The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 65

"What’s that ring? Did you get a girlfriend?"

"No? It’s my dad’s cremation ring."

"What... what? Dad, no, why would you make a ring from your father’s ashes?"

"This is how Voodoo does it."

I raise my head to look up at the sky. It’s a night with brilliant moonlight. The wind is cool.

Come to think of it, winter is approaching soon. When I sigh, white breath puffs out from my mouth.

"We view death itself as something to be stored in an object."

"So you’re saying your father’s soul is inside that ring?"

"No. Dad’s soul is currently traveling through the ’invisible world.’"

"What are you talking about? I really can’t understand Voodoo. I don’t even want to understand it."

The man in front of me stretches.

He’s around 17 to 18 years old. At most, maybe 19.

Anyway, he seems to be around my age. He looks familiar somehow.

I smile and open my mouth.

"I’ll have to pass this down to my children later."

"Children, what? Can you even get married?"

"Marriage... I wonder."

I look at the ring on my left pinky finger. The bone jewel embedded in the center sparkles in the moonlight.

Somehow, I feel like there’s a gaze coming from beyond the jewel.

I stare at that gaze, and the gaze stares at me. Our eyes meet.

"I’ll figure it out somehow."

Crack.

At that moment, the jewel cracks. Darkness flows out through the fissure.

The darkness becomes cracks, and more darkness flows out from the cracks, and that darkness becomes cracks again.

Thus the world is shattered into dozens and hundreds of pieces.

Eventually the world turns to powder and disappears. Behind the scattered world, pitch-black darkness welcomes me.

* * *

"Gasp! Ugh..."

I opened my eyes. My head hurt as if it would split. My heart was beating with a dry sound. I felt nauseous.

I retched for quite a while with my forehead pressed against the floor. Tears flowed regardless of my will. The tears that flowed down my cheeks dripped onto the floor.

"Ha, haa. Whew..."

[What happened? You suddenly collapsed, and now you’re awake and retching.]

"Legba. Just now there was a hallucination, a hallucination? It’s not an illusion spell though. What the hell was this..."

[First calm down and regulate your breathing. Your breathing is excessive.]

Black spheres were floating around in front of my eyes. It seemed like I was having dizziness.

Following Legba’s advice, I calmed my mind and regulated my breathing. The black spheres that had been interfering with my vision slowly disappeared, and eventually my vision returned to normal.

"Phew..."

After finally regaining my senses, I wiped away the sweat that had formed on my forehead. Not just my forehead, but my entire body was drenched in cold sweat.

However, right now I didn’t even have the strength to wipe away the sweat. A thick sense of helplessness was spread throughout my body, making it difficult to even move a fingertip.

"Legba."

I barely managed to open my mouth and call Legba.

[Before speaking, drink water first. You’ve sweated too much. You might get dehydration symptoms.]

"I’ll drink it later. How long was I unconscious?"

[Well. It was such a short time it’s hard to express. About 2 seconds.]

2 seconds. For a moment I felt absurd and let out a hollow laugh. But that wasn’t what was important.

The fingertips that felt cold in the blowing wind. The brilliantly shining moon. The breath that floated leisurely through the night sky then scattered into pieces. Even the acrid yet refreshing autumn scent.

All the sensations I had felt remained vividly throughout my body.

"It’s not a type of hallucination."

When the bone jewel embedded in the ring cracked, sorcery mist flowed out through that crack and took away my consciousness.

And I had a dream.

A dreamlike yet distinct dream, as if I were glimpsing someone’s memories.

"It’s ’memory injection.’"

Simply thinking about it, it was most likely a memory injection spell among illusions. I had glimpsed my father’s memories through that spell.

It must have been father who put the spell in the ring. He probably designed it so the spell would activate when I wore the ring.

"...Haha."

It also made sense that I, who had been unaffected by even supreme-grade spells, had been intoxicated by just one strand of mist and fallen under a spell because it was father’s spell.

Father was skilled enough with spells and Voodoo magic power for Legba to call him a ’spell monster.’

No matter how strong my spell resistance was, I couldn’t resist father’s spells.

Conversely, only father could cast spells strong enough to break through my spell resistance.

[Talking to yourself and laughing. You’re no different from a madman. What exactly did you see to act like this?]

