Volume 9, Chapter 66 – Turning The Page of The Gospel

After storing the [Imperial Gift] and bidding farewell to Gore, the three set out on the road back to the Duchy of Chloe. Knowing Camilla’s identity, Gore couldn’t simply see them off after recognizing her. Before parting, Gore strongly insisted on assigning guards and maids to Camilla, simultaneously handing over a large amount of military magic items, scrolls, and gold coins to her.

The former was naturally refused by Yisi—traveling with guards ruined the scenery, and Camilla, being by her side, wouldn’t encounter any safety issues. As for the latter, Yisi left the decision to Camilla, who accepted everything without hesitation. Although it smacked of narcissism, Yisi felt Camilla accepted those items and gold not for herself, but thinking her companions might need them later. Yisi had tentatively entrusted the management of her non-“Ragnarøk” gold coins to Camilla; from a financial management perspective, calling Camilla the head of the household wasn’t wrong.

Now, the three were walking along a winding mountain path. Unlike their tense demeanor on the way there, Lin kept her head down on the way back, trailing behind Yisi and Camilla. Her slender, fragile black figure, set against the cold early winter air, gave off a feeling of solitary travel.

She must have something on her mind.

Yisi could guess what Lin was thinking.

Stopping, Yisi turned around and beckoned to Lin.

“Lin, if you don’t keep up, you’ll fall behind.”

“Ah,” Hurrying forward two steps, Lin followed behind Yisi and Camilla. When looking at Camilla, her gaze showed obvious avoidance. “P-Pope—”

“Hah, didn’t I say you don’t need to call me Pope, Lin?” Yisi couldn’t help but feel helpless. “After things in the Duchy of Chloe are settled, I should leave this land and go elsewhere. So, just call me Yisi like before.”

After rescuing Lin from the Imperial battlefield, Yisi had quickly explained everything, including the fact that the Gospel was actually controlled by a demon, and that Atwood had long been unable to see the words on it.

Although Lin initially seemed unable to accept it, even thinking the recording crystal Yisi produced was something Yisi used to deceive her, the fact that a purple demon did emerge from the Gospel when Yisi tore it in front of her was irrefutable. After a full day of dejection and bewilderment, Lin gradually regained her spirits.

Of course, Lin would have remained dejected for much longer—having what she firmly believed in suddenly revealed as false, the Gospel she and those around her revered having a weak demon at its core… the feeling of faith collapsing… it would have been understandable even if Lin became a second Gran.

But Yisi had anticipated this outcome. Revealing the secret within the Gospel could certainly free Lin from its curse, but liberation didn’t mean simply separating her from it. Such a Lin would just be a walking corpse without a goal. Therefore, Yisi explained the demon’s role at the right time: the demon only altered the Gospel’s content at opportune moments it deemed suitable.

To prevent the Gospel from losing its divinity—too much interference might make people notice its prophecies weren’t accurate—the demon only modified the guidance at extremely few key points. Concepts like ‘savior’ and ‘calamity’ weren’t fabrications but guidance from the Gospel, unaltered by the demon. Therefore, most of what Lin had done in the past wasn’t wasted effort. The people she killed, her power increased, even going to the Hels Kingdom to find Laxyphinia—these were all original, unmodified commands from the Gospel. Lin still had the necessity to live on as the savior. This was precisely the life goal Lin needed in her low state, something to support her and prevent her from collapsing completely.

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Simultaneously, because Yisi had subjected the demon to exceptionally cruel torture before rescuing Lin, the demon confessed all its evil deeds, including deliberately hiding the Gospel’s command to execute the former King of Chloe before the sacrificial ritual, in order to make Lin more obedient. This led to the tragedy of the dead city, thereby binding Lin tightly to the Gospel through self-blame towards her predecessors.

Only then did Lin finally recover from her dejection. However, it must be said, this didn’t mean Lin had completely broken free from the shackles of the past. While the dead city was indeed the demon’s conspiracy and Lin needed not blame herself, the people killed under the Gospel’s guidance were Lin’s indelible sins. Lin had to atone for them with her own hands. To achieve this goal, Lin still had to continue as the savior, guided by the remaining Gospel, moving forward together with the others in the Divine Religion.

Perhaps to outsiders, the Divine Religion hadn’t changed at all. These people still obeyed the commands of the absolutely rational Gospel; they hadn’t been freed from its curse. But it’s important to note that the changes weren’t just the Gospel reducing from two copies to one, but also the Pope of the Divine Religion.

