Chapter 18, The Earth Church’s Saintess
“You’re accepting just like that?”
Euphemia’s immediate answer caught Freya off guard.
“Of course.”
Euphemia nodded.
“Do you have any more detailed information? Tell me everything you know.”
She needed to understand the situation before she could investigate it.
Freya thought for a moment.
Her first sentence dropped another bombshell.
“The enemy is a Rank Five General of the War Path.”
“Their base is an old blue warehouse on Trinity Row in southern Auxerre.”
Euphemia stared at her.
What?
The moment she heard the words Rank Five, her entire body shuddered.
“Hold on. Are you sure?”
“The enemy is a Rank Five practitioner?”
Freya nodded without saying anything.
The corner of Euphemia’s mouth twitched.
“Then haven’t you already finished most of the investigation?”
“Just report it to the police and let the Special Affairs Division handle the rest.”
Unaffiliated practitioners could live normal lives in this world as long as they did not deliberately cause trouble.
They could even use their supernatural abilities to make a living, provided they registered with the Special Affairs Division.
They might open a security company or a private investigation agency.
During the month Freya had spent working for Special Affairs in her second simulation, she had learned of three such businesses.
Private gatherings between unaffiliated practitioners were another matter.
The Special Affairs Division strictly prohibited them.
Anyone discovered attending one would be arrested.
Freya suspected those gatherings still existed.
Something like that was nearly impossible to eliminate completely.
Such secret meetings, where potions might be bought and sold, were probably one of the main sources of new unaffiliated practitioners.
Euphemia returned to the subject.
“If you’re worried that reporting this will expose your status as an unaffiliated practitioner, I can go to the police for you.”
“I’m officially registered.”
She stopped suddenly.
“Wait. Aren’t you an ordinary person?”
“How do you know any of this?”
Thanks to her skill at reading people, Euphemia knew that Freya had not lied once.
Everything she had said was true.
That only made the situation more absurd.
Freya did not answer the question.
“Reporting it directly won’t work.”
“Without enough evidence, the Special Affairs Division can’t request a Mobile Team.”
“They’ll send someone to investigate first.”
“That will only alert the enemy. The people sent to investigate might even die there.”
Freya looked directly at Euphemia.
“I want you to investigate the Rank Five mastermind’s true identity.”
“I also need enough evidence to convince Special Affairs to call in a Mobile Team immediately.”
“Can you do that?”
Euphemia instantly guessed that Freya probably knew someone inside the Special Affairs Division.
She rubbed her chin with one hand and considered the request.
“All right.”
“I can try.”
Freya extended her right hand.
“Then… I look forward to working with you?”
Euphemia shook it.
“Likewise, my adorable little client.”
“Though I still don’t know your name.”
Freya realized they had been speaking for quite a while without her ever introducing herself.
“Sorry. You can call me Freya.”
“Oh, and we haven’t discussed your fee yet.”
“My fee?”
Euphemia thought for a moment.
“How about one hundred ducats?”
“You can use it to buy me a good meal later. We’ll call that my payment.”
“What?”
Freya blinked.
This was an enormous and extremely dangerous assignment.
Euphemia wanted only one hundred ducats?
Euphemia’s eyes curved into gentle crescents.
“Helping an adorable girl in need is already the best reward I could ask for.”
“Though completing this case will also benefit me.”
Freya thought about that.
“Is solving mysteries how you digest the Scholar Path potion?”
War Path practitioners could accelerate digestion by killing.
For the Scholar Path, the method appeared to be uncovering the truth.
The definition of uncovering the truth was extremely broad.
On a grand scale, it could mean deriving a new mathematical formula or discovering a physical law no one had identified before.
On a smaller scale, even helping someone recover a lost possession could count.
Naturally, solving a case qualified as well.
Euphemia did not deny it.
“Mhm.”
Freya continued.
“When do you plan to begin?”
“Can I come with you?”
Normally, a client would give the assignment to a private investigator and wait for the results.
Freya preferred to take part.
She was worried Euphemia might die before bringing back any information.
If Freya accompanied her, then even if both of them died, Freya could carry everything they had learned into the next simulation.
“Of course you can.”
Euphemia smiled.
“I need some time to prepare, though.”
“How about this afternoon?”
They agreed on a time and place to meet.
Then Freya continued toward the Earth Church.
She arrived a little later than during the previous simulation, but almost nothing had changed.
Freya approached the main entrance.
The six-foot-tall believer stood there like a guard carved from stone.
She felt slightly nervous.
Would he let her inside this time?
The moment Freya reached the entrance, his arm blocked her path again.
She sighed.
So the War Path had not been the reason?
Before she could finish that thought, the believer spoke in a trembling voice.
“You…”
“No, forgive me. You…”
He stared at her in awe.
“Your presence is so pure.”
“It’s almost… almost as though the Mother Goddess herself had descended into this world.”
Thud.
The believer dropped to his knees in front of Freya.
Freya’s mind went blank.
What was this man doing?
She had only changed the save file she was using.
How could the difference between this visit and the last one be so extreme?
A moment later, the believer sprang back to his feet.
“I’ll notify the Archbishop immediately.”
“Please go inside and rest while you wait.”
Then he turned and ran into the church without looking back.
Freya remained frozen outside the entrance.
A strange thought entered her mind.
What expression would he make if she left now, and he returned with the Archbishop only to discover she had disappeared?
Freya quickly dismissed the idea.
