Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: Cathedral Intrigue
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The Grand Cathedral of the Church.
Bishop Albat had summoned Esther Sol Silia, the Church's promising genius and a candidate for saintess.
"You called for me."
"Yes. Is Lady Sullivan well?"
"She is still in good health."
Though she grew frailer with each passing day, Esther saw no need to add that detail.
"That's fortunate. The reason I called you here is..."
A single newspaper.
Esther furrowed her brow as she scanned a particular article after receiving it.
"The Judge?"
The piece was about a man known as the Judge.
A man she knew well.
Kallias von Jerban.
It was his story.
"He's... become a count."
"The inheritance and appointment of titles among the four great noble houses don't require the kingdom's permission, you see. You're still unaware of the events in the north, aren't you?"
"Yes. What happened?"
The orc raid. The emergence of the warlord.
The fierce siege.
The empire's shadow lurking behind them.
And the hero who ended the war.
"Him, you say."
"According to the reports... that's what they claim. The verification process is already complete. I can hardly believe it myself, but didn't you say the same? He's changed. He's in the midst of transformation."
"Yes. He certainly has..."
But this was still quite hard to believe.
He, the kingdom's greatest wastrel.
'He severed the warlord's head.'
It was an old tale.
The north had always warred with the barbarians, steadily expanding the kingdom's territory.
Yet battles don't always end in victory.
The north's history of bitter defeats always featured that one word: warlord.
"With this great warlord dead, the north should enjoy peace for a while. A good thing. The fallen can rest easy now."
"Yes, a good thing."
"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure he truly severed the warlord's head. I don't put much stock in written reports alone. That's why I called you."
"What..."
"How was Kallias back then? Or should I say Count Jerban now?"
Either way.
"How was he? Did he have the skill to fell a warlord? Did it truly seem like he had no aid from sacred relics?"
"When I clashed with him then..."
His skill was, at best, slightly above average among pilgrims.
Perhaps on par with a low-tier paladin.
The sword energy of Silver Flower Sword Wave was a powerful strike, but if that was all, he wouldn't have taken down a warlord—merely a great warrior at most.
'But if I speak the plain truth...'
The Church suspects him of hoarding sacred relics.
Her testimony could plunge him into danger once more.
Not that she particularly cared.
-Perhaps he strove so hard to become a man worthy of you.
Lady Sullivan's words.
They made Esther hesitate.
'He grew enough in that time to behead a warlord?'
Could such a thing be possible?
With the sword of Saintess Stella, perhaps.
Was it truly not the power of a sacred relic? Doubts piled upon doubts, but Esther left them all as mere questions.
"I'm not sure. I clearly lost, so I couldn't fully gauge his potential. He might have been hiding his true strength all along."
She wasn't lying.
It was possible, after all.
"Hiding his strength... Why do you think that?"
"Perhaps because of the swordsmanship he learned. Not ordinary swordsmanship, but Saintess Stella's Silver Flower Sword Wave. He must have trained in her techniques since childhood."
A hypothesis.
One hypothesis lingering in Esther's heart. Nothing more than a simple hypothesis, yet when it came from the mouth of one named Esther...
It carried weight.
"So he hid it thoroughly to avoid attention."
It was one reason Esther herself spoke so little.
But it wasn't a lie.
Esther didn't believe Kallias had mastered that sword in a short time.
Unlike the Church's paladins, who relied solely on the power of their swords.
Stella's sword maximized one's own swordsmanship, so even if learned, it would take years.
"That makes sense. If I'd possessed Stella's swordsmanship since childhood, I wouldn't have shown it off lightly either. I'd have played the wastrel to deflect interest. Is that how it was?"
Albat let out an impressed sigh, and complicated emotions stirred within her.
She'd only voiced a guess that seemed like a lie but wasn't, yet she couldn't shake the feeling of having lied.
"Now that he's revealing his strength... a storm is brewing."
An inevitable storm of blood.
"Esther Sol Silia."
"Speak."
Albat clasped his hands solemnly, his bald head gleaming.
"Count Jerban. Can we win him to our side?"
"To the moderates?"
"Kallias has become an alluring card, unlike three years ago. The radicals will likely try to recruit him. Of course, Milliman still doesn't know his true potential, so this is our chance."
The infamous title of the kingdom's greatest wastrel doesn't shed easily.
Moreover, Milliman, the leader of the radicals, surely still suspects him of holding sacred relics.
"Best to secure him before Bishop Milliman changes his approach. For our timid king, we must avoid war now."
If they used him well, they might shake off Carpe's old burdens cleanly.
If they could solidify their foundations, a ray of light might pierce the kingdom's dark clouds.
Serving the god was serving the nation, and serving the nation was serving the god.
* * *
The king's audience chamber.
Slightly youthful.
Thus pitiable and anxious.
A woman with silver hair neatly braided sat upon the throne.
Carpe's timid king.
