Chapter 56
Soldiers wearing black masks.
Belonging to the Lord of the Nabut Region, they cautiously approached the monastery, following orders from above.
“Hurry up, there’s a report that they’ve gotten close.”
“Yes, General.”
The darkness was so thick that it was difficult to distinguish the surroundings, but there was no time to be complacent.
There were suspicious entities reported to have appeared near the monastery.
Given the circumstances, it was clear that these were the same attackers as before. Thus, they needed to act as swiftly as possible.
And soon after—
“General, over there.”
“Yes… I see it too. Indeed, they look suspicious, just as expected.”
The dark figures gathered around the monastery.
Although they were not visible in detail due to the lack of light, it was clear that these were the culprits responsible for the previous attacks.
“They seem to be quite numerous. It looks like we’ll have to brace ourselves for some losses.”
“It doesn’t matter. That’s something we’ve already anticipated. If we let them escape now, the damage will only grow worse. Initiate the attack immediately.”
“Yes, General. All forces, attack!”
“Wipe out those wretched bastards!”
The soldiers immediately drew their weapons and launched the assault.
At that moment, the enemy also began moving quickly, as if they had expected the attack.
“They’ve finally shown themselves!”
“Kill them! But make sure to capture a few alive!”
The enemies began responding more systematically than anticipated.
The soldiers were momentarily taken aback, but despite that, they continued their assault without retreating.
And—
The battle that began like that started to inflict immense damage on both sides.
The fierce combat, with neither side giving ground, relentlessly wore down their respective forces.
In the end, it was the Lord’s soldiers who emerged victorious.
“Huff… Huff… Dammit.”
“G-General, are you all right?”
“Yes, honestly, I was quite uneasy, but somehow we managed to win.”
The general struggled to catch his breath as he looked down at the fallen enemies on the ground.
Having served the Lord for many years, he had never encountered such ferocious opponents.
More than half of the soldiers he brought had fallen, and he himself was riddled with wounds, big and small.
Still, he was relieved that they had managed to eliminate the attackers threatening the monastery, and he immediately gave an order.
“Capture the survivors. We need to find out who’s behind them.”
“Yes, General.”
With that, the soldiers, who had dimmed their torches during the battle, lit them brightly and began surveying the surroundings.
But then—
“Huh?”
“Wh-what is this?”
An unexpected scene began to appear before their eyes.
The sight shocked not only the general but also the soldiers under his command.
With the torches now illuminating the area, they could clearly see the appearance of the attackers.
However, they weren’t the mysterious assailants they had expected.
Priests.
The priests and Holy Knights of the Baal Church, who had concealed their identities with black masks.
Faced with this completely unexpected meeting in the worst possible way, it felt as if they had been struck on the head with a hammer.
“W-what… what is going on? Why are people from the Church here?”
“This… This can’t be happening. According to the orders from above, the Church’s forces were supposed to be stationed outside the city walls…”
“Then are you saying that the higher-ups made a mistake? That can’t be! This is clearly something arranged between the Lord and the Bishop…”
At that moment, a thought flashed through the general’s mind.
The moment he realized what it was, his expression grew even more serious.
“Could it be…”
“W-what do you mean, sir?”
“…No, it can’t be… No… But on second thought, it’s not impossible.”
“G-General?”
His subordinates looked at him with confusion.
With a calm voice, the general spoke to them.
“Do you all remember how the Church tried to arbitrarily increase the donation amount some time ago?”
“Ah… Yes, it was eventually stopped because the Lord strongly opposed it at the time…”
“And what about it, sir…! C-could it be?”
The soldiers seemed to realize something all of a sudden.
The general nodded deeply and spoke in a calm tone.
“The Church and our Lord have never had a good relationship. Moreover, in recent times, the two have clashed more frequently over the so-called ‘Great Enterprise.’ Until now, the Lord has shown great patience in tolerating it… but it seems they have reached their limit.”
“Are you saying…”
“Yes, they deliberately staged this attack to frame us. With tensions already high, an incident like this would surely bring the blame onto us.”
“Tsk…”
“Those filthy bastards…”
The soldiers, grinding their teeth at the sheer cruelty of this ploy.
At the same time, they began to deduce yet another possibility from this situation.
Recently, as the Church’s pressure increased, the conflict between the regional lords and the Church had been escalating.
In such circumstances, the recent series of monastery attacks—
They began to suspect that these incidents might actually be staged by the Church to pressure the lords, just like this one.
If they had failed here, the blame would certainly have been placed on their lord. This way, the annoying obstacles could be removed, or at the very least, they would be forced to submit obediently.
“Report this immediately to Lord of the Nabut Region.”
