Chapter 91 - I absolve you of your sins (2)

God is everywhere.

But his embrace does not reach everyone equally.

It descends first upon those in high places, and gives more to those who already have much.

That was the face of God and the church the people at the bottom had seen all their lives.

"Then this man is innocent now?"

"Of course. It is an indulgence issued personally by the bishop."

After answering Vlad's question, the priest closed his eyes and began reciting a prayer in a reverent posture.

His pious appearance, no matter who looked at him, made it feel as if God's grace had truly reached this place.

'... All with just this.'

Vlad could not understand.

That all of Black Bear's sins could be absolved with a single sheet of paper the priest was holding now.

Could the tears of the women who had died in that false church truly be wiped away by this single sheet of paper?

If so, then who in the world would repay Anna for the black tears she had shed?

"Sin can always be absolved with a faithful heart, Sir Vlad."

"..."

As Vlad stood there, lost between rage and bewilderment, the priest the bishop had sent smiled benevolently at him.

"I, I am innocent now."

At the voice from beside him, Vlad blankly turned his head that way.

"God has forgiven me. That makes it all right now, doesn't it?"

"... Forgiven?"

Where he turned, Black Bear was looking at Vlad and gradually smiling, as if everything was settled now.

Now that he had been made innocent by the church and the indulgence, he surely had every right to smile.

The women he had sold off had been locked away in dark places, trembling in terror until they died, yet the man who had driven them to their deaths was smiling.

This was wrong.

"... Can anyone truly be forgiven, so long as they have a faithful heart, Father?"

"Of course, Sir Knight."

Was it truly possible to commit any sin and become blameless, as long as God and the church forgave you?

"I see."

'Then I should ask for forgiveness too.'

'Because I promised I would take payment in her stead, while wiping away the tears Anna had not even been able to shed that day.'

"Sir Vlad?"

"I confess my sin, Father."

If no one is where they ought to be.

If no one takes responsibility where they ought to act.

Then you do it.

For that is the Swordmaster's Code.

SLASH!

"Guh...!"

In an instant, dark red blood sprayed over the priest's white vestments.

No one had expected it, so no one could stop it.

No, even if they had expected it, it was a resolute stroke that could not have been stopped.

"Urgh..."

Black Bear clutched at his own throat, his eyes bulging as if he could not believe it.

Blood poured without cease from the throat he was desperately trying to hold shut.

"W-What is this...!"

"I am a sinner, Father."

Before the horrified priest, there was a knight kneeling as he confessed his sin.

He was a man who bore a faithful name vouched for by Priest Andreas, and he wore the shining armor gifted by San Rosino of the northern diocese.

"So please grant me a chance to have my sin absolved as well."

God's will comes dazzling and splendid as the midday sun, but at times, it must shine at an angle as it did now.

For when it descends upon low and ugly places like the back alleys, even it must lower its head to enter.

* * *

It was the depths of night, when everyone should have been asleep, yet Joseph and the knights had gathered in the mayor's office with solemn expressions.

"So it has come to this after all."

After hearing Gregory's report, Joseph pressed down on his eyelids as if fatigue were settling over him and let out a deep sigh.

"You are saying he truly killed a man who had received an indulgence?"

"I apologize, Lord Joseph. I should have stopped him."

Gregory stood with his head bowed, as if he truly had nothing to say.

Though the primary person responsible for this operation was Vlad, Gregory, too, had responsibilities he should have fulfilled as his senior.

"I truly never imagined that a man like Black Bear would obtain an indulgence..."

"You are right."

Joseph, who had been sitting quietly with his fingers interlaced, slowly lifted his head and spoke.

"There is no way some mere back-alley boss could have received an indulgence bestowed by a bishop."

"But he clearly..."

"It must have been given to him. Not obtained by him."

As if showing he was deep in thought, Joseph's black eyes were unfocused.

But even without a clear gaze, Joseph's eyes shone brighter than anyone else's in the room.

"They take Bayezid for a joke."

Joseph's eyes were shining with anger.

Anyone in the world would be the same, but nobles in particular were people who grew furious when what was theirs was encroached upon.

Because they were born with the fate that if they yielded one thing at a time, they would eventually have everything taken from them.

"Where is Vlad now?"

"He is waiting outside the door."

"Good."

Though it had been a foolish choice, that did not mean his action was incomprehensible.

Moreover, judging from the fact that he had deliberately issued an indulgence to Black Bear, it was clear the bishop had been aiming for Vlad from the beginning.

That was why this had to be done.

"Arrest Knight Vlad at once."

Joseph's order suddenly rang through the office.

Gregory and Vordan, who had been listening to that order, stared at their lord with bewildered eyes.

"Lord Joseph, Vlad is..."

"The charge is murder."

A cold order because it was resolute.

As if he had already decided, there was not the slightest tremor in Joseph's voice.

"Understood."

Everyone was unable to move easily at the shocking order, but Jager alone stepped outside without the slightest hesitation at Joseph's command.

