Volume 8, Chapter 14 – The Dark Side

Boom—

Closing her eyes to feel the tremor of the earth, the young woman hidden under a black veil, with only her fair fingers exposed, lifted her head. Due to her proximity to the explosion, dust had begun to fall from the ceiling. The young woman paid it no mind, simply patting her black veil to dust it off.

“Was it a success…”

Even without seeing the scene, the young woman knew what had happened. She was the perpetrator of this incident.

“Lin, stop worrying. We’re acting according to the Gospel. Could the Gospel be wrong?”

A red-haired girl, sitting brashly in a chair, waved her hand, her words full of confidence.

The other person in the room—a mature woman with long, deep purple hair, leaning against a pillar—chuckled lightly.

“You can’t say that, Red. Didn’t we fail just a short while ago? We thought we’d never see each other again, yet we ran into them in the capital. If it weren’t for Lin’s shadow following us the whole way to prevent us from being watched, I would have suspected they were tailing us. Is this what you’d call a fated reunion?”

“That was just a coincidental mistake. Everyone makes mistakes, and the Gospel is no exception.”

The red-haired girl retorted, unwilling to admit defeat, but her words only made the deep-purple-haired woman shake her head with a wry smile.

“I don’t think this is a coincidence or anything of the sort. Otherwise, Lin wouldn’t be waiting so anxiously for news right now.”

“…That’s true.”

With an understanding that only insiders would share, the convinced red-haired girl lowered her head in resignation. Although she was nominally a companion of the hero, in reality, she was merely a subordinate, a servant. Lin was far superior to both of them in both martial prowess and decision-making. That sense of security, of being able to rely on her no matter what, was something they could never learn.

For Lin to be handling this herself, something she could have left to her spies, meant that she placed great importance on this ‘first step.’

But do we really need to go this far?

A trace of doubt arose in the red-haired girl’s heart. They were just some unarmed civilians, some of whom weren’t even considered commoners but slaves. It would be a piece of cake to destroy the city wall while avoiding their notice. She couldn’t understand what Lin was thinking at all.

The purple-haired woman, her voice tinged with languor, stepped forward and tried to take the long scythe from the hands of Lin, who was facing the statue of the goddess with her head bowed in silence.

“Lin, we should go. Carrying a weapon will arouse suspicion. Leave it with me.”

The purple-haired woman tried to pull the scythe from Lin’s hands but received no response. The former tilted her head in concern.

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“Lin?”

“…Wait a little longer.”

Her voice was lifeless, completely unlike that of a human. Without seeing her face, most people would have thought it was some house spirit or ghost speaking.

Her superior’s tone of voice had always been like this, so the purple-haired woman didn’t mind.

“If we’re gone for too long, that duke will become suspicious of us. Your ethereal spirit can’t maintain the disguise for too long, can it? In your current state, it would be bad if you came into contact with the power of death leaking from the explosion. Speaking of which, this is a statue of the Ymir goddess. I don’t understand why you always like to pray to the enemy’s god.”

“The Church is the Church, a god is a god. The Goddess Ymir is the god of humanity. The Church’s name may change over time, but the Goddess will not disappear.”

Still without turning around, the black-haired girl placed her long scythe aside, formally closed her eyes, and clasped her hands in prayer.

“May the blessing of the Gospel be upon us.”

“To say ‘upon us’… Are you still thinking about that cardinal?”

“…I can’t understand it.”

“I know you suspect she might have seen through our plan, but didn’t we succeed just now? She’s with the Flower of the Kingdom only because Duke Wozwahl’s fifth daughter, Alice, went to cause her trouble, and the Flower of the Kingdom is just atoning for her younger sister’s mistake. It won’t affect us. We just need to do as the Gospel says. Don’t worry too much, okay?”

“It’s too much of a coincidence,” the black-haired girl called Lin finally turned around, her deep purple eyes under the fox mask filled with conjecture and suspicion. “Not only did she arrive at the destination at the same time as us, but she also made contact with the Wozwahl family one step ahead of us. Plus, she obtained Laxyphinia and the Nectar before we did. This kind of foresight is almost as if—”

“As if they have a Gospel too?” The purple-haired woman patted Lin’s shoulder and chuckled. “How could that be possible? The only two Holy Gospels are in the hands of the Pope and you. Even if the Gospel could be copied, the copies would just be the degraded versions those cardinals hold. They still have to rely on the Holy Gospel as the source to receive instructions. Besides, the cardinals value the Gospel more than their own lives. They would never let it fall into the hands of others. It’s impossible for them to have a Gospel.”

“Even so, it’s worth our vigilance. However, after today’s battle, I think I was overthinking it. If they really had a Holy Gospel, they should have known in advance that I was going to destroy the city wall, but there has been no reaction. The only remaining problem is why the Gospel can’t sense her.”

