To be honest, I had expected as much.
They had managed to do it themselves. So it stood to reason that the Second Princess, Laila, could very well have done the same—slipping through the chaos of the Royal Capital and finding her way to the Church, which served as her backing.
...However, what she might have been doing within the Church after arriving—let alone how she might be entangled in the Church's current turmoil—that, he could not have predicted. And so, to Ermes and the others, who showed varying degrees of surprise at her appearing right from the start, Laila—
"...And so—"
She cast a fleeting glance behind Ermes and the others—at the church soldiers who had escorted them this far—before speaking.
"The soldiers' armor has damage marks on it... So you were attacked after all, weren't you? By 'those people.'"
"That is—"
"Exactly so, Your Highness!"
Before Ermes could answer the question—
The person in charge of the church soldiers raised his voice, cutting him off. And then, without giving Ermes and the others even a sliver of a chance to interject, he launched into a tirade—
"And what's more, these ones right here! Not only did they break free from our restraint and charge headlong at the enemy—while crying that 'their equipment looks just like ours, it's confusing'—they ruthlessly—
along with us—
the enemy—
with magic—
burned them all away—
all of it!!"
"—"
"Because of them, we ended up in this sorry state, even though we could have handled things perfectly well on our own! Throughout the journey, we escorted them while trembling at the thought of when we might be attacked again. Your Highness, these people are absolute scoundrels—useful or not, these demons are far too dangerous!!"
............I see.
It seemed they intended to file a false report in order to protect their own position. The blend of truth was just convincing enough to sound credible—probably figuring that their word, as church soldiers, would carry more weight than the claims of the infamous Ermes and his lot in the eyes of the Church.
And Laila, having heard it all—
"Oh? I see. So that's how it was."
"Yes, exactly! As I said, these people cannot be trusted. We have more than enough power to punish those heretics on our own! Surely God will grant us his blessing and—"
Laila smiled warmly and nodded, which only emboldened the man in charge to press his agenda further.
She kept that smile fixed as she slowly walked up to him and placed a hand lightly on his shoulder.
"—Are you underestimating me?"
Her voice had turned, in an instant, to something that chilled to the bone.
"—!?"
"'We would have used magic to wipe out even you along with them'? Oh, what a delightful joke. The Third Princess's faction—didn't they defeat Archbishop Johan? Don't they have mages powerful enough to go head-to-head against the eldest son of that northern monster, Floidite? And you think they'd bother using magic against you lot?"
"Th-that is acc—"
"—So then why
are your injuries
only that minor?"
Crimson eyes glinted with a contrastingly cold light.
Laila radiated the unmistakable commanding aura of royalty as she pressed her accusation against the man in charge.
"And another thing—I already told you, didn't I? 'If those people show up, request backup from Lirii and the others to make sure they're taken down.' So why deploy such a muddled formation that only confuses your own forces? If you'd cooperated from the start, you could have avoided all of this by falling back to support Lirii's group or anything along those lines."
"Th-that's..."
"I'd like to think you wouldn't, but—you didn't seriously ignore my orders and try to take them down on your own, did you?"
"—!!"
With circumstantial evidence and precise analysis. Having accurately read the situation from the start and the actions of the church soldiers, Laila pressed on relentlessly.
"Also, about the equipment we issued you—"
"—did you realize it had voice-recording Magical tools attached?"
"W-What—!"
"Oh, and just so you know—we've already recovered them. So... do you have anything to say for yourselves?"
Flawless. Decisive, irrefutable evidence that could expose any lie had been thrust right in front of them.
Unable to utter a word, yet still stubbornly maintaining his silence out of sheer humiliation, the person in charge faced Laila as she let out a single sigh before continuing—
"So you have nothing to say. Very well. A formal judgment will follow. Until then, confine yourselves to the barracks."
"Y-Yes... understood..."
With one final, ice-cold utterance.
At Laila's merciless parting words, the person in charge finally seemed to realize that nothing he said would make a difference. He hung his head, shoulders trembling, turned on his heel, and walked away.
Just as he was about to leave.
"...Damn it... some decorative princess acting like she's—!"
Muttered in a voice just loud enough for Ermes and the others to hear, the words lingered uncomfortably in their ears.
"..."
There were various questions, to be sure.
Laila had properly punished the church soldier who had amused Ermes and the others along the way, as befitted a superior's duty. She then continued on— and, somewhat surprisingly—
"...I'm sorry about that."
Though she didn't bow her head on account of her position, she offered her apology with genuine sincerity.
