Chapter 275
Chapter 275
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 275
Chapter Title: The Return of Freyja
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Chapter 275.
“What, Lady Freyja? Are you in your right mind?”
The initial reaction from everyone who heard the news was the same.
They dismissed it as nonsense born from desperate hope that someone would resolve this crisis, imagining Freyja had appeared.
But the rumor showed no signs of dying down.
Starting from the guards at the city gates, the word spread like wildfire through the Grand Sanctuary.
“Could it really be Lady Freyja?”
“If it’s her, then she could resolve this nightmare of a situation!”
Everyone’s hearts were the same.
Even while thinking it was baseless gossip, they desperately wished it were true.
Because they so desperately needed a savior.
But the higher-ups had a different atmosphere.
“Some fool’s trying to deceive the masses.”
“Freyja? It’d be more believable if the Lord God had descended in person.”
They just scoffed, not placing even a shred of trust in it.
“Hmm.”
Mardetain furrowed his brow at the sudden report.
“Freyja… Is this report accurate?”
“According to the soldiers on guard duty, it’s undoubtedly true.”
Bishop Miteon replied with a confused expression.
He found it hard to believe as well.
“What do you think?”
Mardetain asked.
Miteon wiped away cold sweat before opening his mouth.
“Wouldn’t confirming with our own eyes be the most accurate?”
It was sound advice.
If the report was true, it was something to welcome with open arms from Aier’s perspective.
They needed to verify it immediately.
But Mardetain’s expression wasn’t good.
“To think that old woman is still alive…”
He was genuinely troubled.
If he met Freyja now, she would see through his true identity in an instant.
Then all the plans he had carefully prepared could go up in smoke.
“I can’t let that happen…”
But he couldn’t just ignore it outright.
The rumors about Freyja had already spread far and wide.
In that situation, turning a blind eye without verification would surely raise suspicions.
“I can’t suppress it by force either.”
If he did, Freyja—who was already inside the Grand Sanctuary—wouldn’t stay quiet.
“This is tricky.”
In the end, he had no choice but to meet her personally.
Mardetain pondered how to resolve the situation without ruining his plans.
“…Your Holiness?”
When Mardetain suddenly closed his eyes and said nothing, Miteon cautiously called out to him.
It was suspicious that he was agonizing over something that could be settled by simply summoning her here.
But Miteon showed no hint of doubt.
He didn’t want to end up like Bishop Urea.
“As you say, I’ll have to meet her myself.”
“Then shall I summon her here right away…”
“No. Change the location.”
“…Pardon?”
Miteon’s eyes widened as if he didn’t understand.
“Bring her to the annex palace. But don’t let anyone else know—only Freyja is permitted entry.”
“I humbly ask, if I may…”
Miteon sweated profusely, glancing at Mardetain’s face.
“Why go through such complicated procedures? This foolish servant cannot comprehend.”
It would be simpler to call her here directly for confirmation.
There was no need to change locations or keep it secret from others.
Miteon couldn’t fathom his intentions at all.
But Mardetain had no intention of explaining even a little.
“Your tongue’s unusually loose today. Has the rumor of Freyja made your guts swell?”
“I-I have committed a grave sin!”
Miteon immediately dropped to his knees and bowed his head, begging forgiveness.
“Tch.”
Mardetain looked down at him coldly, then rose to his feet.
“Go bring the one claiming to be Freyja. I’ll wait in the annex palace.”
“Y-Yes, as you command!”
Once Mardetain left, Miteon let out a sigh of relief and stood up.
His body trembled from fear, barely able to stand straight.
But he moved.
If he delayed, his life might be in danger again.
“Please let it really be Lady Freyja.”
He prayed inwardly as he quickened his steps.
Miteon’s eyes bulged.
Opening the reception room door with half doubt, he saw a familiar face.
“It’s been a while, Bishop Miteon.”
“You’re really Lady Freyja?”
When Freyja greeted him with a slightly stiff expression, Miteon was stunned.
“It’s really her! Really!”
She looked much older than the last time he’d seen her.
But not so much that he couldn’t recognize her.
And the immense divine power emanating from her body.
It proved that the person before him was truly Freyja.
“You must have suffered greatly. Seeing you so aged pains me.”
Freyja gave a bittersweet smile as she looked at Miteon, whose eyes were welling with tears.
“Ah, Lord God.”
Instead of replying, Miteon offered a prayer of thanks to the Lord God.
“How have you been all this time? Not even a single message! Of course we thought you’d returned to the Lord God’s embrace.”
Then he poured out his grievances toward Freyja like a machine gun.
“She reminds me of Jia.”
Seo Woo-jin scratched his head as he watched from the side.
