Chapter 147: The Holy Land
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 147: The Holy Land
Seen up close, the pure white church was overwhelming, as if it were an agent of the heavenly gods themselves.
Perhaps it was because the mound I had thought was a small hill was, in fact, the size of a low mountain.
Pilgrims of all ages and genders were climbing the ascending path that led to the church.
Some were physically disabled, and though they rested often, they never gave up on the climb.
“Cool drinks! Get your drinks here! We also have snacks for when your energy runs low!”
Merchants who had set up stalls at the very start of the path sold snacks and refreshing drinks to the pilgrims.
“This is too much! A silver coin for a single cup of wine! Even a highway robber wouldn’t be this brazen!”
Of course, they were charging absurdly high prices.
One merchant even threatened to obstruct a pilgrim’s journey if they didn’t buy anything. It was hard to tell if he was a merchant or a back-alley thug.
The interesting part was that the guards patrolling the pilgrimage path just watched blankly. When a pilgrim protested, they actually sided with the merchant.
“This man is conducting business legally, with the permission of His Holiness the Pope.”
“Legally? You can say that after witnessing what is essentially a forced sale?”
“He didn’t use violence, did he?”
“Obstructing a pilgrimage is as good as violence…!”
“Ahem. If you keep making baseless claims, you could end up in prison. Watch your words.”
Such merchants lined the path all the way to the church.
I knew without seeing it that by the time the pilgrims reached the church, they would have surrendered all their possessions to these merchants.
And that reassured me.
The archbishop, who had been furious from the moment they started charging an entrance fee, would be shaken even more if he witnessed pilgrims being extorted like this.
“Ahem, you there! Climbing the pilgrimage path in full armor will drain your stamina!”
The merchants, seeing that I was clearly a noble, tried to force a sale on me as well, trusting in the Pope’s backing.
They say even a dog is bold in its own territory. Their unwavering gazes suggested they had fleeced many a noble before.
“So, you want me to buy some food?”
“As if that would make it any less difficult! How about you trade your equipment for these instead?”
The merchant offered me an armful of snacks and drinks. They weren’t even worth the price of a gambeson, let alone chainmail.
When I just stared at him, he grew angry instead.
“The Lord said not to covet wealth! What meaning does armor have when you’ve come to the Holy Land? It’s something you have to leave behind before you go to heaven anyway, so what difference does it make if you leave it a little early?”
“By that logic, since all humans are bound to die anyway, it should be fine to die right now, shouldn't it?”
I didn’t just use words. I grabbed the throat of the merchant, who had been rubbing his palms together with a sly grin.
“Gack—what do you think you’re doing! I’m doing business legally with the permission of His Holiness the Pope!”
The merchant still hadn’t grasped the situation. If I were the type to bow before the Pope’s name, I wouldn’t have touched him in the first place.
The patrolling guard and nearby merchants were watching us with expressions of great interest.
I could feel their conviction that their colleague would not die.
The corner of my mouth twitched. The ruffian I kept suppressed deep inside suddenly reared its head.
“Are you saying the Pope ordered a mere merchant to pick a noble’s pocket? If that’s true, the Pope will have to take responsibility for it.”
“Wh-What—”
The merchant, caught by the throat, belatedly realized he had picked the wrong person, but it was too late.
Snap.
All I did was apply a little pressure, but the merchant’s neck twisted to an impossible angle.
I let go as if tossing aside trash, and the merchant collapsed in a strange posture. A momentary silence fell. Everyone’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“M-Murder—!”
A moment later, one of the merchants gasped and screamed. The patrolling guard who had been watching rushed over and pointed his spear at me.
“You! What have you done! How dare you harm a merchant under the protection of His Holiness the Pope in this sacred Holy Land! How will you take responsibility for this!”
“The Pope will have to take responsibility. Did he not give a mere merchant permission to rob my pockets? And another thing. A pathetic commoner is pointing a spear at me. Is this also the Pope’s order?”
Neither the merchants nor the guards had any sense. And in this era, acting without sense toward one’s superiors was the same as begging for death.
I granted his wish. I grabbed the spear pointed at me, pulled the guard forward, and immediately smashed my other fist into his face.
The moment my chainmail-clad fist met his face, there was a sound like a bomb exploding as his skull burst open. Needless to say, its contents splattered everywhere.
“Hiek—! Guards! Call the guards!”
“He’s insane! A madman has appeared!”
The merchants scattered in a panic. The fact that they took the time to grab all the goods from their stalls spoke volumes about their character.
