“Oh, dear Angel! I see the misunderstanding has been resolved! We should’ve been the ones to get you; my apologies for making you come all the way here...”
“Insolent girl! How dare you turn down a summons from the Temple! Apologize at once and explain to the guards that this is all your fault!”
I’d come to the guard headquarters to visit the four priests, and their reaction was split, with two of them being apologetic and two of them insulting me.
Ah...
“Please have these two released and those two punished severely. Thank you,” I said to the guards.
“Whaaat?!” the two priests who’d been insulting me said.
I had no idea why they were surprised. Seriously, what had they expected? It must’ve been those two who’d pushed the inn’s staff aside and forced their way through. The mild-mannered ones had probably failed to stop them. It was one of the mild-mannered ones who’d tried to explain himself when they had walked in on me changing, if I recalled correctly. I thought for a moment that they might not be bad people, but if that was true, they wouldn’t have barged into a room where a woman was lying in bed because she didn’t feel well. The ones with a bad attitude had probably just stayed quiet at the time because they were surprised to find I was in the middle of changing.
Understandably, there were factions and power struggles within the Temple’s organization too. Each faction wanted to send their own guys to escort me, so they must’ve ended up on a team with multiple factions mixed together; there were those who wanted to treat me with respect and those who thought I was lying about being blessed and just wanted to use me.
“Those two are the culprits,” I said, pointing at the ones who’d insulted me. “The other two were still respectful and probably just failed to stop the others’ rampage, so let them off with a mild reprimand. As for the culprits...please punish them severely in accordance with the law.”
“Understood. Please leave it to us!” the guard who’d let me in promised with a nod.
“Oh, we are eternally grateful!” two of the priests said.
“Wh-What?! Why?!” the other two asked.
You seriously don’t understand why?!
“What?! The Angel—I mean, the priestess went to the guard headquarters to see the men who’d been arrested?! And the priests hurled insults at her? You fool, why did you allow such a thing to happen?! Didn’t you tell those idiots that they’d lose their heads if they disrespected her?!”
“No, Your Majesty, I never imagined she would try to visit them...”
“Well, you have a point... No one would expect the victim to visit the culprits responsible for a case like this. I suppose this was unavoidable—there’s no need to punish the guards. Damn it, we’re always one step behind...but it was an excellent turn of events that we were able to set up the temporary guard station in time. I shall reward the ones who were in charge of that initiative. I will also give a bonus to the royal guards who handled this incident. They did well by stopping those priests just in the nick of time.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty!” The messenger from the guard squad bowed appreciatively. It seemed he was one of the royal guards who had been deployed to the incident at the inn. There was no other way to send skilled swordsmen with sound judgment who could also keep their mouths shut on such short notice, and the king’s decision to send the royal guards had proven to be the correct one.
The king himself couldn’t have been prouder or happier about having sent the order.
I wonder why those aggressive priests were so confident. They were even trying to boss the guards around. Maybe the Temple has a lot of authority and can influence the guard squads? But they’ve been handling this incident properly this whole time. Is it because the victim is a stray—er, free priestess? Or maybe because I look like a minor? Anyway, I’m definitely not complaining. The guards have been doing an outstanding job with public safety for an undeveloped country. I’m impressed!
Ever since Kaoru had heard the Temple had a strong influence in the royal capital, she had been wondering if the guards would side with them. The guard squad was an organization controlled by those in power, and the Temple was often connected with the administration. The Temple was supposed to be an intermediary between mortals and Celestine, a Goddess who was known to exist in this world. No one could blame the authorities for maintaining cordial relations with them.
On the other hand, there were good, devout royalty and good aristocrats. That was why Kaoru had caused such a scene when the priests had forced their way in. It was her intention to make it clear to the public that although the offenders were priests, their actions were not righteous ones as members of the Temple, but rather breaking and entering and attempted kidnapping: obvious crimes. She had loudly announced exactly what was going on to everyone in and around the inn so the guards wouldn’t be able to cover it up.
I just needed the guards to put a pause on the situation by stopping the priests from dragging me away and didn’t expect anything more than that. I figured they’d release them right away anyway. I never thought they’d oppose the Temple just to side with a commoner. I’ll eventually have to return the favor somehow...