While the two exchanged joyful greetings, he just stood there blankly.
“Oh, and who’s this?”
Miteon belatedly noticed Seo Woo-jin and asked.
“…My disciple.”
“Ooh!”
Miteon’s face brightened.
Freyja still being alive was joyous enough, but she even had a disciple?
For Aier, teetering on the brink of destruction, it was the best news possible.
“Rather than lingering here, let’s go see His Holiness the Holy King. He’s waiting in the annex palace now. We can catch up after.”
“The annex palace? Why go to such a remote place?”
Freyja tilted her head at Miteon’s words.
“Ah, His Holiness ordered her brought there.”
He didn’t know the reason, so he couldn’t explain.
But Seo Woo-jin and Freyja seemed to suspect something from his answer.
“Sigh. Very well, lead the way.”
Freyja sighed and nodded, and Miteon chuckled as he began guiding them.
“Isn’t a bishop a high position? Yet you speak so casually to her.”
Seo Woo-jin whispered quietly.
He didn’t know much about Aier’s political structure, but he’d heard that bishops were right below the Holy King.
Even if Freyja was the former captain of the Holy Knights, she didn’t seem higher than a bishop.
So her casual speech felt odd.
“He’s the son of an old friend. No matter his title, I can’t honor a kid who’s lived half my years.”
“Even so, the bishop didn’t use honorifics either.”
“Position demands some leeway, doesn’t it?”
Freyja chuckled as if it were natural.
“Age is power here too, huh.”
Seo Woo-jin smirked inwardly.
“You got past them without suspicion.”
Seo Woo-jin had asked Freyja not to introduce him as a hero.
He figured the Holy King would prepare countermeasures if word got out that a hero had come to the Grand Sanctuary.
Fortunately, Freyja had agreed.
The question was whether people would buy it…
“With the trust I’ve built over the years, of course they would.”
Seo Woo-jin felt like she was bragging a bit.
But he didn’t call her out.
He could feel firsthand that she was a legendary figure revered in Aier.
“Still, the annex palace doesn’t feel right.”
“You said it’s remote—how much so?”
“No unauthorized person can enter. That also means no one outside knows what happens inside.”
Seo Woo-jin nodded.
“They want to handle this quietly.”
“…Nothing’s certain yet.”
Freyja hadn’t given up hope.
No, she couldn’t.
If the Holy King really was an Apostle, it would shatter the faith she’d held her entire life.
But her expression as she spoke was dark.
“Let’s go confirm it ourselves.”
Seo Woo-jin didn’t press his point further.
Freyja’s wrinkled face looked too pitiful.
“Ah, please wait a moment? I need to inform His Holiness the Holy King about your disciple and get permission for him to enter as well.”
“Go ahead.”
Upon arriving at the annex palace, Miteon excused himself and entered first.
“Do you sense anything?”
Alone now, Freyja asked Seo Woo-jin.
She was asking if he felt any demonic energy from inside the annex.
“Hmm, not yet.”
Even activating ‘Divine Dragon Eye’, he saw no traces of demonic energy.
But he did sense a strange aura.
‘I’ve felt this before.’
It was the same as the aura carried by Cardinal Seong Yu-ra and Lupera at the academy.
Similar to divine power, but fundamentally twisted in a subtle way—an unidentified energy.
Freyja seemed to sense it too.
Her lips were pressed tight.
Then, hesitantly, she spoke to Seo Woo-jin.
“If the Holy King really is an Apostle, what will you do?”
“Didn’t I tell you before?”
He would cut off his head.
He had to.
“You don’t need to help, Lady Freyja. Just stand by and make sure he doesn’t escape.”
He planned to hunt alone.
That way he’d get the most experience, and he didn’t want to drag an elderly woman into the fight.
“Sigh—”
Freyja let out a deep breath.
Her mind denied it, but the mounting evidence screamed that Seo Woo-jin was right.
So she was torn.
About what she should do…
“Fortunately, His Holiness has permitted your disciple’s entry as well.”
At that moment, Miteon emerged quickly from inside and said.
Freyja’s expression hardened further as she turned to look at him.
His face was drenched in sweat—what on earth had happened inside?
“Then let’s go in.”
Freyja moved first, her steps looking heavy.
Thud—thud—
Silence fell.
The only sound was their footsteps echoing through the corridor.
Even Miteon, who had chattered as much as Ji-a might have, kept his mouth firmly shut.
Thanks to that, Seo Woo-jin could sharpen his mind without interruption.
“This is it.”
Miteon stopped before a large door.
“His Holiness the Holy King awaits you beyond this.”
A smile crept across Seo Woo-jin’s face.
An icily cold smile.