Meanwhile, the dead guard’s partner slowly lowered his spear and spoke.
“Wh-Who are you?”
It seemed he had finally come to his senses. That’s right. You should confirm who your opponent is before pointing a spear at them. This was, after all, an age where the class system was alive and well.
“I am Allen Tobalts. The baron who rules half of the southern West Continent and the Northern Continent’s Coastal City Alliance. I have come to visit the Holy Land with Archbishop Raceni at the Pope’s request. You are to go immediately and inform the Pope that we will visit in three days.”
Three days would be enough time for the Pope to cook up another scheme.
The more aggressively the Pope acts, the more the archbishop’s heart will waver.
The Pope was already displeased that I had the Alliance in my grasp. If he heard that I had caused a disturbance in his own front yard, wouldn’t he react as if I’d poked a hornet’s nest?
Given an excuse to flee the scene, the guard didn’t hesitate to start up the pilgrimage path. As I followed, his pace quickened.
The merchants and pilgrims who had been watching me from a distance scattered in fright.
By the time the news had spread, all the merchants who had lined the path had vanished.
When even the guard ahead of me was out of sight, I ducked onto a side path that was restricted by a rope and a warning sign.
The side path circled wide around the church, leading to the area behind it. I passed a fork that connected to the back of the church and continued onward, soon finding myself facing a sea of pure white ice.
And there, at the very edge of a sheer cliff, a woman’s back came into view. She was gazing endlessly at the frozen sea below.
She wore black priest’s robes and a hood that fit her face perfectly.
Just then, a cold, cutting wind, characteristic of the Northern Continent, blew past. Her body swayed back and forth, as if she might fall right off the cliff.
I made my presence known.
“You seem to enjoy danger.”
Despite her thrilling behavior, the face she turned to me was devoid of expression. Her eyes were hazy, like a doll without emotions.
For that reason, despite her beauty, she didn’t feel charming. She was like an artificial flower. Her voice, too, was robotic, lacking any rise or fall.
“You’ve taken a wrong turn. As you can see, this area is dangerous and forbidden to outsiders.”
I slowly approached and stood beside her. And just as she had, I stared out at the sea.
“Or are you finding vicarious satisfaction by looking at the sea, which holds infinite freedom?”
Her fine brow furrowed slightly. Only she knew if it was because I had ignored her words or because I had seen right through her.
But for a moment, life bloomed on her face, like a dormant seed sprouting in winter.
She quickly returned to her expressionless state, but the fleeting change had made her face as captivating as I remembered.
“I will guide you. Follow me.”
“I think I’ve come to the right place. Cynthia.”
Cynthia, who had turned her back and started walking without waiting for my reply, stopped dead in her tracks. She turned back to me, her face even more wrinkled than before.
“You came for me.”
“Is it bearable? This life of being used as the Pope’s propaganda tool, of having your ability exploited?”
Freedom was a foreign concept to Cynthia. As an orphan from the church’s orphanage, she had been confined to the church even before her ability awakened. After it did, she caught the Pope’s eye and never escaped his grasp.
The only silver lining was that her ability had allowed her to protect herself from the countless men who coveted her beauty.
In the first place, the reason the Pope had his eye on her wasn't her ability, but her looks.
“…”
“Was that a question not worth asking? Then again, if you liked it, you wouldn’t come here for vicarious satisfaction every chance you get.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
When the expressionless woman feigned ignorance, even I, who knew the truth, almost doubted myself for a moment. I wondered if she truly knew nothing.
“Do you want me to be more direct?”
“If the church finds out you’ve trespassed on forbidden ground, you will be expelled from the Holy Land, pilgrim.”
Thanks to Cynthia’s continued pretense, our conversation went nowhere. Of course, I knew the secret word that would reveal her true feelings.
“I’m asking if you enjoy the life of a bedwetter.”
“B-Bedwetter…”
A crack appeared in her iron-hard expression. Her face even flushed slightly.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Taking a deep breath to regain her composure, she quickly put on an unfazed expression and feigned ignorance again. Of course, the cat was already out of the bag.
“Why? Am I wrong? From what I hear, you even have a dedicated handmaiden to collect your urine.”
“That’s a baseless rumor.”
“Hiccup.”
Almost simultaneously with Cynthia’s denial, a voice came from a nearby bush.
When I looked over, a young girl holding a brass bottle as big as herself timidly emerged.
“Lady Cynthia… I’m sorry…”
Cynthia sighed, pressing a hand to her forehead. She left the girl behind her and glared fiercely at me. It was a raw, untamed glare.
