Interlude: A Miscalculation
“Sir Sage, it’s the Holy Woman…”
The personal attendant who was caring for the Holy Woman noticed me and came running over.
We were underground beneath the city where I serve as viceroy. Here in the City Core room was the birdcage I’d created in one corner: the “Holy Woman’s Chamber.”
“Throwing another tantrum, is she…?” I muttered, looking around at the broken cup and toppled furnishings. “Do not use the emergency summons for such a trivial matter.”
“I’m terribly sorry. But the Holy Woman attempted to take her own life…”
The attendant shrank back nervously.
How foolish. Even if it was only an imitation, the Geist binding that woman would prevent her from doing any such thing.
“She’s just acting out for attention. If she goes wild again, just find a way to calm her down.”
I dismissed the attendant and strode over to the woman who had thrown herself face down on the bed.
Her straight violet hair was dark in a few places, and long enough to cover most of her Holy Woman’s attire. If she simply cut it all off, I imagine the weight off would ease her anguished state somewhat, yet she stubbornly refused to cut it. It did not seem worth forcing her to do so.
“…Shizuka. The next ‘Aptitude Transfer’ ceremony will be a big one.”
Since I’d come all this way, I informed the Holy Woman of our next order of business.
While my main target was the girl-child with purple hair like Shizuka’s, the cat-eared girl’s “aptitude” was far more impressive than I’d first thought. I must acquire it for my own and research it more closely.
“So once again, you’re going to steal the skills and experience people worked so hard to earn…” Shizuka’s voice was bleak.
“And what of it? We are only taking something the riffraff can hardly make good use of anyway and redistributing it to worthier owners. Besides, you cannot defy me while you are bound by that Geist. Just accept your fate…Holy Woman.”
As I admonished her, Shizuka turned her face toward me without rising from the bed.
Her eyes glared at me bitterly from behind her violet bangs, one section of which had darkened to jet black. The face hidden beneath her long hair had beautiful features, yet her dark and depressing air put all of it to ruin.
“…‘Holy Woman’? I have no right to such a title. ‘Sinner’ would be more fitting.”
“Then perhaps I should call you a demon lord?”
Shizuka buried her face in the bed again and let out a choked sob.
Her spirit had always been easily broken. Even when she became a demon lord, the Geist kept its hold on her, and she retained her rational mind. Convenient though that might have been, her miserable state made me feel depressed just being around her.
“My subordinate picked these out. Use it to relieve your boredom.”
I piled some supplies in the corner of her room, along with clothes and accessories that I had a female student pick out.
Shizuka, who had no interest in quality materials, didn’t even look up.
I shrugged and left the Holy Woman’s Chamber, and the attendant entered in my place.
“Truly, women are such hopeless creatures.”
As I let out a sigh, the shining blue crystal that was the main body of the City Core began flashing intermittently before my eyes.
At the same time, the terminal on my wrist let out a ringing sound.
“An emergency signal?”
I took out the City Core terminal and read the brief message displayed there.
“…This cannot be.”
My breath caught in my throat. Unlike the foolish attendant girl’s summons, this was a serious crisis.
“There is no time to waste.”
I teleported to the holy city at once, in exchange for the majority of the magic that was left in the City Core.
“…Your Holiness!”
I ran into Pontiff Zarzaris’s private quarters and found a mummified corpse in chamberlain’s clothes, a terrified priestess in training, and a few Temple Knights, who had come running but clearly didn’t know what to do.
Removing my cloak, I cast it over the corpse to hide it from view and scanned the room.
The most important person was…there.
I spotted the hem of the pontiff’s robes beneath the partition screen next to the bed.
I hurried around the partition and over to the pontiff, who was cowering in the corner.
“Your Holiness! Are you all right?!”
“…Sorijeyro…”
He latched on to me, trembling.
I supported his weight while I looked him over quickly.
Black fog was leaking from all over his body. It was miasma, grown thick enough to be visible to the naked eye.
It was as Lord Green once said. God Fragments, which lend ordinary people the authority of a god, are too powerful for a human body to handle. If they are used too much, the soul vessel will break, and the human will become a demon lord.
