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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 97
Chapter Title: A Question of Faith
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Losing my patience, I narrowed my eyes.
“Is this really the time for you to be gawking at Rose's face? What are you going to do if His Holiness betrays you?”
“Oh, please. That won't happen. The old man's only kept his position as Pope because I agreed to be the Saintess.”
“If it weren't for you, his position as Pope would never have been threatened in the first place.”
My sister looked impressed, as if she'd never considered that before.
“Oh, you have a point there.”
Have you ever seen such a foolish sister!
Menelik caught me as I almost fell backward in frustration.
But my sister, oblivious to the problem, continued her carefree chatter.
“Anyway, the old man is on my side. We believe in the same god, so what's the point in fighting?”
Menelik, who had been listening quietly, finally spoke.
“There have always been complaints within the Temple that it's unfair for the Saintess to have been gifted with divine power that will go down in history, despite her absurdly low faith. Do you think the Pope would be an exception to that line of thinking?”
Menelik sat me on his lap.
“Besides, it's a bad habit to ignore your surroundings, no matter how outstanding your abilities are, Saintess. You have the proof right here. Weren't you just regretting what you did to Cheria?”
My sister flinched.
“M-my sister is a special case! I saw the future myself!”
Menelik let out a short laugh.
“If so, your regret is inefficiently early. The Saintess's prophecy didn't warn of an eleven-year-old Cheria, did it? There's no need to be so hung up on it already.”
My sister's eyes quivered.
I don't know what she thought as she looked at me fuming, but my sister couldn't argue any further.
My sister got to her feet.
“...I'm going back.”
She left without a word of goodbye, not even to me.
Menelik rested his chin on my disheveled hair.
“I didn't think the Saintess was a nuisance. I'm not that rotten of an adult.”
It was a sudden explanation.
But before I could praise my father-in-law, he continued with a mumble that was hard to tell if it was a joke or genuine.
“Though I did think they were amusing themselves, since whoever my daughter-in-law dislikes will die first anyway.”
Why does it always come to that?!
Menelik led a horrified me to the bedroom.
* * *
The next day, we visited another temple as planned.
This time, it was an eco-friendly temple on the mountainside.
During the carriage ride, I told Kivrin and Rose about my sister's visit at dawn.
Rose made it obvious she was holding her tongue only because Muria was my sister.
Kivrin looked regretful.
“Sh-she really is a bother to you, Cheria.”
Menelik stayed behind in the carriage, claiming he was tired, so Kivrin and Rose accompanied me.
We showed the bare minimum of courtesy by putting on hats before slowly approaching the temple.
Holding tightly to Kivrin's hand, I still felt refreshed.
I watched the birds chirping, heralding the start of spring.
“Rose, those birds look like you.”
Rose scoffed.
“You don't know their names because they're not pigeons, right? Am I right?”
Ahem. Let's move past the minor details.
Kivrin's ears perked up.
“W-wait a moment.”
Hm?
“Is the Pope here or something?”
Rose asked nonchalantly.
Kivrin tilted his head.
“Something similar.”
Ugh.
I stopped in my tracks, startled.
Suddenly, Rose gave a wicked smile.
“Should we spy on them, then?”
My eyes widened.
“You can do that? But I heard temples are protected by divine power.”
“Who cares? Spells made by Del can break through anything.”
I was amazed by Rose's absolute trust in Del.
And a little proud, too...
Rose, who had been looking around, found a small pond and beckoned us over.
I followed Rose and crouched by the pond.
When Rose touched the pond, circular ripples spread out, and an image of the temple's interior appeared.
Kivrin gave precise directions.
“Deeper inside. P-past the left corridor.”
The image shifted, revealing priests in conversation.
[I've come on His Holiness's orders. Is the branch ready?]
[Of course. But are you truly planning to present this at the Dedication Ceremony?]
A branch?
I watched the screen with curious eyes.
An elderly priest was showing a large pot to another priest.
The white pot was ornately decorated with all sorts of patterns, but the branch stuck in it was utterly bare.
[This is the only plant that reacts to divine power. However, the flower it produces is bizarre in appearance, and even skilled priests cannot touch it. According to records, some have fainted merely from smelling its fragrance...]
