Chapter 19 | The Assassin Turns the Tables
I surveyed my surroundings as I thought things over. I’d prepared a variety of plans beforehand. The question was which to use. The most important factor in my decision was the audience’s mood.
My social standing hung in the balance, so I couldn’t afford a mistake. It wouldn’t be hard to give up the name of Lugh Tuatha Dé and live as a different person. I was already prepared to do so, because assassins could be discarded by their employers at any time.
I didn’t want to choose that option if it could be avoided, however. I loved my life as Lugh Tuatha Dé, the people I shared it with, and the Tuatha Dé domain. That was why I had to win this trial and absolve myself.
“You make me laugh, criminal. You say it was the goddess’s power that freed you from those shackles?! Ha! That only proves that you are a devil!” the hierarch declared.
Somehow, his voice was just as loud as my spell-amplified one. Were he using magic, my Tuatha Dé eyes would have seen the flow of mana.
I observed attentively and realized how he was doing it. He was simply yelling. The Puppeteer had removed the limiter on the hierarch’s brain, enabling him to yell so loudly that he damaged his throat. The demon could ignore the limits in place to protect the body because the hierarch was a lifeless doll. This made it impossible for me to make sure the crowd only heard what I had to say, but I didn’t really mind that.
“Answer me this. Why would a devil kill demons? Why would a devil save human lives?” I challenged.
“I will not listen to the prattling of a wicked creature! Hero Epona, slay this unholy criminal right this instant!” the hierarch commanded, shifting his eyes to Epona, who was standing by the scaffold.
Placing her close by was a natural precaution. They knew that if I somehow broke out of my restraints, she would be the only one who could stop me. It’d be a simple task for her.
However…
“He’s never felt like a devil to me… I want to hear what Lugh has to say. This is a trial, not an execution, isn’t it?”
…Epona trusted me. The hierarch—or rather, the Puppeteer—had made a miscalculation. It was ignorant of the friendship the hero and I shared.
“I know it to be true! I am the hierarch of the Alamite Church, and I can see the devil attached to this criminal! He must be executed!”
“You still haven’t answered my last question. If I’m a devil, why would I kill demons and rescue the enemy? People lie, but actions do not,” I countered.
“Listen, all! Do not let this dark one’s sweet-talk lead you astray!”
The hierarch had no argument. He hadn’t given a single answer to my question. Typically, crowds detested this kind of evasion, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case this time.
This is the seat of Alamism, after all… Having deep faith sounds like a good thing, but they’ve been brainwashed into abandoning individual thought. They completely trust that I’m the devil the hierarch brands me as.
They believed a groundless accusation over my logical argument, and all because it came from the hierarch. I’d predicted things would turn out this way, but I didn’t think it would be this bad. Nothing I said now would accomplish anything.
I’ll have to turn the tables, then. To get these believers to listen, I need greater authority than the hierarch.
I made a previously agreed-upon sign toward the audience. Neither Dia nor Tarte was its recipient. The church knew that they were my allies, thus they were under surveillance and couldn’t do anything too bold. Obviously, the girls could shake off those watching them, but that would make the enemy needlessly wary.
My signal was meant for Nevan. There was a girl next to her with a hood over her eyes. Nevan grabbed her hand and forced her way toward the stage.
There were many guards around the platform, but they had no hope of stopping the greatest masterpiece of humanity. Nevan dealt with them as easily as she would have with children, despite the handicap of leading a girl behind her.
There was a beautiful, balletic quality to Nevan’s movements. She sent every guard she touched flying into the air as though they weighed nothing at all, each one getting concussed and knocked out when they hit the ground. What she did took great skill. Even in her disadvantageous position, she was able to incapacitate all who obstructed her without injuring them. And that wasn’t even the most surprising thing about this.
I can’t believe the daughter of a duke would do something this risky… All I’d asked Nevan to do was bring the girl to me. Undoubtedly, she was clever enough to find a way to accomplish that without standing out much. That she didn’t make an effort to conceal her identity spoke to her trust in me. She was also putting on a performance to give the next phase of our plan more of an impact.
The high priests sat dumbfounded in their chairs for a moment. When they regained their wits, they each went scarlet in the face and began to hurl insults at Nevan.
“Have you lost your mind?!”
