Part 2
Rem opened her eyes.
The flame of a lamp wavered.
When she tried to move her hands, she noticed that she couldn't do that.
──I'm tied up with rope!?
Rem hand her arms and legs fixed to an X shaped post. She was placed on a crucifix.
「Wha!?」
「So you've noticed.」
When she looked beside her since she was called out to, she saw that Lumachina was also bound to a post just like her.
「Lumachina!? Th, this is……」
「Since I also noticed it just a little while ago, I do not really understand but……」
「……Is that so.」
Rem looked around at the surroundings.
The ceiling was excessively high. Enough that the light of the flames didn't reach it.
Were they within a stone walled building?
It was cylindrical, and was quite spacious. It was large enough for the chapel to fit snugly in it.
There was a platform at the center of the base, and that was where Rem and Lumachina were propped up.
They were apprehended by Baduta. And, it seemed that he was performing sorcery.
──If that's the case, we supposed to be sacrifices?
The muscles along her spine trembling was her imagination. There were large lamps all around them, and their flames swayed.
On the opposite side of the illumination, it was dazzling so she couldn't see all that well but……her eyes gradually grew accustomed to it.
Something was moving.
And then, she noticed that she could hear the breathing of several things.
「……What could that be?」
「I do not know. However, I get an unpleasant feeling from it.」
Lumachina's voice was stiff.
Rem concentrated her eyes on the other side of the flames.
It was a person.
The flames shined upon it, and she could tell that the figure of a person was moving. How many people were here? The races varied, and it appeared that there were more figures of people than she thought.
Moreover, a majority of them were naked.
Rem drew back her voice.
「Wh, wha……!?」
「Eh? What could they be doing here……?」
Maybe Lumachina's eyes had grown accustomed as well.
A great number of men and women, enough to completely fill up the floor, were entangled with each other.
Rem reflexively turned her face away.
「……Is, is that, really……Could they really be doing that……?」
「What is it?」
Lumachina seemed like she truly did not know about it.
Rem felt not just her cheeks but even her ears get hot.
「…………I cannot explain that.」
「Eh?」
She was bewildered.
Nonetheless, even Rem couldn't speak about it.
Just what in the world was the meaning of all this?
Gradually, the long breathes of the people became rough. The groans of the men, and the heavy breathing of the women filled the cylindrical building.
The sounds of flesh hitting flesh, and the splashing sounds of sweat and body fluids were made, and a beastly smell hung in the air.
Someone climbed up the staircase that was on the altar.
It was Baduta.
He was wearing clothes. Rem felt a bit relieved.
However, the women that he brought along were pretty much naked.
「Ah, you are……!?」
It was the long black haired maid, Shiiryuu. There was no trace of the maid clothes that she wore. She wore nothing on both her chest and waist. However, she was in a corset, and was wearing shoes.
Rem's shoulders trembled.
「H, how shameless!」
Baduta laughed shaking his shoulders.
「So you've finally awoken. I was about to wonder what I should if it had become morning.」
「Kuh……How dare you deceive us!」
「If you are going to resent anyone, resent Lumachina. She should have known that her sense of justice would destroy her.」
Lumachina leaked out a powerless voice.
「I am sorry, Rem……I have dragged you into this.」
「……That's not the case. This situation, is due to my mistake. I am terribly sorry for not being able to protect you.」
Rem had gathered experience as an Adventurer, but she fell behind many times in terms of weak points.
──Could it be that I am surprisingly "honest to a fault"? The idiot should be Shera's role though.
While having a subtly harsh thought, she thought of methods of how they should escape.
However, the constraints on her limbs were lacking any slack to the point of admiration.
Rem ground her teeth.
「……What do you plan on doing with us, Baduta!?」
「A ritual.」
「Eh?」
「As you can see, this place is an altar.」
「……How despicable.」
Repeating Rem's words, Lumachina talked.
「There couldn't possibly be such a repulsive altar such as this. Isn't this place just full of evil!?」
Baduta nodded.
「That is exactly it. What is here is "immorality".」
「……As I thought……Sorcery.」
It seemed that he was no longer hiding it. Baduta took the small pot that the maid carried in his hand, and opened the lid. A blackish green liquid was inside.
「This is the source that bring about the Marked Death Disease──the "undiluted solution".」
「Wha!?」
「By pouring this into the lake, it will manifest in the citizens who live on that water with a certain probability. Those people will rely on the Church, and will drop a large amount of donations.」
「……That's the worst.」
Rem groaned.
Lumachina was at a loss for words. She looked like she received a shock from how the person that she had once felt trust for was this much of a scumbag.
Baduta asked a question.
「This undiluted solution, how do you think it is created?」
「……There is no way I would know.」
「So you can't even imagine it. What you are lacking, is the power of imagination, isn't it, Adventurer.」
「Mu」
Since she had just been thinking "Aren't I getting deceived too much", it made her all the more angry. People are creatures that get angry when their mark gets hit.
「The undiluted solution of the Marked Death Disease, you see, is generated from something called plain evil. Now then, how is plain evil obtained?」
Baduta turned his gaze to the surroundings.
「Look, they are just like beasts, aren't they? However, those people, they were originally pious believers. Thick with piety, and possessing a sense of justice, they were noble men and chaste women.」
「……What of it?」
「With just a small push to the back, people easily fall.」
He looked at the lamps that surrounded the altar.
