by Dojyomaru
“Well, I won’t disagree that my husband doesn’t have much of a presence. He was originally a bureaucrat, and he’s a bit scrawny. Now he manages my domain in Amidonia and raises the children.”
“A bureaucrat?! Wait, you have kids, too?!”
“That was why I didn’t want to wear that dress for the Kouhaku red and white song battle.”
By the way, it seemed that Margarita’s husband and children had definitely seen her sing wearing that gaudy eighteen-meter dress Roroa had made for her over the broadcast. When she had returned, they’d kindly told her, “You did great.” And Margarita’s face had looked like it might spontaneously combust.
Margarita coughed to hid her embarrassment. “What about you, Sir Souji? You’re old enough; shouldn’t you be settling down yourself? Lunarian Orthodoxy doesn’t forbid its preachers from marrying, does it?”
“Womanizing is a taboo, though.”
“You’ve already broken that one, I’m sure. Did I not hear you were living with an elf-eared girl?”
“You mean Merula? When it comes to her... she’s more like my pet.”
“That sounds even more indecent, you realize?”
“It’s like feeding a stray cat. That curveless shrimp isn’t my type at... Hm?”
In the middle of talking, Souji stopped and looked in front of them.
From the looks of it, someone was coming their way. It was a middle-aged woman wearing the robes of a Lunarian Orthodox nun.
The nun stopped in front of Souji, out of breath. “Lord Souji... W-We have trouble...”
“What happened? Why the rush?”
“F-From the Lunarian Orthodox Papal State...”
Then, stopping to catch her breath, she brought her face to Souji’s ear and whispered to him.
“The saint has come from the Orthodox Papal State incognito. She says she wants to speak with you.”
Souji and Margarita visited a Lunarian Orthodox church on the edge of town.
Having Margarita stand by outside in case something should happen, Souji opened the door and entered the holy hall.
He saw someone wearing a hooded cape that covered the whole body sitting by the altar.
When he circled around in front of that person, Souji’s eyes went wide. “Well, color me surprised. It really is the saint girl.”
“It’s been awhile, Bishop Lester.”
When that person stood up, two pigtails fell out from inside her hood.
The shape of her face was beautiful, but pale and without life. This doll-like girl was the saint of Lunarian Orthodoxy, Mary Valenti.
While feeling suspicious, Souji didn’t let it show on his face as he casually asked, “What’s a great saint doing coming to the kingdom unannounced? If you’re not careful, they’ll catch you.”
However, Mary’s face didn’t move in the slightest.
“If it happens, it happens. I’ll simply request an audience with your Sir Souma from prison. That is the only reason I’ve come here, after all.”
“You came all this way just to see me? I had figured you fervent believers would hate an irresponsible bishop like me.”
“If I may speak my personal opinion, you’re right.”
“You’re forthright...”
“Sir Souji, you should be more aware of your role as a bishop of Lunarian Orthodoxy, and comport yourself in a way that befits that position.” Mary preached at him with a serious look on her face. “Though you are a man of the cloth, who ought to live a life of honorable poverty, you are infamous in the Orthodox Papal State for your fondness for wine and women. That hasn’t changed since you came to the kingdom, has it? That is unforgivable for the person who must unite the adherents of orthodoxy in the kingdom.”
“Yeah, yeah. Thanks for the sermon.” Souji dug the earwax out of his ears.
He was simply not equipped to repent after being given a sermon by a girl that much younger than him.
“Did you come all the way to the kingdom to lecture me?”
“...No. I say this strictly as my own personal opinion.”
“In that case, can we move on to the point?” he asked in irritation.
Mary’s face took on a sad look as she said, “The Lunalith has handed down a new oracle.”
“An oracle? Already?”
The Lunarian Orthodox Papal State centered their faith around a monolith called the Lunalith.
The oracles appeared by forming text on the Lunalith.
The Lunarian Orthodox Papal State based its rule and foreign policies on the oracles that appeared on the Lunalith. However, oracles were only supposed to appear once every five years or so.
It was said they had prophesied the emergence of the Demon Lord’s Domain around ten years ago.
Then, just around a year ago, an oracle had descended saying, “Send a saint to Souma who was summoned from another world, and place him under the influence of your own country.”
That plan had been cleverly thwarted by Souma, and though they had succeeded in making Lunarian Orthodoxy the state religion, it was a position shared with other religions, and the saint had been sent back so that they were unable to place him under their influence. It was fifty-fifty on whether it was a success or not.
After one had come down so recently, had a new oracle descended already?
“Isn’t the period a little short?” Souji asked.
“There have been precedents in the past. Though they say that when the time between oracles is short, the times are changing rapidly.”
“So, what’s the oracle?”
“‘Northeast,’ ‘rising sun,’ ‘light that covers the world’... and ‘burning countries.’”
“Huh? That’s pretty fragmented.”
“I’m told that’s how oracles from the Lunalith are,” Mary told a dubious Souji. “This is something only told to those in the upper echelons of Lunarian Orthodoxy, but we haven’t accurately deciphered all of the oracles from the Lunalith. However, we can understand parts of them, so we piece them together and infer their meaning.”
