What Can Be Obtained in the Labyrinth (5)
“Arthur, the priest.”
“Yes, Your Highness. Shall I explain?”
“…Go on.”
She still seemed reluctant, but she couldn’t bring herself to refuse her younger sister’s earnest request. I gave Princess Reciel a detailed account of Princess Canaby’s condition. Upon hearing it, Reciel’s face hardened with anger.
She demanded to know why her sister had stubbornly endured such a serious illness for so long. “Sister, if you’re in pain, you have to show it! Why do you act like an idiot and just keep suffering? It’s not like anyone’s going to praise you for it!”
“I wasn’t enduring it alone. The priest came by regularly to heal me. Whenever it hurt, he’d show up right on time and take such meticulous care of me. Thanks to him, I barely even noticed the pain.”
“I will definitely free you from that curse.”
Reciel clasped Canaby’s hands tightly in both of hers and closed her eyes as if in prayer. Seeing the two sisters leaning on each other to survive the harsh, cutthroat life of the imperial palace warmed my heart. A gentle smile spread across my face.
The Labyrinth was said to hold countless rare and extraordinary treasures yet to be discovered. Surely, among them, there would be something that could break Canaby’s curse—just as Reciel hoped.
“We will carry out the plan on a prayer day when the temple is least crowded. Most people will be gathered in the prayer hall that day, so other areas will be nearly empty.”
Everyone would be too focused on praying to notice us slipping away.
“The team is almost ready. We just need you to join us.”
Canaby had finished her preparations, and Reciel said the team members she had promised were already waiting in the Labyrinth City. All that remained was for me to join them.
“The bishop we were expecting should arrive soon.”
It wouldn’t take long. After all, he had finally obtained that delicious jar of honey. Wouldn’t he want to come and taste it as soon as possible?
I thought the bishop would arrive quickly. But it wasn’t long before news reached me that shattered that expectation.
“What? He passed away? The bishop?”
The news was so absurd that my mind went completely blank for a moment. The priest who had come to deliver the message looked utterly exhausted, as if the emotional toll had been heavy.
When I showed my confusion, he gave me a more detailed explanation. “On the way here, he encountered heretics. He tried to subdue them, but…”
“Ah…!”
Why did it have to be heretics? Our church doesn’t just label anyone a heretic and persecute them. The officially designated heretics are those who worship the Evil God and harm people. Things had been quiet for a while—why did they have to ambush the bishop on the road to the Labyrinth?
“What happened to the heretics?”
“He killed them all, but in the end, the heretic leader self-destructed together with the bishop. It happened in the blink of an eye. I wanted to stop it, but by the time I came to my senses, it was already over.”
The shock from the heretic leader’s final act still seemed to haunt the priest.
“…You must have been in complete disarray. Thank you for coming all this way to deliver the news. I will pray for the bishop’s peaceful rest beside the Sun God.”
His superior had suddenly died. How chaotic it must have been. And yet, he had still come here out of consideration for us who were waiting. His mental fortitude was truly remarkable.
“…Thank you.”
For a moment, the priest’s eyes reddened as if the emotions regarding the late bishop had surged up. After barely swallowing back his tears, he spoke again.
“Ahem. I plan to return straight to the Holy Empire immediately. Is there anything you would like me to convey?”
There was something I wanted to say. Specifically, when they were going to send us a new bishop for our temple. But the priest had just lost the bishop he served and was still struggling to process his grief. It felt too cruel to burden him with such a question, so I couldn’t bring myself to say it.
“No… there isn’t. I’m only sorry that I cannot attend the funeral because I cannot leave my post.”
“Not at all. Handling the bishop’s funeral rites and dealing with the heretic matter won’t be resolved in a day or two. Still, it is fortunate. Thanks to you managing the temple so well, there won’t be any major problems even without the assigned bishop.”
No! You really shouldn’t feel reassured about that!
If things stayed like this, I would be the one left holding the bag.
“Since the topic has come up, I should mention that I had set aside a separate schedule expecting the bishop’s arrival. What should I do about it?”
“A schedule? I don’t know what it is, but wouldn’t it be best to cancel it if possible?”
“It’s not something I can cancel lightly. It concerns diplomatic matters with the Deltrack imperial family.”
“Ah…!”
At the mention of a diplomatic schedule, the priest’s face filled with dismay as he realized how difficult the situation had become.
“This is indeed a troublesome situation. We cannot carelessly cancel a diplomatic engagement… Is there no one who could assist the temple in your stead?”
