CH 193

Chapter 193

I let out a sigh when I walked into my room.

“I told you that we should pretend that everything’s normal, but that didn’t mean I wanted you to stick to me like a bitch in heat.”

“Bi-bitch in heat? Y-you… There really isn’t anything you can’t throw at your seniors head, huh?”

If we entered the room with serious expressions on for no reason, we would draw suspicion, so I had told Olivia to just act casually as if she was just going to hang out in her junior’s room, but she was acting way too casual.

I meant for her to just act casually, not to let out those kinds of comments. Anyway, we couldn’t just go to my room with firm expressions on our faces. Others would think what we were about to do was something serious otherwise.

Let’s just pretend that we’re doing pervy things! It would be better to be seen as a pervert than a demon god’s apostle!

I closed the door and drew the curtains.

“…”

I brought my female senior into my room, locked the door, and drew the curtains.

Anyone who saw that would think something like, “How impure!” Olivia Lanze also wasn’t able to meet my gaze and slightly patted her cheeks.

“Ha, haha… I-I’m feeling a little… nervous…”

That girl…

At that moment, she genuinely felt nervous.

It became totally clear to me that her usual mannerisms and flirting were purely just jokes.

When the atmosphere between us had become a little weird as if it was the real deal, she got cold feet.

Yeah, that girl, no matter how old she was, she still was someone who had never dated a man, let alone had any experience with them, as she had been busy serving Towan.

Seeing her clenching her fists like that, her hands seemed to sweat profusely.

“He-hey. You know. I’m actually pretty good at fighting… Erm, how should I put it? I’m not like that, okay?… So, uhm, be prepared.”

“What the hell are you talking about?!”

“A-anyway! Th-th-that’s right…”

It felt like she thought that I was trying to do something weird to her and—because she felt so scared—she told me something like, “If you dare do anything weird to me, be prepared to get hurt!”

I just pretended that I would do something, but I didn’t even do anything yet, just how scared did she actually get? Did she just treat me as a little kid, and not a man, after all? However, when things ended up like that, she started imagining things and got scared, was that it?

Did she realize just then that I was a man as well?

Just what was with her? Was that cold sweat I saw on her forehead?

I carefully opened the locked drawer and took out its contents because I thought the atmosphere between us would only become even worse if things kept going like that.

“This is…”

“Yes.”

Superficially, it just looked like a sword with no special features, making one wonder if it was just some old sword.

Although it had been mistaken as the Holy Sword of a demon god, I assumed it to be the Holy Sword Tiamata, a corrupted Relic. Olivia was looking at me holding the sword with a grim expression on her face.

“You said that the sword can control the minds of people…”

“It didn’t do anything to me in my case because it seems like I’m inherently resistant to these kinds of curses…”

“Hmm… Will I be alright, then? I’ve always been quite resistant to mental attacks—I’ve learned that from my magic resistance measurements.”

Fortunately, Olivia Lanze knew of her high mental magic and mental attack resistance, so Reviere Lanze must have known that, even if he tried to brainwash her, he wouldn’t have been able to control her like that.

That was why he tried to break Olivia Lanze’s will after all that torture. However, in the end, her will was just as strong as her mental magic resistance, so without doing anything, she turned out to be a nuisance to him.

“Could I try holding it?”

“…Just be careful.”

“Yes, I’ll be fine.”

Although I knew that she would be safe, I still ended up saying that.

I pointed to the sword’s hilt towards her, holding the blade in my hand. I knew I’d be fine, but Olivia Lanze wasn’t actually sure that she would be.

Still, she didn’t seem to hesitate.

The nervous-looking Olivia Lanze cautiously grabbed the corrupted Tiamata’s hilt.

I wasn’t sure if the ownership over the sword would be transferred like that or not. However, Tiamata didn’t seem to react when OIivia Lanze grabbed it, just like when I first held it.

“Hmm… I definitely… get what you mean. I feel something very powerful, a kind of manipulation attempt.”

