Chapter 57

At the top of the great gate of the walled city of Galuamaria.

It was night, and the massive gate was firmly closed, not to be opened for anyone until the morning bell rang. Sturdy and impregnable, it could not be forced open by anyone. It had always been this way. It would probably be the same tomorrow. And for a long time to come. Everyone thought so.

The guards on watch were distracted. They longed for the time to change shifts, finding this job unbearably tedious. It was like being told to watch a pond where no fish swim and report if a villain came to catch them.

This job had become a mere formality. What was the point of being a lookout? It was just a waste of time and energy. Days went by gazing at the sky and the stars.

In the guard’s chest, frustration and the pent-up anger of not being able to go out into the night city piled up. Today, the slums were unusually noisy. They were probably just making a fuss over nothing. What could they do, anyway? Yes, this frustration would be vented there tomorrow. The guard slightly raised the corners of his mouth in a lecherous smile.

*

At the same time, a group of people blended into the darkness near the great gate of Galuamaria.

A girl with long hair, swaying it, let out a breathy voice.

"――It seems everything went well over there. Indeed, the hero was as competent as expected."

Receiving the booming sound from the slums in her ears, the holy maiden Matia, wearing silver gauntlets and knee guards, nodded slightly.

To be honest, she hadn’t had much hope. She had only bet a few gold coins on a slight hope that things might go well. If they did, it would be a bonus. If they didn’t, the slums could be turned into a crematorium. In any case, as long as the result wasn’t bad, it was fine.

"Yes, of course. If Ruis were to fail, it would mean the very premise of the world is wrong."

Beside her, a girl with black hair spoke as if weaving a poem.

Narrowing her eyes slightly, Matia directed her gaze at Rald=An, and the girl, Fialart, who had been sent along with An. For some reason, that man, Ruis, had sent An and Fialart together.

That man, with his quick tongue and sharp mind, wouldn’t normally send a hostage. Matia bit the corner of her lip slightly.

She had told An to be sent back, but she hadn’t expected him to come with a bonus.

The girl Matia, who detested things going against her plans, almost despised it.

It was because she was confident in her own calculations. She trusted the accumulated knowledge and wisdom within her. As a result, she could accept not reaching the ideal, but she couldn’t accept her calculations being wrong from the start.

"Please rest assured, Holy Maiden Matia. She won’t interfere with our plans. Especially, she won’t go against... Lord Ruis."

Matia’s concern must have been evident, as An whispered, trying to reassure her. His words also contained a sense of guilt for bringing Fialart along.

Raising her eyebrows for a moment, Matia signaled to An with her hand, indicating that there was no problem. Besides, she had absolute trust in An. If he judged that bringing her along was fine, it should be correct.

Moreover, she understood the meaning of his words.

Look at the sparkle in the eyes of that girl, Fialart. The excitement in her chest every time she whispered Ruis’s name. Her words were like a love poem.

But perhaps, that was the root of her unease. Matia’s sharp mind wavered. She couldn’t gauge how far Fialart’s feelings went. However, admiration could sometimes turn into blind faith.

Matia well understood the convenience and danger of blind faith. Therefore, she couldn’t fully accept Fialart.

After all, she herself, while holding that faith, also used it.

Before Matia stood the warriors of faith, eagerly awaiting her words. Despite this, they showed a composed demeanor, a result of their extensive experience in battle and conflict.

There was no time to dwell on trivial matters now.

Moistening her pale lips, Matia crafted her words as if reciting a prayer, but also as if casting a curse upon them.

"――In the past, our god told us, the ignorant. I am the one who carries all. Gain wisdom, O people. Suffer and decide by your own will. That is the will of the gods."

Her voice, which permeated the darkness, was solemn and resonated softly in their ears.

The eyes and minds of the emblem knights, standing in neat rows with their spears at the ready, were entangled by her words.

"Our lord is the one who carries. The bearer of all our destinies. If you have ears, listen, and if your eyes are open, see well. His grace is in our hands, and the decision is in our will—"

The words, spoken with a clear and resonant voice, had a certain beauty, like a song. They had a quality that stirred the heart, a sweetness that made the chest swell.

It wasn’t as if she was forcing her hand into their chests to scoop out their emotions. Rather, it was as if a torrent of emotions bubbled up from the depths of their hearts.

Fialart, too, blinked her black eyes, listening to the words with a certain interest. So this is the speech of a holy maiden, she thought. This is the charisma that draws people in and elevates them.

Reflecting on it, Helt Stanley had a similar quality. Something that made people unable to resist reaching out their hands, something that made them kneel. This, people called charisma, a magnetic force.

Ah, but. Fialart, while savoring the pleasant sound, smiled. Still, for her, that was better. That sound was the best. The voice that once called her.

Matia’s voice grew louder, as if ascending step by step.

"――But, look at that city of sin! They trample on our faith and holy land, and even more so, they entrust everything to the gods with their blind faith. The lord said, when setting out on the sea, do not rely on the gods in such a pitiful way. Decide everything by your own will, he said!"

The eyes of the girl called the holy maiden flickered with faith.

The doctrine of the Great Holy Church was to entrust everything humans possess to the gods. To entrust all management to the lord, as humans, born evil, have no will and can only bow their heads to the gods. This, they said, was true happiness and the way for all humans to attain bliss.

Matia could not accept this. Such a way of thinking was completely unacceptable to her, who valued her knowledge and thoughts above all. Her words, charged with passion, raced through the darkness.

These words were not just for the emblem believers. They overlapped with her own will, immersing Matia herself in a state of ecstasy. Turning thoughts into faith, faith into fanaticism, and fanaticism into tyranny. Weaving the mind and repainting the world.

An, before the holy maiden’s words, folded his fingers in front of his chest. To reaffirm his faith and to recognize that the struggle to come was in his hands.

"Raise the anchor! The ship has set sail! What is to come is not a holy war. By our will and our actions, stain our hands with the blood of the heretics! That is the will of the gods!"

――――!

In response to the holy maiden’s voice, and following it, a mass of voices was released into the darkness with a definite pressure.

In their eyes, only the beloved Maria was reflected. A curse was cast that would not be lifted until her knees were bent and her head was stepped on. The dark sparkle in their eyes told the story.

Receiving this, Matia’s spear was raised to the sky. It was as if offering a prayer to the heavens, yet rebelling against them. Pointing straight up.

A flash of light burst from the tip of the spear.

It was a signal to the comrades hidden within the city, a sign of the uprising, and thus, a turning point in history.

In the darkness, a streak of light racing across the sky announced the beginning of a series of rebellions by the emblem believers, the trigger for the Holy War, and the start of the siege of the walled city of Galuamaria.