“There are two senior priests, but… it would be difficult to entrust it to them.”
“They must have yielded the position because your abilities are so outstanding, Priest Arthur.”
They didn’t yield it. They had it taken away. But there was no need to share that unpleasant detail, so I simply smiled and gave a vague response.
“Then could those two gentlemen handle the diplomatic duties in your place?”
“The request specifically named me, so I cannot withdraw.”
“Hmm.”
“Hmmm…”
Diplomacy or the temple. Both were options that could not be abandoned lightly, so I had no choice but to fall into deep thought.
“There is only one way. You must ask someone you can truly trust. If there is truly no one, the central church will dispatch a priest urgently, but I cannot guarantee how quickly that person could arrive here.”
This place was swarming with people drooling at the chance to devour it. Rather than inviting in someone from a hostile faction and creating unnecessary complications, many would prefer to use someone already inside to manage things. And my prediction proved exactly right.
After the priest returned to the central church with my suggestion, word came back that it would be difficult to send a bishop right away. To me, who needed to enter the Labyrinth immediately, it was like a bolt from the blue.
There were clearly choices available, yet I had the distinct feeling that none of them were choices I could actually make. That was exactly my current situation.
The two options before me. Unfortunately, I could not choose either one.
“Do you have something on your mind?”
While I was sitting blankly by the fountain, staring at the water, someone sat down beside me. When I turned my head, I saw that it was Priest Cardon.
“Priest Cardon?”
“You look very troubled. You seemed unable to focus even during prayer time.”
“I’m sorry.”
I rubbed my face with dry hands and let out a sigh, trying to pull myself together. It wasn’t as if spacing out would make a solution appear.
“Well, that’s understandable. It was such an unexpected death. We lost a great star far too meaninglessly.”
I had never met the bishop in person, but I had heard of his reputation. He was someone respected by many priests. Since he was also an old friend of Bishop Haman, I figured Cardon might know something about the late bishop as well.
“Is Bishop Haman doing alright?”
“He doesn’t show it, but losing a longtime friend seems to have left him drained.”
Bishop Haman, unable to travel the long distance to the funeral, had held a small service for him during prayer time. Since it wasn’t a death from illness but a martyr’s death, the believers gladly filled the seats. Everyone truly mourned his righteous passing.
“He needs to shake it off and stand tall again soon.”
“This isn’t the first or second time something like this has happened, so he’ll be sad for a few days and then recover. But why do you look so troubled, Priest Arthur?”
“I was looking forward to meeting him. And there’s also a rather difficult situation.”
“A difficult situation? May I ask what it is?”
Should I ask Priest Cardon for help? If I requested that he temporarily take charge of the Labyrinth Temple and he agreed, my worries would be cleanly resolved. He wouldn’t do it forever, but at least he could hold things together until the new bishop arrived. Moreover, it might calm Princess Reciel, who was eager to enter the Labyrinth right away.
“Because of diplomatic matters with the Deltrack imperial family, I must enter the Labyrinth. But with the bishop’s martyrdom, there is no one to take my place, which has left me in a difficult position.”
“I see…”
“I would feel at ease leaving if a new bishop arrived, but I’m worried.”
If it truly came down to it, I would have no choice but to leave the temple to Priests Ando and Chillan. The problem was that they were both experienced veterans who had already been in charge of the temple before. They had made such a spectacular mess of it that I had been forced to take over again. Entrusting responsibility once more to people whose qualifications had been revoked would set a bad precedent and create problems. That was my honest feeling—I wanted to avoid it at all costs.
“I know it’s rude to suddenly ask you this, but… would you be able to take charge of the Labyrinth Temple?”
“I belong to the subjugation force. My duty is to assist Bishop Haman closely.”
“…I see.”
“There is still time until the next subjugation force is formed, so I could probably manage it for about a month.”
A month!
Even a month of time would be a blessing.
If he was willing to take it on, I should be grateful no matter how many days it was.
“I hope I’m not imposing too much…”
“It’s fine. I have experience running a temple, so it won’t be that difficult. Besides, the new operating methods you proposed, Priest Arthur, seem quite good. I don’t think managing it will be hard at all. It will also be valuable experience for when I run a temple in the future.”
Priest Cardon comforted me by saying that it wasn’t entirely a loss for him either, showing consideration for my feelings. Having bought a month’s time, all I could do was hope that the central church would select a new bishop during that period.