The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 109

Seong Ha-yeon was staring at me with wide, round eyes. At some point, the focus in those eyes became hazy. She eventually dropped her gaze to the floor and sat down on the rain-soaked pavement. It seemed her legs had given out as the tension was released.

"Hey, the ground is all wet, why are you sitting there-"

Crack.

Just as I was moving to help Seong Ha-yeon up, a strange sound came from my knee. Along with a sharp pain, my body sank down.

An unfamiliar pain was rising in my knee. It felt like burning, or like being stabbed repeatedly with needles. When I rolled up my pants, the cartilage area of my knee was swollen.

It seemed the side effects from overusing Bade’s power had belatedly hit me.

Still, the side effects weren’t as severe as when I used Granbwa’s or Bosu’s powers. I felt like if I sat and rested for a moment, I’d be able to get up and walk again soon.

"..."

Seong Ha-yeon was looking at me with surprised eyes as I suddenly sat down.

There was no rain, no wind. There was no light either. In the darkness, we were staring at each other. Since it was too dark to see faces, I felt less awkward facing her.

"Um, that. I’m sor..."

Seong Ha-yeon muttered while keeping her head down. I couldn’t hear her well.

"What did you say?"

"Uh, um..."

She seemed flustered and hesitated to answer while shrinking her body. It seemed like she was muttering something, but her voice was too small to hear.

"What are you saying? Speak properly."

"I’m sor...! Sorry for bleeding uselessly trying to save someone as lowly as you. It’s really annoying....."

Yes, go ahead.

I thought she was going to apologize, but as expected, she wasn’t.

Blood was still flowing from Seong Ha-yeon’s palm, but the wound wasn’t deep, so there didn’t seem to be a need to use restoration sorcery. It was at a level that could be sufficiently treated with basic healing. I emitted divine power and drew a healing circle as I had learned.

Healing light enveloped Seong Ha-yeon’s palm. A look of surprise was vivid on her briefly revealed face.

"Is that better?"

Seong Ha-yeon, who had been pressing and rubbing the area touched by the healing light with her fingers, suddenly raised her head. Then she glared at me with narrow eyes and opened her mouth.

"I think there’s a scar."

"Oh, really? Sorry."

I wasn’t really sorry at all.

"..."

Seong Ha-yeon bit her lips while looking at her palm. I wondered how big a scar could have formed to make such a fuss, so I approached her. Then she clenched her fist to hide the wound and backed away.

"It’s fine."

"What, earlier you-"

"No, it’s really fine. Really....."

Seong Ha-yeon said while backing away hesitantly. She just didn’t like me approaching. Sometimes she follows me around even when I tell her not to come, and now she’s telling me not to come. She’s completely selfish.

But I was the one who had dragged Seong Ha-yeon into this incident, and without her, I wouldn’t have been able to dismantle the black magic.

Even though it was a bit annoying, it was true that Seong Ha-yeon had helped me, and I didn’t want to have a long conversation with her either, so I just kept my mouth shut.

"Uh, uhhhhh...!"

What broke the silence wasn’t me or Seong Ha-yeon, but the Holy Knights who had been unconscious. As if coordinated, they all got up at once and groaned while holding their temples. Their faces were all contorted.

I looked at their pupils faintly glowing in the darkness.

Fortunately, the hatred and anger that had been in their eyes had diminished considerably. However, it hadn’t completely disappeared.

Complaining of headaches while barely getting up, they began to glare at each other, Holy Knights with Holy Knights, priests with priests.

"...Excuse me, why did you suddenly hit us?"

"What, what nonsense...! We only got hit, and the ones who hit were you-!"

A brief argument broke out between the Holy Knights and priests. The Holy Knights thought they had been unilaterally beaten by the priests. The priests thought they had been unilaterally beaten by the Holy Knights.

They had hit each other and been hit by each other, but they couldn’t remember hitting, only being hit.

[What a terrible sight.]

Legba quietly let out a lament.

The clergy had completely forgotten the hatred they had poured on their opponents, but they remembered all the hatred their opponents had poured on them. It would have been better if they remembered everything, or remembered nothing at all.

"No, team leader. Why did you grab my collar earlier?!"

"What? When did I grab your collar? You’re the one who said all sorts of things you shouldn’t say to a superior, what kind of nonsense-"

However, the Satan worshipper’s black magic had selectively left their memories. The black magic was gone, but their hatred toward each other still remained. What the Satan worshipper had tried to inject into the clergy wasn’t temporary hatred but permanent distrust.

