Kult Hereticus was born with the destiny of a prophet.
From the moment he came into the world, he could clearly see and feel his fate—
And yet, ironically, he spent more than half his life in darkness.
The immense divinity dwelling within him as a prophet was far too much for a child’s fragile body to bear.
As a result, Kult remained blind to the world until fairly recently.
That’s why even his close friend Dietrich believed Kult to be blind.
He didn’t even know the faces of the parents who abandoned him.
He has no idea what expressions they wore when they left him in that desolate place.
He remembered the moment he was abandoned and the voice that said “sorry”…
But—
I don’t know what their faces looked like. I don’t know if their apology was sincere.
He never knew the truth of their hearts.
Unable to see even a step ahead, let alone the future, Kult was cast away.
Weaker than the average person because he couldn’t fully contain his divine power, Kult began to die.
On cold stone and in a wind that cut into his skin, he was slowly eroded.
But Kult survived—
His life was saved thanks to his friends.
– This is our turf. You’re new around here, huh?
That was his first meeting with Dietrich.
Back then, Dietrich was a bit rough around the edges, but his good heart never once wavered.
– What, can’t see? Well, nothing we can do. Looks like we’ve got another mouth to feed.
And just like that, Kult was taken in by Dietrich’s gang.
Like Kult, Dietrich had also been abandoned in the back alleys. But he had the strength and sense of responsibility of an adult.
He was the leader of the abandoned children.
Those cast aside and ignored by the world came together and became a family.
They survived by begging passersby or relying on Dietrich, who would travel far to hunt in the forest.
That’s how they lived their lives.
They were always hungry, exposed to the bitter cold and sweltering heat.
But when they talked among themselves, laughter always followed.
They were happy.
Yes, even that kind of life felt like happiness to them.
Even in such a harsh place, people could still live by helping one another.
Kult truly believed that.
But the world was not kind to the abandoned.
It happened on an otherwise ordinary day.
The weather was especially hot.
– Run…!
– Caron!!
The group was attacked by adults.
The only reason? They thought the kids wandering the back alleys looked filthy.
Caron, a member of Dietrich’s gang, was the first to have his neck snapped.
Asher grew enraged and charged in only to collapse with a knife plunged into his heart.
And at that moment—
Kult, who had always seen the world from within darkness, opened his eyes.
– Ah…
That day, the bird that broke free from its shell and burst out of the darkness… saw the world.
Through the death of his friend, he came to understand it.
The moment he saw that grotesquely twisted, hideous world, the prophet realized.
– So this is the world.
Strangely, he didn’t feel anger.
And, surprisingly, he didn’t feel grief either.
Kult simply accepted it…. quietly, calmly.
Why then, of all times?
Why was that the moment Kult gained his sight?
What was God trying to tell him?
None of it was decided.
God had simply asked: “This is the world. What do you think?”
To the young Kult, the world had still seemed warm.
But to the eyes of the awakened prophet, the world was unspeakably cruel.
And so the prophet Kult answered God’s unspoken question with severity.
– This world is broken at its very foundation.
The boy who had once lived a simple life among the abandoned children of the slums took his first leap toward the world.
The first place he turned to after losing his friends was the Hereticus Marquisate.
***
Kult explained his life story to the awakened Helena.
It was an unnecessary explanation.
All Helena needed was to live her life in her pure, untainted state.
She didn’t need to know the ugliness of the world.
There was no need to show her his distorted way of thinking.
So then…. why did he do it?
Why did Kult tell Helena about the life he had lived?
Perhaps… it was out of compassion.
It might have been nothing more than Kult’s rambling—
The words of someone who already suspected how everything would end.
Or perhaps… it was a pitiful excuse, a weak attempt to ease his own guilt.
To that, Helena responded,
“But… it’s not like there weren’t any happy moments, right?”
With a voice still pure, she spoke of the world’s beauty.
And at that, Kult found himself smiling without realizing it.
“Your friends didn’t change, did they? Weren’t they still your friends, even at the very end?”
“They were.”
“Then why do you only want to see the worst in the world? Weren’t the times you shared with them happy ones?”
“Helena, that’s not wrong. I’ve never forgotten those moments.”
Kult undid the bandages that had long covered his eyes.
Eyes like the clear blue sky gazed directly at Helena.
And in doing so, he saw eyes just like his own—
A sacred relic prepared by God, for Kult.
A girl who, unlike him, tried to see the beauty in the world.
A girl far more mature than he was.
To her, the young prophet spoke:
“It’s because I know the beauty of this world… that I feel its ugliness so much more deeply.
“……”
“The word ‘unhappiness’ exists only for the sake of comparison with someone else.”
Because there are those who are happy,
There are others who feel their own unhappiness in comparison.
There are people who cause others misery to ensure their own happiness.
And there are those who simply enjoy the suffering of others.
“All of that exists because we are incomplete beings.”
Kult wanted to change that structure.
He wanted to create a perfect paradise, one where the distinction between good and evil no longer mattered.
And for that to happen, people themselves would need to become entirely whole and complete in and of themselves.
“…So, you’ve already decided everything, haven’t you?”
“Are you disappointed?”
“No. But, big brother…”
With a quiet gaze, Helena stared straight at Kult and asked,
Her clear eyes pierced through him, as if she already knew everything.
“Then what is it you’re still hesitating over?
“……”
Kult had no response.
Because Helena was right. He was hesitating.
“You’re right.”
At last, Kult gave a bitter laugh.
There was still time.
It would take some time before Helena fully awakened as a sacred relic.
All that mattered was that he would be ready by then.
But the fact that he still needed to brace himself for something he had already decided meant…
“I guess I’m still human after all.”
Kult left as if fleeing.
Helena simply stared at the spot he’d vacated.
***
The Robinhood mansion.