"S-Sir Jager. Let me do it instead."

"It is my fault he was raised so poorly, so I will take responsibility."

Jager's attitude was as resolute as Joseph's order.

If the boy had to be punished and whipped, then it was right that he be the one to do it.

Doing it himself would surely be easier on his heart than watching someone else do it.

"... Damn it."

Gregory could not help lamenting as he imagined what would happen outside the door.

A master arresting his disciple.

Had he known things would turn out like this, he would never have sent Vlad upstairs alone.

"Sir Gregory."

"Yes."

But Gregory had no room to indulge in regret.

"As a party involved in this matter, you must also take responsibility."

"That is true."

Though Joseph was speaking to Gregory with his mouth, his hand was already moving without pause, scribbling something down.

"So go to Varna at once."

"Excuse me?"

Gregory merely stood there blankly after receiving the letter Joseph handed him.

When he finally managed to come to his senses and look, the name Priest Andreas was written on the envelope.

"The faster, the better."

"U-Understood."

Something was moving urgently.

But Joseph was taking action as if he had been waiting for this, so all Gregory could do was obey his orders.

"Sir Vordan, bring a mage. I must contact my father and San Rosino."

"Understood."

"Inform Maksim and Cade as well. Cancel every mission they are carrying out from this moment on and have them stand by here."

"Yes."

War was not something that began only with the clash of swords and spears.

The Bishop of Soara had now, using Vlad as bait, effectively issued a declaration of war against the lawful Bayezid, and Joseph chose not surrender, but decisive battle as his answer.

"... So you are finally moving first."

He had known.

He had known it would come to this in the end.

He had only been wondering when that time would arrive, or whether he would have to move first.

This was precisely why Family Head Peter had sent Joseph here to Soara instead of his eldest son, Rutiger.

Because his second son, though he had no talent for the sword, had been born with a sharpness no less formidable.

"This is better, if anything."

In the empty office, the young man with dark shadows under his eyes let his black gaze gleam.

Now the time had come to possess it completely.

A city entirely Bayezid's, bound by nothing at all.

* * *

A tall bell tower signified closeness to the God in the heavens, and a wide-spreading building symbolized the breadth of his embrace.

Though it was smaller than Varna, with its strong religious character, the Church of Soara was still one of the largest buildings in the city.

For to ignorant people, nothing struck home as surely as size.

"He cut him down without hesitation?"

"Th-That is correct, Your Excellency."

The bishop's audience chamber was laid with alternating black and white tiles.

There, in the place the artisans who built the church had put the most care into making, the Bishop of Soara was listening to the report of the priest he had sent.

"He was a more explosive bastard than I'd heard."

A man wearing red vestments.

His gaunt body looked unimpressive, but his height, which seemed to reach two meters, was certainly enough to intimidate others.

"So rattling that boy really was the right move."

The white-robed priest who had personally delivered the indulgence to Black Bear stood with his head bowed, not daring to meet the bishop's eyes.

The Bishop of Soara.

Bishop Pierre.

Though he wore a peaceful smile now, before he became a bishop, he had been famous as a merciless inquisitor.

"The boy's guarantor was Priest Andreas, wasn't it?"

"That is correct."

At the answer he heard, Bishop Pierre closed his eyes with a truly satisfied smile.

Because every one of the people he had regarded as thorns in his side was closely connected to the knight named Vlad.

"If this goes well, I may be able to blow them all away at once."

A priest so devout that everyone in the North knew him, despite the fact that he was not a high-ranking clergyman.

Andreas.

Though Andreas was in Varna and not this city, Pierre had always found him uncomfortable.

Even if people united under a single purpose, once an organization grew larger and wider, it was human nature for them to split and gather here and there.

Seen in that light, Andreas and Pierre were people standing on opposite sides from one another.

"The gentlemen at the Vatican will be pleased."

God's will is one, but there are many ways to convey that will.

And Pierre was a man who believed firmly, without the slightest doubt, that only the path he walked could truly reach God's will.

"Send someone to the new mayor. Tell him I must have the foolish knight who ignored my indulgence handed over to me."

The new mayor, Joseph, had been expanding his influence with his own resolve until now, but Pierre could no longer overlook it.

Now it was time to make his presence known, along with a sharp warning.

"Tell the inquisitors to prepare as well."

"Understood."

Even if it had not been now, Vlad would one day have fallen into Pierre's scheme.

Because the young knight, who was young, inexperienced, and therefore foolish, was someone Pierre had been watching for some time.

"Let us see his face, then."

There is no result without a cause.

That was the truth he had felt in his bones throughout his life as an inquisitor.

"The boy who was struck by black lightning, that is."

No matter how outstanding the talent he possessed, the fact that he had produced aura and become a knight in a mere year was something Pierre's common sense could not comprehend.

Perhaps, as Pierre had hoped, a dark shadow might be lurking within the brilliant achievements the boy had created all this time.