Chapter: 728
My head hurts.
I truly realized how exhausting it is to hold the weight of a person with just my head, and how grateful I should be that humans can stand on two feet.
“Tannian.”
“Yes… Master.”
I barely managed to respond to the voice of my master right in front of me.
As the chief cardinal and secretary, my master can’t afford to waste a single second. Because of that, it’s a rare occurrence to even have a meal together, yet here he was, taking the time to come see me.
“What happened?”
“I’m sorry!”
I braced myself for a scolding about my sudden outburst.
“I don’t understand.”
With a small sigh, my master placed another water bottle on my waist.
‘That makes three.’
Gritting my teeth, I put all my strength into it.
With only my head and feet on the ground, balancing that glass bottle was tough, and a single wobble would shatter it into pieces.
I’ve got to hold on. If I drop this, an even worse punishment will greet me.
“Although you caused quite a stir when you were a child, I thought of it as merely childish whimsy. But as time passed, you grew up to be a priest that others could envy, so I thought I had raised a decent disciple.”
“Th-thank you, Master.”
“Yes. Seeing your thick skull and the trouble you’ve caused, even flattery would feel like an understatement. Why didn’t you just cause trouble back in your childhood? Then I could’ve trained you properly from the start.”
I had no words in response to my master’s comments.
Even I admit this time, the incident I’ve caused left me with no excuse. It’s almost miraculous that he’s only giving me this petty punishment as a reprimand.
“Did you think being the next Saint would make everything light and easy? Once you’re officially a Saint, you’ll be treated equally to His Holiness the Pope, and you thought you could do anything without consequence?”
“N-no, not at all!”
“Then I’m glad to hear that. If your heart had been filled with arrogance, I would have suggested your excommunication to His Holiness.”
His words were hard and cold, but I couldn’t dare resent him.
For him to admonish me so severely only showed how much he was disappointed. The more he hoped for me, the more hurt he felt because of me.
If he truly wanted to cast me out, he wouldn’t be speaking to me like this. He’d have treated me as just another secretary and potential saint and would’ve reported my excommunication to His Holiness immediately.
“You have not interfered with the love of the priests.”
As I remained silent, my master continued in a softer tone.
“If the priests maintain their faith and don’t forget their duties, they’re permitted to start families. Throughout history, many saints have had families.”
With that, he let out a sigh I had heard countless times before.
“So if you’ve had feelings for someone and decided to marry, everyone would have congratulated you…”
‘Oh no.’
Just when his tone had softened, it began to turn passionate once more.
It’s a disaster. That ominous outburst is about to erupt, and if I lower my hands now, I might just end up dueling my master.
“Next Saint! Premarital pregnancy!? And with a cardinal too!”
For a moment, it felt like blood was rushing to my ears.
Master, while you’ve aged since my childhood, you’re still pretty sprightly, aren’t you?
“You little rascal! What? You’re going on a pilgrimage to lighten the Pope’s burden!? Traveling the continent to share the focus of the council!? With all the attention that was on the council dispersed thanks to the Minister of Justice! The Blessed of the organization resolved the oldest worries and sins so quickly that it attracted all attention! If it came to that, you should have just observed from afar before quietly returning; instead, you make such a mess!”
“I’m sorry…”
I repeated my apologies as I braced myself against the fury of my master.
My hearing is bound to get worse after this.
*
The booming lecture finally ended after about two hours.
“Get up.”
“Yes.”
Finally, my head, which had been bowed to the floor for two hours, was free again.
It was a time when I realized the frailty of my head and how precious it is to stand on two legs. I need to be more careful moving forward.
“…What’s done is done. The Pope himself considers it a cause for purely congratulatory celebration aside from the premarital pregnancy, so as your master, I will end my scolding here.”
“I’m sorry for disappointing you.”
“Now you understand.”
I couldn’t help but lower my head as my master clicked his tongue slightly.
At least he seemed more composed now after blowing off steam just moments ago.
“So, when do you plan to marry?”
“Huh?”
“What do you mean ‘huh’? Were you thinking of quietly passing over the union of the next Saint and a cardinal? Let me repeat: the problem isn’t the speed of your relationship; it’s that the two of you fell in love!”
That made my heart swell a little.
No one thinks of me like my master does. He became like a new father to me after I lost my biological parents to the infidels.
“If it’s okay, around mid-next year—”
“Know that you’ve already set the date for the end of this year.”
“Yes.”
It’s just that he can be a little headstrong and eccentric as a father figure.