She had come here for serious business, not to play a prank.
She entered the church.
The first thing she saw was a spacious hall.
Rows of old wooden pews stood neatly along both sides.
A faint scent of grass and fresh wood lingered in the air.
Freya did not know whether it was psychological or caused by something else, but simply stepping inside made her feel calm and secure.
Several believers in worn cloth garments sat scattered among the pews.
Their hands were clasped together, and their eyes were closed in prayer.
The most striking objects in the hall were three statues at the far end.
The one in the center was enormous, standing nearly twenty-five feet tall.
It held both arms raised and connected the floor to the ceiling, almost as though it genuinely served as a supporting pillar.
The other two statues were more ordinary in size.
The one on the left knelt on one knee with a hand resting against the ground, as though listening to something beneath the earth.
The statue on the right was the only woman among the three.
Her hands were clasped before her chest, and her eyes were closed.
A beam of sunlight passed through the church windows and fell directly across the goddess, filling her with a sacred radiance.
Freya was still studying the statues when heavy footsteps sounded from a side door.
Thud. Thud.
The believer who had guarded the entrance returned with the Archbishop.
Freya’s image of a high-ranking religious official was a thin old man with white hair and a long beard.
The Archbishop looked nothing like that.
He stood well over six and a half feet tall.
His pale green church robe clung to him like fitted athletic wear.
The exposed muscles along his forearms and calves were more pronounced than those of the most dedicated fitness enthusiasts Freya remembered from her previous world.
The giant hurried toward Freya.
His enormous body completely blocked the sunlight.
For a moment, Freya felt as though the entire room had gone dark.
Thud!
The Archbishop dropped to his knees in front of her, just as the gatekeeper had.
Tears rolled from his eyes.
“This perfectly pure presence…”
“This incomparable sense of salvation…”
“You must be the Saintess sent into this world by the Mother Goddess to guide us.”
“Please.”
“This is the request of my lifetime.”
“You must join the Earth Church.”
The scene shocked not only Freya.
The believers who had been praying on the nearby pews opened their eyes and stared in disbelief.
Freya tilted her head back to look at the kneeling Archbishop.
A completely unrelated question entered her mind.
How was this man still taller than her while kneeling?
Wasn’t that a little ridiculous?
Freya shook her head and pushed the useless thought aside.
She was about to speak when the Archbishop apparently mistook the gesture for a refusal.
He grabbed both of Freya’s small hands.
“Please don’t say no.”
“I’ll do anything you ask.”
“Just join the Earth Church.”
“No, no. I wasn’t refusing.”
Freya hurriedly corrected him.
She was genuinely afraid he might accidentally crush her arms.
“Truly?”
The Archbishop’s face lit up.
“Wonderful!”
“Praise the Heavenly Father. Praise the Earth God. Praise the Mother Goddess!”
Freya complained silently.
Was he reading names from a menu?
She was the one who had agreed, yet he had thanked everyone except her.
“So… what happens after I join the Earth Church?”
“Do I need to do anything?”
Freya also wanted to ask what she would receive.
That sounded too blunt and transactional, so she kept the question to herself.
“Your Holiness, please come with me.”
“I’ll first explain the Earth Church to you.”
Freya wore an expression somewhere between confusion and embarrassment.
“Why does everyone keep calling me the Saintess?”
Her toes were already curling inside her shoes from secondhand embarrassment.
The Archbishop answered without hesitation.
“The truth is beyond dispute.”
“Even if you were not a Saintess sent by the gods, everything you have done and all the gratitude and hope placed upon you by others are real.”
“Those alone make you worthy of the title.”
Freya understood almost none of that.
What gratitude and hope had other people placed upon her?
Could he not explain it in normal language?
As they spoke, Freya followed the Archbishop through a side door and deeper into the church.
After a brief explanation, she gained a general understanding of the Earth Church.
The church worshiped three gods.
The Heavenly Father supported the heavens and bore the weight of the world.
The Earth God nourished the land and carried all living things.
The Mother Goddess gave birth to life and embodied love and compassion.
The Earth Church’s doctrine was equally simple.
Help everyone in need to the best of one’s ability.
Do as much good as possible.
As for Freya’s duties after joining the church, there were effectively none.
This was a religion, not a company.
She had come to become the Saintess, not accept a regular job.
If anything, her position allowed her to assign work to other believers.
Freya still could not understand it.
“So why am I the Saintess?”
She knew exactly what kind of person she was.
Freya was an atheist.
Gods might genuinely exist in this world.
Wouldn’t she die horribly if they discovered someone like her impersonating their Saintess?
The Archbishop did not answer directly.
Instead, he asked a question.
“Do you know about supernatural Paths?”
“Uh…”
Freya had not expected him to be so direct.
“I know a little.”
“Why?”
“Would you be willing to drink a potion and step onto the Earth Path?”
The Archbishop looked at her solemnly.
“Once you drink it, you will understand why I call you our Saintess.”
Freya had only one thought.
They were giving her a free potion?
A completely new Path?
Why would she ever refuse?
She nodded immediately and made no effort to hide her interest.
“I’ve always been fascinated by supernatural powers.”
“Can I really do that?”
“Of course.”
The Archbishop led Freya into a room resembling a private reception chamber.
“Please wait here.”
“I’ll bring the potion.”
About fifteen minutes later, heavy footsteps approached.
Thud. Thud.
The Archbishop returned carrying a box.
Inside it rested six potion bottles.