Chapter 178.
As soon as we entered the head nun’s small office, Hillis put up soundproof magic. The playful smile she bore while casting the magic made her seem like she was up to something. I’d like to be left out if possible.
"I wanted to skip this if I could, but I guess that’s impossible."
The head nun looked at Hillis and sighed softly. Apparently, the head nun seemed to know that Hillis was the saintess as well.
"The story is going to be a little complicated, is that okay?"
"Yes, it’s all right." Lisbon nodded with a serious look, and Hillis smiled like a child waiting for an old story.
In response to the two, the head nun pointed helplessly and offered the small chairs in the corner before beginning the story.
"Hillis... Sister is a member of the temple, so she probably knows the situation regarding it. But since the two Brother-nims don’t know about it, I’ll explain from the beginning."
The nun drew a large circle on an old blackboard and wrote ‘great temple’ on it, saying, "All temples are under the holy palace of Percival, but the great temple has the right to be independent of the holy temple. It’s too complicated, so I’ll move on."
The head nun looked to see if we understood and drew a small circle within the larger one drawn on the blackboard. "The great temple is often called the head of the hardliners, but it is not without moderates. There may be few moderates, but they exist. However, the great temple is so large that even a few of them are a sizable number."
I roughly figured out what the situation was from the head nun’s words. "It’s obvious. This Angel’s House belongs to the moderates under the great temple and is under pressure by the hardliners."
The head nun nodded at my words. "That’s right."
Despite the head nun’s affirmation, there were also some things that bothered me. A small place like the Angel’s House wouldn’t be able to withstand the pressure from the hardliners for long. That meant that this issue only began recently. Why did the hardliners start pressuring the moderates now?
I asked the question directly. The head nun looked at me with surprise. "To be able to understand the main point from my rushed story, you are quite bright, Brother Den-nim."
The head nun split the large circle on the blackboard in half. "Originally, the hardliners of the great temple were led by Cardinal Fernando. Cardinal Fernando, although he was a hardliner, was a humble man who valued doctrines more than anyone else."
The nun sighed as she explained, "He used to tell the believers that if they were kinder than anyone else, followed the doctrines, and faithfully believed in God without forcing the hardliner’s will onto the moderates, one day the world of God would arrive again."
Hillis nodded in agreement with the head nun and spoke, "Cardinal Fernando is someone who receives a lot of respect even from the moderates. I heard the reason he’s called a hardliner in the first place is that he stood up to the Blood Emperor’s suppression of the temple in the past.”
Fernando, you say. That’s a name I’ve heard before. Where did I hear that?
"Yes, that’s right. However, last October, there was a sad incident in which a wicked heretic called Lupin attacked and seriously injured him.”
Oh, I thought I heard about that somewhere, but it was the name of the old man wearing a gold mask who I shot a deadly attack at.
The head nun looked genuinely sad and bitter. "At that time, all the temples across the country were in a state of emergency.”
Hillis also nodded with a serious look. I feel wronged. I shot the deadly attack in September, but they thought it happened in October.
"Yes, something like that happened. So when Cardinal Fernando-nim became injured and went into seclusion, the archbishop of the great temple typically suppressed by Cardinal Fernando-nim began to expand his influence."
The head nun wrote ‘cardinal’ on one side of the large divided circle and ‘archbishop’ on the other.
"The archbishop is a radical hardliner famous for his disapproval of moderates.”
The head nun nodded at Hillis’s words. "Yes, that’s correct. In addition, the archbishop is trying to use this opportunity to take the lead completely away from Cardinal Fernando-nim and gain control of the great temple."
Hillis groaned when she heard this, "Oh! That’s why he started purging the cardinal’s supporters, starting with the moderates.”
The head nun nodded lamentably at Hillis’s guess. "Cardinal-nim’s right-hand man, Paladin Malive, tried to stop the archbishop’s rise. However, his strength was weakened by the death of Paladin Mario, one of the two pillars of the paladin division, and Paladin Vibrio’s injury."
Hillis went silent with a serious face.
In a nutshell, my actions caused a butterfly effect, leading the Angel’s House to be on the brink of closure. Saying it like that makes me feel like I did something wrong, but that wasn’t true. I simply beat up the kidnappers. Of course, of course, those people were the kidnappers, and their reasons are none of my business.
"Hmm, so you are saying that it’s the archbishop who is pressuring the Angel’s House," I said.
The head nun nodded heavily.
"Why is the archbishop trying to get rid of this little place?” Hillis asked.
The head nun sighed and shook her head. "I’m not sure either, but I can only guess he is just trying to get rid of moderates within the great temple."
Then she asked carefully, "Do you know the reason why I’m telling you all this?"
Lisbon nodded. "Yes! You mean to say that you need our help!"
The head nun sighed at Lisbon’s response. "That’s not it."
"No?"
I almost sighed too when I saw the embarrassed Lisbon. His mindset was too one-dimensional.
"What the head nun-nim means is for us not to interfere because a high-ranking individual is behind this."
At first, I thought she was talking with Hillis in mind, but from the look on her face, that didn’t seem to be the case. Considering the conversation between Hillis and Albatoss before Mouse Face crashed in, there appeared to be heavy restrictions on Hillis’s actions.
"Yes, that is correct."
