The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 48

"Sit over there."

Ha Ye-jin pointed to an empty seat with her chin.

Do Seon-woo bowed his head and quietly sat down. It was a much more polite and courteous attitude compared to Yeo Min-seo.

A smile naturally formed on Ha Ye-jin’s face. Perhaps because she had just dealt with Yeo Min-seo, even trivial actions looked unnecessarily endearing.

The first question was, as expected, about the cause of the magical beasts’ death. Do Seon-woo tilted his head for quite a while after hearing the question. It was a similar reaction to Gu Jun-hyeok’s.

"I’m not really sure. It was so chaotic at the time."

"I see... Weren’t there any signs before the lightning struck? Like seeing divine power?"

It was a rather direct question. Do Seon-woo tilted his head and squeezed his eyes shut. He seemed to be trying to dig up memories from that time.

Soon he opened his eyes wide and spoke.

"Ah! I think I briefly saw divine power around Kim Jin-seo. Or maybe not? I’m not certain."

"Even if it wasn’t exactly divine power, didn’t you see something like light flickering or anything?"

"Oh, yes. I think something like that happened."

Do Seon-woo said while frowning. His memory didn’t seem certain.

It was a life-or-death situation, so it would be unreasonable to expect him to remember every detail. Forcibly digging up vague memories would be the most he could do.

Ha Ye-jin nodded slightly and moved to the next question.

"Yes, then what do you think this might be..."

"Wait. I have one more thing to ask."

Ha Ye-jin’s hand, which was about to take out the machine and place it on the table, stopped. It was because Kim Bok-dong had interrupted her words.

Kim Bok-dong stared at Do Seon-woo with deeply furrowed eyes. His face was stiffly hardened, making him look more menacing than usual.

"Two magical beasts with penetrating wounds to the heart were found at the scene. Yeo Min-seo said you did it?"

"Yes? Um..."

Do Seon-woo put his hand to his temple as if searching his memory.

"Yes, that’s correct. I did it."

"It appears to be gunshot wounds. Is that right?"

"What? Gunshots? How could I possibly have firearms?"

Do Seon-woo’s eyes widened as if hearing this for the first time. It wasn’t a lie or acting.

Kim Bok-dong tilted his head. If it wasn’t from firearms, then what exactly had he used to kill the magical beasts?

"No, wait. This..."

Come to think of it, calling them gunshot wounds was also ambiguous. First-year students hadn’t received shooting training yet.

Shooting training is conducted from the end of the first year’s second semester, and only for those aspiring to be Holy Warriors.

Moreover, even Holy Warriors who had trained for years couldn’t accurately hit the heart of a flying target.

But it was impossible for a mere first-year student who had received no training to accomplish that.

Against magical beasts, no less?

Thinking about it, he had concluded from the beginning that they were "gunshot wounds" and interpreted information to fit that conclusion.

Kim Bok-dong suddenly recalled the term confirmation bias.

"Then ’how’ did you do it?"

Eventually, he revised his question. Do Seon-woo pondered for a moment, then immediately opened his mouth.

"I threw stones, um. Yes."

As if too embarrassed to say more, Do Seon-woo trailed off.

Kim Bok-dong let out a snort of disbelief. He was saying he had accomplished with mere stone-throwing what would be difficult even with firearms.

So Do-jin had the same reaction. He stared at Do Seon-woo with tired, vacant eyes and spoke.

"...Does that make sense? Even King David couldn’t do that."

"Hey hey! Watch your words, how many times do I have to tell you!"

Ha Ye-jin slapped So Do-jin’s mouth repeatedly. It wasn’t blasphemy, but it was a dangerous statement approaching it.

So Do-jin bowed his head and expressed apology to the other teachers and the elder. He didn’t particularly look sorry.

Kim Bok-dong remained silent for a while, then gathered his confused thoughts and spoke.

"Let’s move to the next question."

He looked bewildered. Ha Ye-jin, as if she had been waiting, took out the machine and placed it on the table.

"What do you think this might be?"

"I’m not really sure... A camera?"

