Ch.526Two Suns

Perlien, who had cut down three Paladins with a single stroke. Everyone gathered in the restaurant stared at him with bewildered faces at this sudden betrayal.

However, Perlien seemed unconcerned with the crowd’s confusion, calmly sheathing Hauteclere and turning his head toward Lacy.

“Lady Elmaine. I’ve heard that if a descendant of the Great’s Twelve Knights joins the Church of Elpinel, they’re guaranteed at least the status of Archbishop. Is that true?”

“Uh… what? Ah, yes. That’s correct…?”

The question was so abrupt that even Lacy couldn’t hide her bewilderment.

“I see.”

Perlien nodded, then knelt on one knee and bowed his head toward Lacy in respect.

“I, Perlien de Genes, descendant of Olivier of the Great’s Twelve Knights, wish to devote myself to the Church of Elpinel. Will you accept me?”

This sudden change of allegiance left everyone speechless.

Even Carnius couldn’t close his mouth.

“Perlien! What have you done! Betraying me! How could you-“

“Betrayal? I question whether there was ever a relationship of trust between us worthy of the term ‘betrayal.’ All you’ve ever given me was brainwashing since childhood and treatment as a high-quality test subject. That seems insufficient reason to pledge my life in loyalty to someone so misguided.”

Perlien mocked Carnius. The spell of brainwashing that Carnius had implanted in his test subjects had never had much effect on him from the beginning.

Carnius had brainwashed his test subjects from childhood to control them, making them trust him absolutely. Thanks to this, the test subjects believed in Carnius without doubt until the moment they were discarded.

Only Perlien was the exception.

From the moment his sense of self was established, Perlien trusted no one. His inherently suspicious and negative personality, combined with his un-childlike powers of observation and judgment, taught him that his environment was alien and irrational.

That was precisely why he had been chosen as the master of Hauteclere, the Sword of Oaths.

‘Destroy sin.’

‘Always question and ask yourself what is the right path.’

These were the oaths that Olivier of the Great’s Twelve Knights had engraved when sealing the power of Hauteclere. Carnius couldn’t have known, but the brainwashed test subjects who had lost their ability to doubt were destined never to be chosen as the sword’s master.

Subordinates brainwashed to pledge loyalty to Carnius could never become the sword’s master, and one who became the sword’s master would not be affected by his brainwashing and thus had no reason to be loyal.

At this point, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that heaven itself had ordained his downfall.

In any case, Perlien, on whom the brainwashing had minimal effect from the beginning, had long since completely broken free from Carnius’s control after being acknowledged as Hauteclere’s master.

He had simply been pretending to obey all this time, because he didn’t know what measures Carnius might take if he noticed that the brainwashing had worn off.

‘I don’t harbor enough ill will to call it a grudge… but there’s no reason to stay on a sinking ship.’

If Carnius had achieved his ambition of becoming the most powerful figure in the Holy State, Perlien wouldn’t have betrayed him.

Rather than risk opposing Carnius after he gained absolute power, it wouldn’t have been a bad choice to continue acting as a Paladin of the Sun Church while hiding the fact that he had broken free from the brainwashing.

Carnius wouldn’t have discarded Perlien, who had become Hauteclere’s master, and wouldn’t have ordered him to commit evil acts that might cause him to lose the grace of the Holy Light. That was to maintain Perlien’s power as a Paladin.

But now that Carnius’s downfall was certain, the situation was different.

If he exerted his full power, he could probably break through this place. If he was willing to sustain serious injuries, he could even escape from the Holy City.

But why should he? Even if he struggled to escape the Holy City with Carnius, he would only end up as a wanted fugitive of the Holy State alongside a superior he didn’t even like.

The possibility of Carnius making a comeback was infinitesimally small, and after Carnius died—which wouldn’t be long given his remaining lifespan—he would be left to take all the blame alone.

There was no reason not to betray him.

—-

Suppressing her bewilderment with a forced cough, Lacy accepted Perlien’s pledge of conversion. It wasn’t that she trusted Perlien, but there was no reason to reject the opportunity to bring in a descendant of the Great’s Twelve Knights and a Hero-level fighter for the price of an honorary Archbishop position.

“Perlieeeeen!”

Carnius cried out the name of his close aide who had betrayed him in his final moments, his face filled with despair and rage, but Perlien ignored him as if a dog were barking somewhere and stepped back. Instead of Perlien, Lacy approached Carnius, with Elpinel’s holy fire burning blue on her palm.

“This can’t be happening. For me to end like this, just because of one mistake…!”

Carnius broke out in a cold sweat. His legs trembled weakly. Having lost even his last bastion, he had no way to escape this situation.

“Carnius. The price for the sins you’ve accumulated has finally caught up with you. Are you ready to depart for the Sun’s side?”

Lacy smiled as she held out the holy fire.

Despite the heat of the holy fire that felt like it would boil his flesh, Carnius shivered as if buried in an ice cave.

—-

Carnius’s interrogation and execution were carried out secretly and summarily.

It was Ernriter’s suggestion. If it became known that the culprit behind the Arvil incident was a Cardinal of the Church of Saulite, the shock and confusion would be enough to shake the entire Church. Ernriter didn’t want any more chaos added to the current state of the Holy State.

The current turmoil was already enough to endanger the foundations of the country known as the Holy State.

“Let’s do that. I, too, don’t wish to see the Church of Saulite collapse.”

