Ch.429The Culprit Is You!

A declaration that blames all the problems of the Holy State on the cardinals.

This inflammatory manifesto, which anyone would see as inciting a bloody revolution, was apparently a work created by Lacy who added substance to the draft prepared by Valkers.

They plan to spread it to all cities except Alhebron, which has entered a state of emergency alert, using the Special Crusader Unit.

“Isn’t this idea too dangerous? If people who read this rise up, blood might flow like a river.”

I opposed Lacy’s plan. This was extreme, even for something meant to be extreme.

I could only envision a future where crowds calling for the impeachment of cardinals would clash with Paladins and be suppressed.

However, unlike me with my modern and conventional sensibilities, Lacy’s expression was the very picture of serenity.

As if saying such things could never happen in our country.

“I understand your concerns. But you can rest assured. The people of the Holy State have been conditioned through centuries of obedience and worship through each church. They aren’t impulsive enough to take up arms and attack the churches just from reading such a manifesto. At most, they’ll realize the true nature of the churches and cardinals they’ve worshipped like gods and stop at harboring doubts and antipathy. For now, that’s enough.”

Is she saying they have slavery ingrained to their roots so revolution is impossible?

I’m not sure if that’s something a Saint candidate should be saying.

“We simply need to gauge the appropriate timing, fuel their antipathy, and guide the direction their rising anger should take as we lead them forward. At the most perfect moment that’s neither too early nor too late.”

“……”

So… she plans to let this simmer and then use these people as her own forces at the right timing?

…She doesn’t think I’d agree to this, does she?

“Lead them to do what? Use those people as soldiers to attack the churches? They’ll all die that way.”

Civilians with no combat experience can’t match up against an army, no matter how many you gather.

Unless the numerical difference is about 20 times greater.

…No, even that would be difficult.

Once morale breaks, they’d all scatter in different directions, fleeing as they please.

“How could that be? A protest of dozens could be suppressed as a minority of heretics. A resistance of hundreds could be dispersed under the pretext of maintaining order. But what if thousands, even tens of thousands point their spears at the cardinals? That would be a revolution like an unstoppable tidal wave that can neither be blocked nor avoided!”

Lacy spread her arms and smiled broadly.

“The presence or absence of power doesn’t matter. As long as the Holy State bears its name, as long as the churches exist as churches, they can never wield their swords. Ordinary citizens who only demanded reform of the Holy State, tens of thousands of innocent people being suppressed by force? If they dare to commit such an act, they would no longer be churches of humanity but heretics who deserve to be burned. The Paladins and priests wouldn’t follow orders to suppress them, and even if they did, the gods wouldn’t tolerate such atrocities.”

Yes. She wasn’t wrong.

The churches are like towers built on the bedrock of believers’ faith, with pillars of authority bestowed by the gods.

It’s natural that they would collapse if they lose that bedrock and those pillars.

As Lacy said, if truly all the people of the Holy State rose up, the churches would find it difficult to lay a finger on them.

If they weren’t completely rotten to the core, that is.

“What do you think? Doesn’t it seem like Lord Valkers came up with a good plan?”

“…Yes, it’s a good plan indeed.”

I nodded and placed the paper back on the desk.

I wasn’t sure if this was right, but I didn’t have any particular reason or justification to oppose it either.

“Of course, even I don’t wish for such an extreme situation. If the cardinals sincerely try to find the real culprit, there would be no need to spread this manifesto. But if instead of focusing on finding the perpetrator, they see this as an opportunity to frame other churches or me, disappointing me until the very end…”

Lacy trailed off, making the sign of the cross and praying.

Though she didn’t say it out loud, it was as if she was saying she would kill them in the name of Elpinel if they acted that way.

And so, ten days flew by like an arrow.

=====================

Ten days since the blockade of the Holy City and the declaration of intensive investigation.

It was a time that could be considered both short and long.

The blockade of the Holy City was reaching its limit, and during that time, the churches that hadn’t found a single clue realized:

Finding the culprit was impossible.