──Did they add something to the oil of these lamps as well?
When she focused on it, there was some sort of sweet smell.
Rem reflexively held her breathe.
However, it was impossible to stop breathing.
Baduta spread his hands out wide.
His ecstasy filled expression was illuminated by the flames of the lamps.
「Adultery……Bloodshed……Gluttony……The time when people fall, divinity is lost, and plain evil is born.」
「A, a place……that makes people commit sin……?」
Rem once again surveyed the surroundings.
Certainly, it wasn't just intercourse, there were also people doing other things.
There were people that greedily devoured massive amounts of food that were placed down until they vomited. And then, there were also people that raised a blade overhead towards others!
「St, stop──!」
Rem, being constrained at the altar, was unable to do anything.
Lumachina shed tears.
「S……such……strange……」
For her who lived a life that was probably much more pure than Rem, she recieved a much stronger shock.
Her body was trembling.
「Please get a hold of yourself, Lumachina! Certainly, this is all strange! Your moral senses aren't mistaken! Take a good hold of your heart!」
「Uuu……Kami-sama……Kami-sama……」
While shedding tears, she muttered.
Her body faintly shined.
It was similar to when she prayed.
Baduta shrugged his shoulders.
「According to my investigations, the stronger the divinity a person has, the thicker the obtainable plain evil from when they fall. It should create that much stronger of an undiluted solution.」
「……Y, you want to make that many people contract the Marked Death Disease!?」
「Wrong. Right now, one person is enough.」
「One person?」
「It is Lamnites.」
Rem ended up becoming dumbfounded. To think that the name of Zircon Tower's Feudal Lord would come up here.
「She is dangerous. She has obstructed me altogether. She even has a faint inkling about this sorcery. I absolutely have to make her contract the Marked Death Disease.」
「……All just for that?」
「Lamnites does not drink the water of the lake. It is fairly hard for the sorcery to reach her, but it seems that the water is used in her cuisine. If a powerful undiluted solution is used, it will most likely manifest on her.」
「……What will happen to the people of the town that drink that water!?」
「They will probably contract the Marked Death Disease. At that time, the Priests will cure them. If they make a donation, that is!」
Baduta expressed a warped smile.
Lumachina glared at him with weeping eyes.
「You……Why would you commit such a grave sin……!? I had heard that you were a noble personage. What happened to you!?」
「Would you be satisfied if there were a tear jerking inside story? Something like my family was killed, or that I was betrayed by a close friend, or that I was threatened by a Demonic Being? You damned fool, there is no reason needed to fall. People are greedy and sinful creatures.」
Just as they guessed from his speech and conduct, Baduta was not connected to the Cardinal Institution.
However, he was an outrageous villain unrelated to them!
To think that he would indiscriminately spread sorcery among the people for the sake of money and power.
Lumachina yelled out loud.
「Even if that is the case, no matter what the person's true nature is, there are people that are able to be proper!」
「I am looking forward to it, for when the proudly sermoning High Chief Priest falls to desire.」
「ッ!?」
「Teach her what pleasure is, Shiiryuu.」
The mostly naked Head Maid received the order, and expressed an alluring smile.
「Fufufu……Is that alright, for me to make her fall?」
「I expect that it is about time for the guests to come. I do not have the time to shake my waist. This isn't a simple opponent after all.」
「Goshujin-sama, it is as if you are waiting for your lover. I am quite jealous.」
「Go finish her up. I will partner up with you afterwards.」
「My, I look forward to that! What shall we do with this Pantherian?」
「It's his slave. We might be able to use her to stop him in his tracks. Torment her as you like without killing her.」
「As you wish, Goshujin-sama.」
Only her bowing action was that of a maid. Although her appearance was similar to her being naked……
Rem threw out all of the abusive language that she could come up with, but she was ignored.
While wriggling her fingers, Shiiryuu got close to Lumachina. She let out a long breath.
「Nfuu~……To be able to make such a pretty girl fall, it is really arousing.」
「D, do not approach me!」
Her white fingers made an eagle grip on Lumachina's breast from above her clothes.
「It has quite the springiness to it.」
「Haguh!?」
「Your sensitivity is good too. I thought you were sexually frigid since you always talk about formal things.」
「St, stop……Let go!」
「Saying something like that, once you get a taste of my caressing, you'll be pleading me for more, you know?」
*Pero~n* Shiiryuu stuck her tongue out.
It was long to the point of making one think "Wasn't she a Human!?"
Longer than the Dwarves who were supposed to have long tongues, it was long enough to think it would reach the throat.
「Hafuun……I'll lick you deep inside.」
Shiiryuu's hand went to Lumachina's clothes. Going into her skirt, she tore off her underwear in the end.
「Kyaaaa──────ッ!?」
*Zushin* A tremor was transmitted.
*Guragura* The cylindrical building shook. *Parapara* Sand fell.
Rem looked up at the ceiling.
──An earthquake?
Things became noisy above.
A door close to the ceiling opened.
Come to think of it, Lumachina did say that there should have been something underneath the ground. So this place was a basement.
Rem had a premonition.
The feeling of despair that filled her heart cleared up like the sky after the rain.
「……Diablo.」
(TL note: Please remember to vote for my brother. Thanks. )