The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 106

The mist that flowed out through the crack immediately enveloped the face of the mad woman. The woman’s pale face mixed with the orange glow pouring from the streetlight and the purple mist, glowing with a strange color.

"Ah, ahhhhhh...!"

The woman who inhaled the mist let out a bizarre scream with her eyes rolled back. The sorcery I had inscribed in the ring was apparently hallucination sorcery. If it had been fainting sorcery, she would have collapsed immediately without even having time to scream.

"Kahahak, kahak, kook, kook...!"

The woman screamed strange sounds that couldn’t be distinguished as screams or laughter for a long time, stamping her feet as if in agony or tearing at her hair, then crack.

She snapped her neck backward.

Scritch, scritch scritch, scritch, riiip...

With her neck completely bent back, the woman stared at the empty sky where not a single star was visible and began frantically scratching her arms with her broken and torn nails.

The places where her nails passed turned white, then swelled red, then finally tore open. Bright red blood dripped from the exposed flesh.

Thud.

There was no time to panic or flee. In the blink of an eye, the woman approached and placed her blood-dripping arm on my shoulder. Every time the woman moved, her head hanging from the bent neck swayed left and right. As if neck bones didn’t exist in this person.

"Cans are scary when crushed, metal fragments are dangerous when touched, the sound of breaking glass makes you come to your senses."

"What are you saying... Hey, let go of this and let’s talk-"

"Remember. Cans get crushed, metal fragments are dangerous, the sound of breaking glass. Glass bottles, cans, metal fragments. Remember. Don’t forget. Remember. Don’t forget. You must never forget this..."

Was she babbling nonsense while seeing hallucinations? No, it didn’t seem like that. She had been rummaging through trash cans and throwing garbage, and even now she was talking about garbage.

Her actions and words had their own consistency. She wasn’t simply crazy, but seemed to be crazy in a more complex way.

"You mustn’t forget..."

Thump.

The woman left those words and finally collapsed. The blood that had flowed from her arm was stuck black on my shoulder. The smell of blood was so pungent and nauseating that it made me automatically frown. Black tears flowed down the cheeks of the woman who had fainted without being able to close her eyes and fell to the ground.

[In a world chaotic enough that it would be strange not to go insane, but this is...]

Legba’s voice, which had been lamenting, cut off before long. A man and woman were running toward us from across the way, matching their steps.

The woman wore a white robe with a yellow cross drawn on it, and the man wore a black cassock. Judging by their attire, the woman seemed to be a Holy Knight and the man a priest. Holy Knights and priests often worked together, so it wasn’t unusual.

"This lady was doing this here again. Student, are you okay?"

The Holy Knight clicked her tongue with her hands on her hips, looking at the woman collapsed on the ground with frowning eyes. The priest held a Bible in his right hand while rolling rosary beads with his left hand, muttering something. I couldn’t tell if he was praying or just muttering to himself.

"Are you on patrol duty?"

"Huh? Ah, that’s right. While on patrol duty..."

The Holy Knight was answering my question when she trailed off and looked me up and down. Then she smiled and patted my shoulder. She seemed to be trying to brush off the blood, but the blood had already dried and stuck to my clothes, so it wouldn’t come off.

"You were a Florence student? No wonder you spoke so clearly. Anyway, can you tell us what this woman did to you?"

"She just threw garbage and said strange things. That was all. Is she perhaps a mental patient... something like that?"

"Mm, roughly similar. It’s fortunate that you say you weren’t hit... If it’s strange things she said, could I ask what she said?"

Older Holy Knights often had forceful tones when conducting interrogations or questioning. However, this person was a young Holy Knight, so her tone was very kind. But I couldn’t let my guard down because of that. In front of Holy Knights, you had to think two or three times more before opening your mouth.

"I don’t remember well. It was something like ’you mustn’t forget,’ I think."

"You mustn’t forget? Hmm..."

The Holy Knight pretended to ponder while subtly looking over my face. Her eyes seemed to be testing whether I really couldn’t remember or was just brushing it off with "I don’t remember" because I found it bothersome to answer.

