Ch.441Infiltration Mission

The crusaders who determined that the kidnapping incident was related to the Church of Grimnir attempted to investigate the church directly, they say.

It would be a much more dangerous task than staging kidnappings in the slums, but they couldn’t abandon the clues they had worked so hard to obtain.

However, their investigation plan had to be scrapped before it even began.

“We never expected Cardinal Walter Lübitz would come.”

The Church of Grimnir headquarters, which had fled from the Holy City, had occupied all of Nasiriya.

They “peacefully” eliminated the Church of Ceres in Nasiriya, then took control of the entire city and began governing it according to their will.

“Lübitz said it was beneath his dignity as a Cardinal to have slums in his city, so he sealed off the poor districts and began transporting the poor to the church for ‘resocialization.'”

“Resocialization?”

That sounds rather ominous.

I recall someone once using that expression when proposing to brainwash criminals and use them as frontline troops.

“They claimed they would educate the poor with appropriate skills, provide them with jobs, and offer material support until they were firmly established as members of society rather than remaining poor. They even said they would ordain those with exceptional qualities as priests…”

“I’m guessing the reality is quite different?”

It sounds like an excellent policy just hearing about it, but offers that seem too good to be true should always be viewed with suspicion.

Simple free meals would be one thing, but implementing what Mayer described would require emptying the church’s coffers completely. How could the Church of Grimnir afford that when they’re focused on expanding their military forces?

Ah, could it be?

Perhaps by “appropriate skills” they mean killing skills, by “jobs” they mean the holy army, and by “material support” they mean equipment and meals for soldiers.

That would make sense.

Like the person who spouted resocialization theories in my original world, if their intention is to conscript the poor as military forces, then they wouldn’t technically be lying.

Or, as I initially suspected, the Church of Grimnir, which had been kidnapping the poor to use as test subjects, might have started openly rounding them up after the Cardinal’s arrival.

It was impossible to know without checking.

“As far as I know, not a single person who was taken to the church has returned. What could be happening inside the cathedral grounds… it gives me chills just imagining it.”

“…That’s what we need to find out now. Good work, Sir Mayer. And to the other members as well.”

Lacy offered words of praise to Mayer who had completed his report.

He bowed his head as if deeply moved, his body trembling, with his heartbeat seemingly twice as fast.

Seriously, how touched can you be by a simple compliment?

Why are these people so loyal…?

—-

After Mayer finished his report, Lacy and I left him for a moment to share our thoughts on the report.

“These Grimnir bastards, they’re suspicious as hell, aren’t they?”

What on earth are they doing with all those poor people they’ve gathered?

It’s just my intuition, but they must be doing something horrifically appalling and nauseatingly unethical.

That’s typically what mages do, after all.

“I know. I feel something… heretically ominous about it.”

Lacy nodded in agreement with my words.

“Heretically ominous, huh…”

…You can’t sense that kind of thing, unlike Agnes.

Even Agnes seemed unable to detect such things unless they were quite close.

“Could they actually be Isabella’s collaborators or something like that?”

“Well… I can’t say for certain, but… that possibility certainly exists.”

Lacy also looked toward Nasiriya with a furrowed brow, suspicious of the Church of Grimnir.

The city of mages shrouded in the darkness of night.

If, as we suspect, they were Isabella’s collaborators… that city was already nothing less than perfect enemy territory.

…So we have no choice but to investigate, right?

Originally, I had planned to visit them openly and announce our arrival, or send a letter to Cardinal Lübitz to enter quietly, but…

“Now that the Church of Grimnir itself has become suspicious, we can’t do that. If they truly are our enemies, they’ll set traps or destroy evidence as soon as they learn of our visit.”

“Right. It’s clear we need to sneak in first, regardless of whether it’s possible or not.”

I glanced at the city walls.

They were in the midst of expanding their defenses, but at least for now, the walls weren’t particularly high.

Climbing them shouldn’t be difficult… the problem is that I don’t know how strict their security is.

Since it’s a mages’ church, they might have placed some magical measures on the walls.

“Mayer, was it? How do we get over those walls? Any good ideas?”

