Salvation Through Delusion C93

Chapter 93

“Are you all right?”

Solongo whispered the question beside me. She had asked the same thing back in the carriage. I turned to her and replied,

“Do I look not all right?”

“No.”

She shook her head. I truly was fine. I had betrayed no emotion on my face, nor did I clench my hands. I was no different from usual. Yet to Solongo, that very steadiness must have appeared all the more precarious.

“That is exactly why I’m worried.”

“I’m fine. I won’t go charging in blindly.”

Even if I wanted to charge in, I couldn’t. The Temple’s proxy had just stepped forward to declare Ma Hoiga the Savior. The strange part was that the proxy was none other than Ariona—trembling and strung as tight as a bowstring.

“I don’t understand why High Priest Chegi isn’t here.”

Exactly. Her beloved disciple was shaking so hard he could barely speak.

The conference chamber was vast, like a plaza turned indoors. Four enormous tables were set in the center, arranged in a circle around a single point.

They must have been the seats of the four Divine Beast families—Borhumi included.

My status did not allow me anywhere near those tables, so I sat at the far end of the room, half-hidden behind a pillar, barely able to see.

Even from such a corner, Ariona’s tension was obvious to my eyes.

“She might simply be unable to appear,” I said.

Solongo nodded at my thought.

“Yes. And Hoiga’s expression definitely suggests something is wrong. He wasn’t nearly that stiff when he was walking up to the chamber earlier.”

Indeed, his face was dark. Only moments ago he had been biting his lower lip so hard it looked like he might draw blood, to the point that his family had stepped in to stop him.

What was amusing was that Hoiga—and all of House Ma—were seated behind Montaine. They really weren’t even trying to hide the spoiler, were they?

Perhaps that was why everyone on Montaine’s side looked so relaxed. Well, fine by me—if they kept Hoiga firmly leashed, all the better.

“He’s looking at you again.”

Solongo murmured as I focused on Hoiga. And I didn’t need her to say a name to know exactly whom she meant by “again.”

I turned my gaze from Hoiga and shifted it to the lone figure seated at the huge table meant for at least ten people.

Tyroc.

While the other Divine Beast families had brought anywhere between three and six members, he alone sat for his house. And yet he stood out the most—despite sitting back in his chair with a careless, insolent posture that suggested he had little interest in being here at all.

Well, even if he stripped naked and danced on the table, it would hardly be my concern. But the problem was that, exactly as Solongo said, he was looking at me. Ever since I entered the chamber and taken my seat, he had glanced my way several times.

Why on earth is he doing that?

Annoyance flared inside me. Hoiga kept sneaking looks at him as it was; if he stared at me like that, it would only make me more exposed to the traitor.

So I shot him a plainly displeased look—

to absolutely no effect. Instead, at my irritation, amusement spread in his eyes.

Ugh. That look again. Does he really want to tease me and enjoy himself at a time like this?

Right when Ariona is introducing the so-called Savior?

“As all of you know,” Ariona began, “my master devoted herself to protecting the Savior from harm. But now that danger has reached Tuvine, we need the Savior more desperately than ever.”

Ariona’s gaze turned to Hoiga. Encouraged by his family’s silent support, Hoiga rose. One could tell how deeply his family cherished him just from the way they looked at him.

But perhaps that love had become poison. His eyes were cast downward in such anguish as he forced himself upright.

He didn’t look the least bit excited or honored to be presented as the Savior. If anything, he seemed like someone grudgingly accepting an unavoidable burden.

Not that I felt any sympathy. To my eyes, it was nothing but the whining of someone spoiled by happiness. If anything, the sight infuriated me more.

Before I realized it, I had curled my fist again. Solongo, misunderstanding my anger entirely, tried to reassure me.

“I’m certain he’s a fake. It’s highly likely Montaine staged this whole thing.”

“I know.”

If the Montaine Duke wished to ascend to the imperial throne, there would be no justification more ironclad than the Savior’s endorsement. I clicked my tongue inwardly as Solongo voiced a separate worry.

“Still, if the real Savior were to appear, what would they do?”

I shot her a disbelieving look. As if a Savior straight out of a children’s fairy tale would actually show up. If that were possible, these people wouldn’t be pulling off such a brazen farce in the first place.

But then I caught Solongo’s serious gaze and faltered.

Why is she looking at me like that?

“…What?”

When I asked quietly, she shook her head and murmured, “Nothing,” before facing forward again. I followed her lead.

Ttak—ttak.

Hoiga’s footsteps echoed sharply as he walked toward the center. His gaze never lifted from the floor—until, once he reached the designated spot, he finally looked up at Tyroc. His eyes were misty, like the tragic protagonist of an unfulfilled love.

Good grief.

I barely restrained the sharp mockery rising in my throat. Someone else ended up raising their voice in my stead.

“Ma Hoiga! Are you truly claiming to be the Savior?”

Someone from the Borhumi side asked, disbelief written plain on his face. A natural question, really.

Even if his prophetic ability were extraordinary, how could that alone prove he was the Savior? Was he hiding some crucial information?

The fact that none of the other Divine Beast families voiced objections made the situation even stranger. And adding fuel to the fire, Duke Killu leapt in to scold Borhumi’s representative.

“Show proper respect to the Savior. Even if Borhumi has lost its Divine Beast and gone half-mad, you must at least maintain basic decorum.”

At Duke Killu’s remark, the expressions on Borhumi’s side turned ugly. But perhaps their situation truly was as dire as rumored, for they did not erupt in anger. Still, the middle-aged man who seemed to be their representative spoke with clear displeasure.

“You expect us to believe he is the Savior when he dares spout nonsense about the Borhumi Divine Beast? If he foresaw its extinction, he should have informed us immediately!”

“The future I saw was half a year ahead. I had no way of knowing it would arrive so prematurely,” Hoiga apologized, and Duke Killu stepped in again, as though acting as his personal spokesperson.

“No, this is not the Savior’s fault. Who could have foreseen that the Borhumi Duke, manipulated by a black mage, would accelerate the downfall so drastically?”

The moment black mages were mentioned, no one from Borhumi dared respond. The horrifying slaughter at Crystal Lake had already spread across the entire continent.

Their inability to notice despite so many deaths had become a topic of public ridicule.

But the true issue was the rumor surrounding the Borhumi Divine Beast. It seemed the representative had come here seeking clarity regarding that matter.

“Extinction of the Borhumi Divine Beast—how can you claim such certainty, Savior?”

“It is written in the records.”

“Records? Any ancient text regarding Divine Beasts is indecipherable to all.”

He was correct; I had learned the same during my studies of Tuvine’s history.

Long ago, during the war with black mages who worshipped monstrous power, information about the Divine Beasts had been encoded so that only a very select few could understand it.

Each family used different ciphers—and even within a single family, the codes often differed.

Most records remained impossible to decipher because of this.

So naturally, Hoiga’s next words shocked everyone.

“No. I can decipher them.”

Gasps erupted across the room. I, on the other hand, barely suppressed a laugh.

Of course he could—if he had nanorobots helping him. My lips twitched, but my eyes narrowed at Hoiga.

Damn traitor. Do you know how many people in our world bled and suffered to send those nanorobots here, when supplies were so scarce?

Even if it was a suicide mission, that was his choice. Only volunteers were accepted. And yet now the traitor strutted about, claiming the achievements as his own.

“What I wished to share with you today concerns these very records. After learning of the ominous future, I began deciphering documents on the Divine Beasts in search of the cause—and the solution. And in the process, I discovered the reason.”