Only My Magic Levels Up - Chapter 136
Only Noblemtl
Episode 136 Traces (4)
“I brought it without permission.”
As he spoke, Galen’s eyes glanced at Diana and then back to Varga. Varga read the movement, understood the meaning, and spoke.
“You don’t have to worry about the sale. I guarantee it.”
“I believe it. This is the blood of Lord Droy.”
“Droy? Oceanis’s?”
“Yes. Have you heard the news that he has recovered?”
“They said it was thanks to you guys. It’s obvious who did it.”
“To be exact, we didn’t cure the original condition, but we just happened to find the cause that made it worse. It turned out to be a tumor.”
“It must have been a major surgery.”
“It wasn’t difficult to collect a little blood during that time.”
“Why did you bring it?”
“… Huh?”
At that moment, a strange groan was heard. It was a sound that Lilia let out without realizing it as she suddenly woke up from her thoughts.
The atmosphere had been tense until just before, but suddenly, my heart softened. Galen asked with a laugh.
“Have you sorted things out?”
“I think I know a little bit about it… Ah, anyway, I’m sorry.”
Lilia bowed her head towards Varga.
“I don’t care. It wasn’t something to apologize for in the first place.”
Varga said bluntly.
“Rather than that, Duke Galen, would you like to continue the story we were talking about?”
“Yes. It was because of Lilia’s request.”
“Huh? What is it?”
“The Archbishop was asking why I brought that.”
Galen pointed to the bottle in Varga’s hand.
Although Lilia had been lost in deep thought and had not heard a single word of the conversation, her clever mind quickly understood the situation.
“Oh, that’s it. That’s right! When I was urging the lord, I felt something strange, so I asked you, brother.”
“…Strangeness?”
“I don’t know what to say, but I have a vague feeling of discomfort?”
“Are you sure? So, I’m asking whether it’s just a feeling or something that comes from the senses.”
“Probably the latter. If it were the former, there would be changes, but I still get the same feeling every time I see it.”
“Umm… … .”
“I thought it was just my imagination, but my brother said he felt the same way. So I checked it out to see if there was anything!”
“… You too? Was that perhaps something you said to please Bishop Lilia?”
“It’s the kind of thing that doesn’t have a reason to match. Of course, if you ask me to explain what this feeling is, I can’t.”
Varga’s expression became serious as he spoke to Lilia and Galen in turn. He turned his head to the side.
“Bishop Diana.”
“Yes, your Majesty.”
“Haven’t you already told Bishop Lilia?”
“Yes. I didn’t even take it out. But… now it’s a little… … .”
“Why are you doing that?”
“That is, Bishop Lilia declined the offer.”
“What?”
“I have no intention of stopping the pilgrimage yet… … .”
Varga only answered Galen’s question about whether it was a gem, but he didn’t know why Diana asked that question.
He had never imagined that Lilia would step down from her position as vice-captain of the Knights Templar.
Varga, whose expression became more serious, thought for a while before opening his mouth.
“Bishop Lilia.”
“yes.”
“I’m not telling you to stop your pilgrimage. You don’t have to join the Knights Templar. Instead, could you help Bishop Diana for a while?”
“Is it… important?”
“Awesome. It’s a job that saves people.”
“ah.”
Although it wasn’t his intention, Varga had come up with the best way to convince Lilia.
If she didn’t know at all, she wouldn’t know, because the option to turn away when told to save people didn’t exist in her thought circuit.
If it had been Lilia before she started her pilgrimage, she would have accepted it without a second thought. She would not have even declined the Knights’ offer in the first place.
“Then brother… … .”
“It’s not like you’ll die if you stay away from me for a little while.”
“… That’s right. I guess there’s nothing I can do.”
Lilia responded sullenly to Varga’s remark.
Galen, who was actually listening, was puzzled.
“Excuse me, Your Eminence the Archbishop?”
“Tell me.”
“It seems like the conversation is going in a direction where I am obviously excluded.”
“… Are you saying you want to interfere?”
“Is this the kind of thing that outsiders shouldn’t get involved in?”
“That’s not true, but… … .”
“Or maybe I’m not that good?”
“That’s not it.”
Varga answered immediately.
Of course, his skills were beyond question, and Galen’s trustworthiness, having consistently and perfectly carried out the church’s requests up until now, could not have been low.
only.
