Being a fanatic was a strange thing.
You called yourself a servant of the gods, and yet you did things according to your will.
Lydia Schmidt intended to kill me. She didn’t actually say it, but it was so obvious that I didn’t even need her to confirm it.
Lydia Schmidt, who had obediently followed me with such intentions, discovered that it was actually the Champion of Towan she was trying to kill.
Lydia Schmidt, who believed her faithfulness to be second to none, had to admit to herself that she had tried to kill the Champion of Towan without recognizing him.
Fanatics didn’t doubt their gods.
Usually, they didn’t even doubt themselves.
It seemed that they believed in the gods, but in the end, what they believed in was themselves.
They believe in their righteousness because of their faithfulness to gods.
But for Lydia, the facts that were laid out to her directly contradicted her beliefs.
The person she was trying to kill was actually chosen as a champion by the gods.
But the moment she accepted it as truth, Lydia Schmidt would be forced to admit that she was wrong.
And fanatics couldn’t do that. If they could, they wouldn’t be fanatics in the first place.
Hence.
Lydia Schmidt couldn’t admit that her course of actions was in contradiction with her faith.
Without deviating from her dogma, she had to convince herself of a truth in which her attempt to kill me was right.
“That’s supposed to be Olivia’s! That’s… That doesn’t belong in your hands!”
That’s why Lydia Schmidt arbitrarily decided that I somehow usurped the Divine Relic.
Since Olivia had originally served Towan, she seems to have created the setting that Towan’s Divine Relic, Tiamata, should belong to Olivia.
“…It does belong to Olivia.”
“…what?”
“It’s jointly owned. I can’t show you right here, but Tiamata is both mine and hers. I guess you could say that we’re bound together. Ah, I guess you won’t like it if I say it like that… But what can I do, it is what it is, so to speak….”
I chuckled and whispered into Lydia Schmidt’s ear.
“Olivia and I, we’re like soul mates.”
“Hey, hey, hey, hey, you impious, lowly maggot, how dare you speak such unholy words to Towan’s proxy!”
Towan’s proxy.
One minute she’s the ruler of the Millennium Empire, the next she’s Towan’s proxy?
What the hell did this crazy bitch think of Olivia?
It was as if she couldn’t accept that her chaste idol had some sort of bond with me.
“You demon! Give back Tiamata! It’s not meant to be held by the likes of you! Tiamata is a holy object that has been passed down from generation to generation to the priests and paladins of Towan, it’s not for unbelievers like you!”
“You’re sure the room’s soundproof, right?”
“Yes, it is.”
I found this quite amusing.
Deep down, I was thinking that if I showed her Tiamata, she might just prostrate and beg for forgiveness.
This reaction was not unexpected, but it was somewhat interesting to see that her hatred of me was amplified by the sight of Tiamata.
Lydia Schmidt was not a loyal servant of the gods.
She was just one of those people who would understand and accept the gods on her own terms.
Perhaps that’s why she was saying such nonsense, because she couldn’t admit that she was wrong.
If I was truly unworthy, then why had Towan allowed me to become wielder of Tiamata?
If I was, then she must admit that Towan was imperfect.
But, Lydia didn’t want to admit that she was wrong, so right now she was saying that Towan had made a mistake.
Fanaticism was nothing more than self-deception.
One could just use logic to crush it.
Lydia Schmidt wasn’t going to kill me for her faith, she was doing so for her own selfish reasons.
Fanaticism was not about faithful and steadfast devotion, but rather it was insanity and extremism that was wrapped in dogma.
Fanaticism cannot be faithful.
It wasn’t possible to have a conversation with the fanatical Lydia Schmidt, because she was simply deluded.
But Lydia Schmidt gave me a chance.
To stay away from Olivia.
I refused, so she tried to kill me.
I gave her the same chance.
I was the Champion of Towan, whom she sought to kill. Was she still going to do it after this revelation?
