Episode 386

I paused for a moment as my mind spun. I had a feeling that my thoughts were about to drift in a completely random direction. In truth, though, this wasn't the time to be thinking about Delac or the uncle I had never met.

Senior Sister Tian had told me that I would one day face Behemoth. She didn't talk much, but she rarely joked around. Of course, she'd shown a bit of a mischievous appearance the last time I saw her, but still. If she said so, it meant that no matter whether I wanted it or not, there was a high probability that I would end up fighting that guy.

Come to think of it, when I saw him at Spirit Mountain, there really were feather-like things swirling in all directions. The thought sent chills down my spine. At the same time, I wondered if Senior Sister Tian had protected me back then.

If I touched one of Behemoth's feathers, I would die instantly or experience something even worse. If the only way to block it was to use each blessing I possessed one by one as a shield, that meant I had only one shield. It was because I had only one blessing.

In addition, the shield I was holding was defective. I couldn't help wondering if it could defend properly or not. In the first place, I still didn't know if Spirit Mountain's Blessing was normal. I wondered if the regression would trigger if I just touched a feather.

I frowned, but I didn't know anything at this stage. The problem was that I had no one to ask for advice on this matter. Of course, a blessing was usually a power that a person learned about on their own, not something taught by someone else.

Suddenly, I realized something. If my uncle had disappeared, how did the Iron-Blooded Lord remember his brother? Maybe I'd made a mistake, or perhaps I was missing something.

Leone saw that I was silent and said, "It is rare for you to be silent. Is there anything you want to point out?"

"Mm. I have something to think about for a moment," I replied.

"What were you thinking about?" Leone asked.

I looked at Leone. At the academy, Delac had clearly interacted with her. Of course, the memories of those days had potentially already disappeared; still, it was highly likely that something had happened between the two of them. And yet this was the self-proclaimed Dark Pope.

Suddenly, Delac's mission log came to mind. In the portion describing his lone journey to Spirit Mountain, there was strangely a mention of a companion. I wondered if it would be too far-fetched to guess that the companion was Leone.

Nevertheless, I couldn't trust Leone. I figured it was likely the same for her. I thought about various things before slowly answering, "Didn't you tell me before? The Pope has scattered countless puppets across the continent, yet no one has ever managed to catch their trail."

"Yes."

"You also said something in the past." I was referring to the time she'd explained that the Dark Pope was the only one to have received Behemoth's blessing.

"That's right." Leone nodded again.

I didn't take my eyes off her face as I asked, "Isn't that a lie? I think you can use Behemoth's abilities too."

Leone blinked quickly. Her expression was a bit blank. Either she was surprised by my nonsense, or I had hit the nail on the head.

I immediately dealt an extra hit. "I saw the dean gradually forgetting about you."

"Mm." Leone made a groaning sound before nodding. "As expected, you are sharp. You are right. It is unexpected that you found out something that most of the other believers don't know. Then, I will ask you a question this time. Why do you think we usually scatter so many puppets around the world?"

I thought for a moment before answering, "You can be active as a puppet. If your trail is ever found, you only need to destroy the puppet. If you do so, like offering a sacrifice, your main body will be safe and the past traces will neatly disappear."

Leone chuckled. I didn't know why, but she seemed very satisfied with my reasoning at this moment. She confirmed, "That's right. That is why both the Pope and I chose to delve into the puppet technique."

"Is it the same for Michael's identity? If Michael dies, will he disappear from my memory?"

"Yes. It isn't just the memories, but also documents and literature. He will disappear completely."

I laughed loudly. I finally understood why the Pope hadn't been caught for hundreds of years. Even if they moved openly, they could erase memories. In addition, they only made contact through dreams. How could the identity of such a person be grasped?

"Then I don't think the Pope would come to the desert in person, right? Didn't they send a puppet again?" I wondered.

Leone said, "Well, that's true. However, it is still an opportunity."

"Why?"

"There are many puppets used by the Pope, but not all of them have the same value. Each puppet has a different output, and some have been worked on for a very long time."

"A lot of effort has been put into them?"

"Yes. For example, there could be a puppet that has ruled a region as lord for hundreds of years. Losing that identity would be a big loss for the Pope, right?"

"That..." I trailed off.

Hundreds of years represented an unfathomable span of time for humans, but it wasn't so strange if the Pope was imitating a long-lived species like the fairies or dwarves.

I got goosebumps at this point. I had no proof, but I couldn't help thinking that the example Leone had casually given could be one of the Pope's actual identities.

I remarked, "Now that this whole matter has grown so big, the Pope wouldn't have placed a useless puppet here. It means that if we want to attack the Pope in earnest, we must get rid of the puppets he can actually use one by one. It is like cutting off their hands and feet."

Leone shrugged and said, "That is my plan."

"Let me ask you one more question."

"Say it."

"Dean Alderson has forgotten about you, so why can I still remember you?"

Leone grinned and said, "Sometimes there are such beings."

"You don't know why either?"

"I haven't met them that often either."

"You really don't know?"

Leone glared at me for a moment before answering, "Well, I don't know the specifics. I just have a guess."

"What is it?"

"People with the potential for ascension."

"Ascension?" 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

"Into a higher being. Simply put, think of it as people born with the potential to become a god."

It was something that could be dismissed as a madman's nonsense. But for some reason, I couldn't help being reminded of a conversation I had a long time ago with the Martial God. He had said that the world I lived in was a very special world where one could become a god.

Delac had said he could become a god at any time with the achievements he had accumulated, and that he had also figured out the location of the pantheon.

