The Silent City.
For an ancient city, it bore an uncanny resemblance to the modern world.
What kind of era could the ancient times have been?
There were almost no scholars who knew the answer to that.
After all, there was no definitive conclusion as to whether Blackout was truly the past of the world they inhabited.
But one thing was certain. The vast array of knowledge scattered across Blackout could still be put to use in the present day.
“In the past, the previous Pope believed that uncovering the reason for the undead’s emergence would allow that knowledge to be applied to the surface.”
The justification for their investigation was certainly noble.
The main goal was the eradication of the undead and granting rest to the deceased.
“So the Church at the time collected information from the heart of Silent City, where the five Named Beings were sealed.”
During that process, they discovered a certain altar.
The Church instinctively felt it.
That altar must hold the clues to the undead of Silent City.
“It was written in a mix of obscure scripts and ancient languages. I heard they struggled greatly to interpret it.”
Though it required a tremendous investment of time and resources, their persistence paid off.
“This place, Silent City, was where an Outer God descended.”
“An Outer God…?”
Entities from beyond this universe that were forbidden from interfering in this world.
One of them had descended upon the ancient Silent City.
“The lord of ancient Silent City had been deeply devoted to a certain religion. And he made a decision to summon the god he revered into this world.”
Then the lord made a wish.
– Grant my castle eternal peace and happiness, and bestow upon me eternal life.
He spoke of the world he dreamed of as a lord.
And the Outer God granted that wish.
The outcome was nothing like what the lord had envisioned.
“Including the lord himself, all the residents turned into undead.”
“That’s crazy. That’s the result of a wish? Just what kind of twisted logic do these Outer Gods act on?”
Eleanor who had been listening intently asked the question.
No one answered her.
But long ago, there had been an explanation.
“The Church interpreted the wish’s outcome in this way.”
Since they became undead, the issue of eternal life was resolved, and because the undead lacked desires, there was no conflict.
“Then what about the wish for happiness? There’s no way the undead could feel happiness…”
At Aiden’s question, Bern shook his head.
“Happiness is relative. It depends on how the Outer God chose to interpret that wish.”
If there’s no misery, wouldn’t that count as happiness? Something along those lines.
Naturally, Aiden looked as though he couldn’t believe such a conclusion.
“Well, that’s not really the point, is it?”
Jun interjected.
“The most important thing was this: the Outer God descended to the mortal world. That’s the most important thing.”
“…Yes.”
That fact drew the attention of the Church, and even more so, the previous Pope.
If summoning an Outer God was possible, then bringing their own god Ariklotus into the world should also be possible.
“They needed to prepare for that.”
And that preparation involved finding the most perfect vessel in existence.
The requirements for the vessel were simple yet absolute.
“It had to be the most perfect body to receive divine power. And it had to be the purest body.”
“Well, the latter would have been easy to find.”
The purest body in the world.
That would be a newborn baby.
At Jun’s quiet remark, Eleanor’s eyes widened.
She was starting to suspect something.
Then she pointed to herself and asked,
“That’s… me?”
“Yes. You were the most perfect vessel the previous Pope ever sought.”
Her head felt like it was spinning.
She never imagined she would discover the secret of her birth in a situation like this.
“So, my parents…?”
“I don’t know that much. All I know is that back then, the church used every means available to find children who could serve as the perfect vessel.”
And what might those methods have been?
Buying them with money.
Persuading others by claiming it was the will of God.
They must have employed a variety of methods.
Perhaps even resorting to force.
“The previous Pope was that determined to bring God into this world.”
But in the end, they failed.
“God Ariklotus rejected descending to the mortal realm.”
The problem came after that.
“Our prayers veered off in a different direction.”
Following traces of the past that lingered in Silent City,
Their desperate wishes extended beyond the bounds of the universe.
“And an Outer God took root.”
And that―
“Eleanor, even now, there are traces of the Outer God that once took root in your body.”
That was the secret of the woman named Eleanor.
***
“What the hell.”
“Pfft!”
At Eleanor’s blunt reaction, Jun couldn’t suppress his laughter for a moment.
How long had it been since he last laughed?
“And what are you laughing at?”
“Nothing.”
“Are you crazy?”
Did he seriously find it funny that some Outer God or whatever had taken root in her body?
Eleanor barely restrained herself from hitting Jun over the head with her staff.
But Jun wasn’t laughing at Eleanor’s past.
It’s similar.
Jun remembered that his reaction had been much the same when he learned about the story tied to his current self and his previous life.
He couldn’t help but laugh at how similar her situation was to his own.
“But for someone who’s angry, you seem oddly calm.”
Jun asked.
If anything, Bern’s face looked even more scarred as he spoke the truth.
“I never thought of myself as a normal girl to begin with.”
Since childhood, she had heard strange voices.
But was that all?
When she removed her blindfold, bizarre phenomena would happen, the kind that defied explanation.
“It happened when I was a child. Before the current Pope gave me this blindfold.”
In her childhood,
Before her eyes were covered with black bandages, Eleanor had already realized she possessed a special power.
“You know how, as a kid, everyone has things they want or things they dream of doing?”
“Yeah.”
“When I wished for something desperately enough, no matter what it was, it would always come true.”
But the outcomes were never what she had hoped for.
It was as if her wishes unfolded just like the events in this cursed Silent City.
“If I wanted someone else’s possession, it would end up in my hands remarkably quickly.”
However, every time that happened, the item’s original owner would vanish without a trace.
They might be kidnapped.
Or killed by someone.
Sometimes, they’d even be struck dead by a bolt of lightning out of a clear sky.
In other cases, they’d fall victim to an inexplicable illness.
As these events played out, the items they had owned inevitably found their way into Eleanor’s hands through a series of mysterious circumstances.
