Ch.478Let’s consider it a spam message.

The text that appeared like a mirage disappeared like an illusion not long after.

Looking up at the statue of Astraea with its halo restored above its head, I stood there motionless, my mind blank.

Until the cigarette butt, burning with smoke, crumbled into ash.

The goddess had responded.

Rather than feeling holy and glorious, I felt dazed and chilled.

It was like having a stalker a hundred times stronger than me suddenly appear before me and strike up a conversation.

It wasn’t pleasant. Inexplicable goodwill is always suspicious.

If that’s true even between people, how much more so when the other party is some transcendent being in the heavens?

I couldn’t help but shiver.

—-

Leaving the prayer room as if possessed, I resolved not to tell anyone in the world about this.

I mean, think about it. The candidate for Astraea’s sainthood prays before the goddess Astraea’s statue, and the goddess who hadn’t spoken a word for hundreds of years personally answers her as if comforting her child?

And with encouragement to act as I wish, no less?

What greater holy miracle could there be in others’ eyes?

Fortunately I was alone in the prayer room; had other clergy seen it, I would have been instantly confirmed as a saint.

Not just a candidate for Astraea’s sainthood, but a saint of the entire Holy State.

Even Lacy would have insisted I must accept it.

Despite differences in denomination, a clergy member who directly communicated with a god in this age of divine silence would be momentous.

Leader of the Holy State, Saint Haschal.

Doesn’t just hearing it make the back of your neck tense?

It was an insane future that no one could handle.

—-

The bathroom in the cathedral was comfortable, and the bed in the nuns’ quarters was clean and soft.

After washing myself once more with clean water, I searched around the cathedral for anything useful.

Perhaps because they retreated in such a hurry, there was no shortage of food, clothing, and even weapons.

Though I felt uneasy about what had just happened, it seemed I could at least stay here comfortably for the time being.

I replenished my lost daggers, filled my stomach with stew made from ingredients piled in the dining hall, and chose a bed to lie down on.

It was still before sunset, but there was nothing else to do anyway.

Since I had consumed more Karma than expected, my top priority was to eat well, rest thoroughly, and recover my strength as much as possible.

I spent several days like this.

Climbing the walls to look outside the city, alternating between rest and training, and returning to the cathedral to sleep when night fell—for six days.

Finally, they came.

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

The holy city of Alhebron was in turmoil.

It seemed to have been in turmoil frequently lately, but there had never been such a great commotion as this one.

Priests ran around with pale faces, and paladins maintained stern expressions as they prepared their equipment. Solemnly, like knights before a war.

Citizens too visited the cathedral daily to offer prayers. Smiles had disappeared, replaced by anxiety.

It was the moment when the all-out war between denominations—which everyone knew would happen someday but hoped wouldn’t be today—had become reality.

Cardinal Wolfgang of the Church of Volberg ambushed and massacred the advance party of the Church of Ceres heading to Nashiriya, and sent their heads back to the holy city.

“Those warmongers have finally done it!”

It was a clear declaration of war. Cardinal Rosoff of the Church of Ceres contorted his wrinkled face as he denounced Wolfgang’s brutality.

In truth, it was Rosoff’s own doing for framing Wolfgang, but Rosoff didn’t see it that way.

It wasn’t because he was the most shameless among the cardinals.

Though that was partly true, the main reason was that he was already convinced Wolfgang was the real culprit.

It was a misunderstanding that would have made Lacy’s group laugh had they known the truth, but he had his own reasoning.

The first piece of evidence was that no other cardinals had been assassinated since Wolfgang left the holy city.

There was the attempted assassination of Cardinal Erich, but that was revealed to be Erich’s own fabrication.

Moreover, the Church of Grimnir, which had been in league with Wolfgang, was even a cult group that dabbled in necromancy, so it would be stranger not to suspect them.

The Church of Ceres declared they would mobilize their main forces to march on Barseba, the stronghold of the Church of Volberg.

The other denominations did not try to stop them.

They wouldn’t have listened anyway, and they too believed the Church of Volberg couldn’t be left unchecked.

Rosoff had hoped the other two denominations of the Holy Solar Alliance would join the war, but it was impossible as Astraea’s main forces had already departed to suppress the Arad situation.

The Church of Saulite said they needed to resolve the issue in Arbil and sent only half their forces.