[Clara von Agatha Bright]
Silver hair bearing the stigmata of the god.
Holy silver pupils.
The hair and eyes bestowed by the god granted insight into all things and pierced through truths—a divine grace.
Proof of the royal bloodline.
"I greet Your Majesty."
Carpe's king, whose very eyelashes had turned silver.
Clara welcomed her stiff-necked subjects with a gentle face.
"Archbishop Alhamtra. It's been a while."
"Yes. Seeing how you've grown with each passing day fills me with awe at the god's grace. I, Alhamtra, am once more awakened to the god's presence."
Whether she grasped the archbishop's hidden intent or not, Carpe's king—who looked swallowed by her vast throne—offered only a silent smile.
"The reason I sought audience with Your Majesty is this. The recent rebellion in Oliorro was quelled by the prince, but the damage is immense. And in the west, the Empire's Spear relentlessly widens Carpe's wounds. Is it not time to make a decision?"
Such words were hardly fitting for addressing a king, yet Clara said nothing.
'Tch.'
The weak king. The cowardly king Clara.
A king incapable of decision.
So the world judged Carpe's monarch.
"And Prince Cloy?"
"...The Church's members have worked diligently, and he now slumbers peacefully."
"I see. You've done well."
The mad prince, Cloy.
He had turned Oliorro to ruins, and even that not sating him, he wrought slaughter and chaos until finally falling asleep.
Once asleep, he would remain quiet for months—a blessing, at least.
"Your Majesty, rather than that—"
"Archbishop, I'm not feeling well today and am fatigued. Would you withdraw?"
"...Very well, today."
The archbishop glanced at the knight standing steadfast beside the king before rising.
The kingdom's guardian sword.
Victor.
And beside him, the master of Trista.
Gerald.
As long as those two swords protected her.
No one would touch the timid king.
Creak. Thud.
Gazing at the firmly shut audience chamber, the archbishop strode down the corridor.
The longer he walked the long hall, the more nobles and priests gathered at his side.
"We must seize Luteon's failure as opportunity, yet the king is far too cowardly. It would take only a slight withdrawal of forces from the west."
Then it would all be over.
"If not for that old man at the king's side, it would have ended long ago. What a nuisance."
Even the pope was not what he once was.
"Archbishop. Actually..."
"Kallias?"
"Yes, that wretch is... ruining our work for the greater cause."
"What to do with him..."
To come whining to him because they couldn't handle one wastrel.
With the kingdom's officials so useless and thoughtless, how could the nation function properly?
"Must I personally crush every single fly?"
"F-Forgive us."
Yet as if it had never happened, the archbishop patted the noble's shoulder with a gentle face.
"No need to apologize. What displeases the eye must be removed, and what offends the ear must be ignored."
"Then..."
"I'll handle it. Worry not. Just as before."
"With Your Excellency's words, I can finally rest easy. Carpe won't suffer so at the empire's hands once you ascend to greater heights..."
The archbishop smiled wordlessly.
'Fools.'
That was why the nation had come to this.
Blind to how their actions gnawed at Carpe, they bowed their heads.
What a futile kingdom.
Unaware it marched toward ruin, with no central pillar among the ministers and a king incapable of resolve.
"The nation can't but perish."
"Pardon? What was that?"
"No. Just... admiring the fine weather."
Thoughts somewhat different from theirs.
A different landscape painted, that was all.
"Then that wastrel..."
"Must be removed. If he disrupts our greater cause, no matter what it is."
"For the god. For the nation."
"For the god, for the nation!"
* * *
『Kingdom Quest』
【Empire's Spy】
◆ Slay the empire's spies to save the kingdom from the path to ruin.
◆ Number of spies slain: 7/?
<Reward>: 「Lord's Banner」
"Smooth sailing so far."
For now, it was smooth since they were only catching lackeys. Chopping heads and incidentally pocketing half their wealth was satisfying too.
"After sorting the Thunder Dragon, I had 40,000, plus 10,000 from my own funds, and 30,000 from beheading those nobles."
Roughly 80,000.
An enormous sum.
Normally, he'd convert to goods for transport, but Kallias had no such need.
He'd stuffed it all into his Subspace.
"What do you plan to do with all that money? Shall I manage it for you?"
"No thanks."
"Why? Gold isn't for hoarding—it's for turning! Entrust it to me, and I'll guarantee at least 30% returns!"
"Fee?"
"Half the profits!"
"No thanks."
"Then 30%! How's that?"
"10%."
"Not even covering labor costs! 25%!"
"20%. No more needed."
He had no reason to doubt Helena's money-making skills.
She was the type to conjure funds from thin air.
The house's growth stemmed from her meddling since childhood.
It deeply tied to her sword's unique ability.
"Deal, 20%! How much for investment?"
With 80,000 gold on hand.
"Start with 10,000 gold."
"Eh? What about the rest?"
The remaining 60,000 had its uses.
To gather rats, one must scatter bait.