“At first, I didn’t realize it was because of me. But as I got older and started to think about it…”
The young Eleanor came to understand.
Whenever her wishes came true, incidents and accidents would occur around her. With each wish fulfilled, something inside her seemed to grow stronger.
“I was scared. I felt guilty, too.”
She had been so terrified. It felt as though that voice was controlling her, as if the owner of the voice might even take over her body.
She feared everything.
“The person who appeared then was the current Pope.”
One day, he appeared, adopted her, and placed a blindfold over her eyes.
“And that’s how I’ve lived ever since.”
There was something inside her.
But she lacked the courage to confront it and didn’t know how to begin.
So she lived just like this.
Within the church, she was regarded as a somewhat peculiar person.
As a priestess, she simply did her best to face the reality before her.
That was the only life she could choose.
“Eleanor…”
Bern lowered his head heavily.
Even though he had known her secret, he hadn’t told anyone until now.
“So, what happened to the Church after the descent ceremony failed?”
“As you can see, it fell into decline. Countless followers lost their lives in the process.”
“Huh?”
“When the Outer God invaded Eleanor’s body, the minds of everyone involved in the ritual were corrupted.”
And that included the previous Pope.
“The current Pope, who was a bishop at the time, gave me an order. He told me to forcibly put an end to the ceremony where the Outer God was descending.”
“By forcibly ending it… you mean…”
“It was an order to slaughter everyone participating in the ritual.”
As a result, the Pope of the time and many high-ranking priests lost their lives.
It had all been carried out by Bern’s hand.
“Such… such a thing happened?”
“If there’s any consolation, it’s that very few within the Church even knew about the incident at the time.”
It had been an operation conducted in the utmost secrecy.
Even within the current Church, the only ones aware of it were—
“The Pope, myself, and…”
“Bishop Elias, correct?”
“…That’s right. At the time, he was responsible for external intelligence.”
Only then did Jun finally understand everything and nodded to himself.
“The bishop wanted the Pope’s position, is that correct?”
“…That’s right. He has the nature of a snake.”
The current Pope was well aware of that fact, that the bishop coveted the very position he now held.
Even so, Elias was too useful a figure in many ways to simply cast aside.
“But recently, the strings connecting him to his allies have started to snap one by one. As that happened, his influence within the Church has gradually begun to wane. It was a natural consequence of the Church’s diminishing power.”
“And in his desperation, he tried something like this? He’s got some nerve…”
At Jun’s muttered words, Bern closed his eyes with a heavy heart.
“Why would you make such a choice, Bishop Elias…”
At that moment, Maya who had remained silent until now asked her first question about the matter.
“Question.”
“What is it?”
“So, what should we do now?”
It was the most critical question.
Jun responded.
“We retrieve the Holy Grail, track down the bishop, and crush him. Then we take down the Heavenly Church as well.”
And finally—
“We have to stop the seals on the Five Named Beings, too.”
There was an overwhelming amount to do, but—
“Simple. I like it.”
Maya nodded her head in satisfaction, as if she found it all quite agreeable.
She seemed entirely uninterested in everything that had been discussed until now.
In any case, their next destination was as good as decided.
The very heart of the enemy’s territory.
The altar.
***
“Kiruk, preparations are complete.”
“Asura Salvartha, you’ve worked hard.”
“Of course. While you sat idly, you bald-headed monk, I’ve been the one doing all the work.”
The old crone with the reptile head spoke with a scolding tone, and the man responded with nothing more than a shrug of his shoulders.
“What choice do we have? The tasks given to each of us are simply different.”
“Kiruk, I know that well. So keep your mouth shut.”
The monk holding the prayer beads nodded his head.
In truth, over the past few days, the shaman had accomplished countless tasks.
She had spent a long time manipulating that worm-like bishop.
Hidden traps within traps.
And she had prepared various contingencies in case things went awry.
“But is it all right not to go directly?”
Even so, when an unexpected variable arose in their operation, there was no time to address it.
By now, they should have retrieved Eleanor who was unconscious inside the Church’s base camp. But somehow they had let Eleanor slip through their fingers.
Unexpected variables had infiltrated their plans.
Through some kind of magic, these variables had reunited with Eleanor and even managed to purify a Level 7 Paladin.
“Ah, you’re talking about those worms. Kirruk!”
The shaman spoke in a voice dripping with hostility.
Indeed, the unforeseen variables were a source of considerable annoyance for her.
Lately, things hadn’t been going his way, and his irritation was on the verge of turning into outright rage.
However.
“That’s precisely why we’ve taken the time to prepare for such situations. And it’s also why you’re by my side.”
In other words, if things went wrong, it was his responsibility to handle them.
The monk calmly nodded his head at those words.
“Asura Salvartha, don’t worry. The benefactor’s goal will undoubtedly be achieved.”
A Level 7 Paladin?
It didn’t matter.
Instead, a fierce competitive spirit boiled within him. The monk gripped his prayer beads tightly with his large hand.
In this era, all religions were nothing but contradictions and arrogance.
Feeling disgusted with them, he was more than willing to stain his own hands with blood to change the world himself.
“The Outer God is watching over us, and this is merely part of the process to usher in a new era.”
The shaman chuckled at the monk’s expression, which was filled with either determination or rage.
If this mission was completed successfully, her standing within the Heavenly Church would undoubtedly rise significantly.
“They’re coming, they’re coming… the ones who will lead us higher are coming…”
The old crone hummed a strange tune as she gazed at Bishop Elias, who lay unconscious on the ground.
It was hardly a pleasant sound.
But the monk, standing guard by the crone’s side, didn’t seem to care as his eyes remained fixed on the entrance leading to the surface.
There, he could sense approaching footsteps.
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