Chapter 23
Chapter 23
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: The Sponsored World Turned Out to Be Real
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Capital City Igugwoden.
There were two buildings that stood out so prominently, no one who visited even once could ever forget them.
One was Igugwoden Cathedral.
It was known as "the most beautiful cathedral in the world," boasting the tallest spire in the capital and housing a treasure trove of murals, masterpieces, holy relics, and statues inside. But by divine will not long ago, the spire had been blown away, and the interior gutted and refilled with new contents. For now, it was a somewhat chaotic place.
And the other was the Imperial Palace.
Home to those with the noblest blood on the continent.
This fortress, built by carving out an entire hill without sparing a single inch, was breathtakingly beautiful to behold. Yet it was also ringed by thoroughly dug moats, allowing it to serve adequately as a small citadel in times of crisis.
At the heart of this Imperial Palace lay the audience chamber, where one could meet the Empress.
Kneeling on the red carpet, Linea bowed her head in greeting to the pinnacle of the empire's power.
"Mother, I'm home."
"Welcome back, Linea."
Seated upon the Empress's throne was Linea's mother and the 18th sovereign of the Ainsberg Empire—Empress Eirene von Ainsberg.
Her golden hair, shining brighter than dust motes in sunlight, was elegantly pinned up with one side strand cascading down, exuding grace. Her deep sapphire eyes, like oceans captured in gemstone, stood as stark proof of the imperial bloodline.
Her skin was strikingly pale and youthful, defying belief in her age... but the most striking feature was her bosom.
Breasts. Violently enormous breasts, two of them!
Just gazing upon them made one feel as if the very word "breasts" might crush you to death!
Her adopted daughter, 2nd Princess Linea, was quite glamorous herself, but she paled in comparison to Eirene.
These overwhelming, ripened breasts—possessable only by a mature woman—jutted out as if ready to shred her luxurious dress.
A woman who had learned to suspect before she learned to love, she was 36 this year.
The modest age gap with her now 21-year-old Linea stemmed from the fact that she and the rest of the imperial family were all children of her elder sister.
She had adopted the children of the previous Empress, who had died young.
Eirene had ascended the throne at the shockingly young age of 22 following the untimely death of her much older sister, the prior Empress Aisha von Ainsberg.
The moment she donned the imperial crown, she was thrust into a sordid power struggle.
Her siblings were not supporters but rivals eyeing the throne. The nobles who followed them were her enemies.
Yet she had stood firm in that position, somehow weathering the storm.
She had stained her hands with blood when necessary. To avoid being devoured.
And now.
At least on the surface, there was no one left who harbored even a shred of defiance toward her.
In the process, she had ended up with children before a husband—but it hardly mattered.
Better to inherit her sister's children outright than complicate the succession with direct heirs of her own.
She had no intention of seeking a husband now. Men had never once earned a place in her interests.
She wasn't disinterested in sex... but what quickened her pulse was her plans falling perfectly into place, not the presence of a man.
Eirene extended her pristine white hand forward and spoke.
"So, did you meet the Saintess?"
"Yes. As expected, she appointed me as a Holy Knight... but..."
"Something happened, I take it?"
What followed was the tale of the Dish of Holy Knights.
At the mention of three people sharing one dish, Eirene slightly furrowed her brow and tilted her head.
Her golden side strand swayed with a soft shimmer.
"Appointing three Holy Knights, you say?"
"That's right."
Eirene's white hand brushed her pink lips.
"What a transparently cunning decision."
Linea easily guessed whom Eirene meant.
The Pope. The man rapidly expanding his church's influence to reclaim lost authority—Pope Agnus III.
"However, Mother, he claimed that selecting the 'Dish of Holy Knights' this time was the will of the gods—"
"Linea, surely you don't actually believe that nonsense about 'the will of the gods'?"
"......"
Her silence was affirmation.
Linea didn't particularly believe in the gods either.
"It's a hassle to make enemies of them. But we can't grant them power worth checking either... So why not just appoint all three? You and Ophelia are both exceptional knights, so adding one no-name knight poses little risk. Plus, appointing three Holy Knights plants the impression that 'this new Saintess is something special.' All that's left is rewriting their rules... but that's—"
—easily solved by ripping out the book they call "the word of god."
