We decided to return to the village together. When we arrived at the room, Haru lay down on the bed, exhausted. Akari and Lie slowly sat down on their bed. I stood there in the middle of the room. Haru looked at me.
"Aren't you tired, Rei?"
"From what?"
Everyone started staring at me as if they wanted to say, "From what do you think you could be tired?" When I noticed their stares, I sat down next to Haru.
"I feel like there could be a raid on this place."
"Are you saying we should change rooms?"
"Yes, I think that would be smart, Rei."
"Alright, let's do that. After all, they must be furious. We need to be even more careful this evening. We can apply the strategy Lie mentioned. Tomorrow is a rule day—there doesn't seem to be much we need to do. We'll worship and come straight home. They'll make their dirty games even dirtier."
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked my worship level.
"It's reached halfway. Since today is the fifth day, I'd say the game could last around eleven or twelve days on average."
Akari turned her eyes to me.
"Are you going to keep using the priest robe?"
"Probably not. Once they think about it for a bit, they'll figure out how I found the phone."
"How did you find it, really?"
"To put it briefly, I was roaming the underground corridor. I came across a torture chamber—there was a man there. I helped him and took his phone. At the same time, before that, I saw a room where five dead bodies had been dumped. That's how I figured out they might have fake phones."
Hearing what I said, everyone grew uncomfortable, their pupils dilating.
Lie was more disturbed than the rest of us.
"Are you serious, Rei?"
"Yes, I'm serious."
"Why are you all so calm? Your eyes widened a bit, but that's it. And how were you able to stay so calm throughout this process?"
"Because I had to stay that way. Also, in my past, they used to force us into wars at a young age. I've seen people die many times. Akari and Haru would understand me."
"Huh? Why would they understand?"
"We came from the same place. Didn't Akari tell you?"
"No, she didn't. So have you all been allies from the start?"
"Not like that—we found out later too."
"I see..."
I could tell from this reaction that despite having committed a school massacre, Lie's core had still remained innocent.
"So what about these temple matters with Akari?"
"It's a long story, never mind."
Lie had started asking questions one after another, radiating a curious air.
"So what's the deal between you and Haru?"
"That's also a long story. We fought in the Island Game."
"Who won?"
"I won, but it was tough."
As I said this, I was stroking Haru's shoulder, wanting him to understand that I was saying it jokingly.
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"While we're on the subject, did you know from the beginning that I was a traitor, Rei?"
"I was suspicious from the start. After the shoe detail, I was sure."
"You're right—I'd forgotten about the shoe. Why were you suspicious at first? I hadn't done anything."
"People who try to make themselves look cute on the outside are usually the ones who feel the greatest need to hide the darkness inside, in my opinion. That's why I'm more suspicious of those types."
"I see..."
"I'm going to buy some things from the market. I'll be back."
Everyone seemed to approve and said nothing. I went outside, and everyone continued spending time in the room. An hour later, I returned to the room with food. We kept eating and spent time in the room. After a while, we mentioned that we wanted to change rooms. After moving to the new room, we felt better.
"This place seems more comfortable."
Time flew by. We set out before nine o'clock. As we walked along the road, we were all anxious, sensing that something was going to happen. When we entered, there were no regular worshippers—only the priests, the young head priest, Yua, and the old man were there. The worship began, and we all took turns performing our worship. Right after, the priests and the others suddenly started charging at us. Haru understood the situation immediately.
"They want to kill us and leave us unable to use evidence! That's why no one else is here today! Run toward the door!"
The old man was shouting in fury.
"You little shits, get over here! We'll throw you underground too!"
I deliberately positioned myself so the axe would graze my arm and leave a wound. This way, a small cut formed on my arm. I turned my face toward the door and shouted.
"CELEBRIA, REPORT THEM NOW!"
Hearing this, Celebria, who had been waiting at the base of the statue, selected the people attempting violence to report them. Meanwhile, we were trying to run toward the door. The hall was wide, so even running fast took a few seconds. Celebria applied the complaint exactly as I had told her in the village, closed the box, and confirmed it.
They all kept trying to attack us. Then the robotic voice was heard again.
Four players have been eliminated!
The young priest was stunned by the sound.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING? WHO CAN REPORT US? HOW?"
"I DON'T CARE ANYMORE—LET'S KILL THEM!"
We were all trying to dodge the axe strikes. We rushed toward the door. The moment we opened it, the village guards entered and intervened in the situation.
The game has ended!
Winners:
Rei — 100 points
Haru — 80 points
Lie — 50 points
Akari — 40 points
The village guards quickly arrested those inside and began marching them to the village dungeon. They were cursing at us with hatred from behind, but I didn't care. Lie wanted to understand what I had done.
"Rei, did you predict they would do something like this?"
"Yes. When I said I was going out, I teleported to the elf village and told them to report exactly as I instructed—I explained the situation. By the time we entered, she was ready to report. At the same time, they informed the village guards that something might happen here at nine o'clock. This way, even if they got eliminated, they wouldn't have the opportunity to harm us. I knew they were playing dirty. When I eliminated one of their leaders, they would decide I was too dangerous. I had already understood they had no limits, so I predicted they would resort to violence. The simplest method was to kill us all—this way, none of us could report them. As long as no one reported, no evidence was presented, so violence wasn't counted as completely forbidden by the system. They also told the other ordinary people that the temple was closed today so no one else would come. I took two precautions to prevent their violence. To report violence, they don't have to directly inflict damage—proof of intent already exists in the system itself. After I took the graze, all of them became flagged by the system as having the intent to attack."
"I understand now. That makes so much sense. Why can't I think like this?"
"It's not important. Anyway, I have a more important task."
I quickly entered the temple and ran toward the underground corridor. Seeing me move so fast, my friends didn't want to follow me. I kept running. When I opened the door to the torture chamber, the man saw me. He understood from my hurried state that I was the priest who had come to him before. The man had cut marks on his arms—it looked like they had harmed him a bit to make him talk, but then seemed to have decided to kill him. I immediately untied him and removed the gag. I quickly led him outside.
"Thank you, thank you so much!"
My friends watched us in astonishment.
"Do you have any money? I'll buy you some food."
"Thank you!"
The man was crying with happiness; all he could do was feel gratitude. We took him to the village hospital and laid him in a bed. I left enough food on his table to last a few days. The village itself would also look after him from then on. The man was exhausted, but now he looked happy.
We left the hospital. As Akari walked behind me, she patted my shoulder. I turned back.
"You did a good job, Rei. There wasn't much left for me to do."
I didn't receive praise from Akari often, so it made me feel good.
"Thank you."
I told Celebria we were returning to the village. She went back to the elf soldiers who were waiting for her in the forest. Then I told everyone to hold on to me. After everyone held on to me, I teleported us all to the entrance of the elf village. We moved toward the village; the sounds of insects could be heard, and the sky was dark. The old man's inheritance had been seized—the temple would now be used in service of the village. The Religious Friendship Game had come to an end.