I Became the Priest of Blasphemy of the Outer Gods

Chapter 48. Investigation (2)

In truth, the fastest way to identify the culprit would have been to lock up the five suspects and interrogate them with every means available, including magic.

After several days of investigation, something would have eventually come to light.

However, there was a reason why this approach couldn’t be taken.

‘They’re all nobles, that’s why…’

Except for Sinia Purcell, the other four were nobles.

It was a bit surprising that Lilybell was also a noble.

‘A baronet at most, so they’re not high-ranking nobles…’

But a noble was still a noble.

Nobles who had settled in the capital of the Empire.

They belonged to factions and power groups, making it not a trivial matter.

‘Of course, given the gravity of the situation, we conducted basic investigations, but nothing came up.’

Sinia Purcell, who wasn’t a noble, had undergone even more rigorous investigations, but nothing unusual had come out.

‘Even with magic and miracles, an investigation isn’t easy.’

What if Sharl wasn’t one of these five?

Honestly, in that case, I didn’t think I could find out the truth.

‘For now, let’s continue focusing the investigation on these five.’

Caello, Sinia, Lilybell.

Besides them, there were two more students: Lia Ephyr and Dominic Estor.

‘Lia Ephyr said she had no time today…’

The remaining three seemed busy with their own reasons.

When he was about to meet Dominic to try to extract some information, there was a knock on the door once again.

“Come in.”

“Excuse me!”

It was Lilybell who had visited again.

She seemed to have hesitated earlier as if she had something to say.

“Welcome. What brings you here?”

“Actually, Professor, I have a request to make!”

“A request?”

As I looked on curiously, Lilybell carefully began to speak, looking around nervously.

“Hehe… My attendance is a bit tight.”

It turns out she had visited because she was at risk of expulsion, having accumulated too many tardies and absences.

How irresponsible could she be?

‘… And she’s supposed to be a noble.’

Knowing a bit about Lilybell’s background, it made me all the more incredulous.

I didn’t need to be enthusiastic about my job as a professor, but I felt compelled to say something.

“Miss Lilybell. As far as I know, there is a student bearing quite a significant burden.”

“Ah…”

“To lift the debilitating curse that runs in the bloodline, aren’t you receiving all sorts of conveniences and support?”

Lilybell lowered her head.

The Ospryng Barony had ancestors who had come into contact with a powerful cursed item, causing all their descendants to become exceedingly frail.

The Ospryng family, with its little influence and small territory, had to solve this problem on their own, and their solution was magical research.

“Of course, I also understand the difficulties you face as a student.”

“Yes…”

Lilybell was the first child born to the Ospryng family in ten years.

For ten years, every child except Lilybell had been miscarried, putting the family in a dire state, making her their last hope upon whom they invested everything.

“But… they could’ve brought in a proficient professor or a high-ranking priest with that money instead of burdening me with this.”

“Do you think the family didn’t try such methods because they didn’t know?”

From what I knew, they had tried all those methods but ultimately failed to lift the curse on the family.

“… I’m sorry. I promise to work harder, so please don’t expel me!”

The future of the Ospryng family looked grim.

“Understood. From now on, don’t be late or skip classes without permission. Your grades also need to improve significantly.”

“Yes! Thank you!”

“By the way, there’s something I’m curious about.”

“Ask me anything!”

Feeling a bit sorry to say it considering how happy Lilybell looked, I calmly posed my question.

“I can’t quite understand why a student like you was invited to a Belacre family party.”

“Ah… I don’t know either!”

‘… What do you mean you don’t know?’

As I looked at her in disbelief, Lilybell hurriedly started explaining whatever came to her mind.

“Um, maybe it’s because of my family… No, that couldn’t be it. Maybe we were just close since childhood? Or… Oh! Maybe they wanted to help me out of sympathy and thought a social connection would be beneficial…”

“Are you close with Caelo?”

“Caelo, despite how he looks, takes really good care of people around him. And he can’t stand injustice.”

Was he that kind of person…? Come to think of it, I did notice students flocking around him after classes.

“I think his complaint on the first day of class was likely him voicing the concerns of other students who were intolerant of the situation.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes! He’s very observant and perceptive of other people’s feelings.”

There was a distinct sense of happiness in Lilybell’s expression as she spoke.

* * *

“They like each other.”

“They like each other?”

After Lilybell had left, I went to find Dominic under the pretense of delivering something from another professor. Starting the conversation slowly, Dominic, though a bit curt, answered everything within his knowledge.

“Pretty much everyone knows.”

“Hmm… Sinia seemed like she wanted to say something but stopped.”

“She’s close with the two of them. She probably didn’t want to talk about their relationship with others.”

“So, Dominic, you…?”

“I’m not particularly close with any of them.”

Adding that he didn’t care who liked whom, Dominic muttered that it was annoying and unpleasant to see.

