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Chapter 162: Kidnapping the Saintess (2)
Chapter 162: Kidnapping the Saintess (2)
Chapter 162: Kidnapping the Saintess (2)
At the Temple of Harmony, located in Crossbridge, Naias was looking at the saintess with her eyes closed.
The Saintess of Harmony, Laiteria.
She was praying to the sky with her eyes tightly shut.
The Saintess of Harmony was famous for not showing her eyes behind her eyelids.
She kept her eyes closed at all times, not just when she prayed.
She was a blind person with a congenital vision impairment.
“…”
But everyone in the Temple of Harmony respected Laiteria.
She was more blind because she couldn’t see.
She revered and praised the god more deeply and strongly than anyone else.
Laiteria’s strong faith made her worthy of being the Saintess of Harmony.
Laiteria, who became a saintess, also had a power that suited her position.
The sight that saw the future’s convenience.
And the Divine Grace that told the flow of the world.
All those things made Laiteria’s position solid.
“Naias.”
“Yes, Laiteria.”
Laiteria lowered her hands and called Naias’ name after a long prayer.
Naias responded to her call and got up from his seat and walked closer to her.
Thump. Thump.
Every time she took a step, a heavy sound that didn’t match her appearance echoed.
Naias quickly moved to Laiteria and bowed in front of her.
The saintess in front of him was a person who deserved respect in Naias’ eyes.
When Naias stood right in front of Laiteria, she finally raised her hand and stroked his cheek.
It was an act to understand and recognize the other’s shape and existence.
She stroked Naias’s cheek and told him the reason for her long prayer.
“I received a Divine Grace from the goddess.”
“A Divine Grace?”
Divine Grace.
It was a revelation that only the chosen saintesses could receive, but Laiteria’s Divine Grace was different from the others.
Naias tensed up as he heard the important news.
He had to engrave the following stories in his ears.
He listened to her words, and Laiteria slowly continued with the content of the Divine Grace.
“A storm is coming.”
“A storm?”
“The goddess of order made a dangerous decision. I think the world will be very noisy soon.”
Naias looked at Laiteria with a puzzled face as he heard about the Divine Grace.
The goddesses often gave incomprehensible Divine Graces.
But what Laiteria was saying now was very surprising to Naias.
The goddess of order made a dangerous decision.
It was a story that might be protested as blasphemy if he heard it from the temple of order.
“…That’s a sensitive story.”
“That’s why I’m telling you only. It’s not something I can tell anyone else.”
The holy land was composed of six temples, but the influence that one temple could have on another was not very great.
At best, only the temple of abundance could exert some minor pressure by flaunting its wealth.
In such a situation, he couldn’t bring up this story to another temple.
The saintess’s choice to tell only Naias was wise in its own way.
“Alright. It’s better if I’m the only one who hears it.”
“Thank you, Naias.”
“Don’t mention it.”
It was only the Temple of Harmony that would suffer from this mess.
The elders already hated the Temple of Harmony, and it was not good to have a problem.
Naias nodded his head and waited for Laiteria’s next story, and she rubbed his cheek with her thumb and said.
“We also need to prepare for the coming storm. First of all, we have to get back the kidnapped saintess.”
“The kidnapped saintess?”
Naias’s eyes narrowed.
The kidnapped saintess.
It was the first time Naias had heard of it.
“On the day the hero of order died, the apostle of the evil god took the saintess of order.”
“That happened?”
“Yes. So I’m going to trade with them and get back the saintess first.”
“The saintess of order is important, but… do you need to get her back through a trade?”
It was shocking to hear that the saintess had been taken by the Cult.
And it was even more shocking to hear that she would get back the saintess through a trade with the Cult.
No matter how important the saintess was, it was hard to see why she had to bring her back right away with an unreasonable trade.
It was doubtful whether the ones who took the saintess would return her willingly.
They would surely make impossible demands.
Something seemed very wrong to Naias.
Laiteria was talking as if it was obvious, even though he couldn’t understand it.
“I need to. The saintesses know a lot of things that others don’t.”
“I don’t know if the Cult will want to trade.”
“They will. They must want to trade too.”
She seemed strangely confident.
He didn’t know what he had to give up to get back the saintess, but Laiteria was sure that the trade would go through.
Was she seeing the future that had not come yet?
Or did she have some weakness of the enemies?
With an expression that could not be seen by her closed eyes, Naias asked Laiteria.
“What kind of trade is it?”
“I’m going to give them dragon blood.”
“What?”
“I have to collect some of your blood and deliver it to the Cult. As a price for taking back the kidnapped saintess.”
The thing that Laiteria wanted to trade with the Cult was none other than Naias’s own blood.
The blood of a dragon had a great life force unlike other creatures.
But if he asked her if it had a tremendous effect by itself, she didn’t think so.
Why would the Cult want his dragon blood so much that they would give up the saintess?
It was not an easy story to accept.
The more he talked with Laiteria, the more complicated his head felt.
“You want me to draw my blood and give it to the Cult?”
“Yes. It’s not a big loss for us, right?”
“I don’t understand. It’s just blood, and you’re talking about a trade that hasn’t even been discussed yet…”
“Naias. Our thoughts are not important.”
