episode_0012

Western Elaine Kingdom.

A quiet, small city.

Even though war had broken out, this place, far from the front lines, was enjoying its peaceful daily life as always.

Sparrows chirped, and farmers went out to plow the fields.

The restaurant cooks raised their voices to call out to customers.

Workers trudged to their workplaces.

The usual WWE, no, ordinary events.

It seemed that today would pass uneventfully like yesterday.

Yes, it seemed that way.

…Until the commotion suddenly broke out in front of the church.

“–Who the hell put this up? They’ve got some nerve.”

“When did this appear? I’m sure I don’t remember seeing it until I passed by last night.”

“More than that, the content is… are they crazy? I’m seeing someone openly write and reveal something like this.”

Erich Leder, a young man who was idly loitering around the streets from the morning, saw people gathered in one side of the square.

Why are they so noisy when it’s not even market day?

Did they find a murdered corpse or something?

With curiosity and questions rising, he mixed into the crowd and approached the center of the commotion.

After squeezing through shoulders and taking a few steps forward, he quickly saw the cause.

“A poster?”

A large piece of paper was attached to the door of the city’s only church. Moreover, it was a poster densely printed with elegant handwriting.

Having learned some letters, Erich slowly read what it said.

And he couldn’t help but be shocked.

[115 Articles of Refutation]

[This author, who prides himself on having a love for truth and ardent faith, seeks to assert the following facts.

The current Goddess Order is completely rotten. Calling them religious people is a mockery of the word itself, as they are so degenerate and corrupt.

The following clauses are the basis for proving this proposition and a summary of the logic for specific criticisms.]

An unconventional preface that openly confronts the authority of the Order.

Even criticizing them, whom he had learned to be a blameless and pious group his whole life, made him feel dizzy, but the following content was even more outrageous.

[Saying that souls escape from purgatory as soon as a coin clinks into the donation box for indulgences is a human doctrine, not the will of God. The Goddess has never said that salvation in the afterlife can be obtained with earthly possessions.

However, it is certain that the clergy’s gains and greed increase when money makes a sound in the donation box.]

[When a priest spends more time teaching about indulgences than teaching the words of the Goddess in sermons, it is an act of denying those words.

To neglect the duty of teaching the believers for the sake of a piece of paper whose effect has not even been proven. What a contradictory attitude is this? Can you confidently say that it is a behavior that comes from a truly correct faith?]

They completely denied the theological value of indulgences, which the Order had steadily sold for decades, no, centuries.

The size of sins is judged by God, not determined by the property you offer.

For those who have been attending church their entire lives and have been conditioned almost to the point of brainwashing, it was no different from breaking down the conventional wisdom they had believed in throughout their lives.

Is this the shock that children feel when they realize that Santa Claus doesn’t actually exist?

No, the children would have been much better off.

At least they learned reality after believing in a fantasy without being deprived of anything, but these people have been exploited throughout their entire lives.

‘That was, a pointless act that meant nothing?’

They bought indulgences with huge sums of money to atone for their parents’ sins. To atone for their grandfather’s sins. To atone for the sins of children who may be born someday.

Every time they committed even a minor mistake, they were afraid of not being able to go to heaven, so they sought God’s mercy with money.

If you add up all the money they’ve offered generation after generation, they could probably buy a commercial building with cash without taking out a loan.

But all of that was meaningless. No matter how much money they poured out, it had no effect on whether they went to hell or heaven after death.

“Lies.”

Someone muttered in a small voice.

For some reason, he felt like he knew what the person who said that was thinking.

Probably because he was feeling something similar.

But even if they wanted to deny it, the barrage of invective that followed blocked any room for rebuttal.

[If you doubt the credibility of this writing, visit a nearby church. Search the room where the priest resides. You will surely find heavy chests filled with precious metals, land documents, and ownership certificates for mansions.]

