༺ Demon In The Convent ༻
Now that I had grown accustomed to the jolting movements of the carriage, it was less of a hindrance when reading a book.
However, the chatter between Illuania and Findenai, coming from the side, was quite distracting.
“Can I hear a voice when I put my ear on it?”
“It’s not to that extent yet.”
“Really? I was looking forward to it. Have you decided on a name?”
“No, not yet. Oh! Will you help me to choose a name, Master?”
“….”
Illuania turned to me and spoke softly. I slowly closed the book I was reading and briefly focused on her abdomen.
Although there was no visible bulge, a life had been conceived within.
The more I thought about it, the more I felt a strange sensation, which was accompanied by a kind of pressure to come up with something good.
As I pondered for something to say, Findenai let out a sneer.
“You’re asking Master Bastard? It seems like he’d give it a rather weird name, like a monster or evil spirit.”
“No way…”
Illuania stared at me with a gaze that seemed to say, ‘Really? No way.’ But no matter how I usually acted, there was no way I would give such a name to a child.
“That is enough.”
After I asserted Findenai not to unnecessarily spread a groundless rumor, she casually changed the subject.
“Anyway, is a convent usually built in a mountain valley like this? Somewhere that takes days of travel to reach?”
When the foreigner Findenai grumbled, Illuania began explaining to her with a smile.
“The Elia Convent is a renowned name. People in the kingdom praise it as the place that gives birth to the most Saintesses, and is considered to be the closest sanctuary to the gods.”
“A place the closest to the gods?”
“Yes, its location is unknown to the general public, and only a very few bishops know about it. It’s a place designed to be secluded from any worldly temptations.”
“Hmm.”
Illuania explained it affectionately, just like a mother reading a fairy tale. I, too, was already familiar with the Elia Convent.
“Then, it should be peaceful.”
Findenai clicked her tongue with disappointment. Illuania might feel the same, but I had a different perspective.
“Convents are originally a cliché setting often used in horror novels or theater plays.”
This was especially if Saintess Lucia herself had to request direct assistance for the sake of the convent; it indicated a rather urgent situation.
“Really? I’ve been living such an ignorant life so far.“
Findenai scratched her head while responding.
At that moment, a small convent that was perched on a distant mountain ridge came into view outside the carriage.
[Hmm, it looks ominous.]
[….]
The Dark Spiritualist and Illuania’s guardian spirit, the ghost of the burnt lady, already sensed the ominous atmosphere.
And just like the two deceased individuals, I also felt a damp sensation and a sense of heaviness settling over me.
I had a feeling that this would be more dangerous than I initially thought.
* * *
“What are you doing here?”
Although I already thought it would be a difficult case the moment I saw the convent, I didn’t expect to encounter such difficulties in unexpected places.
Reverend Mother Hamates was a middle-aged woman who had a rather elderly appearance.
With noticeable wrinkles now adorning her face, she appeared so nervously intense. It made it difficult to envision her as the typical image of a nun.
“This is not a place where men can enter recklessly! And on top of that, a Soul Whisperer? That is ridiculous! What can an evil Dark Mage like you do?!”
“Huh.”
Findenai snorted at Reverend Mother Hamates’ words, which poured out like a quick fire. Seeing Findenai’s fidgeting hands, it seemed as though she wanted to grab an axe.
“I came after receiving a letter from Saintess Lucia.”
As I handed over the letter, she approached with a disgusted expression and, forming her fingers into a pincer shape, snatched it from me.
Hamates wore the glasses hanging around her neck, and after reading the contents, she couldn’t help but lament.
The letter contained a message written by Lucia, she was requesting consideration from Hamates.
Lucia had already done the work as she knew Hamates’ personality well.
“It is evident that she is gradually losing her qualifications as a Saintess. This is horrible.”
“If I am not needed here, so be it.”
I responded with a cold, piercing gaze as I glanced over the convent once.
“The scent of a Demon reeks all the way here.”
When I spoke with my fingers covering my nose, Hamates’ pupils widened. Her hands, trembling with humiliation, crumpled Lucia’s letter as she exhaled before responding.
“Fine. If you are the one sent in place of Lucia, I will give you the benefit of the doubt for now.”
Her relatively swift acceptance of me gave me a sense of how dire her predicament’s urgency was.
After taking a look at the convent, she approached me and cautiously whispered about the situation.
I wondered why she was so cautious, but it became clear as soon as I heard the details.
Late at night, there were three nuns who had summoned a Demon.
However, when the Abbess came out in the morning, she found those three nuns dead, lying atop the demon-summoning circle.
