Chapter 729: Test (4)
As Kent confessed his sins, he suddenly made a request of Oliver.
He asked Oliver to speak about his own sins.
Hearing this, Oliver instinctively leaned back.
Oliver, who had shown no sign of fear against the kingdom’s army, the defense force, or even Puppet’s fierce attacks...
Kent’s request was that uncomfortable... No, it was a request he found terrifying.
Oliver expressed that emotion without hesitation.
“You’re asking for something quite unreasonable all of a sudden.”
“I admit it. I know how distressing it is myself.”
Kent, who had broken out in cold sweat and struggled to breathe each time he confessed, acknowledged his own audacious request. Still, he didn’t back down.
“Even so, I’m asking you.”
“Why are you trying to torment me out of the blue?”
“There’s a reason, but I can’t tell you now. But, I’m not trying to torment you. Please believe me.”
Kent was sincere. However, despite his sincerity, Oliver refused.
“I believe you. But I will decline.”
“Even if it were a dying wish from a friend?”
Kent abruptly brought up something unexpected.
However, Oliver was not particularly surprised. His face hardened in discomfort, but he showed no sign of shock.
Seeing Oliver’s reaction, Kent chuckled.
“Heh, so you knew all along.”
With that, Kent showed him a dagger embedded in his side.
It was a familiar dagger.
It was the same one Jane, under Pan's control, had driven into Oliver’s side when he first arrived in Neverland.
Oliver had thrown it away, but somehow, it was now lodged in Kent’s side.
“...Did Puppet do this?”
Oliver, who possessed eyes that saw through all sins, asked.
Kent nodded.
“When he invaded with the zombie army... Honestly, it was practically a conquest just to stick this dagger in me. Not quite an impressive achievement? Just to get at me, they attacked Landa.”
Kent, still with the dagger embedded in his side, made light of it.
After a moment’s delay, Oliver asked.
“Doesn’t it hurt?”
“As you can see, it doesn’t. My sense of pain is practically dead.”
Kent prodded the dagger and the area around it with his fingers.
It wasn’t bravado—it was true. The reason Kent could talk so casually with a knife stuck in his side was that his body felt no pain.
A body that can’t feel pain... It seemed like a blessing at first glance, but in reality, it wasn’t. Because...
“I’m as good as dead. A living corpse. You must have realized this by now?”
Oliver slowly nodded.
As Kent said, he was essentially a living corpse.
Oliver had noticed this to some degree even outside the guest room.
His body was essentially dead.
Only the dagger embedded in Kent’s side... or, to be more precise, the demonic power infused in the dagger was preventing the decay of his dead body, forcibly binding his soul to his corpse, keeping him alive as a walking cadaver.
That was why Oliver had kept his distance from the dagger lodged in Kent’s side.
It was both the object that had killed Kent and the thing keeping him alive.
“Puppet called it a failsafe. Something to control you.”
“So, if I cross the line, he’ll kill you through that dagger.”
“Seems like it. He must be quite afraid of you. Not that there’s much to be scared of, right?”
Kent made a joke, as he always did. Oliver brushed his hair back.
“...How could you agree to this? If you hadn’t consented, he couldn’t have stabbed you.”
Oliver, with eyes that saw through everything, pointed out.
The dagger, capable of keeping the dead alive, did not work purely by demonic power alone.
In fact, it was precisely because it was demonic power that it required many conditions to operate.
One of them was ‘consent.’
The one being stabbed had to hand over their life to another—a condition that seemed practically impossible to satisfy.
Of course, Oliver wasn’t genuinely asking because he didn’t know. He had already seen through the reason Kent had allowed himself to be stabbed.
It was because Puppet had threatened him. If he didn’t consent, Puppet would kill half the population of Landa.
Even knowing this, Oliver asked meaninglessly.
Because that was all he could do.
That dagger was something beyond his control.
Even though he had come close to omnipotence by shedding his former shell, Oliver still couldn’t interfere with an object infused with demonic power.
This fact left him feeling helpless for the first time in a long while.
“I can let trivial things go.”
“Trivial?”
“Yes. If I hadn’t agreed to this, I’d still have ended up as a corpse at Puppet’s hands. So, being a living corpse is preferable. Thanks to it, I can have a conversation like this with you, right?”
Oliver fell silent. It wasn’t wrong—it was a fact. However, this fact only increased his sense of guilt.
