Please Allow Me to Be a Righteous Thief Today as Well, Part 6
"I have already prepared a room for the two of you to stay in. That way, it will be much easier to guide him."
Farmer Yohan, who hailed from the remote corners of the continent, had his outstanding talent as a natural-born cleric recognized. As soon as he converted to the Church, he was granted the position of an apprentice inquisitor rather than a mere layman.
"Understood."
"Good. You may excuse yourselves now."
As soon as the Cardinal finished speaking, Annie looked at Yohan and nodded. Yohan stood up and followed her out of the Minister's office.
"Let us head over immediately. I will guide you to your new quarters."
"Mm."
When they stepped out of the office, an attendant who had been waiting by the entrance greeted them.
"This way, please."
The place they were guided to was a living space with two bedrooms separated by a central living room.
"As for Inquisitor Agnes's belongings, we shall..."
"No, that is fine. I do not have many belongings anyway, so I shall move them myself."
"Understood."
Having finished his duty, the attendant left the room. Left alone in the living room, the two of them slumped into chairs, their shoulders shaking.
"Pfft..."
"Pwahaha..."
The two of them finally let loose the laughter they had been holding back. While they didn't burst out into loud guffaws, they clutched their stomachs and snickered for a long time.
*Flash.* Just as the two of them finally calmed down and caught their breath, the Goddess, who had remained silent in her spiritual form, manifested.
"To think they dare treat my Apostle, who has received ninety percent of my power, as a mere apprentice inquisitor. How utterly preposterous."
"Hey, come on. Thanks to that, we got a perfect excuse to wander around wherever we want," Yohan replied with a shrug.
Annie nodded in agreement with Yohan's words.
"Yohan is correct. Now, we just need to scout the building's layout and figure out the guards' patrol schedules..."
"And then we blow a hole straight into the secret vault and swipe the Original Scriptures."
"And on our way out, we grab the Divine Weapons we've got our eyes on."
Once they secured everything, they would return to the village where Falco and Billy were waiting, and officially begin cultivating herbs and compiling their new scriptures. Yohan and Annie looked at each other and nodded.
"Oh, right. Now that I think about it."
After a brief pause, Yohan voiced a question that had suddenly crossed his mind.
"That old geezer—the Minister, or Cardinal, or whatever he is. Why was he making such a huge fuss and acting so overjoyed?"
Yohan understood that, in the eyes of the Holy Kingdom's clergy, he looked like a legendary "hero" on par with Teodoro IV. Thus, it wasn't strange for the Minister of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to be pleased. However, the Minister's joy felt slightly off. It wasn't joy for a greater cause, but rather a sense of relief and delight regarding his own personal safety and position.
"Indeed, that Cardinal's face was laid bare with utter selfishness," the Goddess chimed in, having listened quietly to Yohan's words.
"The reason is simple," Annie explained. "Teodoro IV was a Holy Knight, not an Inquisitor."
"Ah."
At Annie's answer, Yohan immediately understood.
Internal power struggles were rampant within the Central Church. The two major armed factions, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Holy Knights, were no exception. Currently, the only organization aware of Yohan's existence was the Congregation. From the Minister's perspective, raising Yohan as an Inquisitor without losing him to those eyesore Holy Knights would be a monumental achievement—he would be credited with nurturing a talent comparable to a legendary hero. If all went well, it might even secure his election as the next Pope. In that sense, to the Minister and the Grand Inquisitor, Yohan was nothing short of a golden goose dropped right into their laps.
"Well..."
Of course, what the old man hoped for would never happen. Yohan was far from the kind of talent the Minister and the Grand Inquisitor imagined him to be.
"Now then, let us head out immediately."
"Okay."
At Annie's prompting, Yohan pushed himself up from his seat. First, they would map out the exact route to the Secret Archive. Then, they would pinpoint the hours when security was at its weakest. And finally... they would blast right through the entrance to the Secret Archive.
