Chapter 41
The man who had once been an Apostle lay sprawled limply across the floor, while the man who would remain an Apostle forever walked past him.
The inside of the museum reeked with every kind of rotten smell, mixed with the metallic scent of blood flowing from the freshly killed believers.
Some seemed to have wet themselves.
Several exhibits that had awakened under Rogers’s orders now had nowhere to go and simply stared blankly into the air.
The tree giant stared at the place where it had once been chained.
Then it shrank its enormous body and walked heavily out of the museum.
Around fifteen surviving believers screamed and hurried after it.
The pools of blood gathered everywhere soon began flowing toward the Adults Only Area.
As if replacing that rushing stream of blood, Yohan emerged from inside.
Only then did the expedition members release relieved breaths.
Danforth alternated between looking at the ruined museum and Yohan before carefully asking,
“…We don’t have to clean this up, right?”
“That’ll be the next Apostle’s problem.”
There were no critically wounded people.
Two or three had been stabbed or cut deeply enough to lose a serious amount of blood, but thanks to Albern’s healing magic, they quickly regained consciousness.
As they were about to leave the museum, a man stood directly in their path.
His usual cheerful smile.
Neatly combed hair.
A yellow jacket.
A badge.
Even his shoes had not been touched by a single drop of blood.
“It appears you have finished, Yohan Blake, and honored guests from outside.”
The young man who called himself the curator, Orabona, politely bowed toward them.
“You fought wonderfully against our poor believers and exhibits. Truly impressive.”
“…Orabona, was it?”
“Oh my. You even remembered the humble name of someone like me. I’m deeply honored, haha.”
“How could I forget? You were the one who advised me last time to sacrifice believers and open the passage.”
Everyone, including the general, opened their mouths at Yohan’s shocking statement.
Some were also surprised that he had hidden such information from his companions.
Orabona, on the other hand, merely tilted his head as if hearing it for the first time.
“…Did I really say that? I don’t remember.”
“Maybe the previous Orabona said it. Or maybe you, the current Orabona, simply decided that you had.”
“…I see. With insight like that, I suppose it makes sense that you managed to deceive Wilhelm Rogers.”
Orabona touched his lips.
A faint smile filled with admiration appeared on his face.
“You understood our master’s intentions so well despite never having seen the Pnakotic Manuscripts even once… It seems your title as humanity’s strongest raider was not given without reason. Truly impressive, Yohan Blake.”
The expedition members’ eyes quickly moved from side to side.
“…What?”
“He never… even saw the Manuscripts…?”
As questions began appearing everywhere, Orabona calmly continued.
“The Fear of Primates personally accepted your proposal. The fact that He devoured Wilhelm Rogers instead of you was for the same reason.”
“……”
“A gate prepared for all of you should now exist on the bridge crossing the river. That is both the entrance and the passage. There is no Gatekeeper, so you may rest easy.”
Then he added one final warning.
“Never forget this. The only reason He allowed you to descend without offering even a single sacrifice was because of the proposal you made. The moment you fail to fulfill your role as High Priest, you will become the greatest enemy of Rhan Tegoth and His loyal, courageous believers.”
Perhaps it was less advice and more a warning.
Yohan gave a small laugh and nodded.
“Loyal and courageous believers… They didn’t look that way to me.”
“……”
“Either way, I’ll remember. They will certainly come to know of the great Rhan Tegoth’s existence.”
They left the museum.
Orabona kept his friendly smile until the very end.
Then he disappeared like smoke and never showed himself again.
It did not take long to leave Southwark and find the gate on the bridge.
While moving toward the gate after joining the expedition members who had waited outside, Danforth poked Yohan in the side and quietly asked,
“How did you know what was written in a grimoire you’ve never even seen?”
“I didn’t.”
“…Then how did you know Rhan Tegoth would accept your proposal?”
“I didn’t.”
“……”
Seeing Danforth speechless at the strange answers, Yohan let out a faint sigh.
“I had some confidence.”
“…Based on what?”
“I told you on the first day we came here. About the true nature of Inner Gods. They’re lunatics starving for attention.”
Yohan looked toward the gray sky.
“Great Old Ones are nearly immortal creatures… but even they occasionally die. Or they get sealed away. Or they lose most of their power and fall asleep. Rhan Tegoth is essential for reviving beings like that.”
“…I see.”
“And such a great being has been trapped inside this tiny world, surviving day after day by eating tasteless sacrifices brought by an idiot who barely deserved to be called an Apostle. Imagine how suffocating that must be. Deep Ones use all their energy to spread Dagon’s cult throughout the world, while his own believers refuse to take a single step outside their city.”
Then someone suddenly appeared.
A human saying that he would descend below and spread knowledge of Rhan Tegoth’s existence throughout the world.
“And that human didn’t even worship or follow Him.”
“……”
“Doesn’t that sound rather interesting?”
From Yohan’s perspective, he had given an unusually kind and detailed explanation.
Yet no one there fully understood what he meant.
That did not matter.
If they could not understand, so be it.
This world had always moved through mysterious and incomprehensible things.
Before entering the passage, General Kalkelak made one suggestion.
“The twelfth floor is far larger than this place. If everyone gets scattered across a floor like that, we’ll have no solution. We need to make sure everyone begins in the same place.”
“So?”
He raised his thick, rough index finger.
“I’ll bind everyone together using Aura Link… then we all jump into the passage at the exact same moment.”
“…Oh?”
