The office suddenly fell quiet.
Ansu glanced at Kevin, who looked tense.
"It wasn't me. I really didn't say anything..."
Ansu believed Kevin hadn't said anything, and it wasn't merely because he trusted his loyalty.
Mary had probably only just gotten the news herself, which was why she'd called them both over to confront each other.
Otherwise, she could have simply pressed him a little and learned what was on the note, instead of asking him like this.
He was quite surprised—not that she knew about the note, but that she had evidently learned about it from inside the Church.
Ansu couldn't help marveling at how astonishingly well-connected this cult was. The Church's insides had practically been turned into a sieve.
"Ms. Mary, there may have been a misunderstanding..." Ansu quickly considered his options. Since she already knew about the note, there was no point in trying to cover it up.
"You're full of lies. I should have known better than to trust you from the start." Ms. Mary was clearly implying something. She glanced at Ansu, then at Kevin.
"Tell me what he wrote on the note. I'll give you one chance!"
"Um..." Kevin hesitantly looked toward Ansu.
"The Craig family is a wealthy frontier family engaged in the fur trade. Your father, old Craig, did everything he could to send you children to Benalu City and the royal capital, all so you could enter high society." Ms. Mary had clearly found Kevin's weak spot. Her voice turned threatening. "If you don't want..."
"Kevin," Ansu immediately said, "tell her what was on the note."
Ms. Mary gave a cold laugh.
Kevin glanced at Ansu apologetically, but didn't refuse again. "All right..."
He stepped forward and thought for a moment, then slowly wrote two lines on a sheet of notepaper on the desk.
"Ms. Mary, he was only delivering a message." Ansu turned to her. "This is between you and me. Don't involve him again."
Mary folded her arms and nodded expressionlessly.
The Craig family wouldn't be difficult to deal with, but given the Order's current situation, she didn't want to invite trouble.
Ansu didn't want to drag innocent Kevin into this. Of course, saying that now seemed a little "hypocritical," but at the time, he'd simply wanted to "call in reinforcements" as best he could. The Saintess, a member of the protagonist's party who was blessed with a full set of plot armor and survived to the end, had indeed been a good choice.
Though things had taken a slight turn from how he'd expected...
But there was no point in Monday-morning quarterbacking, was there?
"You're quite willing to take responsibility, aren't you..." Mary scoffed at Ansu, then picked up the paper.
"You can go."
Kevin hurriedly nodded and fled the office.
Mary then stared at the two lines on the paper, reading them over and over in confusion.
"Tallin County, Blackstone Town, Elvin Village..."
"Meet me at the park in the southwest corner of the Royal Academy at 12:00?"
She looked up in bewilderment. "Ansu, what does this mean?"
"Well..." Ansu thought, Good thing I'd been cryptic back then. That gives me plenty of room to explain.
"Tell the truth. Don't keep lying to me!" Mary's voice was icy. "Or you know what I'm capable of!"
She knew what this boy could do. After all, he'd even managed to beguile Lady Cecilia!
She'd been shocked yesterday. The Witch, whose moods were impossible to predict and whose methods were always ruthless, had let this boy off so easily!
Had she even seen a hint of admiration on Lady Cecilia's face?
"Don't worry, Ms. Mary." Ansu nodded. "I wouldn't dare lie. We're on the same side now, after all."
Not a chance.
[Available simulation times] [Future] [10 minutes later (April 13, 16:12), cost: 10 points] [10 hours later (April 14, 04:02), cost: 50 points] [Begin simulation?]
While talking with Kevin just now, Ansu had already come up with a plan for dealing with this.
He couldn't reveal that he'd foreseen their plans to kidnap him, and he also had to make the delivery of the note seem reasonable.
He needed to weave a half-true, half-false lie, then see how things developed.
So...
[Simulate]
It began.
The moment Ansu silently selected the first option, the whole world seemed to freeze.
Dust hung suspended in the sunlight, and Ms. Mary's cold, scrutinizing expression was instantly frozen in place.
Darkness gradually swallowed his vision, and a countdown in ornate, old-fashioned script appeared before his eyes.
[Future: 10 minutes later] [Light Calendar 625, April 13, 16:12] [Simulation starting...] [Remaining points: 38]
When time began moving again, Ansu looked around in shock.
