“Carlyle. What about High Priest Dietrich?”

“I was informed he will be coming from the temple soon.”

Just as they were anxiously waiting for the temple’s visit, there was a sound at the office door.

“Master, High Priest Dietrich has arrived.”

“Bring him in.”

At Werner’s report, Sched composed himself as if he had been waiting.

As Dietrich entered with awkward steps, looking around nervously, Carlyle also vacated his seat.

“It’s been a while, High Priest Dietrich. May the god be with you.”

He hastily greeted and urged Dietrich to take a seat.

Dietrich awkwardly adjusted his glasses and clasped his hands.

“Ma-may the god be with Duke Lester.”

Sched had been waiting for Dietrich to return ever since he woke up.

After the heretic hunt, Dietrich had gone to Dunames where the main temple is located to report on the incident, and had just returned yesterday.

Dietrich sat down awkwardly, looking at Sched who seemed more gaunt than before.

“I-I heard you couldn’t wake up for a long time because of the curse. Are-are you alright now…? If-if you need my help…!”

“I invited you here today because I wanted to ask a few things about black magic.”

“Go-go ahead and ask.”

As Dietrich nodded, Sched remained silent for a moment as if choosing his words.

He carefully brought up the questions he had organized in his mind.

“…What exactly happened to that heretic?”

The first thing he wanted to ask about was Parmen’s fate.

He had heard from other priests that he had been ‘taken care of’, but he hadn’t heard the exact details of the process.

“Do-don’t worry. That heretic completely collapsed on his own. Um, what I mean is…”

The High Priest explained about the ‘handling’ in his still stuttering but lengthy speech.

Originally, it was forbidden to divulge specific details about black magic to ordinary people.

But Sched had directly confronted the heretic and had even been cursed.

The temple had judged him to be the person most deeply involved in this matter and had allowed some explanation.

“He-he couldn’t replenish his life force while severely injured.”

The heretic fled after being stabbed by Sched’s sword, but didn’t get far.

The power the heretic possessed was an imperfect spell, so without taking life, he could neither recover nor gain immortality.

The heretic went berserk trying to find other prey, but having received a fatal wound, he was powerless before Dietrich’s holy power.

Dietrich controlled the heretic with holy power to prevent him from fleeing far, and the heretic completely collapsed without being able to replenish his life force.

“Is that collapse the same as dying?”

“It-it’s worse than that. Um, well… He completely disintegrates and disappears like ashes.”

Dietrich scooped up some sugar from a porcelain bowl with a teaspoon on the table.

Then he turned the spoon over and dropped the sugar back into the bowl.

The white powder scattered and piled up lifelessly.

Dietrich took those remains to the main temple.

“Tho-those remains are completely harmless. They’re proof of black magic’s annihilation.”

Sched remained silent, his gaze fixed on the sugar Dietrich had poured out.

Parmen’s end was truly fleeting.

“…I heard that all the heretics of Ideana were dealt with 8 years ago, but do you know how he survived?”

“I-I-I’m sorry…! There was a heretic I missed…!”

Dietrich bowed his head deeply at Sched’s question.

It seemed he felt as if he was being blamed, having been in charge of cleaning up and purifying Ideana 8 years ago.

“That wasn’t my intention, it was purely out of curiosity.”

Sched raised his hand slightly to calm him down.

Dietrich fidgeted with his glasses frame, watching his reaction.

“Ac-actually, this is kept secret from the public… 8 years ago, it wasn’t the temple or the imperial army that took care of the Ideana Count’s family.”

The High Priest revealed an old truth to him, who was the meritorious figure in this recent heretic hunt.

“What… do you mean by that?”

As far as Sched Lester knew, 8 years ago, priests from the temple and knights from each family headed to Ideana to charge them with the crimes of heresy and treason.

The Ideana Count’s family completely fell with that.

At the time, Sched had marched out as a low-ranking soldier of the Lester family, assigned to support in the rearmost position.

However, everything was over before he even set foot in Ideana territory.

“Confirmed the death of all members of the Ideana family.”

He wanted revenge.

He wanted to go to Ideana, capture her as a criminal, and ask.

The reason for selling him as a slave.

The sin of trying to hide her cowardly father’s crime.

And also the truth she tried to hide with her trembling voice.

“I certainly heard there was a big battle in Paradel at that time. I also heard that’s why Paradel is in this state now…”

“That-that was the public report…”

Dietrich gave a bitter smile and turned his gaze away.

