Chapter 115
Evia had nothing to do with this club. However she would definitely consider a request from the student council president herself. At present, her power was low-level, allowing only for one-way telepathy, but eventually, two-way communication would be possible. For now, though, her current ability was enough.
“If you’re being threatened, touch your nose. If you’re being tortured, fiddle with your hair.” Simple signals like these should be sufficient.
Everyone agreed that having someone with telepathic ability as a just-in-case measure was a good idea, and even praised it as a great insight.
If Olivia could provide us with such testimony, it could set the groundwork for the Temple to step in immediately, instead of all the hesitant deliberation that I saw in the preview of the future. It might even result in the mobilization of the guards as well.
Despite this, there was still an underlying unease.
There was a possibility that the commander of the Knights was still only trying to persuade Olivia with words. Therefore, if the torture or magical procedures were only planned to occur later, we would not be able to get the responses we expected from Olivia at this stage.
However, we had already rolled the dice, and there was no stopping it now.
***
The next day, after lunchtime...
“It’s okay. There’s no need to worry.”
Ceres held the telepath Evia’s hand tightly as they stood in front of the Order of the Holy Knights’ temple.
“W-Will I really be able to do this well? What if I make a mistake...?”
“It’s okay. You’re just here as a precaution. Nothing outrageous is going to happen. Just use your ability to ask a few questions if it seems necessary.”
“O-Okay...”
The timid and fearful Evia couldn’t quite believe that she had ended up in such a place so suddenly.
The day before, out of nowhere, the student council president from the Royal Class, whom she hardly knew, had sought her out and told her that she urgently needed her help with an important matter. Naturally, she wondered what it was about.
To Evia, it didn’t seem like a difficult task at all, and she was even told that she might not need to do anything at all.
Ceres had told her that they were going to meet someone, and if that person seemed unable to speak properly, she just had to throw them some questions telepathically. Just simple questions, such as what gestures to make if the person required help, or to signal if they were under duress.
These were things Evia had done countless times during supernatural power training classes, so they were not difficult tasks.
But the thought of having to use her abilities in such a real-life scenario was understandably frightening. Especially if she had to ask someone right next to the commander of the Order of the Holy Knights if they were being tortured.
Only Ceres van Owenne and Evia were there at the temple.
The student council president from the Royal Class stood undaunted in front of the temple of the Order of the Holy Knights. It was the gathering place of the finest holy knights, who had made enormous contributions during the Great War.
The Order of the Holy Knights... a dream posting for most students majoring in the religious fields affiliated with the Temple.
Ceres van Owenne took the lead and walked confidently through the massive columns, coming to a halt before the gatekeeper.
“What business does a Temple student have here?”
Both of them were wearing their school uniforms, even though it was the weekend, to show their affiliation.
“I am Ceres van Owenne, the student council president of the Temple’s Royal Class.” She pulled out her student ID card and smiled. “I came to see Olivia Lanche, the commander’s daughter and my friend. May I see her for a moment?”
“Hm? The commander might be busy at the moment.”
“I kindly ask for your help,” Ceres said with a smile. “Olivia disappeared suddenly, and there’s been a great deal of unrest, with students worrying she might have been kidnapped.”
She applied some subtle pressure by implying that it was crucial to verify Olivia’s safety with her own eyes, to prevent chaos from erupting within the Temple.
***
The commander of the Order of the Holy Knights was not a man of leisure; thus, he was not someone whom you could meet on a whim.
However, in this case, the visitor was not some ordinary student from the Temple, but the president of the student council of the Royal Class. While that title might not carry much weight outside of the Temple, it was not something to be lightly dismissed, either.
Moreover, the purpose of the visit was to confirm with their own eyes the safety of a student who had disappeared in the middle of the night. The Temple was already in an uproar, and if she couldn’t verify it now, more drastic measures might be taken.
Therefore, since the Order of the Holy Knights did not want to cause unnecessary trouble, they acceded to Ceres’s request to meet with Olivia briefly, and led the two students to the commander’s office.
For some reason, the commander was out, so Ceres and Evia were led to his office, where they had to wait for quite some time.
“It’s okay. Don’t be nervous.”
“O-Okay...”
Ceres comforted the anxious Evia by holding her hand.
After waiting for quite a long time...
Creak.
The office door opened, and Leverier Lanche entered the office with a cold demeanor, followed by Olivia Lanche, who wore a dark expression.
Without having to ask anything, both Ceres and Evia grew certain.
There was definitely something going on. Olivia’s dark expression said it all.
“It’s an honor to meet you, commander. I am Ceres van Owenne, the student council president of the Royal Class.”
“And I’m Evia...”
“Pleased to meet you. I am Leverier Lanche, the commander of the Order of the Holy Knights.”
