I first brought the little boy back to the mansion. He had been standing outside for quite a long time, so his ears were red from the cold. Fortunately, the living room had a fireplace that created warm air.
Actually, no, it wasn't warm. I figured it was because I had broken the window when I entered the building. It was still chilly, but it was much better than outside.
We sat at the table where Oimer had held a drinking session. The shivering boy suddenly said in a daze, "Ah. I am Andro."
"I'm Luan."
"Okay." Andro stared at me with a fascinated expression. "I've never seen such a young hero."
"Really? There are others younger than me in the Hero Society."
"R-really?"
"Yes."
I didn't bother to add the word "probably." I just thought of Coralis, the mage who had taken the promotion test with me last time. She looked around my age, or even younger, so it wasn't an unreasonable assumption.
In the first place, there were people everywhere who had shining talents. The Hero Society was the organization that embraced most of those talents.
"Drink this. It is warm honey water."
"T-thank you."
Ramon held out the cup and Andro took it carefully. He squinted at the goblin he was seeing up close for the first time, half fearful and half curious. Ramon noticed the gaze but didn't show it.
Andro seemed to realize his rudeness and quickly averted his eyes. He sipped the honey water to warm his hands and stomach. Then he let out a warm sigh and said, "Daniel disappeared in the icy lake. I went fishing with him."
I combined Andro's words with what I was thinking and roughly grasped the situation.
The two brothers went fishing, and one of them fell into the frozen lake. His body was pulled beneath the ice and became a plaything of the church.
It wasn't difficult to tell the truth. But was it really right to speak so bluntly to a boy who hadn't even lost his baby fat? For the first time in ages, I found myself at a loss on how to respond, so I kept my mouth shut.
At this moment, Verita suddenly said, "Daniel's body was controlled by the Dark Church members, so—"
I immediately covered Verita's mouth and turned to Andro with a smile, saying, "Uh, I have something to say to this sister. We will be back soon. Senior? Can I ask you for a favor?"
"O-of course."
I hurried out of the room with Verita. Andro could be scared when left alone with a goblin, so I also sent in Mir, who had been waiting outside.
Then I asked Verita, "What were you just going to say?"
"Huh? Of course, I wanted to reveal everything I saw and heard."
"Specifically."
Verita looked at me for a moment before she answered, "Daniel's body died after falling into the icy lake and fell into the hands of the Dark Church. The corpse turned into a trap to detect or retaliate against intrusion or contact. In other words, it became a corpse bomb. It is a hard story to believe and the body was nearly obliterated, making confirmation difficult. However, there are still bloodstains and fragments of Daniel's clothing left behind upstairs. Don't you think showing these to young Andro would help him understand?"
"Are you insane?"
Verita stared at me. Somehow, I felt that she was different from usual. She asked, "Then do you want to hide it?"
"For now, that is how it should be."
"Why?"
"It's too shocking."
"I think a bit differently. Daniel is Andro's family. He has the right to know about Daniel's death, as well as how he died."
"There are some truths in this world that are better to hide. Besides, Andro is too young."
"He looks to be around eight to ten years old. There might be individual differences, but I believe he is at an age where he can distinguish between right and wrong."
"You can't be serious. Can a ten year old child accept the death of his younger brother? Especially when he might think it's his own fault?"
"Then you want to hide it?" Verita's tone became sharper.
At this moment, I realized what was bothering me about Verita's attitude. It was her sharp tone and the way her gaze pierced straight through me.
I was now arguing with Verita. She never argued with me even when I asked her to stop being so overprotective.
"Andro's physical condition isn't good in many ways. It looks like the blood in his body isn't circulating properly. It is probably because he spent every spare moment wandering around looking for his little brother. Looking at his complexion, he doesn't seem to have slept well lately. If we hide the truth, Andro won't give up. He will keep searching for his younger brother for days, weeks, months, and maybe years," Verita continued.
It was hard to deny that reasoning. Just like she said, Andro wouldn't be able to move on until he had at least seen his brother's body. However, Daniel's body had been completely destroyed in the explosion. There was nothing to identify.
Still, I responded, "The first time I learned about monsters called lycanthropes, I couldn't sleep properly for days. I first came across them while reading mystery novels. They're monsters who pretend to be human in the day but turn into man-eating beasts at night. After reading that, I became paranoid and scared that everyone around me was a monster. I was eight or nine years old at that time."
I looked at Verita, unable to understand her. I continued, "I grew up in a harsh environment, but I still felt this way. It is normal at that age. But you, what did you go through when you were ten years old?"
Verita took a soft breath when she heard my question. Though she'd been staring at me, her eyes slowly closed. She seemed to be gathering her thoughts or recalling a moment from her past.
After a while, the words that came out of her mouth were an apology. "I'm sorry."
Verita regained her usual smile and said, "I dared to actually oppose your will without knowing the situation properly. Everything you said is right. It is right to hide it. It is too harsh a truth for a child like that."
I fell silent.
"Then shall we go back? The living room of this mansion is too cold." She spoke with her usual expression and usual cadence.
However, what exactly was usual? In the first place, did I know Verita well enough to use that word? There was nothing I could say for certain about her.
I hid my doubts and followed Verita for the time being. However, the image of Verita arguing with me wasn't easy to forget.
***
It was midnight again. The gentle flames of the fireplace dimly lit the living room and the windows creaked. I'd hurriedly put up wooden boards to block the wind through the broken window, but it wasn't a very effective fix.
