Chapter 124: Reform or Chaos – 1

Chapter 124: Reform or Chaos – 1

“…So, to put it simply, it seems there are various problems in the current Holy Kingdom, and you’re trying to change them?”

“Yes. Especially the faction centered around the inquisitors, they’re imprisoning many innocent people for the sake of their achievements.”

“Wouldn’t His Holiness the Pope handle such things well? He always has, hasn’t he?”

“……However, Hero-nim. Recently, His Holiness hasn’t been able to properly focus on internal Church matters, has he?”

“Tsk. Indeed. He even subtly asked me for help.”

……I desperately wanted to ask what the hell the Pope was focusing on if not the Church.

He’s supposed to be someone who hears God’s words and will, right? What could such a person be worried about?

“Oh, Lucia wouldn’t have known. Recently, His Holiness has been preoccupied with his eldest daughter who disappeared a few years ago……”

“Hey, wait, wait! This is a Holy Kingdom secret, you know? Can you just carelessly tell an outsider like this?”

“…She’s someone who knew about the dirty side of the Church long before Hero-nim or I did. Even if Hero-nim isn’t certain, I am.”

Indeed, if you think about it, the fact that the Saintess herself was a manufactured Saintess was unknown not only to the Hero but also to the Saintess herself at this point.

Since I was the one who practically told her, the Saintess seemed to have quite a high level of trust in me.

…Of course, regardless of that, I wondered if it was okay to just hand over secrets like this, but I had no reason to refuse information.

“Eldest daughter?”

“Yes. She was originally confirmed as the next Pope candidate to succeed His Holiness and convey his will and voice… but for some unknown reason, she suddenly left the Church.”

“His Holiness tried to find his eldest daughter for a while after that, then gave up for several years. But… recently, traces of that eldest daughter have been detected again.”

“……The Pope is that affectionate towards his family? To the point of abandoning the Church and dedicating himself to finding his daughter?”

It was strange. In fact, at the point where the Hero completely changed into a different person, the original story I knew might not mean much… but the Pope was definitely not that kind of character.

In the first place, he was a person who had no particular affection for humans.

A person who commonly views people as nothing more or less than pawns. The Pope was exactly that kind of person.

But for him to suddenly dedicate himself to finding his eldest daughter… meant that his eldest daughter was that important.

“…This is just my guess, but it seems the Pope’s eldest daughter could see the future.

To be precise, she seemed to be able to see all possible future possibilities. Whenever I had a chance to talk to her as a child, she would tell me what might happen in front of me.”

“……And did all of that come true?”

“Yes. Surprisingly. It really felt like she was showing me the future, and because of that, many cardinals had high expectations for her as the next Pope.”

Seeing the future, huh. Suddenly, a person’s face flashed vividly in my mind.

The person who expressed interest when we met last time, saying I wasn’t in her future, and… the one who made me realize I shouldn’t get involved with the main characters.

Our mastermind, Elena.

“Do you happen to know what kind of activities that eldest daughter is currently engaged in?”

“What, do you know something? I don’t know what kind of activities she’s doing, but I do know she’s using the alias ‘Elena’, though?”

“……It’s that crazy bitch, alright.”

Going back in time, Elena, whom I met when the Saintess and the inquisitor commander attacked me, clearly told me she could see the future.

She also constantly appeared and disappeared, avoiding some kind of pursuit.

……In other words, Elena is indeed the same person as the Pope’s eldest daughter they are looking for.

No matter how crazy this world is, there’s no way there would be two prophets who can see the future.

“Have you met her?”

“A long time ago. But it wasn’t a deep relationship, and she came at such an unexpected time.”

“Indeed. If you had a good relationship or a cooperative one, you wouldn’t call her a crazy bitch.”

“Of course, you crazy Hero bastard. In the first place, she’s not someone I can meet just because I want to, nor someone I can avoid just because I don’t want to.”

For the record, I completely chose to use honorifics only with the Saintess and speak casually with the Hero.

In the first place, the Saintess always spoke to me with honorifics, and the Hero spoke however she pleased, so why would I be any different?

If this were the Holy Kingdom, I would have been dragged away for blasphemy or whatever, but this is the Empire.

“Ah, right. Anyway, this wasn’t the main topic. So, how are you going to take down that inquisitor and cardinal faction?”

“Just a raid on the scene.”

“Raid on the scene?”

“I’m planning to take Lucia to the Holy Kingdom for a while as the Saintess’s direct apprentice nun. Then they’ll take the bait on their own.”

“……Being treated as bait feels quite… something, Saintess-nim?”

