Ch.971The Light of Hope Must Not Be Extinguished

After that, I continued to have various conversations with the Goddess Astraea.

I would ask for advice about the future or inquire about matters I had been curious about.

If you asked whether these were nutritious conversations… well, I’d say that would be difficult to claim.

Like any superior, the goddess didn’t answer every single question I asked.

She would say things like she didn’t know herself, or that it was too early for me to know, but to me it seemed like she was just deflecting uncomfortable questions.

Even when I asked who brought me to this world when I had been living perfectly fine in my own, she evaded by saying it was a more complicated matter than I realized.

Honestly, if anyone but a goddess had spoken to me like that, I would have grabbed them for interrogation first thing.

But what could I do when facing a goddess? I could only say “Yes, I understand” and move on. It’s the struggle of being a subcontractor, so to speak.

A saint is ultimately just a holy-subcontractor that gods put forward as their proxy to conserve their own power. I’m in the position of a subordinate who must do as the god commands.

【 …You’re having s҈̢̛͙͖̀͗̎trange thoughts. 】

Astraea sighed and muttered. She sounded like a young madam wondering which parent her child took after to turn out this way.

Perhaps it was because most human gods were beings who had ascended to godhood.

The more we conversed, the more her mystery and majesty seemed to peel away, making it feel less like I was talking to a celestial transcendent being and more like chatting with an ordinary acquaintance.

Well, I suppose that’s how personified deities usually are.

Even in my original world, the gods of polytheistic religions with personified deities were a complete mess of rapists, adulterers, mass murderers, and thugs.

Compared to those, Goddess Astraea could be considered the holiest of the holy.

At the very least, she wouldn’t turn someone into a deer or a cow just because a subordinate was slightly disrespectful.

…Right?

Well, it seems some cow elements might have been mixed into my body, but she said that wasn’t her intention but rather a talent that was inherently present in my body.

It must be the female genius talent dwelling in Hersella’s body. That made sense. The original Hersella was indeed a female genius.

…Hmm. She was quite something. For the sake of her honor, I should remain silent about what exactly was so impressive.

I did have that kind of consideration.

Hersella was being Hersella, not even knowing to be grateful, but if it weren’t for me, by now… no, even if not now, eventually…

Just thinking about it made me feel strange, so I stopped pursuing that line of thought.

Perhaps because I’d been possessing this body for a good two years now.

My awareness of this physical body as my own had strengthened to the point where when I thought about Hersella’s bad ending, it felt like I would be the one experiencing such things, not her.

—-

Anyway, my conversation with the goddess ended without much gain.

Only two pieces of information were helpful.

First, that the World Tree, god of the fairies, unlike other gods in the heavens, has roots extending into the ground, meaning its physical form could be destroyed and killed…

【 The rune mark of d҈arkness you possess. It is called the Twilight R҈̢͍͍́͒̃̾̍͡une, a relic from an ancient e҉̛ra and a curse meant to destroy g҈̨̛͆ods. 】

And second, as I had vaguely suspected, the rune marks I possessed were relics meant to destroy beings with divinity.

Similar to the god-slaying power residing in Demian’s holy sword, Gram.

Of the four runes, I had only managed to salvage two, significantly weakening their performance, but even those could somehow be substituted with my inherent powers.

The remaining two runes were apparently the rune of gods and the rune of warriors. The warrior rune could be replaced with the power of great deeds, and the god rune with the power of murder karma.

In other words, if I wanted to kill the World Tree, I needed to gather all my powers and strike.

Normally, destroying a god with my power—probably referring to my level—would be an impossible dream, but the Twilight Rune would make it possible?

It’s incredible that such an impossibly important item was hidden in a dungeon I had explored casually, and that I had obtained it so easily.

Honestly, it seemed too coincidental.

Or perhaps it wasn’t coincidental at all. When I asked Astraea if it truly was coincidence, she maintained a strange silence.

She seemed to know something but had no intention of answering even when pressed. She deflected by saying it wasn’t her intention.

Ah, it was truly frustrating.

Apparently, the celestial gods have many restrictions?

Using that excuse as an impenetrable shield, she openly refused to speak despite clearly knowing something, which was so annoying I wanted to bring out my fists.

—-

“You’ve arrived. Thank you for your support, Astika.”

We were welcomed to the Holy Corps headquarters by Agnes and other core forces of the Holy State.

“It’s been a while, Astika. You’ve… changed a lot.”

