Chapter 202 - Damn Reincarnation

Audience Chamber

Switching consciousness was something Kristina could never get used to, no matter how she tried. Feeling slightly dizzy, she shook her head several times.

“... Will you really be all right, Sir Raphael?”

She asked as she watched Raphael’s back. He had taken the lead and was guiding them to the highest-grade relic vault as though it were only natural. There was not a single drop of blood on the greatsword slung across his back, but Kristina could vividly recall that vicious, keen blade severing Cardinal Pietro’s neck only moments ago.

“What do you mean?”

Raphael sounded genuinely puzzled. Kristina cleared her throat softly and continued.

“Whatever the circumstances, it was your sword that killed Cardinal Pietro. The Holy See has agreed to turn a blind eye to the matter of Eugene and me, but you...”

“Ah, that is nothing for you to worry about, my saint.”

Raphael no longer called Kristina a candidate for sainthood. He had seen her unfold eight wings before his very eyes, and had watched her slap and punch the Pope. If Kristina herself disliked the title, there was nothing he could do about that, but he could think of no other fitting way to address her than as a saint.

“There is no one in the Blood Cross Knights capable of replacing me if they dismiss me now. Especially if they take your reprimand to heart, they will have to relinquish a great many holy relics and miracles... Ultimately, that would diminish Yuras’s military strength.”

“Yes... I suppose that is inevitable.”

“That makes it all the more impossible for the Pope to discipline me. The Knight March, where the knightly orders of every nation will assemble, is scheduled for next year. If I were dismissed, or suddenly forced into seclusion by illness or some unavoidable circumstance, who could possibly lead the Blood Cross Knights and bring glory to Yuras at the Knight March?”

The Knight March.

A gathering intended to foster unity among knightly orders, established at the suggestion of Kiel’s emperor. Its stated purpose was to bring together each nation’s military strength, compare their abilities, and promote goodwill. Its true purpose, however, was to answer the “warning” that the Demon King of Incarceration and Helmuth’s demons had delivered to the world.

Even if it failed to serve as the warning they intended, this gathering—the Knight March—would be a major event in strengthening each nation’s forces. This was a peaceful age that had not seen war for a very long time. Many knightly orders were counted among the best, but no one had properly established which was the finest and strongest.

Put a sword in a knight’s hand and provide a place to wield it and measure their skill against others, and the competitive spirit of most knights—not just hot-blooded youths—would flare to life. Establishing a pecking order among nations—or rather, among knightly orders. Headhunting behind the scenes. Such things were bound to happen, so Yuras could not afford to cast aside the Crusader, the Holy Empire’s greatest knight.

“As far as I know, the venue for the Knight March has yet to be decided. Do you know anything more, Sir Raphael?”

“Doesn’t Kiel’s emperor want to hold the Knight March in his own territory? Yuras feels the same way.”

Raphael shrugged and smiled.

“But it seems Yuras has all but been chosen as the venue. That is why the Pope wanted to keep the Beast King in check, even if it meant resorting to underhanded tricks.”

Like the Audience Chamber, the Holy See’s highest-grade relic vault lay beneath the White Rotunda Palace. Bishops and archbishops could enter the other relic vaults with permission, but access to the highest-grade vault had always been limited to the Pope and the cardinals.

They arrived before the heavily secured vault, but no one barred their way. Before Raphael could say a word, the holy knights guarding this floor bowed deeply and stepped aside of their own accord. Telepathy was one of the higher divine spells. Though his stigmata had been artificially engraved, the Pope’s divine power was unrivaled; he must have used telepathy to issue orders to every holy knight guarding the White Rotunda Palace.

“I shall take my leave here.”

Raphael stopped walking.

“I am curious about what lies within the highest-grade relic vault... But that does not mean I ought to accompany you inside to see for myself. I shall return to the Blood Cross Knights.”

“Thank you for accompanying us.”

As Kristina spoke with her hands clasped in prayer, Raphael smiled and knelt on one knee.

“It is an honor to take part in your work, my saint. I shall pray that the Light is with you in all that you do.”

With those final words, Raphael turned away.

The corridor was empty.

