My Possession Became a Ghost Story - Chapter 207

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

Bishop Javanya tried not to scream and ended up biting his tongue. Rico’s body was now split into hundreds of pieces. At first they were scattered chunks of flesh, but they writhed as fur and legs sprouted. Soon they transformed into a form Javanya knew well.

“…Rats?”

They had taken the form of rats. The rats poured down to the floor and began scattering in all directions. They went between cracks in the floor, climbed up to the ceiling, struggled under the door gap and fled outside.

Only after fur had fluttered once did the room become quiet. As if from the beginning, only Gabriel and Javanya had been alone in the room.

Gabriel looked at the cloth Rico had left behind and asked Javanya.

“Bishop, would you please cover my eyes with the cloth?”

Javanya let out a hollow laugh in disbelief. This foolish man was letting the demon escape and saying he would take its place as a sacrifice on the altar.

Javanya roughly took the rope and tied Gabriel up tightly. With personal spite mixed in, so tight that blood couldn’t circulate.

Next it was time to tie his wrists. Shouldn’t he perfectly recreate how Gabriel had been bound when he transformed into a rat? While Javanya was concentrating on tying the rope knots, Gabriel spoke to him again.

“I have one more request for you, Bishop.”

“Insolent brat. Do you think I’ll grant any request from someone about to die? I’ll just listen for now, so go ahead and speak.”

“If the sun disappears from the sky, would you open the temple doors wide?”

“Such blasphemy!”

The hand gripping the rope tensed with force. Javanya briefly regretted that he should have gagged Gabriel’s mouth first instead of covering his eyes.

Javanya momentarily applied full force then subtly relaxed his grip. Gabriel, this foolish one, didn’t even show signs of pain, seemingly unaware that he had spoken rudely.

Javanya’s anger subsided slightly, but remembering what he had just heard made him angry again. It seemed Marik hadn’t captured someone completely innocent.

Still, he had been ordained as a Holy Knight, so how did he end up in this state? He must have fallen completely under Evangeline Rohanson’s spell.

“The sun disappearing? How can such impious words exist?”

He wanted to ignore it, but Gabriel wasn’t someone who spoke nonsense. With rising doubt, Javanya frowned deeply and asked sarcastically.

The sun disappearing? If it wasn’t a curse to send others into the abyss because his own vision had gone dark, then what was it? However, Gabriel remained calm as if he had expected Javanya’s harsh reaction.

“But you will soon see it with your own eyes.”

Rather, he even spoke with confidence as if he were a prophet, so Javanya stopped responding. He wasn’t someone you could reason with. Then Gabriel went even further and proposed a bet to Javanya.

“If you truly can’t believe my words, Bishop, shall we make a bet?”

“A bet?”

“Yes. If the sun disappears, you must grant my request, Bishop.”

As Javanya listened quietly to see how far he would go, Gabriel smiled and added.

“According to your words, Bishop, the sun cannot disappear, so my request would also become nothing.”

“Ha, really.”

Javanya couldn’t help but chuckle in disbelief. What that bastard was saying was this: Since Javanya believed the sun wouldn’t disappear anyway, granting his request would cause no loss whatsoever.

If things really went as he said, then the request would have to be granted. He wasn’t a knight but a complete scoundrel.

“It’s fortunate you’re not my son. I wouldn’t want such a troublesome brat as a child.”

“I’m also glad not to show this side of myself to my father.”

Talking back to an old man’s scolding was also insufferably insolent.

Javanya didn’t know how magnificent Gabriel had appeared to his subordinates, but that adjutant called Rafaela treated Javanya like an unparalleled scoundrel whenever she saw him. Javanya wanted to shout at Rafaela to open her eyes wide and look at Gabriel again.

Of course he was good, but Gabriel wasn’t the obsessively clean person others had praised him to be.

Well, that was now a thing of the past. Soon Gabriel would become an impurity officially recognized by the temple. Javanya tried to gag Gabriel’s mouth with cloth for the last time.

“Bishop, thank you for everything.”

When told to open his mouth, he finished his final farewell on his own.

How strange indeed. Hearing Gabriel’s farewell felt like a greater loss than when massive gold coins had slipped from his grasp. It felt like something he had been holding was vanishing meaninglessly. Even though Javanya had never once valued Gabriel more than his own position and honor.

Javanya had definitely come here to help Gabriel escape.

From his perspective, Gabriel wasn’t particularly suited to be a sacrifice. Gabriel was faithful and knew goodness. He wasn’t a child worth risking his subordinates’ lives for. Therefore, Javanya believed Gabriel had been falsely accused.

Since he had repeatedly opposed Marik because of Evangeline Rohanson, he must have been made to bear the anger directed at Evangeline instead. Javanya had planned to spirit Gabriel away until Marik disposed of Evangeline. After that, if he quietly reinstated Gabriel, Marik couldn’t say anything to him.

But this bastard appeared to be in league with demons, didn’t hesitate to make blasphemous statements about the sun disappearing, and now it seemed there had been no false accusation at all.