Lisbon protested when the head nun affirmed my guess. “Then what about the children! Are you giving up on the children like this?!"
"Calm down. I’m sure the head nun-nim has an idea."
The head nun sighed and said, "Unfortunately, I have no power. There are some who have offered to help, but this is strictly business within the temple. Even if I ask for help, it’ll only cause trouble for them."
The head nun seemed to be referring to the old gentleman who came here with us in the morning.
"So then, where are you planning to send the children?”
"I don’t know if they’ll accept them, but I’m thinking about an orphanage in Asterium."
I expressed concern over the head nun’s plan. "It’s probably quite chaotic over there due to the great demon’s southward movements a while ago. Will it be okay?"
It was obvious that the orphanage would also be crowded with newly created orphans from the border between Warrant and the demon’s territory. It was doubtful whether the children here would be accepted.
"I’m worried about that as well, but the temple where I was baptized is there." The temple where a member of the clergy was baptized was like a home to them.
The nun lamented that she didn’t have more time. There was nothing I could help with regarding that. The only way to fix this was to beat up the archbishop, but it was also questionable whether beating him up would solve it. Who knows if there will be another archbishop like him?
In addition, I had to make myself scarce because my youngest sister had already found out I was Lupin. Even if I wore a different mask and changed my name, if I appeared suddenly, I wouldn’t be able to avoid suspicion.
Hillis got up from the chair. "I see. If Head Nun-nim says so, I suppose I can’t help."
What? She’s not one to simply give up. Sure enough, the ends of Hillis’s mouth were slightly raised in a wicked manner.
"Thank you for your understanding." The head nun thanked Hillis without knowing her inner thoughts.
As if she felt my gaze, Hillis winked lightly and led Lisbon and me out of the head nun’s office. She still kept her soundproof magic up.
"I’m not doing it." I had a rough idea of what she was going to do, so I refused before I could hear what Hillis had to say.
Hillis hit me on the arm with her elbow and said, "Ayy, it’s not too late to refuse after hearing me out."
It’s definitely going to be too late after listening to her. She was so clever that she was sure to rope Lisbon in to drag me into it as well.
"If you get permission from your guardian, I’ll think about it.”
When I crossed my arms and pointed outside, Hillis looked heartbroken. She looked at me with an attitude of “I don’t need a guardian,” and I looked back as if to say, “I wonder about that.”
"Tch, don’t you know I’m an adult?" Hillis protested quietly, and I shrugged.
Despite that fact, the paladins sure are overprotective.
I was too lazy to squabble and get no results, so I gave up with a sigh at Hillis’s overconfident look and asked, "So, do you have a plan?"
Hillis grinned. "Why? Are you going to hang out with me?"
You asking me a question like that makes me not want to hang out with you.
"Forget it if you don’t want to."
Hillis waved her hand in panic. "No! I’d be happy if you hung out with me! Let’s meet around midnight tonight at the bell tower near the great temple."
I didn’t ask if she would be able to trick those paladins and sneak out. If it were me, I would have created dozens of routes to escape secretly, so Hillis probably did too. No matter how strict the surveillance is, there’s always a gap.
"And bring the plaster goddess statue too." Hillis pointed to my statue, which was safe even in the midst of the disturbance that the ruffians caused.
Despite looking like a mouse, that guy was still a priest and didn’t break any of the goddess statues.
"Why the goddess statue?"
"I’m asking you to bring it because we need it. You better come too, Brother Lisbon-nim! For the children!
It sounds like it’s for your own enjoyment rather than for the children, but let’s move on.
"Yes! For the children!" Full of justice, Pushover clenched his fist energetically, not even knowing what Hillis was going to do.
Just in case, I’ll have to make a mask for Hillis and Lisbon.
* * *
Deng-! Deng-!
At the promised time of midnight, the bell rang itself in the bell tower. The bell was rung with magic, so the time now was exactly midnight.
After leaving the Angel’s House, Lisbon went back to his boarding house and rested while I looked around the market for magic ingredients. The magic ingredient market was booming due to the recent war against the demons in Warrant.
Thanks to this, I could get most of the materials I wanted, but my pockets also became lighter. I didn’t expect to spend almost all of my abundant money.
"Hillis must be running a little late." Even though I spoke to him, Lisbon seemed to be in deep thought about something and didn’t hear.
"Lisbon!"
"Huh?"
When I loudly called out the pushover’s name, he was surprised and snapped out of his intense thinking.
"Uh, what?"
"What are you thinking about so much?"
"Oh, I ended up just coming out here, but I don’t know how we’re going to save the Angel’s House."
I sighed when Lisbon asked this. "You’re only thinking about that now? Weren’t you supposed to ask that when she first requested that we meet here?"
"Haha, I was only thinking about the kids at the time." Lisbon smiled embarrassingly and scratched the back of his head. He was indeed a pushover.
As soon as I tried to nag him to think before leaving, Hillis showed up while waving in the dark. "Sorry. I’m a little late, right?"
Hillis had a large bag in her hand.
"You weren’t showing up, so I was going to wait a little longer before just leaving."
Hillis smiled and hit me on the back. "Ayy, what a joke."
I wasn’t kidding.
"I ended up late because I’ve been packing some stuff that we’ll need.” Hillis opened the bag in her hand.
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