[Enough. Is there any priest who doesn't know that? His Holiness must have his reasons. Unlike us low-ranking members.]
Nevertheless, the elderly priest seemed displeased with the Pope's decision.
The priest who had received the Pope's order, however, looked as if he couldn't care less.
[No matter what the flower looks like, everyone will be too busy witnessing the miracle performed by the Saintess. Besides, we all know the Saintess possesses greater divine power than His Holiness, don't we? Would she really be affected by a mere plant? She'll make it bloom with ease and be completely unaffected by its scent.]
[...]
I wrinkled my nose.
What is the Pope planning, knowing full well this is the period when my sister can't use her divine power?
[His Holiness wishes for this year's Dedication Ceremony to be especially memorable. We also plan to unveil holy relics that have just been filled with the Saintess's divine power. Please cooperate so that everything proceeds perfectly, without a hitch.]
It seems the Pope really is planning to get rid of my sister.
Whether by exposing her weakness in front of everyone or by kidnapping her.
When Rose withdrew her hand, the pond returned to normal.
Kivrin said to me,
“I-I can make that grow, too. I'll do it.”
He meant he would help my sister.
I tore my gaze from the pond and looked into his golden eyes, which seemed to be drizzled with honey.
“How is that possible for you, Kivrin?”
“I m-may be my mother and father's child, but my e-essence is closer to things like this.”
Kivrin pointed to the pond, then to a tree.
Then, with a look that screamed reluctance, he pointed at Rose, too.
“Th-things that aren't human. But are alive, and hate humans, es-especially transcendents.”
“There's a reason his name is 'Natural Disaster,' you know.”
Kivrin ignored Rose's grumbling and called my name.
“Cheria.”
“Y-yes!”
I answered twice in my surprise, still mulling over his words about hating transcendents.
Kivrin spoke with an expression that said he hated interfering, but hated the thought of me being inconvenienced several times more.
“I-I'm also an heir, so I've s-studied a lot. That's how I know. N-no priest of any god is like the Saintess.”
“...”
“Divine power g-grows stronger the more you believe in a god. T-the opposite makes it weaker. There are no exceptions.”
“But my sister believes in god, too. Because she met him in person.”
I furrowed my brow.
Would she have believed if she hadn't seen god?
Even now, she's famous in the Temple for her absurdly low faith.
Kivrin continued his explanation.
“The s-second m-moon is just a moon. It has nothing to do with gods or f-faith. It's just a moon.”
Rose let out a sound of admiration, as if she'd realized something.
“Wow, things are going to get noisy if this gets out.”
I tilted my head.
“But why is my sister affected by it?”
“A-and you, Cheria, aren't affected by the Saintess. It m-might not be simply because you're blood relatives.”
I understood what Kivrin was trying to say.
It was the most fundamental question.
Is the power Muria Mayol possesses truly divine power?
Rose chimed in.
“The reason isn't what's important. It's the fact that the Saintess's divine power is controlled by a second moon that has nothing to do with faith or a god. What do you think the priests would say if they found out? They'd call her a fake who pretended to be the Saintess. Her claim of meeting a god is just her word, after all. There's no proof.”
“...”
I knew my sister was telling the truth, but that was information I'd gotten from the novel.
I had no proof, either.
Even I was beginning to have my doubts.
“Besides, what if that plant that only reacts to divine power doesn't react to the Saintess's? It seems to work on a different principle than the holy relics that anyone with a supernatural ability can fill. If that happens, she'll have to flee to another country immediately, before rumors start spreading that she sold her soul to some wicked being for fake power.”
My head was spinning.
My sister meeting a god probably wasn't a lie.
But what if the power she has isn't divine power, and she didn't receive it from a god?
What if she merely 'met' a god?
Del's subconscious persona had said that god couldn't even call down a rain of fire.
But my sister could do something similar to that.
She could heal people, create barriers, fly through the sky, and subjugate monsters. Sometimes, she saw the future.
That was the utterly fraudulent ability she was known to have received as a gift, a sign of god's unprecedented favor.
