Chapter 56
Thud—
“Ugh!”
Thump—
“Ah. Sorry. Didn’t see you there.”
“Heh, hey, don’t be like that. You’ll get scolded by the priest again.”
A wide hallway.
A girl leaned back against the wall, one foot casually lifted.
Next to her stood a boy, smirking mockingly.
And before them, a young child who had just been tripped and sent sprawling.
“Anyway, that kid’s him, right?”
“Yeah. The one Bishop Gregorius brought in as a helper. Apparently, he keeps bothering the Bishop, calling him ‘Mister, Mister’ all the time. Doesn’t even know his place—what can a useless brat like him do? The Bishop isn’t some idle janitor like him.”
Wearing plain white apprentice robes, the two stood right in front of the child, speaking loudly enough for him to hear.
Even at their scornful words, the child simply dusted off his knees with a quiet, practiced calm.
‘Mister…’
The boy’s name was Rudio.
An orphan from birth, he had survived day to day by stealing in the back alleys.
Until one day, by chance, he caught the eye of Gregorius, a young and promising priest who had become the youngest bishop in history.
Taken into the church under Gregorius’s care, bullying quickly became Rudio’s daily routine.
It was only natural that a street urchin promoted to errand boy under a prodigious bishop would become the target of resentment from other exhausted apprentices.
And yet, Rudio was happy.
He no longer went hungry.
He no longer had to sleep on the cold ground, shivering every night.
And above all—he had met someone who, for the first time in his life, had shown him what love was.
BOOOOM!
…Until that day.
“Kyaaa!”
“W-What was that?!”
Chunks of stone crashed to the floor before their eyes.
“The wall…!”
Beyond the shattered temple wall was a sight too horrifying to believe.
—Screeeech—
—Kyaaaah!—
“M-Monsters! Monsters are invading!”
“What are the soldiers doing?!”
Through the collapsed outer wall, monsters poured in—swarming through the temple halls within moments.
“W-What do we do? Why are monsters here of all places…?”
“We need to run!”
As panic spread among the crowd—including the very same pair who’d mocked him earlier—Rudio stood frozen, his mind flashing back to something Gregorius had once told him.
“Rudio, listen carefully. It’ll probably never happen—but if monsters ever attack this temple, could you lead the others?”
“M-Monsters? Attacking here?”
“Just hypothetically, I mean.”
He’d said it with that same complicated expression he always had after returning from the battlefield.
“Actually, there’s a secret shelter under this temple. Built long ago so the higher-ups would have somewhere to hide in emergencies.”
“Then… I’m not allowed to use it, right?”
“Nonsense! In a crisis like that, who cares about status? If it’ll save lives, anyone should go.”
It was a secret few knew of—not even the regular priests.
“But, Mister… do you really think people will listen to me? They all just call me useless.”
“Well… if they don’t listen, you make them. Drag them there if you must. If anyone complains, tell them I ordered it.”
“D-Drag them? Is it okay for a priest to say that?”
“Of course! Saving lives comes first. I’m sure even the Goddess would forgive a few punches for that.”
Recalling Gregorius’s warm yet determined face, Rudio clenched his fists and stepped forward.
“Everyone! This way!”
“Huh? Who do you think you are—”
SMACK!
“…H-Hey, you!”
“Shut up! If you want to live, follow me!”
With a stinging slap to silence the proud girl, Rudio led the shocked group toward the place Gregorius had described.
“Th-this isn’t the chapel? We should be escaping the city, not hiding here! There’s not even an exit!”
“We’re doomed! We’re all gonna die here!”
They were now in a large chapel tucked in the corner of the temple’s first floor.
“Hngh!”
‘He said… if I turn the Goddess statue here…’
Click—
Rumble—
‘It opened! It’s real!’
Ignoring the murmurs behind him, Rudio turned the statue with all his strength until the hidden mechanism revealed a staircase leading below.
“Wh-What?”
“A staircase…?”
“There was something like this under the chapel? How did you…?”
As they crowded closer, Rudio spoke firmly.
“Bishop Gregorius told me! He said if we stay inside, we’ll be safe. The holy relic will protect us. When help arrives, we can come out again.”
“Th-The Bishop said that?”
Though doubtful, they had no better option.
One by one, they followed Rudio down into the hidden shelter.
“I’m hungry…”
No one knew how much time had passed.
At first, they clung to hope—believing the shelter would keep them safe until help arrived.
There was food and water stored for emergencies, and the holy relic’s energy seemed to keep the monsters at bay.
But days passed.
Then a week.
And still, no help came.
The food that had once filled the storage corner was gone.
