Ch.353Episode 14 – One Religion, One Faith, Two Saints

“What? Are you dense? I already told you everything!?”

“Ah, no….”

“Ha! Major, I didn’t take you for this type, but you’re really too much!”

I grabbed the hand clutching my collar and squirmed helplessly. I was so flustered that the shirt I wore under my windbreaker was soaked with cold sweat.

Regardless, Veronica continued to grip my collar, shaking me back and forth while shouting.

“What do you mean ‘if she finds out’? What did you do to my sister to say something like that?”

“…P-please let go and let’s talk…”

“Ugh! I should just—!”

With a half-broken wooden partition between us, we continued our violent confrontation. Whatever I had done, Veronica’s eyes had turned blue with rage as she demanded an answer with her eyes rolled back in fury.

“Speak up!”

As I pushed away her damp hands with my own sweaty ones, I began to think about how I had ended up in this predicament.

Episode 14 – One Religion, One Faith, Two Saints

Solemnity is the most fundamental virtue of the clergy.

Although there is a papal instruction not to view the world with solemnity but from the perspective of the weak, the image of a monk who has devoted body and soul to the purity emphasized by religion and to faith carries an aura that ordinary people find difficult to approach.

However, among the clergy of the church, there was someone for whom the expression “solemnity” was the least fitting.

She was none other than the 58th Saint of the church, Veronica.

Among the clergy, there were three words that symbolized Veronica.

Frivolous.

“Saint! How many times must I tell you not to smoke cigars in public! How could you meet the Pope with a cigarette in your mouth!”

Impudent.

“Please maintain your dignity! Calling the Cardinal an ‘old fogey’! Even if you are a Saint, that’s going too far!”

Troublemaker.

“The Saint has disappeared!”

“What happened?!”

“Father! Saint Veronica has vanished! What should we do?!”

“There’s nothing we can do. Like last time, she’ll probably return by taxi at dawn, completely drunk.”

“Aren’t you worried?”

“We can’t do anything but wait anyway. Gather everyone. Today, let’s all pray that the Saint returns without causing any trouble.”

Unknown to the outside world, she was a notorious troublemaker in Laterano.

She treated renowned cardinals and bishops worse than neighborhood uncles, frequently abandoned her duties to wander outside, and then got caught and scolded by the Pope.

The Saint’s eccentricities, which had now become routine, were Veronica’s pride and the church clergy’s public secret that they were too embarrassed to even gossip about.

Some say that the accident that killed her entire family in her childhood was the catalyst for her twisted personality, while others claim that the church’s rigid rules encouraged her deviations.

What’s certain is that Veronica is the church’s greatest troublemaker and black sheep.

That day was no exception.

“I’ve come to see Saint Veronica…”

“My sister!”

At the Tranquille Cathedral, where the soon-to-be-canonized Saint resided, Veronica immediately embraced Lucia who had come out to greet her visitor.

“Oh my, oh my. Have you been well? Did you miss your big sister?”

“…Please show some dignity.”

Despite Lucia’s exasperated look, Veronica refused to yield.

Embracing Lucia, she stroked her soft blonde hair and displayed a bright smile.

Cradled in Veronica’s arms like a teddy bear, Lucia pushed away her touch and bluntly said:

“What brings you here?”

“Obviously, I came to see you!”

“Is it for work?”

“Come on… Do we only see each other when there’s work to be done?”

Though Veronica feigned a sad smile as if hurt, Lucia merely narrowed her eyes.

“You ran away from work again, didn’t you?”

“Ah, was it that obvious?”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake…”

At Veronica’s proud declaration of abandoning her duties to come play, Lucia let out a deep sigh. No matter how much she loved her sister, wrong was wrong.

“Go back, Saint Veronica. The canonization and coronation ceremonies are approaching. You need to prepare.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. All preparations are complete.”

Veronica reassured Lucia that there was no backlog of work and that she had finished all her tasks. Lucia repeatedly advised her to return quickly, but…

“I told you it’s fine!”

For Veronica, who ignored even the Pope’s scolding, it was like preaching to deaf ears.

Eventually, Lucia was swept up in Veronica’s pace and dragged to the refreshment table. Moreover, Veronica chased away all the nervous clergy and the holy knights who insisted they couldn’t leave their posts for security reasons.

Only when the two of them were left alone in the garden did Veronica finally heave a sigh and light a mini cigar.

“I’m exhausted. They’ve been making a fuss about work since morning.”

“…It’s lunchtime now.”

“Whether it’s morning or afternoon, when I open my eyes, that’s my morning. Here, want a drink?”

Veronica offered her sister a midday drink and engaged in various conversations. Though not particularly substantive, the atmosphere was pleasant.

“That old fogey Raphael, you know what? As the coronation approaches, he’s already acting like he’s the Pope!”

