The interrogation proceeded smoothly.
As promised, I did not ask Abiyang for key confidential information about the elves. The location of the elven settlement or the size of their forces was the same.
My questions were always straightforward.
I merely inquired about the events leading up to Abiyang’s body modification surgery.
Yet, there remained signs of hesitation in Abiyang.
Even though she was young, she had been chosen as a cadet among the elves.
No matter how overwhelmed the elves might be, she must have completed her basic education. Considering the possibility of betrayal, their sense of kinship must be particularly strong.
Therefore, it was only natural that Abiyang was afraid.
Even seemingly trivial information could turn into a fatal weapon at any moment. That was the power humanity had shown the elves over the years.
So, I never crossed the line.
My inquiries were solely aimed at Abiyang’s regenerative abilities. I did not pay attention to anything else.
Of course, it was merely a temporary reprieve.
There might come a day when I would need intimate information about the elves. The elves were enemies of the empire, and I was a member of that empire.
But for the time being, it was wise to exercise restraint.
The important thing was to gradually break down her psychological resistance.
It was the so-called “boiling frog” strategy.
Once I had her share a few bits of information with a sense of ease, it would become easier for her to reveal more important details. Unless trained agents were involved, my opponent was just a young brat who had barely become an adult.
Watching her struggle to hide her naivety made me feel this strategy would be effective.
And during our conversation, I discovered an unexpected fact.
Abiyang did not voluntarily undergo the body modification surgery.
In fact, she even felt a sense of disgust toward the procedure.
It was a way of thinking typical of elves, who love harmony and nature.
The rituals of the Dark Cult generally distort the natural order. It seemed body modification surgery was no exception.
Abiyang told me as though condemning it.
“It’s… a cult!”
“…A cult?”
It was a word that appeared out of nowhere.
I inadvertently responded with a question.
The Dark Cult could indeed be called a “cult” in a broad sense. However, it seemed Abiyang did not have much knowledge about the Dark Cult.
The fact that she referred to it as a “cult” rather than the explicit name “Dark Cult” indicated that she could not connect the two together.
It was understandable.
The Dark Cult had operated in secrecy for thousands of years.
Their misdeeds had become nothing more than myths now.
There were no known specifics about what the Dark Cult did or what methods they employed.
In fact, I was the exception.
I had clashed with the Dark Cult on several occasions, and because of that, I had some level of awareness about their tactics.
So when I saw the grotesque lump implanted in Abiyang’s body, I was certain.
The Dark Cult was undoubtedly scheming in the Northern Region as well.
This was the realm of intuition, not reason.
Unless it was my comrades and me, it was natural that nobody would easily associate the possibility of a “Dark Cult” with such situations.
However, Abiyang’s hatred toward the cult appeared genuine.
The blue eyes of the girl testifying spoke with an intense flame. Her bitten lips seemed on the verge of bleeding.
The very term “cult” implied a negative perception. Unless Abiyang was a shrewd con artist, I had no choice but to believe that her feelings were sincere.
As I pondered silently and swallowed my hesitation, Abiyang raised her voice passionately.
“It’s all the work of humans! Even the village elders were swept away eventually…!”
Abiyang’s face, trembling with rage, was sorrowful.
She was so angry that she momentarily forgot my existence and condemned humans instead. Of course, I had no intention of blaming her for that extent.
What I needed to prioritize now was information.
I wasn’t inflexible enough to start throwing out my pride as a member of humanity.
Thanks to that, Abiyang could continue speaking in a more comfortable atmosphere.
“We elves respect all life.”
It was a declaration made with a dampened spirit.
I remained silent, arms crossed. In fact, it was a testimony that veered sharply from the rumors I had heard.
Elves engage in guerrilla warfare in coniferous forests.
The North was already a harsh environment. Naturally, there was little resources to spare for latecomers.
The food issue would be particularly severe.
I had heard that elves began eating meat only after migrating to the North. If they had given up on vegetarianism, which they had believed in like a religion, one could roughly imagine how dire their situation was.
Once a belief is abandoned, it can easily be discarded again.
