Chapter: 209
Dear Bennett Hilton,
Greetings, valiant Hero who saved the world! How have you been lately?
I’ve been keenly following the trail of history that you and your friends are etching. I hear you’ve become the leader of a new faction called the “Reformist Faction” and are fighting against the outdated practices and evils of the Church of the Goddess.
I’m delighted to see your actions carrying a clear weight. The direction you’re heading in feels like a path of undeniable light, filling my heart with pride.
But fighting against the established powers is surely a daunting task, isn’t it? Just as a prepared magician is strong enough not to fear the world, the might of the forces that have solidified their control over the ages is truly fearsome.
Perhaps you’re now facing some difficulties with the grand festival approaching. Just like I am.
The Academy is as peaceful as always. We’ve dealt with the insidious hands of the Black Mages as visibly as possible, and with a bit of luck, we’ve managed to prevent unseen threats as well.
To share a piece of that luck with you, we successfully took down the Queen of the Dreams Demons, known as the “Virgin Who Drinks Pleasure,” who had been encroaching upon the Elmest Territory.
While we haven’t yet spotted the movements of the “Corpse Flower That Feeds on Terror,” I believe that shrinking the sphere of influence of the black mages will provide us with a critical opportunity.
I hope this news brings you even a little joy.
Now, let me explain the difficulties I am currently experiencing. This is also the reason for my letter to you. How wonderful it would be if we could share our troubles and help one another!
I have faith.
In my heart, I serve my quiet and gentle goddess, a star that shines within. This faith has been a long-standing one── steadfast and solid as if it will last forever.
However, after a series of events, I found myself developing an additional faith. A playful and seductive new goddess, one who possesses a beauty capable of captivating all beings.
To pursue and serve one alone is certainly a virtue.
Yet my heart wishes to embrace and revere both, as each is equally important, too significant to simply discard one.
With that in mind, I seek your counsel, Bennett.
You have skillfully chased two hares, caught them, and held them close. I understand that your strategy has remained unshakable all this time. How could you achieve that?
If possible, could you share your secret with me?
If written communication is insufficient, I’m more than willing to visit your side. I hope for a swift response as my heart permits. With best wishes for your journey.
From the Academy── a magician dreaming of reunion.
===============================================================
The Bennett party sat around the round table, collectively wracking their brains. They faced a serious predicament, compounded by the arrival of a frantic professor’s letter from the Academy, adding another spoonful of worry.
Bennett glanced at the letter on the table, muttering with a weary expression.
“This is why I dislike magicians. They always write so ambiguously…”
“Have you ever exchanged letters with a magician?”
Tara, struggling with a magnifying glass while squinting at the letter, looked up at Bennett’s pen pal story, perhaps wondering if it was a female magician.
Bennett replied, arms crossed.
“Back in my days as a Black Mage… quite a few of them used to write commands like this. I still remember one that went ‘Behold the winged serpent that swallows gold, may the crescent moonlight shine upon their fangs’—do you know what that means?”
“Umm… were they asking you to manage a basilisk’s teeth?”
“It was an order to stab a merchant in the head.”
“Oww.”
Did they suffer from a disease that only allowed them to express themselves in convoluted ways? Tara shuddered as she took off her magnifying glasses. If Bennett’s experience was anything to go by, this letter from the eccentric magician might also require a little twisting and turning to decode.
“The first half of the letter is quite clear. No metaphors, nothing vague.”
“Yeah, just the part where he says he’s been following our ‘Reformist Faction’ closely.”
“It seems he is already aware of the significant difficulties we are facing. It would be trivial small talk coming from anyone else, but he is extraordinary.”
“Given that he’s the madman who unleashed Dream Demons at the Academy to flush out the Black Mages, perhaps he hears information in ways we can’t even imagine.”
This mad wizard got to know more than the Bennett party could have guessed during a professor’s dinner gathering where he got close to Alexon.
The considerable difficulty faced by the Bennett party was closely tied to the upcoming “Hero Selection Contest” happening in the Holy City. The moment the goddess’s hero is born, the saintess would be bound to the hero party following long-established “Regulations.”
