CH 57

The fight was rather one-sided. Although Ziken’s knights were good, Alion’s knights were also second to none as well. Moreover, the knights that Ziken had brought had only been brought with the purpose of breaking Olivia out of prison, so they were far fewer in number compared to Alion’s knights, who had been gathered to guard the entire temple. Even I could still tell who had the upper hand despite not even knowing how to fight.

“Linden, could you go and evacuate the nobles?” Although the fight was going to end soon anyways, I still took the opportunity to push him toward the nobles. “Keep His Majesty safe.”

“His Majesty already has knights by his side.” As he was saying so, he pushed my back in that direction as well.

The nobles, whose lives were the most precious in this world, were running wildly in this dangerous situation. Linden calmed them down skillfully and led them away from where the fighting was taking place.

‘He’s the best at dealing with people.’

I admired his proficiency in that area once again.

‘Now that I’ve clearly imprinted Linden’s skills on everyone there, I should also get a move on now…’

It was when I was thinking of intervening in the fight.

“Die, die I said!!” Olivia, who was halfway to insanity already, desperately threw the dagger that she had toward me. Just where in the world did she get all that power from? To my surprise, the dagger flew directly toward me.

“Saintess!!”

“Ara!”

Astonished shouts broke out from all sides. Lecht, who had moved faster than anyone else, drew his sword to block it. But the dagger was unable to reach me or Lecht.

Because my shield, which I had prepared myself to use just in case, revealed its sturdy appearance. Although I had also thought so when I had taken it out to use against Frody last time, it really was a very holy looking shield.

Alion didn’t miss the opportunity that was provided, and immediately overpowered Ziken’s knights, who had paused at the huge shield that had suddenly appeared. The altercation finally came to a close.

I slowly made my way over to Olivia, who had been captured by Alion’s knights. On the way over, I picked up the dagger that had fallen to the ground weakly after being blocked by my shield. I alternated my eyes between her, who was glaring at me as if she was going to kill me with bloodshot eyes, and Ziken, who had been blocked by Alion’s sword and couldn’t come any closer.

I opened my mouth languidly amidst the silence. “You seem to think that I’ll be kind and merciful due to my label as a ‘saintess’.”

Schwing. Thud–! I flicked the dagger to the ground and it easily stuck into the floor with just the strength from my wrist alone. I could see just how well the blade had been forged.

“Kyaaaaa—!”

“Livi…!”

Olivia shrieked and screamed, as if she thought that I was throwing it at her, while Ziken, who was shocked, also flinched as expected.

“I am a person who feels that those who lay a hand on my people don’t deserve that respect from me.” I declared with an icy face. “The crime of breaking into the temple to kill me, who is Lunar’s daughter, without acknowledging your crime, which has placed the empire’s citizens in danger due to your numerous crimes. Furthermore, for the crime of daring to hurt the priests and knights who serve Lunar in Lunar’s own area.” I pointed at Olivia. “I punish you in the name of God, to live in pain for the rest of your life and to be unable to break free from it, even if you die.”

Bang!

As soon as I finished speaking, I heard the sound of heaven and earth being overturned outside. A bolt of lightning struck the ceiling of the Great Temple. It drilled through the unscathed temple roof and struck the area right in front of Olivia.

“Ahhhhhhh!!” Olivia screamed as her face turned pale at the large hole in front of her. It was a natural reaction to the true power of God that she was seeing for the first time.

[What do you think? The timing was great, right?]

If it weren’t for those additional words, even I might have collapsed in worship.

I turned my gaze away from her, whose face was filled with terror as she gasped intermittently, and looked at Ziken. He also looked back at me with eyes filled in shock.

“Moreover, toward Ziken Srengito von Bakarta, who actively promoted turning his sword against the Lunar religion, I declare in Lunar’s name that he will be regarded as an opposing existence to Lunar, and will be subject to strict surveillance and vigilance.”

