Ch.127127. The Perfect Plan

Fanatic Zealot.

One day, he heard the voice of God.

To tell the truth, it was a dream, and eventually he would realize it was just a dream… but until that realization, the voice remained powerfully etched in his memory.

And it became his greatest purpose in life.

However, despite his enthusiasm, he lacked the most crucial element needed to fulfill it.

Overwhelming power capable of commanding even demons. No matter how much he trained, it was something he could never attain on his own.

But as time passed, his impatience only grew while no talent appeared who could help with his plan.

Giving up. As that word began to flicker in his mind one day.

While checking on the well-being of the newly appeared saint, Fanatic met that man.

A man who believed in the same doctrine as himself. A man whose insurmountable wall he could sense even before exchanging a single blow.

Fanatic thought.

This man could do it. He could answer God’s voice.

He couldn’t remember how many devoted days had passed since then.

Every day, he persuaded his comrades to join this cause, and invested considerable time countering the Pope’s faction who might interfere.

He also never forgot to offer prayers with blood sacrifices daily for this mission.

It was the perfect preparation.

So perfect that he couldn’t even imagine failure.

As the plan became more perfect, he felt an immense responsibility for it.

If this mission succeeded, humanity would regain peace according to God’s will.

First, he would move to Ritten and join his comrades who had been summoned in advance.

Then after completing preparations to execute the plan… he would call for that man.

It was at that moment when he thought this.

“…!”

Noticing something flying toward them, Fanatic quickly embraced the saint and leaped out of the carriage.

CRASH-!

Immediately, the carriage was half-destroyed by whatever had struck it.

Who could it be? Had someone from the Academy already caught up?

Logically, that thought came to mind, but logically, it also seemed impossible, which was confusing.

Of course, by now they would have noticed the saint’s disappearance, but tracking and reaching here would be nearly impossible.

He had covered his tracks and complicated his route to make tracking difficult, traveling for quite some time. How could anyone have followed?

But such logical thinking meant nothing. Right before his eyes was something that had caught up with him.

So first, he needed to respond. Fanatic reached into the spatial pouch hidden in his clothes and drew his weapon.

A massive sword, ill-fitting for his small frame, rose imposingly as if to shield his body.

And beyond that greatsword appeared…

“Seriously, Celia. How could you use a person as a projectile?”

“It’s safe. Look, he’s perfectly fine.”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

The man who appeared through the swirling dust, and the Imperial Princess of Rubetia Kingdom who descended from the sky.

At the appearance of these completely unexpected individuals, Fanatic briefly wondered if he was dreaming.

The real dream had been the voice of God he heard. What a foolish thought.

///

Flying through the air with Celia was truly an amazing experience.

It made me wonder why we’d been traveling by carriage all this time.

I mean, seriously. When your mode of transportation changes from horse to airplane, you can’t help but feel that way.

“Nothing happened then, but now the situation is urgent.”

But Celia simply responded like that.

She seems to be a dignified woman who knows how to remain composed. That’s impressive.

Anyway. At this speed, we should find Lilith soon.

If there’s one problem with the current situation, it’s that this “airplane” has no fuselage, and we’re just floating and flying through the air, which feels somewhat unstable.

It’s not that I’m physically uncomfortable.

Since I’m wrapped in mana, I’m not affected by the wind, and Celia’s mana control skills are so excellent that there’s no turbulence while flying.

It’s just that looking down and seeing the ground directly below creates confusion in my mind, which has only experienced flight through modern technology.

…I’ve decided to forget the incident where I struck a pose like a superhero mid-flight and got teased by Celia.

How long had we been flying?

It was difficult to gauge the distance traveled because we were moving so fast, but we must have covered at least several hours’ worth of carriage travel.

As if to prove this, the carriage where Lilith was being held began to appear in our view.

I don’t actually know if Lilith is in there, but if Celia says she is, then she must be.

“How did you find it so precisely?”

“It’s because it’s Lilith.”

From what I heard, Lilith’s divine power feels distinctly different from ordinary mana, and its residual traces last longer.

