Ch.460Too Late to Report

“…I need to go.”

Lacy muttered in a daze, her face pale with shock.

She had clearly lost her composure. Her fingertips trembled, as if she never imagined that the manifesto she had spread would cause such bloodshed.

I took out a cigarette from my pocket and lit it.

“What could you possibly do by going there?”

“I have to stop them, of course!”

I exhaled a bitter cloud of smoke and shook my head.

It was nonsense.

“…It’s already too late. Considering the time it took for this letter to reach us, and the time it would take for us to travel to Arad… by the time you get there, it will all be over.”

All Lacy would see upon arriving in Arad would be the corpses of protesters, already suppressed and burned.

Besides, even if she did go to Arad, there was no way for her to intervene.

On what grounds could she stop the Church of Astraea from suppressing rioters in the name of maintaining public order?

While I couldn’t approve of their extreme methods, the Church of Astraea was conducting what they considered a legitimate suppression operation.

At least by their standards.

For Lacy to stand in their way would be tantamount to the Church of Elpinel declaring war on the Church of Astraea.

Far from preventing conflict, what might have ended with one city would escalate into a direct confrontation between churches.

After hearing my explanation, Lacy bit her lip and lowered her head.

Perhaps she hadn’t thought that far. The normal Lacy would have realized this immediately.

Apparently, she was deeply shocked by the situation—that her plan had been exploited to cause mass casualties.

When she confidently wrote that declaration, she couldn’t have imagined this would happen.

“…But I can’t just do nothing. Their deaths occurred because of the seeds I planted. So I must somehow stop this…!”

“No, this is already beyond what you can stop. You’ll be too late if you go, and it would be meaningless.”

Lacy looked at me with an expression that said she couldn’t—no, didn’t want to—accept this.

“But…!”

Her face was contorted with responsibility and desperation. Her trembling eyes revealed the full extent of her mental shock.

…What could she possibly accomplish going there in this state?

I let out a deep sigh, stubbed out my cigarette in the ashtray, and stood up.

For someone who seemed unwilling to listen to reason, I had only one thing left to say.

“So stay here and wait quietly.”

As I put on my shoulder armor that I had set aside, I walked toward the door without looking back at Lacy.

“I’ll go.”

I didn’t need to hear her response.

—-

Immediately after leaving Lacy’s room, I instructed my companions to protect her well while I visited another city for a while.

If I were Lacy’s enemy, I wouldn’t miss the opportunity when her strongest defender was away.

These people were the only ones I could trust.

“Hush, I’m entrusting you with guarding against ambushes. Be thorough with your defenses. This is your specialty, so you’re confident, right? I’m counting on you.”

“Y-yes! I’ll do my best!”

Good answer.

While his direct combat ability might be the weakest among our group except for Lena, his skills as an assassin were reliable.

“Millia, Demian. Just continue guarding Lacy and Agnes as you’ve been doing. If you lack manpower, call Leonore and Nigel from the capital, or evacuate from Nasiriya to the capital.”

Once they retreat to the capital, the paladins there would take care of the rest.

Belz, Richard, Nigel, and Leonore were all there too.

“Haschal. Whatever you’re planning to do, are you sure you’ll be alright going alone…? Your wounds may have healed, but you haven’t fully recovered your strength yet.”

…That’s true. But still.

“Don’t worry. My strength may have decreased a bit, but that doesn’t mean I’ve gotten weaker.”

I smiled reassuringly at Millia.

Unless the entire church came at me like with Grimnir, I was unlikely to be in danger.

Even if something like that happened, as long as I wasn’t trapped in an underground place with no escape, I was confident I could get away.

—-

“Take care, Haschal.”

Demian seemed indifferent.

As always, he merely offered a perfunctory farewell.

“You should be more careful than me. Keep training even when I’m gone. You’ve gotten stronger, but… from my perspective, you still have a long way to go.”

It wasn’t that Demian was weak.

In fact, he was quite powerful for his age.

People who reached Demian’s level at his age could be counted on one hand.

The problem was that due to the overly complicated story, he had to face extremely strong enemies from the beginning.

According to the original story, he should have been training at the academy and hunting weak monsters at this point, but somehow he ended up being dragged to the Holy State and having to face high-ranking clergy.

While Demian’s growth rate had accelerated to match the strength of his enemies… his skills were still woefully inadequate.

If he could get his hands on a holy sword, things might improve, but there hadn’t been any opportunity to search for one.

Perhaps after this matter is resolved.

—-

The final hurdle before departing for Arad was persuading Lena, who was adamantly opposed to my going.

“You were badly injured not long ago, and now you’re going somewhere again! And alone!”

“…I’m sorry for breaking my promise. I’d like to take you with me, Lena… but I need to get there as quickly as possible, so I have no choice.”

I smiled soothingly as I stroked Lena’s head while she clung to my waist.

If we could all go together, I would have chosen that option.

