I pressed the man harder, to agitate him. When he heard that the things I would do to him next would be beyond repair, his face turned green. I was glad that I’d gotten through to him. But it was also possible that the man’s face had changed color because of the way out I had offered him. The sugar cube must have looked extra appealing after all that whipping. I didn’t know anything about this bitch of a god they thought I was, but right then I must’ve looked like the Devil himself to the guy.
“Now, let me ask you again. Where is Princess Colette?”
There was no longer victory in the man’s eyes. The provision that “not being broken means you win” was making his resolve falter. Even if he successfully took his secrets to the grave, there would be no telling whether his friends would do the same. Resisting the allure of an excuse like that was a truly difficult thing to do.
He opened his mouth to say something—then shut it. He repeated the motion twice more. Then I touched his middle finger.
“F-fine! I’ll…talk…”
And with that, the guy finally broke. But not his fingers—his soul.
“A-according to what I heard…the princess of Colorne was captured today. But she wasn’t brought here. She was moved to our storehouse instead… She ought to be there right now, held prisoner.”
When I heard the word storehouse, I didn’t have to ask to know he was referring to the place where they managed their product. It looked like our girl had gotten closer to our mastermind than we had. Unfortunately, she’d stumbled along the way.
Shit. What a hassle, I cursed silently.
“What state is she in right now? She’d better be alive.”
After all the progress we’d made, I didn’t need to shake him too hard. I dropped the gentle tone and stuck to short questions.
“She’s not unharmed, but she is alive… The bosses are still on the fence about how they want to handle her. So I dunno what’s gonna happen to her.”
My top priority—Colette’s safety—seemed to be stable for now. But based on what this guy was telling me, she still wasn’t out of the woods yet.
So…are they trying to make an enemy of Colorne? Is that their endgame? If they are, this enemy might be an even bigger pain in the ass than I anticipated.
“Shit… Well, whatever. Last question. Tell me where the storehouse is.”
I had a million things I wanted to ask him, but it turned out we didn’t have time for a leisurely interrogation. I needed to get Colette’s whereabouts out of him and tie things up here. I could always find out what their endgame was later.
“It’s a stone storehouse in the west of town…the one with the horned serpent deity on it…”
He readily gave me the information I wanted now that he’d lost the will to fight. And it was all I needed. But the last thing he told me piqued my interest. The horned serpent… That had been the symbol on the hooded guy’s pendant yesterday. I flipped the man over.
“Wh-what’re you doing?”
I’d flipped him onto his back… And sure enough, the pendant in question was dangling from his neck. Its distinguishing feature was the horned serpent, which according to him was a deity. Considering how obsessed he was with piety, it had to be the god he worshipped.
“Dia Milus…,” I murmured absentmindedly.
“What…?!” the man gasped loudly. “How do you know the name of our god…?!”
Upon seeing his reaction, I didn’t even bother to hide the grimace of disgust on my face.
Fuck. This pile of shit’s just gotten smellier.
“I have no more use for you. Take a nap.” I gave his chin a shake with my fist and shut the man up.
“Lady Mylene…?”
I cut the string and took the medal-shaped pendant into my hand. I slowly stood up to hear Albert call out to me in confusion.
Oh, right. He’s still here.
“Did that turn ya off?”
“Oh, no. Your torture methods were splendid, my lady. You’re the best… What concerns me more, however, was the way in which you reacted to this man’s religion.”
Rather than cower in fear from the intense scene, Albert had calmly asked me a question. I considered my response for a while. The real answer was quite simple: I knew about the religion… But the reason I couldn’t tell him that was because the religion hadn’t popped up yet in this moment in time.
Still, if time headed on its prior course, we’d have to deal with that religion eventually. And it was a problem Albert wouldn’t be able to ignore.
“Gods of the Moon… Ever heard of them?”
“Gods of the Moon? I’m ashamed to admit this, but no.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve only heard a little about them recently myself. And there’s no guarantee that’s what we’re dealing with here, either.”
Though its origins were a little vague, Gods of the Moon was the name of a cult that had infested Eltania just before her demise in the former timeline. It wouldn’t rear its ugly head until much later. So there was no telling if this Gods of the Moon was the same group.
“All I know about ’em is that they worship a serpent deity known as Dia Milus. From what I’ve heard, they hate all other religions in existence—especially Eltanism, our country’s state religion. They think it’s heresy.”
What made them extra suspicious was the fact that they saw Eltania’s religion in particular as their enemy. From the dehumanizing way they’d referred to me—the chosen one with the Hair of Sulberia—as God’s Bitch, it was highly likely that the three men were members of Gods of the Moon.
“They’re what you’d call a cult. I don’t think they’re acting in broad daylight yet, but they’re the ones distributing the drugs. They’re bad news; that much is clear.”
Yes, they were a cult. It was their true nature. Though I wasn’t sure why they’d made Eltania’s religion their nemesis. Either it was convenient for them or their doctrine called for it. Since I was never a part of that cult, I didn’t know any specifics, but one thing about them was clear to me: They’d whispered soothing lies about doomsday into the ears of a susceptible portion of a population, infecting an entire kingdom right under everyone’s noses. Just before the fall of Eltania, I’d heard a lot of these cultists say some pretty macabre things about Mylene.
“They consider Eltanism…heresy, my lady? Do you suppose they distributed the drugs to students to target us?”
“That, I don’t know. We can’t even be sure if these guys are the cult anyway… Shit, I should’ve asked ’em that.”
It would’ve been better to have thrown them at least two or three more questions—but Colette was our true objective. We didn’t have time to have a chat here.
“Let’s move. We’ll have time to find out who these fuckers are after we’ve rescued Colette.”
“Yes, my lady.”
But…former timeline aside, it was a bit unsettling that the drug and the cult that were supposed to pop up in the future were already on the move in this timeline.
Well… I don’t really care. I won’t sweat the intricate details of my obstacles; I’ll just smash through them. That’s my mission in life this time around.
I knew a peaceful resolution was off the table. In that case, I figured I might as well use this kidnapping to test out my new powers.
Quietly and firmly, I clenched the pendant featuring the horned serpent. My thin fingers sank into its metal. I would become so powerful that not even God could stop me. That was my goal this time.
I uncurled my fingers and tossed the pendant down.
I hope Colette is okay. Don’t you dare make me see what it feels like to be powerless.
I wasn’t praying to God. But with a hopeful thought for my friend’s safety, I put the thug’s drop-off point behind me.