Episode 19
✠At that moment, Countess Gillette, Sandra Gillette, was trembling all over while clutching a letter bearing ill tidings.
The Count, watching her reaction carefully, placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Dear, are you okay..."
"I am not okay!"
The Countess burst into tears and cried out.
"Waaah! What do we do, honey! Mother-in-law is coming suddenly! She hasn't shown any interest in family affairs since she devoted herself to religion, so what wind blew this in?"
"W-well, dear."
"Could it be because of the succession issue? Ah! If so, she'll definitely harass me about how I've been raising the children!"
"Come on, dear. That's going too far. My mother isn't the type to..."
"Are you going to take your mother's side in front of me?!"
The Count's castle was in an uproar over the advance notice of a visit from the terrifying and strict matriarch, Cartleya Gillette.
Chapter 6. Consuming Causality to Generate a Quest
The Holy See.
A sanctuary where the Pope, the ruler of the Holy Nation, resides, and the supreme political body overseeing all legislation, administration, and judiciary of the Elfenheim Papacy.
However, deep within this Holy See, there was one somewhat incongruous facility.
It was an orphanage.
The orphans here were special beings carefully selected from orphanages across the entire Holy Nation.
This was because they had all received holy stigmata at a young age and awakened divine power.
The Order commonly called these children "Stigmata Lambs."
At first glance, they seemed to be raised as preciously as hothouse flowers, but in reality, they were undergoing high-intensity combat training.
For instance, when the children came of age, they were slated to be assigned to the most vicious department in the Holy See—the Inquisition Bureau of the Knights' Ministry.
From the perspective of devout parents of the Holy Nation, the Stigmata Lambs program was something like a gifted education institution affiliated with the Holy See.
Unable to withstand the persistent demands from parents wanting their children's potential tested, the Holy See even held public recruitment events for children on specific feast days every year.
And exactly one week later was that feast day—the "Day of Sacrifice."
"They're already swarming in."
"Hmm, how many of them will even pass? I don't see any kids who seem to have divine power."
"Awakening at our age is weirder in the first place. It's not like we awakened normally either... Hey, Ifail. Move it. Are you gonna move or not?"
Ifail resting his arm on Hestio's head sparked a squabble between them.
Tesilid ignored his roommates' commotion, placed his right fist over his chest, and closed his eyes.
Ifail and Hestio abruptly stopped in their tracks.
"What, are you praying?"
"Praying for all of them to pass?"
As always, Tesilid brought Hestio and Ifail together in solidarity.
Hestio first swept his black hair back in irritation and spoke.
"Hey hey, Tesilid. There's nothing more meaningless than a blessing prayer directed at the masses. It's the same principle as not everyone can win the lottery."
"Leave him be. It's all self-satisfaction. He gets to act virtuous with cheap prayers, and the gods dote on him too."
Hestio and Ifail's criticism was familiar, but today, perhaps from seeing the children holding their parents' hands, Tesilid felt an uncharacteristic impulse.
He retorted without realizing it.
"The opposite."
"What?"
"I prayed for all of them to fail, so that those children can go back home."
"……"
For a moment, a solemn atmosphere fell among the three children.
Soon, Ifail and Hestio felt sheepish and corrected their words.
"What's with you. You're talking in a way that's not as annoying today?"
"Right? Did he hit his head hard or something?"
It was a moment where a slight positive change occurred in Tesilid's peer relationships.
However, he immediately had to pay the price for it.
The stigmata engraved on Tesilid's left wrist heated up, and white letters of light that only he could see spread across his vision. They were the gods' own handwriting.
-Humility, charity, kindness, patience, chastity, temperance, diligence.
The seven virtues known as the Seven Heavenly Virtues. However, among these, 'humility' changed to 'pride,' and 'kindness' changed to 'envy,' turning black. And soon, as if punishing him, it slightly reduced the divine power he possessed.
'Haa... Now I can't even speak properly.'
Tesilid awakens his regression ability at the age of twenty.
However, even at the current age of ten, he had a special ability.
An unique ability only Tesilid Argent possessed in this world—the 'Discipline of the Seven Heavenly Virtues and Seven Deadly Sins.'
Thanks to this, he possessed outstanding divine power even among the Stigmata Lambs, but it came with constraints that made his life that much more exhausting.
Practicing the 'Seven Heavenly Virtues' of humility, charity, kindness, patience, chastity, temperance, and diligence strengthened his divine power.
Conversely, committing the 'Seven Deadly Sins' of pride, greed, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth weakened his divine power.
'Strict Order and Goodness' evaluated Tesilid's words and actions coldly, as if living up to its name.
Therefore, he was destined to live a devout and virtuous life forcibly, which was largely why his life became a frustrating path where he was treated as a pushover as he grew older.
'Until I awaken my aura... No, even after I awaken my aura...'
To give up on living life comfortably, the 'Discipline of the Seven Heavenly Virtues and Seven Deadly Sins' was too overpowered an ability.
Moreover, the current main enemy of the Serentra Continent was the demon race, attempting to invade using dungeons as strongholds. In the War Against Demons, divine power was the counter.
