episode_0029

Archbishop Lergio.

Even after boarding the carriage and leaving the palace gates, he was still shedding tears.

It was so moving.

Finally, it was because the goddess had answered his long-standing prayers.

“Your Majesty Eos…”

How fiercely he had struggled within the corrupt clergy, where hope seemed utterly lost.

Since the previous pope’s passing.

The already corrupt Goddess Church was rapidly plunging towards a more certain downfall with each passing day.

Starting from the current pope to the archbishops, high-ranking clergy, and those influenced by them.

Those who had entrenched themselves in power, while claiming to be servants of the goddess, were all blinded by greed, ceaselessly committing all sorts of atrocities.

Lergio was afraid.

He couldn’t dare to oppose the overwhelming majority who had turned to corruption, fearing false accusations, isolation, and expulsion from the organization.

He couldn’t even indirectly criticize them.

No matter how he thought about it, he could never bear it alone.

All he could do was.

Pray fervently to the goddess Aurora for retribution against the corrupt and secretly aid the oppressed.

It felt like walking on a razor’s edge every single day.

Under so much stress, he had unwittingly gained weight, surviving on just one vegetarian meal a day.

Of course, among the greedy, gaining weight wasn’t entirely a bad thing.

Because he had taken on an appearance similar to those who squeezed blood from the believers to fill their bellies.

Being naturally considered one of them helped him avoid isolation.

By burying his conscience deep inside and sealing his own lips, he avoided rejection.

But.

Even a significant position like that of an archbishop, which guaranteed a life akin to a small kingdom’s king, couldn’t alleviate his unease as much as sleep did.

It was due to the burden of conscience, unable to confront evil out of fear of death.

The last words of the previous pope kept haunting him, never allowing him a peaceful night’s sleep.

“Lergio, you are the sole hope of the Goddess Church. Please, stay resolute.”

Everything he knew was more uncomfortable than a fishbone stuck in his throat, for living so cowardly. Even when he tried to reach in and pull it out with his fingers, he could barely touch the end of it, deeply embedded and refusing to dislodge.

Damn inspiration.

Living, he had gorged on it, and even in death, a few words continued to torment him. But this torment ends today. Perhaps, due to the overwhelming excitement that still refuses to subside, he might spend tonight sleepless. Now that there is hope, once that excitement subsides, surely the inspiration can sink back into its deep slumber as if dead.

Lergio muttered to himself inside the rattling carriage. “Inspiration, are you watching? Aurora has finally sent Saint here.”

Ignoring the rattling, Lergio gazed out the window. It was already a bustling afternoon, fitting for the capital of a vast empire. Amidst the buildings under the blue sky, numerous people hurriedly passed by. It was an entirely ordinary, problem-free daily life, but it didn’t appear that way to Lergio.

To his eyes, those being reflected were different. Various forms, never visible to ordinary humans, faintly overlapped with the people. Beasts or monstrous entities, nameless, seemed to vaguely nestle within people’s bodies like souls.

It was due to Lergio’s ability. He had the power to peer into others’ inner selves. When desiring to see their true nature, the desires and emotions harbored by others would materialize, visible only to him.

Seemingly a remarkable ability at first glance, it was closer to a curse in reality. The only gain from this ability was his childhood spent in an orphanage. One day, as an experiment, he used his ability on the headmistress. A monstrous entity with red eyes and countless grotesque teeth emerged from her gaping mouth like a wolf.

As the children he lived with began to disappear one by one, he managed to stay unharmed by keeping quiet and well-behaved.

Lergio had a premonition.

Crying and throwing tantrums, the children disappearing one by one was surely because of the director. If it wasn’t for him harboring a sinister demon inside, there seemed to be no reason for the sudden disappearances of the children. Then, by chance, he secretly revealed this fact to a middle-aged man in a white outfit.

On the man’s face, there was a faint light that no one else had ever seen, which somehow gave a convincing feeling that he could be trusted. It didn’t take long to confirm that conviction was not wrong. Not even a day passed before knights clad in white armor and shields and soldiers wielding long spears swarmed in.

As it turned out, the director was a human scum who secretly sold unwanted orphans as experimental materials to black mages. On the other hand, the man with the faint light on his face was the high pontiff of the Goddess Church.

As a result of this incident, Lergio was able to rise to the high position of an archbishop at a fairly young age under the protection of the pontiff. Of course, it was a position that could never have been reached without constantly mobilizing the Order of Knights, relentlessly purging corrupt priests and evildoers within the church day after day.

“Remember, the ability you possess in this world is the utmost blessing bestowed by Aurora,” said the high pontiff. Although the high pontiff called this ability a blessing, Lergio had never once thought of it that way. Seeing the truth was far more dreadful than he had imagined.

The man who was smiling kindly actually hid a knife behind his back, ready to kill him. The clergyman, revered as an adult, had actually committed unspeakable atrocities against young children for decades. Losing faith in the outward appearance of humans was undoubtedly a curse.

And then, one day, after the pontiff collapsed in agony, the thoughts became even more entrenched. To be able to see the truth alone and yet be unable to do anything was an experience of such despair.

The situation worsened irreversibly right after the death of the high pontiff. The kind-hearted archbishops suddenly began to corrupt one by one.

Before I could even lift a finger, the authority of the Holy Knights was unanimously stripped away. The Pope they elected was so excessively worldly that he could easily be called the embodiment of greed, and his very existence was deemed an affront to God, so wickedly vile was he.

