Infula Church Territory (1)
Alevian.
That... how to put it, that difficult-to-describe elf.
Yona, caught off guard by the name popping out of nowhere, couldn't manage a proper response—only stammering, "Uh, umm..."
Ceres, who had clearly been watching for that reaction, giggled and giggled again.
"You're both mages, after all. You knew each other back in the Wizard Community, too. And as a matter of fact, I knew you'd be coming to Carpatia Port this time, Miss Yona. Alevian insisted—please look after her, please take good care of her—over and over."
"Is, is that so."
Now that she thought about it, it made sense. They were both mages, and there was no reason they couldn't have been friendly with Alevian. Nothing strange about it at all.
"Anyway, understood. But you're not planning to leave the moment you arrive in Infula, are you?"
She hadn't thought about it in detail. It varied with the scale of the job, but typically, after wrapping up a large commission that took days, they'd rest for a couple of days before taking the next one. She'd vaguely assumed they'd stay in Infula about three days before departing for the Community.
"If you're not leaving right away, then talk with me the day after we arrive. There's something I want to say."
At those words, Yona could only manage a reluctant nod.
By the time they'd been driving for days out of Semek—she was honestly starting to lose count—Rubina, who had been gazing out of the carriage window, let out a gasp of wonder.
"Whoa...!"
It was only because Rubina was still young that she said it out loud; everyone else watching through the windows wore the same expression of open admiration.
With Ceres at the front, and Scarlet the only other exception, even the Saintess Vigrind and the Hero Ludwig could not quite conceal their awe.
It looked as if a field of pure white snow had spread out before them.
The church district in Carpatia Port had been full of buildings stacked from grayish-white brick, the cathedral towering highest among them—but it was nothing to compare against this. The wall encircling the entire city had been built entirely in gleaming white.
Where that white rampart met its base, the moat caught the sunlight and glittered brilliantly, bearing unmistakable witness to how clean its waters were. Along the top of the wall, the banner of the Carpathia Empire of All Humanity and the crest of the Heavenly God Church alternated in the wind—a truly magnificent sight.
The closer they drew, the more the wall displayed its imposing grandeur. And now, at last, it was clear the whiteness wasn't paint—the whole thing had been raised from white stone itself. The nearer they came, the more radiantly it shone, drawing gasps of wonder from everyone who beheld it—
"That's the Wall of Purity. The very wall that declares no one impure may enter."
At Ceres's words, Vigrind turned to look at Yona. When Yona—who had been holding Rubina in her lap and playfully roughhousing with her—met her eyes, Vigrind narrowed her gaze and glared.
"And why exactly are you giving me that look?"
Yona fired back just as sharply, and Ceres, wearing a mildly awkward expression, cut in. "I only mean the saying. You don't have to be pure to come in. So don't worry, Miss Yona. You understand, don't you?"
"...Regent, I seem to remember telling you—several times—that that's a genuine misunderstanding and it isn't true..."
The misunderstanding remained unresolved in the end.
When they presented Ceres's nameplate to the gatekeeper, the carriage was waved through without fuss. Scarlet, following behind, passed through the gates without even needing to show anything at all.
When they finally alighted at the rear drop-off of the Papal Palace, Yona looked up at the main cathedral building and marveled. Beyond the palace rearguard, a broad plain spread out in shades of brown. The site sat adjacent to the Medial Plain, but on ground slightly elevated above it, so that every building had been constructed looking down over the fields.
And around the main cathedral stood gleaming white auxiliary buildings, as if embracing it. Surveying them all, Yona murmured her impression under her breath.
"Looks like a hospital."
The kind of place people went with hearts that hurt terribly. Staring at nothing but pure white buildings, that impression came unbidden.
"A hospital?"
"Yeah. Something like a healing house."
The very kind of healing house that healers set up. Put that way, Alec seemed to roughly get the picture.
Once they climbed down from the carriage, the group more or less split apart. Ceres, regent and chief elder both, went off with Ludwig and Vigrind, while Scarlet disappeared somewhere with the Crusade Knights who'd returned alongside her.
Of course, before vanishing she'd left parting words for Ceres, Ludwig, and Vigrind—but not so much as a single word for Yona's group. Which was, frankly, a mercy; if she had, nothing but stilted, awkward exchanges would have followed.
"Regent, thank you for your long journey and all your hardships."
As if they'd been waiting for Ceres's party to wrap things up, a group of women in pure white clerical robes approached. The priests of Infula Church Territory came forward with hands folded before them and measured, tranquil steps, bowing deeply to Ceres.
"Priestess Anankaya. It has been some time."
"We heard that something grave occurred along the way. I am truly glad to see you appear unharmed."
"It was thanks to the grace of the Heavenly God, watching over us. His Holiness the Pope, too, sent the Knights swiftly, and we were able to weather the crisis."
"And those people...?"
The priestess glanced sidelong at Yona's group. Who were they? At a glance the woman looked like a healer, but the companions standing beside her did not at all appear to be of reputable quality.
"Ah, my apologies for the belated introduction. Miss Yona, would you and your companions come this way?"
At Ceres's summons, Yona's group approached with expressions of visible reluctance. Honestly, slipping away to find an inn and resting would have suited them far better.
Yona's thoughts must have been showing on her face, because hairline cracks began to appear in the priestess called Anankaya's gentle expression as well.
Yona was clergy, technically—but she held no particular affection for the Church. Had she become a priestess, things might have been different. But she had failed ordination, and the moment she became a healer, she'd had to leave the cathedral as if shoved out the door.
