The Nameless Village (2)
Within the Holy Kingdom, there were several types of combat organizations. The guards and the regular army, composed of relatively ordinary men. And the Heresy Inquisitors, who handled everything from direct combat to search operations and intelligence gathering. Among them, the one with the strongest individual martial power was undoubtedly the Holy Knights. If the Inquisitors of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith were special forces handling all sorts of dirty and complex missions, it was no exaggeration to say that each individual Holy Knight was a walking armored vehicle.
Yohan watched from a slight distance as an unnamed Holy Knight fought against three Inquisitors.
—His martial prowess is certainly far superior to the others. With this level of skill, even if he fought that gorilla-like sheriff from Junk Town, it wouldn't be an easy victory.
The Goddess also seemed to acknowledge the Holy Knight's skill. Since she undoubtedly possessed memories of her time as Yustia, the Goddess of Justice, this meant that the martial power of modern Holy Knights did not fall far behind that of the past, when they were actively waging war against the Demon King.
—But his opponents are also formidable. If we just stand here and watch, it will be over in no time.
Yohan nodded silently at the Goddess's words. The two factions fighting across Patermachi did not aim to annihilate each other; rather, their goal was to subdue their opponents and 'bring them back to their senses.' In fact, several subdued Inquisitors had been cured of their madness through the Exorcism Rite, subsequently joining the Holy Knights to participate in reclaiming the Patermachi Cathedral.
The problem was that any Holy Knights captured by the Inquisitors and other 'crazed lunatics' would either contract the madness themselves or be tortured to death.
Whoosh! Yohan approached the three Inquisitors from behind, swinging his Light Sword to unleash the Divine Flame. Since the Divine Flame fundamentally only burned evil things, it would not cause physical harm to the Inquisitors, who were merely afflicted by madness.
"Urgh!" Swept up in the Divine Flame, the corrupted Inquisitors let out brief groans and collapsed to the ground, unconscious. In Easthold, Yohan had left the treatment of madness to the cathedral priests, but in a situation like this, he had no choice but to act directly. Yohan nodded as he confirmed that the evil energy had vanished from the three unconscious Inquisitors.
"W-what in the world..." Meanwhile, the Holy Knight, who had steeled himself for a fight to the death while facing the three Inquisitors alone, could only stare at Yohan with wide eyes.
"W-who are you?"
"None of your business, but I'm on your side, so grab these guys and get back to your base. I gave them a good UV sterilization, so their madness is gone. They'll wake up soon." Yohan waved his hand dismissively in response to the Holy Knight's question. The Holy Knight looked utterly bewildered, but his face brightened dramatically when he realized that the madness had indeed left the three unconscious Inquisitors.
"Yes. I will transport them immediately. I do not know who you are, but thank you so much." Expressing his heartfelt gratitude, the Holy Knight immediately gathered the three Inquisitors sprawled on the ground. He slung one over his back and tucked the other two under his arms, yet he showed no sign of struggling under the weight.
"No other comrades nearby?"
"No, sir. I was scouting alone," the Holy Knight replied immediately, nodding repeatedly.
"No wonder you aren't wearing that flashy armor."
"Indeed. When moving stealthily, heavy armor is more of a hindrance."
"Right. Get moving before more crazies pop out nearby."
"Yes. Thank you once again, nameless brother. May the blessing of the Main God be with you." With those final words, the Holy Knight headed toward his base with the unconscious Inquisitors in tow.
After watching the Holy Knight's retreating figure for a moment, Yohan channeled his Authority once more, summoning his Wings of Light to soar into the air. He still had a mountain of work to do. Small and large skirmishes between the two factions were breaking out all over Patermachi.
Yohan narrowed his eyes, scanning the panoramic view of Patermachi below. From the sky, the city looked as disastrous as if the entire urban area had been bombed. While religious facilities like the cathedral remained relatively intact, the ordinary houses and streets were in absolute ruins. Scanning the city streets, Yohan searched for other Holy Knights fighting those lost to madness, just like the one he had just helped.
"Sigh, that so-called Main God doesn't show any signs of waking up. If the Empire bastards decide to seize this opportunity and invade, it's game over." Yohan grumbled. The Goddess didn't give a direct reply, but she seemed to agree with Yohan in her heart. Since she was in her spiritual form, he couldn't see her face, but he could sense it.
The Main God sealed in the center of the Holy City was not merely a captured hostage. If she broke her seal and fully awakened, the madness blanketing the Holy Kingdom would quickly dissipate. Although the Unnamed Goddess had now secured thousands of believers and recovered a significant portion of her divinity, it was still a mere drop in the bucket compared to what the Main God, Yustia, possessed.