She tried to understand the situation by calling all the nuns.
However, with three out of seven nuns dead, there were five of them standing instead of the expected four.
There was one additional person.
Since the summoned Demon had skillfully disguised itself, the Abbess tried to bring Saintess Lucia to identify it.
It was because Saintess was nothing short of a natural enemy to a Demon.
“Hmm.”
After hearing the full story of the incident, I couldn’t help but make an involuntary, subtle sound.
If this were true, Saintess Lucia would indeed have been more suitable than I am to come here.
However, since the Saintess cannot leave her position at Graypond right now.
Thus, I needed to resolve this.
“Oh, shit. Master Bastard was right! This is so freaking fun.”
Findenai immediately disrupted the serious atmosphere by joining the conversation. She retrieved her axe from the carriage and swung it around playfully.
“Why not just beat up those bitches one by one? I have some experience in rough interrogations, you know?”
Upon seeing her asking us with a big grin, the Abbess immediately responded with thunderous criticism.
“Nonsense! How dare you think you can do something like that towards my girls!”
Hamates stretched out her arms, spitting out saliva as she vehemently rejected the idea.
Since I had no intention of torturing innocent people, I raised my hand to stop Findenai.
“First, let us first confirm the bodies.”
There was no need to drag things out, so I tried to check the bodies immediately.
The place the Abbess took us to was a communal cemetery near the convent.
“They are buried here.”
Rachel and Mikhae are those whose deaths were confirmed.
Next to the graves with the names of the two nuns was a tombstone without a name.
It seemed like they intended to create one for the remaining nun after finding her.
I furrowed my brow and asked.
“Are they buried as they are?”
“Y-yes, we had no other option. The three innocent nuns were tragically murdered. And ultimately, we had to conduct a funeral so that God may embrace their souls. We cannot leave their bodies exposed outside for an extended period.”
“Dig them up.”
I intended to promptly excavate them for confirmation, but the Abbess was startled at this. She urgently exclaimed.
“N-no, it is forbidden! God has already embraced these children! We must not dishonor their passing!”
“Even if they summoned a Demon?”
It was truly an uncomfortable situation.
I thought we should at least check the condition of the bodies, but she hurriedly pulled out pictures from her pocket.
“T- these are pictures I specifically prepared by capturing with a magic camera. I took them just in case someone might need them.”
The Abbess handed me a bunch of pictures with a humiliated expression.
It was evident that she had taken quite meticulous photographs of the bodies.
A magic camera must be quite expensive, and yet the Abbess had quite a costly item.
While seeing it firsthand would have been easier, I chose to respect her unwavering determination to safeguard the nuns’ bodies and let the matter rest.
Furthermore, I sensed a distinct demonic energy emanating from the ground where they had closed their eyes.
The ground felt ominous and damp, as if thousands of insects were crawling on it. I was half-certain that this was the work of a Demon.
All of the bodies shared a similar condition. None of the three nuns stood out; they were all charred black.
“Tsk, we can’t get much information with just this.”
“Yes, that is true.”
I agreed with Findenai’s opinion and handed her the photos.
“Next, let us proceed to the location where the demon-summoning circle is. You have not yet erased that, too, right?”
“…Of course, we preserved it.”
The Abbess led us to the back of the convent. A tablecloth was placed under a clothesline where laundry was hung.
When I removed the stones used as support to prevent it from being blown away by the wind, I discovered a faintly drawn pentagram underneath.
“….”
The energy here was definitely abnormal.
When I glanced towards the Dark Spiritualist, she responded with a rather serious expression.
[It is a Demon’s Pentagram. Yes, it is indeed a demon-summoning circle. And judging by the traces, it seems like something had been summoned.]
Since the Dark Spiritualist had confirmed it, it was certain then.
A Demon had been summoned through this summoning circle.
“Next, we should summon all the nuns.”
“…Please do not make my girls do strange things for no reason. They have already been through a lot of shock.”
“It is to identify the Demon.”
When I calmly replied, indirectly indicating that I wouldn’t harm them, the Abbess bit her lip before retrieving a small bell from her pocket, ringing it.
Ting! Ting!
Suddenly, urgent footsteps approached from inside. This sudden reaction reminded me of my time in the military.
With time to spare, I gazed at the convent absentmindedly.
It looked like a building of about four floors with closely packed windows. Above those tightly arranged windows was a lone circular window on the top floor.
‘Is it an attic?’
As I was thinking that there would be no need for windows at that height unless it were an attic, the Dark Spiritualist expressed her doubts cautiously.
[But it’s strange.]
“….”