“Regulations” are different from the phrases written in the scriptures. They are rules set by the goddess and thus absolute.
“Be charitable, do not doubt the king that guides you,” unlike those “good words,” they bear significant religious meaning.
Tara customizing the saintess attire into rags might create scandal, but it’s not something that would lead to her expulsion. However, if one were to rebel against the “Regulations”…
The divine power descending from the goddess would be severed instantly, and those old Cardinals would waste no time casting Tara out.
“Well, the divine power has long been cut off anyway.”
Tara scoffed. She had been subjected to divine power deprivation long ago, and by absorbing others’ divine powers through the Uhwa Hwehanmug ritual, she had acted as a saintess. Thus, she feared no punishment from the goddess.
Yet the latter—an onslaught of excommunication from the Cardinals—was dangerous.
“There’s no escaping political attacks. She would have to abandon her saintess position, and our ‘Reformist Faction’ would scatter to the winds.”
“But acting like a puppet to the hero party would…!”
“If that hero turns out to be a puppet for the Cardinals, there’s no way you’ll survive. The unfortunate accident on the journey would mean dead saintess Tara.”
Thus, the Bennett party had to either secure the hero position in the upcoming “Hero Selection Contest” or at least prevent a hero from being chosen from the Cardinal faction.
While they discussed these methods, the letter from the mad wizard arrived, as if he knew precisely what was happening.
So they were wracking their brains deciphering it, thinking there might be a way out hidden within.
-⋯⋯⋯⋯.
“What do you think, Niolette? Finished your analysis?”
While Bennett and Tara had briefly diverted, Niolette, who had read the letter dozens of times in silence, finally concluded.
– It seems to be an inconsequential letter…?
“Really?”
– While it speaks in riddles, it doesn’t seem to carry a grand meaning. It feels like an ordinary letter… Ah, or maybe he’s asking Bennett for relationship advice?
Because if he truly knew the crisis that hit the Bennett party, he surely wouldn’t have sent a letter without a bit more information. Plus, there was a distinct lack of tension in his writing.
And if the mad wizard was genuinely serious about sending something, then this letter seemed more like a straightforward… well, party and pleasure. It seemed filled with mischief.
However…
“Have we been pushing Niolette too hard…?”
“It seems so. This can’t possibly be a love letter. Let’s drop paperwork and data analysis for now and take a short break, Niolette.”
– No, I’m… perfectly fine…
“Come here. I’ll lend you my lap.”
Bennett gently patted Niolette’s neck and pressed her down. Niolette accepted it without resistance, curling up on his thigh.
His sturdy hand began caressing her head softly. Niolette smiled, showing satisfaction as she relaxed.
And she attached herself just enough not to make him uncomfortable, delicately feeling his thigh muscles.
“In the next paragraph, he mentions that he has faith… could that be a metaphor? Or is he truly a believer in the goddess?”
“Either way makes sense. He could be operating closely and favorably with the goddess of this world since he’s been moving to protect both sides.”
“Let’s assume he does believe in our world’s goddess. What about the next paragraph, where he says he has acquired this additional faith? Does that mean it’s literal?”
“He’s not renouncing faith; he’s believing in both gods simultaneously. Sounds odd…”
As Niolette thought about it, she felt her speculation was reasonable, but as Tara and Bennett engaged in serious discussion, she refrained from interrupting.
Bennett’s thigh was too comfortable, plus watching the two chat was quite delightful. Given how overworked she had been lately, taking a short break seemed like a good idea.
Strategically, it was also a great position. They were backed against a mountain, making it a prime defensive spot.
As a sweet atmosphere flowed between Tara and Bennett, she thought she could turn over and feign sleep.
“Old tomes mention, a lot has been erased, but there are records about an entity that opposed the goddess. More like shadows, I suppose—no form or ability, just traces. If that’s implied…”
“Isn’t that a bit of a stretch? If it’s information only accessible by approaching the core of the Church of the Goddess, not even that mad professor would have a way to obtain it. Maybe another god is just another metaphor?”
