QualiA – Chapter 25: Moving evil and the ones that move against it ⑦

I have arrived in front of the temple.

The knight with spear in hand was standing there threateningly. Is that a templar? Their attire is different from the knights at the royal castle after all.

“There really is nothing to do…”

“Indeed…Just standing in place is the most paining thing to do.”

While listening to the complaints of the templars, I erase my presence with [Intangible] and pass by their side.

“Ah, now that I think about it, the Archbishop is apparently going to be coming back soon.”

“Uhee…he is going to be coming back? That malicious guy?”

“Oi, don’t go saying things that can bite your back. Who knows who is listening.”

“It is okay. There’s no one aside from us.”

Ah, sorry. I am at your backs.

Anyways, I have obtained nice information. So the Archbishop will finally be coming back. I was wondering what kind of person he is, but from what I hear of the templars, he doesn’t sound like a decent person.

Using his own standing as an umbrella, he looks down on others, and is putting his hands on the female priests and apprentices… Those are the kinds of rumours going around about him. He is the typical evil priest.

“More importantly, the ‘ghost’ that’s the current topic around…”

The templars were moving to the next topic, and I entered the temple.

Leave the chattering moderate and do your job. You don’t know where and when an intruder might enter after all.

☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆  

The inside of the temple was filled with an air of solemnity and silence was covering it.

The priestesses walking around and the priest that was trotting hurriedly were reprimanded by a fit priest. While seeing this scene in the corner of my eye, I continue deeper into the temple.

…How normal.

The appearance is like that of roman times, and the nave is quite the normal one. I proceeded further in while looking at this normal sight, but even the places where personnel is allowed in were incredibly normal.

This is way too normal. It is so normal that there’s no interesting part about it, but for some reason, it doesn’t feel right… It is most likely because this is the temple that worships that guy.

That guy really isn’t compatible with me after all.

“Hey, did you hear about it?”

“What is it all of a sudden?”

A girl in priestess attire -kind of a beauty- was walking over here.

“About the ‘ghost’. They said that a royal knight was attacked.”

“Aah, that… It is a dangerous talk indeed. On top of that, the talk about the king’s condition not being good. If the Demon Lord were to attack at this moment, we wouldn’t have anything remaining.”

“That’s why we did the hero summoning, right?”

“But they say the heroes are still children. I heard they can’t even swing a sword properly. Is it really going to be okay?”

They know quite a bit.

The heroes have not been publicized openly, but it is not as if a gag order was issued, so it is slowly spreading to the areas near the castle, is what Niva-san told me. If you have an acquaintance in the royal castle, you can readily obtain this information, and they would be able to know that there’s also a ‘regular citizen’ that has been dragged in it as well.

“Also, I heard that a person was dragged into the hero summoning. There’s talk that, because of that, the apprentice priestess was confined inside the royal castle.”

“Really? If a priestess succeeds in the hero summoning, it is supposed to be a honorable thing. Confining someone for it is just… Just what is Ohi-sama thinking.”

“Who knows. I don’t know what the royalty thinks, but it is most certainly nothing decent.”

I do think that it can’t be helped that people will see things differently, but this must be how rumors spread.

The people themselves are not especially conscious about it, and are simply voicing out their displeasure of the current state of affairs. However, this will in time spread by word of mouth, and in the end, it will concentrate the displeasure towards the highest authority responsible that is the Queen.

Seeing off the back of the priestesses passing by, I direct my hearing to the priests that were conversing in front of me. Every one of them was talking about the ‘ghost’ incident while finishing it with them voicing their complains towards the royal family.

The ghost incident is serving as fuel for the explosion of displeasure.

The power of feelings is truly fearsome.

An emotion that is shared by many will congregate to one and holds incredible power, making it difficult to strike down. This power can destroy a country. It is by no means something that should be underestimated.

Before it falls into an irreversible state, we must cure the king, or this kingdom will be done for.

Let’s hurry.

☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆  

It is becoming the standard.

After searching everywhere, I finally found the room I was looking for.

At the third floor of the temple, the deepest room.

The room’s owner is currently absent, but it looks like there’s no mistake that this is the room of the Archbishop. It was worth searching thoroughly from the first floor. While I was doing that, I ended up encountering a priestess that was in the middle of changing, idiots who were having a tryst when the sun is bright up, and I found a perverted priest who was in the room of a priestess and wearing a panty on his head…

What’s with this place? There’s a limit to how bad you can be. What’s with the temple being chaos?

“Decorating the place with a portrait of yourself…Just how much do you love yourself?” (Makoto)

He is just a narcissist?

While thinking that, I avert my eyes from the portrait of the smiling skinny middle-aged geezer, and take a look around the room.

When showing-off your wealth reaches this level, it instead becomes refreshing. This room is dyed to the brim in a golden color. It is as if this room is a completely different world. Also, this smell…I don’t know if it is perfume or an aromatic, but a smell that feels as if it will make my nose go stupid was overbrimming this room.

Ah, this is bad. I feel as if I might puke if I lower my guard.

However, I can now understand why the temple is normal-looking. He is definitely embezzling.

“Oh well, let’s just finish this and return.” (Makoto)

I kind of feel restless…

Since entering this room, I have felt strange…but I don’t know what’s the source of this restlessness. As expected of the highest authority’s room in this temple that worships that guy. The goosebumps it is giving me are incredibly discomforting.

…Let’s search quickly.

I want to leave as soon as possible.

With that thought in mind, I search every nook and cranny of this room that is not that spacious, but I was unable to find what I was searching for.

Could it be that it doesn’t exist anymore?

That kind of thought was beginning to surface in my mind, but I push it away and continue my search.

I did provide treatment to the king, but the symptoms are still active. Because the strength of the king is already close to his limits, if the poison was to eat into his body further than it already has, even if he were to recover, there’s the chance that it will leave permanent damage.

“Damn it… What to do? What should I do?” (Makoto)

Should I use desperate measures? But the chances of having side-effects is high. Even if I manage to get rid of the poison, it will most likely leave permanent damage in his body.

I can’t do that. I would be betraying the wish of the Queen.

‘Please save my husband.’

That’s right. I am going to save him.

“I say all that, but without the undiluted solution…” (Makoto)

I open the lowest drawer of the desk with the key created by the [Omnipotent Tool], and confirm the inside, but there’s nothing that might be it.

If someone were to hide something, it would be in the desk drawer, and there would be a fake cover. It is the basic of the basics.

There was indeed a fake cover at the lowest drawer where documents detailing many crimes of the Archbishop, but I couldn’t find what I was looking for, so I don’t care. Well, just in case, I will replicate them though.

“…This Archbishop is quite the spender.” (Makoto)

The illegalities that he has perpetrated are mostly about money, and the numbers are quite high. I used the [Scan Copy] of the Omnipotent Tool, and I pick up an old book that caught my eye.

“…Hm?” (Makoto)

I could smell a faint medicinal scent from that book, and when I trace that scent with my nose, the scent became clearer.

Because of the smell that is filling the room, my nose really did go stupid. I was unable to notice this scent.

“…This is…” (Makoto)

A self-deriding smile leaked from me, and after sighing, I open the book and confirm the inside.

Slowly reading each letter written in it, I couldn’t hold back a smile from naturally surfacing.

What was written in this old book was the recipe for the Loroad Virus.

“I heard that it was disposed of…but this is how it was, huh.” (Makoto)

Now that I think about it, even if it is a poison, something 10 years old would have already been deteriorated, and I wouldn’t be able to expect much in its effects. Rather than using a deteriorated 10 year old product to poison the king, it would be more certain if they were to use a newly made one.

Hearing that the recipe was disposed of, I thought the undiluted solution remained, but in reality, the recipe hadn’t been disposed of and still existed.

