Chapter 30

How had Ciel managed to contact me?

Ah!

The duck-shaped toy!

Apparently the God had realized it too, because he exclaimed:

“-Ciel’s voice is coming from that duck toy!”

I hurriedly pulled the duck-shaped toy out of the pocket of the outer clothes I’d taken off.

“Ciel? Is that you?”

As soon as I asked, the duck began to hum and emitted Ciel’s voice.

[That’s right. It’s me!]

I was happy to hear his voice, but at the same time, a question immediately arose.

“How does this work?”

[Oh, this?]

Ciel answered confidently, as though it were nothing special.

[I developed a long-distance voice transmission spell and attached it to the duck toy. Pretty good performance, right?]

“No, that’s not what I meant…… I’m asking when you put this function on it.”

This guy didn’t develop and install a GPS function too, did he?

The thought wasn’t entirely unreasonable.

This duck-shaped toy—no, communication-type artifact—had remarkably sophisticated and polished functions. The sound quality was so clear that it felt as though Ciel were speaking right beside me.

For the moment, that was incredibly reassuring.

Good grief. I never thought the day would come when hearing Ciel’s voice would make me feel safe…….

Feeling the passage of time in a very real sense, I finally managed to speak to Ciel.

“There’s a problem. Something is wrong with this place, Lycos Castle, where Muteric lives.”

[What? Is that really true?]

“Absolutely. Because when I entered the castle grounds alone, I suddenly transformed into my appearance from my previous life.”

[……What?]

Ciel fell silent for a moment, apparently extremely shocked, before finally forcing the words out.

His voice was trembling badly.

[Y-You…… Then how are you still alive? No, are your arms and legs all right? Are you hurt anywhere? If Muteric saw your appearance from your previous life, he might have lost his mind and gone berserk like a raging boar…….]

Hearing Ciel ramble incoherently, I could tell just how badly he’d been startled.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, a small laugh escaped me.

[And you can laugh right now?! You’re in an extremely dangerous situation! Why didn’t you break the duck toy sooner…….]

“Sorry, sorry. I’m fine. And it’s not as serious as you think.”

[What do you mean it’s not serious? What happened?]

“Well…… I was able to stay safe because the Lord was with me.”

[What?]

“Hearing you make that dumbfounded exclamation twice in a row is kind of refreshing.”

[Stop fooling around and explain properly. What do you mean the Lord is with you?]

“I hadn’t told you beforehand, so I’m sorry, but the real Lord…… I mean, the Supreme God is with me.”

The chick God, who had been listening to Ciel and me talk, apparently couldn’t hold back any longer and spoke directly into the duck-shaped toy.

……Could the God talk to other people besides me too?

I didn’t think he could before.

Perhaps he read my thoughts, because the God lifted his head from where he’d been lowered toward the duck and spoke to me.

“-I can.”

“……You read my thoughts just now, didn’t you?”

“-What is there to read? Whenever you panic, everything is written plainly across your face.”

“W-Was it?”

As I rubbed both cheeks and wondered, Was I really that obvious?, Ciel reacted with utter bewilderment.

[What is this? Why does this voice sound so…… sacred?]

“-Ciel Kaneros, one of the greatest heroes among my creations. Surely you do not recognize me?”

The God reprimanded Ciel in a solemn voice, and Ciel immediately adopted an extremely submissive attitude.

[This lowly servant, Ciel Kaneros, humbly apologizes for failing to recognize the Supreme God who has ascended to such a lofty position and for behaving disrespectfully.]

I was honestly quite shocked.

I had assumed that the other heroes—including Ciel—had never heard the Supreme God’s voice.

So I asked him:

“Ciel, do you believe everything this chick…… I mean, everything the Lord says?”

[There’s nothing to believe or disbelieve. When I was chosen as a hero and went to the Papal Court to undergo the baptism ceremony again, I heard the exact same voice.]

“……That would have been almost 110 years ago. You remember it?”

[Of course. Why? Is that strange?]

Yes. Very strange…….

Don’t ordinary people naturally forget things that happened even a year ago?

Of course, being chosen as a hero candidate as a young boy would have made the memory extremely vivid.

