Adopt 188

Episode 188

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Crash!

Above the torrent of pouring rain came the sound of a building’s roof caving in.

The worst typhoon in decades battered every corner of the once-prosperous harbor city like the hammer of a vengeful god.

Right in the heart of this devastation—showing just how powerless human civilization was in the face of nature—stood Giuseppe.

The storm winds raged and tore at the earth like mad, and yet, within what seemed the eye of the typhoon, not a single fold of Giuseppe’s robe so much as fluttered.

He looked as if he belonged to some world other than this one.

For a while, Giuseppe stood with holy, luminous eyes, searching his surroundings. Then his brow drew together in a faint crease.

‘As I suspected, there’s no trace to be found.’

No matter how stubbornly he searched, he found nothing of what he sought.

Bang! Crack!

With a tremor that shook the ground, a great tree, unable to withstand the howling wind, was wrenched from its roots and began to topple toward Giuseppe.

“…Sir.”

Noticing the growing shadow on the ground, Giuseppe raised his head to the sky.

Just as the massive trunk was about to crash down on him—

“High Priest!”

At someone’s shout, Giuseppe closed his eyes in resignation.

When he opened them again, he stood inside the Sanctuary, beneath the blazing midday sun.

Ophelia, spotting the fleeting sparks of divinity still lingering in Giuseppe’s eyes, sighed deeply.

“You’ve used the Gift of Insight again, haven’t you?”

Ever since arriving at the harbor city, Giuseppe had employed the Gift of Insight every day, searching the future.

“Was there anything different this time?”

“It was just as before.”

“You see? It’s needless anxiety. Yet you even went so far as to bring along the Marquis Blanche.”

Though she grumbled with discontent, Ophelia busied herself preparing tea for Giuseppe.

Giuseppe rubbed his tired eyes and let out a heavy breath.

Two days from now, a massive typhoon would strike the harbor city.

That was all Giuseppe had seen in his visions of the future.

No matter how many times he looked, nowhere did he find any sign of disaster caused by dark magic.

He’d spoken to Belinda in ominous terms, hinting at a coming tragedy for the city, but in the end, it was just a natural disaster.

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my time as Saintess, it’s that even dark magic has its limits. Surely, not even dark magic could summon a typhoon?”

Ophelia set a cup of tea before him, offering her thoughts with caution.

She was right.

Still, Giuseppe’s obsession with searching the future came from a sense of wrongness stuck in his mind like a splinter under his nail.

Having traced the movements of dark mages operating throughout the capital, he’d been led to the harbor city.

On top of that, the Tower’s wizards had caught a whiff of something and were now staying in the city as well.

Giuseppe was not so optimistic as to dismiss all of this as sheer coincidence.

More than anything, it bothered him that the dark mages the Temple was tracking were members of the organization called “Veil Walkers.”

It had been two years since the unprecedented founding of the dark mage group.

In those two years, disappearances had taken place all over the capital’s districts, and the Veil Walkers were always at the heart of them.

For a year, the Temple had pursued the group, but had been unable to determine the identity—not to mention the motives—of their enigmatic leader, known as the Seeker.

Partly that was because the group evaded every attempt to corner them with uncanny precision, but a deeper reason was that even the Gift of Insight could not reveal their movements.

As if some power shielded them.

For example…

‘If someone not bound by destiny was moving among them.’

He knew he was indulging in fantasy.

But if so, that would explain why not even the Gift of Insight could perceive them.

That was why, as a sort of reckless wager, Giuseppe had brought Belinda along—with the rationale that if the Veil Walkers included one who could defy fate, only someone outside of God’s design could counter them.

Having reached his conclusion, Giuseppe sipped his tea and spoke.

“It would be a relief if all my concerns prove baseless.”

He truly hoped his nerves were for nothing as he raised the teacup to his lips.

“High Priest.”

An unexpected visitor sought Giuseppe.

Belinda’s expression toward him was as discontented as ever, but Giuseppe was quick to notice that her face, beneath the surface, held more than just past resentment.