"I think I saw father’s memories."

[Do Myeong-jun? You’re saying you saw that guy’s memories?]

My father’s name is Do Myeong-jun.

I nodded.

"There was a memory injection spell on the ring."

[Memory injection... You’re saying he contained that spell in an object. He was even more formidable than I thought.]

Memory injection is classified as an illusion spell, but it has no grade assigned. It’s neither low-grade, intermediate, advanced, nor supreme-grade.

Gradeless.

Memory injection was a spell that only father could use, so assigning it a grade would be meaningless. Therefore it was classified as a gradeless spell.

Though father did create the spell classification system in the first place, but that’s beside the point.

Right now, what was important to me wasn’t this kind of thing.

"Why."

I was thinking about ’that man’ I had seen beyond father’s memory.

The man who seemed to be a very close friend of father’s. That man with jet-black hair and corpse-like pale skin.

Saint Judas.

Beyond father’s memory, that man who had been father’s friend was definitely Saint Judas.

Former Inquisitor, Cardinal, and Seong Ha-yeon’s father. The word enemy isn’t sufficient, but since there’s no appropriate expression, I decided to call him my enemy.

"If they were friends, this damn bastard..."

Then that means Saint Judas was the one who personally poured oil on the body of father, who had been his friend, lit the fire, and ultimately killed him.

I had long known he was a mass murderer who killed tens of thousands of Voodoo practitioners, but I didn’t know he was a traitor who killed his friend with his own hands.

I thought he was just a simple bastard, but it turns out he was a very specific piece of shit.

"Ha."

I let out a deep sigh and got up from my position. For a moment my vision spun. It seemed dizziness had struck due to dehydration and various psychological factors.

I pressed against the wall with my left hand and barely managed to leave the room. Seeing my appearance, Kang Ji-ah was startled and stepped back.

"Cult Leader. Have you finished your work?"

"Not yet. Um, where’s the refrigerator? I want to drink some water."

"Ah, I’ll... I’ll get it for you."

Kang Ji-ah hurriedly walked quickly to the refrigerator, then soon brought me a glass of water.

I received the glass from her and drank it all at once. After drinking the water, I finally felt like I could live. The dizziness that had been tormenting me for a while also soon stopped.

"Thank you."

"Not at all. ...Um, you’ve been at it for quite a long time. It’s already been an hour."

When I handed the empty glass back to Kang Ji-ah, she suddenly said something out of the blue.

For some reason, she looked quite bewildered. This was the first time Kang Ji-ah had shown such a clear expression.

I tilted my head in puzzlement and opened my mouth.

"It’s something that takes a long time."

"Ah, of course. It’s something that can take a long time for some people, but if you do it too excessively, I was worried it might strain your stamina..."

"An hour isn’t that long. This much is fine." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Voodoo rituals usually last half a day, and at most can continue for three days. An hour would be finishing incredibly quickly.

Kang Ji-ah made a complex expression with various emotions mixed together and opened her mouth somewhat reluctantly.

"You have very good... good stamina."

It seemed like praise but also somehow not, with a subtle tone.

"...Well, I do exercise these days. Anyway, I’ll go back in."

Leaving behind Kang Ji-ah who was staring at me with a reluctant face, I quickly went back into the room.

The room was full of mist that hadn’t dispersed. The air was very heavy and murky. So much so that it was difficult to even take a single breath.

Nevertheless, I deliberately pushed through the mist and crossed the room, heading toward the bed. It wasn’t a good idea.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I looked down at the ring on my finger. The jewel was cracked due to the aftermath of the spell father had left.

Father had contained a spell in this ring, specifically in the jewel embedded in the center. The jewel seemed to be made from grandfather’s ashes.

It would probably be easier to contain spells than in other objects.

...Then.

Couldn’t I also contain spells in this ring?

If I could contain spells in this ring like father did, it would become possible to use spells without drawing spell circles.

I might be able to use spells in downtown areas full of CCTVs, or even at Florence.

If successful, it would be a great help in the upcoming Charity Holy Name re-election exam.

No, if I could just succeed, obtaining the Charity Holy Name would become trivial.

[However, the possibility of success is low. Compared to your father, your skills are far lacking.]

"I know."

But this was only if I succeeded.