It was an announcement that the Lunar religion would forever shun Ziken. At a time when everyone was in awe at the power of God that they had all encountered for the first time, the weight of those words were extremely heavy. Since I was now the only person to hold ‘the power of the living god’ in this era. I was well aware of that, so I was going to make use of that perfectly until the end.

I turned my head slowly toward where the emperor and the nobles were all gathered and standing together. Everytime my gaze passed over them, they flinched.

“Lunar doesn’t desire your excessive loyalty or your infinite worship. It doesn’t matter where your devotion lies either.”

There was no reason to especially discriminate against someone, just because they were a Solarist either.

“However, whoever touches our people, no matter who it is, we will never forgive them.”

We were willing to reveal our hostility, even if they were someone who is the crown prince, so it was practically telling them that if they wanted to make us their enemy, then feel free to support Ziken and attack us. However, how many of those who had witnessed the true power of God with their own eyes would have the courage to do so?

[Wow, my daughter is so cool! Just look at that frightening expression!]

…Fortunately people didn’t know that that very god would be this restless.

[So now it’s my turn to adorn the finale, right?]

As soon as Lunar finished speaking, the full moon in the sky began to change colours.

“The red moon…!”

Starting with someone’s breathy exclamation, everyone became fascinated by the red moon that could be seen clearly through the huge window.

The red moon was considered as more rare and mysterious, since its cycle was unknown.

‘Don’t tell me the reason why there isn’t a set cycle for the red moon is because it’s all according to whenever Lunar feels like it?’

[I can’t do it too often because it gets tiring. The only time I show it off is when people start to forget my existence.]

Receiving the moon’s red light, I swept my right hand through the air. Following my movements, a tremendous amount of divine energy poured forth from my fingertips. In an instant, the temple was filled with my divine power, and feeling their gazes on me again, I smiled.

“On the contrary, if you are someone who is considered as our person, Lunar will protect you, even after you leave this world.”

My divine power stretched out to everyone gathered here. Although it was a little petty, it was more concentrated around the priests, paladins, and Alion’s knights, who were all considered as ‘Lunar’s people’. The difference in treatment was obvious to anyone watching.

Leaving behind that sort of discrimination, I added, “The door to the Lunar religion is always open.”

So hurry up and defect. I mean, in regards to both religion and political support.

What I wanted to say was clear without having to say it out loud. Since the place where my divine power was most concentrated was none other than where Linden was.

* * *

pls do not share this anywhere or u will always stub ur toe when u walk past a door frame !! this translation has been stolen from mioscorner.com, pls only read there i’m begging u :kneels:

Their response came faster than I had imagined it would.

The furious emperor made a proclamation on the spot. “The criminal will be burned at the stake tomorrow morning!”

Her sentencing was changed from a beheading to a burning, and the date was also greatly pushed forward. It was a result that everyone had come to an agreement on, so much so that it was unnecessary for them to list out all of her crimes.

However, an even more shocking proclamation was soon announced shortly after. “It is recommended that the Crown Prince, Ziken Srengito von Bakarta, who was swept away by his personal feelings and abused the authority that was given to him to aid the criminal in escaping and lent a hand in the criminal’s personal revenge is recommended to step down from his position.”

Although the word used was ‘recommended’, it was no different from ordering a deposition.

The shocked Ziken was taken into the imperial palace on the emperor’s order, and Olivia, who was completely out of her senses with terror, was naturally taken back into the imperial dungeons.

Now all that was left was Frody, who was by himself and naturally attracted a lot of attention, but the emperor asked me to be responsible for him as the saintess and resolve it. Of course, the emperor said this because he knew that Lecht, who was beside me was the demon king, but to other people, it would’ve seemed like the emperor had great faith in me.

Afterwards, the High Priestess declared that the proclamation ceremony had ended, as the emperor and the nobles all left their seats. As expected, I couldn’t see Linden either, perhaps because he had been swept away by the nobles.

