Chapter 507

Day 107 – Forenoon, the Theocracy, Streets

The Captured Beautiful Lady Knight, surrounded and getting harshly scolded me right next to her!?! Wait, why!? Shouldn’t the standard procedure here be interrogating the beautiful lady knight? Why am I, the one who got kidnapped and then returned on my own, is getting lectured? The kidnapping beautiful lady knight is being cared for, but I who kidnapped her back is being scolded?!

「Don’t why us! Why did you look so happy being captured!?」

「You even stepped back on purpose to make it easier to grab you, didn’t you?」

「With that Rajingan eye of yours, there’s no way you could’ve missed her sneaking up from behind.」

「Yeah, you obviously sensed her coming and even went so far as to set down the sandwich platter, you were getting ready to get kidnapped, didn’t you?」

「「「「Verdict – GUILTRY! Sentence – another round of cutlet sandwiches.」」」」

Apparently there’s no sympathy at all for the poor kidnap victim here. Even though I diligently kept handing out extra servings of sandwiches while in captivity? Even though the new Japanese-style sesame-sauce cutlet sandwiches, made possible because I’d managed to get sesame, were a huge hit? Even though everyone’s still munching on them, it’s still no good it seems. Yeah, this World Seems Tough on Me

「Reitesia, why would you of all people commit such an act… Is it the Council of Preceptors? Did something happen to the orphanage!?」

「…Yes. The orphanage is currently under the control of the Papal faction. In spite of owing such a great debt to Princess Ariele-sama, I… please, kill me. I no longer have any worth to live… I repaid kindness with treachery, placing the Princess on the scales against the orphans… I intended to atone by offering up my life, so please kill m—(*WHAM! THUD THUD!*)」

Sister Girl is angry. No one else can step in, no one dares say a word, because everyone’s too busy holding onto their Japanese-style cutlet sandwiches and chewing! You will get fat… No, it’s nothing, I didn’t say anything, how about another helping? It’s miso-flavored? Calories are priceless? After all, it’s still cutlet even with lots of veggies.

「If you claim your life is worthless, then prove the value of your life with your sword, staking it against my life, the very life you set against those children on the scales. Draw your sword, Reitesia!」

「You jest… I am a Knights of Precept! Ariele-sama, you’ve never once wielded a sword before… Eh?!」

Everyone stares at the two as they face each other, not holding their breath or anything, just chewing their sandwiches.

Stern-Faced Beautiful Lady Knight knocks aside Sister Girl’s Sword Flash in surprise, then takes a stance. Her level is only 49, far below the Royal Girl, but her swordsmanship and body control are a magnificent pure swordswoman. With her trained eyes, she recognizes Sister Girl’s strength and fights earnestly, but her agitation is obvious.

「Why, Your Highness? You never touched a sword before.」

「I saw the Frontier with my own eyes. There, even small children earnestly wielded clubs against monsters. Then what are we doing, swords in our hands?」

In this world, swordsmanship seems kinda lopsided, either brute force techniques against monsters, or techniques that exist for the sole purpose of fighting other people. In their pursuit of results, they’ve neglected the basics. But a sword is nothing more than an extension of the limbs, that you are free to swing and adapt to your desires. And Sister Girl went through the training that would have you beaten up unless you can pull that off and got beaten over and over in the process. While the opponents swordsmanship is honed and refined, one cannot beat the one who survived dungeons with a warped swordsmanship distorted with impurities. And thus the outleveled Knight Girl could never win, especially with her heart shaken and her will broken. A sword wielded without conviction is nothing but heavy iron.

Also, the orphan kids were simply earning pocket money by beating up goblins, okay? It was exercise too, healthy leveling! And the town wives were watching them from behind? They’re at least on the level of orc leaders, okay? But don’t you dare call them orc-like or things will get scary? They’re way more terrifying than orcs!

Like sparks bursting from a raging fire, Lady Knight-san’s sword rages on, only to be scattered aside by Sister Girl’s flowing, graceful swordplay. The difference between one who kills and one who only fights to kill, the one who poured her strength into struggles against people and monster hinting, and one who clashed day after day against dungeon creatures, that overwhelming gap in defense power.

「What meaning does the Church have? What justice lies in the Pope’s words? Even now, on the frontier, even children are fighting in the Evil Forest to protect this world! I will shatter not only such a sword swung for the Church’s dominion, but the very heart behind it!」

The lady knight overextended. Her attack was deflected, her stance broken, and she could do nothing but take the sweeping sideways slash directly. With her sword and spirit broken, she fell to her knees… Anyway, while it was pretty cool and she looks pretty smug about this now, but Sister Girl’s sword has 『Equipment Destruction』effect, okay? The sword broke because of the weapon’s ability, not because her spirit shattered or anything?