[It is already widely known that clergymen rank at the top when ranking the wealthy people regardless of the country. If you don’t know, check the fabric of the robes worn by the bishops. I dare to guarantee that only the finest fabrics and leather were carefully selected and made.]

They presented evidence that anyone could easily find in reality.

A claim that is possible because the writer doesn’t think even a little bit that they might be wrong.

In other words, the corruption and depravity of the Order is so prevalent that they are confident that they can convince everyone without complicated proof.

Come to think of it, Erich remembered that the priest in charge of this city had recently acquired new clothes.

The texture was soft and the overall gloss was luxurious.

[If even one part of the contents of this writing is false, I solemnly swear that I will accept God’s punishment. But if not, it is as if God has proven my righteousness.

In the name of our Lord, the great Goddess, Amen.]

Punishment from God.

In a world where you can directly feel the existence of God and oracles are occasionally given, that word has a much more serious meaning.

After reading the entire writing that ended like that, Erich was stunned in shock for a while. As were those who understood the contents like him.

How long had it been? After quite some time had passed, the priest finally appeared.

“Wh-What are you all doing here! Go back! Go and do your jobs!”

“Forget about this absurd writing and don’t pay any attention to it! It’s just a heretic spouting nonsense!”

The priest brought a bunch of guards and forcibly dispersed the crowd.

While being half-forced to leave, Erich thought.

Even if he didn’t know, the fact that they were reacting so strongly meant that the contents of the refutation were not entirely wrong.

* * * * *

“Damn it, which bastard did this? Who are the suspected culprits?”

“I don’t know. They must have secretly put it up in the middle of the night when no one was around, so how can we catch them…”

“We can’t just stand still. If we give up the investigation, the authority of the church will collapse!”

The Order’s reaction to the propaganda terror that occurred simultaneously throughout the country, no, the continent, was simple. Immediate crackdown.

Collecting the refutations that were scattered everywhere, burning the posters and pamphlets. Catching the idiots who were recklessly spreading the contents and beating them up.

In a sense, it was a textbook response.

Until now, the Order had always adhered to thorough and strong measures against heretics.

This time, the scale was larger than usual, but they thought that if they handled it properly, there would be no major problems.

“Shit, I’m already struggling to death, and now these bastards are acting up?”

“Why are they freaking out so much? It’s just a statement criticizing them. Aren’t they acting like that because they feel guilty?”

“Honestly, it’s not wrong! Those self-proclaimed poor clergymen live better than our lord.”

…Unfortunately, this time, it was a misjudgment.

It is a time when a large-scale war involving three of the continent’s leading powers is in full swing.

Public sentiment is uneasy, and the political world is in chaos.

In a situation where pro-war and pro-peace factions are in conflict and traitors and patriots are playing a game of chicken everywhere, strong control?

This was no different from spraying gasoline with a hose on a burning house. It only stimulated the already anxious public opinion.

“Let’s have a financial audit this time! Where did you spend the donations we gave you that all the salaried priests are living so well!”

“Overthrow corruption! Eradicate corruption! Let’s tear open the bellies of those bastards and stain the earth with blood!! Let’s take back our wealth that they stole!”

Above all, the fact that the Goddess was unresponsive to this situation appealed to the public.

There is no oracle, and she does not inflict divine punishment? Doesn’t that mean the refutation is correct?

Words that they would not have dared to speak out in normal times were circulating outside.

The authority of the church began to shake more than ever before, and the morality of all clergymen was questioned.

The Order’s corruption, which was already an open secret, was finally made public and consumed as a topic of debate, and cultists were excited and rampaging everywhere.

“D-Do we have to stop this? No, can we even suppress it before that?”

“There are more than a few who sympathize with that public opinion even within the military. Even if we deploy them to stop the rioters, it may only backfire…”

The leaders of each country were at a loss.

If they left it alone, it would be difficult to carry out the war, but if they suppressed it, there was no suitable method.

They wasted time without making any choices.

“…Hmm. This might be worth exploiting.”

And.

The world was full of potential traitors who would not miss such an opportunity.