* * *[ ■■■■■ ]* * *
Somewhere far from Vespian. In the lowest level of an unexplored dungeon whose very existence was unknown to the public, with even its records destroyed.
“It’s been a while. Have you all been well?”
Five men and women wearing black robes were gathered there, holding a secret meeting.
“Despite the sudden summons, for everyone to gather like this. As the chairman, I couldn’t be happier.”
The secret society of Abyss Priests who had become internationally wanted criminals on charges of heresy worship, the Exorcism Reversal Society.
These were the core executives of the Exorcism Reversal Society, five Abyss Priests including the chairman.
More precisely, it should be said that they had become five Abyss Priests.
“Well, isn’t there obviously one empty seat for us to be all gathered?”
Ariane, the only woman in the Reversal Society, tilted her head slightly, pointing to an empty chair. As if questioning the absence of the old man who should have been sitting there.
“You mean Hugh Casvail? Unfortunately, he recently returned to the embrace of the Abyss. It’s regrettable.”
The Reversal Society chairman delivered the sad news in a calm voice. That Hugh Casvail, the lowest-ranking Abyss Priest of the Exorcism Reversal Society, had finally met his death.
“He, he died…?”
A middle-aged man so fat that even his robe couldn’t hide it stammered in surprise, asking back. His speech was clumsy like a child’s.
“Oh, is that so? Well, he was at an age where it wouldn’t be strange for him to die anytime.”
Ariane lightly brushed up her purple hair, shrugging her shoulders slightly. A clear sneer was evident on her face revealed under the hood.
“It wasn’t old age. He died in battle after clashing with a branch of the Goddess Church.”
“He picked a fight with the church bastards? What guts for someone so weak. Did he get dementia or something?”
Ariane was now openly mocking Hugh.
“Tsk.”
At the sound of her blatant chuckling, one of the Abyss Priests clicked his tongue and glared at her.
Even if it was an organization with weak cohesion, to laugh and mock rather than mourn when a colleague from the same organization had been killed.
Truly, wasn’t it an unpleasant and contemptible act?
“Why don’t you watch your words, Ariane.”
Therefore, the Abyss Priest Ord restrained Ariane with an annoyed voice. With a voice closer to childish than young, despite his medium height.
“Why should I? It’s not like I’m wrong, brat.”
Ariane turned to look at Ord, pulling up one corner of her mouth in a sneer. Fully revealing her inner thoughts of disdain.
“An old man whose only ability was hiding behind low-level undead, thinking he could take on the church even if it was just a branch. There’s a limit to not knowing your place, you know?”
A biting sarcasm as sharp as a blade. Ariane believed she had the right to spout such sarcasm.
Unlike Hugh Casvail, who died trying to do something beyond his abilities despite not being strong, she had experience successfully annihilating an entire branch of the church.
‘I didn’t like him from the start. That old man.’
Even their dispositions were polar opposites. Hugh’s habit of boasting that intelligence, plots, and schemes were true strength was seen by Ariane as merely self-justification of the weak.
So how could Ariane not despise him?
Though she didn’t say it out loud, her honest feeling was that it was better that he died.
“Even so―”
“What, do you feel a sense of kinship because you’re both the same mass production type?”
Ariane looked down contemptuously at Ord, who tried to rebut again.
“The only difference is whose shadow you hide in, but there’s no difference between you and that old man trembling in hiding, is there?”
Ord’s patience reached its limit at the blatant mockery contained in her tone.
“…Ariane.”
Ord stood up, muttering Ariane’s name.
The shadow of the short young man suddenly expanded greatly, and the growling sounds of beasts began to be heard from within.
“Did I give you permission to casually call my name? How impudent for a wet-behind-the-ears brat.”
Ariane’s sneer deepened. Vast magical power spread out like a veil, beginning to distort the air around her.
A volatile situation where two core executives of the Exorcism Reversal Society were about to engage in a life-and-death battle.
“Ah, Ariane, Ord. Fi-fighting is bad…!”
The middle-aged man with the clumsy speech spread his plump arms and stepped between Ariane and Ord to block them, and-
“That’s enough. Don’t fight in front of me.”
The Reversal Society chairman, who had been quietly listening with his chin resting on his fist, restrained the two in a tone devoid of emotion.
“Aren’t we all persecuted and hunted wanted criminals? Creating friction among ourselves will only make the church smile.”
An extremely gentle tone.
However, Ord hurriedly sat back down, feeling a chill as if his head was being sliced by a blade.
“No, this brat started it first―”
On the other hand, Ariane frowned in protest, pointing at Ord as if she had done nothing wrong, but…
“Ariane.”
“…Tch. Fine. I got it.”
When the Reversal Society chairman called her name in a resolute tone, she clicked her tongue in annoyance but withdrew her magical power.
“You’re such a boring man, really.”