“I was being considerate of you, wasn’t I? You couldn’t refuse and had to continue to take on our work. Now, it means you don’t have to do that anymore.”
“I think you’re mistaken… The reason I’ve continued to accept requests from churches is not because I can’t refuse. I just accepted them because they all seemed interesting.”
Galen chuckled.
“I brought the blood and asked because I was curious. If it’s a confidential matter of the church, I don’t intend to cause trouble, but if it’s not, I would like to satisfy my curiosity.”
“Are you going with me?”
Lilia, who had been depressed at the thought of having to be apart for a while, suddenly regained her energy.
Diana looked at Varga with a face that asked what she was going to do, and Varga, who had been silent, nodded.
“I would be happy to ask for your help, as long as you don’t think the church is trying to exploit you.”
“Wouldn’t it be funny if I were the one to bring it up and think like that?”
“Please keep this secret.”
“Of course. I’m sure the church knows that I keep my mouth shut.”
“I believe you.”
Once Varga had made his decision, he didn’t delay any longer. He spoke right away.
“First of all, let’s get to the point. There are reports of an outbreak of an epidemic in the Southwestern Archdiocese.”
“Southwest?”
“That’s under my jurisdiction too.”
Just as Damascus governed both the Northeastern and Eastern Archdioceses, Varga also governed both the Southern and Southwestern Archdioceses, a necessity given the lack of archbishops.
“Can we go there?”
“First of all, yes.”
“It’s okay to go, but… … .”
Galen tilted his head.
“Is that something that even the Central Knights would have to do? Is the situation that serious?”
The Knights Templar are combat specialists.
Of course, since each individual is an excellent priest, they are good at healing, but aren’t their purposes a little different?
Besides, judging from the fact that Diana is the main character in the conversation, it seems like not the entire Knights Templar have come, but only the Third Order.
It doesn’t feel like we’re short-staffed and sending away all the available clergy.
If the purpose had been medical assistance in the first place, there would have been no need to ask Galen for help, and there would have been no reason to keep such a grand secret beforehand.
As expected.
“What I am asking you to do is not to cure the plague. It is to investigate the plague.”
“Investigation?”
“Track down on the culprit who spread the plague, and kill him if possible. This is Bishop Diana’s mission. Please help me with that.”
“… … ?”
“To explain this, I need to take a moment to go back in time.”
Varga paused for a moment before speaking, looking at Galen and Lilia, who were looking puzzled.
“Have you heard of the great plague that swept through the western part of the Southern Archdiocese seven years ago?”
“Yes, I know.”
“I don’t see that as a natural plague.”
“yes?!”
Lilia was startled. Galen’s eyes narrowed.
“Could the plague be man-made?”
“Miracles are clearly defined into ten types, and martial arts are the development of human movements, so they do not go beyond a certain framework. However, magic is different. In theory, there can be an infinite number of types, so it is not strange for some bizarre things to come out.”
Varga twisted the corners of his mouth.
“It is recorded in the church. Long ago, there were evil wizards who brought death in various forms.”
“Was there a story about a wizard who spread plague among them?”
“Whether it was a plague, a poison, or a curse. We cannot know the exact mechanism. We are not magicians. What matters is that there was a magic that could cause mass murder in a terrible way.”
“Why did you think the great plague of seven years ago was magical intervention?”
“At that time, the damage was so severe that I personally went to the scene and took care of the patients. I discovered the same thing as you did.”
“Are you talking about blood?”
“A faint trace that only I, the Archbishop, could barely sense. Of course, I don’t know what it is. But when I examined the plague patients in other regions later, there was nothing like that.”
Once I started to suspect something like that, I kept noticing something suspicious.
“It wasn’t a very serious disease, so most of the patients died within a few days. But since everyone was dead, there was no one to spread it to, so the disease continued to spread. Then, at some point, it just stopped.”
It could have been passed over as a result of the church’s desperate efforts, and the world viewed it that way.
Varga, who was in charge of the quarantine, felt uneasy. The development started so abruptly and ended so abruptly.
“I wonder if there are more than a few records of plagues in the church? But this was clearly different from the usual form of plague. It was too noticeable for me to simply dismiss as an exception. Fortunately, His Holiness did not consider my concerns excessive.”
As he said that, Varga looked around.
Diana, who naturally took over the baton, continued her explanation.
“So since then, whenever an epidemic breaks out, we dispatch an investigation team. This time, the order is a little different. We came down to fetch Bishop Lilia, and after arriving here, we heard about the epidemic.”
