My mistake, mine to end

"I'm going back now."

Kallen tried to keep his voice steady. With Dis's arrival, he really did feel more confident than before.

Although Dis had always held his life in his hands,

having someone hold your life was still much better than drifting around outside like a dandelion seed in the wind.

Still, at the end of the day, he was only pretending to be a mystic. A fake was a fake, so after saying that, he immediately added:

"Is there anything else you'd like to say?"

Alfred took out a business card and respectfully offered it to him.

Kallen reached out and accepted it. The position printed on it was "Roja Radio Station Host," along with a telephone number.

"I look forward to hearing your summons again."

Alfred stepped back twice, clearing the way, and continued:

"You may call this number, or, of course, come directly to the door of this house;

to me, your summons is like the rising and setting of the sun-a law that cannot be defied."

Kallen put the business card away and inwardly let out a long sigh of relief.

No requests was the best outcome, because he genuinely had no idea what he could offer;

My private stash of twenty-odd thousand Lu Coins?

Plus a gold Miffet watch?

Or perhaps a fifty-percent-off voucher for the Immoreles Funeral Company, for whenever you die?

Thank goodness. So considerate-not a single request.

But then,

Miss Molly knelt directly before Kallen.

She was kneeling, but her head was raised;

Anyone else receiving such obeisance might have felt the authority of a superior, but that feeling did not apply to Miss Molly. Even kneeling, she seemed to be looking down upon him.

"Please forgive my irrationality, but I beseech your greatness to grant me a purified body."

A body?

A corpse?

If she meant a corpse, there was no shortage at home. Three were lying in the basement right now.

I could find a way to steal one;

but what did she mean by a purified body?

That specific qualifier surely meant something unusual.

Otherwise, both Jeff's remains earlier on and Mrs. Hughes's body just now had been intact, yet Miss Molly had used neither.

But if he asked now, "So, what is a purified body?"

the air of inscrutability he had put on might immediately crumble. It would be like a physics professor pointing at a capital "E" and asking what it stood for.

However, what he most needed to do now was leave, so Kallen gave his answer:

"Wait."

"My gratitude to your greatness. I shall forever prostrate myself before you and offer you all my loyalty."

Kallen made no further reply, merely nodding slightly. First, he slowly placed Mrs. Hughes's belongings in the hiking backpack, then picked it up and walked toward the door.

As he left the master bedroom, Kallen noticed that neither of them followed.

He descended the stairs,

one step at a time,

walking with ease, composure, and casual confidence;

perhaps he was concentrating too hard on his walk,

because Kallen actually started moving his arm and leg on the same side together,

forgetting whether his left leg or right leg should move next;

in a moment of distraction, he stepped down two stairs at once. With the hiking backpack in his hand, he lost his balance and could only hurry forward.

Clatter, clatter, clatter...

Finally,

he braced his right hand against the banister,

twisted around,

Thud!

And landed with a hop.

To conceal his embarrassment,

Kallen even let out a laugh:

"Ha-ha."

He did his best to disguise his mishap as a moment of childlike playfulness.

Opening the front door,

Kallen walked out.

As he crossed the yard, he did not look back up at the upstairs window. Instead, he opened the gate and walked forward, forward, and farther forward, until at last he stood before Dis.

He opened his mouth,

exhaled heavily,

then drew in a sharp breath,

the overwhelming sense of safety leaving his brain almost dizzy with oxygen.

Dis looked at Kallen without speaking, then took a few steps forward to the gate.

"Mr. Alfred."

At the second-floor window, Alfred smiled faintly and replied:

"Lord Adjudicator."

"Please remember our agreement."

Alfred answered:

"I have never violated our agreement, and Miss Molly has not left this house. Although another person died today, I assure you that she, too, died guilty."

Dis turned and looked at Kallen.

Kallen pointed at Mrs. Hughes's red Caiman sedan and said, "I can explain."

Seeing no objection from Dis, Kallen opened the car door, put the hiking backpack inside first, and then got in himself.

Dis took the front passenger seat, while Puer leaped through the window and landed in the back.

Kallen started the car.