Ariane shrugged her shoulders, raising both hands slightly as if surrendering.
Unlike when she was mocking Hugh or arguing with Ord, she surprisingly showed obedience to the chairman’s words.
Of course, for Ariane, this was only natural behavior.
While she was confident she could crush the other executives at will, the Reversal Society chairman was a powerful individual she couldn’t guarantee victory against.
“Good. Now that everyone seems to have calmed down a bit… let’s continue our discussion.”
The Reversal Society chairman glanced at Ariane, who had obediently sat down, and smiled lightly as if to refresh the atmosphere, then revealed the reason he had summoned all the executives.
* * *
The Reversal Society chairman first corrected Ariane’s misunderstanding.
Contrary to her assumption that Hugh Casvail had been slaughtered like a dog by the paladins and priests, Hugh surprisingly had a chance of winning.
An undead army created from the massive number of corpses he had obtained by chance, and an undead giant summoned using adventurers and priests as sacrifices.
If he had used these well, annihilating the paladins of the Vespian branch wouldn’t have been such a far-fetched idea.
“The Jötunn, one of the eight demon races, is a race with some resistance to holy miracles despite being demon folk. Although it would have been weakened after being resurrected as undead…”
If he had used the undead giant as the vanguard and engaged in hit-and-run guerrilla tactics, he really could have annihilated the paladins. The Reversal Society chairman asserted this.
In reality, whether there was some tactical misjudgment or not, he was killed not long after summoning the undead giant.
“Hmm…. So, what are you trying to say?”
“The undead giant Hugh summoned was a Jötunn resurrected as undead. In other words, although decayed, it would still have its heart. Doesn’t that interest you?”
The heart of a Jötunn.
The source of the giant race’s unique mighty strength and holy resistance, a magical organ containing coldness as frigid as the frost of severe winter.
Now that hero parties reaching demon folk territory had become so rare they could be counted on one hand, that heart had a value difficult to put a price on.
Both financially and magically.
“Want, want to eat it!”
“It is interesting… but hasn’t it already fallen into the church’s hands? They would have disposed of it long ago, either by purifying or destroying it.”
“I suspect the old archbishop geezers might have eaten it. As a tonic.”
Unlike the middle-aged man who openly showed his greed, Ord and Ariane showed indifferent reactions.
Saying there’s no way the church would have left a demon folk’s heart alone.
“Normally that would be the case… but this time seems to be an exception.”
The Reversal Society chairman explained the detailed circumstances.
The paladins who completed the subjugation did transport the remains of the undead giant to the church branch and extract the heart, but the extracted heart disappeared somewhere overnight.
“Looks like they pocketed it to sell. I don’t know why those guys never change. Aren’t they afraid of what comes after death?”
Ariane burst into a hollow laugh as if dumbfounded. Showing blatant contempt towards the church priests.
“So… you’re saying we should find and steal that heart?”
“I’m not ordering it. It’s just a suggestion that if you’re interested, you could go look for it, since such a thing happened.”
The Reversal Society chairman shook his head and denied this in response to Ord’s question.
What he meant to say was not an order to retrieve the Jötunn’s heart, but merely sharing information that such a rare item had been released into the world, so those interested could try to get it.
The Jötunn’s heart was certainly a treasure whose value was difficult to measure, but the Reversal Society chairman didn’t have any particular interest in it.
It would be nice to have, but not particularly regrettable if not obtained.
Therefore, the chairman just informed everyone about the heart instead of giving an order. With an attitude of ‘do as you please, whether you get it or not.’
The executives who heard the chairman’s words showed different reactions.
“I’ll pass. The paladins must be running around with fire in their eyes, so why would I go there to enjoy some wealth? I’ll just send a few disposable pawns to check it out.”
Ariane, after pondering for a moment, sighed faintly and gave up on searching for the heart. Saying it was too dangerous.
Although she said she was thinking of sending a couple of subordinates, probably because it was too much of a waste to completely let go, the word ‘disposable pawns’ itself blatantly revealed that she actually had no expectations.
“Hmm…”
Ord fell into deep thought, stroking his beardless chin.
Weighing in his mind which to choose between certain danger and uncertain gain.
“Paladins, paladins bad! Not going!”
The fat middle-aged man whined in a childish tone and cleanly gave up on the Jötunn’s heart.
At least that’s what he said. No one could know what his true intentions were.
Who could know what a half-insane person was thinking?
Even if they were fellow Abyss Priests, it didn’t mean they could understand the thoughts of a madman.
They were priests and magicians who worshipped magic, not psychotherapists caring for the mentally ill.
Anyway, that day’s meeting ended with that.
The five Abyss Priests left the dungeon and scattered to various places, each carrying different thoughts, promising to meet again next time.
It was two days after that when Hilde accepted the merchant escort request.