I Reincarnated into a Game Filled with Mods – Chapter 83

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“Esteemed guest. Where… did you get this?”

Her eyes trembled uncontrollably.

So did her voice.

Her hand that received the sacred catalyst was also shaking.

No, Stella’s entire body was trembling like an aspen leaf.

It meant that the identity of the sacred catalyst handed to her was that shocking.

“I picked it up at the bottom of the rune dungeon.”

“…In the rune dungeon?”

“Yes.”

“But the other knight commanders didn’t say anything. They didn’t mention picking this up at all. And you, Inquisitor, if you had entered the dungeon with the esteemed guest—”

“You seem to be under a big misunderstanding, Inquisitor.”

There was no way Stella, who had only waited outside, could have known how many people had entered the rune dungeon.

So it wasn’t unreasonable for her to assume we had all gone in together.

However,

“I was the only one who entered the dungeon.”

“…What? What do you mean?”

“It means that the Inquisitor and the knight commanders remained outside. I alone entered the rune dungeon, completed the subjugation, acquired the rune, and came back to the surface, so it’s natural that others don’t know much about this sacred catalyst.”

Upon hearing these words, the eyes of Stella and the battle nuns widened simultaneously.

It must have been hard to believe.

This was a place where the Holy Kingdom had failed to subjugate despite numerous sacrifices.

Claiming to have entered such a dungeon alone, without any evidence, would be far more strange to believe.

That was a perfectly normal reaction.

Green eyes filled with all sorts of complex emotions turned towards Selene.

It was asking if what I said was true.

Selene nodded her head obediently.

“…You’re not all in on this together, trying to make fun of me, are you? You’re not planning to say later that it was all a joke and make me a laughingstock, right?”

“I swear by the moon, Inquisitor. The esteemed guest certainly entered the rune dungeon alone, achieved a great feat, and returned.”

“…”

With a vow sworn by the moon, there was no way to keep denying it.

Stella blankly stared down at the sacred catalyst resting on her palm.

“Inquisitor, what exactly is that sacred catalyst that’s making you react like this?”

Selene asked the question.

Except for Stella, it seemed that no one knew what that sacred catalyst was – including the battle nuns under the Inquisitor, Selene, and the battle nuns under Selene.

While it was understandable for the battle nuns, it was a bit surprising that even Selene didn’t know.

Was it because Lucia belonged to the Order of the Sun?

After silence had fallen for a while, Stella’s mouth slowly began to open, as if she had finally managed to compose herself.

“This is… the sacred catalyst of Priestess Lucia, who participated in the subjugation of the rune dungeon long ago.”

At Stella’s words, not only Selene but even the battle nuns under her command visibly flinched in surprise.

I slightly revised the thought I had just had.

It wasn’t that they didn’t know who Lucia was, they just didn’t know what that specific sacred catalyst was.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have flinched and focused their attention upon hearing Stella’s words.

While this was treated as a special item, its appearance didn’t differ much from the sacred catalysts used by high-ranking priestesses of the Holy Kingdom.

Even in the game, it used the same model.

If anything, it was impressive that Stella recognized its identity at a glance.

The atmosphere sank instantly.

Only the knight commanders, unable to follow the situation, had question marks floating above their heads, but they seemed to realize it was a serious situation and kept their mouths shut.

“But… how did you…”

“She was still alive when I arrived.”

“Is that true?!”

Stella’s voice grew incredibly loud.

Her very round eyes stared at me intently.

A vitality named hope circled her face.

But that was only for a moment.

As if she had noticed something in my expression, her brightened face quickly darkened.

“…I showed an unseemly side. I’m sorry. There’s no way she could have been alive all this time.”

“If you’d like to hear, I can tell you. If you don’t want to hear, I can keep it to myself. What would you prefer?”

“…Please, tell me.”

Stella bit her lip.

I nodded and revealed everything that had happened in the depths of the rune dungeon.

How Lucia had lost her mind, consumed by the abyss, and committed numerous blasphemies; how she regained her senses midway and fought me as a priestess; and how she ultimately met her end by my hand.

Stella, who had been silently listening to my explanation, tightly grasped the sacred catalyst when I finished.

“I see. So at the time of her fall, she didn’t die.”

In truth, the root of everything stemmed from Lucia surviving the fall to the bottom of the dungeon due to that terrible misfortune.

If that hadn’t happened, none of this would have occurred.

Stella stared blankly at the sacred catalyst in her hand again, then muttered in a sunken voice.

“…Priestess Lucia was the one who pulled me out of the depths of hell.”

It was about her own past.

“When I lost my parents to devil worshippers and was about to become a living sacrifice myself… Priestess Lucia rescued me, allowing me to have such a sincere faith. She’s the benefactor who allowed me to live a new life.”

Even in the game, it was established that Lucia was the one who rescued the Inquisitor and brought her to the Holy Kingdom, and she was also the one who acted as a parental figure for a short time.

Although quite some time had passed and most of the bitter emotions from that time would have faded, hearing about Lucia’s final moments – whom she had thought had simply died from the fall – and receiving her memento must have caused her sorrow to well up again.

“…But I couldn’t even give her a proper farewell.”

Stella’s head drooped.

Then, suddenly, she raised her head and met my eyes.

Those green eyes were filled with strong longing.

“Esteemed guest. If it’s not too presumptuous, may I ask you one question?”

“By all means.”

“Did Priestess Lucia… find peace? In her final moments, did she return to God’s embrace?”

Stella’s words were a question about the choice the player had made.

