The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 63

"Open your eyes."

Baron Samedi’s voice. That voice is not resonating inside my head. Baron Samedi is not currently dwelling within me.

He exists before me not as a spirit, but as a distinct living being with a physical form.

"May I really open them?"

"Open them. What need is there for such trivial courtesies between us?"

"May I really open them?"

"I said open them, didn’t I?"

I opened my eyes.

The room had become filled with purple mist. Through the faint light flowing from the candle, I see Baron Samedi’s form.

Dressed in an immaculate tuxedo with a silk hat. Beyond the darkness, the red gleam staring at me is eerily distinct. He is very tall and thin.

That is Baron Samedi’s manifestation. It had been truly long since I saw his manifested form. The last time I saw it was probably 7 years ago.

Whoosh.

At that moment, the candle went out. The light that had been faintly driving away the darkness completely disappeared, and the room was densely filled with darkness.

Baron Samedi’s red gleam remained vivid.

"Why are you staring at me like that? How embarrassing. Even like this, there’s no inconvenience in conversing, is there?"

"No, it’s fine. I’ll finish this quickly anyway."

Baron Samedi nodded.

"Yes, you said you would earnestly request something. What do you earnestly request that you called me to this place? I am very busy. I was just doing something very important."

"Really? I thought you were just hitting on women."

"Oh my. Don’t think to blaspheme me with such vulgar expressions."

"So you were hitting on women. Well anyway, I have three requests."

Baron Samedi can manifest in any form: animals, humans, mist, anything.

Naturally, he can also change his face, and makes it his business to seduce women with his flashy appearance.

It was a bad hobby, but he himself seemed to feel no guilt about it whatsoever.

Not that I had any intention of stopping him. He wasn’t someone who would listen even if I tried to stop him anyway. I immediately brought up the main point.

"The first request. Please make your visiting cycle regular. Once every three days, or once every four days. Something like that."

I will interpret Baron Samedi’s prophecies. Through that, I will glimpse the future and prepare ’in advance’ for coming crises.

Until now, I had been scrambling to deal with situations after incidents occurred, but from now on it would be different.

Rather than being swept along by events, I would become the one controlling events.

The first request was groundwork for this. Through regular meetings with Baron Samedi, I planned to increase the number of usable ’prophecies.’

"I refuse. I’ll be leaving now."

"If you leave now, you’ll regret it."

To Baron Samedi, who was turning away after curtly refusing, I spoke in a somewhat insolent tone to provoke him.

Baron Samedi’s gleam stared at my face with piercing sharpness.

"’Regret’? Regret, you say? I’m sorry, but I’m not human. Regret is something only foolish humans do. Realize your position. You are in a position of serving me, nothing more."

"If you won’t even do this much, then I have no reason to serve you either."

"Really? Then don’t serve me. Do you even know thanks to whom you’re alive?"

Baron Samedi’s tone was serious, unlike usual. He seemed very angry. His red gleam shone threateningly as if it would pierce my heart.

"If I just lift a finger, you will vanish and die without a trace. Even your soul will lose its way, wander the mortal world, and eventually become a ghost. Is that what you want?"

"If that’s what you want."

"...Really?"

"Yes."

I nodded confidently. Baron Samedi’s gleam was trembling slightly. He seemed a bit flustered, though very slightly.

I stared clearly at such Baron Samedi’s eyes. I wasn’t scared at all.

I couldn’t be scared. At this moment, I was in a position no different from being equal to Baron Samedi.

"Are you serious?"

"I’m serious."

"There is no human who doesn’t fear death. Among all the countless souls I’ve collected, there was no one who didn’t fear death."

"Of course I don’t want to die either."

Baron Samedi let out a hollow laugh.

"Then was your statement just now mere bluster?"

"I said it knowing that you can’t kill me."

"..."

Baron Samedi briefly closed his mouth. He seemed to have forgotten what to say.

I continued speaking in the room that was like the afterlife itself, tangled with darkness and silence.

