Chapter 198 - Episode Twenty-Three - Devil's Trial (2)

Okay, done

Just as the faint light of the morning sun began to filter in through the window, the Livegrass was completed.

The Livegrass was as blue as the clear ocean that reflected the sky.

When the Livegrass was placed in the vial and shaken, a white haze circled around inside and dissolved back into the liquid and disappeared.

It was like clouds floating in a blue sky, quite beautiful to watch.

Mea was dozing sleepily, but after looking at the clock, her eyes widened and she turned to me surprised.

Mea had stayed awake with me the whole time, too.

Fleur, the daughter of Village Chief Hein, never stayed in this room for long, perhaps because she was concerned about distracting me, and although she is not seen in the room now, she visits every two hours or so to bring me a warm drink.

Livegrass, is it finished!

Oh, no, , I missed a bit.

I bit my lower lip as I looked at the vial in my hand.

What? I, I cant believe Abel failed to do that B, but its okay! If you Nelgliffe-san, Im sure hell share some of it with you if you tell him whats going on! Because it was Abel who brought Live Fogg back so much

I shook my head slowly at Mea for saying that.

It was a shame.

I wanted to have some spare parts for the village, so I made a batch, but it backfired on me.

Because I got more ingredients from Nelgliffe, I was able to make enough for five times, but with a little ingenuity in the manufacturing process, I could have prepared enough for twenty times with equal or greater potency.

Theres a faster way to make a quantity than this method. Even though I didnt use Live Fogg, Id seen a similar method of making potions in the Chiefs archives, so I didnt think it was possible but Id overlooked the fact that it must have made sense when I made it. I pretty much wasted it.

Yes

Ill have to tell you again Aaaaah, Im sure its already in mass production over there, too Such a waste. Aaaaah I just got it too, but In the meantime, Ill tell him in the future No, its not good for me to know, so Ill tell Nelgliffe-san anyway Haaaaaah

If everything is done by this process, there must be quite a few Live Fogg being wasted.

That, Mea thinks that its best to not say that to Levi Followers Maybe you have to be pretty careful how you say it, or you wont be able to complain when you get hit?

What why?

As we were talking about this and that with a glass of Livegrass in hand, the door was discreetly opened.

Fleur had come to check on him.

Um Abel-sama. How is the progress of the medicine?

Yes, its done for now. Heres one for Village Chief Hein

I had just handed Fleur one of the vials when I heard a loud shout from outside.

Quickly, help me put out the fire! The church hall is on fire!

It was a voice close to a scream.

I hurriedly looked out the window and saw smoke rising in the distance.

No, no way!

I had thought enough about the possibility that a group of Levi Churchs extremists might not be happy with the Live Fogg that are brought back.

I had expected a situation where they would come out to interfere by force but I thought that was something that Nelgliffe would know, so I didnt interfere.

I was relieved to hear that the other side also wanted us to leave internal disputes to them.

It backfired on us.

The direction of the smoke was the Church hall where Nelgliffe kept the Live Fogg.

It is likely to have been burned down.

Its probably too late to go there now. The reason they burned the church hall was probably to use it as a marker for the loss of Live Fogg.

Theres a good chance that the Live Foggs actual body was disposed of or taken away before they set the church hall on fire.

No, if I knew what I could detect, Id choose the former first.

I cant believe Nelgliffe-san suffered from the opposite

I put my hand on the Ortem, the one I was using as an assistant when I created the Livegrass, and cast a spell, showing a magic circle.

The Ortems eyes light up and begin rattling.

Its a strong trembling. This feeling something like, a powerful demon was summoned just a moment ago.

It could be the same demon that brought disease to the Palgas Village.

The question is, what was the purpose of this summon again?

Theres enough disease in this village, and if hes only summoned for a few minutes, it wont do much good.

The time is a little too short to worsen the disease or bring out a new patient.

He may have been summoned as a force simply because hes a powerful demon, but the biggest hindrance to the Levi Churchs extremists right now is probably me

N, no! Its Nelgliffe-san!

I couldnt help but speak up.

The scheduled extremists must have decided that it had become difficult to proceed as planned while letting Nelgliffe take the lead, and decided to remove Nelgliffe, who was the face of Levi Church, without stopping.

That would explain the inability of Nelgliffe to deal with the fire.

Fleur-san, please have Village Chief Hein drink the Livegrass! Im going to go check on the situation!

I and Mea ran out of the Village Chief Heins mansion and headed for the church hall where Nelgliffe was supposed to be.

The church hall had already been extinguished.

However, the flames in one of the rooms on the second floor were particularly bad, scorched and blackened.

If that is the origin of the fire, thats where they should have made the livegrass.

There were already crowds of people around the church building.

Many of them were not only church members, but also mere villagers. There were also people lying on the ground in tears.

It seemed to be certain that the Live Fogg had been burned to the ground.

It seems that some of them were patients and were carried out on a stretcher to another church hall.

I guess I wasnt thinking far enough

I should have known that they were the ones who would do this much calmly.

Even though Nelgliffe had undertaken the work, he should have at least taken measures in case they did.

