I'll Smash Everything with Passive Skills-Chapter 96: 0. Before and After

It is only natural for war criminals to be brought to trial after the end of a war.

However, the problem is that the war criminal in question is not an ordinary dictator or a ferocious tyrant.

Dealing with him, who is both the Pope of the Church of Light and the leader of the Demon Cult, was quite a tricky matter.

"I suppose they will settle on a public execution."

"Is that so?"

"It was led by His Majesty the Emperor. The issue of prisoners is causing quite a headache."

It was Crown Prince Friedrich, who remained at the academy to sort things out after the war. Veris nodded nonchalantly at his explanation.

He did not think the Pope had any noble intentions. The sins he and the Demon Cult had committed already covered the land and obscured the sky.

To sympathize with such a Pope seemed like a foolish act.

"Prisoners."

Veris stroked his chin with a newfound expression.

It had only been a few days since the soldiers of the Holy Kingdom had disappeared from this world. The problem was that their main forces, the priests and holy knights, were still present.

Of course, after the Pope voluntarily surrendered, they had also conveyed their intention to surrender. However, controlling so many mana users was no easy task.

"More importantly, is what you said true?"

"It's almost laughable to say it's true. It's the Pope, after all, and the theory of the Demon Cult."

"..."

Veris detailed the conversation he had with the Pope to Friedrich.

Hearing about the Light's shackles and the world's bindings made it hard to take seriously. If that was truly the shadow of this world, there should have been at least one more ally.

"Veris."

"Yes?"

"I find it hard to believe that."

"...I feel the same."

"Ha ha! Of course, it would be. Even if that great Pope said it, it sounds like something that would distort one's sense of reality."

Crown Prince Friedrich began with laughter. But by the end of his words, he wore a serious expression.

"It's quite strange."

"Strange... you say?"

"It cannot be explained by common sense. The great Pope of the Church of Light is actually the leader of the Demon Cult, and the reason for such actions and ultimately waging war is that."

Veris nodded silently.

The Pope of the Church of Light was said to be a plunderer from another realm, a being of light that existed in the celestial realm. It was not something easily believable.

...If the Pope had indeed instigated the war and had not been captured while willingly sealing his mana.

"However, I think it's a matter that should be considered seriously."

The Crown Prince murmured with a seriousness he had never shown before.

'Should I have mentioned the Tower Master?'

Seeing the Crown Prince like that, Veris kept his mouth shut. The information that the Tower Master possessed the key to the so-called 'Gate Magic' leading to the celestial realm was something only Veris knew.

*

It was certainly not strange for a period of mourning to be observed throughout the empire.

After the mourning period ended, it was only natural for the victory festival to begin.

"I'm tired."

At a late hour.

While the festival was in full swing outside, Veris, who had returned from the military camp at the request of Crown Prince Friedrich to help with postwar arrangements, muttered this.

"..."

It was a quiet mansion. Arwen and Cecilia had likely fallen asleep, as Veris could hear two steady breaths in his perception.

He paused.

Veris, who had been slowly walking toward the room, stopped.

Mana spread throughout the mansion. It was because an unknown presence was detected within it.

Knock, knock.

At the same time, a knocking sound was heard.

Perhaps because it was late at night, or perhaps because they did not want to announce their presence. The knock was exceedingly quiet and low.

Creak!

Veris approached the door casually and soon opened the large door.

He already knew who the owner of the knock was without needing to see.

"Nice to see you."

"It hasn't been long."

Veris shrugged his shoulders. The old man standing before him broke into a hearty laugh and nodded.

"Well, it's fortunate that I wasn't chased away as an unwelcome guest."

Dressed in a blue robe and a matching blue mage's hat, the Tower Master, Heindal, had appeared.

"What's the matter?"

Veris, already aware of the Tower Master's past involvement with the Demon Cult, spoke in a rather brusque manner.

"Ha ha! Aren't you being a bit too cold to an old man?"

"Not killing you on the spot is already my mercy."

"Cough! That's true. I saw your skills from over that ridge."

The Tower Master nodded with a vacant expression. It seemed he had witnessed Veris's power in the southern plains of the academy city.

"..."

For some reason, the Tower Master had a sorrowful look on his face. After a while of hesitating and mumbling, the old man finally revealed something.

"I heard. The Pope, that man, has ultimately surrendered of his own accord."

"Right. The empire plans to execute him publicly."

