Zich and his companions continued to move to look for the Bellid temple.
“Does that person not have any manners?” Zich asked vaguely while missing many pieces of information, but Lubella and Weig easily understood what he meant.
“Yes,” Lubella said with her puckered lips. “She’s the person who kept trying to pick a fight with me when I used to be the Saint Candidate and was always desperate to put me down.”
“I thought she disappeared to a rural temple somewhere after Lady Lubella gained the Saintess title. I didn’t imagine for her to be with Sir Zenard at all,” Weig said disapprovingly. He also didn’t have good opinions of Chelsea because of the memories he had related to her.
“Well, it was quite fun when I slapped her hard in the face after I followed your advice.”
“Yes, it was a scene that made me feel refreshed after frustrating me for a long time,” Weig added.
The memory of that slap made both of them happy, and their faces relaxed once again.
“It’s an honor that my advice was helpful to you,” Zich said.
“Your advice was of great help. Thanks to the experience Lady Lubella had with you and the advice you gave, she was able to overcome her only weakness and gain tenacity. If you think about that, you did so much for the Karuwimans.”
“Thank you for flattering me. But if Lady Lubella’s competition was the person we just met, it doesn’t seem like she really needed my help. I think she would’ve been become a Saintess just by her character and skills alone.”
“There were other Saint Candidates, but like you, I know that Lady Lubella would have been the Saintess in the end. However, it’s true that she grew and progressed during her time with you. I can only be thankful as someone who serves Karuna.” Weig complimented Zich, and then he looked back and clicked his tongue.
“The fact that a person like that even tried to compete with Lady Lubella is wrong in itself. We really have to break apart the Karuwiman’s human selection process at its core and start over again.” While Weig complained about Karuwiman’s systems, Lubella thought about Glen.
“The man who was with Chelsea was called Sir Glen Zenard, right? The Karuwiman Honorary Holy Knight. Did he accept her as his companion without knowing her true character?” she asked.
“That must be the case. There’s no way a holy knight with that title would hang around with a person like that.”
There was great trust placed on a Karuwiman Honorary Holy Knight since the Karuwimans didn’t give out this title unless they did deeds worthy of the name. It appeared like Zich had received the title easily, but at the time Lubella suggested the title to him, Zich had already saved the Saint Candidate once and stopped ‘a city sacrifice ritual’ that could have destroyed an entire city. Zich had done deeds like that countless times before his regression, so he didn’t think too much about what he did, but they were all truly impressive feats. Thus, Lubella and Weig naturally thought that Glen had made similar accomplishments like Zich since they both had the same title and didn’t think Glen was a suspicious existence. Thus, they were shocked when they heard Zich’s words.
“He probably knows, considering how sneaky he is.”
“Hm, the relationship between you and Sir Glen doesn’t appear to be all that great. Although I don’t think you would go around talking ill about a person just because of that reason.” Even good-natured people had conflicts and clashed with others depending on the paths they ventured and the thoughts they had. Weig had thought Zich and Glen’s relationship was simply along these lines. Yet, considering the way Zich spoke now, that didn’t seem to be the case.
“You said that the person who competed with Lady Lubella for the Saint title was Chelsea Windne, right? You know, the one who made you say that Karuwimans should fix their people selection process from the roots.”
“Yes, I did,” Weig answered. He was a bit taken aback, not knowing what Zich was trying to say.
“It seems like there are a lot of cases where those unfit for their positions go up in the Karuwimans’ circle.”
“It’s embarrassing to admit, but it’s true. There are many others who seem unfit for their positions besides Chelsea Windne.”
“Then, wouldn’t that also apply for the Karuwiman Honorary Holy Knight position?”
“…Are you saying that Sir Glen Zenard is the same kind of person as Chelsea Windne?” Weig asked with a heavy tone. Anyone replying to Weig’s question would have placed great care and attention before answering it, but Zich talked casually like usual.
“In the first place, the title of Honorary Holy Knight is given to a person who does many deeds for the Karuwimans. The selection process for such a position is mostly outside the Karuwimans’ jurisdiction and would be less strict than one done internally within the organization. If you consider how a person like Chelsea Windne managed to pass through those difficult and strict selection processes within the organization, consider the process in which a Honorary Holy Knight gets chosen.”
“Hm.” Weig thought Zich’s words held merit. He stroked his chin and nodded, and Lubella also thought deeply about the matter.
“Of course, I won’t ask you guys to trust me immediately, since I could be wrong.” Zich didn’t speak forcefully. Although Zich knew Glen’s true self for several reasons, it was Lubella and Weig’s first time hearing about this news. Even if the two trusted Zich very much, what Zich said now challenged the Karuwimans’ credibility.
“Just think about what I said once when you meet that person,” Zich concluded.
“…I understand.”
“We will do that.”
The two nodded. Since Zich was telling them this, their suspicions of Glen would have now sprouted in their hearts.
‘It’s about time he’s brought down.’
