Chapter: 213
It’s essential to thoroughly review the rules of this game.
“So, I understand there are eight groups, but how are those groups determined, and what about the draw? Can anyone join if they want?”
“First, there will be preliminary rounds. I believe they are still ongoing, but the Church of the Goddess prepared a spell called ‘Three Dogs Guarding the Goddess’… If you can remove even a single layer, you’re through.”
“Oh, that spell.”
I’ve seen Tara use it. It’s a holy magic with excellent defensive capabilities that summons a massive shield shaped like a three-headed dog.
It’s quite effective for filtering participants. You’d need at least a rank of 2 to break through it, so farmer A from the village definitely won’t be joining the Hero Selection Tournament.
But what happens to the people filtered out?
“Those who pass the preliminaries will gain the right to participate in the sequential group competitions.”
“What does that mean?”
“After the ‘Courage’ tournament ends, the ‘Faith’ tournament will begin, followed by the ‘Constancy’ and ‘Obedience’ tournaments in that order. Those who pass the preliminaries can choose one to participate in.”
To sum it up, selecting the group to join is up to the participants.
I can already feel the heat of information warfare. Any group that has a strong contender will surely be avoided by others, so there will definitely be those watching the strong players’ movements and taking their chances. The mind game will be intense.
For instance, if the Empire’s Swordmaster, the Boy Knight, suddenly decided to participate in the ‘Courage’ tournament. Well, no fool would miss the chance to look out for their next opportunity. How intriguing.
Up to this point, it appears quite fair, but…
“Then, how is the tournament draw decided? What method is used?”
“It’s organized through a ‘fair draw.’”
“A fair draw, you say?”
Right, I expected there to be at least one such mechanism.
From just the way the military priest speaks, I can already tell it won’t be fair. Naturally, the Cardinal Faction will manipulate this.
For instance, if there are three strong contenders and one candidate favored by the Cardinal Faction, they might just funnel the strong contenders to one side to let their chosen candidate shine.
After all, more than one hero candidate can be selected from a single group.
They might have to sacrifice some prestige, but if they luckily end up only encountering weak teams, there’s a chance they could become a hero… Such a strategy could very well be employed by the Cardinal Faction.
That’s as much backstory as we need.
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Next, let’s talk about the characters.
“So, are there any notable individuals participating in this festival? Bennett, can you explain to us the ones we should be wary of?”
“First, I should explain the major forces at play. Here’s a list of notable individuals, so refer to it while listening.”
First up is the House of Duke Redburn.
According to the intel from the Reformist Faction, they are preparing for the Hero Selection Tournament with great enthusiasm and are gathering information on the participants. However, who specifically will take part remains a mystery.
“I have confirmed that several knights from Duke Redburn’s order entered the Holy City. We suspect they will send them out.”
They’re ready to deploy multiple knights. Is the Duke genuinely vying for the hero slot? I think it’s necessary to get in touch with Roderus in my dreams for more information.
Next is the Imperial Family.
Pinkvalez shared some information about this.
“I heard that the Second Prince, Irid, is not interested in the hero position. However, he’s reportedly accompanied by a knight, at the request of the First Princess. That knight is the deputy of the ‘Clear Wind Knights’, Ipar Yurensto.”
Irid himself doesn’t plan to reach for the hero position, but it looks like his sister has different ideas and tasked him.
“Wait a moment, Yurensto?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
My heart sank for a moment.
The full name of the Tower Master is Yuna Yurensto Violetiris, and that lengthy title was bestowed by the Imperial Family. So by blood, she belongs to the House of Yurensto.
Yuna despises the Yurensto family she was born into. She would refer to her father as ‘the Count’ with a bitter taste lurking behind the formal title.
… I might get to meet Ipar when trying to persuade Irid. I wonder if I can learn more about Yuna.
Next is the Northern Duke’s Family.
I can make an educated guess about this one without any information. The Northern Duke, Daisy’s squad has already provided me with a wealth of TMI, so I’m pretty familiar with the situation up North.
The most troublesome aspects of that icebound land are food and heat. They need to import both from outside for their territory to function.
Daisy has always had grievances about this. If they could resolve both problems internally, they could redirect the finances used for imports to develop the North.