A week had passed since Yohan entered the building of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Having secured the status of an apprentice inquisitor, Yohan was able to roam the interior of the Congregation far more freely than originally planned. And finally, the two of them set the date to raid the Secret Archive. It was tonight.
The commotion caused by the rumors Yohan had spread quickly quieted down. Although they were still dealing with minor incidents caused by excited believers stirring up the Holy City, it was only a matter of time before the Congregation returned to its routine operations. They had no more time to waste.
Furthermore, the security inside the Congregation was far laxer than Yohan had feared. The Congregation was indeed an institution of the Central Church that commanded a large force of combat-ready Inquisitors. Yet, the security level inside the main headquarters was surprisingly low. At most, guards belonging to the Congregation patrolled the corridors, and security devices powered by Miracle Arts were kept active. Of course, considering how incredibly difficult it was for an outsider to infiltrate the Holy City in the first place, this level of complacency was somewhat natural.
Even so, it didn't mean an intruder could easily waltz into the Secret Archive. One would have to steal the keys held by the Minister of the Congregation and the archivist, and the lock mechanism required both keys to be inserted simultaneously while channeling divine power. Therefore, the only realistic scenario for the Secret Archive to be breached was an inside job. Which was exactly what Yohan and Annie were doing.
In the dead of night, when all but a skeleton crew of night-watchmen had gone off duty, Yohan and Annie slipped out of their room and traversed the silent corridors. No words were needed. They had already rehearsed every single action they would take before reaching the Secret Archive.
The two headed straight down the stairs to the basement. The moment Yohan stepped into the subterranean level, he scanned the lights sparsely lining the walls. At a glance, they looked like ordinary crystal spheres emitting a soft glow, but they were actually security devices designed to trigger an alarm the moment they detected an intruder's movement.
*Shup.* Yohan extended both hands toward the security devices and channeled his divine power.
*Flash.* A faint radiance bloomed from his fingertips and enveloped the crystal spheres. A moment later, the brightly glowing security devices shut down simultaneously, like electronic appliances losing power.
—No matter how fancy a device they craft with their Miracle Arts, it is utterly meaningless before an Apostle who wields the raw power of a god.
The Goddess's smug voice echoed in his mind. Yohan smirked slightly and continued making his way toward the Secret Archive. Since they had mapped out the guards' patrol schedules beforehand, they didn't encounter a single soul, save for the two guards stationed permanently at the entrance. Soon, they reached the corner just before the entrance to the Secret Archive.
"Yaaawn—"
As they pressed themselves against the wall and waited, the faint sound of a guard yawning drifted from around the corner.
"You look exhausted."
"Don't even get me started. The entire Holy City has been in an uproar over some ridiculous rumor lately. Because of that, I got dragged out of my afternoon nap and worked to the bone before finally getting back."
With the rest of the building asleep, the two guards' conversation was quiet but clear. Yohan listened in silence while exchanging a glance with Annie. Since Yohan had handled the security devices, it was Annie's turn to take the lead.
*Step.* Annie walked straight around the corner.
"Wh-who goes there... Ah, Inquisitor."
"Mm. You are working hard so late into the night."
"Not at all, ma'am. But what brings you here at this hour?"
Even if the guards had been slacking off when they were alone, they were still soldiers stationed in the Holy City. Thus, even though they recognized Annie, they did not completely lower their guard.
"I was organizing documents all night and felt drowsy, so I decided to take a short walk."
"I-I see. But the residential quarters and this area are..."
"It seems the two of you are quite exhausted as well. I even heard you yawning."
"Th-that is preposterous! We would never do such a thing while on important guard duty."
But Annie was no amateur. She skillfully manipulated the two guards with her smooth talking. An Inquisitor's title really isn't just for show, Yohan thought, shrugging as he listened to the conversation from around the corner.
"Is that so?"
"Y-yes! Absolutely."
"Swear it by the Primary God?"
