Chapter 175: Puzzle Pieces (1)
oM81UiThe investigation wasn’t going anywhere.6Ru9f
gDemImmediately after the fall of the Tower of Mages, Estelle began searching all over her faction. There was a traitor inside the Order who created an item to seal her sacred energy, so she was eager to find and personally interrogate the rat that betrayed their faith and passed the Saintess over to the mages.bJz9
Hlj7cI“Saintess. Priest Morrison, who was due to be interrogated today… has been found dead.”WGz
j0t“Again?”P7Gz
3Ph27“…Sincerest apologies, Saintess.”zcFi2Fm
P9Ih9All the way from the Inquisition to the lower priests, whenever Estelle was about to investigate them, they were either discovered as a corpse or found to have escaped the Kingdom. Plus, those priests who escaped the Kingdom were highly likely to be dead already.yi1
YU5N53lThe rat that betrayed her seemed to be of a very high status to make all this happen. It even made her think that it truly must be a cardinal at the very least.qn1A1
3vQ『When you’re carrying out your investigations, go through the cardinals as well. They must at the very least be at that level to take out an item like this for personal use.』J2tG13
Ggbg‘No. That can’t be.’sEB5kXX
ZmvyCardinals were people of high faith who had their faith verified, so how could they possibly betray the Saintess who was being blessed by the god?5XZLs2
iAIThey shouldn’t be able to use their sacred energy, which was the proof of their faith if that were to be the case…dSkMhN
wHoRFc“I must see His Holiness.”30Fo2
6c6VOCBThe Saintess was having trouble making ends meet with her status. Now that it was highly likely that a high priest inside the Order was a traitor, she needed the permission of the pope to investigate them.AUD0d6B
3It“Welcome, Saintess Estelle.”jYeBoAl
7sLEstelle went to meet Pope Sicarii, and received a ‘no’ to her request.x1Ul4Po
z1e1R9“That will be impossible, Saintess.”ES5v
r579oz2“…Why is that?”M62Ps
36pWt“It is impossible for there to be a traitor among the cardinals. All of them are devout believers who have had their faith verified already. Don’t you remember yourself, the Solemnity Day before you were kidnapped?”Urj
Y3YUHe was right. Every year, there was a festival held at the sacred land where the high priests volunteered for the sick, and this year, it was held just a few days before she was kidnapped. It was a grand event that involved not only the cardinals but also the Saintess and the pope, where they prayed for and cleansed the sick, the injured, and those possessed by demonic spirits.kS5NKII
4nGdQWTo Estelle’s knowledge, there wasn’t anyone out of the 18 cardinals who could not use their sacred energy back then.Ay2
XhXEI“There is not a single question about their faith.”4AwE
pbLTZcHe was telling the truth. Her eyes used to seeing through lies, ascertained her that the pope was telling the truth.uVu2zL
Ey3Ko“What happened was very unfortunate, but how can we possibly turn away from the will of god?”HaIdOwO
WIfAgain, he was telling the truth.BCvGc
KMIM0g“The culprit might be someone from the Old Faith. They too possess a similar technique.”ZaI4wXj
pqBrP“Huh?”mPQ
rq72GSJ“Saintess?”09FB
6Uor“N, nothing. Please continue.”bGV5
BVMsZWhat… was that just then? Estelle pondered on that strange feeling but there were more coming.sWu2
Zyv“The cardinals are all innocent. There is not a single high priest, at least inside our Order, who would inflict harm to the Saintess.”Usyuw
RHkYmmA lie…0y1
9rprWM“But… we can’t say that for sure, right? There might be a hooligan who betrayed their faith to…”AyAXm
qRg1Hf“Such a thing is impossible.”xCYIka
3RXTruth.ow7u
6ypEstelle was confused.E1Itj7
1xmS0WShe was the Saintess chosen by the god – her senses exceeded that of a normal person.moWnB2q
ox8Her eyes could discern the truth and in turn, detect lies. The pope, who should be at the pinnacle of faith, was letting out a mixture of truth and lies, which was greatly confusing for her.Ow9Dm
fXd7emxThat was why she added another question.LvGyaRO
