Ch.477Otherworldly Text Message

I lost my words and explained the events of last night in detail to Radenis, who was staring at me blankly.

Except for the part about the Special Crusaders.

“…This is unbelievable. Valkers, who has been missing for over a decade…”

When I showed Radenis a drawing of Valkers’ tattoo from my memory, he finally accepted that what I was saying was true.

Although it had been a long time since Valkers disappeared, it was only natural that someone of the Archbishop’s stature in the Holy State would recognize a man who was once so infamous.

Radenis stared intently at the symbol I had drawn and let out a deep sigh.

“Valkers, Valkers…”

“I don’t know what his objective is, but judging by how he tried to trap me, I must be interfering with his plans.”

“…That’s probably it. If Valkers was the one who caused the discord in Arad, then you, who came to resolve it, would be nothing but a thorn in his side.”

“Right. You understand well. Then, you should also understand why I told you about Valkers?”

Targeting me essentially means helping Mein achieve their goals.

Radenis furrowed his brow and nodded.

I carefully observed his expression while maintaining a slight smile on my face.

Slightly trembling eyes, a rigid expression. It seems the shock was quite significant.

Well, it’s natural for him to be shocked.

He had been inadvertently helping Mein all along.

I brought up Valkers in the first place precisely to elicit this reaction.

—-

Though he maintained his courtesy, it was clear that Radenis was hostile toward Lacy and me.

Probably because we drove Cardinal Erich to his death. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black, but that’s how fanatics always are.

Anyway, that’s why I tried to use the Special Crusaders last night to find out what Radenis was plotting.

Though that became impossible because of Valkers.

So I’m giving him this warning now.

I don’t know what you’re planning, but if you’re thinking of helping Mein, go ahead and try.

There was no possibility they were working together.

Fanatics and Mein could never mix, like oil and water.

If Valkers were to appear before Radenis, rather than cooperating to kill me, he would smash Valkers’ head first.

I’m certain of it.

Now that he knows that harming me would be helping Valkers, he won’t be able to scheme against me anymore.

At least, not until Valkers is caught.

“…I’ll keep that in mind. Is that all you wanted to tell me?”

I ordered Radenis, who nodded with a somewhat stiff face, to look for Valkers’ pawns among the citizens he was managing.

After all, I couldn’t personally check all those people one by one.

“I shall do so. Rooting out Mein’s collaborators is a duty that I, as a servant of Kranus, must fulfill.”

His answer came without a moment’s hesitation.

—-

“Ah, and… there’s one more thing I need to order…”

“Please speak.”

Feeling my face heat up for some reason, I brought up the last matter that had brought me here.

“…Um, if there are any spare undergarments among the nuns, could you give me some? Three or four would be enough.”

“Undergarments…?”

Perhaps because the order was so unexpected, Radenis tilted his head and questioned me.

It was more like talking to himself than asking me.

“Why undergarments…”

He unconsciously looked toward my chest, and then, as if realizing what I meant, quickly averted his gaze.

“Uh… ahem. I see. Yes, ah, I’ll prepare them right away. Just a moment.”

Radenis stood up abruptly, clearly showing his embarrassment, and left the reception room with quick steps.

Wondering if it was really that surprising, I looked down at my chest to find that the top I had put on to cover the stigmata had somehow ridden up even further.

Not just half of my lower chest, but half of my entire chest was exposed.

…Damn, when did it ride up like this?

I quickly pulled down my top to just barely cover the stigmata, then lowered my head and fanned my flushed cheeks with my palm.

My face was burning as if I had a fever.

Even though I was originally a man, and rationally speaking, there was no reason to be embarrassed about this.

A moment later, a nun carrying a bundle of clothes came to the reception room and handed me the undergarments.

Simple pieces of cloth without any decoration, befitting the nuns’ attire.

They were all clean and fluffy, as if they had been washed recently.

There was just one unexpected problem.

“Um… thanks for bringing these, but they don’t fit around the chest… If you have any spare bandages, could you bring those instead?”

I said, scratching my cheek. The nun who handed me the undergarments glanced at my upper body, then placed her hand on her flat chest and turned away.

“Kuh…!”

I couldn’t say anything to console her as she was clearly struggling with the pain of the wealth gap.

—-

After receiving a bundle of bottoms and enough bandages to mummify a person, I left the cathedral and returned to the city center.

