135 – Sacrifice
Cardinal Devialet.
I expected it to come someday, but I never thought it would come this soon.
Not surprisingly, Devialet was a very busy person with the protection of the emperor and the establishment of a response organization.
It could have been assumed that the emperor died during treatment and that his time was empty, but since he is a cardinal with such divine power that jokes say he can even revive the dead, we should put aside speculation about him.
But even so, there was no reason for Devialet to put everything aside and come here.
Even in the miserable throne room, there were quite a few survivors, and there were many who needed his help, and wasn’t he who treated the sick also a sick person?
There must be some important business. With that thought in mind, Siron faced Devialet.
“Are you feeling okay?”
Siron’s face was full of worry when he asked how I was doing.
“From what I saw earlier, you didn’t seem to be in good condition.”
“it’s okay.”
“…You don’t look well at all. You still have a bandage wrapped around your head, right?”
“…I’m sorry for coming without notice. I should have left more time.”
“I didn’t mean to say anything, so just stay still. Why are you going out on the road?”
Siron continued speaking, stopping Devialet from standing up.
“I’m just saying this because I think the Cardinal might be overdoing it. So there’s no need to say you’re sorry.”
“I unintentionally made you worry. But it’s okay. I had a hole in my heart once, but I survived that time too.”
Devialet nodded and placed his hand on his head. Perhaps conscious of the bandage on his head, he took off the bandage and held it out to Siron.
‘Are you trying to confirm that everything is healed?’
After thinking about it, Siron looked closely at the bandage Devialet held out. However, for some reason, there was not a single trace of blood on the bandage.
‘…what?’
Siron, with his brow furrowed, looked back and forth between the pristine bandage and Devialet.
“What is this?”
“It’s a way to get out of the main palace. Even though they say there’s urgent work, they don’t let anyone go.”
“…Are you saying you were faking it?”
“I guess so.”
Devialet chuckled, as if it was ridiculous even if he said it himself.
“The attendants were so polarized that there was no sign of him coming out in the middle. Even though they said the treatment was over, His Majesty said he wouldn’t open his eyes and they kept trying to hold him back.”
“…”
“So I used the injury as an excuse to get out.”
“…okay.”
Siron nodded with a hesitant expression.
I couldn’t understand what kind of nonsense this was, but I decided to accept it for now.
Not only did Devialet not treat Siron poorly a little while ago, but I could guess what he was thinking.
‘It seems that meeting me is more important than the emperor who hasn’t woken up.’
A person who is more important than the emperor, or has a position equivalent to that.
Warrior.
He openly brandished the holy sword in front of others and even radiated tremendous light… Devialet probably thought of Siron as a hero.
“Cardinal, may I ask you something?”
“Yes. As much as you want.”
However, Siron decided to confirm it with his own mouth. The issue of the 1st Apostle and Latera alone is enough to make my head hurt, so any uncertain elements are beyond these specifications.
“Am I more important than the emperor?”
However, it was not explicitly asked. If you ask me directly here, it’s obvious that I’ll look like a brat drunk on fame.
“yes.”
Devialet’s answer was refreshing, as if he had read the intention of such a theory.
“That’s right. You are a hero.”
“Yes… I see you are able to recognize me.”
“also…!”
Unlike his calm demeanor just moments ago, Devialet stood up as if trying not to hide his excitement.
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How could it not be? Now that his life has been saved, there is no need for any more pretense.
Ever since he saw the sword emitting light, Devialet had thought about the possibility that Siron was a hero.
One could simply think of a sword emitting light as a powerful weapon. As far as he knew, the only sword that gave off an eye-shattering light and yet made one feel ecstatic without feeling pain was the Holy Sword.
‘I can’t believe I got to witness scenes from the Bible firsthand. I am a blessed one.’
Devialet’s shoulders were shaking and his eyes were tearful.
A life in which I felt a great deal of shame for not being able to encounter transcendental phenomena such as the stigmata or revelation, even though I had devoted my entire life to religious doctrine. Finally, a miracle came to him too.
“…meet the hero.”
Devialet slowly knelt down. Things like saving face or needing to keep quiet are not important.
The fact that Shiron was about the same age as his son and that he had been an assistant whom he had treated poorly not long ago… also did not matter.
‘Cancer, it’s not important.’
He is indeed a hero, so what can he say about something that has been treated poorly? Determined to erase the embarrassing memories from his mind, he decided to focus solely on the miracle in front of him.
“…Stand up. A warrior is not one who reigns over everyone.”
Siron placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled sweetly.
I wasn’t a hero, so I didn’t have the shame to go around bragging about it.
He probably already has a history of berating the maids. He blurted out shameless words without changing his facial expression at all.
“And, you don’t have time for this, do you? There’s still a lot of work to be done.”
“Ah! This was rude.”
Devialet rubbed his eyes and hurriedly stood up. As Siron said, there was a lot of work to be done now.
“The reason I came here is not just to get to know the hero.”