Ceylon looked at me with a surprised expression. His complexion was somewhat pale, perhaps from having expended much energy in repeated battles.

“Well, everyone changes bit by bit over time.”

I nodded and returned an appropriate greeting.

From the way his eyes started toward my upper body but quickly moved downward, I could guess what he meant by “changed a lot”…

[Hmm, changed indeed. Almost like changing species entirely, wouldn’t you say?]

‘It’s your body, you know?’

…It would be honestly embarrassing to point that out myself.

“That’s not what I meant… anyway, it’s an honor to meet you again.”

Ceylon knelt on one knee and bowed his head in respect. He was so formal in treating me as a saint that I thought he might faint if I turned on a halo.

– Whoosh!

“Ohhh…! That light! That light!”

…No, seriously, don’t actually turn on.

I just thought it would be funny if a halo appeared, I had absolutely no intention of actually emitting one.

But this tactless halo burst forth brightly at the mere thought, making a fool of me.

“The radiance of Goddess Astraea herself descending upon us! How holy and sacred…!”

“Everyone bow down! Her touch has come to this land!”

…I knew this would happen.

Watching our church’s believers getting all excited the moment the halo appeared, I felt like letting out a massive sigh at how “holy” this scene was.

Halo OFF.

“Ah…! The sacred light is fading…!”

The priests who had been staring at the halo as if entranced exclaimed in shock.

“How can this be? Is she rebuking us for our inadequacy?”

“No, no! Nothing in this world is eternal, so power and glory are merely temporary splendor! This is what Astraea is telling us!”

“Is that so? If that is her message, then we…”

“Yes! Rather than yearning for past glory, we must accept reality and seek a new future!”

These lunatics.

They were assigning all sorts of meanings to a single halo and shouting like true madmen.

Meanwhile, Ceylon, who had witnessed the halo up close, showed little surprise beyond a slightly impressed expression.

Judging by his composure, he had probably already heard from Agnes that I could turn my halo on and off.

Anyway, with the other priests making such a fuss, I had no choice but to turn the halo back on.

“Ohhh… Astraea is always watching over us…”

“Praise and glorify her radiance, her grace…!”

They openly showed their morale dropping the moment I turned off the halo, and I couldn’t be a morale-crushing inquisitor when I had come to help. Damn it.

Ah, really. If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have even thought about the halo. It was truly regrettable.

—-

Besides Agnes and Ceylon, there were several familiar faces at the Holy Corps headquarters.

Perlien, who like me was a descendant of the Great’s Twelve Knights, and Richard, the Cardinal of the Church of Elpinel and lead Paladin.

Additionally, the Cardinal of the Church of Ceres and the new Cardinal of the Church of Saulite.

Originally, the Ernliter Cardinal of the Church of Astraea was also on the battlefield, but that old man had been injured in the previous battle and temporarily retreated to the rear.

Anyway, Cardinals who should normally be gathered in the Holy City of Elphirem had almost all come out to the frontline branch headquarters, leaving only a couple behind.

“…I don’t see Lacy. Or the forces I sent.”

On the other hand, it was hard to find external forces not affiliated with the Holy State.

Like the Imperial Diocese reinforcements led by Lacy, or the Hestella reinforcements I had sent.

Surely they hadn’t been annihilated… right? If they had been wiped out, the atmosphere would have been like a funeral home rather than people cheering at my arrival.

It would mean that half, perhaps more than half of the total forces had been completely lost.

And since most of them were forces I had sent, they wouldn’t be welcoming me—they’d be too ashamed to even face me properly.

Which means… they must be somewhere else?

“Lady Elmaine is responsible for the northwestern front. Most of the forces you sent, Astika, are deployed on the southwestern front.”

Just as I thought.

Agnes explained that the Holy State defense forces were currently divided into three groups defending key border areas.

Originally, they had planned to concentrate all forces here to take the offensive, but the fairies divided their forces and attacked elsewhere, forcing them to disperse their troops as well.

The speed at which fairies transformed empty Holy State territories into forests with spirits was twice as fast as the Holy Corps could advance while burning the fairy forest.

So they sent the Imperial Diocese forces with airships to the northwestern response unit, and the Hestella forces who could ride dragons to the southwestern area.

Well, hearing it, the response seemed reasonable.

Both forces had aerial mobility capabilities, so even in the worst case, they could avoid being defeated in detail.