Chapter 604

Ellen may not know when she will reach the truth, but she is in a situation where she may discover the wrong truth while trying to uncover it. There is no one who can stop Ellen's path. The investigation into the incident that I provoked the Holy Order of the Sword to investigate has led to clues. And he was killed. It takes a long time to track down the incident without knowing anything. The culprits are not caught, but Ellen will know the wrong truth. It is unknown what judgment Ellen will make in front of that truth. I cannot stop Ellen's path. So, I do what I have to do. So now. "Why... are you here?" I was watching the Holy Order of the Sword trembling in fear. "Well, I didn't think I'd be sitting here until a few days ago." The first contact was with the Pope of the Alz sect. And at the convened meeting, I confirmed the support of the other four popes for me. And finally. Holy Order of the Sword, Illion Bolton. "We can talk openly. Even if my subordinates caused the Gate incident, I didn't expect it. You know that, right?" "The five great popes have now recognized my intention. So they decided to support me in a subtle way. Of course, we can't do it openly... that's why we're negotiating under the table. Until the appropriate time comes." "It would have been nice if you had trusted me earlier, but it's sad that I can only gain trust after the situation has become like this. What can I do? That was then, and this is now." "Now, we have decided to form a strong, close, and intimate relationship." "There will be no division, internal conflict, or power struggle from now on. It's tiring, you know?" "Now, believe in me, your prophet, and empty your mind." "The only thing left is you, the Holy Order of the Sword." Ilion Bolton's expression, who heard the story that the leaders of the sect had already turned to the side of the Demon King without even realizing it, was worth seeing. It was a face that lost everything overnight. "You know, if you refuse, the Holy Order of the Sword and the Order of the Divine Will will split, and even within the Holy Order of the Sword, there will be factions that support the pope and factions that support the Holy Order of the Sword." "Do you want to gamble on the fate of humanity and the sect?" "Or do you just want to come under me here and pretend nothing happened?" "You like that, don't you?" "Maintaining the status quo." I never imagined that I would be threatened like this. Ilion Bolton has the right to refuse. But if he refuses, he won't die alone. Civil war will break out, and civil war is tantamount to the destruction of humanity. If you mutter about the Demon King appearing in the Yellow Emperor, chaos will occur throughout the Yellow Emperor beyond the sect. Coming under me is betraying humanity. But if you don't come under me, humanity may disappear. He has to think about something he never thought of before entering the conference room. For a short time, he will repeatedly put many things on and off the scale. Ilion Bolton is not someone who likes change, but strictly speaking, that is not the core issue. Not liking change means that the fear and reluctance to confusion is at the core. Therefore, maintaining the status quo is what he wants. But if he realizes that everything can change, that nothing is impossible to change, then there is no choice. Those who can easily change more than anyone else in the world. While sending hateful glances at the five popes who handed over everything arbitrarily, Ilion Bolton stares at me. "What do you want, demon king?" "I told you, you like maintaining the status quo." But my sudden words made Ilion Bolton and even the five popes look puzzled. "What did you say?" "Just keep doing what you're doing." I came here to stop the conflict between the Holy Order of the Sword and the Five Great Divine Sects. That's all that's consuming them. The popes were preparing to attach themselves to me, and the leader of the Holy Order of the Sword was uncomfortable with that movement. Then one of them has to raise their hand. The Empire cannot raise the hand of the leader of the Holy Order of the Sword. That could cause the popes to rebel. But I can raise the hand of the popes. The leader of the Holy Order of the Sword can be suppressed by the popes. "So let's forget about that and talk about the most important thing." We can cooperate with the Holy Order of the Sword and the Five Great Divine Sects. And we can dominate. But that's impossible right now. And when these snake-like old popes think I'm useless, and when the Empire decides it's stronger, they'll treat me as an enemy of the state again. It's not particularly disgusting or sad. It changes like the back of a hand depending on the balance of power. If you're weak, you're ignored, and if you're strong, you can be ignored. Right now, they don't really know what the Empire is doing. That's why they're trying to get me on their side, because they think I and my power can wipe out humanity at any time. And that's true. Ilion Bolton judged that the situation could not be reversed, and he had to think long and hard, but he was not given the opportunity to think long. Therefore, he decided that he had to cooperate with me regardless of his inner thoughts. The more important issue. "Rowen, did you kill him?" The real culprit who killed Rowen. I want to know that. Translation: As Berthus suggested, was she tortured?

"No."

Ilion Bolton shakes his head.

"I didn't kill her."

The Empire did not kill Rowen.

Berthus suggested the possibility of torture.

But the popes said it wasn't them.

"It's strange. Even the popes said it wasn't them, but if you're not the culprit, then who killed Rowen?"

The leader of the Holy Order of the Sword also said it wasn't him.

"I tried to kill her. That's true."

The expressions of the popes had to change at those words.

"But, even though other interrogators didn't know, Rowen couldn't have been killed."

"Hmm... that means..."

There are several possibilities, but if they're not lying, there's one likely possibility.

"Could it be that she's not dead?"

Right, it's a play.

"Yes. The body was a fake with a mask on."

Rowen didn't die.

* * *

There was a fire at the scene.

That was strange.

It continued to bother him.

It was too noticeable.

If it was torture, they should have handled it secretly and destroyed all the evidence.

But if Ilion Bolton or the popes tried to torture Rowen, the fire shouldn't have happened.

The fire itself attracts people's attention too much.

So if this was torture, the fire shouldn't have happened.

But the fire happened, and an unspecified number of people saw the temple on fire. So looters flocked to it.

