Damn it. I can't believe I fell for the lie that we were almost there.
I finally realized why they tell that lie about being almost there. Even I felt that faint hope and ended up pushing myself without realizing it. But the monastery was farther than it appeared to the Regressor's wolf eyes, and midway, both my energy and stamina were exhausted, and I collapsed.
From the Regressor's perspective, it wasn't exactly a lie either. A Regressor who roams all over the world perceived any place visible to the eye as close.
Ah, I must never fall for it next time.
"Woof! Woof woof!"
"Baaaah...! You guys, stop that wolf! Don't let the wolf bite me!"
Lemmu shouted while hiding in his own fur. The children panicked seeing Lemmu's frightened appearance. Then, a beastman boy with ears and a tail jumped up and stepped forward to protect Lemmu.
"We'll protect the Apostle of the Lamb!"
Inspired by this, the children stood up one by one and stepped forward to protect Lemmu.
"Don't bully the furry one!"
"The Lamb's Apostle is our friend!"
"Woof? Friend!"
However, Azi was a dog who liked humans more than sheep. Seeing the children, he spun around in circles wagging his tail.
"Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you!"
"Huh? Nice to meet you too!"
"Let's play! Let's play!"
"Play? Play what?"
"Sheep herding!"
"Baaaah!"
Lemmu ran away piteously crying, dodging Azi. The sheep chewed on the grass and quietly watched their king flee. The King of Sheep protected his subjects through a holy sacrifice.
"Doubt guests who bring good news. However, if a guest comes accompanied by a good being, treat them with the utmost hospitality. These are the words spoken by the First Saintess when she welcomed guests from the east."
And while Azi was playing with the children, the Regressor and I faced a more difficult opponent.
Originally, nun's robes are black. But her nun's robe was as dark as pitch black, making it seem as though she served darkness rather than light. Not only that, she even covered her face with a black veil. So that not a single ray of light could touch her.
"You who have come with the King of Dogs must surely be good guests. Welcome, strangers. I am Egcheria, Servant of the Heavenly God, who oversees this monastery."
She blasphemed against god. Though she was the most devout and purest of nuns, she abandoned the chance to go to the Heavenly God's side and drank the Progenitor's blood. Becoming a vampire who neither dies nor ages, she cast herself down from beneath the brightest stained glass to the floor of the darkest catacomb.
"Elder, Sister Egcheria."
"Yes. I serve the Progenitor and was bestowed a fragment of its power. Thanks to that, I am transmitting the will of the Heavenly God eternally, without fading."
She insulted the Progenitor. Though she became an Elder and was under the Progenitor's dominion, she did not abandon her faith in the Heavenly God. No, rather she displayed it even more openly. As if faith would not fade even within the Progenitor's dominion.
"Do you seek a nun, or do you seek an Elder? I am both, but I shall receive you in whichever form you desire."
The Holy See turned a blind eye to her for only one reason.
Because she was the only being who could carry on the faith of the Heavenly God in a land filled with sin.
The Progenitor Tirkanjaka let her live for only one reason.
Because it would be a blasphemy against the Heavenly God.
Of course, the true reason she remained alive despite blaspheming both god and devil was because she was powerful enough that even god and devil could not easily kill her.
The Fallen Nun, Sister Egcheria.
A blasphemer who blasphemed against both god and devil.
A gray nun more devout than anyone yet more depraved than anyone.
The Regressor spoke to her.
"We've come to find a nun."
At the same time, the aura emanating from Egcheria softened considerably. Folding her hands neatly like a strict nun, Egcheria spoke from beneath her veil.
"Welcome, my brother. The Heavenly God has guided you here with divine protection. What do you pray for?"
"I want to use the Lakion Great White Wall."
"It is not permitted."
Egcheria spoke strictly and firmly.
"The Lakion Great White Wall is the great mercy passed down to the monasteries of the world. It is an earthly mark directly overseen by the Heavenly God. No matter how urgent the news, it cannot be used for private matters. If the white wall were filled with a traveler's diary, it would become the Lakion Black-and-White Wall. It is pure white because nothing has been written on it, and therefore it can be used to write something more precious when that time comes. It is regrettable, but I cannot permit it."
