Celestial
The chapel was filled with the sound of devout prayer.
The chairs and furnishings that should have decorated the interior were nowhere to be seen.
Only pillars marched away at regular intervals.
“By the name of the Goddess, we shall be hated by all, but he who endures to the end shall be saved.”
One sister knelt before each pillar.
Not once did their posture falter, nor their voices waver.
With both hands joined before them, they kept reciting the prayers without pause.
Lawrence could not understand why he had not been able to hear them before now.
The sisters’ voices carried a sanctified, noble light to them.
When Ekaterina had opened the chapel, she had been chanting a prayer.
The radiance that had clung to the door.
If that glow had been a miracle, then perhaps it had also been sealing the sounds inside the chapel away.
There were only two sources of light in the dim sanctuary.
Flames burned atop the basins placed on either side of the goddess’s statue.
As with the sisters offering prayers before the pillars, a priest in a purple alb and violet stole was kneeling before the statue as well.
“Priest Victor.”
“Sister Ekaterina.”
The prayers ceased.
The priest rose and turned to face them both.
Whether he had been informed in advance or not, both their expressions remained calm.
“May the Goddess’s blessing be with you. Wanderer in search of the path.”
“May the Goddess’s blessing be with you.”
Lawrence bowed his head.
“I am Victor, chief priest in charge of St. Pierre Monastery. I have heard many things about you from Sister Ekaterina, Brother Lawrence.”
“I’m Lawrence, servant of the Goddess Belche. A pilgrim.”
Victor’s face was drawn with fatigue.
His voice was hoarse.
Hollow eyes. Sunken cheeks.
Deep shadows hung beneath his eyes.
It was no illusion that his fingertips seemed to tremble slightly.
“May I ask what on earth is going on?”
Lawrence voiced the question that had been weighing on him.
If no one was supposed to be in the chapel, why was the chief priest here?
Why were eight sisters reciting prayers?
Including the dark chapel itself, nothing about the situation made sense.
Could they have been holding a prayer service for Lent?
No. It was not that simple.
Something more desperate. Something with a far clearer purpose.
Lawrence could tell that whatever this was, it was no ordinary affair.
“If I had more time, I’d explain it to you slowly. But the situation is not favorable right now. Please hear the details from Sister Ekaterina. Forgive me. May the Goddess bless your path forward, brother.”
With a bow, Victor turned back toward the statue and knelt once more.
He resumed the prayer he had stopped.
Lawrence could hardly bring himself to speak to him again.
It was obvious to anyone that there were unavoidable circumstances.
Ekaterina motioned for Lawrence to follow.
Their footsteps made no sound.
He followed her out, leaving the chapel behind.
Once in the cloister, Ekaterina quietly closed the chapel door.
The light of the holy cross emblem settled over the door.
As the glow faded, the reverent murmur of prayer could no longer be heard.
“What on earth is going on?”
“Hold your questions for later. First, see it for yourself.”
Ekaterina led Lawrence underground.
As they descended the stairs, all manner of objects were piled up before the entrance to the basement.
Multi-seat benches, likely moved down from the chapel.
Tables, desks, and anything with even a little weight had been stacked in front of the door.
No matter how he looked at it, the sight gave rise to a sinister feeling.
This was not an obstacle meant to keep something from entering the basement.
It was a barricade meant to keep something from coming out.
“The Lost Sanctuary you’ve been looking for is in here.”
Ekaterina, who somehow had a cigarette between her lips now, spoke around the smoke.
“Was this why you were sitting in front of the chapel?”
“Not the chapel. More precisely, it was in front of the basement stairs.”
He had thought it odd.
She had not been sitting there idly, smoking for the sake of it.
There had been a reason she had to keep watch there.
“Where does the basement lead?”
“To an underground cavern beneath the coastal cliffs.”
“Let me rephrase. The underground cavern—what exactly lies inside this Lost Sanctuary?”
Smoke curled upward.
After drawing in a deep breath, she said, “Before that, let me ask you something. News from the Holy See says that you’ve already visited two Lost Sanctuaries, junior. One was the sanctuary in the Spider Forest at Horos Village. The other was the sanctuary in the Ulbazar Swamp at Remington Village. Is that right?”
