Ch.138Chapter 138 – Power Struggles and an Old Promise

Christina seemed frozen for a moment.

And all expression vanished from her face.

“That’s impossible.”

They say when anger surpasses its critical point, the mind becomes cold instead.

Christina’s voice was as cold as ice.

“There’s no way the Goddess has passed away.”

Christina quietly denied the other person’s words.

“If the Goddess has passed away, then what is this divine power flowing through me?”

I could see Christina gripping her stone tablet tightly.

“As long as Her divine power flows through me, that’s a lie…”

[I told you before, didn’t I? That you don’t know whether your divine power is truly Hers or not.]

The priestess said with a smile.

[I sensed that there are two or more types of divine power mixed within your body.]

The priestess spoke seriously.

Christina responded with a cold expression.

“Please don’t lie.”

[What would I gain from lying?]

“But the very idea of multiple divine powers doesn’t make sense.”

Christina said in a cold voice.

“Unless it’s from the same deity, divine power can’t even be transferred. It doesn’t mix. This is common knowledge.”

Christina had lectured us about this when we first entered this place.

And the priestess looked at Christina with pitying eyes.

[What is my body made of right now?]

“……”

[Let me answer that myself. It’s made of divine power.]

The priestess quietly opened her mouth.

[That’s why I’m more sensitive to other divine powers. I’m certain. Your divine power is in a state where two or more types are mixed together.]

“…Divine powers don’t mix with each other.”

[Can you say that’s absolutely true?]

Christina quietly glared at the priestess, who calmly received her gaze.

Then the priestess spoke again.

[What if, let’s say, another deity absorbed Lady Evgenia’s power?]

“…Divine powers don’t mix…”

[What if they absorbed that power somehow?]

Christina began to listen quietly.

And the priestess spoke softly.

[If that happened, wouldn’t that deity be able to manifest a completely different divine power—their own divine power mixed with Lady Evgenia’s?]

“…That’s far-fetched.”

[But if it’s true, it would explain your condition.]

Christina looked confused at the priestess’s words.

Soon, the priestess quietly spoke again.

[…I don’t like doing this, but there’s another way.]

“…What is it?”

The priestess silently turned toward the fragment.

Then suddenly, a light appeared just in front of her forehead and flew toward the fragment.

-Woooong

Suddenly, a loud sound came from the fragment.

It was a sound that resonated, as if in harmony.

“What’s that?”

[That fragment is a piece of Lady Evgenia’s power that she fragmented and sealed herself.]

The priestess quietly explained.

[If Her divine power touches it, it resonates like that.]

“Then…”

[Try using divine power toward that fragment, Sister.]

The priestess quietly looked at Christina.

[If you truly use Her divine power, it will resonate with a sound like you just heard.]

Christina glared at the priestess for a moment.

Then she quietly extended her hand.

“Holy Light.”

A small light flew from her hand toward the fragment.

-Woong

There was a sound from the fragment.

It was clearly different from the previous sound.

It was somehow duller and smaller, as if it contained impurities.

Christina’s eyes wavered.

“…This.”

[…It seems my hypothesis is somewhat correct.]

The priestess quietly looked at Christina.

[Your divine power is not Her divine power—it’s another deity’s divine power with Lady Evgenia’s mixed in.]

Christina couldn’t answer.

“This can’t be…”

Christina’s voice trembled severely, as if denying reality.

I immediately approached her out of concern.

“Christina…”

“It’s a lie…”

With a thud, Christina collapsed to the ground.

And her head began to fall toward the floor.

“Christina!”

I quickly moved to catch her.

I barely managed to grab her before she hit the ground.

As I quickly tried to help Christina stand, her head drooped.

“Chris!”

“Christina, snap out of it!”

I could see Sarah, Beatrice, and Eve approaching in alarm.

Looking at Christina’s face, I saw her lips moving slightly.

“It’s… a lie.”

With those words,

Christina lost consciousness.

+

I gently laid the unconscious Christina on the floor.

Then Sarah examined Christina and turned to me.

“Is she okay?”

