Chapter 240 – Under the Sanctuary.

– Cheolgeureok rattle!

The sound of iron and iron meshing and turning. Rachel just stared at the huge door that rustled and creaked. Even though no one seems to open the gate, the gate opens its own mouth to swallow them. She was familiar with her work, but what she had to do as her envoy was not simply diplomacy.

“Ohhh!”
“The gates go into the ground?”
“Who is opening the gates?”

Those who saw this scene for the first time all looked around, looking for someone to open the gate. They were not originally residents of the Holy Land. Due to the nature of the holy places, many believers and scholars come to them for religious reasons or to obtain knowledge. Part of her role was to guide and bring them back. Eventually, all the gates opened, revealing what was inside. There was nothing special about the road paved with light orange blocks, but those who followed the delegation marveled at its spaciousness and stepped into the holy land.

– Baaam!

Then, the sounds of trumpets came from somewhere. Soon they could make out the figures of people who had come out to watch them in the back, with uniformed buglers lined up on either side. Firecrackers exploding here and there and people waving small flags with crosses cheering, they look at the surroundings while confused.

“I’ve only heard of this place…”
“You mean there are so many magic tools here?”

The believers who followed the delegation were busy watching the holy land without being distracted by each appearance. The boulevard was as wide as a series of plazas, and the buildings around it rose high enough to feel pointy.

“Look at those buildings. How can they be so tall?”

Unless it was a castle or mansion built in the center of a building, even if it was only two stories tall, the third floor was the limit. As they cross the wide road and slowly approach the center of the holy land, the voices of the believers grow louder. They hadn’t reached the center yet, but they couldn’t see it properly because they were looking inside, and the tall tower that came up caught their eyes.

“That’s the closest place to the sky…”
“I want to go up to the top, even just once.”

The large tower was tall enough to make the other buildings in the Holy Land appear smaller than others. Despite the fact that this old tower was built so long ago that it is unknown when and by whom it was built, it still remains in the Holy Land and shows its huge and splendid appearance. Rachel was leading it there without the need for her followers to hope, but their eyes were blinded by envy and awe. But they soon fell into confusion.

“What, what!”
“Water?”
“Is it rain?”

As they approached the tower, the water created a large tunnel and covered the tower. But that was only for a moment.

“Look over there! Water is gushing out of the lake!”
“I’ve heard rumors… But this place doesn’t have clouds and it’s not like Parz, right?”

Around the tower, there was a lake that was so wide that it was hard to see unless it was Parz. It didn’t make sense that there was a lake this large, since there was no rain-sprinkling cloud zone near the Holy Land, and it wasn’t on a low ground like Parz. Even if it was, it should have dried up because it was normal. However, the lake here, far from drying up, created a structure by shooting water streams over the bridge they passed. The stream of water rising high into the sky was scattered by the wind and fragmented the light, drawing a rainbow and falling small rain.

“Is that a magic tool too? What kind of principle is that?”
“It’s a land blessed by God! Of course it must be a miracle!”

People are busy admiring and shouting at each other, captivated by the sight that is hard to see anywhere. However, he soon notices the figures of armored knights lining the tower’s entrance and lowers his voice. However, they only stand with their spears, showing no action, and solemnly lined up as if guiding their way. Inside the tower along the path they created, there are intricate figures of countless people, knights with weapons, angels with wings covered with many feathers, and demons with wings without feathers waging war on the walls and ceiling. It was drawn indiscriminately.

In a majestic rather than flashy appearance, they could not take their eyes off the picture, but they followed Rachel and the Paladins and reached a place. They were in a daze in a space so wide that it was hard to believe that it was the inside of the building. Only Rachel and her paladins found the woman looking down on them from high above. When she met her emerald eyes, she smiled. Rachel pursed her lips and looked at her calmly in front of her.

“Welcome. Devotees who have come to Lak Saria.”

Even though it was a very large space, they were busy looking around the surroundings dumbfounded by the clear voice that resonated enough to enter everyone’s ears.

“Over there! Look over there!”

At the cry of one person who found out where she was, whether or not she had planted her wind chime, the gazes of everyone headed there. Her hair that flows like water as if it were pulled out by melting sugar with gold, and her emerald eyes that seem to meet clearly even when looking at them from a distance. The pure white habit that seemed to hang on the floor but did not touch it was embroidered with gold that scattered faint but faint light. She smiled as she confirmed that everyone saw her at the sight that no one would hesitate to call her a saint.

“I’m Diana. Despite my lack of body, I’m in charge of Archbishop here.”

Her voice was still clear in their ears. As if she was overwhelmed by it, she couldn’t open her mouth to anyone.

“…It’s the saintess.”

At the voice muttered by someone, all believers are busy singing and praising the saintess. But that’s for a while. Diana dissuades those who praise her with a light gesture.

“I sincerely thank the believers who came to the Holy Land overcoming hardships and adversity even from a long distance.”