After a brief introduction, the commander sat Olivia down next to him and faced the two visitors.
“So, I hear you’re worried because of my daughter’s sudden disappearance from the Temple.”
“Yes. Everyone is in a panic because she vanished without a word... Fortunately, she’s here. I thought something serious had happened last night.”
“Students are free to come and go from the Temple over the weekend, are they not?”
“That’s correct. But the suddenness of the situation was...”
.
.
As the conversation went on, Ceres began to test the waters. The commander shared that Olivia had recently gone through a significant ordeal that had left her mentally and emotionally unstable, making it difficult for her to continue her life at the Temple.
This made sense, and matched Olivia’s recent behavior, although the current situation was not of her own choosing, but had been forced upon her. The commander added that Olivia’s current state made it hard for her to meet anyone face to face, and that she did not want to speak with anyone. With that, he implied that it would be best if the two students left, since they had confirmed Olivia’s safety. Ceres, on the other hand, suggested having a private conversation with Olivia, but that request was rejected.
So, it was Evia’s turn to step in.
Evia quietly focused her powers.
‘Don’t be surprised, unnie. I have telepathic ability.’
Olivia flinched as the voice entered her mind directly. Fortunately, the commander did not notice this reaction.
‘Are you in a situation where you’re not allowed to speak right now? If so, please twist your hair once.’
Olivia gently twisted a strand of her long platinum-blonde hair with her right hand.
Evia’s heart pounded.
‘If you need help right now, please clench your fist slightly.’
Olivia clenched her right hand into a fist.
‘Have you been... tortured?’
Olivia nodded subtly.
Evia’s complexion started to turn increasingly pale.
“Why is this student so tense?”
Naturally, Leverier Lanche noticed this anomaly as well.
“Oh, ah... I think it’s because she’s nervous to meet the commander of the Order of the Holy Knights.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
Naturally, it was impossible for Leverier Lanche to realize that telepathic communication was happening right then.
***
As evening approached, an emergency meeting for the members of Grace was convened. This time, Evia was included. It seemed they had a clear understanding of the situation.
Evia was terrified, and immense anger was swirling in Ceres’s eyes.
“It was all true.”
Who sent the anonymous letter was no longer important.
Ceres’s words shocked everyone.
“Some trickery has rendered the president mute, and it’s certain that she is either going to be tortured or is already being tortured. Moreover, the president is asking for help.”
Evia had confirmed Olivia’s plea for deliverance through her telepathy.
“This is no longer a matter that we students can handle amongst ourselves,” Ceres continued. “This, in itself, is already a serious crime.”
The case had escalated, and they had to inform the faculty and the guards.
Adriana and I caught each other’s gaze.
We had succeeded in escalating the case so that it was now considered a significant incident that would move more powerful forces into action without blowing our cover after all.
***
Proof that the commander of the Order of the Holy Knights was torturing his own daughter had been secured in the form of witness testimony.
Even though they were father and daughter, such proof provided enough reason for not only the Temple to intervene, but the guards as well. With solid grounds and testimony secured, the Temple authorities, instead of hesitating like in the Preview, took immediate action.
It was Sunday night, and the faculty of the Temple’s Royal Class moved collectively.
The teachers, leading the Temple’s own armed forces and the guards, began heading towards the temple of the Order of the Holy Knights.
I did not follow to watch. However, I could see that the situation was twisting in a completely different way.
“Reinhart, you’ve really made things interesting, haven’t you?”
“... What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb.”
Vertus was watching quietly from the tea-time terrace as the troops and teachers, who had been mobilized in the dead of night, prepared themselves.
“Going around stirring things up in an attempt to save Olivia Lanche was all too obvious,” Vertus said.
Even without concrete evidence, the fact that I had asked about Olivia Lanche, then gone to look for her, and was intent on doing something about it seemed quite apparent. Thus, Vertus seemed to have intuitively guessed that I was the cause of this mess.
It had to have been a shot in the dark, but it was eerie how accurate his guess was.
“It’s impressive, really. A first-year kid does some legwork, and the whole Temple is set in motion.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
Vertus sipped his tea, smiling slyly.
“Didn’t do anything, you say, but didn’t you also suggest bringing a telepath to the meeting ahead of time in case you couldn’t secure testimony? Seems to me you’re also the one behind that anonymous letter. You’ve done it all on your own, Reinhart.”
‘Does he already know this much?’
It was terrifying how he seemed to know almost everything while appearing to know nothing at all.
It was chilling how he acted as if he was in the dark and completely clueless, but then suddenly showed that he knew everything.
“There’s no need to be afraid. Whatever the reason, I’m quite pleased with you stirring things up to save Olivia Lanche.”
“... Pleased? Didn’t you want Olivia Lanche gone?”
