The Lamb Who Found the Way (3)
The interior of the grand cathedral was far more immense than I had imagined.
Beneath a ceiling embroidered with the Milky Way, majestic pillars stood like a forest—an overwhelmingly awe-inspiring sight.
Each pillar stood at regular intervals, heavily rooted as if testifying to the stern history of Holy Haven.
As we followed Captain Bella deeper past those enormous pillars,
I even felt a creepy illusion that the angels in the sacred murals carved into the walls were turning their heads to follow me.
Creak...
It felt like all the world's holiness had been poured into this place.
For some reason, the overwhelming atmosphere made my breath catch in my throat,
and my mind began to fog over slowly, like it was shrouded in white mist.
"Your Holiness, I have brought Vivian Paustina."
As the heavy door leading to the sanctum opened after passing through that unnaturally silent corridor...
"Welcome. Child blessed by Goddess Freyja."
A woman's silhouette stood elegantly silhouetted against the massive stained-glass window that covered an entire wall.
Rainbow light poured through it, bathing her from behind.
"You've had a long journey. Welcome to this sacred ground under the goddess's protection."
The woman's slender voice immediately softened the suffocating air of the sanctum.
The dazzling light from the ornate stained glass made my eyes sting, and I furrowed my brow for a moment.
But as my vision cleared, her silhouette sharpened amid the lingering afterimages of brilliant light.
"For Miss Vivian's comfort, I've had all the holy knights and priests withdraw."
Robes of pure white silk, intricately embroidered with golden thread.
A sacred crown emitting a faint glow above her head.
But more than those ornate decorations, it was her eyes that first captured my gaze.
Those transparent, mysterious eyes—impossible to gauge her age—exuded a strange pressure, as if they pierced through all the world's truths.
"I greet Your Holiness."
Captain Bella knelt crisply first, bowing her head politely.
Lumina, standing beside me, hurriedly followed suit, dropping to one knee and lowering her head deeply.
"Ah, greetings to Your Holiness..."
I, too, belatedly observed the proper etiquette, lowering my body and head.
But before my greeting could even finish, she descended from the high dais without hesitation and approached me directly.
"Raise your head, Miss Vivian."
Her voice was warm yet dignified, as if caressing my soul.
Drawn by that strange resonance, I lifted my head without thinking.
"In this sacred ground, the goddess's child need not bow."
Her eyes looking down at me held no fear or contempt.
Instead, they shimmered with affectionate, profound curiosity—like someone who had found a precious treasure,
or a host welcoming a long-awaited guest.
"I am Maria Queenpin, Pope of the Holy Haven Papal State."
The hand she extended toward me was jade-white and soft,
but the aura of holy power emanating from her fingertips was anything but light.
It was fundamentally different from Joachim or the other priests I'd met.
An immense pressure, like the water pressure of the deep sea crushing my entire body.
As expected... not just any pope for nothing.
I figured it'd be some grumpy old grandpa with a long chin beard, but surprisingly young—and a woman, no less.
"...?"
The moment that thought crossed my mind,
I noticed beads of sweat forming thickly on the palm of Queenpin's outstretched right hand.
A terribly human, anxious trace that didn't match the overwhelming holiness pressing down on me at all.
Why is she the one more nervous?
"I, I've heard reports about you, but... I never imagined it would be to this extent..."
"What do you mean?"
"Ah, no..."
I took her offered hand and stood up, somewhat dazed.
The immense holy power pressing down on me was still there,
yet suddenly she was breaking out in cold sweat like rain.
"Truly dense yet heterogeneous holy power. Mixed with demonic energy from the demon race, forming a strange balance."
Queenpin spoke softly in a cautious tone, very different from before.
I blinked in slight confusion, still holding her right hand.
"A body with demon blood flowing through it, yet inhabited by light purer than any saint the church has ever known. How should I explain this contradictory miracle?"
She muttered those words with considerable care, then took a small breath.
"There's no doubt you're a saintess, but whether the innocent populace can fully accept this fact..."
"Sorry to interrupt, but I'm not a saintess."
But that lasted only a moment.
Queenpin's eyes shook violently at my calm, firm declaration.
"...Pardon?"
"I'm not some grand being sent to save the world at the goddess's command."
