Chapter 100: Hyde, Murdered by Heretics?! (4)

Flash! Rumble!

“Gasp!”

The man sat up, gasping for breath as thunder crashed.

The one-eyed woman lying next to him gently rubbed his shoulder with slender fingers.

“My Lord, what’s wrong? Waking up startled by thunder? The Corpse Viscount, once the terror of the battlefield, frightened by a little thunder?”

“Haah, haah. Ultima, I had that nightmare again. Men standing at the door, pounding on it! Tonight, they were even rattling the handle, trying to get in!”

Viscount Korps.

He had been plagued by nightmares for several days.

At first, it was a dream of a group of strangers approaching from a distance.

With each recurring dream, they drew closer.

“They’re getting closer every night! Tonight, they were banging on the door, trying to force their way in! Check it out! Make sure no one broke in!”

The Viscount jumped out of bed and shouted at his soldiers.

He was terrified.

Even a Viscount could be killed without a trace in Sodomi.

This city was chaos incarnate.

He believed his recurring dreams were premonitions.

“If I have this nightmare again, they’ll definitely break in! What are they going to do to me? What will happen to me if they catch me?!”

The recurring dream was unbearable.

Head Maid Ultima embraced him.

“My Lord, it’s just a dream. Where is the valiant man who negotiated with Murderer, the Psychoes’ lieutenant? You’ve become so…small.”

The Head Maid and the Viscount tumbled onto the bed.

But even the usually alluring embrace of his Head Maid couldn’t calm his racing heart.

He wanted to understand the meaning of his nightmares.

‘I’ve survived from the war 20 years ago until now because I never dismissed my dreams. This dream is too ominous! To have such an ominous dream every night…!’

The nightmares started after a man claiming to be a priest visited him a few days ago and spouted some nonsense.

He had said, “You might have some unsettling dreams tonight.” And ever since then, the Viscount had been tormented by nightmares.

“What did that guy call himself? Do we know anything about him? Bring me any newspapers from the outside world!”

Ultima brought him the newspapers.

Viscount Korps, usually unconcerned with the outside world, frowned at the headlines.

“He sentenced Pope Gregory’s daughter to a Repentance Pilgrimage? A mere Bronze Plaque Priest! What a lunatic! If I had known he was this crazy, I wouldn’t have just thrown him out! I would have had him beaten to a pulp!”

Suddenly, a thought struck him.

Had the crazy priest cursed him?

What if this mad priest, like the prophets of old, had truly cursed him?

“Yes! A curse! I’ve been cursed! Ultima! Bring me anyone in Sodomi who knows about curses! Now! Immediately! Heh, foolish man. Cursing me, the ruler of Sodomi?”

Sodomi was teeming with cults, heretics, and those who dealt with curses and spirits.

They provided the Viscount with gold, women, and strange mystical artifacts, and he, in turn, tolerated their activities.

A quid pro quo.

Using this network, he summoned a curse caster who was active late at night.

“My Lord, I am Bokor, the witch doctor of Walpurgis. I’m not one to boast, but I am one of the Five Pillars of the Witches’ Council.”

The witch grinned, revealing black teeth.

Her skin was also dark, and her hair was braided in a strange style.

A live snake was coiled around her waist, and her body was adorned with numerous bone ornaments. The Viscount felt intimidated by her strange and flamboyant appearance.

‘The chills down my spine… she’s the real deal. My instincts have never been wrong. That’s how I’ve survived this long!’

Viscount Korps of Sodomi had a keen eye for the danger level of heretics.

This witch doctor, Bokor, brought by Ultima, was the real deal.

Probably one of the five Grand Witches of the Witches’ Council.

“Witch Doctor Bokor, can you tell if I’ve been cursed?”

“Let me see. Thureubojack-! Tahaiyayas-!”

Bokor chanting while reached into the mouth of a toad hanging from her waist and pulled out a strange-looking pouch.

She sprinkled the powder inside onto her hand and blew it towards the Viscount.

He coughed.

“Ack! What are you doing?!”

“There’s no curse on you, my Lord.”

“What? What?! Then why am I having these nightmares?!”

“Dreams are fragments of the formless land, representations of the unconscious. Perhaps your nightmares are due to mental fatigue, my Lord.”

Was that really it?

The Viscount couldn’t believe it.

Nightmares from mental fatigue?

Ultima spoke up.

“My Lord, Bokor is the most knowledgeable person about curses in Sodomi. If she says there’s no curse, then there’s no curse.”

Bokor bowed elegantly, which seemed incongruous with her appearance.

“I see no curse on you, my Lord. At least, not one that I can detect. However, if you’re still afraid, why not eliminate the ‘source’?”

“Eliminate the source?”

“Kill Priest Hyde. There’s no more effective way to lift a curse. If Priest Hyde dies, you’ll have peaceful nights again.”

He thought it was absurd.

Even the Viscount of Sodomi couldn’t avoid trouble if he killed the most notorious priest of the Holy See.