Verita said, "The church members that Brother Luan captured knew more than I thought. Thanks to that, I was able to find out a lot by cross-referencing it with the village chief's words."
Her voice echoed quietly in the room. "On this month's full moon, a legion commander will be summoned somewhere in the north."
It was a full moon again. I thought of that damn Hadenaihar and frowned.
Araxad stared at the candlelight and asked, "Are you sure?"
"I can't be confident when it comes to the Dark Church, but I can say that the probability is very high."
"How long do we have until the full moon?"
"Around a week. After tonight, I think there will be six days left."
"It is too late."
Among the six people who were creating trouble, the one suspected to be a church member truly was one. We'd found out that he didn't have any connection with the village chief. However, he confessed that church members had infiltrated nearly every village in the north.
"Wait. There is something I don't understand," a woman interjected.
"You are called Sandra, right? Speak," Verita replied.
Sandra, the woman who had joined us, was unexpectedly a C-class hero. It meant she was a skilled fighter who could be treated as part of our main force. Originally, her mission had been to protect Oimer, but after hearing about our situation, she immediately joined us. She seemed a bit uncomfortable around Corrupted, but surprisingly, she didn't show it openly. She seemed to have an open mind for a hero of the Hero Society.
"Is it really possible for a legion commander-level demon to descend in the north? I know that the Golden Horn faction is plotting something on a pretty big scale. However, there are very few living beings in the north. Well, there are monsters in some areas but they probably won't be sacrificed, right?"
Verita nodded. "That's right. The church can only use the seven races as sacrifices. That is why no traces of the church were found on this frozen land for a long time."
"Right. Of course, the north is vast. It might be possible if they gather all of the seven races living on this land, but it would be much more efficient to raid an appropriate city in another area."
Verita remarked with a slightly surprised expression, "You seem to know the Dark Church well."
"I studied them a lot through several recent encounters. Even so, I probably don't know as much as you, an inquisitor."
"I still have a lot to learn."
"Enough with the modesty. So? I'm curious to hear the opinion of an expert like you regarding what I just said."
"Mm." Verita took a moment to organize her thoughts before saying a bit stiffly, "It has been confirmed that a separate space lies beyond the stone door. If multiple stone doors exist in other northern villages and spatial movement is being carried out using them, securing multiple sacrifices from various regions could be possible."
"That makes sense, but..." Sandra trailed off before falling silent. She didn't have any basis for refuting it directly, but she seemed uneasy staying quiet.
Honestly, I was feeling the exact same way. I knew that sensation all too well. Did I miss something?
I shook off the confusion that filled my mind due to Andro and thought about it again. I gathered all the facts I already knew, the details that had been inadvertently left out, and the facts that only I was aware of.
First of all, it was clear that the church was plotting some type of scheme behind the stone door. However, was it really just summoning demons?
The region called the north, the Golden Horn faction, the church members who tried to block access to the village, the sound of bells, the advice of my eldest senior brother...
At that moment, Lanfero suddenly appeared and said, "The corpses underground."
I realized that his voice was really low, and I focused on what he was going to say next.
"I think I've found another use for them."
"You found out what they were used for?"
"Yes. I thought it was just a device to activate the magic circle, but that isn't the case. It was designed so that once the initial purpose was fulfilled, the corpses could immediately be used as sacrifices."
Verita and Sandra flinched in surprise when they heard Lanfero's words.
"Why are you so surprised?" Lanfero asked.
"Using corpses as sacrifices..."
"...is generally impossible."
I asked with a somewhat surprised expression, "Really?"
"Yes. Basically, demons prefer the blood, flesh, and souls of the living. In other words, they desire living sacrifices. A corpse that has already died and started to decompose has no value to demons."
It seemed to make sense. If demons could be summoned using corpses as sacrifices, then nearly every cemetery would be managed as strictly as the imperial palace. This was likely why necromancers weren't as despised as the Dark Church, even if they were generally shunned in the empire.
"But what kinds of corpses can be used as sacrifices?"
"It probably doesn't work with skeletons. The bodies placed on the magic circle haven't decayed, so maybe that is the cutoff line."
"Then I can understand why the north was chosen. It is a cold place, so there is less risk of the bodies rotting even when left alone for a long time."
The discussion was proceeding smoothly as the pieces fit together, but my mind was still clouded by fog. Of course, what was being said now was credible enough. Still, I felt that this wasn't the whole picture.
I stared into the air, lost in thought until I met Mir's eyes. She had been struggling to follow the flow of the meeting and constantly tilted her head in confusion. There seemed to be a question mark hovering over her head.
At this moment, a thunderbolt struck my mind. I shot up from my seat and all eyes immediately fell on me.
"What a surprise. What's wrong? Did you see a ghost?"
"Brother?"
I made eye contact with them and said, "If you can offer corpses as sacrifices, isn't there something in the north? The world's largest grave, and the remains it contains."
"Huh?"
I witnessed the people staring at me in a daze gradually change their expressions in various ways. Then they stiffened. They weren't stupid and must've understood what I was saying.
The myth of the north. The legend of the giant who once supported the sky. A being who endured the frost of destruction alone. The titan who left the greatest mark on this frigid land, who died and became a god.
"Frost Giant Ymir."
"If the church sacrifices the remains of that great being, it isn't a matter that will end with just a legion commander," Verita said with a stiff expression. "A demon king will descend in this land."