Chapter 94

I didn’t know why Gidehme was helping me. Flora I could understand, but him?

‘Well, whatever. I’ll take it.’

“What… what’s that supposed to mean…?”

Looking baffled at Flora’s words, Emmet turned to glance around—and his eyes locked with mine.

In that moment, his expression shifted, as if he’d caught on to something.

After a brief hesitation, he raised his hand.

“I’d like to give my opinion as well. Actually… Candidate Nemesia and Candidate Flora are right.”

The boy spoke with shameless confidence.

“I was embarrassed and wanted to keep quiet, but since my fellow candidates are saying it, I won’t deny it.”

It was a little obnoxious, but I could see the professors’ eyes sparkle at his words.

Of course, it’s not as though the Order has no means of knowing what happened inside.

‘But once a supernatural event is wiped out completely, it gets tricky.’

Which meant they would take the candidates’ words at face value. They wouldn’t think we were making things up.

For reasons unknown, plenty of kids had agreed with my fabrication, so the matter wrapped up nicely.

Afterward, we each had a private interview with a professor, then the pope candidates were given another break.

Not just any break—a break before deep-level testing.

‘Because if you’ve been inside a supernatural event or had close contact with a monster, there’s a chance of contamination.’

Every single child would be tested for contamination without exception.

“Do we just go back to our rooms?”

“Mm…!”

Once my interview was done, Daddy carried me back to the room.

From the hallway all the way to our door, my mind was elsewhere.

‘Okay, time to think about this. Who was the one that answered that question about me on the Stairs of Division?’

Someone had gotten a “Nemesia”-related question right there, climbing half the stairs in one go.

Given how much schooling I’d missed for… various reasons, the other candidates shouldn’t have had much chance to learn about me in detail.

If one of them did know me, wouldn’t they have said something from the start, back when we all met?

‘If not, that means they were either an enemy, or there’s something awkward between us.’

Plus, unless you’re the protagonist, it’s normal to lose a lot of memories after a supernatural event.

For someone to answer a question like that, they’d have to be less affected—or not affected at all.

‘But no one’s shown any particularly strange behavior…’

Emmet was out—when I’d brought up his younger sister, it was clear he didn’t remember me.

‘Flora and Gidehme are also unlikely.’

But without certainty, it was a headache.

I hate unknown variables.

“Something on your mind?”

When I stayed silent, legs swinging in my chair, Daddy must’ve noticed and sat down beside me.

Because he was so big, he had to bend far forward just to talk at my eye level.

I covered my mouth with my hands and giggled.

‘Maybe I should bring this up to Daddy and think it through together.’

“Mm, I got somefin’ that’s worryin’ me, wanna hear?”

“Good, I have something to tell you too…”

That’s when it happened.

The moment Daddy began to speak—

Bzzzzz!

A violent vibration ran up my arm.

“Nemesia? That’s…”

Even Daddy noticed it. I frowned deeply and looked down at my arm.

The source was the skull bracelet I’d gotten from the Dog-Headed Judge section.

— Hello, Counselor.

A voice I hadn’t been eager to hear spoke up.

From Daddy’s expression, it seemed only I could hear it.

“Daddy, one sec.”

— Sorry to interrupt your good time.

— Too bad!

“What d’you want?”

Strange smoke seeped from the bracelet, taking the shape of a dog’s head. Ridiculous.

‘This guy really needs to assert himself anywhere, huh.’

The smoke grinned at me, snickering.

— Just here to give some advice!

— So!

— Watch yourself!

‘Watch myself? Out of nowhere?’

Before I could ask, the smoke that had appeared so confidently began to disperse rapidly.

The dog head grinned wide at me as it faded.

— Something real interesting got inside your body!

— Inside!

— I’ll be looking forward to it!

It vanished before I could respond, leaving only a vague, unpleasant warning.

— Call me again sometime!

— If it’s fun, I’m in!

— Send me some criminals too! Woof woof woof!

‘Yeah, no thanks. I’m never seeing you again, you mutt.’

Still, even if it was just out of a monster’s whimsy, the fact was, I had gotten help from it when I ran into Usher.

Even after the smoke was gone and the voice silent, the feeling lingered.

“What just happened? Did you find out what that bracelet is?”

Ah, right—Daddy only knew I’d gotten an item.

“Mm, so…”

After some thought, I told him the truth—what the item really was, and what the Dog-Headed Judge had just said.

“You’re saying a monster warned you?”

“Dunno… if it was a warnin’.”

I hadn’t expected Daddy to brush it off, but…

…He looked more serious than I’d thought.

“I told you I had something to say as well, remember? I think it ties in with what those monsters said.”

“Eh.”

I went serious too.

“Just before the portal transfer, the Shadow Taggers gathered and started whispering. I heard it clearly.”

He told me what he’d heard. A disturbing thing indeed.

‘Oh…’

Birth. Foretold. Arrival.

All lines that appear when a “child chosen by the Evil God” is born.

“I told you, they figured out I was the Pope.”

“Yes, and they said it outright.”

That supernatural event was well and truly wiped out, so there’d be no further tricks from it.

If anything strange had happened to me physically, the status board would have told me—and it hadn’t.

But the Tagger had given its last words to me, as if I were the Evil God’s chosen child.

It didn’t sit right.

‘The only thing I can think of here… is that, huh?’

I was about to pout and explain my guess to Daddy when—

Knock knock!

Someone knocked on the door.

‘Who’d come by now?’

Daddy’s brows furrowed. Ever since Usher had come by, he’d been on edge whenever anyone visited.

“It’s fine.”

I reached out and patted his hand quickly.

“Ne-me-sia! It’s me!”

That familiar voice… Flora?

When Flora came in a moment later, she wasn’t alone.

‘Huh.’

Peeking out from behind her was another girl, just her face showing.

“Nemesia, you were in your room! I was looking for you in the classroom this whole time! Come on, Lucy, say hello!”

“Uh, uh, uh? Uuuh…!”

Shy to the extreme, and with a stutter so bad it was almost painful, Lucy shuffled toward me.