She said that made it easier, but… I felt like Celia would have found her regardless.

…But what now?

Should we go down and block their path?

While I was having such amateur thoughts, Celia began to smile with a mischievous expression.

“Well then, I’m going.”

“Going where… huh? WHAT?”

And soon, my body began falling straight toward the carriage.

Head first, no less.

“AAAAAAHHH!!”

It seems Celia never intended to politely stop the carriage.

Just smash it and make it stop. Her approach was fundamentally different from an amateur like me.

Though why she chose to launch me instead of using magic that she was so good at… should I also chalk this up to a different approach?

Before I could finish that thought, my body had already smashed into the carriage.

CRASH-!

Sand and dust obscured my vision.

But since I had seen them evacuating the carriage at the last moment, I didn’t waste time looking around the immediate area.

Since they didn’t seem to be moving due to caution, I waited for the dust to settle, and soon I could see Lilith and a man.

…Is that him?

“Well… I thought things had gotten complicated, but it was you, Ludion.”

Fanatic Zealot. I really didn’t expect this madman to show up here.

I had thought it would be someone from Lilith’s kidnapping route, or someone with major grievances against the Papal Office.

“Fortunately, I needed you for this plan anyway.”

As if his presence wasn’t absurd enough, now he’s saying something that makes no sense.

What do you mean “needed”? What plan are you talking about?

Before, I might have maintained a certain concept when dealing with him since he was supposed to be an ally, but from the moment he kidnapped Lilith, he became an enemy. There’s no need to be polite anymore, so I questioned him directly.

“What kind of plan justifies this behavior?”

“Ah, please calm down. My actions may have been somewhat forceful, but it was unavoidable. The saint has accepted it as well.”

“She accepted it?”

That doesn’t sound like her at all.

With that doubt in mind, I looked at Lilith standing right next to Fanatic. She showed no change in expression as she began walking toward me.

After reaching my side, Lilith suddenly turned to look at Fanatic and snorted derisively.

“Saint?”

“Accept what? Am I crazy? I was just quietly waiting for someone to arrive.”

She handled the kidnapping in an exemplary way, not provoking her captor.

“I would have escaped if I could, but no matter how I thought about it, it didn’t seem possible.”

“You’re pretty good at self-assessment.”

“I was able to stay calm because I believed you would come. But I didn’t expect you to arrive this quickly. I was planning to get some more sleep.”

She was planning to sleep in this situation? She really has incredible nerve.

“W-wait a moment, please. Saint, Ludion. What are you talking about?”

“What do you think? I’m saying I have no interest in whatever plan you’re talking about.”

As Fanatic was bewildered by the sudden change in flow and trying to ask something, Celia landed right beside me and intercepted him.

I had something important to say to Celia, so ignoring Fanatic’s attempt to object, I spoke first.

“Seriously, Celia. How could you use a person as a projectile?”

I really thought I was going to die.

I wanted to say that, but Celia’s response came faster.

“It’s safe. Look, he’s perfectly fine.”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

I had nothing to say since I could clearly feel that not only was I unharmed, but she had even taken measures to prevent me from inhaling the dust raised by the impact.

That’s when it happened.

“Saint! Ludion! Please listen to me! This plan is truly important for humanity!”

Fanatic, who had been sidelined while we were chatting amongst ourselves, finally couldn’t bear it anymore and raised his voice.

“Fine. Let’s hear what this plan is.”

“Really?!”

“But before that, let’s have you take a hit first.”

“What?”

CRACK-

As Fanatic instinctively took a defensive stance at my approach.

I pulled out a shield from my inventory and performed a guard break against the greatsword he was holding.

The clean sound suggested it didn’t significantly affect the durability or quality… but my goal was just to create an impact to push him back, so I had no complaints.

“God will be angered by this. Why are you doing this?”

“That’s exactly the problem—you don’t understand why.”

It’s particularly irritating how this guy always goes on about the saint, but conveniently switches to talking about God when it suits him.

If you’ve done something wrong, you should be punished.

Explanations can come afterward.