The Case of Being Reincarnated as a Heretic Mob Character in an Eroge Where Everyone is Extremely Determined - Chapter 71

Chapter 71: The True Identity of the Priest

While Father Dordon was contemplating how to deal with the piled-up trash, I found myself engaged in idle chatter with Marietta.

Unless I’m being presumptuous, it seems that Marietta harbors favorable feelings towards me, her life’s savior.

There’s no end to the examples I could give, from her standing unusually close to me to making comments that seem to put me on a pedestal.

While I’m pleased with her affection, there are far too many reasons why I can’t trust myself.

The cannibalistic urges, the suspicious past, and my unknown origins. If I were a normal human being, I could have had a normal relationship with Marietta…

I gently restrained or avoided her physical touches, keeping a certain distance from the girl. Every time Marietta bit her lip as if enduring something, my heart ached with throbbing pain.

“Oakley-kun. Since we’ve already gathered it, there’s no helping it. I’ll take responsibility for disposing of this mountain of trash. Take care of the house while I’m gone.”

“Ah, yes. Take care.”

The priest loaded the miscellaneous trash onto a cart he had brought from somewhere and walked off in the direction of the western part of town.

“…Marietta, I want to ask about Father Dordon…”

After ensuring that Father Dordon had left for a distant place, I inquired about his reputation, and as expected—or perhaps I should say unsurprisingly—both Marietta and the Orthodox soldiers highly regarded the priest.

Moreover, even the faithful within the church, who had overheard our conversation, held him in high esteem.

“You never hear any bad rumors about Father Dordon?”

“When there was an earthquake in this town, he literally shouldered a collapsing house to prevent it from falling apart. If it weren’t for that, I would be dead by now… I can’t thank him enough.”

“When I was little, Father Dordon gave me bread. I would have starved to death if it weren’t for the priest.”

During the earthquake that struck this town, he supported a tilting, near-collapse house with his own body to save a woman’s life—or so the story goes.

He would skip his own meals to share with children on the brink of starvation—such episodes recounted by the townspeople painted him as nothing short of a saintly figure.

A housewife mentioned that for nearly a decade, he had been serving as a priest in the town of Satel.

He had not committed any wrongdoing and there wasn’t a single dark rumor about him.

The man named Dordon was the embodiment of what a Kenneth Orthodox Believer should be.

“…I shouldn’t speak too loudly about this, but it seems that Father Dordon used to be a soldier in the past. He’s said to have come to this town after falling out of the power struggle to become one of the so-called ‘seven executives’ of the Orthodox Church…”

Marietta whispered in a tickling voice.

There are only seven ‘slots’ for the Orthodox Executive.

It’s natural that there would be internal strife to fill a vacancy, but the fact that Father Dordon, who continued to achieve great things even after stepping back, couldn’t become an Executive candidate suggests the depth of the Kenneth Orthodox ranks.

Instead, the eeriness of the Aaros Temple Order, who, despite their overwhelmingly small numbers, wreaked havoc in the Holy Nation Geluid and were regarded as enemies of the state, arrived belatedly.

(…Huh? Father Dordon and the Aaros Temple Order… Something feels off. Am I overthinking it?)

As these two words intertwined in my mind, Marietta stood up from the seat next to me, indicating she had to return to work.

She threw me a regretful, troubled look and waved her hand slightly before stepping out of the church door.

She mentioned that there was a backlog of Magical Beast damage and distress calls in the neighboring areas, but it seems she’ll find time to come see me again soon.

When I asked her why she cared so much about me, Marietta twirled her glossy, semi-long chestnut hair around her index finger and whispered with upturned eyes, “Because you helped me.”

When she said that to me with such shyness, even a man as dense as I am couldn’t help but recognize Marietta’s affection.

The deep crimson of her eyes captured me with such directness.

It was an overwhelmingly straightforward affection that was almost blinding.

Her cheeks and ears were burning even redder than her eyes.

“…Marietta, the time…”

“Eh? Oh, yes! Ah, haha! I should be going now! See you later!”

As I watched Marietta, who had been staring intently at me, she hurriedly ran off in a fluster… She’s an energetic girl who can’t seem to sit still.

Honestly, being sweetly appealed to by such a beautiful girl who wears her heart on her sleeve is enough to scatter all my worries and almost overwhelm me.