The future foreseen by the Gospel was very limited. The reason the Kingdom of God didn’t worship the Gospel as a god was because the angels possessed the power to reverse the limited future it predicted. Under such circumstances, angels could find better choices, greatly reducing the Gospel’s necessity. But the Divine Religion lacked strength, lacking the angels’ power to reverse the limited future. Therefore, to seek the optimal solution, they could only act entirely according to the Gospel’s will.

This predicament saw a turn after Yisi and Laxy appeared.

The power Yisi possessed could completely reverse the future. Whether it was Yisi being unobservable by the Gospel, or her obtaining the Dryad’s Nectar and Laxy before Lin, all proved to the followers that she was stronger than the Gospel, possessing the power to break its predictions. Therefore, when the Divine Religion faced a dilemma again, simply reporting the problem to Yisi, the Pope, would solve everything.

Afterward, when Yisi told her companions everything, Tiffany complained that the Divine Religion was overly foolish for not proactively recruiting Yisi, knowing she had the power to reverse the future. But that was because Tiffany didn’t fully understand the Divine Religion yet. If none of this had happened, even if Yisi used top-tier level 427 magic in front of them, ‘Yisi Enya’ and the ‘Divine Religion’ would remain on two parallel lines. As long as the Gospel didn’t command its people, the Divine Religion wouldn’t target her.

In the end, the situation boiled down to this: the Divine Religion remained the Divine Religion, but they no longer blindly followed the Gospel’s commands; they needed their own considerations. From emotionlessly completing the Gospel’s guidance to needing humanity, avoiding the killing of innocents.

More detailed plans… time was too tight; Yisi and Atwood hadn’t had time to finalize them yet. Apart from Atwood, Lin, Red, and Purple, everyone else in the Divine Religion remained devout believers in the Gospel. To avoid followers collapsing due to shattered faith, Yisi suggested Atwood temporarily keep the matter of the demon residing in the Gospel secret. Even the command making Yisi the Pope was issued under the guise of ‘This is the Gospel’s will.’ Ultimately, only the upper echelons could access the Gospel; ordinary followers wouldn’t discover they were no longer acting according to its commands.

As for when to reveal the truth, Atwood and Lin held differing opinions. The former believed in a gradual approach, using subtle, indirect actions to first prepare the followers mentally before announcing the truth. The latter, however, felt it was fine even to reveal everything at once; they were still acting according to the Gospel’s commands. The only change was that the Gospel had lost its divinity; they now needed to judge their actions based on good and evil.

Yisi didn’t interfere in this matter. These two understood the followers better than she did; they had more authority to decide the plan. Her responsibility was only to use her extraordinary power to crush any insurmountable difficulties when unavoidable great disasters occurred in the future. The rule ‘not following the Gospel only leads to more sacrifices’ was mere empty talk before absolute strength.

Yisi’s statement made Lin’s brow furrow, her pearly teeth gently biting her cherry lip.

“But Yisi being Pope is a fact. When no one else is around, I must address you as Your Holiness.”

“No, no. Lin, you never called Atwood ‘Pope’ before, did you?”

“That’s because Atwood is my mentor. We were familiar enough not to need honorifics.”

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Yisi raised an eyebrow, widened her eyes slightly, looking quite serious.

“Does Lin mean that you and I aren’t familiar? I see. So Lin always saw me this way. Thinking of Lin as a dear friend was just my wishful thinking all along. My apologies, Lin, for presumptuously assuming our relationship was close. I will maintain a proper distance in the future.”

“W-Wait! That’s not what I meant!”

Of course, Yisi knew Lin didn’t mean it that way. She said it just to tease her. Previously, because Lin was always focused on the Gospel, Yisi hadn’t noticed her teasing potential. Now that Lin had become much more cheerful, teasing her was quite fun—her flustered look, desperately trying to explain herself, combined with her beautiful purplish-blue eyes, silky black hair, and the faint scales on her cheeks… her cute appearance easily aroused one’s sadistic tendencies.

Maintaining a serious expression, Yisi asked, “Then what did you mean? You could call Atwood directly by name, but when it comes to me, it becomes the distant ‘Your Holiness’.”

“That’s because…”

Towards the end, Lin’s voice grew smaller, her gaze drifting to the ground.

Because Yisi is special.

Lin couldn’t bring herself to say these words.

She had already realized her feelings for Yisi. In the past, due to her savior’s responsibilities, she had no time to think about such things. But now, the shackles binding her had become considerably weaker. Yisi had also become a member of the Divine Religion; they were in the same boat now. So, being a little closer shouldn’t be a problem. Not only would she gain spiritual fulfillment, but she could also repay what she owed Yisi. Although Yisi said just preparing one breakfast was fine, what she wanted wasn’t just one meal, but every day.

Yisi, not understanding any of this, tilted her head and pressed, “Because?”