Of course, they couldn’t admit that.

In a major incident where a cardinal was murdered, after declaring they would definitely find the culprit, to fail without finding a single trace?

If things turned out that way, the honor of each church would be severely damaged.

So, instead of wasting time wandering around looking for a real culprit they couldn’t find, they chose a faster and more efficient method.

If they couldn’t find the culprit, why not create one?

This was the suggestion of Audius Rosoff, Cardinal of the Church of Ceres.

Not all cardinals agreed to such a deception.

Ernliter Zaiseus of the Church of Astraea and Herman Kraibel of the Church of Ausrine opposed, saying it was nonsense.

However, Carnius Gustav of the Church of Saulite, Erich Rudolf of the Church of Kranus, and Kurt Raiher of the Church of Imela accepted Rosoff’s proposal.

For them, quelling the chaos in the Holy City seemed more urgent than finding the real culprit.

Philips Kraft of the Church of Vimos took a stance of indifference, while Wolfgang Kapraich of the Church of Volberg and Valter Lübitz of the Church of Grimnir weren’t even given a voice.

After all, this was decided in a secret meeting that those two weren’t even allowed to attend.

A few hours later.

It was announced that the person who instigated Paulus’s assassination was Wolfgang Kapraich, Cardinal of the Church of Volberg.

—-

The churches’ investigation results were as follows:

The Freedom Sacred Corps, which had the lowest influence among the three factions.

Wolfgang, who could be considered its leader, met with Paulus that night and proposed an alliance between the Sacred Night Struggle Association and the Freedom Sacred Corps.

Saying that if the two forces united, they could devastate the Holy Solar Alliance.

However, when Paulus rejected this and tried to drive him away, Wolfgang challenged him to a one-sided duel in anger and killed him.

—-

It was a crude frame-up, but also a plausible story.

Wolfgang’s warrior-like rough and aggressive personality, and the fact that he was known as an extreme militant, were well-known.

Even those who didn’t believe the announcement itself nodded, thinking that Wolfgang might be capable of such an act.

Once they decided to create a culprit, they could have just grabbed anyone and declared them the perpetrator, but they specifically targeted the Cardinal of the Church of Volberg for this reason.

Among those with the power and position to assassinate a cardinal, Wolfgang was the most plausible suspect.

If they announced that a street thug had killed a cardinal, who in the Holy State would believe it? No one would.

But if they declared that the most militant cardinal had done it?

People would accept it, thinking, “Yes, that’s what an assassin of a cardinal should be like.”

Moreover, there was the secondary benefit of officially excluding the troublesome Freedom Sacred Corps.

For Wolfgang, his usual words and actions had become karma that struck him down.

—-

The churches presented a Crusader from the Church of Volberg as a witness.

His fingers and eyes trembled, suggesting that those parts had been regenerated not long ago.

The man testified that Cardinal Wolfgang had secretly left his post that night and returned an hour later covered in blood.

That testimony was decisive.

The Freedom Sacred Corps was ordered to disband, and Wolfgang, who had killed a fellow cardinal, was advised to surrender his clerical position and turn himself in.

Of course, Wolfgang Kapraich was not one to accept such a ridiculous false accusation.

As soon as he heard the news, he unleashed a barrage of very colorful expletives without hesitation, and along with Valter Lübitz, mobilized all the forces of the Freedom Sacred Corps to break through the blockade of the Holy City and escape.

With just their two churches, they couldn’t face all the other churches combined. At least not within the Holy City.

It was a very reasonable decision, and the churches that had framed him had anticipated that Wolfgang would act this way.

In fact, his escape was exactly what they had hoped for.

Having refused the order to appear and used force to leave the Holy City, the charges against him were as good as confirmed.

=====================

Upon receiving the churches’ announcement and learning the inside story through Herman Kraibel, Lacy couldn’t hide her disappointment.

After lamenting whether the churches had finally fallen this far, she took out the manifesto she had put away in a drawer.

To spread it to all cities.