Road to the Holy City (5)
“So this is a Holy Knight of the Holy Kingdom.”
The Goddess’s slightly excited voice echoed in Yohan’s mind. She seemed curious about a knight who drew upon the power of the Primary God, Justia. This was also Yohan’s first time seeing a Holy Knight of the Holy Kingdom in person. He was secretly intrigued as well, but he wasn’t foolish enough to let it show on his face. Idle curiosity only shortened one’s lifespan. That was a life lesson Yohan had carved into his bones during his long years as a grave robber.
“Greetings. Are you just returning from a mission?”
Annie, who had looked briefly taken aback, quickly composed herself and offered a polite greeting. The Holy Knight gave a warm, genial smile and nodded deeply.
“Indeed. Are you also returning to headquarters after a mission, Inquisitor?”
“Yes. I’ve just returned from a journey to the southwestern part of the continent.”
“I see. And the gentleman beside you is...?”
Here it came. The Holy Knight shifted his gaze to Yohan. Annie turned her head, briefly locking eyes with him.
“He is a local farmer I met during my travels. He didn’t even know of our Central Church’s existence, but after hearing my testimony, he expressed a desire to become a believer of the Primary God, Justia.”
As Annie spoke, she gave Yohan’s shoulder a gentle pat. Yohan was thoroughly impressed by how smoothly she lied.
“To leave one’s homeland in pursuit of faith... Surely, the Primary God will be deeply pleased.”
The Holy Knight marveled at Annie’s introduction and immediately reached out to grab Yohan’s hand.
“The Church is always waiting for lost lambs like you. If you pray without ceasing, the Primary God will surely answer you.”
“Right, right. Sure.”
Yohan offered an awkward smile in response to the knight’s advice. All the while, the Holy Knight kept pumping Yohan’s hand up and down with intense enthusiasm. Yohan felt a headache coming on, wondering if all Holy Knights in this country were this exhausting.
“Well then, I hope we meet again someday.”
“May the Primary God watch over your path.”
Their brief exchange concluded. Leaving them with a blessing for their journey, the Holy Knight went on his way.
“……”
Once the Holy Knight had departed, Yohan and Annie stood in silence for a moment.
“Did you hear that?”
“Yeah. I heard... him.”
Annie, who had been quiet, asked. Yohan nodded in agreement. He had heard it loud and clear. That Holy Knight clearly knew Annie from before, which meant he was well aware she couldn’t perform Miracle Arts. Yet, he had deliberately gone out of his way to babble about how the Primary God would surely answer prayers.
—He looks decent on the outside, but his heart is utterly twisted.
Even the Goddess clicked her tongue at the Holy Knight’s nasty passive-aggressiveness.
“Let’s go find a room first.”
“R-Right.”
This was a city with eyes everywhere. He couldn’t just summon a Dimensional Portal using his Apostle’s Authority out in the open. Yohan planned to rent a room first and then open the portal inside. Annie resumed her stride, and Yohan followed closely behind.
Easthold was the easternmost city of the Holy Kingdom. As a result, there was no shortage of lodgings catering to travelers, and the quality of the facilities was incomparably superior to backwater regions like Balifield. The inn they chose for the night was no exception. Though it was called an inn, by modern standards, it was luxurious enough to be described as a classic, high-end hotel.
“This place should be fine. The walls are soundproof, and I deliberately booked a room on the top floor.”
“It looks incredibly expensive. Are you sure we can afford this?”
Yohan asked, eyeing the lavish decor. Annie shrugged lightly.
“It doesn’t matter. I paid for it using the expense account provided by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.”
“I... see.”
This woman had completely thrown her loyalty to the organization out the window the moment she decided to leave the Church. Well, it just meant she was exceptionally good at separating business from personal matters. No complaints here.
Yohan scanned the interior of the room. The room featured two queen-sized beds, a large table surrounded by plush sofas, and even a cabinet stocked with various bottles of alcohol. A large window dominated one wall, so Yohan immediately drew the heavy curtains to block the view entirely. The moment the room was secured, the Goddess materialized in the air with a soft pop and plopped onto one of the beds. She had clearly been waiting impatiently for Yohan to block out the outside world.
“What an utterly wicked creature! How dare he say such things to Annie’s face when he knew her circumstances?”
The moment she took physical form, the Goddess began venting her fury about the Holy Knight they had just encountered.
“I know, right? What an absolute bastard. Maybe I should’ve just punched him in the face.”
Yohan chimed in, thoroughly agreeing with her sentiment.
“Indeed! At first glance, he looked like a perfectly gentle soul, but he has a venomous serpent coiled inside his belly!”
Well, those polite, squinty-eyed guys usually turned out to be the most twisted. The Big Boss of the Undercity Family was exactly like that. Watching the Goddess stomp her feet in anger, Yohan reinforced the prejudice he had built through years of hard-earned experience.
“Annie. Do you not agree?”
The Goddess turned to Annie for agreement. Annie blinked in surprise for a moment, then gave a soft nod.
“You are correct. I have known him for quite a long time, and he always seemed to find it highly amusing that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith employed an Inquisitor who couldn’t even perform Miracle Arts.”
