â¬The Eye Overseeing All Chaos blissfully watches you hug Bianca.â
â¬The Eye Overseeing All Chaos feels touched and claims Bianca finally found her rightful place as the heroine now that the man is out of the picture.â
Lord Eye's words immediately alerted me to something that I pulled away to ask Bianca about.
"By the way, where is Tez?"
She didn't answer my question.
"I don't see Ephael and Hestio either. I can't believe they didn't come running after their commander finally got up."
It didn't seem like the others found my little joke funny, because the air in the room suddenly became heavy.
Huh? What's the matter with them? Lord Voice, what's going on?
â¬The Voice that Shapes the World keeps their silence with a serious look on their face.â
At this point, I started dreading the answers to my questions. I flashed a look that begged for an explanation at Bianca, to which my friend obliged.
"Sir Ephael and Sir Hestio have been quarantined," Bianca explained. "As for Sir Tesilid... He's awaiting orders at the Vatican, at least until he gets dispatched here."
But her explanation only added to my confusion. Why have my colleagues in the knight division been quarantined? Why hasn't Tesilid returned, even though he left for the Vatican the other day? And why would he be dispatched here? It took me a while until I could find the question that summed up everything I wanted to ask.
"What... happened?"
Bianca took a deep breath as if she was doing it for both of us. "Allie. Promise me you'll stay calm and not feel too shocked, okay?" After a brief pause, she opened her mouth to speak again
Right then, a system window popped up.
â¬Â«Quest» The sixth quest of [Calling of the Grand Priest of Voiceism] has been automatically upgraded to the seventh.â
"It's the Vatican, Allie..."
I could see a quest appear as she spoke.
â¬Â«Quest» Seventh [Calling of the Grand Priest of Voiceism (Difficulty Level: Unknown)â
It is finally time to resist Order and Goodness and spread the word of Voiceism with courage! Do your job as the Grand Priestess to proclaim the name of [The Voice that Shapes the World] far and wide, so they may officially be named as the god of this world.
Quest Requirements: Tell 1,000 people that you serve [The Voice that Shapes the World] (0 of 1,000)
Reward Upon Success: Your [God-Forsaken World] turns into a [World With a God]
Failure Penalty: World destruction.â
Bianca continued, "The Vatican has declared you to be a heretic and ordered your assassination."
That was unexpected. I felt my body turn cold, but that wasn't even the worst news.
"Sir Tesilid Argente has been dispatched as the heathen judgment officer responsible for the task."
Heathen Judgment Officer
Thirty-three hours ago, Tesilid departed for the Vatican.
"I'll be off now, Allie."
He kissed Ailette on the forehead and left the room at the darkest hour before sunrise. He reminded the maids to look after Ailette several times before heading to his room in the castle to tidy up.
The handsome man put on the uniform of the holy knights and made himself look flawless in the mirror. Tesilid stared blankly at himself and then cracked a teleportation stone in his hands. A bright light overtook his vision.
The winds of time and space brought him before a triumphal arch of white marble, which was a replica of the gates to the Divine Realm that had taken Ailette Rodeline away and then surprisingly sent her back to him.
Had it really been the Strict Order and Goodness? It was a question he never managed to put out of his head. And now, it was back to take control of his thoughts once again.
Tesilid gazed at the triumphal arch for a moment, but he soon snapped out of it and shifted his gaze downward.
"Oh!"
"I-it's the master of the holy sword!"
His gaze fell on the two holy knights who had been standing guard there. They seemed rather startled for some reason, but they stepped aside to let Tesilid pass before he even got close to them. Thanks to that, Tesilid entered the Vatican without having to say a word. He made his way through the restored courtyard and had just set one foot in the main sanctuary when holy knights rushed out from both sides and surrounded him.
What a grand welcome this is. A blond man who seemed to be the leader of the holy knights stepped forward.
"Are you Sir Tesilid, the master of the holy sword?"
"Yes, I am."
"I am Magram Weriks, a servant of God from the Heretic Judgment Bureau of the Holy Prosecution Ministry."
"I'm pleased to meet you, Sir Magram."
"Well, you shouldn't be," the man responded with obvious hostility. Magram raised his chin and glared nastily. "Tesilid Argente." The holy knight continued, "By the order of Saintess Muriel Phylise, you are hereby under arrest on charges of heresy."