Laiteria put her palm over Naias’s head, who was expressing his displeasure.
And then she started to stroke his head with a relaxed touch, as if to soothe him.
Laiteria gently caressed Naias’s hair.
Her kind touch brushed over his navy blue hair several times, and the saintess’s voice whispered in Naias’s ear.
“It’s all the goddess’s will. Isn’t it?”
“But…”
“We just have to follow it.”
The goddess’s will.
It was a good sound. It was enough to make him forget all the thoughts that came to his mind.
It was also a magic word that could rationalize everything.
To follow the goddess’s will and act on her behalf.
That was the only mission given to them.
Hoo-.
Naias sighed deeply and gave a positive answer to the task he didn’t want to do.
“I understand. If that’s what the Divine Grace says, I have no choice.”
“I’m sorry for asking you to do something dangerous.”
“It’s okay. You can’t do it yourself, Laiteria.”
Naias got up from his seat and brushed off the hair that had fallen on his clothes.
He didn’t want to do it, but he had to.
As Laiteria said, this was a Divine Grace.
To deny the Divine Grace that the saintess of the temple conveyed was tantamount to denying the foundation of the temple.
So he had to figure out how to draw blood without hurting himself first.
“But I’m a little worried about drawing blood.”
***
“What is this document?”
The knight commander, Ebelz Ederlent, glared at Highpright II with an angry face.
In his hand was a document that authorized the saintess’s solo outing.
At the bottom of the document were the seals of the emperor and the knight commander.
Highpright II looked at Ebelz with an excited face, who was looking at him.
The emperor’s gaze was very calm as he looked at Ebelz who brought the document.
“Sir Ebelz.”
Tap. Tap.
The emperor’s finger tapped on the desk as he called Ebelz’s name.
A slow and heavy rhythm echoed in the emperor’s office.
“I can’t understand this no matter how I think about it. Let alone my seal…”
“A Divine Grace has come down.”
Ebelz stopped his hand that was holding the document when he heard the word Divine Grace.
Highpright II was the emperor elected from the Temple of Order.
The reason why he had approved the saintess of order to go out alone.
If it was because of the Divine Grace that had come down to the saintess, it was not a completely incomprehensible story.
For the clergy, a revelation was above any rule.
“…Did you say a Divine Grace?”
“The saintess of order received several Divine Graces. The permission for the outing was just one of those Divine Graces.”
“No matter what, this is…”
“Sir Ebelz. The real problem is the content of another Divine Grace.”
He had to accept it even though he couldn’t agree.
It was the god’s will.
Ebelz put down the document he was holding on the table.
The paper slid down the desk with a fluttering sound.
“This is… not a trivial matter. What is the content of the other Divine Grace that makes you say this?”
He couldn’t solve the problem that had passed.
It was more constructive to solve another problem than to argue about the responsibility.
Ebelz asked the emperor about the content of the problematic Divine Grace.
He picked up the document on the desk and said.
“The Temple of Harmony betrayed us.”
“…”
“They traded with the Cult to bring to the holy land…”
“Wait, what are you talking about?”
As soon as he heard the emperor’s words, Ebelz felt his head freeze for a moment.
He came to his senses and looked at the emperor, who was still sitting calmly.
It was not a joke or a lie.
The emperor was sincerely saying such things.
“Literally, the Temple of Harmony betrayed us.”
“Are you sure? Even if you say that…”
“Didn’t I say it was a Divine Grace? You must think I’m someone who would joke about this kind of thing.”
It was absurd to say that the Temple of Harmony betrayed them.
It was something that should not be uttered even as a joke.
But if that absurd assumption was true.
Then this was not a situation to have a conversation like this.
He had to come up with a plan as soon as possible.
“If what you say is true, we have to convene an elders’ meeting right away.”
“I won’t hold a meeting.”
“What do you mean!”
But the emperor who brought up this story still maintained a quiet attitude.
Ebelz, who couldn’t stand it anymore, urged him, and the emperor looked at Ebelz with a serious tone and said.
“Do you want to call a meeting now and say that the goddess of harmony has abandoned us?”
“That’s…”
“Or do you want the story of us meddling with the temples to spread from the imperial palace?”
“…”
Ebelz shut his mouth at Highpright II’s rebuke.
The friction between the temples was a problem that would be troublesome if it was exposed.
Whether the Divine Grace was true or not, there would be a complex current in the holy land for a while.
The emperor seemed to want to suppress the problem as much as possible.
“I’ll take care of the matter related to the Temple of Harmony, so just watch quietly for a while.”
There was nothing Ebelz could do if that was the emperor’s will.
The knight order was a sword that protected the holy land, not a sword that tore it apart.
Especially if it was a matter of cleaning up the inside.
“I see…”
“Don’t dirty your hands with internal affairs, Sir Ebelz. Prepare for the coming storm.”
The emperor said that and picked up the document he had pushed aside.
Whoosh.
The document touched by the powerful divine flame turned into ashes and scattered.
Beyond the spreading ashes, the emperor waved his hand.
The ashes scattered along the emperor’s touch, and a gust of wind brushed past Ebelz’s cheek.
“When the storm comes, there will be bloodshed.”