a787yMIt was a daring question asked in hopes of bringing her closer to the truth.6ibUS
4cw3p“Your Holiness. Do you really think there aren’t any traitors among the cardinals?”xKis
Cfk8“None. For their faith has been proven by their sacred energy.”QTFQF0S
IvjA lie, followed by a truth.RDpH
TumZEstelle gripped onto the hems of her skirt.N6S
v11Xm“I see. Then I will look into whether there are spies from the Old Faith or not.”DGu
6LVAThe person in front of her was lying to her. After realizing that, Estelle controlled her expression and forced herself to float a natural smile.2ZCWw
wCv“Shouldn’t you start heading back to the capital? You can leave the rest to me and take a good rest at the palace.”NefE
URIWrThe moment she left the meeting room, Estelle barely held her knees back from failing on her. There was nothing certain; no proof and no logical motive she could think of.nA3ksDK
mqoHowever, her innate senses and her intuition… the intuition of the so-called chosen child of the god was pointing at one thing.Grz
rwoSkrThe pope was a traitor.Tzz
Kv18Bq1『…Lord.』YkEDssd
vWvNaZSuddenly she recalled a memory of the past – the time she felt the Divinity of the Sun. HerpfwcUk
u19Uthoughts that she denied back then were, for some reason, crawling back up to the surface.m8RDS
GPHT9***HpOHQN0
i4T“I am in a little bit of… trouble.”ab0c8tX
YcdI could immediately tell what that trouble was.EQ0
t3dBiCMAfter our victory against the Tower of Mages, she had gone back to the Order, vowing to track down the traitors of the New Faith.F8C
hmWFBThe reason she was feeling so down must be because she was now somewhat aware of the real truth.pzch
SZI“We still have time before the banquet, right? Can we talk for a little?”WIG4yC
iqYgV“Sure.”irA8Kr
W3ZXXDWe sat down on the couch.VrfBLG
HJK6V“Are things not going well in the west?”oeq
Jhr“…Is it that easy to tell?”mZtl1J
tvCQb“Somewhat. I just figured there wouldn’t be another trouble for you right now, Your Highness.”PYFoU
COa“Huhu. I told you to call me Noona…”vZ21hdo
U99Her voice didn’t contain the usual energy. As expected… it was going exactly like the original scenario.raHZW0T
yAf1x3p“See this, Junior.”EGoYh
pq3T5RLifting her right hand, she changed the sacred energy in her hand to a ball of light. It was a manifestation of sacred energy, which was as easy as breathing for her.zzo4
6PFy“What do you think sacred energy is?”, she asked.5AbHDq7
1Ogf“Isn’t it the proof of faith?”u9H7uV
sT72dYIt was both true and false. Faith and belief… the question, however, was in the origin and the source of the power.4BR2Xh
Wsxgktl“If sacred energy is the proof of faith, the origin must be the ‘Lord’ that we believe in, correct?”GblCsU
XKnXD“I suppose so?”kET
Rc2I had no plans of starting a religious debate with priests including her, but that was when an unexpected response came from her.1Ujncp
10x“You see, I don’t believe in the ‘Lord’ right now. Actually, I turned away for a moment.”NToK1Jo
0xFKmJ1“What?”oSggJ
hY8g“I saw something else… and looked for god from another existence.”zyhv
whhLF6What did she mean? Even though Estelle was a Delinquent Saintess, she wasn’t someone who would betray her god. How could she turn away from her ‘Lord’?9bEVXw
QAVpSuA“And yet this sacred energy did not leave me and still remains the same as always. That is probably the same for the traitors that betrayed me.”oZI
boGWith a serene and calm voice, she denied faith and questioned how she could still possess sacred energy despite denying faith.QvL
2Bui8x“Isn’t it strange? How can non-believers of the ‘Lord’ still harness sacred energy?”hSRLR
Xndv55DShe was asking the obvious question, ‘If sacred energy was the proof of faith, shouldn’t faith come before sacred energy?’Gj6
uIXj81K“Perhaps… the god, the ‘Lord’ is different from what we have been thinking until now.”jB0rG
7no0PI knew the true answer to this question.qnMZVy
ORcHIn this world, the only beings that could be referred to as gods were the Sky Titans who created the world, and the Danann who decorated and adorned the world into its current state.iGP