And Ludwig saw it, and it reached Ellen, and now Ellen is investigating the truth.

"Yeah... it's like someone hoped that someone would discover that there was torture going on in the basement of the temple when the fire happened."

The terrible sight of the basement where civilians were being captured and tortured didn't catch the eyes of the civilians because there weren't crazy looters to enter the burning building, and thanks to Ilion Bolton's quick response.

But in the end, there is a possibility that the leader of the Holy Order and the popes are lying in front of me.

But it's very strange that they forced attention to be drawn to it.

And in the first place, Rowen's body was fake.

The heretical interrogator Rowen is alive.

"Why was that fact kept secret?"

The pope of the Tu'an sect asked the leader of the Holy Order while glaring at him.

"Haven't the popes even whispered to me that they would negotiate like this if the opportunity arose?"

At the sound of asking if they have anything to say to the subject who betrayed humanity and sided with the demon king, the pope of the Tu'an sect, of course, as well as the other popes, looked pale.

"Leader... this is also a decision for the sake of humanity..."

"Shut up."

It wasn't Ilion Bolton who said that, it was me.

Disgusting bastards.

They came under me, but it doesn't look good.

I don't even want to think about traffic control.

I want to solve this quickly and go back to eat the jerky Ellen gives me. "Anyway, it's true that you tried to kill Rowen, right? But even though we don't know the details, you failed to kill Rowen, right?"

"Yes."

In response, the pope of the Tu'an sect, Illeion Valtan, glared at the group leader.

"Director, why did you try to kill Archbishop Rowen in the first place?"

Even though Rowen didn't die in the end, it was true that Illeion Valtan had tried to kill Rowen.

"I ordered all investigations to be stopped, but they didn't listen."

"...."

The popes could only remain silent at those words.

Illeion Valtan knew exactly what he was saying.

If the empire was provoked, uncontrollable events would occur.

After returning to the imperial capital, Illeion Valtan would have heard about the progress of the investigation from Rowen, who was in charge of the case.

The empire was suspicious.

Illeion Valtan's orders were clear. Don't investigate any further.

"I believe that it is not a good decision to investigate the empire at this time...."

The five popes had uncomfortable expressions, but they did not directly refute Illeion Valtan's words.

They did not want to fight with the empire, even though they had thoughts of attaching themselves to me.

The incident that occurred in the underground of the Holy Order's main temple.

Rowen, who was investigating it, judged that the empire was the culprit. So he approached Ludwig.

But Illeion Valtan knew about that fact and judged that if he provoked the empire, the entire sect could be destroyed, so he tried to stop Rowen.

But Rowen disagreed with the order of the Holy Order's commander.

Illeion Valtan planned to punish the subordinate who tried to touch the gunpowder depot, and he did so.

"He was loyal like a dog, and he couldn't even investigate clear wrongdoing, and he even tried to punish him...."

He would have seen the sight of subordinates being killed by the Holy Order with his own eyes, not by any other force.

"If your eyes don't turn, it's a strange situation."

Illeion Valtan clearly showed that he was aware of this.

It is certain that almost all other heretical interrogators have died, and the Holy Knights sent by Illeion Valtan for punishment have almost all died at the hands of Rowen.

It is natural to feel a sense of betrayal towards the Great God of the Five Elements.

Rowen disguised himself as one of the corpses, set fire to the temple, and fled. He disguised his death and bought time.

I don't know what he was trying to do with that time.

In the end, Illeion Valtan's actions were the key to this incident.

But what if I were Illeion Valtan?

The empire had nothing to do with the theft of the underground remains of the Holy Order, but they were energizing the corpses of the fallen.

Just investigating that incident would create friction with the empire.

It was already dangerous just to investigate the empire. And Rowen would have insisted that he could not ignore this incident.

In the end, Illeion Valtan only succeeded in punishing half. He killed all of Rowen's subordinates, but he couldn't kill the core, Rowen. "It means that half of it failed, and Rowen disappeared after leaving only a fake corpse. 'Whatever happens from now on, the fact remains that it was my mistake. Because it wasn't perfect.' The leader of the Holy Order chose what he thought was the best option, but in the end, he couldn't kill Rowen. No one knows what kind of repercussions this will have. 'We don't know what Rowen will do in the future, but... ironically, we need you the most.' What does that mean? It wasn't Illeion Valtan who answered. 'The demon king's followers are rampant within the sect, especially within the Tu'an and Alus sects.' 'What kind of priests are they?' 'Those who believe that the demon king is the true prophet.' '...?' What does that mean? 'There are quite a few who believe that the demon king is the true prophet.' What kind of nonsense is this? 'It's not just those two sects.' 'That day, the knights and priests who saw you at the temple... You know they weren't a small number.' Even Illeion Valtan said, 'They were high-ranking knights and priests, including Rowen.' They saw me as someone who didn't want the Gate incident to happen. The priests who saw me there were high-ranking and verified in both their divine power and ability. Those who could be considered the future of the sect saw me in that state. That means that at least they know that I didn't truly want the Gate incident to happen. 'You now know that I didn't make this choice simply to maintain my position, right?' Even if the lower priests and knights didn't know, those at the highest level of the sect couldn't help but know the truth about the Gate incident to some extent. Therefore, they can only perceive me differently from how the public perceives me. 'Archbishop Rowen was among those who actively supported you.' The upper echelons of the Ode to the Great Gods sect were filled with my followers. Mentally, there was an environment where those who supported me more than the empire were increasing. The fact that the popes were on my side was not just their own judgment. It was an inevitable choice. In other words, it was public opinion."