“I really feel extremely wronged this time though?”

As I was searching from here to there for Linden, a charming voice caught my attention instead.

“I swear, I was just staying in my room obediently alright? But then that woman suddenly summoned me.” The expression on the face of Frody, who said he felt wronged, didn’t look wronged at all. “I was going to say that it’s impossible to renew a contract with someone whom I’ve already terminated a contract with~. So I was going to tell her that I couldn’t help her touch the saintess.” He whispered, showing his two hands to proclaim that he was innocent. His smiling appearance and tone that seemed to imply ‘I feel wronged~’ was extremely hateful.

“Don’t pretend that you weren’t aware of everything. Since there’s no way you didn’t sense Muso there.”

Frody smirked at my words. “I was just wondering why the wind that teleported us was so unsophisticated and coarse.”

From the moment he was teleported, Frody would have known that this was all something that was done by me. Since if that wasn’t the case, then there would’ve been no reason for Muso to participate in the matter either.

“By the way, Saintess, is it alright for you to make use of me like this without even obtaining my consent prior to this?”

“Let’s just say that we won’t ask you to answer to the crime of causing chaos in the Grand Duchy for this.”

It was discovered that Olivia had never asked for pestis to be sprayed on the Grand Duchy, so it was revealed as a deliberate act of Frody’s own doing. Although it was a situation where punishment was inevitable, we said that we would let it slide for this incident. No one was seriously injured, so Lecht use it to so that we could proceed with this operation instead of punishing him for it.

“Hmm~? You’re still trying to call it even between us by yourself…”

“Go.”

“Huh…?”

Frody was swallowed in an instant by a teleportation circle that suddenly appeared on the ground. It was a recall to the demon realm according to Lecht’s will.

Although there were a few priests that saw him disappear, they brushed it off by pretending not to know. Since it had also been their first time witnessing the power of God, they seemed to be cautious about asking about too much as well.

“Then, what should we do about the ceiling…? What’s with the hole, Lunar should learn to do it in moderation too. And what’s with this floor too?”

[Only by doing it this way would it be able to be this dramatic!]

“Then who’s going to fix this?”

[Everyone will be happy to witness the power of God.]

“Haa, I can’t believe it.”

The short play caused Lunar to be extremely elated.

“I used to think so before as well, but Lunar really seems to cherish you alot.” Lecht said, wrapping his arms gently around my waist. I doubt that he could hear Lunar’s voice, so I guess he just came to that conclusion by listening to what I said to Lunar. Was it just me that could sense the jealousy in his voice? Lunar was the one who confirmed my suspicions.

[Is this loverboy still even jealous of me? Gosh, how absurd… That’s my daughter!]

It was natural that I’d be loved by Lunar, so Lecht, who was even jealous of that, was so cute that I laughed. “It’s not so much that I’m cherished, but I think they’re just bored because they don’t have anyone to chat with.”

“I heard that they can also talk to the High Priestess on a day with a red moon. But why does it feel like they’re only talking to you?”

Lunar was the first to react to those curt words.

[I’m going, I’m going! Fine, I’m going to Lydia! Gosh, I don’t even want to look at you.]

“They’re going to Lydia. They said that the two of us could talk.”

“Good.” He was a demon king who used the power of Lunar and was also satisfied that he had kicked Lunar out.

“What are you going to do if Lunar gets mad?”

“I don’t think they’re that petty.”

No, I think they are. They were completely childish and cheap. But I just laughed it off. Even if they were childish and cheap, I knew that they weren’t the type to vent their anger on Lecht.

“Then, can I take you to the Palace of the Demon King with my heart at ease now?” A smile hung from Lecht’s mouth, as if he had waited for this day. I also felt his arms tighten around me. He seemed just as excited as I was about me going to the demon realm.

“We should go. But, I still have something to wrap up here.” I said, looking at Linden who was walking toward me.