“Yes, she seems to have suffered a severe mental shock.”

I saw Sarah opening Christina’s mouth to pour in some medicine.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a stimulant mixed with herbs that help stabilize the mind. She’ll wake up once it takes effect.”

Sarah said there was no serious problem, fortunately.

I let out a small sigh of relief and looked behind me.

I could see the priestess still chained and left on the floor.

[…Just to be clear, this isn’t my fault, right? It’s natural for devout believers to be shocked when they learn about their deity’s absence…]

“Can I just hit her once?”

[I’m sorry. I’ve committed a terrible sin.]

The priestess immediately adopted a submissive attitude.

I felt somewhat angry, but resorting to violence would only make me lose the upper hand.

Besides, it was better to learn something useful than to vent my momentary anger.

“I have something to ask.”

[Go ahead.]

“Earlier, you stated that Evgenia was dead. How could you be so certain?”

At my question, the priestess fell into thought for a moment.

Then she quietly began to speak.

[Have you heard stories about deities fighting each other, or religions fighting each other?]

“I have.”

Count Metis had told me about it.

More precisely, he mentioned that it was said the deities of that time had fought each other for some reason.

[I see. So you already knew.]

The priestess fell into thought again.

After a short while, she quietly spoke.

[It’s because of what happened after the Demon War.]

“Why does the story go back that far?”

[Well, no matter how I think about it, the current situation seems to have started from that time.]

The priestess looked at us.

And quietly opened her mouth.

[This might be a bit long. Is that okay?]

“Keep it brief.”

The priestess grumbled quietly, saying she wasn’t confident about that.

Then she began her story.

[At the end of their alliance with the dragons, the deities were able to win the war against the demon race.]

The priestess sat down with a thud as she spoke.

It looked somewhat strange since she was still bound, but she was trying to make herself comfortable.

[Right after the hero’s victory, the deities, humans, and various living beings rejoiced. They believed peace would come as the demon race retreated.]

The priestess spoke as if with nostalgia.

But soon, her voice began to sink lower.

[At first, everyone was busy recovering from the damage. The Demon War had practically scorched the continent, and there were countless sacrifices. Slowly recovering from the wounds of war and commemorating the dead… several years passed like that.]

By now, anger had seeped into her voice.

As if she didn’t even want to think about that time.

[People began to fight over interests. And their checks began to extend to the hero’s party as well.]

“Since the war was over, the hero’s power became a thorn in their side?”

[Not just the hero, but all party members were treated that way.]

The priestess quietly answered Beatrice’s comment.

Her voice seemed to have become harsher, if only for a moment.

[Fortunately, the hero’s party didn’t have much desire for power, so they quickly withdrew from the power struggles and began to live their own lives. After building up affection for each other, they quietly got married… built a cabin somewhere and lived quietly…]

Her voice, which had been filled with anger, briefly found peace.

And then she quietly continued.

[As the hero’s party went into seclusion, the checks against them subsided, and the power struggles among the others intensified… but something worse happened.]

“Something worse?”

[The deities and priests began to fight each other.]

She continued with anger in her voice again.

[The deities began to fight over interests.]

She spoke as if it was disgusting.

[At first, everyone might have thought it wasn’t the time to worry about such things.]

Her eyes fell on the fragment behind her.

And she quietly continued her story.

[But when one greedy one starts, and two and then three join in… from then on, they move as a group.]

“So individual transgressions eventually became everyone’s transgressions.”

The priestess nodded at Eve’s words.

[I don’t know the initial trigger, but the deities began to fight each other like that. They started a mud fight.]

“A mud fight?”

[Literally a mud fight. They fought among themselves, and then… their believers began to fight each other.]

At her words, Sarah quietly asked.

“Why did the believers fight?”

[Back then, deities often expressed their will directly to their believers. They would inhabit animals or send messages through light. I witnessed and received such messages several times myself.]

“You really are an ancient hag.”

[Hey, witch. Do you think you won’t age? And can’t you share some of that tobacco?]

“Can you even smoke?”

