I Became the Priest of Blasphemy of the Outer Gods

Chapter 50. Interrogation (1)

The meeting hit a snag.

Debates over Arian’s opinions prevented any agreement, leading to another meeting scheduled for tomorrow.

“Huu…”

I stepped outside, breathing in the fresh air to clear my head.

‘Arian is serious.’

She planned to interrogate and investigate every student per those Luminaries regulations. To me, it seemed like a significant waste of time.

Academia had already conducted large-scale investigations. They compared the blood from the time of admission with current samples using magic. Other tests had been ongoing, drawing considerable complaints.

‘Honestly, if it weren’t for Sevika’s words, I might have concluded that Sharl wasn’t here either.’

Clearly, Sharl was still inside. Thorough surveillance had been in place to detect any slight change, so Sharl hadn’t escaped yet. However, conventional interrogations and investigations would never locate them.

‘Arian isn’t stupid… Why is she so inflexible?’

The only reason Arian pushed this course of action was that it adhered to the Luminaries regulations. She might even realize that it was inefficient and meaningless.

“Ha… My head hurts.”

As I sighed, Eldritch poked my shoulder. It was sudden, but when I looked in the direction Eldritch pointed, I found the answer.

‘What’s that?’

A woman with chestnut hair was running urgently somewhere, clutching a black rectangular object that looked like a book.

‘Could it be… Sinia?’

With the Luminaries involved in the meeting with Arian, surveillance had likely lessened. If she aimed to remove more evidence, now was the ideal time.

‘Honestly, I never trusted her, but seeing this feels bittersweet. Maybe I’ve grown attached.’

I immediately started following Sinia. Realizing she was being pursued, Sinia panicked and ran faster.

“Miss Sinia! Stop!”

Eldritch also sprang into action, conjuring a blue wall of water in front of Sinia. Startled by the sudden appearance, Sinia stopped.

“Professor Magus? Why are you doing this all of a sudden?!”

“That’s what I should be asking. Show me what you’re holding.”

“Why should I?!”

I extended my hand, and Eldritch began preparing to cast 〈Blue Lance〉.

‘Something about her reaction feels off…’

If she were Sharl, she wouldn’t react like this. This could still be part of a deception.

‘Whether she was Sharl or not, we need to investigate. It’s a bigger problem if she isn’t.’

It was fortunate she got caught by me; if Arian had caught her and she tried to flee, she wouldn’t be standing here unscathed.

“Hand it over now.”

“Pro-Professor, I think there’s some kind of misunderstanding…”

Sensing the severity of the situation, Sinia hesitated briefly before finally putting down the black book.

“Ugh… Of all people, to Professor…”

“Can you explain what this is?”

I picked up the book and questioned Sinia. She avoided eye contact, looking flustered.

“Miss Sinia, you need to speak clearly.”

“You’re being mean… But you have to promise it stays a secret between us, okay?”

What the heck is she talking about?

“So, this is… my foolishness…”

“Hmm… if it’s related to an Outer God, it does indeed seem foolish.”

“What?! No! It’s not like that!”

Sinia suddenly realized what I was suspecting and frantically shook her hands in denial.

“This is just a fake spell book filled with my delusions!”

“… Excuse me?”

Sinia hurried over and showed me the book. It had strange symbols and letters, but at least it wasn’t what I was worried about.

“Can you explain this in detail?”

“Well… I wanted to seem important and have an impressive spellbook, so I made it…”

“…”

“I made it when I was young! I recently found it at home, and it was so embarrassing that I burned it. But then, when I was cleaning my room, I found another one hidden in a secret spot…”

Did I understand that correctly?

“So, this embarrassing past is something you created to make it seem like you had secret power?”

“… Yes.”

I held my forehead.

She kept talking about some high-level demon sword or something before.

‘Why is there chunibyo disease in a world with magic and Gods?’

I thought she was independently researching some ancient document.

“These letters and symbols are all made up?”

“Yes.”

“None of them have any real meaning?”

“… Yes.”

Her voice grew quieter with each answer. I felt my headache intensify.

“Hah… Alright, I understand for now.”

“You’ll keep this a secret, right?”

“I can’t do that. If kept a secret, you might be executed.”

Sinia blinked in shock.

“Ex-Executed?”

“Thanks to this silly book, the Luminaries suspects you of being involved with an Outer God. Is there anything else you need to reveal before you’re interrogated or executed by the Luminaries?”

“T-The truth is, I made it recently!”

She just keeps going on.

