Holy Relic
Holy Relic
According to Priest Mender, he himself had joined Seneran because of a revelation from the Saintess.
Naturally, I'd assumed he was the sort of priest who'd been dismissed from the Imperial Divine Council, but to think a revelation was involved. My teacher and Seneran showed no particular reaction, as if they'd already finished discussing it, but it was precisely that lack of reaction that made me suspicious.
"Why are you asking me that? Your employer is Seneran, isn't she?"
"That, I do not know either."
"Pardon?"
What did that mean? As my expression turned bizarre, Seneran, who was beside me, opened her mouth to elaborate.
"It was a condition from the very start of the contract. Priest Mender would provide help, but when a certain situation arose, you, Eldmia, were to judge whether Saintess Deoni should intervene."
"...If that's true, it sounds as if he knew this situation would arise."
"I thought so too. It seems like he received some kind of revelation, so I even asked if it wouldn't be better to just come directly instead of all this hassle."
But the answer that came back was a refusal, he said.
"'Such is the nature of revelation.' That's what the Saintess replied. I'm not particularly interested in theology, so I don't know how that's possible."
"Haha, don't worry. Even we, who have devoted ourselves to theology, always feel that way."
So revelation was always that vague? And here he was, helping out so nonchalantly with his 'haha' and 'hoho'? Priest Mender, who had been smiling kindly, seemed to sense my questioning gaze and shrugged lightly.
"How could a mere mortal fully comprehend the will of a god?"
Seemed like this guy was dispatched here because of that smooth, easygoing personality... Even if we glossed over this vague, doubt-filled situation as they said, my own situation hadn't changed.
If we got caught by the Kingdom's forces, in the worst case she could become the first saintess in history to die while sneaking into a country. And she was saying she'd come if I told her to, and wouldn't if I didn't? What the hell kind of revelation did she receive to go that far?
"...For now, I think I need to see the reason I came here and then decide. Is that alright?"
"Of course. The Saintess only said to follow Eldmia's judgment, she didn't specify when."
When Mender nodded willingly and gestured to lead the way, my teacher and Seneran also began walking deeper into the temple after him, and we exchanged brief glances before following them inside.
The interior had magically created orbs placed at regular intervals like torches, so moving around wasn't uncomfortable. There was a lot of collapsed stone on the floor, so Laika seemed to struggle a bit, but that was the extent of the discomfort.
Once some distance had opened up between us and the others Seneran had hired, Priest Mender, who had been walking at the front, slowly began to speak.
"I intend to explain the situation along the way. How much have you heard from Seneran?"
"I heard up to the point that you're trying to confirm whether I was influenced by the holy relic."
"That's right. Then I should explain how we'll confirm it."
As he said that, Priest Mender stroked his chin for a moment, clearly pondering how to explain this easily.
"Hmm, first, can you guess how we were able to notice the existence of a holy relic that no longer exists?"
"I heard that the more powerful the holy relic, the more its Divine Power leaves behind a sort of lingering scent. Wasn't that how you noticed?"
"That's correct. Unlike Magic Power, which exists naturally in the world, Divine Power is either an artificial or divine phenomenon, so the stronger it is, the stronger the traces it leaves. When those traces become stronger, they become a Sacred Domain, and when they overflow excessively, they temporarily become a Divine Domain."
Unlike a Sacred Domain, which produces beneficial effects like the amplification of Holy Arts, a Divine Domain is something to be wary of even if it originates from a good god. No, to be blunt, it's a danger zone.
Just a tiny bit of direct exposure to divinity can cause a person to faint, so how could a Divine Domain that spreads that effect over a wide area be beneficial to mortals?
"I heard that all Divine Domains recorded in history caused bad outcomes."
"You're knowledgeable. Indeed, that is so. Just as anything in excess becomes poison, they are valuable records that remind us that even the mercy of the gods can be poison to fragile beings like us."
That's why gods who love their creations intervene indirectly in the world. That's also why the era when Evil Gods who don't give a shit about such things overflowed was chaos itself.
It's common sense, but there are always people who lack it in any world, so Priest Mender seemed quite pleased that I knew these things.