There was no reason to deny it.
Besides, the Spider Forest incident had been reported directly by Lawrence at Saint Dominic Monastery.
And he had received help from Chief Priest Ignatius at the Ulbazar Swamp sanctuary as well.
“Then you’ve probably got a good idea of what’s down there.”
She was right.
He did have some idea.
There had been monsters in the Lost Sanctuaries.
More to the point, there had been beings that exhibited abnormal phenomena.
The Forest Spider Queen in the Spider Forest.
The Bugbear King in the Ulbazar Swamp.
If the thing below was no different…
“Don’t tell me there’s some colossal horn boar down there?”
“That horn boar of yours… it was only affected by the influence.”
Ekaterina shook her head.
“Based on the legends preserved in Frang Village, we call the ancient being beneath us Vodyanoy.”
“Vodya… what?”
The name was difficult even to pronounce.
From the name alone, he couldn’t begin to guess what it was.
“A spirit once worshipped by the people who lived on this land long ago. Few residents remember the name anymore, but the old tales record it as a spirit of the sea. The village festival that will be held soon is also an old tradition held in its honor.”
Lawrence covered his mouth with a hand.
Something in his mind clicked into place.
The village’s lingering worship of a spirit.
The Goddess’s house built upon the trampled altar of that spirit.
The story he had heard back when he stayed at Saint Dominic Monastery—that the local spirit had grown angry.
Pilgrims who traveled in search of sanctuaries.
The Church, identifying those sanctuaries and carving out pilgrimage routes.
The goddess statue in the Lost Sanctuary and the fissure leading to the Spirit World.
That thing that emerged from the shattered statue, though it had not even been touched, had led Lawrence into the Spirit World.
If that unidentified force was somehow influencing the sanctuary…
Then everything connected, like interlocking gears.
The monster that had manifested abnormality had not simply appeared out of nowhere.
The energy leaking through the fissure had affected the monster and changed it.
The same was true of the statue fragments.
It had not been a coincidence that the fragment led him into a dream of the Spirit World.
According to the red-eyed being, the fragment of the goddess statue had been called a stone of the Spirit World.
He didn’t know why.
But the goddess statues in the Lost Sanctuaries were undoubtedly things that had seeped in from the Spirit World.
“How many days remain in this year’s Lent?”
“Not many. Coincidentally, it overlaps with the day the festival begins.”
“On the day Lent ends, something horrible is going to happen?”
One could not keep a lid down forever.
Like water overflowing from a fishbowl and spilling over the rim.
Was that spirit, Vodyanoy, about to emerge from underground?
“Nothing of the sort. Why do you think we built the house of the Goddess above it and pray here? Think carefully about the meaning of that. We are the ones holding the hilt of the sword.”
Lawrence understood.
It was not a spirit with a ridiculous name rising up.
The prayers being offered in the chapel were likely an extension of that same effort.
Victor, the chief priest, and the eight sisters were beseeching the Goddess without pause so that the thing below would not dare to do anything improper.
Surely the villagers knew nothing of this.
The entire matter was being thoroughly concealed under the Holy See’s direction.
Endurance and contemplation.
As she had said, Lent was a time of preparation.
And once the prayers were finally complete…
It would be time to wield the sword.
“Don’t worry. The prayers were timed for Lent. Vodyanoy must already be at its limit. What I’m doing is only placing my hand lightly upon the seal.”
“You’re the one doing it, Sister?”
“Then why else would I be here?”
Everything that came from the Holy See had a reason behind it.
At Ekaterina’s words, Lawrence opened his mouth.
“I’ll go with you too.”
“……”
She made no attempt to hide her displeasure.
“I don’t need your help, junior.”
“Two is better than one. Under the Goddess’s name, if two or three gather, then She will be with us as well.”
“In preparation for the worst-case scenario, I’ve already asked the Holy See for support. If everything had gone according to plan, they should have been here by now, but… well, it doesn’t matter. Honestly, it’s not that big a problem even without them.”
