstained mark left behind where the sword had been embedded, like the priest’s corpse sprawled in the all-white space, felt disturbingly out of place.

“Or perhaps, next time, I might come blindfolded and mistake you, high priest, for a mere priest and kill you.”

“…”

“That would be quite amusing.”

It took several more words before the high priest opened his eyes wide and screamed desperately.

“I won’t let this go! The Imperial Family will pay for this!”

“Pay?”

But the outcome had been decided long ago. Cherta, smirking at the defeated man’s outburst, wiped the blood that had splattered onto his hand with the handkerchief Diharn handed him. He always carried the handkerchief Ria gave him, but he couldn’t stain such a noble thing with this filthy blood.

“Yes, pay! The gods will be angry!”

“Can they even be?”

“…What?”

“Is there anything in this temple worth the gods’ anger? From what I see, it seems the gods’ wrath is more likely to be directed here.”

“…!”

“And it’s a wrath that’s been building for a very long time.”

The high priest’s words were silenced again. Neither Cherta leaving the room nor Rune’s warning as he followed was visible or audible to him. Not even the scent of blood permeating the room registered.

The Crown Prince did not speak out of ignorance, nor was it an empty statement. It was a warning that they knew all of their hidden secrets.

＊ ＊ ＊

After leaving the temple, they mounted their horses and began retracing the path they had taken. No one spoke until they reached the forest near the northern border. Cherta and Rune were seething with anger, knowing that all they could do with their status and power was issue a warning, while Diharn and several Imperial Knights watched them cautiously.

When they finally reached the entrance of the forest, they saw Eden waiting for them. As soon as they dismounted and approached him, he asked directly.

“How did it go?”

“Foolishly, he made frequent slip-ups.”

The high priest had inadvertently admitted to using dark arts by referring to “filthy things that harm people.” If they hadn’t known anything, they might have missed it, but they were aware of it. It was the moment when their suspicions turned into certainty.

“We’ve given the high priest a warning, so if he has any sense, he won’t act rashly for a while.”

However, their best efforts only amounted to that. The high priest would undoubtedly not stop, so this was merely a temporary measure. Yet, there seemed to be another reason for their continued grim expressions. Eden looked at Diharn with a questioning gaze, prompting him to explain.

The mystery was quickly resolved when Diharn briefly recounted the events inside. If he had been in front of the high priest’s shameless face, he wouldn’t have been able to resist the urge to twist his neck. Especially when he dared to mention Ria. Cherta’s killing of the priest was likely an outlet for his uncontrollable anger.

“If the high priest hadn’t acted that way, the priest might not have died.”

Well, he would have eventually died by their hands anyway, so it was just a matter of timing.

“Did you find anything?”

Rune, who had been rubbing his face repeatedly, asked Eden. In fact, while Cherta and Rune were drawing attention at the temple, Eden had been moving separately to search the interior secretly. That was the main reason and purpose for their visit to the temple.

Initially, Diharn had been chosen for the task, but they thought it might be suspicious if the Crown Prince visited the temple without an escort, so Eden was the one to move. Moreover, he wanted to take action himself.

“Time was tighter than expected. I thought I had gotten quite deep, but I couldn’t find what we were looking for, so I had to go deeper. There were many locks and traps, so it was quite challenging. However.”

He paused briefly and took something out of his inner pocket.

“That is!”

Rune’s eyes widened, and his expression improved slightly compared to before.

“I found what seems to be the black liquid the Marquis mentioned. It was all over the floor of what appeared to be a laboratory, and it smelled as bad as described. Fortunately, I had brought a glass bottle just in case.”

In his hand was a transparent glass bottle containing an unknown black liquid. When he tilted the bottle, the black liquid oozed thickly in the direction of the tilt.

“That’s a relief. Was there anything else?”

“I didn’t bring anything else because I thought it would be noticed, but I found a few sheets of paper with strange writing on them in the same place as the liquid. There was also a thick stone door on the opposite side of the laboratory, but I couldn’t find a way to enter despite hearing strange sounds.”

“Could that be the core? We’ll have to discuss the papers with the Marquis. He might know something. Good work.”

Cherta nodded, tapping Eden’s shoulder, then looked around at the gathered group and gave a command.

“Once the Holy Kingdom opens, focus on gathering as much evidence as possible so the high priest has no excuse to escape with nonsense. Also, continue the search for the Holy One. Move cautiously to ensure this doesn’t leak or get noticed by anyone.”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

The voices acknowledging the command echoed through the forest.