Chapter 268: The Beginning (4)

“Fuu”

While relaxing on the soft chair, Cardinal Hurvert let out a deep breath.

Their long schedule had taken a toll on their body.

“Bunch of savages.”

He frowned as he thought back on what had happened in the palace. Rumours that the Devesis Church’s influence on the east side of Grain Mountain Range was different to before was something he had heard several times, but this was his first first-hand experience.

“They won’t realise their position unless we summon all the priests and close all the temples or something….”

The priests and temples of Devesis Church weren’t limited to the religious weight it had. They used divine powers to treat the sick and care for the poor, teach them words, or carry out ceremonies and were undisputedly placed at an important position in various fields.

“I think you walked away too easily sir.”

Shika, the oldest out of the monks conveyed his thoughts with a worried expression, but Hurvert waved his hand with a slight smile.

“No need to worry. We still have a lot of time.”

It was the personification of nonchalance and unworry.

Shika looked towards the other monks and priests after a brief sigh, and the three also didn’t seem content.

“In any case…”

Still on his chair, Hurvert examined the drawing room.

“It seems they put some care into it.”

He liked the house that Roan had prepared. The drawing room, office, bedrooms and everything were fancy and high-class, servants had manners and elegance, and the food they prepared were satisfying.

“He doesn’t look like a stubborn person. Maybe words will get to him.”

The conversation with Roan seemed likely to result in a positive manner. Hurvert waved at the youngest priest.

“Give me a glass of some alcohol.”

His posture, words and gesture – none of them seemed to be fitting of a cardinal.

“Yes. I under…”

It was when the stiff-faced priest was about to answer.

“Hmm?”

“What is this?”

The monk frowned as he approached the windows as his sensitive ears had picked up unpleasant noise. Hurvert who had been looking for alcohol similarly became nervous.

Squeak.

As the firmly closed windows opened, rounds of large cries dug deep into their eardrums.

“We are the citizens of the Amaranth Kingdom!”

“The monarch of our Amaranth Kingdom is Roan Lancephil!”

“There is no more Rinse Kingdom!”

“Do not take our monarch away from us!”

“Amaranth! Amaranth!”

“Roan Lancephil! Roan Lancephil!”

The citizens of the Mediasis Castle had encircled the mansion and were screaming.

An exorbitant number.

The roads were packed with people with the end invisible.

“W, what?!”

With a bewildered expression, Hurvert left the seat in a start. He looked outside the window and scowled.

“T, this bunch of crazy…”

He was evidently baffled by the situation that he had never expected.

‘Roan and his subordinates aside, I thought the normal citizens would at least worry about the church’s eyes…’

Although the east side of the mountain range wasn’t like before, Devesis Church was a part of one’s life for the citizens of the continent. He thought that if he sat down treating the sick with his divine powers and spread propaganda, it would cause the higher-ups to be on their knees.

‘But there’s a problem with the bottom.’

Hurvert bit down hard.

His eyes scanned the mansion, in case the citizens would bring themselves in, but.

‘Sigh, that’s a relief.’

He soon gave a short sigh. Ones that seemed to be soldiers of the Amaranth Kingdom were properly guarding the mansion, and the deafening crowd also maintained order without doing anything excessive.

It was a peaceful protest.

‘There’s no need to worry about this for now.’

Then, he sat back on the chair as a frown appeared.

“This is troubling. To think that citizens would be on Roan’s side.”

He hadn’t had an idea of how strong and tough the citizen’s support on Roan was.

“In the first place, it was impossible to be solved by conversing.”

Shika closed the window and approached Hurvert. Hurvert’s frown deepened.

“You’re saying I was wrong?”

A voice and face that reflected his displeasure, to which Shika replied by slightly lowering his head. Hurvert continued with a thorny voice.

“I have gotten the holy pope’s order in receiving full obedience of Roan Lancephil. I’m just being careful due to having received an important mission. There’s still time, and we can talk it out any time.”

In response, Shika shook his head after having some time to breathe.

“We don’t have much time. The demands from the citizens would only become higher, which means our position would continue to get worse. And besides…”

He stared directly into Hurvert’s eyes.

“Sir Cardinal is misunderstanding the holy pope’s will.”

“What? I am misunderstanding the holy pope’s will?”

Hurvert’s expression became rigid, with anger reaching into his voice. Shika remained confident.

“What the holy pope wanted wasn’t mere conversation.”

