Ch.465The Archbishop of Kranus

The Archbishop of the Church of Kranus, Radenius, would have desired civil war in the Holy State and supported the protesters.

I was half-convinced of this.

If not, it would mean he had blocked the Church of Astraea out of pure compassion, but if he were truly that compassionate, this mess wouldn’t have happened in the first place.

Why did the citizens of Arad rise up in rebellion?

Wasn’t it because Arad’s rule of law was too harsh?

I heard they punished even minor misdemeanors with burning at the stake. If Radenius truly cared for the citizens, he would have tried to stop this long ago.

Before the citizens’ discontent erupted in the form of protests.

The fact that he didn’t… means Radenius isn’t particularly virtuous.

Virtuous? Far from it. Judging by how he seems to want war, he’s closer to being a vicious man.

The people of the Holy State are all like this.

Most of them are so devout that they would willingly sacrifice their lives for their faith and doctrines.

The problem is, those who easily discard their own lives can just as easily discard the lives of others.

Even the doctrine of the Church of Elpinel, which is relatively close to goodness, contains extreme supremacism, so what about the other churches?

Even the riot in Arad was essentially caused by issues with Astraea’s doctrine.

“…Lord Median?”

Perhaps my silence had stretched too long, as the Paladin of Kranus cautiously addressed me with an uneasy tone.

Right. He has reason to be uneasy. A warrior who could cut him down with a single strike was spinning a longsword in one hand while staring silently.

It must have looked like I was contemplating whether to kill him or let him live.

“Mercy. Yes, a fine virtue. I should express my gratitude. Your mercy has protected my property, after all.”

I put Durandal back in its scabbard and gave him a smirk.

…No need to be hostile from the start.

Whatever the case, it’s true that civilian casualties were reduced thanks to them.

With the support of the Church of Kranus, the citizen militia was able to somehow hold out instead of being one-sidedly beaten by the paladins.

It was only a brief respite until Astraea’s main force arrived… but I didn’t intend to deny their contribution.

If they turn out to be the main instigators who incited the citizens, that would be a different story.

“Well, about that property comment…”

“What’s the problem? It’s not wrong. The nobles in the west consider the peasants of their domains as their property. So now that I’ve become the master of this city, shouldn’t the citizens here also be considered my property?”

“Uh…? That, that is…”

The paladin stammered, at a loss for words against my perfect logic.

I knew it. He looked like someone with limited intelligence. It was obvious he wouldn’t be able to counter even a moderate sophism.

“Hmm… is that so…?”

“…What are you agreeing with, Sir Kopfstein!”

A priest, unable to bear the paladin’s disgrace, stopped his healing and approached me.

“You can’t equate the free people of the Holy State with the domain people of the Empire, and besides, Lord Median’s claim to be the master of this city is a unilateral declaration that no one has agreed to. It’s nothing but sophistry!”

Maybe it’s because he’s a priest, but he seems smarter than that paladin.

Though that’s not saying much.

When did I ever say I needed consent?

“Occupation is always unilateral. If someone refuses, you just kill them, and that’s that. Why would I need anyone else’s consent?”

“What kind of…!”

“If you’re so displeased with my claim to be the lord of this city, then come at me. I’ll tear off your limbs and display them on the cathedral roof.”

I tapped the hilt of my sword and threatened the priest.

With my voice lowered and filled with explicit killing intent.

“……”

The priest, who was about to say more, immediately shut his mouth.

Yes, I understand. You wouldn’t want to become a decoration on the cathedral roof by being impudent before me.

“It seems you don’t want to challenge me. Very good attitude. Life is precious, after all.”

I exhaled a long stream of cigarette smoke and smiled with satisfaction.

…This is easier than I expected.

Instead of moving carefully with justifications like before, openly being unreasonable and threatening made things resolve so easily that even I was surprised.

—-

Afterward, I ordered the paladins and priests of the Church of Kranus to retreat with the citizens.

“Archbishop Radenius ordered you to protect the citizens, right? If you withdraw without fighting, no one gets hurt. Isn’t that so?”

Whether they understood my words or simply submitted to my power, I couldn’t tell, but they followed my orders nonetheless.

Some citizens protested, even hurling insults when told to stop fighting the Church of Astraea… but suppressing their complaints wasn’t particularly difficult either.

– BOOM!

After seeing me destroy half a house with a single punch, no one was brave enough to complain to me.

Hatred and anger can only be expressed toward appropriate targets.

For them, encountering me was like facing a natural disaster.

Dying at the hands of Astraea’s paladins might give them the satisfaction of a heroic end in the fight for freedom and revenge, but dying by my hand when I came to stop the fighting would just be a meaningless death.

Anyway, I went around the entire city, separating the members of the Church of Kranus and the citizens from Astraea’s paladins as much as possible.

While memorizing the faces of those who resisted particularly fiercely.