"It's not a private matter. It's about a new saint."
"A new saint?"
"Yes."
"My insight is narrow and my eyes are dark, so I cannot recognize a saint. Would you show me a revelation for my foolish self?"
Wouldn't she see better if she lifted the veil, I muttered to myself in a useless thought. The Regressor nodded and called Azi.
"Azi. Show your halo of divine light."
"Woof?"
"That white ring floating above your head."
The halo of divine light is the most definitive proof of being a saint. A nun would be able to judge its authenticity immediately upon seeing it.
But Azi, who was playing with the children, tilted his head and then pounced on Lemmu again. The King of Sheep fled from Azi with tears welling up in his eyes.
Typical of a beast, he rarely did as told, but the Regressor was now used to this.
"Hughes. Show the ring on Azi's head. Then Egcheria will open the Great White Wall for us."
"You always make me do the annoying work."
"You're the one who handles Azi well. Do it."
'Let's leave things like persuading people to Hughes. Egcheria may be crazy in a good way, but she's still a crazy person. Hughes would be better at this than me. They're similar too.'
Similar? Does that mean I'm crazy? I don't know whether to thank you for saying I'm crazy in a good way, or to get angry.
Still, thanks. I was interested in that person too.
"I could show it, but there's no need to insist on that, right? We just need to borrow the Great White Wall."
"That's true, but. How are you going to do it? Nuns are stubborn."
That's right. Speaking of nuns, they are those who serve the will of god. Female priests armed with strict discipline who wield divine power.
If they were ordinary nuns, that is.
The Fallen Nun, Sister Egcheria. She is the Gray Blasphemer. Though she stands there so neatly now, she is a being who stands on the side of chaos—neither good nor evil—mocking both sides.
She is my kind.
"Hello. I am the King of Humanity. This person is a hero trying to save the world. We are trying to save the world from the King of Sin."
"What? You can reveal that?"
It's not some grand secret. And if we contact the Holy See, they'll find out anyway.
"Last week, along with the King of Dogs, we defeated the King of Wolves and learned the secret of the world, but to confirm it, we need the Holy See's answer. And the only way to contact them from south of the Enger Plains is through the Lakion Great White Wall in the Blood Monastery. That's why we came to use it. Connect us to the Holy See."
I briefly laid out everything that had happened recently to Egcheria. Sister Egcheria was an Elder who had lived for hundreds of years. She wouldn't bat an eye at most things, but the information I provided was overwhelming even for her.
"This is too sudden a story. There are many parts lacking explanation."
Egcheria responded mechanically.
"And it is too ambiguous. It is difficult to believe, and even if it were true, I cannot grasp your intention, brother. How should I trust you?"
"Don't trust me. Were you someone who trusted in things?"
If she were someone who needed faith, she wouldn't have accepted a vampire's blood while being a nun.
She's treating us strictly like an ordinary nun now, but her essence is close to mine. Gray, leaning neither way. That is why neither pure white nor pitch black can visit her monastery.
"I believe my proposal would have piqued your interest. And someone like you wouldn't give up on your interest over mere discipline."
"That is not something you should say to a mere nun."
Of course not. What nun would respond to words that disregard discipline? But.
"You're not just an ordinary nun, are you?"
Egcheria smiled beneath her veil.
At the same time, the monastery moved. The monastery, writhing as if alive, lunged like lightning and swallowed us in a single bite.
It happened in an instant. We had been in the middle of a sunlit field, and before we knew it, we were standing in the center of a dark chapel.
Sunlight filtered through red stained glass. The red light was surely a portion of sunlight transmitted from the distant heavens above, but for some reason it felt eerie and ominous. At the same time, the blood dominion filling the space could be felt throughout the monastery.
The Blood Monastery was the domain of the vampire Egcheria. Within it, she was a nun, an abbess, and a god. That was why the modifier 'Blood' was included in the monastery's name.
"That statement about wanting to save the world—you must surely mean it sincerely?"
Egcheria's blood manipulation art was not ordinary. While an ordinary blood manipulation art would not match other Elders, in some aspects it touched the divine.