‘End of this year, huh.’
I couldn’t help but smile. If the wedding were to happen at year-end, it would be the best way to wrap up the year.
Besides, this year, the weddings of Erich and Ainter were held, and Lather’s wedding is also planned for this year. Of course, Rutis’s wedding will be next year, but since the engagement was this year, one could argue it’s technically also this year.
Also, the last club member, Sister Sara, is said to be getting married this summer. What an incredible string of joyous occasions.
‘To marry because we have feelings for the same person, doing it around the same time…’
It’s quite a strange and delicate coincidence.
“Well then, I shall take my leave. You can keep the water bottle.”
“Ah, yes.”
As I briefly lost myself in thought, my master prepared to leave, and I quickly pulled myself together.
Two hours of free time is critical for my master, who handles nearly as much work as His Holiness. I’d wasted his valuable time because of my foolishness, so I had to see him off properly.
At least, that was what I thought.
“Hmm.”
“Um?”
But just as I considered that, both my master’s communication device and mine went off at the same time.
The unexpected signal made my master’s brow furrow slightly. If it had only been his device, I might’ve thought it was an eager call from the secretary office, but since it rang on mine too, it meant a message had been sent to all high-ranking officials of the order.
This is unsettling. There’s been nothing particularly important scheduled concerning the order or the church at this time. There’s no news that would necessitate notifying all high-ranking officials.
Feeling anxious, I checked my device.
[ Detecting dark magic in the northwestern direction of the Church. It is speculated to be the energy of the Dark King, who was suppressed 800 years ago. ]
I froze.
‘The Dark King?’
The Dark King—the calamity of the continent that was defeated about 800 years ago.
It was such a powerful presence that even the saints of the order had to intervene directly to suppress it, and since then, the saints have refrained from getting involved in human wars. There’s no need for a saint to step out unless facing an existential threat like the Dark King.
Yet such a being’s energy had been detected again, 800 years later?
‘This can’t be a misunderstanding…’
Unfortunately, the chance of it being mistaken is slim. This is the testimony from the Faith Doctrine Department, a successor of the Inquisition Department, and the Record Department that documents the entire history of the order. I’m sure they have conducted a thorough investigation before sending this message.
“Tannian.”
“Yes, Master?”
“…It seems we may have to ring the bell again.”
Nodding in silence to his words, I resolved myself.
*
In that moment, I couldn’t believe my ears.
“Your Majesty. I apologize, but I just came from hearing the cries of the youngest, so my hearing isn’t that great.”
I requested that the Emperor repeat what he had just said.
More accurately, I was asking him to say I had misheard.
“Is that so? Right now, I wish for my ears to be dull as well.”
But the Emperor betrayed my hopes.
“The news just arrived from the Holy Kingdom: the Dark King has awakened again. Whether it’s the one who fell 800 years ago or a new Dark King, we don’t know.”
His words rendered my mind blank.
The Dark King, popping up in this day and age. That’s a name that requires flipping far back in history books to find. This is a creature from Kefellofen’s era, near the early or mid-Apels period.
‘What the hell?’
I was so stunned that I could barely even laugh.
Honestly, if one were to talk about amazing occurrences, it’d be more unusual for the gods created during the Trika Empire to awaken than for a Dark King active only 800 years ago. The Dark King maybe feels like recent history, but those gods go back over 2000 years.
However, at least those beings had merely fallen asleep and awakened again—it’s a complete different story for them to be dead and resurrected.
‘Have things on the continent gone that insane?’
By now, cold sweat was trickling down my spine.
The Dark King was a monster that even the Dawn Sect—the dominant religion of the continent—had to devote entirely to suppress. A saint spearheaded the assault, and they supposedly used large-scale purifying spells to completely eradicate his base, ensuring he would never rise again.
The Dark King left such deep scars on the entire continent that even the traditional funeral rite of cremation spread rapidly because of him. He made sure to raise every corpse.
…Hold on a second.
“Y-Your Majesty.”
“Speak.”
“I have heard that the Dark King was defeated in the old Apels region. Where has his energy been detected this time?”
At that question, the Emperor silently met my gaze, then let out a heavy sigh.
“The southeastern part of the Empire.”
“Holy sh—”
The curse slipped out instinctively, and I hurriedly covered my mouth.
The Emperor looked surprised at my reaction, but he didn’t seem angry.
“The Minister speaks for my feelings.”
He merely chuckled in a bitter way, brushing it off.
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