Antagonist Protection Service-Chapter 116: Revelation

The open, blank book, situated atop the stone altar and fixed firmly in place...

It was no longer blank.

'What? Who did this? No, how did this happen? And when? I never saw anyone approach here today, and even if someone did, there's no pen or anything in this whole place to write something down...'

Just in case, I tried flipping the pages to see if that was why, but that too was impossible.

Returning to read the brief contents that had abruptly appeared at some point, I slowly took in the text dyed an unsettling crimson ink.

『Lilliana Weiss names 「Judas」』

There was only this single line, and for a moment, I wondered if I was reading it correctly. Promptly looking up and back to the inscription, my eyes widened, and I muttered.

"'Name the 「Judas」 amongst thou'..."

All of a sudden, it was as if I was hit by a divine revelation, and I laughed.

"Are you kidding me?"

This really was closer to that game than I thought...

Just like that, all the dots connected themselves in my mind, completing the picture I was steadily drawing until now to form a whole woven picture of what was going on here―at least in relation to the rules of the Trial itself.

It was simple.

As the inscription stated, really, all we had to do was 'name 「Judas」'―or at least who we thought was 「Judas」―to accuse them.

「Judas」――or in other words, the traitor.

Once the majority, or perhaps everybody had cast their vote, judgement would be made, and thus whoever had earned the majority's accusation would be declared 「Judas」 through such a democratic system, and brought to repentance.

What would happen to the person named 「Judas」 after that―needn't be stated.

They would, simply, "repent".

Just like I had considered previously, it was exceptionally similar to that social deduction game.

In the end, I was right about Cecilia being the Antagonist, and the whole idea to pretend that the Protagonist was 「Judas」 wasn't even necessary.

Because, from the very beginning, she really was 「Judas」 after all. I'm sure of it.

For some reason, Cecilia created this Decalogue Trial, where she brought a number of individuals to confess for some wrongs of their past―to repent for their sins.

She must have also borne a special kind of hatred for the Protagonist's cardinal sin of denying God, and as such reserved the most special form of repentance for her in particular.

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That is, being designated as 「Judas」.

That would also explain why she was seemingly immune to the rules of the Trial that forbade sinning―Cecilia intentionally spared her to instead bestow upon her the highest form of punishment.

Of course, this only works because she is the Protagonist and if we assume Cecilia to be the Antagonist. They need to have some kind of link between them for the story to function, and this has to be it.

Then, to clear this Contract, was all I had to do have the Protagonist named as 「Judas」 through this democratic system?

"That... should be easy enough."

All of a sudden, I found a smile forming on my face.

After all, this was only a 2-star Difficulty Contract.

Even if it was harder, more drawn-out, and more puzzling than the first three, it was never going to match up to the likes of Drakon-Rasa.

To confirm all of my suspicions, I only had one simple thing to do.

Staring down at the book before me, I straightened and opened my mouth.

"Liliana Weiss is 「Judas」."

Immediately following my subdued words, blood-red characters inscribed themselves on the empty space of the book, one line below the text previous.

『Bartholomew names 「Judas」』

Subconsciously, I felt the ends of my lips again curling up.

'Just as I thought...'

With that, two votes out of the available nine had been cast.

All that remained was to ensure that the others also made their choice.

❖─────★★☆☆☆─────❖

A couple of hours passed in relative silence, evening dawning upon us.

There were no clocks anywhere in this church, so we could only rely on our own internal systems and the taunting rays of sunlight that shone through the unreachable stained glass windows above.

When the sun naturally rolled close enough to the western horizon, the floor would gradually stop receiving as much light, dimming the overall atmosphere of the church and directing the remaining spotlight instead onto the inscription adorning the apse's wall from the large window above the entrance of the church.

Now that I paid it some closer attention, the stained glass of that window seemed to show the illustration of a young girl on her knees, perhaps in a prayer, and with the amber light of the evening sun gleaming through, it painted a rather majestic scene.

Having emptied out some of the canned food into plates, I and Cecilia brought them out into the nave to eat, with the highschooler duo doing the same beside us.

The kitchen space was large enough that we could have all eaten in there with room to spare even if there were still twelve of us, but since it was sort of taken over by the other group with "John" at the head, I didn't think it was worth starting trouble over.

We couldn't afford to be hostile at this stage, especially because I needed his cooperation in order to clear the Contract.

Since declaring 「Judas」 likely required a majority vote, their group of four would be a tremendous help... or rather, it was the only way to guarantee a clear.

The people remaining were only us four, those four, and the Protagonist on her own, so even if we got just one of them to name her as 「Judas」, we would win.

It would be tough to convince them, especially considering the fact that I'm also under suspicion for some reason, but it can't be denied that the Protagonist was even more controversial.

They wouldn't lose anything from naming her as 「Judas」 anyway, so it shouldn't take much convincing.

But first, I had to guarantee the votes on our own team.

"―By the way, you two, can you do something for me? Just real quick."

Whilst the four of us dined together, sitting in a small circle on the floor in the centre of the nave, I faced them and asked.

"...?"

"What's up?"

The girl, sitting opposite me, was silent, continuing to eat passively as she turned her attention to me, and the boy, sitting on my right, nodded with rounded eyes.

Glancing at Cecilia, who sat on my left, I saw that she was also looking at me quietly.

I looked around to make sure that the Protagonist wasn't around―she hadn't come out yet for dinner, so I wasn't exactly sure if she was still resting or where she had gone―and confirming that she was nowhere around, continued.

"Can you both say 'Lilliana Weiss is 「Judas」'?"

The two seemed a bit confused for a moment, looking at me with inquisitive gazes. Soon after, "Thomas" swallowed her mouthful and leaned forward, her voice low as she asked.

"Is that related to this morning...?"

I nodded, gesturing at Cecilia to my left.

"Yeah. We figured out the trick to clearing this Trial earlier. First, all you have to do if you don't want to die is not sin, obviously, but you also have to confess whenever your day comes. I'm assuming you guys already know which of the Ten Commandments you broke, but whether or not you think you did something wrong, just confess it on that day, alright?"

Taking a quick swig of water, I held up a finger to point at the apse's altar.

"Secondly, in order to get out of here after confessing, we need to 'hunt the sheepskin wolf' as the inscription says. That means we need to name 「Judas」. When someone votes, it'll be recorded in that book, so we need everyone to vote in order to get the majority on our side."

Watching them twist their necks to follow the end of my finger, looking briefly at the altar and nodding to themselves, I lowered my arm.

"When everyone votes and the majority has decided, 「Judas」 will then be made to repent."

Meeting the two's gazes, I could almost see the gears whirring in their minds in the process of comprehending everything I was saying. After a short while, "Matthew" frowned and massaged his temples. "Thomas" also seemed to ponder something before turning to me again.

Concern apparent within her expression, she posed a question.

"What will happen after that...?"

I stared at her face for a moment, then shrugged.

"...Guess we'll find out when it happens."