Wait, what? Why had the scene changed again?
The place he was in looked almost exactly like the dim storage room from his first simulation—only darker.
Ansu was tied to a post with ropes. Firelight flickered around him, and the whole place was terribly cold. It looked a lot like a basement.
He quickly looked around. In the dim firelight, he saw several people surrounding him, dressed in dark clothes and wearing strange silver masks that hid their faces.
That mask...
Ansu remembered it clearly. It was unmistakably the kind worn by the Echo of Truth Cult!
Had Mary taken him to a cultist hideout?
No... Why did every simulation come with an unexpected surprise?
Had his carefully prepared "lie" been seen through so easily? Was that why these cultists were going to kill him in a fit of spite?
"How much longer until Elder Hall gets here?" Ms. Mary suddenly asked someone beside her in the darkness.
A cultist replied, "Elder Hall was in a remote area outside the city. He's already on his way here."
"Good." Mary nodded, then slowly turned her gaze toward Ansu, who was tied up.
Her gaze felt strange to him, nothing like the way she'd interrogated him before. She even seemed a little unsure of herself.
"Mary..." The cultist also looked at Ansu and asked quietly, "Was it really a good idea to bring him here without Lady Cecilia's knowledge? He's one of her students. If Lady Cecilia blames us later..."
"This is Elder Hall's order." Mary left it at that and said nothing more.
"All right..." The cultist nodded.
Listening to them, Ansu began to think.
So Mary had brought him here behind Cecilia's back, and the order had come from one of the Order's elders.
The Echo of Truth Cult was a vast organization. Officially, it was managed by a "Council of Elders" made up of long-serving elders, who oversaw all the cultists under them.
Cecilia hadn't yet attained the status she had in the future storyline. But her power was so overwhelming that she was mostly left to do as she pleased. Apart from her teacher—Elder Samantha, the acting cult leader—no one could control her.
Ansu's [Simulation] ability was powerful, but it had one drawback.
He didn't know what happened during the blank stretch of time in between. It was as if he'd been transported to the future out of nowhere.
"Ms. Mary..."
After thinking for a moment, Ansu decided to test the waters.
"I really wasn't lying just now. There's no need to be so angry, is there?"
"And you even called so many of your colleagues here. What are you planning to do...?"
Mary stared at Ansu suspiciously, then slowly walked toward him.
"Did the ether make you lose your mind, kid?"
"Elder Hall will decide whether what you said was true or not. He'll be here to see you soon."
Ansu grumbled inwardly. How had he been knocked out with ether again...
Why did these black mages keep messing around with chemicals?
He finally stopped probing and quietly waited with the others for the so-called Elder Hall.
He'd find out what the man was up to soon enough.
The basement grew quieter and quieter.
Ansu secretly checked his system panel.
[Mage Hand: 0th-circle spell (not mastered) (learning progress: 46/50)] [Creates an inconspicuous ghostly hand that can manipulate objects (increasing the skill level can significantly increase the weight it can control)]
Just a little more...
This skill might be the most useful one he had right now, but he couldn't practice magic in front of these cultists. All he could do was wait quietly for his chance...
About half an hour passed.
Suddenly, the basement filled with a wind that came from nowhere, and all the flames began to flicker wildly.
"Elder Hall!" Mary looked toward the center of the basement, her voice suddenly full of respect.
Ansu looked that way too. He noticed the floor tiles shudder, and a gloomy black aura quickly spread.
Then, countless disgusting bugs—too many to count—crawled up from beneath the floor.
The white worms quickly gathered together. Twisting and writhing, they soon formed a human shape.
Elder Hall's entrance was downright disgusting.
Mary and all the other cultists bowed their heads to the thin, ugly elder. Elder Hall didn't even glance at them; he looked directly at Ansu, who was tied to the post.
"Is this the one Cecilia chose?"
Mary immediately nodded. "Yes, Elder Hall."
A look of surprise creased Elder Hall's withered face. "I heard she trusts this kid so much she won't even let him be brainwashed?"
Mary nodded again.
"Excellent!" Elder Hall grinned sinisterly. "Then he'll make a fine pair of eyes for us..."
Before you continue