“Don’t think your status as a member of one of the four major dukedoms will let you get away with this!”
“The Alamite Church speaks for the goddess. Opposing us is the same as rebelling against the goddess herself!”
People are taught from an early age that the high priests speak for the goddess. Anyone else on this continent would’ve prostrated themselves before the holy officials and begged for forgiveness after weathering the verbal tirade that Nevan just had. She displayed no interest in doing so, however. With a smile, she gracefully brushed her hair aside.
“I fail to understand what you mean. I’m acting against the goddess? There has been a terrible misunderstanding. I’m here for the goddess,” Nevan replied.
“How could that violence have possibly been for the goddess?! Leave us immediately. We will get to your punishment later… Actually, if you capture this criminal for us, we will forgive your sins. The goddess’s mercy knows no bounds!”
Hmm… They’re acting tough, but they’re clearly afraid of me without my restraints. That was understandable. If Epona refused to intervene, then no one could stop me. Nevan’s strength, the excellence of the Romalung bloodline, was known far and wide beyond Alvan. Perhaps the high priests believed she stood a chance against me.
“I have been curious about something for quite some time. Why do ordinary humans like you pretend to be spokespeople of the goddess? That is blasphemy,” Nevan accused.
“We are high priests of the Alamite Church. Our deep understanding of the goddess’s will allows us to speak for her,” the hierarch shot back. The audience cheered at his words.
“There is no reality to that claim. I will have nothing to do with it. After all, I’m here on true orders from the goddess… Isn’t that right, Your Holiness?”
The girl next to Nevan threw back her hood, revealing snow-white hair and artificially whitened skin modeled after the goddess’s.
“I am the Alam Karla. I…”
The girl I’d asked Nevan to deliver to me was the Alam Karla herself. I’d requested Nevan collect her from the safe house and bring her here.
My argument wasn’t reaching the audience. The people believed that the hierarch spoke for the divine, leaving my assertions as nothing but devilish trickery. As long as the crowd believed that, nothing I said would reach them.
That meant I needed to change their minds about the hierarch. The words of the Alam Karla, the true oracle of the goddess, held more weight than anything some greedy old man who held nothing more than an earthly position said. The Alam Karla would be able to wash away the demon’s accusation and give me even ground on which to win the trial with logic. That was my plan.
My victory was all but assured the moment Nevan brought the Alam Karla onto the stage. Yet suddenly, my sixth sense went off.
Something invisible penetrated my body. It took root inside me, and I lost all bodily sensation.
“Refine. Process.”
Before I knew it, I was using earth magic. I produced metal and then shaped it into a knife. These were signature spells of mine.
My body was acting against my will. Puppeteer… The word flashed in the back of my mind.
This was impossible. It didn’t make any sense. I saw the threads connected to the hierarch with my Tuatha Dé eyes. Upon discovering that the demon manipulated his puppets using mana strings, I exercised maximum caution to ensure that the same wouldn’t happen to Epona or me. But somehow, the demon had gotten its hooks into me without my noticing.
I’d fallen right into the demon’s trap… The Puppeteer was capable of creating invisible strings but had intentionally made those connected to the hierarch visible to give me the mistaken impression that I’d always be able to see them. I understood now why Mina was wary of the remaining demons. They truly were special.
I couldn’t stop my feet from moving, nor resist the demon’s control. I raised the knife I’d just created and turned my refined assassin’s techniques upon the Alam Karla to take her head.
Ah, I see. This is why the church didn’t take action, even though it knew that the Alam Karla had been abducted. The Puppeteer had predicted that I would bring the Alam Karla here. It might have even known about the friendship Epona and I shared. That was entirely possible if Mina had passed her fellow demon information on me in the same way she’d given me intel on the Puppeteer. Naoise knew of my friendship with Epona. Perhaps he’d sold me out.
The Puppeteer let the Alam Karla escape so it could take control of me and force me to kill her in front of this large crowd. This plan allowed the demon to slay the disobedient oracle and easily install a suitable replacement. It also spelled my certain ruin. Epona would have no choice but to kill me, and she would even be depleted in our fight.
The demon was killing three birds with one stone. In just a few seconds, my knife was going to cut off the Alam Karla’s head.
I clenched my teeth.
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