It was somewhat disappointing for Rosoff, but he couldn’t demand troops they didn’t have, so he had to accept that level of support.

Thus, the forces of the Holy Solar Alliance set out to punish the Church of Volberg.

It was the moment a religious war began.

=======[ Ceylon ]=======

“Aishan-Gioro Haschal has occupied Arad…?”

Ceylon, who was leading Astraea’s holy corps toward Arad, couldn’t hide his perplexed expression at the report from the defeated soldiers who had come from Arad.

It was a report whose context and meaning he couldn’t understand.

“…That woman was a paladin who followed Elmaine. Does that mean the Church of Elpinel has intervened in the Arad situation?”

“No. Aishan-Gioro denied any connection with the Church of Elpinel. According to her… she claimed to have quit her clerical position.”

“Quit…?”

Ceylon asked with his mouth agape in astonishment.

The more he heard, the more absurd the report seemed. It was enough to make him wonder if she had finally gone mad.

Of course, after hearing the detailed circumstances, that didn’t seem to be the case.

‘She’s trying to take all the blame on herself while preventing the suppression of the riot. An act that doesn’t suit her at all.’

He could understand the reason behind her absurd declaration.

That she intended to take all the responsibility that would arise from this incident.

‘But why would she need to do that? In the first place, what benefit is there in intervening in Arad’s affairs?’

The reason she intervened in Arad’s situation despite taking on all kinds of risks.

Ceylon pondered why Haschal would do such a thing as he looked down at the paladin prostrating before him.

‘What’s her purpose? Judging from the minimal casualties among the paladins, she doesn’t seem to be siding with the rioters to wage war against our denomination. Unless she’s gone mad, it’s impossible that she did it for plunder as she claimed. Then… could it be simply to reduce casualties? To forcibly end this by suppressing the rioters and driving us out?’

Ceylon had unknowingly arrived at the correct answer, but he shook his head, denying his own judgment.

Recalling her past actions filled with blood and death, it was an answer he couldn’t believe.

‘…No, no matter what, that can’t be it. A murderer with Karma of Murder reaching to the heavens couldn’t possess such nobility.’

The terrible Karma accumulated by piling up the corpses of innocent people.

Karma of Murder was, in itself, evidence of horrific slaughter.

That was why Ceylon distrusted and despised Haschal.

Unless she had slaughtered thousands of innocent people while active as a raider in Ka’har, it would have been impossible to accumulate such power.

Therefore, the report that followed was shocking enough to make even him gape in astonishment.

“…What did you just say?”

Ceylon dropped the quill he was holding without realizing it and asked again.

Convinced that his ears, tired from the march, had heard something wrong.

“Say it again. The light of judgment didn’t work? That’s impossible. Unless it missed entirely, there’s no way it wouldn’t work…”

“…It’s hard to believe, but it’s true. Despite being directly hit by the purification formation for undead slaughter with her bare body, Aishan-Gioro stood there calmly. Far from being harmed, she didn’t even show signs of feeling pain.”

“Did she really withstand it with her bare body? She didn’t deploy some kind of barrier to block the miracle?”

Without borrowing the power of a holy relic, it would be difficult to block such concentrated light of judgment, but that was the only possibility Ceylon could think of.

Otherwise, it made no sense.

“I didn’t see anything like that. Until just before the direct hit, she was desperately trying to dodge, and judging by her extreme dismay when she couldn’t avoid it… I think the possibility that she had defensive measures is slim.”

“Huh. Astraea, what is this…”

Ceylon unconsciously made the sign of the cross and muttered the goddess’s name.

He felt as if his common sense had been denied.

Karma of Murder is evil. Astraea’s holy light destroys evil.

Therefore, a possessor of Karma of Murder should rightfully be destroyed before Astraea’s holy light.

It was a simple formula and a firm truth, but a counterexample had just emerged.

“…I’ll have to go and confirm it myself. Good work. Return to your quarters and tend to your wounds.”

Ceylon picked up the quill he had dropped with a stiff face and dismissed the paladin who had completed his report.

‘I’ll have to discard the existing suppression plan and establish a new strategy. I wonder what I should report to my superiors…’

Haschal’s eccentric behavior, the neutralized light of judgment, Wilhelm’s death, and the loss of holy relics.

There was more than one thing that would shock Cardinal Ernliter Xaisus if he heard about it.

In fact, the most shocking truth hadn’t even been revealed yet.