漫画大王

Chapter 188

Dettomorian, who was sitting cross-legged in front of the cursed sword, started to murmur something. I couldn’t make out exactly what it was, but some kind of ritual was definitely beginning. I wondered what kind of object the cursed sword was, and if the curse could be lifted that night.

Everyone was tense, and Dettomorian’s mutterings didn’t reach us because we were far from the center of the chapel. While I could enhance my hearing to listen, I didn’t really want to.

For a very long time, nothing significant happened.

“...”

“...”

Ellen and I made eye contact, but we couldn’t break the solemn atmosphere by chatting. Yet, we were likely thinking the same thing: ‘When is this going to end?’

An hour had passed since the ritual began, but Dettomorian continued his mumblings, and the priests and mages maintained their protective barriers without anything noteworthy occurring.

It reminded me of the time I’d stepped into Dettomorian’s Occult Research Club with Charlotte. At that time, Charlotte had complained about the darkness and asked if we could turn on a light. Dettomorian had told us that doing so would end the ritual and had added that turning on the light would mean restarting the ritual, which would cost another week.

I started to worry that this ritual might not end in just a few hours, but could take several days or even weeks. If that were the case, the people stationed here would surely grow exhausted and leave. Could Dettomorian even take breaks for meals during such a prolonged ritual?

We’d come here without knowing how long it would take. Asking Dettomorian about this at this point wasn’t an option, and although the priests and mages might know something, they were all deeply focused on their own tasks, so interrupting them was not feasible.

The chapel doors were firmly closed, preventing any chance of leaving. I considered that we might just open the door and walk out, but...

“...”

“...”

What if opening the doors disrupted the ritual, broke someone’s concentration, or caused Dettomorian or someone else to make a mistake? The chapel was so quiet that everyone would hear us sneaking out.

Ellen and I found ourselves trapped in this self-imposed prison until the ritual ended. We sat side by side on a bench in the chapel, endlessly staring at the ongoing ritual.

***

Midnight had passed, and we still hadn’t returned to the dormitory.

Ellen grew tired, and she began dozing off. Normally, in such situations, she would just lean on me and fall asleep.

Watching her sway back and forth made me a bit worried, so I pulled her towards me and laid her head on my lap. By this point, such actions were no longer out of the ordinary for either of us.

“...”

Ellen, awakened slightly, looked up at me quietly and tried to get up. I gently pressed her head back down to let her know that it was alright for her to sleep if she felt tired.

“...”

She seemed to resist a bit but then closed her eyes, resigning herself to the situation. Somehow, this kind of casual physical contact had become easy for both of us.

While there was nothing wrong with this, it made me feel strange, as if we had skipped past dating and had gone straight to being a couple that had been married for ten years.

The ritual continued, and the priests and mages gradually showed signs of fatigue. Despite the initial tension, the cursed sword emitted no ominous energy and remained in the same state as before.

The only indication that the ritual was ongoing was Dettomorian’s continuous muttering.

I once thought of him as weak, but I was clearly mistaken.

Although I was looking at him from a distance, Dettomorian showed no signs of exhaustion or struggle. Despite the significant amount of time that had passed since the ritual began, his posture remained the same as he continued his chanting.

In many ways, Dettomorian was quite impressive. Eventually, I too succumbed to sleep and dozed off while sitting.

***

We were awakened by someone’s shout.

“Stop! Stop it now!”

Both Ellen and I were jolted awake by the sudden yell.

The high priest, who appeared to be overseeing the scene, was shouting.

“It’s too dangerous! You have to stop!”

Multicolored light streamed in through the stained glass dome. The morning had arrived without us noticing. However, Ellen and I couldn’t help but stare at what lay under that cascade of colored light.

A bizarre and ominous energy was emerging from the cursed sword, twisting menacingly under the light.

The sinister plume of energy was enormous, comparable in size to the statue of the goddess Ouen. Everyone was tense as we watched the eerie—almost sentient—energy moving.

“It takes time for it to stop...” Dettomorian said weakly.

“Yes, right. Hurry up. Stop it quickly. We don’t know what might happen if we continue any longer,” the high priest urged.

Although the bizarre energy emanating from the sword hadn’t yet caused any accidents, the fact that it kept growing in size had convinced everyone present that the ritual had to be halted.

