The Goddess Has Been Resurrected (1)
"M-Main Goddess... What do you mean by that...?"
"The Unnamed Goddess and her Apostle, Yohan... We certainly recognize their contributions, but..."
A flurry of mixed reactions erupted among the council attendees.
Yohan merely watched the noisy chamber with a look that said he had expected exactly this.
The administrative structure of the Holy Kingdom was centered around the Pope, the supreme authority, who was assisted by the Cardinals. While it was true that the Pope wielded near-absolute power, the position itself was elected by the College of Cardinals, meaning their influence could never be entirely ignored.
Furthermore, even the Pope could not override the church doctrine, which served as the Holy Kingdom's constitution. In essence, the Holy Kingdom was a theocracy that functioned much like a constitutional monarchy.
This political reality was manifesting right now, even with the Main Goddess Justia sitting majestically in the seat where the Pope should have been.
But it didn't matter. Neither Yohan nor the Goddess showed any discontent. In fact, they had intended for this very situation to unfold.
"Main Goddess, we fully understand your sentiment," one Cardinal pleaded. "However, our policies regarding heretics must be maintained before we can project the Holy Kingdom's influence across the continent..."
"Are you saying that a sudden shift in our current policy might give demon worshippers and heretics who serve evil gods a pretext to run rampant?" Justia cut him off mid-sentence.
"Y-yes, that is correct."
The Holy Kingdom and the Central Church were undoubtedly organizations that used their religious authority to turn a profit. Yet, it would be unfair to brand them as entirely evil.
The Central Church was more experienced and genuinely dedicated to hunting down demon worshippers and evil cults than any other faction on the continent. Even a single low-level devil was a dangerous entity capable of causing immense harm to ordinary people. And it was the Central Church that could locate such threats faster than anyone else and personally send them back to hell.
"But even so," Justia asked, "how can we brand those who have brought great aid to me and our Central Church as heretics and execute them?"
Silence fell over the assembly at Justia's question.
And now... it was time for the real business to begin.
Justia subtly turned her head and locked eyes with Yohan. She gave him a quick wink. Watching her, Yohan thought to himself that the two sister goddesses truly did resemble each other.
"Do you truly wish to turn your blades against those who risked their lives to aid us, all for the sake of your rigid principles?" Justia rebuked them, her voice dropping to a low, heavy tone.
The Cardinals gulped, their faces tight with tension under her gaze.
Yet, this was nothing more than a performance to steer them toward the desired outcome. Knowing this, Yohan and the Unnamed Goddess merely maintained their impassive expressions.
An awkward silence hung over the chamber for a moment. Justia scanned the council with a displeased expression, while the Cardinals bowed their heads, terrified of making eye contact with their deity.
"I, too, am well aware of your concerns," Justia said, finally breaking the silence.
At her words, the Cardinals, whose faces had turned pale as sheets, instantly brightened with relief.
"Recognizing every pagan faith is certainly not a decision to be made lightly," she continued. "However, for us, who hold justice as our highest virtue, to repay grace with enmity is utterly absurd."
To be honest, Yohan had recently half-forgotten that both the Central Church and the Goddess's faith held 'justice' as their core value. Perhaps his own way of thinking had become so aligned with the Goddess's doctrines that he didn't even need to consciously think about justice anymore, he mused.
That's probably it, he thought to himself.
"If anyone believes my words are incorrect, speak your mind now."
Who in their right mind would dare oppose Justia here? Yohan let out a silent chuckle.
It was a classic negotiation tactic: propose an extreme condition first, and when they object, step back to present the actual compromise you wanted all along.
Simply permitting their activities was vastly different from treating them as equals. The former would mean they could only operate under the Central Church's permission, leaving them subject to their influence both nominally and practically.
But if the status of the Church of the Unnamed Goddess was elevated to be equal to the Central Church by the decree of Justia herself, the story changed entirely. The other high-ranking officials of the Holy Kingdom would lose any pretext to interfere with the Unnamed Goddess's followers.
This meant the two thousand survivors of Easthold, who had technically committed heresy—a crime severely punished under church law—would be entirely freed from any liability. This was the exact condition Yohan had demanded when negotiating with Justia earlier.
At the time, he couldn't execute a plan to rescue Justia directly, and leaving the survivors behind was out of the question, so he had converted them to the Unnamed Goddess's faith as a temporary measure. Even if it was done out of goodwill, he had semi-forcibly converted the survivors of Easthold, so he had to take responsibility for them to the very end. He couldn't afford to yield any further on this point.
Justia's sharp gaze swept over the Cardinals, silently demanding their compliance.
"We shall follow the will of the Main Goddess," one Cardinal began, and soon the entire chamber echoed with nods and murmurs of agreement.
Watching this unfold, Yohan and the Unnamed Goddess exchanged glances. After a brief pause, as if they had rehearsed it beforehand, they simultaneously gave each other a firm thumbs-up.
With this, the Church of the Unnamed Goddess was finally able to openly and proudly spread its faith across the entire continent.
The meeting dragged on for several more hours. By the time it wrapped up, even Yohan, who possessed superhuman physical capabilities, felt his feet aching.
Ultimately, Yohan and the Goddess slipped out of the grand council chamber and headed toward the outdoor terrace on the same floor.
