Chapter 118 118: He Who Worked the Sabbath

Come dawn of the Fourth Day, I, thankfully, was not attacked. Perhaps that was because, for the first time, no one died in the middle of the night, giving "John" no excuse this time around. Although, just because no one died and I wasn't immediately assaulted, that didn't mean no one was under suspicion. During the time that everyone was taking whatever they wanted from the kitchen to eat for breakfast, be it a tin of canned food or a cup of water, I'm sure there were a good half-dozen pair of eyes glued to one particular person out of everyone present. Needless to say, it was the Protagonist, still alive and kicking. Though, from the evident lack of an expression on her face, I wondered if she was in fact bored that no one had succumbed to the Trial. All in all, it was, surprisingly, an incredibly peaceful morning. The most peaceful morning we had experienced since waking here on the First Day, in fact. Too peaceful, to the extent that I dreaded if something big might happen later on in the day... 'Huh...' ...And yet, no matter how I waited on the edge of my seat for something to occur. 'The hell?' Nothing did. 'What's going on...?' I repeatedly checked the altar book throughout the day, but the same five lines remained, suggesting that nobody else had figured out what it meant yet, or that nobody even realised it changed. At some point in the afternoon or early evening, everyone naturally gathered in the nave, with or without reluctance, for one purpose. To oversee today's confession. It was obvious that, regardless of everyone's suspicion and who it was directed towards, nobody aside from the Protagonist actually wanted anything bad to happen, and because of that, there wasn't anyone that made a fuss about it. I wasn't sure if having them confess in front of everyone was necessary in the first place, but having to do it in front of at least Cecilia made sense to me; perhaps everyone being present was only necessary to save her from being exposed in that way. When everyone finally assembled in the nave, nobody took the lead in the discussion. I thought it would've immediately been the Protagonist to take the wheel, but strangely, she seemed to sit with her arms and legs crossed on one of the backmost pews, her head turned to the side as if she was a sulking child, that same look of indifference painting her face from the morning. All traces of the witch from the previous days were erased. No, not just the witch, but the Detective too. In any case, seeing that she probably wouldn't intervene in today's discussion, that was probably for the best. Until today, out of the three who had passed, two had made their sins known. The first was the old man, who broke the First Commandment of having no other idols. I wasn't sure if practicing Buddhism was idolatry or not, but regardless, it seems that Cecilia classified it as such, and because of that, he was punished. The second was the clergyman, who could have only broken the Second Commandment―To be honest, I didn't know what exactly "make unto thee any graven image" meant, so I wasn't sure how exactly he broke it, but he must have done something seen as 'wrong' in any case. The third deceased, the thug ruffian, only broke the Eighth Commandment of not stealing when he snatched the water bottle from "Thomas" early on the First Day, but since he never revealed which of the Commandments he broke in order to be brought here, one of the remaining days will inevitably have no one confess. 'That's something to keep in mind, I guess.' As for the Third Commandment of not taking God's name in vain, well, the Protagonist had already done plenty to rebel against that as much as she liked without confessing or earning any punishment, but regardless, we knew it was her sin. After all, even if she didn't admit it, no one had died last night, so it could only have been her. Since she said it herself, I didn't think that one could be attributed to the delinquent, and I was willing to bet that no two people could share the same sin. Originally, this church was supposed to house eleven people―ten sinners with Cecilia as the mastermind to watch over them. That also matched the number of supposed days. Even now that I'm here, that wouldn't have changed, so at least I can be confident in that for sure. As for what sin the delinquent committed, it was probably the Sixth Commandment if I were to take a complete shot in the dark. I couldn't see anyone else here committing murder, after all. Anyway, today was the Fourth Day. Thus, whoever broke the Fourth Commandment must confess. The Fourth Commandment read as such: 『4 - "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."』 Now, admittedly, before accepting this Contract I didn't know what Sabbath day meant. However, thanks to the words of the clergyman prior to his death, he explained it simply. The Sabbath day was the Seventh Day; the 'Day of Rest'. Whatever breaking this Commandment meant, I wasn't sure, and as for who broke it... "――It was me." Someone unexpected opened their mouths before I could even begin to speculate. Turning my head, I watched "John" lower his hand from the air, looking around at everyone with a solemn gaze as he held the shoulders of "James" just in front of him. And, as he opened his mouth, my brows naturally lowered. Because, at the very same moment, piano endowed with melancholy began to play. "Emi... my little sister here used to be very sick. It was an illness thought to be terminal, and something that weakened her constitution considerably, so it never let her go outside for long." The beginning of something that sounded to be a sad tale flowed steadily from his tongue, leaving no one the space to interrupt. "Our family was... shamefully poor at that time, and because of that we could only hardly afford the medication that stabilised her condition, let alone the full treatment..." My gaze fell from his steady look down to the small girl before him. She reached her hands up to hold those of her brother, a quiet look of some inexplicable emotion on her face. In the meantime, alongside the sombre tune that introduced a slow violin, he continued. "We used to go to church every Friday, every Sunday in order to receive the blessings of the priests and vicar, hoping that it might help in the stead of lacking medical care... but, of course, things only worsened." I could hear the faint quivering in "John's" voice as he squeezed out the last line; at that moment, "Peter", who was standing a few feet away closed the distance, proceeding to rub the former's back and shoulders with an apparent look of concern. "John" lightly cleared his throat. "Eventually, when her condition reached a certain threshold, she collapsed. At that point, I realised something had to be done, or else... Anyway, I knew I had to do something, and because the treatment was so expensive, I applied for every job I could find. Thankfully, a few of them accepted me, and I began to work." Raising his head, he looked everyone in the eyes individually, any trace of the paranoid man who abruptly tried to attack me the previous days completely gone. "In the end, after pushing myself to work all day every day, six in the morning till some days beyond even midnight, Monday through Sunday, not taking a single day off for months and months, saving up almost every penny I could scramble together... we, fortunately, had enough to afford the treatment." Ultimately, he turned his head to cast an inscrutable glance at the Protagonist, sitting distantly at the end of the room, paying seemingly no attention. "In the end, I guess that's the "sin" I committed." Just like that, the man who broke the Fourth Commandment revealed himself. "Though, if you're gonna call that a sin, you're a more heartless bastard than the devil himself, and you can go fuck yourself." And just like that, he, too, refused to confess.