Confession (2)
Confession (2)
Silence dyed the snowy plains.
Melina gazed up at the full moon, her expression complicated.
—I'll be away for a short while.
Olivia vanished the moment she finished speaking. Melina could not stop her.
—How long will it take?
—I'll return within a week.
The fact that she was trusted enough to have her disciples entrusted to her was gratifying, but letting her go so easily was a problem on an entirely different plane.
Who knew what might happen while she was gone?
But...
—Please, just help me this once.
Melina sighed deeply.
'When she speaks with that look in her eyes, what face would I have to follow her?'
There was a saying that no teacher can win against their disciple, and Melina fit that mold perfectly.
It left Melina feeling uncharacteristically melancholy.
*****
—We will conduct a brief inspection. Everyone, disembark from the carriage.
Olivia observed the scene on the ground from the sky. Night had fallen long ago, so there was no risk of being discovered.
The journey to the Holy Kingdom had not been difficult. Had she taken the land route, it would not have been so easy, but fortunately, Olivia was a mage.
'This is why I mained a mage.'
No matter how superior the physical abilities of warriors were, when it came purely to travel speed, mages were overwhelmingly faster.
—Your identification?
—O-oh, no... there's no way I could have lost it.
—Turn back. Those whose identities cannot be confirmed may not enter the Holy Kingdom.
All those tedious procedures could be skipped entirely with a single spell.
Olivia infiltrated the interior of the Holy Kingdom in an instant.
Tak.
When she spread her ki sense to survey the surroundings, the area was filled with the clanking of armor. Yet Olivia appeared completely unfazed.
'The Holy Kingdom really is the Holy Kingdom.'
At a glance, the security was so tight one might mistake it for wartime. But astonishingly, this was the Holy Kingdom's normal state.
'Even with a considerable number of personnel withdrawn to escort the Pope, it's still this level.'
[Baul]
- Level: 43
- Occupation: Holy Knight
- Title: Full Holy Knight.
Everyone conducting patrols in the late night hours was a Holy Knight. As befitted Holy Knights of the Holy Kingdom, their levels all approached those of the Magic Tower's senior mages.
Among the hundreds of Holy Knights visible in the vicinity, there was not a single one dozing off or neglecting their duty.
Being human, you would think they might at least chat a little.
Of course, Olivia knew the reason.
It was because of the Holy Kingdom's doctrine.
The Goddess of Light Aether, whom the Holy Kingdom believed in and followed, bestowed blessings and divinity upon her faithful while simultaneously granting them duties and responsibilities.
Duties, and responsibilities.
That was the reason the Holy Knights could maintain such rigid postures.
It was not that great power came with great responsibility.
Rather, to those who bore great responsibility, great power was granted.
That was the principle of the Goddess of Light Aether.
'Aether is clever, at least.'
At first glance it might seem like the cart was before the horse, but in truth it was not.
Those who entered the Order merely to gain power could not endure for long and fell away.
Because it was impossible to shoulder a responsibility beyond one's capacity.
That was why apprentice Holy Knights learned to fulfill their responsibilities and duties above all else. The same was true for apprentice priests.
This was the secret behind how the Holy Kingdom had avoided corruption for the past several hundred years.
'Not that there are no corrupt ones at all, though.'
In any case, the reason their security was this stringent was all thanks to that.
—Fwaat!
Olivia moved without hesitation. By the time the Holy Knights sensed something amiss and turned their heads, Olivia was already gone.
'Hm.'
Olivia had already reached the roof of a building.
Drip.
A droplet of water formed at the tip of Olivia's finger. She infused it with a slight chill, and a spirit of familiar form took shape.
The spirits soon multiplied into dozens in an instant. With a sweep of Olivia's hand, the fingernail-sized spirits spread out in all directions.
'Now then, where might she be?'
It was in that moment, while she shared vision with the spirits.
A familiar name reached her ears.
—Lady Eileen. The night has grown deep.
—No matter how fervently and wholeheartedly you pray, what good will it do if your body breaks down? Please, hurry and...
—Lady Rebekah is also fasting. How could I possibly sleep?
—Lady Eileen...
—If you truly insist, I will only hear confessions until the next person.
Olivia directed all the spirits toward Eileen. It seemed she had just finished hearing a confession and was taking a brief rest.
At any rate.
'Rebekah is fasting?'