Of course, that’s not permissible.

I need to secure a source of income quickly and head to the Holy City Sasfect.

With every conversation with Marietta, I averted my eyes from the strange impulse throbbing within me and let out a deep sigh.

(It’s no good… The closer we get, the more my appetite seems to grow. Apart from this impulse, whenever I interact with Marietta, I feel like I can hear a voice of jealousy inside me… I wonder if it’s just my imagination.)

Having finished cleaning the central square, I had moved on to tidying up inside the church when an old woman approached me as I was wiping the floors and chairs.

“…You and Marietta-chan seem to be getting along quite well, aren’t you?”

She was the old lady who had been saved by Father Dordon during the earthquake.

With a sly, somewhat malicious grin, she nudged me with her elbow. It was highly likely she was teasing me.

Since she had provided me with information, I couldn’t just ignore her, so I decided to let her keep me company while I worked.

“You’re totally smitten with her, you sinner.”

“…I’m not a good match for such a nice girl. There’s someone better out there for her.”

It seems Marietta had a childhood friend named Alfie, but she lost him in a tragedy a year ago.

Perhaps part of her unconsciously seeks a replacement for Alfie, which might explain why she and I have become so close so quickly these past few days.

Not only am I unstable, but Marietta is unstable too.

Family, relatives, best friends—all connections vanished overnight—such a psychological trauma couldn’t possibly heal in just about a year.

A dramatic reunion with a life-saving benefactor who has lost his memory, unhealed emotional scars, relentless work and training—all these elements are intricately intertwined, shaping our current situation.

Therefore, when she returns to her normal self, I shouldn’t be near her.

After all, I am an unsettling element that ultimately brings misfortune to those around me.

“Besides, both Marietta and I have a mountain of things we need to do.”

“Is that so? Well, perhaps it’s not good for an old person to meddle too much… But I’ll be cheering you on!”

The old woman left the church with a light laugh.

She was unconventional or perhaps oblivious to the mood.

For some reason, after talking with her, I felt a sense of clarity.

Having finished cleaning the grand hall of the church, I wiped off my sweat while waiting for Father Dordon to return.

It had been thirty minutes since he left, but the priest had yet to return. Thinking it a waste of time to fret and do nothing, I decided to clean the living areas for myself and Father Dordon.

I changed the water in the bucket, soaked the rag, wrung it out, and began to clean the corridor.

I moved swiftly, wiping the floor with the rag, sometimes kneeling to reach every corner, polishing the long hallway until it shone.

Next was the room I was borrowing.

If I was going to clean, I wanted it to be in the best condition possible. I replaced the now dirty black water and moved the dresser and bed to clean the hidden areas as well.

“Hmm?”

While I was moving the desk that had been placed in the corner of the room, I faintly heard the sound of rustling paper coming from a gap in the wall.

Looking down at my feet, I noticed a slip of paper that had slid smoothly from the edge of the wall and was now poking at my toes.

Without much thought, I picked up the scrap of paper.

It was a square piece of paper that had been folded just once.

It appeared to have been folded haphazardly without aligning the corners, and there were cotton-like specks of dust adhering to it here and there.

The surface was blank.

The backside too had nothing but yellow stains.

“…?”

After tapping off the loose dirt with the back of my hand, I used the pad of my thumb to find the gap in the paper.

Making a dry, crackling sound, I slowly unfolded the paper.

There, in terribly disordered handwriting, it read:

“I don’t want to die”

“I don’t know what will be done to me”

“Don’t trust the priest.”

A chilling shiver ran down my spine. A high fever dazzled the back of my eyes.

A sense of unease named fear raced up from the tips of my limbs.

What came to mind was a conversation with a man who looked like a little goblin I had met in an alleyway.

The phrase “Don’t trust Father Dordon” overlapped exactly as it was.

The room seemed to expand and contract, and the floor bounced cheerfully.

I couldn’t maintain my balance. My undergarments were soaked with sweat, and I was suddenly gripped by a tightening chill.

“Ah, ugh… haa, haa…!”

My body, which had been shaking, crashed violently against the wall.

Pressed against it, I slid down to the floor, and the paper that slipped from my hand skidded to my feet.

“Why…! Why…!? Why does this only happen to me…!?”

