After Joshua left, Messai continued to stare at the door without saying a word.
“If you want to say something, you can go ahead and say it, knight Messai...”
The deer of light that stood behind Herolia had disappeared. Her golden eyes have also changed back to brown.
“Saintess, you... wanted to replace the Pope?” After being quiet for a long time, Messai finally spoke.
She knew that if she was to inform the Nation of the Holy Church’s upper echelon about the discussion between Herolia and Joshua, Herolia might end up being erased by the Heresy Tribunal.
The ‘transaction’ between Herolia and Joshua was so serious that it violated the laws of the Holy City.
As a knight of the Ecclesiastical Templars, Messai had more than sufficient justification to aim her sword at this ‘traitor’ and escort her back to the Holy City.
“Messai, what do you think of the current Nation of the Holy Church?”
Herolia did not directly answer Messai’s question. She instead asked her another question.
“I am not talking about how the people are living there. You only need to answer me this... do you really approve of the behavior of the Heresy Tribunal?”
With a wave of her hand, Herolia opened the magic network interface. After logging into the Mage Forum, she found the post made by Firebringer a while back.
It was the post about the so-called ‘Truth’ behind the Burning of the Blackwood Forest.
Naturally, Messai had read that post too. However, from the bottom of her heart, she refused to believe the contents of the post to be real. She continued to persuade herself that it was a lie meticulously made up by that Chaos Demon.
But, the reality doesn’t seem to be that way...
“I am unable to answer that question.”
Feeling at a loss, Messai shook her head. Then, she did the knight gesture that she did when she became Herolia’s knight.
“But, what I abide by is the words and morals of the God of Holy Light. That is my faith... As for my current status, I am your knight. My duty is to protect you.”
Messai insisted on following her own sense of righteousness. For her righteousness, even if it was the Pope, she would not hesitate to draw her sword to bestow punishment upon the Pope should he betray morals and commit atrocities.
“It would appear that your faith does not obstruct you from using that Chaos Demon’s creations,” said Herolia.
“Lady Saintess... please don’t make fun of me.”
A rare red color appeared on Messai’s face. The ‘Chao’s Demon’s creations’ Herolia spoke of was naturally ‘Hearthstone.’
“No, I’m not making fun of you. The things created by that Chaos Demon is indeed... very alluring.”
Before signing out from the Mage Forum, Herolia checked out the ‘camp’ section. From Gallolie’s camp, she saw a post stating ‘Looking forward to the Blackwood Elves’ performance.’ Herolia tapped on thumbs up at the post and then signed out.
Herolia originally thought that she had a great sense of self-control. She originally planned to use the Mage Forum only to gather information.
But now, she would frequent the Mage Forum whether she needed to do so or not. Whether the posts might be useful or useless, she would always tap into them to check them out.
“Messai, if the Nation of the Holy Church’s dark secrets were to appear all over the Mage Forum one day, like the incident with the Burning of the Blackwood Forest, do you think people will still see us the same as before?”
Messai shook her head in response.
Herolia slowly walked to the window. Pulling back the curtains, she could see the people walking on the street.
She extended her hand and placed it on the window and watched as the people below went about their business.
“Before that Chaos Demon created the magic network, the masses were ignorant. If they wanted to know certain things, they could only learn through rumors. But... how many people would willingly believe in the lies spread by a bunch of street rats? Even if the news about the Burning of the Blackwood Forest managed to reach Norland, no one will pay attention to it.”
After saying those words, Herolia turned around to look at Messai. The Mage Forum interface suddenly appeared before Messai.
On the Mage Forum was the post regarding the Burning of the Blackwood Forest. A bunch of replies from the users of the mage forum were below that post. From those replies, Messai could tell how emotional and furious the people replying were at the time they wrote those replies.
It was like they were itching to drag the Nation of the Holy Church’s Pope out and burn him at the stake.
“The appearance of the magic network allowed the masses to gain information from the very source. Everything that’s happening in the world, they merely needed to wave their hands and tap into the Mage Forum or that so-called Voice of Norland to learn all about them. Furthermore... for the first time ever, they’ve gained the medium that allowed them to express their opinions,” said Herolia.
“Things like being able to sway an entire city using only a dozen missionaries is no longer possible in Norland. The Nation of the Holy Church’s missionary campaigns have become the dust from the past. Yet, those old fools are completely unaware. They’re like a bunch of turtles in the bottom of a well.”
“But, the discussions on the Mage Forum are only idle talks... no one actually bothered to act upon them.”
While looking through the replies on the post, Messai had seen multiple replies from people stating that they’re going to go to the Nation of the Holy Church to avenge the Blackwood Elves.
But, the Holy City was not a place where they could create disturbances at will, much less taking revenge.