Now that I had received the undergarments, I needed to change into them, but to avoid revealing the stigmata, I needed to do so somewhere private.

A ruin with piles of snow on top of looted buildings.

To restore the city, the citizens would need to return to their normal lives as soon as possible… but it was still too early.

If I had to fight Astraea’s main force, I would either have to go outside for guerrilla warfare or rely on buildings for urban warfare, and if I were to engage in urban warfare with residents in the city, it would cause unimaginable casualties.

I had considered defending from the city walls, but that was simply impossible.

How could I alone defend the entire wall? Even with ten bodies, it wouldn’t be enough.

So, unfortunate as it was for the residents, they had to remain isolated under the control of the Church of Kranus for the time being.

Until everything was resolved smoothly.

…Would it end smoothly?

—-

After putting on the white cloth around my lower body and tying the string at my side tightly, and wrapping the bandages around my chest to cover the stigmata, I left the clothing store’s changing room and headed toward Astraea’s cathedral.

By now, the barrier of holy light created by Wilhelm would have disappeared, and I was planning to use that place as a base for a while.

Unlike the city center, which had been swept by looting and violence, the cathedral that had been protected by the paladins would still be intact.

…Ah, come to think of it, couldn’t I have found undergarments there?

There must have been nuns or female knights at Astraea’s cathedral, so there should have been some of their clothes left.

Damn it, why didn’t I think of that?

It would have been better if I had thought of it before making a fool of myself.

—-

When I arrived in front of the cathedral, as expected, the wall of holy light had long since washed away.

On the ruins that looked as if hundreds of dinosaurs had held a tap dance party, only Wilhelm’s cold ashes and melted sacred objects remained.

I kicked away Wilhelm’s ashes, scattering them, then pounded the sacred objects until they turned to powder.

I thought this might make the stigmata disappear… but unfortunately, Astraea didn’t seem willing to let me go so easily.

Astraea’s cathedral reflected her nature, with everything orderly and forming a neat symmetrical structure.

The walls, windows, and pillars—everything.

If it weren’t for the brass or gold-plated decorations, it might have looked more like a military barracks than a cathedral.

The only place that felt like a proper cathedral was the main prayer hall located in the center of the building.

“……”

I stared at Astraea’s statue placed on the platform in the prayer hall, contemplating for a long time whether to destroy it or not.

—-

The goddess statue, clad in brilliant golden armor, held a long sword pointed downward in her right hand, while her left hand was raised high, holding a scale.

Above the statue’s head, a golden halo hovered and slowly rotated, emitting a strange holy light, which I suspected was an effect created by some sacred object or miracle.

I wanted to smash it to pieces… but something felt ominous about it.

I hesitated to reach out, feeling a strange premonition that if I rashly destroyed it, I would only cause trouble for myself.

Was it because it would be a sacrilege of a different level than destroying damaged sacred objects?

I don’t particularly like or worship the gods of this place, but there’s no benefit in deliberately antagonizing them either.

In the end, I withdrew my raised fist and could only voice my complaints while smoking a cigarette.

“You can hear me, right? If you can hear me, answer me. Why are you doing this to me? What exactly do you expect from me that you’ve branded me with such a grand stigma? I really don’t understand, so please answer me. Don’t just watch from above.”

I didn’t really expect an answer.

If they were capable of such things, they would have intervened more actively by giving oracles to priests or something.

However, as far as I knew, that hadn’t happened.

According to Agnes, even Menes only gave indirect hints through stigmata or dreams.

They merely looked down upon the mortal realm from the high heavens.

Until now.

– Crack.

The halo above the statue’s head, which had been rotating slowly, began to undulate up and down. Violently, like the waves on an electrocardiogram.

What is this…?

I forgot to exhale the cigarette smoke I had inhaled and stared at the ring of holy light with wide eyes.

Right here, right now.

One of the world’s constants was breaking.

– Crackle. Crackle!

The ring of light, which had been twisting and emitting strange noises, suddenly unfurled as if a knot had been untied.

Fragments of holy light, losing their form and scattering with a sparkle.

Each beam of light, as if pulled by something, converged and left a clear string of characters in the air.

In a trance-like state, I read the golden text that had settled above the statue’s head.

『 Suivez Votre Propre Justice 』

Follow Your Own Justice

…Astraea had answered.