The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 74

The three elements of persuasion: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos.

Ethos is the character and integrity of the persuader. Pathos is the emotions of the audience. Logos is the logic of persuasion. If you ask which of these three is most important, it’s naturally ethos - the character and integrity of the persuader.

"If you continue building the tower, God will be angry and divine punishment will befall you." If some passing madman said these words, the workers and supervisors wouldn’t even pay attention and would just focus on construction.

However, if God himself showed miracles and said the same words? The workers and supervisors would tremble with fear and stop construction out of fear of divine punishment. Even saying the same words, the persuasive power varies drastically depending on who says them.

[Using the trumpet wasn’t bad either.]

Legba said. I nodded.

Simply showing miracles alone would have weak impact. Therefore, I first took away their sight through the trumpet to create chaos. Then I appeared before them disguised as God, tearing through the confusion.

The strongest ’ethos’ created by impersonating God. The ethos created this way naturally satisfied pathos and logos as well. Because it was God speaking, the natives had no choice but to listen to my words and be persuaded by my logic.

"Hail! Hail!"

"God! Praise!"

The natives were still on their knees at the bottom of the tower, bowing their heads and shouting in acclaim.

Even I, who hadn’t perfectly mastered their language, could easily guess what they were saying. They would be crying out in submission and awe, praising me who had impersonated God.

"I wonder if this counts as blasphemy."

Looking down at the prostrate natives from atop the tower, I muttered to myself unnecessarily. Even though it was something I had to do to pass the exam, blasphemy was blasphemy. After all, I had impersonated God.

Hoping the examination committee would show leniency, I sat down leaning against the middle of the tower. To impersonate God, I had used the divine powers of Sobo and Marinette. Since this was the first time using two Loa’s powers at once, the burden on my body was considerable.

Rustle.

Then, an ominous sound rang out behind me. I quickly turned my head but saw only pitch-black darkness. It seemed to be noise created by wind or some bird.

Though slightly suspicious, I deliberately dismissed my doubts and got up from my position. Brushing off the dust clinging to my clothes, I glanced down at the bottom of the tower.

"Wow."

The pitch-black darkness spread below the cliff greeted me. I couldn’t even gauge the height. I could only vaguely guess that where I was standing was quite high.

Bosu.

I called upon Bosu in a whisper quiet enough that no one could hear. When I used Bosu’s divine power, my body, which had grown cold from the desert chill, instantly heated up.

My heart beat rapidly, and I could feel my blood gradually boiling. Along with that, the belligerence that surfaced drove away fear.

Thud!

Taking advantage of the moment when fear disappeared, I threw my body down from the tower. The air filled with desert darkness and cold brushed against my entire body. Soon, the darkness lifted and white sand greeted me.

At that moment, I twisted my body to land on my legs rather than my head.

Crack!

"Agh, urgh."

As expected, my leg seemed broken. Though this was also phantom pain, the pain was quite vivid. Clutching my broken left leg, I forcibly suppressed the groans that escaped and slowly moved away from the construction site.

Anyway, construction had stopped. I had completed the condition presented in the note. However, strangely, no announcement came saying I had passed the exam or cleared the gateway.

It wasn’t an error. It was simply because the exam wasn’t over yet.

"..."

To end the exam, besides stopping construction, I had to fulfill one other condition. I already knew what that condition was.

"Ugh, my leg."

I sat down in the middle of the desert, groaning. Then I placed a dry branch against my leg to use as a splint. It wasn’t great, but it was better than nothing. At the same time, I grabbed handfuls of desert sand with both hands.

’Be careful of your back.’

The prophecy and advice Baron Samedi had given me. Recalling this, I turned my head backward.

Swoosh!

Immediately after, I threw sand into the air. The grains of sand scattered on the wind, then were soon blocked by something transparent.

Eventually, the form of the thing that had been spying on me from beyond the darkness throughout the exam was revealed.

"I was wondering how long you’d pretend not to know."

He said nonchalantly while taking off his robe. A holy item that scatters others’ vision to make the wearer virtually transparent - the ’Robe of the Shem Brothers.’

Though I couldn’t compare performance, in terms of price alone, it was a holy item that rivaled the Fourth Angel’s Trumpet.

"How did you know? I followed you quite carefully."

Gu Jun-hyeok asked while roughly brushing the dust off his robe. A smile floated hazily beyond the darkness.

"Because it’s a desert. Footprints remain in the sand."

"No, I only moved when the wind was blowing to avoid leaving footprints. You saw that?"

"Well... yes."

"Amazing, really amazing."

Gu Jun-hyeok clapped briefly in admiration.

Gu Jun-hyeok had only moved when the wind was blowing, so no footprints remained. I had perceived this and focused on the footprints that briefly appeared and disappeared when the wind blew. It was then that my suspicion that someone was tailing me became certainty.

