#87 Pikaol Great Temple (2)
"Oh! I've heard so much about you, Count Heinrich. As expected, you truly are an exceptional talent!"
"You flatter me, Your Eminence. I know you must be busy, so thank you for greeting me personally like this."
"It's nothing less than a matter concerning the Holy Sword. Furthermore, since the Saint personally recommended you, I simply had to see your face at least once! Heh heh heh—"
After arriving at the Pikaol Great Temple and being assigned his quarters, Heinrich was immediately able to meet Donovan, the cardinal in charge of this place.
With wrinkles filled with experience, a long white beard, and a benevolent smile, his first impression was that of a "kind old man next door."
But that impression flashed through his mind the instant he saw the man's face, then vanished the moment he looked below the neck.
'Wow... what the heck is with those shoulders.'
Because that body was anything but ordinary.
"Heh heh, as expected of youth, you have splendid muscles. Goodness me, now that I'm old, my body isn't what it used to be. Back in my day, I too..."
His bulging shoulders and ramrod-straight back, muscles rippling with every movement, were so incredible that they felt completely at odds with his benevolent expression.
'I heard he was also from a Paladin background.'
He had apparently risen to the rank of cardinal thanks to his immense popularity, yet even after reaching that position, he seemed to have never once forgotten to train.
Seeing how his muscles were still bulging despite clearly being over sixty.
"So, Count Heinrich? I heard you became the Saint's personal bodyguard. How is the work?"
"Ah, until now, I have mostly spent my time training under her orders to prepare for the Holy Sword's trial. After all, the Saint remains within the Holy Land."
"I see. Is she doing well? It has been quite some time since I last saw her, so I wonder how she is faring now. There was quite an incident recently..."
He was speaking of the incident where the Undead King raided the Great Temple.
For some reason, he seemed very interested in the Saint, and as if it wasn't just his imagination, the cardinal soon began to ramble.
In short, he was showing off how close he was to the Saint.
"Hoo, it has been over three years since I last saw the Saint. Once you rise to this position, you cannot leave your post so easily. Had I known this, I wouldn't have accepted the cardinalate."
But the extent of it seemed a bit excessive.
The Saint, who had been adopted as the goddaughter of the current Pope, Hatianus II, at a very young age, grew up in the Holy Land and was beloved by everyone in the Church.
How many people could look unfavorably upon a small, cute child wandering about with a bright smile?
And Cardinal Donovan, who had been a Paladin at the time, was no different.
"Do you know, Count? How adorable the Saint was, placing an earthworm on her tiny little hand and holding it out, saying 'look at this'?"
"Th...that so. I think I can imagine."
To him, who was married but had no children, Saint Riesta was a being akin to both a daughter and a granddaughter.
Nearly ten years had passed since he watched her grow up after she first entered the Church.
Donovan was elevated to cardinal and appointed as the person in charge of this Pikaol Great Temple.
"But this place is quite a headache, I tell you. Those kingdom bastards simply refuse to cooperate, so how could I possibly have any leisure?"
The Lesc Kingdom, where the Great Temple was located, was relatively better, but the other kingdoms banded together to covertly check the Church's influence from growing beyond a certain level.
Of course, the worst among them was the Talia Kingdom, where Heinz II reigned.
To the cardinal's words, Heinrich nodded seriously with an expression that said he knew nothing at all.
As if he deeply sympathized with the man's words.
'But why is he telling me all this?'
Since a superior was rambling on, he was simply going along with it, but he couldn't understand why the cardinal was unloading such circumstances on him.
Just as he was inwardly puzzled.
*Squish—*
As Cardinal Donovan naturally threw his arm around his shoulder, those thick muscles slowly began to constrict Heinrich's airway.
"C...Cardinal?"
"Yes, Count Heinrich. What I mean is..."
Even in that situation, his benevolent expression and affectionate tone did not falter in the slightest.
"That bright smile of the Saint is so vivid in my mind that I simply cannot bear to see her sad."
Veins bulged on the arm wrapped around Heinrich's neck, and the muscles swelled even larger.
"However, since she grew up only in the Holy Land since childhood, does she not know too little of the ways of the world? So I worry she might suffer needless wounds in the future. Yes, for example... some punk trying to seduce someone as innocent as her."
Not even a smile remained on the cardinal's face as he spat out the words.
Those blazing eyes met Heinrich's.
"Do you understand what I mean?"
"...Yes, of course. As her 'personal bodyguard,' I will thoroughly protect the Saint's surroundings. Please do not worry."
What else could he say in front of this doting old man?
It was best to quickly give the answer he wanted.
When Heinrich met his gaze confidently with acting skills that had now reached perfection, a smile slowly returned to the cardinal's face as he quietly observed him.
"Heh heh heh! Yes, if the Church's most promising talent guards the Saint's side, I can rest assured. I ask this of you going forward."
"Yes! Because that is what I must do."
Their amicable conversation lasted only a moment, as the cardinal, who had barely scraped together time to see him, rose from his seat to attend to his accumulated duties.
"I must take my leave now. I pray that you may become the master of the Holy Sword. Now that the Undead King has revived, there is no time to delay."
And so Cardinal Donovan departed, and after him, the Archbishop in charge of the Holy Sword's seal approached.
"All preparations are already complete. When would you like to go?"