The priestess looked longingly at Beatrice’s cigarette before turning her head away.

[Anyway, they would shout at each other’s churches. Those people are on the side of evil deities, they’re no different from evil deities. They’re heretics. Like that.]

“That’s…”

[Originally, the churches were united to oppose the demon race, and there was an agreement never to use force against each other, except against heretics who sold their souls to monsters and demons… but when they received orders from their deities to fight each other, they began to fight.]

“While accusing each other of being heretics?”

[That’s right. Of course, there were clauses to protect innocent people, and the rules established then were promises made in the name of the deities, so I think nothing has changed since they were established… but they were still used politically quite well.]

The priestess spoke with a hint of dejection.

[Isn’t it funny? Isn’t it disgusting? Using promises they made to each other to avoid attacking allies and innocent people to attack each other instead. If the First Saint who successfully united the churches and created that promise knew about this, wouldn’t she grab the back of her neck and collapse?]

The priestess made a gesture of grabbing the back of her neck.

Since she was bound, it ended up being just a gesture.

[That’s how the world became chaotic again. At least, since it was a war among humans and deities, I think it would have ended somehow. Probably after I died. I never heard that the power struggles were resolved during my lifetime.]

So she didn’t know the outcome herself, the priestess added.

[But people who had already lost so much because of the demons lost even more as they got caught up in the war between religious orders.]

After saying this, the priestess quietly closed her eyes.

She looked as if she was praying for those who had been sacrificed in yet another war.

[…And then, one day. An apostle of Lady Evgenia came to visit me during my lifetime.]

“You?”

The priestess nodded at my question.

[They told me that the war had intensified, and they were on the verge of defeat. So, Lady Evgenia had made a request of me.]

The priestess looked at Christina for a moment.

Then she looked back at me and spoke.

[The request was to become a guardian, protecting the sacred place she would create after her death.]

“A guardian?”

[Despite appearances, I was quite renowned during the Demon War. She must have noticed my strength.]

This priestess was indeed strong in many ways.

Her eyes seemed to be looking into the distance, perhaps reminiscing about that day.

[…The reason I think Evgenia might be dead is because her forces were at a disadvantage at that time.]

“Disadvantage?”

[…Evgenia, that noble deity, was one who continued to protect people without participating in the deities’ power struggles until late. So her forces didn’t participate in the power struggles until the very last moment.]

The priestess spoke quietly.

[But because of that, she also suffered the most checks and attacks. While Evgenia didn’t permit war, other deities did. Eventually, her once-powerful forces were already in tatters by the time they entered the war.]

So they started the war from a disadvantageous position and couldn’t overcome that difference, the priestess quietly explained.

“So that’s why you thought Evgenia was dead.”

[I don’t know for certain about the affairs of deities, nor do I know the outcome.]

As she said this, the priestess looked at Christina.

Considering her current state and the state of the religious order, it was reasonable to think Evgenia had died after a defeat.

[That’s the story I know, and the reason I assume Lady Evgenia has passed away.]

The priestess said with a smile.

‘Power struggles, huh.’

I thought that the deities here might be more driven by desire than I had imagined.

Without realizing it, I found myself looking at the fragment said to be made of her divine power.

“…I have a question.”

“Chris!”

Sarah looked at Christina with joy.

She was barely managing to raise herself, looking dizzy.

[You’ve been awake for a while, haven’t you?]

“…Yes.”

Christina hesitated for a moment at the priestess’s words.

Then she asked the priestess again.

“May I ask a question?”

[Go ahead.]

With permission granted, Christina’s eyes wavered slightly as she looked at the priestess.

“Have you ever actually seen the deity I believe in, Lady Evgenia?”

[If you mean whether I’ve seen her from a distance, then yes.]

“What kind of person was she?”

At Christina’s question, the priestess seemed to be lost in thought for a moment.

But before long, an answer came from her lips.

[She was a noble deity.]

And she added:

[Standing up for the weak, healing the sick. Protecting the innocent and loving people. Among the deities, she was the warmest and most noble.]

“I see.”

Christina nodded.

