Chapter 611

My main objective was to locate Rowen, which was why I wanted to meet up with a contact from the Church of the Five Great Gods.

Unexpectedly, it wasn’t just a contact waiting for me; it was Rowen herself.

What was happening?

Had the popes misled me?

What motive could they possibly have?

While my mind was shrouded in this uncertainty, Rowen knelt before me.

“It is an immense honor to meet you again, Demon King.”

It was a gesture of total submission.

“Why are you here? I was indeed looking for you, but I don’t recall asking you to come here. This is our first meeting, isn’t it?” I replied.

“Well... I know everything that happens within the Church.”

‘Ah, so that’s how it is.’

The capital seemed to have its own unique identity. At some point, the clergy within had slipped out of the control of both the popes of the Five Great Orders and the commanders of the Order of the Holy Knights.

Illeion Volten didn’t know what was going on with them. The popes didn’t know, Vertus didn’t know, and neither did I.

“So, if I wanted to take control of the Church, I should have come to you and not gone to the popes,” I said.

“That’s right.”

At last, I had found the right person to help me take over the Church of the Five Great Gods.

“All those who share my will stand ready to support you, Demon King.”

These supporters of mine had finally organized themselves after being marginalized for a long time.

The elite forces directly under the commander of the Order of the Holy Knights, who had attempted to purge Rowen, were not loyal to her, but that was the extent of the commander’s power. He only controlled a small faction of the knights in the capital. The rest of the holy knights who followed the commander were stationed at the Allied Forces’ base. The Order’s forces in the capital were not loyal to the popes or the commander, but to Rowen.

In effect, the elements of the Order of the Holy Knights hadn’t returned to their base; they had, in fact, returned to enemy territory.

Rowen had the power to control not only the Hero Cult and the demon god cultists, but also the forces of the Church within the capital.

“It’s a tempting offer,” I said. “But why should I team up with someone like you, who seems completely unhinged?”

Even without much conversation, it was clear to me that Rowen was a little unbalanced.

“Do you really think the popes are any saner?” she asked.

“They might not be entirely sane, but they’re definitely more stable than you.”

I didn’t have much love for the popes, but Rowen was undeniably dangerous.

Someone like Rowen seemed likely to act on herhis own, ignoring any orders I gave.

That made me uneasy.

No matter how tempting the promised rewards, I couldn’t shake my reluctance, even if Rowen wanted to be on my side. I had revealed myself and gone there to put an end to madness.

Rowen cautiously looked up at me.

Her gaze was unbearable. It was bold of her to even look up at me, but her eyes made it clear; she wanted to talk, to connect. The intensity of her reverence was enough to make me feel nauseous. Knowing it was directed at me only added to my discomfort.

“Who is crazier, the one who uses heretics to incite riots, or the one who plans to slaughter millions of them? Both are mad, but I’m not sure which is more insane.”

Rowen’s words were even more shocking than her stare.

“What?”

The first part referred to Rowen herself. But the second?

“Didn’t the popes tell you?” she said, sounding surprised.

“What are you talking about?” I demanded.

“Didn’t they mention the purification of heretics?”

The purification of heretics...

The chilling phrase sent a shiver down my spine.

“You didn’t really think the five popes would just stand idly by after realizing the extent of the cultist threat, did you?”

Yes. They had said that.

They had mentioned that

this

wasn’t the time to kill heretics indiscriminately. That held the unmistakable suggestion they would willingly do so when the opportunity arose.

They had been using Rowen to map out the hierarchy of the heretic groups and identify their leaders. Since wiping them out wasn’t feasible, the plan had been to keep them under control.

Eventually, though, the goal was to eliminate them entirely.

“Why pour new wine into old wineskins when you can just use new ones?” Rowen remarked, glancing up at me.

Rowen had nearly been purged herself, and now she was discussing committing a purge with me.

“Are you telling me that your capture and torture of heretics was all part of a plan to save them?”

“I desire the Empire’s collapse. And I hope you, Demon King, will usher in a new era.”

I was too stunned to speak.

“The salvation of millions of heretics by you, Demon King, is merely a side effect,” Rowen said, her smile tinged with a certain strangeness. She seemed more like she was on the verge of tears than laughter.

“And no matter how skilled I am at capturing and torturing people, the death of millions is... tragic. Such a thing should not be allowed to happen, right?”

Here was an inquisitor talking about the sanctity of life, even though they were the lives of heretics. She sounded like a serial killer discussing the dignity of life, which was deeply unsettling.

My discomfort stemmed from the fact that there was nothing wrong in Rowen’s words. There’s nothing more unsettling than hearing the truth from someone you know is wrong.

“Do the popes really intend to kill all those heretics? Do they really believe the Church could survive after something like this? Even after the Gate Incident, you think they’d dare?”

“Why makes you think they wouldn’t do it

now

?”

I was taken aback. “What are you saying?”

“Wouldn’t the Empire benefit if the number of so-called ‘useless refugee trash’ is drastically reduced?”

That chilling thought made my eyes widen.

“Do you think it’s impossible to pin the blame for what happened in the underground tomb of the Order of the Holy Knights on the heretics and then slaughter them all?”

I silently considered the implications.

“It’s not about whether or not they can; it’s about whether or not they will. If they decide to, they can make it happen.”

The incident concerning the Order of the Holy Knights was my doing. Were the popes trying to pin the blame on the heretics instead of finding the real culprit?