“Yes, General!”
With the terrifying reality of this scheme dawning on them, they sprang into action without hesitation.
At the same time, considering that they might have to notify the neighbouring lords, they rushed back to the Lord’s castle.
Meanwhile—
In another region, the victorious priests were gazing down at the fallen soldiers of the Lord, unaware that the soldiers were entertaining the exact opposite thoughts.
***
“The plan has been successfully carried out. Now, we move on to the next stage.”
{Well done. Then, I trust you will handle the next steps equally well.}
“Leave it to me, Goddess Isera.”
With those words, the green flame in front of the altar vanished.
Thus ended her conversation with the goddess in the empty chamber.
With a hopeful expression, she slowly lifted her head.
Crown Princess Elisha of the Blackset Empire.
The person destined to inherit the empire, renowned for her exceptional intelligence.
However… despite holding such a solid position, she was constantly troubled by one thought.
It was the issue of the dirty ‘deer’ that had been feasting on the great mountain known as the Blackset Empire.
These so-called nobles and the religious power of the Baal Church.
From the past, the Baal Church had been parasitically feeding off the Empire, expanding its influence to an excessive degree.
And then there were the nobles, who allied with the Church to restrain the Emperor’s power and increase their own.
Although her father, Emperor Jezebel VIII, had done a commendable job of suppressing these forces, he had still failed to eliminate their roots.
Moreover, if this so-called ‘Great Enterprise’—an enormous ritual that claimed to enhance the power and authority of the God Ball—were to succeed, the Church, which they had barely managed to restrain, would swell to an unmanageable size.
As the future supreme ruler of this empire, Crown Princess Elisha sought ways to overcome this crisis.
Yet, putting her ideas into direct action was too risky.
No matter how much power she wielded as the Crown Princess, the Baal Church was formidable, and she couldn’t afford to offend Baal, the King of Gods.
Ultimately, it was a nearly impossible task—finding a way to diminish the power of the Church without going against the will of Baal.
Even the brilliant Crown Princess Elisha couldn’t come up with a definite solution for such a predicament.
But then, one day, an unexpected opportunity presented itself.
It was… a revelation from none other than the Goddess Isera.
One day, as she was performing a routine prayer in her private chamber, Goddess Isera appeared before her.
The wife of Baal and the second most powerful being, she told Elisha—
That the Great Enterprise had failed,
And in the process, Baal had met his demise.
Indeed, there had been rumours recently about unanswered prayers and the diminishing divine power of the priests.
But Elisha and most others had dismissed it as merely the Gods’ whims.
Historically, Baal had often thrown tantrums over trivial matters.
Besides, this was a busy time due to that so-called Great Enterprise.
But to think that this was actually due to Baal’s death—an unimaginable catastrophe.
It left Elisha greatly astonished.
At the same time, it made her seriously consider the proposal from Goddess Isera that followed.
With Baal now dead,
It was time to purge the evildoings of the Church and establish a proper religion in the Blackset Empire, as the Goddess Isera declared.
Having been unable to act due to fear of the gods’ wrath, Elisha, after a brief contemplation, accepted the goddess’s offer.
And thus, she decided to carry out the current plan.
Destroying the monasteries of the Church that had been conducting cruel experiments and driving a wedge between the nobles and the Church.
In the guise of reinforcing security, she laid traps, causing chaos in the communication lines between the nobles and the Church.
As a result, the forces of the nobles and the Church began clashing fiercely across various locations, engaging in bloody skirmishes.
Already strained by the Church’s excessive extortion, the relationship between the two factions now lay in complete ruins.
The operations were skilfully executed by Yusha, one of the empire’s top knights, and her companions.
As a result—
The two factions, which had been a thorn in her side for so long, were now at each other’s throats, harbouring murderous intent.
Moreover, with both sides having exhausted much of their strength in the process, it was a most favourable outcome for Elisha.
Under normal circumstances, carrying out such a scheme would have been extremely difficult.
No matter how well she orchestrated the conflict, Baal would have sensed the escalating tensions and intervened to stop these events.
But now, Baal was dead.
He was no longer here.
He was merely alive in the delusions of the Church’s priests, who refused to accept reality.
The one who should have mediated this situation, as Goddess Isera said, was now buried underground. And Isera, who would take his place, was instead fanning the flames.
Having achieved her primary objective, Elisha now began preparing for the next step.
It was time to bring this ripened situation to its conclusion, just as Goddess Isera desired.
And—
Watching Elisha’s actions, a faint smile that seemed on the verge of wilting appeared on Isera’s lips.
‘…If this goes well… perhaps, just once… might He look at me?… Even someone like me… If I could prove my worth to Him…’
—
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