#066. The Revolution Order is Too Kind (1)

#066. The Revolution Order is Too Kind (1)

Under Teresa’s stern gaze, Ian explained the controversy of the second he supposedly took while his first wife was briefly away.

“Cecilia’s dedication is entirely due to my request. I asked her first, and she is merely helping me as requested. Please, do not think ill of her.”

“Have you entrusted her with your very liver? So eager to defend her.”

He was supposed to offer an explanation, but instead, he drove the stake in, solidifying the situation as good as a common-law marriage.

Teresa was speechless, but Maria felt it even more keenly.

A nail had been hammered into her heart.

It reminded her of the day she had intended to speak harshly to Shoa.

She now understood how Shoa must have felt then.

The idea of another woman setting her sights on her man was utterly repulsive and infuriating.

‘Could it be that everyone is uneasy because the Saint interfered in the village that Maria painstakingly protected?’

After going to the capital and back again for the royal trial, the Saint was gaining fame in their village in their absense.

Ian’s mind, like that of an evil brainwasher, invariably drifted towards such interpretations, his wavelength slightly out of sync with the sense of betrayal felt by Teresa and Maria.

Nevertheless, in terms of the guilt of a wrongdoer, there was little difference, creating an irony where they could converse despite their differing perspectives.

“Saint. Maria will not leave Sodom.”

“…There’s nowhere for an Inquisitor who refuses to follow the Order’s will to stay. An outsider might say that, but for an insider to do so? Utter disgrace!”

“Maria. Speak for yourself.”

Theresa yielded the chance to Maria.

Maria bowed her head in gratitude to Theresa before stepping forward to face Cecilia on her own.

Unlike Cecilia, who was small in stature and not a powerful fighter, Maria was quite tall and possessed considerable martial prowess.

To an onlooker, it looked like an adult sternly gazing down at a child, but the hierarchy was, in truth, quite the opposite.

Under Cecilia’s self-assured gaze, Maria was visibly nervous.

It was true that Maria had followed the Order, received their training, and was only now barely capable of carrying her weight.

In that situation, to suddenly say “Thank you for teaching me, but I’m leaving” would be a tremendous headache for the Revolutionary Order, who had fed, sheltered, and educated her.

“I apologize, Holy Saint. To abandon those who desperately need my help and depart elsewhere… my soul cannot abide it.”

“Hah? You’re a brazen rookie Inquisitor, aren’t you? You think you’re in a position to make demands, after only receiving the organization’s grace and just now about to begin fulfilling your duties?”

“I hesitate to say this, but I am prepared to leave the Order.”

Cecilia doubted her ears.

Leave the Order?

Now? A mere fledgling just assigned to her first mission?

“Ivetta has spoiled this one rotten. Do you even realize the drivel you’re spouting? This isn’t a problem you can solve alone. Organized society isn’t some joke.”

“I will repay my debt to the Order in some fashion. But I cannot abandon Sodom.”

“Stop talking nonsense and apologize. Say you spoke foolishly as a naive recruit. You don’t even know the price you’d have to pay.”

“I am prepared.”

“Give me a hand.”

“…!”

“Think I’d just take it?”

Maria flinched, her eyes wide with fear.

“The Order’s elders have weathered wars. They don’t forgive disgraceful traitors. Would you give everything, even if they demanded a price greater than your hand?”

“That…”

“An intervention seems necessary.”

Theresa, not expecting the conversation to escalate so dramatically, stepped in to defend Maria.

“The Order holds expectations for Maria, and I understand their disappointment that those expectations are being thwarted. But Maria is sincere. And Sodom is just as sincere in wanting her. Therefore, if there is a price for Maria to bear, Sodom will bear it together.”

“Are you all out of your minds~? Even Cecilia, who is always mocked as a stupid, idiotic, hopeless Holy Saint, doesn’t voice opinions that antagonize the Order when they need our benevolence, you know?”

“The successes we achieved in the Imperial Court cannot be solely attributed to the Order. It was possible because Sodom overwhelmingly defeated the Suin Restoration Society’s advance party.”

Theresa put their achievements forward instead of being pressured by responsibility.

“Maria is the benefactor who allowed Sodom to urgently gain the time to grow, which the guild desperately needed and to overcome the crisis of massive penalty charges due to insufficient performance. In the end, without Maria’s efforts, Sodom would not have grown, the Suin Restoration Society would not have gone astray, and there would have been no victory in the Imperial Court.”

“Consider that Maria’s contribution has created a favorable situation for the Order as well. Heh heh. The Order’s hopeless old geezers will hate it~? But if you think about it that way, you can’t say there is no merit to it.”

Cecilia glanced sideways at Ian.

A mature saint, but still a child in the end, one could not deny.

