“But what brings Your Fluffiness here today?” Marianne asked. “Ah! Could it be my prayers have reached you? I have only just begun to spread the teachings of Fluffism, but truly your fluff-ful blessings rain down on all of the Holy City Lordentia...”
Marianne had gone and established her new religion without any knowledge or involvement from Kanata. Kanata, for her part, didn’t care one way or another, but the religion had spread in the blink of an eye among the people she had saved. The Saint herself preaching Fluffism in the Holy City—the very heart of the Holy Church—was an enormous development that shook the pillars of the entire organization. It was enough to make the Goddess, whom the Holy Church worshipped, tremble in fear.
The Goddess’s ability to meddle in the material world was dependent on the faith of her worshippers, and Fluffism seemed poised to steal that very faith right out from under her nose. There was the option of deeming it a wicked heresy, but Fluffism was being spread by the Saint—the very symbol of the Holy Church itself. Even the high-ranking members of the Holy Church had their hands tied, given the situation. And worse, it had all been caused by the Goddess’s own error in casting Marianne away as useless, when she’d fused her with the angel statues to turn her into a monster. Even though Marianne’s body had been utterly dissolved and remade, Kanata extracted her from the amalgamation and reconstituted her human form, a miracle that caused Marianne to abandon her faith in the Goddess and become instead Kanata’s most fanatical disciple. Now, nobody hated the Goddess more than her former Saint.
“I was such a fool back then...” Marianne said. “I remember feeling the evil of the Goddess’s thoughts when I was being absorbed into the angel...and the warm light of Your Fluffiness’s benevolent love when you saved me! In that moment, my eyes were opened to the true faith.”
“We suspect the Goddess may have cursed the Profession of Saint with some sort of mind control to make its bearer her loyal minion, similar to the curse placed on the Profession of Demon King,” said Zag’giel. “Although we are sure the Goddess herself would call them ‘blessings.’” Zag’giel had been able to suppress the urge to slaughter humanity thanks to his strong rationality and pure psychological resilience, but your average person would have had no chance. Marianne’s personality and thoughts would have been subject to the Goddess’s corruption for a long time indeed.
“So she wasn’t evil from the beginning, you mean?” asked Fenrir. “Well...in that case, I suppose there’s no use bearing a grudge...” Marianne had once imprisoned Fenrir in a dismal cell beneath the High Cathedral, something which he had not forgotten. But with Marianne’s new change of heart, he saw no reason to bring up her old sins.
“Master Zaggy... Master Fen-fen... You would forgive me for all the evil I’ve done?”
“Perhaps,” said Zag’giel. “But we won’t forgive you for touching Kanata without need!”
“I’ve got my eyes on you!” concurred Fenrir.
“Ahhh!” Marianne cried, writhing in an imitation of agony as the furballs resumed their bouncing. “Please understaaand! I was just trying to worship Her Fluffiness!”
“I told you!” said Elizavett. “Mistress doesn’t need such attention from any females but myself! Isn’t that right, Mistress?”
“That’s right! ’Cause you’re fluffy!” Kanata chirped, scritching the fuzzy bat on her shoulder with a great big smile on her face. “But, Miss Marianne, about the reason I came here...”
“Yes! I am ready to receive your holy words!” Marianne took to her knees, folding her hands in front of her chest as she listened with rapt attention.
But as she heard what Kanata had to say, her face gradually went pale. When she heard that her own Temple Knights had pointed their spears at Kanata herself, she keeled over backward, foaming at the mouth.
“F-F-F-F...”
“F?” Kanata asked. “F for fluff?”
“F-Forgiiiive meeeeeee!” Marianne groveled shamefully, pressing her head to the ground in prostration. “I will have those miscreants punished immediately! How dare they take up arms against Your Fluffiness, the very object of our faith!”
Of course, Kanata was only an object of faith to the believers in Marianne’s Fluffism, which was by no means all of the Holy Church. Marianne, it seemed, really was deliberately trying to take faith from the Goddess and redirect it toward Kanata instead. Perhaps it was her intense faith in Kanata herself that had freed her from the Goddess’s brainwashing.
“You don’t need to punish them or anything,” said Kanata. “I just want them to leave Elizabat alone.”
“S-Such compassion...” marveled Marianne. “I will certainly include your merciful words in our new scripture!”
“More to the point, are the actions of the Temple Knights within your control?” Zag’giel asked.
“Of course, Master Zaggy! Leave it to me!” Marianne touched her hand to the mirror hanging on her office wall. “This mirror is connected to every church affiliated with the Holy Church. With this, they can see and hear us, and we can see and hear them!”
“Well! That is indeed convenient! With this, you could deliver orders nigh immediately in times of war!” Zag’giel had led armies on the Dark Continent, and considered himself a strategist. Naturally, he took a deep interest in the artifact.
“Can anyone use it other than you, Miss Marianne?” Kanata asked.
“Yes, anyone who follows our teachings,” Marianne said. “They’re not to be used recklessly, but in times of emergency, churches can use the mirrors to communicate with each other directly as well.”
“I seeee...” Kanata nodded slowly.
“Is something troubling you, Lady Kanata?” Fenrir asked, tilting his head with adorable curiosity and sending Kanata’s heart rate through the roof.