Chapter 119

The next day.

Out of nowhere, word came that the high priest had been caught.

He'd been giving them the slip with such impressive speed that everyone had wondered what he was up to — turned out he'd been living rough, in full beggar's rags, like a vagrant.

His face had been smeared all over with soot as a disguise, but even like that he'd been throwing money around, and a suspicious tip-off from someone had brought him in.

"You've got to be kidding."

Either way, the captured high priest was set to be brought straight to trial.

The temple had already been picked clean — past clean, with dust kicking up — so there was no avoiding it.

Confining and killing a Saintess was already on a colossal scale, but now tax evasion and embezzlement had been added on top.

Most of the senior priests had been deep in indulgence, living lives of luxury.

They'd all been strung together like sausage links.

The Pope, too, was exposed as having bought his way into the seat.

Wanting to make a name as the family that produced a Pope, the house had reportedly spent fortunes.

"What a hot mess of a temple."

Every part of it had run in the headlines — no one didn't know.

Now that even the high priest had been caught, you could fairly say the temple was in pieces.

"And the single biggest fact hasn't even come to light yet."

"Right? It's just remarkable they've managed to bury something that shakes the very foundation of the Holy Empire for this long."

"Even you only just found out, Lyssel, and you were the victim — would anyone have so much as guessed…."

"That's true…….."

There was no courtesy extended to the high priest at all.

They said he was dragged off like a dog, and it was almost absurd that there was still something worse to come.

---

The courtroom was packed with people.

The case was on such a scale this time that commoners had been allowed in, and the trial was being held outdoors.

It looked like nearly everyone in the capital had gathered.

When the Pope, bound with ropes, was brought out at the head — followed by the high priest and the rest in a line — the enraged crowd began to throw food scraps and trash at them.

The Pope, drenched in filth, screamed and squeezed his eyes shut.

"The trial will now begin."

It wasn't really much of a trial.

The intent was simply to show the temple's end to the people.

The empire was, at its core, a Holy Empire, but for the emperor this was something that would raise the standing of the imperial family — so he'd have welcomed it.

As for the temple's people, all he had to do was swap them out for ones to his own taste.

The judge spoke on solemnly, dominating the assembly, and the people who had been shrieking and tearing about quieted down.

That was when the surroundings suddenly went restless, and the court rose to its feet.

"Your Highness!"

Yelberk had come in person.

Duke Cherity was with him.

Lyssel and Iberin had known all along, but the others hadn't.

With two such heavyweights showing up at once, the judge came down from his bench in a flustered bow, at a complete loss for what to do.

"There's no need to make a fuss."

"Yes, yes! What are you all doing — quickly, prepare seats for His Highness and His Grace!"

Everyone scrambled to move, but Yelberk stopped them and said,

"No. We aren't here to observe."

"What? Then why…."

"Before these men are sentenced, there's one thing I want to say. That's why I've come."

"Something you wish to say?"

"If you hear it, the level of punishment will change. What do you say?"

"…Will you speak now, here?"

"I will."

What kind of thing was this.

Even for people of the capital, seeing the imperial family in person wasn't a common occurrence.

And the Crown Prince was personally announcing he meant to bear witness about something.

The Pope and the high priest were finished anyway — apparently they figured that whatever the Crown Prince said couldn't matter, because they just sat there blank, dazed by the sudden turn.

Guided up by the court officials, Yelberk took the platform, gave his oath, and began to speak.

"I, Crown Prince Yelberk Areta, solemnly swear to speak only the truth. First I will speak of the secret the temple has been hiding."

"…A secret? There's more?"

"Duke Cherity will speak on the temple's secret."

Duke Cherity, who had been standing behind him, stepped forward.

"Let me say it plainly. The temple cannot, in fact, use holy power."

"……What?"

"The holy power they were using was entirely the power of artifacts."

"What are you saying!"

"A very long time ago, the temple lost its holy power. But the temple, unwilling to lose its hold on power, hid that fact. The reason I know this is that I was in league with the temple."

"…Your Grace, what you're saying now is not something we can let pass."

"I know. I expect a fitting punishment to be handed down to me as well."

"But by that account, how do you explain the Saintess's appearance?"

"The temple priests and I, having lost holy power, have been searching for traces of the god all this time. Recently, for the first time, we discovered such a trace. I did not witness the god's manifestation directly, but I met a person who carries the god's presence within her. She is not the Saintess. The Saintess awakened through her. And yet the temple priests still cannot use holy power. What do you suppose that means?"

They were temple priests, and they couldn't use holy power.

The god had appeared, and the priests still couldn't use the power.

It meant they had been forsaken.

That they had fallen — that they were no longer the god's people.

The judge was deeply shaken, but he was the one who had to see this trial through, so he responded as calmly as he could.

"Is there proof?"

"Of course. Here are the supporting documents — please examine them."