“Because Onee-sama is special.”

Camilla answered for Lin. Hit right on the mark, Lin first tensed up, her expression freezing, then quickly waved her hands. Not only did her face flush red, but her words became slurred from panic.

“N-No such a thing! Wh-Wh-What is Miss Ca-Ca-Camilla talking about!”

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“Compared to Atwood, Onee-sama is an outsider who just arrived here. Naturally, she should be treated specially.”

No, I definitely didn’t think that! What on earth is Miss Camilla saying? Isn’t this not helping me at all, but causing more trouble?

Lin couldn’t help but look pleadingly at Camilla, but Camilla returned a perfectly natural smile, seemingly not understanding Lin’s thoughts at all.

For a moment, Lin could only maintain the posture of wanting to explain but not knowing how, her mouth opening and closing repeatedly, emitting incoherent stammers.

“Pfft.”

Yisi couldn’t help but laugh.

She really is fun to tease.

Although Lin seemed like the type who wouldn’t get angry even with excessive teasing—less that she wouldn’t get angry, more that she wouldn’t realize she was being teased—Yisi still needed some self-awareness.

Yisi smiled and waved her hand, bringing the topic back on track. If she wasn’t mistaken, Lin had probably wanted to talk about Camilla’s parentage earlier. Camilla, being the Eldest Princess, was someone Lin had harmed. When Yisi explained Camilla’s identity to Gore, Lin, like Gore, had also shown an exceptionally guilty expression. The reason Lin hadn’t apologized to Camilla then was likely due to the circumstances. Now that no one else was around, Lin must have been looking for the right time to apologize.

Even though Camilla already said she doesn’t care for an apology.

Although that was said to Gore, it applied equally to Lin. Camilla cherished the present, not things that never happened. Even if Lin apologized, Camilla wouldn’t give her the answer Lin sought. For the guilt-ridden Lin, what she needed was punishment, not forgiveness. Compared to Camilla saying “It’s fine,” she would rather hear “To atone, serve me from now on.” Only then would Lin truly feel she had repaid her debt.

I should turn this page for Lin.

Yisi changed the subject.

“Well, well, I was just joking with you, Lin. But I do hope you won’t call me Pope anymore. Setting aside that in outsiders’ eyes, ‘Yisi’ and ‘Pope Viel’ have no connection, firstly, we aren’t that distant, are we?”

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“It was a joke…? Yisi, you’re too mean.”

With a look of disgust, as if doubting Yisi’s character, Lin retracted her earlier panic and gave Yisi a deep glance.

“Ahaha.” Yisi quietly stuck out her tongue. “We’re almost at the city gate. If Lin has something to say, let’s put it off until later when things settle down. Now is not the time for sentimentality.”

Various supplies, as part of the Empire’s reparations, would be sent from the border to the Duchy of Chloe before deep winter arrived. Given the Duchy’s operating methods, the nearly one million gold coins worth of food, clothing, and livestock would be received, managed, and distributed by the Divine Religion. For the fewer than two thousand followers, this was a considerable challenge.

If Shinku and Fran aren’t busy, maybe I should ask them to share their experience. As managers of the Margaret, they were quite adept at handling supplies.

Lin glanced at the city gate Yisi pointed to. Although they were still some distance away, they could already see the long queues of Chloe residents carrying bundles large and small, gradually returning to the capital. News of the war’s end had been spread by Divine Religion members arranged by Yisi several days ago—without specifying the process or the final victor, but anyone observant knew that since the Empire withdrew its army, the war was over.

Although the procession was disorderly, smiles could be seen on people’s faces. After this battle, the confidence of the Duchy’s residents would likely be unprecedentedly strong. They had repelled the overwhelmingly powerful Empire.

Lin subconsciously looked at Yisi, who tilted her head and returned a faint smile.

The one who defeated the Empire was precisely this incredibly powerful, exceptionally captivating, considerate, and gentle girl before her.

Lin couldn’t help but shake her head, suppressing the urge to apologize to Camilla. Just as Yisi said, now wasn’t the time. She still had the savior’s duties. Compared to personal feelings, improving people’s lives was the goal she should pursue. As for when to apologize to Camilla, let it be after receiving the Empire’s reparations, when everyone had some free time. Everything should be prioritized.

A smile gradually appearing on her face, Lin straightened up again, responding without any gloom.

“Ah, Yisi is right. Let’s hurry back now and tell Atwood, Red, and Purple about the reparations. If they hear the amount is one million gold coins, they’ll surely jump for joy.”

“Okay.”

After nodding to Lin, Yisi offered Camilla a smile, and the three walked into the Ducal Capital together.