Tesilid was unfazed by the man's haughty declaration.
"Heresy?"
It immediately reminded him of the things he did before the gates of the Divine Realm after they took Ailette from him. His outrage had made him shout quite the blasphemous accusations against the Strict Order and Goodness.
I recall saying curses about God. He knew he was clearly guilty of blasphemy, and no one could say otherwise, since hundreds witnessed him in the act.
But blasphemy and heresy are two different things. They had drastically exaggerated his crime, but the returner wasn't rattled by this sudden turn in events. He had experienced all kinds of things in the many Loops of his lifeâthis certainly wasn't his first rodeo. So, it made him think.
This is just like Loop Eighty-Eight. And that means... It seemed like Muriel Phylise had decided to kill him early. His gaze turned cold.
What do I do? He had no intention of dying here, and he certainly had the power to get himself out of this situation.
"Sir... Tesilid Argente?"
The accused man did not reply.
"Ahem. I don't want any trouble, so please cooperate..."
The division of knights anxiously watching their target were hardly enough soldiers to stop him. In fact, not even an entire legion of knights could have restrained him. And yet, the man had to consider his move for Ailette Rodeline's sake.
She was currently a hostage to God, and he feared she might never wake up if he didn't go along with His charade. Getting her body back wasn't enough. He needed her soul to be intact as well. He wanted to see her green eyes and hear her beautiful voice again. So, he had no choice but to appease God.
"Then I shall follow."
Tesilid sacrificed himself once again by offering his wrists. He was chained and dragged down to the dungeons of the Holy Prosecution Ministry. This was also where the Knights of Worship, the knights who had sold him out for a gold coin each, had been taken to after their arrest.
Tesilid was thrown in a solitary cell within the damp dungeons that had been sealed from all six sides to prevent the use of the Three Great Powers. In here, only one's senses of smell and hearing could provide any information about their surroundings.
He could hear someone screaming and moaning from the so-called interrogation, which was really intended to torture, and smell all the unpleasant odors around him. Being in a place like this could easily drive a person insane, but the returner, who had gone through one too many lives, was impervious to this treatment. He simply waited for his turn with darkness covering his eyes and a grim expression on his face.
Time passed slowly after his senses were dulled. But eventually, the sun went over the horizon. The door to his cell finally opened.
"Follow me."
Tesilid assumed he'd end up somewhere damp and reeking with the scent of blood, but that couldn't have been further from the truth. He found himself at the main sanctuary of the Vatican, in the council of cardinals.
The place was full of cardinals with crimson stoles draped over their shoulders. They all seemed to be waiting for him. Tesilid stood solemnly in the center of them all.
"Her Holiness the Saintess is here."
The doors to the council closed after Muriel entered in her long ceremonial uniform. The Saintess was never late, the others were simply early. It was clear that she led the council in the way she stood tall over the rest and looked down at Tesilid.
He turned his empty gaze toward her. Muriel Phylise was favored by the Strict Order and Goodness, while Tesilid Argente was abused by the same god. And there they stood, staring at each other with about six steps between them. Tesilid thought over his prospects.
Are they going to pass judgment without giving me a full trial? There was no point in having anyone defend him since it was clear Muriel slapped the charges of heresy only to kill him and keep the World of Return going. He figured he'd be burned at the stake, as they had done to him during Loop Eighty-Eight. But his guess was wrong.
"Rejoice, Sir Tesilid. Our investigation has found you innocent of the charges of heresy."
Tesilid didn't respond. All his senses rang in alarm because his experiences taught him that optimism always led to greater tragedy. And Muriel was keen enough to identify Tesilid's soft spot.
"However, the Divine Emissary has been declared as a wicked heretic. As such, the Elfenheim council of cardinals has decided her sentence."
Tesilid listened in silence.
"The council has voted unanimously to excommunicate the Divine Emissaryâ I mean, the heretic, Ailette Rodeline!"
More silence followed as the saintess's declaration rang in the council. Tesilid's gaze turned cold as the reverberation took its sweet time to die down. His blue eyes stared into empty space, and he turned the air in the council cold with breath as icy as gusts of the frigid ocean wind.
"A heretic?" he asked in disbelief. "Did I hear that right? Did you just say Ailette Rodeline is a heretic?"