Chapter 808

〈 Chapter 808 〉 Part 3, Chapter 1, Episode 10: Discovery

Honestly, going to meet the High Priest right now is dangerous.

I used my flight technique to pound Garura into defeat by hitting her back, but I didn’t kill her. Garura’s definitely plotting revenge and waiting for our rematch. Next time we clash, she might come at me with even more Gender rage—there’s no guarantee I can pull off another one-hit knockout like this time.

And besides Garura, the High Priest has seven S Ranks under his command. Some of them might even be SS Rank beings.

But leaving without doing anything feels off.

“I should at least see the face of the High Priest.”

Since I’ve found traces of Chaos here, I need to meet the High Priest at least once before leaving. No matter who or what the High Priest is, I have to confirm whether they’re contaminated by Chaos magic power or not.

“Ta-da! This is the way to the temple where the Honorable High Priest resides!”

Ha pointed out an underground passage that looked suspiciously dangerous at a glance. The faded golden temple-like structure was clearly a secret passageway used by high-ranking nobles.

“How do you know about this?”

“Hmph, because I’m the princess of this country!”

Ha revealed her identity by throwing a V sign in my direction. Her ridiculous coming-out story made me want to say something, but I decided to just go along with it.

“Are you saying the princess gets executed by the High Priest simply for being pretty? You might as well claim *you’re* the High Priest.”

“Me, the High Priest? Come on, that’s absurd! Your jokes aren’t even funny.”

“…Who started the joke here?”

Her earnest mocking left me speechless. She treated her own absurd statements as truth while dismissing mine as meaningless banter.

“You being a princess doesn’t make sense…”

“Why wouldn’t it? A princess can be imprisoned!”

“A princess being locked up just for being beautiful doesn’t make sense to me.”

“If abnormal situations arise, why couldn’t a princess be imprisoned for being too beautiful?”

Her logical argument left me momentarily speechless.

“As proof, look at this very passage we’re walking through. Only royalty can use this route. Even if the High Priest is the most powerful figure, there are secrets only the royal family knows.”

“If the High Priest is practically a king, why does the royal family still exist? Isn’t the High Priest himself part of the royal line?”

“Well, many High Priests come from the royal family.”

“Ah, I see. So you weren’t imprisoned for your beauty; you’re actually the High Priest’s rival.”

“Nope! I really was imprisoned for being pretty!”

“Alright, sure.”

With Ha in tow, I continued running through the underground passage. As she claimed it was known only to the royal family, no enemies or traps appeared.

“Shouldn’t the High Priest, being of royal blood, also know about this place?”

“Don’t worry. The current High Priest isn’t royal. Though traditionally they were, now someone outside the royal family holds the position.”

“How?”

“They received divine grace directly.”

“So receiving grace makes you the High Priest?”

“Yeah. Choosing the High Priest is ultimately within the domain of the gods.”

That’s true. In the past, Shin-ra, the goddess of Chang-yeom, appointed the High Priest of the Sun Temple.

Whether the Golden Sun God’s judgment is reliable or not, somehow he chose the current High Priest as his proxy.

And the current High Priest has imprisoned Princess Ha of the Vishnia Kingdom.

Clunk-clunk-clunk.

Ha skillfully disabled all the traps in the passage, leading me safely through without triggering any traps.

“Clearly, if someone knows things only royalty would know, there’s no reason to keep doubting them. I believe you now—you really are the princess.”

“What do you think? Does believing I’m a princess feel better?”

“If you’re the princess, then who’s the High Priest? One of your half-brothers?”

“Nope. My brother’s wife. My sister-in-law wants me dead.”

“Because you’re pretty?”

“Yeah. Because I’m pretty.”

Ha giggled for a bit before sighing deeply.

“…It’s a joke, so stop looking so serious already. If I’ve explained this much, you should get the gist of my situation.”

“I’m thinking…but I can’t be certain unless I hear it directly.”

“Alright, I’ll tell you. I don’t have any Magic Power, so there’s no way I could become the High Priest. But my sister thinks differently. She fears I might receive favor from the Light God.”

Ha mimed choking herself while laughing. Her smile was tinged with self-mockery.

“She believes that if I disappear, her son will become the High Priest. After all, her child carries my brother’s bloodline.”

“Does the Light God only appoint those with royal blood as High Priest? That doesn’t seem right, though…”

“You’re correct. This is quite an unusual case. Normally, one member of the royal family becomes the High Priest.”

Ha stopped in her tracks and laughed bitterly again.

“Imagine this: a girl who did nothing her whole life, whose only feature is her beauty, suddenly receives divine grace and becomes the High Priest. My sister would be utterly flustered, wouldn’t she? She must have been expecting her own child to become the High Priest. Though the god’s choice is absolute, traditionally the person closest to the throne became the High Priest.”

“It sounds like a succession issue. And you’re the highest-ranked in that order… despite having no abilities.”

“No abilities? I just can’t use Magic Power. Other than that, I’m far better than my sister-in-law!”

“Yes, yes. Now, shouldn’t we focus on getting out of here soon?”

I gestured upwards. Ha quietly held her breath before pointing at the ceiling.

“About here. How’d you know?”

“I can sense overwhelming Magic Power from above.”

I can feel it too.

The radiant Magic Power of the Light God, the Golden Sun God.

Being similar in nature to Flame, I can sense this Magic Power more easily than others.