"Haa..."
As long as he didn't throw away his sense of duty, there was no other choice.
Beside him, Hestio and Ifail craned their necks toward the window and conversed.
Their tone was considerably more subdued than before.
"How will such frail kids be of any help if they come in. They'll just whine annoyingly every other minute about wanting to go home, missing their moms."
"Yeah, Hestio. Us with no home and no parents should just live locked up in places like this. Oh, how pitiful."
"But when are we ever going to get sent outside the Holy See? When we become adults?"
"We might never get out. What if a Dungeon Sync suddenly erupts inside the Holy See one day..."
"Hey, Ifail! Are you saying that as a joke?"
"Someone's scared."
Watching his roommates' silly banter, Tesilid smiled slightly.
Without being able to predict the fate that would befall them.
✠Today, as always without fail, the start of the daily routine was dawn prayer.
The gods of the Possession Management Bureau, who had been out of contact for a while, reconnected immediately after safely completing the system update.
With communication restored, there was much to say, so even though the 53rd quest completion message had appeared, the conversation kept going.
"So Alchemy reached level 9, and I've developed over 20 types of juice potions and food pills that are ready for commercialization right away. If the business succeeds, I'll make lots of cash shop purchases."
[The 'Word Spirit that Constructs the World' smiles with satisfaction, saying it's desirable.]
"On the other hand, I wonder if there's really a need to work so hard at business like this. There's an easier way. For someone who knows the future, cornering the market is the best. There's an episode in the original work where a plague breaks out—if I get the herbs in advance, cultivate them, and make remedies, wouldn't I make a fortune?"
Save people quickly, and I make tons of money. Righteous cause and private interest align.
[The 'Word Spirit that Constructs the World' supports you, saying it's a very good idea.]
"But there's a problem. I can't obtain the herbs used in the remedy."
The main ingredient of the plague remedy was the root of Eliphantipes.
In the original work, it was said to be a weed growing naturally within the Holy See, but currently it wasn't in circulation.
It seemed they had pulled them all out from the sprout stage for the landscaping of the Holy See, which was regrettable considering that Eliphantipes requires at least 3 years to fully form.
"It seems like the best method would be for me to go there myself and use my cultivation ability to plant and gather them, but my range of activity is limited right now."
During the tutorial period, I had the survival difficulty adjusted to F, but in exchange, I could only operate within the Gillette Count's castle. I tried leaving the area once, but I was returned to my original position.
[The 'Word Spirit that Constructs the World' thinks for a moment and says it seems sufficient to obtain it even after the original work begins.]
"Yes. There's quite some time before the plague breaks out. I can just ask when I meet the protagonist later."
Since our pushover is a pushover, if I show him even a small kindness first, he would easily grant a request like pulling out weeds of all kinds from the Holy See.
Then, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.
"Speaking of the protagonist, what would he be doing around now while I'm living so diligently?"
Right now is the tutorial period. There are 10 years left until the original work, a grueling infinite regression story, begins.
In other words, the protagonist hasn't awakened to infinite regression yet, and is in the state of an ordinary child who doesn't know at all that he's destined to have such an ability.
"Since the original work begins and the protagonist becomes a regressor at age twenty, he must be exactly my age right now."
What would the daily life of a fresh first-life sweet potato be like? He's not just playing a childcare sim alone, is he? I'm curious.
[The 'Word Spirit that Constructs the World' subtly asks if you want to meet the protagonist.]
"I can't meet him anyway. I'm in the tutorial so I can't leave the Count's castle, and he's locked up in the Holy See receiving gifted education."
I cleanly gave up and was stretching when an unexpected answer came.
[The 'Word Spirit that Constructs the World' says that if you use its divine authority, there is a way to go out for a short while.]
I snapped to attention.
"Really? Weren't the gods not supposed to intervene carelessly?"
[The 'Word Spirit that Constructs the World' says that's the principle in theory, but there are always loopholes.]
"I see."
[The 'Word Spirit that Constructs the World' boasts that not just any god can do this, and it's possible because it's a divine being of its caliber.]
I held up both thumbs.
"Wonderful Word Spirit, please tell me the details quickly."
[The 'Word Spirit that Constructs the World' says you just need to consume causality to generate a quest.]
I listened to the ensuing explanation all the way through.
In short, it meant that if sufficient causality was created for me to need to go to that place, the Word Spirit would wield public authority for my private use.
However, the problem was that ordinary causality wouldn't be enough to go to a place as significant as the Holy See.
[The 'Word Spirit that Constructs the World' says to just bring any Cardinal you know and it will take care of the rest.]
"...Excuse me, Word Spirit. You do know I possessed a powerless commoner little maid, right?"
How am I supposed to make Cardinal connections all of a sudden. That's too much.
Fine then. I was puffing my cheeks out in resentment for planting false expectations when—
[The 'Word Spirit that Constructs the World' says there's no need to look far away and keeps pointing right behind you.]
Behind me?
"...I didn't expect this place to be cleaned up so thoroughly."
"Oh my!"
Startled by the unfamiliar voice, I turned around.
A Privilege for the Possessed