"......"
He stared at for a mont and then opened his mouth.
"I can read people's emotions and thoughts more easily than others."
"I see."
"It seems to you don't agree with my thinking. Am I wrong?"
As expected, he hasn't used the ability for just a day or two, so he can easily know the opponent's thoughts even without actively using it.
I thought about humoring him to get so information if he was fooled.
Well, it doesn't matter. If he kicks away the opportunity, he's the only one who will regret it.
I shook my head.
"I disagree. You do exactly what you call sin, yet believe you've done nothing wrong and that only your thinking is correct. Do you expect my agreent to such a contradiction?"
"......"
"However, if you're not telling to adopt your Old Human ideology, then I'm willing to work with you. Even if our intentions differ, I can still help you."
He nodded.
"Regrettably, it seems difficult to find common ground. I thought soone capable enough to baptize without my knowledge would be good to keep by my side."
So, in the end, he can't budge even an inch from his own logic.
This is why Ludovika Schneider prioritized dealing with the Chairman without asking anything, even though she knew there were more than one or two suspicious points.
He talks like he's being logical, but he's soone with whom logic doesn't work.
It's best to eliminate soone like this as soon as possible.
'Of course, it was a bit unexpected that Ludovika Schneider knew the Chairman was my target...'
Thinking about it, it's only natural.
The Chairman must have known that a change had occurred to him and was being extra vigilant within Primrose Path. Ludovika Schneider, the person assigned to monitor him, would have noticed that the Chairman was acting differently than usual.
In that situation, a drifter appearing opportunely in a priest's robe... could never be unrelated to the affairs of Primrose Path.
Especially since Ludovika Schneider knew that 'the Chairman is tracking us', aning he was following since I entered Primrose Path. She would have realized through that that there was sothing between and the Chairman.
Thanks to that, I was able to save ti and co directly here, so as I thought earlier, her situational awareness was highly comndable.
Just then, the Chairman stood up and said.
"I really cannot understand why soone who has beco a New Human would stand by the side of Old Humans. Anyway..."
He tapped the floor three tis with his cane.
The room disappeared, and the Primrose Path street from earlier reappeared. Before I could even register and defend against it, sothing pushed my back strongly.
Kwaang—!
I tried to get up, but soone was stepping on my back. Vitriol wrapped around my finger joints, constricting them, then snatched away my Staff.
The Chairman's foot approached .
"If you use that excellent talent, which allowed you to baptize without anyone knowing, to stand by the side of a rebellious race, I have no choice but to stop it in the na of Christ. Anyway, soone is already causing a crack in my space now."
I rubbed my fingertips on the floor.
A small spark flew.
'Good.'
Narce is helping, so the timing is perfect.
It should have been like this before too.
Of course, even in the previous tiline, Leo coming to find must have been thanks to Narce.
"Are you satisfied that you can use magic?"
"......"
"It's too early to be satisfied, Mr. Jeremiah. Shall I tell you a secret?"
He whispered into my ear.
"This is not my body."
"Hahaha..."
"Even if you can use Divine Power and try to brainwash , I won't tell you anything. Even if you attack, what's the problem when this isn't my body?"
Kung—!
The Chairman's cane slamd down right next to my face.
Since he was leaning down to speak, his voice was now quite close.
"Unlike your relaxed expression, your heart is beating too fast. You'd do well to control your heart rate too. It's too easy to tell."
"I know."
"Do you know? Then you must also know what you've been doing in front of Pleroma all this ti."
What did I do?
Is it my fault that they thought about scouting first when I just stood still?
I didn't answer. The Chairman said with a smile.
"Let make a guess. Why did you baptize my body? And how could such a capable person be in the Holy See?"
"......"
"You probably baptized to et . Whether the surna Caetani is real or fake, you must at least be a descendant of clergy. That's why you could be enlisted into the Papal Army despite doing things like this drifter act."
Indeed, this person's Insight is highly comndable.
He cannot rember the ti that has already passed.
Nevertheless, he noticed that I baptized him to et him.
'By the way, he naturally thinks that's the reason I'm a priest.'
Ludovika Schneider probably thought the sa. Accepting as a priest despite seeing my behavior which deserves excommunication must be because she thinks I was placed in the position through blood ties, being of clerical lineage and coincidentally able to use Divine Power.
"Papal Army? What era is that from?"
"Hoho... Sotis I forget my sense of ti."
"You should mistake things that are actually mistakable. It seems it's ti for you to enter your grave now."
