The Septem Council
Honestly, council meetings are boring.
Most of what gets discussed is policy—taxes, livelihoods, welfare, squabbles over inter-denominational interests. That's why.
The reason I attend this council at all is the agenda concerning the Demon Realm, demons, and demonic beasts.
But that agenda item always comes up in the latter half of the meeting.
Why? Because the protagonist is supposed to make their entrance last, obviously. The Demon Realm agenda is more important than anything else, so it's always saved for the end.
The single greatest reason the denominations—each worshipping a different god—joined forces to build the Empire in the first place was the Demon Realm, where demons and demonic beasts dwell.
At first, I actually thought, 'Shouldn't the important agenda be discussed when everyone's most focused?'
But I was wrong. The high priests of each denomination are veterans tempered by murderous workloads. A few hours of meetings isn't going to scatter their concentration.
Anyway, the point is, right now I have to endure this tedious stretch of time because of the Demon Realm agenda.
"Haahm..."
I yawned long and loud, watching the high priests drone on and spray spit as they argued.
The current topic was taxes, so a heated debate was in full swing.
Talk of taxes generally ties into national defense, and it usually splits into two factions.
The front-line denominations: Justitia, Nike, and Eris.
And the mid-to-rear denominations: Harmonia, Veritas, Diana, and Hestia.
"You would cut the defense budget! It already costs an astronomical sum just to hold the defensive line!"
"It's hardly that much! So long as the sacred barrier stands intact, the demonic beasts cannot freely threaten Sectia!"
As you can hear, the front-line denominations say, "Do you have any idea what it costs to maintain the Demon Realm's defensive line?" while the rear faction counters, "Hmm, I don't think it's quite that much."
They fight viciously like this, but nobody is actually proposing to slash the defense budget.
Because suggesting a cut to defense spending in a nation bordering the Demon Realm is tantamount to suggesting the country should die.
It's more like... they're simply refusing to accept that the bulk of the defense budget flows to our side. Yes, borrowing a term from my past life, it's a kind of 'WWE.'
'We rear-line denominations will send troops to support your subjugation forces and defenses, so let us share in the defense budget too.'
'Are the costs of keeping the troops you send stationed on the defensive line going to fall from the sky?'
'We'll cover that with our own money. Isn't that the same as giving you our powerful forces for free? In exchange, we get a share of the defense budget.'
...Well, that's what all that noisy bickering boils down to.
Our side had nothing to lose by receiving support from the rear's powerful forces. And if other denominations shared the garrison and supply costs, there was absolutely no reason to dig in our heels.
The rear denominations, for their part, could shave off some of the front-line budget for themselves and give their knights a taste of real combat, so it was a profitable deal for everyone.
The reason they raised their voices and fought anyway was simple.
The rear denominations wanted to squeeze out every last coin of the budget, while the front-line denominations were locked in a power struggle to extract even slightly stronger knights.
Watching this tedious political sparring made drowsiness wash over me.
Eventually my head started nodding, and I dozed off...
"...Saintess, please wake up now."
"Ugh..."
I jolted awake at Bartholomew's smooth, silken whisper.
I must have slept remarkably well; I wiped the drool from the corner of my mouth with the back of my hand and looked around.
Clarice was at least blinking her eyes wearily and yawning repeatedly, while the other Saintesses, like me, seemed to have just now emerged from deep sleep.
"I trust you all slept well, Saintesses."
Council Speaker Magnus said it with a faint smile, surveying us up and down.
'...Is he calling me out for sleeping during the council?'
Well, fair enough. Saintess or not, being seen dozing through a council session isn't a good look.
If this were Earth, the internet would have been set ablaze with something like 'Look at this congressman sleeping during session. What a waste of my taxes.jpg.'
But this isn't Earth.
What could you possibly do about us sleeping, hmm?
Want a taste of a Precognitive Dream?
That's the kind of thing I could throw right back at him.
Which is why Pope Magnus didn't bother to restrain us.
"The final agenda item concerns the demons, the demonic beasts, and the Demon Realm."
Oh, finally.
Whether it was because the meeting was winding down or because this agenda actually interested us, I couldn't say, but life began returning to the boredom-glazed eyes of the Saintesses.
"You have all sensed that the movements of the demonic beasts and demons have grown ominous of late. This holds true not only for the denominations on the front lines, but for all of you as well."
Speaker Magnus spoke with a grave expression. Every denomination had felt it, great or small, so heads nodded around the room.
"Of course, such times of turmoil have always existed. The demons have always regarded us as thorns in their eyes."