“Wh-Wh-Wha...”
When the two priests had returned to report what had happened, the Archbishop was at a loss for words. Thanks to the incident with the Holy Land of Rueda, the title of “pope” had become synonymous with “evil bastard” and had fallen from grace. Since there would have been major conflicts if the Temples in each country had appointed their own popes, they left the positions of the pope and cardinal—who acted as the pope’s advisor—vacant, and the highest-ranking position was the archbishop. Therefore, this archbishop was the highest Temple authority in the country.
“I had just rushed out to answer His Majesty the King’s summons, which was practically a thinly veiled threat, and thought my heart would stop when I heard what he had to say. I finally return, and this is what awaits me...?” He turned to his other men and ordered, “Kill them!”
“A-Archbishop...”
The Archbishop’s reaction was understandable considering he had been born in the generation immediately following that historical incident seventy-four years ago. He hadn’t been there to experience things firsthand, but those who had been there had repeatedly hammered the lessons learned that day into his generation from early childhood. These lessons had followed him as he grew into adolescence and adulthood, and when he’d become an apprentice priest.
The great benevolent saint, Kaoru the Angel.
Celestine, the goddess who at times saved the people with predictions of catastrophic events but at other times destroyed entire continents.
The savior of the kingdom and guardian of the continent, the great hero Fearsome Fran, who had dared to stand against the Goddess’s atrocity and saved the continent.
It was a time when there were plenty of living witnesses who had seen them in person, and there was no shortage of people to hear their tales.
When he was still young, the Archbishop had become absolutely enamored with Fran, who had already been in her fifties by then but looked young enough to be in her twenties. He understood all too well just how terrifying the Goddess could be and was eternally grateful to the Angel and to the guardian of the continent for advising her against doing anything rash.
Now, those who knew the details of that time firsthand had mostly died out, and records of the past incidents were buried in dust-covered libraries. Those incidents had occurred in distant lands, on the opposite side of the continent... Furthermore, the stories had been embellished by the time they reached their land, to the point where they were hardly believable. Even so, they had still been passed down in official documents and written reports. The archbishop could not believe that, even within the temple, there were those who disregarded matters concerning the Goddess so callously. It was such a shock that he’d felt hopelessly resigned for a moment, though he managed to collect himself.
“I apologize. No matter what happens, it’s my duty as a cleric to protect the people,” he said. “You two have done well. It’s a shame you weren’t able to stop the others, but aside from that, you deserve recognition for compensating for their actions and showing the Angel that there are still those who revere her. The fact that she has shown you two mercy proves this, and she seems to understand we are not her enemy by any means. At the same time, she now understands that not everyone in the Temple feels the same way as us. So, when engaging with the Angel, this will give us reason to only send those who wish to protect the blessed child, while distancing those who would try to use her for their own gain. This incident was a major blunder for the Temple as a whole, but this one point can be considered an achievement. Now, you two have been recognized by the Angel—that is, the priestess—as an ally. I will be counting on you to act as mediators with her moving forward!”
“Yes, Archbishop!”
The mission was an honorable one, yet it came with an all-too-heavy responsibility. The priests were happy to be trusted with it, yet they couldn’t help but turn slightly pale as they left the room.
“The previous Angel, the great saint Kaoru, is said to have distanced herself from the Temple, even before the Rueda incident—though this isn’t mentioned in the official records. Perhaps she disliked being touted as the Angel and wished to live a quiet life as a cleric. The girl in question is said to have been blessed by the Goddess, but no one has confirmed it for certain. Lady Kaoru accomplished miracles that no mortal could even dream of. Can doing something that a normal doctor or apothecary can do truly be considered a miracle? If she truly does have minor blessings, there should be no problem with recognizing her as a saint. No one would protest it, considering she is helping orphans and the poor with her own personal funds. Even the diehard faction would agree, considering it would only increase her usefulness. Yet there still isn’t enough of a case to recognize her as a great saint... Well, there’s no point in thinking about this now. I must first meet her in person and evaluate the situation before taking things any further. All I can hope for is that the blessed Sister Edith will be on amicable terms with the Temple’s moderates...and that her eyes are not too terrifying.”
With that, the archbishop headed toward the prayer room.