Chapter 427

“I’ll tell Erich and Kurt. They probably won’t oppose it either.”

Erich Rudolf of the Kranuus Church Order and Kurt Reicher of the Imela Church Order. Paulus took it upon himself to persuade them.

“Thank you, Cardinal Paulus.”

From Lacey’s perspective, there was no reason to refuse. It was as clear as day which side the two cardinals would take more seriously—Lacey’s words or Paulus’s.

“Then, may your dreams be peaceful until the dark moon becomes full.”

“Yes, you too.”

After finishing the conversation, Lacey smiled warmly and blessed him. It wasn’t a miracle or anything, just a simple blessing of goodwill.

—

After that, we returned to St. Eluniel Cathedral. Lacey had no intention of meeting any other cardinals before the hearing. She thought it would be a waste of time.

All that was left was to drag out the hearing with the help of the Menes, Kranuus, and Imela Church Orders, and in the meantime, find and hang the apostates…

“Can we really trust them? I hope you’re not sticking your neck out for the enemy.”

Honestly, I couldn’t hide the creeping sense of unease.

The fact that there was an apostle of the ancient gods among the cardinals was almost a certainty in my mind. If that person wasn’t the one who leaked information to Isabella, then at least two out of the now ten cardinals were our enemies.

Excluding the Bimos Church Order, which seemed unrelated, and the Aushrine Church Order, which was too weak to be a mastermind, it was closer to two out of eight. The probability of any cardinal being an enemy was 25%, and if we brought three into the fold, the chance of an enemy among them was a whopping 57-58%.

Reality doesn’t always follow probability, but still, with odds over 50%, how could I feel at ease?

“I don’t trust Cardinal Paulus. I trust his desire to make the Menes Church Order’s candidate a saint and Menes’s judgment in not taking the saint’s mark from their candidate.”

It was a politically and religiously mixed answer, fitting for someone in the upper echelons of the Holy Kingdom.

—

The hearing to condemn Lacey was set to begin in two days.

So, Lacey and I stayed at St. Eluniel Cathedral, gathering more detailed information about the Holy Kingdom’s situation through the priests working there. For example, the names and movements of each church alliance.

The Shaulite, Astraea, and Keres Church Orders called themselves the Holy Sun Alliance.

The Shaulite Church Order, which had become the largest faction after the weakening of the Elpinel Church Order. The Astraea Church Order, with its many strong paladins. The Keres Church Order, which managed agriculture and funerals, had an enormous number of lay followers.

With these originally powerful church orders uniting, their influence was immense.

They were the core faction of the current Holy Kingdom. Their only weakness was not producing a saint candidate.

Originally, it was extremely rare for multiple saint candidates to appear in the same era, but even so, not being able to present a future leader in such chaotic times was a significant shackle for them.

Lacey showed me portraits of the cardinals from these three church orders and explained them to me.

—

Cardinal Carnius Gustav of the Shaulite Church Order was a middle-aged man with a round face and deep-set eye sockets. Unlike other cardinals in their 70s, he was still in his 50s.

His conduct was said to be exemplary, beyond reproach.

“Exemplary? After openly forming factions and reducing the country to this state, what kind of…”

“I find it puzzling too. He wasn’t supposed to be like this…”

Whether his personality had changed for some reason or his true nature had been revealed, it was still unclear.

Perhaps he was just being conveniently used by the other cardinals.

—

Cardinal Ernliter Zaisers of the Astraea Church Order had a face that looked like it wouldn’t bleed even if stabbed. He was said to advocate strict justice and had returned the Astraea Church Order to its principles.

His expression overflowed with conviction, and his eyes shone with a sense of justice. Though it might have been idealized in the portrait, his face alone gave the impression of a model paladin.

“He’s the most troublesome. As a strict principled person who doesn’t accept exceptions or compromises, he’s impossible to persuade.”

“Funny. Isn’t factional politics something that deviates from those ‘principles’?”

A sarcastic remark naturally followed. If he truly wanted to uphold principles, he should have killed all the cardinals involved in factional politics and then committed suicide.

“Perhaps he doesn’t even realize he’s forming a faction. He probably thinks they’re maintaining the Holy Kingdom’s existing order while other church orders are causing division and conflict by breaking away.”

…What kind of nonsense is that? What a ridiculous person.

—

The next portrait was of Cardinal Audius Rosof of the Keres Church Order.

He had a hooked nose and a short mustache, with a hairstyle somewhere between Leopold and Carolus.

“I don’t know much about Cardinal Audius either. I’ve never met him, and he’s never been involved in any scandals.”

Despite his memorable appearance, his actual deeds were said to be uneventful, running the church order smoothly without any controversy.

—

The faction we requested cooperation from, the Menes-Kranuus-Imela Church Orders, was called the Saintly Struggle Society.

Though the word “struggle” gave an extreme impression, in reality, they were a faction opposing the Holy Sun Alliance’s dominant tyranny and advocating peaceful respect among church orders…

Well, from my perspective, the Menes Church Order probably wanted to maintain the status quo since they had a saint candidate, allowing them to stand tall as the church order that produced a saint. The other two church orders, I’m not sure about.

The Bølberg and Grimnir Church Orders called themselves the Free Forces Legion. They argued that the root cause of the Holy Kingdom’s chaos was a lack of strength and that raising a powerful army was the key to ending the chaos.

While fundamentally correct, their claim for the militarization of all Holy Kingdom citizens was considered too extreme.

—

“So, who do you think is the enemy? Any guesses?”

I suspected the Free Forces Legion. Those advocating for military expansion under the pretext of the Holy Kingdom’s chaos might have allowed the chaos to grow to strengthen their cause.

“Well, in a way, they’re all enemies. Whether they’re corrupted or not, none of them would welcome the restoration of our church order’s status.”

Lacey’s answer was as extreme as her usual demeanor.

“My goal is to purify the corruption that has seeped into the Holy Kingdom, and restoring the church’s influence is secondary… but they won’t see it that way. They’ll undoubtedly block our path, regardless of right or wrong.”

Extreme, but not wrong.

“That’s why we must uncover the apostates ourselves. If we can prove that there are witches’ agents among them, all justification will be in our hands.”

“…No, so who do you think the apostate is?”

What I wanted to hear wasn’t such a theoretical discussion but speculation and evidence to narrow down the suspects.

“…If I had any guesses, I would have thoroughly investigated them first.”

Lacey averted her gaze and muttered in a sulky tone.

“So, you don’t know after all?”

“…Once the hearing begins, they’ll start moving actively, and then we’ll be able to catch their tails.”

“Right. Let’s hope for that.”

I flicked the ash off my cigarette and glared at the cardinals’ portraits.

—

Lacey’s prediction was only half right.

As expected, unknown enemies began to move actively. What was unexpected was that they didn’t even wait for the hearing.

The day after the behind-the-scenes negotiations, Cardinal Paulus Hindenburg’s body was discovered.

There was no room for mistaking it as a natural death. His head and body were cleanly separated and dumped in a corner of an alley.

True to the pure white city of Alhebron, not a single drop of blood stained the walls or the ground, which remained dazzlingly white.

Alhebron was in an uproar.