A zealous executor of justice, overflowing with faith and a sense of justice, vying with the Holy Saint for achievements.

More worrisome than the Order’s hopeless old geezers was this little boy.

After all, getting on the elders’ bad side would make life in the Order annoying.

Being assigned tasks that don’t need to be done, and tedious Order schedules would be imposed.

And if you didn’t accept those? They’d make a show of sending a Holy Saint in the Revolutionary Order’s name to the Northern Expeditionary Force and send an application for voluntary enlistment in a Hero’s party.

The Order benefits too; they must think of her as one of their own to hoard talent instead of handing it off.

But to be marked by Ian would be no different than insulting the fabricated saint candidates, the false saints that these old men pushed, the kind she’d always loathed.

Maria’s merits are undeniably real.

Sodom’s contribution to the Order’s power structure cannot be denied either.

Yet, if they stubbornly turn away and deny it, Ian will judge her.

A cowardly Saintess, bowing to power, colluding with the Order’s old guard, and dismissing one who has achieved so much.

“Just so you know, the Order’s old men are petty. Even if they offset the merits and demerits, they’ll insist the demerits outweigh them~? Are you prepared for Sodom to lose the chance to join the Revolutionary Order and avoid any further entanglement, instead becoming an object to be exploited?”

“I am. It’s better to gain Maria and lose the Revolutionary Order than gain the Revolutionary Order and lose Maria.”

Truly, she’s as eccentric as the rumors say.

Cecilia was honestly impressed.

She had heard the tales of the Starsephia Marquisate’s genius swordswoman and promising noble heiress who abandoned her family and ran away, blinded by love.

Since it ended in such miserable failure, one might expect a longing for an easier life.

Like Ian’s mother, despite all the hardships, she still didn’t compromise.

A possessor of a voracious sense of justice, stubbornly insisting on and enforcing what she believes is right.

“I’ll pass it on to the higher-ups for you. And trash Maria, unless you want to be naked on the streets after returning all your equipment, you should prepare extra gear in advance!”

The Sodom Guild members, who considered Teresa and Maria family, expressed their discontent.

“The Order is being too much. Maria has done so much for us, will they really go that far?”

“Don’t say anything to the Saintess. She’s also helped us. The Order’s old men are issuing the punishment, apparently.”

“Still, even so.”

Cecilia scoffed.

She never even considered that receiving the respect and gratitude of others, only to be cursed along with them because of the Order’s old men, was a loss.

Just as nobles are divided into factions, so too is the Order.

The Order’s old men are her hostile faction.

There’s no reason to be disheartened because her political enemies are getting cursed.

Unlike Maria, who left for the capital amidst the welcome of all, Cecilia’s preparations for her journey to the Order headquarters happened in the midst of people’s indifference and wariness.

Not outright hostility, but an attitude that could not be welcoming, a clear wall of distance.

She feels no bitterness at the changed atmosphere.

She’s done too much as a Saintess to feel bitter about it.

Even when you do good, you can’t always be rewarded.

It’s only natural that people don’t recognize it.

“Cecilia.”

“Trash Saint? What are you doing here? Don’t you know that being around bad adults will get you cursed too~?”

“I told you before. I, Ian, am responsible for everything that happens in Sodom Village.”

“You did. But Trash Saint is still young~? Pfft, there’s no Saintess who would pass on responsibility to a child five years younger than herself. If you want to be an adult, get older!”

“I heard the Saintess became a Saintess at an even younger age than I am. I believe responsibility depends on character and courage, not age.”

Ian’s eyes showed resolve.

The same kind of resolve she saw in Teresa.

Protecting.

Protecting her people.

That strong will was directed at her.

If Teresa protected Maria,

with eyes like those,

Ian would protect Cecilia.

“You, you pathetic would-be saint, don’t tell me…?”

“If I take responsibility, I’ll see it through. The Saintess’s journey to the Order… I’ll go with her.”

Walking willingly into an Order filled with beings who would murder him if they knew his true identity.

Ian summoned tremendous courage.

So that all the grace Cecilia bestowed upon Sodom would not be in vain.

So that she wouldn’t come to hate Sodom.

So that the resentment and sorrow hidden beneath her indifferent facade would vanish, leaving only good memories.

And so that the conclusion would be reached: Sodom is a good place, and there’s no need for further investigation into the possibility of malicious heretics like mind-control sorcerers!

“The Saintess’s responsibility is my responsibility, and the Saintess’s pride is my pride.”

The Saintess smiled brightly.

“That unwavering will to stand before the Order’s power-holders, even daring to defy your mother to keep your word. Not pathetic at all… so noble…!”

The bold investment for the future safety of a malicious mind-control sorcerer brought happiness to Saintess Cecilia.