Hero’s Downfall Report

51 – Man, Lion, Bull, and Eagle (Complete)

‘The tree of life.’

It was a story that was difficult to believe and unfamiliar to Cain. Still, it wasn’t her first time hearing it. When she was a college student, she worked as Anna’s assistant and while she was organizing the library, she remembered seeing the title once or twice and passing it by.

“This is my first time hearing it.” She asked in a tone that Lily found difficult.

“Of course I should hear it for the first time. If you know and he knows, does that mean it’s a secret cult? Now, it’s a backroom situation that only archaeologists would look into, but it wasn’t like the line was completely cut off.

Anyway. Well… I don’t know how my parents met. Maybe it was because her maternal uncle and father were like inquisitors.

The important thing is that my father knew everything about my mother and my uncle’s family, and yet he never opened his mouth and never reported that an inquisitor from a witch family was wandering around Magdeburg.”

The meaning of ‘a trustworthy person’, as told by Haspel, struck me in a different way.

“What’s next? It’s obvious. I don’t know what was wrong, but they said I couldn’t even breathe properly. Her mother lost too much of her blood.

In front of my father and uncle, my mother took me to the altar of the Tree of Life… Her mother abandoned her own body and came to dwell within me. So if you want to argue with my mom, all she has to do is knock me out. That’s what it means.”

“Then last night… “

“Okay. Do you understand now? The longer my consciousness remains, the less my mother appears in front of me. No matter how I looked at what happened last night, there was nothing I could do about being ‘passed out’. So she absolutely ‘should have killed’ me.”

“It’s a strange story.” Lily shook her head.

“But… But if I were your mother, I would feel sad. The fact that she fully woke up in her daughter’s body means that her daughter is in danger, right? “If that’s the case, you’re sure to be heartbroken.”

“Can’t we do that?” Maria’s words were cold. Lily was even more embarrassed.

“What do you mean?”

“Isn’t it okay for my mother to feel pain because of me?” Maria’s words were full of venom.

“I don’t know what to think. I live like this. I’m not happy at all. With one hand, he used a sacred miracle. A life where you unconsciously draw a magic circle with your other hand? It’s like sh*t. Do you know what the life of an unblessed child is like?

I passed out after being hit on the head by her, but when I saw my mother who had taken over my body, she hung me upside down from a tree by her local bullies. What if you live amidst rumors like, ‘If you touch that crazy girl by mistake, a tree will grab your ankles’?

Until my hair grew thick, I used to see my mother when I dreamed. She played various fun games with me, told me old stories, and sometimes scolded me harshly.

I thought all other mothers in the world were like that. But it wasn’t like that at all. Her father told her never to say things like that outside. I couldn’t understand more and more, so I argued with her mother every night, and she just cried in silence… “

“So, did you run away from home and become a petty thief?”

Mary glared at Cain like a snake.

“Ha. “How did you know?”

“I’m very familiar with the movements of shoplifting.”

“That’s right. It went well. Depending on. Every time I was hit by a guard’s mace and imprisoned, my father or uncle would come and take me away. As I learned by breaking my head, my skills improved steadily. So. “Do you want to hear a story about a delinquent girl who reformed?”

Maria’s face was full of displeasure. Cain shook her head.

“No. If you don’t want to talk, I don’t really want to ask. But last night… “I think I know why I wasn’t affected by the shadow.”

“Okay. Thanks to this. Even if it’s not this, I know at least a spell to protect my body from such dog tricks. “I wasn’t able to do it properly last night because I was busy making a fire.” Maria flicked her leash.

“Then, is there a difference between faith in the tree of life and faith in the shadow? But both are treated as heretics… “

“That’s right, uncle. “The story is a bit complicated.” Maria crossed her arms.

“The belief in the tree of life is like a power struggle. If you ask, ‘Why should I believe in the double-headed eagle that came from the dead instead of the tree of life?’, You have nothing to say.

From Noble mtl dot com

So this is what our denomination teaches. ‘The tree of life is a bad belief.’ And the cult was quite successful. Now, when people hear the term Tree of Life Church, they react as if it is a story from a time when there was no empire.

But the teachings of the tree of life themselves are passed down orally. An old story. Traditional stories. At least among the teachings of the church, there are quite a few that borrow from the anecdote about the tree of life. But now is not the time to study theology, so let’s skip it.

Let me just tell you that the shadow cleverly twisted and distorted the teachings. The tree of life they talk about is completely fake. They just picked things up to oppose the denomination, but if they really believe in and follow the tree of life… “I can’t do something like last night.”

Maria laid her body down on her bed. She covered herself with the blanket and threw away her outer clothes. As she wriggled around in her blanket, she unwrapped her equipment, including a dagger and a wrist sword.

“I’m going to sleep. “It’s none of my business whether you two pursue the rest of your love affair or go on another late-night date, but just remember that this is a monastery.”

“What are you saying!”

It seemed like I didn’t hear Lily’s protest at all.

* * * * *

Midnight. Cain woke up. She didn’t seem to have had a bad dream. She just opened her eyes and it was dawn.

She lay back down, but she couldn’t sleep. Her heart was heavy and she was frustrated.

‘Wouldn’t it be a little better if I got some fresh air at night?’

Eventually, Cain helped her up. Since she was sleeping in simple clothes, there was no need for her to put on her own clothes. She carefully put on her shoes and opened the door, so as not to wake anyone else.

