episode_0184

“Saint. It’s a dangerous place.”

It was a sound that came out of my mouth automatically. It made me wonder if I had ever worried about others like this.

To put it bluntly, I didn’t want to see someone who looked like Arjen suffer.

But, ignoring my worries, Orha spoke in a more confident voice.

“No! It’s a dangerous place, so I have to go. Especially if it is something important that can determine the future of our denomination!”

It seems that Stella chose someone with outstanding ability and responsibility as a saint, not a pretty flower in a greenhouse.

Judging by the sudden appearance of a saint who is said to be rarely chosen, Stella, who heard about Akasha’s work through Prinia, must have made her own arrangements.

That’s all good, but why did they pick someone who looks like Arjen?

Under normal circumstances, I would have welcomed this kind of proactiveness from the saint with open arms, but because of her face, I didn’t want to make her do anything.

I know. That she is a completely separate person from Arjen. But knowing that with your head and not caring about it at all were two different things.

What’s even more frustrating is that there is no reason to stop her from stepping forward.

Noblesse oblige, then and now. It is regarded as a noble spirit both on Earth and here.

What more can I say when the saintess says she is not Stella’s pretty collection and will do what she deserves?

In the end, I had to nod and respect her wishes.

“It has been decided. I will make the personnel selection myself.”

The Pope had a very serious expression. Since the participation of the saint was confirmed, the intention was to ensure that there was no negligence in selecting the number of people who would go to the mountain temple.

“You must hurry as much as possible. Not only will nothing good happen if you leave it unattended, but you never know when Akasha will figure out the situation and take action.”

Of course, Akasha is a cautious person, so in order to hide her traces, she lives a life cut off from the outside world by staying in a hiding place.

In other words, it also meant that Akasha herself was slow to understand what was going on in the outside world.

The problem is that the moment he finds out about us, there is nothing we can do about it. It’s practically game over.

Therefore, we had to move quickly, hoping that Akasha would understand the situation as soon as possible.

With a direct order from the Pope, the work proceeded smoothly, and in just one day, a group of people were organized to head to the bandits’ den.

“Umm….”

Although I was not particularly pleased with the name of the saint on the list.

“Hey, saint?”

“Yes, what’s going on?”

“Do you not have a separate carriage?”

“No. There is a carriage given by the church.”

“But why here…?”

Before setting off, Orha very naturally entered my carriage.

“But one o’clock is urgent, right? As the number of carriages increases, the speed of the party slows down.”

In a way, it was a reasonable statement. However, if it slows down just because there are more chariots of saints, how much slower will it be?

“How about taking a different carriage?”

“Hmm… But this is the only carriage.”

“Yes?”

I looked out the carriage windows to see what was going on. A considerable number of paladins and priests were each riding horses.

Yes. The Pope took into account the speed of movement and recruited people who could ride horses regardless of their positions.

Considering that the horses pulling my carriage were prepared with great care by Lord Eletrobe, and that they are very fast because they are managed directly by Wayne, the presence or absence of the saint’s carriage will have a significant impact.

“Hmm… wouldn’t it seem manly to others?”

“Hehe. Who would look at me like that when I am with Eugene, who is an adult?”

“Even if you say that, the Holy Knights who guarded the saint yesterday seemed to have looked at it that way.”

“Oh, the story already reached the Pope’s ears, so he was severely reprimanded. Don’t worry too much.”

“I wasn’t particularly worried about it…”

“Hehe. Looks like we’re leaving now.”

As soon as those words were said, the group slowly started to move. Now I can’t even tell them to get off. The driver’s window creaked open and Wayne stuck his head in.

“Eugene. I think I’ll be leaving now… Saint?”

Wayne opened his eyes wide and looked back and forth between me and the saint.

“Hello, warrior!”

“Hello… But why is the saint here…?”

Instead of answering, Orha just smiled. In the end, I had to answer for him.

“You came in suddenly.”

“……Eujin.”

“Why?”

“You must not touch it?”

“Hey!”

I raised my voice when Wayne said something jokingly. Orha, who had become the target of sexual harassment, just looked at Wayne and me with his eyes wide open.

“…I know what you’re worried about, but what you’re worried about won’t happen, so don’t worry.”

