Inpula Church Territory (2)

Although he’s an old man, his spirit is extraordinary.

Yona had never seen an old man like this before.

The moment she met those bright blue eyes that seemed to spew fire, Yona felt her body shrink.

The old man, sitting with his back as straight as Scarlet’s, quietly observed Scarlet and Yona as they entered.

“Your Holiness. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. How is your health?”

Ceres approached the gruff old man, bowing with a bright smile.

Yona also approached the old man, clasped her hands in front, and bowed deeply to show respect.

Just as she had learned in the cathedral, the greeting for when meeting high-ranking officials of the headquarters.

She used to grumble about how high they could really be and got scolded by Ejay, but meeting them in person is indeed different.

“I am in the presence of Your Holiness the Pope. I am Yona, a humble healer.”

The old man’s eyes flashed for a moment as he looked at Yona bowing deeply.

Then, a gentle smile settled on the wrinkles around his mouth.

“Humble, you say? Don’t say such things, young clergy.”

Arkzel IV, who stood up pushing his chair back with a small scraping sound, strode over and raised Yona back up.

“The Celestial God stands before all clergy and is also the mother of all living beings. How could He discriminate against healers? Don’t say such things. Rather, aren’t healers who stand by everyone’s side the very embodiment of clergy?”

Ah.

Yona was momentarily speechless.

It was the second time she had heard these words.

She had heard them from Ejay before, and now she was hearing them from the Pope.

“So don’t call yourself humble, young clergy. Come now, let’s all sit comfortably.”

Only then did Yona notice the sofa set up in a corner of the room.

It was a very plain and frugal sofa for the office of the Pope, the person standing at the apex of the Celestial Church.

There were signs of scratches and wear here and there, and patches of cloth clearly visible where it had been mended.

“Bring tea and refreshments.”

At the Pope’s words, the priest bowed slightly without a word and quietly retreated and disappeared.

The Pope, who had been quietly watching the priest’s retreating figure, soon turned his gaze to Ceres.

“Elder, how was your business trip? Did it go well?”

“Business trip… Ah, the business trip. Yes.”

Ceres seemed slightly flustered.

But it was only for a moment, and soon Ceres nodded with her unchanged smiling face.

“Although I know the country’s affairs are busy, it seems you go on business trips quite often, Elder. You went on a long business trip about half a year ago, and then another one about a month ago. Does that increase your salary?”

“Well…”

Ceres laughed awkwardly, “Ahaha.”

Yona glanced at Ceres’s side profile.

It was a face that seemed to want to avoid the topic.

Although she hadn’t known Ceres for long, they had been quite closely associated until now, yet this was a flustered Ceres that Yona had never seen before.

“That must have been a difficult question. Well then. I hear you’ve brought the Hero and the Saint. You stopped by Semec on your way here.”

“Yes, Your Holiness. We regret what happened in Semec.”

“It is regrettable, truly regrettable. To insult the bodies of those who have been embraced by the Celestial God, it’s an intolerable act. We must find the culprit and bring them to justice.”

Arkzel IV was a robust military man from the Margraviate of Glakien.

His spirit hadn’t disappeared anywhere, and the aura emanating from his body now was truly impressive.

So much so that Yona, who was lifting the teacup placed in front of her, unknowingly tensed up.

“The Hero and the Saint— well, although both are before receiving ordination, they were directly appointed by the Celestial God’s descent, so I hear. It seems we can hold the ordination ceremony right after going through the confirmation process. And above all, Miss Yona.”

“Ye-yes?!”

Yona, who had been taking a bite of a cookie, choked and coughed at being suddenly called.

Only after gulping down the tea offered by Ceres sitting next to her did Yona finally calm down and took small breaths.

“Oh my, this old man has been rude. I’m sorry, Miss Yona. Are you alright?”

“I-I’m fine. Yes, yes…!”

Wiping the tea that had dripped down her mouth, Yona’s face was bright red with embarrassment.

She hadn’t expected the Pope to suddenly call her.

It was sudden, and the conversation that had been going on seemed completely unrelated to her, so she hadn’t been paying much attention.

“I’m sorry for startling you. I wanted to hear about what happened in Capatia Port, if you don’t mind.”

She had thought that would be the case.

Yona slowly, from beginning to end.

That is, from when she met Rubina—

Until now.

She began to explain slowly to the Pope.

*

“It’s strange.”

Alec muttered, looking out the window.

The church grounds were very wide, and the guest quarters were also very well furnished. Except for the fact that the walls were all white, everything was satisfactory to the point of being a good place. Even Rubina was exclaiming that it was like heaven, looking around everywhere with excitement.

Alec came out after washing and quietly watched Rubina for a while before just sitting down on the bed alone.

Rubina is already ten years old, and if Alec were to bathe a ten-year-old child, it’s obvious he wouldn’t be able to wash her properly, and if any strange rumors were to spread, that would be even more troublesome.

So even though he saw Rubina sleeping in Yona’s room, he deliberately didn’t wake her up.

Sitting in a chair placed around the table, a large window was directly visible in front.