From the Northern Duke’s standpoint, a hero is particularly appealing. If a hero loyal to the Northern Duke’s family were to arise and use that tremendous holy power for their territory…
If it were me, I would use the potent ‘Preservation’ capabilities of holy magic to create a gigantic greenhouse. Just a portion of the land that’s always winter could bloom with spring, and crops could be cultivated there.
Or I could leverage the name value of a hero to secure support from the Church of the Goddess. Either way, it would greatly benefit the North.
Upon hearing this speculation, Pinkvalez was quite impressed.
“Life is indeed unpredictable, Mima. At first, I thought it was a joke, but now it seems beneficial. You really know how to charm a man.”
“Don’t tease me, darling.”
“… Hmm.”
“Don’t be shy; fire back at me…!”
So, those are the three major forces participating.
I’m quite familiar with them since I see their faces so often; but having two of the three dukes of the Empire, along with the Imperial Family, all in one grand affair is a massive deal.
The attention of this huge nation is focused on a single holy city. The name value of a hero carries this level of weight.
So naturally, ambitious individuals are flocking too. These are the ones I need to pay more attention to. I can manipulate large forces, but these individuals lack data.
Bennett tapped the list.
“As expected, we couldn’t grasp the experts lurking in the shadows. This is a compilation of only those with a certain level of fame, so keep that in mind.”
“… Yuri, can you read and memorize this for me?”
“Gladly.”
I really struggle with documents filled with names…!
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The scout from the mercenary king’s brigade, Wolfhild.
Expected rank: Epic.
The exiled fire mage from the Dark Tower, Krabellin Render.
Expected rank: Epic.
The wandering swordsman, Ipar.
Expected rank: Rank 3.
And so on…
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Goal 1: Eliminate the candidates prominently endorsed by the Cardinal Faction. Given the structure of the Hero Selection Tournament, the Cardinal Faction has the power to decide the brackets, making it difficult to achieve, but if successful, it would be the best outcome.
I could even get the better of them right from the start.
Goal 2: Among the eight candidates who gain the right to draw the holy sword, keep the ratio of our side as high as possible. This is to give me more time to interfere with the holy sword.
I’ve previously extracted information from the Goddess’s ‘Divine Punishment’. If given enough time, I believe I could hack the holy sword without a hitch.
I’m unsure how much time the Cardinal Faction will allow to get in contact with the holy sword, but if they grant at least three minutes of tedium for selection…
Four candidates would be a safe bet. Three or two would be dicey, and having just one would be quite challenging.
So I’ll proceed with my plans while keeping these two goals in mind. I’ll persuade each major faction to align with us and, if possible, recruit notable individuals as allies.
For those whom persuasion and recruitment won’t work on, I’m mulling over various options. I may not be planning a villainous swipe, but a bit of charm or deceit should suffice…?
If I can fill 4 out of 8 slots, that would guarantee victory.
And, in the process, I should gain an opportunity to uncover the secrets of the Church of the Goddess. Through this, I hope to obtain something useful that will help eliminate ‘that’.
Also.
“If things don’t go well, maybe I’ll even stage a coup. Holding the pope hostage might not be a bad idea.”
[Or, we could just live quietly far off in the mountains. Just the three of us. So don’t worry too much, Tara!]
“… I wasn’t particularly worried, you know? Still, whatever happens… if we can be together.”
I hope that trio finds a happy ending.
… And may my love life find a happy ending too!
This is the blueprint of my elaborate and grand long-term plan.
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Tap. Tap.
Under the red lights, objects are moving. A knight advances and secures a crucial position. A masked man pauses momentarily over the Duke’s clever move before… moving his piece forward and speaking.
“I’ve heard whispers that ‘the Trap’ has reached into the affairs of the Church of the Goddess.”
“Is there a problem? ‘The Lamb.’”
“No… I was just curious. With the molding of the Idol of the Evil God nearly complete, is there any reason to stir the pot?”
“It’s because I’ve discovered that the Idol of the Evil God is not absolute.”
Crack.
Duke Redburn’s fingers tightened around the knight as if to crush it. And then drop. He placed it down firmly. Within that gesture lay unease and doubt.
“Was it not a failure in the management of the ‘Virgin Girl’?”
