Chapter: 80
81. Praise the Black Saint! (7)
After babbling a bunch of nonsense and getting all the clergy worked up, I was sprinting off to Lady Rubia’s mansion, cradling poor Lucy who had collapsed.
Suddenly, an unexpected figure appeared before me.
To my surprise, I came face-to-face with the leader of the Black Fangs.
To be more precise…
“I know your secrets.”
I was confronted by a video featuring the leader of the Black Fangs.
I was trying to sneak through a less crowded passage, not wanting to draw too much attention, when suddenly a dark shimmer popped up in front of me… and as soon as I touched it, that video sprang to life.
Naturally, confusion painted my face. That looked just like my style.
Rarely did anything beat that method for spreading information.
“However, I did not speak. It was a kind of opportunity. The last chance to confess all sins and seek forgiveness.”
But naturally, the figure in the video wasn’t me. The method was similar, yet I had never made such a video.
“But you threw that opportunity away yourselves.”
And with that comment, various screens filled the video.
My mouth naturally dropped open.
If it hadn’t, that would’ve been weirder.
“This is the hideous reality you’ve been hiding. Vile acts committed in the name of God.”
Turning innocent children into divine power.
Secretly colluding with demons and conducting all sorts of experiments.
I couldn’t help but be surprised, despite having suspected the Holy Church’s corruption to some degree.
Even evil has its limits.
What I was witnessing exceeded all boundaries.
Before I could shake off that shock, the self-proclaimed leader of the Black Fangs spoke again.
“This is what was happening in the temple. And it’s the reason I delivered ‘judgment’ upon them.”
He declared himself the one to bring retribution against the Holy Church.
He claimed there was a proper punishment for those who committed such sacrilegious acts in God’s name.
And if anyone dared to taint God’s name again…
“I will willingly deliver judgment upon them.”
They would meet the same fate.
With that, the video ended.
But even after it stopped playing, I found myself standing there for quite a while, unable to move.
I understood the video’s content.
I grasped what had been happening there.
The developers of Blood and Bone.
Given their suspicious penchant for tormenting orphans, this made sense.
However, one fact utterly baffled me.
“Who the heck are these people?”
The first theory that popped into my head was that they really were the Black Fangs.
In fact, until the video ended, I thought the figure in front of me was the real leader of the Black Fangs.
Despite no spoilers or hints, this mysterious organization was shaking the Empire to its core.
I was even briefly happy at the prospect of catching their trail.
“But this doesn’t add up.”
Thinking about when the video was shot made that clear.
Those videos couldn’t possibly have been filmed before Lucy slaughtered the people in the temple.
Internal documents.
Research journals.
So much evidence.
If they had secretly infiltrated, the sheer volume of evidence would be impossible to gather without cooperation from the temple.
Unless they forced the temple to collaborate, how could they find all that and record it in the video?
“And if the video was filmed after Lucy killed everyone in the temple…”
That means the video was shot sometime within the two hours since I left the temple.
And there’s a good chance that clergy members were still there.
Things were getting a bit strange. The clergy I met earlier had acted a bit off, but still…
There was no way to underestimate their power.
From what I felt, they were at least archbishop level.
There were even a few figures that seemed like they could be cardinals.
If they combined their strength, they could surpass the Empire’s knight commander, possibly even challenge the royal guard.
Yet, with such powerful individuals gathered there, would it make sense if the Black Fangs’ leader just walked in saying, “Mind if I shoot a video?”
A fight would’ve broken out.
I don’t know who would’ve won, but they definitely wouldn’t have had the luxury to film anything.
So it was proven that the real leader of the Black Fangs wasn’t the culprit.
“…Wait a second.”
As thoughts swirled, one idea popped into my head.
If that were the case, there was only one possibility I could think of.
The clerics I met before.
The only other people who could have shot such a video were them.
But… why?
What benefit would they gain from spreading such a video?
This video would only benefit the Black Fangs.
If it spread throughout the Empire, their supporters would be multiplying in real-time.
The justice the Black Fangs had achieved.