"Other than that, you don’t remember well?"

"Yes, I was both confused and surprised..."

"I suppose so. You must have been very surprised on your way home, sorry for stopping you unnecessarily, now you can go back-"

Then, the Holy Knight’s words abruptly stopped.

Her mouth, which had been holding at least a formal smile, closed tightly. Her pupils were empty and unfocused. She was staring at me with such a cold and eerie face.

I got goosebumps, and then felt dizzy. My heart was beating like crazy. There was clear hostility floating in the Holy Knight’s gaze toward me. Had she figured out that I was the Voodoo cult leader?

No, that couldn’t be. When even Vatican papal inquisitors couldn’t find me, the possibility that a mere Holy Knight had discovered my identity was...

Smack!

Then, a sharp sound of flesh hitting flesh shattered my thoughts. The Holy Knight had suddenly slapped the priest’s cheek with her rough hand.

The Holy Knight was glaring at the priest with eyes clearly filled with the same hostility she had shown when looking at me.

"You, what...?"

The priest asked incredulously while rubbing his swollen cheek with the back of his hand. The rosary he had been holding fell to the ground with a clattering sound.

The two people’s gazes crossed. The Holy Knight stared at the priest for a long time with reddened eyes, then finally opened her mouth while shedding tears.

"You, why are you looking at another woman like that..."

"What are you suddenly talking about? What woman am I looking at?"

"Here, the woman lying here!"

The Holy Knight pointed at the mad woman collapsed on the ground with trembling fingertips. The priest looked back and forth between the woman and the Holy Knight with his mouth half-open, as if dumbfounded... Heavy silence flowed. The bewilderment in the priest’s eyes gradually disappeared. Anger filled the empty space.

"What makes you any different?"

"What?"

"Touching some other man’s shoulder and all. And such a young kid too."

"When did I?"

"Acting innocent? Does this snot-nosed kid look that good to you?"

The priest saying this was also shedding tears. Both people’s tears were crystal clear at first, then became murkily black at some point.

I just stared blankly at that scene. The situation was changing too rapidly for my thoughts to keep up.

Smack!

"You bastard, talking like that...!"

The Holy Knight grabbed the priest’s collar. Even so, the priest looked at the Holy Knight with empty eyes without showing signs of surprise.

Various emotions were floating in their eyes as they shed black tears. Anger, resentment, emptiness. They were all negative emotions.

"Bad? Who was it that slapped first out of nowhere? Did you think I’d offer my left cheek too?"

"That attitude of yours is always the problem. That attitude of being sarcastic when things don’t go your way...!"

"Since there’s nothing to find fault with, now you’re complaining about my attitude? Do you think your attitude is kind?"

The Holy Knight and priest’s voices grew louder. Despite their gazes that seemed ready to kill each other and their venomous tones, the content was too childish. They were pouring out only hatred without even knowing why they were angry.

It wasn’t a fight I could mediate, and honestly, I didn’t even want to mediate it.

"And, don’t you have hands or feet? Why do I always have to carry the luggage?"

"Physical work should be done by Holy Knights. Otherwise, what use are Holy Knights-"

Weeeeeeee-!

What cut off their conversation was a siren sound. Two Holy Knight Order vehicles were entering the alley in a line, though the alley was so narrow that even one car would have difficulty entering. Doors opened and Holy Knights and priests poured out of the vehicles. They were each armed.

"What’s all this commotion! The return time passed long ago but there’s not even one report, and when we finally come, you’re just fighting!"

"Team leader, shut up."

"...Which team is this bastard from? These bastards who won’t listen unless I call their direct superior-"

Then, the eyes of the person called team leader lost focus. It wasn’t just the team leader. The eyes of all dozen Holy Knights and priests who had gotten out of the Holy Knight Order vehicles lost focus.

Soon anger began to flicker in their pupils. Their anger was directed at each other without anyone being first.

"Sudden field deployment is bullshit, bullshit. What would priest bastards who only know how to sit around and act important know about the field, huh?"

