Chapter 41: Black Genesis
Estiel actually fell silent when he heard that, holding a pen and using it to scratch at his hair.
"Hmm... Well, if that’s how it is, why don’t you just lie?"
"Eh? Well..." That was a little surprising—he’d expected Estiel to push him to give up the information, but did this tower keeper really love his own principles that much?
That was actually helpful for Eiros, who didn’t want to reveal too much about himself. But lying, huh...
In that case, what should he say?
It was common knowledge that someone with dual stigmata was rare—so rare it was practically unheard of. So if it came out that Eiros had the same Stigmata pattern as Leiden, wouldn’t that mean Leiden would be encouraged to do whatever was necessary to Awaken that same stigmata?
And it was worth remembering that the condition was death. Eiros could pull it off because he could come back from death—but Leiden wouldn’t be able to.
Noticing Eiros’s struggle, Estiel, who had just been watching quietly until now, suddenly hummed to himself, making Eiros look up at him.
"Hmm... If one apple isn’t enough to fool them, then I don’t see the harm in adding another apple as a variable. As long as it can be patched up properly, why not?"
’Patched up?’
Eiros tilted his head at that. Anyone else listening would probably find it a strange way to put it, but to Eiros, it felt like it fit perfectly.
Right—all he needed to do was come up with one more lie.
A student with a Stigmata that let him come back from death, but with a clear limitation—and the sword from the Stigmata, Remnant of Red Light, could simply be described as the manifestation of that death-defying Stigmata.
As for the ability that made him grow stronger the more he nearly died—that could stay buried, no need to mention it.
Yes. It would work if he just said the Stigmata was a single, unified thing.
"Thank you, tower keeper, sir!"
"Heh, you look a lot more relaxed and cheerful now."
Estiel laughed at that.
Eiros forced a smile, unable to fully relax in front of him. Was it really fine for a tower keeper to be this laid-back? He’d expected Estiel to be at least somewhat cold, weighed down with the kind of heavy pressure that always seemed to follow tower keepers in the webtoons and novels he’d read.
Either way, once that issue was settled, the rest of their conversation flowed naturally on its own.
"So basically, they really are a cult that worships ’them’?"
"Exactly," Estiel said, taking a sip of green tea from his cup with an easy expression, then shrugging both shoulders. "Seems like they’d been planning this for quite a while. If I’ve got the right first-year student in mind, Cray should’ve still had some time before his seed grew. But they deliberately sped up the process somehow."
"Ah..."
That reminded Eiros of the chalice that man had been carrying. Could he really say Cray had just been terribly unlucky, being targeted first?
’If that had been me...’
The thought only made Eiros feel gloomier, realizing all over again just how close he’d come to death before.
He steadied his breathing—
Haah...
—glanced at Estiel, then asked hesitantly:
"So... is there any chance of a cure? For the seed, or maybe something that could slow it down...?"
Estiel fell quiet for a moment at the question, then shrugged while stirring the tea in his cup.
"Something to slow its growth might exist. But I don’t think it’s common—if I remember right, that cure was actually deliberately stopped from being produced anymore."
"...! Why?!"
Without meaning to, Eiros raised his voice, startling even himself before he managed to calm down.
"Ah, sorry, I didn’t mean to snap. I’m just... curious whether we could slow the growth of the seed in someone who’s infected."
Thankfully, Estiel didn’t seem to mind.
"Well, how to put it...? It’s hard to detect the seed’s presence, and by the time we do notice, it’s usually too late. The worshippers also don’t take kindly to anything that gets in their way, so there’ve been quite a few attacks on the places where that cure was produced."
Even though the information was a bit disappointing, Eiros didn’t let it discourage him, feeling his heart pound with something else entirely.
Yes—at the very least, he could buy himself more time.
That world, or whatever it was called.
’I might be able to find an answer there.’
The thought of heading to a place crawling with unknown beings did sound insane, but Eiros was that committed to his own survival.
Before that, though, he needed to get his hands on the cure no matter what. And then...
’I don’t intend to just sit around waiting.’
It was common knowledge that in webtoons, or in a lot of similar fiction, characters tended to just wait for danger to come find them.
Eiros had no intention of doing that. He meant to strike first. Staying passive would only put him at a disadvantage, especially when he had no knowledge of what was coming.
"...Could I know the name of that cult?"
"Do you have any idea what you’re asking me right now?"
Eiros went quiet at that, then let out a dry laugh and answered:
"Yes, I do."
Estiel laughed too, and nodded.
"Alright, alright," He paused for a moment, looking at Eiros seriously, then added:
"That cult—they call themselves Black Genesis."
"...Black Genesis."
Eiros nodded, committing the name to memory and filing it under his highest priorities.
Because that man had been there too, hadn’t he?
After that, the conversation between Eiros and Estiel kept flowing without pause. There was a surprising amount of information Estiel was willing to let slip, including details about the academy itself.
That the beginning-of-semester exams would start next Wednesday. In the meantime, all the classes had apparently shifted to a self-study format, which meant every student had taken to gathering at the training grounds.
Once the conversation wound down, Eiros immediately decided to head to the training grounds himself.
’This is something I only ever saw in the webtoon, so I’m curious what it actually looks like in person.’
As Eiros made his way down the long corridor, he could clearly feel the weight of his current reputation. His face, it turned out, was already fairly well recognized—largely thanks to his position as Erness’s boyfriend.
"...T-that’s him! That’s Eiros, right? I finally get why Erness picked him, my god, Erness has such a good eye."
"Fufu... Maybe I should ask Erness for advice on finding myself a decent guy too..."
"I saw him! He was actually fighting with a black sword almost as big as his whole body. Damn, I used to think thin, elegant swords were the coolest thing, but I’ve changed my mind! I’m learning to use a heavy sword!"
"Hey, you’ve already switched weapons seven times, you know that?!"
Eiros forced an awkward smile onto his face. He’d never imagined a day would come where he’d end up this popular. I mean—wasn’t this exactly the kind of thing his past self used to long for?
He should’ve felt happy about it.
But...
He couldn’t. Not when the price for even this small sliver of popularity was something so complicated and dangerous.
Eiros ignored all of it, walking on—until he suddenly had to stop. A male student was blocking his path, his face nervous.
"Um...!"
"....?"
"S-sorry, but... I wanted to say thank you! Really, thank you for saving me back then!"
Eiros looked at the student for a moment, about to respond, when it suddenly clicked. Wasn’t this the student who’d been trapped in that slime, back when Eiros had gotten hurt during that unknown attack?
Right, it was him.
"...Ah, don’t worry about it, I just did what needed to be done... I guess."
The student’s face broke into a bright smile at that.
"Really! I’m so grateful! I thought I was going to die back then."
After that, the student handed Eiros something—well, a box that looked like it was full of chocolates?
Eiros accepted it out of obligation, before the student walked off, beaming as if he’d just crossed something off his bucket list.
Eiros stood there for a moment, frozen stiff, before finally turning and continuing down the corridor.
’Well, being popular really does have its perks.’
Next, Eiros spotted a student standing at the entrance to the training grounds. Leaning against the wall with a face utterly clouded over, glaring sharply at Eiros.
It was Leiden.
Eiros felt a flicker of relief that the guy had survived. But the next moment, they locked eyes for a few seconds, and it made Eiros feel awkward.
He was about to greet him, but Leiden’s mouth beat him to it.
"Eeiiiirooosss!!!! Waaahh, I thought you were going to diiiie...!!!"
Okay, this was starting to get annoying.
***