Disciplinary Priest, Part Two (Continued)

He glanced back, and the person he looked at immediately shook his head.

"It wasn't me who said it, Father Peter." The man speaking was Divine Chain, the ninth seat of the Black Scripture and the laborer responsible for beating Madis. The true names of all Black Scripture members were kept hidden; most people in the Theocracy addressed them by their code names.

"Where did you learn about the Black Scripture?" Peter asked flatly.

Madis said nothing. He sat there, calmly staring ahead, as though the man who had been so terrified just moments ago had never been him.

Had he resigned himself after learning his fate? Or was he never afraid in the first place, with everything before merely an act?

"I won't say anything." Madis spoke with an almost smiling curve at the corners of his mouth. It did not seem like the stubborn defiance of a prisoner under interrogation, but rather a matter-of-fact announcement.

Seeing his placid expression, Divine Chain began to believe that he truly would not say anything.

"Since I've seen the Black Scripture, you'll never let me leave alive," Madis said. Though his face was bruised and swollen, his voice remained calm.

Father Peter walked up to him and looked down at him.

"Do you know your crimes?"

"Just say it. Whatever crime you say I committed, that will be my crime."

"Embezzling public funds, violating women, researching forbidden magic..." Father Peter passed judgment coldly.

Any one of those crimes was serious in the Theocracy. For a priest, the first two were even capital offenses.

However, none of them warranted the Black Scripture coming after him. Father Peter grabbed Madis by the collar and tore his shirt open, exposing the old man's thin, withered upper body.

"The medicine." Father Peter spoke, and the girl