TMKK75

Inside a dimly lit room with a single magic lamp.

Viscount Ceres Jared Cox, deputy commander of the Noacurio Royal Army Occupation Force, was facing an old woman across a crude desk.

The name of the old woman, shriveled and exhausted like slime from continuous exposure to the sun, was Morgana.

Her body, like a withered tree, was covered with bandages, but ugly burn marks peeked out from between the bandages.

It was a burn mark ... the ≪Baptism Stigma≫ the holy crest that existed on her back.

The Noacurio Kingdom army was bubbling over after Patrick was turned into a holy beast and was consulting with the Holy Kingdom of Diletta about how to remedy the situation.

Diletta told them.

"Morgana, didn't we tell you to hand that person over to us? We've been saying that for decades. What side are we supposed to be on?"

The reply was that there was nothing more to be done for Patrick and that they needed to destroy the crests on their backs if they wanted Morgana to be docile.

Furthermore, they also gave instructions on how to "dispose" of the incarnate holy beasts and the formula for destroying the stigma of the holy crest. Ceres did not know what kind of game they were playing, whether it was a big technical secret for Diletta or not, but it didn't matter.

--I would have done this earlier if I had known the mechanics... No, that would have been useless from the start.

As a troublesome zealot who did not care about earthly powers, Morgana was not to be trifled with.

Her extraordinary faith was the result of her holy stigma.

"Why did the holy beasts stop obeying orders and attack the citizens?"

"It must have been Ghislain's orders. I ... had also engraved ≪Baptism Stigma≫ when I turned Ghislain into a holy beast, so ... Those who are inscribed with the ≪Baptism Stigma≫ will imitate God with their own ... minds. The wiser one is who can see the big picture, the closer ... he gets to the 'right decision' that ... the Great God would make. ..."

Morgana responded to Ceres's question, not so harshly as a stern rebuke, but as if she didn't care about anything.

It was like everything had become unimportant.

It was the eyes of an apathetic s*ave with broken fangs.

"Even I thought that even if we had to crush the Noacurio's occupying forces and Ciel-Terra, we should take down the "Rose Princess of Hellrage"... Ghislain must have thought so too,... so he ordered it,... and moved the Holy Beasts to do so,... The Holy Beasts were only obeying Marquis Edfeldt because I told them to... Those who hear the voice of God...... will give up everything and obey if Ghislain commands them... Ugh, ugh..."

Holding her shaggy gray head, Morgana spoke haltingly, but when she suddenly choked on her words, she began to hit her head against the desk convulsively.

"Ahhhhhh ... afterlife! Please let this poor old woman die quickly!!"

There was a cold, dry sound in the dimly lit room.

The waiting soldiers immediately grabbed and restrained Morgana's arms, who was powerless to do anything about it.

Throbbing blood flowed from her wrinkled forehead.

A fanatic without a human heart, ... who pursued her only faith in the fight against the Evil God.

Morgana was a technical expert used by the central army, but Ceres had also heard of Morgana's notoriety. They said that she killed a child who threw a stone at a parade in occupied enemy territory, or that she used soldiers who had fled before the enemy for human experimentation.

But now, before Ceres was just a helpless old woman who wanted to die because she could no longer bear her own deeds.

"You will die in the near future. You will be handed over to Ciel-Terra as the person responsible for the "outburst" of the holy beasts. Death penalty at best, death penalty at worst."

Ceres said without emotion.

Ciel-Terra protested about the holy beasts' behavior.

In response to Ciel-Terra's demand for compensation, Noacurio's side decided to reduce its debt by handing over Morgana.

That was Morgana's last task.

"I would like to ask you a personal question. ...You really think that was God's decision?"

Ceres asked with some trepidation, as if looking into the abyss.

Morgana, who was drooping, did not even look at Ceres as she answered in a halting tone.

"It was definitely 'God's judgment' in the world as I saw it. What could I have seen up there that would have dissuaded me?"

