The nuns’ names weren’t something the Overlords had thought was of any importance. Gallarus was all ears.
“Why doesn’t it fit?”
“Her name was Tria, which means ‘three’ in Latin.”
Gallarus gave her a blank look, and MagNe realized he wouldn’t know what Latin was, so she proceeded to explain.
“So I used to write, like, twenty letters to my darling every week, and you end letters with a PS, but one day, I thought, what does PS actually mean? And I looked it up. It comes from Latin, and I got a little interested in it. It’s one of the languages from my world. So anyway, this is the first church you come across in the game, but the main nun is called ‘Three’? Maybe it’s nothing, but it seems kind of unnatural to me…”
The Ur Sluice church was the closest church to Allistras, which was the starting city.
“Makes you wonder why, no? But I guess it’s not really important…” MagNe scratched her cheek.
“It might be. Thanks,” said Gallarus.
He telepathically reached out to the other Overlords scattered across the game world and told them about the nun from the Ur church. Vampy was the first one to respond.
‘I feel like this is indeed a clue.’
‘But what does it tell us, exactly?’ asked Bertrand.
Neither of them knew what to make of this clue, but Elroad started connecting the pieces.
‘The prioress of Olsrott Monastery, which our master investigated, is called Duo, and the prioress from Koane Monastery is called Quattuor. Do you know whether their names mean anything?’
Gallarus asked MagNe about it, who looked at him in surprise.
“Sure. Duo is ‘two,’ and quattuor means ‘four.’”
‘There is clearly a connection there,’ Gallarus said to the Overlords after explaining the meanings.
‘Since Master’s friend disappeared from a monastery, I think we should investigate all related facilities further,’ Elroad added. ‘I will check whether there are any more churches or monasteries on the way to the next Prayer barrier. I will not be able to gather other information about them, since we cannot enter those places.’
When Shuutarou and Elroad were investigating the first Prayer, they’d flown over fields and dungeons, reaching places that other players hadn’t yet explored. They had been interrupted by monsters on that occasion, but Elroad dealt with them easily, wiping them out with one attack.
‘Where might the first nun be? Should the next nuns’ names be numbers higher than four, perhaps one nun has gone missing.’
The Overlords fell silent, considering this possibility and its implications. Suddenly, Shuutarou joined the telepathic conversation.
‘Gallarus and the others who are protecting towns, please check again if there could be some churches or monasteries we missed within the region you’re in. We’ll investigate the areas from Sandras to the next Prayer.’
The Overlords heard a swoosh of fast movement as Shuutarou left the conversation before Vampy could share an update on what she was doing.
‘I’m traveling together with Master’s compatriots. We’ll be going to Olsrott Monastery next.’
‘And what pushed you to do that?’ asked Gallarus, very surprised that Vampy wasn’t with Theodore.
‘A desire to learn more about humans,’ she said curtly and left the conversation.
‘…Theodore, was that your idea?’
‘No. Hers.’
‘Really? Another one of us is trying to expand their horizons, eh?’
When the rest of the Overlords ended their telepathic connection, Gallarus burst into laughter. MagNe’s eyes shot wide-open, and she quickly covered her ears. Gallarus hastened back to Allistras.
“We’re not going to the town first?”
“Did you remember some clue?”
Makoto and Misaki were mystified by Vampy’s sudden change of plans.
“I’d like you to check somewhere else for me as soon as possible,” Vampy said without slowing her pace. “It might be related to your search, too.”
The two players decided not to question her anymore and let Vampy lead them. When they arrived at Olsrott Monastery, Vampy told them the gist of what she’d learned from Gallarus.
“This is where everything began, and there might still be clues for us to find,” she added. “No matter how insignificant it might seem, please tell me all your observations.”
She turned to Misaki and bowed her head slightly.
“I’ll be grateful for your help.”
Misaki bowed back, and she and Makoto entered the monastery.
“Looks just like Koane, no?”
Makoto looked around, clenching his fists so hard that his fingernails broke the skin. The monastery was similar to the one they’d been to before, but it had been the scene of the Liberator’s killings, and another—yet unexplained—mass death of players not long after.
The nun NPCs were going on about their business in an unhurried manner as the orange sky began to darken, the sunset giving way to nightfall.
Hold on…
Misaki stopped still as if rooted to the spot. She was staring intently at something.
Makoto was alarmed.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Without lifting her eyes off whatever it was she was seeing, Misaki pointed. “What do you think that is?”
Makoto turned to where she was pointing, but he couldn’t see anything, or rather, he couldn’t see anything unusual. The ceiling had a skylight, and below that were several empty chairs. There were some other paraphernalia around the altar, but everything appeared the same as at the other place.
“I’m not sure what you’re pointing at.”
Makoto kept looking from Misaki toward the altar. Misaki felt a pang of frustration that Makoto wasn’t noticing something that was obvious to her. She walked closer.
“This strange pattern here.”
“I…don’t see it.”
Try as he might, Makoto couldn’t see any patterns where Misaki was pointing.
One of the nuns took notice of them and came over.
“Have you come to receive the divine blessing?”
They saw that her name was Duo.
“No. I was just looking at that pattern, but it seems my friend can’t see it…”
“Oh! How marvelous!” the nun exclaimed jubilantly.
Misaki and Makoto exchanged looks.
“You must have earned the angels’ favor!”
“What do you mean…?”
“They have heard the devotion of your prayers,” the prioress said with an exalted smile.
She looked toward the spot Misaki had been staring at—the pattern must have been visible to her, too.
“This mark appears where the angels descended.”
“Angels have been here?”
“Indeed. You could call it the angels’ footprints. It is a mark of prestige for a monastery like ours.”
The nun’s chest swelled with pride.
Not bothering to say good-bye to the NPC, Misaki shot out of the monastery to share her findings with Vampy.
“Kettle and the others might have come in contact with the angels.”
Vampy fell into thought. A while later, Makoto came out of the monastery to join them.
“What’s that mean, then? The players were attacked by those angels?” he asked Misaki.
“I don’t know, but think about it—the churches and monasteries activated only after the Prayer was broken. Breaking that Prayer unleashed not only the monsters waiting behind its barrier but the angels, too.”
After the allied teams of Yamata and Aegis defeated the spirit in Cerou, two angels appeared out of nowhere to deliver the finishing blow to the spirit. The players who were there leveled up several times. After that, NPCs returned to the churches across the game world, offering all players highly advantageous buffs.
“So your thinking is, the angels may be villains in disguise… Lots of stories like that, but I dunno…”
“In the Ciola Tower backstory, the angels were described as punishers, remember?”
“So they came down to punish Kettle and the other players for some sins?”
“Let’s just assume that the angels are to blame,” Vampy cut in. “Many people died here, perhaps because they had incurred the wrath of the angels. But a more pressing question is, why did they abduct one person, and how can we track them?”
Tracking—in other words, following footprints. Misaki thought about what the nun had told her about the pattern she saw by the altar:
“You could call it the angels’ footprints.”
“That pattern in the monastery… I saw something like that earlier…”
Makoto couldn’t see it—it was only visible to players who had received the buff after praying. Which meant that Misaki must have spotted that pattern for the first time after they left Koane Monastery…
“I remember.”
It was where they’d stopped for a break, on the pedestal Makoto tripped over. Misaki broke into a run, and Makoto followed her.
‘We’re going there now,’ Vampy informed the other Overlords, and she, too, joined Makoto and Misaki.
The sun had sunk below the horizon, and pitch-black darkness shrouded the scenery.