Chapter 183

Blink—!

When the man broke his long silence and snapped his eyes open, a piercing light shone from beneath his robe.

“Jelsroin has spoken.”

At those words, the people who had been waiting for them went wild.

— Kyaaaa!

— Goddess! Goddess!

— Love! Blood! Achievement!

— Kyao! Kyaooot!

Tap—

However, as the man raised one hand, the people quickly fell silent.

It seemed the man’s status among them was quite formidable.

The man’s words continued.

“The Holy Spirit’s emblem… has left the school.”

— Weekend! Weekend!

— Off-campus volunteering!

The two who had shouted, unable to contain their excitement without reading the room,

Crack—

— Cough…

were struck by a cruel punishment holy magic and collapsed from their chairs.

The others paid no attention to them floundering on the floor and focused solely on the man.

“Jelsroin has ordered us to seize the emblem before it reaches Gilsberg.”

— Emblem!

— Gilsberg!

— Kyaaaa!

A few people shouted again, but this time, no punishment holy magic was delivered.

His speech was mostly finished.

The two collapsed on the ground stared pitifully at the man in the highest seat with somewhat aggrieved eyes.

“Jelsroin’s command is absolute. Prepare the spatial holy magic carriages. For the blood!”

— For the blood!

— For it!

Whoosh—!!!

After everyone shouted while raising one hand as if making a toast, soon only the man in the highest seat remained.

The man smirked, his smile reminiscent of the stench of blood.

Since it was off-campus volunteering, a professor would be accompanying them, but they could just clash with all their might.

They were willing to sacrifice their lives to carry out the command of the goddess they served.

Moreover, they happened to have young resources whose talents were not inferior to those of Akerandir’s students.

…They were the crazy heretics that Roan had said were rather harder to meet.

***

The distorted scenery outside was fascinating for only a moment.

Roan was discussing the state of the Empire with Gordon while stroking the nodding Bel and Charlotte.

“There are rumors that they are trying to import southern crops to the southeastern Hiselyn Estate to cultivate them in large quantities. The guild seems to be looking at it positively as well. The southeast is a place we haven’t entered yet, so we can establish a connection with each other.”

“Well. It’s probably because the climates are similar, but the average temperature is about one degree higher, and the rainfall is quite different. I think it would be better to take some more time. Scale-wise, there is no reason to enter first yet.”

And Espard smacked his lips and joined the conversation.

“Oh, the sugar grape jam is famous in the Hiselyn Estate.”

“Hahaha! I like it very much too, Saint.”

Somehow, Roan was talking like even more of a middle-aged man than Espard, who was over thirty!

Gordon expressed honest admiration to Roan.

“By the way, you are truly amazing, Young Master. I have participated in many off-campus volunteer activities as well, but to think I could have such a conversation with a freshman. You could take up an important position in the guild right now.”

In fact, working in a merchant guild did not mean everyone was well-versed in such situations.

Rather, most of them usually just performed the tasks assigned by the guild, killing time.

“You flatter me. It’s just a mediocre opinion of someone who overheard a few words.”

“The way you speak also makes you seem like someone who has been in the business world for a long time!”

Of course, Roan had once raised a merchant guild comparable to the Richmond Merchant Guild in ‘God and Devil.’

Even if he made a merchant guild right now, it wouldn’t take very long to surpass the Paladin, but…

‘I can’t choose that method in Roan’s body.’

It seemed he shouldn’t head in that direction in this life.

…Thinking about the contents of the book Hector was trying to read in the library made him even more certain.

Meanwhile, Tirmy, who was just quietly listening to the conversation from her seat, gave her evaluation of Roan.

“Like a middle-aged man.”

“…”

A cold-headed evaluation from Tirmy, the experienced duelist pursuing efficiency!

‘Still, isn’t middle-aged man a bit too much?’

Unable to glare at Tirmy for no reason, Roan grumbled inwardly.

He was not yet at an age to be called a middle-aged man!

…Roan thought, a thought that a middle-aged man would have.

In any case, he didn’t want to approach things he knew clearly from a wrong perspective just to pretend to be a student.

Meanwhile, at Gordon’s praise, Espard rejoiced as if his own child had received a good word.

“Roan did work hard at everything, hahaha.”

“Saint, didn’t you not step foot in the Holy Pope Palace for fourteen years?”

When Roan asked what he meant by that, Espard shrank back sweatily and replied.

“That… I occasionally heard news from Vice-Cardinal Secrito.”

It was a name he hadn’t heard in a really long time.

Seeing that he had heard news from Secrito, it seemed he had indeed cared for Roan even while he was away.

At that moment, Sion, who was still looking outside, tugged on Roan’s sleeve.

“Darc, Darc.”

“Hmm?”

It was a slightly different look from Sion, who always tried to behave like a Saintess Candidate.

Without taking her eyes off the window, Sion spoke.

“Earlier, you said we wouldn’t get attacked if we had the principal’s emblem, right?”

“That’s right. Besides, this carriage belongs to the Paladin Merchant Guild.”

“You are correct.”

Gordon nodded, feeling proud of belonging to the Paladin Merchant Guild.

Sion spoke in a slightly uncomfortable voice.

“But someone has been following us for a while now.”

“““???”””

At those words, excluding the sleeping Yusina, Roan, Espard, Tirmy, and Gordon all tilted their heads simultaneously.

“Isn’t it another merchant guild? Anyway, there are only a few paths from Akerandir to Gilsberg.”