Yuna and I had come to ask Emily for a favor, but somehow we ended up playing cards. Specifically, a game of “Catch the Thief”.
By nature, the game splits the mood into two types.
In one, the players cheerfully try to guess each other’s hands as the game goes on.
In the other, everyone sits in tense silence, carefully watching and analyzing each other’s cards.
Unfortunately, our group fell into the latter.
Emily, being quiet by nature, said nothing.
Yuna kept her usual smile and her expression remained the same.
And I was so stifled by the atmosphere that I couldn’t bring myself to speak either.
“This is fun.”
“Huh?”
Then, just as we were silently thinning each other’s hands, Emily smiled faintly and spoke.
She thinks this is fun? To me, it just felt like a process I had to get through.
“Catch the Thief is quite the fun game.”
“…What part of it is?”
“The fact that you can’t read your opponent’s hand through their expressions. It’s exciting.”
“???”
Emily spoke as if she had made a great discovery, even though it was the most obvious thing.
She promptly held up the Joker she’d drawn from Yuna’s hand.
Since Yuna’s expression never changed, Emily hadn’t been able to guess it until the moment she pulled the card.
“With big brother and Master, I can read their hands right off their faces. I thought that was normal.”
“Well… fair enough.”
Stan might normally be a cold, composed sniper, but it seems he was helpless when it came to his little sister.
Coran Lekias, who treated Emily like a daughter, was probably the same way.
“Up until now, I thought Catch the Thief was a game where I could decide who wins and loses however I wanted.”
“……”
“But it’s not!”
Emily showed a meaningful change in expression, one that suggested genuine realization. It was the first time she had displayed such a range of emotion since the time I managed to save Coran Lekias in one way or another.
Was this really that significant of a moment?
Or, conversely, was what I did back then really only worth that much?
“It feels like I’ve just seen a whole new world, like a chick breaking out of its shell.”
“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself… Johan, I think she’s kind of pitiful.”
“Emily just didn’t know before. Don’t go making people feel sorry for her.”
Even Yuna, who had looked slightly annoyed earlier, said that much.
After that, the stiff atmosphere began to ease a little.
However, I remained somewhat surprised by what she had said.
It wasn’t her words themselves that caught me off guard.
“A chick breaking out of its shell, huh…”
It was the coincidence of her metaphor aligning so well with the current situation that struck me.
Wasn’t there something called imprinting?
They say that a chick considers the first thing it sees after breaking out of its shell to be its parent.
If that’s the case, then the first thing the chick sees will inevitably shape how it views the world.
So then, how can one shake off a worldview that’s already been imprinted on their mind?
The answer was simple.
“Yuna.”
“Hmm?”
“I actually have a Joker in my hand too. But how do you think she managed to draw one?”
“Aren’t there usually two Jokers?”
“Didn’t we take one out before we started?”
“Puhihi. Just a harmless little prank.”
Even a chick that’s broken out of its shell doesn’t necessarily understand the whole world.
After all, breaking the shell is just a metaphor.
“My eyes are really opening…”
What matters is making sure they get a chance to break out of the shell again. Of course, that’s easier said than done…
“Let’s go again, you little punk.”
There’s more than one chance.
***
After leaving the Robinhood mansion.
Yuna and I were walking through the streets, dyed with the colors of twilight.
Time had already flown by this much.
By the time we reached the Cradle, it might already be late at night.
“Hey, Johan.”
“Yeah?”
“We’re being followed.”
“Really?”
I wasn’t all that surprised.
Not because I had expected to be tailed. Just that whenever I wandered around outside, something always seemed to happen, so I had come to expect it.
One way or another, I guess I’d been influenced by the Cradle’s way of thinking too.
“Are they strong?”
“Weaker than me.”
“Then do they seem hostile toward us?”
“Hmm… doesn’t look like it. But the situation’s a bit unusual.”
“Yeah? What’s going on?”
“It’s someone we’ve met before. And speak of the devil there they are, Johan. Recognize them?”
At her words, I stopped in my tracks.
Just as Yuna said, someone appeared in front of us.
Their body was hidden beneath a black hood, and they were fairly small in stature.
I couldn’t see their face right away because of the hood, but I could more or less guess who it was.
“It’s been a while. I didn’t think we’d meet again like this.”
“You’re…”
A sinister air of death.
And a familiar voice.
“…Jessie, was it?”
“It’s Melana.”
“I knew that. I was just trying to lighten the mood with a joke.”
“……”
So her name was Melana.
Melana. I remembered her clearly.
The instigator from Class F and a mole planted in the Cradle by Under Chain.
She had once tried to kill me, only to be utterly crushed by Ariel, and in the end—uh, who was it again? Anyway, she was taken away by that guy who had received power from Kult.
To be fair, it hadn’t been all that long ago in terms of actual time, but given how dense my experiences had been, it was only natural to forget a few faces.
And besides, these were people who had already strayed far from the original story.
They were also the very ones who had opened the door to my path of suffering.
“I should just ki…no, I should probably hear you out first.”
For a moment, my anger flared and I almost made a decision out of spite, but I held back.
As much as I wanted to kill her, the one who would carry it out wouldn’t be me; it’d be Yuna.
I couldn’t ask someone to kill just to satisfy my personal grudge.
“You should be plenty busy running for your life right now, so what do you want with me?”
A pair of traitors being hunted by both Under Chain and Eden had gone out of their way to find me.
There had to be a big reason.
Thud.
Without warning, Melana dropped to her knees.
“Jeff was captured by Eden. I’m begging you. Please, save him.”
“Sounds like you came to the wrong person with that kind of request…”
I mean, it’s not like I’m against the idea, but shouldn’t she be asking someone more powerful, like the princess or Ariel?
I’m only good at stirring up chaos and pulling off scams, you know?
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