The Gospel would spontaneously sense the magical reactions around it. The more magical power a person had, the more the Gospel would heat up. But Lin could not sense any magical power from the cardinal named Yisi Enya.

The first time they met under the water tree, Lin thought she had overlooked the heat from the Gospel because she was too focused on the dryad. But when they met at the Blacksmiths’ Association today, Lin found that the Gospel gave her no signal at all. Although the Gospel wouldn’t heat up when encountering low-level people, Lin did not believe for a moment that Yisi Enya was that weak. Not to mention her status as a Cardinal, just the fact that she was granted the ‘Crest of Saint Mistilteinn’ by the Pope of the Ymir Church at the age of 15 was enough for her to acknowledge her strength.

Besides the unresponsive Gospel, what was even more suspicious was that when Lin investigated further, she found that Yisi Enya actually came from the Blood Clan.

The Divine Religion’s sphere of influence did not extend to the Blood Clan, so after her investigation led to the fact that Yisi Enya had helped the new Pope, Evelyn, she could find no more information. Not only that, but she was even obstructed from multiple sides in the process of gathering clues.

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First were the people of the Ymir Church. As soon as the Divine Religion’s spies transmitted the information out of the Ymir Territory, they were killed by the Ymir Church’s Inquisition Army on the charge of forsaking their god. Then came an unknown power within the Blood Clan. Almost all the spies sent into the Blood Clan vanished without a trace. Anyone who tried to inquire about Yisi Enya either found nothing or simply disappeared from the face of the earth.

And when Lin plotted the locations of those who had disappeared on a map, she found that the closer they were to the Blood Clan capital of Alvier, the denser the vanishing points became. Although Purple dismissed this with the reason that “the defenses around the capital are very strict, of course the guards would notice those who are deliberately prying for information,” Lin did not think so. Although it was an illogical intuition, Lin had always believed that this was because Yisi Enya had a close connection with a certain noble of the Blood Clan. That noble did not want people to inquire about Yisi, so they sent people to eliminate them. As for who that noble was, Lin guessed it was likely Count Pescia. The battle under the water tree had made her notice the presence of a white-haired vampire, and white hair was the symbol of the Pescia family.

As for the identity of the last faction, because the time was too short, the spies did not have time to investigate, so Lin did not know who they were either. She only knew that they were active in the Hels Kingdom area. When she first started investigating the person ‘Yisi,’ a spy had traced her to Celtic City in the Hermion territory, but then the spy had suddenly disappeared. To this day, no one knows where he went.

The existence named Yisi Enya was like an iceberg hidden in the deep sea.

Only a tip was visible on the surface, but the deeper one explored, the more one was terrified by its vastness, even giving the illusion that one was not challenging a single person, but more than half the continent.

The purple-haired woman shrugged.

“Maybe she’s really weak. After all, only the Blood Clan and the angel participated in the battle that day. If she were strong, she should have reacted when Red attacked her. A normal person would choose to dodge when they see a sword coming at their neck, right?”

“…I hope so.”

She can’t be weak.

My weapon, the Crimson Scythe, not only affects the physical body, but each slash also carries a curse that directly damages the soul. But she easily blocked my attack that day. Normally, someone fighting me for the first time would be severely wounded due to a lack of information. That is the ideal outcome.

But Lin did not voice her doubts. The explosion just now had confirmed that the other party did not have a Gospel. In that case, she could rest assured. No matter the process, the Gospel would always guide them to the correct outcome. The appearance of Yisi Enya was probably already within the Gospel’s predictions.

Maybe it’s really as Red said. The only reason Yisi Enya was able to obtain the Nectar before us was simply because the Gospel made a small mistake.

Lin turned to the red-haired girl.

“That sword… What was the result of Durandal’s auction.”

Like a child about to be scolded by an adult, the red-haired girl, who had been lounging lazily just moments before, quickly sat up straight.

“It’s in our hands.”

“That’s good. I’ll deliver it to Master Avis’s mansion later. It would be best if we can use this to lure him to the Empire. If not, it can be considered a favor, in preparation for recruiting him in the future.”

“Lin, isn’t your weapon already Crimson Gold-grade? Why do we still need to recruit a blacksmith?”

“This is the Gospel’s instruction. I guess it is considered that even with just me, it’s impossible to defeat the Demon Lord. I still need your help, so we need to find a craftsman who can custom-make magic weapons. The Empire started too late in this area, and our technology can’t keep up with the demand.”

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“So it was for us. Even though all of us combined can’t even beat you, Lin.”

“If we can find the third-rank angel, the Angel of Guidance, to teach you, you wouldn’t be like this. I have the blood of monsters and dragons in me. It’s only natural that I’m stronger than humans.”