"That thing, creating lightning and fire pillars. How did you do that?"

Gu Jun-hyeok finally finished brushing all the sand off his robe and stuffed it crumpled into the bag on his back as he asked.

"Holy items, obviously."

I gave an appropriate excuse.

"Really? How much did those cost? Based on their performance, they must be incredibly expensive."

"Incredibly expensive. Can’t even convert it to money."

"...Huh? Can’t convert to money? Then how did you buy them?"

Gu Jun-hyeok said with a deliberately flustered air.

"Well anyway. Hey, so you knew from the beginning that I was tailing you. Why did you pretend not to know until now? This is what I don’t understand."

"I didn’t know what your purpose was. But now I get it."

"...What are you talking about?"

Gu Jun-hyeok tilted his head. Right after the second gateway began, the note that fell from the sky. At the beginning of the note was written "Overcome numerous obstacles and stop the construction of the Tower of Babel!" The key was naturally "stopping the construction of the Tower of Babel," but it was also "overcoming numerous obstacles."

Gu Jun-hyeok tailing me for no reason. And the note that said "overcome numerous obstacles." Combining these two clues, I drew one conclusion.

"Your goal isn’t to stop the tower’s construction, but to interfere with me, right?"

From the beginning, Gu Jun-hyeok and I had different goals.

My goal was to stop the tower’s construction. Gu Jun-hyeok’s goal was to prevent me from doing so. If I stopped the tower’s construction within the time limit, it would be my victory, and if not, it would be Gu Jun-hyeok’s victory.

"Oh... wow. Sharp."

Gu Jun-hyeok seemed somewhat surprised as he pursed his lips and nodded slightly. From his reaction, my deduction seemed to be somewhat correct. And a brief silence flowed.

Snap!

"Then here’s a question!"

At that moment, Gu Jun-hyeok snapped his fingers. At that cheerful sound, the silence that had covered the desert crumbled away.

"...Suddenly what question..."

"If my goal was to interfere with you, why didn’t I interfere earlier instead of just tailing you all this time?"

In the thick, sticky darkness, Gu Jun-hyeok said with an innocently bright smile. It was a pure and radiant smile like a child’s. I couldn’t easily give the correct answer to Gu Jun-hyeok’s question, and became lost in thought while suppressing the pain in my broken left leg.

According to my deduction, Gu Jun-hyeok’s goal was to interfere with me. That is, his goal was to prevent me from stopping the tower’s construction. If so, he should have taken some action to interfere with me before I stopped construction.

However, even while I was persuading the natives and stopping the tower’s construction, Gu Jun-hyeok only tailed me and didn’t carry out any significant interference operations.

If my deduction was correct, Gu Jun-hyeok’s behavior was definitely strange.

"..."

No, at times like this, rather than thinking Gu Jun-hyeok’s behavior was strange... it would be more appropriate to think that my deduction was wrong.

"A bit strange, right?"

Gu Jun-hyeok said. I neither nodded nor shook my head, just stared at Gu Jun-hyeok’s pale face floating in the darkness. The silence mixed with darkness became even thicker and heavier. The sound of swallowing saliva seemed exaggeratedly loud.

"According to your deduction, my defeat would be confirmed the moment construction stopped. But why did I stay still even while you were stopping construction?"

Gu Jun-hyeok said. His tone contained mockery. He was rummaging through his bag looking for something. Instinctively, I felt I should run away. However, my broken left leg wouldn’t obey. Far from running away, even getting up from my position was difficult.

"The answer is that even if you stop construction... ah, here it is."

Gu Jun-hyeok took something out of his bag. It was a holy item. I didn’t know its name, but it was a holy item with a threatening appearance like a miniaturized cannon. He emitted divine power and injected it into the holy item.

Sizzle sizzle sizzle...

Then, the holy item made a sound like a lit fuse. As time passed, the sound grew threateningly louder. Soon, the holy item began trembling like a cannon about to fire.

"Anyway, to continue. My goal from the beginning wasn’t ’to prevent you from stopping the tower’s construction,’ but ’to eliminate you.’ That’s what I’m saying."

Sizzle sizzle!

The sound of the burning fuse was getting louder. The barrel of the cannon Gu Jun-hyeok held was pointed at me.

"The conclusion is, whether you stop the tower construction or not isn’t my concern. I just need to eliminate you. How about it, pretty easy, right?"

The sound of the burning fuse stopped.

Click.

A dry sound like pulling the hammer of a pistol took its place. That sound felt unbearably eerie and terrifying to me.

Bosu.

No response. Too late.

"Well, anyway. See you outside!"

Bang!

The ensuing firing sound.

Along with that, the cannonball that shot out from the holy item passed through my forehead.