GRyThe ones who had been looking after the world before humanity whom the Goidels had chased out – the conceptual beings who had been harboring divinity in this land.rRk
szj6Danann of Light, Lugh.BFFk2
OZV8Danann of the Earth, Dagda.T776
CYQCDanann of the Sun, Nuada.jQb
GycS0HULet light chase away the darkness.YbxJ
7K3juLet the earth grant a plentiful harvest.3mkq5m
JDqLet the sun cleanse all evil….7GfdEe
dHQFaith allowed things to happen to the believers, and it was the accumulation of such concepts that formed a god in this world.35s
jatsHowever, the Goidels had chased away the gods; they killed them and rejected them.RtbzKRM
Y3RBThe land lost its divinity and became barren. The world became polluted by evil creatures and only after forgetting about the gods that they themself chased away from the world… did humans start to believe in the ‘Lord’ again.VegByX8
bsoqOniOut of countless believers, only the ones with the blood of Danann or titans faintly flowing in their body were able to be enlightened about their talents and become high priests.JnWGzel
AEOIn the end, the origin of faith was the Divinity of the Danann.l4iM
seVIeThat was the hidden mythological story of ❰Heroic Legends of Arhan❱. The world was bound to be reduced to chaos the moment this was revealed to the public.hGcEKy0
Rox‘Even in the last iteration, Park Sihu and I had to think about this for a very long time.’bgSE
WG5fYqzWhat if we revealed the existence of Danann and aimed to crush the religious factions as a result? The problem was that we couldn’t spread the belief to the world or prove it, and most importantly…VYR4EP
VS7FqMW‘The pursuers of Paradise… the high priests of the Old and the New Faith were aware of that already.’DeTtp
TcqZThe reason they were still able to use sacred energy despite turning away from the ‘Lord’, was because they simply changed the target of their belief from the ‘Lord’ to the ‘Danann’.mBgbohy
YUTdU“What are you going to do?”oZBH
Ngom8“…I don’t know. I am getting all sorts of evidence that proves against what I’ve been believing my entire life.”Y89T
q2xBoth in the game and the last iteration, Estelle managed to discover the negative sides of the New Faith but never had the time to solve them.9Lt
pJB6ASimilarly in the last iteration, she somehow discovered the truth about the betrayal of the cardinals and the pope, but could not resolve it until the final battle.YG9CL3
Q4mtTmIf the same were to happen this time around…rm3Rc
PTi‘There’s nothing certain, but it’s worth giving it a shot.’LF1b
kAPt0Is“Saintess… I mean, Estelle-noona.”ThjM3KS
e24gdYY“Huh? D, did you call me ‘Noona’ just then?”A3A
secgNShe asked with widened eyes as if she wasn’t actually expecting me to refer to her as that. If she was decently fond of me and if we had indeed formed a bond of trust during our escape…ILVSA
amZmnfd“Can you spare some time for me at the end of the banquet?”59A
49B8A“…Do you know something?”8TT
hLoYa8F“Everything is up to you to decide after you see it with your own eyes.”YkxJs2g
McsybWould she accept the truth, I wondered. If she did, then what would her future look like?304
CmhdqI had a strange intuition that no matter what action she took in the future, she would not become an enemy.vAwpwcc
8Xe***VNzoPA
NA0The royal banquet began. Countless nobles, knights, and mages were called in, and their peerages, statuses, and regions were all introduced.qNuSv
oyK“Korin. It’s our turn.”yCxK
rkPzRiF“Aiya~. I wasn’t expecting there would be a day where I get to go into a royal banquet right before the royal family.”qBt
A5BWe were scheduled to enter at the very end, only before the royal family.jPKcXln
elnTJrV“Kuhum…! Be quiet!”ZCkC08s
PXJlSBW“C’mon, dear. Why are you doing that to our Korin?”bM5
m93D21I“H, honey?!”r7cIwU
taFVTDuke Marde immediately shrunk after being told off by Duchess Elencia. This old man appeared to be weak to his family.6GABj0f