Of course it was.
The shelter had never been designed to hold so many.
“Quit whining! You think you’re the only one starving?”
“What, I can’t even say I’m hungry now?”
When the food ran out, relief turned to fear, fear to despair, and despair to rage.
“Damn it! If we hadn’t come down here, we might’ve escaped the city alive!”
“If that useless brat hadn’t dragged us here—!”
They blamed each other.
They fought over the last drops of water like beasts.
And in the end, all their anger turned toward one boy.
Thud—
Crunch—
“Ugh…”
No one believed him anymore.
To them, he was no savior—only the fool who led them into this tomb.
They beat him, kicked him, threw him aside like trash.
Even the priests who once thanked him for saving their lives now turned away.
In the face of starvation and despair, their faith shattered like glass.
‘Mister…’
Lying bloodied in a dark corner, Rudio thought only of one person.
“W-What are you doing?!”
The desperate survivors approached the holy relic—the mirror that had been their last hope.
“I can’t wait any longer! We’ll starve to death here!”
“But if we extinguish it, the monsters will—”
“Out of my way!”
Ignoring the boy’s warnings, they threw a red cloth over the mirror’s faint glow.
Click—
The sacred light vanished.
The air turned icy.
And then—
Creeeeak—
Something stirred beyond the stairs.
“C-Could it be… the rescue team?”
Hope flickered once more.
Maybe help had arrived after all.
Maybe their suffering was finally over.
Step. Step.
“Well now… to think there was a place like this under the temple.”
But the figure who appeared mocked their hope—a hunched old man with childlike limbs and enormous round ears.
Squelch.
“What’s that? You’re hungry? Tsk, tsk… go ahead, eat all you want.”
And then—chaos.
Screams.
Squelch! Squelch!
“Ah… Aaaah!”
“S-Save me! Please!”
A tide of rats poured down the stairs, devouring everyone in their path.
Priests, believers—it made no difference.
All became food.
“How impressive. So many of you survived down here.”
The old man’s cold eyes fell on the one boy still barely breathing.
He approached slowly through the carnage and crouched.
“Tsk, tsk… how pitiful.”
His voice echoed directly in the boy’s mind—deep, chilling.
“Boy. Do you wish to take revenge? On the goddess who abandoned you, and the people who betrayed you?”
Revenge.
At that word, the boy weakly lifted his head.
He remembered the man who had given him a name, bread, and kindness.
He remembered trying to save others—only to be beaten and left for dead.
There was no goddess.
People were beasts.
He nodded.
The old man smiled.
From his robe, he drew out a worn flute, placing it gently in the boy’s trembling hand.
Fwoooosh—
“Ah…!”
Dark, murky energy flooded into his body.
The boy once called Rudio died that day.
In his place was born a new being—one consumed by vengeance and madness.
The Pied Piper, Rattenfänger.
“Protect the Cardinal and the Bishop!”
“If they fall, it’s over! Defend them at all costs!”
Blood and flesh splattered across the walls and floor of the temple’s basement.
The stench of rot and bile filled the air.
Finishing his long performance, the jester looked around at the soldiers barely standing under the protection of Gregorius’s and the priestess’s holy barrier—and smiled in satisfaction.
At last. I’ve been reborn completely.
The hypocritical priests who preached virtue yet turned cruel in death.
The noble bishop who once told him to protect everyone—only to vanish and leave him behind.
All of them would be buried here, in this forsaken temple.
The boy trapped in that nightmare decades ago is gone. Now…
He looked wistfully at Gregorius and raised his flute to his lips.
Fwoosh—
“…Fire?”
Beyond the line of soldiers, a blaze flared red-hot.
Whoosh—
“Kh… what firepower!”
—Sizzle!
—Squeak!
The holy fire spread across the gore and filth—burning fiercely.
“Damn it! My rats!”
The flames devoured only the unholy—leaving the soldiers untouched, as if guided by divine will.
“Good work, Sir Lillian.”
Through the thick smoke, a calm voice echoed.
The jester turned—and narrowed his eyes.
Walking toward him was a man.
“Rattenfänger. Your performance was dreadful. What’s with this theater? Filthy, unsanitary… if you wanted an audience, you should’ve chosen a proper stage, not this damp, moldy pit.”
A man of noble birth—a genius who rose to fame in the Church within a single month.
Everything Rattenfänger was not.
“Wouldn’t you agree… Sir Gregorius?”
Pinching his nose and waving dismissively, he turned to the bishop for agreement.
“You…”
For the first time, the jester’s ever-present smile twisted into a mask of pure rage.