Javanya wanted to urge Gabriel to flee even now, but how could he change this bastard’s stubbornness? To Javanya, Gabriel seemed like a moth jumping into flames, saying the light was beautiful.

In the end, he was binding and offering up a child he had raised himself, so his heart felt frustrated at the situation not going as intended.

Since Javanya had gagged Gabriel’s mouth with cloth, they could no longer converse. Javanya pondered what he should say to Gabriel, then simply maintained silence and left.

Upon leaving the room, the knights who had returned at some point welcomed Javanya.

“Bishop Javanya, did the conversation end well?”

Javanya nodded while gauging whether the knights had perhaps overheard his conversation with Gabriel.

“Yes. Thanks to you all, I had a good final farewell.”

“Then that’s fortunate.”

The knights had become much more respectful toward Javanya, perhaps because they had received massive gold coins beyond their reach.

Fortunately, it seemed they hadn’t heard the conversation, and they also appeared not to have seen the rats fleeing earlier.

Having accomplished his purpose, he was about to leave when one knight hesitated, blocking his path as if he had something to say.

“Um… to Bishop Marik…”

He wondered if there was something important to discuss, but it was about Marik. Gripping the pouch of gold coins tightly in his hand, his thoughts were obvious.

He was worried the gold coins might be confiscated again if word reached Marik’s ears. Javanya patted the knight’s shoulder with a benevolent expression.

“I’ll speak to him. But you know, there’s no need to create more work for someone already busy overseeing the sacrifice ritual.”

“That means…”

“Unless Bishop Marik asks first, there’s no need to mention it. Wouldn’t that save everyone trouble?”

The knights exchanged glances and nodded. The knights and Javanya reached an amicable agreement. Of course, it would disappear instantly if Marik asked.

Leaving the knights behind, Javanya exited the temple. Walking along the cloister, the beautiful garden came into view at a glance.

In the cool weather, the spectacle of flowers, plants, and butterflies flying about was worth more than gold. This wasn’t a sentimental assessment, but referring to the actual cost of creating the garden. Even the holy water springing from the garden fountain couldn’t be exchanged for bringing the entire Imperial Capital.

Javanya heard the sound of trickling water. Including the garden, the temple was always peaceful and tranquil. Living confined here, one sometimes forgot the outside world.

Most priests had no reason to go out since they ate and slept at the temple. Originally, distancing oneself from worldly ties was also a virtue. When becoming a priest, publicly renouncing one’s family name served this purpose too.

Come to think of it, Javanya himself hadn’t been outside for quite some time. Even when bringing Gabriel, he used to go out daily for relief work.

Javanya passed through the garden. Since it was just before the sacrifice ritual began, there were fewer people than usual. The occasional priests he encountered bowed deeply in greeting whenever they met Javanya.

“Bishop? The sacrifice ritual will begin soon, but are you going to the main gate again?”

A familiar priest asked with apparent puzzlement.

Javanya casually acknowledged the greeting but ignored the question as he walked on. He himself was hesitant about how to answer.

Fresh grass was crushed underfoot. The temple’s scenery was only cozy and peaceful. Since the temple was located on high ground, being closer to the sun and harmonizing with the sun floating in the sky gave the impression of not being on earth. Javanya suddenly found the temple very unfamiliar.

When Marik had just come up from the monastery, and when Javanya hadn’t even attained the title of priest yet, the temple wasn’t this green and fresh.

Actually, Javanya didn’t remember in detail what the temple’s appearance was like back then. It had been so long ago, and moreover, at that time he spent more days wandering villages for relief work than staying at the temple.

Javanya had cared for thin and sick people among them, eating grass porridge together, and slept together using their cries and prayers as lullabies.

Javanya suddenly recalled the people he had seen recently.

Instead of shabby, gaunt hands grasping his to express gratitude, he shook hands with those wearing large gemstone rings on every finger. Instead of drawing water from dry wells to quench the thirst of the sick, he praised fountains gushing with holy water until his mouth wasn’t dry.

Instead of providing relief to the poor, he selected heretics to kill. He saw more corpses going to their deaths than living people.

Perhaps Gabriel’s words about the sun disappearing were criticism of the current corruption. That bastard Gabriel had saved more lives than Javanya himself, despite being in league with demons.

Feeling slight guilt toward Gabriel, Javanya felt indebted as if he had to grant his request and continued walking.

Every priest he encountered looked at Javanya with puzzlement. Since the sacrifice ritual was about to begin, all participants would have entered, so there was no need to go to the entrance again. Moreover, wouldn’t it be strange for someone of bishop rank to be outside when the sacrifice ritual was starting?

“Bishop…? Where are you going?”

Javanya swallowed at the repeated question. He couldn’t say that Gabriel had proposed a bet and he was pondering whether to open the temple doors if the sun happened to disappear.

“…I want to pray together with the parishioners outside at the entrance.”

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