She exchanged greetings with the patrolling monk. The monk did not ask her where she was going. Cain walked out into the yard where he could see the stars.

Cain thought of her Beatrice. A story about exaggerated guilt. She remembered turning into a shadow and how it clung to Lily and caused her further distress.

She also recalled the brief conflict she had when she saw Maria and Lily in the same trouble. Rationally, it was better to help Maria. Because she had to quickly kill the monster fighting Maria.

“Can’t you sleep?”

I felt like my heart was dropping. Maria, fully dressed in her clothes, was grinning next to her.

“It doesn’t come very often.”

“Would you be able to sleep well if you looked up at the stars?”

“That won’t happen.”

“Your colleague. “Do you like it?”

It was even more sudden than when I suddenly jumped in. Cain seemed to be falling asleep more and more.

“That’s a very personal question.”

“Ah. Okay? When both me and that cute girl were having trouble, he threw me a stick and threw his body towards that girl. “That’s a personal question?”

“My nightmare flew to Lily.”

“Hmm.” Maria looked up at Cain as if she was curious. When Cain didn’t speak to her, he poked her in the chest with his finger.

“Okay. Even so. Because I can’t see shadows properly anyway. To me, it’s just an unpleasant stain. However. Why a whetstone? A girl so pretty and cute? “Are you sure you’re talking about the knife sharpening stone I know?”

“… Okay.”

“Why do you nickname a girl ‘whetstone’?”

“I heard that a new rider had joined the Security Bureau, so I went for an interview. Our department just needed someone who was good at sword fighting. Lily was just the right person. “I asked her what her hobby was, and she said sharpening knives.”

Of course, Lily herself must have said these words because she was very nervous. The other managers laughed.

But Cain didn’t really care. She doesn’t go around naked, and I thought that was something she would say if she came from a family of martial arts people who always sharpen their knives.

“Ha. It’s bigger than I thought. So?”

“So… As a joke, she asked if she always carried a whetstone or something, and she said yes. So she called it Whetstone.”

“It’s not as romantic as I thought.” Maria pursed her lips.

“Then what did you expect?”

“I actually love my subordinate, but I had no desire to see him as a woman, so I gave him a sharp nickname, “Whetstone.” Something like that. Still, it seems to be effective? “When I called his name, he didn’t even pretend to hear me, but when I called him Whetstone, he came to his senses.”

“It looks like you were quite relaxed when you fought the monster, right?”

“You should have shouted a little louder. Honestly, didn’t you want to kill me? I’m rolling around like a dog here, and you… If I had said that I did it because I loved that girl, I would have understood. What is this… “

“I am the one who will quit.” Cain drew her line in a clear tone. “After this is over, I will go back to my hometown. “What good would it be to get involved with someone who is going home?”

Maria’s reaction was strange. Because she looked up at Cain with a grin on his face.

“Why are you smiling?”

“Well, because it’s fun?” Mary tapped Cain’s arm with the back of her hand.

“When I work, I ask people how they survive when they feel disillusioned. No matter who sees it, she uses her strength to push away the girl who follows her around. And yet, are you a person without emotions? “That’s not true.”

“Because I have to do the job properly.”

“The person who loves and cherishes his work so much is thinking about quitting…” “Do you think this makes sense?”

“Are you interrogating me?”

“No. You have to do the interrogation yourself. “Why do I run away?”

Cain’s face crumpled.

“I think that’s a bit excessive.”

“No. At all.” Cain took a step back from her, but Mary took a step closer.

“It’s not excessive at all. You seem to think of yourself as very objective, but to me, you seem like someone who just tries to distance himself from everything. Like an eagle floating in the sky.

Only when there is something to do, it comes down to the ground and then goes up to the sky again. Such an indifferent eagle. From what I see, it doesn’t seem like you particularly love your job. Just.”

“Just?”

“I feel like I’m trying to run away from everything using work as an excuse. A world all alone. A unique perspective. I’m curious. “Being indifferent doesn’t mean it hurts any less.”

“It seems like the Magdeburg Inquisitor also provides psychological counseling, right?”

“You also need to dig deep into psychology. “Because that will help with the interrogation.” Maria stretched out her arms and yawned.

“Well. Sometimes you need to look upward more than at the ground. “I sleep.”

Maria went in first.

Cain silently looked at the sky and the ground. ‘Run away.’ She never thought she would hear those words again, in an unexpected place and from an unexpected person.

The longer she stayed outside, the more distraught she became, so Cain returned to her room. Maria was already sleeping with her arms outstretched. Lily kept turning her body and muttering something to herself.

What kind of nightmare did you have? What did Beatrice bring out? If Lily really was nothing to me… Wouldn’t it have mattered whether her Beatrice’s shadow clung to her or not?

I was confused. She just gently placed her hand on Lily’s forehead. Lily, who seemed startled, began to breathe little by little. She breathed slowly, slowly and comfortably.

Cain returned to her bed and soon fell into a deep sleep.

Cain was walking in the desert. She had long since run out of food and drink, and the sand grabbed her ankles mercilessly. The surrounding area was full of animal bones.

An eagle was circling above her head. She neither moved away nor got closer. She was just spinning around slowly, like angels waiting for her death to take her soul.

When her breath stops and her heart stops, she will probably come down.

So she has to walk until then.

Cain walked although she was thirsty and distressed. She saw a woman on the other side of the desert waving her hand like a mirage. But I couldn’t tell who it was.