[V10C32] Someone Else’s God
Translated by Jodas 10: A Job for a Con Man“That woman’s… Miriam’s last words were: ‘I need you to tell the Dream Mage, Caspar Hütter. Tell him he was right.’”
When Tia repeated the words Otto had said, the expressions on each Apprentice’s face shifed.
There was shock, and also a newfound ray of hope.
Wren, ever the quick thinker, spoke first.
“I knew it, Mr. Hütter’s deduction was right! It was the Monsters who drove a wedge between the previous Emperor and the Wedge Tower! And they were responsible for what happened to Julius’ father, too…!”
There was one strange messenger man who turned humans against each other. A young man with blond hair. Tia’s heart raced.
Sevil looked around, then hurriedly gave orders.
“Ella, go gather some intel. Bring Tia and Wren with you. The rest of us will hide inside for the time being and assess the situation.”
“Got it.”
“Piyopp!”
“Alright! It’s the pretty boy’s time to shine!”
Ella was smart and detail-oriented, Tia had good ears, and Wren excelled at negotiations. — They were just about the best intelligence-gathering squad Sevil could imagine.
With the other Apprentices in tow, Sevil moved inside a nearby building without delay. Undoubtedly, her plan was to hide away from the encroaching Margrave of Warmberg — Sevil’s darling, and Gerald’s brother.
Ella leaned in and whispered in Tia’s ear.
“Tia, did they say anything else?”
“…Yeah. Mr. Hütter and the Spiremasters are talking about things I don’t really get.”
“It’s okay Tia, just repeat it to us just as you hear it. Leave it to Ella and I to work things out.”
“Got it.”
Nodding to Wren’s words, Tia recounted the conversation occurring between the adults.
The three Spiremasters seemed rather confused by Assistant Headmaster Miriam’s parting words “he was right.”
For that matter, Hütter himself was just as confused to hear this. His first thought was (Huh? I was right? About what?)
(Ninety percent of what I said was just shit I made up as I went… Ah… Hm… Oh~~~! Yes, yes, yes! That’s it! Of course!)
Yesterday, the bed-bound Miriam got in a bit of a tiff with the Apprentices.
Miriam insisted that the previous Emperor and Samuel had joined hands in a plan to sell off both the Wedge Tower and the Crystal Territory to another country. Julius, meanwhile, insisted that it should only have been the Crystal Territory.
Assessing that the conversation was going nowhere, Hütter decided to smooth things over by making up a conspiracy theory that blamed everything on the Monsters.
Hütter wore a grim expression as he addressed the Spiremasters.
“If she says I was right… She must be referring to my theory that the messenger who mediated between the Wedge Tower, the previous Emperor, and Samuel was actually an agent of the Monsters.”
There was no way that was right. He just made that up… Hütter honestly couldn’t believe it.
The three Spiremasters were at a loss. Especially Abel, whose face lost her usual kindliness.
And Otto, after reporting on those last words, spoke again, trying his best not to let his conflicting emotions show through in his voice.
“Miriam also suggested the possibility that she may have been under the influence of mental interference magic.”
Hütter put his limited knowledge to work.
Mental interference magic was, as the name implied, magecraft that interfered with the mind of another. Essentially, it allowed one to affect someone’s memories or thoughts.
Naturally, it was prone to improper use, and there was a chance of leaving devastating lingering effects on a person’s mind. This meant not just anyone would be able to use it.
For the time being, the con man knew enough to read the room and make an expression that read as ‘*No way!? Mental interference magic, you say!?”
Spiremaster Alto then questioned Otto.
“You mean to say someone cast mental interference magic on Assistant Headmaster Miriam? Who? To what end?”
“Miriam treated my daughter as the Daughter of God because someone was whispering to her that a God was needed. Because someone put mental interference magic on her to make her do that. That’s what she said on her deathbed.”
Otto lifted the corners of his mouth into a smile. It was a snide, ironic smile. As if he was holding back the rage boiling within him.
“If that was just her way of begging for my forgiveness, I would have laughed at her. But I could tell… That woman would never bother to beg for my forgiveness.”
Otto must have understood Assistant Headmaster Miriam much better than Hütter ever could. They were classmates back in their Apprentice days, after all.
If Otto said it was true, then he must have been right.
Hütter himself did not feel that Miriam would be the type to beg for Otto’s forgiveness on her deathbed either. She had already accepted the fact that she would not go to Heaven.
With that in mind, her saying that she might have been under the effect of mental interference magic was very much meaningful information.
(If there was someone who influenced Miriam to become obsessed with this ‘Daughter of God’ business… Just what would the culprit have to gain?)
At that point, a mage came running up to them. Apparently, the incoming army’s leader made a request to seek audience with the Spiremasters.
Lowein glanced at Hütter and offered:
“Would you care to accompany us, Mr. Hütter? Considering the circumstances, we won’t toss you into a dungeon or anything like that.”
