Chapter 550

Lacey took it upon herself to deliver Rotholandus’s warning to the Cardinals, except for the secret that Carolus and the Twelve Knights used the Holy Grail to create the Heavenly Barrier.

The new task given to the nine Church Orders of the Holy Kingdom was to hunt down heretics who served the Ancient Gods, slaughter them, and prepare for the coming threats by maximizing their combat power.

“Long ago, through the dedication of Emperor Carolus the Great, the Twelve Knights, and countless others, humanity seized freedom and dignity. And now, after eight hundred years, the time of trial has finally come.”

Lacey declared this in a stern tone to the representatives of each Church Order gathered in the meeting room.

“Now, we must prove with iron and blood whether we are worthy of the legacy of dignity they left us. If we fail, we will once again be reduced to livestock.”

The era of peace created by the Empire had come to an end.

“Therefore, prepare for war. With all your might.”

The era of blood was returning.

—

Our plan to cut out the corruption that had spread throughout the Holy Kingdom ended up wiping out half of the Holy Kingdom’s combat power.

The losses were too great, but it was unavoidable. In fact, it was close to solving the problem with minimal damage. The cancer of the Holy Kingdom had spread that widely and deeply.

The heavy responsibilities of rebuilding the Holy Kingdom, which had lost a significant portion of its combat power, tracking down heretics, and guarding against the fairies were entrusted to Ernliter and Richard.

The Church Orders that had lost their Cardinals were busy selecting new ones, and the Imera, Ausrine, and Vimos Church Orders were not strong enough to become leading forces.

Especially the Imera Church Order, which had jointly ruled Arvil with the Shaulite Church Order, was overwhelmed with the aftermath of the Arvil incident, where the city was annihilated by the descent of a demon.

The Menes Church Order, although it had lost its Cardinal, still had its combat power intact, and Saintess Agnes had gained some reputation from this incident…

“Special admission?”

“Yes. All the necessary documents are prepared, and all that’s left is the guarantee of an Imperial noble. By the way, there’s a noble from an Imperial Marquis family here, right? Could you provide a guarantee for me?”

I looked at Agnes in disbelief as she uttered words that should never be spoken among friends.

Well… it’s not a financial guarantee, and Agnes isn’t the type to cause trouble, so it’s fine.

“What about your Church Order?”

With the position of Saint Candidate turning into that of a Saintess, effectively making her the leader of the Church Order, is it really okay for the head of the Menes Church Order to go study abroad in the Empire?

Shouldn’t she stay in the Holy City and govern the Menes Church Order?

“The Holy Kingdom’s problems are solved, but my problems are far from over. There are still followers of Paulus within our Church Order, and if Sir Median and Archbishop Elmain return to the Empire, I’ll be left alone, won’t I? So, I need to find a way to survive.”

Agnes smiled as she lightly traced her neck with her finger.

So, she’s fleeing to the Empire to avoid being assassinated by Paulus’s followers. A life-or-death study abroad, huh?

Come to think of it, we do need to clean up the Menes Church Order… but there’s no good way to do it.

I suggested to Lacey that we could check by the manifestation of Divine Light, but she said that even if we tried, it wouldn’t solve the problem.

Many ordinary believers, not miracle priests or paladins, often can’t manifest Divine Light, and even if they can, if they haven’t converted to the Ancient God Faith but are simply followers of Paulus, the “Cardinal of Menes,” they wouldn’t lose their Divine Light.

In short, the only ones we can catch by checking Divine Light manifestation are the hardcore followers who knew Paulus served the Ancient Gods and still followed him.

And it seems we couldn’t find any such hardcore followers among the believers of the main diocese.

Well, if Paulus had any sense, he would have chosen his closest aides from those who couldn’t use Divine Light from the start. If someone who could use Divine Light suddenly couldn’t, it would be obvious, but if they never could, there’d be no reason to suspect them.

“Anyway, even if I leave for the Empire, it won’t be a problem. The Archbishops will elect a new Cardinal. I don’t know who it will be, but the elected Cardinal will govern the Menes Church Order until I return.”

“Won’t they just get eaten by Paulus’s followers? That guy is officially known to have been assassinated by a priest of the Ancient Gods. In a way, he’s a martyr, so isn’t it likely that someone from Paulus’s faction will become the new Cardinal?”

If it’s someone the ‘martyred’ Cardinal actively supported, they’d look like the most suitable candidate for the new Cardinal.