"Uh, um."

Did he coordinate with Gu Jun-hyeok?

Ha Ye-jin was slightly flustered.

"Yes, you can go now. You can go straight home."

"Ah, I left my books in the classroom. Can I go get them?"

"Yes, yes, of course."

Ha Ye-jin smiled brightly.

Do Seon-woo sometimes did endearing things. It wasn’t that he deliberately tried to look good, but rather a conscientiousness that seemed ingrained as a habit, which made it even more appealing.

Even when leaving, he bowed several times to the teachers as he exited the conference room. He was indeed very polite.

"Stone-throwing... haha."

Kim Bok-dong muttered to himself and laughed as if he had lost his mind.

It wasn’t just Kim Bok-dong. Everyone in the conference room was chuckling at Do Seon-woo’s statement.

Only Gabriel wasn’t laughing. He had a face as if deeply contemplating something.

Kim Jin-seo arrived at the conference room at 4:20. Ha Ye-jin didn’t hesitate and immediately threw out a question.

"You reproduced a miracle to cause the lightning, correct?"

Many things had already been confirmed through the statements of the previous three.

Especially thanks to Do Seon-woo’s statement, the fact that Kim Jin-seo had reproduced a miracle to cause lightning was practically a foregone conclusion.

If Kim Jin-seo herself acknowledged this, all credit for dealing with the magical beasts would go to Kim Jin-seo.

Kim Jin-seo moved her lips for quite a while as if displeased about something, then barely managed to speak.

"...Who said that?"

An expressionless face. It was no different from usual, but it was a slightly colder and more frigid expressionlessness than normal.

Ha Ye-jin became unnecessarily flustered and fidgeted with her hair.

"Student Do Seon-woo... as well as several other students. We compiled their opinions."

"Ah, yes."

Kim Jin-seo dropped her drowsy gaze to the floor. She seemed somewhat angry.

* * *

[Are you pretending to be stupid on purpose?]

Right after leaving the conference room, Legba spoke. I nodded and walked silently.

Sometimes it’s easier to act stupid, to pretend you don’t know anything.

From a teacher’s perspective, a student who always tries to learn with a humble attitude would be more pleasant than one who constantly tries to climb up.

[The lightning incident was also brushed off as if that Kim Jin-seo girl did it.]

"Yes."

[You were the one who caused it. Technically, Sobo caused it.]

"..."

[Do you really want to become a high-ranking cleric?]

Legba continued to scold me. The lightning that eliminated the magical beasts was clearly my doing, so why would I give that credit to someone else?

Of course, if I had said that I reproduced a miracle to cause lightning and eliminated the magical beasts, I would have gained fame immediately.

I might have been called a genius as "the first-year who reproduced a miracle." I could have heard endless praise beyond my station. Just like Kim Jin-seo had.

Of course, I wanted to do that too.

"Yeo Min-seo was watching me."

However, I couldn’t.

Even in that situation where death could be said to be imminent, Yeo Min-seo was watching me intently with those venomous eyes.

She probably also knows that this lightning wasn’t caused through "miracle reproduction."

If I said I caused the lightning, I might gain temporary fame, but Yeo Min-seo’s reaction would be unpredictable.

She might try to blackmail me by finding weaknesses from this incident, or try to investigate my background. If it were someone else, maybe not, but Yeo Min-seo could definitely do that.

Therefore, while I couldn’t speak about other things, I absolutely couldn’t mention the fact that I caused the lightning.

I felt sorry for Kim Jin-seo, but for now, passing the credit to her was the best option.

[Best? Wouldn’t it be better to claim complete ignorance or say it was natural lightning?]

"To call it natural lightning would be too unnatural given the circumstances. It’s easier to conclude that Kim Jin-seo did it before they dig deeper."

[You’re overthinking. Is there really a need to consider all that?]

"There’s no harm in being careful."

[I wonder. Will your thinking really prove correct?]

Legba disappeared with a meaningful remark.

I walked toward my destination with my mouth shut. The path leading into Eden Hill was blocked by tape marked "No Entry."