I hadn’t felt anything, but it seemed like Olivia Lanze sensed that the corrupted Tiamata was trying to do something but failed.

“This might be the Holy Sword Tiamata…?”

“Yes.”

“Except for you, I’m the first person to touch this sword, right?”

“Probably.”

It was a cursed item, so it had to have been handled quite carefully. After all, I had firmly warned them that the sword could control the minds of others.

With the exception of me, Olivia Lanze was the first person to hold the sword safely.

“It’s strange.”

Olivia Lanze had a blank look in her eyes as she was looking down at the corrupted Tiamata.

“This kind of power is completely different. I have ever felt something so evil and ominous before…”

Then she smiled sadly as she held the sword.

“And yet, it’s such a very, very familiar force.”

The power shared the same source, after all.

Olivia Lanze seemed capable of feeling it slightly. I had no idea what divine power actually was, but Olivia Lanze had lived her whole life honing it.

She could feel the sword’s power itself more clearly than the other priests because she was touching it directly.

Therefore, Olivia Lanze, who could use divine power on par with a high-ranking priest, immediately realized it just by holding the sword.

“Towan’s powers were more geared towards determination rather than purity.”

“Determination?”

“Yes.”

Olivia was silently looking down at the sword.

“Rejection and annihilation of all unclean things. Disgust and hatred for all beings who go against providence. They have no tolerance for the existence of such things—that’s why it’s closer to determination than purity.”

Just the mere existence of such things wasn’t allowed. It was a level of determination that made one shiver… Such was the doctrine of Towan.

“Tiamata is supposed to be a symbol of that will.”

—The will to not forgive those who go against providence, but annihilate them. Determination close to Loathing—that was Towan’s doctrine.

“But… This sword is the exact opposite.”

“…What do you mean by, ‘the exact opposite’?”

“It holds utter loathing for all living things and providence, and possesses the will to overturn this world’s providence… That’s what I mean…”

Olivia Lanze was feeling the sword.

“It’s a different kind of… determination.”

Tiamata as the Guardian of the Providence… It was a symbol of determination against those who had gone against providence.

The corrupted Tiamata… It was a symbol of Loathing against providence itself and it was obsession as well as determination to completely deny it.

“…They hold very different powers, but ultimately, they hold the same ‘will’.”

“…You mean it holds determination for opposing values?”

“Yes.”

Olivia Lanze seemed to have realized something.

“Although it holds powers so far removed from Towan, it’s fundamentally just too similar.”

It was just too similar to the determination that symbolized Towan’s powers. Therefore, Olivia, familiar with its power, couldn’t help but feel the corrupted Tiamata’s similarities as well as vast differences to Towan.

“Of course, there is still a possibility that this is a Relic of Kier, the god of corruption. However, if it really was Kier’s Relic… then their powers are weirdly similar to Towan’s. The way the power is expressed is the total opposite, but the source of that power is extremely similar. This simply cannot be a power that hails from another being.”

—That was the conclusion OIivia reached.

“This is Tiamata. But… The Relic of Towan… The fact that it’s emitting the exact same type of power as is attributed to the demon god Kier…”

The expressed power was of the opposing type.

However, its source was insanely similar.

A corrupted Relic. Olivia, however, felt that the underlying origin behind the power itself didn’t change.

There was common ground between these two opposing gods:

Determination.

“Kier and Towan are actually… the same… aren’t they?”

Olivia got stunned as she realized the shocking truth herself.

* * *

Reaper Scans

Translator – KonnoAren

Proofreader – ilafy

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* * *

Although Olivia Lanze had abandoned her faith, she was stunned after speculating that Towan might be the same entity as Kier, the god of corruption, who she was taught to utterly hate.

She had questioned and abandoned her faith, but she never thought that the truth would be so absurd.

Olivia felt an unfamiliar power of a demon god from the corrupted Relic, but eventually, she found that demon god’s power was just too familiar.

—It was very similar to Towan’s power.

So she instinctively knew that Towan and Kier were the same entity. It was something none of the priests could figure out.