It was around that time the elves began to plunder the settlers in the North. This was the very reason the Yuridina Clan had been waging war against the elves so far.
For those who k*ll others for their own survival to say they respect all life.
It was a laughable declaration, but I chose not to articulate it.
I simply waited in silence for Abiyang’s subsequent words.
She glanced at me cautiously, and when I stayed silent, she again parted her lips.
“At first, I thought he was just an unlucky human caught up in the war. He called himself a priest of the Heavenly Deity Sect and seemed to adapt well to the village.”
“…A priest of the Heavenly Deity Sect?”
“Yes, a priest of the Heavenly Deity Sect. He still uses sacred powers, so it’s clear.”
It was an intriguing story.
Priests of the Heavenly Deity Sect use sacred powers based on faith. This was characteristic that distinguished them from the powers of dark deities obtained through contracts.
And just as the Heavenly Deity and the dark deity each govern the light and darkness of the world, the powers granted by the two gods were also different.
Even a layperson could distinguish them with their own eyes.
In that case, it meant that the “priest” still maintained his faith in the Heavenly Deity.
I could only chuckle with disbelief.
“Even so, you call it a ‘cult’?”
“That’s exactly it! If that’s not a cult, what would you call it?”
Faced with my skeptical response, Abiyang shouted in exasperation.
It was indeed a bit odd.
Although Abiyang appeared naive, she seemed to possess a normal level of reasoning. After all, she had been living in human society for more than ten years.
She couldn’t possibly be foolish enough to recklessly condemn the Heavenly Deity Sect as a cult.
Ultimately, I had no choice but to ask again.
“Why?”
Now it was Abiyang’s turn to keep her mouth shut.
Even after hearing my blunt question, Abiyang could not shake off her hesitation. It was a response contrary to her previous unreserved denouncement of the cult.
However, the conflict shown in her expression appeared to stem from a different kind of feeling.
Rather than the desire not to betray her kin, it was an expression of being unable to articulate the horrifying truth that needed to be spoken.
Hence, I had to respond with an even stronger question.
“First of all, is it correct that this ‘cult’ modified your body? How could a priest of the Heavenly Deity Sect possess such technology? What kind of things are they doing that you are so certain it’s a ‘cult’…?”
“We elves love our kin.”
It was a declaration spat out almost as an excuse.
Of course, it was merely a self-defense against her forthcoming testimony. Abiyang seemed to harbor a deep aversion to what her kin were doing.
I tapped my finger on the table discreetly.
After taking a bit more time, Abiyang finally revealed the true nature of the “cult.”
“But the cult devours our kin.”
My finger, which had been about to tap the table again, came to a halt.
For a moment, it felt like my thoughts had ceased to function.
It was as if a stone had been thrown into a filled water tank and thoughts flooded in. My brain, overwhelmed beyond its capacity, reflexively instructed me to ask.
“…What?”
“Literally.”
Her tone was dreary.
Abiyang’s voice, which had been fervently expressing her feelings just moments ago, had sunk to a shadowy depth. Her blue eyes had long since lost their light, shrouded in a sad shadow.
It meant she was unearthing painful and distressing memories.
And so, I had no choice but to stare blankly at Abiyang.
Literally? What could that possibly mean?
The answer returned shortly after.
With a brutally clear factual relationship.
“Elves are eating elves. Although it’s limited to those who believe in the cult…”
I opened my mouth to say something, then closed it again.
There was a fact that could be understood just by looking at Abiyang.
External enemies evoke internal cohesion. Especially for elves who had endured years of persecution, their kinship was formidable.
Look at Abiyang, who burst into tears, unable to abandon her kin even in the face of violence and d*ath.
It was a horrific reality that I could not have imagined.
Unfathomable emotions surged and struck at my throat.
“Are you just watching that happen? Of course, it should be stopped…!”
“That’s madness.”
With a hollow smile, Abiyang declared that.
“…We are going mad, our elves.”
With profound despair.
Suddenly, I recalled Miltram’s words.
The Dark Cult existed for those abandoned by the world, didn’t it?
At the end of that persecution and discrimination, the elves were preying upon their own kin.