When the army arrived in Paradel to punish the traitors, what greeted them was a desolate ruin and a cold silence shrouded in death.

“Pro-probably something went wrong while they were researching black magic before we arrived.”

“Something went wrong during research…?”

“Bla-black magic had killed everything. Ma-maybe it’s a fitting end for heretics.”

Even Count Felix Ideana, who had led the black magic research, was found as a blackened, rotting corpse.

It was truly a horrific sight.

Blood formed rivers, and blackened corpses were strewn everywhere.

A reddish light close to madness and a pitch-black light touching the abyss of fear were mixed together.

Even knights who had fought countless battles retched at the sight.

It took some time for everyone to get used to that scene.

All they could do was investigate whether any other remnants remained.

However, they couldn’t find any traces of life anywhere, and thus the sins of Ideana ended in such a futile destruction.

Sched pressed his confused head after hearing Dietrich’s story.

He had thought it was a bit strange for a long time.

If they were traitors, there should have been a public execution ceremony as an example, but there wasn’t even such a ritual for the Ideana Count’s family.

There were no prisoners or captives brought in either.

Moreover, for a battle between the order and heretics, Paradel was too deeply stained with black magic.

The evidence had been clear for a long time.

But no one doubted the temple’s announcement.

In the first place, since no one wanted to set foot in Ideana where black magic had occurred, the public could only believe the temple’s announcement.

“But why hide that fact?”

“The-the power of black magic was too terrible and strong… His-His Holiness the Pope worried that someone might covet this power.”

Even if it was a terrible ending, it was an excessively great power.

The order was wary of stories about black magic spreading widely.

That’s why they packaged the incident as ‘the victory of good over evil’.

The truth of Ideana was thus hidden behind a lie for everyone’s peace.

Sched couldn’t organize his thoughts in front of the mixed lies and truths.

However, he knew of only two survivors from that terrible end.

One was the heretic Parmen. The brother he respected.

And the other was… Louise Ideana.

‘How did she survive that catastrophe…?’

Did Parmen orchestrate this? Did she escape before it happened?

Or was she there too?

Thoughts like thorns tangled, choking him.

“…A crescent-shaped mark.”

“Ye-yes?”

“…I saw a crescent-shaped mark on that heretic’s body.”

He had seen it.

That symbol engraved on Parmen’s body.

The same symbol engraved near Louise Ideana’s collarbone.

“Is that shape… perhaps related to black magic?”

The syllables were spit out like sharp glass shards scratching his insides.

Faced with his fear, the High Priest blinked his clear blue eyes innocently.

“A cre-crescent shape… Oh, do you mean the symbol of the demon Mephistopheles?”

Dietrich recalled a passage written in the scriptures.

The crescent engraved on the demon Mephistopheles.

That’s why when painting sacred images, they would draw a crescent on the forehead to symbolize Mephistopheles.

“It-it’s often considered a symbol of black magic. But-but why did you ask this question…”

“I saw a crescent shape on that heretic’s body.”

“Ah-aah!”

Dietrich’s eyes sparkled as if he had made a very surprising and interesting discovery.

“I wish I had seen it too!”

The meticulous heretic judge lamented that he couldn’t confirm the symbol Sched mentioned because the heretic had completely disintegrated.

“St-still, it’s been a great help. Um, good. I-I must definitely report this matter to the main temple as well.”

Dietrich nodded with a somewhat excited voice.

Heretics dealing with black magic were extremely rare historically, and they usually disintegrated into ashes, so there weren’t many records of properly observing their bodies.

In that respect, Sched’s testimony would be of great help in researching black magic.

But Sched’s face was dark even after hearing about this great discovery.

‘If that really is a symbol that appears on the bodies of heretics using black magic.’

His heart started beating fast with an ominous premonition.

“It can’t be. Lucifer said I was close to perfection!”

“Lucifer.”

“Pardon?”

“Before the heretic died, he mentioned Lucifer. He said Lucifer had made him close to perfection.”

The memory was hazy as it was from just before he collapsed.

But that name kept lingering in his mind and wouldn’t disappear.

Then Dietrich adjusted his glasses once.

“Do-does that mean there’s ano-another person behind the heretic?”

Sched neither affirmed nor denied Dietrich’s question, keeping his mouth firmly shut.

Sched recalled the day when the heretic Parmen came to see Riana.

He came to see her and had some conversation…

‘No way, could Louise be Lucifer….’

Sched gripped his clothes tightly.