I had a strong premonition that if it was another ‘heretic’ situation, it would be the same repertoire warmed up three times.

In the first place, I have no faith and can’t use divine power, so disguising myself is impossible, isn’t it?

Of course, our Saintess-nim must have something in mind, but anyway, I feel uneasy.

“Hehe. I’m sorry, Lucia. But in front of us, the cardinals and inquisitors always act properly according to His word, so how would we know?

Instead, if you help with this, I’ll give you plenty of holy water that can only be obtained in the Holy Kingdom. Lucia is excellent at making potions, so it will surely be useful.”

“To summarize, you’re saying I should go to the Holy Kingdom with the Saintess, blend in with the other nuns, and expose the true faces of the inquisitors and some cardinals, right?”

“……Then what’s my role?”

“Hero-nim’s role is to raid the scene with me when Lucia contacts you.

If you say you’ve returned after hearing news from the Empire that there are those within the Holy Kingdom who are heading down the wrong path and doing wrong things in His name, the justification is sufficient.”

At first, I didn’t think much of it, but it seemed more doable than I expected.

If the Saintess and the Hero, who have the greatest public recognition, simultaneously expose something, the effect would be certain.

As for danger… surely the Saintess wouldn’t leave me to suddenly die somewhere, and since it’s within the Holy Kingdom, there won’t be high-intensity violence or threats to life.

And the Saintess said she’d give me holy water… but actually, I had to do this work, whether it was religious reform or whatever, even if it was half-forced, since it was linked to the Saintess’s plot point.

But since she was even offering a reward, there was nothing bad about it.

*For your information, that holy water is a key ingredient for the ‘Wish Potion’, you know?*

‘…Ah, that potion existed, didn’t it? I’d forgotten all about it, it was so long ago.’

*It’s a very important potion, you know? It’s also an essential ingredient for various divine power-related potions, that holy water.*

Even the reward seemed to be a very necessary ingredient for me.

The only problem was… having to leave the shop empty again?

I’d left the shop empty for a while, and it felt a bit awkward to leave it again, should I say? More than anything, there were still piled-up tasks to do, including the potions Christie had requested.

In other words, I wanted to go, but the problem was that it was currently impossible.

“……But isn’t it too sudden? No matter what, leaving so abruptly like this…”

“Huh? Oh, no. Lucia. I just came to tell you about this plan today.

I was going to wait a bit longer, but those crazy cardinals and inquisitors kept coming to me asking me to do this and that, so I ran away.”

……So, she just came out to play, is that it?

And while she was at it, she was introducing that something like this would happen soon?

Anyway, she’s a Saintess with a tendency to play hooky, unlike her usual image.

“…You really go through a lot, Saintess.”

“Not at all. Hero-nim also goes through a lot, always training. ……And you suffer even more trying to find opportunities to play.

I, on the other hand, can just leave my post like this, and everyone just thinks I’ve gone to pray.”

“……Tsk, so this is why one’s usual conduct is important, huh.”

…They’re supposedly the idols and figureheads of the Holy Kingdom, but seeing them act like this in my house, I really don’t know what to say.

One is the Saintess, the hope of all Church believers, and the other is the Hero who fights against the world’s threats, but in front of me, they both just seem like girls who want to play.

Even the Pope, that bastard, with two key figures of the Church like this, is apparently only concerned with catching that crazy Elena.

Of course, the Saintess says ‘finds’, but no matter how I look at it, considering Elena’s personality, it seems more likely that the Pope is ‘trying to catch’ her, having lost his mind.

…I was thinking about how well the Church was doing, when suddenly the Saintess looked intently at me and opened her mouth.

For a moment, I wondered if she had caught me thinking such things, but thankfully, that wasn’t the case.

“Oh, and Lucia? Do you remember what I said last time?”

“What did you…?”

“About speaking casually. I think I’ll be coming here often from now on… wouldn’t it be okay to be a bit more comfortable?”

“……Alright, well. It seems we’ll be seeing each other often from now on.”

I don’t know if the Saintess coming often is a good thing or a bad thing… but I decided to judge that later.

For all I know, the Saintess, smiling sweetly and asking to be called casually, was quite cute, and it felt like we had gotten a bit closer now.

…Looking at the Saintess’s expression, it seems she, on the contrary, thinks I’m cute for acting like this, but let’s just gloss over that.

“Wow, the temperature difference is really insane. Could you speak informally so gently? You?”

Something interrupted in the middle, but let’s ignore that too.

The Saintess, the Hero, and an alchemist who specializes in being accused of heresy.

I’m really curious how this trio, whether it’s reform or chaos, will roll out… well, it’ll roll out somehow.

…Probably.