Worries and Concerns (4)

The Sky God residing in Yona’s body did not respond no matter how many times Yona called out.

Not only did it not respond, but it also showed no signs of movement.

‘Some god this is.’

There weren’t many records left about the Sky God.

What remained in the scriptures was about all there was.

Just that it had descended to the human world impersonating the Celestial Deity a few times.

However, even when it did so, there were no records of it causing harm.

Nevertheless, the reason the Sky God is described as the representative of heresy is probably because of the issue of impersonating the Celestial Deity.

The main deity of the Celestial Church is naturally the Celestial Deity, so impersonating such a deity becomes a problem.

‘I wonder what exactly happened… Hmm.’

At least Berbaria would answer when called.

But now, the Sky God didn’t answer when called, nor did it show any signs of doing anything.

It wasn’t trying to take over her body like before either, it was literally just ‘there’ quietly.

Yona couldn’t understand what it was aiming for or what it was thinking.

The deity that took over her body when it awakened.

And the deity that used Yona’s body to exterminate the Azrami imperial family.

Seeing such things, it clearly wasn’t a benevolent deity, but it probably wasn’t an evil deity either.

If it were an evil deity, it wouldn’t have stopped at exterminating the Azrami imperial family but would have tried to kill everyone present there.

“…It might be better to get a more detailed explanation from Alevian.”

Yona sat up in bed.

Since Ceres was said to be coming this way, Yona thought it would be good to go talk to Alevian to discuss countermeasures as well.

 

“…What?”

Bigrind was at a loss for words and opened and closed her mouth several times.

The only words that came out were that question asking for repetition.

Sitting in front of such a Bigrind, the Emperor of the Katus Empire, Amira Al Azrami, wiped away her cold sweat and nodded.

“It’s all, all true—”

“Th-that… No, Yona wouldn’t… do such a thing…”

Bigrind’s eyes shook uncontrollably. Hearing such unbelievable words face to face, the shock was so great that her head felt dizzy. The words she had just heard from Amira were that devastatingly powerful.

“The Yona I know… wouldn’t do such a thing.”

Bigrind blinked her eyes, trying to organize her thoughts.

She had agreed to this sudden request for a private audience from Amira without much thought, but how had it turned out like this? Bigrind’s mind was in chaos and she couldn’t understand at all.

Certainly, it had been strange.

From what she had heard, the Katus Empire was a society that severely worshipped power, so she hadn’t thought the Emperor would be a woman like this. She had naturally thought it would be a man, so she had been somewhat surprised when she met Amira.

“I haven’t mixed in a single lie—”

Even while saying this, Amira kept clutching her chest. Gripping her chest so tightly as if she had a heart condition, Amira carefully watched her surroundings as she confided in Bigrind.

“Are, are you saying such a thing happened… in this imperial palace?”

“Yes, yes—”

It felt like she was getting dizzy. Bigrind didn’t want to believe that Yona had committed such a horrific and brutal act. But Amira sitting in front of her was saying it wasn’t a lie, and Bigrind couldn’t sense any false energy from Amira’s aura that she could see.

She literally melted and killed the imperial family members including the former emperor in front of Amira’s eyes.

Not only that, but she ruptured Amira’s heart and filled it with demonic energy.

And she even threatened to burst her heart and kill her if she tried anything behind her back—

The shock Bigrind received was too great to accept these words at face value.

‘How could Yona… do such a… such a thing…’

“So—I want to, to ask for your help… Saintess…!”

Amira’s words were dripping with desperation.

Because of such an Amira, Bigrind forcibly gathered her wits.

It’s not right for a Saintess to be lost in other thoughts when someone asking for help is right in front of her.

“Then, shall we… take a look?”

At those words, Amira stood up from her chair and approached Bigrind.

There was no need to go that far—Bigrind could have gone to her, but it didn’t really matter.

“Then, I’ll take a look…”

Bigrind took a deep breath and summoned her holy power.

Although even this level of miracle was burdensome due to more than half of her total holy power having disappeared, it was still manageable—for now.