The Holy Empire serves as a bulwark, shielding humanity (which includes various other races, but we'll call it humanity for convenience) from the demons.
So even in the most peaceful of eras, the scale may shrink, but the Holy Empire is always locked in a death-grapple with demonic beasts and demons.
The demons are blood-mad to bring Sectia crashing down, and we periodically march into the Demon Realm to cull the beasts or take the heads of any demon who stands out.
It's a cycle that has repeated for thousands of years. Which is why the current situation could have been brushed aside as nothing.
Apostate cultists running rampant, demons acting a bit more aggressive than usual—none of that was rare in the Empire's history.
"You may be tempted to think this is business as usual. But this time, it is different. To understand how, we would do well to hear the testimony of the Eris Church."
But now is different.
Lilith, one of the Seven Deadly Sin Great Demons herself, has moved, and her apostate underling Selenia has shown her face as well.
Besides, in the original story, the Holy Empire met its bad ending—destroyed by the demons.
An age of chaos is surely coming, and soon.
"And of that, I would like to hear it directly from the mouth of Saintess Beatrice."
"...Huh? Me?"
Huh?
My name was suddenly called while I was lost in thought, and a dopey answer popped out of me all on its own.
Surely I'd submitted a report covering everything I'd recently experienced and the movements in the Demon Realm, so why ask me directly?
With that question in mind, I stared at Speaker Magnus.
"If you recount what you experienced firsthand, I believe the other denominations will be able to grasp the full gravity of the situation."
"Yes, well... if you insist."
No, if that's the plan, a little warning would've been nice, no? Not even time to write a script for my 'vivid testimony.' Seriously?
Grumbling internally, I rose from my seat.
"You are all already aware that the Demon Realm's movements are ominous, so I will speak only of the demons."
I'm not much of a talker.
So I cut all the pleasantries and went straight to the point.
"I have recently experienced two incidents involving demons."
I held up two fingers.
"First: Lilith of Lust, Great Demon of the Seven Deadly Sins, carved a curse into my body."
"...!?"
The council chamber fell silent for an instant, then erupted into an uproar.
"Is that true?!"
"How could a curse be placed on a Saintess's body?!"
"Really?! Trixie, let me study your body!"
"You came to the capital in a body cursed by a Great Demon?! How utterly reckless!"
...That nonsense in the middle was definitely Jaylin, and who was that bastard at the end?
I looked around to flush out the culprit, but the commotion was too great to find them.
I decided to postpone the hunt and deal with quelling the uproar first.
"Could you all please hear me out to the end?"
I clapped once to refresh the air, and the chamber quieted again.
But there was someone glaring at me, face flushed dark... hmm, yes. The high priest of the Veritas Church.
...Left alone, he was clearly going to pick a fight, so I pressed on immediately.
"That Lilith's curse was carved into my body is an undeniable fact."
"May we ask how? Surely Saintess Beatrice did not come face to face with Lilith herself."
High Priest Arang of Hestia raised her hand and asked.
Beneath that question lay the unspoken doubt: 'If she'd faced Lilith, there's no way she'd still be alive.'
It was a fair point, so I didn't take offense.
I'd nearly died at the hands of a mere Legion Commander; had I met the Great Demon Lilith, there wouldn't have been enough of me left to bury.
"The Goddess told me the curse was carved using the blood I was drenched in while subjugating the demonic beasts."
"...Hmm, I see. Fitting for demons, so notorious for their inscrutable sorcery. And how did you come to know this fact?"
"The Goddess told me directly."
"Understood."
Arang nodded.
Once the brief exchange with Arang ended, no one raised further objections.
I'd said the Goddess told me directly, so denying my words was the same as denying the Goddess's.
Objecting could be construed as blasphemy against Lady Eris, and a holy war breaking out over it wouldn't have been strange.
Of course, I'd mediate to keep civil war from breaking out in Septimoa, but which side would suffer the greater loss in the process? That goes without saying.
I gave High Priest Arang a slight bow for smoothing things over with her brief exchange, and she accepted my greeting with a wink.
For some reason, Shuri was beside us grinding her teeth and glaring alternately at me and Arang, but I decided to ignore her for now.
I tried to continue, but before I could even open my mouth, someone cut in.
"That said, entering this place in a body branded with a Great Demon's curse is not something we can simply overlook."
"I'm sorry, but may I have your name?"
The culprit was the Veritas high priest who'd been glaring at me since earlier. I asked for his name.
"I am Gregory, high priest of the Veritas Church."