“No, not that.”

“I thought it might summon something special due to the professor’s class…”

“… Is there absolutely nothing else strange?”

“… Yes.”

Sinia bowed her head, her face flushed with embarrassment.

“Alright. For now, take the book and go explain yourself to the Luminaries at school. Make sure you get your story straight before you go.”

Sinia bowed to me several times before heading off to find the Luminaries. Shortly after returning to my room, Sinia knocked on my door alongside a man who I assumed to be from the Luminaries.

“Excuse me, Professor Magus. My name is Orman. I wanted to thank you for your quick response that helped prevent a misunderstanding from escalating.”

“I am relieved that my student avoided any unnecessary suspicion.”

I smiled and replied.

“Additionally, the Luminaries have a request for you.”

“A request?”

“Yes. We would like you to be present during the interrogation of students.”

What kind of request is this? I glanced at Eldritch out of confusion. Eldritch looked back at me just as clueless.

“I heard from this student. It seems that you are quite popular and trusted among many students.”

“Excuse me…?”

“To be honest, if it weren’t for you, I might have lied. It’s so embarrassing. But for some reason, I didn’t want to lie to you, Professor.”

Sinia quietly added. Only then did I realize what the issue was.

‘It’s because of the blessing.’

Due to the blessing, the students’ affection levels increased, making them want to listen to me and reluctant to lie.

“Because it’s never a good idea to deceive someone you want to win over.”

If so, it was quite useful.

Of course, it wouldn’t work on someone of high rank, like Sharl.

“……wait.”

Come to think of it, why wasn’t Caelo, who had no rank, affected?

“This just adds another suspicion.”

And soon, an opportunity to test that suspicion presented itself.

“Fine. Of course, we should cooperate.”

I nodded at Luminaries’ words and offered an additional suggestion.

“First, we should start by interrogating Caelo. As soon as possible.”

“May I ask for your reason?”

“As you know, a party is scheduled soon at Caelo’s family home. Many nobles and magic professors are expected to attend. If that schedule goes awry…”

“Hmm, understood. I will report it as such.”

Omen gave a sharp salute and left, but Sinia didn’t leave for some reason.

“Miss Sinia? Do you have more business here?”

“I’m sorry, professor. Because of me…”

“It’s nothing. You just had bad luck. It’s not wrong to have such hobbies.”

It was somewhat absurd, but, well… there could be chunibyo disease mages.

‘Of course, that doesn’t mean I can let my guard down and consider her innocent.’

I couldn’t confidently say that showing such a foolish side wasn’t a move to lower my guard and evade suspicion. Whether she knew I was still suspicious or not, Sinia hesitated before bringing up a new topic.

“Actually, professor, I’ve been worried about that enormous amount of sedatives…”

“…”

“Needing so many of those… it must be related to an Outer God, right? Is that why you were dispatched?”

After a brief thought, I nodded.

“So, you came to investigate that incident from back then. Are you leaving as soon as the investigation is over?”

Sinia looked at me with great disappointment.

“I suppose so. I’m a wanderer. But… I might visit occasionally.”

“That’s a shame… I wanted to keep learning under you.”

Sinia looked very disappointed, staring at the ground, then suddenly made a resolute decision and looked at me.

“Actually, this isn’t about me. But there’s something you should definitely know, professor.”

“Something I must know?”

I responded with curiosity, and Sinia nodded.

“There’s a student secretly researching an Outer God.”

“What?! Why are you only telling me this now!”

I almost lost my temper and grabbed Sinia by the collar.

“No, it’s not like that! They’re not trying to summon an Outer God or sacrifice anyone!”

“Even if that’s not the case! You should well know that any association with an Outer God is utterly forbidden! Why didn’t you stop them? Considering the current situation, you should have told Luminaries!”

“Because they’re desperate!”

Sinia caught her breath before continuing.

“They are more desperate than anyone I know. And I also know they aren’t involved in anything dangerous.”

I shook my head.

“It’s common knowledge that dealing with an Outer God can destroy one’s mind. We need to bring that student to Luminaries-”

“What if they get executed!”

Her statement made sense. I couldn’t bring myself to say that it was their fault and they should be executed. Instead, I decided to persuade her, as making her anxious wouldn’t help.

“Fine. I’ll talk to that student first. If there’s truly any danger or suspicion, we can’t avoid taking action.”

“Alright. I think they’ll be fine.”

“So, who exactly is the student?”

“They are someone you know, professor. My friend… Lilybel.”