However, it was unavoidable given the urgency of the situation. Taking a carriage to Arad would take an unknown number of days.

“But…”

“It’s that important. I absolutely must go. So please bear with me just this once.”

“Just this once… it’s always like this. Why do you always have to suffer like this?”

Good question. Why indeed…

…There was only one reason I could think of.

I raised my left hand and pointed at Demian, who was watching from behind.

“Because Demian over there is too weak. If he were stronger than me, I would have sent him instead.”

“Huh, it’s my fault…?”

Demian asked incredulously at the sudden accusation.

Yes, it’s your fault. Who else’s would it be? Your weakness is your sin, Demian.

“Yes. So, Lena, make sure you torment Demian thoroughly in my place. Understood?”

“…Alright. But you absolutely must come back without getting hurt. You promise? You must!”

Lena, who had been hanging her head, reluctantly let go of my waist.

As if she really didn’t want to let go, but couldn’t hold me back because of her own desires—pitifully and admirably.

“Yes. I won’t get hurt. Don’t worry.”

I gently lifted Lena’s head and smiled at her, meeting her eyes.

Lena smiled back with a tearful face.

—-

Carriages were too slow, and riding a horse in this weather would leave me a corpse before getting very far.

I could only rely on my own two legs.

In fact, that was the fastest way.

I dashed forward like a white meteor, leaping over everything in my path in a straight line toward Arad.

With all my might.

The winter’s knife-like wind mixed with heavy snow shattered against my white fur.

With each step, the snow piled on the ground scattered like a storm.

The dash of a hero imbued with great deeds. No mere beast like a horse could match this speed.

This was also why I had to leave the others in Nasiriya.

At my full speed, they simply couldn’t keep up. Not even Hush.

That’s why I had to leave alone.

I could reach Arad within three days.

—-

For three days, I slept against trees using Rurik’s hide as a sleeping bag, filled my stomach with the dried rations I had brought, and ran without rest except for one brief stop at a small village.

Finally, I arrived in Arad.

A city of chaos, stained with blood and screams.

======[ Alhebron ]======

The cardinals were dumbfounded.

The bloodshed in Arad was an incident none of them could have predicted.

The messenger who arrived at the meeting room reported the situation in Arad, his voice breathless.

The protesters carrying torches, Archbishop Wilhelm’s response, the subsequent riot, and the Church of Kranus joining in.

The cardinals’ gazes immediately turned toward Ernritter Zaiseus.

Their eyes demanded to know what trouble he had caused.

Cardinal Zaiseus took a sip of the red tea placed before him, then calmly met their gazes.

“Wilhelm’s response was justified. Those who ignored two orders to disperse and instead tried to attack him—what would you call them if not rioters? To maintain order in the city, he had no choice but to mobilize the paladins to suppress them.”

“If he had compromised with them appropriately, this could have ended without bloodshed. Wasn’t his response excessively harsh?”

“There is no compromise in the Law of the Scales. The moment we compromise with those who follow sin and indulgence, order and justice lose their meaning. If Wilhelm is responsible for anything, it’s that he hasn’t yet suppressed the protesters. And that’s because… the Church of Kranus branch that co-governs Arad, rather than calming the riot, joined them and escalated the chaos.”

Zaiseus glared sharply at the empty chair.

The seat of Erich, the cardinal of Kranus, who had plotted an absurd conspiracy and then committed suicide in an even more absurd manner.

“So you’re saying the Church of Astraea bears no responsibility at all?”

Cardinal Raiher scoffed, mocking Zaiseus.

“That’s an excessive interpretation. I didn’t say we have no responsibility, only that we are not at fault. Since this happened in a city governed by our church, of course our church bears responsibility. Therefore… as soon as Judge Ceylon returns, I will organize a judgment unit to dispatch to Arad. They will be more than capable of calming the situation.”

Zaiseus stated his intention to restore order in Arad, even if it meant scorching the earth, in a voice so cold it was ruthless.

Some cardinals frowned as if the mere thought was horrifying, but they had no grounds to oppose Cardinal Zaiseus’s statement that they would take responsibility for their city in their own way.

There was no point in telling a cardinal who prioritized order over people that people should come before order.

“Indeed, we cannot blame only the Church of Astraea. These are people who go around shouting that they want to bring down the cardinals and archbishops and lead the Holy State themselves. How could we simply leave such people alone? Think about it. If the same thing happened in the cities you govern, could any of you willingly accept such demands?”

No one could nod in agreement.

Some didn’t want to relinquish their authority and power.

Others were concerned about the chaos that would follow.

For different reasons, they ultimately had no choice but to agree with Rosoph’s words.

—-

A few days later, Ceylon returned to the capital.

After receiving his report, the cardinals officially declared the Church of Grimnir a heretical cult and announced it widely.

Not just to the Holy State, but to the Empire and Kingdoms as well.