"Such low-class guys. The Holy Knight Order exists because we’re here, these ignorant bastards who don’t know the order of things are talking-"

"This is why you shouldn’t associate with cockroaches."

"What! Take off the rank insignia and fight, and you won’t be able to collect your bones, you skinny bastard-!"

As they joined in, the fight grew even bigger. They grabbed each other’s collars, slapped cheeks, and finally even raised fists. Their anger didn’t discriminate between people, but overall showed a pattern of Holy Knights and priests opposing each other.

"Who do you think you’re grabbing by the collar! Don’t priests have any sense of hierarchy?!"

"In terms of hierarchy, Holy Knights are below and priests are above. You ignorant cockroach bastard!"

"Cockroach? I beat you with bare fists and you still can’t get your head straight-!"

In the heated fight, one Holy Knight picked up a metal fragment scattered on the ground. Looking at the priest with crazed eyes, just as he was about to strike the metal fragment down on the priest’s forehead.

Thump.

The Holy Knight collapsed to the ground as if melting limply. His eyes, which couldn’t close in time, showed white, and foam was bubbling from his mouth. The hand that had held the metal fragment was red-hot as if burned.

Even so, the Holy Knights and priests were still fighting. The sound of slapping each other’s cheeks, the dull sound of fists striking jaws, and screams and shrieks echoed from all directions.

Even while a colleague right next to them had collapsed foaming at the mouth, their madness of casually throwing punches at each other as if nothing had happened gave me chills. I unconsciously stepped backward.

Crunch!

"..."

"..."

The fight stopped right after the sound of a can being crushed was heard from somewhere. Those who had been pouring out hatred with faces red as beets stopped all their actions as soon as they heard the sound of the can being crushed.

It was as if time had stopped. Heavy and thick silence that seemed like it would never end flowed.

Caw-! Caaaaw-!

[...The crow’s eyes are white. There’s also a sulfur smell.]

In the silence, the sound of crows cawing was heard, followed by Legba’s voice.

I raised my head.

Two crows were sitting on a streetlight, leisurely watching the fight between the Holy Knights and priests. The crows’ pupils were glowing palely white like stars in the darkness.

[The situation is similar to last time. It’s a Satan worshipper. Why they’re doing this... I don’t know well either.]

In the small war created by the Satan worshipper, I neither nodded nor shook my head, just silently listened to Legba’s words.

I agreed that this incident was orchestrated by a Satan worshipper. However, I couldn’t agree with Legba’s words that he didn’t know why the Satan worshipper was doing this.

"Cans are scary when crushed, metal fragments are dangerous when touched, the sound of breaking glass makes you come to your senses."

These were the words the mad woman had left me just before fainting. As she said, the Holy Knight who touched the metal fragment lost consciousness and collapsed. When the sound of a can being crushed was heard, the Holy Knights and priests stopped fighting as if they had coordinated it. It was too perfectly matching to call it coincidence.

The Satan worshipper is ’deliberately’ giving me clues.

Creating incidents, giving clues, and always watching through crows as I work through the incidents using those clues. The reason he keeps creating incidents is simple amusement.

The Satan worshipper feels joy watching me struggle to solve incidents together with Florence students. He probably also feels a sense of superiority watching someone controlled by him. That’s the reason the Satan worshipper creates incidents and deliberately leaves clues... I pointed my finger at the two crows sitting on the streetlight.

"Sobo."

Crack!

And lightning struck. The two crows that had been tilting their heads and watching me teasingly fell to the ground in unison. The streetlight struck by lightning flickered and eventually completely lost its light. Darkness descended on the alley.

Crackle.

I crushed the wing of the crow that had become ash and dried up. It made a dry, parched sound. Even so, the crow’s eyes were still glowing white.

I bent down to look at the crow’s eyes. And through the crow’s eyes, I glared at whoever might be watching me.

I was beginning to have a vague idea of who the Satan worshipper was.

Crunch!

I crushed the crow’s eyes underfoot. The star went out.