Everyone would be rallying behind that.
And while the already-popular Black Fangs’ faith would skyrocket.
The leader, with his luck, would be thrilled and revel in the chaos.
Just by sitting back, his enemies were unwittingly helping him expand his power and build a support base.
It fits the saying “Good things happen to those destined for greatness.”
However, this was nothing but a disaster for the Holy Church.
A revolting crime.
While everyone knew the Holy Church was corrupt, this went far beyond anything imaginable.
They were bound to collapse.
There was no way they could regain their former glory.
In fact, I even questioned whether they could keep their organization afloat.
They’d likely scrap their malevolent policies, compensate the victims, and show signs of repentance.
They’d have to somehow regain trust.
But there’s no way they could fully restore that trust. That five-minute video had dealt a near-fatal blow to the Holy Church.
A perfect act of self-sabotage.
While I was flabbergasted over why they would do such a thing… an idea gradually formed in my head.
“Repentance.”
That would explain this situation.
The Holy Church is massive.
As such, corruption is undoubtedly rampant.
When people gather and organizations grow, these things naturally emerge.
And they’re never easy to eradicate.
A tangled web of interests.
Even the leaders of the organization can’t freely decide everything.
But now, in this situation, it was different.
With the justification of needing to regain trust, the Holy Church could overhaul everything.
They could fix everything that had gone wrong.
“Of course, the chance of failure is much higher.”
Maybe they even accepted that risk.
If they were truly reflecting on their sins, they would have likely thought that they shouldn’t cover up their crimes.
That’s why they chose to reveal the truth.
An incredibly shocking move.
Yet, in retrospect, it might be a natural outcome.
They must have thought they encountered God.
“A clergy member meets God, and if they feel nothing, wouldn’t that be weirder?”
At that moment, everything clicked into place for me.
How should I put it?
It was utterly ironic.
A coincidence layered on top of a coincidence.
And that unraveling along with it led to this odd situation.
It felt so meticulous, I wondered if the God of Light had orchestrated all of it.
“Well, probably not.”
The God of Light is a systematic being who grants power in proportion to faith.
Though He might bless humans for some reason, He probably wouldn’t punish them.
Back when there hadn’t been a sequel to Blood and Bone for years, and everyone in the community was in despair, the two theories we came up with were that.
Whichever it was, the possibility that He intended this situation was negligible.
“…I wonder which one was the truth?”
A natural curiosity welled up, but I swiftly brushed it aside in my mind.
This wasn’t some philosophy class.
There was no time for pondering God’s implications.
I needed to figure out what was happening with my body ASAP.
And I had to decide what to do about Lucy.
[I’ll pay this debt back one day.]
Somewhere, a faint voice whispered.
So soft it was almost impossible to comprehend.
I looked around to find where it was coming from, but all I spotted was Lady Rubia.
Way off in the distance, at the mansion’s entrance, Lady Rubia waved at me.
I had finally reached my destination.
Seeing her, it was clear she had been worried about me and waited all night.
I felt both guilty and relieved, so I hurried towards Lady Rubia.
Well, I intended to run.
But as if my wings were reacting on their own, I found myself ‘flying’ at light speed right in front of Lady Rubia.
…I heard a babbling sound.
Since there’s no way a baby would just pop up out of nowhere, it had to be coming from the lady in front of me.
She was acting all babyish, pointing her finger at me and mumbling like a toddler.
I couldn’t understand what she was babbling, but I could tell what question she wanted to ask.
If I didn’t, that would’ve been even weirder.
I hesitated for a while.
Suddenly sprouted wings.
The blood-soaked girl I picked up randomly.
Making the entire leadership of the Holy Church confess in front of the cameras as supporters of the Black Fangs.
I had no idea how to explain all that. But I knew if I delayed any longer, she was going to faint from shock.
So, I opened my mouth with whatever came to mind.
“Uh… it just happened that way.”
Of course, there was no way that explanation would fly.
I ended up carrying two fainted ladies back to the mansion.
…What a whirlwind of a day it had been.
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