I had asked purely because I genuinely didn't know it. 'High priest of the Veritas Church' was too long a mouthful, and 'you' or 'hey, you' seemed rude, didn't it?
But something about my question apparently displeased Gregory, because he scrunched his face up hard before answering.
"High Priest Gregory, the curse of Lilith carved into my body has already been removed."
"The curse of a Great Demon is not so easily erased. What method did you use?"
"I removed it through bathing."
I answered flatly. Any high priest would know about the bathing ritual, and surely then he'd drop his objections. That was my thinking. But...
"...Forgive me, but I understand the Saintess is twenty-one years of age."
"Oh, you know your facts well."
But why bring up my age out of nowhere?
It's not like he was scolding me for being young and disrespectful.
"The Saintess is not of an age to endure the bathing ritual."
"......?"
There's an age limit on bathing?
I tilted my head and looked at Bartholomew.
"I will answer that. That Saintess Beatrice underwent the bathing ritual is an undeniable fact. It was an ordinance given directly by the Goddess. These repeated insinuations of doubt are troubling, High Priest Gregory."
"......"
At Bartholomew's scathing rebuke, High Priest Gregory cleared his throat once and looked away.
Well, judging by that look, he won't be picking any more fights.
The heckler's gone, so let's carry on.
"And second: the demon I encountered on my journey to Septimoa."
"One moment. You mean there was a demon inside the Empire? Then your wound, Unnie—forgive me, Saintess Beatrice—was it..."
Clarice cut in with a startled expression.
"It is. The wound I sustained in battle against a demon."
I nodded in confirmation.
Word that I'd been injured badly enough to be admitted to the infirmary had already spread like wildfire through Septimoa.
But when I revealed that the wound had come from a demon, everyone's expressions turned grave.
"What manner of demon, if I may ask?"
"Selenia the Apostate, Legion Commander of Lust."
The air in the chamber froze in an instant.
And no wonder—they'd just been told that not just any demon, but a demon one rank below a Great Demon, had appeared inside the Empire.
"That's impossible. Utter nonsense..."
"Saintess Beatrice speaks the truth. Analysis of the residual mana left in the village, the traces of the curse, and the bloodstains confirmed it beyond doubt: it was Selenia the Apostate."
Speaker Magnus cut off High Priest Gregory yet again with a flat, level voice before he could interject.
I shot the Speaker a subtle glance of thanks.
But seriously, did I wrong this Gregory guy somehow without knowing it? Why is he so desperate to devour me alive?
"Then you are saying the barrier was breached by a demon?"
Even with the Speaker openly shutting him down in displeasure, Gregory finally spat out his question.
"I doubt it. If it had been, the Holy Nation would already be in complete chao—pardon me, in tremendous turmoil. She once served in our church and still carried a faint trace of holy power within her; that peculiarity is likely how she slipped through."
At that, I let out a soft sigh and answered.
The others wore expressions of relief at my words.
Well, of course—if the barrier had been breached, declaring a national state of emergency on the spot wouldn't have been strange.
But we couldn't afford to relax just yet.
"What matters is that Lilith of Lust has moved. Considering how cunning and cautious her nature is, it is highly likely that at least two or more Great Demons are moving together."
In the worst case, all seven Great Demons of the Seven Deadly Sins could be on the move.
Recalling that the original story ended with the Empire's destruction, that possibility was all too real.
"I will leave the judgment to all of you. That concludes my report."
Surely they'd all understood by now. It was the kind of content you couldn't fail to take seriously if you tried.
"Thank you for indulging our sudden request. Please, take your seat."
At the Speaker's words, I sat back down.
"Everyone, an age of chaos approaches. Another great war may soon be upon us."
After a brief silence, Speaker Magnus spoke with a heavy expression.
"However, we have yet to detect the movements of any demons besides Lust. For us to move first might, in fact, be playing straight into the demons' hands."
Yes, the Speaker was right.
Considering Lilith's cunning, provoking me and having her existence revealed to the Holy Nation might all have been part of the plan.
If we charged recklessly into the Demon Realm, fell into a trap the demons had laid, and lost our main fighting force, the Holy Nation's destruction would be a foregone conclusion.
Which is why, with the demons' intentions still unknown, watching their movements and responding accordingly was a better strategy than a preemptive strike.
"Therefore, while we prepare for the coming age of chaos, we must dispatch a special task force into the Demon Realm to uncover the demons' purpose. Are there any objections to this proposal?"
There were none.
"Then with that, I declare the Septem Council adjourned."
And so, the meeting ended amid a silence so thick it was suffocating.