Chapter 194

That absolutely hadn’t been a natural occurrence. On a larger scale, it was the doing of the dungeon, of the sacred relic that governed that place.

…But perhaps it could have been the work of a third party.

After all, hadn’t there been quite a few suspicious people there at the time?

Because of this, Nathan’s thoughts were honestly leaning more toward the latter possibility. Several things stood out. Unintentionally, he knew much more than others, able to discover things they didn’t know and perhaps should never know. As the fragments he’d discovered piece by piece came together, things began to seem increasingly concerning.

Yet precisely because of this, others wouldn’t understand the questions he’d uncovered.

“…”

Nathan closed his eyes intently.

If we trace things back, it probably starts from Centiar.

When he first intervened in an event from the original story, Nathan had noticed something. He noticed it, but that was all. The incident had been resolved better than in the original story, and they’d clearly identified the culprit. Of course, something had felt off during the process. However, distracted by subsequent events, he’d dismissed it as mere anxiety and buried it.

Back then, he’d found it somehow suspicious that the incident was resolved so easily, just as it had in the original story. Yes, just like in the original.

The mysterious disappearance of that informant remains questionable too.

The case seemed to have been resolved almost too quickly because of that informant. An anonymous tipster. Thanks to the timely report, the First Prince arrived in Centiar and took over the investigation before they could dig deeper. As a result, they had to withdraw without being able to investigate further.

Next was after arriving at the Nover barony, when he heard about the magical beasts from Calypse.

Until hearing that story, he hadn’t felt anything strange about the accident in the Nover barony even after seeing it. Because magical beasts attacking people was completely natural. It would have been stranger to question that fact…

But the moment he learned that the magical beasts living there were under the restriction “do not attack people living in the Nover barony,” he began to have doubts.

Despite such a restriction being in place, they were attacked by magical beasts.

[That’s when you started suspecting they might be magical beasts from elsewhere.]

That, and how your nest was completely empty.

Next was the Forest of Trials. The abnormal signs discovered in that forest and Melchiel’s words about the magical beasts becoming violent. The remnants of dark magic left in the forest and the massive teleportation magic circle discovered while tracking it. Signs that the magic circle had been forcibly activated. And this could presumably be related to the suspicious figures encountered inside the dungeon.

Those suspicious figures were odd too.

First, their very presence in the dungeon was suspicious. But that part could be broadly dismissed as possible. Unlike other dungeons, that place wasn’t sealed, and anyone could enter if they passed the trial given by the Forest of Trials. So that was understandable in many ways.

The problem was that among the suspicious figures was a knight who used holy power. Then there were the words another suspicious person had said to Azar, and the artificial movement of the magical beast horde. The harpy that had tried to snatch him at someone’s request…

And Azar’s words there connected strangely to the previous incident.

The suggestion that the people who hoarded herbs in Centiar might be the same as the suspicious figures from the dungeon is too significant to ignore. And considering how much Pleria grows in that region, it probably made up a large portion of the herbs they gathered.

But Pleria was only beneficial to people who used dark magic like himself. To others, it was nothing more than a deadly poisonous plant. Even when used medicinally, only tiny amounts were used, so purchasing such large quantities was questionable.

…Am I being overly worried thinking someone else who can use dark magic is involved? But even with that assumption, questions remain.

[You mean the question of how they learned dark magic?]

Nathan unconsciously nodded at Calypse’s words before straightening his posture.

Right. I can use it because you taught me, right? Before that, I couldn’t use it and didn’t even know it existed. If there’s someone else using dark magic, how did they learn it?

[Perhaps a once-in-a-century genius appeared who delved into dark magic instead of conventional magic and figured it out themselves.]

Stop joking.

Nathan slightly frowned at the casual response. Calypse let out a thoughtful sigh before giving a proper answer.

[Hmm, well… The most plausible deduction would be that it’s the work of the thieves who stole all the records and magical tools left in my nest. They could roughly imitate it with just those. Though unlike you, the restrictions, side effects, and costs would be much greater.]

At those words, Nathan couldn’t help but recall the face of the man who’d said there were many people like him in the temple.

After reading the documents from Pandelia, Nathan had reviewed the points that had been bothering him one by one. Surprisingly, he discovered that the temple was strangely connected to each incident that had occurred. That’s why he’d headed to the temple without much thought. He felt he might be able to confirm his hypothesis if he went there. Of course, he couldn’t ask directly, but he could have asked indirectly. However, he had to return without any results.

Honestly, he felt somewhat relieved about that part. If he’d really met Elliot, he might have said something he shouldn’t have. That’s why he’d readily changed his mind and decided to return to the castle when Leonard delivered the message.

In the carriage returning to the castle, Nathan read through the documents several times again, checking if he’d missed anything or misunderstood and overlooked something.

But the more he did, the clearer it became.

“…”

If that person called Elliot, or perhaps the temple itself, was the culprit who’d robbed Calypse’s nest. If they were using dark magic with those who had abandoned taboos, using his research records and magical tools…

…Couldn’t they have controlled the magical beasts that attacked the Nover barony?

Isn’t that something that happens? Things like erasing traces of their actions, eliminating witnesses to do so. They could make up various reasons if needed.

…Just like the suspicious figure who had drawn their sword at him without warning in the dungeon.

But why would the temple need dark magic?

For what purpose? For what reason? Isn’t dark magic fundamentally opposed to the holy power used by the temple?

“…!”

At that moment, a lightning bolt of realization struck Nathan’s mind.

…To make a mere prophecy into reality.

That would make sense.

“A hero who will save this world will be born in the distant future.”

Isn’t the publicly known prophecy just such a vague statement?

As mentioned before, all the incidents where the temple seemed to be involved were ones that appeared in the original story. Or Azar was necessarily involved in the process. So the temple must have already known that the prophesied hero was ‘Azar.’ Otherwise, everything that had happened so far couldn’t be properly explained.

“That hero’s name is ‘Azar.'”

He’d thought only he and the dragon knew the latter part of the prophecy that Calypse had told him, but perhaps he’d been wrong.

Hadn’t Calypse mentioned before that Belganus might have content unknown even to the dragons? Moreover, it was reasonable to consider that Belganus had the deepest connection to the temple, given his title as God’s representative and the temple named after him. From these facts, one could deduce that the temple might have additional prophecies they hadn’t revealed to the public.

And Nathan probably knew that content as well. After all, the prophecy here and what he knew from the original story could essentially be considered the same, just from different perspectives.

Anyway, if the temple’s goal was to continue what the dragons had tried to do, then the recent train accident was likely their doing too. But since they couldn’t directly cause such incidents, hadn’t they planned them using long-forgotten dark magic?

Moreover, dark magic by nature gives others an ominous feeling. So it would have been perfect for orchestrating such incidents from behind the scenes.