Takuto was being overwhelmed by various negotiations and battles, and was now being demanded an almost inhuman level of proactive energy by a former shut-in patient, placing him right at the initial, soul-crushing stage of internal collapse.
This was around the time the alliance with Sutherland was concluded.
Given the current situation of Mynoghra and considering what lay ahead, there was one surprisingly tranquil place.
The third city, Selduchi.
A city on the Orthodox Continent that Mynoghra had acquired from its war with the Renea Shinko Kingdom, it currently lay on the front lines facing the Orthodox Continent Alliance.
In one of its offices, Kree Imreis, the former heresy inquisitor of Quolia, was absorbed in studying a single report. To her side, if Takuto were to see it, was a modest stack of documents that would make his heart ache with envy.
"So, as expected of the King. I never imagined he'd go this far..."
"What was the story about?"
A voice chimed in. Standing beside her, Mearia Elful clutched a fresh stack of documents to her chest.
This was the de facto person in charge of Selduchi. The other half of that pair of twins.
Currently, the city was operated under a three-person system. Kree oversaw the general administration, while the twin girls ran the city according to their own styles under her guidance.
Despite the guidance, it was still a three-person system. Furthermore, a fair number of Ira Religion adherents also worked as civil officials.
Thanks in part to the smooth transition from the previous Renea Shinko Kingdom's system, the atmosphere here in Selduchi was relatively lighter compared to the capital, the Great Cursed Realm.
On the other hand, there was perhaps a certain distance felt regarding the Dark Continent...
In truth, because things were running reasonably well, Takuto had somewhat left them to their own devices.
However, the fact that regular situation reports like this one arrived showed they hadn't been forgotten.
Kree neatly folded the documents and placed them inside her desk. Taking the additional papers from Mearia, she answered the earlier question.
"It's regarding the negotiations with Sutherland. It appears the alliance was successfully formed, so, for the moment, alliances with Dark Continent nations should proceed without issue."
"Oh! That's great news!"
Seeing Mearia beam with uncomplicated joy, even Kree's iron mask of a face couldn't help but crack into a slight smile.
My acquaintance with these young women had not been especially long. Yet, sharing the fate of losing cherished people served to draw us closer. Moreover, their positions afforded numerous opportunities for conversation, meaning their bond was deepening far more rapidly than ordinary relationships. The honest exchange of opinions and the casual mutual assistance born of mutual understanding yielded positive results in Selduchi's governance, proving so effective in city management that it earned commendation exceeding mere qualification.
However, that was solely in the realm of city management. They possessed their own purpose, and their city administration was merely a task bestowed upon them by the King during that process. Now, something far more critical existed.
All of them understood this fact, and simultaneously, they felt a growing impatience with the sluggish progress.
"Is His Majesty's business proceeding well? Since Carrie and I haven't produced results, it feels awkward to report..." Before I knew it, Carrie had entered the office. On the tray she carried were what appeared to be cups and some sort of sweets. She must have brought refreshments for our break.
Kree, recognizing her own similar frustration and awkwardness, offered Carrie words of encouragement. "Forging the fundamentals is crucial. Your abilities are definitely increasing. Additionally, the retraining of the 'Ira Knights' is progressing well; we will comfortably meet the deadline."
The three of them had been tasked by the King with something beyond city administration: the strengthening of their military capabilities, including their own. The specifics of the training, its direction, and its details had been left entirely to Kree and the others. The high degree of discretion, however, had become a burden for them.
Especially for Kree, whose primary goal was the retrieval of Saint Ritrain, the diarist. If things continued as they were, a clash was inevitable at the outbreak of the great war, leaving her in a constant state of anxiety. Considering Ritrain's abilities, they needed to act sooner rather than later.
Although the King had declared he would take responsibility for the retrieval, Kree could never accept the choice of doing nothing and leaving everything entirely in his hands.
"Have you found out anything about that Saint girl?" At Mearia's question, Kree shook her head from side to side.
She was thoroughly vexed that there was no sign of progress on the matter where she most wanted to achieve results. "No... I realized that while I was preoccupied with thoughts of that girl, I understood nothing. That is all I have learned."
The city of Selduchi was originally territory belonging to the Holy Kingdom Quolia, under the Renean Godlight. If past buildings still remained undestroyed, perhaps valuable documents might be buried somewhere within as well.
Perhaps even information about the Saintess of the Diary, whose records were so strictly guarded...
Harboring this faint hope, he searched the city as thoroughly as time allowed. From the archives of churches in each village to the studies of the city's influential figures...
While useful information did surface separately for both Mynoghra and Selduchi, none of the crucial documents he sought were found.
He hadn't held enormous expectations from the start, but disappointment was still inevitable.
Kree voiced the unease he held within.
"Continuously using miracles that erase the cost will surely bring negative consequences upon her eventually. The thought terrifies me. We must act quickly, yet I don't even know how to begin."
"Time will come~"
"Yes, it will. Until then, we must endure."
Now was the time for endurance. The sisters understood this well.
Kree was beginning to understand it too.
The crucial moment would certainly arrive. To ensure they didn't miss it when it did, the only thing to do now was endure and sharpen their fangs...
"Nerim. Where are you...?"
His murmur vanished into the empty air.
◇
Holy Kingdom Quolia. Saint Capital Fourth District, Church Underground Dungeon.
A secret facility intended for the permanent incarceration of serious offenders or politically dangerous individuals.
Only the flickering light of a torch illuminated the dim, damp stone room.
Beyond iron bars of a thickness and sturdiness seemingly unfit for containing human beings, the young girl was there.