Either due to Dettomorian’s control or the priests’ barriers, the ominous energy did not attack anyone. However, the colossal, malevolent aura filled everyone except Dettomorian with a palpable sense of dread.

Time continued to pass, and the strange energy that was escaping from the cursed sword eventually retreated back into it.

“What... what is that...?” Ellen murmured, grappling with the fundamental question on everyone’s minds.

We both knew it was an extremely dangerous object, but neither of us had anticipated this extent of danger.

Ultimately, Dettomorian abandoned the ritual midway, since the collective anxiety that something irreversible might happen had grown too strong to ignore.

As the dark energy dissipated, the mages quickly surrounded the cursed sword, swiftly taking the necessary measures to secure it.

With the situation seemingly under control, Ellen and I approached the center of the chapel.

“Are you the students who brought that item here?” a grave-looking priest asked us.

“Yes,” I replied.

Given that the only students present were Dettomorian, Ellen, and me, and the two of us had come to witness the ritual, his guess was spot on.

“I’m not scolding you. You did well to prevent such a dangerous object from causing chaos in the world,” he said, his tone void of any reprimand. “But it’s an extraordinarily ominous item. Though we don’t know exactly what it is, we can’t keep it in the Temple any longer.”

It was clear that he considered it impossible to hold onto this item, even within the Temple’s walls. That left two options: dispose of it or seal it away.

I couldn’t bring myself to ask for another chance to figure out more.

Dettomorian, looking pale and unsteady—either from the fact that he’d been up all night, or from the exertions of the ritual itself—stumbled towards us.

“No... I think I discovered some things about it...” he said.

Although the ritual had been interrupted and could not be completed as planned, Dettomorian had discovered something about the cursed item’s origin.

“Really? Do you know what kind of malevolent object it is...?” the priest asked, anxiously awaiting Dettomorian’s explanation.

“Not exactly, but... yes, kind of.”

The person in charge looked at Dettomorian, urging him silently to divulge more details.

“It’s a very old... artifact. It has a very deep history... so deep that we can’t see its end... It’s an artifact that’s older than anything in the world...”

Although the exact nature of it was unknown, Dettomorian was suggesting that this artifact was older than anything else in existence, older even than stones or rocks.

“It’s an object created before the world itself...”

While I couldn’t fully comprehend the implications, the priest looked utterly shocked, barely able to contain his astonishment.

“No... it can’t be...” the priest stammered in disbelief.

Ellen’s expression turned serious. She seemed to have had a realization herself. “Is it a Holy Relic...?” she mumbled to herself.

If it was an artifact of the deities who’d created the world, then it would indeed predate the world’s existence, and such an item would naturally be older than anything else in existence.

Dettomorian had discovered that the cursed sword was, in fact, a Holy Relic of the gods. Only such an artifact could be that old.

The high priest, filled with astonishment, looked back and forth between Ellen and me. “You guys... If what he says is true, then what you’ve found is... a demon god’s Relic. Even the demon gods left relics in this world...”

A Relic capable of spreading unholy energies that could raise the dead. If that were the case, it couldn’t be a relic of the Five Great Gods, but a Demon God Relic. That was the high priest’s inevitable conclusion.

“The demon god known for such power... is the god of corruption, Kier... It must be Kier’s Relic.”

Kier, the god of corruption, stood in stark contrast to Ouen, the god of purity.

For the first time in human history, a relic of a demon god had been discovered. The high priest appeared confused, torn between whether to feel fear or awe at the situation.

“A Demon God Relic...? Kier?”

Ellen was just as stunned as I was.

However, my shock stemmed from a different understanding.

There were no demon gods. There were only five main gods, and it was the misinterpretation of demons’ beliefs that had led to the concept of demon gods. Consequently, there couldn’t truly be a Demon God Relic. While there was a Demon God Cult and its followers might wield Divine Power, the idea that a demon god could have a relic was preposterous.

The god of corruption, Kier, did not exist. Kier was simply another name for Ouen, the god of purity, taken out of context.

If Dettomorian was correct, then the cursed sword was definitely a Holy Relic.

In the original story, there were five Holy Relics. However, I had only introduced two in the story: the sword of Alse, the god of war, called Alsbirnger, and the sword of Mencius, the god of the moon, called Lament.

I hadn’t depicted or even conceptually established the relics of the remaining three gods since there was no particular reason to feature all five relics.

