How to Survive as a Genius Spy in the Game-Chapter 211: Temple (5)

“That’s a lie!”

The frail-looking guy shouted with eyes full of hatred.

“I’m the real archaeologist! You can tell just by looking. Haven’t you heard of Vasant? I studied under Professor Sanbron at the Imperial University.”

“Bullshit! I’m Vasant!”

“Let’s settle this with knowledge! When excavating ruins, first…”

“Th-that’s what I taught you!”

As the frail one took the lead, the sturdy one stuttered and expressed his indignation.

“Enough. That’s it.”

I raised my hand to stop them both. Their voices were getting louder to the point of hurting my ears.

I had learned a bit about archaeology, so I thought about testing them with that, but it seemed meaningless.

Both seemed confident, so it would be difficult to distinguish them that way. Perhaps they had prepared for this kind of situation.

The worst-case scenario. Of course, they wouldn’t have expected me to come here. They probably worried about the Imperial Intelligence Agency.

Anyway, just seeing a devil worshipper studying and blending in among the slaves showed how important this matter was.

‘The manager was quite strong too.’

The lack of tension was because Denif and I were out of the ordinary. Anyway, I turned my gaze to the frail-looking guy.

“You must have put in some effort.”

“What do you…?”

He rolled his eyes. In this world with mana, physical sturdiness doesn’t always match strength.

I had already drawn my conclusion. There were several circumstances.

First, the palms of both guys. I had examined them while tying them up. Both were rough from digging tunnels as slaves, but there was a difference.

The frail one’s palms had old calluses, while the sturdy one’s were relatively new.

There were also traces of picking at the calluses, as if they were uncomfortable.

And most importantly, it was their reactions when pretending to be asleep. The frail one immediately curled up his body.

On the other hand, the sturdy one didn’t even try to react, despite having a precedent.

The sturdy one was also more affected by the sleeping drug. These were sufficient circumstances to draw a conclusion.

Putting aside the impression that the sturdy one’s eyes seemed to tremble more or appear weaker.

The frail one’s eyes filled with shock as I lightly stabbed him with my sword. A falling body. The sturdy one was looking at me with his mouth open.

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“What are you doing? I went through the trouble of figuring you out. Aren’t you going to talk?”

“Ah, th-that…”

He stammered.

“F-first of all, I am Vasant, a disciple of Professor Sanbron from the Imperial University.”

“Skip the useless stuff. Briefly, just the key points. What were you looking for in Tsukva’s ruins?”

“W-well… To be honest, I don’t know exactly.”

He glanced at me. As I frowned and raised my dagger, he waved both hands frantically.

“But! We were looking for clues about a secret treasure from the time when the continent was in darkness! We were trying to find the secret treasure through those clues!”

He quickly added. The devil worshippers refer to the time of the founding emperor as the period when the continent was in darkness.

Hoping for that darkness to return. Anyway, clues about a secret treasure from that time. It was too broad and meaningless.

“Secret treasure? Aren’t you being too vague?”

“I-I’m telling the truth! Who would tell detailed information to a kidnapped person?”

“You’re an archaeologist, right? They must have shown you things and asked for analysis.”

“There were others besides me. I was just there to report immediately if I found anything special on site.”

This isn’t going to be easy. I smiled wickedly.

“Well. That’s not what I know.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m asking because I already know some things.”

His pupils trembled slightly. As I thought. A highly likely guess turns into certainty.

“Anyway, do these trash only speak when there’s metal in their bodies? Every time they open their mouths, it’s lies.”

“Wh-what do you mean…”

“You think I came straight here? I interrogated your boss before coming down.”

“What?”

He kept saying “What?” as if he was really confused. Perhaps it was a desperate act.

But I wasn’t going to be fooled.

“You. You weren’t kidnapped, were you?”

“Th-that…”

“You know who I am. Do you think I came here alone without any thought?”

He was at a loss for words. His trembling pupils scanned around. It was a struggle to find a way out.

“I know you’re a devil worshipper too. Nice acting. Did you two plan this all the way here? To guide me with false information?”

This guy is probably really an archaeologist. But I’m not sure if they had agreed beforehand to pretend to be kidnapped and spout false information, or if it was improvised.

I thought it was probably the former. If the ones above didn’t talk and died, they would interrogate the slaves. Anyway, he definitely wasn’t kidnapped.

I learned about the reactions of kidnapped people at the duke’s mansion and saw many with my own eyes.

When their tormentors died, they would cry from the built-up resentment, express gratitude, rejoice, or mock their deaths.

This guy didn’t show any of these reactions. He was just surprised. Of course, nothing is 100% certain in human affairs.

The surprise this guy showed was a bit different. The way he spoke was also a bit suspicious. That’s why I tested him.

“It’s probably true that you’re that Vasant guy. Were you recruited by devil worshippers in the intelligence agency at the Imperial University? Or did you want to worship the devil yourself?”

“…”

He couldn’t refute. His wavering emotions showed on his face. I was laughing inside. This is better.

People who fall into strange ideologies exist in any era, anywhere.

The fortunate thing was that this guy didn’t seem to have been a devil worshipper for long.

He seemed to know a little bit too. If I could persuade him well, I thought I could find out what they were looking for here.

