Chapter 88
(Kyle
Calendar Year 506: Age 13)
Confrontation with the Church
Translator : PolterGlast
"Takuhir-sama,
what brings you here today?"
I was at the Teigun
town church. As soon as we arrived, the priest came out to greet us.
"With God's
blessing, I have safely returned from this recent campaign and have also
received commendations for my military service. I am also grateful for God's
blessing that the town of Teigun successfully repelled the enemy
invasion."
Father Grace, the
church's representative, who had come out to greet me, had a face full of
anticipation.
"In addition,
I've brought a small offering as thanks for your continued cooperation with the
Mage aptitude tests."
"Oh, my, this is
truly a testament to the deep faith of the Solis Viscount family, starting with
your parents. This must also be divine will. Please, come in, we have a back
room prepared for you."
After entering the
room, Father Grace's face broke into a full smile, as the scene unfolded
exactly as expected. A large bag filled with about 100 gold coins was placed
before him.
He was originally the
head priest of Est. However, when the development of Teigun began, he readily
ceded his position to his successor and came to Teigun. He was a shrewd
businessman with foresight, anticipating the Mage-related interests I would
bring and the future of Teigun. Although the Teigun church was still under
expansion and in development, it was expected to surpass the scale of the Est
church in the future.
"By the way, when
do you plan to conduct the Mage aptitude tests next?" he immediately
inquired about business.
I think it was for 13
people last time, including my sister... I was quite generous back then.
"Regarding that,
I'm thinking of postponing future aptitude tests."
Father Grace's
expression changed.
"Are you aware of
the circumstances surrounding my elder brother being forced to take on the role
of leading the Second Youth Knight Corps during this recent war, despite his
unwillingness?"
"W-what does that
have to do with..." The priest's face clouded over.
"Well, it seems
information regarding Mages within the Solis Viscount family has been leaking
to certain individuals in the Royal Capital, and that information has been used
to coerce us into dangerous missions..."
"Th-that is... a
very grave matter, indeed."
The priest turned pale
and started sweating. Yeah, he's flustered. In a hierarchical organization like
the church—even if the priest wasn't selling information, someone higher up
probably was. That was entirely plausible. It was likely that was exactly what
was happening.
"Therefore, we're
temporarily suspending Mage aptitude tests..."
"To be honest, if
necessary, we're also considering conducting them in other territories, at
places where aptitude tests can similarly be done. That way, we won't have to
use the Viscount family's name, and we won't be seen as a threat by the Royal
Capital or incur unnecessary misunderstandings."
"No, th-that's
too much..."
Of course, he'd say
that. A major source of income he was relying on would be taken elsewhere. To
press him further, I stopped the priest as he was about to continue.
"I am greatly
indebted to Father Grace, and I don't believe the information came from you.
However, due to the church's organizational structure, reporting to the higher
church is likely mandatory. We have no way to deal with what those who receive
that report might do... It's truly regrettable. For actions taken to protect
the royal family to be seen as a threat by the central authority and endanger
the Viscount family's future, that's putting the cart before the horse. It was
truly a difficult decision."
My finishing blow
silenced the priest. After a moment, he opened his mouth as if he had made up
his mind.
"We pay half of
the offerings related to the rituals to the higher church. The number of
rituals performed is what's required for reporting; whether they succeed or
fail isn't the church's concern, and reporting it is not mandatory, merely
secondary."
With that, the priest,
having made up his mind, continued.
"It's not our
wish to expose the Solis Viscounty family to danger, given your deep faith and
generous offerings to us. As you said, we consider it putting the cart before
the horse. From now on, as much as possible... we could report the rituals as
failures. Of course, given your past achievements, we can't report all of them
as such, but how about we report them that way ourselves?"
I pretended to ponder
for a while, secretly observing the changes in the priest's expression.
"Won't that cause
you trouble?"
"As someone
involved with the Viscount family, I am not unwilling to cooperate in
protecting it."
"..."
I don't particularly
like playing mind games, but in situations like this, when you hold a strong
card, it's necessary to make a show of it and make the other party anxious.
"I appreciate
Father Grace's consideration and wise decision. In the future, if I ask you to
report the rituals as unsuccessful, I intend to double our offerings for that
number. As an expression of gratitude to God."
"Of course! We
must be vigilant against those who look upon the Viscount family, who are loyal
to the royal family, with evil eyes!"
Since the discussion
with the priest seemed to be going well, I decided to press my advantage
further.
"Anne, sorry,
could you bring the additional items?"
I had Anne
intentionally retrieve something I had prepared beforehand. After a moment,
Anne returned. She placed two more bags, identical to the one filled with gold
coins earlier, in front of the priest.
"These are our
donations to Father Grace personally, in gratitude for your daily efforts.
Please accept them."
"Oh, my! This,
this is... such..."
No, no, that full
smile you briefly flashed—it's too late to try to hide it now.
With this, I think we
can conceal the information leakage for a while, right? Well, I don't think
it'll be perfect.
My biggest concern
right now is Yoltia, who has the aptitude of a Gravity Mage. It's probably one
of the few, or possibly the only, such rare Mage skill in the kingdom in this
era. If this is exposed to the central authority, they'll surely find fault. At
worst, they might find some excuse to take her away. I absolutely wanted to
prevent this. And including that, if I could buy future safety for 300 gold
coins, it wouldn't be a waste at all. For the time being, the Teigun church
would be on our side.
"Father Grace,
without delay, could you please prepare the Mage aptitude test rituals for
seven individuals?"
"Understood."
"The details,
such as the magical attributes to be confirmed, are noted here. As for the
catalysts, we have them prepared, so we will sell them to you at the church's
purchase price, as always."
"...Of course. We
also need to prepare, so how about a week from now?"
During that time,
Father Grace was surely calculating the fee for concealing seven individuals.
Well, this time, I'd have him conceal six individuals.
『Only one was confirmed. It seems new discoveries might
be coming to an end for the Solis Viscount family soon.』
That's how I'd have
him report it.
For small fry
motivated by profit, bait them with profit.
That's what I thought.
"Takuhir-sama,
was that all right?" Anne asked after we left the church.
"Yes, probably. I
think he's a small fry who can calculate things properly, so as long as it's
profitable for him, I think he'll be useful to us."
However, my prediction
was naive. In a different sense...
Father Grace was a man
who worked more diligently and energetically than expected if he thought there
was profit to be made. Later, I would be astonished by the information he
brought.
"This is
information confidentially obtained from the Royal Capital's agents. No payment
is necessary; please make use of it."
What he presented was
a list of individuals suspected of having transferred information to the Royal
Capital, along with a correlation diagram of those individuals. It included the
composition of factions I didn't know about and their relationships.
"This is
excellent information! Thank you. Father's concern for the Viscount family has
truly touched my heart. I will use this internally to ensure we don't incur any
unnecessary misunderstandings in the future."
In my heart, I
apologized to him.
I called you a small
fry... I'm sorry.
I will discuss this
information thoroughly with my brother in the future. Until then, I decided to
keep it secret from everyone except the four who shared my secret.
And this information
would see the light of day sooner than expected.
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