97人人模人人爽人人喊谢绝

Vol 6: Chapter 22 (1)

Girl and the Holy King

★ Silver Balance ★

Dante was in the “5th Block” of the Holy City, in the middle-class townscape. He doubted his eyes when Holy King Grenjido appeared on horseback with a troop of guards escorting him.

「Nn? What’s wrong, Dante?」

「Hide, Mimino! Your clothes stand out.」

Zerry, Anastasia, and Eva were acting separately from the group. Only Dante and Mimino were present here. Dante thought that Holy King Grenjido would never remember a mere adventurer such as himself, but he couldn’t stop worrying about being recognised.

While observing the situation from the shadows, Mimino headed to the back of the target building—the Church.

「What are the Holy King and the Earl doing here?」Dante wondered.

The busy traffic of people in the streets noticed the Holy King, and they stopped walking.

And likewise, there were many adventurers.

They were working. Dealing with the aftermath of the early morning monster attack.

The sewerage survey is conducted by the guards, but it is up to the adventurer to dispose of the debris and clean the areas.

「I don’t want to believe that our plan has been found out so quickly. We are counting on you, Miss Eva.」Dante muttered to himself.

The monster attack in the early morning was, of course, Eva’s “strategy.”

In actuality, there was no monster attack at all.

The Adventurer’s guild knew the location of the sewer, so they collapsed it and only left behind traces of fighting monsters.

A monster corpse can be smuggled into the city if it is just a small charcoal wolf, so they left a fresh one at the scene. As for other monsters, their “blood” is traded in the city as part of medicinal ingredients, so the blood was scattered around to complete the scene.

The last piece of the act is to produce loud noises during dawn when there is no one in the streets.

The Adventurer’s guild is involved in this plan. The Holy City Adventurer’s Guild showed disapproval of this plan, but Dante managed to get through to them because of instructions from the Valhalla City Adventurer’s Guild Guildmaster, Gurgio.

「——It seems to be over already…」

「——Yes, sir. We hurried with the cleaning up so that today’s civic activities would not be hindered!」

「——Hmm.」

Dante heard the guard captain reporting to Grenjido.

The Holy King stopped in front of the church.

When Grenjido got off his horse, Earl Sillys followed suit, and they entered the church.

「Crap, crap, crap… this is dangerous!」

The under-renovation Church had scaffolding on the outer wall, but it was quiet today because the workers were absent due to the nearby monster attack.

This was one of the purposes of the “strategy”.

At this very moment, Zerry is inside the church, guiding the magic tool expert hired by Eva.

They are trying to identify the sorcery which will be cast by the Church upon completion, and how to counter the effects.

Furthermore, if the mechanism can be sabotaged, they will go ahead with it.

Anastasia and Eva are also inside. Since fairly expensive catalysts might need to be used, Eva decided she would have to be there to make quick decisions based on the situation.

「SHIT!」

「What’s wrong, Dante?!」

Mimino was surprised as Dante came running to the back of the church.

「Contact Zerry right now! The Holy King is inside!」

「Ehhh……?!」

Mimino’s cry echoed.

**

A number of footsteps echoed in the silent cathedral. Grenjido asked the priest how the renovation is progressing, and the priest replied as if to butter up to him.

(Wh-What is going on!?)

Zerry, Eva, and Anastasia were looking down at the scene from a passage on the second floor of the cathedral. Eva’s knights were left behind as they were conspicuous. And that seems to have been the correct choice, because if they were there, they would have been found.

The magic tool expert was a petite woman. She had a confused look on her face as if asking, “Why is His Majesty the Holy King here?”. She doesn’t know much because Eva did not explain the details.

Eva’s party had only been here for a short moment, but they still managed to learn a few things.

The magic tool expert stated that she could not grasp more than half the sorcery used.

It would take days, if not weeks, to identify and alter these.

For the time being, they decided to copy the sorcery circuits. And that’s when Grenjido and Eva’s father walked into the cathedral.

The passage from the 2nd floor to the ground runs near the entrance of the church, so escape would be ill-advised. They have no choice but to lie low and wait for the crisis to pass.

「——Would you say that about 80% of the renovation is done?」Grenjido asked.

「Yes, Your Majesty. We had a bit of difficulty obtaining a rare catalyst, but thanks to Earl Sillys’ involvement, it was resolved without a hitch.」the priest replied with a smile.

「Victor, huh…」

As Grenjido glanced at him, Earl Sillys nodded.

「…………」

Grenjido seemed lost in thought for a moment and then turned to the priest.

「When the church is renovated into a Goddess temple, you will surely receive the goddess’ grace.」

「Oh… Thank you, Your Majesty.」

「It is all the grace of the goddess. Pray to the goddess.」

「Of course, Your Majesty.」

「As long as the goddess is here, this country… no, this world will be at peace.」

Churches all over the world never had a concrete shape for god, but now an altar was installed at the innermost part of the church. There was a solid pedestal and a stone statue covered with a white cloth.

The stone statue was about 3 meters tall. The daylight filtered through the stained glass cast various colors on the white cloth.

「Look, Victor!」

Grenjido reached for the white cloth, and then pulled it off.

The stone statue was already completed.

It was a statue of a woman putting her hands in front of her chest as if embracing something precious.

She had long hair, and a well-rounded face.

Natural rocks based on white were used as the basis.

The statue was very well made and polished, even down to the creases in her clothes.

「The Goddess I worship is much greater than this, but this is better than nothing.」

「Yes, Your Majesty.」

「The general public needs a form to pray to the goddess. Isn’t that so?」

「As you say, Your Majesty.」

「Hey, Victor. …Can I trust you?」

The Earl couldn’t see any emotions in Grenjido’s eyes, as he turned his head to look at him.

At the suddenness of the question, the Earl was delayed in his answer by a breath.

「Of course, Your Majesty.」

「…………」

Earl Sillys bowed his head. The priests and soldiers looked in confusion at the situation.

「…Priest.」

「Y-Yes, Your Majesty?」

「It looks like there was a monster attack this morning. Was this place safe?」

「Yes. It was the blessing of the goddess. It ended without any problems.」

「How about the other churches?」

「…Uh, I do not understand the meaning–」

「The other monsters appeared near the churches, right?」

Earl Sillys, who was still bowing, twitched just a little.

「Ah, uh… I am not sure about the details because it happened just this morning, but there doesn’t seem to be any destruction in particular. Of course, I have stopped the renovation work, just to be safe.」

「Earl Sillys.」

「…Your Majesty.」

「Why didn’t you tell me that all the monster attacks were near the churches?」

His voice sounded cold.

The others in that place held their breaths in response to the serious tone of the question.