Lydia Schmidt claimed that I usurped the ownership of Tiamata by some foul trick. She went even crazier and didn’t believe me at all when I told her I shared it with Olivia.
She thinks I’m the one who’s compromising Olivia’s purity by my very existence.
“I don’t know what dirty tricks you used to steal Tiamata that rightfully belongs to Olivia, but there will be hell to pay!”
I was now convinced. She would just continue to make up excuses and delude herself rather than do any actual reflection.
“I’ll make you regret it! I don’t know what you did with this evil wizard…”
-Bam!
“Shut up!”
I smashed the noisy Lydia Schmidt’s head with the hilt of Tiamata.
“Just shut your damn mouth. From now on, only use it to answer my questions.”
“….”
“The Millennial Empire. What is it?”
“….”
“Pretending you don’t know what I’m talking about? Want a taste of this divine power?”
“Don’t talk about the power of Towan with your lowly, blasphemous mouth!”
“…I just don’t understand you.”
I glanced in Eleris’s direction.
“I’m sorry, Eleris.”
“Yes.”
She’s going to die anyway.
No sense hiding it.
“Can’t you get her to listen to me? I mean, she’s just being a pain.”
“….”
Eleris stared at me, and then walked gently toward me. She stood beside me, wordlessly, and pressed her face against the bound face of Lydia Schmidt.
“I can reveal everything, can’t I?”
I know what she’s asking.
“Yeah.”
Eleris seemed to take a deep breath, then she blinked slowly.
”!”
Crimson eyes and slitted black pupils were revealed. Lydia Schmidt’s lips quivered, stunned by the overwhelming sight.
“V-Vampire…? H-how… how… how could it be…?”
Lydia looked back and forth between me and Eleris. I’m sure she couldn’t believe her eyes, seeing me wield Tiamata while having a vampire as a minion.
But it’s true.
In truth, Lydia Schmidt was wrong about a lot of things, but she was also right about some things.
Or rather, she had touched a fraction of the truth.
She called me a demon.
I’m not a demon, but something so much more.
I am worse than whatever Lydia Schmidt imagined and defined as evil.
She had underestimated me.
Lydia Schmidt was on the verge of losing her mind as things kept happening that surpassed her wildest delusions.
After revealing her true identity, Eleris brought her face as close to Lydia Schmidt’s as possible and stared into her eyes.
“I am Eleris, a Vampire Lord, and Lord of the Seven Nights.”
“Ah… Ah… Ah….”
Lydia Schmidt was horrified and could only gasp in terror.
“Even if you tell me nothing, I can find out everything with a single sip of your blood, making you my thrall. No matter how strong your will is, all resistance will be futile.”
“Ah… Ugh. Ugh… Ugh… Uh….”
“Do you want to survive as a human with a secret that’s going to come out anyway, or do you want to spend the rest of your life as my thrall because of that stupid secret of yours?”
Eleris whispered, her crimson eyes boring into Lydia Schmidt’s trembling ones.
“Choose.”
Attempting to hide secrets was meaningless before her.
She drove that fact into Lydia Schmidt’s brain.
“You, you are… what on earth… what are you?”
“In a way, you were right about me. However I’m not a maggot, but something like a demon”
“I can’t believe it… How could someone like you… in Temple….”
“You’re ridiculous. You call me a demon, and then when I confirm that I’m a demon, you say it doesn’t make sense? What did you mean? You called me a demon when you thought demons couldn’t get into Temple?”
“….”
She called me a demon, but she didn’t really think I was anything like that.
A Vampire Lord, who I treated as my underling, was able to subdue her in one fell swoop, so she must have thought I was something more terrifying.
I suppose I was, but I didn’t need to tell her the truth that she was actually much stronger than I was.
“I’m going to ask you for a second time what the Millennial Empire is, and if you don’t tell me, she’s going to turn you into a vampire.”
At my words, Lydia Schmidt’s complexion turned pale.