Pope Zecharites.

Just recalling his greed-ridden face caused my head to ache as if it would split for a moment, but the headache soon subsided. It was because I had thought of the face of Eos, the notorious prince and the first prince of the Mersen Empire.

Having always been busy traveling all over the continent to eradicate villains, today marked the first time I had seen the face of the first prince. Truly, it was the first time I had seen such a bright light emanating from a person, and it was even enveloping his entire body.

The sanctity that overwhelmingly surpassed even the former pope left no room for doubt. It was unmistakable. This infamous prince, known for all sorts of villainy and even rumored to have killed people, seemed undoubtedly to be the saint who recently worked a miracle in the capital of the empire, like a moth drawn to a flame, I had rushed towards the prince.

Moreover, from the gap in the mark shaped like the sun on his chest, a dazzling light was pouring out without restraint. The feeling I had when I caught sight of him was indescribable, so moving that tears flowed involuntarily, prompting me to kneel down as if worshiping a god.

Finally, I came face to face with him. The great saint sent by the goddess to save this rotten world and the fallen religion!

But then, in an instant, Lergio’s face, which had been immersed in ecstasy, stiffened like a stone chewed by a toothache.

Ssshh—

Using one hand to cover his mouth and hastily drawing the curtain tight, it was because Saint Eos had whispered shocking words in his ear.

“To think that such a foolish and reckless person is a Grand Inquisitor, what a disappointment. I will come to you soon, so do not act recklessly and wait quietly. If by any chance you speak ill of me, you will pay the price.”

Inside the now quite dark carriage, the curtain was drawn.

Lergerio clasped his hands together in earnest prayer to Eos.

“I will wait with all my might, Saint!”

***

The senior disciple Lergerio was undeniably stubborn. No matter how much he was urged to rise, he seemed unwilling to do so. In the end, I had no choice but to pretend to be a real saint. Whispering quietly, I commanded him to wait obediently, and only then did he cautiously withdraw. At my mere words, he would forget all courtesy towards the emperor and hastily depart, showing extreme reverence as a saint, undoubtedly willing to wait indefinitely. Like a lightning bolt in a clear sky, he was suddenly a senior disciple. How could such a person become a senior disciple? As I recalled his two brilliantly shining eyes, it occurred to me that perhaps the saying about a madman with beliefs being capable of bringing about the world’s destruction might not be entirely wrong.

Slurp—

In the quiet reception room of the Imperial Palace, it was a moment of slowly sipping tea after calming my startled heart for a while in silence.

“Have you found the mastermind behind the attempted poisoning?”

The Emperor cautiously opened his mouth. His tone was somewhat different from before, as if he had made a significant decision.

“Not yet, please wait a little longer.”

Seemingly uninterested in a response, the Emperor naturally changed the subject.

“Tomorrow morning, I will summon you.”

It seemed like this was what he truly wanted to say.

“….”

The brief sentence without ‘where’ and ‘why’ made it impossible not to ponder the speaker’s intention.

“A conflict has erupted at the southern border with the elves. The imperial army and the elven forces are at a standoff. Tomorrow morning, after receiving the blessing from the deities, go there. Go and stop the war yourself.”

It was an incredibly bewildering statement.

“….”

Unable to find the words, I blinked my eyes for a while. A conflict with the elves… At this point, it was absolutely something that should not happen. But what? Me, to resolve it? My heart raced. This overwhelming feeling, like walking through an abyss with no end in sight, was not due to excitement or exhilaration.

Perhaps it could be fatal if done wrong.

No, the inevitable and intense fear I felt was not about the likelihood of survival but rather the higher probability of death.

Eos Caldevrion.

Surely, noble elven blood flows through this body.

However, that alone did not guarantee a friendly relationship with the elves.

On the contrary.

Eos’ mother, Wiblerea, was an exceptional elf with extraordinary abilities said to appear once every thousand years.

She was renowned for her stunning beauty, captivating even the most beautiful elves.

Despite being barely twenty, she was the most cherished idol of the elven kingdom, receiving overwhelming support and love from countless elves as their future queen.

Yet, when she abandoned her homeland for the love of a mere human who might not even live as long, she found herself engulfed in anger, tainted with irreparable disgrace and betrayal throughout the entire elven kingdom.

Already despising humans for so many years, how would the elves perceive the outcome of Wiblerea’s love for a human?

They might feel repulsed to the point of wanting her dead.

Of course, the elven king, who adored his daughter dearly, might have a slightly different perspective.

In the eyes of the majority of the elves, I would be nothing more than a detestable target to be eliminated on sight, whether it rains or snows.

So, I will never go.

“I cannot obey.”

“Go. Prevent the war with your own hands and return.”

Yet somehow, the emperor, with determination in his eyes, persisted.

“You must know how much the elves despise me. If I go, it will only lead to war.”

As I continued to refuse, deep anger filled the emperor’s eyes.

“It is an imperial order. Will you defy it?”

Mentioning an imperial order meant that disobeying it would result in severe punishment.

“Do not evade your responsibilities as an imperial member any longer.”

If he remained so adamant, there was no escaping the duty, no matter how reluctant I was.

“Only you can do this in the empire. So go. Save the people who will bravely face death to stop the war, and pay for your sins.”

“……”

It seemed that the emperor had finally decided to abandon me.

It’s strange how he suddenly stopped being kind to me……

Like mothers who buy something delicious and dress their children nicely just before abandoning them.

The emperor must have shown me his last bit of kindness as well.