"Phew. I really can't stand those kinds of formal gatherings," Yohan muttered, taking a deep breath of the fresh night air. He felt like he could finally breathe again.
"Indeed. Since our affairs have been settled, there is no reason for outsiders like us to linger," the Goddess replied.
"Exactly. My thoughts exactly."
They had gone through all sorts of hell and encountered two high-level devils, but they had resolved the crisis nonetheless. Not only that, but negotiating with the Main God Justia to guarantee the freedom of their church was a massive harvest in itself.
Of course, this was only a victory from Yohan's perspective.
The Holy Kingdom and Justia would now have to deal with a mountain of reconstruction work that would surely give them a massive headache. They also had to negotiate with neighboring nations, including the Empire, and hunt down the escaped old demon and Angelo III. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the real battle was just beginning for them.
Naturally, Yohan had no intention of just standing by with his arms crossed either.
Pandemonium had now clearly identified Yohan and the Unnamed Goddess. Though the demons had retreated this time due to the circumstances, there was no telling when they would bare their fangs at Westania again.
The demon that had possessed Big Boss's corpse, the demon that had driven the man-eating trolls into a frenzy, the two demons they had encountered in the wasteland...
And... the old demon who was the source of the madness that had plagued the Holy Kingdom.
Yohan had seen and experienced firsthand the devastating consequences whenever those wretched demons caused trouble. It was only logical to hunt down and crush every single one of those vile fiends. In the name of the Goddess of Justice, and... out of his personal creed to repay whatever he received with interest.
"By the way, Apostle, what do you intend to do with the fable books you published under a pseudonym?" the Goddess asked.
"What else? I'll just reveal to the public that they were actually about our church all along," Yohan shrugged.
Thanks to the printing shops in Westania's capital and the Dorleans Merchant Group in the Corporate State, the fables Yohan had published under a pen name had already spread across the continent. If they utilized this properly, it would be an incredible tool for spreading the word of the Church of the Unnamed Goddess.
"Hmph, a splendid answer. We must ensure that devotion to me spreads far and wide across the land," the Goddess said, a satisfied smile gracing her lips.
"Shall we head back to our village now, then?"
"Well, eventually."
But slipping away without a word felt a bit rude. It was only right to wait until the meeting ended and bid Justia farewell.
And so, they waited patiently for quite some time.
At long last, the Cardinals emerged from the chamber in a steady stream as the lengthy meeting concluded. They looked slightly surprised to spot the duo waiting outside, but they quickly offered polite bows and hurried on their way. Judging by their expressions, they had a mountain of questions they wanted to ask, but given the sheer volume of work awaiting them, they probably couldn't spare a single second.
"Hey there."
Yohan and the Goddess walked back into the council room. Justia, left entirely alone in the massive chamber, greeted them.
"Did you wait for the meeting to end just to bid me farewell?" Justia asked.
"You know it," Yohan replied with a nod.
"If it were up to me, I would have liked to formally invite you and introduce you before all my believers..."
"Forget it. The whole country is in ruins. What kind of event would we even hold?"
It was no exaggeration. Yohan had witnessed firsthand the devastation stretching from Easthold, through Patermachi, and all the way to the Holy City. The Holy Kingdom was practically in shambles.
Justia's lips curved into a faint smile at his blunt response.
Creak—
With a soft groan, the wide-open doors of the council chamber shut on their own.
"I was... truly, truly afraid," Justia confessed suddenly, letting out a heavy sigh as she looked at Yohan. In that moment, not a shred of the majestic dignity of a supreme deity remained in her posture.
"When we were a single entity, I never felt anything like this." Justia gently placed her right hand over her heart. "Anxiety, worry, and fear... All these emotions crashed over my heart like a massive wave."
Then, she turned her gaze toward the Unnamed Goddess.
"You, of all people, must understand how I feel."
"..."
The Unnamed Goddess remained silent, but her silence was far from a denial.
"To be honest, I am still afraid. As the one who inherited the name of the Goddess of Justice, the more I think about the future, the more dread I feel."
The Main God Justia was, quite literally, the pillar of the Holy Kingdom. Without her, the nation and the Central Church could not exist, and if she fell, the entire system would collapse. In the distant past, before the Goddess of Justice split into two, there was no such worry. Back then, she was an absolute being, entirely untouched by the trivial emotions of mortals.
"My other half," the Unnamed Goddess spoke, breaking her silence. "Do you then deem our current state a misfortune? Do you wish to absorb me, the remaining half, and return to our complete form?"
Justia's eyes widened slightly at the question, but she soon shook her head with a bitter smile.
"No, that is not it. While our Holy Kingdom's current situation is extremely dire, I believe my followers will surely overcome this crisis."
Justice was, after all, hope and unyielding will. Just like her believers, Justia was looking toward that hope.
"And... despite the countless eons that have passed, it is only recently that I have truly felt alive."
"Is that so?"
"Indeed. Besides, you are already a deity responsible for over two thousand of your own believers."
Justia, who had once imprisoned her other half to monopolize the faith of mortals, had decided to abandon her old greed.
"Still... even so, I cannot help but envy you." Justia shifted her gaze slightly away from the Goddess, looking directly at the man standing beside her. "Yohan, Apostle of the Unnamed Goddess."
"What?" Yohan replied, as blunt as ever.
"Would you be willing to become my Apostle as well?"