### Chapter Nine: The Tome (Part One)
I stopped talking and got lost in my thoughts. After a moment, I suddenly looked up and realized the little girl had left without me noticing. But more than half of the lamps in the cellar were lit by her, leaving only a few closer to me unlit. With the flickering flames, the whole secret chamber became increasingly bright.
…If what she said is true, and those knights have found this place, what should I do?
I definitely can’t let them discover me…
But since the townspeople had the little girl remind me of this, it means they don’t trust the Church either…
I dawdled for a bit, my head a jumbled mess, then lowered it again, staring blankly at the open tome in my hands. The clear writing came into view.
[October 26, 1185: All the Disqualified from the last batch have died…]
Whether the townspeople are the Gate of Truth or not, they seem to not want outsiders to find me here… Those people seem to know more than I think… Huh?
Two seconds later, I reacted to what was recorded in the tome.
…Disqualified?
Disqualified are—
Ah, I remember that woman mentioned them!
Disqualified are those weaklings at the Infernal Fire stage, the ones the Jester took to Silgaya?!
Angel found a disgusting, squirming tumor inside one of the corpses I froze. He showed me the tumor… and that type of tumor had also appeared in the dream that Irush shaped for me…
While I struggled to recall, I flipped the tome back to the cover.
The cover was clean and unwritten—it looked like just someone’s notes. As I flipped through the pages casually, they were densely filled with content. When I reached the first page, it had a title that read, “List of bl**d Sacrificers: Records and Progress,” followed by segments of dates and names.
[January 1181
Bruce, Bazel, Beck, Egbert…
July 1181
Boris, Black, Chad, Chaz, Andy…
January 1182
Selt, Gail, York, Sean, Vargut, Hillary, Donald, Vivian…
July 1182…]
The handwriting was crooked and not very pretty, indeed a bit ugly, but at least it was legible and clear enough. From that compact and cramped style, I vaguely guessed it likely came from a woman…
Hmm, probably that dancer named Ailna.
At a cursory glance, the tome recorded dates only in January and July each year, starting from 1181. As time progressed, the names listed under each date grew more numerous, but all the names were crossed out with slashes. Relating it to that earlier sentence I saw, I guessed this indicated they were dead.
Disqualified, bl**d sacrificers…
A bl**d sacrifice refers to the third stage of the Infernal Fire, right?
…Regardless, this is important information.
That woman wanted me to know this…
Frowning as I held the tome, I slowly walked back to the wooden table, pulled out a chair, sat down, and placed the tome on the table. With one hand resting on my chin, I quickly scanned the crossed-out names, then turned to the next page.
[…January 1183.
Tim, Tiffany, Wayne, Maureen… Teresa.]
!
My eyes suddenly widened.
On the list for January 1183, I actually saw Teresa’s name.
And in that year’s dense list of names, hers was the only one not crossed out but circled instead.
Teresa…
She’s one of the survivors.
Or rather, the successful ones.
1183, 1183…
Ah…
I had seen Teresa’s notes in the Royal City. Those notes were later submitted to the Church by Margaret, and they contained… references to sacrificing the bl**d of children to the remains… when did all this begin?
I think it was…
Also 1183…
Thoughts raced as my scalp gradually tingled.
I think…
I understand what this list represents.
There was no wind in the cellar, but at that moment, I still felt a chill invade my bones. I couldn’t help but tighten the robe around me, suppressing the complex emotions within, biting my nails, and continued looking down.
The following pages contained similar dates and names.
Starting from January 1181 all the way to January 1187. The records showed that as I moved forward, the lists of names under each date only grew longer. By July 1185, I noticed that besides Teresa, some other names appeared that weren’t crossed out.
But those names weren’t circled; they had no markings at all.
In July 1185, only one name appeared without a cross, a fellow called “Hachi.” The Hachi from “Hachi’s Adventure,” I was sure this was a strange name. However, by January 1186, names like that suddenly multiplied—roughly counting, at least seven or eight would appear under each date.
In July 1186, among the names not crossed out, I saw “Langman,” a name that felt vaguely familiar.
Who is he…
I feel like I’ve heard it somewhere before…
After thinking for a long time, I recalled that it was the Golden Mask, the dude with the rotten face.
When I was in the Valen Empire, he secretly assisted Edward and came to Winter City to capture me.
Later, I crossed blades with him. In that battle, the Golden Mask briefly revealed a power close to the bl**d sacrifice stage, but he couldn’t handle it, and soon died.
Hmm…
The Langman here must be that same guy.
No doubt about it.
By July 1187, the names left unmarked were even more familiar.
Marcus, Weithermill, Angus, Hacha…
There were a total of eight.
Most of these guys were not only familiar but over half of them I had killed myself.
Yep, they’re those whom the Jester took away—the Disqualified from Ailna’s mouth—recorded here as eight. Adding in that sixth council member, what was his name, the Fog Hidden, and the Jester, it made for ten.
Despite this group’s powers, which were still far from the Jester’s, far from Teresa’s, and far from that true bl**d sacrifice stage of Infernal Fire, compared to the Golden Mask I saw in 1186, they were already several leagues ahead.
At least they wouldn’t drop dead after using their powers once.
Maybe that’s why that dancer dared to make such a crazy plan, resolutely deciding to confront the Church head-on.
Otherwise, these Disqualified would soon d*e off…
I remember her saying that.
Even if she didn’t say it, I could see hints of it from this list, after all, the names of the previous Disqualified hadn’t appeared in earlier wars.
…So this is essentially some kind of unrecognized experiment, isn’t it?
In January and July every year, the dancer commands her people to capture some experimental subjects, these names in the list, and through some unknown means—perhaps related to that disgusting tumor—forces them to accept the power of Infernal Fire, turning them into Heretics. Those who can’t adapt d*e, and those who barely survive become the Disqualified, gaining power but living in a wretched state before soon dying off.
They knew they would d*e, so they acted recklessly, turning into demons…
As for Teresa, she may just be an anomaly.
“Ha.”
I clenched my fists, letting out a cold chuckle.
Madwoman…
Beyond reason…
More insane than the Church’s methods! No wonder she’s considered a Heretic, a gruesome demon who feasts on the flesh…
No matter the reason, anyone capable of such things deserves to d*e…
With a teeth-gritting emotion, I continued flipping through the pages, but gradually I found that things were slightly different from what I thought…
