Chapter 94

Corpus Christi.

The exact name was the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of God.

The primordial world was a perfect nothingness without water, land, or air.

God, who pitied this, looked around but found nothing that could be used as material.

So God used His own blood and flesh to create and arrange all things in the world.

The Corpus Christi celebration was a day to commemorate God's great sacrifice and was for humans, whom God personally molded with His blood and flesh.

Prisoners who had committed minor crimes were pardoned, and various relief supplies were distributed to the poor from the royal palace.

Following this example, each territory also distributed grain and clothes for the residents and invited traveling music troupes.

Of course, none of this applied to the Hartmann territory.

"The administered land has grown larger, but why are there still no territory residents?"

"Are you genuinely curious, or is that a complaint?"

"Obviously a complaint, Your Grace."

Only he and Arndt were in the carriage heading toward the capital.

Other servants and attendants, as well as Russel, were following on horseback outside.

Thanks to this, all sorts of conversations were taking place in the quiet carriage.

"But on the other hand, I think it's fortunate. Your Grace still doesn't know much about how to manage a territory."

"But we can't keep expanding empty lands forever."

"Couldn't you think about it slowly? The royal family will want to delay returning the ducal territory if they can."

"That's true. Let's think more about territory management for now. If we get residents, you and Amelia alone won't be able to handle all the work."

"That's right. By the way, Your Grace, since we're talking about Amelia."

Arndt suddenly lowered his voice.

"...Did something happen in the north? She's completely different from before leaving the northern castle. I'm wondering if something happened to her head."

"Hmm. There was no accident. She didn't hit her head anywhere."

"It's too strange. She seems crazy. She tries to stick to me every day, and it's so tiring. It was really intense when Your Grace wasn't around."

"That's why I kicked Amelia out for this trip."

Beyond the carriage window, Amelia's sulky face was visible.

Though she was riding a horse, she kept glancing at the carriage, and it was clear that he wasn't the one she was looking for.

Feeling Amelia's gaze from outside, Arndt shrank slightly and muttered.

"To be honest, it's even scary."

"Still, since she's not trying to harm you, why not think positively?"

"Would Your Grace be able to think positively in my situation?"

Arndt asked incredulously.

But Amelia also had excellent combat skills.

Her face was pretty, save for being too thin,

And though a baroness, she was a woman of noble birth.

From the perspective of Arndt, who was a servant, wouldn't being a son-in-law to a baronial family be a huge win?

As he looked puzzled, Arndt pounded his chest.

"No, think from my position, Your Grace. A person who raced from the capital to the ducal residence in days follows me around every day asking if I want to do this or that, bothering me while trying to drive away anyone who speaks to me! And always watching me from somewhere!"

"Oh. Now that you mention it, I've experienced something similar."

"What? Who?"

"Leandros did that to me."

Maybe not to the level of asking if he wanted to do this or that.

But terrifically good at horseback riding, always providing close escort, and giving those who approached him a "go away" look from behind.

This was exactly Leandros, wasn't it?

Arndt looked at him with a deflated expression.

"The duty of an escort knight and love are different things, Your Grace."

"One or the other. I endured it, so you can bear that much too."

"If that were possible, I wouldn't be talking about it! It's not like we're going to get married!"

"Why not? Want me to cover the marriage expenses?"

"Arrrrggghhh! Really!"

Arndt's scream made him laugh.

Fortunately, the journey to the capital wouldn't be boring.

The townhouse hadn't changed at all since the Schützenfest.

Dust had merely accumulated due to the absence of someone to manage it.

While Arndt urgently directed the cleaning, he and Russel settled in the reception room as best they could.

"Russel, do you remember what I said before? About needing a face to represent the north."

"I remember everything Your Grace has said."

"I plan to appoint you as the priest in charge as soon as the construction of the northern temple is completed."

"Priest in charge... you say?"

Russel blinked his eyes.

The statement about needing a face to represent the north was not a falsehood.

In the current situation where the balance between the nobility and royal forces was broken, Hartmann was in the spotlight, whether he liked it or not.

More people like Sir Philip would probably appear in the future. But what he was cautious about was a different direction.

Not those who came to suck the honey of Hartmann, but those who perceived it as a threat and were hostile.

Hartmann, which had unintentionally become the focal point of the noble forces, was a kind of symbol.

A symbol of the existing central noble forces.

And among the emerging nobles, there would be quite a few who would resent this.

This was a fairly serious problem for him.

Yurik was already troublesome, and he didn't want to have to deal with such people fussing around him too.

His goal was, after all, to come out into the open so that Yurik couldn't arbitrarily "eliminate" him.

He absolutely refused to be unintentionally in the spotlight.

That's why he pulled out the card of rebuilding the northern Grand Temple and appointing Russel as the priest in charge.

Though the north currently looked like a dead land, strictly speaking, it had fallen to the status of food leftovers from Yurik.

The fact that they could only barely clear out the giant and Winter Butterfly was evidence of this.

The remaining three gods were still stashed away somewhere in the north, so even if he tried to utilize the north, it clearly wouldn't go entirely as he wished.

But that didn't mean he could let flies and maggots gather on the leftover food.

He had to have at least minimal safeguards to prevent anything further from happening.