“The walls…? Hmm… The Church of Grimnir has priests deploying barrier magic to defend the walls. If they detect us, magical bombardment will rain down.”

So, entering via the walls would be difficult…?

This is troublesome.

“However, the priests can’t monitor the entire wall without gaps, and even barrier magic has limits in terms of range and duration. In a battle situation it might be different, but during peacetime like now, there must be some openings somewhere.”

What? So it’s difficult but not impossible.

Though I can’t be certain.

“So if we avoid the eyes of the priests patrolling the walls and target the moment when the barrier magic’s effect lapses, we might be able to infiltrate. The problem is that it’s difficult to know when that moment will come…”

“Ah, in that case, we’re good. I think I can figure that out.”

I can detect the priests’ movements by heightening my senses to their maximum, and I can determine the barrier magic’s time limit by sensing the flow of mana through my mana resistance.

In that case, infiltration shouldn’t be a problem.

I’ll carry Lacy on my back, and someone else can carry Agnes and Lena.

For master-level knights, crossing the wall shouldn’t take much time.

—-

“In that case, I can help. If I use ‘Veil of the New Moon,’ we can move undetected for about thirty seconds.”

Agnes smiled confidently after hearing the plan.

“Veil of the New Moon? What’s that?”

I tilted my head, speaking for the rest of the group who looked equally puzzled. Using informal speech.

Since we began traveling together, Agnes had asked me to speak to her informally.

Given her status as a candidate for the Saint of the Church of Menes, I had been maintaining proper etiquette with her… but she said it created distance when I used formal speech only with her.

There was no reason to refuse such a request.

Ironically, she herself continued to use honorifics when speaking to me even after I switched to informal speech.

“It’s a miracle that dissolves one’s form into darkness, like the moon hiding among the night sky.”

“Oh, that sounds incredibly useful.”

In other words, it’s like a night-limited invisibility miracle.

Despite her young age, she’s truly capable, befitting her title as a Saint candidate.

“Lacy, don’t you have anything? Some miracle that would be useful in this situation?”

“Well, all of Elpinel’s miracles emit brilliant holy light, so…”

…So that’s a no.

“Each church has its own characteristics, so that’s to be expected.”

Agnes defended Lacy, but Lacy’s face turned red, seemingly embarrassed to be defended by her junior.

“Anyway, with my current ability, I can only conceal six people for about thirty seconds… but during that time, unless someone is particularly observant, they won’t notice us.”

“There are seven of us….”

Hush timidly objected.

Come to think of it, there were indeed seven of us.

“Ah.”

Agnes looked at Hush as if just noticing his presence.

With quite a sharp gaze.

“You already blend into the darkness with your appearance. Don’t you think you don’t need it?”

Her tone was completely different from usual—cold informal speech.

Hush shrank back and took a step backward at her contemptuous tone.

Initially, Agnes had shown curiosity about Hush’s skin color, but ever since learning he was affiliated with the Council of Dream Utopia, she had consistently shown this attitude.

It was understandable in a way. The Council of Dream Utopia was designated as a heretical sect by the Church of Menes.

She wouldn’t look kindly upon Hush, who had been a member.

I had anticipated this reaction and hadn’t planned to tell Agnes about Hush’s identity, but Lena brought it up during our conversation, and it was accidentally revealed.

It wasn’t Lena’s fault.

I should have warned her to keep quiet about it beforehand, so it was my mistake.

Lena probably just thought of Hush as a maid who had come from a criminal organization but had repented and converted.

Considering Lena’s age, it was natural that she wouldn’t know about the bad blood between the Church of Menes and the Council of Dream Utopia, which wasn’t even her religion.

“I’ll hide myself well enough…”

At Hush’s timid, almost servile attitude, Agnes clicked her tongue and sighed in irritation.

“Haah, really… If I include one more person, it will reduce to about 25 seconds. Will that be okay?”

“A difference of 5 seconds shouldn’t be a problem.”

Whether it’s 30 seconds or 25, it’s enough time to cross the wall.

For me, and for Demian and Millia.