To that, Hurvert could no longer hold it in and rose up with a dash.

“Then are you saying we should make a huge commotion? Raise our swords and attack the palace?”

His voice got louder.

“Impossible! What will we get from doing something like that! It will only result in a bigger dent in the relationship and one mistake could get us expelled before we can even speak one word!”

If that happened, they would not be able to carry Pope Beldrica’s wish at all.

“Of course, it would be troubling to be expelled.”

Shika’s two eyes reflected light.

“Then what are you saying we should…”

Hurvert continued with annoyance mixed in his voice and expression until he suddenly widened his eyes.

“Cough!”

His breath ceased and a painful moan escaped. He lowered his head to face his stomach.

“Wh, why…”

Hurvert had an expression of disbelief as he shook his head. There was a knife the size of a palm digging into his stomach, and the wielder was none other than Shika.

“Y, you dare to do this to me, the cardinal…”

His two eyes reflected lights of rage, while Shika nonchalantly twisted the dagger.

Cra-crack!

Along with the sound of bones being crushed, Hurvert’s face crumbled.

Shika stared directly into Hurvert’s eyes as he whispered in a low voice.

“This is the holy pope’s wish.”

“What rubbish are you… Cough!”

Unable to handle it any longer, he went down on his knees, as power left his body. His eyes scanned the monks and priests behind Shika and found them watching the situation unfold with composed, unbothered expressions.

‘T, this bunch were all on the same side.’

The situation didn’t look favourable.

Shika’s voice reached his ears.

“What the holy pope wished for was our death.”

With a calm voice, he continued with words that Hurvert couldn’t believe… no, didn’t want to believe.

“Due to Roan Lancephil’s grandfather, Io Lancephil being in custody of the church, it is impossible to talk this out in the first place. Besides, the Rinse Liberation Army that had been formed under The Church’s support had been completely defeated by Roan Lancephil which put shame on the church’s authority and fame.

Continuing an impossible conversation in this situation is more poison than anything. It might appear as if the church is appeasing to Roan Lancephil. With one mistake, the church’s authority within the east side of the Grain Mountain Range, especially the Rinse Kingdom area, could fall to the bottom.”

An unhideable pride and confidence appeared on his face.

“No, in the first place, reaching out a hand to someone who had pointed their sword at us, the church is something we can’t do, and do not want to.”

Shika’s voice enlarged even further.

“We, The Church will punish the immoral Roan Lancephil and the blasphemous Amaranth.”

In response, Hurvert squeezed his all into his words and screamed.

“If that was the case, they wouldn’t have sent me to such a place!”

“No, the cardinal’s role was the most important.”

Shika shook his head and twisted the dagger once again.

Cra, crack!

The sound of the crushing bones echoed violently.

“The church cannot start a war without reason.”

“T, then…?”

A tide of emotions waved through Hurvert’s eyes, finally understanding Beldrica and the church’s inner thoughts.

Shika slowly nodded his head.

“Sir Cardinal shall be the manure for the Great Church.”

His voice was full of pride.

Hurvert shook his head; his eyes were now blurry.

‘Damn, the divine power isn’t working.’

Healing magic couldn’t be used.

The dagger was most likely not a normal knife.

“T, to think that I would die like this…”

It was frustrating.

“If I were to die, y, you bunch will find it difficult to keep your lives as well…”

A strange threat, different to normal threats were thrown. However

“Kuck.”

“Kck.”

The monk and two priests excluding Shika bit into a poison sac and collapsed. An appearance devoid of any hesitation to the point of insanity.

“The moment we departed the church, we were ready to follow the god’s will with a happy heart.”

“Hahaha.”

Hurvert let out a despondent laugh. Looking at the dead priests and the monk made him feel a rush of fear. Suddenly, he thought of what Beldrica had said before he left the church.

[Go to Rinse Kingdom and follow the god’s will. If you don’t know what the god’s will is, follow my will.]

Soon, Roan’s words at the palace floated in his head.

[What I disdained and looked down on, is it God or The Church?]

A bitter smile hung on his lips.

When he first heard those words, he thought it was a blasphemy to god, but now before death, his head was filled with complex thoughts.

‘By who’s will, am I dying? The God’s, or The Church’s?’

He couldn’t find an answer.

Opening the eyes that threatened to close itself, he stared at Shika, and saw a firm, solid pair of eyes.

He felt helpless.

All his beliefs had crumbled at an instant.