Cherity handed the judge a thickly bound volume. It was a document with the temple's many wrongdoings laid out in dense detail.

"Th-this!"

The court official couldn't help his shock.

He had opened only the first page, and crimes beyond imagination were already laid bare.

To keep the secret, they hadn't shied away from murder.

"Remove the necklace from the high priest's throat and have him try to use holy power."

The officials dragged the high priest forward.

His face had gone so white that deathly pale didn't even cover it.

When they tried to remove the necklace as the duke had instructed, he resisted, but the old priest was no match for them.

In the end the necklace was taken from him.

Without hesitation Cherity drew a blade across his own arm, opening a deep wound.

"Augh!"

"Kyaa!"

The shocked cries from the crowd were nothing next to Duke Cherity's calm — he held the arm out in front of the high priest evenly.

"Heal it."

"…I refuse."

If anything, the high priest came out boldly. He hesitated a moment, then lifted his chin and refused to heal it.

At that, the judge spoke.

"High priest, refusing here is no different from admitting you have no holy power. Heal it at once."

"I refuse."

"……The Pope rose to his seat through bribery, so naturally he won't have holy power. And the other priests — none of you will step forward either?"

Silence.

The high priest was a single person; the senior priests were exactly three.

According to the documents, the earrings, ring, and bracelet were the artifacts.

When those were taken and the judge tried using the power himself, Duke Cherity's wound was healed in moments.

"Eep!"

"My god…."

The unbelievable had just played out in front of their eyes.

---

This wasn't just a crime.

The judge, who at first had been simply stunned, found his head growing complicated.

Had the imperial family really not known the temple couldn't use holy power?

The judge looked at the Crown Prince.

He was standing here to expose the truth, but it could also be that he was cutting off the tail with his own hand.

A Holy Empire, abandoning its temple.

Then again, confining a Saintess wasn't exactly a light matter.

The temple's continued existence was already uncertain — at this point, the intent was clearly to demolish it outright.

In that brief moment, the judge sorted things out in his own way.

"I will now hand down the verdict."

The judge had made up his mind and opened his mouth, when Yelberk shook his head.

The judge flinched.

"Wh-what is it, Your Highness?"

"There's still more to say."

"……Ah. Please go on."

There was something more heinous than all this?

The crowd's expressions turned to horror.

Even so, they leaned in, focused on what he'd say — every eye fixed on the Crown Prince.

"If the temple has hidden holy power, the imperial family has hidden demonic energy."

"…What?"

"The Lecashe Grand Duke isn't a cursed being. They've been managing demonic energy on behalf of the imperial family."

The judge looked dazed.

Managing demonic energy.

Long ago, when the forest had been stained with demonic energy and Lecashe, cursed along with it, had been made to manage that forest and granted the Grand Duke title — the emperor of that generation had been praised as merciful.

And Yelberk had just shattered that premise completely.

"Lecashe wasn't isolated in the forest because of a curse. They have actually been protecting the empire, shouldering everything."

"For thousands of years?"

"For thousands of years."

It seemed questionable whether such a thing was even possible.

If the story was true, it seemed nearly impossible — because even if one Lecashe had been a true patriot, there was no law that said the next generation of Lecashe would be too.

"Because the imperial family was colluding with cultists."

"What?!!"

"Hypnotists."

"Y-Your Highness, why are you revealing all of this here…….."

Lecashe was present in this place.

When the judge looked over, the calm expression suggested Lyssel had known the Crown Prince would lay everything bare.

But the judge didn't understand the reason for doing it this way.

"I'm only setting right what the imperial family has done wrong."

"…Your Highness."

"I believe that is the right thing."

"Even though it means you yourself won't be safe?"

"Of course. If my father committed wrong and is to be punished, I won't sit by either. That is why I am saying all of this."

"And… is there evidence?"

"Of course."

Yelberk held out the supporting documents.

How thick was it — when the judge checked them, he ended up shutting his eyes hard.

The matter had effectively passed out of his hands.

The Crown Prince had said everything, and the people had heard it.

It meant it was too late to turn back.

The judge had gone white.

Even so, he couldn't pass judgment on matters that hadn't been brought before the court — so for now, he resolved to do his best with the portion in front of him.

"As a member of the Aleta Holy Empire, today's events leave me unable to keep my grief from spilling over. I will hand down judgment on the matter entrusted to me. The wrongdoings of the temple — which we had never doubted had been done rightly, in accordance with the will of the god — have been laid bare. This is by no means a light matter, and so the temple's assets are to be confiscated, and the priests who led these acts are sentenced to beheading."

"Aaaagh!"

The Pope screamed and thrashed, but the high priest stayed composed.

Soon after, knights came up onto the platform in a line to take them down to the prison — and even then the high priest was calm.

Had he given up on everything?

Reeking from the food scraps the people had thrown at him, he was dragged off in just that state.