"Ummm... For example, the decrease in population, the damage to faith, and the sparks between nations ... are all factors that, in the long run, will be disadvantageous in the fight against the demons, right? You failed to recognize those factors and started the battle. However, it is possible that the God would have judged the situation from a broader perspective and avoided a forced fight... "

"I did think about that, ... and then I decided it was a trivial matter and prioritized the fight... And even Ghislain, who was born into royalty and had seen politics all his life, thought this decision would be God's decision as well."

Ceres tried to say something in reply, but was speechless.

It was a current of thought among some of the Temple forces, including the "Moon Eaters", that they would not hesitate to shed blood in order to defeat the forces of evil.

However, as far as Ceres knew, the Temple would never openly express such a thing as the consensus of the Temple. What the Temple did talk about was fighting for the prosperity of the human race, such as self-preservation and the recapture of the continent. Even so, the temple would first of all interject an assertion of concern for the lives of its allies, and he assumed that this was what they believed God's teachings were about.

--But is really the thinking of God even more radical? Does He think that even if ninety-nine percent of the human race dies out, it would be a good thing if He could destroy the demon race as a result? If so, what are the lax teachings of the Temple? Are we to assume that the Temple puts on sheep's clothing so that the people will accept it...?

Although not a religious man by any means, Ceres also lived his life praying to be a good "Child of God".

But that was because he believed in God's love. He did not want to think that the Great God would make such a ruthless decision, even if it was for the sake of battle.

Ceres felt like he had swallowed a cold, wet stone.

"No matter how we struggle, that was the will of God. If I had been a temple knight, I might have given up work and gone on a wandering journey."

"You're not ready to give up your whole life?"

"I am a soldier. Whatever God may think of me, it is my job to fight for my country. This sword is dedicated not to God, but to the Kingdom of Noacurio."

"I see... I see..."

When Ceres said this half to himself, Morgana nodded repeatedly as if she was feeling for him.

"What a life I've had..."

Morgana sighed as if giving up on everything.

“There are plenty of people who die for nothing, without knowing what they were born for. Especially on the battlefield. Therefore, we have no choice but to ... cling and beg, even if we have doubts about God. 'At least, let me pray for a good reincarnation'."

Ceres could find no words of comfort.

＊ ＊ ＊

After Bertil had made his protest known to the Noacurio army headquarters in Wesala, he could not just leave it there and tried to inform the surrounding lords about the situation and ... explain the country's protest.

However, before Bertil could say anything (as expected), Noacurio's army had already begun to talk to the lords.

The ideal development shared by the lords attached to Noacurio and Noacurio's army was to "smooth over the situation". Bertil was therefore approached from all sides.

"If such a story were to circulate in the country, there would be a backlash against the Kingdom of Noacurio. Then both the Eastern Princes, who want to gain the protection of the Kingdom of Noacurio, and Noacurio, which wants to target the resources of Glacelum under its protection, would be in trouble. So this will be kept secret by consensus..."

"Well, we still got our payback. That's great, isn't it?"

Kaya clenched her fists in exasperation.

Still, Bertil was reading a newspaper and sipping tea at his leisure, so he frowned, seemingly at a loss for an outlet for his anger.

The refugees and the Second Order were still staying in the town, which had been left vacant since the fall of Terra Kaine.

Bertil had rented a room in the communications station and was nestled there. He had to communicate with the Noacurio army at all hours for negotiations and coordination with the lords.

The walls of the room were covered with a large number of semi-coded notes whose meaning only Bertil could understand.

As a result of a "frank and sincere exchange of opinions" between Bertil and the Noacurio forces, it was decided that the neighboring lords would share the responsibility for the refugees from Terra Kaine, and the Noacurio forces would pay them a sympathy payment from their own funds.

This was purely humanitarian and without any ulterior motive, and had nothing to do with the battle in Terra Kaine... Officially.

The fact that the holy beasts had attacked civilians was to be swept under the rug.

