There were only a handful of people left by her side—the ones who had picked on me with her on my first day here. These must’ve been the women she’d favored the most out of the entire group.
“The only ones you’ve been ‘treating well’ are the noble ladies and the daughters of wealthy merchants—the very women who are still by your side now,” one said. “You’ve never been particularly nice to me. But oh well, thank you for your help so far, I guess. We’re out of here.”
These women had lived together for so long, yet it only took a moment for everything to collapse. Even I was taken aback by this turn of events.
The squad leader, on the other hand, had burst into tears.
“I’ve never wanted to be a Royal Knight either! No matter how hard we try, there is no future for women here! The best thing we can hope for is to be named squad leader, that’s it! But the competition for lady attendant positions is fierce, so I didn’t have any other choice!” she said, sobbing. “My father might be a baron, but we’re not rich by any means, and I have so many sisters that my parents don’t have enough money to pay all of our dowries. Other than my three oldest sisters, we all have to work for a living! I just wanted to marry into a good family; that’s why I cozied up to the captain. Who in their right mind would willingly try to get close to that bully of a man under any other circumstances?!”
I had found the squad leader’s behavior odd since joining the Royal Knights, but it seemed that she had her own agenda as well.
She was only after the captain’s nobility title—she wasn’t in love with him at all.
As it turned out, I had been wrong all along.
I couldn’t help but think that her life would’ve been even worse after marrying Gahariet. She would have to live with the man, after all.
At any rate, all I could do right now was show the female knights that they had other options.
“If any of you are interested in taking the knights’ examination test in another nation, let me know later, all right?” I said.
With that done and dusted, I shifted my attention to Avare, who had been kicking up a fuss behind me since earlier.
Still dancing, he noticed my gaze and yelled, “You evil witch! You’re just a mana wielder, so how dare you make a fool of us?! We’re the upper echelon of the Motar Faith, I’ll have you know! Don’t think you can get away with it! Gentlemen of Hanche, it is her—the root of all our suffering! Capture her at once!” he barked at the big shots of the kingdom who stood near the tent’s entrance.
“She’s the fiend who enticed the former Holy Father and forced him to dissolve the Faith! If you let her get away, she’ll turn the world’s order upside down and—”
“What in the world are you blabbering about? You’re the heinous one,” I retorted.
He clearly had no idea how much suffering his irrational demands had caused the Mercures. It truly was a shame that he still hadn’t reflected on his wrongdoings.
Breaking the transparent wall blocking the tent’s entrance, I turned to the palace’s people amassed at the opening.
“Do you truly believe these men’s claims?” I asked. “You know that the Faith has been dissolved, right? Why are you hiding it from your people?”
There seemed to be important noblemen among the mix, with one looking like he could very well be the king, and another whom I assumed was a minister of some sort. Speaking of the latter, his clothes were incredibly showy, making him stand out more than the king.
Are these the people who orchestrated the rumors about Thibault being a liar?
The people of the palace were glaring at us with eyes full of reproach. It seemed that they were going to side with Avare over us.
“The Motar Faith hasn’t been dissolved. Stop with your lies!” the minister said, stepping to the front of the group.
“Exactly! Lord Niesen’s right!”
As it turned out, everyone from the top brass of Hanche seemed to agree with him. Then again, they were the ones who’d decided to pretend that the Faith hadn’t been dissolved, so they probably didn’t care much about the truth.
“What are you saying? The Faith is no more. You know that. You’ve been lying to your people this entire time, haven’t you? You invited these priests and bishops here, hoping to turn Hanche into the new headquarters of the Faith, and you ruined the careers of every journalist who exposed your lies. Am I wrong?” I added, deliberately provoking Niesen.
He took the bait, immediately retorting, “You talk too much, woman. No matter what you do, we will reestablish the Faith here in Hanche. Who cares if it has been dissolved? As for those journalists, we don’t need people who refuse to follow our orders. A reporter’s job is to write only what’s convenient for the government to manipulate our stupid citizens!”
