Ch. 24 The Anti-Monarchists and the Church (4)
by AfuhfuihgsChapter 24 – The Anti-Monarchists and the Church (4)
The Bishop solemnly unfolded the scroll and slowly opened his mouth. His voice was low and subdued, yet it possessed an intensity that swallowed all the air in the room.
“This is a tale from a distant past.” he said. “A very, very distant past… In those days, this world was completely different from what it is now.”
I tilted my head, listening to his words. “A distant past… How distant are we talking?”
The Bishop looked up and stared intently at me. “To use a name you might recognize, it begins in a world called ‘Earth.’”
Claire and I exchanged glances at his words. Surprise was clearly etched on our faces.
“Earth…?” Claire asked. “The Earth we know? What are you saying?”
The Bishop nodded and slowly continued. “That world was the origin of everything you know. However, it began to decline at some point. Due to destructive wars and greed… In the end, those chosen by the ‘Sacred Beings’ were moved to a new world. This world.”
I gasped and asked, listening to his words. “Then… who brought us to this world?”
The Bishop fell silent for a moment. The silence felt heavy, as if he were making an important decision. Then, he looked straight at us and said firmly,
“Me.”
As soon as those short words left his lips, his form began to slowly disappear before our eyes. His body dissipated like mist, vanishing into the air, leaving no one behind in the room.
“What? What was that just now?” Claire looked at me with a bewildered expression.
I couldn’t say anything. No… My mind was tangled in confusion, unable to comprehend the situation.
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Selena re-entered the room. Seeing us standing there blankly, she asked curiously, “What happened?”
I approached her and asked, “Selena, who exactly is the Bishop? His manner of speaking and behavior… and he just disappeared.”
She looked slightly flustered, tilting her head. “The Bishop? That… the position of Bishop doesn’t exist in our order.”
Claire and I stared at her with completely dumbfounded expressions.
“What?” Claire said in a surprised voice. “He clearly introduced himself as the Bishop just now…”
Selena shook her head and said calmly, “There is no such position as Bishop in our order. Perhaps you saw something wrong?”
I stared intently at her and asked, “Then… who was that person just now?”
Selena hesitated for a moment, then pointed to a statue in one corner of the room. “Rather, offer a prayer to this statue. You might receive answers to your questions.”
I slowly approached the statue, gazing at it. However, the moment I saw the statue’s face, a shock that felt like my breath was being stolen hit me.
“This…” Claire said in a trembling voice next to me. “The statue… looks exactly like the Bishop just now…”
The face of the statue was strikingly similar to the disappeared Bishop. It was delicately carved, as if his appearance had been imprinted in stone and left behind.
I stared straight at the statue and muttered, “What the…”
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I stood there blankly, unable to take my eyes off the statue’s face. That face perfectly matched the appearance the Bishop had shown us before disappearing. The delicately carved stone face was too meticulously crafted to be considered mere coincidence.
“Earth…” I muttered, my mind in turmoil. The Bishop’s words came to mind, and various thoughts intertwined in my head. Earth being our origin. So our arrival here wasn’t an accident?
Claire also gazed at the statue without breaking the silence. Her expression was complex, occasionally biting her lip as if chewing over something. Like me, she was clearly trying to understand the Bishop’s words and the entire situation.
I glanced at her and thought to myself, ‘Claire is probably thinking something similar to what’s in my head right now. Earth… and the reason we’re here… Do we really possess something that will change the course of this world?’
I didn’t know how much time had passed. The air in the room was heavy, and only the flickering of the candlelight broke the silence. I couldn’t bear the stifling silence any longer.
“Claire.” I called out to her. She slowly turned her head to look at me. Her eyes were still confused, but I could feel a similar emotion mixed in.
“I don’t know what to say.” I said, shaking my head. “But just dwelling on these thoughts won’t solve anything.”
Claire looked at me for a moment, then laughed weakly, “Then… what are we going to do? We are, literally, in a crazy situation where even Earth has been mentioned in this other world.”
I shrugged. “So what? Let’s go eat something delicious. Staying like this won’t make things better, will it?”
