23 Chapter 22: Unknowable Sins (I)

As we ran to go outside in a hurry from what Master said, he stopped me from going outside and said to me that I should just stay inside the castle.

Even if I asked Master why he won't let me go outside, he kept on insisting that I should stay here, and he even let Sora stay with me here.

I asked Sora why Master won't let me, he simply said "Why would I know?"

"Why can't I go outside?! Is it because of my identity? Tell me Sora!?"

"I told you, why would I know? The way they think is different from mine, so how would I know?"

"I guess so... But Sora, either one of them have a skill to change faces right? In many movies those things exist, so why can't they use it on me?"

"A skill to change faces... Well, I don't even know if such skill existed, but comparing real-life to fiction..."

"I know what you're gonna say, but if you say that you've never heard of such skill, could there be another way?'

When Sora heard what I said, he started to be nervous, because my face looks like I'm about to do something that could bring bad news. "Hey Haruki, don't tell me that you plan to go out?" He asked me nervously.

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

"That's already plenty wrong! If you get out of the castle, some of Millie's plan would be ruined, since Satanael might come and kill you, also I would be dead if I let you out, so no way!"

"Then what can we do? They might be gone for a long time, so we have nothing to do to entertain us."

"I know... I'm bored, I know I forgot that I still haven't eaten yet, so go get me some food."

Oh yeah, I forgot that I was supposed to do that, but... "*Sigh* I guess I can do that, come on let's go to the kitchen because I'm hungry too."

Sora agreed to come with me and we went to the kitchen together to eat, and when we got there, we saw Faust eating and feeding Flint with some of his food.

Looking at Faust I remembered what he reported at the conference before; about the other three Generals.

I want to meet them since I want them to know me of course, but also I guess more friends to talk to.

So that's why I stopped Sora walking in for a moment and told him what came to my mind. "Hey Sora, do you think we can ask Faust to guide us to the secret lab of Millie, and meet the three Generals?"

"No, since that lab is only for Millie, Faust, and if there's an exception some Archdukes can go there too, and I never even went to that lab yet and most of all I also haven't even met the other three Generals."

"Really..?" I never expected him to not know who the other three Generals are. "But since I'm the Prince I can go right?"

"Still a no, because even Queen Xuntea isn't permitted to go there, since it's dangerous I think? Also, the only two who have real access there is King Jarren and Millie, and if I know the location of the lab, I would've always gone there to hide."

Now what? I wanted to go there, but if Sora is saying the truth, then what can I do?

Think, think, wait... I know. "Hey Sora, can you do me a favor?"

"If I can do it, what?"

"Can you look at a person's memory?"

"Yes, but only if the person's asleep."

Good, exactly as what I thought, I just need to convince him to do it. "*Cough* Hey Sora, can you make Faust fall asleep and look at his memory to the location of the lab?"

Sora looked shocked at what I said. "What's wrong with you?!" He shouted in fear and anger. "Why do you want us to always get in trouble?! I'm already tired from Millie's lecture every day, so why?!"

I wrapped my arm around Sora's neck and pointed my finger at him. "Sora do you want to meet the other Generals that you haven't met?"

"Well yes, since they're my coworkers after all."

"And also, you're an awkward virgin like me, except I'm started to feel like I'm gonna lose mine, so do you want to lose yours?"

"What are you talking about? Of course, that's what every virgin wants."

"Remember, when Millie said the names of those other three Generals all of their names are for girls, so chances are, those three are girls, and maybe you might have a chance on one of them."

A smile filled with lust and mischief came from Sora after hearing what I said, and went to the kitchen and greeted Faust energetically. "Yo Faust can you come here for a sec."

"Sure what is it?–"

When Faust stood up, Sora instantly touched Faust's face and made him fall asleep.

Sora touched his forehead and used his skill to gather information about Millie's secret laboratory.

"I found where it is, and I can see why I didn't know where it is."

I grabbed Flint and put him on my shirt for his safety, I said to Sora. "Let's go."

I followed Sora in the hallway, and when Sora stopped and pointed at where the lab is, I remembered that the room he's pointing is Millie's room.

"Then it's in Millie's room, let's go." As I opened the door, it was just really Millie's room, and nothing's changed in the room.

So when Akemi and Lucas came here they're still cautious and hid the secret room that leads to the lab.

"In Faust's memory, the door that'll lead the way to the lab is located under Millie's bed, so that means it's underground."

"Underground? Are you sure that you got the correct memory Sora? We're on the second floor, so how is that even possible?"

With a stupefied face, he replied. "How would I know?"

Could've guessed that he would say that since he is the dumbest General. "So? How do we get there?"

"I saw that there's some kind of button that we need to press, I'm just trying to find it... Oh here." Sora clicked at the bottom left leg of the bed and where he clicked at shone brightly. The entire bed started to shine brightly too, and we can hear a cracking coming from the bed.

