How had Eleanor fallen into corruption?
Jun didn’t know the full details.
Even when he was following guides to obtain [End of Sorrow], he only focused on what to do, what to kill, and what to collect, while stuffing those steps into his head.
Still, there was something that had stuck with him.
Wasn’t there a side quest with rare voice acting?
The game <Blackout> wasn’t exactly known for being user-friendly.
Voice acting and cutscenes were among the few concessions it made to players.
Even then, voice acting was reserved for named NPCs, and cutscenes were so rare they were practically exclusive to the main story.
Because of this, hearing voice acting from a story NPC during a side quest was an exceptionally rare occurrence.
During the process of obtaining [End of Sorrow], there was a precious piece of voiced dialogue.
But even with his [Excellent Memory], he couldn’t recall it now. Back then, he had skipped through the voice acting because he found it annoying.
In his current situation, remembering it wasn’t an easy task.
“The name of that record was definitely…”
It came to him.
“Elias. Bishop Elias.”
“Huh? How do you know that name?”
Bern who had overheard Jun muttering to himself widened his eyes in surprise and asked.
Before Jun could respond, Eleanor answered in his place.
“He’s always been a mage who knows odd things.”
“Hmm, is that so? Well, I suppose that’s fitting for a mage.”
Sometimes, at moments like these, being a mage felt convenient.
No matter what he did, the response was always, “Well, because he’s a mage.”
In any case, Jun sank back into his thoughts.
Then, once again, he looked at Eleanor.
“I was mistaken from the start…”
The real issue wasn’t the corrupted Holy Grail or the bishop’s betrayal.
It was Eleanor.
In the later stages of the game, several years from now, Eleanor would fall into corruption.
She would descend to the surface as a level 10 monster.
This was the turning point.
***
“So our priorities have shifted. Instead of the bishop, we need to find the Holy Grail first.”
The others nodded their head in agreement.
Eleanor spoke.
“Those tainted by corruption are difficult to purify because of the Holy Grail, but it’s possible to purify the Holy Grail itself, which is the source.”
“I’ll help with that part, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Eleanor understood Jun’s reasoning and nodded firmly.
Back during the Forest Guardian raid, Jun had once imbued [End of Sorrow] with magical power and transformed it into divine power. If he applied the same method, he could purify the Holy Grail even without the bishop.
Those who didn’t know the details simply nodded along, assuming he had a plan.
“The problem is the location of the Holy Grail.”
The most likely place for the Holy Grail to be was at the very center of the church’s base camp.
Would they have to break through all the paladins and infiltrate the interior?
Just as that question arose, Jun shook his head.
“The Holy Grail has probably fallen into someone else’s hands by now.”
“Someone else? Who?”
At Eleanor’s question, Jun replied.
“The Heavenly Church.”
There was a saying that once trended on the gaming community sites:
– If something unusual happens during gameplay, suspect the Heavenly Church first.
While it didn’t apply to every situation, it was accurate more often than not.
And so Jun anticipated that the Heavenly Church was behind the bishop this time as well.
***
“Huff… Huff…!”
Someone was running through the Silent City.
A desolate, ruined city where not a single blade of grass grew.
A hunchbacked old man ran across it. His face was lined with deep wrinkles that seemed to reflect his usual irritable nature.
Bishop Elias.
Surprisingly, he still retained his sanity.
In his arms, he held the Holy Grail as though it were the most precious treasure.
Where was this bishop running?
“If I can get there… There might be a way…!”
Things had gone wrong.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to turn out.
Ninety percent of the plan had gone smoothly. Everyone in the church had lost consciousness.
But he wasn’t supposed to be caught up in this himself.
That wasn’t part of the plan.
And above all, Eleanor…she was the most important.
Now that even she had vanished without a trace, what could he possibly do?
Nothing.
All he could do was wait for an opportunity.
He had to go to that place and wait for those people… the Heavenly Church, to bring Eleanor back.
If that could happen, everything would be resolved.
And so even as despair consumed his entire being, he stubbornly held on.
Half out of his mind, he ran through the Silent City.
And then.
There were two pairs of eyes leisurely following behind him.
One of them opened their mouth.
“Kreuk. Kreuk!”
The laughter was grotesque. It sounded less like a human and more like a reptilian monster.
The emotion it carried was sheer amusement, a base pleasure derived from another’s suffering.
Hearing that laughter, the burly man walking beside the speaker gripped his prayer beads tightly and asked,
“What’s so funny to you?”
“It’s been a long time since things have gone this well. Isn’t that reason enough to enjoy myself? Kreuk!”
The voice belonged to an old crone, but the sinister energy it carried made the burly man next to her shake his head.
“Asura Salvarta, I’ve heard that you went through quite the ordeal.”
At that, the old crone immediately scowled.
Just thinking about it made her irritated and weary.
“The Fallen Fairy Queen. And the Witch’s Forest. I couldn’t get what I wanted from either of them. Kreuk.”
The Fallen Fairy Queen shouldn’t have been exposed to the world in the first place.
Before the eyes of the world turned toward her, they should have secured the Queen’s “corruption” and sealed it within their vessel.
But that had failed.