Then, did my potential for ascension mean that my martial arts could one day reach the divine realm? Or was it just because I was the disciple of Martial God Bai Luguang? I didn't know the answer.

***

Time flew. The work was hard, but daily life was regular and made it feel manageable.

In the meantime, small monsters had been appearing in Block 107 such as moths, spiders, and ants, similar to what I'd seen on the first day. Naturally, they weren't centurion or even decurion-class monsters, so they were easy to kill. On the other hand, they were so small that they didn't give many points. I had taken part in the hunts a few times, but soon decided it was a waste of time and left it entirely to the prisoners.

"Leave it to me."

Surprisingly, the one who worked the hardest was Jorette. He was so loyal that it was hard to remember him ever going against me. I figured he didn't want to go to Block 106.

His behavior seemed suspicious, so I called him to the director's office one day for a private talk. I asked him if he knew anything about Block 106.

Jorette answered, "I-I don't know the details. However, I have seen someone who went to Block 106."

I asked, "Where did you see them?"

"The punishment building."

The punishment building was naturally where prisoners who caused trouble were taken. That said, due to how the Rahild Labor Camp operated, it was rare for anyone to be sent there unless a prisoner did something truly stupid.

As I had experienced, each block had their own rules. Minor things like fights between prisoners, skipping assigned work without permission, or stealing materials were usually settled with a warning from the director or internal punishment.

As for what counted as a really serious offense in the labor camp, some examples were a fight violent enough to leave someone seriously injured, leaving the block without good cause, or hiding artifacts. If they committed one of those major crimes, prisoners would be taken to the punishment building without mercy.

I asked, "Have you been sent to the punishment building before?"

"I-it wasn't for long. To be precise, there was a solitary cell next to the punishment building. I stayed there for around a week."

The solitary cells were for crimes that weren't serious enough to warrant a full punishment, but went too far for the normal penalties. Each one was very small and only had a stone bed and toilet. Such cells were usually meant for reflection, and unlike in the case of the punishment building, the prisoner wasn't sentenced there for years.

That was because the most important thing in this labor camp wasn't atonement or the reform of prisoners, but the defeat of monsters and the excavation of artifacts.

Jorette said with a pale face, "In any case, the one I saw there looked almost like a shell."

"Shell?"

"Y-yes... I can't explain it in other words. They don't respond even if you talk to them. The same is true even when the guards punish and beat them up. They follow basic commands, move, and sometimes make sounds. However, they strangely don't feel alive."

I listened silently as Jorette pleaded, "I would rather die than end up like that. So please, director—"

"That's enough," I cut him off. However, I didn't dare tell Jorette not to worry. For someone like him, there was a high possibility that he would become despicable again the moment his safety was confirmed.

I sent the tearful Jorette out and sat alone, calculating how quickly I was receiving points. At this rate, I concluded, I wouldn't break even. I wondered if I was bad at business.

Improving the food had been a good move since it increased the motivation of the prisoners, making them work hard. They also put a lot of effort into killing the monsters after that. However, the problem was that there were simply too few monsters appearing. They had to come out in order for anyone to kill them.

Actually, it was natural when considering the number of artifacts excavated in a year. Still, I was nervous because there was almost no way to secure points other than killing monsters. If monsters failed to show up for a long time, I would inevitably have to send Leone to Block 106. I was running out of time, and the options I had were gradually decreasing.

Just one centurion. No, one legion-class monster should come out. Please, I thought. However, my wish wasn't fulfilled and the day passed without any incidents.

Finally, the day before break day arrived. That meant it was the last day to decide whether to send people to Block 106, and if so, who I would send. On this day, however, an unexpected guest came to me.

After the day's work was done, I was once again in the director's office and wondering how to gain points when a guard suddenly showed up.

He asked, "Prisoner Luzard, right?"

I replied, "That's right. What is going on?"

"You have a visitor."

I blinked, asking, "A visitor? Who?"

"How should I know? I'm guessing it's your sponsor."

"Ah."

I wondered if it was Seren. However, I didn't know what she could want with me. After all, I hadn't revealed my identity to her yet. To her, I was still just a lizardman warrior who fought well. Maybe she had something to ask me.

It would be an unexpected reunion, but that wasn't a bad thing. At this point, it would be a good idea to reveal my identity to Seren and ask about what was happening outside.

I asked, "I understand. Where should I go?"

The guard replied, "Leave your weapon behind and follow me. We have to go to headquarters first."

The labor camp's headquarters served as its main entrance. It wasn't a distance we could walk, so we traveled there by carriage.

After around thirty minutes of travel, we arrived at a fairly large building. It was like the gate of a large city. On the first day of admission, I must've passed through it while riding the carriage. However, this was my first time seeing the interior.

Perhaps due to it being a core facility of the camp, there were an incredible number of guards, but prisoners were sometimes visible as well. They were probably model prisoners, or the administrative inspectors I was aiming to join.

The guard told me, "The visiting time is thirty minutes."

I replied, "I understand."

"Hey, monster. Consider this a warning. If you cause any trouble here, you'll be sent to solitary confinement at the very least. Don't do anything foolish."

"I will be careful."

I passed the snorting guard and entered the visiting room. This was a place where VIPs were welcomed to the labor camp, so it was obvious that a lot of effort had been put into it. It was spacious, smelled good, and was decorated with expensive works of art.

In the center of the room, a figure I hadn't expected was sitting on an old-fashioned chair on a red carpet.

I said, "You came."

There was no response. I narrowed my eyes as I looked at Delac, who was drinking tea leisurely.

Delac said to me in a dull tone, "Sit down for now."

Why did this man come here? I wondered.