On the second-floor balcony, Alfred watched the sedan recede and disappear at the end of the street. He gave a light cough, then glanced down at the three cigarette butts on the floor:

"I still don't understand why humans invented this slow-acting poison to kill themselves."

Miss Molly replied, "From the moment humans are born, they are already on the road to death."

"Miss Molly, your answers are becoming increasingly philosophical. Perhaps someday I'll have a chance to invite you onto my show as a special guest. Well, the listeners can't see you anyway."

Miss Molly looked at Alfred and asked:

"Aren't you going to put away your Succubus Eyes?"

"Oh? Ah, ha-ha."

The bloody hue faded from Alfred's eyes, restoring them to ordinary human eyes, except for a faint gray haze that normal eyes lacked.

"Alfred, I really don't understand you. You were the first to discover that great being, and today you were the first to adopt the humblest posture. So why did you keep your Succubus Eyes active while facing him?"

Succubus Eyes possessed the power of discernment. They could see through falsehoods and also perceive people's hearts.

Thus, among the ranks of otherworldly demons-no, among all ranks of society-succubi were a relatively intelligent group, because they were not easily deceived.

Often, simply being hard to deceive was enough to make someone intelligent.

Earlier, when facing Alfred, Kallen had experienced a similar feeling: he absolutely could not lie before him.

For that reason, throughout their earlier exchange, no matter how humble Alfred was, Kallen had answered with nothing but the unvarnished truth.

"I was merely showing respect, allowing that great being to see my true face. It was a symbol of loyalty."

"I don't believe you."

Alfred shrugged,

and said:

"Actually, the more you believe in something, the more you also doubt it. That's why some great scientists embrace theology in their later years."

"You... still doubt him? I thought you were already utterly devoted to that great being."

"Do you know what makes me most suspicious?" Alfred said with a self-deprecating smile. "The fact that there's nothing suspicious about him."

"I know. You told me-the hymn, the writing."

"It's more than that. Do you remember when I left Rojia and went to Bellwyn City a month ago?"

"I remember."

"Many churches sent people there. Even the Ruilan Government's army mobilized and sealed off the area. Do you know what happened there?"

"What?"

"Someone held a Divine Descent Ritual on the outskirts of Bellwyn City."

"A Divine Descent Ritual?" Miss Molly's expression remained calm. "And here I thought it was something important."

Priests from many churches performed Divine Descent Rituals, praying for the gods they served to send down their radiance and will, guiding believers who had lost their way.

"Oh?" Alfred lowered his voice. "But that Divine Descent Ritual summoned an evil god-and an unknown evil god at that!"

"Evil god" did not refer to a single specific being. It was a collective term.

The gods of churches with immense orthodox standing and long, unbroken traditions were revered as true gods;

their gods had nothing to do with the term "evil god," because they exterminated anyone who dared call the deities they worshipped evil gods.

Beyond the great orthodox churches, there were many smaller churches. Their followers were fewer and their influence weaker, but provided they had managed to survive, the gods they served could receive respect and recognition.

There were also "branch gods," divine systems that had branched off from and remained affiliated with orthodox churches. These gods might have been disciples of true gods, or their founders might once have served a great church before gradually developing a new branch. Their narratives were compatible.

Even certain malevolent gods-those with extreme doctrines and ruthless followers who had faced suppression or even eventual extermination-did not count as evil gods.

Evil gods... had no faith and did not depend on faith to exist. To put their definition simply and bluntly, they were roughly solitary beings. They wandered between heaven and earth, or were sealed away in some corner of myth and legend, yet could be brought here through "divine descent."

This was an act that disrupted order,

because it could invite a tremendous disaster. Heaven only knew what might ultimately be summoned.

Over the years, however, while such catastrophes had occurred, they had been infrequent, with few records even in ancient texts.

The reason was a limit on the ritual's scale.

A Divine Descent Ritual required preparations appropriate to its scale.

That scale directly determined what sort of being the "god" you summoned would be.

This did not merely refer to material preparations. Those were actually the easy part; most materials could be bought directly with money, even "Sacred Artifacts";

the ritual's scale was tied to the ability of its officiant.

The stronger the officiant, the greater the scale of the Divine Descent Ritual.