"Those people have a tendency for their faith and ambition to run wild. Even so, I never expected them to go so far as to alter a church mission for personal reasons... I underestimated them. In hindsight, I should have disclosed the existence of the voice-recording Magical tools from the start. They will face appropriate punishment, and I will make reparations as well."
"How remarkably gracious of you, Your Highness the Second Princess. ...Though I must say, to send soldiers like *those* to greet us. Surely an organization as prestigious as the Church HQ isn't short on manpower?"
Yurugen probed with a hint of sarcasm in response to Laila's apology. Yet she didn't let it shake her any more than necessary — she simply shrugged her shoulders.
"Traukia. The fact that you're using that kind of tone tells me you already have a pretty good idea what's going on. ...It'd be a pain to sit here and play guessing games with you, so I'll lay everything out — including all of that. Would you mind following me?"
She said all of this in an even, matter-of-fact tone.
Then, accompanied by another Church soldier serving as her escort, she turned on her heel and began walking into the Church headquarters, gesturing for Ermes and the others to follow.
...Honestly, he was more than a little surprised.
Ermes had only encountered Laila once — during that audience. And the impression he'd formed of her then was of someone arrogant and narrow-minded, hardly the sort of person who could be called a vessel of any real caliber...
...No, wait. That was nothing more than a snap judgment born of prejudice.
At the very least, Liliana had been fond of her. And beyond the mere fact of being Liliana's family, there had to be... *something* else there. Surely.
Thinking as much, Ermes walked behind Laila together with Katia and the others.
"...Big sister."
The expression on Liliana's face, walking beside him, was conflicted.
There was undoubtedly joy at having been reunited with Laila. Yet their positions as rivals in the succession for the throne had not changed, and Laila showed no signs of reaching out to close the distance with Liliana — if anything, even during their earlier conversation, there had been an unmistakable air of her deliberately avoiding drawing attention to Liliana.
"..."
Ermes continued his own line of thought as well.
...It went without saying, but the world didn't revolve around just the two of them.
People they had opposed up until now had their own circumstances too. Even Archbishop Johann had possessed his own convictions and reasons for acting the way he did.
If that was the case, then surely — *talking* would become all the more important going forward. By learning, perhaps... a path that didn't require fighting might reveal itself from time to time.
For the time being, there was Second Princess Laila.
What was she thinking, what position was she taking, and what outcome was she aiming for?
First, they needed to learn that much. If the other side was willing to talk, then that alone would make having rushed in here worthwhile.
With that, he gathered his thoughts. They arrived in a large chamber within the Grand Cathedral, and following the guidance of the soldiers escorting Laila, each of them took their designated seat.
And at the head of the chamber — Laila, seated as the representative of the Church, opened her mouth with barely a greeting,
and spoke.
"...Well then. First of all... I suppose I should thank you."
"...Thank us?"
"Yes. You truly helped us out——
by taking down
Archbishop
Johann
for us."
"!"
The meaning of those words.
As everyone arrived at the same intuition, Laila continued.
"If you were attacked by 'those people' on the way here, I imagine you've already figured it out. ...The Church is currently split into two factions fighting each other. An embarrassing bit of infighting, I'm afraid."
"...So it really was that."
"Yes. Now, as for the breakdown——"
Glancing at Yurugen, who returned a nod of understanding... she steered into the heart of the matter.
"First is... the 'Papal Faction,' to which I currently belong."
"!"
"And the other is the 'Archbishop Faction'... We also call it the 'Old Church Faction.'"
In other words—
the Pope, the number one at the top of the Church,
and the Archbishops beneath him, divided and at war.
"You understand, don't you? Our enemies are the Archbishops... All four of them, including Johann—every single Archbishop."
"I'll go into more detail later, but... you could say we're effectively up against nearly the entire power of the Church."
By that point, the general shape and background of things were becoming clear—but
having taken it all in, Lyra extended her hand once more, quietly.
"So, that's the situation. You've probably already figured it out, but there's one reason the Papal Faction summoned you here. Since you 'defeated' Johann, you're not uninvolved—and there are definite benefits to be had. That's why..."
With an unreadable expression, as though holding something back, and a beautiful tone of voice—
"──Won't you join hands with me?
Together...
the Church—
,
won't we destroy it
?"
A request woven through with countless conflicting motives.
The beginning of a monumental event that would engulf the entire Church—and perhaps something even greater.
Next time, the true nature of the faction struggle and each side's position will be revealed. Stay tuned!
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