"You, didn’t you just call us cockroaches?"

"Ha, I guess you don’t even remember throwing punches first?"

While I felt newfound fear at the Satan worshipper’s cunning, anger surged at the clergy who were raising their voices and pointing at each other.

The hatred they felt was injected by black magic. Their stupidity in thinking and moving according to the Satan worshipper’s intentions was disgusting.

Crack!

As if the sky itself was angry, intense thunder echoed across the earth. The clergy who had been arguing all gasped in surprise at the sound. It was silence that had barely arrived.

"Please take this person to the hospital quickly."

Taking advantage of the opportunity, I pointed to the woman sprawled on the ground, foaming at the mouth. Only then did the Holy Knights and priests stop fighting.

In the silence, the male Holy Knight called team leader hurriedly ran over and checked the woman’s pulse. Then he frowned and glared at his subordinates with sharp eyes.

"...Hey, what are you doing! Quickly request support from the rescue team! And, uh, stretcher. Get a stretcher!"

"Yes, yes sir!"

"Uh, is there anything I can help with-"

"Patient status report, do all the first aid you can! Quickly!"

Only then did the Holy Knights and priests stop fighting and begin performing their respective roles.

* * *

The woman who had been branded with black magic was said to have been escorted to the hospital while receiving treatment from the priests.

Seong Ha-yeon and I went to the Eastern Holy Knight Order and underwent a simple investigation. In the middle, Saint Judas came and took Seong Ha-yeon away. The Holy Knights’ attitude toward Saint Judas, a former papal inquisitor, was infinitely respectful.

"Phew, it’s hectic. So hectic....."

These were the words Han Dae-ho muttered quietly as he returned after seeing off Saint Judas. Han Dae-ho, who had roughly wiped off the cold sweat on his forehead with his collar, clasped his hands and looked at me sitting across from him.

"Well..... It seems like I’ve been seeing you quite often lately."

"That’s right."

"Anyway, where did we leave off? Sorry. Right now I’m, completely out of it....."

We had talked up to the part where black magic was activated, causing the priests and Holy Knights to start fighting. I explained what happened after that. How I met my school friend Seong Ha-yeon while wondering what to do, and with her help dismantled the black magic while I bought time.

Han Dae-ho nodded after hearing the story.

"I see..... I did see the situation through the black box, but the quality was poor so I didn’t know black magic had been activated. Was the Holy Knights and priests fighting also because of black magic?"

"Yes."

"I see. Anyway, these bastards, even when we tell them the response manual..... Anyway, thanks to you the situation didn’t escalate, which is fortunate. You’re a hundred times better than those idiots behind you."

Han Dae-ho glanced back and spoke as if for them to hear.

Beyond Han Dae-ho’s massive shoulders, I could see Holy Knights lined up against the wall. They had their hands behind their backs and heads down, flinching and turning their heads to avoid Han Dae-ho’s gaze.

Seeing this, Han Dae-ho’s face contorted.

"These bastards, do they even know they did wrong? They keep avoiding eye contact?"

"We’re, we’re sorry!"

"Forget it, forget it."

Han Dae-ho sighed as if giving up and turned his gaze to me. Then he stroked his rough beard.

"Well, I think I’ve heard everything I need to hear. But I have one last thing to ask. Just a moment."

Han Dae-ho turned the monitor to show me. The black box recording from the Holy Knight Order vehicle capturing the situation at that time was playing.

There I was reproducing a miracle. No, I was disguising miracle reproduction while using Bade’s power. Han Dae-ho narrowed his eyes as if trying to read my expression and opened his mouth.

"That’s miracle reproduction, right? You did that?"

"Yes."

"Right, so you did it....."

There was no reason to be suspected. Even so, Han Dae-ho kept tilting his head as if puzzled. My lips went completely dry.

That wasn’t real miracle reproduction, but the power of a Loa disguised as a miracle. Someone as perceptive as Han Dae-ho might be able to distinguish that difference.

Han Dae-ho, who had been staring at the black box video for a long time with his mouth shut, let out a hollow laugh and opened his mouth.

"How do you do it?"

"Pardon?"

I asked back in confusion. Han Dae-ho showed a helpless smile and continued.

"At my age, I’ve never used miracle reproduction. I don’t know how to use it."