In order to ascertain the truth of these words, I forced a sandfolk research subject to mass-produce Sandstorm Soldiers; sure enough, it transformed into the Sandstorm Lord. Shizuka became a demon lord as well when I overused her ability in the “Aptitude Transfer” ceremonies.
Now, the pontiff was undoubtedly only a step away from that same transformation.
“…I am afraid. I am afraid of my own power, Sorijeyro.”
The black fog seeping out of the pontiff’s body grew thicker.
Lord Green told me more. He said what pushed a person whose soul vessel was damaged from the realm of human to that of a demon lord was powerful emotional burdens, such as anxiety, terror, or unbridled rage.
Then, surely peace and stability would push them back to humanity.
“What happened, Your Holiness?”
“I let Somos die. No…I killed him.”
The pontiff confessed his sin, referring to the dead chamberlain.
“It began when Somos fell from a stepladder and broke his neck, and I used my ‘holy power’ to try to heal him. But the holy power did not work. Instead of being healed, Somos began to suffer, and dried up and shriveled right before my eyes. Tell me, has the goddess forsaken me?”
The Unique Skill Heal All must have backfired somehow.
Yet the pontiff seemed more afraid of losing the goddess’s favor than of having taken a life for the first time. The devout are a hopeless lot, too.
“Of course not. You are as blessed and beloved as ever, Your Holiness.”
Though I don’t know which god or goddess it is that blesses him.
“Sir Sage, is His Holiness back here…?”
“Black fog coming from the pontiff’s body?! Sir Sage, what in the world happened to—?”
I dropped the unfortunate Temple Knights into a Shadow Jail.
None who had seen the pontiff in this state could be allowed to go free.
“Sorijeyro, where did they go?”
“I simply quieted them for the time being.”
I soothed the pontiff, using the Psychic Magic spells Calm Wave and Weariness Field to forcibly settle his mind, followed by Sleep Wave.
As the pontiff’s breathing grew slow and steady, the black fog began to fade.
I must have dealt with it correctly, then.
“…Sori…jeyro…”
“Please rest, Your Holiness. By the time you awaken, this nightmare will be over.”
Once the pontiff fell asleep, I returned to the other side of the partition screen to dispose of the witnesses.
…Where did she go?
The priestess in training who’d been sitting there stunned was gone.
“Where is the girl who was here a moment ago?”
I strode over to the door, where several people were peering in through the crack.
As soon as I’d completely blocked their view of the corpse, I dropped it into the Shadow Jail after the unlucky knights.
“Do you mean Riija? Pastor Badoris had her carried to the infirmary.”
Pastor Badoris…one of Cardinal Dobbunaf’s lackeys.
“Mobilize all the Temple Knights to arrest priestess-in-training Riija at once. She attempted to poison the pontiff.”
“Riija did that?!”
“His Holiness! Is he all right?!”
“He’s fine, not to worry. But a chamberlain died trying to protect him. We must secure the culprit before she is silenced! Go! Hurry!”
My words finally urged the Temple Knights to get moving.
I told them I’d sent the corpse away for an autopsy, and that the room was off-limits to preserve the crime scene.
“…This has become quite a problem.”
Even with all the Temple Knights, securing the priestess would likely be impossible.
The fact that a girl who’d learned the pontiff’s secret had fallen into the hands of a cardinal who was after his position was troubling, to say the least.
But I couldn’t take forceful measures against the cardinal, either.
He was the one who did the dirty work of running Parion Province, not the idealistic pontiff. Perhaps I could take on those duties in his place, but if I took on such burdensome tasks, it would be a serious hindrance to my true duties. Thus, I could not dispose of him lightly.
Carefully controlling my annoyance at this precarious situation, I forced myself to think.
The ideal solution would be to control the cardinal with the “Geist” skill. However, such a cautious man was not likely to walk into a place that would meet all the conditions. Even if I managed to lure him in and force him under a Geist, he would hardly be the type to meekly follow orders. No doubt he would pretend to obey while secretly undermining me, or even find loopholes in his orders to rebel against me. The last thing I needed was the crafty cardinal maneuvering behind my back.
Of course, it would be simple if I could bring him over to our side, but I doubted that man would agree to releasing the seal on the Evil God’s Prison or to taking over the world using demon lords.
