Chapter 65
Chapter 65
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: Battle for the Holy Grail (7)
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“Dietrich, I get that you’re reeling from our lord’s death, but... reincarnation is just something out of novels. That doesn’t exist in reality.”
“To hear that from you of all people really pisses me off...”
“You’re not being tricked by someone, are you?”
“No!”
Dietrich shouted before clamping his hand over his mouth.
If he caused a scene and the other Holy Knights noticed, it’d be trouble.
“Casaria, just trust me on this for now. If you meet him yourself, you’ll understand that our lord has been reincarnated.”
“Poor Dietrich... How did someone as sharp as you end up like this?”
“Argh, this is frustrating...!”
“Anyway, we don’t have time for this.”
The cheers around them had already started to die down.
The knights would soon come to check on the situation inside the carriage.
“We’ve already confirmed the Holy Grail.”
“You confirmed it?”
“Yeah, it’s just an ordinary Holy Grail.”
With that, Casaria pulled her hand away from the Holy Grail.
“It’s identical to the other one I checked four years ago. It has no power to resurrect the dead.”
“...!”
“It was a bust this time too, but I’m not giving up.”
At that moment.
Casaria vanished from sight.
“Casaria!”
“I hope you break free from that con artist, Dietrich.”
With those parting words, Casaria’s presence completely faded.
* * *
“Sorry. I tried to track her, but she got away clean.”
“I figured as much.”
I nodded as I listened to Dietrich’s report.
“The area was crawling with Holy Knights. There was no way to chase her down without getting spotted.”
“Yes...”
“Even if you could’ve, you can’t catch Casaria if she’s serious about escaping.”
Dietrich, specialized in long-range attack magic, had no chance against Casaria’s stealth expertise.
Even Archbishop Hausel in his prime might’ve struggled, but with our current forces, capturing her was impossible.
“I should’ve convinced her properly... I’m sorry.”
“That would’ve been even harder. With all those Holy Knights around, calmly persuading her while holding her back? Near impossible.”
Dietrich and Casaria were longtime enemies of the Holy Knight Order.
Kurt in particular would remember their faces.
The moment he spotted them, he’d unleash his Heavenly Bow Emperor Style with everything he had.
Neither Dietrich nor Casaria could afford a prolonged conversation in that situation.
“If we’d been alone with her, we might’ve had a shot, but things didn’t line up.”
“You’re right...”
“And if my identity got out to the other Holy Knights while talking to her? That’d be a disaster.”
If word spread that I was Archbishop Hausel reincarnated, there’d be no containing it.
“Let’s be satisfied that we confirmed she’s alive and still searching for a way to revive me.”
“Understood, my lord.”
Now that we knew her status, there’d be another chance to meet.
We could persuade her thoroughly then.
“But my lord, be cautious if we meet Casaria again. She thinks you’re a fraud.”
“I’m quite different from my days as Archbishop Hausel...”
“She might come at you raging about some imposter daring to mimic our lord. If that happens...”
“My life would be in danger. I know.”
Casaria was Archbishop Hausel’s prized disciple.
If she came at me in earnest, it’d be tough to handle.
“Still, we have to bring her back.”
“My lord...”
“I can’t just leave her wandering lost like that.”
Casaria had been adrift for over a decade, consumed by delusion.
Her state was even worse than Dietrich’s.
To save her from that, she needed to return to my service.
* * *
“No, there really was a strange woman inside the carriage!”
“Bishop Mateur, even if you like women, how can we take dreams like that seriously?”
“Grade 1 Knight Edwin! It wasn’t a dream!”
“I appreciate the healing, but... Bishop Mateur, you seem a bit too lecherous.”
“Ugh...”
While camping around the campfire, Mateur grimaced at Edwin’s jab.
He claimed to have seen Casaria hiding in the carriage, but no one believed him.
The Holy Grail had been intact in its place.
“Bishop Mateur, I agree with Edwin.”
“Even you, Knight Captain? You won’t believe me either?”
“You must’ve been exhausted. Healing all those knights must’ve drained you.”
“Hmm...”
“You might’ve dozed off and dreamed it. I understand.”
Mateur had borrowed the Holy Grail’s power to heal the knights.
Edwin here had suffered a major wound from a Dialogue Church special Grade 1 assassin but returned to the fight after Mateur’s treatment.
“How’s the wound, Edwin?”
“It throbs a bit, but no bleeding.”
“Rest up just in case. You weren’t in any shape to fight again then.”
“Thanks to Bishop Mateur’s excellent healing, I’m fine.”
Mateur scratched his head and muttered.
“That wasn’t my power. I borrowed the Holy Grail’s strength.”