As Legba said, my skills are far inferior compared to father’s. The possibility of success was slim.

"But I still have to try."

That didn’t mean I would give up before even trying.

I emitted Voodoo magic power.

* * *

"Ha-yeon."

Saint Judas looked at Seong Ha-yeon with sharp, cold eyes.

Seong Ha-yeon stood before him with her hands folded modestly, her head deeply bowed.

At first glance, they looked not like a father-daughter relationship but a master-servant relationship. The atmosphere was that vertical and rigid.

"Your practical evaluation grades were quite poor."

"..."

"The first exam... midterms, I think they call it. Anyway, if your practicals are poor, you can make up for it with written exams. Don’t be too disheartened."

Saint Judas spoke as if showing mercy. It seemed to be meant as comfort in his own way, but to Seong Ha-yeon it didn’t sound like comfort at all.

It sounded more like ’Your practicals are a mess, so you must make up for it with written exams.’

Her shoulders, which were already heavy, became even more heavily pressed down, making her feel like her body would collapse to the floor.

"I understand."

Under that pressure, Seong Ha-yeon barely managed to answer. She turned to go back to her room.

"Ha-yeon. What track have you decided on?"

However, Saint Judas’s following question stopped Seong Ha-yeon in her tracks. Seong Ha-yeon forced herself to manage her expression and turned her head.

"I’m thinking of going into the priesthood."

"Priesthood. Priesthood... Yes, it would be better to go with what suits your aptitude."

Saint Judas said while stroking his eyebrow. He seemed displeased.

Seong Ha-yeon didn’t answer and just nodded. She tried to force at least a smile, but no smile would come at all.

"How is school life?"

Saint Judas’s next question. Seong Ha-yeon mumbled through appropriate answers to get by. Yet Saint Judas’s questions didn’t cease.

How are your friendships, how is your relationship with teachers, how are you studying, where are you thinking of going for the upcoming commission practicum...

Saint Judas asked uniformly stereotypical, cliched questions. In response, Seong Ha-yeon also gave only stereotypical, cliched answers.

Eventually, the barrage of questions from Saint Judas that seemed like it would never end also came to an end. Seong Ha-yeon bowed her head and tried to return to her room.

"...Ha-yeon. There seems to be a student with ’purification blood’ among Florence’s first-years."

However, this time too Saint Judas caught Seong Ha-yeon’s ankle.

Seong Ha-yeon stopped abruptly and swallowed hard. Cold sweat was flowing from her forehead. Seong Ha-yeon steadied her trembling heart and barely managed to open her mouth.

"Is that so?"

"He’s in the Charity class, and his name is Do Seon-woo. Do you know that name?"

"No. I don’t know who that is."

Seong Ha-yeon lied. She was the type who showed obvious signs when lying.

However, Saint Judas didn’t know that Seong Ha-yeon was lying. Because he hadn’t been looking at Seong Ha-yeon from the beginning.

From the moment he called Seong Ha-yeon to his room until now, Saint Judas had never once looked at Seong Ha-yeon.

"If you don’t know him, you can become close from now on. Try to become close with that child Do Seon-woo. If you become close now, it will be convenient later."

Saint Judas spoke as if it was ’naturally what should be done’ to become close with Do Seon-woo.

It was natural for the purification clan to become close with a child who had purification blood, and there was no room for negotiation or rebellion in this matter.

In the future, the purification clan must marry someone with purification blood.

"...Yes."

Seong Ha-yeon reluctantly answered and nodded. She tasted blood in her mouth. Without realizing it, she had been biting her lip so hard that it bled. She felt no pain.

"And there are too many useless books like novels and comics in your room."

"..."

"Don’t become too absorbed in such things. You are at a time when you need to study harder than anyone else, so it’s better not to waste energy on other things."

Saint Judas abruptly stood up from his seat. Then he walked toward Seong Ha-yeon with big strides.

Seong Ha-yeon was already frightened and hung her head low. Her shoulders were trembling finely with fear.

"Remember that you are of the purification clan."

Saint Judas said while looking down at the trembling Seong Ha-yeon. There wasn’t even a trace of affection in his eyes as he looked at his own daughter.

"...Yes, I understand."

Seong Ha-yeon’s voice as she answered was precarious, as if she would cry at any moment.