[A creature like a Demon possesses greater pride than you might expect. You’re aware of this from your encounter with the Evil Ghost Griffin, right?]
The punk who couldn’t become a Demon and remained only as an Evil Ghost.
[There are beings much stronger than the Evil Ghost Griffin, and there are infinitely weaker ones, too. However, the species known as Demons inherently possess great arrogance.]
The Dark Spiritualist calmly continued her explanation while folding her arms and looking down at the summoning circle.
[The hierarchy among themselves is strict, but humans tend to openly look down on them, even if the opponent is a king.]
“…What are you trying to say?”
[What I want to say is…]
The Dark Spiritualist circled around the summoning circle, faking a cough. She paused briefly at each location where the bodies were found.
[Do you really think a Demon would be summoned with just three mere humans as sacrifices?]
“But a Demon has undoubtedly been summoned.”
Both the Dark Spiritualist and I confirmed this truth.
A Demon had definitely arrived through this summoning circle.
[Exactly! That’s the problem. There were insufficient sacrifices. No, actually, they couldn’t even be called sacrifices at all. They were just performers who conducted the ritual.]
“….”
[So, in reality, there were no sacrifices, right? Yet, a Demon was still summoned.]
And then, it burned all the nuns who had summoned it to death.
[There are so many peculiar aspects.]
“….”
However, that wasn’t the only puzzling part.
In fact, motive was crucial in this case.
The story became even more perplexing when the fundamental question of “why” arose.
Why?
The nuns of the Elia Convent were known as Saintess candidates.
On top of them, there were not just one, but three people.
Why would they summon a Demon?
The more I thought about it, more questions arose.
The mystery, as convoluted as a snake devouring its own tail, showed no signs of being solved anytime soon.
First, I needed to confirm the nuns. If we could find the Demon amongst them, then the case could be resolved more easily than expected.
The nuns gathered one by one and soon lined up in front of the Abbess.
As a man, I could feel different reactions from them: they glanced, blushed, or frowned as if they found me repulsive.
Each nun had a different reaction.
Anyway…
“I am Soul Whisperer Deus Verdi.”
As I declared calmly, they reluctantly bowed in greeting.
Since the Abbess had given me permission to question them without physical contact, I proceeded to ask several questions.
They were indeed cliché questions that could be found in detective novels.
Starting from what they were doing at that time, to what they did the previous night; if there was anything strange about the victims, or if any nun exhibited odd behavior after the incident, and so on.
Since the incident occurred early in the dawn, they all replied that they were asleep. Their answers were consistent with no nuns appearing suspicious.
However, the atmosphere conveyed a sense that they truly didn’t know anything, rather than an attempt to hide something.
Most importantly, there was no trace of demonic energy emanating from them.
I couldn’t feel the demonic energy that enveloped the entire Elia Convent, starting from the dead bodies to the entire convent, from any of the nuns.
[A truly high-ranking Demon can freely emit, conceal, or even bury their energies as they wish.]
Considering the advice from the Dark Spiritualist who stood by my side, I remained skeptical of that opinion.
‘Then it means that a high-ranking Demon responded to the summoning for a meager sacrifice.’
It was strange.
I could strongly feel that things didn’t quite add up.
‘I should not delude myself.’
I wasn’t a police detective.
I wasn’t a detective who could calmly uncover evidence like those in detective novels.
Of course, reasoning with clues was important, but the thought that it alone could not solve the case had struck me.
The sky darkened.
Just as I exhaled to cool my unnecessarily complicated thoughts.
“I think not everyone is out here yet.”
“I-I saw it too.”
Along with Findenai’s sneering voice, there was a surprised gasp from Illuania.
Both of them pointed their fingers at the same window simultaneously.
The attic of the convent.
The circular window which was placed in the highest place…
“There’s a bitch left up there.”
“That’s right. I clearly saw her, too.”
Upon the testimony of the two, I immediately turned my gaze towards the Abbess.
I considered the possibility that she might have shamelessly hid something.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t just the Abbess whose expression had crumbled.
All the convent’s nuns glared at us with ominous expressions as if we had just revealed a flaw they desperately wanted to keep hidden.
“Who was that?”
However, when I asked, undeterred by their intimidation, the Abbess clutched the rosary of the God she served and answered.
“There is no one.”
“Do you think I will believe your answer after witnessing such a reaction from you?”
I sneered at this absurdity before responding to her, and the Abbess responded with a posture as if she would rush at us immediately.
“There really is no one. Even if there is, they have nothing to do with this incident.”
“I will be the judge of that.”
I shifted my steps towards the attic of the convent.
