Chapter 438
I can't anymore. Seriously, after going this far, isn't that enough?
I finished the trial, hunted down all the demons, and then scoured the mountains for remnants of Heretic Church terrorists. When we finally confirmed everything was safe, a week had passed. What the hell?
That means I was effectively working non-stop for ten days straight, doesn't it?
"Please rest easy on my lap, Liberta-sama."
"Ah, yeah, well, if I can rest, anything's fine."
Even with Class 8 stats, you get tired when you're tired, you know?
On top of that, I helped repair the mountain path, so I'm even more exhausted.
The moment I returned, they sensed my tired expression, and with lightning-fast movements, Ingrid had me lying down with a lap pillow.
What kind of sleight of hand was that?
Even I lost sight of Ingrid's movements for a second.
"I was thinking of reporting, but would it be better to do it another day?"
"Ah, Ingrid, don't move. Ease up the hand you just put on my shoulder."
I was worried hearing the city was also attacked, but seeing everyone safe is a relief.
"Is this position okay? I also have things I want to convey."
It's quite a rare sight—being given a lap pillow by a maid—but if I try to move away, she looks at me with those sad eyes, so I can't move even if I want to.
"Yes, that's fine."
So, reporting in this position it is. First, from my side, I tell them about the trial where I almost died multiple times thanks to those three mischievous gods, and then the whole sequence from meeting Mimosa at the summit to uncovering the Heretic Church's terror attack and its resolution.
"......"
Claudia pinched the bridge of her nose, Esmeralda gently covered her mouth with her fan, and Nell and Amina quietly averted their gaze.
Only Ingrid continued to stroke my head with gentle eyes.
"Gods, why do you inflict such hardships upon him? This is, by any measure..."
And Claudia began to pray.
"Liberta. Please rest well today. I will handle the negotiations with the temple."
Esmeralda gazed at me with eyes full of compassion.
"You've been through a lot. I'll go grab a blanket from the next room."
Nell made a gesture as if wiping her eyes, then went to the next room.
"Are you okay, Liberta? Shall I sing you a lullaby?"
"No, I'm fine, but...?"
Did I really do something to deserve being pitied even by Amina, who's been strangely awakening to her maternal instincts lately?
Yeah, I did.
Now that I'm finally lying down properly, I can feel it.
I pushed myself pretty hard.
My body isn't that tired, but—well, the brain is part of the body too, I guess.
In that regard, ever since the trial, I've kept my nerves on edge, constantly choosing the optimal move. As a result, my overworked thinking has now dulled, and I realize I've been underestimating my own fatigue.
"Are you really okay? This feels different from your usual 'okay'."
Just as I became aware of this, Nell returned from the next room with a blanket.
She draped it over me, and feeling like I had permission to properly sleep, the exhaustion accumulated deep in my body welled up.
"Hmm, I guess I was just keeping up my spirits."
Feeling that, I couldn't very well say I was fine anymore.
I relaxed my shoulders and let my body rest against Ingrid.
"If you're going to sleep, we can report later."
"No, it's... I'm tired, but I'm not actually sleepy yet. So, I'd like to hear what happened with Esmeralda and the others too."
"In that case..."
I thought I might just fall asleep like this, but my mind is strangely clear.
Since the drowsiness hasn't hit yet, I listen to Esmeralda's account of what happened in the city of Areiya.
"I see. A terror attack using the sewers. And a coordinated assault on the Grand Temple by the different factions of the Heretic Church. Using that as a diversion, the main target was the mountaintop temple. Putting this together, their goal was undoubtedly the barrier priestesses."
Just as I thought, the twins' graffiti incident was a diversion, and just as I thought, it connects to the past incident I know.
The only difference is the outcome.
"Is the temple interrogating the captured Heretic Church believers?"
"Yes. Heretic Church terrorists often commit suicide when captured, but among them, we managed to capture someone of priest-class standing. Taking this opportunity, the temple will likely gather information on the Heretic Church and launch a large-scale suppression operation."
In FBO, the temple side's losses were too severe for them to have any leeway to counterattack.
But in reality, our intervention gave the temple the breathing room to strike back.
This could potentially reduce the Heretic Church's activities on the southern continent.
"The temple seems to be taking this incident very seriously. And rightly so. One misstep and this city could have fallen, with the divine mountain and the Grand Temple suffering devastating damage."
The temple rarely makes a full-scale move.
Temple knights basically stick to purely defensive postures, due to the iron rule of not getting involved in secular affairs.
But this incident falls under the rule that they must attack to protect faith in the gods from evil gods.
Esmeralda was probably in the discussions with Claudia too.
She seems to grasp the situation and has been tracking the temple's movements.
"That would be the logical move."
Actually, hearing this, I can accept that the temple would act that way.
"The question is just how large a scale their offensive will be..."
The problem is how quickly the temple can act.
"Indeed. The Heretic Church probably already knows about the failure of this operation. So, knowing that organization, they'll likely erase any and all traces and quickly vanish into the shadows."
"Anticipating that, the temple is also trying to move as quickly as possible."
"It's a race against time."
The Heretic Church has been operating in the shadows for a long time.
In that regard, they've accumulated considerable know-how in escaping, hiding, and lurking, and they maintain many hideouts.
It's only natural they'll make arrangements to prevent the capture of personnel связан with this incident and act to prevent further damage.