“…That might actually be a good thing. If the newly elected Cardinal acts suspiciously, we might find clues to catch Paulus by keeping an eye on them.”

“Hmm… that’s true. Alright, if you’re coming to the Empire, I’ll provide the guarantee.”

“Thank you, Sir Median.”

Agnes smiled and expressed her gratitude before returning to her room. She had a lot of preparations to make before leaving for the Empire.

Thinking about it, it’s kind of funny. Three people who received the Holy Mark have all fled to the Empire.

A Holy Kingdom without a Saintess is like a meat stew without any meat.

—

All operational plans are subject to change with new information.

Seilon’s case was like that. Once I realized that Paulus and the Ancient God Church Order were several times more serious than I had anticipated, the plan to bring Seilon to the Empire had to be scrapped.

Seilon, a Judge of the Astraea Church Order who had reached the Realm of Heroes, was an indispensable force for the current Holy Kingdom.

Even if we found an Apostle of the Ancient Gods through our search, we would need a hero-level force to annihilate them.

And as far as I knew, the only heroes in the Holy Kingdom were Perrien and Seilon. Taking Seilon away would mean cutting the Holy Kingdom’s core combat power in half.

If I took Seilon, it would be convenient for me, but the Holy Kingdom would clearly suffer from the loss of its combat power.

So, I had no choice but to leave him in the Holy Kingdom and have him hunt down and judge the enemies.

In other words… it meant that Bethania, my faith education instructor, would have to follow me to the Empire. Even if I let it go in one ear, after hearing it dozens of times, I was on the verge of memorizing about ten pages of the Astraea scriptures.

At this rate, in a few years, I might start spouting things like “Oh, I believe in Lady Astraea!” and emitting Divine Light.

“I am ashamed, Lady Astika. It is my duty to protect you, yet…”

“Don’t be so disheartened. You may not be able to protect me, but instead, you can help me. Killing the enemies that need to be killed and saving the people that need to be saved is truly helping me.”

I visited the Astraea Cathedral once more to inform Seilon that I would be leaving him behind, and then I comforted him as he looked as dejected as an abandoned dog.

It was a sincere comfort. Honestly, among the allies I had gathered, there was no one as trustworthy as Seilon.

Skill, reputation, character, personality, deeds, values… all elements formed a stable hexagon.

…Well, his reputation was a bit shattered, but that was actually because of me.

I never thought the saying “A gem must be strung to become a treasure” would be twisted into mocking a eunuch.

“Then, take care of yourself.”

“Please take care as well.”

“I’ll do my best.”

With Seilon bowing his head in farewell, I returned to St. Eluniel Cathedral and began preparing to leave.

Leonor, Nigel, and Hersh were taking care of all the travel preparations, so all I had to do was pack my personal belongings.

—

Two days later, we finally set off on our journey back to the Empire.

It was a quiet departure under the cover of night. If we had tried to leave the Holy City during the day, the crowds would have made it difficult to even start.

I thought so too. To the ordinary people who are ignorant of worldly affairs, it would look like the people who were supposed to govern and care for the Holy Kingdom were abandoning them and fleeing to another country.

The journey back was peaceful.

Liliez stayed behind in the Holy Kingdom to manage the Special Operations Unit, but in exchange, Agnes, Bethania, and Hersh joined us, making the large carriage feel a bit cramped.

Instead of staying inside the carriage, I summoned Cascador and rode around with Rana, while Leonor lay down on the carriage roof.

Thanks to the mental stability effect of the Divine Artifact, my claustrophobia had disappeared, but I still preferred the outdoors where the wind could blow freely.

Hersh, sitting in the driver’s seat, kept glancing at Cascador’s horn and twitching her ears nervously. She was worried that the spirit beast, which kills non-virgins, might stab her to death at any moment.

“If you don’t get too close, it should be fine.”

Amused by Hersh’s nervousness, I stroked Cascador’s mane and chuckled.

This unicorn, when I first summoned it, was a bit wary of me and acted somewhat arrogantly, but now that my power was almost fully restored, it was very well-behaved.

Did it sense that it would become horse sashimi if it acted up?

Anyway, since it didn’t get excited and charge even with Milia and Hersh nearby, it seemed to distinguish between enemies to stab and allies to ignore, even if they weren’t virgins.

“Complacency brings death! That horn! That horn! Every time Princess Ha-shal-leur looks away, it subtly points towards me!”

…Hersh seemed to think otherwise.