"Ha! What a merciful act. To send the leader of the Demon Cult and an invader who attacked the empire to a mere public execution."

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...The Tower Master had his own grievances against the Demon Cult. However, it seemed he had no fond feelings for the church or the Pope, as he spoke as if it were someone else's story.

"Don't test my patience. What's your business? Why have you appeared?"

"Ha ha! Is it alright if it becomes a long story?"

The Tower Master chuckled awkwardly. Veris gestured outside with his hand. At the tip of his finger was a bench located along the road of the mansion village.

"Ha! How unromantic."

Even while grumbling, the Tower Master walked toward the bench. The absolute being of the Tower, sitting on a bench on a night road, somehow exuded a sense of loneliness.

"You already know, don't you?"

"What? Are you talking about the gate to the celestial realm?"

"Ha! What a ghostly thing to say. Did that old man, the Pope, perhaps mention it?"

"What's important is not that."

"Ha ha! That's true. What's important is not that."

Slowly, the Tower Master raised his head to look at the sky.

The dark night sky. Damnably, the sky of this world was so clear that the twinkling stars were very visible.

"You believe in the goal of the Demon Cult?"

"Half-believing. It's hard to believe such words without seeing it firsthand."

"Ha ha! That's true. Even I took quite a long time to believe it."

The Tower Master continued to gaze at the high sky.

"To think that the exalted being above that sky was actually a being that exploited the life forms of this world. It was hard to believe."

"..."

Veris could not understand the Tower Master's intentions in coming at this late hour and spouting such sentimental words.

"However, as I lived, I began to become somewhat aware. This world, which seems oddly well-structured. And the evidence that the Pope directly showed."

Hmm.

The Tower Master raised his hand. A faint mana flickered in that hand.

It was a small mana, about the size of a baby's fist. Such a small mana could not harm an ordinary academy student.

"I know this is an unreasonable request."

"A request?"

"Yes. If my guess is correct, Liberato, that old man, must have wished for you."

It was a remarkable insight. Although he seemed uninterested in the Pope, the Tower Master ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) had a good grasp of him.

"What I want to ask is..."

The Tower Master took a long pause. Following his gaze to the sky, Veris soon saw a shooting star fall.

"Liberato, that old man is like that. Kill him for me."

"Truly shameless."

"Ha ha! It's just how it is when you grow old."

And what the Tower Master did next was truly astonishing.

Circle.

He placed his fist against the Circle located in his heart.

The small mana he had been holding in his hand swirled and then vanished into the Tower Master's heart.

"The Circle is indeed a bizarre form."

"..."

It was an unexpected statement. Veris could not understand what he was trying to say.

"I once had this question. Do you know the history of the Circle?"

When Veris shook his head silently, the Tower Master continued with a laugh.

"The Circle is a remnant of the Tower that has continued since the mythological era. I think of it this way: the Circle is the outcry of humanity prepared by the ancestors of that mythological era."

"Outcry?"

"Yes. Look at this bizarre world. Is there anyone in this entire continent who did not believe in the God of Light?"

"..."

There are. Of course, there weren't many. Mages who sought the truth. Among them, the unique ones were the mages affiliated with the Tower, who trembled at the existence of gods.

Also, Veris was included among those atheists.

"Isn't it strange?"

The Tower Master's voice. Veris realized something.

"The Circle that devours emotions. Those who create a Circle within their bodies do not believe in the God of Light."

"Oh! You are indeed sharp. Yes! Those who have mastered the Circle do not believe in faith. It's truly a surprising and interesting matter."

"..."

Indeed.

It was strange. Veris knew that the entire human race, excluding the eastern barbarians and other races, followed the Church of Light.

"Ha ha! Perhaps he secretly rules over all the emotions of this world."

Of course, for them, the situation was not much different.

The Thunder God, the Lightning God, and so on, they merely had different names, but they too were fanatical about 'Light.'

"That's why I have prepared for a long time. I have set up a way to leap into the celestial realm, that damned space."

Veris thought about what kind of nonsense the suddenly appearing Tower Master would say.

However... what he was saying was undoubtedly intriguing. The product of the Tower that had existed since the mythological era, the Circle. Was it one of the ways to escape from the 'Light's shackles' that the Pope mentioned?

Thinking coldly, the Tower Master's words did have some merit.

"Whether I carry out that task is entirely up to your will. Just think of it as the grumbling of an old man."

The Tower Master wore a bitter expression. His gaze remained fixed on the sky.