-7-
“I SEE… She wants us to sell that. That is quite harsh of her. But if she is requesting it, then the world must require it,” said Cardinal Wardell bitterly as he read Sopia’s letter.
“Cardinal Wardell…what does it say?” asked Lisl, the Holy Knight.
“It would be best if you didn’t know.”
Obviously, when Cardinal Wardell said “that,” he meant the Staff of the Saint. It wasn’t the kind of thing he could carelessly mention to his subordinate. There’d be a huge problem if it got out that the Church sold it off.
The thing was, while this might have worked with a young Cardinal Wardell, I had a feeling it would be a bad idea to try and buy a holy relic off the current Cardinal. While he was going along with things at the moment, he didn’t exactly seem enthusiastic about the idea of negotiating.
He did seem to understand though that the Sopia Trading Company wasn’t something you made an enemy of lightly. The way he was acting also made me think he learned through his past interactions with them that the trading company was an agent of the higher beings.
“Is the Sopia Trading Company that dangerous to deal with? I know it’s famous and contains the world’s wealthiest merchants, but…why do we, the Church of Jonas, have to be careful not to upset some merchants?! I don’t accept this, Your Eminence!” cried Lisl.
Cardinal Wardell listened to what she said, and his eyes flicked in our direction as if evaluating us.
“I presume Lady Sopia is confident in your strength?” he asked me.
“You could say that, yeah.” I nodded. It was more accurate to say we were just borrowing Sopia’s name right now, but I thought it would be hard for Cardinal Wardell to completely understand the situation if I said that.
“I see… Well, to be honest, I would like to observe with my own eyes the strength of someone who has received Lady Sopia’s acknowledgment. I do enjoy seeing the martial arts. Apologies, as you must be tired from your long journey, but would you be so kind as to indulge an old man?”
“Meaning…?”
“Lisl here is fairly skilled, even for a Holy Knight. I would like to see one of you compete with her. Would you mind?” Cardinal Wardell looked at Lisl.
“M-me? Fight these people? Your Eminence, this must be some joke! Why must I do something like that?!” cried Lisl.
“Are you not confident in your ability, Lisl?” he asked.
“I am a Holy Knight responsible for defending this holy city… I will not lose to some messenger of merchants. What I question is the necessity of this!”
I looked at Cardinal Wardell. Our eyes met, and he said, “What do you think, messenger of Lady Sopia? I will not force you, of course…”
He was clearly trying to test us. He was probably considering chasing us away with force if possible. That didn’t mean he took the Sopia Trading Company lightly, just that the Staff of the Saint was not that easily parted with from the Church’s perspective. The flip side of this challenge was probably that he would be willing to hand over the Staff of the Saint if he determined we weren’t people he could handle on his own.
“I don’t mind, Lisl-san,” I said.
“You underestimate me. Watch what you say, you faithless servant of a merchant!” said Lisl, her eyes narrowed as she glared at me and touched the hilt of her sword. “Your Eminence! I may injure this messenger if I try too hard.”
“That’s fine. Lisl, give it your all, so you regret nothing,” said Cardinal Wardell.
“Hm. I don’t entirely understand what your intentions are, Your Eminence, but I will do as you say and give it everything I have. Don’t hate me for what’s about to happen, merchant’s dog!”
Lisl drew her blade. I dashed past her side, drawing my own sword as I did, and pointed it toward her back.
“What?!” Lisl scowled then turned back to look at me a couple seconds later. Based on her movements and reaction time, I guessed her to be around level 70. I hated to say it, but this was never even a fight.
“Is this enough, Cardinal Wardell?” I asked.
“That is sufficient. Lisl, stand down.” There was a look of resignation on the cardinal’s face as he sighed.
“I-I’m not done!” cried Lisl as she spun around and swung her sword at me.
I cut through the blade of her sword and swept her legs out from under her at the same time, and the broken shard of her sword embedded itself into the floor in front of her face.
“Impossible… I’ve trained at the sword for so long for the Church…” she groaned absently from the ground.
“Incredible skill. And I am grateful for your forgiving her cowardly surprise attack,” said the cardinal emotionlessly.
“I don’t mind, as long as we can have what we came for,” I said. I didn’t have to go that far, but I did have to prove to Cardinal Wardell that I wasn’t someone he could handle with force. That was probably what he wanted to confirm as well.
“I will lead you there,” he said. “As a devout follower of Jonacism, I cannot accept any compensation in exchange…but I do ask that you ask Lady Sopia to not use it for evil, if at all possible.” He bowed to me.
“I will, I promise.”
“W-wait, Your Eminence! Are you caving to the merchants because of my lack of strength?! No, you can’t!” screamed Lisl as she stood, broken sword in hand.
“Lisl, I thought I told you to stand down. Don’t make me repeat myself a third time.”
“U-urgh…” Her sword fell from her hand, and she hung her head in disappointment.
Cardinal Wardell’s personality might be a complete one eighty from what I’d imagined, but the negotiations themselves seemed to be going fine. The only thing left was to destroy the Staff of the Saint.