At my sarcasm, he just smiled and then opened his mouth.
"Now you must want to know who the original is, right?"
"......"
"You have no answer."
Kwaang—!
"...!"
He slamd my head into the floor. I felt pain in my right forehead.
'This bastard keeps doing this from before...'
Imdiately, I felt like my hair was being torn out. He wrapped my hair around his hand, pulled up, and t my gaze.
"Just out of habit. It's beco an occupational hazard."
Is it an occupational hazard for getting consent?
That behavior from the previous tiline, where he imdiately resorted to violence if things weren't discussed smoothly, is showing again.
You don't need to look for savagery far away.
It's right here, why go to Old Humans?
"Even if you want to eliminate , you won't be able to. This world will be made up of countless versions of and my descendants in the future. Can you eliminate as many of my descendants as there are stars?"
"No."
"As expected, you can't. That's why you're harassing now. Because you must want to eliminate imdiately."
Isn't it who's being harassed...?
I scoffed at his words.
"If you're still so comfortable, try casting a spell. Try saying 'Enter through the narrow gate'."
He pulled my right hand, which had been covered in Vitriol, and put a Wand in it.
As I just looked down at it, the weight on my back increased further. I felt like my ribs were being crushed as I looked down at the Wand. It was clearly my back that was being stepped on, but I again had the illusion that my fingers were breaking. I gripped the Wand tightly and raised my wrist.
—Enter through the narrow gate.
At this short Spell, his eyes imdiately lost focus.
"Tell your na."
"Hahaha... Your question is very simple. Didn't I just tell you I'm Abraham?"
For a mont, chills ran down my spine and laughter burst out.
He was speaking accurately with a half-crazed look.
Of course. He isn't possessing Marco's body. Although the result looks similar because his ability is strong, telepathy and possession cannot be the sa ability.
My magic only attacked Marco's ntal Strength, not the Chairman's spirit.
"A good ability."
"Even after seeing that it doesn't work, you're not discouraged?"
His eyeballs darted everywhere, and his jawbone creaked. I saw him ticulously unfurling his stiff finger joints, as if calculating each one, to grip the cane.
I dispelled the Cognitive Distortion Magic cast on him, just to secure my own ntal Health.
His ghostly eyes, which had lost focus, regained sharpness. Aside from the outward appearance change, nothing had changed, just as he said.
"Would you like to try attacking? Of course, if you do that, you'll just be wasting your Magic Power. This isn't my body, so I don't feel pain, and in an ergency, I can just have another body rescue this one."
"Rescue, huh."
Rescue.
He ignored my mumble and continued speaking.
"Or are you planning another wondrous thod, like when you baptized to et ?"
The Chairman stood up and gestured to his subordinates.
"We also need to repair the space, so let's start getting ready."
Vitriol slipped from my hand.
Soone put a restraint on my hand.
Thankfully, like during Asman, it was for one hand. aning it wasn't connected to the one on my other hand.
I don't know if it was the sa person as before, but soone slit the sleeve of my cassock with a knife. A needle pierced the vein inside my elbow.
They're clearly preparing to give a revelation. Though it will probably be blocked at the consent stage.
Instead of the Chairman, soone who was clearly the highest-ranking subordinate under him spoke to his n.
"Frisk him. By his reaction, it seems he has sothing."
One of the Chairman's subordinates rummaged through my cassock pocket. A small bottle was taken out of the pocket.
"What is it?"
"Chairman. You should check this."
"Hmm."
The Chairman, who received the bottle from his subordinate, burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! I can understand Pleroma carrying sothing to put in soone else's drink, but why a Catholic priest? Is it for suicide? Or was it to give to ?"
"......"
"It seems you don't know, but qualified individuals like don't die even if they drink this. They might experience so confusion for a while, though. On the other hand, soone like you, an unidentified person with no Vitriol... you'll just have to leave your fate to the god of probability."
He fiddled with the bottle and muttered.
"And this much is just enough for one person. Surely you didn't believe I wouldn't bring subordinates? You wouldn't have co out so foolishly, so I don't understand what makes you so relaxed."
I hardened my expression.
The Chairman, who was looking at my expression with interest, chuckled and threw the bottle in front of .
Thud—
"Since this must be your secret dirty trick, why don't you drink it yourself?"
As soon as he finished speaking, soone grabbed between my jawbone and neck and applied force. I felt soone else grabbing my legs. I pulled my neck back with all my strength. Perhaps my reaction was violent, as soone pressed my head firmly onto the floor.