And so, as the inner workings of the Theocracy and the bond between the two are revealed, the girls listen on, while eating cutlet sandwiches… For how long are they planning to keep eating? This is the sixth round already, at this rate, they’ll keep on eating breakfast straight through to lunch! Should we summon Commander Billy already?

From the story, it seems Stern-Faced Beautiful Lady Knight, whose name turned out to be something-something, was once an orphan. Recognized for her talent with sword, she was taken in as a squire of the Church Knights. To fund the orphanage, she hunted monsters from a young age while also doing her work in the order, growing stronger and stronger until she rose to the honored rank of Knight of Precept, and then was ordained bishop in recognition of her achievements. As a reward, under the Church’s sponsorship, she opened a Theocracy-run state-backed orphanage, gathering orphans from across the country, teaching them both religious knowledge and swordsmanship. And the one who supported and aided her all along was Sister Girl… Despite the stern face she was actually a sword-wielding orphanage caregiver?

Everyone nods along at the touching tale… while still eating their sandwiches. As I thought, the orthodox miso cutlet sandwich is the top favorite!?

「By the way, I’m bored, so can I go divert some water into the ditch? The groaning from underground is annoying, so flooding them may help reduce the noise and the smell of old men? Actually, Middle-Aged Men the sound of writhing and moaning is just bloody gross, you know?」

「Who threw them there in the first place, huh, who!?」

「And you sprinkled more of that 『Super-Itchy-Itchy Powder SP』 so of course they’re writhing!」

「If you flood the canal now, the water will get polluted, so stop that!」

「I’d like seconds on the cutlet sandwiches, please! And maybe it’s about time for dessert?」

It’s almost noon, and breakfast still hasn’t ended! The terrifying trap of sesame sauce and miso sauce… Fine, let’s combine them into miso-sesame! Everyone’s bellies have gotten quite round by this point though, is it alright?

「Ah, um, Princess Ariele-sama, who exactly is this person? I thought I saw something wriggling tentacle-like…?」

Perhaps she isn’t good with wriggly things, but the moment Tentacles and Snake-san appeared, she fainted straight away. Even though Chicken-san worriedly pecked at her, she stayed out cold the entire time.

「Ah, Reitesia. Please, call me Arianna, that’s what everyone here else calls me as well. And that person is none other than the 『Black-Haired Strategist』 Haruka-sama. While saving the frontier, he is also the Lust King who was branded the enemy of God. Don’t touch him, it’s dangerous, okay? You’re lucky you’re unharmed… I’ll explain in detail later. For a maiden, he’s crazy bad news!」

What a terrible introduction! Apparently there’s zero consideration for kidnapping victims. And so, while the revelations of the Theocracy continue, the battle against the towering pile of sandwiches rages on! Even Slime-san looks full now, yet the platters keep emptying. Maybe next I’ll try combining teriyaki chicken with miso? Probably goes great with mayonnaise too.

There seems to be a mysterious empire backing the Papal faction’s, the largest power on the continent, yet in self-imposed isolation. After their crushing defeat and massive losses in the invasion of the Kingdom, the current Pope faced calls for dismissal over the enormous damage and expenses incurred, and so he chose to use brute force.

So turns out, the kingdom’s nobles who tormented the frontier were actually puppets of the Theocracy, and the faction steering the Theocracy was in turn the Pope’s faction, puppets of the Empire? Moreover, the current Papal faction originally had ties of friendship with some neighboring country, granting them favors, and talked tons of crap about the Empire, their rival. But when that neighboring country was destroyed and became part of the Empire’s territory, they flipped their stance overnight and turned pro-Empire.

Sister Girls and others are furious, fuming that it’s disgraceful, a shame upon the Church. But, honestly, in modern democratic states too, there were communistic folks who did much the same, so we can’t really look down at them much. Yeah, the global net generation would know the details even if not really interested? History doesn’t repeat itself, it’s just that there are always people who don’t learn, and so they keep making the same mistakes again and again.

A country cannot be destroyed from outside, they collapse from within. To hand power to traitors is the same as destruction. From the moment a traitor was chosen as Pope, the Church was already sold out, and now he’s trying to sell out the country itself. Those who cannot create must sell what belongs to others, thus the Papal faction can do nothing but keep selling. The Church, the nation, everything, until there’s nothing left to sell.

「But if we defy them, we’ll be destroyed. To stand against the Empire’s military might is impossible. Even if the Church appeals to every nation on the continent, with the opponent being the Empire…」

「And yet they went so far as to commit a folly of sending troops into the Kingdom. An entire battalion of Church Knights was already lost, even the Knights of Precept have little over half remaining.」

「If the Theocracy’s army and the Church’s army fight each other, our forces will be depleted even further. We won’t even be able to maintain the numbers needed for defense…」

「Simply killing the Pope won’t solve it. We must retake the Church back from the Papal faction…」

「But that would lead to a war with the Empire…」