At its end stood a round, pure-white door. Kristina approached it, stroking the platinum ring on her finger.

When she held the ring against the door, an intricate web of cracks spread across its surface. The cracks parted silently, opening a passage large enough for a person to walk through. This was security magic of the highest order, comparable to that of the Lionheart Treasury. Eugene followed Kristina into the highest-grade relic vault.

“So, what did you come here to find?”

Eugene asked, looking at Kristina’s back.

“... I came to see whether the bodily remains of Sister and the other saints might still be here as holy relics.”

“Sister?”

When Eugene echoed the word in confusion, Kristina flinched and slapped her own lips.

“Ahem... Ahem. Lady Anise really is mischievous. I wish she would give me some warning before borrowing my mouth...”

[“I did nothing. Why are you using me as an excuse?”]

‘Sister, please.’

[“Kristina. What you just did has disappointed me greatly. Will you continue to use me as an excuse for your mistakes, and sometimes disguise yourself as me to indulge your sordid desires?”]

‘Sordid desires...? What on earth do you...’

[“This is what worries me. Kristina, might you pretend to be me and kiss Hamel—”]

“Ahem! Ahem! Ahehem!”

Kristina pounded her chest and cleared her throat as though she had choked on something. Meanwhile, she brought dozens of prayers to mind at once. Faced with such extremes, even Anise grew exasperated and stopped speaking to her.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes, I am.”

Kristina answered with a smile, as though nothing were wrong.

“The holy relics of the previous saints have already returned to the Light, but if there are any others that should not remain, I shall perform the sacred rites and send them back to the Light. And...”

Kristina raised her head and looked around the vault.

“... Some of Lady Anise’s belongings remain here. We must retrieve them.”

Returning the holy relics to the Light was important, but recovering Anise’s belongings was their true purpose in entering the highest-grade relic vault.

These were no mere mementos. In some respects, the belongings of Anise the Faithful were worth more than her bodily remains, or even those of the Holy Emperor.

[“They will be, to you.”]

Anise spoke to her.

[“The belongings of mine kept here... are things I used throughout our time in the demon lands three hundred years ago.”]

The highest-grade relic vault held a wide variety of holy relics. No, it had once held them. Most of the glass display cases were empty.

At the sight, Eugene clenched his fist once, then opened it. Those empty cases reminded him of the filtration apparatus he had seen at the source of the Spring of Light. Apart from the absence of flowing water, they were not so different. Those glass cases must originally have held the holy relics of the previous saints.

There were things that had remained rather than disappearing.

They came in many forms, starting with bones: the remains of male saints. There were also sacred objects such as crosses, prayer beads, and rosaries, as well as a few weapons, including daggers.

“... Hah.”

Following Kristina, Eugene let out a brief exclamation.

“This is still here? What a welcome sight.”

It rested not in an ordinary glass case, but atop a golden pedestal.

A mace, worn all over, with subtle black and reddish stains worked into it.

It was the vicious weapon Anise had wielded three hundred years ago to smash the skulls of countless demons.

“... I... am not confident I can handle a mace as well as Lady Anise...”

[“If you detach the head and connect it to a chain, you should be able to use it as a flail.”]

As though entranced, Kristina reached out and grasped the mace. ... It was heavy. Having swung a flail since childhood, she was confident in her strength, but Anise’s mace was far too heavy for her to lift with one hand.

[“Without this much weight, you cannot smash a demon’s skull.”]

Anise spoke.

[“It is an artifact carved from a solid piece of that expensive adamantium, prepared for me when I was a child. It accompanied me into the Spring of Light from the very beginning, and was tempered with my holy blood and the spring’s light.”]

‘...’

[“Moreover, even when there was no ritual, I steadily infused it with my holy blood and used it as a catalyst for miracles. In Helmuth, I let it drink the blood of countless demons and reap their souls, then baptized and purified it every day with my holy blood and light... I dare say this mace is the best sacred object in this age for killing demons, second only to the Holy Sword.”]

Kristina looked down at the mace supported in both hands and felt her heart pounding. Now that she knew its origins, it felt heavier still. As Anise had said, this mace would be the sacred object most deadly to demons after the Holy Sword, Altair.