They're beasts that devour the Holy Scripture, after all.
Eirene let out a self-mocking laugh as she said it.
"It's amusing, watching them scramble to reclaim their former glory now that a Saintess has appeared. Be they holy men or nobles with political ambitions... what a farce. Linea, you've studied history—you know what happened just a few centuries ago."
"Yes, Mother."
Eirene and Linea reviewed that past history together.
—A time when even the Empress had to kneel before the Pope, when the church's power was absolute.
Back then, the Holy Scripture was the law. Nay, the era prioritized Scripture over any law.
Even imperial women, including the Empress herself, were obligated to bare a portion of their breasts.
For the worldly imperial family, this must have been utter humiliation.
Would you believe that the Scripture's authority was absolute, reducing the Empress to little more than a tax collector?
But no authority, not even one that could fell birds from the sky, lasts forever.
Pope Magnitipus II of that era was a gluttonously greedy man who birthed the blasphemous logic that "as long as you donate, the size of your Divine Power Pouch isn't a barrier to becoming a nun"—defying the will of the gods outright.
And in doing so, he committed the church's greatest, most heinous sin—one still a massive taboo, an utter blasphemy that the religious world blushes to recall—
"Surely you know it, Linea?"
"Yes, Mother."
"Right. —The Titless License Sales."
"......It's the Titless Certificate Sales, Mother."
"Same difference."
After the horrific scandal known as the "Titless Certificate Sales"—certificates allowing anyone, regardless of Divine Power Pouch size, to become a nun, a nightmare too awful for the modern church to even utter.
The church's divine power plummeted due to the deficient pouches, its magic reserves dwindling endlessly, and its absolute status crumbled swiftly.
In the end, this led to the current balance: the national religion, yet unable to wield absolute authority over the Empress, nor could the imperial family unilaterally dominate the church.
A precarious equilibrium had been achieved.
Into this situation, a Saintess appeared for the first time in 200 years.
From the Igugwoden Church's perspective, aggressively leveraging her miracles to elevate their continental prestige was only natural.
The Empress simply couldn't sit idly by like it was a mere spectacle.
"For now, I've agreed to the 'Dish of Holy Knights'... but should I start studying the Holy Scripture to avoid any nitpicking?"
"The Holy Scripture is, in the end, just penned by humans. It won't hurt to read it now that you're a Holy Knight... but for now, Linea, keep a low profile and stay out of sight. Your mother will handle everything. Understood?"
"Handle it yourself, you say...?"
At that moment.
Eirene tilted her head slightly, gazing down at Linea.
The gaze of the absolute superior upon the inferior. Unmistakably so.
"Soon, you'll be the only Holy Knight left."
"......!!"
Linea gasped in shock, eyes widening, but Eirene continued nonchalantly.
"Of course, I have no intention of staining my hands with blood. That would be foolishly making enemies of the church. But there are plenty of ways to achieve the same without dirtying one's hands."
"No point stirring noble resentment needlessly, so we'll need to prepare meticulously against the Translente family... Yes. Best to deal with the nameless knight first."
Covering her mouth with her white hand, Eirene let out a "kuhuhu," chuckling.
Her beauty was so captivating, one could scarcely imagine her plotting schemes.
"Mother, even so, targeting knights already selected as Holy Knights seems unwise..."
"Already friends, are you?"
"Not that—surely, if there are things one ought to do in this world—"
—there are also things one ought not to do?
"You're still young, Linea. It's not about things you shouldn't do. It's about things you shouldn't get caught doing."
"......!"
While Linea reeled in shock, speechless, Eirene remained utterly serene.
Truth be told, with a Saintess's appearance, they were merely biding their time—what did the Empress have to fear?
"Don't worry. If they truly were appointed Holy Knights by the word of god, surely the gods wouldn't allow mere mortal schemes to prevail?"
She said this with another "uhuhu" chuckle—
"Yes. 'If' god is truly watching over humanity."
* * *
Nom nom.
"Delicious."
As I killed time peeling and eating tangerines, my phone buzzed.
[Episode 「Holy Knight Appointment (4)」 has been uploaded!]
'Oh! Next chapter's out!'
It's here! My dopamine hit!
I'm thrilled!
Gotta read the next episode!