"There is no reason to delay after coming all this way. I will challenge it right now."
Since the Holy Sword was the core of the seal barrier, reaching the place where it was located required a rather complex procedure.
Therefore, there was a limit to the number of challenges per year, and this time, it was Heinrich who had obtained the opportunity.
'Even renowned Paladins have failed, so I am a bit burdened...'
Still, he had something of his own to believe in.
After all, didn't he have a rather cozy, collusive relationship with the Lord?
Surely, he would take care of things well enough this time too, wouldn't he?
'Then, I look forward to your support. I'll do even better from now on!'
Heinrich followed after the Archbishop and devoutly offered a prayer to the Lord.
With just a tiny bit of selfishness mixed in.
***
Talia Kingdom, Duke Bright's Mansion.
"So, there is still no significant information, correct?"
"That is correct. Thanks to the Church sweeping through the area in relation to the Undead King, not a single major dark mage force remains nearby."
"What of organizing an intelligence network?"
"We are proceeding with the work, but we still need a bit more time to grasp information from distant locations."
Well, it couldn't possibly be that easy.
It was an issue that needed to be viewed long-term from the start, but it was still unavoidable to feel regretful about the present situation.
"Understood. For now, report separately if you identify any dark mages, even small fry. Ah, and those interfering with the work as well. I will handle them from this side."
"...Understood."
As Mulro lightly bowed his head and exited, Heinz approached the window, drew back the curtain, and looked up at the night sky.
'Hans has no intention of stirring up trouble yet, so if a problem is arising, it means others are preparing something... There is no way to obtain information.'
He definitely needed to expand his power more quickly.
And currently, he had the continent's greatest human resource at his disposal.
*Flutter—*
The night sky, shrouded in darkness as even the moonlight was swallowed by clouds.
Hans looked down upon the earth with pupils dyed in the abyss.
'I have nothing else to do right now, so I suppose I should help Heinz.'
As a bonus, he intended to recruit slaves—no, extras and staff—that he could use to his heart's content.
Of course, it wasn't an unfair contract.
Because he planned to pay them with something precious to everyone.
'Their lives,' that is.
'I cannot take responsibility for accidents that occur during work... but where else would they have a chance to survive if they're lucky?'
Wasn't that better than dying right now?
[Kuhuhuh... There's one hiding over there.]
If it was a being belonging to the demonic, it could not escape his 「Eye of the Abyss」.
***
The Azerion Empire, adjacent to the Holy Land.
"Ah! Got a signal!"
A blonde man, who had been lying dead-like on a lounge chair in a rather well-decorated room, opened his eyes wide.
"Goodness, I had my doubts, but he really was alive. This generation's Undead King is truly beyond comprehension. Why hadn't the signal caught him all this time?"
His unique skill, 「Trace Observation」, was an ability optimized for information gathering.
It was a skill capable of reading the past, no less.
After hearing news of a major incident at the Roselia Great Temple and digging into the details, he learned of the Undead King.
'Although an enormous barrier had been erected where the Undead King appeared, preventing direct confirmation, information is fundamentally gathered by asking around.'
The number of those mobilized to fight him was not insignificant, and gathering information through them had been relatively easy.
Every careless word they let slip while off guard was information.
Of course, this was only possible because he had committed all sorts of deeds to acquire Karma and strengthened his unique skill three times.
"Tsk, but as expected of a big shot. Even after strengthening it so much, I can't observe him. I had expected as much."
Of course, his ability had several restrictions as well.
He needed detailed information about the target he wished to observe, and he could not read opponents of too high a caliber.
It was only natural that the Undead King could not be observed with his ability.
But there was a reason he reacted this way.
When he had activated 「Trace Observation」 previously just in case, the result had been quite strange.
It wasn't that he lacked the ability and thus 'could not know,' but rather that the target being did not exist in the first place, resulting in 'impossible.'
So he had worried that perhaps the Undead King had died at the Roselia Great Temple, but his companions had all dismissed it as nonsense.
They said that if the Undead King had truly fully revived, there was no way he would die from something like that.
Since that day, he had habitually observed the Undead King's existence once a day, and today, that result had changed to 'unknown.'
"So they were right... Then had he been hiding inside some dimension-severing barrier to recover all this time?"
He smacked his lips and roughly ruffled his dull blonde hair.
Still, the situation was not bad.
With the great undertaking soon to begin, it would be good for them if the Undead King had resumed activity.
'The timing is good? Is luck on my side?'
He didn't have much Karma left until his fourth strengthening.
If he wrapped up this matter well, he would be able to strengthen it without difficulty.
Moreover, this operation was only the beginning, so this was not the end.
'If I contribute to the destruction of a world, just how much Karma could I earn?'
He giggled as he comfortably settled into the lounge chair.
'If I just provide information from a comfortable, safe place, the others will handle the rest. This is what you call the creative economy.'
He was well aware that those he was with now were extremely dangerous individuals, but to him, it didn't really matter.
By the time he had acquired enough Karma and this place truly became dangerous, he would already be on Earth.
"Ah~ I look forward to it. With this, wouldn't I be able to conquer the world once I return to Earth? State secrets or whatever, I'll swipe them all... Kekeke."
Another Awakened, who had been sent to the Auterica dimension, indulged in such sweet fantasies alone.