episode_0042

The Holy Nation of

A theocratic state that worships the Goddess of Light, Serena.

A nation blessed more than any other, A nation that engages in more charitable works than any other.

With an abundance of clergy, its medical system is the most advanced of any nation.

‘If there’s one other difference…’

There is no king.

Instead, the Pope—the one with the highest divine power—reigns as its sovereign.

A nation where the strongest believer in the Goddess of Light, Serena, becomes its ruler. A nation that operates strictly according to the doctrines set by the Goddess of Light, Serena.

A nation that protects humanity, A nation that acts for the prosperity of mankind.

…Or at least, it was.

Now, with the Pope corrupted, the situation has become… complicated.

‘He was never a proper Pope to begin with.’

The Goddess of Light, Serena, had left her post for twenty years to raise her daughter.

Twenty years.

A short time by divine standards, But long enough for many things to change by human reckoning.

Plenty of time for the rightful Pope to die, And for a greedy, wicked Pope to seize power—more than enough time, in fact.

…Hearing this, Ellis made a disbelieving face and asked:

“A wicked person became Pope?” “Is that even possible?”

“It is.”

“But that doesn’t make sense.” “The one with the highest divine power is supposed to be the strongest believer in the Goddess of Light, Serena…” “And you’re saying that person fell to corruption?”

“Yeah.”

“What if he was rotten from the start?”

“Huh?”

“Divine power doesn’t automatically make someone good.”

“Huh???”

“First, the formula for divine power is: Mana + Devotion to the Goddess.”

The higher the mana, The stronger the devotion, The greater the divine power.

But the key factor here is mana.

If one’s mana is strong, Even with minimal devotion, they can still wield immense divine power.

…That’s one thing, but the real problem is that “devotion to the Goddess” doesn’t necessarily mean a moral heart.

“It doesn’t have to be moral?”

“Thank you, Goddess of Light Serena, for making me king and rich!”

“Ah!” “So that’s how it works!”

“Yeah.” “Exactly.”

Most clergy worship based on the scriptures of the Goddess of Light, Serena, So they naturally lean toward morality.

After all, the scriptures themselves are essentially a moral guidebook on living virtuously.

But.

The current Pope disregarded the scriptures.

He doesn’t believe in Serena out of moral conviction— He worships her because she’s the one who secured his wealth and status.

In short, he believes in her as his money source.

But.

If that were all, it wouldn’t be a huge problem.

…Hearing this, Ellis looked shocked.

“No problem?!” “If a greedy bastard became Pope, that’s a crisis!”

“No.” “As long as he runs the nation well, it doesn’t matter if he’s greedy or not.”

In fact, greed might even be better.

Rather than embezzling taxes from a poor nation, Stealing from a prosperous one yields far greater profits.

To satisfy his greed, he’d develop the nation’s economy, And in turn, take even more for himself.

The citizens benefit from economic growth, And the Pope gets richer—a win-win.

“On the other hand, a kind fool becoming Pope could be dangerous.”

Once, a certain Pope spent the entire national treasury on charity.

At first, everyone celebrated.

The citizens were happy to receive aid, And the clergy rejoiced, saying they were making the world warmer.

But.

Within days, the nation fell into chaos.

With no funds to pay the soldiers, They went on strike.

As a result, Public order collapsed.

With no money to support the clergy’s living expenses, They began to starve.

As a result, Even the Pope’s staunchest supporters started cursing him.

With no national funds, Everyone who worked for the state vanished.

As a result, The nation itself began to crumble.

Serena eventually intervened and somehow resolved the crisis, But the kind-hearted Pope, overwhelmed by guilt, wrote a suicide note and accepted death.

…An absurd tale, but a true one.

So.

Kindness isn’t always good.

In fact, a villain might run a nation better.

…Thinking about it that way, A greedy bastard might make a better ruler.

“The current Pope was fine at first.”

Greedy, yes, But competent at governing.

However.

Once he realized the Goddess of Light, Serena, wasn’t watching, he grew bolder.

He embezzled more taxes, Started pocketing offerings.

And then— He began indulging.

Buying extravagant luxuries, Feasting on lavish dishes made with the finest ingredients.

Then came women.