Had it not been for Aize, she would have been thrown out even more brutally. And so there was precious little chance Yona would ever feel warmly toward the main cathedral of the Heavenly God Church.
"You're aware of the disturbance in Carpatia Port, priestess?"
"Of course. Oh—then these are the very ones—"
"That's right, these are they. The ones who appeared at Carpatia Port and very nearly caused catastrophic loss of life. The Demon of Mockery, Berbaria, was a demon of tremendous power, after all. Had these people not held it back, it would have been a disaster. Isn't that so, Her... Ludwig, and Priestess Vigrind?"
Ceres looked back and forth between Ludwig and Vigrind as she spoke. Until now they'd all been calling them casually—the Hero, the Saintess—but this was the heart of the Heavenly God Church. Before official ordination, such titles were not permitted.
"That is correct. Were it not for them, not only Carpatia but everyone in this world upon whom the Heavenly God's grace should shine would have been swallowed by darkness. It very nearly became a great calamity. They held it back magnificently. I made a special request of them and brought them here."
"Ahh—"
Only after hearing that explanation did the priestess's eyes go wide. A sunny smile bloomed across the face that had, moments before, regarded them with a blank, almost wary air.
"So these are the very heroes of that great deed! And a healer who threw herself into the fray with such devotion—surely even the Heavenly God Himself must be greatly impressed!"
These cursed bitches always have to tack on one extra remark, just to ruin your mood.
Yona's face was twisting with irritation. But whenever she felt the warmth of Rubina's small fern-brush hand wrapped around hers, she settled down, however grudgingly. She had to leave Rubina in their care, so she swallowed the rising irritation and held it in.
"—I would say there is no need to call her a healer. Though her path differs, to cast her out of the fold is not what the Heavenly God desires."
A rich, melodious voice. Yona's and Priestess Anankaya's eyes turned toward it at the same moment.
A tiny girl with vivid scarlet hair—a priestess Anankaya had completely overlooked.
"Ah, this is Priestess Vigrind. The very Saintess personally designated by the Heavenly God's own descent. Ah—but she has yet to be formally ordained, so I suppose I shouldn't be using that title?"
Ceres smiled with crafty sweetness. It was almost certainly deliberate.
"I never dreamed I'd be the one meeting with the Pope alone."
Yona scrunched up her face in disbelief, and Ceres let out a small laugh. "He's not someone I get to see often, either. But with the achievements you earned at Carpatia Port, it would hardly be proper if His Holiness didn't personally offer his praise, wouldn't you say?"
Walking with Ceres down the gallery corridor, Yona clucked her tongue. After the commotion they'd stirred up in Carpatia, the Pope had personally summoned the heroes responsible, saying he wished to see and commend them himself.
And yet the only one actually heading there was Yona, alone. Alec, Kayak, and James had declared they absolutely couldn't stomach it, and pushed the whole thing onto her—why not go as the group's representative, they'd said. There was nothing really standing in the way, and with Yona technically blacklisted by the Church, there wasn't any real problem with the arrangement.
Not that Yona's opinion had been consulted at any point in the decision.
"Come to think of it, the ordination ceremony's happening, right? For Ludwig and Vigrind."
"It will be. In a few days."
"Really? I figured they'd do it right away."
At that, Ceres gave a scornful little snort. That telltale crooked smirk looked like it was winding up to say something unpleasant, and sure enough, Ceres's voice came out twisted with bitterness, as twisted as only she could be.
"Really, now that a demon has actually appeared, you'd think they'd hurry to track it down and hunt it. Instead they spend all their time fussing over their procedures and preparations and whatever else. Hilarious. Religious folk and their glacial pace—it astonishes me more the longer I look."
Says the bureaucrat herself...
Though, admittedly, hadn't the Cathedral Knights been the very last to show up at Carpatia Port, too? If they'd arrived sooner, maybe they could have even caught and killed one of Berbaria's avatars.
...Huh?
Now that she thought about it—whatever had happened to the hunt for Berbaria's avatars?
The question occurred to Yona quite suddenly. "Um, Regent?"
"Yes?"
"That—the Demon of Mockery, Berbaria. Couldn't it be the one who raised the dead?"
"That, I cannot say. Research into demons is a field even I have no access to."
In which case, wouldn't Berbaria's avatars belong among the culprits who had all but overturned Semek? But the candidates Ceres had named had been only the vampire and the lich. Perhaps Berbaria, too, ought to be considered a suspect.
"Berbar—"
"Ah, we're here. Miss Yona, do straighten your clothes."
At Ceres's words, Yona quickly looked herself over. Ahead of her audience with Pope Axell IV, she had long since changed into a freshly issued nun's habit. She checked her attire once more and nodded, and Ceres turned to the priests standing on either side of the great doors with a bright smile.
"We have come in answer to His Holiness the Pope's summons. I am Ceres Olkamain, Chief Elder of the Carpatia Chapter."
The priests did not answer. The two standing on either side of the door gave the faintest of nods in perfect unison, as if they shared a single body, then turned toward the doors.
"His Holiness the Pope. Ceres Olkamain, Chief Elder of the Carpatia Chapter."
—Bid them enter.
The priests turned back toward Ceres. Then, once more moving as one, each reached out—right hand and left hand—took hold of the golden door handles, and pulled them open.
A blaze of brilliant sunlight surged in, taking on color as it passed through the stained glass—a breathtaking scene unfurled before them.
The office was immaculate, without a speck of dust to be seen. There stood a neat, handsome desk, its brown wood fitted together without a single gap.
And beyond that desk, a man deep in his old age was gazing at Yona with burning, luminous eyes.