Lacy also agreed with Ernriter’s suggestion. The gravity of the matter was different from the Grimnir Church incident. Unlike the magic church that provided no help to the lives of the Holy State’s people, the healing priests of the Sun Church with their outstanding healing abilities were assets too valuable to lose over something like this.

‘…I’m also concerned about Arvil.’

The residents of Arvil whom she had no choice but to leave behind. She was worried about them too. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how the mentally and physically devastated residents would react if they learned that the head of the Church of Saulite, who was currently caring for them, was the mastermind behind the tragedy that had befallen them.

‘If only this man hadn’t existed…!’

Thinking of the residents of Arvil, anger welled up in her anew. Lacy glared at Carnius sprawled at her feet with eyes full of killing intent.

“Dispose of him.”

As soon as Ernriter’s order fell, the judges of Astraea all rushed at Carnius, and what followed was nothing short of a one-sided storm of violence.

“Gyaaaah! Stop, stooooop-!”

Having lost the holy light of Saulite, Carnius couldn’t even put up proper resistance and was sliced like raw fish at a seafood market.

Lacy and the judges spent the entire night alternating between healing and interrogation, and were able to extract all the information Carnius knew as he screamed, calling out the name of Saulite that he himself had betrayed.

After completing all interrogations, Lacy impaled Carnius—who was drooling and leaking urine and feces like someone with dementia—on a pole and burned him very slowly. Until the sun that had disappeared below the horizon rose again.

It was a dawn when two suns rose—one crimson and one blue.

========[ Haschal ]=========

As soon as Lacy heard the news that I had awakened, she dropped her official duties and came rushing over, making a fuss. Saying she had believed I would be victorious, asking what that sword strike at the end was, and so on.

The embarrassing praise continued for nearly ten minutes, and after praising me and Elpinel for quite some time, Lacy finally seemed to calm down a bit and, sipping her tea, told me about what had happened while I was asleep.

“—Cardinal Carnius’s cause of death was announced as illness. It was said that he was so shocked by the tragedy of Arvil that his aged body couldn’t overcome the disease that had taken root. The body was reportedly cremated according to the deceased’s wishes so that he could be closer to the sun. In reality, we burned him alive and dumped the ashes in the sewer.”

“Must have been quite a spectacle. I’m sorry I missed it.”

A lot had happened during that one month. The Cardinal of the Church of Saulite was executed by Lacy’s hand, and the clergy associated with him were also quietly arrested and divided between the Church of Elpinel and the Church of Astraea.

They were supposedly “still alive.” The underground interrogation rooms had gained some long-term guests.

“What happened to that Perlien fellow?”

A descendant of the Great’s Twelve Knights who wielded the Sword of Oaths. Honestly, it was the first I’d heard that the Church of Saulite had a descendant of the Great’s Twelve Knights.

Judging by how he quietly followed Carnius until his downfall and only betrayed him at the very end, he didn’t seem like a trustworthy person, but his Hero-level skills were quite intriguing. If I weren’t in a state where even moving was difficult, I would have wanted to go see him.

“Sir Perlien has been dispatched to the western front. While there’s no doubt he’s a descendant of the Great’s Twelve Knights, I didn’t trust him enough to keep him as a close aide. But I couldn’t just leave such a powerful fighter idle… so I asked him to guard the western front and watch for fairy movements.”

“Is that so? That’s a shame. I was hoping to at least see his face.”

He might be someone I know, and if not, it would be good to become familiar with him on this occasion.

“I’m sure you’ll have the opportunity someday.”

“Well… I suppose so.”

Later, if there’s a need to fight the fairies, I’ll have to head west too.

“So, what happened after that?”

“After removing the cancer that was Carnius, the Church of Saulite is rapidly returning to normal. The Holy Sun Alliance has also been dissolved. Cardinal Rosoff resisted, but it seems Jaisus somehow managed to persuade him.”

“That’s surprising. He seemed like someone who would never listen to others.”

Cardinal Audius Rosoff of the Church of Ceres.

An old man with a bald head and a crooked hooked nose who looked sinister and stubborn. He was also someone who had openly antagonized Lacy.

With Carnius removed, he was the only remaining Cardinal in the Holy City who would be hostile to Lacy.

“Normally he would have been, but… the Church of Ceres is currently in no position to worry about ‘trivial’ matters like the dissolution of the Holy Sun Alliance.”

“You call that trivial?”

Lacy nodded.

“Yes. The Holy Army of the Church of Ceres that headed to Barseba achieved victory but suffered near-annihilation. Having lost almost all their core forces, Cardinal Rosoff must be at his wit’s end just dealing with the aftermath.”

“…It seems the Church of Volberg was stronger than expected.”

This was surprising news. Judging by how confidently Cardinal Rosoff had waged war, he must have committed enough troops to be certain of victory… but for the damage to go beyond severe to the point of mutual destruction? Did they use someone like Amin as a commander?

“Well, I’d say it wasn’t so much the strength of the Church itself, but rather the variable they summoned was that powerful.”

“Variable?”

“…A Valkyrie. They say Volberg’s angel, who protects warriors who have reached the Celestial Palace, descended. It’s hard to believe, but it must be true given the testimony of the Holy Army units that returned to the Holy City. The high-ranking Paladins of the Church of Ceres somehow managed to repel it, but they suffered massive casualties as a result.”

…It was certainly hard to believe, but not impossible. Even in the game, priests could summon angels around the mid to late stages.

Unlike the Arm of the Evil God I had faced, it wasn’t an overwhelmingly powerful being, and its actual combat power was at most equivalent to a Hero-level knight.