Chapter 61: Holy Land (1)

In the heart of the Holy Kingdom, within the temple, a place normally inaccessible to outsiders, a place where only the chosen few could enter, a place where devout followers of the Goddess dreamed of setting foot—

Kyle, the Insight Knight, stood frozen, bewildered. He couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing.

Why was this girl, Avalli, here? And not just here, but sitting on one of the three Goddesses’ thrones? And why were the Archangels, who should be punishing her for such blasphemy, silent?

“Mister Kyle. Or… do you prefer ‘Sir Kyle’?”

“…Call me whatever you like—”, “Then I’ll stick with Mister Kyle. You must be confused, right? These angels here… they seem to be important people.”

Avalli chuckled, glancing at the Archangels lined up on either side of the throne room. Her laughter was clearly mocking, but none of them dared to speak.

“I’ll explain everything. Well, technically, I’m not entirely blameless. Ah, why don’t you have a seat? You look tired.”
“…I’ll stand.”

Even amidst the confusion, Kyle, the devout paladin, maintained his composure, unwilling to appear disrespectful in this sacred place.

Avalli, misinterpreting his response, nodded and raised her staff slightly. “There.”

With a single word, Kyle’s exhaustion vanished.

“…Whoa.”

A gasp escaped Raziel, and Metatron glared at her, but Raziel was more interested in analyzing what had just happened than his superior’s disapproval.

Such overwhelming power. Such effortless manipulation of mana. It was as if the very laws of magic bent to her will—

“You can ask questions if you’re curious.”
“R…Really?” Raziel’s eyes lit up.

“Not now. I need to talk to Mister Kyle.”
“Okay, but you promised.”
“Yes, yes. So be quiet for now.”

Raziel, his crimson hair swaying, nodded eagerly. The other Archangels glared at him, but none dared to interrupt.

Avalli, and then Kyle, her guest, held the authority here.

“…Care to explain, Avalli?”
“Of course. And I apologize for all the trouble you’ve been through, Mister Kyle.”

Avalli shrugged and began to explain. The arrival of the Inquisitor and the knights. Her capturing them and returning to the Holy Kingdom. And the recent… altercation with the Archangels.

“…”

Kyle’s expression twisted in disbelief as she casually recounted the events. It sounded like a fairy tale, but the demeanor of the five Archangels confirmed its truth.

“So… to summarize, it was all a misunderstanding.”
“…A misunderstanding?”
“Yes, a misunderstanding.”

Avalli nodded and tapped her shimmering silver hair with her staff. Her long hair shortened, transforming into the dull brown bob she wore in Asha Village.

“You thought this was my true form, didn’t you, Mister Kyle? You thought my silver hair was a divine blessing.”
“…So, it wasn’t?”
“No. This is just a disguise, a simple spell—”

She placed the staff aside, and her silver hair returned, gleaming in the light radiating from the Archangels’ wings, an almost divine radiance.

“This is my true form. That’s where the misunderstanding began.”

She continued.

The divine miracle Kyle had witnessed—healing Hans after he had been mortally wounded by a demonic beast—wasn’t a miracle at all. She hadn’t borrowed power from anyone; it was simply her own ability.

“…What?”
“I was… disoriented at the time, so I didn’t think much of it. I never imagined it would lead to… all of this.”

The miracle Kyle had reported… didn’t exist. It wasn’t a blessing from the Goddesses, but simply Avalli, a new Transcendent Being, using her power.

There had been no divine miracle. Kyle’s report was false.

Metatron, following protocol, had sent the Inquisitor to investigate this supposed “impersonation of a divine miracle.” While there had been a political element to it, a desire to weaken Edgar Valderick and the “reformist” faction among the paladins, she would have acted the same way regardless.

They had all simply been doing their jobs. The Angels, the Inquisitor, the Insight Knight, all acting according to their duties.

They simply hadn’t anticipated that Avalli, the key figure in this incident, would be so… powerful. Their usual methods had produced… unusual results.

“…Impossible.”

Kyle’s legs trembled, not from exhaustion, since Avalli had healed him, but from the realization that the belief that had sustained him through his ordeal was… false. A religious person’s foundation wasn’t logic, but faith. And his faith had just been shattered.

“Well, I don’t really know where my power comes from either.”
“…What?”

Avalli said, resorting to a lie.

“When I woke up, I was in the Great Forest. I don’t remember anything before that. I was planning to visit the Holy Kingdom eventually. I thought the Goddesses might have some answers.”

She looked at Gabriel and asked in a gentle voice,

“The Goddesses don’t always communicate through you, do they, Gabriel?”
“Well… that’s—”

That was impossible. Divine pronouncements were always relayed through Gabriel, the Archangel of Revelation.

“Right?”
“…”
“Aren’t they?”

But sometimes, one had to lie, especially when facing a powerful, otherworldly being.

“…Sometimes… they communicate directly. It’s… inconvenient.”
“I knew it!”

Avalli smiled warmly at Kyle, whose expression, though still confused, wasn’t as despairing as before.

“Anyway… the reason I called you here, Mister Kyle…”

Avalli rose from the throne and walked towards him. Kyle, unnerved by her demeanor, instinctively stepped back, but—

“I’m sorry, Mister Kyle.”
“…What?”

She bowed her head, and he stammered, surprised.

“I know you’ve suffered because of me. I… I never intended for this to happen. I truly didn’t.”

“…It wasn’t your fault, Avalli.”
“I know. But… apologies aren’t just for when you’re at fault. It’s… my right to feel sorry for what you’ve been through.”

Kyle looked into her eyes. They were the same eyes he had seen months ago, in that small village in the Eastern Great Forest, the eyes of a seemingly ordinary girl.

“Anyway… that’s all I wanted to say. Unless… you have something else to add?”

He did.

“…Sitting on the Goddess’s throne is…blasphemous.”
“Oh, really?”

Avalli looked around at the Archangels, surprised.

“You didn’t say anything, so I thought it was okay.”
“That throne should always remain empty. It’s understandable, though, since you didn’t know. You should… offer a prayer of repentance later.”
“Okay, I will.”

Avalli chuckled sheepishly, scratched her head, and then waved at Kyle.

“See you later, Mister Kyle. I have some… things to discuss here.”

What things? The question formed in Kyle’s mind, but he suppressed his curiosity. This was beyond his understanding, beyond his purview. He nodded, bowed respectfully to the Archangels, and left the temple.

“…Sigh.”

Avalli watched him go, then sat back down on the throne, crossing her legs.

“So, you… self-righteous angels,”

Her tone was different now, colder, more…

“When can I meet these Goddesses?”

…disrespectful.