TFWSDW 23

Chapter 23

I turned to Dad first, ignoring the message window for now.

Even though he was once the Church’s hero, would he be okay with what he saw?

‘If he starts hating me or treating me like an enemy… that would be bad.’

I can’t even change guardians anyway.

Just thinking about it…

Throb.

It felt like a part of my chest hurt.

“…Are you about to faint again?”

“Huh?”

“I’m asking if you’re going to pass out soon, like when we came out of the portal earlier. It feels like you just did something big.”

“Oh.”

He’s sharp. How did he figure out I used a skill?

I quickly shook my head.

“No, there’s still time left.”

“I see.”

I didn’t let down my guard.

“Is this how God told you to handle things?”

Dad suddenly said something strange.

“That was impressive.”

…There’s no way God told me to do that.

I glanced at the message window that was still hanging there.

‘This so-called “divine message” keeps telling me to do stuff like kiss him… how am I supposed to trust it?’

My distrust kept growing by the second.

“It’s true. There are too many fanatics infiltrating the Church. We keep trying to root them out, but we always fail.”

That was true. The infiltrators were getting smarter every day, and the Church couldn’t keep up.

“Hiding a tree in the forest is also a good method.”

Dad didn’t ask how I figured out who the fanatic was. He didn’t ask what I said to him.

He didn’t even ask why I changed my voice and acted like a different person.

He just kept saying good things.

“You’re… not going to say anything?”

“Me? Why would I?”

Dad’s deep-set eyes looked at me.

“You handled it well in a situation where you didn’t know who you could trust.”

I blinked.

It felt like he trusted me no matter what, without asking for an explanation.

“But… it’s too dangerous.”

I couldn’t answer, and Dad carefully reached out his hand.

Flinch.

“…Don’t shrink away.”

His large hand gently rested on my shoulder. When I relaxed, he awkwardly pulled me into a hug.

“It just looked too hard and dangerous for you to handle alone. So…”

When I looked up into his eyes—

“I’ll become a fanatic too.”

…Huh?

Excuse me, what?!

“…D-Dad?”

Did my ears just break?

“W-What kind of nonsense are you saying?!”

Does he think being a fanatic is a joke?!

I scowled at him.

“…Why is it nonsense?”

Dad looked a little dejected.

“You can pretend to be a fanatic, but why can’t I?”

“Oh… pretending…”

I realized what he meant, but only for a moment.

“I have enough reason to do it.”

He started explaining seriously.

“If we say the Church abandoned me for a long time, and even tortured me, it wouldn’t be hard to convince the fanatics.”

“No, no, wait a second!”

I held my head.

‘Where do I even start fixing this?!’

If I got caught, I could at least reveal my “Purification” ability and prove I was a Pope Candidate.

‘But if the former Church hero is revealed as a fanatic, the Church will go crazy!’

The Church would try to cut ties and kill him.

And since I’m tied to Dad as my guardian, if he dies, I’ll die too.

‘Like I’d let that happen.’

But first, there was something else that bothered me more.

“What do you mean by “tortured”?”

He wouldn’t make something up.

And it sounded too specific to just be an example.

“…”

Dad’s troubled face confirmed my suspicion.

“It was… nothing serious…”

“Dad, are you keeping secrets from me? That hurts my feelings!”

“No! That’s not it…”

The big man fumbled awkwardly before finally covering his face with his large hand.

“…It really was nothing serious.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“In the past, the Church needed a strong-willed, corrupted Holy Knight to measure the pain and damage caused by berserk states… and I was… used for that…”

He couldn’t finish, but I understood the rest.

‘Those insane jerks! They experimented on their own knights?!’

I knew the story mentioned something like this, but I didn’t think they’d use the Church’s former hero!

‘This place is messed up…’

The Church’s goals and people might be righteous, but their methods were far from clean.

“Anyway, it wouldn’t be hard to make a convincing story.”

“Yeah, I understand.”