I don’t have an ability that allows me to get the truth behind what happened ten years ago, but now that I have learned the manufacturing method, that part is a minor problem.

Now that I have found it, I am beginning to feel as if everything I have done before was a waste, but well, at least I have hit them a few times, so that’s okay. If I don’t think in this way, I wouldn’t be able to maintain my sanity.

“With this…” (Makoto)

I can get an undiluted solution of the poison.

I open the book, and continue reading about the manufacturing process. The Loroad Virus’s ingredients have the magic power filled water called Dose Water as its base ingredient, and has a mix of ingredients that are commonly used in alchemy, but only one point alone has an ingredient that catches my eye.

[Akashic Library – Search: Liver of Paralyzing Lizard.]

[It is the liver of a variant type of poisonous lizard that inhabits the Marick Wetland Belt located at the northeast of Ushtolma.
There’s cases where they would dry it and make it powder to use in alchemy.
Since it has a deadly poison that causes paralysis, there’s the need for the highest of cautions in their use.]  

This is most likely the very source of power for the Loroad Virus.

The other ingredients look like they can be readily obtained, but only this one doesn’t seem to be an easy gather. The Paralyzing Lizard inhabits the northeast of Ushtolma, and I have to go there to obtain the ingredient, but the part about it being a variant type bothers me.

[Akashic Library – Search: Paralyzing Lizard.]

[A rare type of Poison Lizard.
A normal one will be of around 1 meter in size and has a light golden skin, but a variant type will be around 30 cm and have black spots.
There will be sightings of it once every several decades.]

Once every several decades…seriously?

Loroad made the poison around 10 years ago, so there might have been at that time. But it is not certain whether there will conveniently be one after passing 10 years.

Looks like I will have to ready a variety of things.

[The change in the numbers of destiny has finished.]

Oh. Looks like this action of mine has settled one destiny. Even so, the future is always in constant change, so it will try to look for the best one.

Even I don’t know in what way destiny will change with this action. I can only pray that it is not the incorrect choice. It truly is a troublesome ability as always, this ‘Gambler’ ability.

The original use of it is to create a dice, and depending on the roll that you get, it will activate different effects, which is exactly what the name would make you think it does, but the passive ability of it has a stronger impact.

In the first place, I would like to file complaints about how even the ability user can’t control the passive skill. It normally activates in the bad direction, so it is quite the malicious ability.

“Okay, let’s leave.” (Makoto)

I use the Omnipotent Tool to Scan Copy the book. And the original book, I made sure to erase all the letters that were written in it, to make sure that there won’t be any more victims from it. Then, I leave the inside of the drawer as it was before, and teleport to my own room in the royal castle.

☆☆ ★★ ★★ ★★ ☆☆  

In the room where Makoto had teleported from, there wasn’t the presence of anyone anymore…

The portrait at the wall was looking interestingly at the room with its eyes, and was showing a satisfied expression.

“…Found you.”

A neutral voice that sounded like that of a girl, and at the same time, like that of a boy.

In this room where there’s no presence of someone, there’s no way someone would hear this voice, but it certainly did reverberate in the room.

“Fufu…The strength of the ‘will’ that he left…it truly is overwhelming…”

The innocent voice laughs.

“But thanks to that, we can play once again…Ma-ko-to.”

The innocent laugh continued on for a while, and after muttering this, it suddenly disappeared.

A moment of silence.

The only thing that remained was the portrait that was making a complicated expression with his brows knitted and simply looking in one direction, along with the remnants of a choking something.

☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆  

At the royal castle, the Queen’s room.

After teleporting to my room, I told Erin who was cleaning my room that I would be going to the Queen’s room, and once I arrived there, I placed the copied book on top of the table.

“This is…” (Caril)

“The recipe for the Loroad Virus.” (Makoto)

“!! Loroad, you say? How did you get such a thing? That’s something that should have been disposed of 10 years ago.” (Caril)

Well, that’s normally how you would react.