“That hardly matters now, does it?” Vertus shrugged. “The Order of the Holy Knights is going to be disbanded, so why does it matter anymore?”
‘Huh?’
It seemed I had stumbled upon a massive revelation.
“Wait, it’s that big of a deal? This incident is going to cause the Order to disband completely?”
It was definitely a serious issue, but was it significant enough to result in the disbanding of the Order of the Holy Knights, a massive organization?
“That depends on the circumstances. It could just end as a case of parental child abuse,” Vertus said with a chuckle.
He continued, “But our emperor doesn’t plan to let this end as a minor incident.”
An excuse to disband the Order of the Holy Knights had been found. Thus, the authorities would demolish it.
This might have started out as a small incident, but now, the emperor was going to step in and escalate the magnitude of the situation tremendously.
“But the Order of the Holy Knights won’t just accept that quietly. There’ll be an immense backlash from the religious groups. In the worst-case scenario, the Order of the Holy Knights might even turn their swords against the empire.”
They weren’t the types to quietly disband. The Order of the Holy Knights had become a massive power, grown out of the combined strength of the five Temples within the Divine Cult of the Almighty, and they wouldn’t easily relinquish that power. If the emperor used this incident as a pretext to disband the Order of the Holy Knights, they might brand the emperor’s actions as religious persecution, and draw their swords.
“Congratulations, Reinhart,” Vertus said as he patted my shoulder. “You’ve just started a war trying to save one person.”
I felt a chill run through my body, as if my blood had turned to ice.
‘War?’
The notion that the actions I had taken to save Olivia Lanche could escalate into a war between the empire and the Divine Cult of the Almighty caused my brain to freeze.
The royal family had been keeping their knives sharpened, ready to deal with the thorn in their side that was the Order of the Holy Knights, and the tension had only been growing since the black market incident.
And then, I had gone and detonated this bombshell that the commander of the Order of the Holy Knights was torturing his own daughter.
As Vertus put it, in trying to save one person, I had inadvertently crafted a scenario where hundreds of thousands could die on a whim.
‘Is... Is that even possible? Could the actions of someone as insignificant as me really lead to such a massive event? Is that feasible? All I did was some stalking and stirring the pot with an anonymous letter, and that’s it.
Could something as small as that lead to a war?’
As I froze in shock, Vertus peered at me quietly.
“Do you want me to stop it?” He asked.
“H-Huh... W-What?”
“The war.”
Vertus looked at me quietly.
“You’re offering to stop it?”
“You seem overwhelmed. I’m asking if you want me to stop it,” he said, looking at me with an unfathomable expression.
“Yes,” I said, nodding blankly. “Please.”
In response to my plea, filled with the most sincere intention, Vertus smiled.
“Alright.”
My simple actions had radically altered the future.
Yet, with just one brief exchange of words, the future was altered once again.
***
The fact that the commander of the Order of the Holy Knights tortured his daughter did not come to light. To be precise, the commander had still been trying to persuade Olivia Lanche verbally, but it had been made known to her that if she resisted, she would face physical and magical torture.
The Temple authorities took the initial action, but once Vertus began to intervene, there was speculation that the royal family took over control of the case midway through.
While the royal family wanted to disband the Order of the Holy Knights, doing so would inevitably cause significant backlash. Instead, the royal family diminished this incident from being a scandal involving the entire Order of the Holy Knights to just a personal issue that involved the commander himself.
As a compromise, the royal family demanded the dismissal of the commander of the Order of the Holy Knights, and the appointment of a new commander who was pro-empire.
While the royal family conducted negotiations behind the scenes, the Temple took Olivia Lanche back into custody and kept silent about the matter. Since Olivia Lanche had not actually been tortured, it was difficult to make any more of the issue.
By Monday, Olivia Lanche had returned to the Temple.
She had decided to leave both the Temple and her faith, but ultimately, her safe return was possible because she was a student of the Temple.
[Special Achievement Event Complete - Historical Turning Point (Olivia Lanche)]
[A significant character (Olivia Lanche), who was not supposed to exist in the original timeline, has survived.]
[The future has been greatly altered.]
[You have received 1,000 achievement points.]
Not only did I gain achievement points, but a special event was also completed.
[You have acquired Olivia Lanche’s trait ‘Divine Spirit’.
Trait: Divine Spirit
Description: Olivia Lanche was born with inherently strong mental fortitude. Therefore, she naturally possesses a significant resistance to mental manipulation magic. Having acquired her trait, you also gain strong mental power and a greatly increased resistance to mental interference.]
The reward I’d received was far greater than I had anticipated.
This must have also been why Olivia Lanche, despite being subjected to countless attempts at brainwashing, never succumbed to them in the end.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l