"Ah....."

"Even what the combat priests used during the Holy War wasn’t on this scale..... Amazing. This makes me think this is what a real genius is like."

Sincerity was evident in Han Dae-ho’s admiring voice.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, it didn’t seem like I was being suspected. It was natural for clergy who couldn’t handle miracle reproduction to admire clergy who could handle miracle reproduction.

Han Dae-ho continued while watching the video with a smile.

"I also heard from Saint Judas about why you weren’t affected by black magic..... Right, now it’s really over. Oh, you said you applied to the Holy Knight department?"

"Yes? Yes."

"Look forward to commission practice and dispatch practice. You know what I mean?"

It was silent pressure to apply to the Seoul Eastern Holy Knight Order during the upcoming commission practice. I nodded reluctantly and left the Holy Knight Order. I could still clearly feel Han Dae-ho’s burdensome gaze from behind. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

* * *

A few stars were sparsely embedded in the sky filled with pitch-black darkness. I didn’t head straight home, but was walking aimlessly, circling around the Holy Knight Order.

Han Dae-ho said I would receive another commendation for this incident. Even if not a commendation, he promised to do anything he could as commander.

He expressed excessive gratitude to me for this incident, but I couldn’t tell if it was because he was truly grateful to me or because he wanted to recruit me into the Eastern Holy Knight Order.

Anyway, everything had worked out well. Even so, my heart felt strangely heavy.

Tap, tap, tap....

Then I heard what sounded like someone running behind me. At first I didn’t pay attention. It was probably someone exercising in the area.

I turned my steps toward the main road. I had completely changed direction, opposite to the path to the chapel, but it didn’t matter. Right now I needed quite a bit of time to think.

Ta-da-da-da-da....

However, the running sound continued without stopping. No, it was actually getting closer.

[It seems like they’re chasing you.]

Legba said. I nodded. That was definitely the sound of someone chasing me.

Who could it be? Han Dae-ho? No, that couldn’t be it. First, Han Dae-ho had no reason to chase me, and more importantly, the physique of the man following me was too small to be Han Dae-ho.

If I had to guess..... The Satan worshipper I had a chase with before. The physique was very similar to his.

"..."

I lowered my posture and glared at the approaching opponent. I was prepared to cut off his breathing with Bosu’s power or Sobo’s power if necessary.

Tap, ta-da-dak, tap....

However, contrary to expectations, the man stopped running in front of me.

The one approaching me while catching his breath was Gu Jun-hyeok. Gu Jun-hyeok, who approached me while sweeping his disheveled hair back, let out a small laugh and opened his mouth.

"Hey, why do you walk so fast? I’ve been chasing you for a while."

"Chasing? ...Why?"

"That thing, you know, did you see a strange woman this evening?"

Gu Jun-hyeok asked boldly. How did Gu Jun-hyeok know about this? There was no possibility that the Holy Knight Order had leaked information, so as expected, Gu Jun-hyeok was.....

"That’s my mom. Sorry."

At Gu Jun-hyeok’s following words, I couldn’t hide my surprise and opened my mouth. Gu Jun-hyeok showed a bright smile and continued.

"She escaped from the hospital again this time. Then she got involved in an incident, and I got a call from the Holy Knight Order about the investigation..... Then the Holy Knights said you were also there. So I chased after you."

"..."

"Hey, give me an answer. An answer."

My head was too complicated to answer easily. Gu Jun-hyeok, who had finally caught his breath, opened his mouth in a calm voice.

"They said mom almost died. And you somehow saved her. I don’t know how you saved her since they wouldn’t tell me."

"...There was black magic on her. On the back of her neck."

"Really? I didn’t know that. Anyway, if it weren’t for you and Seong Ha-yeon, our mom would have died. That’s what the Holy Knights said. ...So, well, thank you. That’s what I’m saying."

Gu Jun-hyeok said while scratching his head as if embarrassed. Gu Jun-hyeok saying thank you seemed unfamiliar somehow, and hearing him say thank you seemed to make me feel good, and I felt newly sorry for having cast sorcery on Gu Jun-hyeok’s mother, and I felt a little sorry for Gu Jun-hyeok who was supporting his mother.

Numerous thoughts and emotions were tangled in my head.

On the other hand, it was difficult to fully accept those emotions.

"..."

Because I thought Gu Jun-hyeok was a Satan worshipper.