Whether I had answered ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to Lucia’s question.

If I had chosen ‘no’, whether I had left Lucia behind or killed her myself.

Here, I could make two choices: tell the truth to the Inquisitor, or lie.

For reference, whether the player told the truth or lied would be revealed later.

The Inquisitor could apparently look into the user’s memories through the sacred power resonance imbued in the catalyst.

The worst route was choosing ‘no’ to Lucia’s question, leaving her to suffer in the abyss, and then lying about giving her peace.

Later, when the truth was revealed, the enraged Inquisitor would declare the player an enemy of the Holy Kingdom, permanently locking them out of any Holy Kingdom-related stories for that playthrough.

Honestly, it was such a blatantly vicious action that for a while, the protagonist character was stuck with a hated meme.

“Yes. She returned to God’s embrace and rested peacefully.”

Conversely, choosing ‘yes’ to Lucia’s question and then telling the Inquisitor she found peace, as I did now, was the best route.

Choosing this route would make the Inquisitor an unconditional ally of the player, just like the Silver Dawn Knights’ commanders.

This was an essential move for me now.

“…I see. That’s a relief. Truly, truly a relief.”

Stella’s eyes reddened.

It seemed difficult for her to control her surging emotions.

Stella rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, took a deep breath, and approached me.

Then, she bowed her head deeply towards me.

“I sincerely thank you for your kindness. I, Stella, the Inquisitor of the Sun of the Holy Kingdom of Raphaella, swear in my name. I will never forget this grace I’ve received from you, for all eternity.”

I responded with a light smile to those words, which I remembered hearing in the game as well.

There was no need to give a verbal response here.

Stella carefully tied the sacred catalyst to her waist and left with her battle nuns.

I glanced sideways at Selene standing next to me.

She looked a bit surprised, but there was no dramatic change in her expression.

“Iris, do you have a moment?”

“…”

“Iris?”

“…Ah. Sorry, Delta. I was too lost in thought. What is it?”

Iris only came to her senses after I called her twice, flustered.

The situation that had just unfolded must have been quite shocking.

Somehow, it seemed the knight commanders kept encountering shocking events since coming to the Holy Kingdom.

How many times had this been now?

“Would you like to go back to the lodgings first? I have some things to discuss with the Inquisitor. I’ll explain everything to you all later, carefully. It probably won’t take too long.”

“Is it about the rune? Since it originally belonged to the Holy Kingdom, you’ll have to distinguish between what you can and can’t explain to us. I understand. We’ll go back and wait.”

The knight commanders obediently moved their feet.

Lize waved her hand at me.

I responded appropriately.

My conscience stung a bit, as it seemed they were under some serious misunderstanding.

Still, it was fortunate.

What I was about to do would be a bit troublesome if the knight commanders were watching.

If they had refused to leave, I was planning to insist, even forcefully if necessary.

“Inquisitor. Could you guide us to a place where there are no people? Somewhere where it can be just the two of us?”

“Understood, esteemed guest. You all return as well. Rest until I give further orders.”

The battle nuns bowed their heads and dispersed in all directions.

Selene, who had dismissed the battle nuns with a single gesture, turned her body sharply.

“Follow me.”

The place Selene guided me to was, like before, the chapel for those who served the Pope of the Moon.

The inside was still empty.

“Are you sure it’s just the two of us?”

“Yes. It’s the time for worshipping the sun now, so no one will come here, but… since you still look uneasy, shall I put up a barrier to prevent anyone from entering?”

The sacred catalyst emitted a dim light.

Then, a dense silver light appeared outside the windows, enveloping the entire building.

“It’s done as you wished. To break through the barrier surrounding the chapel, either the Inquisitor or Her Holiness the Pope herself would have to descend.”

“Yes. Thank you, Inquisitor.”

I took a deep breath for a moment.

How Selene would react to my plan was unknown territory.

Still, the chances of success were high for now.

The source was my intuition.

“However… esteemed guest, is there a reason you need to block all eyes to this extent just to talk about the effects of the rune?”

Selene expressed her doubt.

Indeed, putting up a barrier around the building just to discuss the effects of a rune would certainly seem like an excessive action.

“Well, that’s because what I’m going to talk about isn’t about the rune.”

“Pardon…? What do you mean…?”

“What I’m going to talk about is this.”

I struck first before Selene’s confusion could subside.

“For instance, about how the Pope of the Moon volunteered to be sacrificed—”

—BANG!

Before I could finish my sentence, my vision spun.

My body floated in the air for a moment before being slammed hard against the chapel wall.

A dull impact surged through my back.

Rather than the pain from being slammed against the wall, I first thought how fortunate it was that this wasn’t treated as damage.

The sound “Ugh” escaped my lips only after that.

If this had been treated as damage, I would have died here.

“Where did you hear that?”

Selene, who had immediately pinned me to the chapel wall, was emanating an unprecedentedly strong killing intent.

Her eyes, filled with murderous intent, glared at me.

An immense pressure was felt from her wide-open purple eyes.

The hand gripping my neck seemed ready to snap my cervical vertebrae at any moment.

“I asked where and from whom you heard that!”

Selene finally burst out shouting.

This was the first time I had seen Selene, who was even more taciturn than Iris, raise her voice in anger like this.

Originally, the DLC’s story didn’t progress like this, but I had deliberately decided to ignore the story.

I was going to skip all the intermediate processes and go straight to fight the final boss.

Since things had been twisted from the start, why shouldn’t I distort them further with my own hands?

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