The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 136

The daily routine at the hospital is monotonous. I eat meals, and occasionally a dedicated healing priest from the Florence Foundation comes to bestow blessings and healing on the various wounds and my rotted right arm.

The wound in my stomach from being stabbed and other minor injuries were all healed by the second treatment.

Given the nature of the wounds, scars remained, but anyway, it was at a speed that made the healing priest gasp in surprise.

"...Other parts have mostly healed, which is really fortunate, but your left hand just won’t heal properly."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, other places heal at a strangely fast rate, but only this part strangely won’t heal... Anyway, you’ll need to continue receiving treatment steadily. You had scheduled to be discharged soon, but how about postponing it a bit?"

The healing priest said.

I had scheduled my discharge immediately on the day the hole in my stomach healed. The healing priest, attending physician, and even the hospital director came forward to oppose it, but I didn’t bend my resolve.

Being stuck lying in a hospital bed was frustrating, and above all, there was a mountain of things I needed to do outside.

First and foremost, I hadn’t been able to offer tributes for nearly two months. I needed to quickly offer tributes before the Loas started voicing complaints.

Next, I had things to experiment with regarding sorcery, and I needed to meet with Yeom Man-geun and Yoon Chang-su about matters concerning Voodoo operations.

"Postponing it would be a bit difficult."

"Why are you in such a hurry? Your body hasn’t fully recovered yet. Your lung and hand are still..."

"I’m just frustrated and want to get out quickly. And at this point, wouldn’t it be okay to receive outpatient treatment?"

"Oh my, such stubbornness..."

The healing priest let out a hollow laugh. I had become quite close with the healing priest. Having come every day for nearly several weeks to provide healing, it would have been strange not to become close.

She looked at my left hand wrapped in bandages with what seemed like pity, then opened her mouth with a small smile.

"By the way, is that child your sibling? Your real sibling?"

"Who?"

"That small child who comes to visit every day, you know."

The healing priest gestured as if drawing a horizontal line in the air. If she meant a small child who comes to visit every day, she was probably referring to Kang Ji-ah.

"Not a real sibling. Um..."

Kang Ji-ah wasn’t originally my sibling. I wasn’t sure how to explain this. While I hesitated, the healing priest stared at me with sparkling eyes that seemed interested, which was burdensome.

"Then a cousin? Anyway, you two seem to get along very well. Coming to visit every day and all."

"Yes. We do get along well."

"It shows. How old is that child? A middle schooler?"

Kang Ji-ah came to visit almost without missing a single day.

Actually, it wasn’t really visiting but coming to report on how Voodoo was running, but to others it probably looked like a young sibling taking extremely good care of me.

"Um... roughly middle school age."

"What do you mean roughly middle school? If it’s middle school, then it’s middle school. Anyway, she’s really cute. When she walks, she always goes pit-a-pat like this. It seems like only that child makes sounds when walking."

The healing priest said while stomping her feet. She seemed to find Kang Ji-ah very adorable.

Kang Ji-ah’s youthful appearance was good in that it wouldn’t cause unnecessary misunderstandings or suspicion. Sometimes she would gain others’ favor just by staying still.

Knock knock.

Before the healing priest’s fuss could even end, a knock was heard. The door opened and three clergymen entered.

They were the same clergy who had come to interrogate me right after I regained consciousness.

The healing priest hurriedly got up from her seat, then bowed to the clergy. She left me a brief greeting and hastily left the hospital room.

"...Sorry for coming again. How’s your body feeling?"

The fierce-looking clergyman asked. His complexion was much more haggard than when I first saw him.

"Good. My right arm has almost completely healed."

"That’s really fortunate. What a healthy fellow. Are you aspiring to be a Holy Warrior?"

"No, I’m aspiring to be a Holy Knight."

"Really? Then you might become my junior. Haha."

The clergyman laughed awkwardly and took out a document envelope from his chest, handing it to me. After having his subordinate turn off the TV, close the wide-open window, and even draw the curtains, he continued speaking.

"Well, enough small talk. First, let’s have you check the documents."

I quickly skimmed through the documents he handed me with my eyes. They were packed with content about Gu Jun-hyeok and Satan worshippers. It was a thesis containing content about the Satan worshipper’s abilities and purposes, things like that.

When I had roughly finished reading, the clergyman pointed to the documents with his chin and opened his mouth.

"It’s nothing special. The Vatican is currently drafting a new response manual for when Satan worshippers appear, and this is the thesis that will serve as the foundation for that. If there’s any content that differs from the facts, could you point it out?"

"Is it appropriate for a mere student to interfere with a thesis to be submitted to the Vatican?"

"The guys who wrote this thesis are all guys who just stay holed up in corners doing research. They’ve never even seen black magic properly, let alone engaged in proper combat - they’re greenhouse priests. Your words, having directly seen and physically experienced black magic, are much more valuable. More practical too." 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The clergyman said with a smile.

I knew the fact that Gu Jun-hyeok was a Satan worshipper, and I had revealed this to the clergyman. There was no need to hide it, and I couldn’t hide it.

On the day of the incident, I was found collapsed in Eden Garden covered in blood. To explain why I was in Eden Garden at that time and the circumstances of how I got injured, I had no choice but to reveal the fact that I had made contact with Gu Jun-hyeok.

"...I only saw it, I didn’t have time to analyze anything, so I don’t know exactly. As far as I can see, there don’t seem to be any incorrect parts."

"Really? Well, you must have been out of your mind at that time too... Anyway, I understand."

Of course, I didn’t tell them completely honestly that I was the one who subdued Gu Jun-hyeok.