I looked around. All students had gone home, and all teachers were in the conference room, so there were no witnesses. No CCTVs were installed along this path either.

I held my breath and stepped boldly into Eden Hill, crossing over the tape.

Though it wasn’t yet evening, the hill was still dark and gloomy. It was because of the floating dark magic.

The dark magic became mist and was slowly swallowing Eden Hill on the wind.

"Granboa."

I bowed my head and called out Granboa. With my fingertips touching the ground, I used her divine power.

Soon my vision went completely dark. Deep darkness where not even a strand of light could seep in. It was as if a curtain had been drawn.

Eventually the curtain lifted, and new vision came before my eyes. Literally "new" vision. A world that human eyes cannot see. The world as seen by plants.

I was now sharing senses with countless plants in Eden Hill.

[Don’t do it for long. The burden is great.]

Granboa warned. Since I wasn’t simply using divine power but utilizing it skillfully, the burden was naturally great.

However, I was prepared to take that level of risk.

I moved my vision from grass to flowers, from flowers to trees, grasping the situation of Eden Hill.

About half of the hill seemed to have been eroded by dark magic. The situation was more serious than I thought.

I shifted my vision underground.

And there, I saw something shining.

A mysterious "box" buried deep underground in Eden Hill. A gigantic box large enough for about five people to enter comfortably.

I concentrated my consciousness to examine the box’s exterior. Around the box, something like shining oil was smeared thickly...

"Kheup, ah. Oh my."

At that moment, my consciousness was cut off and pain like my intestines were tangling rushed over me.

[I told you not to do it for long!]

"No, I didn’t do it that long..."

I answered somewhat dejectedly.

It wasn’t that side effects came from overusing divine power. The divine power had been "forcibly" cut off for some unknown reason.

The cause was probably that shining oil-like substance smeared thickly around the box.

Actually, it happened so suddenly that I’m not sure exactly what caused it. The throbbing pain still remained in my lower abdomen.

[What did you see?]

Legba asked. I caught my breath while forcibly suppressing the pain. I seemed to have just sat there breathing for several minutes.

When the pain had somewhat subsided, I opened my mouth.

"There was something strange buried under the hill."

[If you just say ’something strange,’ how am I supposed to know?]

"A box. I don’t know what it is. I almost died, phew."

[Is that the Satanists’ objective?]

"I don’t know that either. It seems roughly like that though."

Until now, whenever Satanists caused trouble, I was busy dealing with the aftermath belatedly.

But from now on, I plan to predict and prepare for Satanist actions. There have been no casualties so far, but there’s no guarantee it will stay that way.

Most Satanist incidents occurred near Eden Hill.

I judged that their objective was either in Eden Hill or at least related to Eden Hill.

The reason I lied to Ha Ye-jin and came to Eden Hill was to understand their purpose.

If I could just figure out their purpose, predicting future actions wouldn’t be difficult.

"But it’s not as easy as I thought."

[Everything is like that.]

I discovered the fact that some box was buried deep in Eden Hill. However, I couldn’t find out anything else besides that.

What was inside the box was unknown. The identity of the oil smeared thickly on the box’s surface was unknown. Even whether that box was the Satanists’ objective was unknown.

It was safe to say I had learned virtually nothing. In the end, I couldn’t discover the Satanists’ purpose, and even the information I did obtain was all unclear.

[It’s still the first step. If it could be discovered so easily, someone would have found out long ago.]

"That’s true."

[Hurry and get out. No matter how small the amount, dark magic isn’t good for your health.]

I got up, brushed off the dirt and dust, and walked out of the hill.

The sun was hanging on the mountain peak, gradually hiding its form. The sky that had been bright earlier was now quite dark.

I exited the hill by the same path I had entered.

Perhaps because I had coughed up blood earlier, my steps were very heavy. It felt like my feet were sinking deep. My hands and feet were cold, I had no energy, and my body felt chilly.

I wanted to hurry home and rest. Sleep a bit if possible.

"...Huh?"

Then, I heard someone’s voice.