“Whuh?! The oracles are that vague?!”
Even for Souji this was a shocking revelation.
The oracles were a secret among secrets in the Orthodox Papal State. They said the Orthodox Papal State was ruled under the guidance of the Lunalith, but the truth was they could only read bits and pieces of it. That meant they were moving the faithful around on that sort of incomplete understanding.
A cold sweat ran down Souji’s back. “...Is it all right telling me something only the higher-ups know?”
“Normally, this is information neither you nor I would be able to learn... however, the situation that is unfolding inside the Orthodox Papal State makes it impossible to enforce that.” Mary lowered her eyes in sadness. “There were some disconcerting words in the oracle.”
“‘Burning countries,’ you mean?”
“Yes. The Orthodox Papal State’s higher-ups are divided over the meaning of these words. For ‘northeast,’ ‘rising sun,’ and ‘light that covers the world,’ they are united in their belief that it likely means, ‘A great man with influence that will cover the world will appear in the northeast.’ However, they are divided on what the ‘burning countries’ that will likely be burned at his hands are.”
Mary held up the index finger of her right hand for Souji to see.
“First, there is the group who see this great man as a threat. They think the Lunarian Orthodox Papal State may be one of the burned countries, and they propose that countermeasures must be prepared. Their main countermeasure is to form an alliance with the Kingdom of Friedonia. We may not have been able to make King Souma into the holy king, but activities of believers in the country are protected. If he were our ally, we would have a reliable backer. This group are the relative moderates, you could say.”
“Hmm...”
In that case, Souji thought Souma might accept it. It would mean a burden for Souma, but not having to worry about the Lunarian Orthodox Papa
l State when he handled that rising faction would be huge. He wouldn’t have to worry about them inciting the faithful inside the country anymore. If they were dealing with them not as the center of a religion, but as another equal ally, the kingdom would benefit from cordial relations, too.
Mary raised the index finger of her left hand. “The other group are the ones who have high hopes for this great man. They say that if a great man with such massive power is going to appear, we should send a saint, grant him authority, and bring him into the fold. Just like... when I was sent to be with Souma. This group is actively attempting to oppose other countries, so they’re being called the radical faction.”
“Radicals... More like extremists, right?”
“I won’t deny it.”
Well... I guess you’d expect there to be a group like that, Souji thought with a sigh.
The Orthodox Papal State gave Lunaria’s authority to the power holders of the era, and received their protection in return. That was how the country had maintained influence over their citizens and believers up until today.
If it was looked at as the survival strategy of a nation, there wouldn’t be anything more to say, but since it was his old home, Souji thought they were shameless.
“So? Which group has the upper hand now?”
“The radicals,” said Mary. “I think the failure to make Souma a holy king played a large part in that. The Gran Chaos Empire in the west has their own saint, and they’ve failed to form strong bonds with the Kingdom of Friedonia in the west, so the higher-ups were feeling a sense of crisis.”
Empress Maria had never declared herself a saint, and wasn’t backed by anyone as one, but that must have been how it looked to the Orthodox Papal State.
Mary continued. “For the radicals, if a new faction that can oppose these two countries is going to form, they see it as imperative that we form strong bonds with them this time.”
Because Souma skillfully dodged ending up under Lunarian Orthodoxy’s influence, he’s ended up pushing the Orthodox Papal State’s higher-ups into a corner, Souji noted.
And Souji carried a part of the responsibility for that, too.
With a rotten bishop like Souji in between them, the faithful inside the kingdom hadn’t had to listen to orders from the Orthodox Papal State. There was no worry about the church stirring them up into riots, either.
That had the result of making the higher echelons of the Orthodox Papal State panic, and ironically fed the creation of a radical faction that were eager to join hands with a great man whose identity was as yet unknown in order to counter the kingdom and the Empire.
“The moderates are already starting to be purged by the radicals,” Mary went on. “Cardinal Gold, who you were so fond of, was indicted for adultery and corrupt acquisition of wealth.”
“Well, the old guy had it coming to him.”
Cardinal Gold had risen through the ranks with the power of money. He was a corpulent man far from any ideal of noble poverty.
Souji had paid bribes to the man so that he had a free hand to do as he pleased while he was inside the Orthodox Papal State, but he’d had absolutely no respect for him as a human being.
Hearing that the man had been punished, I guess it was time he paid the piper, was all he thought of it.
“Well, which side are you on, little missie?” Souji asked.
“The cardinal looking after me belongs to the former.”
“I was asking for your personal decision, you know?”
“I... don’t know. No, perhaps ‘I don’t know anymore’ might be the more accurate answer.”
Mary stood up and looked at the stained glass mosaic. It depicted the goddess Lunaria descending from the heavens.
“When I heard King Souma say he would recognize not just Lunarian Orthodoxy, but other religions as the state religion, I thought he was acting haphazardly. That was because I thought different religions, different sects, couldn’t possibly coexist without conflict. I felt pity for the believers in this country who were forced to live under such a king.”