I testified that while I was being one-sidedly beaten by Gu Jun-hyeok, suddenly red-hot swords flew in and chopped Gu Jun-hyeok to pieces. The clergy interpreted this as God’s miracle.

Anyway, I was the only person who had reasoned out that Gu Jun-hyeok was a Satan worshipper and then engaged in direct combat with him.

The clergy highly valued my deductive abilities and resourcefulness, and came to seek my consultation about the incident.

Whether they really intended to seek consultation, or whether they intended to monitor me while also seeking consultation, I couldn’t tell.

"By the way, since we’ve received a lot of help, I think we should give corresponding compensation. Someone will come to your house soon. It’s part of the ’benefit’ I mentioned before."

The clergyman whispered with a rather sinister smile. The clergy had promised me financial and social compensation in exchange for asking for my cooperation.

The conditions were to faithfully cooperate in collecting information about Satan worship, and not to tell anyone that Gu Jun-hyeok was a Satan worshipper.

The benefit was both compensation for cooperation and hush money.

"Could you send it to school instead of home? I think I’ll be applying for dormitory housing soon."

"Really? Understood. Wherever we send it, as long as you receive it, that’s all that matters."

The address written on my cover identity is an empty house. It’s real estate under my uncle’s name, and while I could receive it if I wanted to, it seemed like it would make things troublesome, so I asked them to send it to school instead.

The clergyman readily agreed without much suspicion.

A brief silence flowed. In the stillness, the clergyman was looking at me. It was a sharp gaze as if trying to carefully examine my face.

When our eyes met, the clergyman stroked his chin and opened his mouth.

"Holy Knight means you’re aiming for Central, right?"

"Yes, that’s correct."

"Right. You should be able to enter Central without much difficulty. There’s no student as outstanding as you in your cohort, and you’ve built up merit related to this incident."

"Thank you."

"No need to thank me, it’s all thanks to your outstanding abilities."

The clergyman showed a kind smile that didn’t match his fierce appearance and continued speaking.

"At this rate, we might end up working together soon. I’m also assigned to Central for now."

The clergyman said this while looking at me. His eyes, narrowed into a smile, seemed somehow menacing. His pupils were reading my expression.

The clergyman stared at me like this for quite a while, then suddenly opened his mouth as if something had occurred to him.

"This is a bit off-topic... Have you ever heard talk of Satan worship and Voodoo making contact?"

"Yes. I’ve heard of it."

I slowly nodded while hiding my expression.

"Right. There are rumors going around everywhere that Voodoo is beating up Satan worship, something like that. What do you think?"

"Since these cults are fighting and destroying each other, it seems like a good thing."

"No, that’s not the point of my question."

The smile disappeared from the clergyman’s face. He was glaring at me with a rigidly hardened expression.

"Satan worship is our enemy. And there’s a trend appearing nationwide of Voodoo trying to subjugate Satan worship."

"Sorry, but what are you trying to say..."

"There’s also the saying that the enemy of my enemy is my ally. Indeed, among some radical religious scholars, there are those saying that Voodoo should be accepted as part of Romanica. While there are leaps in logic, I don’t think it’s completely wrong."

"..."

"So I’d like to ask what you think about this."

The clergyman was unconsciously using words with negative implications like ’those’ and ’completely.’ Therefore, the answer he wanted from me was clear.

If I were to take a stance that seemed to advocate for Voodoo, his suspicion toward me would deepen further.

Now that Voodoo had been branded as heretical, the perception of such religious scholars was obvious.

But I couldn’t speak completely negatively about Voodoo either.

I had to take a stance that didn’t advocate for Voodoo but didn’t completely deny it either.

"...I think it depends on what Voodoo’s purpose is in trying to subjugate Satan worship."

"Hmm?"

The clergyman raised his eyebrows with interest.

"Voodoo might be subjugating Satan worship for the purpose of improving relations with our Romanica Church, but it might also be simply trying to subjugate them because Voodoo doctrine differs from Satan worship doctrine."

"Continue."

"In the latter case, there’s no room for negotiation, and even in the former case, I don’t see why the Romanica Church should take a friendly attitude first. If improving relations is the purpose, it ultimately means Voodoo has no intention of abandoning their existing faith and being absorbed into the Romanica Church."

I answered while racking my brains. This much should have made me look like a very devout student who had received education from the Romanica Church since childhood.

Only then did the clergyman show a satisfied smile.

"Good opinion. From the way you speak, you must study very well?"

"Haha... Not to that extent."

"Very bright. Here, take this too."

The clergyman handed me a business card with a smile.

"If you run into trouble related to this incident, or if someone other than me comes to ask about Satan worshippers, contact me immediately."

"Ah, yes."

"It doesn’t have to be official business - you can contact me for career counseling or things like that... Well, anyway, I’ll go now. You need to rest, but I stayed too long without being considerate."

The clergyman said this and left the hospital room with his two subordinates.

Silence flowed for a long while in the hospital room where I was left alone. I looked at the business card he had left.

"Moon Yo-seop, Inquisitor."

I kept looking at the business card, flipping it front and back. I read, pondered, and memorized the letters and numbers written on the card. So that even if someone tore or burned this business card, I could remember his name and phone number.

After memorizing everything - name, phone number, and work address - I put the business card in my wallet.

"Testing me, that bastard..."

I was planning to ask Uncle or Kang Ji-ah to investigate him based on this information.

Moon Yo-seop suspects me. He might be suspecting me simply because I confronted Gu Jun-hyeok, who was a Satan worshipper, or I might have made some verbal mistake during our conversations.

I thought the suspicion would clear up after a few conversations, but I could feel his suspicion toward me deepening day by day.

This wasn’t something to gloss over. I needed to take action before the situation deteriorated beyond repair.