However, it was only natural that the priests didn’t realize anything.

After all, it was practically impossible for one to look at that cursed sword and think that it might be Tiamata, so they would never start to doubt the entity they believed in.

Olivia was able to look at the situation objectively because all her preconceived notions caused by her religion had been removed.

And in the end, she came to the conclusion that Towan and Kier were the same entity.

What followed was a certain chain of thought.

She probably reached the point that she questioned whether all she knew about the demon gods’ faith was just an illusion. It wasn’t unusual for her to be so shocked, so I waited until Olivia came back to her senses.

“Huu… Okay. I think I just found something out that I shouldn’t have.”

The truth about the Knights Templar was only a slightly bitter pill compared to what she realized just then. If it came out that a demon god was the same entity as the goddess, the foundation of their whole faith itself would completely collapse.

Of course, before that could happen, one’s words wouldn’t even earn a bit of credibility, though.

“So, can you turn it back into Tiamata?”

If Kier’s priests could corrupt Tiamata, the opposite should also be possible.

“Uhm… I could try once. Though I’m not sure what the results will be. My strength might not suffice for something like that.”

No one but OIivia could help with something like that, so she would try purifying Tiamata with her own power.

“Hmm… It’s going to take some time, though. Can’t we get it outside somehow?”

“Well… Probably not.”

It would be better if we held the purification ritual in a more secret place. It was also pretty dangerous to recklessly take the sword out of the room. The day before, I had disguised it as a training sword and tried to throw it away, but that was before it was known that the demon god’s Divine Relic had disappeared.

If we were willing to take that risk, we could take it out, but we wouldn’t be able to take it out of Temple. Olivia touched her cheeks, seeming troubled.

“Then… I think we should hold the ritual in this room…”

It was a very time-consuming task, as was shown by Dettomolian last time.

“Wh-what do we do… Reinhardt? I-I think I’ll have to stay over in your room today…”

“Ah…”

Olivia Lanze was very nervous because she would be staying in a boy’s room for a day.

If she was going to be like that, then why act like that to begin with?

What was the point of acting all flirty, but then getting scared when she actually got into a situation like that?

* * *

It would have been nice if we could hold the ritual in a safer place, but we didn’t have a choice.

In the end, we had to hold the ceremony in my room.

Although we could proceed with it there, someone might come in.

So, ultimately, we could only hold the ritual in a certain place in my room.

“…Is this really okay?”

“…That’s the only place we can use. Absolutely.”

Olivia decided to hold the ceremony in my shower room. If we closed the door, no one would know who was inside of it. Of course, the shower room wasn’t that big, but it wasn’t too small, either.

A purification ceremony for a Divine Relic was held in the shower room attached to a dorm room…

What the hell was that situation?

“I don’t know how long it’ll take, so I’ll just start right away.”

“Approximately how long do you think it will take?”

“Hmm… I’ve never done something like that before, so I don’t really know. It might take the whole day. It might take more than that.”

Fortunately, it was Saturday, so we had plenty of time.

“Wouldn’t it be better if you ate something first?”

“That’s alright. This is nothing.”

Olivia smiled as if she was trying to say that she wouldn’t suffer any physical problems.

Laying down the corrupted Tiamata on the floor of the shower room, Olivia Lanze knelt before it.

What?

She was going to sit in that position? All day?

Flabbergasted, I got some cushions and handed them to Olivia.

“Jeez, you’re going to hurt your knees like that.”

“Huh? Ah… Yes. Okay. Thank you.”

Olivia laid out a cushion and knelt down on it.

“What’s there to be thankful for? I’m the one who’s grateful.”

After all, she went through all that trouble for me, not for herself. More than that, I was insanely thankful that she was actually trying everything she could for me as if it was the most natural thing, even if I didn’t tell her much.

She seemed to think that, as long as she could help someone, she should, of course, do it.

She had probably lived her whole life with that mindset.

She was completely different from me, so I just silently watched her start praying.