Yet, that grand and mighty Main God Yustia remained sealed inside the Papal Palace, fast asleep with no sign of waking. In truth, Yohan had considered triggering another explosion of divine power to wake her up. However, the risk of doing such a thing in the current situation was far too high. For one, there was no guarantee that Yustia would actually wake up again, and there was a very high probability that demons from Pandemonium were lurking in the Holy City.
Not only that, but those afflicted by madness were still clergy members at their core, meaning they would easily detect any massive surge of divine power Yohan unleashed.
"Hey, dummy," Yohan suddenly addressed the Goddess while carefully scanning every corner of the city.
—I am listening.
"I've been thinking... that other half of yours. She's a total piece of trash."
—I cannot particularly refute that.
"Right?"
—However, it remains a fact that my other half sealed in the Holy City is the most certain way to resolve the current situation.
"Hmm..." Yohan groaned. "Ah, screw it. Let's deal with the urgent matters first." A moment later, he rapidly descended toward the ground. He had spotted a large group of Holy Knights locked in combat.
Dozens of people gathered in a spacious log cabin that served as the town hall. Having returned to the village, Yohan explained the current situation of the Holy Kingdom to the former priests of the Easthold Cathedral, who had now become believers of the Church of the Unnamed Goddess.
To manage the refugee population efficiently, Yohan decided to use the cathedral priests as middle managers. Since the Holy Kingdom was a nation where the Central Church essentially functioned as the administrative system, neither the priests nor the refugees raised any complaints. Rather, some priests were even delighted to receive direct orders from Yohan, the Apostle of the Goddess.
"Anyway, the situation is still bad. The Holy Knights are holding their ground well because they're incredibly strong, but to completely turn the tide, we have no choice but to wake up that dumbass... I mean, the Main God sealed in the Papal Palace."
"Oh, Goddess..." Upon hearing Yohan's words, the priests let out heavy sighs or closed their eyes in dismay.
"Enough about that. Everything quiet on the village front?" Yohan turned his head and asked Annie, who was sitting beside him.
"Yes. We have established a temporary residential area around the perimeter fence. As you ordered, we didn't force the original villagers to do any unnecessary labor, and all the supplies distributed to the refugees were purchased directly by us from nearby cities."
Fortunately, things in the village were progressing smoothly without any major issues. Listening to Annie's report, Yohan let out a deep, genuine sigh of relief.
"So, Yohan. Are you really alright?" Annie suddenly asked. Yohan tilted his head, wondering what she was getting at.
"Even if you are an Apostle who channels the Goddess's power, traveling across the Holy Kingdom alone to support the Holy Knights is no easy feat. Have you even slept ten hours in total over the past week?"
"Ah." So that was it. Realizing what Annie meant, Yohan wore an awkward expression.
"At least for tonight, stay home and get some proper rest. I'm only advising you gently because it's me. If Falco saw your face right now, she would have dragged you to bed by force."
The priests, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, nodded in agreement with Annie's words.
"Alright, alright, I get it." Yohan finally threw up his hands in defeat. At his sigh-filled response, Annie finally let out a small smile.
"Good. Now, back to the village. Have there been any wild beasts invading the residential area?"
"Falco used the power of her ring to set up a temporary barrier around the residential area. It's not as sturdy as the main wall surrounding the village, but it's more than enough to keep out ordinary wild beasts."
Once they had secured basic shelters to block the wind and rain, Yohan planned to develop the village so that the two thousand refugees could properly settle down.
"Alright, listen up, everyone." At Yohan's announcement, all eyes in the room turned to him.
"I'll go into more detail with everyone tomorrow afternoon, but from now on, we're going to grow this backwater village into a proper city."
The Goddess's power was directly tied to the total amount of faith held by her believers. And to secure more believers, they first needed a place where people could settle down in peace. To build the headquarters of those who worshipped the silly Goddess right here—to establish the Holy City of the Church of the Unnamed Goddess. That was Yohan's goal.
"Then... I suppose it's about time we did that," Annie remarked after listening to Yohan.
"Did what?" Yohan asked back. Annie shrugged, looking at him as if he should already know.
"Naming the village."
Come to think of it, she was right. Yohan realized a crucial fact he hadn't even considered until now. This village had no name.
"Reusing the name Yustia... would probably be difficult. The Goddess herself said that name is no longer hers." Annie spoke while looking at Yohan, though she seemed to be addressing the Goddess who was with him in her spiritual form.
Clack! Just as Yohan and the others were pondering names for the village, the firmly shut door suddenly swung open, and a familiar face poked in. The uninvited guest was Falco. Yohan flinched slightly, suddenly worried that what Annie had said earlier might actually happen.
"If that's the case, I have a great idea." Falco seemed to have overheard their conversation. She naturally slipped past the priests and took a seat right next to Yohan and Annie.
"Since it's a village where people who believe in the Church of the Unnamed Goddess gather, why not just call it the 'Nameless Village'? What do you think?" she proudly suggested.