"Anyway, that's why it's much easier to distinguish than Magic Power and magic. To put it simply, it's like the difference between mixing water with water and mixing water with ink."
"...The former is Divine Power."
Priest Mender nodded deeply and replied with satisfaction.
"To be precise, it's Divine Power that strongly carries the will of a god."
One thing I'd learned while studying was that magic leaves behind 'habits' in various forms.
It's like a kind of fingerprint. Just as it's not impossible for identical fingerprints to exist but extremely rare, so it is with magic. And when magic cast based on those habits lingers on ambient Magic Power, the traces gradually distort over time, making it hard to track who used the magic. As Priest Mender said, the difference becomes like that between water and ink.
But gods are different.
Because they are transcendent beings who have already attained perfection, their traces are always the same. Whether it's a trace from ten years ago or a hundred years ago, when compared, they are unwaveringly identical, like water that never shows a stain no matter how much it's mixed.
"The holy relic that was here... although it's only speculation, it's highly likely to be an object from the mythological era, either from the time when Evil Gods ran rampant or from an even older age. Because it was a time when even the gods didn't fully understand how fragile mortals were and weren't sure how far they should intervene, especially powerful holy relics appeared. The relics kept by the Imperial Divine Council are like that as well."
"So you believe it could even appoint a Hero."
"Yes. It's a blasphemous statement, but I think there's no room for doubt that it possesses that much power."
As Priest Mender's answer ended, the long corridor also came to an end, revealing a round cavern. I hadn't visited many temples, but even comparing it to memories from my past life, it was an incredibly unique structure.
"Looks more like a sealing altar than a temple, right?"
Priest Mender's question, which hit the nail on the head as if he'd read my mind, made me reflexively nod.
"Places where such powerful holy relics sleep are usually like this. Since it's a blessing from a god they serve, they can't dare treat it carelessly, but because it could be harmful to mortals, it was actually built like a sealing altar."
Multiple altars were arranged at precise intervals around the circular structure, but all except one held destroyed stone statues. It wasn't hard to guess that the now-absent holy relic had once been placed on that empty altar.
As soon as I took two more steps toward it, my body immediately began to react with a queasiness similar to when I'd overused Magic Power. If Asilie hadn’t noticed that my complexion had worsened in an instant and supported me, I might have staggered a bit.
"Damn, am I the only one feeling this? My stomach's churning like when I've overused Magic Power."
I quickly stepped back, but once my stomach started roiling, it wouldn't settle down at all. As I barely caught my breath and looked around, I saw that everyone's eyes were wide open in surprise.
Apparently, it was only me. Priest Mender, who had been walking toward the empty altar, hurriedly approached me and cast an unknown Holy Art, then opened his already wide eyes even wider.
"R-Resonance phenomenon. How on earth are you still maintaining consciousness?"
"What the hell, isn't it polite to first explain what that phenomenon is before asking...?"
Priest Mender immediately apologized with an 'oops' expression, but I felt like I had acute indigestion and had no leeway to respond. Maybe it's because I've never even had a proper cold in my life, but I'm utterly defenseless against these symptoms.
Fortunately, he understood that I wasn't even in a state to pretend to accept his apology and quickly continued his explanation.
"It refers to the Divine Power inherent in the body reacting to external Divine Power. It's a symptom seen when saints and saintesses receive their first revelation. It seems you reacted as soon as you touched the boundary of the Sacred Domain. You aren't hearing tinnitus or seeing hallucinations, are you?"
Tinnitus and hallucinations, what the hell was this, drugs? Fortunately, aside from feeling disgustingly uncomfortable, I was normal, so I could shake my head.
"I apologize. Originally, the method was to obtain Eldmia's consent and then artificially induce the resonance phenomenon, but I didn't anticipate that even though the holy relic has been gone for years, it would still be this strongly connected."
"Let's set that aside for now. That means... I'm connected to the holy relic that was here?"
It was a question I didn't need to ask, but I couldn't help but ask it,
and Mender answered by nodding very seriously.
"Ha, it's like some fucking secret of my birth."
I'd thought there was something, but I didn't expect it to be in this form.