I quietly watched as the power of the god of Purity wrapped her whole body, and the goddess answered the false prayer of the one who had already abandoned her.

Towan still lent her power.

I wondered whether Olivia Lanze would feel grateful or thankful for the power lent through insincere prayers.

I watched her praying from outside the shower room in silence.

* * *

I was told that it would take a long time, so I had nothing really to do other than watch.

The divine power flowing out of Olivia’s body enveloped the cursed sword. It seemed like something was happening, but the process was incredibly slow.

Olivia, who was performing the ritual, might know more, but as I could see her concentrating, I couldn’t just interrupt her.

If things kept going like that, she would end up not eating anything. Would she be fine?

I didn’t even have to be there. Whether I was there or not, the ritual would continue, so there was no reason for me to keep watching.

However, I didn’t eat lunch either.

I couldn’t calmly eat and rest when there was someone telling me they would go through so much hardship for me. Of course, Olivia Lanze wouldn’t mind no matter what I did, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable with that.

I decided to stand guard in case someone came in, but honestly, there was pretty much no way that anyone would come.

If anyone were to come, it would be Ellen, but she was the type that would just do her own thing. She might be thinking that I was up to something if I didn’t show up at the gym, but she wasn’t the type to ask why I didn’t go.

Time passed, and no one came over to visit me.

* * *

There were some rules to training with Reinhardt. They weren’t rules to be exact, it was just something they naturally did.

If they came there together, they would train together, if not, they didn’t. Ellen went to the gym almost every day, but Reinhardt sometimes had other things to do and wouldn’t go to practice.

In cases like that, Ellen would just train alone, but she would never go look for Reinhardt.

Of course, if they ran into each other, she would gesture to him to come train with her, but she didn’t force it.

It had always been like that.

So, if Reinhardt didn’t show up, Ellen would just train without him.

But on that day, that didn’t work.

Why isn’t he coming?

Such thoughts were continuously running through her mind.

-Pak! Papak! Pak!

Cliffman was the only one in the training room except for herself.

Is he still with her? That senior?

She should have already left. Having found out from the lobby that the fifth-year Olivia Lanze would go to Reinhardt’s room, she just went to train in the gym.

A long time had passed already, so of course, she should have gone back. Reinhardt didn’t seem to enjoy having her look around his room.

Of course, she already went back. It’s past lunchtime after all.

However, Reinhardt didn’t come to eat lunch.

Are they still together?

Just what the hell are they doing in there?

Why the hell do I even care about that?

So what if she didn’t leave yet?

She’s gone already. No, she’s definitely still in there.

She didn’t even know why she cared about it so much. Her thoughts were conflicting with each other.

That mysterious bug was crawling on her heart again.

That confusion alone felt unfamiliar and refreshing to her. It was a feeling she had never felt before. Did she feel uncomfortable with herself having that feeling?

What nonsense.

This feeling doesn’t help me at all.

That feeling didn’t help her with growing or in her relationship with Reinhardt.

Reinhardt was only doing his own thing. She had no reason to overstep his boundaries like that.

Friends. They were just friends, after all.

Although he was very precious to her, she decided to think of him as just a friend.

So she had to throw it away.

She had to throw away that feeling.

-Pak. Pak! Pak! Bam! Bam! Craaack!

“…”

Ellen was looking down at the completely broken and smashed training dummy, her eyes cold.

The dummy broke, not her training sword.

“A-ah.”

Cliffman, who was beating a dummy not too far away, was frightened at seeing Ellen look down at the broken scarecrow with such ferocious eyes.

Could those things even break? What happened?

Cliffman looked at the scene as if he couldn’t believe it.

“…What?”

Ellen asked curtly, looking at Cliffman, who was staring at her with fear in his eyes. He looked like he had something to say.

“Ah, erm- No. It’s nothing… Nothing at all, Ma’am.”

Without even being conscious of it, Cliffman started speaking formally to Ellen.

Reinhardt also didn’t even show up at the restaurant in the evening.

Ellen slept badly that night.

____