“You think you can kill yourself if you become a vampire? You live or die at the will of your master, but if you want to try your hand at being a vampire priest or something, go ahead.”
I don’t know how the relationship between a vampire and their thralls actually worked, but I went with the idea.
After all, Lydia Schmidt was currently scared out of her wits that she’ll believe anything she’s told, regardless of the facts.
What we’ve been doing to her was a trick, and right now, she’s fallen for it.
The fact that she, who was far more powerful than an active paladin, was so easily subdued by Eleris, was proof of my underling’s ability.
Someone like that was my subordinate.
A mysterious being who wielded Tiamata while calling himself something like a demon.
That was the premise I was going with..
She will come to the conclusion that I was someone beyond her imagination.
It was impossible for her to keep her secret.
Lydia shuddered at the thought of being turned into a vampire.
She had imagined herself destroying them, but she hadn’t thought about becoming one.
It’s no use trying to kill yourself when you’re a vampire’s thrall. Your very thoughts were dictated by your master.
From a promising paladin of Als to a being who fed on human blood and lived in the darkness of the night.
Lydia shuddered with fear and shame at the mere thought of it, her whole body was trembling at the mention of her fate.
The resolve to keep secrets was worthless sometimes.
When you finally realize the futility of hiding it, it’s all too easy to let it out.
There was no exception for secrets that must be kept even at the threat of death.
“T-the Millennial Empire… is a plan pursued by the ‘Nameless Order’….”
Lydia Schmidt was suddenly speaking with me politely.
The Nameless Order.
Another thing I haven’t heard of before, but the look on Lydia Schmidt’s face as she spoke it aloud was a mixture of devastation, misery, and dread.
“What is this Nameless Order?”
“It is… It’s a group of people from each of the five Great Churches, sects and organizations… It is a gathering of the faithful….”
“So the purpose of the Nameless Order is to unify the forces of the Five Great Churches and establish a religious state? And you intend to make Olivia Lanze its first ruler?”
“To put it bluntly, yes….”
She seemed to have a lot of things she wanted to say in rebuttal, but she didn’t dare open her mouth out of fear.
Both Eleris and I couldn’t help but get serious.
“Doesn’t it seem like they’re no different than the revolutionaries, just with a different flavor?”
“I suppose….”
An extremist group called the Nameless Order was trying to establish a nation separate from the Empire.
If they succeed, they’d want to create a country that was similar to the empire.
“Do you have any idea how big they are?”
“….”
I clicked my tongue as Lydia shook her head and pursed her lips.
“Don’t try to make things up. If you do, she’ll turn you into a thrall and ask you again.”
“Oh, no, I’m not, I’m not, I’m not making things up!”
Lydia shook her head wildly while in chains, wondering if being a vampire was worse than dying.
“We don’t have many members right now, but our numbers are still… growing. Soon… I expect… that our influence will be on par with one of the Great Churches.”
“Damn it…”
“It sounds like a serious matter.”
It sounded like they were still on the small side, thankfully, but the speed at which they’re spreading their influence was staggering.
Soon, they would have the size equivalent to a single Church.
And even worse it was not just composed of one denomination, but it existed within the Knights Templar and the Five Great Churches. A group of radicals that had the power to influence the entirety of the Five Great Churches.
The situation was more serious than I had realized.
First the revolutionary forces, then this Nameless Order.
“This is crazy….”
I gripped my head, and Eleris sighed as if the earth was falling apart.
The Empire was a lost cause.
If the revolutionary forces and this exploded at the same time, the Empire would be torn in four.
Lydia didn’t seem to understand the situation.
First of all, she seemed convinced that Eleris and I were evil, but she could see that we were very uneasy with this crisis within the Empire.
She’d be more surprised to know the truth.
This mysterious demon and his minion were scrambling to figure out what to do about the Nameless Order.
Still, it is true that I increasingly feel like I’m going crazy..