Now, though, in this reality that had become my own, even the relics that had originally been left undefined had to have their own place and history.

Ellen and I had stumbled upon an artifact presumed to be a relic of the demon god, Kier, within the Dark Land.

There may be no demon gods, and certainly no Demon God Relics, but this sword was indeed a Holy Relic that possessed powers that stood in diametric opposition to those of Ouen, the god of purity.

Ultimately, strongly suggested that this cursed sword was likely the Holy Relic of Ouen. For some reason, though, perhaps due to the influence of the Demon God Cult, its powers had been twisted into their opposite.

Initially, I had only defined Alsbringer and Lament. However, after entering this world and taking theology courses during the first semester, I’d learned about the other three relics.

The god of corruption, Kier, was actually Ouen, the god of purity. Thus, the mysterious sword had to be Ouen’s Holy Relic.

That confirmed it: the sword was the Holy Relic, the Holy Sword Tiamata.

***

[Event Triggered - Holy Sword Tiamata]

[Description: So, you’ve discovered that the object you insisted on bringing back from the Dark Land is actually the Holy Sword Tiamata, mistakenly believed to be the relic of a demon god? What a convenient coincidence! It’s almost like your own novel!]

[Reward: Already given.]

Already given?

What does that even mean?

Could the confirmation that this was the Holy Sword Tiamata itself be the reward?

This event message basically served as explicit confirmation that the sword is indeed the Holy Sword Tiamata. Essentially, this validated my hypothesis.

‘I suppose that’s the reward ... So, the system essentially verified that it’s the Holy Sword Tiamata and seems to be challenging me to figure out a way to claim it...?’

I had suspected that the cursed sword was no ordinary object. Anything that could spread malevolent energy over such a vast area and resurrect the dead as zombies could not be trivial.

That was precisely why, despite knowing it was dangerous, I hadn’t given up on it that easily. However, I never anticipated that it would turn out to be a Holy Relic.

Among the three relics that I had not explicitly described in my original story, this one had somehow found its place, and Ellen and I had ended up discovering it during our sojourn into the Dark Land.

Had it not been for us, the sword would likely have been discarded or sealed away as a malevolent relic, without even reaching the mistaken belief that it was a Demon God Relic.

The Holy Sword Tiamata, which was never meant to make an appearance, had emerged, and it was currently mistaken for a Demon God Relic. Naturally, the Temple would not allow anyone to possess such an item and would either seal it away or destroy it.

Whether anyone could actually destroy a Holy Relic was uncertain, but undoubtedly, the Temple authorities would not let anyone keep it. Even though I’d found it, it wasn’t going to be mine.

If I continued to insist on hanging onto this sword, I could be mistaken as a Demon God cultist. People might start growing suspicious of me because of how obsessed I was with the artifact.

The Temple could very well accuse me of being a demon god worshiper.

The reward, Tiamata, had already been offered, the system seems to imply.

Take it if you can.

That was the situation the system seemed to be proposing...

***

“A relic of a demon god...” Ellen muttered blankly as we walked back to the dormitory.

I was the only one who truly understood the situation.

The true concept of the god of corruption, Kier, as the antithesis of Ouen, the god of purity, was known to very few, and I was one of those.

However, there was a puzzling aspect to all this: if there were no demon gods, why was the Holy Sword Tiamata exhibiting powers that were the complete opposite of its divine nature?

Demon Gods typically shared similar or opposing attributes with their counterparts. In the case of Ouen, the god of purity, the opposite would be the god of corruption.

Could it be that recognizing Ouen as a god of corruption allowed the holy sword to manifest the powers of corruption? Had the Demon God Cult members corrupt the Holy Sword Tiamata somehow? Was that even possible?

Regardless, the current belief was that the cursed sword was the weapon of Kier, the god of corruption. The malevolent energy it emanated supported that belief.

If I tried to argue that it was actually the Holy Sword Tiamata, people wouldn’t accuse me of blasphemy; they’d think I had lost my mind. That was how utterly unreasonable the situation was.

If I left things as they were, I’d have to watch on helplessly as my opportunity slipped away.

I had to find a way to acquire it somehow.

I needed to try every possible angle; losing this holy sword that I’d unexpectedly found wasn’t an option.

Ellen and I walked back to the Royal Class dormitory in silence.