I rapidly inhaled, trying to shake my head. The Chairman's smile flashed at the edge of my vision.
A liquid like water dripped onto my lips.
"Cough...!"
"Perhaps you never know. If you go berserk and survive, you might easily agree with my words..."
The Chairman was speaking leisurely, then wiped the smile from his face.
He shot up from his seat.
"What the..."
Kuung—
The sound of soone falling ca from far away. Those around stopped moving and collapsed onto the floor.
I tried not to inhale, but because I had already taken in a little air, my core began to run wild like mad. Wittelsbach's Magic Power suppressing my core intensified.
—I curse the dominion of illusions that deceive the dazzling senses!
I laughed as I watched the Chairman frantically casting a Spell. His previous composure and smile were nowhere to be found.
The Chairman, having grasped the situation, tried to snap his fingers to leave imdiately, but he was still in the sa spot.
"What have you...!"
It couldn't work.
Because...
'It worked.'
Because I blocked everything.
This is what I asked Ludovika Schneider to do.
To dissolve the berserk potion into the air of this street.
And the berserk potion bottle used by Pleroma.
Of course, this glass bottle is a trick. What fell into my mouth wasn't the potion, but just water.
And just now, the Chairman told that 'qualified individuals might experience so confusion for a while, though they don't die'.
It doesn't matter if he gets up soon.
For , that brief confusion is enough.
And finally, what I asked Ludovika Schneider and Narce to do was to twist the Magic Power of this space to block warping.
Ludovika Schneider, being a high-ranking Pleroma mber, could easily access the potion, and also being the one who knows this street best, she was perfect for making my plan succeed.
I struggled not to inhale the air and chanted a Spell.
—Therefore, son of man, though you dwell among thorns and briers and live among scorpions...
My wrist felt like it was burning. The Magic Power of the restraint was scorching my hand.
Wittelsbach's healing magic spread throughout my body, resisting the berserk potion. It was a mont when I was thankful for Leo's big picture. If not for this, my purification magic would also have had its limits.
Getting up, I searched the clothes of the person who had put the restraint on . In the inside pocket of their jacket was a release tool, the sa kind used during Asman.
Tap— Thud—
I slowly released the restraint, and while continuously chanting purification magic internally, I looked forward.
The Chairman was covering his nose and constantly chanting a Spell. I stared at him, who was emitting black smoke from his entire body.
Marco Schreiber's core was fluctuating violently. The mont I realized that, Vitriol ca at .
Kwaang—!
I snatched my Staff, which was lying far away, and deflected his attack.
Even without attacking him separately, he was losing consciousness on his own.
"You might say that whatever I do, you can just find a new body, but that's not what you want, is it? That's why you said you'd have another body rescue Marco Schreiber's body. Isn't that right?"
Give a revelation to another body and live in that body?
He never said this, but if he were to act this way, it would be bluster.
Having built his life in that body long enough to be called the Chairman, it's laughable to think he could just live well in another body now.
If I were to imdiately return to 21st-century Korea in this body and stand before people, do you think they would accept ? They'd think so crazy foreigner was impersonating .
It's the sa. To the Chairman, Marco Schreiber's body is no different from his own.
I looked down at him and said.
"You asked what I had prepared."
Before, Marianne Baum told this.
If I beco contaminated with a victim's core, I beco trapped inside myself, not entering the victim's inner world like Lord Ernst.
I don't know why only I have this ability unlike others, but...
The ti has co to use it.
The Chairman, like the other Pleroma mbers, was collapsed on the floor, barely moving his mouth. I read his lips.
What are you trying to do.
Having read that far, I smiled and replied.
"You don't need to know that."
I placed my hand on his core and pushed in Divine Power.
My vision turned black.
"Wait for ."
***
[...Urgent breaking news report as of December 31, Year '87, 3:00 AM. The French army has crossed the Empire's southwestern border and occupied the southern part of the Imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine. From this ti onwards, subjects in Berlin are advised that access to the Prussian Rhine Province, the Grand Duchy of Baden, and the Kingdom of Bavaria is restricted.]
More than 10 years ago.
"......"
My vision is blurry.
I slightly pushed up the rimless glasses perched on my nose.
My hands were covered in wrinkles.
"Haha..."
I slowly turned my head and checked the face reflected in the window.
Success.
Marco Schreiber's face was before my eyes.
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