Let the Whales Fight, This Shrimp is Leaving! - Chapter 55

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 55
The Veritas Faith. A gathering of practitioners who seek the truth that the one supreme God who created the world commanded them to pursue.
It was the most widely spread popular religion across the entire continent, and the one with the greatest influence.
Temples established to propagate the doctrines of the Veritas Faith were distributed not only throughout the Agavni United States but across the entire continent.
Even in Plene, which recognized freedom of religion, fourteen religious institutions had been established, and a full eleven of them were Veritas Faith temples.
Though they had not formally proclaimed the Veritas Faith as the state religion, there was an implicit atmosphere of recognition.
‘Of course, I don’t believe in it myself.’
If I had believed, there would be no reason to go about summoning demons.
I would have sat helplessly in the chapel and devoted myself to prayer.
Particularly within the Agavni United States, there existed a kingdom that had first proclaimed the Veritas Faith as its state religion, and all the roots of the Veritas Faith traced back to that nation.
The largest Central Temple was located in that country as well, and naturally, holy relics and other sacred objects were kept there.
The power of the Veritas Faith was formidable.
They served as a kind of religious sentinel, extending their doctrine far beyond their own borders.
The fact that I had threatened to report Deyan to the Central Temple, and that Deyan found it absurd—both stemmed from this reality.
The moment the Veritas Faith learned of my connection to a demon, their accusations would turn toward me in unison.
The people’s hearts would waver, and zealots would stage daily protests, demanding that this heretic be arrested and interrogated.
Backed by such voices, the Temple would naturally seize anyone who had contacted a demon for interrogation.
All while invoking the pretense of divine will.
‘What has the God ever done for me?’
No matter how much I thought about it, it seemed unlikely that any deity would illuminate my path, but still, it was better to mind public opinion.
That was why I had outwardly posed as a believer of the Veritas Faith all this time.
Yet within a religious group that so adamantly opposed demons, heresy had emerged.
And the reason for it was books about demons that had been stored inside the Central Temple itself!
“It is contradictory, certainly, but demons are inherently beings that seduce people.”
Indeed, when Beval was first summoned, he had attempted to cajole me with honeyed words.
“So they performed a Demon Summoning Ritual? Inside the Temple, no less?”
“It’s already been verified as fact.”
“The spies’ betrayal was also because they fell for the heretics’ enticements, it seems.”
“Yes. What the heretics are claiming is ‘absolute freedom’ and salvation, or so they say.”
The argument was that there is no single absolute truth in this world, so people should struggle for their own freedom and endeavor to save themselves.
Heard alone, it sounded so convincing that one could easily be swept away by it.
‘The problem is that when uncontrolled freedom floods in, everything collapses into chaos.’
The heretics’ attempt to summon a demon was a manifestation of that chaos itself.
Even while recognizing that their actions would cause tremendous sacrifice, they had attempted to summon the Demon of Freedom.
In the process, seventy-two people—including orphans with no connections—were offered as sacrifices.
That was only the confirmed count, so I had to account for far more victims.
“Did the heretics succeed in summoning a demon?”
“I don’t know about that. But it’s better to keep the possibility open.”
Deyan appeared thoroughly perplexed.
‘Well, of course.’
Knowing what he had endured for a demon summoning, I could understand his reaction.
I myself had been quite taken aback to learn that the heretics had performed a Demon Summoning Ritual.
Having already made contact with a demon, it bothered me that I hadn’t thought to ask such questions until now.
If I had attempted it, anyone else could have done so just as easily.
Had I come to believe I was somehow special?
“Now that I’ve seen this report, I’m wondering about the path by which Beval’s Summoning Circle was leaked—the one I had confiscated from the Black Market.”
There was a possibility that the heretics had disseminated Summoning Circles for all manner of demons under the banner of freedom.
Perhaps they could not attempt every summoning themselves, so they sought to sow confusion among the unspecified masses.
‘That’s just my speculation, though.’