The both of us thought that Sora clicked the wrong button, because the bed is starting to crack more loudly, and also cracks from every side of the bed have started to appear too.

Then when the entire bed was filled with cracks; Millie's bed turned into a hatch.

"Ah I got it, come on compliment me." Sora said with a prideful smug face. "I know that I deserve one *giggle*"

"Okay, I guess you're not really that dumb and have a little IQ on you."

"Hoy, I don't know if you're either complimenting me, or insulting me, but I guess I'll take it for now, let's go!"

I opened the hatch slowly because I know that things like this about hidden passages and doors have traps on them, so that's why I need to be cautious about things like this.

When it finally opened through, we saw no traps; that's a relief, and the only thing there is a ladder to go down somewhere.

Sora looked at me seriously. "I told you there's a way down."

"Okay I'll give you a point, so let's go now." I went first, since I'm curious, I looked down a bit and saw no ground at the bottom.

Guessing by the look of it, the secret lab of Millie is still very far down.

We went down the ladder for a long time, and finally, I can now see the ground.

Seeing that there's something underneath us made me happy and I almost cried seeing that there's ground below us.

Even Sora who found out that there's ground below us was happy too because climbing the ladder almost feels like an eternity to the both of us.

So how can everyone climb down quickly? That's impossible to do.

When the both of us finally got to the ground, we looked in front of us and saw a hallway.

Not like the magnificent hallway, I'm familiar with at the castle, but this is different.

It's like a hallway of an abandoned bunker used in a war, and there are tons of trash scattered around.

Some doors are opened, and most creepy of all, the lights in the hallway are always turning on and off by themselves.

"Sora, are ghosts real?" That was what came out of my mouth after seeing this.

"Zombies and walking skeletons exist, so it's only natural that ghosts exist too."

Looking at the hallway again, all I can feel is the chilly and creepy atmosphere of the place, and now Sora said that ghosts exist?! Hell no! This feels like a horror film.

"Sora can you go first?"

"No! I have tons of traumatic experiences with ghosts, so no way!"

"Then, as the Prince of Hell and the next in the throne for rulership, I order you as my General to go first."

"That's just abusing your power! And even if you say that, no way! I can disobey your order when I want to."

"*Tsk.* Then the both of us go together at the same time."

Sora agreed to my suggestion, and so the both of us walked to the creepy hallway together.

As we walk slowly to the creepy hallway, we heard a little girl crying loudly.

Hearing it made us already tremble in fear since that might be a scary ghost that might come and jump scare us sometimes.

Both of us just looked at each other and still decided to continue our journey in this horrific and creepy hallway, while listening to the loud cries of the scary ghost girl.

Experiencing our loss to Milicas even though there's two of us already damaged our pride as men, and now we're afraid of some ghost? That's an instant loss to us; since if someone finds out, Sora and I would be damaged from embarrassment.

As we walked, we saw a door in front of us, and what's unique about this door from any door we saw in the hallway, it's the only one with drawings of a child.

Looking at the drawings, easily creeped us out, but the good thing is we didn't shout until...

It suddenly stopped, the little girl who was crying a moment ago has stopped when we got near to this door.

When it stopped, both of our bodies just moved on their own, and without hesitation, we screamed on top of our lungs from fear of the ghost seeing us.

And when we screamed, the door in front of us suddenly opened, and Lucas and a mysterious girl with him appeared from the other side, already pulling out their weapons.

Lucas was shocked upon seeing the both of us sitting on the floor and hugging each other while trembling with fear.

"Haruki? Sora? What are you two doing here? Actually... How did you two get here?"

Because of the shock and fear, Sora and I can't even say a thing, which makes talking to Lucas impossible.

"Haruki and Sora? So these two are Prince Haruki and the General of Sloth." The mysterious girl said.

"Yes Chizuru, that guy is Prince Haruki, and the other one with the Prince is the General of Sloth, Sora Belphegor."

"Really? Yo nice to meet you two, I'm the General of Evilness, Chizuru Belial, nice to meet you two."

I finally got back on my toes after I heard Lucas talk and looked at the girl with him.

So this is the General of Evilness, and even though she wears clothes for boys, has boyish hair and atmosphere around her, she's still beautiful with that tomboyish look.

"Nice to meet you Belial, I'm Haruki Hotaru."

"Enough with the formality Haruki, you can just call me by my first name, Chizuru."

"Okay." I kicked Sora a bit so that he would stand up and I whispered to him. "Hey Sora, that's a girl look, so stop being afraid now, and try to talk to her."

"Oh right! *Cough* Nice to meet you, I'm Sora Belphegor, 1600 years old, and still single, so I hope we can get along."