YypAnyway, as for the reason why I was entering with Marie and the Duke couple…r5Lv4OZ
0WZhEY1“Korin can just stay right next to me! We are partners, after all!”3NUG
mh6FZYIt was because I was entering as the partner of the young lady of Dunareff for this banquet.txhHJr
tIZJjS“Then shall we link our arms? Everyone seemed to be doing that.”oYWd
sLR4CP“Haht! S, shall we? C, cross arms? Right? That’s normal, right? Y, yes! It’s common for a gentleman to escort the lady after all…!”UQMI
773LMarie said with her cheeks flushed. This was nothing special so I couldn’t understand why she was so embarrassed by it.u7RMR
skv“Y, you bastard! How dare you try to pull a move on Mari…!”utAGr
2zi2DQ“I believe it’s normal to hold hands as the partner, though.”PYz0Zz3
KTe“Eeeek…!”lFBW
cnCpDuke Marde looked like a plate of metal inside a scorching furnace, but this was normal according to the etiquette I learned so I remained confident.D1jF
4G7“Oh my, you must have studied hard.”9F94Y
EOwy7iaUnlike Duke Marde, Duchess Elencia smiled and gave a short clap.PXRPX
TfdZiya“As expected of our son-in-law… oh, sorry not yet, right?”k7O65jU
pfqwSTr“Honey? Honey?!”0qiR
S1v1xxeThe duchess continued without caring about her husband.6EpR9R
zUw“Please take care of Marie. It’s her first time coming to a social event with a male partner of her age, you see.”vuMS
e3Ls7w1“K, kuhum… I’ll keep that in mind.”tWH
GteIO7The beautiful duchess who appeared like an older version of Marie, whispered with a cunning smile on her face.3AN1G
1lR4I“By the way, when you go into an odd-numbered resting room on the 2nd floor of the banquet hall, a red light comes up, and it is a common rule to not interfere with the room.”LL0p
330KY3“Sorry?”6B2KNJ
QQdd1I, I do know about that as well but why are you telling me this…?ur4EQ
iTwFzw“I visited there often with my husband when we were young. That was where we had Mari-”lbT1Y5j
Mmr“M, mom?!”MVyl0
7Y7YQO, ohh… How open and explicit. Is this family okay?gkmz
CdH“What’s wrong? Mom wants to be a grandmother now. I had you when I was your age—”V7nk3
h3Rk“Honey. Please. Please stop there. I’m sorry,” apologized Duke Marde.pPdqS1
XLXT“Come on… Mari is an adult already. It’s nothing embarrassing to talk about either, is it?”GXP
VxLch2“I, I am an adult but Korin still needs another year, okay!?”I0iHc
dU98x“Ah~. That’s okay. Unlike ladies, gentlemen are usually more susceptible and accepted even if there are obscene rumors about them.”qzG7Sk
FzlI“Mom! Please…!”F2neCK
wpAWhat an incredible family. Personally, I would want to side with the mother.HLOR
hn8rqwThe Dunareff family was carrying out that shocking conversation when a palace attendant walked towards us.l7mZ
Ecx0MSf“Lord Duke… It’s about time.”AzbzWrc
nnLT“Kuhum… When you are ready.”PQ0opCM
tcjyFinally, it was our turn.Jgcs7j
10Ob0g“The Viscount of Crancia, Count of Card Riole, Marquis of Rangol and — etc — Duke of Dunareff, with 2 million hectares of land, 5.6 million hectares of farmland, the protector of 25 cities, 47 mines and 67 farms, Duke Marde Dunareff, and the high knight officially approved by the royal court, the feudal lord of Card Riole, guardian knight of Vanane and the Duchess of Dunareff, Sir Elencia…!”ZeFz
7KhVLNg…Long.ZySR8au
tr3Ih7Why is it so long?6XFaY
MFEbEven though they were the so-called Empire of the South, did they always have to go through all those formalities every time?3at
Rk959GI had been to banquets in the last iteration, and I had heard the introductions of several nobles with long peerages and lands, but it was my first time hearing such a long introduction that took ages to finish. Why was it that this time… ah.VfXHYe
tYmQzsAThe Dunareff must have confined themselves to the South after the disappearance of Marie or something. There wasn’t any official mention of them after all…naML1Zd
lddThe attendant then moved on to Marie’s peerage titles.fuch
PYi“The Baron of Collon, Count of Mongwol, a semi-Unique Grade guardian approved by the royal court and—”iAm1
RYZlPlX“Baron? Count?”, I asked.OA3zzCg