If the Holy See sent an army as a pretext, he’d be in serious trouble.

‘That bastard Pope Gregory is capable of something like that. He’ll probably send the priest who humiliated his daughter to me, let me kill him, and then use it as an excuse to invade Sodomi!’

The Viscount had encountered Gregory on the battlefield many times.

He prided himself on knowing Gregory’s underhanded tactics.

Ultima chuckled.

“Many people disappear in Sodomi every day. Just ‘handle’ him quietly and declare him missing. Aren’t the Psychoes’ assassins good at that sort of thing?”

The Psychoes.

If he asked them, they would make Hyde disappear without a trace.

Or contacting the “Gourmet Club” wouldn’t be a bad idea either.

It seemed like this Priest Hyde had earned the ire of many nobles.

“I can handle it myself. We witches also have a grudge against Priest Hyde. I could make a charm out of his…”

The curse witch, Bokor, chuckled darkly.

The Viscount was still uneasy.

“Ultima, what about asking the Blood Crusade? Aren’t they the most destructive and disruptive force in Sodomi right now? The newspapers suggest they also have a grudge against Hyde.”

“My Lord, they’re uncontrollable and impossible to reason with. Or leave it to me. I’ll go to Hyde’s room and kill him. I know the inn he’s staying at. It won’t take an hour.”

Ultima put on black gloves.

Fine threads were attached to the fingertips.

Sharp enough to easily slit a throat.

“Ultima, go.”

The Viscount entrusted the task to the woman he trusted most.

The longest hour of his life passed.

Ultima returned with a sack.

Thud, Roll.*

The Viscount felt a surge of relief as he saw a priest’s head roll out of the open sack.

“Good! It was nothing! Ultima! Spread the word of Priest Hyde’s death. Say the Blood Crusade killed him!”

The Viscount lay down on his bed, at ease.

He, who controlled heretics like his own limbs, feared nothing─.

Thinking this, he fell into a peaceful sleep.

“Refreshing!”

An unusually refreshing morning.

The Corpse Viscount picked up the newspaper Ultima had left by his bedside.

“September 24th. Bronze Plaque Priest Hyde, Beheaded by the Blood Crusade!”

“Discovered by innkeeper Mr. S─”

“Excellent. No nightmares either. Ultima! Prepare my breakfast! Ultima!”

The Viscount called for his most trusted Head Maid.

But there was no answer.

Was she in the bathroom?

Knock, knock.

Someone knocked on his bedroom door.

“…….”

The Viscount snapped awake.

Knock, knock.

Another knock.

Click, clack.

Someone was trying to open the door.

This wasn’t a dream.

“Who’s there? Soldiers? Who dares knock on my door at this hour?!”

---

That same day, after visiting Viscount Korps.

I left the mansion, furious.

The Viscount had crossed the line.

He had dared to lay his hands on me!

“Me, who hasn’t even been hit by Pope Gregory…!?”

Not only did he disobey me, a prophet sent by God, but he dared to resort to violence?

This was unforgivable.

“Don’t be such a baby about a few scratches. I got you out of there before you got seriously hurt.”

Milione frowned.

She dismissed my injuries as mere “scratches.”

I was indignant.

“Hey! Look! There’s a scratch on my hand!”

There was a verse in the Bible that said even hating your brother in your heart was a sin equivalent to murder.

Then what about drawing blood with a scratch on someone’s hand?

This was akin to attempted serial murder!

“And that cowardly Viscount will definitely try to get rid of me. He’s afraid of retaliation for his wrongdoing!”

If I stayed in Sodomi, I would surely die.

I might disappear without a trace, like so many others in this city.

I had to find a solution.

“Milione, I’m just going to use the restroom.”

I pretended to go to the restroom and pulled out the mask I had picked up at the Heart of the Serpent.

The iron mask worn by the fake Lust.

It gave me an idea.

I headed straight to the Heart of the Serpent.

The underground church.

The people inside were startled by my arrival.

“L-Lord Lust has arrived!”

“Is it another fake?”

“Aaaaaaaaaah─!”

I screamed for about five minutes.

A powerful shout emanating from my enormous lung capacity.

Those who heard it trembled.

“He’s…he’s real! Only the real Lord Lust can do that! I, Hans, can tell! This is the true Lord Lust!”

“Our prayers have summoned Lord Lust from hell to this Saṃsāra!”

“Gyaaaaaah!”

I looked around.

I saw the Psychoes’ lieutenant imprisoned in a cell.

He trembled, facing me in my red cross mask. He seemed to sense his impending doom.

“You. You dared to impersonate me? I have a punishment prepared just for you. The Punishment of the Lewd Hole.”

I picked up a rat by its tail.

Bark, bark!

A dog-like barking rat.

A “puppy.”

“Do you know what happens when you place a rat on someone’s stomach, cover it with a metal cage, and then heat the cage with fire?”

“…….”

The Psychoes’ lieutenant’s face hardened.