Saintess of the Diary, Ritrain-Nerim-Quartz.
Blindfolded and seated primly on the central chair, the girl was a sight that immediately struck one as unnatural. Normally, a prisoner would be expected to carry the usual grime and filth of confinement, yet there was not a speck on her. She bore no injuries and showed no signs of fatigue whatsoever. It was as if she had only just stepped inside, her space alone remaining pristine and cool.
Watching her from outside the cell, the Cardinal—who held the priest, his utterly loyal pawn whose weakness he had seized, by his side—peered into the prison with eyes that held both loathsome contempt and a distinct flicker of fear.
"So this is what remains of the former Saint..." The words escaped him almost involuntarily, causing the priest to grimace. The content was one thing, but the delivery was harsh.
However, given their relative standing, the priest did not dare challenge him directly. The Cardinal's voice had been kept to a volume the priest could tolerate.
"And what, pray tell, is the supposed saint acting as our vessel currently doing?" the Cardinal continued, but this next remark could not be overlooked. It was far too loud.
The flustered priest grabbed the sleeve of the Cardinal, who should technically be his superior, and desperately pressed a finger to his own lips in a frantic gesture for silence.
But before he could succeed, it happened.
"Kyah!"
A cry—from which of the men, it was unclear.
The Saint, whose memories should have been entirely erased and whose consciousness utterly void, turned her face towards them.
The Saint of the Diary, Ritrain Nerim, had offered her memories to God in exchange for immense power. As the cost, her memories continued to fade, and without the diary in which she recorded her recollections, she could not even determine her own identity.
With that diary now strictly isolated, she should theoretically have been in a state of vacant stupor, utterly unresponsive to any external stimuli.
Yet she spoke, her voice sweet and endearing.
"Hello? Is someone there? I can hear your voices. Please answer me. I'm lonely."
She spoke only into the empty air before her. A girl, who it was not even certain could perceive the presence she was addressing.
"Why am I here? It's so dark here... It's so, so dark, and no one will tell me..."
The sight of her was pitiable, and the cardinal was so moved by the faint conscience within him that he almost called out to her.
"Hush... We must not answer. We must not be noticed by that."
Thanks to the priest's warning, he held back just in time.
He must not be deceived by the girl's voice. The cardinal remembered how much sacrifice it had cost to capture that girl, who constantly repeats memory loss and cognitive decay.
"Huh? Is someone there? Hey... I want you to tell me."
Her memory was gone again, and she was back at the start.
"Don't you know about the book? It's my precious book. With it, I'm sure I can remember everything."
All he could do was watch, silently.
At this point, it was less observation and more study. Saint Ritrain was that dangerous an existence to Quolia in her current state.
Another change, one that corrodes the hearts of all who witness it, was about to occur.
"Aaaaaah!! My book! It's gone! Without it, I... I'll..."
Ritrain suddenly screamed. Like a madwoman... desperate for the book.
"I'll disappear! Hey, I'll disappear! I'm going to disappear! Hey, give me the book, quick! Where is it?! Hurry, hurry, or I'll... aaaaaah!!"
A scream that seemed to tear her throat apart. The two—watchers, bystanders, and now terrified—could only desperately cover their ears to stifle any sound of shock, waiting for her frenzy to pass.
"Huh? Why am I here?"
With a snap, she returned to herself once more.
The cardinal's expression screamed that he did not want to stay here for even one more second.
She needed no food, no sleep, no... she required virtually no human actions to continue existing. Saint Ritrain simply persisted, doing nothing but going mad, forgetting, and whispering into the void.
Because she possessed a miracle of God.
Because she is loved by God...
(If this is the miracle God has granted... is this truly the holy maiden blessed by God?)
No one exists to answer the priest's inner conflict.
"…Let us go. We cannot say what will happen if we stay long."
The priest speaks, but receives no reply from the cardinal. The cardinal's response was turning his back to the cell.
He steps towards the door leading to the surface. From behind him, the voice continues without pause.
Saint Ritrain speaks into the void, whether anyone is there or not.
That is what frightens them the most. Probably all day—no, it is always like that.
The cardinal and priest slip away, muffled and silent, as if fleeing a labyrinth where a wild beast has been unleashed.
A once-daily survival check of Saint Ritrain.
The cardinal had forced this companion duty upon the priest who had taken an interest in her, but he now deeply regretted his actions.
Even he, who had peered into many a darkness, found the sight he had just witnessed too repulsive.
"If we have come this far, we are safe. They likely cannot hear us anymore now… probably."
At the priest's words, the cardinal finally lets out a long, deep sigh.
He had considered uttering a complaint, no… a single question, but the priest's face was too pale for him to hesitate.
They were the same. Both of them were utterly shattered, feeling as though they had aged several years in an instant.
"How does one even handle something like that…" the cardinal mutters.
The priest merely shakes his head with a grim expression.
The situation in Quolia is dire. El-Nar has fallen into the hands of a Succubus, and the three archbishops, including the vessel holy maidens, have decided to join forces with the evil witch, Vagia.
And for the coming day… they are securing the Diary Saint to be deployed as a fighting force.
Quolia now knows none of its former glory. Everyone is fearful, riddled with suspicion and distrust.
One could almost hear the footsteps of ruin slowly drawing closer.
"O God, what are we to do..."
Though his hands might have been sullied by shameful acts, and countless hidden secrets kept from the light, he was, as a Cardinal, a man of the clergy.
And a devout worshiper of God.
Prayers are always said to reach heaven. The Sacred Teachings proclaim this, but nowhere is it written how the Holy God Aros might handle such prayers.
The footsteps seemed to be right upon them...