In any case, I had succeeded in summoning Beval using only a few drops of Deyan’s blood.
So if the conditions were met, anyone ought to be capable of performing a summoning.
The exact conditions necessary for summoning likely differed for each demon, but I had a strong sense that they would not be things one could obtain through peaceful means.
‘Wasn’t that right?’
The very first demon to be summoned was the one Deyan had contracted with, and hadn’t he been called the culprit who had thrown Hell into disorder?
[Idir, there’s something I’d like to ask.]
[Who is the owner of the blood that was offered as a sacrifice to me?]
In fact, as soon as Beval was summoned and appeared before me, he had asked whose blood had been offered.
And now I was trying to learn the name of the demon Deyan had contracted with, and to trace that demon’s movements.
‘There must be some connection.’
“I have never once seen the demon I contracted with,” Deyan said.
His voice had sunk low as he meticulously combed through the last page of the documents.
His hazel eyes seemed to burn with a quiet intensity.
“What if the reason for that was because the demon had been summoned by someone else, or was hidden among humans, sowing chaos?”
“Are you suggesting that a demon created the heresy with its own hands?”
“Yes. If that were true, it would also explain why an angel suddenly intervened when I attempted to summon a demon.”
Deyan recounted a strange conversation he had shared with Sariel on the day he had found the kitten.
“When I asked why the angel was there, he clearly answered that it was to fulfill his given task.”
“And the angel’s task would be to monitor sin and counter demons, wouldn’t it?”
That much could be inferred simply by consolidating all the insults that Beval and Sariel had hurled at each other with bared fangs.
‘Hell is in chaos, they said.’
The demons had lost power because of that disorder.
But did that apply to every demon?
‘Do demons have factions and hierarchies among themselves?’
It was a hypothesis dressed in the name of “what if.”
If there were factions formed among them and war erupted between those factions, that too could be called chaos.
What was certain was that the demon Deyan had contracted with and Beval were in an adversarial relationship.
‘If he were nearby, I could just ask.’
Why did Sariel have to vanish precisely at a time like this?
In that moment of lament, a possibility suddenly occurred to me.
“What if the heretics succeeded in summoning a demon?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“If the reason Sariel vanished was because of another demon…”
“If the angel had merely vanished to deal with a simple demon clinging to humans, then the demon you summoned would have also disappeared before the contract was made. The angel would have destroyed it.”
“Mm. You’re right.”
This is difficult.
I couldn’t make sense of how the situation was unfolding at all.
It would be simple if I could just ask Beval or Sariel directly.
‘Why do they never appear when I need them?’
I sank into the sofa, my strength draining away.
‘I just wanted to find the one who killed my mother, take my revenge, and protect my country’s peace.’
Do I really have to concern myself with all this—heresy and demons and angels and chaos?
Isn’t that too cruel?
I felt inexplicably wronged.
While I held back a sigh, Deyan was already poring over the documents he had finished reading, scanning them repeatedly.
‘If you’ve borrowed a demon’s power for that long, you ought to know something.’
No help whatsoever.
I fixed Deyan with a sharp stare, and when he felt my gaze, he awkwardly turned his head away.
Our eyes met, and he quickly averted his gaze.
Seeing him rub the space where his nails had been torn away, it was clear that my attention was making him rather uncomfortable.
“How do you feel about it?”
“I beg your pardon? Feel about what?”
“What the heretics are advocating. This business about seizing freedom and all that.”
“…….”
“If your Contract with a Demon were to vanish cleanly and you became free, what would you do?”
It seemed Deyan hadn’t expected the question, as he hastily closed his mouth.
Since I hadn’t asked it hoping for a particular answer, I didn’t pay much attention and reached for my teacup.
“I… I’m not sure.”
Then Deyan began to answer hesitantly.
“What do you mean, you’re not sure?”
“I’ve never imagined such a thing, so I don’t know.”
What foolish words these were.
Deyan gazed quietly at his nails before clenching his fist.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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