That night, back in my room, I reread what had been recorded in the magical window.
Record of Statement
Lyra Boucher
Age: 40
Race: Human
I began going to the church headquarters last year. I wanted to consult about some worries I was having in my home life. That’s when I met the counselor in charge, Cumba Nols. He was about 60 years old, and a veteran priest. He kindly listened to me, much like a father…
Cumba Nols. He was the victim who was said to have died in the building collapse.
One day, I noticed that Cumba wasn’t looking well. He said he was having trouble swallowing. I had heard of someone developing a tumor in their esophagus before, so I suggested he go see a doctor, but then he told me he was already under treatment by the high priest. That was the last time I saw him alive.
Cumba must have been receiving treatment by God’s Panacea, the high priest’s spell that was said to cure anything.
Once I had been visiting the church for a while, I was brought to the sermon hall. It seemed they had abolished the priest position, along with the counseling service by the priests. I was to speak directly with the high priest himself. Soon after I met with him, he had me drink holy water…and everything got foggy after that. Wanting to read the scriptures more, I started living here as a disciple. It must have been the work of that Cleansing Prayer you told me about.
It might have been almost a year since she was brainwashed.
On the day of the building’s collapse, we were brought by the high priest to that church branch building. He said that the couple dozen disciples there that day were “especially devout.” But Cumba and Alba weren’t among us. The high priest left the building for a while, then came back, then went into the restroom. We were in the middle of praying when the building next door collapsed.
Her testimony differed from what the high priest had said about Cumba and Alba being there that day.
The high priest took out the Holy Scourge and sent the falling rubble flying. Next I knew, he was carrying Cumba and Alba out of a cloud of dust. After that, I believe Cumba’s body…was handed off to the compost team.
It seemed the compost team was composed of a small number of members, chosen out of those deemed “especially devout.”
And those few people receive a special blessing before they start their work. That’s how they were able to enter the Compost Room.
In general, it was used as a place to collect the compound’s garbage. Sometimes, it was where they brought inconvenient dead bodies to disappear.
A few days ago, I was chosen as a member of the compost team. I was told it was a great honor. I was made to drink holy water again. I did notice I had lost my sense of smell, but I didn’t think much of it at the time. Then I was given a Purgatorial List. Cumba’s name was on it, but it was already crossed off.
I had saved the list in my record window.
In the Compost Room, at the back of the huge box, there had been a sink for washing up. The list was posted there.
The last name listed was…
Yesterday, a new person was brought in for purgation. I saw the name Alba Nols added to the list and noticed that their faces looked similar… I thought he must be Cumba’s one and only family member that he sometimes mentioned. I noticed it was his older brother.
After being saved from the building collapse, Alba Nols was supposed to be receiving treatment for his injuries.
The superficial injuries covering his body had been healed using God’s Panacea.
He had been used to show new recruits the high priest’s power. Once he had been healed, there was no use for him anymore, and he was thrown away. Now that the growth of the congregation was on the right track, there was no longer any need to show off the high priest’s healing powers.
It was my first time doing this job, and after seeing Alba and remembering Cumba…I couldn’t bring myself to dissect him. So I put him into the box just as he was… I wonder if I will be punished for my sins. And what would my husband and Gobta think of me if they knew?
Starting to feel nauseous again, I closed the record window.
“Master, you are looking very pale.”
Shiro peered at me, looking concerned. She was sitting next to my bed in her nun outfit.
“I’m okay,” I told her. “More importantly, I need to relay all this to Tsukasa.”
After discovering Alba, I had transferred some of my mana to him to bring him back from the brink of death before reversing his Cleansing Prayer. Then I barfed my guts out and washed my mouth out in the sink behind the large box. Lyra had been watching me, and now she seemed to be calming down. Soon, she was ready to give me that testimony.
I asked Lyra to keep acting like she was brainwashed. We couldn’t do anything flashy like break her out of here. And on top of everything, Alba’s condition was still poor. I asked her to take care of him and to keep acting brainwashed until tomorrow.
What exactly should I do next?
We had discovered something so, so terrible.
I needed to get the whole truth of what I had seen. This would affect the entire kingdom.
As I thought this over, I felt my values begin to shift within me.
I’d always loved the idea of being a special person with special powers. But what about now?
Special powers with malicious intent could turn into cunning evil. An evil that trampled and defiled anyone without the power to oppose it.
How many people had been driven mad by his special power?
But what was the true nature of this evil? We still didn’t know.
Was it the high priest himself? Were the Black Scales involved, too? Was it forbidden magic?
And if we judged the wrong party, weren’t we the ones who would have to face the consequences?
What else did we need to figure out?
One thing that was still unclear was the power of the Holy Scourge.
And the cause of the building’s collapse. And the high priest’s true motives…
A brain like mine wasn’t going to be able to parse all this information by itself. And the trial’s recommencement was coming right up. I wanted to talk with Tsukasa.
<<Tsukasa… Tsukasa?>>
No answer.
I got anxious.
What if…?
“Shiro, once everyone’s asleep, we’re getting out of here.”
“Yes, Master.”