That's why he decided to use the temple a bit.

By putting Russel forward to make an impression on the priests, he had completed a deal with them under the pretentious excuse of a Grand Temple or whatever.

For the priests who were unaware of what had transpired between Yurik and him, it was a deal with nothing to lose.

His plan was to build the northern Grand Temple, appoint Russel as the priest in charge, and indirectly keep the north in his hands.

Wouldn't it be quite significant if a brand-new temple was built before the collapsed Margrave's castle?

While he was congratulating himself, thinking he was quite clever, Russel opened his mouth heavily.

"If it's such an important position, wouldn't others be more suitable than me, Your Grace?"

"How many people would be able to endure there besides you? I thought you would be pleased. You know, God's will? It's like an ascetic practice to get closer to that."

"That's right. Those belonging to the Holy Knight Order also receive the same treatment as priests and each undergoes appropriate ascetic practices, but."

Russel wiggled his fingers.

"There is a deeper faith I gain by following Your Grace."

"Me?"

"On that winter mountain."

Well, look at this guy.

The encouragement he had given to comfort a frightened child, thinking he should do so as a senior, seemed to have left quite an impression.

He seemed to have asked afterward if the Holy Spirit or something had descended upon him.

Unfortunately, he was an atheist.

"No, I just said that because you were too tense."

"But in those words, I heard and saw God. Therefore, Your Grace is truly a person who stands beside God."

"Would you stop sending me to God's side as you please? It sounds like I'm a dead person."

Yes, not only Amelia was out of her mind.

Damn. This state of mental disorder.

- People each have their unique mental strength. Mental strength is the measure of reason that makes humans exist as humans. But when reason is rapidly consumed by some trigger, people are consumed by madness.

He remembered what Yurik had said in the last iteration.

Yes, he was an irregular possessor, so that was understandable.

But besides him, didn't others have mental strength that was too weak?

At this rate, the only way not to go mad would be to cover one's eyes?

He let out a short sigh.

"We were all scared and tired then. There's a good chance you had strange thoughts. But if you become the priest in charge of the north, you won't have to escort me anymore."

"Then who will escort Your Grace...?"

"Leandros will, of course. As he originally did."

"Isn't Sir Leandros not here? From what I heard from Brother Arndt, he accepted a dispatched knight position to the royal palace."

"Yes. That's right. But I plan to get him back."

How could Leandros fully play the role of the protagonist if he wasn't by his side?

Thinking of Yurik's vile face, he spoke again.

"So don't worry. After the Corpus Christi celebration and our return, there's still plenty of time before the reconstruction, so think about it slowly."

"But."

"Though you'd be the priest in charge, you don't have to stay in the north. There are no people in the northern territory anyway. If you want to bring other devout priests, feel free to do so."

"Then, I..."

Russel blinked his eyes.

It was the expression of someone who found it difficult to understand what was happening.

"What will I become?"

"You don't need to become anything. You will be free."

Hearing his answer, Russel stood up with a heavy expression.

He bowed his head to him and left the reception room.

* * *

Russel walked down the corridor in a daze.

Without a destination, he passed through people who were busy cleaning and doing laundry.

After wandering around for a long time, he arrived at a room filled with frames.

In the place where the portraits of the successive heads of the Hartmann ducal family should have been hanging, only name plaques remained, with almost no pictures.

Russel discovered a familiar name on the nameplate at the very bottom.

[Arenheit Y. Hartmann]

It would be a place prepared for the future Duke long ago.

Looking at it, Russel confronted his own confused inner self.

Why did His Grace want to build a northern temple and send him away?

It was none other than himself who had served His Grace with the most pure and sincere heart.

In the north, hadn't God given him courage through the sacred words borrowed from the Duke's mouth?

While it was rare for God to directly give words, it was even rarer for the Holy Spirit to descend.

As far as Russel knew, the saints, holy mothers, and holy women who received the Holy Spirit in their bodies became faithful servants who served only God forever according to divine guidance.

Shouldn't Arenheit be similar?

Although he might not be able to make up his mind so easily due to his duty to lead the ducal family.

Still, shouldn't he have a deeper faith with a more devout heart than before?

He was the only priest and holy knight by his side, so shouldn't he strengthen his sincere faith together with him?

Russel couldn't understand.

Both Arenheit's nonchalant attitude and his attempt to distance him rather than keep him close.

Of course, among the countless sheep, there might be stubborn ones that don't follow the shepherd's will.

But if a sheep strays far from the flock, it will instantly be eaten by other wolves.

An evil spirit might corrupt him and gradually lead him in the wrong direction toward depravity.

But that's why there were sheepdogs.

Dogs that protect the flock from wolves and various beasts,

And watch to ensure the sheep don't go elsewhere even when the shepherd looks away.

The weak are prone to being seduced.

Arenheit, too, though touched by a miracle, was likewise weak.

So it was his duty to guide him.

The reason Arenheit wanted to send him away and keep Leandros close was.

Because Leandros had something that could entice people.

He even disregarded his duty and went to the royal palace, didn't he?

Russel knelt down on the spot and quietly offered a prayer.

"Holy Lord, I confess my negligence in not protecting the young lamb from the wicked spirit..."