"Just as I need you, don’t you need me too?"

There was no answer. The red gleam was staring at me blankly.

I can borrow the power of the Loa.

I use Bosu’s power for monstrous strength, Granboa’s power for plants, and Sobo’s power for lightning. The power of the Loa is incomparably strong compared to anything else.

Then why do the Loa lend me their power?

The answer is simple. Because I was born with the vessel of a prophet and inherited the blood of a cult leader.

I have a body more suitable than anyone else for accepting the Loa.

If the Loa don’t dwell in me, they can’t exert even half their original power, and they also can’t feel satisfaction.

In other words, I am not ’parasitizing’ the Loa. The Loa lend me power, and I lend the Loa my body.

We are in a relationship of exchanging what each other needs, more appropriately seen as ’symbiosis’ or a ’contract’ relationship.

Hahaha, haha! Ha, hahaha!

At that moment, Baron Samedi suddenly began laughing madly. It was as if the darkness filling the room was laughing out loud.

I suddenly felt alienation and eeriness.

The red gleam was still staring at me.

"Yes. We need a body, that is, a ’vessel.’ But that ’vessel’ doesn’t necessarily have to be you."

"Ah, really?"

"We just need a vessel to exist. Whether it’s a clay pot or a golden pot. That’s not our concern."

"If you’re going to use one anyway, wouldn’t it be better to use a golden pot?"

Baron Samedi pondered for a moment.

"Well. A non-complaining clay pot is better than a fussy golden pot."

"Then go with the non-complaining clay pot. Break the fussy golden pot quickly."

"There’s no need to go that far."

"If you dwell in someone else, it’ll be harder to hit on women too."

Baron Samedi can manifest in various forms. Mist, animals, people... But if he dwells in someone other than me, while mist or animals might be possible, manifesting in human form would become difficult. The difference in vessels was that significant.

Baron Samedi, who pondered in silence for a long time. I knelt before him, staring clearly at the faintly glowing red gleam.

"...Five days."

"Pardon?"

"Once every three or four days is too difficult. Let’s make it once every five days."

I pretended to ponder for a moment. Once every five days. This was an appropriate cycle, neither too frequent nor too rare.

Moreover, I still had two more requests to make to Baron Samedi. Rather than bargaining now, it was right to respect Baron Samedi’s opinion.

"Once every five days. Good. Then the next request..."

"Wait, wait. Hold on."

Baron Samedi hastily interrupted my words.

"Is this really a request? It’s not a request but more like negotiation or blackmail."

"Since blackmail has bad connotations, let’s call it negotiation."

"You damn bastard... Yes, so what’s the next negotiation? Really, I never thought the day would come when I’d negotiate with a human. What a thing to see after living so long."

Baron Samedi grumbled. Though his tone seemed displeased, I didn’t particularly mind.

Right now, I had to take a firm attitude to make Baron Samedi listen to my request, no, to make him have no choice but to listen.

"The second request. Please tell me about the method to turn Jeong Yun-ah, Jeong In-ah’s younger sibling, back into a human, and about the Satan worshippers hiding in Florence."

"I’ll answer the first question first. There ’is’ a way to turn Jeong Yun-ah back into a human. And you will be able to find it out ’soon.’ However, I cannot tell you more than that."

"Can’t you just tell me?"

"No. If I tell you more than that, it will cause big problems with causality."

"Ah, yes."

I reluctantly nodded.

First, there was a way to turn Jeong Yun-ah back into a human, and I would find out that method soon. That alone was sufficiently hopeful content.

Whether this was real hope or false hope would have to be seen when the time came.

"Then please answer the second question too."

"The second question is too vague. If you tell me exactly what you’re curious about, I’ll give you an answer only to that."

"Do you intend to answer?"

"Do I look like such a petty Loa to you? I can answer that level of question anytime."

I honestly thought he was a bit petty, but there was no need to voice it. I immediately continued.

"Then specifically, what is the name of the Satan worshipper hiding in Florence?"