There was a hint of helplessness in Lin’s tone.

“Well, don’t say that. We’re not like those people who are respectful to your face but who knows how they despise you in their hearts, right?”

The red-haired girl stood up and nudged Lin’s shoulder with her own. The purple-haired woman on the side gave a wry smile and changed the subject.

“By the way, Lin, aren’t we supposed to plant the seeds of revenge in the kingdom this time? Did the Gospel give any further information?”

“The Pope’s interpretation is to use Alice’s death to stir up conflict between the Wozwahl family and the other nobles. Then, also because of Alice’s death, the Flower of the Kingdom will have a falling out with Duke Wozwahl. Finally, we just need to let the king sleep forever, and the Flower of the Kingdom, with the seeds of revenge in her heart, will lead the army to subjugate the kingdom’s nobles who caused Alice’s death. At that time, it will be our opportunity to seize the Ymir Territory.”

“Why is the Gospel so detailed this time?”

Not only the red-haired girl, but even the more intelligent purple-haired woman wore a puzzled expression.

Lin shook her head.

“This is just the Pope’s interpretation. The Gospel only instructed us to make contact with the Flower of the Kingdom and to create chaos in the capital. Nothing else.”

“The Pope can infer the Gospel’s intentions based on just those two sentences.”

“The Pope himself said that his interpretation is not to be fully trusted. After all, even if we make a mistake, the Gospel will correct the path forward based on the existing results. The only difference is the number of sacrifices along the way. So we cannot take the Pope’s words as the future. The Gospel’s instructions are absolute. Don’t forget the doctrine, ‘Do not twist the will of the Gospel, or more people will be sacrificed.'”

“Mm, I understand. We just need to do as you say, Lin.”

The red-haired girl patted her chest. Under her mask, Lin couldn’t help but frown.

Is this girl really listening to what I’m saying, or is she just blindly believing in me?

But this is fine too. An obedient subordinate is always better than one who thinks for herself.

Lin offered another prayer to the Goddess Ymir, then, as if dissolving into the air, her body, hidden under the black veil and fox mask, gradually disappeared along with the other two.

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“Mmm~hmm~~”

With a long stretch, Yisi got up from the luxurious bed in the temple.

The room assigned to her was the complete opposite of the Church’s ascetic setting, even more luxurious than Evelyn’s and Andrea’s bedchambers. The gilded ceiling and the crystal lamps made of strung silk, coupled with the reliefs that could be seen everywhere, made the magnificent, baroque-style room feel more like a place for sightseeing than for sleeping. Of course, once one closed their eyes, no matter how luxurious, it was all just darkness. As long as the bed was soft enough, it was fine. Yisi had slept very soundly that night.

Sensing that Yisi had woken up, Laxy, who had been waiting by the bedside and did not need to sleep, opened her eyes.

“My lord, it is already ten o’clock.”

“Eh? Ten o’clock? But I just closed my eyes.”

An expression that was probably exasperation appeared on Laxy’s face. After a moment of silence, she spoke again.

“…The breakfast Mary brought is already cold. Would you like me to reheat it?”

“No need. If I eat breakfast now, I won’t have an appetite for lunch. I’ll just wait and eat with everyone at noon. By the way, what about last night’s incident? I mean, the cleanup work by the guards after we left.”

While helping Yisi get dressed, Laxy, in her maid outfit, patiently explained.

“I asked around a bit. Because of those two golden curtains of light, the explosion did not affect too many people. The large hole in the city wall, over three meters wide, was also temporarily filled with stones and sandbags by the soldiers earlier this morning. However, because the efficiency was too low, some refugees outside the city who had heard the news snuck into the city during the night, causing quite a bit of trouble for the city guard.”

“What a disaster…” Quickly getting dressed, Yisi jumped off the bed and straightened the wrinkles on her clothes in front of a mirror. Laxy, meanwhile, picked up a comb to take care of Yisi’s silver hair, which was tipped with blue. “So, have they found out who the culprit is? A barrier can’t just grow legs and walk into the city.”

“The Royal Guard has not announced a conclusion. However, based on my observations this morning, they probably haven’t even decided who to investigate. With the king gravely ill, all matters can only be decided through joint consultation among the three great dukes. For this kind of emergency, the process is too inefficient.”

“Unreliable in a crisis,” Yisi sighed deeply. “Well, they have their difficulties too. More importantly, where is Camilla?”

Normally, Camilla would have woken her up for breakfast at nine o’clock.

Laxy’s expression became subtle.

“This… how should I put it? Camilla is currently scolding your… caravan leaders? In any case, it is a beastman with red cat ears and a human. They claim to be your servants.”