Then Diana said that she would begin her Mass, and her followers held her hands and closed her eyes. Rachel was the one who had been leading them, but she held her hand with them and didn’t even close her eyes. She just stared into her empty space, waiting for this boring time to end. Everyone was praying formally, and only she was facing Diana while a clear voice resounded as she solemnly recited her prayers.

“First of all, it’s better to soothe the tired body from the long pilgrimage.”

As soon as she finishes her long mass and finishes her words, the nuns who will guide the congregation from all over her walk out and begin to divide and lead them. As everyone scattered, Rachel was about to walk away to finish her mission.

“Sister! Sister Rachel!”

When she turned to the sound of her voice calling her, her young boy, still undressed, was running towards her. She tried to be intercepted by the knights standing by her, but Rachel beckoned and was bitten.

“It’s just a child. Don’t overreact.”

She bent her knees slightly to face her boy, who soon came up to her in front of her.

“What’s up? Turner.”

He was a child of devotees whom she met in one country during a short period of time when she was touring various countries as her acting minister. Originally, he was the age to leave his parents and become independent, but he was a boy who came of age on his way to the Holy Land while going on a pilgrimage with his parents when he was still early to come of age. So, during the pilgrimage, he could have landed in a country he liked and lived there, but he did not want to escape from the arms of his parents yet, so he ended up going on the pilgrimage until the end and came to this place.

“That, that’s why. This! Please take it!”
“This.”

What Turner held out was a small pouch. Upon accepting the pouch made of small spools of thread, I realized that it was a sachet that gave off a faint scent. Come to think of it, did his parents make perfume using flowers or oils? Perhaps it was something I had learned from them. When she glanced at the boy’s face, she smiled bitterly at the pervasive blush.

“I’m sorry. I can’t accept this…”
“It’s just a gift!”

Before Rachel could return her sachet, Turner turned and ran away, so she couldn’t catch him and just looked at him. Seriously, I’d rather give something like this to a kid her age than something like her. Suddenly, he remembered the apprentice knight girl with impressive yellow flower-like hair that he first encountered while repairing his sword in Parz. He looked exactly the same age as Turner, and if Turner had run into him at that time, he probably would have stayed in Parz. As he tried to erase the figure of a knight that came to mind with him, he reluctantly put the sachet in his bosom.

“Thank you for your hard work. I have some business to see the saintess, so let’s each go through the formalities.”
“””Yes!”””

That was when she dismissed her knights and walked on her way.

“Still popular? Rahill.”

Was it waiting in the hallway? These were the words of Diana, the woman who had just been reciting mass on the podium looking down at the believers. It was a voice that the same woman thought was beautiful to hear, but she hardened her face.

“I would have asked you not to call me that. Archbishop.”
“It’s a joke. It’s a joke. I thought it would have changed a little over the years, but Rachel is still stiff.”

Her eyes weren’t smiling when she said that. As Rachel bites her lip, she shrugs her shoulders.

“Well, that’s fine. There’s something more important than that.”

Diana turned around and started walking ahead. When Rachel followed her without saying anything and opened the door she arrived in, what she saw was the red girl Rachel had brought from Parz.

“She said it just in case, but she never thought that Rachel would reap such a great harvest.”

Before she entered the Holy Land, she had sent a wagon loaded with cargo, including those of the believers, but she did not know that she would arrive so quickly. A girl with a golden glow was staring blankly at them, as if she had finally come to her senses inside her cage.

“…What are you going to do with this child?”
“Didn’t I tell you beforehand? You need a primordial witch to save Master.”

When Rachel asks, trying to ignore her golden light toward herself, Diana chuckles as if she heard her funny story. Then, after erasing her expression, he approached her and whispered in her ear.

“You were expecting some, if not all, of what I was going to do, right? Now don’t pretend to be clean on your own. It’s disgusting.”

It was as she said. Rachel had expected what would happen to her just by saying that she could save her master, but she brought her along. While she vowed not to forget Master, she turned away from his teachings and brought the girl. She couldn’t quite lift her head. Bright red blood dripped from her hand into her clenched fist.

-Huuuuung

The wind blew and drove the dry air. The hot, dry air that seems to have been smelled for a long time and the sharp smell of iron seeping in through the cracks. Usher silently watched the sight flow in with the familiar smell. In terms of time, it was brief, but the wilderness-like sight of the first step out of the woods with the girl seemed to send him back to the past. However, the sound of digging up and covering the ground brought him back to the present.

“…Is it over now?”
“Yes. I don’t know how long this will last.”

In the endless wilderness that seemed to last forever, in the middle of it, they looked at a small burial mound. If the surroundings were not flat, the burial mounds were small enough to be unrecognizable, and they were easy to spot because they were at least self-protruding and angular. In front of the small burial mound made of sand, Usher swallowed his leaking heart.

“Can’t you just say you’ll be fine at a time like this?”
“Even if you say that, reality won’t change, so what can I do?”

He thought that Krikaliev’s words were harsh, but he could not deny them. This burial mound they made was the grave of the horse they had brought with them.