NbaSe“Kuhum…! I inherited them a few years ago ahead of schedule because of taxation…”qxJK
11pS7Tax deductions, huh? I see.gLN
CTOBMarie’s was fairly long as well.PvQyzY2
IADOugr“— etc — the oldest daughter of the Dunareff, Great Mage Marie Dunareff and—”K8Vk4d
DrtaUpHoh? Was she even considered a great mage now? Honestly, Marie wasn’t at that level yet unless it was solely in regards to destruction but… they were probably calling her that to honor the Dunareff family.Bnh
gvp4JAnyway, it was my turn after that as the partner. I had a few titles myself, so I was looking forward to the introduction!o1I
Cdx“— and her partner, Baron Korin Lork.”lwfz7aE
Z0gbVHs……G4ORue
EAEZHW……ZILiZR5
a1TlRight… I see how it is. Grade 1 isn’t even worth mentioning huh?XhLSdE
ny4hZl“Ahht… Korin, that’s weird. Why don’t they talk about your guardian status and how you’re a Grade 1 JP?”rUPk8
ULV4“Hmph! An introduction of your baron peerage that you got for free is more than enough. Let’s go.”9NHX1TR
AVX-SLAP!8iA
1cQEA“Ahkk…! H, honey?”OBocc
14DDuke Marde turned around in shock and looked at Duchess Elencia who slapped his back… It sounded more like a smack though.uK8Jm
AD3“I can’t believe you said that instead of saving your son-in-law’s face.”QS6l
Wbv1ZpUmm… technically I’m not a son-in-law yet but…5b4zzY
1N2BX8Without caring about the specifics, Elencia called the gatekeeper who was staring at us with a gaze that seemed to be asking, ‘Why aren’t they going in yet?’5Y5l4
1lV“You there.”n4w8MV3
i3Gx“Yes?”xQ3gcBB
iET“Do it again.”fFg
kpVe“Sorry?”gfF
VR2sAY8His face was asking, ‘Do I do the introduction again?’ but Duchess Elencia remained firm.v2ww8MU
0MN“Introduce, my son-in-law, again.”GmLt
LF0I“Ah, ye, yes madam!”Loh30h
0eyI, I’m not your son-in-law though?pk50Q
Gzaj“A, ahh…! A high-grade knight approved by the royal family and…!”AXtUG
xFqcgD“Not like that. Start from him being Mari’s partner.”I56Ja
YdEk“Ah… yes! The PARTNER of Lady Marie Dunareff…! And a high-grade knight approved by the royal family, a Grade 1 Justice of the Peace with incredible feats under his name and—”7ree
uTnA………vouX
bZuXLV……wo0JMc
2uSPb…O8x9
kMoNcOnly after the embarrassing introduction of the attendant were we finally able to enter the banquet hall.0PR1o
HPulIt was incredibly embarrassing after being called the guild master of the best Guardians Guild of the entire universe, and Duke Marde also had a disgruntled look on his face after getting slapped due to acting childish against his daughter’s boyfriend.l1O
DgroB65Both Duke Marde and I had rotten looks on our faces but the female leads of the dukedom looked incredibly satisfied instead.o0IQw
YkeRJ“Now that is my son-in-law.”2akv1
ojM“A, ahht… M, mom. Don’t say that… He’s not the son-in-law… yet~. Hehe…”bHS4S
aqbM“…”DNK37
1zUfB“…”nT4h
pookzWatching the two of them walk down the red carpet with a proud countenance, Duke Marde and I remained silent for a while until I broke the silence.1Y6vMC
KV33P“Shall we grab a drink later on, Father?”F6hn
bTX“I am not your father.”z0nPAd
hJdQIn any case, we were finally at the royal banquet. It wasn’t a bad feeling to receive the spotlight and have all your achievements acknowledged and be named as an official hero of the kingdom.9KJN
BzuI entered the banquet hall with my arms crossed with Marie’s and found a familiar-looking beauty wearing an alluring black dress chatting with the person next to her.GdIv
RugjRRenya Claire.PjPnI
6U6pShe was one of the members of our guild and an executive of the Intelligence Guild. The person she was talking to was a lady wearing a dress that appeared simple at a glance.QZ6IdBm
Fd8That person was none other than the Grade 4 government official of the kingdom, Ednar.GQod
Oax8b8Her true identity was that of an SM Queen in control of the dark side of the capital.8Hycj8j
6SUq4There were two people who tried to assault me in the last iteration. One of them succeeded and the other failed.n4X
yTjp1Ednar was the one who failed.UaHrbH
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