“So how long has this Nameless Order been around?”
I get that it’s a religious secret society, but I wanted to clarify if they had just been expanding their influence recently or if they’ve been around for a long time, like the revolutionary faction. If they’ve been around for a while, why would they just expand their influence right now?
“Well… it has only been around for a short time.”
“Yeah? So why have so many people joined?”
“…because of religious repression.”
What the hell was this?
Lydia Schmidt gritted her teeth and shook her head at my expression.
“The former Commander of the Knights Templar, Lord Riverierre Lanze, has fallen from grace, and the Empire has begun a religious suppression to keep the Knights Templar in check… There are many members from the Churches who believe this.”
“Ah.”
Her words painted a clear picture.
That’s how the disappearance of the war hero Riverierre Lanze could be viewed by those who didn’t know the real story.
But that was just a convenient excuse.
“…Was it Riverierre Lanze who founded the… Nameless order?”
“….”
Lydia Schmidt’s silence spoke louder than any words she could have chosen.
“I guess so, huh.”
The answer was clear.
“I can’t imagine that a lot of people would actually believe something like that. That’s just something Riverierre Lanze spread around, that he was ousted because of political reasons, when in actuality he-””
“No! He’s been replaced because of unjustified slander…!”
“Shut up. You’re a Temple student, so you should know the truth, how could you call it slander?”
“It was unavoidable… to set the wavering Olivia back on the right path.”
“Ah, damn. Just shut the fuck up.”
“….”
In the end, she agreed that everything Riverierre Lanze did to Olivia was justified. I didn’t want to talk to Lydia Schmidt anymore about this.
She was out of her mind, she wasn’t thinking at all, and she was being an idiot joining a secret society.
That said, at the end of the day, this change in history happened because of Olivia Lanze’s survival.
Yeah.
Which means this shit is was also my responsibility.
Damn it.
Olivia.
Charlotte.
Do characters whose very existence were an inflection point in history have to go through crises like this again and again?
If Riverierre Lanze had stayed as the Commander of the Knights Templar, none of this would have happened. That being said, Riverierre Lanze did indeed have ambitions to establish a holy empire by breaking the Five Great Churches away from the Empire. But he couldn’t have done it in a hurry, so it was not relevant in the original main story.
But when he fell from power, he turned to secret societies.
He would spread rumors that his removal from power was religious suppression for political gain, and he would use that rumor to gather influence.
He created a secret society called the Nameless Order, which attracted people with the cause of creating a country for religious people to gather to, to flee from political pressure.
Capitalizing on the sense of victimization that came with being oppressed, Riverierre Lanze was expanding their ranks at a frightening rate.
It had the backing of his own legacy as a hero of the Demon World War.
At this rate, they would create a force the size comparable to that of one of the Great Churches, and they would be able to grab and shake the foundations of the Five Great Churches.
Riverierre Lanze intended to make Olivia the figurehead of his divine empire..
I’m sure he’d like to take the throne himself, but that would be ridiculous.
If you create a holy empire and say you’re going to be its first ruler, your sincerity would be questioned.
However, if you say that you are creating a country for the faithful and then you seat your foster daughter whose talent, character, and skill may or may not be the best on the continent, and say that she is the only one who deserved it, then you will have some justification.
Furthermore, the accusation against Riverierre Lanze could only be revoked through Olivia’s word.
If she states that she hasn’t been wronged by Riverierre Lanze, then all of the accusations against Riverierre Lanze would look like an Imperial frame-up, regardless of the truth.
Having seen her in action, it’s almost as if Olivia’s very existence was a proof.
He wanted the throne for himself, but since he couldn’t show his greed, he wanted to make sure that Olivia’s induction into the Churches was a success.
Perhaps the reason Riverierre was so obsessed with Olivia was likely because she was a being that could accomplish his revenge and was the justification needed for his divine empire. .
“That son of a bitch.”