And people capable of conducting high-level rituals existed almost exclusively within the great orthodox churches, because only those churches could provide the means to develop such abilities.

For a priest from a small church performing the same Divine Descent Ritual, summoning a patch of radiance was already the limit, and might even move them to tears of gratitude.

For priests of great churches, summoning miracles was commonplace. Ancient texts even recorded high priests or chief officiants of still higher rank summoning "divine artifacts."

At the lowest level, an ordinary "evil god" summoning ritual could be as simple as playing a spirit-writing game, calling forth a weak otherworldly demon wandering nearby. Of course, even the weakest otherworldly demon, though incapable of killing, could still scare an ordinary person half to death.

Beyond that, as the ritual's scale increased, so did the strength and variety of the otherworldly demons it summoned.

But,

all of this was tolerable.

One more reasonably capable-or even reasonably powerful-otherworldly demon in the world was hardly a big deal. The great orthodox churches possessed deep reserves of power and could annihilate it with a casual wave.

Thus, otherworldly demons either secluded themselves in remote places or lived very cautiously within human society, never daring to go too far.

Those frequently disposed of were instead brainless, low-grade creatures like the one that had possessed Mrs. Hughes.

What the great churches truly could not tolerate,

were evil god summoning rituals on an even higher level.

Because the great churches monopolized rituals of such magnitude, every summoning recorded in ancient texts that warranted the term "evil god" had, without exception, been carried out by high-ranking members of those orthodox churches.

Such people were also called "rebels." They rebelled not merely against their own churches, but sought to overturn the entire framework of order.

By day, they possessed the ability to bring forth miracles through Divine Descent Rituals;

then,

by night, they possessed that same ability to summon powerful otherworldly demons beyond the limits of tolerance... also known as "evil gods."

Every descent of an evil god was a catastrophe, causing terrifying upheaval and potentially bringing about the destruction of a great orthodox church;

because the summoned evil god might have fought against a true god in the previous era or in myth and legend, or been suppressed and sealed away by that true god.

Upon returning, even if its power had diminished tremendously, its hatred for the church its old enemy had left behind was beyond description.

Stranger still, throughout an entire era, no matter how powerful a great orthodox church was, it could summon, at most, a "divine artifact" or a "god's phantom." Not a single church retained the ability to summon a true god back into the world.

With true gods unable to descend, suppressing an evil god again demanded a terrible price.

Shock finally appeared on Miss Molly's face. "An evil god!"

Then,

Miss Molly's eyes shifted, and she pressed:

"Did it succeed?"

Alfred seemed very pleased by the change in her emotions. "If it hadn't succeeded, why would it have drawn so much attention? By the same logic, the scale of that Divine Descent Ritual must have been extremely high.

Otherwise, summoning one more of you, or one more of me... what would that amount to?"

"No, Alfred, I mean, are you saying..."

Alfred nodded,

and said:

"A judge with absurd power, heh.

After that fight, do you know what frightened me most in the end? It looked as though we'd fought to a draw, both of us badly wounded, right?

But after thinking it over, I realized that every divine spell he'd used was one taught to and used by judges of the Order Church.

A member of the Order God Church whose power clearly far exceeded a judge's had deliberately fought me using judge-level divine spells.

That could only mean

he

was hiding his strength."

"So, you probably couldn't beat him, then?"

"Miss Molly, that isn't the point!"

"All right, sorry."

"Besides, I didn't use my full strength either. I was afraid of facing an all-out hunt by the Order God Church."

"All right, go on."

"Today-tonight-I understood."

"Was it him?" Miss Molly asked. "The great being's grandfather by blood? But that Divine Descent Ritual took place in Bellwin..."

At that point, Miss Molly fell silent;

how stupid would someone have to be to conduct a forbidden ritual destined to draw everyone's attention in the city where he lived? Of course he would choose somewhere else.

"So, Miss Molly, it isn't his greatness I doubt. He must be a great being; that is beyond question!

What I doubt and fear is this: what if, beneath his appearance as a true god, his essence is that of an evil god?

An evil god-

that's a being that would terrify even Otherworldly Demons like the two of us."

Alfred glanced at the spot where Mrs. Hughes had been consumed earlier,

and murmured:

"The light of order.

