“What a blasphemous accusation!” the young man with the glasses yelled as soon as the words reached his ears. “A group of bishops and their subordinates calling Mr. Lance an impostor? Do you all wish to be punished?!”
He was absolutely furious, a stark contrast to his blank expression from earlier.
What a strange man.
Avare made a mental note to keep his distance.
These three are all loose cannons! How is it possible that they hold a higher rank in the Faith than I do?!
No matter. Right now, Avare’s priority was to escape this place with his head still attached.
As he tried to devise a plan to safely flee the cathedral, the king of Hanche spoke up. “You plebeians. I do not know who you are, but you ought to show me more respect! And stop impersonating the Holy Father of the Motar Faith. How utterly insolent!”
Other than the king, everyone in their group was either a government official or a member of the Motar Faith. Needless to say, they were all in positions of power, and the king was very much aware of that fact.
However, he really should not have voiced his thoughts in front of these three individuals.
What are you doing, you stupid king? Don’t try to pick a fight with a lunatic like the Holy Father! He’s not the kind of man who can be reasoned with!
Things were taking an even worse turn, and Avare began to panic. He needed to find a way to change the subject—and fast.
“Y-Your Holiness, might I inquire what you are doing here?” he asked in an attempt to defuse the tension.
The smile on the young man’s face grew. He was definitely up to no good—Avare was sure of it!
“Thank you for asking! We have just returned from our tour of the continent, where we spread the news of the Faith’s dissolution. I’m currently in the process of creating a new religion, and the three of us were discussing how to renovate this cathedral,” the Holy Father said.
What, just the three of you? Avare wanted to ask but was too afraid to.
Taking no notice of the bishop’s confusion, the Holy Father cheerfully resumed, “I want to make this place the holy site of the Aurora Faith!”
“What?!”
What in the world was the Aurora Faith? Avare had never heard that name before.
“To put it simply, it’s a religion where we celebrate, laud, and hail the praises of the witch of legends, Aurora.”
Avare felt himself grow dizzy. Was that why that lunatic dissolved the Faith? To create this new bizarre religion of his?
Of course, Avare knew of Aurora. She was touted as the most powerful mage in the entire history of mankind. Despite being a mana wielder, she had been revered for generations.
But what about Lord Motar? She can’t take his place! Besides, I don’t want the Motar Faith to disappear. It’ll be awfully inconvenient to me!
But once again, Avare was too scared to voice his thoughts. What suffering.
“Oh, right, we have just finished remodeling that room in the back. Would you like to tell me what you think about it? We’re still a new religion in search of believers, after all.”
Without waiting for an answer, Lance teleported them all to the room in question. Flabbergasted, Avare took in his surroundings.
Wasn’t this supposed to be the reliquary behind the worship hall...?
The sacred atmosphere of the room had vanished completely. The white walls and their tranquil, solemn frescos had been painted over in pastel colors and now featured drawings of eerie creatures.
What in the world are those?
They seemed to be animals with enormous eyes. For some reason, a lot of them seemed angry. There were also a few drawings that Avare simply couldn’t recognize.
This looks like a sea cucumber... Is it some sort of monster?
Strange chandeliers shaped like the sun, stars, and the moon hung from the ceiling, and the luxury rugs and their intricate geometrical patterns had been replaced by a pale, fluffy carpet.
Lance chuckled proudly. “We’re still in the middle of the renovations, but my idea is to cover this entire place in things that Aurora likes. The three of us have been working together to make this vision come true.”
The room was a horrendous hodgepodge of styles and colors.
And the crowning jewel in the center of it was a pure-white stone statue. To Avare’s horror, the woman the statue was modeled after looked in every part like that heinous witch.
Wh-Why is there a statue of her here?! Her hairstyle is different, but it’s definitely her...isn’t it?
Avare did everything he could to stop himself from screaming.
“The King of Lèvres has donated this statue to us as a present. As for the patterns on the walls, Néant and I drew them ourselves. I was in charge of the bunnies,” Lance said, pointing at one of the drawings.
So the strange, unrecognizable creatures were the work of the Holy Father?!
I can’t see a bunny at all in that drawing. It just looks like a sea cucumber!
Avare wasn’t the only one in their group who couldn’t seem to wrap his head around what was happening; the other bishops and priests were quaking as they glanced around.
“What repulsive decor. I cannot believe you dared to expose the statue of a witch in a holy building of the Motar Faith,” Niesen said, shuddering.
I wholeheartedly agree, thought Avare.
Replacing beautiful frescos with ugly doodles—the Holy Father wasn’t right in the head.
“This is heresy! Heresy, I tell you!” one of the oldest men in their group, a bishop from another nation, exclaimed, his eyes wide with shock as if this were the end of the world.
“Yeah, he’s right!”
“We won’t let you get away, you heretics!”
“This is a disgrace to the Motar Faith!”
The people of Hanche had started voicing their anger as well.
Lance suddenly stopped in his tracks and stared at them. Although he was smiling, his eyes looked like two bottomless pits of darkness. The depth of his stare made Avare shiver, as if a cold hand had gripped his heart.
“You’re calling my Aurora Faith heresy? Huh?”
He was clearly furious.
I’m scared, I’m scared, I’m scared, I’m scared, I’m scared!
Avare immediately bolted toward the door in an attempt to escape the cathedral.
But it was too late.
“Oh, right, I still don’t know why you were all teleported here,” Lance said. “I can actually feel the remnants of teacher’s mana on you. Surely, you didn’t anger her, did you?”
It was exactly as he said.
Overwhelmed with dread, none of the former members of the Faith dared to answer his question.
A look of recognition registered on Lance’s face, like everything had fallen into place, and he turned to the boy from earlier. “Chaos, you can go play with these men outside. Just don’t kill them, and, of course, be careful not to drag anyone else into your game, all right? Teacher will be sad if we hurt innocent bystanders.”
“Really? Can I really go play?! Yaaay! I’ve been wanting to test these new spells I just learned! What should I do? I know! I’ll conduct an experiment to see how far people can fly!” the boy exclaimed, as innocent as a child.
What do you mean, “how far people can fly”?!
Avare was speechless.
“I just remembered that I forgot to tell teacher about the elfins’ hidden village. Should I wait until the next time I see her to mention it, or should I write to her husband? What a thorny dilemma this is.”
Lance seemed to have completely lost interest in Avare and the others and had started muttering to himself. Without further ado, he left the room, the man with the glasses in tow. However, Avare didn’t even have time to see him walk through the door before the boy with the purple hair forcefully teleported them elsewhere.
It went without saying that the saint’s “playtime” was nothing short of hellish.