It felt like everything that had happened was his fault.
Kent suddenly stood up, stretching. Then, dragging his chair, he moved right beside Oliver, instead of sitting across from him.
“It seems you’re mistaken about something.”
“...?”
“In the end, being impaled by this dagger was my choice, not yours. So, don’t make that face. Otherwise, how can I speak honestly? And also...”
Kent paused, looking directly at Oliver.
“You don’t have to talk about things you’d rather not just because of this. But I’d really like you to speak about your sins. As a friend, I’m asking you.”
Kent’s gaze was fixed directly on Oliver, pleading.
Oliver also looked back at Kent.
Kent was sincere. He genuinely wanted Oliver to confess of his own volition.
Seeing this, Oliver hesitated, unsure if he should speak of his sins.
It wasn’t an easy matter. Ever since he’d gained these eyes, even looking in the mirror had become difficult.
In the mirror, he could see the sins he’d committed.
Facing his own sins was that challenging for him.
Witnessing the depravity of others was painful enough, but seeing his own was many times worse.
The two faced each other, locked in silence that stretched as though eternal, until, after what felt like a very, very long time, Oliver finally spoke.
“A long time ago, I once didn’t share my potato soup.”
...
Oliver began a story from a very, very long time ago.
Back when his world consisted only of an orphanage and the mine.
“In the mine, they didn’t give food to kids who didn’t work properly. They said those who don’t work don’t eat.”
“I’m listening.”
“That’s why getting hurt was extremely dangerous. If you got hurt, you couldn’t work properly, and if you couldn’t work, you wouldn’t get soup, and if you didn’t get soup, you couldn’t heal. In the mine, getting hurt was practically a death sentence.”
“I’m listening.”
“Sometimes, kids who got hurt would ask others to share their soup. But, most didn’t share. They didn’t have enough for themselves... I was the same.”
“I’m listening.”
“A boy next to me asked if I could share a bit of soup. Just a bit.”
“I’m listening.”
“I didn’t share it. As I said, I didn’t have enough for myself.”
“Do you regret it?”
Oliver shook his head.
“No. If I went back, I wouldn’t share it then either. At that time, surviving was all I cared about. But... I wonder what would have happened if I had. Now that I think about it, he was one of the few who showed me any kindness. Maybe because he was seated next to me.”
Oliver spoke with his usual calm tone, but Kent could see the slightest tremor in Oliver’s eyes.
“...Is that all?”
“...No.”
“Then, tell me. Anything at all.”
After thinking for a moment, Oliver spoke again.
“...I once saw children bullying another kid at the orphanage, but I did nothing. Because I was afraid they would pick on me too. Should I mention this as well?”
“If it’s something you want to share, anything is fine.”
“...I once wanted to learn black magic faster, so I killed a boy named Tom by blowing him up. It was during a duel. We were fighting for an official disciple position. Now that I think of it, there were other ways to win.”
“Why didn’t you take those options?”
“Well... I wasn’t thinking about it. Perhaps, I didn’t see people as people. Just as tools. Which is why, despite the help I received from Kent’s beggar crew, I took the easier path as a fixer.”
“I was the one who suggested becoming a fixer.”
“Even if someone else pushes, in the end, it’s your own will that moves your feet. Even if there were other paths, I would likely have chosen the same one. Because it was the easiest, most convenient route. Because I am...”
Oliver couldn’t finish his sentence. Kent questioned him.
“Is there anything more you want to share?”
After a moment’s thought, Oliver continued.
“I am...”
“I’m listening.”
Oliver continued to speak of his sins. Each time, Kent listened attentively, as if he were hearing his own confession, always affirming that he was listening.
Thus, in Room 444, the soft sounds of Oliver and Kent’s voices filled the space, unceasingly.
For a long time.
“Is there anything else you want to share?”
“I’m not sure... whether I’ve committed more sins or not.”
“That’s right. People often commit sins without even realizing it as they go through life.”
“I’m not human. And whether committed knowingly or unknowingly, sin is still sin.”
“Yes, sin is sin. It can’t be denied, and it doesn’t disappear.”
Squeezing...
As Kent agreed, he firmly clasped Oliver’s hand.
Only then did Oliver notice that Kent was holding his hand.
There was a certain resolve in Kent’s grip, and just as Oliver was about to ask him about it, Kent spoke.