I said I understood, but that didn’t mean I accepted it.

Just then, I had an excuse to change the topic.

“Let’s talk about this later.”

I looked to the side.

“Because Bennett’s about to wake up.”

A little later, we moved to another location.

Here’s a summary of what happened in between:

1. I fainted when the “Child Actor” skill ended.
(Note: Dad freaked out, even though I woke up sooner than last time. His pale face got even paler.)

2. We met the Inquisition investigators under the Vatican and got questioned.
(Special: The investigation ended quicker than I expected. Everyone treated me like I was some sacred unicorn.)
(Special 2: But they didn’t give me any information. Stingy jerks!)

3. Bennett woke up.
(Note: He woke up in my room. And now…)

Our dear supporting character was currently like this:

“Y-You won’t get anything out of torturing me…!”

‘He must remember getting knocked out by Dad.’

Bennett was backed into a corner like a puppy separated from its mother.

He was holding a broken tree branch he must’ve found somewhere, trembling.

For humanitarian reasons, we’d tied him up lightly (okay fine, we did tie him up), but the rope was loose on the floor now.

The chair he’d been sitting on was broken too.

And the “weapon” he was holding was one of the chair’s broken legs.

‘Looks like he woke up while we were out for the follow-up investigation.’

I glanced upward.

“Dad, you knew he was awake?”

About five minutes ago, one of the investigators came by for follow-up questions.

“Candidate Nemesia! Thank you for cooperating so sincerely during the investigation earlier! May I ask one more question?”

At the time, Bennett was still asleep, and I let my guard down because I thought it would be a quick answer at the door.

“…I heard him wake up.”

“Then why didn’t you stop him?”

“I knew he couldn’t escape.”

So… Dad heard everything, even Bennett breaking the chair?

Then I could guess why Bennett didn’t manage to escape.

‘When did he set up a holy barrier? He’s thorough.’

Thanks to Dad’s preparations, Bennett couldn’t get out.

And you know… being thorough is kind of a fanatic’s virtue.

“…You might actually make a good fanatic one day?”

Dad reacted to my muttering.

“Do you think so?”

Excuse me? Why do you look pleased?!

‘Don’t look happy about that!’

I frowned at him.

But he wasn’t the only one who heard me.

“If… If you’re trying to turn me into a fanatic too…!”

Yeah, I’d said it loud enough for Bennett to hear on purpose.

Honestly, bringing him here and unintentionally locking him up wasn’t a bad thing for him.

‘If we hadn’t taken him, he would’ve been dragged straight to the Inquisition.’

Anyone exposed to fanatics—priest, knight, or trainee—gets taken to the Inquisition without exception.

And those guys… well, their name says it all.

Bennett had no backers, and he was just a trainee with potential.

The hardline inquisitors wouldn’t care about his circumstances. They’d force him to testify no matter what.

And considering how many people came back broken from that place…

‘Forget the philosophical “rethinking justice” nonsense.’

We basically saved this poor supporting character’s life, and he doesn’t even know it!

But I couldn’t explain all that, so I just smiled at him.

“Yeah, yeah. Want me to turn you into a fanatic?”

“Eek! L-Like I’d let you do that!”

At least he was polite enough to keep speaking formally.

“Just kidding.”

“No matter what you do… Huh?!”

“I said I’m joking.”

He didn’t believe me.

“You won’t get anything out of torturing me!”

“I never said I’d torture you, did I?”

Bennett’s stick trembled in his hands. Oh, it’s shaking.

“Y-You might!”

“That’s true.”

I nodded. Bennett’s expression turned confused.

I smiled wide on purpose.

Evilly.

“…I’ll leave it to your imagination.”

“Eeeek!”

Maybe I should stop teasing him now.

I looked up at Dad and sent him a signal with my eyes.

After the first investigation, when we were heading back to my room, I’d asked Dad for a favor.

“Dad, could you bring me that?”