Devialet urgently put his hand into his bosom and continued speaking. After rummaging around a few times, he found in his hand something that looked like a rough draft of a report.
“While treating the emperor, traces of a curse, albeit trace amounts, were detected on him.”
“…You mean the curse?”
“Yes. Judging by the successive testimonies of the attendants, we conclude that the reason the emperor has recently become weak is because of this curse. In short, it is said to be an attempt by the first prince to assassinate him.”
“Huh… How could you do such a terrible thing?”
Siron clicked his tongue and shook his head. They tried to frame him as a devil worshiper, but I never thought he was a real bastard. I really had no idea.
But suddenly, a certain fact occurred to Siron’s mind.
‘Then… what should we do with the temples we’ve made so far?’
For the past 15 days, I stayed up all night giving big gifts to the 1st Prince’s supporters. Not only was the 1st Prince overthrown, but he had disappeared from the world, so I felt a crazy emptiness in my heart.
“Um… can I ask you one thing?”
“Yes. As much as you want.”
“Then what happens to the temple that has been haunting the past fifteen days? Are we continuing the investigation like this?”
“Well… that got me into a lot of trouble.”
Devialet groaned for a moment. There are major incidents happening right before our eyes, including the attempted assassination of the royal family.
No matter how faithful a priest he was, Devialet also had a sense of humanity that made him not want to go through the trouble of a temple haunting incident where there were no victims.
“May I offer an opinion?”
Just then, Siron stuck his head out to Devialet, who was in agony.
“What is your opinion?”
Devialet also stuck his head out. This is because I was curious about what kind of solution Shiron would come up with after admitting that he was a warrior. A revelation from God or something. Maybe we will come up with an unimaginable solution.
With such expectations in mind, Devialet listened with reverence. Siron couldn’t help but stick his head out and brought his mouth up to his ear.
“…Let’s just say it was all Austin’s doing.”
Siron spoke softly and whispered.
“…yes?”
Devialet couldn’t understand what this person was talking about.
“What do you mean? Even though he’s dead…”
“Shh! Your voice is loud.”
“…”
“No, well, ‘dead men tell no tales.’ You said that? The first prince is also a bastard who is blinded by power and even resorted to witchcraft. Even in hell, he won’t be treated unfairly.”
“…?”
Devialet leaned back and opened his eyes. There was no smile on Siron’s face, so it didn’t look like he was joking.
Normally I would have yelled at you, but…
For some reason, Devialet’s heart began to move. Not only did he try to kill his father and younger brother because of his own desires, but his methods were so evil that I began to suspect that he was somehow connected to demons.
If you think about it, Lucerne once went on a hunt for innocent heretics just half a century ago.
1 The prince is neither a particularly good person nor an innocent person, so isn’t that okay?
“Or, since it may be a case of accusing them of the crime, I think we can just declare a suspension of the investigation. If another temple is opened in the future, we can go and resume the investigation then.”
Siron drove a wedge into the cardinal, who did not respond immediately.
“I think sometimes you have to choose which is more important.”
“…Indeed, the Lord also said to take care of the living first.”
He turned his gaze towards the main palace.
“We haven’t even been able to hold funerals for the victims yet, and there are still many patients.”
Right now, Devialet was taking action considering the seriousness of the matter.
“I have to go now.”
“…Shall I help you too?”
“No, there is no need for that. I have heard that Captain Malleus will arrive tomorrow.”
“…I’m glad Captain Malleus didn’t make a fuss either.”
Siron sighed in relief. Devialet quickly got up to return to the front line.
“And then it suddenly occurred to me.”
“…what again?”
“The existence of a hero.”
Devialet placed his mouth next to my ear and whispered, just like before.
“How many people know the hero’s identity?”
“…Excluding my colleagues, the only one I have is the Cardinal.”
“okay.”
“…Why are you doing that?”
Siron wrinkled his eyebrows.
“I’m asking you this just in case, but the fact that I’m a hero is a secret.”
“Anyway, I don’t plan on going around talking about it. Personally, I think it’s better to keep the hero’s identity a secret.”
“…May I ask why you think that way?”
“Hmm. You can just brush it off.”
Devialet took out the Bible from his pocket and opened it to the last page.
“How many years has it been since you held the holy sword?”
“…It’s been over 7 years. Why is that?”
“Because the Bible stops writing 500 years ago.”
Devialet’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Siron.
“Even the oldest Bible, bound for over a thousand years and hundreds of years, is frozen in writing from 500 years ago.”
From a certain point in the Bible to the last page, the story of Kylie the warrior was written.
“I think there will be people who doubt the warrior’s qualifications.”
“Are you really going to find fault with me because my story wasn’t recorded?”
“That’s right.”
Devialet shook his head and sighed.
“It’s really out of place in the world these days… Radical believers have always existed.”
As far as Devialet knew, Malleus was also a radical believer.
“I personally saw the hero’s might, so I don’t doubt it, but I think it would be a hassle to prove it to them one by one.”