“Just looking at that makes my side ache.”

“Pardon?”

“When was it? We hadn’t been able to resupply, and we’d run out of all the booze we had. But Anise had stashed away a few bottles from her own share. So Senya and I tried to steal them without her knowing... and got caught in the act. Senya took the coward’s way out and escaped on her own with spatial magic, so I was the only one who got his ribs smashed by Anise’s mace.”

Recalling the distant past, Eugene rubbed his side.

“No matter how I look at it, Anise went too far that time. My shattered ribs tore into my lungs, so I couldn’t breathe, and it hurt like hell. But instead of healing me, she broke my legs too.”

[“Stealing from a comrade? That bastard Hamel was the one in the wrong.”]

“You were in the wrong, Eugene.”

“Who said I wasn’t? I’m just saying she went a bit too far. Tsk...”

Eugene knew the next sacred object well, too: the rosary Anise had always worn around her neck.

[“Simply holding it hastens the recovery of divine power and amplifies the strength of miracles.”]

There was also the glass bottle that had held “real” holy water, rather than liquor.

[“Like the mace, this sacred object accompanied me into the Spring of Light from childhood, absorbing its blessings. Merely filling it with water produces holy water, without any troublesome rituals or preparation. The holy water it makes disperses demonic energy and burns demons’ flesh and blood. With an additional miracle, it can also become a highly effective potion, though it falls short of an elixir.”]

Kristina put the rosary around her neck and tucked the glass bottle into her clothing. Then, carrying the mace in both hands, she approached the final sacred object.

A pure-white robe bearing a red cross. Eugene smiled involuntarily at the sight of it.

In the past he remembered, Anise had always worn that robe. Not once had blood stained the red cross on its back or its white lining, yet Anise had always bled from the back hidden beneath it.

[“You will find it convenient.”]

Anise spoke.

[“Throughout more than a decade of sleeping outdoors in Helmuth, that robe never once became dirty. Nor was it ever stained with blood. It was made to keep the cross vividly red and the white fabric pure and spotless at all times... an ostentatious symbol of sainthood.”]

‘... I wonder whether it will suit me...’

[“It suited me, so of course it will suit you. The robe itself also amplifies miracles, and I do not wish to leave a single one of my belongings here. So, Kristina, take them all.”]

Hesitantly, Kristina draped the robe around herself. Though this was surely her first time wearing it, it settled snugly and comfortably against her body as though she had worn it for years.

[“Do not concern yourself with me.”]

She wore Anise’s robe and rosary, carried the holy-water bottle against her chest, and held the mace.

[“You must not become me. All these things are meant to aid you on your journey, not to transform you into me.”]

Without answering, she stroked the rosary. There was no need to reply. Feeling Anise’s consideration for her, Kristina smiled faintly. She was not so fragile that a slight change of attire would throw her identity into confusion.

Kristina Rogeris.

The person who had called her by that name stood right before her.

“Eugene.”

Kristina spoke.

“Would you please go back ahead of me?”

“Where?”

Eugene asked without surprise. Kristina smiled as she concealed the heavy mace inside her robe.

“Anywhere will do. Please stay at an inn in Euresia.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I... still have a little work left.”

Looking around the relic vault, Kristina continued.

“There does not seem to be anything here that particularly requires sacred rites to return it to the Light. They are bodily remains in the end, but these holy relics undoubtedly hold miracles.”

“I suppose so.”

“But there are other places I still wish to inspect. ... There are probably more unholy relics in the inquisitorial bureau and the Faculty of Divine Magic than here.”

The inquisitorial bureau and the Faculty of Divine Magic had researched ancient magic such as blood magic alongside black magic.

“All right.”

It would have been easy to offer his help.

But Eugene did not. Kristina had not asked him to help. It was not that she could not bring herself to ask. She genuinely did not want his assistance. She wished to bring the matters concerning the saints to a close with her own hands, and mourn what remained of them.

“... In two days, an event commemorating Lady Anise’s feast day will be held in Sun Plaza.”

Kristina steadied her trembling voice before continuing.

“Let us meet there at noon, when the sun is brightest.”