Ch.524Secret Meeting (2)

“Evil god worship? What an absurd slander!”

Carnius quickly composed his momentarily shaken expression and brazenly denied the accusation. After all, admitting it would mean his downfall.

“You mean to insult me with forged letters imitating my handwriting? I could just as easily forge such letters if I wanted to!”

It was fortunate for Carnius that most of the evidence Lacy presented was merely a pile of letters without any official seal. While perfectly forging handwriting wasn’t a simple task, it wasn’t entirely impossible either.

“Please lower your voice, Your Eminence. This isn’t a conversation that passersby outside should hear.”

Lacy tilted her head slightly and pulled up one corner of her mouth in a mocking smile.

“Letters can be forged… I’m well aware of that fact, so there’s no need to educate me so loudly. But letters aren’t all I’ve prepared. I didn’t bring them here to avoid making this meeting too crowded, but Lord Robert and Mr. Isaac mentioned here are already undergoing penitence rituals at the Elrunel Cathedral. Father Ilron and Mr. Johanson should also be meeting with our order’s Paladins by now.”

If evidence was insufficient, one could always present witnesses. Lacy had taken advantage of Carnius bringing his core forces to the meeting and had already ordered special crusaders and high-ranking Paladins to quietly arrest the key figures involved in this matter.

‘That’s impossible! I definitely eliminated Isaac…!’

Cold sweat trickled down Carnius’s forehead. It wasn’t that he hadn’t made preparations.

As soon as he heard the news from Arvil, he had personally summoned those affiliated with the order and warned them against rash actions. He had even sent people to eliminate those likely to betray him. The names Lacy mentioned were definitely individuals he had received reports of being eliminated, disguised as accidental deaths.

“This must be your first time handling such matters, Your Eminence. Your attempt at cutting loose ends was quite clumsy. If you wanted to dispose of those involved, you should have properly beheaded them.”

Lacy snickered. From Carnius’s perspective, he had deliberately disguised the deaths as accidents to make them appear natural, but thanks to that, Lacy had been able to secure witnesses who were on the brink of death and somehow keep them alive. She was grateful for his clumsiness.

Though the victims themselves weren’t grateful at all. In fact, far from gratitude, they had spewed curses. While they had been saved from near-death, they had instead been thrown into the heresy interrogation chamber of Elrunel Cathedral. Even at this moment, they were being tortured and healed repeatedly, screaming and wailing.

“Elmaine Stardolf…!”

“Please calm yourself. Denying it so desperately won’t make any difference. In fact, there’s no need for it.”

Lacy smiled as she reorganized the evidence materials on the table and placed them beside her.

“You seem to be misunderstanding something. If my goal was to bring down the Church of Saulite, I wouldn’t have needed to meet with you at all. Just officially announcing this information would be enough to shake the Church of Saulite to its core. When the heroes who saved Arvil present sufficient evidence and witnesses condemning your criminal actions, who would dare to refute them?”

Carnius gritted his teeth. Letters written in his handwriting and testimonies from those involved—while not perfect evidence, it was sufficient to bring him down and shake the Church of Saulite.

Normally, he could have deflected by claiming they were forged letters and false testimonies extracted under torture, and even turned the tables by accusing his opponents. But this time, he couldn’t resolve the situation that way. The reputation of Lacy and her companions had soared to unprecedented heights due to the Arvil incident.

Their remarkable achievement of eliminating three long-hidden cult leaders and defeating the powerful demon they had summoned had spread far and wide. Rumors even circulated that the gods themselves had descended to aid their daughter, and that the Empire’s First Sword could split the sky with a single strike. In such a situation, even if Carnius claimed innocence and counterattacked, no one would believe him.

“…What do you want from me?”

In the end, Carnius had no choice but to take a step back.

‘There’s no point in denying further… But the fact that she requested a meeting instead of making this public means she wants something from me. If her conditions aren’t unreasonable, it might be better to accept them.’

Carnius glanced at Perlien. If Lacy presented conditions that were utterly unacceptable, his only option would be to use force to subdue everyone present. If he could capture Lacy without causing a commotion, it might not be impossible to turn the situation around. The Church of Saulite’s masterpiece, Perlien de Genes, had the power to do so.