The ring of blood connected. Red threads extending in a double helix wrapped around my right arm. The thread connected by blood neither pulled nor constricted, but extended red tendrils to read the minute tremors of my blood.
"Declare it. Your truth."
Blood manipulation art, Confession Blood Oath.
A divine power that achieved the miracle of the confessional through blood. Egcheria, the fallen nun, performed sacraments through blood. As long as these red tendrils were in contact, one could not tell a lie. Egcheria would instantly read even the slightest tremor of blood.
Unless one wove a grand lie that deceived even oneself, but there was no need for that now. I stretched out my arm and declared confidently.
"That's right. I genuinely intend to save the world. Because that is the path to saving not only the world, but myself as well."
It was sincere. Therefore, it was true. Having verified its authenticity, the Confession Blood Oath dissolved as if melting into thin air.
Having confirmed that my words were true, Egcheria walked toward one wall of the chapel.
"Let me ask one thing. Do you truly intend to do good? Even if it were the most wicked and violent villain in the world, do you think the good they have done is noble in and of itself?"
Egcheria tore off her veil. At the same time, one side of the wall was torn like a sheet of paper.
Peeling away a layer of the dark wall revealed a massive white wall that emitted a faint glow even in the darkness. It appeared to have been torn from something broken by siege weapons, its shape was irregular, but the wall itself was as smooth and white as paper.
Before it, Egcheria threw off her veil as if annoyed. Revealing her bare face, she leaned one hand against the Lakion Great White Wall and asked me.
"Even a filthy beastman, a lowly vampire, a cruel murderer. Do you think the good deeds they have performed should be respected as good deeds in themselves? If a murderer who killed tens of thousands saves one child, do you think there is no problem with that child venerating their savior?"
The Fallen Nun, Sister Egcheria. A twisted nun who performed sacrifice and service in the name of a vampire. While she was a devil who drank human blood, she was also a saint who cared for and treated orphans from all nations who had nowhere to go.
Her very existence was heresy, a blasphemer who dared to test the Heavenly God with her own sense of good and evil. Hypocrisy may be good and forced evil may be evil, but she who tests and shakes faith itself stood on the opposite side of order.
The enemy of order is not evil but chaos. If order is judgment, then chaos is a being that walks a tightrope on its boundaries.
In that sense, Egcheria was both a faithful servant of the Heavenly God and the most lethal thought criminal at the same time.
"Treating sin as sin, and people as people... what do you think of that?"
Well, it's not wrong. There's even a saying to hate the sin but not the sinner. Humans are capable of anything, so even a villain can perform some good deeds.
But I couldn't say that. Because that wasn't my true feeling. The Confession Blood Oath had not yet ended. If I tried to get through the situation with a hastily made-up lie, I would only fall out of favor with that ideological terrorist.
"Good? Evil? Sin? Virtue? What is that? A beast like me has no interest in things I can't eat."
So I answered honestly. In a way that would satisfy Egcheria.
As I expected, Egcheria rejoiced violently. A bit too vulgar for a nun.
"Heh, hehehe. Kekekeke. Good. Good. Good, evil, sin, virtue. Names attached to the deeds of beasts! Ahaha! A savage beast choosing to do good, how wonderful a ring it has! What contradictions and questions this will bring to those saintesses! I'm so, so looking forward to it!"
'...Ugh. No matter how crazy in a good way, she's still crazy. I feel like things are going to escalate in an unintended direction.'
It's too late to regret, Regressor.
Egcheria spread both arms as if deeply moved. Then, the grand piano in the chapel pressed itself and majestic music rang out.
Instruments conducted by blood, and a hymn played by them. What a terrible blasphemy. I could feel the will to pluck out every single reverse scale of the Holy See.
"Good! I, Egcheria, shall accept your prayer! Even if timid nuns hold their breath, cover their ears, and turn away from taboo, I shall boldly recite the question you have posed! Hear, see, feel! The truth shall come like the sunlight in the sky, so that none can look away!"
Egcheria, who shouted powerfully, dyed the Lakion Great White Wall red in a single moment.
At that moment, the same change occurred on every Lakion Great White Wall that existed throughout the world.