“Right now, deliberating in whether the disposed article was fake or real doesn’t matter. They might have kept a copy somewhere. However, no matter how much we think about it, it won’t change the reality that it currently exists.” (Makoto)

“Right…But why did the Archbishop have this?” (Caril)

“Probably someone, maybe Makirus, was using him to hide it. She is the Magic Division Leader-sama affiliated to the church after all. No one would suspect her for coming and going to the temple.” (Makoto)

“True. The Magic Division is publicly known as being under the jurisdiction of the country, but in reality, they are basically being moved by the church.” (Caril)

Makirus is a devoted religious person? …Not possible.

She has a personality that Vorda would like, so if she were to catch the eye of that guy, she will surely end up a cripple. That guy is the kind of rotten bastard that would find watching a falling happy family as the best kind of enjoyment.

“And so, I want you to gather the necessary ingredients for it.” (Makoto)

“Of course, we will be the ones to do that.” (Caril)

“But there’s one item that you guys might not be able to obtain.” (Makoto)

“Does it use such a rare ingredient?” (Caril)

“There’s the need for a dried and powdered liver of a Paralyzing Lizard.” (Makoto)

“That’s…” (Caril)

The Queen must know about its rarity. She closed her mouth and kept silent for a bit.

Niva-san checked the contents of the book that was on the table, and seems to be confirming the ingredients one after the other.

“When it comes to high grade monster materials…I do have an idea of where we could get it—” (Caril)

“No. Dorui-sama doesn’t have those in store. That’s an extremely poisonous material that requires the highest of cautions when storing it.” (Niva)

Cutting the words of the Queen, Niva-san refutes her.

Monsters are divided in five categories. Low rank, Mid rank, High rank, and higher than that, there’s the rare ones entering the Ultra rank. However, aside from those four, there’s an even higher one where the monsters sang in legends and myths are categorized; the Conqueror rank.

The Paralyzing Lizard is categorized as Ultra rank.

“…In that case, it won’t be easy to find it.” (Caril)

“That’s right. I will request the search of it at once.” (Niva)

“Please do.” (Caril)

Bowing once, Niva-san hurriedly leaves the room.

She will most likely have the personal maids gathered.

They were searching for the Loroad Virus until now, but it has simply changed into them searching for its ingredients now, however, it has changed into an easier to understand objective than searching blindly.

“Well then, I will also be going.” (Makoto)

“Makoto-kun? …Where are you planning on going?” (Caril)

“Since I am already at it, I plan on doing it till resolution. This is how I operate.” (Makoto)

The Queen seemed to have been caught off-guard for a moment, but she understood the meaning of the words and her eyes grow teary.

“Thank you, Makoto-kun.” (Caril)

“I will be giving my regards to the beastkin, so in the time I am absent, I will leave Erin in your care.” (Makoto)

“Okay. Leave it to me… Ah, right.” (Caril)

It looks like she thought of something, she suddenly puts her hand in between her breasts. I ended up staring blankly at that.

“Hey, don’t stare so much.” (Caril)

“I simply couldn’t react at such a sudden happening.” (Makoto)

“Geez, it is not as if I went crazy or anything.” (Caril)

I feel like it is natural to get surprised at a woman suddenly showing a weird sight.

“There we go… Here, I will give this to you.” (Caril)

“This is…wait, it is still slightly lukewarm.” (Makoto)

“Geez, don’t say weird stuff.” (Caril)

If you are going to get angry and have your face blush, then change the place you are hiding it.

Even I find it a bit difficult to hold this in my hand, you know? This lukewarm dagger.