“I’ve always wondered... What exactly is the Holy Grail’s power?”
“Hmm, well, you know relics contain holy power, right?”
“Yes.”
“Everything in the world has intangible energies. The most common is mana from nature—the mana we humans have too.”
Mateur explained patiently to Edwin’s question.
“Holy power is similar to mana, but without the noise unique to natural elements. Few impurities, you could say. That makes it a higher-dimensional energy, closer to the fundamental source.”
“So that’s why it’s holy?”
“Yes, closeness to the source means closeness to the Holy Spirit. Anyway, holy power outperforms regular mana—not just in raw output, but in what it can achieve on a higher level.”
“Like how holy water vessels fill with holy water on their own?”
“Exactly. In the old days, we called it miracles from sacred objects, but now we understand the principles.”
Mateur said this, but such knowledge wasn’t widely known.
If it got out that relics were just vessels storing high-level holy energy, it could undermine people’s faith.
“...?”
That’s when a strange sight caught my eye.
My father, Kurt, was heading into the woods, with Lieselotte following behind.
* * *
After repelling Archbishop Sapphire, the Judgment Knight Brigade began moving with the 13th Unit.
The 13th handled transport, while the Judgment Knights escorted against Dialogue Church ambushes.
That’s why they were camping together, and Kurt seized the chance for a long-overdue talk with Lieselotte.
“I’m glad you’re supporting Sion well, Lieselotte.”
She’d originally been assigned by Kurt to guard Sion.
He had a few spies and agents under his direct control, and among them, the youngest—Lieselotte—went to Sion.
“Thank you, Lieselotte.”
“As I’ve said before, Kurt.”
Lieselotte placed a hand on her chest and replied calmly.
“I’m following Sion of my own will now. It has nothing to do with your orders.”
“Right, that’s true.”
“If anything, I should thank you. Thanks to the identity of Lieselotte Hydra you prepared, I could serve as a new knight by Sion’s side.”
The real Lieselotte Hydra existed separately.
But since she was on a top-secret Holy Spirit Church mission, borrowing her identity posed no issue.
It was possible because Kurt had ties with the real Lieselotte Hydra’s parents.
“From what you say, it seems you have no plans to return to internal affairs.”
“Being a Holy Knight has better prospects.”
“Fair enough.”
Lieselotte had once been a trainee spy in the Holy Spirit Church’s internal affairs bureau.
Right after training, Kurt summoned her for the Holy Knight Order entrance exam.
“Lieselotte, your cover will hold indefinitely. Unless someone targets you specifically for an audit, your identity won’t be a problem.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Keep supporting Sion well.”
“You’ve changed a lot, Kurt.”
“Have I?”
“When we first met, you were frantic with worry for Sion. But now... you trust him completely.”
“You’re the same, aren’t you, Lieselotte?”
“Pardon?”
“When we met, you were stiff and tense, wondering what a Sky Rank Holy Knight wanted with a lowly trainee spy like you.”
“...”
“But now you’re relaxed. Confident.”
Lieselotte looked slightly surprised as she listened to Kurt.
“Spending time with Sion... you’ve grown a lot.”
“Kurt...”
“Take good care of Sion from now on, Lieselotte Eldrai.”
Calling her real name, Kurt smiled.
* * *
I ended up overhearing Kurt and Lieselotte’s conversation by chance.
Afterward, Kurt returned to the Independent Knight Brigade, but Lieselotte lingered in the woods, lost in thought.
“Lieselotte.”
“Sion?”
She jumped a little when I appeared, then looked at my face.
“Did you... hear all that?”
“Not intentionally.”
“It’s a bit embarrassing now.”
Lieselotte blushed and looked away.
“But I’m glad you did overhear.”
“Why?”
“If you hadn’t, you might’ve thought I was having some secret rendezvous with your father.”
“Don’t even joke about that...”
Kurt’s wife—my mother—was recovering in the provinces due to poor health.
If he cheated on her with Lieselotte... I couldn’t respect him as a father anymore.
“Lieselotte, you mentioned earlier you’re from the Papal internal affairs bureau.”
“Yes, though I only trained there.”
“Any way to make contact with them?”
“Pardon?”
We’d soon head to the Papal See.
Delivering the Holy Grail would end the mission, but we wouldn’t leave right away.
“I have some personal business.”
“Need some intel? Something even the Holy Knight Order’s Inquisition doesn’t know?”
“Something like that.”
The Papal internal affairs bureau.
I’d wanted to visit there for a while.
‘I need to... stir things up there.’
Perfect timing with the trip to the Papal See and Lieselotte’s connections.
I couldn’t pass this up.