She stared blankly at me for a moment, then burst into a chuckle. “Delicious food? Ellie, does that even make sense in this situation?”
I replied playfully, “But if we’re hungry, our minds won’t work properly. It’s not too late to eat and think later, right?”
Claire sighed. “Seriously… really…”
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I approached Selena and spoke. “Selena, could you tell us where we can eat something? I need a bit of a break.”
Selena looked at me quietly, then nodded. “You seem very tense. Follow me. There’s a small rest area.”
We followed her down a narrow corridor. The path was dark, but strangely, the smell inside was like a faint herbal scent. When we reached a small room, Selena pointed to a table with a simple meal prepared.
“Rest here for a while.” she said. “Tell me if you need anything.”
I sat at the table, looking at the prepared food, and said to Claire, “See, isn’t this much better? This is how we’ll be able to sort things out.”
Claire nodded reluctantly and sat down at the table. “Okay. But I hope the choices we’ve made are right. That all this will get a little better…”
I smiled at her and said, “Don’t worry, Claire…”
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The simple food on the table surprisingly had familiar scents and tastes for us, considering we were in another world. Warm bread, slightly salty cheese, and herbal tea. Claire, still with a troubled look on her face, nibbled on the bread little by little, glancing at me from time to time.
“Eli.” she opened her mouth. “Honestly, I have absolutely no idea what we should do in this situation. That person called the Bishop suddenly appeared, talked about Earth, and the statue is his exact likeness… What is all this?”
I took a bite of bread and slowly looked at her, saying, “Me too, Claire. But what’s clear is that none of this is a coincidence. We both died on Earth and came to this other world. That must mean it’s not just simple reincarnation.”
Claire nodded. “But why us? Is there a reason we were chosen? Or were we just dragged here?”
I tried to answer her question, but my mind was too muddled. Then, the Bishop’s last words suddenly came to mind. “Me.”
‘If he brought us to this world… why did he choose us?’
At that moment, Selena quietly entered the room. She stood quietly, as if not wanting to interrupt our conversation, but Claire ended up looking at her and asking,
“Selena, will you tell us honestly what you know? About that person… no, that person from earlier and this statue. You know something, don’t you?”
Selena seemed to hesitate for a moment, then sat at the table and addressed us with a serious expression.
“I don’t know much. But the statue is a representation of a being called a ‘Transcendent’ in our order. The Transcendent is said to have created and protected this world.”
“Transcendent?” I asked, intrigued. “What does that mean?”
Selena nodded and explained. “The Transcendent is a being that even transcends gods. They are said to know the origins of all worlds and sometimes manipulate their flow. But there are no detailed records left about the existence of the Transcendent. Only the legend remains that they take chosen beings to protect the world.”
Claire pointed to the statue with her finger and said, “So… is this statue the Transcendent? And we were chosen by them?”
Selena pondered for a moment, then shook her head. “I don’t know for sure. However, the Transcendent is said to connect various worlds according to their will and balance them. And… that choice is not mere coincidence.”
I thought of one possibility upon hearing her words. ‘Could this mean we have an important role to play in this world?’
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At that moment, a frantic knocking came from outside the room. Selena stood up and opened the door, and a man gasped, saying,
“Selena, a warning signal came from the outer outpost. The Anti-Monarchist soldiers are moving.”
Selena’s expression hardened at those words. “How many soldiers are moving?”
“More than 20. And… one of them is… a heretical priest.”
I jumped up from my seat upon hearing those words. “A priest?”
Selena took a deep breath and said, “The Anti-Monarchists’ priests are not simply religious people. They are people who use divine power even though they have betrayed God. Especially since they no longer love God, if they have a clear goal… this will be a dangerous situation.”
Claire asked with a worried face, “So we’re in danger too?”
Selena looked straight at us and said, “You must escape from here now. The reason they came here is probably…”
I interrupted her, saying, “They’re targeting us.”
Author Note
A/N (Author’s note):
Thank you for reading!!
Translator Note
T/N (Translator’s note):
Hi -Zeriat, the pervert.
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