Chapter 203

The Apostle

“An apostle……?”

Claire-sama had a skeptical look on her face upon hearing the word escape Tred-sensei’s mouth .

An apostle―― that was something I had never even heard of from the original games .

“Let’s not have this conversation while we’re standing . Why don’t we take a seat? T-Tea is fine with me . ”

The apostle, with Lily-sama’s appearance, said brazenly .

Tred-sensei, Claire-sama and I briefly exchanged glances with one another, but for the time being, we decided to do as we were told .

The four of us took our seats around the table . The apostle sat in the seat that was closest to the entrance, with Tred-sensei sitting the farthest from it . Meanwhile, Claire-sama and I sat in the spaces between them .

“Well then, let’s start with some introductions . I already know all of you here, so is it alright if I’m the only one introducing myself?”

The apostle sounded like they were making fun of us, but since none of us had any objections, we all nodded .

The apostle smiled, looking satisfied, before continuing .

“We are called apostles . We are the coordinators of the world that move in accordance with the Spirit Church’s wishes . We work and intervene from behind the scenes in order to maintain the balance in the world . ”

“What’s your relationship with Lily? Are you Lily’s other personality?”

There were a lot of things she probably wanted to ask, but Claire-sama wanted to get something else out of the way first .

The Lily-sama in front of us right now was not the usual Lily-sama .

I wondered if Lily-sama was okay right now .

“Lily Lilium is asleep right now . However, I am not the other personality that you speak of . Her other personality is something that Salas Lilium created, and ‘he’ has already become a part of her . ”

I was curious about what they meant when they said that he had already become a part of her, but right now wasn’t the time to talk about it .

“In that case, who exactly are you?”

“Like I said, I’m an apostle . I borrow human bodies from the Spirit Church for the sake of maintaining the balance of the world . A repairer, so to speak . ”

Somehow, the conversation had just escalated .

A repairer for the world?

“You mentioned earlier that your job was to intervene in the world, but what exactly do you mean by that?”

“Since we are sworn to secrecy, we cannot tell you what we do specifically . But if I had to explain it, since you’re already aware of this, for example, if there’s anybody out there that comes to find out the truth behind the structure of the world, we would hand out a warning to them and keep them under surveillance . ”

“……”

The apostle was probably referring to Tred-sensei’s case .

Does that mean that the structure of the world has something to do with magic then?

“So does that mean you came here to hand out warnings to us?”

Claire-sama asked .

Given the flow of the conversation so far, that was the most natural conclusion .

However, the apostle shook their head .

“No . I came here today in order to help Rei Taylor and Claire François become stronger . ”

“…… Huh?”

I didn’t follow .

An existence that worked from behind the scenes and intervened from time to time for the sake of the world came all the way here just to make Claire-sama and myself stronger?

Just what was going on?

“You two are too weak to fight the demons . We thought that lending you the blessed weapons would be enough, but it seems that it wasn’t . ”

“Don’t tell me, the Lily from back then was……?”

“No, that was actually Lily Lilium herself . The distribution of the blessed weapons were in accordance with the Church’s wishes . ”

I mean, this person looked exactly like Lily-sama from the outside .

If they matched her tone and behavior, we wouldn’t be able to tell them apart .

“Let’s return to the main topic . We’ll have you learn more about magic under Tred Magik . It’ll be beyond the scopes of what is commonly known and closer to its true nature . ”

“Please stop! I don’t want to rope these two into it!”

Tred-sensei said desperately .

However, the apostle simply smiled and said,

“Tred Magik, you seem to be misunderstanding something . ”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s not like you’re the one roping those girls into anything . If they died, that would create a huge problem for the Spirit Church . If anything, you’re the one that’s being used for the sake of protecting them . ”

I glanced over at Claire-sama .

She was staring right back at me .

Most likely, Claire-sama and I were thinking the same thing .

The apostle was saying things that were similar to what the demons said to us once .

For some unknown reason, they both viewed us as special somehow .

“And what do you mean by that?”

“Tred Magik, there’s no need for you to understand what’s going on . If it ever comes down to it, we’ll just tell Rei Taylor and Claire François . ”

The apostle coldly rejected Tred-sensei’s demand for an explanation before looking over at me and Claire-sama .

“Anyway, we’ll have you two become more proficient in magic . More specifically, the two of you will learn about magic choruses . ”

“A chorus?”

The apostle nodded in response to Claire-sama’s question .

“Usually, casting and reciting magic spells is something that people do individually . On the other hand, a chorus is a complex technique where multiple people can cast and recite the spell together . ”

“A complex technique where multiple people can cast a single spell together……? Is that even possible?”

“Yes . If you want to hear about it in detail, ask Tred-sensei about it . He’s the one that perfected this theory . ”

“Please wait!”

Tred-sensei shouted .

“There’s too much a risk when it comes to magic choruses . The conditions for being able to use it are extremely strict . And besides, if they were to fail――”

“You’re right . There’ll be repercussions for the spellcasters . ”

The apostle said nonchalantly .

However, judging from Tred-sensei’s appearance, it seemed that the repercussions were far greater than how the apostle made them sound .

“Don’t worry about it . If it’s these two, we can guarantee that there will be no repercussions for them at all . ”

“Why is that?”

“There’s no need for you to know about it, Tred Magik . All you need to do is teach them how to perform a magic chorus . ”

“……”

Tred-sensei had a frustrated look on his face .

The apostle had been treating him poorly ever since they got here .

It was like they only saw him as a tool .

“Hey, you . Don’t you think you’re being a little too rude to him? If you’re asking him for a favor, you should at least show some appreciation . ”

“……”

The apostle was taken aback by Claire-sama’s sudden scolding .

And then――

“Fufu…… . Ahahaha… . . !”

They burst out into laughter .

“W-What’s so funny!?”

“Ahh, sorry . That was just a reflexive response to things that are illogical to us . I mean, you’re treating me like a human, after all . ”

“!? You’re not human beings!?”

“That’s right . None of us are humans . ”

Things became more and more incomprehensible .

The beings that worked from behind the scenes in this world were not human?

In that case, what exactly is this world that we’re living in……

“We are… . . Let’s see… You can just think of us as beings that are connected to the Spirit God . ”

“What did you say……?”

“To be honest, there’s a term that’s more appropriate for this, but it’s something that Claire François would not be able to comprehend anyway . However――”

The apostle paused in the middle of their sentence and looked over at me,

“If it’s Rei Taylor, perhaps she might understand, right?”

The apostle started saying things that made even less sense than before .

I couldn’t understand a thing that she (?) was saying .

“Anyway, Rei Taylor, Claire François, the two of you will need to become proficient in magic choruses under Tred Magik’s instruction . ”

“What would you do if we refused?”

“You won’t refuse . ”

“How can you be so sure of that?”

“Because it is a chance for you to become strong enough in order to protect your family . There’s no way that you’d let such an opportunity go . ”

“…… Hmph . ”

Claire-sama said with an unamused look on her face, but it was right on the mark .

Claire-sama and I were both struggling with our lack of power, so if there was any opportunity for us to become stronger for the sake protecting our family, we could not pass it up .

“Now then, I’ll see myself out . It’s about time for the girl to wake up, after all . ”

After saying so, the apostle got up from their seat .

“Oh yeah, please keep everything about me a secret, because if you don’t――”

Right before heading out the exit, the apostle turned back to us and added,

“Mei and Alea may lose their lives, okay?”

Claire-sama shot a menacing glare over to the apostle, who paid no heed to it whatsoever before leaving .

That was the first time we came in contact with the apostle―― or rather, it was our first step towards learning about the truth of the world .