"I cannot mention names."

"Why?"

He said to be specific earlier, but when I asked specifically, he won’t answer. It was absurd.

Baron Samedi stared at me quietly and opened his mouth.

"Because that would bring your death closer. Being hasty in anything tends to ruin things."

It was a puzzling statement. Anyway, he didn’t seem to intend to specifically mention names.

However, Baron Samedi said he ’cannot’ mention names. To me, that sounded like ’I’m willing to provide other clues besides names.’

"Then can you give me other clues besides names?"

At my words, Baron Samedi quietly smiled as if he had been waiting.

"Clues. Clues are equally dangerous, but... If I must give a clue, be wary of people around you. Especially be wary of people who resemble you."

"People who resemble me? There aren’t any."

Are there people around me who resemble me? If I had to say, my uncle, who is a blood relative, resembles me most. But there’s no way my uncle is a Satan worshipper.

"Not appearance, but habits."

Baron Samedi continued.

"You too are in a position of hiding like a Satan worshipper. Being in the same position, commonalities are bound to appear in speech and habits."

"Habits... Habits."

This was quite kind explanation for Baron Samedi, but I still couldn’t get a sense of it. Even considering speech and habits, there was no one who resembled me.

Not Jeong In-ah, not Gu Jun-hyeok, not Kim Jin-seo, none of them.

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t reach a conclusion, so I just stared blankly at Baron Samedi’s eyes. He sighed as if frustrated and opened his mouth.

"Let me tell you one more thing. Do you know what the characteristic of an arrogant person is?"

"How would I know?"

"Kid, fix your speech habits. Well anyway, if you don’t know, I’ll tell you."

Baron Samedi cleared his throat and continued.

"Arrogant people are usually envious of someone. They wear the mask of arrogance to hide their envy."

"...What does that have to do with Satan worshippers?"

"Someday there will come a moment when you’ll slap your knee and say, ’Ah! This is what the infinitely great Baron Samedi meant!’ That’s what I’m saying."

I unconsciously frowned.

"There’s no way I’d say something like that."

"A moment will come when you have no choice but to say it. My prophecies are never wrong."

Baron Samedi laughed boastfully. I stared into the deep darkness and mulled over Baron Samedi’s words.

Be wary of people who resemble you. Satan worshippers are also in a hiding position, so commonalities are bound to appear in habits and speech. They wear the mask of arrogance to hide envy...

No matter how much I mulled it over and repeated it, I couldn’t figure out who the Satan worshipper was. My head began to throb. It was from thinking too much.

"...May I ask one more question?"

"I’ll judge after hearing the question."

"There was something like a box buried in Eden Hill. Is that perhaps the Satan worshippers’ objective?"

The box I had seen using Granboa’s power before, buried deep in Eden Hill with shining oil thickly applied to its surface.

I wanted to know for certain whether that box was related to the Satan worshippers’ objective.

Baron Samedi stared at me with drowsy eyes as if pondering his answer for a moment.

"Do you know about the ’Elders’?"

"I only know the name."

Elders.

The power holders of Florence along with the chairman. I don’t know why they’re power holders or what they do. I only vaguely know that something called ’Elders’ exists in Florence.

"That box is both the Satan worshippers’ objective and the Elders’ objective. I cannot explain more than this."

"...I understand for now."

Since he had definitively said he cannot explain more, Baron Samedi would never open his mouth. It would be difficult to expect answers even if I continued questioning.

"Then, I’ll make the final request." I immediately moved on to the next request. The previous two requests were actually just side issues.

This request was the real purpose for calling Baron Samedi.

I steadied my trembling heart, regulated my breathing, and barely managed to open my mouth.

"Please become my insurance."

"Insurance? I don’t quite understand what you’re saying."

Acting like he doesn’t know. Baron Samedi answered with feigned ignorance.

I bit my lips tightly and steeled my resolve. To win an unwinnable fight, I must be prepared for sacrifice.

"I would like to make a ’Contract of the Dead.’"