Chapter 130: Childhood Friend – Brass Goblet
Lev arrived in the capital city of the Holy Kingdom, Rutetia, in the cool autumn breeze.
There had been a couple of skirmishes on the way. However, compared to the previous punitive expeditions, the current forces had fewer priests, almost no paladins, and even the soldiers were meager in number.
Lev killed them all.
There was no reason to spare enemies who came running to their deaths. However, he passed by villages and cities without sparing a second thought, not because he didn’t want to kill them all and offer their sacrifices, but he was too confused after killing Lena Einarr and Leo Dexter.
The question, “Why did I kill them?” kept surfacing, complicating his mind. He was just doing what he was supposed to do as an apostle of Barbatos, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was wrong.
Occasionally, he also worried about running out of “mirrors,” since when he became a disciple of Barbatos, his father had offered a mirror as a sacrifice.
But there was no point in lamenting over it. What was there to regret about something offered to God?
It wasn’t even his, or rather, it was his, but he’d used it all up, so… what was I thinking again?
Lev shook his head violently. He camped out in a small mountain south of Rutetia and, while packing up his tent, he muttered, “Ah, why am I like this? Did I get too much wind?”
It was probably due to the accumulated fatigue from his long journey. Feeling dizzy, Lev loaded the recovered tent onto Bante’s back.
Bante, who had broken a leg, had fortunately healed and grown strong again after receiving Barbatos’ divine power.
Despite limping a bit, it wasn’t very inconvenient, thanks to his previous experience riding a horse with short forelegs named ‘Woody.’ Lev descended the mountain, and the great capital of the Holy Kingdom, Rutetia, wasn’t far off.
– Kill them. Please, listen to me.
A strong urge surged again. The desire to kill all the humans had swelled up to replenish the divine power he had expended fighting the wretched servants of the main god. But,
‘…It’s not that urgent. I’ll think about it after bringing Lena first.’
Lena wasn’t far either. His {tracking skill} clearly indicated that she was at the capital church in the east of Rutetia. Strangely, thinking of Lena made the desire to make a sacrifice vanish. Though it might be disrespectful to Barbatos, Lev wanted to see her quickly. Eventually, he arrived at the grand gate of the capital church. With towering spires and white walls crowded with various statues, he had only been here once before.
‘This brings back memories…’
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t something he had experienced, but he had heard that Lena was expelled from here, which had greatly shocked him. He felt pity imagining her crying at this very gate…
However, such tragedies would not repeat. As an apostle of Barbatos, he was determined to turn her into a follower and make her happy for life…
‘Wouldn’t that make Lena sad? Would she like it?’
“Urgh!” This sudden counter thought made his head throb painfully. Until now, he always became strangely confused whenever he thought deeply about Lena, but facing this blatant contradiction made his mind feel like it was going to split. ‘I am the great Barbatos’ apostle… but Lena’s dream…’ “Khah!” At the moment when Lev was gasping for breath, a young monk guarding the gate approached, overly concerned. The monk saw Lev clutching his head and staggering.
However, Lev did not respond politely with phrases like, “I’m fine.” or “Suddenly, I don’t feel well.”
“Ah, it’s nothing. Don’t talk to me. Arrogant brat.”
“…I apologize.”
A noble.
The monk, startled by the young man’s imposing gaze and the subtle aura of {nobility} wafting around him, retreated to his original post.
It would have been much better if a Paladin had been on guard duty. Then he might have had the authority to at least complain… The monk sighed inwardly as he watched the arrogant noble stagger inside. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a single Paladin left in the capital church. They had all departed to defeat the apostle of the wicked god along with the priests.
The citizens of Rutetia were just starting to hear rumors about this in the kingdom of Orun. Some argued that it wasn’t the appearance of mythical monsters like the apostle of the wicked god but simply misreported as a civil war occurring in the kingdom of Orun.
Knowing all this but being under orders to keep quiet was driving the monk crazy. For someone who loved to talk, it was unbearable.
‘Only after the punitive expedition returns can I speak about it. This is killing me. But where is that noble going? Over there is…’
He considered going over to tell him he was going the wrong way, but the offended monk muttered, “Hmph! Let him suffer. He’ll just keep wandering in circles if he gets lost here.” Then he stopped paying attention to the insolent nobleman.
* * *
“Phew… Finally finished reading,”
Lena stretched after piling up a mountain of books on a library desk and reading them all. Records about eighty-seven saints were enormous. Thanks to Priest Ophelia’s advice, Lena traced their paths and found a clue.
Why did the Church prohibit priests from marrying?
Though it seems obvious now, this was an established norm through repeated meetings; ancient clergy rarely led celibate lives. Before the saints came down to the continent, there was no divine power or the Crimson Church, and it wasn’t designated as a national religion like it is now. Ancient priests were merely individuals with personal piety spreading faith.
Their lifestyle wasn’t much different from that of commoners. They worked and ate with the villagers, helping people in need as their duty. So, there was no reason to adhere to celibacy.
When they fell in love, they prayed to the god for a beautiful bond and got married. Compared to modern clergy, ancient priests were much more free-spirited.