“Let’s make this easy. I don’t like cutting people’s flesh and causing pain either. I’m going to clear out the inside anyway. You know what will happen to you, right?”

I shrugged.

“But, if you reduce my effort, I’ll provide you a way to live. You know I’m the Emperor’s most trusted confidant. Well, I could even help you return to the university.”

“A-are you serious?”

“Of course, you’ll be under surveillance by the intelligence agency, but…”

“Ah…”

“And even if I’m not serious… what can you do about it?”

I smiled with an evil face.

“Either tell the truth and hope for my mercy. Or speak after torture. It’s one of the two.”

“…”

“You haven’t been worshipping the devil for long, right? I don’t think you’re the type who can withstand torture like high-ranking devil worshippers. Even the manager here opened his mouth.”

“…”

“Isn’t it better to go painlessly even if the end is death, rather than after enduring pain?”

The guy rolled his eyes for a moment before opening his mouth.

“We… we were looking for Tsukva’s Scythe.”

“Tsukva’s Scythe?”

“They said if we have that, we can use fewer sacrifices and blood for summoning… That’s really all I know!”

Hmm. This seemed true.

I couldn’t rule out the possibility that this was a lie, but the situation and my intuition said it was the truth.

And I had to consider the influence of the trait I gained, Emperor Maker. Actually, interrogating this guy and the messenger was a bit easier.

Compared to the existing devil worshippers, it felt relatively easier to solve, you could say?

“I don’t think I saw anything like that in the ancient texts.”

“So much was omitted, wasn’t it? Everyone knows the founding emperor rewrote history to his advantage.”

I inwardly agreed. It made sense. And what the guy said was quite important information.

They can use fewer sacrifices and blood needed for summoning the devil.

The blood here probably means Devil’s Blood. It was a priceless treasure for devil worshippers.

“Are you done?”

And then, Denif came down. I already knew he was approaching through the winds.

His hands were red as if dipped in blood. Blood was also splattered grotesquely on his face and body. Vasant rolled his eyes.

“You’re here?”

“What did this guy say?”

“He said they were looking for Tsukva’s Scythe?”

“Huh? Really?”

Denif looked at us and smiled lewdly. I could tell the act had begun.

“That bastard Doimen said there was something called devil’s seeds here.”

“Th-that’s a lie. We were looking for Tsukva’s Scythe!”

We silently glared at the guy.

“I-it’s true!”

He didn’t seem to be lying. I nodded.

“Alright. I know. That you’re telling the truth.”

“Th-then I…”

“Well, you knew what would happen, right? Be thankful you’re going easily.”

“Lord Schurtafen. Pl-please…”

The guy couldn’t even finish his short last words of “please”. Denif’s sword flashed blue.

Denif looked a bit annoyed.

“No results?”

“Why ask when you know?”

“Should I have done it?”

“It would’ve been the same. If we had more time maybe, but I barely got his name.”

Well. I would have agreed with Denif before I gained the Emperor Maker trait, but now I’m not sure.

If I had done well, I might have persuaded that guy too.

Even if not about Tsukva’s Scythe, couldn’t we have found out about their contact methods or cycles?

Well, it was already over.

“Did you put the slaves to sleep?”

“Yeah. They should sleep soundly for about 12 hours? Do you have any more sleeping drug?”

“Not enough for 20 people. It’s troublesome, can’t we just kill them?”

“Leave them. The temple is more urgent.”

Now that Tsukva’s Scythe was likely real, it was essentially a time attack.

We had to clear out the inside and run before the devil worshippers noticed the lost contact and rushed in.

We walked past the sleeping slaves. The passage leading to the temple wasn’t very wide.

Beyond the collapsed tunnel, a huge space spread out underground. It was about the size of two or three large stadiums combined.

And there was an old but well-made temple. It wasn’t on the ground.

The path to the temple had to be crossed by connected bridges, and below was a deep darkness.

An ancient temple. Some of the stone slabs and walls could be seen crumbling. The weight of time.

Among them, what stood out was the darkness.

‘This is no ordinary place.’

Befitting an underground temple worshipping the devil, an eerie darkness enveloped the entire temple.

However, the outline of the building was visible because green flames here and there illuminated the view.

It was my first time seeing this too. Green flames instead of red flames. Denif turned his gaze to the slaves at the entrance.

“What happened to these guys? Poison?”

“That too. The rest seem to have been consumed by darkness.”

Half of their bodies could be seen dyed black, like eerie wounds from black magic.

The fact that the devil worshippers put slaves in front meant this darkness affected them too.

‘Darkness that kills devil worshippers.’

It wasn’t funny. It meant this place was no ordinary place. It was written in the diary too.

That only the truly devout could come.

We stepped into the entrance. Although slaves had already died here, we carefully examined the floor.

My winds and Denif’s sand moved busily. And when we took our second step, my blood reacted.

A strange and creepy wave began to spread from inside the temple and brushed past us. An ominous sound was heard.

-Blood has come, impious and sacred blood…

A chilling and unpleasant voice, like scratching a blackboard with nails, was transmitted from inside the temple to our ears.

A devil…?

No. The impious and sacred blood referred to me. Devil’s Blood. It wouldn’t call its own blood sacred.

In other words, I thought the owner of this voice might be Tsukva. However, I couldn’t believe he was still alive until now.

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