Chapter 40, The Church of Nihility
According to Arlin, her mana detection had once been large enough to cover an entire apartment building.
That was the limit she had mentioned when we first met.
That had been before she received advice from countless Grand Mages, Magi, and Archmages through the Gallery.
Before she gained experience on the journey to the Company.
Before her senses became sharper.
Then what was her level now?
The answer became obvious if I looked outside the window.
For an instant.
No.
Calling it an instant almost felt exaggerated.
It was only one fragment of a second divided into hundreds of pieces.
The entire world turned blue.
The moment was so brief that even if someone noticed it, they would probably dismiss it as their imagination.
Only someone like me, who had been focusing intensely, could clearly recognize what happened.
The mana wave hadn't merely covered the inside of the apartment building.
It had spread out to the walking paths outside.
Maybe it had covered the entire apartment complex.
A chill went through me.
After finishing the momentary mana detection, Arlin raised her head.
Then she spoke a surprisingly large number.
“526 people.”
“...”
“There are currently 526 people inside the apartment complex. Twenty-one are inside this apartment building.”
“Where is the greatest concentration of people?”
“There are 252 people gathered around the center of the walking path.”
“That's far too many.”
Maybe because of the apocalypse, there were fewer people in the apartment complex than I expected.
In a way, that was natural.
What mattered more was that 252 people were gathered in one location.
Two hundred fifty-two wasn't a small number.
It was huge.
Nearly half the people remaining in the entire apartment complex were gathered in one place.
That wasn't natural.
Maybe another Mystery was involved.
For now, we should calmly gather information.
I asked Arlin to locate the nearest person.
Following her directions, we went down one floor.
I pressed the doorbell mounted on the wall.
Ding-dong.
We waited.
No one came out.
I looked at Arlin, silently asking whether this was the correct place.
She nodded.
Then the person was inside but refusing to come out.
Thinking about it...
In an apocalypse where anyone could be a robber, that was a completely normal response.
Maybe I had spent too much time dealing with Mysteries.
The concept of a zombie apocalypse still felt strangely unfamiliar.
To me, the world felt more like fantasy than an apocalypse.
Things that should have been unrealistic now felt realistic.
And realistic things felt unrealistic.
I would probably grow used to it over time.
Instead of repeatedly pressing the doorbell, I took out a grenade.
I spoke toward the resident who was probably watching us through the intercom.
“We can break this door down and enter whenever we want. Open it peacefully.”
The other side remained silent.
I glanced at Arlin.
Arlin reached out and touched the door lock.
Electricity crackled from her hand.
A moment later, the door opened.
The degree of mana control involved was far beyond anything I could understand.
“Let's go inside.”
We entered.
A woman was standing there.
Her eyes trembled.
Her body shook in fear.
Her skin had turned pale.
It was easy to understand how terrified she was.
Seeing her reaction made me feel slightly guilty.
Now that I thought about it, there had probably been much more peaceful ways to do this.
I gave her some food to calm her down.
Once she looked a little calmer, I asked a question.
“We only came because we have a few questions. Do you know what has happened inside this apartment complex recently?”
I took out several pieces of food and snacks and shook them slightly.
The meaning was obvious.
Answer our questions, and I would reward her.
Apparently, it worked.
The woman took a breath and began speaking.
“When you say recently... from when to when do you mean?”
“Major incidents since the apocalypse began.”
“If that's what you mean...”
She told me about events I hadn't experienced.
Incidents that happened nearby while I had been away from home for long periods.
Perhaps because the apartment complex was so large, some of those incidents had been fairly serious.
A few even sounded like Mysteries might have been involved.
“The biggest recent incident would probably be the one involving religion.”
“Religion?”
“...Yes. Religions became extremely popular after the apocalypse started, right? Among them is a new religion called the Church of Nihility. Followers of that religion entered this apartment complex.”
“The Church of Nihility?”
“Yes. It's a new religion whose teachings are based on nihilism. After their believers started coming here to preach, the number of followers inside the apartment complex increased extremely quickly...”
“Why is that a problem?”
“Their teachings are the problem. They don't harm other people, but they harm themselves.”
Nihilism.
To summarize it simply, it was the belief that everything was meaningless.
Money.