I wanted to plug my ears, close my eyes, and hide away in the darkness of the blankets, but I couldn’t look away.

I found myself contemplating the author of this handwriting.

The man in the alley had said it.

That his son went missing after staying at Father Dordon’s church, and it seemed there were other victims as well.

Young men who stayed at Father Dordon’s church would go missing within a few days.

They were made to disappear.

It’s my turn next.

“Oakley-kun, how far have you gotten with the cleaning?”

It was fortunate that I was able to react to the sound of the doorknob turning.

I shoved the scrap of paper into my chest pocket and grabbed a rag, crouching down on the floor.

In reality, I was unable to stand because my legs had given out, but I acted as if I had been diligently cleaning and had worked up a sweat.

“You’re soaked with sweat, aren’t you, Oakley-kun?”

With a slurp, Father Dordon sucked up the cloudy saliva that had formed in the gaps of his beard.

He had seen me with my clothes heavy and clinging to my skin with sweat.

He placed a hand on my shoulder to help me stand, then looked me over with a gaze that seemed to lick across my body.

His grey eyes pierced through me.

I tried to resist the overwhelming fear and disgust that had become obvious, but the sight of his towering figure, nearly 190 centimeters tall, along with his well-trained chest and arms displayed up close, made me lose the will to resist.

I was like a frog being stared down by a snake.

I was going to be killed tonight.

The reason Father Dordon’s crimes had not been discovered until now was that he was an incredibly cautious and cunning man.

The reason I had no memory after last night’s dinner was that he had tested the effects of a sleeping drug in the meal. And the reason he had deliberately not laid a hand on me was undoubtedly to increase my trust in him under the guise of treatment and healing.

He probably targets young men like me, those with unknown backgrounds, or those who are completely alone in the world without any reliable family or relatives to turn to.

That’s why, even with someone like Marietta, who is connected to the soldiers nearby, his crimes have not been exposed.

The time has already passed noon.

I must escape from the church before nightfall, or the worst scenario will be unavoidable.

Since people go missing after just a few days of staying, it wouldn’t be surprising if the crime were to occur today.

“Oakley-kun, you seem out of breath… Hmm, why don’t you go take a bath and wash off the sweat? You may rest for the rest of the day.”

“Ah, understood…”

The priest, unaware of my inner turmoil, told me this with a smile as if it were his final act of kindness.

As usual, he had prepared a change of clothes and a towel that fit perfectly, and my hands trembled as I took them.

My destination after slipping out of the church was clear.

It was not the bathhouse. It was the garrison.

I ran with all my might to seek help from Marietta, to cling to her for support.

At the moment, she is the only person in this town that I can trust. Or perhaps the grimy man in the back alleys, like a little goblin.

While handing him a scrap of paper and asking for help might lead to some progress, I thought that for now, the only option was to throw myself at the mercy of Marietta, who had the backing of authority.

As I stumbled towards the garrison, I was met by the guards at the entrance, who pointed their speartips at me.

“Who’s there? State your name.”

“Tsk, it’s urgent business! My name is Oakley! Let me see Marietta Valliere!”

“Marietta? She’s out of town. I’m not sure when she’ll be back…”

“No way—”

I took a few steps back from the spot, utterly devastated by her absence.

Her bright, sun-like smile flashed behind my eyelids. My legs gave out completely, and I found myself hyperventilating.

I didn’t care about making a fool of myself on the main street but feeling a strange gaze on my back, I almost screamed.

“Gasp—”

I’m being watched.

Definitely. From somewhere, Father Dordon is watching me—

“If you prefer, you could wait in the guest room—but hey, where are you going!”

I started running frantically.

As a result of seeking the man from the alley in the back of my mind, I was being lured into an even more secluded alleyway.

Calm thinking was no longer possible.

Running around the complex alleyway without any sense of direction, I was half-mad, screaming as I searched for that man.

Crying out nonsensical things like “Help me” and “I’ve found evidence” as I dashed through—until, by chance, I stumbled upon a man who looked like a little goblin.

“Hey, thank goodness! Listen to me, it turns out Father Dordon was really targeting young men!”

It was the unmistakable appearance of a severe vagrant that I hadn’t seen since earlier.

There was no mistaking him. From the hairstyle to the build, everything was the same.