“That’s because the Blackwood Elves are ‘unrelated people’ to the citizens of Norland. It’s only natural that no one will bother to genuinely extend a helping hand to them.”
Herolia refuted Messai. She once again rummaged through the posts on the Mage Forum. Soon, she pulled up a post started by a ‘Skotan Nun.’
“Do you still remember that child Cheryl?” asked Herolia.
“Cheryl... while she’s a traitor, she’s... still my friend.”
Messai initially wanted to deny her relationship with Cheryl. But, after being stared at by Herolia, she couldn’t help herself from confessing.
“Cheryl is also my friend. Because of that, the first thing I did after obtaining the magic network is determining how Cheryl was doing in Norland after she defected from the Holy Church.”
Herolia sent the posts regarding Skotan Nun to Messai. The knight lady began to skim through the contents of the post.
“What I learned was unexpected. Deemed a traitor, that child Cheryl was pursued by the Heresy Tribunal’s inquisitors. They chased her all the way to Norland... Judging from her initial post crying for help, she... was forced to desperate straits by the Heresy Tribunal.”
After Messai finished reading through the post issued by ‘Skotan Nun,’ a look of shock appeared on her face...
She rarely paid any attention to the discussions on the Mage Forum. Thus, she never expected for Cheryl to be in so much danger when she defected from the Holy Church.
“The Heresy Tribunal never forgives traitors.”
After being reminded by Herolia, Messai’s heart started to gradually become heavy. She began to read through the replies on the post nonstop. With every reply she read, emotions abruptly surged in her heavy heart.
‘Miss Skotan is being pursued by the Heresy Tribunal? Tell me where you are!’ Replied by: Short Touch Wand.
‘She seemed to be near Crocker Wands! Crocker Wands is located right next to the teleportation formation! Is there anyone near the teleportation formation?!’ Replied by: Wordless Book.
‘Don’t panic. I’ve dispatched my people over.’ Replied by: Ash-colored Owl.
Silently, Messai read through the replies from the past one after another. Even though she does not frequent the Mage Forum, she was a frequent customer to the Hearthstone Tavern. Thus, she vaguely remembers the usernames of the Hearthstone players, those mages and dwarves, from the tavern.
On that night... countless mages and dwarves rushed to rescue Cheryl from all over Norland. They were even braving the dangers of becoming enemies of the Heresy Tribunal.
To them, Cheryl was a total stranger.
“Of course, the citizens of Norland are not out to help a stranger out of kindness. That child Cheryl had a special identity on the Mage Forum — a novelist.”
Herolia sent Cheryl’s ‘Diary of an Inquisitor’ post to Messai.
Messai knew that her friend had written a book on the Mage Forum. But, she never imagined for there to be that many readers...
The amount of replies to ‘Diary of an Inquisitor’ had surpassed ten thousand. It was the post with the greatest number of replies that Messai has even seen on the Mage Forum.
“Cheryl gave up on her identity as an inquisitor to become a popular novelist on the Mage Forum. The reason why the citizens of Norland came to her rescue was because... they were fond of her work.”
Herolia flipped through the pages of ‘Diary of an Inquisitor.’ No matter how many times she read them... she, someone who has experienced those things written in the diary herself, was unable to become interested. But, that was different for the mages that do not know anything about the Heresy Tribunal.
“It is the same as how there are many devout believers in the Nation of the Holy Church that are willing to die for me,” Herolia smiled a smile that Messai cannot understand.
Suddenly, at this moment, upbeat music sounded from outside the room. The music was completely different from all the other competitors.
“It would appear... that the Blackwood Elves have got on stage. Messai, let us go and have a look. Take care of my clothes too.”
Herolia pointed to the shabby-looking brown dress Messai was holding. Those were the clothes she wore on the stage earlier.
“Lady Saintess, that Chaos Demon had refused your offer for cooperation. Yet, you’re still planning to continue performing on the stage?”
Messai had thought that Herolia decided to participate in World’s Singers purely so that she could find an opportunity to get in touch with Joshua.
Even though Herolia had obtained her goal, Joshua refused her offer with a whole bunch of strange justifications.
Messai hoped that Herolia would be done with things here so that they could return to the Holy City.
The disappearance of the Saintess had most definitely brought upon major headache to the Holy Church’s Archbishops.
“Of course. It’s only natural that I continue on with my performance,” Herolia gracefully turned around in the room. Even though her nun outfit didn’t match her actions, the charm she displayed still managed to dazzle Messai.
“I am going to make Norland’s... no, the entire world’s audiences like the character ‘Lia.’ If ‘Lia’ is to one day encounter dangers in the Holy City, perhaps there will be people from Norland that will be willing to rush over to rescue that pitiful girl.”