Ah... Yohan knew exactly what that was. It was like a petty coworker gossiping and snickering behind the back of someone they deemed inferior. Human nature was the same everywhere. Yohan clicked his tongue at the unpleasant universality of it all.
“His remarks earlier were undoubtedly meant to mock me. He has a remarkable talent for tearing people down with a gentle tone.”
Yet, as Annie spoke, she didn’t look particularly angry. In fact, she actually seemed to be in a rather good mood.
“But I do not care.”
“You do not care?”
The Goddess tilted her head in confusion at Annie’s confession.
“Yes. Though I prayed countless times over the years and never once heard the voice of the Primary God, it was precisely because of that failure that I was able to meet you, Goddess.”
“A-Annie!”
Deeply moved by Annie’s words, the Goddess sprang up from the bed and threw her arms around her.
“G-Goddess?!”
“Waaah! Yes! No matter what anyone says, you are my precious believer!”
Once her emotional switch was flipped, the Goddess rubbed her face all over Annie’s coat, leaving a generous smear of tears and snot.
“Y-Yohan! What is the meaning of this...?!”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. Everyone who works with me has gone through something similar.”
Flustered, Annie actually stammered as she pleaded with Yohan for help. But Yohan had no intention of pulling the Goddess away; he just snickered as he watched the spectacle unfold.
“Uuuugh, waaaah...”
The Goddess let out a bizarre sound that was a cross between a sob and a retch. After a moment, she suddenly pulled away from Annie and marched over to Yohan.
“Whoa, hold on. Not me. Don’t you dare wipe that filthy stuff on me.”
Yohan stammered in alarm, raising his hands defensively. But his wariness quickly faded as he noticed the sudden, dead-serious expression on the Goddess’s face.
“My Sacred Relic is somewhere in this city. I can feel its presence.”
Yohan couldn’t sense anything. This meant the divine power remaining in the relic was either too faint for anyone but the Goddess to detect, or the distance between their inn and the relic was immense.
“A Sacred Relic...”
Annie spoke up, pausing as she wiped the divine fluids from her coat with a handkerchief.
“Do you know something about it?”
“Yes. For a very long time, Easthold has housed a sacred weapon said to have received the blessing of the Primary God. There are several similar items scattered across the Holy Kingdom, collectively referred to as Divine Weapons.”
When the Goddess asked, Annie nodded and explained.
“Tell me more.”
“Of course. Though they are called Divine Weapons, they hold no real value as actual armaments. Most of them have fatal flaws, such as terrible balance, making them completely impractical for real combat. That is why they are simply enshrined in the cathedrals of major cities, including the Holy City.”
In short, they weren’t legendary super-weapons meant to vanquish a Demon King, but merely ceremonial items imbued with Justia’s divinity. Hearing Annie’s explanation, Yohan and the Goddess both widened their eyes.
“Hehehe...”
“Fuhuhu...”
The two stared at each other for a brief second before their lips curled upward in unison, as if they had rehearsed it.
“My Apostle Yohan, did you hear what Annie just said?”
“Oh, I heard her loud and clear. You’re saying there are Sacred Relics packed to the brim with divine power just sitting around all over the Holy Kingdom, right?”
Ever since they had accepted the villagers as her believers, the risk of the Goddess fading away due to a lack of divine power had dropped to zero. Even so, there was absolutely no reason to pass up a golden opportunity to feast on relics rich in divine energy.
“Man... looks like it’s time to do a little stealing. Or rather, a little grave robbing.”
“Hmph! This is by no means stealing. It is merely the rightful owner reclaiming the divine power that belongs to her.”
In any case, once they retrieved the holy scripture, they planned to teleport out of the Holy Kingdom immediately. They didn’t have to worry about being pursued.
“W-Wait a moment. Are you saying you intend to steal the Divine Weapons enshrined in the cathedrals?”
Annie cut into their conversation. The Goddess snorted proudly and nodded. It was a perfectly reasonable reaction from Annie. After all, they were talking about stealing highly symbolic, historic relics of the Holy Kingdom just to feed them to a silly Goddess as a nutritious snack.
“I get what you’re thinking. So, look...”
Yohan immediately stepped forward to placate her. However, Annie suddenly shook her head as she looked at him.
“No, that is not what I meant.”
“Wait, then what?”
Annie carefully placed the handkerchief stained with the Goddess’s snot onto the table.
Slam!
Immediately after, she balled her hand into a fist and slammed it hard against the table.
“Damn it, isn’t that an absolutely brilliant plan?!”
She shouted, her voice laced with more excitement than Yohan had ever heard from her.
“To think those Divine Weapons are just gathering dust in the depths of the cathedrals! If the Goddess here were to consume them, that would be their truest, most noble purpose!”
For a split second, Yohan caught a glimpse of sheer madness in Annie’s eyes.
“Let us draw up a plan immediately. We should travel across the entire Holy Kingdom and plunder every single weapon... I mean, allow the Goddess to reclaim them.”
True to her background as a Heresy Inquisitor, Annie displayed a level of zeal that bordered on religious fanaticism.
“Hehehe. Perfect. Let’s clean them out completely.”
Naturally, Yohan was more than happy to jump on board with the plan.