“One last request. Could you pull this dagger out for me?”
Kent took hold of the dagger embedded in his side as he made his request.
“Pardon?”
“I asked you to pull this dagger out. I tried, but I can’t do it myself.”
The sudden request left Oliver stunned.
“Kent—”
“I was a dead man already... from the day my greed killed my family.”
“...”
“With the help of a nameless priest, I was given a second chance at life. But I’ve always considered this life a gift, something I could abandon if I ever had a just reason.”
“Do you truly believe this is a just reason? If this is because of me—”
“It’s not because of you. It’s because I want this. Do you think my existence in this state is right?”
Kent asked Oliver. Oliver couldn’t answer immediately.
Kent’s continued existence was indeed not right.
One can save a person on the verge of death, but reviving someone already dead is not only impossible—it’s a violation.
That’s a domain reserved for the divine, a disturbance of the balance of life.
Knowing this, Kent wore the same gentle smile as when he’d first met Oliver and guided Oliver’s hand to the dagger lodged in his side.
For some reason, Oliver could not refuse the grip of the weakened old man.
“I am neither fully dead nor truly alive. I am in a state that’s outright blasphemous, defying the natural order. Most of all, it’s not a condition I ever desired. The reason I’m in this state is solely to prevent harm to the city, and simply because I cannot pull the dagger out myself... I want to die as a human, with dignity.”
Kent placed Oliver’s hand on the dagger’s hilt protruding from his side.
“To meet my end, I ask for your help.”
With Oliver’s hand gripping the dagger, Kent layered his own hand over it.
“You’re sincere.”
“More than anything.”
Kent replied. Holding Kent’s hand with one hand and the dagger embedded in his side with the other, Oliver pondered deeply.
What was the best thing he could do in this situation?
Kent was effectively dead; his presence here was thanks to the demon’s power alone.
Oliver could not truly help Kent. Kent was already dead, and Oliver had no way to revive him. He couldn’t directly oppose the power of the demon, either.
All Oliver could do was grant Kent’s wish to die as a human, as he’d requested, by pulling out the dagger.
In the end, Kent was merely a living corpse bound to a demon, either at Puppet’s mercy or that of some other dark force.
After much contemplation, Oliver made up his mind.
“Is there anything else you wish to ask?”
“There is, actually. Would you hear my confession?”
“A... confession?”
“That’s right.”
Oliver reflexively shook his head.
A confession is not something just anyone can hear, and certainly not something Oliver could accept.
“I heard you once listened to a confession.”
“That was a special circumstance.”
“And now, it seems, is another of those special times.”
“Even if I were to listen, it wouldn’t do any good.”
“That’s all right. I want to say it to you. This is my true, final request.”
Kent’s repeated request.
But unlike the previous ones, Oliver simply could not accept this one.
It just wasn’t right. Even if anyone else in the world could listen to confessions, Oliver could not.
For he was, after all, the Prince of Hell.
At the same time, a memory surfaced in Oliver’s mind—a past confession he’d once heard.
The confession of a boy named Collin.
At that time, Oliver couldn’t save the boy whose body had swelled with pain, and had only listened to his confession like a kind of painkiller.
To at least ease his fear.
It had seemed like the best thing to do at the time. A white lie to lessen the boy’s fear felt justified.
However, after the confession, seeing the fear lift from Collin’s face, Oliver had been struck by guilt for telling a lie, and now, the guilt came back, even stronger.
“Kent... please, I’m begging you.”
In that moment, Kent pleaded with him, his voice earnest.
Oliver finally opened his mouth.
“Kent. Confess your sins.”
“Heavenly Father, I have committed countless sins in pursuit of my greed.”
“Father, please forgive us our sins.”
“I have wounded countless others to fill my own wallet. I have robbed and harmed without discrimination—men, women, children, and the elderly alike.”
“Father, please forgive us our sins.”
“And now, I am about to commit yet another sin.”
“...?”
Oliver, who had been reciting the words of the confession while holding Kent’s hand, hesitated.
He lifted his head to look at Kent. Kent was gazing back at him with a smile, one filled with sadness, regret, and warmth.
It was a smile like that of a parent watching over their child at the park.
“Daring to presume, I pray to God that I may bear the sins of the boy holding my hand, sparing him from this burden.”