Vol 2 Chapter 37 – The Price of Sloppy Actions

Although there was an unexpectedly large-scale monster attack, Tiamaria was successfully defended with only minimal damage.

Despite that, Abyss Helen raised a voice of shock and grief at the guard station located close to the slums.

“What is this. What is the meaning of this!”

“We apologize, we don’t understand what happened either.”

With the chaos in the city settling down, the guards who had returned to clean up after the incident first laid eyes on the corpses of their comrades, and then realized that the heinous criminals had escaped without leaving a single one behind.

Because it was far too incomprehensible, Abyss couldn’t help but raise his voice and question them.

“Why have the prisoners disappeared! Did they cause this tragedy!?”

“Most likely. We believe so. But, a mass breakout on this scale, is it even possible?”

“The fact is, it happened. Anyway, issue a notice to the nearby residents to stay alert. Tell them to refrain from going out at night as well.”

“Sir!”

“A few of you come with me! There might be clues left inside the cells. The rest of you, please tend to those who died in the line of duty, so they don’t look unsightly.”

“Understood! Hey, a few of you who are free, come with me!”

“Damn it, how dare they, how dare they do this to our comrades.”

“Save the whining for later, just hurry up!”

What Abyss and the others discovered from their investigation was that all the locks showed signs of being unlocked; in other words, this was not an escape where the locks were forcefully broken.

“Inside help? No, even so, it’s hard to imagine they would slaughter all their comrades.”

“Abyss-sama, are you doubting us!?”

This is bad.

He had meant to mutter it quietly, but those nearby with sharp ears had caught it.

“No, wait a minute. Come to think of it. That’s right, there’s no mistaking it! Considering the estimated time of death of the corpses, it was right before the incident! The guy you introduced was here!”

“Do you mean Nine-kun?”

“Yes! That guy came here right before the incident, saying he was going to meet with the prisoners!”

“What did you say?”

“It’s gotta be him! He was in cahoots with the guys here from the start! I mean, ain’t that right, otherwise why isn’t his corpse here!”

“He, did? No way.”

“Damn it, it’s that bastard, he’s the one who did it, there’s nothing else to think! The story about his church being attacked must have been a bluff too!”

“Wait a minute. Nothing has been decided yet.”

“But man!”

“It’s still not clear whether there was inside help or not. We don’t yet know if they made duplicate keys, or if it was the work of someone else.”

“…”

“First, let’s hold a memorial for them. Then we’ll pool our information together and make a calm judgment.”

“Yes, sir.”

Watching them wipe their tears, even as he denied it himself, feelings of suspicion toward Nine clung to the corner of Abyss’s mind.

Why did he appear here at this timing?

His church was attacked?

What does this all mean?

Having finished a certain degree of the clean-up, Abyss arrived in front of the former church.

Although the fire had hardly spread to the surroundings, the building itself no longer retained its original shape.

According to rumors from neighboring residents, no one had seen anyone break in here, and there hadn’t been any particular noise before the flames were visible.

If that was true, then the story of the church being attacked that Nine had mentioned was a complete lie.

“Nine, did you do this? If you didn’t, are you safe right now?”

Within Abyss’s mind, the image of the human named Nine wavered, overlapping in multiple layers.

His impression from their first meeting was obsequious.

After talking to him a little, he seemed like a frivolous person who got easily carried away.

And yet, he was emotionally unstable.

On top of that, an enigmatic man who wanted to accumulate good deeds.

Thinking about it carefully, he was full of suspicious points.

Even so, a part of Abyss still wanted to believe him.

“Umm, Abyss-sama.”

“Hm? What is it, who might you be?”

“I’m Farmer. I was the priest at that church that burned down.”

“Hmm. Ah, I heard about you from Nine. That’s right, it’s hard to say this, but I heard you skipped town in the middle of the night. Why are you here?”

“Nine! So that god of plague was going around saying that!”

“God of plague?”

“That bastard is a demon! In a bloodstained room, amidst the stench of burning human flesh, he was sleeping like a log without a care in the world. A guy, a guy like that couldn’t possibly be human!”

“Calm down. What, what are you talking about?”

“I might be a cheap bastard, but I’ve never killed anyone. Because that guy was wearing a fine coat, I just mentioned it to my buddies to try and borrow it. I figured if we pawned it, it’d cover drinking money.”

He was terribly agitated and hard to understand, but summarizing his story, it seemed he had tried to let a burglar steal his clothes to line their own pockets.

“Then that guy, he. He killed my buddy, my buddy. And used him as firewood for the fireplace! We didn’t even intend to hurt him!”

“Wait. If that’s all it was, he certainly went too far, but it might still fall under the category of self-defense.”

“Besides, that guy, he was muttering and talking to a bird! He’s crazy, that guy is!”

“A bird, you say?”

Come to think of it, he had heard the same thing from the guards, and the surrounding residents had mentioned it too.

That he was walking around with a strange, never-before-seen bird as a pet, but Abyss had never seen it himself.

“By the way, what kind of bird did he have with him?”

“I think it was delicate with a small beak, but its wings were huge like a vulture’s. And the claws on its legs were so big they didn’t match its build at all.”

“Did he look like it was heavy?”

“Eh? No, not at all. Now that you mention it, if it’s that big, it should be pretty heavy, huh.”

“It’s a Harpy.”

“Eh, what did you just.”

“No. You’ve been a great help. Please keep this.”

Abyss handed coins to the man who had provided him with valuable information.

He could see what he needed to do.

First, let’s gather information.

Not information on who the culprit is.

Information on the surroundings of the most suspicious person.

I’ve seen it only once.

I saw a wounded Harpy transform into a shape matching the characteristics Farmer just described and escape.

Besides, they inherently possess magic that manipulates weight.

All the pieces of information pointed to Nine being the culprit behind this series of incidents.

If he’s a pawn of the demons, it’s possible he’s the one who instigated the monsters as well.

If I consider that he pretended to be human to help the prisoners escape, it makes sense that it was to induce chaos in the city.

In the end, since the city didn’t suffer any major damage, I don’t know the reason why he did something so convoluted, nor do I know how he obtained such profound knowledge of the Saria religion, but there are no contradictions.

If there are no errors in the information so far.

If my deduction has hit the mark.

Nine.

Were you deceiving me?

Taking the form of a human, and yet, were you a demon?

Deceiving God, were you mocking me, mocking the people of this city?

If so, I will stop you.

I was the one who invited a piece of this incident in.

If so, I must take responsibility.

You’d better be waiting, Nine.

Nine.

Before he knew it, Abyss found himself dropping the honorifics when referring to him.

Or perhaps, deep down in his heart, he had suspected him a long time ago.

Nine, if you are truly an enemy of God, I will not hesitate to tear you limb from limb.