Anyway, even if he looks like Arjen, would I really touch a stranger I met for the first time yesterday? That too, a saint.

“It has to be similar enough…”

“No, that is. They are completely different except for their appearance, so stop worrying.”

“Okay.”

Wayne seemed to respond obediently and walk away, but for some reason he didn’t close the window.

“Hey… who do I look a lot like?”

At this point, I asked Orha directly if he felt uncomfortable with the conversation between me and Wayne.

I didn’t know what to say, so I thought for a moment and nodded, thinking there was no reason to lie.

“Yes, well… they look quite similar.”

“With whom?”

“…You don’t need to know that.”

“Oh, yes….”

this. As I thought of Arjen, who was still thinking of me and enduring loneliness in Rare, a cold tone of voice came out inadvertently.

However, even though I apologized for what I just did and acted friendly, something seemed to be going wrong with the picture, so I decided to keep my mouth shut.

The cold air current inside the carriage continued until we arrived at our destination.

“Phew… this way.”

When I returned to the bandits’ den, I guided the priests and paladins who had come here for the first time into the hostage camp.

“Hmm… They look like terrible bandits…”

The various provocative tools inside the camp, the traces that gave us an idea of what had been done, and the remaining atmosphere made the group frown.

‘It’s already troublesome to react like that…’

The altar was a much more serious scene, but I felt sorry for the priests of Plane, who must have grown up seeing only good things.

“……Oh my god.”

However, when the altar was actually shown, the reaction was quite lukewarm.

Gurgling….

It was not because the priests tolerated it well, but because some who saw the altar fainted without being able to say anything else.

It was a mistake to focus only on the statement that it was toxic only to gods and that humans would not be affected, and did not consider how much damage the visible devastation would cause to them.

I also looked at the situation at the altar again. The blood that had splattered here and there had already dried and turned black, and the body was already rotting and infested with flies and maggots.

“Ugh.”

Even Wayne was on the verge of sighing, so perhaps he was done talking. I suddenly looked at Orha, wondering what the saint’s reaction would be.

“……sniff.”

Contrary to my expectations that she would either let out a very high-pitched scream or faint without saying anything like some priests, she was gently closing her eyes and shedding a single tear.

“Saint?”

“Ah… such a pitiful and pitiful soul. How full of malice does a person have to be to commit a disaster like this?”

As soon as she said those words, Orha knelt in place and began to pray. Anyone who looked at her appearance could only describe it as ‘holy.’

The priests, brought to their senses by her example, began to move in order and organize the scene in their own way.

“I’ll be out for a bit.”

Although I came all the way here to provide guidance, I was actually very uncomfortable being near the altar as I was a god babbler.

Fortunately, I was the first to leave because I felt like things would get done without me.

“Phew…. From now on, I have to find and organize those things one by one…”

It was difficult to see the terrible devastation, and it was difficult to feel that my faith was being eaten away. What on earth is Akasha trying to harm God like that?

“…Hmm?”

Just before I was lost in thought, I felt a human being caught in my senses and my eyes fluttered open.

“Sirocco.”

I flew straight up into the sky and caught a person moving somewhere in a hurry between the densely grown trees.

No matter how much you run, you can’t shake off a flying person. As I gradually got closer and began to see him more clearly, I frowned.

He was the magic sword holder I saw when reading the memories of the bandit leader.

‘We have to catch it…!’

If you miss that, it will definitely be reported to Akasha. I felt urgent and blocked his path.

“Where are you going in such a hurry?”

“…What is it?”

“Me? A body that will kill the great person you serve?”

I stabbed him with the intention of provoking him, but the other person reacted like a doll without a single drop of blood coming out.

“Are you the one who kidnapped the colleague near Potera?”

“…Did you really report that to Akasha?”

It didn’t matter that the culprit was me. But if he had already reported the incident to Akasha, the situation would have become very difficult.

He kept his mouth shut, as if he didn’t want to give me any information.

I never would have thought that silence would be a sufficient answer for me.

“You haven’t done it yet? Well, no matter how much you criticize her, she’s not the type of guy you can meet whenever you want, right?”

I was able to relieve my worries for an hour. Anyway, it means that if you just deal with this guy in front of you, the problem will go away.