TAKUTO left Town Hall and began his inspection of Dragontan with Antelise as his guide. The once ramshackle and desolate town now brimmed with astonishing prosperity. Buildings unique to Mynoghra, such as the Flesh Trees, the Sumptuous Meat Forest, and the Grotesque Zoo, showcased its influence as an evil empire. At the same time, the new dwellings and various shops supported the town’s development and prosperity. Happy and energetic expressions colored the faces of the people passing by in the streets. They had already excavated the all-important Dragon Vein Mine, and with a faint green light, it produced an endless supply of Mana from the earth.
Takuto sensed great potential from Dragontan as it showed growth worthy of being Mynoghra’s second city.
In the middle of his tour, Takuto spotted a massive building in the center of town where a large mansion had once stood. The first thing that caught his eye was the twisted and intricate spire. And then the numerous windows that were arranged chaotically, as if they had been deliberately designed to be non-uniform. Ringing from only the gods-know-where was an eerie bell that resonated deep in the heart. This building that pierced the skies clearly reflected the evil culture of Mynoghra and gave off religious undertones.
Takuto raked his gaze from the spire down to the foundation of this looming structure, which he had no recollection of. Then, as if he had come to the foregone conclusion that there was nothing he could do about it, he asked Antelise about it in a slow, deliberate tone.
“Mayor Antelise, what might that be?”
“The Cult of Ira’s cathedral: Dumeli Tula, my king,” Antelise whispered, sadness filling her voice. She seemed to utter the words with all the repugnance and humiliation she felt toward it.
Yeah, I had a feeling that was the case. And I’m equally sure a certain jester had everything to do with it, Takuto sighed. He really didn’t want to know the details. His workload was only going to increase with the knowledge.
“How does this fit into our town plans?” Takuto asked.
“It’s completely not in the plans. To begin with, as the mayor, I never even granted permission for it to be built,” Antelise groaned.
“So, it’s an illegally built structure. Let’s demolish it…” Takuto said.
There were no two ways about it—this building was a Cathedral from Eternal Nations. A Cathedral could be constructed in the religious capital when a nation founded a new religion, but Takuto remembered it came at an insane cost. Vittorio had definitely used his ability to order its construction arbitrarily, but Takuto was curious where he’d scrounged up the resources. Then again, considering the wild fanaticism driving the Cult of Ira and the illicit assets recently acquired from Seldoch, the answer to that question seemed self-evident…
Takuto let out a long-suffering sigh.
Well, at least now his inspection of Dragontan served a real purpose. What with the construction and governance all going smoothly, he thought it’d be fine to leave the town be, but an unbelievable bomb had been lying under the surface all along.
It must have been too difficult for Antelise to bring it up to him. Takuto could sympathize. If he were in her shoes, he would have felt too distraught trying to figure out how to explain its existence, so he couldn’t fault her. After all, cleaning up after a Hero unit’s blunders fell to none other than their Commander—Takuto.
And it seemed awkward feelings over the giant, looming Cathedral weren’t Takuto and Antelise’s alone. A groan teeming with distress and despair came from directly beside him. The groan came from the goatgirl who had been giddily showing Takuto around with Antelise ever since she was summoned to Town Hall. Her merry smile had vanished the moment they came to this building.
It was none other than the Cult of Ira’s Lector, Yona’Yona. She was also a key material witness to the unauthorized construction of this fantastical building.
“Baah, I’m so sorry! So, so, so sorry!” she bleated. “I can’t believe the construction of this unholy Cathedral went against Your Unholiness’s divine will! The responsibility for this lies solely with me! Please, please, O unholy god, be satisfied with just taking my head and mounting it on your wall!”
“No worries. You did nothing wrong, Yona’Yona. You’re doing your best given the circumstances. Don’t throw your life away like that,” Takuto rushed to pacify the girl before she could throw herself facedown at his feet.
She’d have a much easier time if she just blamed everything on Vittorio. The fact that she viewed not reeling him in as her responsibility was both her strength and weakness.
“I-I’m undeserving of such kind words… I… I… O unholy gooooooood…!” Yona’Yona began sniffling.
“I’ll never get used to that form of address,” Takuto said wryly.
The Cult of Ira was a religion Vittorio had arbitrarily created to worship Takuto as a god. It was also a means of collecting the power that arose from concentrating worship and prayer on Takuto alone. As a religion founded on an overabundant use of Vittorio’s persuasion-based skills, every single cultist was a fanatical believer.
They were all crazy people who would gladly offer their head on a platter to Takuto if he ordered it, so he wasn’t too keen on spending much time with them. And now the Lector and acting leader of said cult was weeping as she clung to Takuto. Fortunately, there weren’t too many people around, so they weren’t drawing a ton of attention yet, but Takuto wished she would stop before things got worse.
In all honesty, what he wanted was for her to stop her blubbering and start explaining how the Cathedral came to be.
“Anyway, I suppose it would be safest just to approve and sanction the building now. I know I joked about demolishing it, but that’d be more of a pain at this point. I’d rather spend that energy on something more productive. Still, were you really unable to do anything about this, Mayor Antelise?” Takuto asked the mayor since Yona’Yona wasn’t going to be of much help. At least the mayor still had a modicum of calm left.
“Not a thing, sadly. The people who live in the area are Ira Cultists who have been bribed, so when the government tries to intervene, they protest day and night in front of Town Hall…” Antelise explained.
“Who’s the instigator?” Takuto asked. “Never mind, I know it’s Vittorio. I can’t let him get away with something this big, so I think it’d be best for all involved to make him take responsibility. How about you summon him, and we behead him as a warning?”
“I have repeatedly called for him, but he hasn’t shown up once… Forgive the imposition, but would you mind summoning him as well, Your Majesty?” Antelise requested.
“I’m pretty sure he won’t show up for something like this even if I call for him…” Takuto shrugged.
“H-He won’t…?”