“Was the investigation always meant to go in that direction?”

“They instructed me to pursue it in such a manner.”

The popes wanted to control the heretics. That’s why they used Rowen. That’s why the strange hierarchy existed, with the Church effectively pulling the strings behind the scenes, secretly controlling the heretics.

In truth, the popes only wanted to control the heretics because they couldn’t eliminate them yet. They planned to destroy them as soon as they had the chance, and they were going to frame the grave-robbing incident as the heretics’ doing, regardless of the truth.

But Rowen already knew almost everything about the heretics in the refugee camp. Even if she captured and tortured other heretics that had not yet been identified, she would realize they weren’t the ones responsible.

The Church could frame innocent people, but they couldn’t turn them into the real culprits.

Rowen’s plan was to accuse the Empire of being guilty. Illeion Volten had ordered her to halt the investigation, but she had refused to comply.

It was evident that the popes were plotting to eliminate all the heretics eventually.

Of course, this wouldn’t happen overnight.

The popes had kept their plans hidden from me. They knew I would react violently to any talk of purging the heretics. They were opportunists, quick to savor the sweet and discard the bitter. They clung to power like parasites.

In the end, they sided with me because the opinion of me within the Church was shifting in my favor.

Was Rowen mad? Or were the popes mad? Perhaps both were. But it soon became clear which side I had to choose.

***

The atmosphere in the capital was grim and unsettling. The recent riot and the subsequent massacre had cast a dark shadow over the city.

Smoke from burning corpses rose into the air here and there, and the guards patrolling the refugee camp were not the usual ones.

Silent and faceless, they wore helmets that concealed their identities, filling the streets with an eerie presence. Despite the simmering hatred and anger towards them, no one dared to confront even a single guard.

Everyone could tell that these silent watchers were not like any ordinary guard.

Strange beings, human yet not quite, roamed the refugee camp.

At the slightest hint of violence, they resorted to extreme measures. It felt as if machines, deaf to pleas and cries for mercy, were patrolling the streets.

The previous guards, though harsh, at least spoke to them and retained some semblance of humanity. But the new guards controlling the camp were silent, offering no warnings.

They moved slowly through the streets, and at the first sign of unrest, meted out swift punishment before vanishing.

Their inhuman appearances instilled deep fear in everyone.

The four who had been investigating Rowen’s death remained at the Temple over those few days, wrapped up in a feeling of foreboding.

They had uncovered some shocking truths, and needed time to process their thoughts.

Ludwig held onto the hope that chimera surgery might restore his arm, but he was acutely aware of the life-threatening risks, which left him in a constant state of inner conflict.

Amidst the sudden chaos in the imperial capital, they found refuge in the Temple, spending several days in silence. But they couldn’t stay idle forever.

Ellen gathered Heinrich, Louise, and Ludwig together.

“We need to decide our next steps regarding the archbishop situation.”

They had uncovered some truths, which opened up new possibilities but also stirred up fear. Yet, the core issue remained unresolved.

Who killed Rowen?

The emperor insisted it wasn’t the Empire that had taken Rowen’s life.

“What Vertus told us back then doesn’t seem like a lie. He showed us the state of that laboratory. If the Empire had killed Rowen, there would be no reason to hide it.”

“That’s right,” Louise agreed, nodding at Ellen’s words.

They had uncovered a secret far more significant than Rowen’s death.

In the grand scheme of things, the death of a single priestess seemed trivial compared to what was unfolding in that laboratory.

If they had been responsible for Rowen’s death, they would have claimed it was necessary.

There was no reason for them to lie, so it seemed logical that the Empire hadn’t killed Rowen.

Dettomorian had mentioned they would understand once they found Ashir, and indeed, they discovered that the Empire wasn’t involved in Rowen’s death.

It was a valuable piece of information, since it eliminated one of the major suspects.

“Rowen had initially approached Ludwig because she wanted to investigate the Temple. That is likely true.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“The Empire had a motive to kill Rowen, since she was delving into something she wasn’t supposed to. Yet, the Empire remained uninvolved, and there seems to be no apparent reason for them to lie...”

The riot wasn’t the cause of her death. The Empire had a motive to kill Rowen, but they didn’t. The situation remained a mystery.

“Was she really killed by heretics?” Heinrich wondered aloud.

As an inquisitor, Rowen would have been a prime target for heretics if they knew about her.

“She might not have died while pursuing this investigation. It could have been retaliation for something she’d done in the past,” Ellen said, acknowledging Heinrich’s point. She couldn’t dismiss the possibility.

“But the refugee camp is a terribly dangerous place...”

A massive riot had erupted, which was then brutally crushed.

The refugee camp was now a place where entering without caution could lead to disaster.

A massacre... That word alone cast a shadow over their faces.

It had been a shock.

Everyone was now aware that the army, which had initially been formed to end the Gate Incident, was now being used not to fight monsters, but to harm people. Everyone knew that too much was being excused under the pretext of this Gate Incident.

Yet, even if the refugee camp wasn’t a dangerous place, nothing would change. If heretics had killed Rowen, they had no idea where to find them.

Ludwig, who had been quiet until now, finally spoke.

“But first... Let’s discuss the incident in the underground tomb of the Order of the Holy Knights. Were the events that happened there really orchestrated by the Empire?”

“Oh.”

“Hmm.”

“Ah...!”

It was only then that the four of them realized they had, amid all the shocking revelations, overlooked the most crucial detail.