The Holy Nation of has no brothels, So he traveled to other nations in disguise to sleep with prostitutes.

In a world with warp gates, He zipped across the globe, sampling all kinds of women.

Until he got caught by a succubus— And fell so deeply under her spell that he switched sides to the demons.

…Hearing this, Ellis grabbed my arm and exclaimed:

“If he’s sided with the demons, that’s a real disaster!” “We have to do something, fast!”

“Relax.” “Relax?!”

“Nothing major will happen right away.”

The Demon King’s army won’t start the war for another five years, And the Pope pledging support and sending them supplies is also five years away.

In game terms, it’s late-game content.

So.

We don’t need to deal with him right now.

…Or rather, The more accurate phrasing is: we can’t deal with him right now.

“We can’t?”

“Without evidence, accusing the Pope would only backfire on us.”

“But we have Lia—the daughter of the Goddess of Light, Serena, and the Hero!”

“How do we prove that?”

“Uh… uh?…”

That’s the issue.

Hero Party candidates can recognize the Hero.

But.

Ordinary people have no way of knowing if someone’s the Hero.

By mid-game, the Hero’s exploits spread far and wide, And many come to recognize Lia as the Hero.

But not now.

“What about the Goddess of Light, Serena?”

“Heavenly communication is down—no way to get proof.”

“We could use plants to write messages—”

“If the Pope just shouts ‘That’s a scam!’, we’re the ones who’ll suffer.”

This is a nation where the Pope reigns as king.

His word is law. His word is truth.

So.

Half-baked attempts will only backfire on us.

“Besides, he’s on the demons’ side.” “If he learns the Hero Party is here, he’ll try to kill us.”

Directly accusing him is out of the question, And if he discovers our identities, things could get messy.

He might hire assassins, Or ambush us.

Lia and Ellis would be fine.

Lia’s makes her immune to all attacks, And Ellis’s automatic ice defense can easily block arrows or daggers.

They could counter even a surprise attack in their sleep.

But I’m not like that.

If ambushed, I could die on the spot— Or get kidnapped.

…Hearing this, Lia and Ellis muttered with grave expressions:

“If Master gets kidnapped…” “No matter how strong we are, we’d have to surrender…” “……” “……” “Should we just assassinate him before he gets kidnapped?” “Should we?”

Lia and Ellis were considering preemptive assassination.

Sometimes, it’s best to just eliminate troublesome figures.

‘It was the same in the game.’

Among the Hero Party candidates, there’s an assassin.

If you recruit that ally, A clean, undetected kill is child’s play.

But.

Lia and Ellis aren’t that.

Killing itself is easy— Getting away unnoticed is a whole other problem.

…Hearing this, Ellis and Lia confidently declared:

“We just won’t get caught!” “Exactly!”

“You’ll get caught 100%.”

Lia’s a crybaby coward—her ability to infiltrate properly is questionable at best. Ellis leaves Snowflakes behind with every attack.

Snowflakes are part of Ellis’s unique ability— They’d be undeniable proof she’s the culprit.

She could suppress her power to minimize traces, But a professional investigation would uncover everything.

And one more thing— If the succubus pretends to be a clergy member and declares we’re the criminals, we’re screwed.

Because we would be guilty.

A lie-detection spell would expose us instantly.

So.

Assassinating the Pope is a bad idea.

“Then what are we going to do?”

“First, we meet the Saintess. Then we’ll figure it out.”

There are many ways to deal with the Pope.

Recruit an assassin ally to eliminate him quietly, Gather evidence of his corruption and expose him, Or defeat the Demon King quickly and let the Goddess of Light, Serena, deliver divine punishment.

Plenty of options.

But.

No matter what we do, he’s the type to cripple the nation before fleeing.

We need a surefire way to crush him.

‘In the game, it was impossible.’

There was a way, But it wasn’t something executable with a few mouse clicks.

No means to carry it out.

But.

Now, it’s possible.

Not through mouse or button inputs, But with my own words and actions—now, we can do it.

‘Keh heh heh…’ ‘Look forward to it, Succubus.’ ‘I’ll show you who the real demon is.’

The reason humans are called absolute scum. The reason Satan cried himself unemployed.

It’s simple.

Because humans do things more evil than demons.