“From what I heard from the Cardinals, Cardinal Raphael is receiving a handover. They say he’s working overtime every day because he’s so busy.”

“Exactly! What kind of person works overtime?”

“Normally, if important work is backed up, it’s natural to work at night too…”

“I met Al-Yabd’s priest from the Mauritanian continent.”

“I heard. The situation isn’t very good.”

“Right. I’m worried about how you’ll manage there. It’s quite a rough place.”

“I’ll be fine. No need to worry.”

“Yes, yes. My brave little sister.”

“A new tobacco came in recently. Have you heard?”

“Yes. It was a new release from your favorite brand.”

“Let’s go together sometime. I told the shop owner to set aside your share too.”

“Shouldn’t you cut down on smoking? It’s harmful to your health.”

“Should I go alone then?”

“…Let’s go together when we have time after the canonization.”

In the midst of their conversation, as Veronica was filling her glass with ice, she suddenly tilted her head and asked a question.

“By the way, what did you talk about with the Major?”

“Pardon?”

“The other day, when you locked yourself in your room, the Major came here to see you. I’m curious about what you discussed. Would you share a little with your sister?”

In truth, she already knew what the two had talked about, but that wasn’t important to Veronica.

She loved pranks more than anyone. Rather than the content of their conversation, the fact that they had talked at all was what mattered to her.

A comrade who risked his life to sneak into the private chambers out of concern for the secluded Saint. In reality, he hadn’t risked his life, but in Veronica’s mischievous mind, Frederick had already become someone who had taken risks for Lucia.

Veronica intended to tease Lucia by presenting her own interpretation of the situation. It wasn’t about tormenting her sister, but rather seeing her flustered reaction.

But then.

What was this?

It was an unexpected response.

“Ah, th-that…”

“…?”

When asked about the situation, Lucia showed visible signs of embarrassment. She put down her teacup, fidgeted with her hands, and avoided eye contact.

Veronica was taken aback by her sister’s completely unexpected reaction. Blinking her eyes as she tried to interpret Lucia’s behavior, Veronica was startled when her sister, who had been mumbling, suddenly stood up.

“I just remembered I have some pending work. I’ll quickly go to my office and come back.”

“…O-okay… Go ahead.”

Veronica stared blankly at Lucia’s retreating figure as she hurriedly left.

Left alone in the garden, after a long silence, she muttered with a dazed expression.

“…What just happened?”

*

Shortly after Lucia’s hasty departure, Veronica, who had been waiting for her sister, returned to her office following the desperate plea of a cardinal who had been searching for the missing Saint.

‘Why did Lucia act like that…?’

Back in her office, buried under a pile of documents, she tapped her fountain pen on the paper, lost in thought.

‘…Could they be in that kind of relationship?’

Her sister, who never lost her composure no matter what prank Veronica pulled, suddenly made a flimsy excuse and fled. Considering Lucia’s typically calm demeanor, this was clearly unusual.

“…Hmm.”

But with only suspicion and no concrete evidence, she couldn’t act rashly.

Twirling the new fountain pen that replaced the one she had broken previously, Veronica used the crystal ball on her desk to summon someone.

-‘Yes, Security Chief speaking.’

“Ah, Chief. Where are you now?”

-‘I’m having lunch, Saint.’

“Could you come up for a moment?”

The Security Chief, an intelligence officer dispatched from the Inquisition, looked at his now cold meal with a bewildered expression.

“I just picked up my spoon…”

The dining hall was already crowded with the many staff stationed at the cathedral. The Security Chief, who had planned to eat after finishing his backlog of work, had just received his meal when he was summoned by the nun.

It was to find the missing Saint.

Given Veronica’s habit of disappearing, he had skipped meals to search for her this time too. But lo and behold, she had suddenly returned to her office after hiding somewhere and was now looking for him.

As much as he wanted to finish his meal first, it was difficult to ignore the Saint’s orders.

In the end, the Security Chief dumped his lunch, which had been left untouched for over an hour, and hurriedly gathered his things to head to Veronica’s office.

“You called for me, Saint?”

“Welcome, Chief.”

Veronica greeted the Chief warmly as he entered her office.

“What can I do for you?”

“Nothing major. I just need your help for a moment.”

“My help?”

“More precisely, the Inquisition’s help.”

The Security Chief stood with a puzzled expression, wondering why she suddenly needed the Inquisition’s assistance.

“Voice-changing equipment. The Inquisition has it, right?”

“Yes, we do have such equipment.”

“Could you lend it to me?”

“Pardon?”

The Chief gave a blank expression at the Saint’s request to borrow the equipment.

“Are you asking to borrow the equipment?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, that’s not possible.”

“Why not?”

“Intelligence agency equipment cannot be taken outside.”