"Yes. We swear by the Primary—*ack!*"
*Thwack!* A crisp blunt impact echoed, followed by the brief, choked groans of the two guards. Taking that sound as his cue, Yohan finally stepped around the corner.
"In the name of the Goddess. Rest in peace."
Annie murmured softly as she dragged the unconscious guards away from the archive entrance.
"Hey, you make it sound like you just murdered them and you're praying for their souls."
"Mm. Regardless, I leave the rest to you."
"Yeah, yeah."
It was his turn again. Yohan rolled his shoulders as he stared at the tightly shut stone door. Just as he had seen before, the entrance to the Secret Archive was much wider than it was tall. There was a keyhole at each far end, and the distance between them was too wide for a single person to reach even with their arms fully outstretched, meaning two people absolutely had to operate them together.
"Breaking this down won't trigger any alarms, right?"
"You are asking the same question again. As I said, there is no such thing. In the first place, they could never even conceive of this door being breached."
"Perfect."
*Flash.* Yohan gathered his divine power to summon his Light Sword, and Annie took a few steps back as she watched.
"Just so you know, the durability of this stone door is incomparable to the stone wall you broke through in Balifield."
At Annie's warning, Yohan merely flashed a confident smirk.
"Just sit back and watch, Master."
"Hmph."
Yohan focused his mind. He was about to breach a stone door guarding the Secret Archive, one blessed by high-ranking clergymen. However, he couldn't simply unleash his maximum output. If he wasn't careful, the beam of light might pierce straight through the door and incinerate the books inside without leaving a trace. So, this time... he had to be a bit more delicate.
*Whirrrr.* The Light Sword began to emit a light far brighter than before, though its physical size did not increase. This was a much safer method than blindly firing a destructive beam.
*Sizzle.* Yohan thrust the Light Sword directly into the stone door. The door seemed to resist for a brief second, but it quickly began to melt away. Using the Light Sword, Yohan carved a circle in the center of the stone door, just large enough for a person to squeeze through.
*Thud.* He then kicked the center of the carved circle, punching a hole straight through.
—I see. You concentrated the output of a destructive beam into an extremely narrow area to increase its relative cutting power. A surprisingly brilliant idea for someone like you.
Yohan flipped the air above his head a middle finger, unsummoned his Light Sword, and slipped through the hole in the stone door into the Secret Archive.
"Oh, wow."
Stepping into the Secret Archive, Yohan let out an involuntary gasp of admiration.
"I... I did not know about this either..."
Annie was equally astonished. The underground Secret Archive of the Congregation was not merely a place for storing forbidden books.
—At this rate, it would be more accurate to call this a warehouse rather than an archive.
It was just as the Goddess said. The Secret Archive was a warehouse storing all kinds of forbidden items alongside books. Yohan gathered his divine power once more, conjuring a sphere of light to illuminate the pitch-black interior. Annie had pulled a glass orb from her robes, but upon seeing the light source Yohan created, she quietly slipped it back. Yohan slowly scanned the now-brightened secret warehouse.
"Sheesh... Hey, dummy. No matter how I look at the stuff in here..."
The warehouse was incredibly long, looking more like a corridor than a room at first glance. The distance from the entrance to the far end was easily dozens of meters, and that vast space was packed with all sorts of items.
—Every single one of them radiates an extraordinary power. They are all sacred relics of other gods or objects steeped in demonic energy. And... look over there.
"Ugh."
At the very end of the secret warehouse stood another stone door. And from beyond that tightly shut door, a foul, malevolent energy seeped out, so intense it felt as if they were standing face-to-face with a high-level devil.
"Ugh... It seems that stone door wasn't just physically sturdy."
"No kidding," Yohan replied briefly, resuming his steps.
If an object could emit such an aura even through a closed door, touching it would undoubtedly lead to a very bad time. Yohan decided to play it safe and stick to their original target: the Original Scriptures.
"Ah, here it is."
Before long, he spotted the Original Scriptures resting atop a writing desk.