As they became part of the large organization called the Crimson Church, they started becoming bound by various rules. Initially, these rules were created for good purposes, but Lena believed that prohibiting marriage for priests wasn’t necessarily needed for serving the god, and there were external influences for its establishment.
The rule came into effect during the mid-Achaean Empire when Cardinal Tigorov V, a saint, was in power. Tigorov left numerous writings, especially his late work, ‘Epistemological Ontology,’ which is considered essential for understanding Consteino’s ‘Creature’s Burden’ and Lazzar’s ‘Creature’s Responsibility.’ He was canonized posthumously for his contributions.
Despite leaving such significant works, Tigorov lived a degenerate life. Three marriages and divorces, dueling in his youth left him crippled, and his misdeeds using his position as a cardinal prevented him from being canonized while alive.
Lena discovered these details recently. This side of Tigorov wasn’t taught in the ‘Ancient Theological History’ class that dealt with the seven saints’ achievements. She understood why…
These details were meticulously described in the ‘Chronicles of the Saints’ she had been reading. Tigorov was summoned and scolded by the saint whenever he caused trouble. After his third divorce, he was banned from marrying again. This ban was the starting point for prohibiting priests’ marriages.
Initially given only to Tigorov, the ban extended to all clergy by claiming ‘A celibate life is better for serving the god,’ eventually applying to cardinal, archpriests, and priests.
Lena’s research didn’t stop at just discovering this. She meticulously analyzed records to find why it expanded and learned the celibate life of saints greatly influenced this.
Saints did not marry. Not a single one.
While it seems natural in modern society, it wasn’t so back when marriage was free. Lena also referred to ‘The Birth of Saints,’ recommended by Daniel. This book recorded that the long-lasting youth of saints made their celibacy seem strange and meaningful at the time.
Lena finally understood why the Church prohibited priests’ marriages but not monks’. The rule for priests was based on the idea, ‘Since saints with divine power don’t marry, priests with divine power shouldn’t either.’ This idea didn’t extend to monks.
With this clue, Lena began returning the voluminous ‘Chronicles of the Saints’ to their place. She now knew the cause and reason. However, the road ahead was still long.
Understanding the cause and reason, she now had to prove why priests should be allowed to marry and why the rule should be abolished.
‘Ugh… This won’t be easy.’
Dusting off the bookshelf, Lena pondered as she packed her things. ‘I’m not certain yet, but I think I should tie it to ‘Creature’s Responsibility.’ Since it involves relaxing the rules, philosophically, that seems correct? I should consult Veronian about which books to start with.’
Phew, there is a mountain of studying to do.
Thinking about all the studies ahead, a smile formed on Lena’s tired face.
To her, studying was not a dull or boring task. When she was in Demos village, she couldn’t attend the weekday sessions because she had to find food for each day, but Lena would go to the church every weekend to read books all day.
Compared to those days, how blessed this capital church was!
A place where she could study to her heart’s content. Although some classes had been canceled recently as the priests had been sent elsewhere, there were still a variety of excellent courses she could attend as much as she wanted.
There were a lot of books too. The library was filled with so many books that one couldn’t finish reading them all in a lifetime, and the books were quite affordable.
Lena, with the money she received from Lev, bought numerous theology books secondhand from Daniel, who was soon to graduate, and some other apprentices. She couldn’t hide her excitement. The book she was hugging tightly now was also hers, not a borrowed one from the library.
Coming down the stairs, Lena hummed a tune.
‘I will finish my morning study here, have lunch quickly, and find a sunny spot to read a book.’
Before heading to the dining hall, Lena, out of habit, looked for a ‘goblet’ to say a prayer.
But
“Huh? Where did it go?”
The brass goblet, which had been placed like a decoration by the stairs on the first floor of the library building, was gone.
It was definitely there when she came in the morning. She even prayed to the goblet engraved with the cross of the church this morning, so it must have been moved while she was studying.
“What the…?”
Lena was bewildered. It had been half a year since she came here, and she had been steadily praying to that goblet. Though the capital church was filled with statues for praying scattered everywhere and the main building had dozens of holy objects and three to four sacred relics, Lena didn’t feel the need to go that far.
As she visited the library frequently, it was convenient to use the object nearby, and she somehow felt fond of the goblet.
‘Why did they move it?’
Who should she ask about this? ─ As she turned around thinking this,
“Ah!”
Lena screamed briefly. Her eyes went wide in shock, and then she burst into exuberant joy, running towards the person ahead.
“Lev? Is it really you, Lev? How did you come here?!”
Lev was standing at the library’s main entrance. Lena dashed over in disbelief, unable to contain her happiness, getting close to him.
“Lena… you… urgh!”
“You’ve lost so much weight. It must have been hard getting here. But are you si…”
Lena, who had raised her hand to Lev’s emaciated cheek, suddenly froze, her expression fixed.
– Ha ha ha ha! Thank you!
Something horrible entered. A slimy, massive thing wrapped around her mind and licked its lips as if savoring something delicious.
Lena screamed in terror, “Aaaah!” but her body wouldn’t move, so only a faint breath escaped her, the last breath she voluntarily exhaled. Lena’s pupils turned red in an instant.
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