But from my perspective, knowing that the man who looked like he was in his twenties was actually a grandfather who was more than a hundred years old, it was simply absurd.

He’s still just as annoyingly lucky as he was back then…….

I couldn’t say that aloud.

Ciel would obviously respond, Why couldn’t I? It’s easy for me.

Anyway, if the connection to the Supreme God could reach the other heroes besides me, I welcomed it.

It would save me the trouble of explaining everything myself.

It might also make it somewhat easier to prove my identity later.

“That’s good, then. Let me tell you what happened from the beginning……”

I briefly, but as thoroughly as possible, explained everything that had happened since I entered Muteric’s castle.

How I had strangely transformed into my previous-life appearance as Hiakin the moment I entered the castle, only for the Supreme God to use his power and return me to normal.

How I had met Muteric.

Hanson’s warning that I absolutely must not leave my room after midnight.

And finally, how I had confronted Muteric, only for the Supreme God’s divine power to suddenly explode out of me and cause me to transform into my previous-life appearance once again.

“I was only able to return to my normal appearance because the Lord was there. Otherwise, the butler who was approaching might have mistaken me for one of those people impersonating me and immediately thrown me out of the castle into the snowy night.”

[……]

Ciel fell silent.

Feeling uncomfortable, I tilted my head and asked:

“Ciel? What’s wrong?”

Ciel slowly began to speak.

[……I think someone may have placed some kind of magic or curse on that castle so that anyone who enters with a certain level of divine power will automatically manifest their appearance from their previous life.]

“Who would do something like that? You said the demons were completely exterminated by you Transcendents.”

As far as we knew, all that remained were mindless monsters like amoebas.

But how could creatures like that possibly use complicated magic or curses?

When I raised the question, Ciel didn’t answer me.

Instead, he asked the Supreme God:

[Supreme God.]

“-Yes.”

[Can you be certain that the demon race was completely wiped out? Wouldn’t that be something only you, who can observe all things in this world, could know?]

The chick God hesitated before answering.

“-It is difficult to say, but I do not know for certain either.”

“What?”

[……Oh no.]

“-I descended into the human realm by borrowing this tiny incarnation. In my current state, there is no way for me to determine whether the demons still survive.”

[That’s the worst possible situation.]

“-However, when you exterminated the demons one by one as though hunting rats…… it is not impossible that they evacuated their next generation to a safe place for the sake of the future.”

“-No. The desire to pass one’s lineage on to the future is almost an instinct among living creatures. Even the demons may not have been able to abandon that instinct. It is possible that some demons are still alive and secretly moving about in this world.”

“What?”

[I see…… so that’s how it is.]

Ciel’s voice sank heavily.

[The descendants of those who dared to cause Hiakin’s death…… are still alive, breathing freely in this world.]

He didn’t sound quite as shocked as before, but there was something chilling about his voice.

He was genuinely furious.

Worried about what might happen if Ciel became even angrier, I quickly tried to calm him down.

“I’m fine, Ciel. It’s not as though I haven’t gotten enough revenge already.”

[Hiakin……]

“You don’t need to get any more blood on your hands. Neither do the others.”

Although I’ve heard that the hatred of demons can last for hundreds of years…….

If I’m unlucky, it could even remain as a curse and torment me for the rest of my life.

Am I going to be okay?

I was actually terrified.

My body trembled with worry, but since the other heroes were the ones who caused this mess, I forced myself to think positively.

Then the Supreme God spoke.

“-By the way, I too have sensed that some strange power has been embedded within Lycos Castle.”

“What do you mean by a strange power?”

Before I could finish, Ciel beat me to it.

[……Are you saying there is a possibility that the demons’ dark power has become involved?]

The chick God gave a cute little nod.

“-Correct. You are quick to understand. There is a ‘distortion’ here that does not belong in the normal world.”

“-Because of it, I have had to expend far more of the Law of Causality than usual. When I could not do so, I was forced to fall asleep rather than help Hiakin.”

“There…… there was a reason for that?”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner……?”

“-I wanted to tell you, but something interfered every time.”

The Supreme God’s eyes sharpened.

“-Therefore, I am certain. Somewhere within this castle, there is either still a demon capable of performing curses, or the source serving as the medium for such a curse is hidden here.”