Chapter 274
Their shouts, feeling like faith in God and trust in me, made my nose prickle slightly.
Bianca and Hilde cautiously questioned from either side.
“Aillet, then the God of our cult is…?”
“What is His divine name…?”
A crucial moment had arrived. I sat up straight.
I opened my mouth with the most serious expression I could muster and the most reverent voice I could produce.
“The God who protects us is the ‘Voice-Spirit that Constructs the World’.”
Ding! [
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“The Incantation Cult! That’s right! We were the Incantation Cult!”
“Hearing the divine name, I somehow feel my head clearing.”
“I feel like my chronic migraine has disappeared too.”
“Such miraculous effects just from the divine name! This is truly an amazing God!”
“We believe, ‘Voice-Spirit that Constructs the World’!”
Grandfather stepped forward gravely.
“We must designate the Incantation Cult as the state religion of our Hispenril Duchy.”
To that extent?
At that moment, Aide Edgar pushed up his glasses and added a sharp analysis.
“To gain leverage against the Elfenheim Holy Theocracy, that seems to be the best option. If they dare to judge us as heretics, they will have to consider the Hispenril Duchy as an enemy.”
Grandfather, Mother, and Hilde’s eyes gleamed sharply. The fighting spirit emanating from the Hispenril Duchy’s prominent powerhouses was extremely intense.
Bianca cast her eyes down and spoke.
“Let’s pressure the Holy Theocracy religiously, militarily, and diplomatically. Before officially proclaiming the Incantation Cult, we must win over the Winchester Kingdom and the Ragneif Magic Republic. Duke, are you free right now?”
“Of course, Bia. No, Count of Gillette! Let’s go to the meeting.”
“Vice-Archbishop Hilde, please come too.”
“Yes, Count!”
“Please join us, Teacher Leonard and Lady Eltea. It would be great if you two could take care of the Golden Ivory Tower and Queen Raviosa’s side, respectively.”
Everyone prepared for the emergency countermeasures meeting with solemn expressions. At a time like this, I, as the head of the cult, could not be absent.
“Alright. Then I’ll draft the official statement…”
“It’s fine.”
The gentle but firm dissuasion came from Bianca.
“Bia?”
“Hilde, the Vice-Archbishop, and I are enough to handle such matters.”
Bianca and Hilde exchanged resolute glances, as if they had made a promise.
It seems an external enemy strengthened internal cohesion.
I subtly put forward my opinion.
“Still, I’m the Holy Saint, shouldn’t I do something too?”
“Aillet, you.”
“Yes.”
“Just focus on Sir Tesillid.”
“……”
I received unexpected consideration.
It wasn’t just Bianca. Everyone in the room nodded as if it were obvious.
My shoulders, which I had been tensing to act tough, finally relaxed a little.
“Thank you, everyone…”
The air in the room was warm and cozy. It felt like this place was my world, and somehow I felt like I might mistakenly believe that everyone in the whole world was gentle and kind to me right now.
Tesillid, I wish you were here with me.
You are, after all, the biggest part of my world.
I calmed my stirring heart and got out of bed.
Before I prepared to face Tesillid, there was something I had to do.
“First, there are some people I’d like to meet and talk to.”
✠Currently, Iphail and Hestio were in a guest room on the 4th floor of the Duke’s Castle.
Their isolation and confinement were carried out in a somewhat strange manner.
Even though only two knights, who could easily subdue them, guarded the door, Iphail and Hestio remained quiet, as if secluded in the room.
In reality, something more powerful than the guards’ force restrained them.
-I’d like you two to stay here for a while.
Iphail and Hestio immediately accepted the Duke Hispenril’s polite and solemn request.
Their minds were too complex to decide their next steps, so they also felt the need to organize their thoughts.
Iphail lay stretched out on a long couch, while Hestio sat hunched over in a chair like a shrimp.
“……”
“……”
The reason the two were aimlessly sitting like recluses, having lost all dignity, was obvious.
The shock from the news that arrived yesterday from the Pontifical Palace was too great.
Aillet Rodelain, their friend and comrade, was declared a heretic.
Moreover, the Cardinal Council’s verdict was unanimous.
The Gate of the Pantheon, opened on the Litniel Plain, had clearly branded her as a heretic.
She was a Holy Saint who could use Divine Descent.