The Spiremasters already understood that Hütter was a subordinate to the Black Lion Emperor. Considering that they desperately needed the help of said Emperor’s army, they would treat Hütter graciously.
So, perhaps they might still be willing to hear him out to some extent.
Hütter suggested with his most serious face:
“Why don’t we keep Sevil’s… Princess Adelheid’s presence here a secret for the time being. I would rather we not have an incident about that on the eve of the operation.”
If we don’t, Sevil would go wild and we wouldn’t be able to do anything about it! — A con man’s honest, unadulterated thoughts.
At least it sounded like Sevil’s existence would be kept hidden.
When Tia relayed the news, Wren pumped his fist.
“That’s our Mr. Hütter! He gets it~!”
“Mr. Hütter was sent here by His Majesty the Emperor… Wasn’t he?”
Ella mumbled, to which Wren nodded, saying “Yeah, that’s probably right.”
“Maybe he was sent here to look in to something about how they cut off ties with the previous Emperor? It could be that his mana organ damage was a convenient lie to make that easier.”
“The Black Lion Emperor is real bold to send someone like the Dream Mage just for that, huh…”
Wren’s eyes shot open at Ella’s observations. Tia as well chirped in surprise.
“Pyofu… Is Mr. Hütter that special?”
“Yes, he is very special. You could count on one hand all of the advanced mages in the Empire who compare to him. I used to hear his name a ton even back in my old school.”
Hütter was connected to the Black Lion Emperor. Even with that knowledge, however, neither Tia nor Wren’s opinions of him changed much.
After all, Hütter had stuck his neck out (and poppo-ed) to help the Wedge Tower and call for reinforcements. Even Tia could tell that much.
Sevil also didn’t seem as if she had any particular grudge towards Hütter. If anything, she gave off the impression that she wanted him as a subordinate.
(More importantly, all that about someone using mental interference magic on the nun (Miriam)… There’s no way that’s unrelated to me.)
When Tia was kept as Fiene’s pet back then, she had used all her strength to break her bonds and ran away.
But her memories of that escape were hazy at best. All she could remember was walking in the direction where she could feel a breeze.
(What if the reason I could escape wasn’t because the humans were just being stupid… but because someone had set it up for that to happen?)
There was Kai, who showed up just as Tia made her escape. There was that underground passage that Miriam and the others somehow overlooked.
…It was all a bit too much.
(If Kai used mental interference magic on Miriam, then he could have made an opening for me to get away.)
What if everything — Fiene being treated as the Daughter of God, Tia being given to Fiene and then allowed to escape — had all been part of Kai’s plan?
And considering that Fiene was now on the Monsters’ side, Tia had to think.
(Could it be that Kai needed to make a god…?)
No, that wasn’t it. Tia shook her head.
Once, when Tia was learning how to act human, Kai had told her this:
“If you’re going to pass as a human, you have to know about religions and gods.”
“You mean the things in the songs? I know about them. Humans really like them. I guess they’re like the King is to Monsters?”
“Not quite. Gods have to be a little more special than that.”
After saying that, Kai went on to teach her about the many different kinds of gods that humans worshiped.”
“While there are those who worship things that are beyond human understanding as gods such as natural phenomena, spirits, or dragons, there are also many who worship a completely different kind of god. What’s important is that it has the persuasiveness to convince people that it’s a god.”
“Per-sua-sive-ness?”
“Yes, you need a certain persuasiveness to convince people to put their faith in you. You need a story to convince people what makes this god a god. Prayers, rituals, hymns, art… all of these things help spread a god’s tale, weaving together a vague understanding that eventually becomes the bedrock of a person’s worldview. All those factors pile on to each other, giving credibility to the faith.”
Back then, she hadn’t had the slightest clue what Kai was talking about. To be honest, she still didn’t quite get it.
But through Kai’s words, there was one thing she understood.
— Kai did not need a god.
Kai’s words all sounded detached, like he was talking about someone else’s problem.
That, at least, she could remember clearly.
(Kai didn’t need a god, but he was doing all this work behind the scenes to prepare a god anyway… Maybe someone very important to Kai really wanted a god?)
What kind of Monster wanted a god? If there was one, it would have to be an oddball Monster whose obsession was something to do with gods or religion.
Did such a Monster even exist? She considered it, but something told her the idea wasn’t impossible.
After all, Monsters’ obsessions were all with humans or things humans made.
Gods and religions were things that Monsters didn’t have. Something exclusive to humans.
(It feels like Kai is planning something super troublesome…)
At times, Kai’s way of thinking felt awfully human, yet at other times it felt terribly monstrous. And at all times, he looked down on both humans and Monsters.
Up to now, Tia had been completely uninterested in who Kai actually was, but now she had a feeling that his identity was incredibly important.