“I’m more interested in star observation and astrology.”

“Indeed, you seem that way.”

Dominic was in a place magically created—a sort of planetarium. Magic was cast here, projecting the night sky on the ceiling even though it was daytime. Unlike ordinary planetariums, this was done using magic, so it was live, not a stored image.

‘Quite impressive, but astrology…?’

Even in a world with magic, astrology was just a superstition. The movements of celestial bodies neither influenced magic nor unveiled fate. While it seemed that all forms of divination were deemed ineffective, a few still believed in astrology.

‘One of them being Dominic and his mentor, Professor Maios.’

This room was Professor Maios’ private research lab. Although I found the magic displayed here impressive and remarkable, others seemed to regard it as a meaningless eccentricity.

‘So, Dominic might be the only one who understands this unique hobby.’

Typically, students weren’t allowed entry, but Dominic was given special access due to his shared interest.

“But… Dominic, doesn’t observing stars or space frighten you?”

As I observed the night sky, I couldn’t help but voice my question. The night sky and countless stars during the Awakening Ritual of the White Night. The vibrations from the stars I seemed to feel during the mutation through the holy artifact.

‘Dammit… Just thinking about it makes my hands tremble.’

Since then, I had avoided looking at the night sky.

“Huh?”

Dominic, who was observing the stars on the ceiling, glanced at me questioningly.

“You know… the malign influence of Outer Gods.”

“What do they have to do with stars?”

… Don’t they?

At that moment, I realized that I was the “Apostle of Calamity”, and that the Awakening Ritual of the White Night was related as well. The Outer Gods, originally from the universe…

“…… Ugh!”

Suddenly, I felt dizzy and staggered. Dominic showed no concern at all. As I recalled my knowledge of the Outer Gods from the previous world, some information that I should not yet be aware of seemed to resurface in my mind.

“What do the Outer Gods have to do with the night sky?”

“I feel like I heard something like that somewhere. I’m not an expert, though.”

“If just looking at stars caused the bad influence of the Outer Gods, every person in this world would have gone mad by now.”

Well, that made sense. After thinking it over, his words did carry some weight. Still, with a nagging feeling that digging too deeply might be a bad idea, I shifted my thoughts to another direction.

“It seems I got confused with some incorrect information I heard somewhere. Don’t mind it.”

“Okay.”

Dominic really did not seem to care at all and turned his focus back to the stars. The beautifully embroidered Milky Way—it was a night sky I could never see in the previous world. Yet, it was tinged with a peculiar sense of unease that prevented me from finding it completely beautiful.

“People say that the stars have no effect on us at all…”

Dominic abruptly began speaking while looking at the sky.

“I disagree. How could so many stars have no meaning, no influence?”

Eldritch, too, quietly gazed at the night sky. How would that night sky appear to Eldritch, the servant race of the Outer Gods?

“Dominic’s point makes sense. Since ancient times, people have used stars to navigate. They even created stories around constellations.”

“What? They navigate using stars?”

“Yes, well…”

Ah, does this world not have something like the North Star? Come to think of it, the constellations must be different here.

“This is the first time I’m hearing about it. And what are constellations?”

“Excuse me?”

“I’ve never heard of them…”

Is there no concept of constellations at all? Though intriguing, I decided to improvise for now.

“I learned about it while traveling. There’s a certain ethnic group that continues this custom. They connect stars to form shapes and attach stories to them.”

“Really? That sounds interesting.”

Dominic finally showed genuine interest and turned to look at me.

“Stars indeed have an inexplicable allure. It’s understandable to want to create stories about them. What kinds of stories are there?”

“Um…”

I glanced around the night sky and pointed to a group of stars that roughly resembled the Big Dipper.

“In one legend I know, a carpenter built a house poorly, making his son so angry that he chased him with a hammer…”

As I pointed at the stars while recounting the vaguely remembered folklore, Dominic looked puzzled.

“Isn’t that too far-fetched? Calling those stars a father and son, they don’t look like that at all…”

“Well, that’s just how the story went.”

Eventually, Dominic lost interest again.

“Instead, look at this. This is the new star Professor Maios discovered. If you look closely, there’s a very tiny star here, right?”

“No… I can’t see it.”

I really couldn’t tell what he was talking about. To my eyes, it just seemed like glare between the stars.

“If you look carefully, you can see it. This is a new star that’s never been observed before. It’s a signal clearly related to the recent rampage of an Outer God priest…”

Dominic continued to chatter excitedly, yet it was utterly uninformative. I began to wonder how they managed astrology without constellations and decided to step outside.

“Goodbye.”

Dominic’s indifference, not even looking my way while bidding farewell, left me feeling weary. At that moment, I finally spotted the new star Dominic had mentioned. It was a faintly visible red star, so dim that it was almost invisible. After struggling to find it, it truly turned out to be nothing special.