If only he were a simple fool like those demon lord worshippers…
Perhaps I should just allow the cardinal to come after the pontiff and trigger his transformation into a demon lord… No, that wouldn’t do. The preparations were not yet complete.
And if I used the pontiff’s seat as bait to silence him, it would force me to make serious modifications to my carefully laid plans.
That would be putting the cart before the horse.
I had no choice, then. I would have to dispose of the cardinal.
Even if it meant the domestic affairs of Parion Province fell apart without their central pillar, the distress of the masses would only aid in our goal of increasing the miasma density in the area. If their faith in Parion faltered, so much the better. It would be more difficult to acquire funding for my research if the nation’s power flagged, but that was a minor inconvenience.
Thus decided, I sent for some operatives I’d trained from an early age and ordered them to investigate the cardinal’s current whereabouts.
“The cardinal is gone, you say?”
“Yes, he was last seen in the great cathedral with Pastor Badoris. There’s been no trace of him since.”
“What happened to the agents we had shadowing him?”
“They were eliminated.”
The cardinal must have had some skilled agents of his own.
“Track him down. You can kill him on the spot if you manage to get him alone. Just make sure it looks like an accident.”
“Yes, sir.”
The agents scattered to search.
Damn you, Dobbunaf…
Did he figure out that the incident with the dead chamberlain and the purple light from using a Unique Skill were connected to the Sandstorm Lord’s attack on the cathedral…? Or was he already doubtful of the pontiff’s Unique Skill, and this confirmed his suspicions?
“…Sir Sage. Is everything all right?”
One of the pontiff’s pastors peered in through the door.
It was only then that I realized it had grown dark. The sun must have set while I was lost deep in thought.
“His Holiness is still sleeping. I intend to let him rest until at least tomorrow morning.”
“Perhaps a Temple Knight could take over keeping watch on him, Sir Sage? Surely you must be tired as well.”
“No need to worry about me. I will protect the pontiff. Let the Temple Knights focus on finding the infidels who targeted his life.”
At that, the pontiff left the room, still wearing a worried expression.
Then I heard stirring behind me. The conversation must have awoken the pontiff.
“…Sorijeyro.”
I walked over to the bed, where the pontiff called for me in a brittle voice.
The miasma that was emitting from his body earlier had completely vanished. It should be safe to let other people into the room now, then.
“It wasn’t a dream, was it? I killed Somos…”
“Your Holiness, you must relinquish your power.”
Judging by the state he was in earlier, the pontiff would soon become a demon lord unless he gave up the God Fragment.
“You mean the power of healing?!”
“Indeed,” I pressed. “We will bequeath it to a different clergyman in the next ‘Aptitude Transfer’ ceremony.”
“I…” The pontiff looked at me in shock. “I need some time to think about it.”
It was the only way to avoid his destruction, yet the pontiff still asked for more time, instead of agreeing right away.
I managed to keep my urge to shout at him in check, settling for a short “Understood.”
“That utter fool!”
Creating a sound barrier with Wind Magic, I let out the rage I’d been suppressing.
After shouting curses and insults until my frustration cleared somewhat, I drank some wine to refresh my throat.
“Still, after we finally found a new purple-haired target, I can’t believe the pontiff became useless to us before we could turn her into a demon lord… At this rate, there’s no telling when we will finally release the seal on the Evil God’s Prison.”
I paced around the room, thinking hard.
“Mezzalt would be the best candidate for the God Fragment transfer. Surely he will accept it, given his admiration for the Holy Woman. Once he becomes a demon lord, he will no doubt use that power well to bring terror and destruction to Parion Province.”
A Holy Sword wielder was meant to destroy demon lords. To turn him into one instead would be a delicious irony.
“When the time comes, I ought to bring Shizuka to the holy city to carry out the next ‘Aptitude Transfer’ ceremony.”
It would be faster to bring the pontiff and company to her location, but if the pontiff and I both left the holy city, the cardinal might emerge from hiding to take advantage of the opportunity.
“Perhaps I shall bring the girl-child and company, too, and take her Fragments and skills away while I’m at it…”
Yes, that would be best.
“Then I will become even stronger.”
As a pleasant mood welled up within me, I threw back my head and laughed to my heart’s content.
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