#059. The Church Sister Is Too Kind (3)

#059. The Church Sister Is Too Kind (3)

Lonoawe had many subordinates.

Loyalty earned by using body modification knowledge obtained through human experimentation. People whose nerves and cells wouldn’t allow them to maintain their health or gain strength.

Those who were dying, sickly, and weak were granted healthy bodies, which in return granted his loyalty.

Lonoawe used this strategically.

“Create a refugee camp and instigate an incident to place the blame on the Sodom Guild. Unleash a total war, using any means necessary.”

Many subordinates, disguised as refugees or volunteers, made their way to the refugee camp.

And now, one of his subordinates, mangled and barely clinging to life, held a communication artifact at a relay point and contacted him.

“The Saintess and the Saint’s rampages have swept away everyone we planted.”

“I was fooled? I, was manipulated and played by Ian?”

Lonoawe’s shoulders shook.

“Hehehe, hahahaha! Excellent. So that’s what becomes of a child who inherited half of my blood. After all, nothing is more certain than inheriting blood rather than artificial experiments. I didn’t realize that the successful result was much closer to me than I thought.”

“Lonoawe-nim, this is no time to be laughing. If word gets out about the failure in the refugee camp, the Beastman League and the Westwood Guild Alliance will no longer follow our orders. Even the experimental subjects in the Hero Party are becoming aware of Pinkie’s fate and breaking free from our control.”

The support Lonoawe had built to reach the position of the 2nd string mage of the Hero Party was now teetering on the brink of collapse.

A single screw coming loose was fine.

You could put in a new one as the other screws held it in place.

All the screws coming loose was a problem.

Because Lonoawe might be forced out of the Hero Party.

“There’s no need to make it difficult. Ian is an exceedingly filial son who cherishes his mother above all else. He also has the wisdom to put me in a difficult situation at the same time.”

“Are you still targeting Ian?”

“All my experiments are for creating the ultimate success. If a successful result has already been created, it is only right that it should be brought back into my embrace.”

“Look at the results! You’re losing everything you’ve achieved! If only you would act like yourself, Lonoawe-nim…”

“Lieutenant. How many years have you worked with me?”

The lieutenant’s eyes darted rapidly.

“Five years, it has been.”

“I’ve never been one to keep an object for long.”

“Lord, Lord Ronoah. You can’t do this to me. After all I’ve done, surely you can’t be serious? Consider my usefulness…”

“Yes, you were a capable adjutant. But now, your usefulness is spent. If this were an organization to unearth masterpieces, now that one has been found, there’s no need for any of it. Is there still a reason I should keep you alive?”

“I… I won’t die alone. If I die, the documents revealing all the sins you’ve committed will…”

“The secret documents hidden beneath your bed, perhaps?”

“How…!”

“I, you see, trust no one from the start, save myself. To give faith to a recessive factor is an unthinkable thing. Next time, put some effort into entrusting items to a merchant guild. Though, of course, there isn’t a single guild you know that my hands and eyes haven’t reached.”

Ronoah grasped his adjutant’s face.

The adjutant’s hands, struggling in agony, thinned and dried in real-time.

It was the power of the black mage’s ＜Life Plunder＞ spell.

The adjutant, resembling no more than a mummy, crumbled to ash.

A small ember flared, consuming even the ashes, and in a matter of mere seconds, all traces of the man vanished without a trace.

“Pascal. Inform the Beastkin Alliance. If they wish to obtain the ＜Ancestral Bloom＞ relic, bring me the Sodom Guildmaster’s head or a living Ian with all limbs intact. Their usefulness ends here.”

Either alone will spell the end of Sodom.

Ian, lost and without a place to go, will eventually turn to his father’s side.

He can give Ian everything Theresa couldn’t.

Accumulated wealth.

Collected mysteries.

Even the elixirs prepared for the success.

Far more vital than the hollow emotion they call love, exchanged between insignificant things.

“I would prefer if he listened well. But, judging from the look in his eyes back then, I can’t imagine he’ll be so obedient.”

Soon, a snicker escaped him.

What does it matter if he’s a little rough?

Children are naturally rebellious.

Correcting a straying child is also a parent’s duty, wouldn’t you agree?

Ronoah had a perfect royal road prepared for Ian.

“I will make you the best masterpiece, one that won’t fall behind even those pretentious First-Team warriors. All you have to do is take my hand.”

Ronoah, the Second-Team mage of the hero party, abandoned all duties and went into hiding in order to obtain Ian.

* * *

Ronoah’s proclamation turned the Beastkin Alliance upside down.

“Ancestral Bloom. Is Ronoah finally releasing the supreme power the Beastkin have yearned for!”