And what about the Witch’s Forest?
That place had hidden a precious recipe, something so rare that even the old crone herself had coveted it.
But more than the recipe, what she truly needed was the magical power of its creator, the witch.
That magical power would have served to cleanse their vessel completely.
However, both of those ended in failure.
Thanks to that, the list of things to do had grown to mountainous proportions, and their goal had become even more distant.
Still.
“The most important thing is to secure the vessel, no matter what.”
As long as they could obtain the vessel needed for their purpose, the rest could somehow be resolved.
The process would be tedious, lengthy, and endlessly annoying, but the old crone had the ability to accomplish it.
“Let’s hope that task goes smoothly.”
“Your voice betrays no sincerity at all, monk.”
“Asura Salvarta. Everything shall proceed according to the will of the Outer God.”
“Kuku! You sound no different from the usual religious fanatics.”
“I must reject that claim. I am not like those worms who spout empty words.”
“Then just focus on protecting me properly. Not that many would dare to approach me in the first place.”
“Asura Salvarta.”
The sun dipped below the horizon, and on the opposite side, a crimson moon gradually began to reveal itself.
In the world that was slowly dyed red, two figures followed in the footsteps of the bishop.
***
“Heavenly Church, you say…?”
Eleanor tilted her head in confusion.
She had never heard of such a name.
And that was only natural.
At this point in time, the Heavenly Church had yet to spread its reputation widely across the world.
What on earth do you know?
Jun felt Eleanor’s gaze and continued to explain.
Though it was fragmentary, his knowledge from the game allowed him to piece together a rough understanding of what was happening in this region.
“They’re after the Descent Ceremony. A crazy attempt to house the spirit of a god within a human body.”
“That… is such a thing even possible?”
Even Eleanor who was a priestess found herself momentarily questioning whether such a thing could truly be possible.
But then she reminded herself; this was Blackout. This was a place where common sense simply didn’t apply.
“And in this region, there’s an altar set up for the Descent Ceremony.”
Jun’s gaze now locked onto Bern, as if silently asking, “You must know something about this, don’t you?”
And Jun’s unspoken expectation wasn’t misplaced.
Bern who was usually so bold and carefree had a rare serious look etched into his face.
Noticing Jun’s pointed stare, Eleanor also turned her gaze toward Bern.
“Old man?”
“Well, you…”
Even as Eleanor called to him, Bern kept his eyes fixed on Jun, as if to silently ask, “Just how much do you know?”
Of course, Jun didn’t know much of anything.
His knowledge of Eleanor’s story was extremely limited.
All he knew was that, in the past, some kind of incident had occurred here that involved both the Arikrotos Church and the Heavenly Church.
And that now, the Heavenly Church was attempting to pull something against Eleanor.
Details like specific methods or timing were entirely beyond him.
Still, Bern’s reaction interested him.
A high-ranking paladin who’s strangely protective of Eleanor… Taking a shot at him was just a gamble.
But wasn’t the response more intense than expected?
Riding that momentum, Jun opened his mouth to speak.
“Paladin, there’s a common misunderstanding people have about mages. Do you know what it is?”
“……”
“They think mages enjoy using their brains.”
It’s quite the opposite.
People who use their brains all the time don’t want to think during their downtime.
Which means—
“Let’s skip the complicated mind games and just lay it all out. Cards on the table, no holding back. What do you say?”
“Haha…”
Bern stroked his beard at that.
He made such a complicated statement just to say they should lay everything out.
And yet, he claimed to hate using his brain.
“At the very least, I’ve put all my cards on the table.”
The Heavenly Church.
It was certain they were up to something in this place.
That was all Jun knew, but it was the most crucial piece of information.
Bern closed his eyes briefly, then turned his gaze toward Eleanor.
“If that’s the case, then perhaps what they want… is Eleanor. This child.”
“Me? Why would those disgusting scoundrels want me? Are they a bunch of perverts?”
As the group’s eyes all turned toward her, Eleanor spoke in a tone of disbelief.
“So that’s how this is unfolding… I see now. Bishop Elias, is this what you were hoping for? Were you unable to sever yourself from the delusions of the past all this time?”
Bern’s words were cryptic and hard to understand.
He wrestled with the decision of whether to reveal a secret he had guarded for over twenty years.
But there was no other way.
The situation was dire enough to warrant borrowing even the help of a stray cat, and to use the power of that cat, he would have to disclose his secret.
Bern pointed to the bandages covering Eleanor’s eyes and spoke.
“Eleanor, it’s been twenty years since His Holiness took you in.”
“Uh, yeah, that’s right?”
Why did it suddenly feel like he was about to unveil some deep secret about her origins?
Eleanor gripped her cane tightly, as if out of reflex.
It was the cane she had held since childhood, a time she could barely remember.
Bern looked at her with a gaze full of pity before finally speaking cautiously.
***
About fifty years ago.
The Ariklotus Church was tasked by the imperial family with overseeing the purification of the Silent City.
To do so, they began a thorough investigation into the history of the Silent City.
The work did not progress smoothly, but after twenty-five years of persistent effort, the Church finally managed to uncover the history of the Silent City.
And that was the beginning of the tragedy.
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