Souji was quiet.
“However... now that I see it, there have been no major conflicts, the believers inside the kingdom are not restricted in their activities, and they practice their faith at ease. More than that... Sir Souji, you carried out the Spring Announcement Festival inside the kingdom, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, it was Young Miss Roroa’s idea.”
Mary put on a slight wry smile. “I think there may be some issue with calling a woman who is going to become queen ‘young miss,’ you realize?”
“She calls me ‘old man,’ so I’d say we’re even.”
“You’re close... Well, setting that aside, I heard that many pagans participated in that Spring Announcement Festival. It’s a festival announcing the end of winter and praising the glory of Lady Lunaria, and yet pagans who refuse to convert and believe in Lady Lunaria participated and enjoyed the festival with the believers. When I heard about that, I was very surprised.”
“It goes both ways, though. Even orthodox adherents are taking part in Mother Dragon Worship’s festivals.”
“Yes. There were those in the Orthodox Papal State who were angry, saying, ‘This is outrageous.’ But I couldn’t see it as a bad thing. It’s strange. When we have discord emerging between members of the same faith in our country, a country that is a mix of many different religions has more mutual respect for each other’s beliefs.”
“Young lady, you’ve...”
...really changed, thought Souji.
The people called saints in Lunarian Orthodoxy were beautiful dolls who were absolutely loyal to the higher-ups in the Orthodox Papal State. They had no thoughts of their own, never doubted orders, and were offered up to powerful and influential men regardless of how they themselves might feel. That was how saints were meant to be.
However, Mary was unsure. It was proof she was thinking for herself.
Mary turned to Souji and bowed her head. “I’ve come with a request for you today.”
“A request?”
“Yes. To be more precise, I have a request I want you to pass along to Sir Souma.”
Seeing the sincerity in her eyes, Souji scratched at his head. “That’s fine for you to say, but I was dispatched here by the Orthodox Papal State. I can’t say anything about what the king here does. I don’t have any right to, you know?”
Mary nodded as if that much was self-evident. “I know. This is not too difficult. I am asking that he protect people. I’m asking that he protect those who will lose their place in the Orthodox Papal State should the radicals rise any further... or my sisters, at the very least.”
“Sisters?” Souji repeated.
“The hundred or so candidates for sainthood.”
In order to place the rulers of the time under their influence, the Lunarian Orthodoxy sent saints to them as a way of giving them authority.
Those saints, of course, had to be appealing to those in power, so the Lunarian Orthodoxy always maintained a stable of a hundred or so “saint candidates” so they could cater to all sorts of demands.
Mary had been chosen for Souma from among those saint candidates.
“If the radicals send a saint to the great man who it is said will appear in the northeast, and that great man accepts the saint, the rest of the saint candidates will become a liability. In order to monopolize the authority of Lunarian Orthodoxy, I’m sure the rest of the saints will be purged. If this great man is of such a fierce temperament that it results in ‘burning countries,’ that is more or less a certainty.”
“Well, I’m sure you’re right...” Souji admitted. “Are you the one they’ll send?”
“I am the saint prepared for Sir Souma. I’m sure that, for another great man, they will prepare a saint suited to that great man.”
“So, you’re going to be a liability, too...” Souji crossed his arms and groaned.
He’d known that Lunarian Orthodoxy had several saint candidates. F
or as long as those girls weren’t chosen, they were treated well as individual nuns, so he’d never thought much about it before.
However, internal conflict and external factors could easily mess with their fates. That was the kind of weak position those girls found themselves in.
For his part, Souji wanted to save those innocent girls, too.
“I get it. I’ll at least pass the message to Souma. I’ll persuade him if he’s hesitant, and I’ll press my head against the ground and beg him to at least protect the saint candidates.”
“You have my gratitude, Sir Souji.”
“So, if you feel a threat to your well-being, you run, too. You may be a saint, but you’re still young. There’s no need for you to carry every burden.”
“...Yes.” Tearing up, Mary bowed her head to Souji.
Once the tears had dried, Mary put her hood on again and turned to offer a prayer to the stained glass before silently leaving the church.
Once Souji had seen Mary off, Margarita entered as if taking her place.
“That’s quite the troublesome request she brought you,” Margarita said with a wry smile.
“Well, yeah. Nothing could be more of a pain, but I am, technically, a bishop. I know this isn’t like me, but if there are young maidens who’ve lost their way, I’ve got to extend a helping hand. Fortunately, I can move more easily than any bishop back in the home country.”
When Souji said that, he looked up at the stained glass of Lunaria.
“Was it your guidance that led me to this country?” he asked.
The stained glass image had no answer to his question.
◇ ◇ ◇
— At the same time, near the western border of the kingdom —
This was close to the border with the Mercenary State Zem.
The Mercenary State Zem was surrounded by mountains, making it a natural state, difficult to invade other countries from, but easy to defend against invasion. There were few roads into Zem, and there was just one mountain road connecting the Kingdom of Friedonia and Zem that was fit for sending troops along.