Because she was a being who proved God herself, the shock of her divinity being overturned and declared heresy was akin to a rebellion against God.
Who could have imagined it? That the Holy Saint, who appeared after 500 years, would not be a Holy Saint bestowed by ‘Strict Order and Goodness’, but by a heretical god.
Originally, the Elfenheim Holy Theocracy offered heretics a chance for conversion, but Aillet Rodelain was an exception. A kill order was immediately proclaimed without any process of persuasion.
“Hey.”
“What.”
At Hestio’s call, Iphail removed the book covering his face and responded.
Hollow eyes met hollow eyes after a single day.
But thinking how pathetic they both looked, they quickly turned their heads away again.
Hestio asked.
“What do you think about this situation?”
“Think…”
“……”
“I don’t know about that…”
“…Right, as if you’d have any thoughts.”
Iphail’s gaze wandered over the ceiling patterns, Hestio’s over the empty space in front of him.
After a long while, Iphail spoke.
“It could be a trap by that Saintess Muriel… We should hear Aillet’s side too…”
“……”
Even knowing full well what the Gate of the Pantheon signified, Iphail held onto fleeting hope.
However, at this moment, Hestio could not call Iphail foolish. He too was clinging to the outdated excuse of needing to hear both sides.
In truth, their situation was not good right now.
They had been assigned to Holy Saint Aillet Rodelain’s knight order and had spent about half a year with her. They even had a connection dating back to childhood.
If they procrastinated like this without hastily returning to the cult, they could be branded as heretics along with Aillet.
Nevertheless, they could not leave for the sake of their own position and safety. It felt as though they could only decide their next steps after Aillet woke up and spoke to them directly.
Even if those words were nothing more than an anticipated confession.
It was then, as the two were killing time, waiting for a delayed end.
Footsteps, as if deliberately made, grew closer from down the hallway.
It was neither the time for maids to bring meals nor for knights to change shifts.
However, their minds were so overloaded with thoughts of their friend becoming a heretic that there was no room for other questions.
Thus, the two had to face the person who appeared immediately after the knock, completely unprepared.
“Hello, heretics?”
“……!”
“……!”
The shell of reclusiveness that covered the two young men shattered instantly.
“Ah, Aillet…!”
Iphail tried to get up in a hurry and tumbled off the couch.
Meanwhile, Hestio, who had jumped to his feet, gesticulated at her with an open mouth.
“You… you…!”
“How have you been?”
“You… really…!”
“Yes, yes. You worried a lot and are touched to see me healthy? You really missed seeing my face? Yes, yes. Our Hestio, I know how you feel.”
“Hey, you…!”
Hestio barely suppressed his temper. He carefully put down his finger and asked.
“When did you wake up?”
“About an hour ago.”
“Body?”
“Perfectly fine.”
Aillet made a gesture of flexing her muscles with both arms.
That sight, so like the energetic, playful, and good-hearted Aillet they knew, made Hestio feel even more choked up.
“Hey, Aillet.”
“Yes.”
“It’s good that you woke up… truly good, but…”
“……”
At his choked voice, Aillet’s expression also turned serious. Hestio could barely utter another word after a deep breath.
“The news…”
“I heard.”
“……”
A clean answer. Only then did Hestio and Iphail recall the greeting Aillet had given when she entered the room.
Heretic. She had clearly called Hestio and Iphail heretics.
Hestio clenched his fist tightly, as if suppressing something.
“Is it… true?”
“……”
The brief silence was for them to prepare themselves.
Soon, a calm voice echoed through the air.
“Yes. I believe in a different God.”
“…Since when?”
“From the very beginning.”
“Then even when we met when I was 10…?”
“Yes.”
Hestio’s tone began to show impatience from this point on.
“W-we heard a Holy Saint appeared and used Divine Descent to win while we were unconscious in front of Count Orsu. Wasn’t that Holy Saint you? How, how did that happen?”
Aillet pondered the intention behind the question for a moment.
Did they think Divine Descent was exclusive to Order Religion saints? Having lived their whole lives under a monotheistic worldview, that could be the case.
Understanding, Aillet calmly explained.
“It’s just as you know. However, my Divine Descent was simply an ability granted by the ‘Voice-Spirit that Constructs the World’, not by ‘Strict Order and Goodness’.”
“……!” [
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Privilege for Possessors