Having apparently already heard about me, Astraea’s paladins scattered throughout the city immediately sheathed their swords and retreated as soon as they saw me.

Though they did mutter things like “we’ll settle this later” out of frustration.

“Sure, see you later.”

I sent them off with an arrogant smile through clouds of cigarette smoke.

An hour later, the battle cries that had engulfed the city finally subsided.

It wasn’t that their conflict had reached a conclusion—I had merely forcibly suppressed it.

Nevertheless, I had managed to put out the immediate fire.

—-

After temporarily halting the civil war in Arad, I immediately visited the cathedral of the Church of Kranus.

I needed to have a conversation with Archbishop Radenius.

As if he had anticipated my visit, Archbishop Radenius was waiting for me in the reception room with tea already prepared.

As soon as he saw me, he launched into praise that bordered on flattery.

Saying he had heard of my reputation, that he had heard rumors of how I had stopped the evil deeds of the Church of Grimnir, and so on.

“…For Lord Median to personally come to save the citizens of Arad, I cannot thank you enough even if I were to express gratitude ten thousand times. With your help, even the cruel servants of the God of Order will have no choice but to retreat helplessly. Your grace to Arad will be remembered for generations—”

“Hah… That’s enough pointless nonsense. Archbishop Radenius, neither you nor I are ignorant of each other’s true intentions.”

I cut off his flattery with an irritated voice and cracked my neck to the side.

My neck, to be clear. I’m not saying I suddenly killed the Archbishop.

“True intentions? What on earth do you mean…?”

“Don’t play dumb. Saving citizens? Please. What you want is a war between the churches, isn’t it? It’s obvious. You have the same look in your eyes as Cardinal Erich.”

My sarcasm must have hit the mark, as Archbishop Radenius’s face changed dramatically.

The fake, friendly smile disappeared, revealing his true nature that had been hidden behind that smile.

“The same look, the same look…”

An icy expression with eyes full of fervor typical of someone intoxicated with something.

A face that could be called the epitome of a fanatic.

See? I knew it would be like this.

Crazy bastards.

“I never expected to hear such words from the very person who drove His Eminence the Cardinal to his death.”

Having revealed his true colors, Radenius made no attempt to hide his hostility toward me.

It seems he knew that the reason Erich chose suicide was because of the threats from Lacy and me.

“Cardinal Erich died because he deserved to die. He chose to confess his sins, albeit belatedly, and commit suicide… isn’t that a good thing?”

I mocked Radenius as I took a deep drag of my cigarette.

Holding hostility toward me over Erich’s death was nothing short of the pot calling the kettle black.

It was only because he took all the blame and killed himself that the Church of Kranus didn’t face annihilation like the Church of Grimnir.

“…He was not someone who should have died bearing such disgrace.”

“Well. That’s your opinion. After trying to restore whatever ‘purity’ of the Holy State by using thousands of lives as kindling, you find it unfair when you yourselves become the kindling?”

The smoke I exhaled spread widely, obscuring our view of each other.

Through the wavering cigarette smoke, Radenius silently glared at me for a long time.

That look in his eyes. He might just attack me if pushed further.

“…Let’s stop this. There’s no point in arguing about the rights and wrongs of past events now.”

In the end, Radenius gave up pursuing the matter further and bowed his head.

No surprise there. Arguing about right and wrong would only disadvantage them.

Even if he lost his temper and attacked me, he couldn’t win anyway.

“I’m sure you didn’t come all this way just to discuss such matters. So let’s get to the point. What do you want?”

Is he telling me to state my business and then get lost?

Well, I didn’t want to talk with someone like him for long either.

“I have two questions and three commands… which would you like to hear first?”

“Five things in total… Then let’s start with the questions.”

Radenius leaned back on the sofa in the reception room and took a sip of the black tea in his cup.

The tea did smell quite good, befitting what an archbishop would drink. But I didn’t touch mine.

As a rule, one shouldn’t casually drink beverages offered by others.

Especially those offered by someone who holds a grudge against you.

Who knows if it might be poisoned?

—-

I waited for Archbishop Radenius to put down his teacup before immediately asking him the questions I had been holding since coming to this cathedral.

First question:

“The protest incident in Arad, was it your doing?”

“No.”

An immediate answer.

Whether it was true or false, I couldn’t tell.

Second question:

“If it wasn’t your doing, do you know who was behind it?”

“Wasn’t it you people?”

This too was an immediate answer.

Moreover, it was an answer I hadn’t anticipated.

“…You’re saying we orchestrated this?”

“Who else but you people? The manifestos spread throughout the Holy State caused this bloodshed, and seeing that you’re the only one who came to resolve it, doesn’t that mean it was Elmaine Stardolf’s handiwork? Am I wrong?”

…A surprisingly sharp deduction.

Except for the last two lines, the manifesto itself was indeed written by Lacy.

This guy, his intuition is too sharp…

…Though he’s barking up the wrong tree.