She directed the holy power she had summoned towards Amira.

In the holy power circling her body once, Bigrind could feel it.

The heart beating in Amira’s chest, the familiar demonic energy filling that heart completely.

It would be a big problem if she, as a Saintess, found this demonic energy familiar, but what could she do if it was the truth?

At least she could clearly feel that this was demonic energy Yona had breathed in.

And along with that, what she felt—

‘This is impossible…’

Bigrind could instinctively tell.

It would be extremely difficult to erase this demonic energy with her power.

Such powerful and intense demonic energy was hard to guarantee even with this holy power bestowed by the Celestial Deity.

Moreover, since it was filling the heart, she would have to restore it immediately after erasing the demonic energy.

Considering how much power would be needed to restore the heart, it was beyond Bigrind’s current capabilities.

“H-how is it…?”

Hearing Amira’s voice, Bigrind pondered what she should say.

But no matter how she said it, no matter how nicely she packaged it, what’s impossible is impossible.

It was better to be honest.

“It seems… difficult. At least for now.”

After all these aftereffects are over—after these aftereffects from summoning the Celestial Gate are over, and her holy power is fully recovered.

After that, it might be possible.

“I-is that so…”

Amira’s deep disappointment was palpable.

That disappointment felt like it was stabbing Bigrind like a dagger. Who would understand how Bigrind felt having to say she couldn’t help due to her own lack of ability, but Amira must have also tried her best to hide her disappointment as much as possible. Nevertheless, that emotion that could still be felt affected Bigrind greatly.

“…But I’ll try to find a way somehow. Every day must be like hell for you.”

“Pl-please do… Saintess…! If, if you can heal me, I’ll even consider adopting the Celestial Church as our state religion…!”

If that could happen, Bigrind’s fame would reach the heavens and beyond.

If the Celestial Church became the state religion not only in the Kapatia Empire but also in the Katus Empire, it would literally be religious unification, an achievement beyond compare.

“…Yes. I’ll definitely try to find a way.”

Bigrind wasn’t the type to be distracted by such fame.

Such things were all futile anyway, so it didn’t matter.

Amira, who had to live with demonic energy filling her heart.

Amira, who had to live with the anxiety of not knowing when her heart might burst, having to entrust the life and death of her heart to someone else’s hands.

For the sake of saving such an Amira, Bigrind thought she should muster her strength.

“Then, I’ll take my leave.”

“Yes, yes— Saintess, please help me…!”

Bigrind bowed her head to Amira, who was earnestly imploring her, and left the audience chamber.

As she did so, Bigrind thought that she should go find Yona.

In fact, if it’s about removing demonic energy, the quickest way would be for the one who spread it to remove it directly.

If she could make Yona remove it even by beating her up, and if Bigrind directly restored Amira’s heart, treatment should be possible.

‘Where did that crazy woman go?’

Bigrind turned her steps towards the guest quarters after leaving the audience chamber.

She and Ludvig were also staying in the guest quarters, and she had heard that Yona’s group was staying there too.

She needed to meet Yona.

Meet Yona, hear the whole story, and then punch her in the head—

“What are you doing here, dwarf dung bag?”

A familiar voice.

Bigrind immediately raised her head upon hearing that voice.

The corridor was backlit so she couldn’t see the face clearly right away, but Bigrind quickly recognized who this woman in front of her was.

Wearing a tattered and shabby nun’s habit with an extremely shabby sacred scapular on her right arm, who knows where she had picked it up.

As soon as she saw her, tall as a beanpole looking down at Bigrind—

Thwack!

“Ouch! You, you crazy thing?!”

Bigrind kicked Yona in the side.

She wanted to punch her in the head, but couldn’t due to the height difference, so she kicked her in the side instead.

The sudden attack seemed to have been quite effective as Yona was clutching her side and grimacing.

“What are you doing, you little midget!”

“You’re the one to talk, what have you been doing running around, you lunatic!”

Bigrind also yelled back at Yona.

She had left properly, but what on earth had she been doing running around, Bigrind was so angry she couldn’t contain herself.