“Sodom Village. Rumors have persisted that anyone who targeted that place has fallen into ruin, one after another. Attacking the village that even brought down ‘Pinky’ is a bit unnerving, though.”

“Considering the value placed on Ancestral Bloom, it’s not a loss we can’t endure. Our Beastkin Alliance isn’t on the same level as some rabbit Beastkin who fawned under Ronoah’s thumb, either.”

The predator Beastkin possessed a different scale of innate racial stats and talents compared to the docile Beastkin.

“But this… He’s not going to give it to all of us, is he?”

“Ronoah isn’t that merciful.”

“How do we even know what form the Ancestral Bloom’s power takes? If it’s a technique passed down only to certain individuals, we’ll be left to watch helplessly.”

If you’re late, there’s no use.

A competition that might be first come, first served.

The Special Forces departed at the highest speeds each race of the Beastman Alliance could muster.

Of course, the Alliance was vast, the territories to protect numerous.

Some tribes were closer than others; some were distant.

Those dwelling far away had to ensure that the nearer tribes didn’t send out large-scale forces before their own Special Forces arrived.

“A conference of the Beastman Revival Society is hereby convened! Absence will be met with penalties of the highest order!”

“All organizational movement is forbidden until the conclusion of the conference!”

“Unless you intend to turn the remaining twelve tribes against us, you will watch your conduct carefully.”

Neresha, the action leader of the Black Panther clan leading the Darkskins, could no longer contain her rage as she spoke to Vanessa, the young chieftain of their clan.

“Those beastly thugs from the Beastman Revival Society are tying our hands, buying time to dispatch their own people to Westwood. We can’t simply stand by and watch this petty maneuvering, can we?”

“Of course not, sister Neresha. We are closer than any other race. We can’t possibly abandon the chance to seize the ＜Ancestral Bloom＞, now can we?”

The Ancestral Bloom. The ability to manifest, through atavistic heredity, the powers of the primeval beasts representing each Beastman race’s ‘apex’.

Achieving that power would mean that the current Beastman Revival Society, comprised of twelve mediocre tribes, would become a hierarchical structure beneath a single race.

“I’ll attend the conference and buy us some time. Can you manage things here, sister?”

“If we mobilize the entire Darkskin force, then more than adequately.”

“Heh. Then, it would be troublesome to leave evidence of our meddling, wouldn’t it?”

Neresha chuckled, understanding her clan’s young leader’s intent.

“I’ll draw them out and eliminate them all. Will that suffice?”

“Perfect. You truly are the best, sister.”

An operation dwarfing even the Siege of Sodom was set in motion. The Darkskins were moving.

* * *

All potential hazards in the vicinity of the refugee camp had been dealt with.

“You pathetic Saint. Now that the refugees are safe, how about you come quietly to the Order? You can save far more people than you could by protecting a single camp~?”

“I regret to decline, but Sodom is my birthplace and home. Maintaining the peace of Sodom is my wish. I shall entrust the task of benefiting the world at large to Saint Cecilia.”

“Ugh, even the feeble Saint candidates of the main Order should speak so admirably! To think, the Saint we need most is stuck here doing this! This is a loss for all of humanity! Would sending five pathetic Saint candidates to Sodom convince you to come to the Main Order?”

Cecilia found Ian to be truly, exceptionally pleasing.

When the Saint was present, those who called themselves Saint candidates invariably got strange ideas and schemed in peculiar ways.

It would have been preferable if they treated women as trophies, as objects to seduce; instead, they demanded to be treated as superiors and became arrogant, and then she would truly see red.

“Saint Cecilia can make such an expression?”

“Saint Ian is, after all, exceptionally virtuous.”

“Well, even if the Saint is foul-mouthed and thoroughly irritating, she’s still a good person at heart.”

The impure whispers of the clergy sent from the main Order were irksome, but they reflected her poor reputation, earned through past transgressions.

Cecilia could not bear to abandon Ian, who allowed her to assume the mantle of what a Saint should truly be.

And so, she made her decision.

“The Main Order said this, didn’t they? Bring Ian back.”

Sensing an ill omen, the priestess asked cautiously,

“What trouble are you planning to cause now?”

“Trouble? You lowly nun, why do you say such disagreeable things~? Hehe. I simply intend to spread the Order’s benevolence to this remote frontier village~?”

Cecilia dropped a bombshell.

“The village of Sodom is Saint Ian’s lingering attachment, right? Then he can head to the Main Order when that attachment is resolved~? So, we’re departing. Starting today, we’re settling down in Sodom!”

A disaster of such proportions that even the Beastman assassins would weep was about to unfold.