“…At least, she was exactly as I know her to be.”

Christina smiled slightly, seemingly satisfied.

She began to pray for a moment.

Watching her, the priestess only sent a warm smile.

“May I ask a question too?”

[Go ahead. You look like you might be from a shepherd family, for some reason.]

Eve coughed once at this strangely specific expression.

Then she immediately spoke.

“From your story, it seems you know well what the religious orders agreed upon when they made various agreements. Is that right?”

[Well, since I was a person from that time, and I was present at those meetings… I know well what rules and clauses exist.]

And the priestess said with a smile:

[Since they’re promises made in the name of deities, they can’t be easily changed. Of course, since they were made by humans, there are some loopholes, but at least if a church openly breaks promises and attacks anyone recklessly, that church will suffer consequences.]

“Consequences?”

[Well, like having their divine power sealed for several months?]

I was slightly surprised by the priestess’s words.

“If that happens, wouldn’t the religious order cease to function as an order?”

[That’s right. If you want to prevent reckless actions, you need to impose that level of penalty, don’t you?]

“Is that still valid today?”

[The name of a deity is pledged on the divine power that the deity uses.]

The priestess spoke quietly.

[Even if a deity dies or disappears, the content remains in the divine power of other deities and continues to take effect.]

Eve nodded at the priestess’s explanation.

Then, as if getting to the main point, she made a slightly sharp expression.

“Then my question is: How can a ‘heresy verdict’ be revoked?”

[The easiest way is for a ‘saint’ to directly revoke the verdict.]

The priestess said this as soon as she heard Eve’s question.

[However, a saint must also receive a special baptism from the religious order to qualify, and since there aren’t many of them, there’s another provision that was prepared.]

“Which is?”

[Bearing a stigmata. When one possesses divine power above a certain level, a stigmata appears.]

The priestess quietly explained.

[Of course, that level of divine power means having divine power almost equivalent to or greater than a saint’s, but anyway, if a stigmata appears, one can revoke a verdict without a saint having to do it.]

“Even if the verdict was issued by another religious order?”

[This was all discussed at that time. It doesn’t matter which religion it is. Since an innocent person shouldn’t be condemned as a heretic, a thorough investigation would be conducted before revoking it.]

“That’s it?”

[That’s it… Oh, also, once a verdict is revoked, several months must pass before a verdict can be issued against the same person again.]

The priestess continued to share everything she could think of.

By now, Sarah, who had been listening to Eve’s questions, had taken out a notebook and started writing down the priestess’s words.

After a while, when the priestess finished speaking, Sarah and Eve began to talk to each other, looking at each other.

After briefly observing this, I asked the priestess:

“How does one obtain this stigmata?”

[It appears automatically when one has divine power above a certain level. But it still requires divine power almost at the level of a saint.]

“Then the number would be almost the same as saints?”

[Saints themselves are few in number. Actually, if there are too few, that’s a problem in itself.]

The priestess explained.

And soon, as if she had noticed something, she smiled and spoke:

[It seems you’re troubled by a heresy verdict?]

“That’s why I’m asking these questions. Isn’t it obvious?”

At my answer, the priestess fell into thought for a moment.

[In that case, I have a suggestion.]

The priestess pointed with her chin to the fragment behind her.

[Have you considered that if you absorb the divine power from that fragment, you might be able to possess that much divine power?]

“Is that possible?”

[It’s possible. Though the efficiency is quite poor.]

I fell into thought at the priestess’s words.

‘Then if someone keeps collecting those…’

They could gather that much divine power.

And if they gather enough, they could obtain a stigmata.

Since ancient promises can’t be easily changed, it’s highly likely that even now, a person with a stigmata can revoke a heresy verdict.

“I didn’t expect to find a clue here.”

It was an unexpected harvest, if anything.

But there was another problem.

“Then who will collect that divine power?”

We can’t let just anyone collect it.

Just as I was about to ask if I could do it myself:

“I’ll do it.”

It was an answer without hesitation.

Christina was looking at the fragment while tightly gripping her stone tablet.