Queenpin stared at me blankly, as if doubting her own ears, her expression dazed.
Her eyes churned with shock, confusion, and emotions too complex to name.
"I'm just a lucky demon who happens to be able to use holy magic."
"L-Lucky demon? Why say something like that all of a sudden..."
"Because everyone seems to truly believe I'm a saintess."
As if I'd half-expected things to turn out this way,
the moment I finished speaking, Lumina—still kneeling beside me—drooped her head powerlessly.
Yet I continued nonchalantly to the end.
"I'm sorely lacking in many ways to be called a saintess."
"But the holy power you possess is, to anyone..."
"No, Your Holiness. It's not mine. The goddess is probably using me as a conduit to accomplish something."
The sanctum's dense, majestic air twisted in a strange direction for an instant.
Queenpin, still holding my hand, blinked vacantly as if struck by lightning.
"Conduit...? You possess such vast holy power, yet claim it's not your own?"
At her stunned question, I straightened my crooked veil and spoke calmly once more.
"It's just temporarily residing in my body for some reason I don't know."
After racking my brain and coming up with all sorts of hypotheses,
I'd concluded this was the most plausible and credible one.
The first evidence supporting this hypothesis was Lumina's holy sword.
No ordinary saintess could create a holy sword.
But I did.
I extracted Joachim's holy power into an orb and simply infused it into Lumina's sword.
"Someday, it'll surely return to its true owner."
In other words, I'm not a saintess—more like an errand runner for Goddess Freyja.
Not the one to save the world directly, but merely a messenger finding those who will.
"...Goodness, I can't tell if you're humble or truly mean it."
"I mean it."
What saintess has demon blood and juggles others' holy power like marbles?
Who turns an ordinary sword into a holy sword in one go?
This is divine authority far beyond a saintess's scope.
The goddess is clearly using me as a medium for something.
Like gathering a hero party, for example...
"Everyone else is convinced you're a saintess, yet you alone stubbornly deny it."
"An ordinary saintess can't make a holy sword."
"Well, true. A holy sword can only come from the goddess..."
Queenpin muttered resignedly at my firm reply.
But only for a moment—then her ears perked up, and her eyes flashed seriously.
"W-Wait, what did you just say...? Holy sword?"
At her flustered question, I raised an eyebrow slightly and nodded.
"Yes. The sword Lumina's holding right now is the holy sword I made."
At my casual answer, not only Queenpin
but even Captain Bella, silently observing from behind, gaped in shock.
"Y-You... you made a holy sword...?"
"Yeah. It just kinda happened."
"L-Lies... Even a saintess couldn't possibly make a holy sword..."
"That's why I said I'm not a saintess."
The sanctum's air froze oddly once more at my blunt clincher.
Queenpin staggered as if witnessing the world crumble,
while Captain Bella stared piercingly at the holy sword cradled protectively in Lumina's arms, utterly lost for words.
"A holy sword cannot be crafted! It is a fragment of the goddess herself—the church's supreme relic, granted only to chosen heroes...!"
"Oh, really?"
"I-Is that truly a holy sword? Not just an imitation, but the real thing, transformed at its essence?!"
"So I've heard."
At my indifferent reply once more, Queenpin's face drained of color, turning ashen-blue.
She seemed to have taken an unexpected massive shock.
No wonder she hadn't said much about the sword Lumina held.
She hadn't even considered it a holy sword.
"Impossible. It can't be..."
"Oh, by the way, to make a holy sword, you first need someone's holy power..."
"W-Wait, Miss Vivian..."
As Queenpin muttered in denial of reality,
the moment I realized a key fact I hadn't mentioned and tried to add it—
"Sorry, but if what you say is true, the situation changes."
Queenpin abruptly cut me off.
"It could lead to a grave charge of blasphemy if mishandled—a very serious matter."
Her voice, sharply interrupting me, carried an intense firmness unlike her earlier gentleness.
"......"
"......"
An awkward silence, suffocatingly embarrassing, hung between Queenpin and me.
After what felt like an eternity...
"We'll take custody of that sword for now. We need to appraise its value as a relic."
A chilling declaration, no different from an order, slipped from Queenpin's lips.
"Until the appraisal is complete, please remain in the prayer room adjacent to this sanctum, Miss Vivian."