“I don’t know how you found out, but it’s a waste of your time. Do you have any idea how many people like you there have been?”
“And what kind of person is that?”
“It’s obvious. A fool so consumed with the thought of using my ability for personal gain that they forget they lack the power to handle it and walk straight to their own doom.”
As she finished speaking, I heard the sound of fallen leaves being crushed.
Two knights had surrounded us. The cross emblem embroidered on their surcoats identified them as Templar Knights.
“Saintess. This way.”
At the knight’s call, Cynthia leisurely brushed past me and whispered.
“All treasures have guardians. Something you, blinded by the treasure, wouldn’t have known.”
So that was it. She had someone to rely on, which was why she could respond so calmly to an intruder’s approach.
“As if I wouldn’t know. That the Pope wouldn’t leave his most powerful piece unattended? They’re your escorts, and your watchdogs.”
“You knew, and yet…”
Cynthia couldn’t finish her question. One of the Templar Knights strode forward, roughly grabbed her arm, and pushed her behind him.
“They call you a Saintess, but they don’t treat you very well, do they?”
“It seems you still haven’t grasped the situation…”
The knight kept his back to Cynthia and pointed his sword at me. The other knight had already moved behind me, completing the encirclement.
“From now on, you’ll be talking to us. First, you’ll confess how you learned of the Saintess’s ability.”
The knights were brimming with confidence.
Well, the Pope wouldn’t have entrusted someone as important as Cynthia to mediocre men, so they must have been reasonably skilled.
The problem was, even the most reliable expert the Pope had wouldn’t amount to much.
The Pope’s power came from his religious authority; his actual military force was barely on par with that of a minor baron. What did that mean?
I immediately drew Trollsverd and swung it from the upper right to the lower left. A simple but fastest and most powerful downward slash.
The man, not expecting a sudden attack, hastily raised his sword to block.
And just like every enemy who had faced me and Trollsverd before, not only his sword but his entire body, armor and all, was split in two.
“Kyaa—!”
“Sir Aberian!”
“…!”
The knight was even weaker than I thought. I had suspected that if the head of the church was corrupt, his underlings would be problematic too, but this was just pathetic.
I clicked my tongue, turned, and faced the three people staring at me in horror.
“Everyone here is far too arrogant just because this is their front yard. How can you be so sure of victory when you don’t even know who you’re facing?”
“Do you think you’ll get away with this!”
The remaining knight, while talking as if he would avenge his comrade at any moment, was backing away. He had neither skill nor honor.
“Can you handle the consequences? Of facing me, Allen Tobalts, the ruler of half the southern West Continent and the Coastal City Alliance? Even if you could, the Pope would object, wouldn’t he?”
The knight couldn’t hide his bewildered expression. I was a much bigger fish than he had confidently assumed. Cynthia was the first to regain her composure and step forward.
“You’re that…?”
“You know me?”
“I heard the Pope was furious.”
“Then you must know that I’m not some fool led by greed, but that I have the power to protect you, right?”
“You should worry about your own life first.”
Cynthia gestured with her chin. The lone knight was fleeing as if his feet were on fire, probably to call for reinforcements.
“He’s not qualified to be an escort or a guard.”
“Is that what’s important right now?”
“Do not worry, my lady. Everything is proceeding according to my will.”
She looked up at me, her face still devoid of emotion.
Even though the knight who escorted or watched her had died a gruesome death, her eyes were as calm as a windless lake, as if trying to see right through me.
Not that she could, of course. I sheathed my sword and continued.
“You know I have the power to protect you.”
“The Pope, you—you’re both the same, trying to use me. What difference does it make which one I choose?”
“Don’t be mistaken. I have the ability to achieve what I want even without the help of your power.”
“…You desire nothing? Hah, I’d sooner believe a merchant who claims to be selling at a loss.”
“Of course, there is something I desire.”
Cynthia’s gaze turned icy, as if to say, I knew it. Her eyes seemed to say that I was just like the Pope.
Her expression, her gaze, and her voice stimulated me. I wondered what sounds this ice-cold woman would make pinned beneath me.
Even as I moved close enough to feel her breath, she didn’t flinch. Not even when my blood-stained hand touched her cheek.
“Be my woman.”
Her pupils trembled minutely at the proposal I made while looking her straight in the eye.
Having grown up in a church orphanage and endured all sorts of hardships, she must have recognized the raw, naked desire in my eyes.