“Or simply a way to build a basis? Since I might renounce my faith, perhaps the ‘Reformist Faction’ of the Church of the Goddess would keep an eye on me, using this as an excuse to visit.”
“It does seem that the letter serves to create a basis. Otherwise, there would be no reason to choose a letter as the medium. In that case, we should reply… perhaps by sending an invitation.”
Niolette, lulled by the two’s chatter, slowly drifted off to sleep.
In the end, the Bennett party interpreted the mad wizard’s letter as “If you stay there, you’ll get in trouble with the Black Mages, so I’ll come over to deal with it soon. I’ll help you out while I’m at it.”
They sent a formal invitation, using the festival as a pretext.
===============================================================
The “Hero Selection Contest.”
A grand tournament boldly pushed by the Cardinal faction of the Church of the Goddess, aimed at gathering candidates from across the nation to select the optimal hero needed for the continent.
Rumor has it, after the preliminaries, three trials await, and they were convinced that naturally, only one hero would remain standing. But…
“There’s definitely some tampering involved.”
Following Tara into the Church of the Goddess, fixing the excesses of the Church of the Goddess as part of the “Reformist Faction,” they had experienced countless clashes with the Cardinal faction. Hence, they had accumulated enough experience to see through their outlines.
They were pigs rummaging for power.
The trend of conserving divine power, the high-leveling of divine magic, welcoming those with heavy pockets over the suffering, Bennett could vividly sense the greed of the Cardinals.
So, he expected no fairness.
The hero candidate they were backing── Benjamin. They likely had mountains of schemes prepared to elevate him to hero status.
Bennett gazed up at the portraits of the hero candidates posted on the bulletin board, searching for a disheveled seaweed hairdo. There it was.
A sharply featured young man with deep green hair. Benjamin.
According to background checks, he was vile and lecherous in nature. Before becoming a hero candidate, he had caused numerous incidents and continued to exhibit problematic behavior involving threats toward others.
He walked the streets, leading a band of followers.
A type who couldn’t suppress his own desires.
The Cardinals had made that troublemaker their pawn. They were pushing him hard. Any bad rumor was silenced with money, while fabricated positive tales spread on the streets.
Did they choose him for being easy to manipulate? Or was there something hidden about him that made them pick Benjamin…?
Or maybe they were simply confident they’d win even using such a pathetic man…?
To read the minds of the Cardinals clinging around the Pope beyond that portrait, as Bennett remained intently gazing at the bulletin board…
“Heroic form is completely gone. If that guy is a candidate, it makes you question the Church of the Goddess a century from now…”
A voice, distinctively familiar, chimed in from the side.
That voice! One that could never be forgotten. But one that should not exist. Bennett had metaphorically split his heart in two.
“……?”
“……?”
But he was alive.
With eyes glinting with malice and sharp teeth seemingly existing to devour human despair, cloaked in a guise of beautiful innocence, something terrible lurked within──
“Outsider, you’re still alive?”
“Oh, oh ho ho…? I am not such a person. I am but a refined miss, called Hee Yeong-hyun.”
Swish swish.
“Keep talking, will you?”
“I am the bishop of the Open Hao Sect, with relatives and dependents to feed and watch over… Ugh, eat this, you pig!”
Crack-a-lack, whoosh!
Evil God-chan scraped the ground with her scaly paw, turning stones into powder and throwing it into Bennett’s eyes. However, Bennett swiftly swung his sword, deflecting it as if he had anticipated the move, then began his pursuit.
Clap clap clap!
The rapidly quickened sounds of short footsteps intertwined with the broader, rhythmic thuds of long strides. Evil God-chan, feeling disoriented, ran desperately.
“Why of all times, why now…!”
“This time I’ll cut you into ten pieces. And your corpse will be dedicated to Abraham’s tombstone!”
“Mima, Mima—!!”
It was the chase scene of Season 3.
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