“In the end, it’s beneficial. You can save time going back and forth to the center to report.”
“Yes. Considering the days we’ve waited here, it’s a gain. Especially since this epidemic is a concern.”
“Is there anything special?”
“It’s not exactly the same as the great plague seven years ago, but it seems like something out of the ordinary has happened again.”
“It could be the same criminal. Is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes. It’s a turning point for the investigation that has been sluggish for years. It’s a shame that Bishop Lilia has resigned from the position of Vice-Chief… but other than that, the situation has actually gotten better.”
The power of the investigation team increased dramatically with the intervention of a jewel wizard named Galen.
It was also very significant that both Galen and Lilia were able to detect suspicious traces that only the Archbishop could detect.
However, since Varga is such a famous big shot, it is difficult to move him directly.
Galen and Lilia are relatively unobtrusive and can immediately find traces of the scene, making investigations incredibly fast.
“The sooner we leave, the better. Shall we leave tomorrow morning?”
“I would appreciate it if you could do that.”
“How is it, Lilia?”
“great!”
“Then please guide us. This is our first time going to the southwest.”
“Leave it to me. I’ve been there many times.”
Diana, who had spoken confidently, suddenly smiled awkwardly.
“Of course, most of it is a large forest, so there’s no need to worry about it.”
* * *
The red sunset was particularly dark today, taking on the color of blood.
The village, where smoke should have been rising here and there in preparation for dinner, was as quiet as a mouse.
It had to be that way.
In the town square, on the street, in the shopping district, in the residential area.
Because the townspeople were lying down in any order, regardless of location, gender, age, or anything in between.
The expressions on the bodies vividly showed how they had writhe in excruciating pain before they died.
It wasn’t just people. Not a single cow or pig, let alone a puppy, survived.
Even crows, who smell like ghosts and scurry around when a corpse is found,
There were no living beings in this village except for two people.
“… … .”
One of them was looking up at the sun, not the village, from a hill overlooking the entire village.
In fact, I couldn’t even tell if I was looking up exactly.
The giant figure, a head larger than the average adult male, was completely encased in dark armor.
He was so meticulous that I couldn’t even see his eyes properly through the gap in the visor, so although the direction of the helmet was pointed at the sun, I couldn’t tell if he was looking at it properly.
“Were you here?”
The last one left alive came up the hill and said:
The middle-aged man, who looked somewhat frivolous, had no sharp features whatsoever, but his eyes were unusually small. They were squinty eyes that made it questionable whether he could see properly.
The armored monster didn’t even move, let alone look back, but the squinty-eyed man continued to chatter excitedly regardless.
“Thank you for your hard work this time too! As always, you look neat today too.”
“… … .”
“Thanks to you, we don’t have anything to deal with. This is so embarrassing, it feels like I’m getting paid to play.”
“… … .”
“Oh, of course I’m not really sorry. So, what’s the plan for tomorrow?”
The squinty-eyed man’s words did not end.
Before he knew it, the armored monster’s hand had stretched out and grabbed the man’s neck.
It wasn’t even a light grab. The iron gauntlet dug deep into the flesh, tearing at the neck. Blood spurted out like a fountain.
“Shut up.”
Only then did a harsh, growling sound like that of an animal come out from inside the helmet.
“Don’t give me orders.”
“Hey, you have a quick temper.”
The voice was clearly dying, with the air deflated in some places, but the expression on the cross-eyed man’s face was the same as before. That made it even more creepy.
“Even if you don’t like it, you have to listen to it, right?”
“I told you not to give orders.”
“Yes, I know. It’s not an order, I’m just creating a stage for you. Wasn’t that the contract from the beginning?”
The armored monster did not answer.
As he let go, the squinty-eyed man’s body fell backwards like a puppet with its strings cut.
Still, the squinty-eyed man spoke with the same expression as before.
“You seem to be in a bad mood right now, so I’ll send you a new one later. If you kill me every time I send it, it’ll be a little uncomfortable for me too, right?”
The face of the squinty-eyed man who had been talking like that suddenly stopped and his face became distorted.
The dead body lying on the ground was now replaced by the face of a completely different man, covered in tears, saliva, and blood.
The armored monster didn’t even look at that bizarre momentary change.
“… … .”
His eyes, turned back to the blood-red sun, turned a chilling blood red.