The Inquisition is an intelligence agency, and its equipment cannot be freely removed. To be precise, it cannot be removed by non-staff members.

How could equipment developed with the utmost care by an intelligence agency be used carelessly? The Security Chief calmly explained why the equipment couldn’t be removed, citing the Inquisition’s internal regulations and laws.

Veronica also listened to the Chief’s explanation with a calm expression.

“…Hmm.”

But what kind of person was she?

She was a troublemaker who treated bishops and cardinals like old fogeys, openly ignored the Pope’s words, and repeatedly engaged in deviations and incidents. Had she been an ordinary clergy member, she would have been excommunicated long ago for her outrageous behavior.

Therefore, neither the Inquisition’s regulations nor the church’s laws could constrain Veronica.

That was the problem.

“Ah, forget all that complicated talk! Just bring the equipment first!”

*

The Security Chief and the Saint began to clash.

The Chief spoke first.

“Absolutely not! I cannot give it to you even if it costs me my life!”

Armed with regulations and laws, the Security Chief insisted that the equipment could not be removed.

But Veronica did not yield to the intelligence officer’s pressure.

“Brother, do you really need dirt in your eyes to come to your senses?”

“No, really, it’s impossible…! If I give you that, my head will roll!”

“I can make your head roll too.”

Veronica brazenly threatened the Security Chief with a cigarette in her mouth. Despite this, the Chief stood firm against the Saint’s wrath, resisting stubbornly.

But his resolve didn’t last long.

“You keep being stubborn. Words won’t work, I see.”

“W-what?”

The Security Chief’s eyes widened as Veronica, with a dissatisfied expression, took out a hammer and a wooden box from her drawer.

A luxurious wooden case. Inside, pristine white bones.

It was an object that no one in the clergy could fail to recognize.

“S-sacred relic…”

What Veronica had taken out was the church’s sacred relic, the bones of Saint Balthasar. Why on earth was that relic here? Before the Chief could sort out his confused thoughts, Veronica took action.

“I prepared this knowing a day like this would come.”

Veronica gripped the hammer she had taken out with the wooden case menacingly. Then she began to swing it threateningly.

“Go ahead and continue.”

“W-what?”

“If you want to see centuries-old bones shattered, keep going.”

It was blackmail.

The Saint began to threaten the Inquisition officer, using the saint’s remains as leverage.

As the Security Chief began to feel dizzy from a situation he had never imagined, Veronica held the now-jittering bones and raised her hammer high.

“W-what!”

“Ah, can’t you just stay still?”

“Y-you’re insane!”

Seeing the Saint about to strike the bones with her hammer, the Security Chief cursed. Forgetting all dignity, he lunged forward and grabbed the hem of the Saint’s robe.

“Please don’t do this, Saint! If that breaks, we’re truly dead!”

“Everyone dies eventually, Brother.”

“This is driving me crazy!”

It was a disrespectful action, but there was no time to worry about such things.

Prostrated at the Saint’s feet, pleading, the Chief finally had to accept reality. He found the equipment stored in his office, threw it at Veronica, and she, with a satisfied smile, placed the bones in the Chief’s arms.

“…Hmm, hmm.”

Having exchanged the skull for the equipment, Veronica sat in front of her vanity with a more satisfied expression than ever before. It was a wicked look that would have made the Pope mutter, “Ah, the kid’s going to cause trouble again,” had he seen it.

Seated at her vanity, Veronica hummed happily as she opened her drawer. She prepared blue lenses that resembled Lucia’s eyes, a veil, and ordinary clothes, and sent a message to Frederick.

Using a mobile phone registered in her sister’s name.

[I’d like to meet this evening.]

*

Veronica is a well-known troublemaker and black sheep in the church. While her lackadaisical work attitude and rough speech contribute to this reputation, the main cause is her personality.

She loves to have fun more than anyone else.

People don’t change. From her days as an imperial noble, Veronica loved play and pranks, and this continued even after she was canonized as a saint.

What happens when a free spirit starts receiving controls that don’t suit her? Since becoming a saint, Veronica has played extraordinary pranks on the church’s clergy and monks.

This time was no different.

Veronica planned to trick Frederick by impersonating Lucia. Half of her motivation was to find out what kind of relationship he had with her beloved sister, and half was to get revenge for him selling her out to the clergy last time.

But what she hadn’t anticipated was,

“Will this be alright? If Veronica finds out, it’ll be a disaster.”

‘Huh?’

Sitting in the confessional pretending to be Lucia, Veronica was taken aback by the voice from the other side.

As she listened to the voice, a foreboding feeling washed over her, and cold sweat began to form.

And then came the quiet voice:

“If she notices, she’ll kill me first.”

“……”

That was the trigger.

Losing her grip on reason, Veronica immediately smashed through the wooden partition and grabbed the collar of the man sitting opposite.