This Magic Power is surging intensely. It’s frustrating that I can’t break through the secret passage and ascend.

“You said you wanted to see him, but you don’t necessarily need to see him with your eyes, right?”

“There’s no need. Just sensing the Magic Power is enough.”

My criterion is simple:

Is the person contaminated by Chaos? Or not?

No matter how rude someone normally behaves, if they haven’t been exposed to Chaos, I won’t interfere.

But anyone exposed to Chaos, no matter how good their actions, must be eliminated.

“What’s the way up?”

“We need to use emergency exits located in some rooms. This way.”

Following Ha’s lead, I climbed the emergency exit in reverse. Although climbing the walls without using Magic Power was mentally taxing, as Ha had promised, I managed to infiltrate a room separated only by a bookshelf.

“Shh.”

Of course, we need to stay quiet from here on out.

But the noise inside suggested that wasn’t necessary.

“Eh…?”

Ha was thrown into confusion. After all, the rough breathing emanating from the High Priest’s chamber, whom she called her sister-in-law, included unmistakable moans from both a man and a woman.

“Is it my brother?”

“N-no way… My brother is currently d-dead…”

Ha went pale. From her reaction, I immediately understood the situation.

‘She’s cheating.’

She’s having an affair.

The question is whether this is after mourning and remarrying, or if she’s been secretly committing adultery with someone else all along—or perhaps…

“When did your brother die?”

“One year ago…”

One year. It seems like a short yet appropriate period to remarry after losing a spouse. Considering this is a nation of rapid light, maybe even a year feels long.

However…

“Breath harder, Interrogator…”

“Ughhh…”

Through the bookshelf, we identified the partner.

And Ha turned ghostly white, trembling uncontrollably.

“T-that…”

“What?”

“The Interrogator has served the royal family for twenty years…”

“……Got it.”

I pulled out my gun from my coat.

“You said you were imprisoned so your son could inherit the High Priest position, right? Perhaps their child isn’t even your nephew.”

“S-such a thing…!”

While cold, such realities do exist. The world is spectacular, and Tera cannot deny such occurrences.

“Let me ask one thing. Is adultery legal in this country?”

“D-does it go without saying that it’s not?! Marriage is a promise to love each other forever and to only think of that person…”

“Then that settles it.”

I understood the situation.

“Chang-yeom Kick.”

“What?”

BOOM!

I kicked the bookshelf and charged forward.

When the passage collapsed, the two figures entangled on the bed came into view, and I immediately fired my gun at them.

BANG BANG!

One shot at the man, one at the woman.

The woman, unworthy of her title as High Priest, lay beneath the man, reaching for her staff before I intercepted her arm.

“Aaaaah!”

One shot grazed the man’s shoulder, another hit the woman’s wrist.

There was no bleeding, but the physical impact combined with the shock of Magic Power being scorched by Flame was intense.

“Neutralized.”

I enveloped the pair, intertwined like one, with a Flame-infused blanket. Naturally, since I used Chang-yeom, they were unable to use their Magic Power.

“W-what is this?!”

“Heretical power?!”

“Heretical? What nonsense.”

I aimed my gun at them.

By aiming the weapon that injured them, and given how easily they were subdued, they glared at each other helplessly.

“You bastard… how did you find the kingdom’s secret passage…!”

“That’s none of your concern. Man.”

“I am the Interrogator!”

“Lucky. I was confused about which one was the High Priest.”

BANG!

I shot the Interrogator in the chest. Of course, it wasn’t meant to kill; rather, it delivered a magical shock to his heart, causing temporary cardiac arrest and knocking him unconscious.

“Guh, guh…”

The woman trapped beneath the Interrogator trembled. Being attacked was bad enough, but being caught mid-sex and ending up underneath her partner must have felt even worse.

“Sister-in-law.”

A cold voice from behind. Ha stood beside me.

“You, you damn brat!”

“Don’t speak rudely. Answer honestly, or I’ll ensure you can’t speak rudely anymore.”

Trembling fists clenched tighter, Ha asked the High Priest,

“Whose son is yours?”

“Guh…!”

The High Priest hesitated to answer. For a fleeting moment, her eyes darted toward the Interrogator beneath her.

That alone was sufficient confirmation.

“I-I…”

“Intruder alert!!”

The High Priest screamed wildly. I immediately grabbed Ha around the waist and ran back through the passage we broke through.

“What are you doing?”

“What do you think? The Eight Divine Warriors will be coming, so we need to escape.”

Dealing with eight Garura-level monsters alone is still annoying for me.

And both Ha and I have achieved our goal.

“Just came to take a peek, right?”

“Huh?”

“That’s enough.”

Our objective is complete.

“They’re not Apostles of Chaos. They’re merely bundles of lust driven by sex and power.”

Now, all that remains is escaping this country.

“My target for purification isn’t here.”

Clunk-clunk-clunk!

Footsteps approached from behind, and I ran faster ahead.

“Hold on tight.”

I hugged Ha in front of me and fled at Full Strength.

“You, you…”

“These aren’t the shadows that would plunge the world into chaos.”

I patted the sobbing Ha as we kept running.

“They’re just trash. You must have suffered a lot because of trash like them.”

“…Hic!”

Ha began crying softly into my embrace.

“Damn.”

“Damn indeed.”

“Absolutely damning.”

“””Sigh.””’