If that's the case, the temple's usual sluggishness becomes a bottleneck.
Normally, you'd think they should counterattack swiftly after almost suffering such巨大 damage.
But they also have the position, as administrators of the gods' system, of not being able to wield power carelessly.
Considering the temple's cautious stance on taking action, there's a real possibility they might miss this golden opportunity.
After all, even though they took damage, it wasn't fatal.
"By the way, what's the damage like?"
"In some areas, there's damage from the sewer collapse, and there are numerous casualties and injuries from the Heretic Church terrorists' rampage."
"...If they don't act, it'll become a credibility issue for the temple. Even the opposition faction probably won't push for inaction now."
Considering the scale of the damage, anyone advocating for caution now would undoubtedly face cold stares for harming the gods' prestige.
If that's the case, there's a possibility the temple might move with unprecedented speed.
"Well, then. Time to turn my attention to the thing I've been avoiding."
That's regarding the temple's movements.
Honestly, for us who now have a favor owed by the temple, we can watch their actions relatively輕鬆ly, since we're just bystanders.
There's a possibility they might request our cooperation for having prevented this incident, but we can firmly refuse using that favor as a shield.
"Yes."
"Right."
"The problem?"
"Is that we prevented the Heretic Church's terror attack."
"Huh, was that bad!?"
More importantly, we have to face the reality that will likely befall us from now on.
I try to put on a serious face, but my current appearance—getting a lap pillow from Ingrid and covered with a blanket—is far from serious. Still, my thoughts are serious.
"No, Amina and the others' actions were correct. You guys did what should be done, without a doubt. It's just that, from our perspective and ideology, it was the right thing. From the Heretic Church's side, it was obstructive and worthy of resentment."
"So it's resentment?"
"Exactly. Though, with the caveat 'from their perspective,' of course. To them, we're the villains who interfered with what they consider a holy war."
With this incident, our pioneer village has undoubtedly caught the Heretic Church's attention.
If we didn't want to be noticed, we could have ignored the terror or fled at full speed, but I didn't want to stoop to that level of villainy, so it couldn't be helped. Despite those circumstances, from now on, we have to consider the Heretic Church as part of our future対策.
"In other words, from now on, we have to seriously consider countermeasures against the Heretic Church for the pioneer village."
"Because we intervened, right?"
"I keep saying it, but Esmeralda and the others' judgment wasn't wrong. The other side is just a nuisance."
That said, countermeasures against the Heretic Church aren't that difficult.
They have a custom of always marking some part of their bodies with tattoos.
Without it, they aren't recognized as comrades, nor trusted.
"Liberta-kun, what will you do?"
"One is thorough户籍 management. Not creating slums, keeping track of all residents. Just that allows us to distinguish between inside and outside."
If we can check for tattoos, they're relatively easy to identify.
Though, we'd need to check their whole bodies, so normally it's not feasible.
"And for managing people coming from outside, we'll have commercial districts, inn districts, and maybe administrative zones. Set up areas禁止 to unauthorized personnel to manage people."
From now on, the pioneer village will grow.
That's certain.
And the flow of people in and out will become intense.
"It's a complex issue, but if we're thorough from the initial stage, it should be doable. Fortunately, we can start training personnel now and instill that common sense. And we've made progress on building the temple needed for the contracts."
The construction of a temple that can perform the contracts essential for this management is now in sight.
"With this incident, we've done the temple a big favor, so they'll probably be cooperative regarding the dispatch of priests."
"That said, we just need to委托 them with temple management and ensure they do their jobs properly. We don't want anything more than that; we might even support their livelihood if necessary."
It's better to build an equal relationship and trust than to make excessive demands and sour the relationship.
We're not financially struggling, and for future village and town construction, it's better to have a cooperative relationship with the temple.
With the gods watching over them, we don't have to worry about the temple becoming corrupt.
"With this, we can finally build the academy."
Until now, we've been hesitant about reinforcing personnel because selecting people was difficult.
From here on, we can build an academy facility and reinforce our numbers.
"But won't an influx of people also be an opportunity for the Heretic Church?"
"We'll take various measures to crush that opportunity."
"That's good, then."
"The quickest way might be to have everyone sing hymns every morning."
"...That would certainly be a penance for the Heretic Church."
The Heretic Church is adept at covert operations like潜伏, but those entering our organization would mostly be third-tier affiliates.
Those with weak faith, disposable pawns.
The reason is that the higher up you go, the stronger the faith becomes, making them physiologically unable to accept this world's religious practices.
"Exactly. It's easy to focus on the dangerous aspects, but the Heretic Church has many weaknesses. If we exploit them properly, we have plenty of options."
We need to be vigilant, but there's no need for excessive worry.
I don't want to be so preoccupied with the Heretic Church that I can't do what I want.
"From tomorrow, I'll properly... whoa."
"You're sleepy, aren't you?"
"Well, yeah, I am. But I need to talk a bit more."
As I think about various things, drowsiness suddenly hits me.
The sleepiness that had been half-activated now fully kicked in.
"It's okay. Leave the rest to us."
Ingrid immediately starts stroking my head, making me even drowsier.
Fatigue really is troublesome.
"Okay then. I think I'll sleep for a bit."
And so, for the first time in a while, I was able to properly and peacefully fall asleep.