I snarled through clenched teeth, and Lydia Schmidt became even more terrified.
I couldn’t just leave this alone.
Riverierre Lanze and the Nameless Order were the seeds of revolution.
They must be wiped out. If we don’t do it now, while they’re still weak, we won’t be able to deal with them later.
But how? If I could get the imperial court to act by accusing them of conspiracy to rebel, then the nonexistent religious oppression would become a reality.
Moderates would quickly turn into extremists.
The mere fact that any governmental power, even if it was the imperial family, was involved in his dismissal was already a recipe for a huge conflict.
I needed to organize my thoughts. I had to get more information from Lydia and figure out what to do from there.
“Okay, last question. Was your attempt to kill me ordered by the Nameless Order?”
Lydia Schmidt had genuinely wanted to kill me. However, there was a possibility that she only went through with it because she was ordered to.
At my words, Lydia Schmidt shook her head vigorously.
“Oh, no… This is… This is my own….”
“Are you sure you’re not lying because you’re afraid I’m going to fuck them up?”
“No, no, no, they had other plans, but this was my decision!”
Man, Lydia Schmidt really hated the thought of becoming a vampire’s thrall.
“Okay, then what was their plan?”
“….”
Lydia Schmidt pursed her lips as if she’s having trouble speaking.
But she knew what I would say if she didn’t tell me, so she eventually opened her mouth as if to spit it out.
“Adriana… That second year from Temple… The Order has her….”
“…what?”
My mind seemed to have gone blank at the mention of a name I had never imagined being involved in this ordeal.
Adriana?
Why was Adriana being mentioned here?
Images of Adriana flashed through my mind. The last time we walked together near the Artowan Monastery flashed through my mind.
What was he going to do to Adriana?
No, what had he done to her?
“Tell me more.”
If there was such a thing as a string of reason.
Right now, mine has snapped.
Olivia was inside her dorm room.
It was almost time for the Miss Temple contest to begin, and while she should have gone to the venue to get ready, she had instead stayed in her room at Reinhardt’s insistence.
She didn’t know what he was planning, but he seemed to have an idea.
Still, she needed to get going soon or she’d be too late. She didn’t know what Reinhardt was going to do, but if she didn’t hear anything in the next half hour or so, Olivia would have to leave for the competition.
-Knock
A knock on the door made Olivia jump out of her seat.
“Reinhardt, what is…?”
“…?”
But it wasn’t Reinhardt knocking on her door, it was a dormitory worker.
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
The maid smiled wryly and handed Olivia something.
“I don’t know who you’re waiting for, but it’s a letter, Miss Olivia.”
“Oh… Yes.”
Olivia took the letter from the maid and closed the door.
There was no sender, just an address. Who would send a letter like this?
Olivia opened the envelope.
It contained only two lines of text.
[Daughter, do you remember the name Adriana?]
[She is with me now.]
”!”
The only person who would call her daughter was Riverierre Lanze.
She didn’t know why, and she had no idea how, but he had Adriana with him right now.
Reinhardt, Adriana, and Ibia, a first-year B student.
The three of them were instrumental in saving her life. Now the word had spread and everyone knew.
In other words, they played a crucial role in the fall of the Riverierre Lanze.
Reinhardt and Ibia were Temple students, which meant that it was dangerous to mess with them, but it implied that Adriana would have been relatively easy for Riverierre Lanze to reach out to.
For whatever reason, revenge or otherwise, Riverierre had Adriana now.
There was no name on the letter, just an address.
It was an order to come there.
Using Adriana as bait, he was summoning her to him.
She didn’t know what they’re trying to say, or what they’re trying to do to Adriana.
But the child who had saved her was now in danger.
Olivia sat up as if possessed, flinging open the dormitory door.
“What do you… Why….”
‘What do you want from me?’
‘Why are you doing this to me?’
Olivia clenched her teeth and stormed down the hallways.
The thought of Miss Temple had already disappeared from her mind.
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