“Half of the money is paid directly to the displaced population. The other half goes to the lords who will take care of the refugees and to me, who is taking care of them now... In effect, this is hush money. They took me up on my excuse to 'represent Marquis Edfeldt', but I'm sure the money is for me. The money paid to the refugees was also to keep quiet to those who saw what happened. Well, if it saves the lives of the refugees, so be it. That's a good thing for me to negotiate, since I'm not supposed to have any diplomatic power. I feel like my responsibility was offset by the handover of Morgana, but ... it can't be helped."

Morgana was the card that Noacurio played in order to create a settlement.

She was a holy beast master who had accompanied Noacurio's army. The Noacurio forces handed Morgana over to the Ciel-Terra side, claiming that she had orchestrated the outburst.

Even though they had agreed not to reveal the situation to the public, they would have been humiliated if compensation and the culprit had been handed over to them, and it would have been difficult for them to make any further complaints.

Bertil, for his part, thought it would be very good for the country's appearance if the criminal who had wrought havoc in the country could be handed over and executed by the state. Since they could not be publicly executed anyway, all that was left was to behead them before René came to intercept them.

The refugees staying at the inns in the inn town were to be sent to the lords.

There, they would be subjected to some sort of gag order.

Since the Noacurio army would be temporarily withdrawing from Ciel-Terra, the manipulation of public opinion in Ciel-Terra would have to be left to the local officials.

“The Noacurio Royal Army plans to give plenty of publicity about the money. The reality is that it's compensation and hush money, but ostensibly it's one-sided support. Of course, Noacurio hasn't given up on this country's Glacelum yet. They need to make a good impression if they want to come back. ... But we don't have to go along with that farce."

Bertil shrugged his shoulders teasingly.

Kaya rubbed her temples half-heartedly.

"Immediately after the announcement of the support of the Noacurio army, for some reason, influential people in the private sector and the press would hear about the truth of the matter from somewhere. There would be whispers on the streets. Rumors spread fast. After all, the agents of the Gireshtal Federation already know about it. I'm the one who leaked it..."

Bertil said it so bluntly that Kaya looked like she was trying to suppress a headache.

It would be fair to say that both Noacurio's army and the lords attached to Noacurio had slightly misjudged Bertil's position, since Bertil had participated in the battle at Terra Kaine.

Bertil was not only "betting on Noacurio," but had been working with the Federation of Gireshtal from the beginning, and had also spoken behind the scenes with Johann, the candidate for crown prince who had been nominated in the west.

"I am a human being from the front. I don't particularly help at the stage of spreading rumors, and I'm going to back off to the west. Once the word has spread sufficiently, it is my job to make a statement condemning the Kingdom of Noacurio and give credence to the rumors. I could do it myself, but I would like to leave this to His Highness Johann if possible. I would like to keep my connection with Noacurio, while His Highness Johann has been on the side of Gireshtal from the beginning. In any case, public opinion would probably turn to criticism of Noacurio now. It will also be easier for Gireshtal to take over the entire country. His Highness Johann will also gain domestic support, and the Federation will owe me a favor, so all the best."

Many things happened, but Ghislain was dead anyway.

If Johann became king and was placed under the protection of the Federation of Gireshtal, there would be a glimmer of hope for the rebuilding of Ciel-Terra.

To pave the way for that, a little recklessness was more than acceptable.

"Between you and me. There's more to the story, Kaya. I have information from other sources that ... Marquis Edfeldt was in on it, too, and they turned His Highness Ghislain into a holy beast."

"Eeeh!?"

Bertil, plucking notes from the wall in a single, gnashing motion, spoke to himself in a hushed tone of voice.

Kaya was taken aback.

"Can you believe it? He was going to make him king. Looking back on his sudden decision to run for crown prince, I have too many ideas about it. I can't let them get away with this. Let's make them pay."

Bertil wrapped the notes in newspaper, threw them into the fireplace, sprinkled oil on them, and chanted a spell.

"...≪Ignition≫. Now let's get going."

The bundle of papers caught fire in the fireplace and instantly turned to ash.

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