The man was leaning against the wall, his eyes closed. As I shook his shoulder, I tried to pull out a crumpled piece of paper that was stuffed in my pocket.

“Ju-Just a second, I’ll show you the evidence—hey, wake up!”

But the paper wouldn’t come out easily, and no matter how much I shook his shoulder, the man wouldn’t wake up.

The paper I flicked with my index finger rolled across the ground, and as a result, with both hands now free, I tried to slap his cheeks to wake him up.

Just before I was about to flick his forehead with my finger, I suddenly noticed something odd.

…His clothes were worn backward.

“…”

Clothes worn backward? You mean he’s wearing his clothes inside out? The clothes looked normal when I met him this morning… Why?

My gaze drops.

“Ah.”

His toes are pointing backward.

Under their chin, there’s their back.

Only their head is facing this way.

“Ah… aaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!”

Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.

His eyes, slightly open, showed only the whites.

I couldn’t help but shove the man, who had died in a manner far removed from normalcy.

The heavy mass that the man had become fell to the ground without resistance.

As expected, he didn’t move an inch.

He had been killed by Father Doldon.

While claiming to work within the church, he had been keeping watch over me all this time.

Saying he was going out to throw away the trash, he had actually gone to commit murder.

Which meant, by extension, that there was a high likelihood that my actions right now were also being monitored—

Overcome with terror, my face turned ashen. I fell to my knees, clutching at my wildly beating heart.

“…help… help me… someone…”

When people are struck by extreme fear, they become incapable of coherent thought or action.

What I was experiencing at this moment felt like an event within a nightmare, and I found myself hoping that upon waking, a happy, normal life would be waiting for me—a desperate escape from reality.

I, too, was no exception, calling out the name █████ while uttering meaningless words.

“Ah, yoa, nnu. Help me, yoa, nnu.”

A dream. This is a dream. That’s right, first of all, amnesia is strange, isn’t it? It’s a setting in a dream. When I wake up from the dream, the amnesia will be gone, and a happy daily life will surely be waiting for me.

My gaze shifted to a scrap of paper that had rolled away.

I saw the figure of an old man picking it up with his fingertips.

“I thought something was odd and came to see… I see. You were acquainted with that mouse over there, weren’t you?”

—It was Father Dordon himself.

“Since I came here, I guess things are going in my direction. Luck, a tailwind… There’s some kind of great flow that can’t be described in words. To be able to dispose of one nuisance and secure the most delicious-looking boy in history, what fortune.”

No longer attempting to hide his true nature, Father Dordon licked his lips with a broad grin.

How long had he been watching my frenzied behavior, his wrists were drenched with a translucent liquid.

Ignoring my hyperventilating self, Father Dordon read the contents of the scrap of paper with keen interest.

“…you wrote this while I was not looking, huh? Your attachment to life is very commendable… No, this handwriting. It’s terribly disordered, but it’s likely the work of the ninth Aegis Dumblebee-kun. I remember well… those eyes filled with sheer terror, that delicate body thrashing around in tears and screams… He was the most delicious thing I’ve ever had. Isn’t it only natural that I remember him?”

Father Dordon let out a phlegm-riddled laugh.

Tucking the scrap of paper into his chest, his gaze suddenly sharpened like that of a bird looking at it’s prey.

“…Oakley-kun… You get it, right?”

It was a phrase more terrifying than a death sentence.

“If you don’t want to suffer, follow me. And no making noise, got it? I reckon Oakley-kun is quite skilled, but for someone like you, it would take me no more than three seconds to snap your neck.”

――Someone, help me.

“Damn it…”

In a voice that no one could hear, I muttered.

The person I had unconsciously called for help, ‘Joanne,’ was someone I knew nothing about.

But none of that mattered now.

“I’m already…”

“What would you like to eat for your last meal? I want to know your favorite food. Let’s have a splendid dinner, shall we?”

The priest, who caressed my back as gently as one would a lover’s soft skin, showed his yellow teeth and said,

“Come on, let’s go back to our home.”

….

TLN: I see few people liking this series huh? Maybe not everyday from now on, but I’ll try to continue tling this series if I feel like it.

For the information, the latest chapter in the raw is chapter 83 posted on Jan 26th. Usually it’s only a few days in between the chapters, so maybe the author dropped this series. I’m not sure.