Blasphemous Grace - Chapter 70

“The Stone of Protection is indeed effective. There is pain, but I can now act according to my will—whether to create holy water or to cease doing so.” Of course, providing holy water to Aldenas was part of their agreement—the basic condition for their alliance.

Yet Aldenas remained tense. He could not fathom what thoughts lay behind this man’s eyes, who had seemed so precarious when they last met under the guise of an attack. But Ian, when they met again, appeared far more stable—even on the eve of action. Aldenas instinctively guessed why. That princess the Pope wishes to save. The Pope, who had once sought to seize everything and obliterate it, seemed to have found reason to live through her.

And his guess was not wrong.

“Therefore, as promised, I will supply holy water only to your faction. It is simple to drain the divine power from holy water—I shall do so from Lekia’s supply.” At the appropriate signal, of course.

“In exchange—”

“Spare the princess. That is your condition.”

At Aldenas’s words, Ian nodded.

“She desires not chaos, but a stable empire. So let us add this condition.” Ian spread his hands. “Once you become master of the empire, I shall continue to supply holy water thereafter.”

At this, Aldenas’s eyes widened. That alone would solidify—no, completely cement—his power base. The issue was the imperials who had never benefited from holy water. Ian resolved this with his next words:

“Instead, it shall be provided completely free of charge—unlike the current system.”

Of course, its concentration would be lower than now. But far more people would be guaranteed a basic standard of living. “Regardless of whether they are Beakin or Archion.” So that all might live more humanely, with greater convenience, wherever they were.

“If you promise to supply it thus, let us proceed with this plan,” Ian said.

Aldenas’s eyes gleamed. Several more complex conditions were attached and detached between them, but the core promise upon success remained the same: Ian would do everything to make Crown Prince Aldenas master of the empire. In return, not only would Princess Delonas survive, but her subsequent life would be guaranteed.

“Then, we wait.” The two men clasped hands.

***

Unlike Ian, whose divine power delayed the Stone of Protection’s settlement, Delonas’s stone integrated relatively quickly. The problem was that both her physical and mental strength had grown too weak. Before the Crown Prince’s full-scale movement began, Ian sought to protect her outside the temple.

‘Can you endure… just a little longer?’

The words were similar to those he had spoken on the altar—just endure a little longer—but the feeling was different. Delonas now clearly grasped the means of escape. A very sturdy, hopeful line. And so she nodded.

‘Of course.’

They had returned to a somewhat awkward relationship—from childhood friends who naturally spoke informally, to adults who used honorifics. But the fact that they had shared their true hearts remained unchanged. Delonas could wait because of this. Despite enduring countless humiliations, and while enduring them.

As a result, opportunity arrived. The Pope’s external schedule was arranged.

“Surely you won’t be attacked again this time?” Internal opinion naturally worried, but—

“Nevertheless, I cannot decline to go,” Ian insisted. The reason: to spread Lord Ephina’s will widely. As long as he wore the priestly facade, even Lekia could not stop the Pope’s words.

“Moreover, this time it is not near Beakin, but in the opposite direction. There will be no problems.” With him speaking thus, there was even less reason to object.

And so the Pope’s external schedule commenced. And during that external schedule, naturally, the Pope was again attacked—and disappeared. Along with Delonas.

***

Of course, it was Aldenas who had orchestrated the attack.

Before, the Pope’s allegiance had been uncertain, and the timing had been wrong—so he had framed it as the work of Beakin’s remnants. But now, there was no need for such pretenses.

There was no particular necessity to announce that they had attacked the Pope. The meaning lay in this: they had not bothered to erase the evidence.

After all, when the Pope failed to arrive at his destination and all contact ceased, they would search the route he had taken. And they would discover the scene.

The scene where the senior priests and holy knights who followed Lekia—those who had gone under the guise of escorting His Holiness, but in truth to serve as his watchers—lay dead.