They might have been buoyed by the Livegrass thing.

Is, Is Nelogliffe-san still alive? Somebody, please tell me where Mr. Nelogliffe is now

It looks like youve finally got your tail out, Abel Belek.

I was about to ask the nearby followers for the safety of the Nelgliffe when I was approached from behind.

When I turned around, I saw a short woman holding a large staff in her hand It was Chloe, a close associate of Nelogliffes, standing there.

Unlike before, her hostility was evident.

Behind Chloe stood four badly patterned Levi followers.

Chloe-san Nelgliffe-san is

Dont play dumb! It was you who attacked Nelgliffe-sama and set the church hall on fire! Nelgliffe-sama had faith in you people, though!

Chloe shouted at the top of her voice and pointed her large staff at me.

The eyes of the crying villagers and believers gathered around Me and Mea at once.

W-Wait a minute! Youre misunderstanding! Is Nelgliffe-san safe?

Its not a misunderstanding! We were working on the Livegrass with Nelgliffe-sama! Then all of a sudden, that guy showed up and opened fire without a chant! We were protected by Nelgliffe-sama and ran out to call for help, but Nelgliffe-sama was !

The Levi followers behind Chloe point their fingers at me and argue with me.

A, Abel this is not good

Mea shrank back and clung to me, frightened by the hostile eyes around her.

I see, so thats what you plan to do next

Im even more impressed when it comes to this point.

Chloe, youre finally showing your true colors.

Think about it calmly! Why do I have to do that! Who do you think it was that went to get the Live Fogg!

I shouted aloud to appeal to the people around me as well.

In the first place, if Im serious about attacking, all I have to do is throw an Abel ball into the air and blow up the church hall and all and then flee with teleportation to cover my tracks.

I wouldnt do something so futile.

Dont play dumb! You must have after the High Priests life and Livegrass all along!

The church members will always argue with me.

Its no use. Im not going to be able to get away with it now that there are so many of them.

You should check out Village Chief Heils house. We have a witness that they were there yesterday. You might find something interesting.

Chloe gave an order to one of the followers.

The follower nodded and ran off in the direction of the village chief heils mansion.

Ah !

There is a Livegrass in the Mansion.

I was told that the process of making Livegrass is an important secret within the Levi Church.

The fact that the Livegrass is in Village Chief Heils mansion where I stopped by could be a fatal weakness for me now that Nelgliffes condition is unknown.

Oops please dont move. Or is there really something bad in the mansion?

Guh.

The situation is too bad.

I didnt expect coincidences to work so badly

No, Nelgliffe is not very vigilant about their people.

There is a good chance that Chloe knew that Nelgliffe taught me how to make livegrass.

It was a neat set up.

Li, Livegrass is there in Village Chief Heils mansion. But thats the portion that Nelgliffe-san entrusted to me for Village Chief Heils sake.

Theres no point in hiding it.

Its better to say it first.

There was a groan around me.

You attacked and robbed us!

Nelgliffe-san would never violate such a commandment! Making fun of him!

The flag is bad too bad.

If Im alone, I cant get the villagers to trust me.

If we continue to have a hostile relationship with the entire village, we have no choice but to shoot the worst magic and run back to Larks place.

The opponent is completely one time better rather, the board was too much of a disadvantage.

We were checkmated when they were able to hold down Nelgliffe.

But certainly around not striking out on violence even after being suspected so much Abel, there is room to believe you.

Chloe lowers her slightly large staff.

W-why, Chloe-sama! Are you suggesting that you doubt me!

The followers expression tightened and he crowded over to Chloe.

Wh-, what ? I dont think Chloe will cover for me

You you said earlier that Abel opened fire without chanting, didnt you?

Oh, ahhhh

In fact, Nelgliffe-sama, who is in critical condition and unconscious, is showing symptoms similar to the sick demon that is attacking the village of Hargas. Whether its Abel or not, it must have been attacked by a demon. Only a demon or a spirit beast, or even a god for that matter, would be able to conjure up a phenomenon similar to magic without a chant and without a magic circle.

Chloe said that much and thrust the tip of her large staff at me.

Abel Belek. I accuse you of being a demon.

Instantly the followers around us began to make a commotion.

This is a prosecution!

Chloe-sama is going to start the devils trial!

D-, Devils Trial?

Ive never heard this word before.

Maybe its a tradition unique to the Riveras Nation.

It is true that the only people who can produce similar phenomena to magic without going through a magic circle or chanting are the demons or spirit beasts, which are collections of spirits.

Because from the beginning, sorcery is something that causes peculiar phenomena by giving the spirits magic power and instructions.

If it is a demon or spirit beast that is a spirit itself, it can naturally handle magic by using its own magic power without giving instructions.

In that case, though, its common to call it magic rather than sorcery.

If youre not a demon, then you shouldnt have any qualms about undergoing a devils trial, right? What better way to prove your own innocence?

It was brought to me by Chloe herself.

I dont think its anything like what Chloe says it is.

But judging from the atmosphere around us, if we refuse, the only thing we can do is abandon Pargas Village and flee.