Chapter 104: Heretic
"***?"
Mouthful Eye excitedly exclaimed.
The word that he wanted to say to Cillian was finally out of his mouth.
"Yes! That’s what I wanted to convey since I also spotted a few *** along the way on my journey here in this world, and I felt Arthur exuding the same aura, or at least similar? You see, Shepherds called themselves like that in the past until they were called Shepherds like right now. In the past, they were called ***!"
"Heretic..."
Cillian had read information about them.
In fact, that was one of the few things he had read when he went to the library of the academy the moment he was transmigrated. Heretic, or the current wording for them in the present time, Cultist, or Heathens.1
One sentence. They are the people who believed in Gods, and most of them turned out to be Evil Gods or Devils.
Cillian looked at Mouthful Eye and said.
"Can you say Cultist and Heathens?"
"***? ***?"
"Motherfucker..."
Even similar words that are related to Heretic were censored. It seemed the Shepherds were being careful about being exposed and transitioned themselves to become Shepherds of Creation in this world.
Or were they the Shepherds of Creation first? Since they might be an otherworldly organization according to Mouthful Eye, perhaps they arrived in this world as Shepherds, then became Heretics, before transitioning once again into Shepherds.
Yet, the Shepherds were the least of their concern when there was an ongoing threat happening right now.
’You’re telling me that Arthur is a Heretic? Aside from being possessed, he’s also trying to spawn a God?’
Isn’t that too much of a task for a villain?
Yet that still didn’t answer his earlier question. Why is this book openly revealing itself to this room?
The next few entries of the diary had given him the answer.
/Day 120: He suddenly introduced himself as a Heretic. I eventually came to learn that it was an old term for Cultists or Heathens while researching them. Tsk... just as I was moving on and starting to feel something strange within me. He smooth-talked me into searching for these Ancient Ruins at the exact same time this was happening. Bring them back? Would they even want that? While I was trying to find the reason why we were given wrong information at the previous gate?
/Day 127: I can’t stop myself. Even though it’s not something they would want, I was tempted to know everything about it. What if... what if they can come back?
/Day 135: Something happened. I don’t know what it is, but something is definitely inside me... and it wants me to push further into the Ancient Ruins. I came back after eight days.
/Day 141: It’s true... I can really bring them back to life. How? What do I do to bring them back? I’ve hired countless excavators secretly and made them look at it. I’ve disposed of a lot of bodies so that this secret would not be exposed in the world. It’s happening. I can see them again...
/Day 151: What’s happening to me... what’s happening to me... I’ve killed people.... I’ve killed them. This is not the whole me... Someone is inside me. I’m me but not me at the same time./
Then, the last page didn’t include any days.
It was the reason he was looking for.
It was only two words.
/Help me./
The diary ended there.
It felt like a long time had passed since he had read this, but only a few hours had actually passed since it happened.
"Tsk."
Cillian clicked his tongue in disgust as he couldn’t help but feel a slight pity for Arthur’s situation. Who wouldn’t go crazy after seeing their members, father-in-law, and wife have their heads pop like balloons?
However, it doesn’t change the fact that Arthur is a threat that needs to be eliminated, or else the tragedy shown in the probe may continue.
And for that not to happen, Cillian will have to kill Arthur Potter.
’I have to prepare.’
As always, Cillian will have to make preparations.
"Inventory."
There was no need to call out his inventory, but Cillian was already accustomed to doing things this way, as the inventory would always be there.
Just like his Faceless and its abilities.
The moment Cillian called out his inventory, he brought out a spare set of clothes from inside it, something he was planning to use after changing his face when he encountered a situation that required action. Then, he replaced the clothes in his inventory space with Arthur’s diary.
[Inventory: 9/10]
Excluding the sword in his hand, it was the right amount of inventory space he had taken with him.
"Now then..."
Cillian looked around the room, conjured a Fireball spell, and aimed it at the ceiling to burn the house down.
He did so to add more pressure to Arthur.
...
Cillian discovered a lot of things yesterday, and almost all of his lingering questions regarding Arthur had been laid out clearly.
The Star Breaker manipulating him, Arthur being a Heretic, and how the Shepherds were heavily involved in this case.
There was no denying the fact that Arthur was approached by a Shepherd to look into these Ancient Ruins, especially when Eve had heavily pointed out that they were connected to the disappearance of the missing expedition members.
’Arthur and the Shepherds didn’t look like they were on the same team. At least from the way I see it, Arthur doesn’t think that way and merely moves alone. Does that mean the Shepherds are aiming at what Arthur was doing? The God?’
Cillian pondered inwardly while forming ideas inside his head. He was thinking about what he could do from now on.
Right now, he might not be able to do anything about Arthur because of his flawed plan of barging into his room, which had many inconsistencies, but it had brought him a lot of benefits as well.
These benefits were Arthur being watched by Star Breaker themselves, and Cillian successfully infiltrating the house he had only been eyeing from the start. It wasn’t just that. It also restricted Arthur’s freedom.
Because of this, Arthur might become impatient and hasten what he was about to do, which in turn could expose himself.
Now, he was starting to think that his so-called crashing out was turning out well, though it posed some risks, such as involving himself directly.
’Well, I’m planning on involving myself directly after that probe, but that doesn’t mean I’ll barge my way through again head-on. One of the reasons I visited Arthur is that I want people to watch over him. This kind of development is... natural. Yep, yep.’
Though Cillian was just reasoning things out, he knew that he had made a mistake. However, all he had to do was make use of these bad mistakes and somehow make something out of them.
That’s why he called four people today.
Dena, Dennis, Ethan, and Freya.
"Hey, long time no see."
Ethan greeted them while sitting down, one of his eyes blind as a result of being attacked by the academy. He had sustained major injuries there, and one of his eyes was no longer working. Even so, he was alive.
[Death Flag]
"It is."
Cillian greeted back while moving his gaze across the current group he had formed, the relationships he had built back in the academy.
[Death Flag]
[Death Flag]
[Death Flag
All of them had Death Flags raised above their head.
’Don’t worry, I won’t let you guys get yourselves involved directly. I will do it myself.’
Cillian pondered before formulating the right words in his head in a way that they would understand before revealing what was on his mind.
"I want you all to report this to the official organizations within Viola Territory on the exact day I will tell you. Whether it was Ruiners or Adventurers, it didn’t matter. Of course, if there’s an emergency, we will run this right, but if nothing is happening, we will continue as is."
Cillian immediately got straight to the point, which made the group somehow tense.
Cillian paused.
"Tell them these exact words. The Shepherds are working with Heretic Arthur Potter."
Then, Cillian began telling them more about his plan while keeping some details to himself, not wanting to risk involving these four people too much in his business.