“Exactly!” The king nodded behind him.
Oh, dear. I’m worried about the future of this kingdom.
Char looked just as dumbfounded as I was.
“I understand. You don’t want to admit that the Faith has been dissolved, huh?” Letting out a small sigh, I turned back to Niesen and the others. “Fine. I’m going to teleport you to what was once the real base of operations of the Faith. Go see with your own eyes how things are over there.”
The main church had been shut down and abandoned. Lance had assured me that it was the case, and I trusted him.
I undid the dancing spells on the Faith’s big shots, then teleported them all to the former Cœur Cathedral, along with the top brass of Hanche. Having never been there myself, I chose to teleport them in the general direction where the former main church was located. My coordinates might have been slightly off, but eh, they’d be fine. The squad leader, having just witnessed a bunch of people disappearing at once, was shaking in her boots.
“Phew. I swatted these insignificant insects away,” I said. “And with that, the case is closed.”
“What are you saying? No, it’s not!” Thibault—whom we had teleported to the tent along with us—screeched as soon as the words left my mouth. “Miss Lam, this goes way beyond investigating the Faith!”
“Well, I resolved the issue, didn’t I?”
“You teleported the king away! I’ll never be able to resume my career as a journalist after this!”
“Don’t worry—I secured proof of their wrongdoings. Here.” I handed him the box-shaped magic item. “I’ve recorded the confessions of every single one of the Faith’s bishops and priests, as well as the knights, and the conversation I just had with Niesen. Just press this button, and it will project everything into the air with sound.”
“Huh? Th-Thank you...?” Thibault stammered, staring at the magic item in confusion.
He eventually regained his composure, closed his mouth, which had been hanging open, and turned to me with a meek expression on his face.
“You and your family helped me a lot. Thank you. You have my gratitude for protecting me from the captain and his goons and helping me reveal the truth to the people of Hanche.” He loosely bowed his head to us.
“Oh, no need to thank us. We merely did what you requested of us. Don’t worry about it,” I said.
“But still...”
He had changed a little during our time in Hanche. Before, he had been unable to do anything by himself, always relying on others to help him, and believed that everything would be fine as long as he didn’t rock the boat. But earlier, he had finally shown his mettle and fought Gahariet despite being unable to use magic, just to prove that he wasn’t a burden. Even Ves had acknowledged his efforts. Perhaps he had grown as a person—just like we had.
“Once the people I’ve teleported away come back, you might get even juicier information to include in your article,” I said. “Actually, if you manage to write to the former Holy Father, you’ll have everything you need.”
I glanced at Char. He regularly exchanged letters with my third disciple.
My husband must’ve guessed what I wanted to ask him, as he let out a resigned sigh. “I know what you’re about to say, Lam. Fine, I’ll send that wannabe lover of yours a letter.”
“Thanks, Char.”
“Don’t mention it. Actually, now that I think about it, he should be in the Dukedom of Brunel as we speak—where the former main church is located.”
“What? Really?”
“Yeah. He told me that he wanted to renovate the Faith’s former main church to turn it into a cathedral of the Aurora Faith. He might have crossed paths with those men you just teleported, who knows?”
“Good grief, that boy... I told him to stop starting strange religions left and right,” I grumbled.
“He received donations for the Aurora Faith from the Lèvres Kingdom and a certain mafia—ahem, merchant company boss, so he’s not about to stop anytime soon,” Char informed me.
“Wait, Flèche and Épée sent him donations?! They’re usually like cats and dogs; why are they helping him with that?”
My three disciples only got along when it came to the strangest things. I made a mental note to scold them for supporting Lance’s new religion the next time I saw them. It was one truly bogus faith.
“Well, since we’re done with our investigation, we should return to the barracks soon,” I said.
No one else had touched the durian on the table, so I sneaked in a few bites while discussing our next course of action with Char and the others.