Zich had been watching without taking much action because of Glen’s regression ability until now. However, since he made sure that Glen’s ability had disappeared, he no longer needed to consider it.
‘He’s going to wake up from his long, long dream. When he does, reality will come crashing down on him.’
* * *
All of the problems occurring inside the Steelwall Estate were according to Glen Zenard’s instructions. Ever since Zich first met Glen at the Steelwall Estate, after destroying a small Bellid temple, Zich was sure of this thought. Thus, when he heard that Glen had found a large Bellid temple in Violsa, he wasn’t surprised. Instead, he had expected this to happen soon.
‘Something related to Count Steelwall would be found there.’ Then, the conspiracy would accelerate and gain momentum. Moreover, unlike the empty Bellid temples found in the other cities, there were quite a few Bellid followers inside the large Bellid temple found in the capital city. Therefore, he heard that they had asked for more support to exterminate those followers.
‘Is he planning to gather people and act like a hero again?’ Glen’s psychology was so obvious that it was laughable. ‘Well, he’s probably doing this to also show the evidence of Steelwall’s connection with the Bellids to as many people as possible.’
Regardless of Glen’s intentions, Zich planned to go to the location where the Bellid temple was found near Violsa. If everything went according to expectations, the raid would end soon, but he didn’t know how the situation would progress. Thus, Zich went to meet Lyla before he went to the temple.
“That’s why it might take me longer to come and meet you again,” Zich said as he ripped apart a piece of bread and dipped it in soup.
Zich and Lyla had set up a table on top of one of the rings surrounding the gigantic crystal and ate together. Zich had been going to check on Lyla at least once a day unless something came up; he came mostly during meal time. Lyla was completely immersed in research the whole day, but stopped her research for that short time to enjoy a meal with Zich.
Lyla cut the meat and put it into her mouth as she said, “I got it. I’ll keep that in mind.” Lyla was a bit disappointed that this enjoyable time wouldn’t continue for a while, but she didn’t show it on the outside.
“It probably won’t take that long, since I heard that the temple is close by.” The new temple that was found was extremely close to Violsa, so it wasn’t far off from the rumors.
Lyla nodded and then narrowed her eyes. “You’re going with the Saintess, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmm.” Lyla looked at Zich as if she was displeased. She began cutting her meat a bit more roughly. However, this was only for a moment.
“Okay. Come back safely and take care of yourself.” She then smiled as if nothing had happened.
“What? You’re not going to tell me to not stick closely to the Saintess or not cause trouble?”
“Do you think I have the right to tell you that now? I just one-sidedly have a crush on you.” Her voice was calm, but there was fierce passion in her eyes. “But I’m going to definitely make you look back, and when that happens, I’ll tie you down like you just said.”
“I like being free, but I won’t stop you from trying. Good luck. I’ll cheer you on.” Zich smirked and threw the rest of the bread into his mouth. “How’s your research going?”
“So far, I haven’t had much success,” Lyla said as she stared at the unknown equipment gathered in the ring. “I’ve been slowly infusing mana into the equipment to find out their function, but I’ve been making slow progress, since I don’t know what’ll happen if I make a mistake and touch the wrong part.”
“That’s a good idea. Even if it takes a bit more time, it’s better to be safe.” Zich recalled the multi-colored mana he saw a few days ago. If that mana lost control and went berserk, a huge disaster would erupt. “It doesn’t matter if you can’t finish it even after the conspiracy ends. We can just stay longer here. Since I’ve done quite a lot of work here, my blasted father won’t be able to force me to immediately leave.”
“I got it.” Then, the two began to exchange small talk. Anyone could see that they were having an extremely enjoyable time. After finishing their meal like this, they both went back to their respective jobs.
* * *
Zich brought his party along excluding Lyla and teamed up with Lubella and Weig. The temple that Glen said he found was about one hour away from Violsa by carriage.
“Seriously, these cockroach bastards are experts at finding places like this.” Zich clicked his tongue when he saw the entrance of the cave that appeared in front of him.
“It’s an ability that perfectly fits them. An extremely cumbersome ability.” Lubella glared at the entrance with cold eyes. They went inside the cave. It seemed as if many people had already entered the cave as there were traces of footprints everywhere around the entrance. The cave was extremely deep, and it grew wider as they walked deeper in. It was the perfect place where a Bellid temple might be.
When they were almost at the end of the cave, there discovered a grand Bellid temple. It wasn’t as big as the one in the northern branch, but compared to the other temples they had seen so far, it was definitely enormous. They saw Steelwall knights and soldiers and Karuwiman holy knights gathered around the temple, but there weren’t that many people. Regardless of the fact that the cave was pretty sizable compared to other caves, it was still not big enough for a large number of people to go in at once.
The Steelwall knights and soldiers and the Karuwiman holy knights stood still with a bit of a distance between them; it reflected the current relationship between the Steelwalls and Karuwimans.
“Ah, you’ve arrived.” Zich heard a voice that made him immediately frown, and he stared at the owner of the voice.
Glen Zenard was walking towards him.