"Okay..." Chizuru was surprised at Sora's sudden declaration, but she just smiled and said. "But sorry I'm not interested."

Oof, that landed a scar on Sora's heart, I better do something to make him feel better. "Hey Sora, you know that there are two more girls right?"

"Right, there are two more girls, and I can have a chance on one of them, so let's go..."

"Wait, before going inside, how did you two get here? Millie wouldn't even let you two here since there's a chance that you two, especially Sora might destroy something in the lab."

Sora and I both said to Lucas at the same time. "That's rude."

Chizuru touched Lucas' shoulder and said something that made us happy. "Come on Lucas, let's give them the chance to come, I want to know more about them more, and I want them to meet both Talya and Ruri."

What is this? Is she an angel? She doesn't deserve the Sin of Evilness, she deserves the Virtue of Goodness.

Life is sometimes unfair, isn't it? Sometimes you can't get what you actually deserve and get what you don't deserve, why does such a thing exist? Anyway. "Come on let's go, I want to meet the other two too."

"Me too! I want to meet them too! Hehe."

Chizuru looked at Lucas in the face with a smile and said. "So Lucas? Come on just accept them, I think Millie would like the same thing."

"Fine, since you are my senior after all, come on time to meet them, also one warning to the both of you, promise me that you won't always talk too much to Talya and even make eye contact with her, since she's really sensitive."

"Then talking to her would be hard, but why though?"

"Talya suffered a lot of trauma from people surrounding her, hence why Talya got the Sin of Melancholy and inherited the name of former Archduke Purah."

"Really? So she suffered so much that she got the Sin of Melancholy..." I feel bad knowing what she's been into.

But worse of all, when she suffered through those things, she also got the Sin of Melancholy? I heard from Millie that whoever represents the Sins and Virtues will constantly feel what they represented.

So endless sadness and maybe even depression is what she's experiencing right now...

Thinking about it, if worse comes to worst, she might even attempt to kill herself someday because of this Sin.

"Also Lucas and Chizuru, you said Purah right? I never heard of a demon named Purah before, back on Earth the names of the other Generals are famous, but not Purah."

"Well I guess I can answer that because only Milicas and I met the original Purah before, but let's see... All I know about her is that she's a Fallen Angel, and she doesn't leave a trace about her existence at all, so I guess that's the main reason for your question." Chizuru answered.

"I see... I guess that makes sense..." So is Purah deep in sorrow that she hides her own existence to other beings?

Chizuru continues. "Also Talya suffered a lot more than the other Generals, I guess Millie hasn't taught you this yet, but to be chosen as the next inheritor of the Sins, you will either have to suffer or not, and suffering is how most Generals got their Sins."

"Suffering? So how did you three get yours?"

"I was the few lucky ones who didn't have to suffer, it's because I'm just very perverted at the time, so that's why the Sin of Lust chose, me. And as for the others..." Should've guessed that Lucas got Lust because of something like that.

Also others...? Why the sudden stop? I want to know how the others got their Sins too.

Chizuru sighed with pain. "I killed a lot of people that's all I can say, even more than combined the kill count of every General who is both dead and alive."

"Killing? But why?"

"Well because I want to protect the people I loved, so that's why I killed a lot of people, even innocent lives..."

"I see... Sorry for asking that." But how though? She protected the one she loves? So why did she get the Sin of Evilness? Isn't that just an act of fairness that she'll kill an enemy because her people were killed?

I looked at Sora for his turn next and he just said to me. "I don't wanna say it..." Even Sora suffered a lot to just get the Sin of Sloth, even at hearing the Sin of Sloth, it's normal to think that he didn't suffer, but I guess I was wrong.

"Hearing about how the others obtained their Sins, how did it feel Haruki?" Lucas asked me with a smile.

"Feel? Of course, I feel bad; since I didn't know about the past of the people I've been with..."

"I see... That's good, for me. I want to protect everyone and I want to make sure that they won't ever suffer from such things ever again, even if it costs my life."

"Wow! I never expected that you would say that." I was impressed by how cool he sounded.

While Sora said with a smile filled with mischief. "Yeah... I thought you're just a hopeless pervert like us."

Chizuru wrapped his hand to Lucas' shoulder and smiled at us. "See? That's what I like about Lucas."

"Oh, so you two are like that." I said while looking at Sora with pity in my eyes.

Sora noticed me looking at him and said. "Don't mention it, I still have a chance with the two other girls."

But now I know about how they obtain their Sins, I wonder how Akemi got her? Did she suffer like the rest? Is that why she said to me when she cried. "I don't want to lose anyone anymore." Did Akemi perhaps lose someone or something in the last war between the angels and devils that cause her to be envious toward others?

Thinking about it now, I want to be like Lucas.

No, I'm gonna be like Lucas, since from now on I want to make sure not to make Akemi and the others cry again.