Chapter 121

Cardinal Panicking

Cardinal POV

「What did you just say?」Georgis asked, his voice filled with rage.

Before him was a soldier cowering in fear. Intense atmosphere filled Cardinal Georgis’ extravagantly-decorated office.

「I ask you once more. What did you say?」

The soldier froze in horror.

「I-I am terribly sorry. The Bloodstone Ritual was a failure again.」he said in a trembling voice.

「You piece of shit!」

Overcome by anger, the Cardinal drew the sword hanging on his waist and swung it down at the soldier with all his strength. Having not trained in swordsmanship, his movement was awful, but the sharpness of an expensive sword was more than enough to make up for his lack in skill, cutting down the soldier. Groaning in agony, the man collapsed and drew his last breath.

No one said a word. Aside from the Cardinal and the soldier, Georgis’ close aides—dozens of them—were present as well, but they were all quiet. They knew that if they opened their mouth, they’d be next.

「Can someone here tell me why the ritual keeps on failing?!」

The reason for the Cardinal’s irritation was clear. They hadn’t produced any healing medicines for a while. The most important ingredient of healing medicine were belladonnas. As long as they could get their hands on them, manufacturing it would be easy.

By sacrificing one live human for the Bloodstone Ritual, Cardinal Georgis could obtain a large quantity of belladonnas. If he had plenty of slaves, he could produce as many medicines as he wanted.

At least until the man named Eld attacked the altar.

After what he did, not one Bloodstone Ritual ever succeeded. The evil spirit would come close, but left halfway, as though repelled by something. They had not observed such a baffling phenomenon before.

「Perhaps the location of the altar has shifted slightly?」the Cardinal asked the person in charge of the ritual.

Eld used a mysterious spell called Steam Explosion on the altar. Of course, Georgis was doubtful. He didn’t believe a spell called Steam Explosion existed. Eld simply said it out loud to give them the wrong idea.

The spell’s specifics were still under investigation, but judging from the power, it was most likely a ritual spell that required a large number of Mages. No lone human could possibly have so much power. But it was possible with time and numerous Mages performing a ritual.

Either way, the altar received the brunt of such a powerful spell. The altar itself was extremely heavy and difficult to move. Still they didn’t really take into consideration the spell Eld used. There was a chance that the shock from the explosion moved the altar.

The altar wasn’t just placed in a random location, though it may look like it. No, it actually required extremely precise calculations that involved magic. In Cardinal Georgis’ huge domain, the altar could only be placed in that particular spot and nowhere else. What’s more, a millimeter off in its position would render the altar useless.

「That cannot be! The altar’s position is calculated using magic. An error is not—」

「Then why does the ritual fail?!」

「I don’t know! We’ve been telling you that this is something even we can’t understand!」The man in charge replied in a tired voice.

He couldn’t even count how many times they’ve had this conversation. It was probably over thirty times at this point.

「You know we need the ritual to succeed at all costs!」

There was a reason for the Cardinal panicking. After the adventurer Eld attacked the altar, Marquis Maiar had been making suspicious moves, and judging by the timing, the reason was clear. Maiar most likely had a copy of the footage that Eld recorded.

If an average noble got the footage, all Georgis had to do was crush them. But Marquis Maiar was the most powerful noble among the anti-Georgis faction. Not only that, the kingdom itself thought the Marquis was among the most prominent nobles because of his political skills.

If he really wanted to work behind the scenes, he could easily do so. He wouldn’t let anyone see he was making suspicious moves. The fact that he did meant he didn’t plan to hide it anymore. The part where he quietly laid the groundwork was over, and it was now time for the finishing touches.

If left alone, Maiar would definitely overthrow Goergis. The Cardinal needed a countermeasure, but for that he needed power, which he was slowly starting to lose.

Georgis’ overwhelming political power stemmed from his monopoly on healing medicine. Just losing the monopoly because of Count Meigis was a huge blow, now they couldn’t even produce them.

So far, they had managed to keep up appearances by going through what they had in stock. Now they were running out. If the Bloodstone Ritual didn’t work again, the Cardinal wouldn’t have any chance of winning.

That man Eld said something about their victory being decided. Was he referring to the ritual failing?

If Eld indeed did something to stop the ritual from working, that would explain what he said. But knowing what his words meant didn’t matter, if they didn’t know how to make the ritual succeed again.

If there was something wrong with the altar, there was one solution.