“Now we can get to the main point.”

Lacy moistened her throat with a sip of tea and placed her interlocked hands on the table.

—-

Lacy’s demands were fourfold.

First, include priests from the Church of Elpinel in aiding the victims of Arvil, with the Church of Saulite bearing all costs. Second, dissolve the Holy Solar Alliance. Third, fully support her in discussions regarding the Imperial Diocese. And fourth, after the first three conditions were met, Carnius, the mastermind behind this incident, would relinquish all clerical positions and retire.

Except for the last condition, the terms were more or less acceptable to Carnius.

“If you agree to these conditions, I won’t hold you accountable for this incident. I swear by Elpinel.”

Carnius pondered for a long time.

‘How did I come this far… only to have to step down now?’

It was an utterly unfair situation for Carnius. How could he have known that Valkers would appear when he had expected nothing more than a Dirade at most from the hidden cultists?

Moreover, who could have predicted they would devastate all of Arvil? He had expected them to occupy just a portion of the city and establish a den of depravity and corruption, not for things to escalate to this extent.

‘Just one more step, only one more step remained…!’

Just when his lifelong ambition was about to be realized, the alluring throne awaiting him was gradually fading away. The supreme leader of the Holy State. Since his youth as an ordinary priest, his sole goal had been to rise higher than anyone else.

After decades of concealing his true intentions behind smiles, playing the role of a devout, benevolent, just, and prudent figure… he had finally become the leader of the Church of Saulite.

However, to become the supreme leader of the Holy State, there were numerous obstacles to overcome. It wasn’t easy to maintain a hypocritical facade while gaining advantages in the power struggles between religious orders.

Of course, Carnius hadn’t given up and had worked hard. After much struggle, he had succeeded in making the Church of Saulite the strongest faction in the Holy State. It was more due to taking advantage of the Church of Elpinel’s weakened state than his own efforts. However, that advantage began to waver shortly after Lacy’s return, and now it was on the verge of collapse.

‘I can’t fall like this. How many sacrifices have I made to maintain this position!’

All the deeds he had done, the evil acts he could never reveal to anyone, flashed through Carnius’s mind.

Assassinating a bishop who openly questioned his actions, after she received the Stigmata, to avoid impeachment.

Securing all the branch families of House Wien and creating “pure-blooded” specimens through generations of inbreeding.

And this recent scheme, supporting criminals to gain fame and support, planning to eliminate them all at the right time.

The sacrifices were not made by Carnius but by those who lost their lives at his hands. Yet, Carnius firmly believed all those deaths were sacrifices he had made. Sacrifices made in anticipation of being forsaken by Saulite.

In reality, though it hadn’t been detected because he didn’t need to take the forefront, Carnius had long been unable to manifest holy light since assassinating the Church of Saulite’s candidate for sainthood.

“What will you do, Your Eminence Carnius? Will you accept my conditions and quietly retire? Or will you refuse and choose to perish along with your order? Just to be clear, trying to detain or eliminate me won’t help. As long as the witnesses are in our order’s hands, eliminating me will only deepen your crimes.”

Feeling a tightness in his chest from anxiety, Carnius gulped down his now lukewarm tea.

‘I’m cornered. For now, I should appear to accept. There’s still time before I have to fulfill the last condition, so I’ll look for an opportunity in the meantime.’

While he was asked to retire from the position of cardinal, as long as he didn’t have to step down immediately, there was still a chance for a counterattack.

Carnius decided to make a false oath to get through this situation. Rather than taking a risk relying solely on Perlien’s strength in front of the strangely confident Lacy, it seemed less burdensome to pretend to follow her conditions, make her let her guard down, and then seize an opportunity to strike from behind.

“…Very well. I accept Lord Elmaine’s conditions and swear by Saulite that I will take responsibility for this incident and step down. Are you satisfied?”

He had no hesitation in exploiting Saulite’s name. After all, having assassinated even a candidate for sainthood bestowed by the goddess, he had no reason to fear Saulite’s wrath now.