Perhaps

he is a terrifying being who was once suppressed by the God of Order."

With some misgivings, Miss Molly asked, "Then what about my... physical body?"

Alfred tugged his hat brim lower and reminded her:

"Set your mind at ease. Whether he is a true god or an evil god, all we need to do in his presence is play our roles properly. No fuss, no noise, no disturbances, no prying. And whenever he needs us, we come at his call and give everything."

"Alfred, could you describe that role a little more clearly? I'm afraid I won't play it well."

"All right. Listen carefully."

Alfred spread his arms

and said:

"Woof! Woof! Woof!"

"That's what happened."

As he drove, Kallen told Dis everything that had happened that night, holding nothing back.

He didn't know why,

but whenever he glanced in the rearview mirror between driving and talking and saw Puer sitting in the back seat,

Kallen felt a surge of irritation rise within him. Still, he was certain he wasn't the sort of sicko who would abuse a cat.

"Grandpa, don't you think those two were really stupid? I was scared to death back there. Luckily, I managed to fool them and save my own life."

Dis, sitting in the front passenger seat, said nothing.

Meanwhile, the humanlike smile on Puer's face grew even more pronounced as she sat in the back.

Finally,

the car stopped

outside the Hughes Crematorium.

Since Old Darcy's death, the Hughes Crematorium had suspended operations. Even if it hadn't, it would have closed long before this late hour.

"Why are we here?" Dis finally spoke.

Kallen explained, "Chief Duke should find the clues soon and discover that Mrs. Hughes was the real killer."

Unless Chief Duke was a stupid donkey-no, even if a stupid donkey were Chief Duke, it would still solve the case.

"So I'm planning to return Mrs. Hughes's clothes and car to the Crematorium Society and make it look as though she fled after realizing she'd been exposed. After all, there's no way we can get Mrs. Hughes back."

She was gone altogether.

Dis nodded at that.

Kallen got out of the car carrying Mrs. Hughes's clothes. The car belonged to her too.

Among her belongings was a ring of keys. Kallen unlocked the door and went inside carrying the hiking backpack, with Dis following behind him.

Puer followed close behind with graceful feline steps, the moonlight stretching out her lovely silhouette.

Kallen reached the office, which was separated from the cremation room by only a wall.

An oppressive stillness hung over the Crematorium Society in the early hours.

Kallen laid Mrs. Hughes's clothes on the floor and the desk, then opened the hiking backpack and set out the tools inside. Yes, there really was quite an assortment.

Though Mrs. Hughes's artistic skills were mediocre, she had thoroughly prepared her tools, much like a poor student who always liked to buy new stationery before settling down to study.

Kallen pulled over a chair and sat down;

"Grandpa, I think the police should figure out who the killer is tonight. They'll definitely send officers to the Crematorium Society straightaway. Of course, if they don't come, you can call the police after you get home and say your grandson went missing after taking Mrs. Hughes home tonight."

Also, please tie me to this chair to make it look as though I was going to be the next victim.

As for Mrs. Hughes, we can say she heard the police arriving and ran away.

The main thing is that we can't hide where Aunt Mary, Mrs. Hughes, and I went tonight from the police, so we have to wrap things up this way."

Dis nodded,

walked around behind Kallen, and silently took a dagger from the pile of tools in the hiking backpack, turning it over in his hand.

Kallen sat in the chair waiting for his grandfather to tie him up, unaware of what was happening behind him;

all he saw was the black cat Puer crouching in front of him, the smile on her face making him increasingly uncomfortable;

"Grandpa, there's another way. You could knock me unconscious with something. That would make it more convincing when the police arrive, and easier for me to fool them.

Or we could look around here for sleeping pills or some other psychoactive drug. Mainly, that would make explaining things to the police afterward much easier."

"There's no need to go to all that trouble."

Dis walked in front of Kallen.

Kallen smiled

and said:

"Of course, it's all up to you, Grandpa. Whatever you decide is fine. I trust you..."

Thud!

Agonizing pain struck him.

Kallen lowered his head in disbelief.

He saw

that into his chest

a dagger had been plunged.

Beside his ear,

his grandfather's voice sounded:

"The mistake I began should be ended by me."