Could he imagine what would happen?

Or perhaps he couldn’t.

I kindly explained.

“To escape the heat, the rat will try to dig its way down. It will claw and dig into the person’s stomach, creating a large hole.”

A barbaric and cruel punishment.

A rat literally digging into someone’s stomach.

“…S-Spare me!!! I was just following orders! They said the Blood Crusade was getting too cocky! I was just following Murderer’s orders! He’s the real culprit!!!”

“Is that so? Fine. I’ll postpone your judgment. But on one condition. You have a remarkable talent for disguise, don’t you?”

I had wished for a ‘double.’

When Hyde existed, Lust didn’t.

When Lust existed, Hyde didn’t.

It was only a matter of time before someone noticed this strange double life.

But what if both Hyde and Lust could exist simultaneously?

“Impersonate Hyde.”

“Hyde? That’s easy! I am Hyde, the most devout and pious Bronze Plaque Priest! And I’m a cripple who can’t even climb over his wife Psyche’s legs!”

What the hell?

I told him to impersonate Hyde, and he was acting like a fool.

But Chief Baptizer Hans, who was watching, was impressed.

“I-Identical! I thought it was him!”

“Exactly! His deception skills are truly impressive!”

Identical my ass!

He didn’t look anything like me!

Damn it.

Anyway.

He disguised himself as Priest Hyde.

With thin leather and makeup, he became the spitting image of me. Well, honestly, he was a bit uglier.

“You will live as Hyde in Sodomi for the time being.”

“Live as Hyde, commit fraud and all sorts of evil deeds to ruin his reputation? That’s the initiation ritual for the Blood Crusade! Alright! I’ll show you what I’m capable of!”

No─.

What was he going to do, commit crimes using my face?

“Just stay put. Hyde is currently recuperating from injuries sustained during an assault by Viscount Korps. You just need to fill in for him. But don’t approach Milione. Just stay in your room, pray, read the Bible, and repent. Otherwise, your true identity might be revealed.”

The most devout Priest Hyde.

No one could truly impersonate him.

Milione would see through the disguise.

Therefore, it was best for “Hyde” to remain confined to his room.

---

Two days later.

I found the imposter, the con man who played the role of Hyde, lying dead on the bed, his throat slit.

“…….”

Even though I knew he was a fake…

Seeing a corpse that looked like me felt strange.

Hans examined the body.

“There are no signs of struggle or resistance. He died painlessly. It seems his throat was slit with a sharp thread while he was asleep.”

I had planned to hide and observe the situation for a few days, but they actually killed him.

I placed my hand on the chest of the headless corpse.

“How regrettable.”

He died in my place.

He had lived a pious life, impersonating Hyde for the past few days, so he probably wouldn’t go to hell…

Still, taking a life…

It was a terrible thing.

Hans looked at me and asked,

“He was a scoundrel. Wouldn’t you say he died a good death?”

“Hans, my Second Baptizer, listen closely. Humans are sex. Humans are born through sex, leading to more humans having sex, creating an endless cycle of sin. Therefore, keeping a human alive is maintaining the continuity of sex. In other words, one human represents countless possibilities for sex.”

Hans looked shocked.

He bowed his head in shame, acknowledging his blunder.

“My thinking was shallow!!!”

“The very existence of a human is a great sin. With his death, countless possibilities for sex and lewd acts have vanished. I cannot tolerate this. Assemble the entire Blood Crusade.”

Just then,

Click.

The door opened, and someone entered.

“Hey! Hyde! I’ve been calling you for days! You’ve been holed up in here for days, acting like you’re on your deathbed just because of a scratch on your hand! Finally, the door’s open.”

Wait.

Milione was here?

I looked at Hans.

He said Milione was far away today.

Hans looked flustered.

Milione stared at me.

“You’re, Lust─.”

Then she looked at the headless corpse on the bed.

She seemed utterly shocked.

“…Hyde!”

Milione clenched her fists.

She seemed to want to say something, but words failed her.

“…You! Lust! You killed Hyde after all? No, Lust told me there was a reason to keep Hyde alive! You’re a fake! A fake Lust!”

“I’m not a fake, Milione. You, who were ravished by me, should know better than anyone that I’m the real deal. The fake isn’t me, but─.”

“No!!!! You’re!!! A fake!!!!”

Milione’s hair stood on end.

She let out a terrifying scream, and it meant only one thing.

Extreme rage.

In this state, as Wrath, no words would reach her.

I knew this better than anyone.

“Hans, gather the troops and attack the Viscount’s mansion. Capture them and await my judgment. I’ll handle Milione Archibald.”

“B-But, Lord Lust, her aura is ominous…!”

Hans looked worried.

He might not know that Milione was Wrath, but he could sense she was dangerous.

I said,

“The leader of the Blood Crusade isn’t the enraged Wrath, nor the grotesque Baptizers. It is I, Lust. I’ll show you why I’m the leader.”