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〈 Chapter 25 〉 Mask
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Man. Woman. Leash.
Unlike modern folks who might just giggle a bit at those three words, for those living in a world where buying and selling human beings is an underground culture, tying a rope around someone’s neck can carry a heavy, profound weight depending on the situation.
The heartbreaking tale of a lover sent to battle only to become a prisoner of the enemy and fall into slavery is a tired cliché that second-rate authors can’t seem to let go of, serving as a well-suited spice to enhance the drama.
Thus.
”This is abduction!”
Seeing an old comrade being dragged away with a leash around their neck, Dawna, the group’s top reader and deeply knowledgeable about the various cultures of the system, couldn’t help but scream in a flurry of panic.
”I’ve heard recently that high priests and sisters from the Vatican have discreetly procured sexual slaves for a bit of sexual fun! Surely, they’re being forced into service due to some scandal or leverage being held over them!”
Her logic was filled with leaps of imagination as her head boiled over.
However.
The only person to refute Dawna’s outrageous speculation was, unfortunately, only Apis, who had a grudge against her at that moment.
”You can’t conclude that just yet! And besides, why would a crazy woman want to have an old guy who’s way past his prime! Just calm down! Think before you speak!”
”Calm down? How can I calm down when our comrade might be forced into slavery! Apis! I know you’re a merciless elf, but I didn’t expect it to be this severe! What a disappointment!”
”What the hell!? Do you think everything that comes out of your mouth is true!?”
Though Apis tried to maintain her composure, she was just as bewildered.
She had heard the recent trend among humans that the doctrine requiring priests to maintain premarital chastity was a relic of an archaic time.
The rumor that a young priest named Robel Wright had announced marriages to as many as 17 fiancées had hit the nail on the head, indicating that the idea of priests being pure was now dismissed as ancient superstition among humans.
Apis was battling with an endless surge of ominous doubts, as if water was filling a leaking boat, and couldn’t claim to be completely free from it.
Yet, she still had to maintain her façade of calmness, which was at least half-assed compared to her usual self.
”Hero! What do you think?”
”Y-you idiot! Don’t talk to the Hero right now!”
”Let’s hear it! Apis! I just want the Hero’s thoughts on this situation…”
Clang!
At that moment, Dawna couldn’t finish her sentence, shocked by the brutal sight unfolding before her.
”Hoo… Hoo…”
With the determination of a volcano ready to spew lava, the Hero, who hardly raised his weapon unless required, was now drawing his sword majestically, as if trying to control the ferocious feelings within through his breath.
Breathing in and out had become an act to be approached with caution, driven by instinct rather than reason.
”Y-You’re… Hero…”
”Hero… Calm down. Just put the sword down…”
The ominous atmosphere radiating from the Hero was so thick it was like a tangible fog that overwhelmed Dawna and Apis, who had fought alongside him through countless trials, revealing a side of him they had never seen before.
No, it would be more fitting to say they couldn’t even begin to imagine it.
The Hero, who always smiled brightly and spread good vibes, was a gentle soul who never hated anyone and never earned resentment.
This was precisely the nature of the Hero they had experienced through all their time together.
”Ugh! So, s-sorry!”
In disbelief of his own actions for unsheathing his sword, the Hero hastily shoved it back into its sheath, repeatedly apologizing in a fluster.
With his awkward gestures and familiar tone, both Apis and Dawna sighed in relief, reassured that the being before them was indeed the Hero they knew after a deep breath they had been holding.
‘D-did we misjudge?’
It was a moment of monumental agreement between Apis and Dawna, their thoughts aligned without a hint of discrepancy.
◈◈◈
”Could you please remove that mask?”
They certainly hadn’t misjudged.
Caught in an eerie déjà vu, Apis swallowed hard to regain her composure, while Dawna, who had unconsciously pulled the figure closer with one arm, felt similarly.
”There was an odor. It was the scent of the Priest. Although it was slightly different from what I previously recognized and got muddled with a strong perfume smell midway, I can affirm that the Priest was with the Sister, even if just for a moment.”
It was a firm and calm statement.
The Hero, who believed he should always reassure those around him with a bright and cheerful demeanor, was outright denying that principle with such speech, yet no one there could excuse such irrational behavior.
”Hey, Hero. Just calm down…”
But at that moment, Apis grabbed the Hero’s shoulder.
Originally, she planned to send the Hero alone to retrieve the missing party member.
After witnessing their lost comrade dragged away with a leash by some nun, she immediately revised her strategy to combine their strength and find him quickly, preparing for such a moment.
Since they witnessed their party member, presumed lost, being treated like a possession by a nun, it was evident the Hero’s mood was not right.
Though it shouldn’t be so, Apis thought that if the Hero were to make a wrong move, they needed as many hands as possible to restrain him.
And that intuition proved to be quite accurate.
Apis. Dawna. Bigtim.
The only realistic way to restrain the Hero now was for this trio to unite and fight with all their might.
”I’m fine! Apis! You don’t have to worry! I am completely collected right now!”
”Y-yeah…”
While the Hero smiled softly in response to Apis’s concerns, she couldn’t shake the eerie feeling that something was amiss about that smile.
”We’re currently looking for some shameless character who has been treating our old comrade as an object!”
As the Hero spoke clearly, the temperature in the room seemed to drop, and the Sister sitting across from the Hero was gradually becoming stiff, much like a glass window accumulating ice.
Clenched fists. A gaze slowly dropping downward. Quickening breath.
It was as if they were witnessing a criminal condemned for their heinous acts.
”That person is about a head taller than me! Sky-blue hair! Looks to be in their early twenties! Quite a cold-looking Sister!”
”····”
Thump-thump.
In the tense silence that filled the room, someone’s heartbeat echoed like a terrible concert.
”I am not specifically suspecting the Sister! It’s wrong to accuse others without proper evidence! But! The scent of my old comrade is unmistakably coming from the Holy Maiden! So I must ask you to remove that mask to prove your innocence!”
”T-that… would be fair…”
”Ah! Just to clarify, this isn’t a request—it’s a warning!”
With trembling lips, the Sister struggled to respond, and the Hero’s innocent smile delivered the final blow.
But those positioned near the Hero could feel the unnamable impulse boiling up from within her as she managed to get her words out.
”Fine… If that’s the case, I have no choice… If unmasking myself can prove my innocence…”
”Thank you for your cooperation!”
Clack.
As the Sister slowly brought her trembling hands toward her face, Apis and Dawna exchanged confused glances.
‘What? Is she really going to take it off? I thought she’d beg for forgiveness, or try to put on a show. Is she giving up? Or was she really innocent?’
‘From my perspective, it doesn’t seem like the Hero’s instincts are wrong. But to act so confidently like that in the face of his overwhelming pressure makes me suspicious.’
As the Sister finally removed her mask, exposing her face, the expressions of awe and horror swept through the room, freezing the air instantly.
The face of their sought-after culprit was utterly absent beyond the mask.
To be more precise, there wasn’t a single recognizable feature on her face above the horrific burn marks; it was more accurate to say none of the recognizable parts of a human were visible.
The only thing discernible, gazing vacantly while observing them closely, were her strangely colored eyes, which glistened with an unsettling spark.
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