“Absolute power does not require skill. If it can lose because of careless handling, then it was never absolute to begin with.”
The last known actions of the ‘Virgin Girl’ were to devour the annihilation squad that intruded into her lair. Then, just a few days later, she died.
Duke Redburn concluded that it was the imperial family’s hidden strength at play. They used the annihilation squad as bait to flush out the ‘Virgin Girl’ and then killed her.
They had been tracking the whereabouts of the five individuals who attained transcendence to the best of their abilities. However, that day, the Empire’s Swordmaster was elsewhere… and the other individuals, too, did not stray from their nests.
The only person worth suspicion was the Purple Tower Master.
“The Purple Tower Master has not left the academy. I’m certain of it. If she were to intervene, direct attacks would have only targeted the queen’s lair…”
“By your words, the ‘Virgin Girl’ should have been aligned with the Purple Tower Master.”
“Yes. To be precise, they should have inflicted wounds on each other… Her psyche is very unstable. If the Purple Tower Master’s mind were to be shaken past a certain threshold, her transcendence would collapse. It’s definite.”
And the ‘Virgin Girl’s ability is strong against mental attacks. So even if she was inexperienced with the Idol of the Evil God, she should have either died with her foe or at least successfully fled.
For this reason, Duke Redburn formulated the following hypothesis.
“What if there is another Swordmaster…?”
There might be another ‘Transcendent’ hidden away by the Imperial Family.
“The hidden blade, one that is exceptionally sharp… That’s certainly a suspect hypothesis. If that’s true, then he must have a very strong mind.”
“Or perhaps he is specialized in mental attacks, like the ‘Virgin Girl’.”
The dark sorcerers began to entertain the possibility of a nonexistent sixth transcendent. If he truly did exist, they would need to be more cautious… and raise the stakes.
Thus.
“The research on divine powers has been ongoing. You would have as well. The desire for that source beyond the Idol of the Evil God lies within us all.”
“……”
“And I have seen a glimpse of hope from the goddess. Have you never pondered? ‘The Lamb.’ How does she bestow divine power?”
In this vast world among countless people, how did she select those with talent to grant divine power? Furthermore, how does she detect apostasy in order to strip that power away?
How could she know all these facts and pieces of information?
It’s simple. The goddess possesses such abilities. A colossal detection capability active throughout the continent, triggered every second. In other words.
“The goddess has ‘the Eye of Heaven’.”
“… Ah, and you possess… ‘The Lantern of Foresight’…”
Duke Redburn’s tale of foresight, ‘The Lantern of Foresight’, lets him control his destiny according to how much he knows. Its power draws closer to perfection with the amount of information available about the target.
What if he could add ‘the Eye of Heaven’ into this equation?
And what if he could supplement that output through the Idol of the Evil God?
“If hypothetically, all of this comes to fruition— the moment that my sacrificial transcendence is born, it will wield the capacity to dominate the world.”
“Also, even if I can’t steal the entire goddess’s gaze, even obtaining a fraction of it would still grant me tremendous power. Very clever, ‘the Trap’.”
So Duke Redburn pulled his trump card.
The House of Bastards, designed to create loyal subordinates. Such experiments have been conducted multiple times with multiple results.
Roderus was among them, a notably fine blade, but not the ‘best.’
The most loyal, top-tier blade, a masterpiece crafted stitch by stitch to yield absolute obedience. An emotionless faceless one.
The Duke planned to send her to the Hero Selection Tournament. It wouldn’t matter if she didn’t become a hero. The goal is to get close to the heart of the Church of the Goddess. And steal from the goddess’s eye.
The Lamb smiled brightly as he laid his king down.
“To achieve that, I’ll need the assistance of a skilled illusionist. I believe I now understand why you have summoned me… Let’s cooperate, shall we?”
“Any mistakes cannot be tolerated, ‘the Lamb’.”
“I won’t make any mistakes. Nor will your pawn. If that’s the case, this plan is practically destined for success.”
The two clinked their wine glasses as if to celebrate the signing of their pact. They would leverage the Hero Selection Tournament to acquire what they desired.
And thus, the moment when the dark sorcerer’s scheme crossed paths with the mad illusionist’s plan dawned.
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