Volume 3 Chapter 12 Horace’s Hypothesis—The Truth from 15 Years Ago
Horace muttered to himself.
Fifteen years ago...
Silvio's daughter was consumed by a gemstone given by the gods, and became the Demon Lord.
The response to this was... silence.
No one could say anything.
They didn't know what to say.
Didn't know what to do.
"Th-that's ridiculous! A complete lie! No way! There's no truth in your words!"
Silvio shouted.
But when people panic like this, their words have no real foundation.
When you're told an obvious lie, people become calm.
But when an 'uncomfortable truth' shows up... people lose their composure.
Seeing Silvio's reaction, everyone realized that what Horace said was true.
Some might want to believe that Horace's words are lies, but that doesn't matter anymore.
"Quiet down for a moment."
Horace snapped his fingers.
In the next instant, chains appeared around Silvio, binding him and pinning him to the floor.
A cloth appeared over his mouth, silencing him ── he couldn't scream anymore.
"Phew... Shall I talk about my hypothesis now?"
Horace deliberately asked.
But there was no one here who would dare deny him.
Those who wanted to know.
Those who didn't want to know but knew it was pointless to say so.
Only those 2 types were here.
"Well then... Let's go in order."
Horace spoke as he walked toward Silvio.
"I went to the ruins of the Great Church 15 years ago. Beneath it, I found a dungeon and a bed covered in dried semen. Nobody ever thought the powerful were pure, but the Great Church back then was rotten to the core.
And in that mess, your daughter was born. The gemstone that turns people into monsters changes their nature, but not their appearance. If you think about the fact that a woman who barely escaped the Demon Lord's side was called 'the most beautiful woman I've ever seen,' it was only a matter of time before your daughter became a victim.
The Saint from 15 years back? They said she stayed cooped up in a special facility, holding the Church's barrier together. That's the official story. But the truth? You locked her away. All to keep the higher-ups at the Church from getting their filthy hands on her.
Maybe locking her up was the right call. Maybe it wasn't. I don't care. What matters is──one day, the Great Church got their hands on some big-deal gem, thanks to a prophecy. Something like a so-called 'wish-granting jewel'. Of course, the nobles drooled over what to do with it... And while they let their guard down for a split second? You swiped it. Took it and ran.
And where'd you run? To your daughter──because you felt guilty as hell about locking her up. So you gave her the gem. The one that could grant any wish. Handed it over, hoping it'd wash away all that guilt that was eating you up.
As for whether the jewel actually granted wishes... Maybe, yeah. But how that wish shows up? That's all up to the gods. Nobody knows if it was your wish or the saint's. But bet on this──it was probably freedom she wished for.
Wish granted. But... what does 'freedom' even mean to a saint who's spent her whole life praying and knows nothing about the world? She's left with nothing but the basics──a hunger to eat, to sleep... and the one thing she never got to satisfy: desire. So her 'freedom'? She gained the power to charm any man──absolute, total allure.
The moment she got her hands on that power, it was too much for her. She couldn't control it. You were right there, but since the magic was half-baked, it didn't hit you. That same day, she broke loose. The girl you locked up? She escaped, Saint turned Demon Lord. Monsters get pumped up bodies──no lock in the world could hold her then.
The barrier failed. The Demon Lord attacked. That's not some wild coincidence──it's because the Saint and the Demon Lord were one and the same. And just like that... the city at the heart of the Wiselia Kingdom, Omegaunas, where the Church once stood tall? It fell──hard.
While all the power players were busy scrambling for their lives... you were scared. I can't guess how long it took you to become the Demon Lord after you got your hands on that gem, but plenty of time passed ── enough for people to see what was going on. Some of them probably realized your own daughter had turned into a Demon Lord. Hell, maybe they even got threatened for it.
You killed them all, right? Maybe you'd already figured out who knew what. Anyone who was even close to the barrier facility ── you wiped them out. I only understood when I visited that city... there are all these secret passageways, built just for the big shots. But only your little faction got out alive. Never made any sense.
And then... you started your research. Anything to save your daughter after she became the Demon Lord. Figured you could rip that gem out of her body, yeah? I wonder just how much you sacrificed to get there. Every country out there was dealing with fallout, but Theocracy Nation just kept dragging its feet. That was you hogging every single resource for your research, isn't it?
Scraping together magic tools. Hoarding gold. But no matter what you tried, the research went nowhere. Fifteen years of this ── Theocracy Nation got sucked dry. But that's no surprise. Honestly, you were the last one in the Great Church with any real power left. No one else could hold things together, so they just went along with you. All about that obsession. Couldn't let go until you cracked it.
Fifteen years since the research started. Rangella and the others finally took down the Demon Lord, and just like that, your work meant nothing. All the gold, all those resources... gone. After the Demon Lord fell, Bloodline Nation and the Adventurers started strutting around like heroes, but Theocracy Nation could barely move. Not a shock. 'Cause you ── you burned every last drop on your orders.
The Great Church owed 10 billion coins on the Luster Report. I was wondering how do you pay back a debt that couldn't be repaid... and how to avenge your daughter's death at the hands of the hero. Then, one day, you found out me 'pulled the gem out of the Pastor's body,' and you snapped"
You, who had been hiding the technology to save your daughter all this time. You couldn't forgive me, so you put a bounty on my head with no limit on the reward
You didn't want anyone to know that 'your daughter became the Demon Lord.' Who knows what kind of revenge they'd take. But since the public doesn't know 'the saint turned into the Demon Lord with a gem,' just hiding the 'technology to remove the gem from the body' doesn't make me the ultimate evil
So, you focused on the antenna next to the mansion and the fact that I'm a Golem Master. You decided to make me the big bad guy by 'letting the golems run wild.' The Theocracy Nation was already in the middle of rebuilding. An attack would definitely cause a lot of damage
Then you'd pin all that damage on me, make me the villain, and want me dead. Because you thought I trampled on the possibility of saving her, on 'what could have been'."
Horace climbed onto the platform and looked down at Silvio.
"Any objections? Any arguments?"
In the next moment, the cloth covering Silvio's mouth vanished.
"...You are the great villain after all! Did you know everything? Did you know and hide the technology to save my daughter?!"
"When the 8th division captain, Olver, came, I gave him a message: 'I couldn't do anything.' Did you not hear?"
"What do you mean you couldn't do anything! You pulled the gem out of the Pastor, right? Then you should have been able to pull it out of my daughter too!"
"The power of male charm is absolute. Before I could touch the Demon Lord's body to pull out the gem, I'd be charmed and that'd be the end of it"
"Then why not teach someone else how to do it! Why not do that?!"
"Because only I can do it"
"Cut the crap! Spill it! What are you hiding?!"
Silvio yelled.
Horace said quietly to him.
"Regular humans can't control gems inside them. Mana just responds to our image; it's not something we grab and move. If you create a solid 'form,' it can't be received from the outside."
"Don't joke around! What kind of theory is that?!"
"You must have some clues from your research."
"Ah, uh, guh!"
"Only monsters can directly interfere with mana."
"...Then, you're..."
"Yeah."
Horace nodded.
"I'm a monster, resurrected by a 'revival item' that ate my body and brought me back to life 12 years after I died."
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