“So, what’s this?” (Makoto)

“A dagger with the royal seal. You might need that, so keep it.” (Caril)

“Meaning that I can do things like: ‘the royalty of Motoyasu has my back, uhahahaha!’, right?” (Makoto)

“…Please don’t say such unsavory things.” (Caril)

But it will actually be doing that role, right? Like the seal case of Mito Koumon. On top of that, what I am trying to obtain is the source of the poison that brought pain and death to many in the past, and the danger of it must be a matter of caution for the other nations as well. There’s no way they would share that kind of stuff to a person of unknown origins, and there’s the chance that people who have the required things won’t listen unless shown the authority of this dagger.

“I will gladly be utilizing it.” (Makoto)

“Just don’t use it for evil, okay?” (Caril)

“I won’t. Well then, there’s a lot I have to prepare, so I will return to my room for now.” (Makoto)

“Okay. Be careful. I am counting on you, Makoto-kun.” (Caril)

Wiping off the tears that were about to overflow, the Queen nods her head resolutely, and I turn around and head to the room where Erin is waiting.

☆☆ ★★ ★★ ★★ ☆☆  

At the depths of a dark room.

In this room where there’s not a single window and the only light source is the swaying fire of a candle, the hollow eyes of the skull seemed as if it were releasing an ominous light.

“…Aaah! Every single one of them is incompetent… They are all incompetent!!”

In that kind of room, there’s a robed woman looking at the candle light while screaming madly.

“The person that…got in the way of my fun…my fun!!” 

The scream of the maddened woman was filled with resentment, absorbing the negative emotions from the surroundings, and the resentment of the woman was being amplified without limits.

The eyes that were watching that woman were warped into a crescent shape.

“…Hey, do you want power?”

The voice that could be taken as a boy or a girl laughed as if mocking her, but it made the ears of the woman twitch.

“W-Who is it?”

“I wonder who.”

The voice simply laughed at the question of the woman.

The woman looked around to see where this voice was coming from, and in time, she looked at one direction.

At the place where the woman is looking at, there’s a single skull that shouldn’t have the ability to speak. However, she certainly did hear a voice coming from that skull.

“It was you? You were the one who—”

“It wasn’t me.”  in an instant, the negative emotions in the surroundings were dispersed in the blink of an eye. A moment after, the woman felt an inexplicable chill, all the hairs in her body stood up, and she tried to retreat, but she ended up falling back on her rear pathetically.

That ‘something’ that had made her experience a thick scent of death she had never experienced before was certainly closeby her. She could tell at least that much, but even if she tried to bring out her everything, not only could she not find this entity, she couldn’t even see through what it is.

‘Just what in the world is happening?’

After her anger had cooled down, what controlled the body of the woman was fear towards that unknown ‘something’, and even in this kind of situation, at this time only, she was resenting the fact that her curiosity for the unknown was attacking her right now.

“Why would I show interest in an insect like you?”

“…Uuuh…Aaaah!”

“See? You are an insect that can’t even resist pressure of this level and can only writhe pathetically.”

This dry voice could be heard from her ears, and she reflexively jumped away from it, but her legs got tangled and she fell once again. The pain of the fall brought back the fear, and the lukewarm stain in her robe was spreading.

“Arara, how unsightly of a well-grown adult.”

“…Kuh!”

“Well, even an insect like you can have its use with a little tinkering.”

The mocking voice rang into the ears of the woman that was hanging her head in shame, and in a low tone, it spoke.

“…I will ask one more time.”

That voice sounded kind, and at the same time, threatening.

“Do you want power, Makirus?”

Enchanted by the voice that was filled with irresistible allure, the robed woman -Makirus- silently nodded as if being led, and in the next moment, unable to endure the huge ‘power’ that was entering into her body, and without having the time to even raise a scream, she lost consciousness.

“I simply gave her a bit… She really is a boring insect.”

In the end, the identity of the voice remained unknown. However, the curiosity for the unknown that Makirus had, had pushed her.

A woman that is honest to herself to the very end.

There’s no means for Makirus to know what this meant at this moment in time.

“But if this will give me the chance to see the surprised face of Makoto, I guess this is fine.”

That she remained ignorant of the fact that she had been chosen as a toy might have been the only saving.

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