Truth
“Hey! Isn’t saying you are disappointed at Cis’ sentiment going too far”
Lily lashes out at Asch’s words.
“……I’m even more disappointed with you”
“Uguu……”
“Why, do you not try to ascertain the truth? Why, do you believe all of Archbishop Samon’s story? Don’t tell me, you think that not doubting is a virtue?”
The Dark Magician chides her with an unusually harsh tone.
“……”
“There’s a huge doubtful point, a contradiction, in both Lloyd and Archbishop Samon’s story. It’s because you’re self-absorbed in your self-sacrifice, feeling like a heroine in that manner that you don’t even know that”
“You, you!”
“……Asch-sensei. What do you mean?”
Cis stares straight at him and asks.
“……it can’t be helped. I shall explain it for the sake of my incompetent students. Why, did Lloyd examine the inside of Dan’s body?”
“Eh”
Told by Asch, she recalls the scene just now. Lloyd, he sunk his hand into Dan’s body and examined it thoroughly.
“Didn’t you think that that was……as though, he’s searching for something?”
“……”
Indeed, it’s inconceivable that he’s able to determine Aristo’s descendant through such a method.
“Here, one can make two conjectures. Aristo’s descendant possesses some kind of physical characteristic……or, what they’re searching for is something different”
“No way……”
“Of course, I think it’s the latter. Something like a characteristic inside the body, how does one determine it in the first place? Did they check for that characteristic, every generation, or something? That’s what I think, but how is it?”
Asch sent his eyes to Samon.
“……”
“I shall take the silence as the answer. In the first place, the ‘Holy Ark’ is a vessel. In the vessel, there is content. Whatever the content. That is exactly what Archbishop Samon desires. Here, I have one question remaining. Why did Archbishop Samon, the guardian of the Holy Ark, lose sight of the Holy Ark?”
“……what do you want to say”
“Archbishop Samon, I think you’re the closest person to a saint amongst the people I’ve met thus far. A saint is, a person who’s able to manage one’s desire and serve God. Why, did a saint such as yourself abandon your job? Is something like that possible?”
“That is……I…….respected Aseres’ will――”
“Nope, that’s not it. Your will, is not something that will waver because of someone else’s compassion. Even if, it was Aristo’s bloodline, no, quite the contrary, you would probably detain her since she’s of Aristo’s bloodline. You did that of your own volition”
“……”
“Why? There is only one that comes to mind for me, an act that goes as far as to compromise the belief of someone such as yourself. It’s love. It’s because you had loved her. From the bottom of your heart. So much so that you’d even go as far as to turn your back to God”
“……kukuku, it sure turned into quite a romantic story”
Lloyd makes a sarcastic smile.
“Asch-sama is quite the romanticist. There are about 5000 romantic novels in Asch-sama’s mansion……”
“Kohon……Mira, that information is unnecessary now. In any case, Archbishop Samon. You chose to liberate that crystallisation of love of you and Aseres”
“……that’s your conjecture, right?”
Archbishop Samon answers without changing his expression.
“Eeh. However, I think it’s a conjecture with quite a high probability. Aristo had a certain secret. A substance that sleeps in the body of he, who was called the child of God, was drawing out that power that exceeded human knowledge”
“……”
“After Aristo’s death, that substance was inherited by his daughter, Zara, and it had been inherited by their blood relatives every generation. However, when Aseres and Samon’s child was born, Archbishop Samon comes up with transferring that to another child……and then, that child is……”
“……me……huh”
Cis muttered calmly.
“That’s right. You’re genuinely House Klose’s daughter. I don’t know the situation at that time, but I suppose Archbishop Samon was very much in a hurry. Or perhaps it was an impulsive idea. He ended up losing sight of that child without being able to even confirm the gender”
“……”
“A question comes to mind here. Why, did Archbishop Samon go that far to transfer that substance to someone else? Surely, it was a substance that will have an effect on the human body if it’s not somebody compatible like Aristo, right? For example, like making a Magician into an Inept”
At those words of the Dark Magician, Cis opens her eyes widely.
“……no way”
“It’s ultimately just a conjecture though. I guess it’s likely that the woman called Aserus was an Inept. Even the one before her, or even the one before that. Everybody who became the Holy Ark. If you think about it like that, both the reason he tried to change the vessel, wishing for his daughter’s happiness, as well as the reason he strived for the eradication of the discrimination against Inept make sense”
“……”
“I, thought he was a genuine saint when I met him 13 years ago. For he, who’s born of a grand noble family, to be able to be that compassionate to the Inept citizens. However, now that I think about it, it seems that I had been mistaken. He was trying to change this country, because of the guilt towards you, an Inept……and, for the sake of his own daughter, who might’ve been left in the care of the Inept citizens circle”
“……”
“After that, it’s exactly as he said. He was afflicted by an incurable disease three years ago, and he desperately searched for Cis, who’s the Holy Ark. You, who possesses that which makes for the origin of Aristo religion inside your body. And then, he, who knew that his body didn’t have long, weighted the Devil’s scale again. Cis, who is the Holy Ark, and his daughter. And then, which he prioritised has appeared in his action though”
“……is that true? Archbishop Samon”
Cis asks calmly.
“……even if, that was the truth. Even so, my sentiment doesn’t change. For the sake of Aristo religion. I intend to give my all for the sake of people who can’t use magic. Please, can I have you cooperate with me?”
“Fuu……as I thought, you sure are a saint. For the sake of your ideal, you don’t even have qualms about lying. The substance that’s contained within her, how are you going to use it?”
The Dark Magician opens his eyes widely and stares at Samon.
“……”
“Come to think of it, Aristo was once sentenced and beheaded at the Hill of Belzebore, and Aristo believers increased explosively on that day. The roughly several thousand devotees on this land turned into several hundred thousand after a couple of days. I, had thought it was an exaggeratedly drawn anecdote until I know about this”
“……”
“However, what if the truth is that substance is a substance that’s horribly influenced by the condition of the vessel? What if, it was something that releases an enormous energy that amplifies Aristo’s will? Archbishop Samon……the ritual that you’re going to perform on the Holy Ark. I’m extremely interested in it. In the ritual that you’ll go as far as to sacrifice Cis’ life to perform……”
Asch smiled while twisting his face.
“……fuu. As I thought, it looks like a Renegade Ideologist like yourself can only have boorish imagination. Lloyd, please get rid of this individual”
“Kukuku……you finally gave your permission”
Lloyd laughed with a low voice and readied up against Asch.