First of all, it was highly likely to be as Roan guessed.

It wasn’t as if only one or two merchant guilds departed from Akerandir.

Above all, considering the individuals in this carriage, there was no way they wouldn’t notice an attacker’s killing intent.

To put it simply, Tirmy alone was a top-tier expert among the Akerandir professors in detecting such presence.

However, Sion tilted her head and continued.

“…Do they usually draw a heart on a dark red background for a merchant guild flag?”

Sion, who had memorized most merchant guilds well enough to recognize the Paladin Merchant Guild, had never seen such a case.

No, no matter how many guilds there were in the Empire, their patterns were actually bound to be similar.

…Meaning, any sane merchant guild wouldn’t draw a skull on a black background for their flag.

It wasn’t to that extent, but anyway, flying such a flag was also not in the category of ‘what a sane merchant guild would do.’

And Roan had a group that flashed into his mind as soon as he heard Sion’s description.

“That’s a heresy, though?”

“?”

At Roan’s words, Sion tilted her head.

“?”

Espard also tilted his head.

“?”

Tirmy also tilted her head.

“?”

[?]

Gordon and Bel too… No, anyway.

It did not take long for the people, who were pondering what Roan had just said, to be shocked.

“H-H-Heretics?!?!?!!?”

“Was there such a heresy? I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere…”

Espard pondered.

If they were attacking even after seeing Harden’s emblem, they were heretics who were thoroughly insane.

However, Espard, who had captured almost all the rampant heretics, could hardly think of a heart drawn on a dark red background.

Then, suddenly,

“…Jelsroin?”

“That’s correct.”

When he mentioned the name that came to mind, Roan nodded.

“Yes, Jelsroin. Jelsroin… But why them all of a sudden?”

“It would be ridiculous to look for reasons when heretics attack someone, but in my opinion, I think it is rather because of the emblem.”

“Emblem? What emblem?”

The Jelsroin cult usually holds its breath very quietly, so much so that even Espard couldn’t recall their identity right away.

No, in the past, they were famous for performing many crazy deeds, but after being designated as heresy, they became a sect unfamiliar even to Heretic Inquisitors.

‘Jelsroin, the Goddess of Blood and Deep Love.’

The story related to it was simpler than expected, but Roan decided to wake Yusina up first.

“Sion, undo the sleep.”

“Ah, yes!”

“Senior Yusina, you have to wake up now.”

Yusina, who was sleeping as if passed out due to motion sickness, woke up half-asleep as Roan shook her to wake her.

“Mmm…? Are we already in Gilsberg— ugh, no, we’re not…”

“Pull yourself together. It is… an attack by Jelsroin. For now.”

According to what Roan knew, it wouldn’t exactly lead to an attack, but explanation would come later.

“Jelsroin?”

“It’s a heretical cult. Wake up and see for yourself.”

“H-Heretics?!”

As if snapping back to reality, Yusina sat up in surprise and checked outside the window.

Sure enough, four carriages carrying bizarre dark red flags were fiercely chasing the Paladin Merchant Guild.

Gordon said with a tense face.

“We must stop the carriage first. If we collide like this…”

Spatial holy magic carriages are very fast, but they are dangerous to that extent.

Ordinary objects pass through safely, but if another spatial holy magic carriage crashes like crazy, the spatial holy magic itself will get tangled.

Then, let alone a massive impact, in severe cases, the body could be separated into entirely different spaces.

For instance, the upper body falling in Akerandir and the lower body falling in the Holy Pope Palace…

In any case, seeing that they were following this carriage, the Jelsroin cult would also be using spatial holy magic carriages.

For now, stopping as Gordon said was the standard procedure.

Hold—

“Professor?”

However, Tirmy stopped Gordon who was about to send a stop signal.

Tirmy asked Roan with a cold expression.

“Do you know them?”

It seemed he knew the Jelsroin cult, and she was asking if there was more information.

Since Tirmy also didn’t know much about Jelsroin, she seemed to want to obtain minimum information before dealing with it.

Roan thought for a very brief moment and nodded.

“I don’t know well either, but I will explain as much as I know.”

***

Jelsroin is the Goddess of Blood and Deep Love.

It could be said that they were designated as heresy almost at the same time as the founding of the Empire.

The reason was.

— I love you!

— Uh… I’m a bit… Sorry.

— Then I will die!

— Letting out a scream!

…It was because there were too many such records in the past.

The Jelsroin cult was famous for rather dying if they could not achieve what they truly loved.

Of course, the above examples are stories about when they loved a person.

Among the Jelsroin followers, there were also cases such as an explorer who loved exploration and conquered many unexplored lands, or a library director who loved books and personally established a grand library.

Anyway, because the damage was also not negligible, at a time when the Empire’s anger was accumulating,

— Harden! Accept my love!

— …Lady Jelsroin, I’m sorry, but I am still a human.

— Then die quickly! You can just come up to the divine realm! It’s livable here!

— What a crazy goddess? Ah, sorry, my inner thoughts slipped out.

Jelsroin’s passionate courtship toward Harden decisively pushed the cult into the abyss of heresy.

When Jelsroin actually tried to kill him to turn him into a god as soon as possible, Harden appropriately kept her in check (?), and then designated the cult itself as heresy.

The Empire cheered, and Jelsroin, as if kept in check by Harden in some way, thereafter only conveyed her will through her priests and almost completely vanished.

However, Jelsroin’s love for Harden had not vanished either.