The Harvest Mouse Exits the Fairytale Together with Cinderella-Chapter 155

The first place he headed was the Holy Temple.

More precisely—the Holy Nation.

It was the place Elodie once dreamed of, where she had led the Ratson family in hopes of rebuilding what had become a wasteland.

She had said that once she lifted the family’s curse and restored the ruins of the Holy Nation, she would open it to the world.

And publicly declare that the Ratson family still stood strong.

But that hope had vanished in an instant.

Now, the Holy Nation was ruled directly by a man of Basilisk blood—his name unknown.

Karon didn’t know what kind of person he was.

So he decided to find out for himself.

After the war, the Holy Nation reopened to gather followers again, making it easy for Karon to slip inside.

The moment he saw the so-called High Priest, Karon let out a hollow laugh.

He had seen that man before—in the lab.

More precisely, as a test subject.

So that’s why he kept luring people in with talk about becoming a direct heir.

Had he planned from the beginning to push out the Ratsons and become High Priest himself?

Did he see Karon’s detoxification abilities and decide he made a convincing imitation of a true High Priest?

Ah.

As the thoughts piled up, Karon arrived at a single conclusion.

All the experiments conducted in the lab... the reason I was created... it was all to craft a vessel worthy of becoming High Priest.

And among all the Basilisks, the one who took the lead—the director of the lab, Nyx—had been at the forefront of the plan...

Because from the start, he had been leading the project to create a High Priest.

To launder the filthy legacy of the Basilisk family, who had always operated from the shadows, and rebrand them as the divine lineage.

Once Karon grasped the gist of what had happened, he immediately approached the High Priest.

He appeared in a hood, bowed his head, and spoke.

“It’s done, just as you ordered.”

He made it sound convincing.

First, because the High Priest had repeatedly asked if there’d been any word from “that one.”

Second, because it was clear the zealot who killed Elodie had been provoked by a third party.

And third, because in the haze of grief, Karon had felt someone watching from afar while he confronted the cultists.

Of course, after he razed the village in his rage, he no longer sensed anyone watching.

Regardless, Karon’s guess had been correct.

The High Priest took the bait immediately.

“You cleaned up the traces properly, right?”

“Well...”

He had cleaned it up.

By wiping the entire village off the map.

“Yes,” Karon said.

“The hammer? Where is the Holy Hammer? Did you secure it?”

“The hammer.”

“Don’t tell me you don’t have it. I told you! You can’t use healing powers without it!”

“...I have it.”

“Damn it, don’t scare me like that. Do you know how hard it’s been faking powers that don’t even exist?”

“That hard, huh.”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

“You have no idea. I was locked up in a lab my whole life, and now they want me to play the part of a divine actor. If it weren’t for the war, and the sudden surge of false gods and fanatics, there’s no way we’d have pulled this off...”

He grumbled and reached impatiently for the hammer.

“But wait, was your voice always that deep?”

Only then did the High Priest really look at him.

He had glanced at the dark hood and chatted without suspicion, but now that he looked again, he noticed how unusually large the man’s build was.

“...Who are you?”

G–Guards!

Just before he could scream, Karon clamped a hand over his mouth and spoke.

“I’ve heard enough of your screaming since we were kids. That’s enough.”

“W–What the hell! Who are you?!”

“It’s been a while, Number Ten.”

“...Number Thirty-Two?”

When Karon pulled down his hood and revealed his face, the High Priest immediately recognized him.

Of course he did.

Karon had only spent six years in the lab, but his name was still whispered even now.

And besides that, he bore a strong resemblance to the now-deceased Nyx Basilisk.

“A traitor! What are you doing here?!”

“Traitor? I was never one of you. How could I betray something I was never part of?”

“What kind of nonsense is that? Your father created you—you’re a Basilisk by birth!”

“I don’t wag my tail like a dog for the bastards who tore me apart and stitched me back together.”

And so—

Karon got straight to the point.

“Was it you? Did you start the nonsense about a divine prophecy and claim the Lady Ratson had to be executed?”

“W–What was I supposed to do?! Without the hammer, I can’t use healing powers! I had to find her and take it somehow!”

“I see.”

Karon made his decision without hesitation.

“You’re the High Priest now, so you’ve been recognized as a direct heir. That means you must know where the Basilisk main house is.”

“W–Why do you want to know that?”

Number Ten, now High Priest, had been considered a “success” since childhood—unlike Karon, whom everyone had called a failure.

Because of that, he had undergone far fewer experiments than the others.

He was already complete. It would’ve been a waste if they ruined him.

So, of course, he had no tolerance for pain.

Even light testing, compared to what the other subjects went through, made him scream like he was being torn apart.

“Tell me where it is. The main house.”

Karon’s hand showed no mercy.

No hesitation.

He no longer feared dragging Elodie’s once-bright life back through the filth because of his own carelessness.

There was nothing left for him to be afraid of.

“You! You...! Do you think you’ll get away with this?!”

The High Priest writhed and screamed, like his entire body was burning alive.

Karon gave him no false hope of survival.

It was the only mercy he could offer, as someone who had come from the same hell.

“You’d better worry about yourself, not me.”

“Who do you think you are?! Do you feel no fear of the heavens?!”

“Hah.”

Karon laughed, like he’d just heard the funniest joke.

Coming from the mouth of the man who stole the position of divine representative...

Completely oblivious to his own place in the world—typical of the kind who blindly followed the snakes.

Karon didn’t even feel like talking anymore.

He reached out.

“Wait, wait! I was wrong! I was wrong, please, I beg you! Spare me!”

“It’s okay.”

Karon didn’t stop releasing the poison as he left him with one last bit of comfort.

“I’ll send the rest of the Basilisk bloodline you love so much to join you soon.”

“...”

“At least you won’t be lonely.”

Karon put an end to Number Ten’s despair—permanently.

There were other priests in the Holy Nation, also descended from Basilisk, but they were of no use.

They had the same level of knowledge as Karon.

They were either distant relatives, or test subjects like him.

Karon grew tired of sorting them out one by one.

So he released all his poison and reduced the Holy Nation to ruin.

He left not even ashes behind.

It felt wrong to destroy a land ruled by the Ratson family for generations, but it was better ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) than letting the snakes steal it.

To think that Basilisk would inherit this sacred place...

They had no idea of their own limits.

Even if it meant killing everyone who had been staying in the Holy Nation, he didn’t care.

If they were here, it meant they had helped destroy the Ratson family for their own safety.

He felt no guilt at all.

Once he learned the location of the Basilisk main house, Karon went there immediately.

The moment he stepped inside, traps activated.

It seemed that unless you were recognized as a direct heir, sneaking in wasn’t an option at all.

“Hm.”

He’d brought the High Priest’s remains this far because he’d heard he needed the man’s biometrics to enter.

So much for a peaceful infiltration.

Looks like he’s not even useful for that.

Karon tossed aside the High Priest’s corpse.

No helping it, then.

He looked down at his severed arm without emotion, then ripped a strip from the corpse’s clothes and tied it off to stop the bleeding.

Just then—

As he tore at the clothing, he must’ve brushed against a hidden pocket.

A glittering jewel rolled out of the dead High Priest’s robes.

He didn’t know exactly what it was, but it was black—pitch black—reminiscent of obsidian.