The Adventures of Rose Hood

Chapter 34: To talk to Sin

"Dead?"

"Yes, even detect life wasn't working."

"How long was I like that?"

"For three hours."

"Three?"

"Yes, we were going to have a burial, but then your brother came in and his daughter noticed that you were still technically alive."

"That's good."

"Jalad, Mammon, could you leave the room for a second?"

Elren came in with Thalia and Alice. Royce asked,

"Should we leave too?"

"No, you two should stay."

Jalad gave us an odd look before leaving with Mammon.

Elren looked around to make sure no one was in the room.

"Silence."

The room went silent.

"So, what was that?"

"What do you mean?"

"What do you think I mean? You worried me into thinking you were dead, but you were off doing whatever, so what were you doing?"

"The Sin of Wrath called all of the Shards into a meeting."

That was clearly not what he expected me to say.

"What?"

"As I said, the Sin of Wrath summoned all of us into a meeting."

"What was it about?"

"Is it okay for Alice to be here?"

"She figured out your nature shortly after meeting you."

"I see."

"What was it about, Rose?"

"Apparently, they noticed me absorbing Sloth."

"YOU DID WHAT?!"

I flattened my ears.

"Right, I didn't tell you about that, yet."

"Elren, she did tell me and Royce."

"I see, but why were they concerned about that?"

"Apparently, I am the core lie Innocence, and the sins wanted a sin to be the core of the Evil God, but since I started it, I was basically on trial, and Sloth was my attorney."

"Core lie?"

Royce spoke up,

"I guess you wouldn't know, the demon king Zath explained it to me. Basically, the evil God is split into 10 shards. 7 of those are the 7 deadly sins that we know of, and the remaining 3 are called the core lies. Innocence, Peace, and Benevolence."

"Those don't seem evil."

"We are supposed to mark deception. If us three lies were the first to merge, I could make the entire world support me, but then adding the sins, if one were a core, would cause the world to collapse and feel betrayal."

"But why do the sins insist on being a core?"

"Because the Core Lies act as our names would suggest. I am innocent to a lot of things and despite knowing about certain concepts I will miss hints to it. Peace is a diplomatic person who cares for lives and wants people to prosper. Benevolence is a kind person who wants everyone to live happily and creates smiles wherever she goes."

"They sound wonderful."

Then Elren's smile soured.

"So, you three are the precursor to the true evil of the evil god."