“We all had our eyes open…”

The voice got smaller and smaller.

“And yet couldn’t see anything properly…”

That was the end.

A cardinal of Devesis Church, standing on the top of authority and fame, Hurvert faced the unavailing end. Until his very end, the god he believed in had not responded.

Shika stared at the dead Hurvert before carrying his feet away. He approached the entrance of the mansion and raised his divine power to its maximum. Bringing all the wooden furniture and building parts, he firmly blocked the entrance.

And at the same time, he took a candle and lit fires all around the interior.

“Uwah!”

“F, fire!”

“Fire!”

The servants and maids within the house were startled and tried to control the fire but it quickly devoured the first floor of the mansion. Left with no other choice, the servants and maids gave up on appeasing the fire and had to escape through broken windows or the backdoor.

Shika didn’t stop the ones from escaping.

“Imbeciles like you have no right to be the manure of the church.”

A cold voice resonated through the mansion. He slowly headed back into the drawing room and lit Hurvert, the monk and the priests’ clothes on fire.

Hwaruruk.

The fire grew larger.

Shika kneeled as he watched the flames near him.

“The almighty God Devesis. I follow thy will and wish thou to look kindly and lead mine soul to thy side.”

He prayed in a whisper.

Yet, there was no reply from god.

“Almighty God Devesis. I follow thy will…”

The prayer continued without a stop. In the meantime, the fire devoured the room and eventually reached his body.

Hwaruruk!

An intense fire covered his body, but not a slight moan could be heard. And what continued to be heard were…

“Almighty God Devesis. I follow thy…”

His prayers.

The news of the mansion’s fire was quickly sent to the palace by the soldiers and citizens around. With the help of Keniss, Roan succeeded in suppressing the fire, but it was late – the messengers from the church were all burnt black.

Until here, Roan thought the fire was an accident or an arson.

But with a meticulous investigation by Aily, the elves, and his subordinates who had followed, the hidden truth behind the deaths of the messengers was revealed.

First, there was an injury on Hurvert’s stomach and a matching knife found nearby. Not only that but from the citizens and the soldiers’ witnesses, it seemed that the fire had started from the inside.

Added on top of this were the witness statements from the servants and the maids.

They all stated that Shika, one of the messengers had lit the whole place on fire.

The fire and the deaths of the messengers was not an accident, nor an arson. It was a murder carried due to infighting, or a suicide.

Roan immediately opened a large conference. The gathered subordinates began to give out their opinions.

“Suicide doesn’t make sense. How could the messengers from The Church commit suicides?”

“I can’t understand this.”

“This is merely a murder case due to the infighting between the messengers.”

“That’s a reasonable speculation.”

They all shook their heads with frowns. It was at this time, that Ian Phillips, who had been quiet, calmly raised his voice.

“With all the circumstances in mind…”

He continued after looking at various nobles and ministers.

“This is definitely something planned by the church.”

“P, planned by the church?”

Some people asked back with puzzlement, to which Ian replied with a short sigh.

“The messengers from the church had all planned to die here, at Castle Mediasis, from the very beginning.”

The people shook their heads with disbelief.

“How can you be certain of that?”

“That is…”

Ian’s words blurred away as he stared towards the entrance to the room. The people naturally followed his gaze. It was then.

The door swung open and Chris appeared from behind. He shook his head with a bitter smile.

“It is as Sir Ian had predicted.”

A short sigh escaped from his lips, as Chris looked at each person before continuing with his words.

“We don’t know the faraway places, but from the currently reachable places, all temples of the Devesis Church have been closed and the priests are leaving the country, as if…”

A voice filled with certainty.

“They had been waiting, they are moving fast and speedily.”

“Hmm.”

Gasps could be heard from the surroundings.

The news of the messengers’ death and the fire still hadn’t left the boundaries of Castle Mediasis. The temples closing down and priests leaving the country despite that, meant that they had presumed something similar would happen from the get go.

Which meant it was definitely planned by the church beforehand.

Roan tapped the table with his finger.

‘The church is coming more dirtily and viciously than I expected.’

He felt his mouth dry. Roan turned towards Ian.

“Whatever the truth was, it is true that the messengers of the church, and even a cardinal had died from within the castle. What will the church do in response?”

As if he had been expecting such a question, Ian replied with a rigid expression. His voice of certainty, without any hesitation filled the innards of the conference room.

“They will gather the crusaders.”

<The Beginning (4)> End.

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