The Holy Kingdom's farmlands were blessed to a degree that could scarcely be overstated. Not only the yields but the quality was incomparable to other regions.
In such a Holy Kingdom, the meaning of going hungry was one thing.
Fasting.
Olivia's head slowly turned back. A mountain soared there, as if it could touch the moon.
"...Of all places, the Repentance Cave."
Olivia furrowed her brow.
She had no choice.
The mountain where the Repentance Cave was located was under the Goddess of Light's Prohibition.
A Prohibition that prevented the use of any power equally—be it Divine Power, aura, or mana, whatever it was.
Of course, those of a certain level of strength could offset the Prohibition to some extent, but that did not mean they could become completely free of it.
Olivia, who had been silently eavesdropping on the conversation between the two, soon retrieved her spirits.
According to the information gathered, Rebekah was currently using the Repentance Cave alone. She had even obtained the Pope's sanction to avoid being disturbed.
For a full week, no less.
'...'
Two people suddenly crossed Olivia's mind.
The first was undoubtedly Melina. And the second, surprisingly, was Calliope.
The two had one thing in common.
That was...
*****
Rebekah was silent.
—Good evening, Saintess.
She had faced a great many sins, and prided herself on having forgiven them.
As the Saintess, Rebekah was forbidden from leaving the Order's grounds except in special circumstances. Yet despite that, the reason she had been able to face so many sins was simple.
It was thanks to the Confession.
A sacrament in which one confessed their sins to God through a priest and received the grace of forgiveness.
The Saintess also fell within the broader category of a priest, so hearing Confessions was likewise among Rebekah's duties.
She had met all kinds of people, from a seven-year-old abandoned by their parents to the most distinguished figures in every nation.
Because humans were creatures who sinned their whole lives, the kinds of sins they committed were also diverse.
There was a certain duke. Famed for his outstanding character, he had beaten three servants working at his mansion to death.
Without any reason whatsoever.
The servants' parents were never told the cause of death, so they endlessly expressed their gratitude to the duke who had generously provided condolence money.
Serial murder.
Deception.
But she forgave.
She kept it a secret deep within her heart.
Because her God would surely have forgiven it.
There was a certain knight. He was such a warm-hearted person that he had donated half his fortune to the needy.
But he had violated eight civilians, and buried them alive.
This too was a terrible sin, but she forgave.
Because judgment was for God to pass.
And then, there was a certain mage.
—Lady Rebekah. Shall I lend you a hand?
She had been a person as beautiful in heart as she was in appearance.
She had always respected the weak and never put herself forward.
She was a person closer than anyone to the good that the Goddess of Light pursued.
But...
In her ears, she heard the screams of that day. The screams of tens of thousands, hundreds of millions, wailing in the agony of death.
Rebekah bit her lip.
'I don't want to forgive.'
Her heart wavered.
Rebekah lowered her posture further. She clasped her hands more fervently. Without a moment's pause, she confessed her sins to God.
As one who had been the Saintess, to have hated someone enough to wish them dead, to have regarded someone as an enemy, and far from loving that enemy as herself, to have not even been able to forgive them...
It was a sin.
Every last thing, from one to ten, was a sin.
There was no way a human so riddled with sin could be qualified to be the Saintess.
She did not want to forgive Olivia. She could not forgive her.
She had truly prided herself on countless sins, and prided herself on having embraced countless sins.
But when it came to Olivia...
That was when it happened.
She sensed a presence behind her.
'...Is it Lady Eileen?'
Even though she had asked her not to come.
Rebekah suppressed her emotions. Eileen was someone completely unrelated to her current fury. She could not take her anger out on an innocent person.
But the voice that reached her was something entirely unexpected.
"Lady Rebekah."
Rebekah's eyes widened to a degree that could widen no further.
What in the...!
Rebekah's head whipped around. There was no one at the main entrance.
'W-was it an auditory hallucination?'
Rebekah shot up from her spot and looked around. She checked several times, but the result did not change.
The only person in the Repentance Cave was herself.
'...'
Rebekah pressed a hand to her head and sighed.
Even for all that, to the point of hearing things.
She really must have been influenced by her far more than she realized...
"Lady Rebekah."
"...!"
Rebekah's body flinched.
This time, it was no hallucination.
She had heard it clearly with both ears.
The old confessional.
From inside it, the voice of her enemy reached her.
"I have come to make my confession."