“No. I’m coming too. Whatever the case, I can’t send a sister down there alone.”
Lawrence did not back down.
“If your purpose is to visit the sanctuary, then you can just go down afterward, once everything’s over. Wouldn’t you prefer to be safe too?”
“So you admit it’s dangerous. That makes it all the more necessary for me to accompany you.”
This chance could not be missed.
As she had said, he could always go down after everything was over.
But then there was no telling what would happen to the goddess statue in the Lost Sanctuary.
Think of Rombamel.
Only fragments of the goddess statue had remained at the playground.
Whether that had been the Church’s doing, or the work of someone pretending to be the Church, he still didn’t know.
But he knew for certain that something had happened to the statue.
If Ekaterina finished her task and the Church secured the sanctuary, and then something changed in the goddess statue…
He might lose the one clue he had finally found.
That could not be allowed.
There had been nothing in Rombamel.
He had met the red-eyed being through the fragment, yes.
But the most important thing—the Key of the Spirit World—had not yet given him so much as a single clue.
If the Lost Sanctuary here was connected to the Key of the Spirit World… then he could not afford to choose surrender, not even by the thinnest margin.
“Lawrence.”
Her tone changed.
Ekaterina straightened her posture before speaking.
“I told you this because I wanted you to look after the monastery and the village.”
Just as she had.
She seemed to want him to guard the path before the chapel, the road leading to the coastal cliffs.
“Very well. But are you saying something might come out of there? For example, an abnormal horn boar that threatens the monastery or descends into the village and causes trouble?”
“Nothing like that will happen. The prayer led by Priest Victor has filled the entire monastery with the Goddess’s grace. Even if they lose their way, there is no chance of them coming up here.”
“Even if there were?”
“I swear it in the name of the Goddess.”
Her tone was brimming with certainty.
“Then there’s nothing to worry about. I can leave this place to Luca.”
“……”
If whatever lay below was not going to come out, then there was not much work to do aboveground.
The monastery’s functions were, in effect, at a standstill.
All that remained was dealing with the occasional believers who came calling.
And even that was a simple matter that ended once they were given an explanation.
Something like that, Luca could be trusted to handle.
And Ekaterina likely knew it too.
She let out a sigh deep enough to seem as though the floor might cave in beneath it.
“So you’re determined to go to the sanctuary no matter what?”
“Why ask a pilgrim why he wants to go to a sanctuary?”
“I won’t be protecting you.”
“A pilgrimage is supposed to be climbed alone in the first place.”
There was no point trying to stop him.
Ekaterina took a cigarette from her skirt.
“I’m telling you, I’ve warned you.”
“Thank you for allowing me.”
“I didn’t allow anything. I just lost to your stubbornness.”
Sitting in the chair, she drew in a deep drag.
Smoke rose as if she were exhaling her own frustration.
Lawrence changed the subject, as though to lift the heavy mood.
“But that means only a few people in the Holy See know the truth about the sanctuary.”
“You were given the black holy cross. A pilgrim tied to a Lost Sanctuary has the right to know this and the qualification to act on it.”
The boy looked down at the black holy cross.
Ignatius’s words echoed in his mind.
I don’t know the details myself. Calling me the chief priest in charge of the monastery may sound impressive, but because I’m so far from the Holy See, there isn’t much information I’m allowed to access. The one thing I do know for certain is that an edict has been issued ordering us to provide every possible cooperation to any pilgrim who bears the black holy cross.
Then what was she, if she knew all of this?
It was not something an ordinary sister should know.
Even if she was part of the Holy See, Ekaterina had just said that only a select few knew the details.
The more he thought about it, the more suspicious it all became.
A sister who could handle miracles, something spoken of as the authority of a priest.
She might act like a gutter thug most of the time, but she also possessed qualities anyone would respect.
She simply chose not to show them.
“Sister Ekaterina.”
Lawrence steeled himself and looked at her.
“Who are you, really?”
“…Yes. Since you’ve come this far, I suppose I should introduce myself properly again.”
Ekaterina chewed on her cigarette as she spoke.
“Ekaterina, inquisitor of Celestial, an agency directly under the Holy See.”
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