And outside, all sorts of races including Orcs, Kobolds, even Goblins, Dwarves, and Beastkin were walking around in clerical robes, even muffling their footsteps.

It’s quite strange to see Orcs, known for their poor control of strength, and Dwarves, whose stomping gait could be considered a characteristic, wearing pure white clerical robes.

‘They said they allowed proselytizing, but are these really aspiring priests coming for education?’

Basically, to become a priest, one needs to awaken holy power.

But it was hard to believe that all those many different races had awakened holy power.

It’s not such an easy thing to do, and basically, the Celestial God was a deity who cherished humans, not one who embraced such different races.

Moreover, while there are priests of indigenous gods among the other races, I’ve never heard of priests of the Celestial Church.

‘If they accept the Celestial Church, what happens to the indigenous gods?’

Alec suddenly became curious about this.

What happens when the Celestial Church, which worships the monotheistic Celestial God, clashes with the polytheistic indigenous faiths?

But he couldn’t know.

As just an adventurer, Alec didn’t particularly want to delve too deeply into such thoughts.

Alec, are you there?

It was Kairoc’s voice.

“Oh, come in.”

With the sound of wood scraping, the door opened and Kairoc entered.

He must have washed too, as his skin looked pale and quite presentable.

“You were resting, I see.”

“Oh, well. I was just looking around outside a bit. Sit down, Kairoc. The ceiling won’t collapse.”

“I won’t.”

Kairoc looked at the chair for a moment before just sitting down on the floor.

He did so because it seemed like the chair might not hold up if he, with his large build, sat on it, but it turned out to be a good decision.

“It’s a strange sight.”

“Is it so strange to see different races wandering around the Celestial Church grounds?”

“It is strange. The Celestial Church used to act like they would kill all of them. And now they say they’ll accept everyone… it is strange, isn’t it?”

As he said this, Alec looked outside again.

On top of well-trimmed white stepping stones, a small board was placed, and a human female priest in pure white clerical robes was writing something on the board with a piece of charcoal.

Although it wasn’t clearly visible, what the charcoal was drawing on that board was the sun.

Seeing that there was a drawing of the sun and next to it a picture of a winged woman, Alec thought it might be explaining the creation myth of the Celestial God.

“It is a strange thing. I’m a believer in the Water God, so I have no intention of converting to the Celestial Church.”

“That’s what I mean, isn’t it normal to be like you? It seems strange that they would accept the Celestial Church now when they’ve had indigenous gods they’ve believed in for generations.”

“The Celestial Church must be throwing money around. Why are you thinking about it so seriously?”

“Is that so?”

That makes sense.

Given that there are even rumors that the church’s wealth rivals the imperial treasury, it wouldn’t be strange if they accepted it aiming for the Celestial Church’s financial support— Alec thought.

“More importantly, Alec.”

“Hm?”

“How long were you planning to deceive?”

“…What?”

“Don’t play dumb, Alec. That thunderhead Yona might not know, but you can’t fool my eyes or James’s. That tin can guy, I mean him.”

He was talking about Scarlet.

Alec, who had stood up to Scarlet when he was intimidating Yona.

Alec’s hammer that blocked Scarlet’s swinging mace while simultaneously striking his side.

“Even I didn’t know at all. If you hadn’t done that, probably neither I nor James would have noticed. But now it’s been exposed, hasn’t it?”

Alec said nothing.

Clicking his tongue, Alec was just poking at the innocent floor with the toe of his shoe.

“It’s better not to think you can keep it hidden until the end, Alec. That might end up hurting Yona even more.”

“I was planning to talk about it when the time came. It’s not such a big deal.”

“The deception is what’s important, Alec. Even if it was for you to stay with Yona, this isn’t Evian. There are no comrades here who will gladly keep your secret for you. No, there won’t be anywhere until we return to Evian.”

“…I’ll talk about it.”

“Hmm.”

With those words, Kairoc closed his mouth.

While he could understand Alec’s feelings to some extent, at least from Kairoc’s perspective, that method was wrong.

There might not be a need to share everything and tell the whole truth, but at least Alec has been single-mindedly following Yona for three years now.

It might even ruin that relationship if things go wrong.

If that proud Yona thinks she’s been deceived or tricked—

“It would be ruined if Yona finds out.”

“That’s right. It would be better to talk about it even now. No matter how foolish she is, she’s perceptive. If she finds out naturally, that might actually become a problem.”

At those words, Alec glared at Kairoc.

But soon the strength left his eyes, and after moving his lips a few times, he finally muttered:

“Yona’s not a fool.”

Yet somehow, there was a lack of conviction in those words.

Noticing this, Kairoc chuckled.

Even in this situation, seeing Alec defend Yona, human psychology is indeed difficult for him to understand.

“Well, in my view, you’re the fool. Idiot. A guy who’s been chasing after one woman for three years, you’re a fool unmatched in the world.”

“…I can’t deny that. Damn it.”

Alec also chuckled.

He is indeed a fool.

Three years, that’s a long time.