"...This ruin," Sophia began, breaking the silence with a resolute expression.
"This ruin wasn’t built by those who originally constructed the cathedral."
"Bianki!"
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The Cardinal immediately shouted her name, but when his eyes met mine, he shrank back, silenced by the lingering fear etched into his psyche. Despite the significant healing of his wounds, the sheer terror instilled in him prevented any thoughts of retaliation.
After all, with the knights neutralized and bound, any attempt to fight back would only shorten their lifespans further.
"Please, continue," I prompted.
Sophia, her voice trembling slightly, obliged.
"I was born long after this facility was built, so I don’t know the full details. But... I’ve heard that this place was completed using a pre-existing site."
It was clear she hadn’t been privy to the intricate details, likely because her powers hadn’t fully awakened yet. In the hierarchy of the Holy Nation, she had been little more than a subordinate.
"Sophia, you—"
Charlotte began to speak but quickly shut her mouth, her expression one of resignation.
What would be the point of reproaching her now? It was a face that screamed, I’ve hit my limit.
"...I’m sorry," Sophia muttered, bowing her head deeply.
Come to think of it, I’d promised to explain everything to her once this was all over. Yet, given the situation, there likely wouldn’t be a chance for the two of us to sit down and talk one-on-one.
I wasn’t sure whether I should feel relieved or regretful about that.
"So, what do we do now? What can we even do with that fragment?" Charlotte asked, her gaze fixed on the piece of the relic in my hand.
"For now, we’d like to keep it in our custody," I replied.
Charlotte looked at me intently.
This was Belvur’s territory. The suspicious artifact found hidden by a secret organization beneath the cathedral was, by all rights, something the Kingdom of Belvur should secure.
However—
"...You won’t betray me, will you?" she asked quietly.
Her question reminded me of a conversation we’d had not long ago.
"I would stake my life to ensure I never betray you," I had told her then.
I had maintained my usual blank expression as I said it, but it seemed Charlotte had felt something different in that moment.
She didn’t smile, nor did her demeanor soften. Yet now, she didn’t argue further, simply letting the matter drop.
I took that as a sign she trusted me. At least, I hoped so.
What followed wasn’t particularly difficult to deal with.
The Kingdom of Belvur had discreetly stationed troops around the cathedral from the moment we’d entered the underground facility. The king had apparently decided to take my claims seriously.
While we had gone inside, Belvur hadn’t been idle. They were prepared to send in reinforcements the moment we failed to return or failed to send word within a few hours.
We emerged just in time—mere moments before the Belvurian forces were about to storm the cathedral.
Getting out was easier than getting in.
We exited through the cathedral itself.
It seemed the Holy Nation’s forces hadn’t anticipated us defeating the gryphon and the knights and returning. The knights stationed within the cathedral were visibly panicked at the sight of us.
They had already been disoriented, though.
"...Ugh," Mia groaned, looking like she might vomit as we exited.
While not everyone inside the cathedral had been killed, the path to the exit was littered with bodies.
Even the sight of beast corpses on our way down had been disturbing, but human remains were far more gut-wrenching. That was why I’d tried to keep the children away from the second floor.
Still, the carnage in the cathedral was even worse than what I’d left behind on the second floor.
The gryphon had apparently broken through the walls near the entrance, forcing its way out.
...Had it gotten lost underground and resorted to smashing its way out through brute force?
The soldiers and knights stationed at the entrance were unrecognizable, their corpses mangled beyond recognition.
Judging by the state of the place, the gryphon, already furious from its earlier ordeal, had lost all sense of reason and rampaged through the area in a fit of blind rage.
Even the surviving soldiers looked utterly horrified as they watched us approach.
We had placed the disheveled Cardinal, still clad in his torn robes, at the forefront, but in hindsight, that had probably been unnecessary.
"Charlotte!"
The king of Belvur rushed forward, his face pale as he approached us.
"A-are you alright?! I saw the gryphon emerge from inside! The gryphon...! What in the world happened down there?!"
His concern for Charlotte was evident as he checked her condition. He looked more like a worried father than a dignified king in that moment.
A sight, I imagined, Alice had never witnessed before.
"I’m fine. That gryphon..."
Charlotte paused, then asked cautiously, "Did it attack the Kingdom’s forces?"
"No. I saw it burst out of the cathedral’s entrance and take flight. But aside from the personnel inside the cathedral, it harmed no one. It soared into the sky without hesitation. I never thought I’d see a gryphon, let alone in Belvur’s territory," the king said.
Only after confirming Charlotte’s condition did he seem to relax slightly.
However, his gaze soon shifted to us—much sharper this time.
His eyes locked on me with particular intensity.
The king hadn’t witnessed the events in the underground ruin, yet he seemed certain I was somehow connected to the gryphon’s actions.
Well, I had encountered it by chance.
I’d simply attempted a "strategy" that couldn’t be executed in the game but seemed plausible based on the lore.
"I’d like to summon you to the palace immediately for a detailed testimony, but... the situation is urgent," the king said.
And he wasn’t wrong.
Whether they publicly disclosed what had happened in Lutetia—that a gryphon had emerged and chaos had unfolded—or tried to cover it up, the entire ordeal promised to be a political nightmare.
We would be stuck dealing with the fallout for a long time. Whatever the Emperor had planned, I had essentially interfered in his designs.
...Should I just rewind time and start over?
The thought crossed my mind for a brief moment.
But the king’s next words obliterated that notion.
"Something unusual is happening in the Holy Nation," he said gravely.
"...What?"
"Not long after you entered the ruins, a strange light was observed emanating from the Holy Nation."
A strange light?
"It looks as if a barrier has formed, enveloping the entire Holy Nation. In fact, it’s visible even from Lutetia."
...
Judging by my expression, the king must have decided it would be faster to show us the scene directly.
Turning on his heel, he began walking toward the cathedral’s exit. After exchanging uncertain glances, we followed him outside.
And there, we saw exactly what he had described.
The Holy Nation, built on land once ceded by Belvur, was visibly engulfed in a massive, glowing barrier.
The barrier wasn’t just a column of light rising into the sky—it wrapped around the entire nation, its shimmering form visible even from this distance.
"What... is that?" Sophia murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.
"..."
I had no answer.
I had no idea what that was.
Even the Emperor, with all his knowledge and control over the Holy Nation’s plans, had never displayed magic on this scale.
Though the game’s lore was vast and its stakes high, nothing in my experience compared to this.
Was this... the goddess’s power?
I didn’t know how it was being used, but in a world like this, where the goddess’s power was leagues beyond conventional magic, it made sense.
...
Why couldn’t things just end after I finished dealing with one crisis?
Why did something even bigger always have to happen right after?
Seriously. Give me a break.