As he’d suspected, Belinda began to speak, her tone heavy.

“I found her.”

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Giuseppe had suspected the dark mage inside the Temple to be a high-ranking priest.

Given how the Veil Walkers managed to slip through the Temple’s dragnet time and again, someone with deep knowledge of internal affairs had to be feeding them information—knowledge only a high-ranking priest would possess.

He also knew that most priests who turned to dark magic did so in hopes of increasing their holy power, lending weight to his theory.

So, when Giuseppe learned that the person identified as a dark mage was nothing but a probationary priest—

“Are you certain?”

It was not a strange question for him to ask.

I glanced at Sugar, flapping and chittering by my ear, and nodded.

“My fairy is sure of it.”

I said it with confidence, but truthfully, I’d felt just as uneasy when I first discovered her.

If not to amplify holy power with dark magic, why remain in the Temple at such risk?

Priesthood was not compulsory—at any time, she could have left the Temple if she’d wished.

“So, what do we do now?”

“The original plan was to watch and wait for her to lead us to the organization’s base…”

Giuseppe hesitated, then made up his mind.

“Given that you’re so certain, perhaps I should use the Gift of Insight to examine her past as well. Especially since you’ve confirmed she’s a dark mage.”

Certainly, the powers of the gods felt more than a little unfair—at least, to anyone not on the receiving end.

To read a person’s past with a mere touch.

Striding forward, Giuseppe spoke to the probationary priest.

“Excuse me, but may I trouble you for directions?”

Startled, the girl turned and looked at him, scanning her surroundings before pointing hesitantly at herself.

“M-m-m-me?”

She blushed bright red, her surprise almost embarrassing.

Up close, she looked about my age, with quite an ordinary face.

For a moment, I almost doubted Sugar’s word myself.

Pretending to be an ordinary priest, Giuseppe continued in an infuriatingly relaxed tone.

“Yes. My companion is searching for the sanctuary, but I’m still unfamiliar with the layout here.”

We hadn’t spoken beforehand, but I nodded in easy agreement.

“Ah—you must have been transferred here from the main temple. I’ve heard so much about you.”

“What have you heard?”

“That you’re incredibly handso—aaaah, no, nothing! Please, follow me! I’ll guide you to the sanctuary!”

Mumbling and clapping a hand over her mouth as if to silence her wayward tongue, the probationary priest started off ahead of us.

How long did we walk?

Not much later, we reached the entrance to the sanctuary, where she turned back to Giuseppe.

“This is the sanctuary. A lot of sacred artifacts are stored here, still awaiting their proper owners, so you’re welcome to look around.”

“Thank you for your help.”

“No, no. On the contrary, I should thank y—I mean, it was an honor to see you up close.”

Still stammering and flustered to the end, she was met with a gentle smile from Giuseppe.

“You’re very kind. You must be a probationary priest—please, accept this as a small token of my thanks.”

Casually, Giuseppe reached out and placed his hand toward her brow.

Just as priests bestowed the blessing of the gods upon the faithful, it was not unusual for a full priest to grant a blessing to a probationary one.

So it was not strange for Giuseppe to place his hand on her forehead in gratitude for her guidance.

Just as his hand was about to touch her—

Smack!

With a sharp motion, the probationary priest knocked his hand away.

“Ah…”

She blinked, staring down at the hand that had struck Giuseppe’s away.

Still wearing an innocently open face, she looked up at him and asked,

“Did you see it?”

See what?

There was no time to answer.

“My goodness, you shouldn’t go touching people so carelessly.”

She pouted, whispering almost playfully—but then slipped a slim blade from the wide sleeve of her robe.

“Stand back!”

Giuseppe shoved me roughly away.

As I tumbled backward, I caught sight of the woman plunging the blade into her own neck.

Even as she did, she smiled with chilling innocence—and above her form, an ominous dark magic circle flared to life.

And in the next instant—

Crash!

A deafening explosion, shrouding everything in blinding white.